Broadway Christian Church ·Columbia, Missouri
Morning Worship ·December 16, 2007
Third Sunday of Advent
Prayer of the Day
Lord, our hearts desire the warmth of your love, and our minds are searching for the light of your Word. In this hour of worship, please increase our longing for Christ, our Savior, and for the strength to grow in love. Amen.
Scripture
Luke 2:8-11
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shown round about them and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.”
Message
What’s So Special about Christmas?
Part 2: Salvation
Rick Frost
Good morning again. It is good to have all of you here. I missed you last Sunday. Oh, you missed me, too. Didn’t you? Yes, Yes. [Editor’s note: Worship was canceled last Sunday due to a severe ice storm that struck Columbia.] Old Mr. Iceman was having a whole lot of fun here in Columbia.
I was here at 6:15 last Sunday doing doughnuts in the parking lot. Well, I was. I came back and ate them at 7:15. There were boxes and boxes of them. Just kidding.
Anyway, if this is the first time you’ve been with us, we offer a special welcome to you on this the third of four Sundays of Advent. Christmas Eve is just a week from tomorrow. Amazing.
Advent is the time when the Church comes together, and celebrates, and does some preparing for the arrival of something very special. That’s what Advent means.
The last time I had an opportunity to talk with you, we talked about the first purpose of Christmas. We’re going to do a quick review. We talked about the first purpose of Christmas. What makes Christmas so special is that it’s a celebration.
The Bible says the birth of Jesus Christ is good news. It is good news of great joy, and it is for everybody: Catholic, Protestant, Pentecostal, Presbyterian, Jewish, Mormon, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Baptist, agnostic, atheist, or whatever. “It’s good news of great joy,” says the Bible, “for all people,” because in the birth of Jesus, God is saying to all creation, not just to us, but to all creation, whether they agree with us, whether they know it, whether they affirm it or believe it, God is saying in Christmas, “I love you. I am not only one who loves you, but I am with you, and I am for you. I am really encouraging you to move in a good and loving and right direction.”
In this world today, that’s cause, I believe, for great celebration.
Today we’re going to hopefully discover the second main purpose for Christmas. What is the second thing that many of us believe makes Christmas so special? That second thing is summed up in one word. That word is salvation.
Now, if salvation is a word that you have trouble with or don’t grasp, just substitute the word “healing” in there. They are the same words in Scripture. Did you know that? The word in the Bible for “salvation” and “healing” is the same.
In today’s text, Luke says that the angels appeared on that special, sacred, lovely, holy night and made an announcement. I read it to you just moments ago. “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, a Healer, which is Christ the Lord.”
Let me make a quick point here. One of the things you learn when you study Scripture and just look at reality is that God does not waste energy. Did you know that? The Creator just doesn’t waste energy. Now, you and I are very good at wasting energy. That’s another whole set of issues. The Creator does not waste energy. The Creator does not do things that aren’t needed. So, if the world didn’t need a Savior – if you and I did not need a Savior – believe me, the Creator would not have gone to all the trouble of sending one. Do you see what I’m trying to say?
God doesn’t waste time. God does not waste energy or effort on things the world – you and I – don’t need. The fact is, the Bible says, that God sent a Savior into this world. That means the world needs one. We need one. You need one. I need one. That is true whether you and I accept it, realize it, or not.
I visited with some people just for fun. I asked them if they thought they needed to be saved? I always love to run that by folks just to see how they respond. I said, “If so, what do you need to be saved from?”
Knowing that the word “saved” has a lot of baggage connected to it, I gave them a couple of synonyms. I said, “If ‘saved’ doesn’t work for you, use the word ‘healed,’ or ‘rescued,’ or ‘liberated,’ or ‘set free,’ or ‘bailed out,’ or ‘protected,’ or ‘guarded,’ or ‘released.’ They’re all good words related to ‘salvation’.”
What do you need? What does the world need to be saved from? I got some interesting responses. Some of them were:
·“I need to be saved from my debt.”
·“I need to be saved from crazy people.”
·“I need to be saved from all this violence that is going on all around the place.”
·“I need to be saved from inflation.”
·“I need to be saved from injustice.”
·“I need to be saved from less than competent leaders.”
·“I need to be saved from growing older.”
·“I need to be saved from my declining health.”
·“I need to be saved from my addictions.”
·“I need to be saved from my fears.”
·“I need to be saved from myself.”
Isn’t that good? I could really relate to the last guy. “I need to be saved from myself.”
Now, there are some things in my life, and there are some things in the world’s life that I don’t like. I’d like to change them, but I can’t – not on my own. I believe you can’t either. That’s why we need a Savior. You need a Savior. The world needs a Savior. We need a power source that is beyond ourselves.
