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Is it OK if we start with a quiz – an easy quiz?
1. In the church year, what season are we in? Advent
2. What does Advent mean? Coming
3. Don’t answer this out loud. Just write it with your finger on the palm of your hand. Why did Jesus come into the world?
4. What did Jesus say about why He had come?
I have made a list of 22 New Testament passages that, it seems to me, are very clear about why Jesus came. I hope you have a copy. Jesus spoke often about His mission, His purpose in coming, as did other New Testament writers. There is one concept that comes through time and time again. Would you please read these passages, 2, 4, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16, 18, 20, 21, and tell me what you see?
Who acted? If we look down that column it is pretty straightforward. It is either Jesus or His Father. God took the initiative. Christmas is about God acting. Christmas is a story of God’s grace. We did nothing. We were merely recipients of God-initiated grace.
The third column is also simple. Either Jesus came or God sent His Son. Two passages refer to Jesus coming by being born of a woman – Mary, His human mother. This whole coming of the Son of God, on a mission from His Father, starts with the Christmas story of His birth in Bethlehem.
The fourth column gives the reason. Here there is a bit more diversity in the way it is expressed. How might we summarise the reason for Jesus’ coming? One word occurs four times in that column.
Save. Jesus came to save. His mission, His purpose, His focus was to save.
When Jesus was born, the angels announced to the shepherds, “Today, in the town of David, a Saviour has been born to you.” Saving is the central concept.
Other words are used but they all mean the same thing.
Jesus came to call sinners. Why does He call sinners? Matthew 9:13 comes in the context of Jesus calling Matthew the tax collector to follow Him. The Pharisees complained that He mixed with tax collectors and sinners. Jesus said the healthy don’t need a doctor. The sick do. He hadn’t come to call the righteous but sinners. He had come, not for those who thought they were fine, but for those who knew they needed a Saviour.
Matthew 20:28 say that Jesus came to give His life as a ransom. A ransom is a price paid to rescue a person from captivity. This is again about salvation – saving those who are prisoner to sin.
To redeem, in Galatians 4, is also to buy back. God came to pay the price to win His people back.
Other passages use the contrast of life and death, or light and darkness. Jesus came to raise up, to give life, to rescue from darkness. Whatever the words, whatever the imagery, it is all about saving, rescuing – from death to life, from darkness to light..
Saving whom? What does column 5 tell us? Again there is some variety in the way it is expressed.
The word that occurs most there is “sinners” but there are also “the lost” and “those under the law”. Remember that Jesus said He had not come to call the righteous but sinners – not those who are healthy but those who are sick. The Pharisees didn’t think they were sinners. They didn’t think they needed a doctor. They didn’t need Jesus. But the tax collectors and the prostitutes came to Him. They knew they were sinners and in desperate need.
We are a bit nervous about talking about sin these days. There have been all sorts of redefinitions of the gospel that avoid the concept of sin. But, you know what, biblically, the problem is sin. And the good news is that Jesus came to save sinners.
It is hugely encouraging that the Bible says that God so loved the world, and Jesus came to save the world. God wants everybody to be saved. But not everybody will be. We see that in those passages too. Who will be saved? Those who believe. The sheep who follow Jesus. Those God has given to Jesus. Picking up the words from Acts 3:26, those who, in response to Jesus, turn from their wicked ways.
When we pull all of those passages together, do we get a clear picture of why Jesus came into the world?
1 Timothy 1:15 says it very succinctly and clearly.
1 Tim 1:15
Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
Saying that Jesus came to save the world (or, to save sinners) is a cliché. We know that. We repeat it all the time. But what does it actually mean?
How would we complete this sentence: Jesus came to save the world, therefore this Christmas…? Or, Jesus came to save sinners, therefore this Christmas…? How would you answer?
Our first response might be enormous gratitude to God. You might know that you were one of those sinners to whom Jesus came. You know that He laid down His life as a ransom for you. You have put your faith in Him and chosen to follow Him. You look at those passages and say, “That was me”.
For you Christmas should be a time of wild, joyous, heartfelt celebration, overwhelmed by this gift of a Saviour. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now am found; was blind but now I see.
Or, it might be the other way around. It might be that you have not understood that Jesus gave His life as a ransom for your salvation. It might be that you have not considered that you need saving. You might be one of those who thinks you don’t need a doctor. It might be that you have heard and understood but chosen not to trust and follow Jesus.
My prayer would be that this Christmas, you discover how much God loves you. May you know that Jesus came to save you. May this Christmas be the time you say yes to trusting and following Jesus. May you also be overwhelmed by the goodness of God and celebrate the birth of your Saviour with great joy.
But the significance of Christmas is far bigger than just our personal salvation. Jesus came to save the world. What does that actually mean for our neighbours and our town and our country and the world?
I do not want to be gloomy but so many things just seem to be out of control at the moment, don’t they? Anxiety in our society is ballooning, especially among young people and it is no wonder. A pandemic that has disrupted everything, climate change that many fear threatens our very survival. I heard on the news on Friday that there are more than 100 armed conflicts in the world. There is growing insecurity in our own Asia Pacific region. We face social disruption and division, economic uncertainty, a looming recession, mental health issues, crime and violence, regular murders, farmers feel under attack. There are bizarre things happening. Many of us might feel that our society is simply disintegrating.
The Collins Dictionary has chosen the word “permacrisis” as the word of the year for 2022. Permacrisis – a constant state of crisis. It is no wonder that so many people are anxious. Is there any hope?
Yes! Christmas brings hope. Think again of the message the angel gave the shepherds: Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; He is the Messiah, the Lord.
And then a great army of angels praised God saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom His favour rests.”
Good news, great joy, peace. Why? Because there is a Saviour. Jesus came to save the world. And He is doing that now, person by person by person by person. The big picture is that the world is in a constant state of crisis. But, at grassroots, people are experiencing forgiveness and joy and peace.
There is another passage on the handout: #6. Jesus talks about being anointed and sent. What for?
Luke 4:18-19
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”
Wow, here is the Saviour transforming the lives of the poor, the prisoners, the blind and the oppressed.
Some of our passages referred to eternal life and that is hugely important. It is the ultimate salvation but Jesus is saving people here and now as well. There are any number of testimonies of people for whom Jesus has been good news, who have found freedom and truth in Jesus – freedom from addictions, freedom from demonic oppression, freedom from sin, peace and joy even in difficult circumstances.
The world is in a constant state of crisis but there is hope because there is a Saviour – a Saviour powerful enough to make a real difference. In fact, Jesus is the only Saviour. Salvation is found in no one else for there is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12). I am not anticipating that any of our political parties is going to go into next year’s election saying that we need to turn to Jesus. We desperately need Jesus. He is the only hope, but we exclude Him, and so we continue in permacrisis. While we continue to reject the doctor, we will continue to be sick.
So, maybe it comes back on us to bring this good news to the people around us. There is hope. Life can be different. There are people around us weighed down by the state of the world. We can say, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people – A Saviour: Jesus”. The point of Christmas is that Jesus is the answer our world needs. He came to save the world.
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