Sunday, December 2, 2018

Christmas Brought Hope! - I Corinthians 5:7b; Luke 2:8-11


Christmas Brought Hope!
I Corinthians 5:7b; Luke 2:8-11
Introduction: Waiting, hoping, watching… For four-hundred years the people clung to the words of the prophets, promising that God would send a Rescuer, a Deliverer, a Savior. Then, in the series of events that led to the birth of Jesus, the silence was broken and hope was realized. Christmas brought Hope!  The Word was made flesh and lived for a while among us! One of the most familiar scenes associated with the Christmas story is the angelic announcement to the shepherds in the Gospel of Luke. We read the story in Luke 2:8-11…
8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.  9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear.  10 And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people.  11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
Why did God send angels to a group of shepherds to announce the birth of the promised Messiah? The answer to that question is tied to the answer to a question we’ve been looking at all year in the Gospel of Mark: Why did He come?
The Maine* Idea: Christmas means hope for those who believe that Jesus came as their Savior, Sacrifice, and Substitute.
I. The Hope of the Ages: God promised faithful humans, those who trust Him and take Him at His word, that one day a Rescuer would come, Messiah, our Savior! As our starting point, I’d like to look at I Corinthians 5:7b…
“…for indeed Christ…”
       The context in I Corinthians 5, Paul is rebuking the church for their tolerance of sin in their midst. He uses the analogy of Passover and unleavened bread: As the leaven must be removed from their homes for the feast, so sin must be removed from our lives and from the church. It is essentially a call to holiness: Live in the light of your new life in Christ! The first part of I Corinthians 5:7 says, “Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened…” Cleanse out the old that you may be new, because that is what you really are! In other words, live in the light of your position in Christ. This is the indicative and the imperative of the Christian life that we have seen before. This is who you are, this is what you have in Christ, now live like it! It is our response in the light of what God has done for us in Christ. God offered humanity hope from the time of the Fall.
       In the context of the Fall, and God pronouncing judgment, we also see, amazingly, promise, hope.  We read in Genesis 3:15,  
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.
That reference to a promised “Seed” who would crush the serpent’s head and rescue humans is carried through the Scriptures, like a “Scarlet Thread of Redemption.” God’s promise to Abraham included reference to a multitude of descendants, but as it was read by the NT writers, Genesis 22:17-18 also looked ahead to a specific One, to a promised “Seed” (singular)… 
17 I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring [seed] as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring [seed] shall possess the gate of his enemies, 18 and in your offspring [seed] shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice."
The Seed of Abraham!  That promise of a “seed” is reiterated to Isaac and to Jacob, and then we read in Genesis 49:10,  
"The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes, And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
      Later David is told that He would have a son, a descendant, who would be the Son of God, and who would have an eternal kingdom (2 Samuel 7:12-16 ). Aspects of that promise were never realized by the merely human descendants of David. In fact, the story of the kings of Israel and Judah highlights the failure of the kings – even the best of them fell short in some way. But in the fulness of time God would send His own Son, born in the line of David, who would be an ideal Son, the promised Son toward which all those before alluded.
      The promise of a Rescuer, a Savior, carried through the Scriptures and offered hope to those who trusted in God through the ages. Though that hope got skewed for many, focusing on military or political deliverance from would-be oppressors, other images in the Scriptures could always point thoughtful seekers back to our greatest need, that is, deliverance from sin and the penalty of sin. The Kingship of Israel was always to represent and point to the Kingdom of God. But the Scriptures also used other images to show that God’s kingdom was not like that of the nations around them.
       The Suffering Servant of Isaiah, the rejected and suffering King of the Lament Psalms, and, as we’ll see, the sacrificial system itself, pointed back to the first promise of a deliverer, the Seed of the Woman promised in the context of the Fall, highlighting the problem of sin and the need for someone to rescue us from the righteous wrath of God. And so, in the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, to redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons!  Christmas means hope for those who believe that Jesus came as their Savior, Sacrifice, and Substitute. And so, Hope was realized and the Savior came, bringing…
II. The Hope of Redemption: Christ came as Savior, and as Sacrifice, the Lamb of God who would shed His blood to take away the sins of the world.
“…our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed…
       The text literally says, “…our Passover…” but the ESV rightly makes it clear that is referring to the Passover Lamb which is sacrificed for us. The necessity of blood being shed to redeem sinners carries through the Bible. Sometime after the first Passover, the principle would be stated in Leviticus 17:11,   
“For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.”
The requirement of blood is well established in Scripture, and, as in the first Passover, the principle predated the giving of the Law. Remember that first Passover the Jews were still in Egypt, and the Law had not yet been given on Mount Sinai! Even earlier we see the Patriarchs offering sacrifices to God, as did Noah after the flood. In fact, Abel offered God “…the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering…” (Gen 4:4).  It may be that God had already taught Adam and Eve, immediately after the Fall, that their sin required blood, a sacrifice, when, as we read in Genesis 3:21, that  
“…the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.”
Where did those “skins” come from? The implication seems to be that God Himself killed an animal to cover the nakedness of the fallen humans. The writer to the Hebrews restates the principle when he said in Hebrews 9:22, Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.” In the very next chapter he also addressed this question in considerable detail, making it clear those sacrifices pointed ahead to something better, as we read in Hebrews 10:1-5…
For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near.  2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sin?  3 But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sin every year.  4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.  5 Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, "Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me…
       Why did Jesus come? Was the baby in the manger there to teach us about morality or to show us God’s love? Well, yes, but the principle reason He came was to deal with our sin problem by laying down his life, by sacrificing Himself, for our sins. Every son and daughter of Adam, since the Fall, has been born in sin. Spiritually dead, separated from God. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Jesus came to redeem us, to make it possible for us to be reconciled with God!
       And so, Christmas means hope for those who believe that Jesus came as their Savior, Sacrifice, and Substitute. He came as the promised Rescuer, the Savior, which he accomplished as the Lamb of God, the perfect and final sacrifice to which all other sacrifices pointed. And He did it for us, as our substitute, taking the wrath that we deserved.
III. The Hope of Reconciliation and New Life: He was our Substitute, bearing our sins, giving His life so that we could have new life.
“…for us…
       There is a small variation in the text here which explains a difference you see in the NKJV and the ESV. Some older Egyptian manuscripts don’t contain the little prepositional phrase “for us” at the end of the verse, whereas the majority text, which is mostly later, but consists of thousands of manuscripts, has it. Based on the evidence, I think it should be included, but it really doesn’t change anything either way. Since Christ is described as “our” Passover lamb, of course He would be sacrificed for us! What the NKJV makes explicit, is clearly implied in the ESV and other modern translations.  
       Think back to the first Passover. The lamb was slain, its blood put over the door and on the door posts. The blood meant life in that house. The firstborn would be spared, covered by the blood of the lamb. The lamb was essentially a substitute for the firstborn. Think back to the story of Abraham and Isaac recorded in Genesis 22. God had told Abraham to do the unthinkable, to take the son of his old age, the promised and beloved son, Isaac, up on Mount Moriah, and then to sacrifice him, to offer him as a burnt offering to the Lord!  As we read Genesis, we know the end of the story, and we can see that God was testing and building Abraham’s faith. But Abraham didn’t know that. We pick up the story in Genesis 22:5-8,   
5 Then Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you."  6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together.  7 And Isaac said to his father Abraham, "My father!" And he said, "Here am I, my son." He said, "Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?"  8 Abraham said, "God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son." So they went both of them together.
It seems Abraham had faith when he told the young men that he and the boy would return to them, and when he told Isaac that “God will provide for himself the lamb.” The writer to the Hebrews says that Abraham believed, that if necessary, God was able to raise the promised son from the dead. Resurrection faith! But, God intervened. Abraham had bound his son, placed him on the wood, and raised the knife, ready to kill Isaac as God had commanded. But an Angel from God stopped him, and…
 Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son…” (Gen 22:13).
The ram was offered in place of Isaac. A substitute. 2000 years later, in that same place, another Son would be offered, as our substitute. You see, God did not stay the executioner’s hand as Jesus was being sacrificed. God Himself had provided the Lamb. He spared not the Son, but delivered Him up for us all. That idea of a substitute taking the punishment that we deserved is clearly implied in the sacrificial system. It is also spelled out explicitly by the prophet Isaiah. See, for example, Isaiah 53:4-6 where he says…
4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.  5 But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.  6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
That night on a Bethlehem hillside the angels announced to a group of humble shepherds, “Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people. Born to you this day n the city of David is a savior, Christ the Lord!Here they were, guarding sheep destined for sacrifice in the Temple. Those sacrifices were shadows and types, looking forward to the once-for-all sacrifice of the Lamb of God. It was as though the Angel was saying to the shepherds, “Why stay here guarding these sheep? Get down to Bethlehem and see the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!” Hope was realized in the birth of Christ!