Now, there are people who think, “If we really wanted to change something, we would.” I don’t believe you can. I don’t believe you can, because if you could, you would. But you can’t. And you won’t. That’s why God sent a Savior.
Salvation – healing – in the Bible, is essentially three-dimensional. The world is saved. You are saved. The world is healed. You are healed from something. But it is not just from something. It is for something. And it’s by something. That’s what I want to focus on today.
What are we saved from? What are we saved for? How does that happen?
The first thing you are saved from, folks, as far as the Scripture is concerned, is something called separation. “Separation for the Ground of Our Being,” as Tillich liked to call it. Separation from God.
All of your problems, all of my problems, all of the world’s problems are caused, bottom line, root separation from God. When we disconnect, when we detach, when we split up, when we have a parting of the ways with the Creator of all that is, bad things happen. The biblical word for that separation everyone in this room knows. What is it? Sin.
It’s not so much what you do as it is something that we are, it seems. It’s an attitude. It’s a condition that somehow gets expressed in what we do. It’s an attitude. It’s subtle. It’s that little part of us that says, “You do your thing, God, and I’ll do my thing.” Sometimes it’s not so little. “I know what I want, and I know how to get it.” “I know you said to do certain things and not to do other things, but from where I’m coming from, I’m god, and you are not.” “I know more than you do, God. I know more about what I want and what I need than you do.” “I’m going to live my life the way I want to live it, and not for the reason you put me here on this earth.” “There is nothing, God, that you can do to stop that.” “So, there.”
It’s that little attitude. You see? It’s called “separation.” That’s what the Bible calls “sin.” That’s a problem. Consciously or unconsciously, it is a problem. Lots and lots of our problems lead to bad things, sad things, because of that attitude. That’s why the Creator sent Jesus, a Savior. It is one of the keys as to why Christmas is so special.
Remember? Joseph, in a dream, was given these words by an angel: “Give the child the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” That’s what the word “Jesus” means. It means “Savior.” The one who came to set us free.
From what? From whatever it is that is holding you down. From whatever it is you are afraid. From whatever it is that you are burning up with anger about. From anything you cry in grief over. What is it that you need to be saved from?
St. Paul put it this way: “So I find this law at work. When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. I’ve tried everything, and nothing helps. Is there no one who can do anything for me? The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does” (Romans 7:21-25).
The second thing Jesus saves us from is, not only, but what the Bible describes through the image of a desert. We Midwesterners don’t know much about deserts. But our biblical brothers and sisters knew a great deal about deserts.
The desert, in the Bible, is a fantastic, powerful image of the end. It is a powerful image of death. One of the reasons the Egyptians, they say, loved to worship the sun, as a god, is because, being obsessed with death in their culture, they had that little strip of green right beside the Nile River that was theirs. However, it was completely surrounded by utter, barren desert. The nearness of death, the power of the sun, literally, dominated their lives.
You will remember that Israel, our own people, was once in the desert. The cruel armies of Babylon came. They destroyed the people’s cities. They laid waste to everything. They carted off all the other people who were left, and they became slaves back in Babylon. It was to those people – those sufferers – that a prophet named Isaiah proclaimed that one day the wild animals of the desert would all become peaceful and tame. One day that dry, barren desert would receive life-giving rain, and it would burst into bloom. That’s what the Scriptures say. It talks about a God who has a tendency to make a way where there doesn’t seem to be a way. That’s what we come to celebrate at Christmas.
I don’t know where you happen to be living today. I don’t know what your address might be. Instead of 608 Manor Drive, your real address might be “The Desert.” There are some people here in our congregation. You will see some of them today. They are living in a very dry place – in their hearts, in their lives, in their relationships. It’s over. Things are done. There is a dead end. If that is true for any one of you here or anybody you love, I ask you to hear the text one more time: “For unto us is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.”
We’re saved from some things. God not only came to save us from, but to save us for something – for a purpose.
The Bible says it this way: “He has saved/healed us and called us to be his own people, not because of what we have done, but because of his own purpose and grace” (2 Timothy 1:9).
Folks, if you have ever been healed, and I can look out in this room and know there are people who have been healed. If you have ever experienced the gift of being liberated, or released, or given a new lease on life, you need to know that you were saved, and you were saved for a purpose. You are not here simply to survive. You are not here just to be successful. If you have been liberated, if you have been given another opportunity at life, you are here to live significantly, to make a positive difference. You see?
You have been saved by God, and you have not just been saved from something. You have been saved for something. Until you understand that… Until the world understands that… no one is really going to find much sense in what’s going on.
