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The handout is available here.
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 tell us 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 not organise Christmas. God did it. 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 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.
The other passages all essentially say the same thing.
Jesus came to call sinners. Why does He call sinners? To save them. 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. The gospel has been redefined to avoid the concept of sin. But, you know what, biblically, the problem is sin. It is because of sin that we need a Saviour. 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 Timothy 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 notice that some of those passages say that Jesus came to save the world. Do you think our world needs saving? Let’s be gloomy for a few moments. What are the things that illustrate the brokenness of our world? What are the things that are causing anxiety and fear?
War. Wikipedia says, last month there were 45 armed conflicts happening in the Middle East, and North Africa, 35 in Africa, 21 in Asia, 7 in Europe and 5 in Latin America (=113 in total)
Climate change
A pandemic that is still hanging around.
Social disruption and division.
Economic uncertainty. Are we facing a recession?
Mental health crisis.
Crime and violence
All sorts of bizarre things happening.
It is easy to think that the world is out of control.
The Collins Dictionary word of the year for 2023 was “artificial intelligence” But do you remember the 2022 word of the year? Permacrisis – a constant state of crisis.
OK, let’s stop being gloomy because there actually is an answer to the world’s problems! The world is in a mess but there is a Saviour! God has acted. The angels said to 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. Then an army of angels sang, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom His favour rests.”
This isn’t only about heaven. This is good news, great joy, peace now… because there is a Saviour. Jesus came to save the world. 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! Good news for the poor; freedom for captives; sight for the blind, release for the oppressed. Every day Jesus is doing that. Every day people are finding freedom – freedom from addictions, freedom from demonic oppression, freedom from sin, peace and joy even in difficult circumstances.
The world is in permacrisis 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). Our politicians will not save the world. The United Nations has not saved the world. Science has not; education has not. We need something far more powerful. Jesus is the only answer. We are searching in all sorts of places but we actually need the Saviour. The good news of Christmas is God has given a Saviour. As the angels said, that day in the town of David, the Saviour was born.
While we exclude Jesus, we continue in permacrisis. While we continue to reject the doctor, we will continue to be sick. But a fourth response to that sentence is: we can tell those weighed down by the state of the world, “There is hope. There is a Saviour.” The point of Christmas is that Jesus is the answer our world needs. He came to save the world.
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