What is God saying to me in this passage? Christmas means hope for those who believe that Jesus came as their Savior, Sacrifice, and Substitute.
What would God have me to do in response to this passage? It is a beautiful thing to begin our Advent series with a reminder of why He came. The babe in the manger came to be the Lamb of God, to rescue us from the wrath we each deserved by being our substitute, the sacrifice for our sins.  He lived a sinless life, He fulfilled all righteousness. When He began His public ministry at the age of 30 or so, He showed through His teaching and through the miracles that He did, His authority as the Son of God. And then, when the time came, when that final Passover was at hand, He laid down His life for His friends. Before He did, He shared a final Passover meal with His disciples, and He gave new significance to it. Some time before, on the Mount of Transfiguration, He had spoken about what was coming in Jerusalem with two men of God from the past, Moses and Elijah. Luke’s account tells us they spoke about His “departure” which He would accomplish in Jerusalem. That word “departure” is the word, “Exodus.” As God had led the people out of Egypt, set free after the first Passover, so Jesus would set free a people for himself by shedding His blood for us.
       And so, we share the Lord’s Table together, looking back to the Cross, remembering that our salvation is free because the price has already been paid. That is why He came. The gift is Christmas is the sure hope we have because of what He has done for us! Let’s remember that today, and worship Him.   AMEN.

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