We have been saved from something, and we have been saved for a purpose, and we have been saved by God’s grace.
God’s grace! Oh, that word gets thrown around a lot. We know we can’t buy it. We know we can’t earn it. We know we don’t deserve it. It is something God gives us when God gives us what we need instead of what we deserve. You’ve heard that. It is when God says, “I’m going to make your problem my problem. I’m going to do for you what you cannot do for yourself.”
Now, if you can do it for yourself, do it. But a Savior does for us what we cannot do for ourselves. The Bible puts it this way: “For it is by grace you have been saved/healed, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that on one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Let me see if I can tell you a story. Some of you have heard this story before. Fred Craddock tells it. He is the great Disciples preacher. It is one of his favorite stories. It’s also one of mine. I never tire of listening to it. If it is new to you, I would hope you would receive it as well.
Fred tells the story about he and his wife, Nettie. Does anybody know any Netties? I love that name. I’m going to ask Jan to be renamed. Just call her Nettie. You guys are going to go out of here today and say that, and then I’m going to pay for it. You know that.
Fred and Nettie were on vacation. They were driving home from their vacation. They had a wonderful couple of weeks in the Great Smokey Mountains. They lived, and worked, and he taught in Oklahoma in those days. On their way back they stopped in a little town named Cosby. They tell me it is right outside Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Does anybody know where Cosby is?
They sat down in this little, tiny restaurant in this little, tiny place. It was early in the meal when this elderly man approached their table. “Good evening,” he said. “On vacation?”
“Yes.”
“Where ya from?”
“Oklahoma.”
“What do you do?” You see… People in Tennessee just ask questions whether they know you are not. They just get extra friendly.
Fred said, “What I wanted to say was ‘Leave us alone. We’re on vacation. We don’t even know who you are. What are you doing here?” But instead, Fred said audibly, “I’m a Christian minister.”
The man paused for a moment. “I owe a great deal to a minister of the Christian Church,” he said. Then he pulled out a chair from the table and sat down.
Fred said, “Yes, have a seat.” He tried to sound like he meant it.
The man went on: “I grew up in these mountains around here. My mother was not married, and the whole, little community here in the mountains knew it. I was what they called an illegitimate child. In those days, that was a shame. I was ashamed. The reproach that fell on my mother fell on me. When I went to town with her, people would stare at me. They would verbally, actively, audibly, make guesses about whom my father was. At school, the kids said ugly things. I just simply stayed in at recess. I ate my lunch alone.
“In my early teens, I started attending this little church. It was a Christian Church. It had a minister that was both attractive and frightening. He had a chiseled face, heavy beard, deep voice. I went just to hear him preach. I don’t know why exactly I did that. It just seemed to do something for me.
“However,” he said, “I was afraid even in church that I was not welcome, since I was, as they put it, a bastard. So, I would go late in the service, just in time for the sermon. I would slip in the back and sit. When it was over, I would slip out, afraid, really, that someone would say, ‘What’s a boy like you doing in this church?’
“One Sunday, some of the people blocked the aisle. You know how they do sometimes. I couldn’t get out. Before I knew it, I felt this heavy hand on my shoulder. It was the minister. I trembled in fear. He seemed to be just staring at me. I knew what he was going to do. I just knew he was going to make a guess – out loud, in church – about whom my father was.
“One moment later he said, ‘Well, Boy, I bet you’re a child of a…’ He paused.
“I knew what was coming. I just knew my feelings were going to get hurt. I knew I was going to cry. I was never going to come back to this church again.
“He said, ‘Boy, I know who you are. You’re a child of…. God. I can see it. There’s a striking resemblance.’
“Then he swatted me on the butt, and said, ‘Now I want you to go on and get out of here. I want you to go claim your inheritance.’
He said, “I left that building that day a different person. In fact, that was really the beginning of my life.”
Fred says, “You know… I was so moved by that story I had to ask. I said, ‘What is your name?’”
He said, “Ben. Ben Hooper.”
Fred says, “You know… I recalled, when I was a kid, I remembered my Dad telling me as a child, how the people of Tennessee had twice elected a governor who was a bastard. And his name was Ben.”
You’ve been saved, folks. You and I have been saved from something, and we have been saved for something – for a reason. And we have been saved for a reason by grace – by the grace of God. The Scripture says it’s a gift. That’s why Christmas, I think, is so special.
And all the people say… “Amen.”
Benediction
God of Awakenings, may love be our song, and love our prayer, and love our endless story, as we continue this Christmastime journey and celebrate the salvation that comes to each of us in the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
