December 17, Third Sunday of Advent

Lesson: John 3:16-17

Sermon Title: Savior, He Who Delivers

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INTRODUCTION:

A pastor was impressed by the devotion of an elderly couple who attended church ever y Sunday and held hands through the service.

One Sunday after the service, the pastor went to the couple and told them how inspirational it was to see them lovingly hold hands all through the service.

Replied the wife: "Oh, Im just keeping him from cracking his knuckles."

--via Wayne E. Breighner Felton, PA

XXX

A six-year-old girl was asked by her mother to get ready to go to church for the Christmas Eve service. The girl said she didnt want to go to church.

"Its Jesus birthday party," her mother explained. "How would you like it if one of your friends didnt want to come to your birthday party?"

The girl replied, "Mom, just once I wish Jesus would have his birthday party at Chuck E Cheese."

--via Jeff Totten, Bemidji, MN

XXX

Employee Gift (1)

A new pastor, eager to make sure the church's employees would like him, called them together shortly before Christmas Day and told them that each of them would receive a turkey.

"In fact," he added, "as long as I'm around, you will always have a turkey."

XXX

There is a magazine cartoon in which two persons, who appear to be husband and wife, are sitting on their living room sofa staring ahead at the TV screen.

The commercial in progress depicts an actor dressed up like a doctor, saying, "Feeling tired, headachy, listless, worn out? Then why don't you turn off the TV and go to bed?"

  1. Today is the day when we turn off everything else and go back to the manger.

    1. Why do we need to go back to the manger?

    2. We are in need of a Savior.

British writer Jonathan Nicholas (2) has said:

We don't believe in anybody anymore, or in anything. We're awash on the sea of life, and nobody seems to have a moral compass. We need someone to engage us, to embrace us, to fire us with commitment and candor, to fill us with passion, hope and trust. We need, in short, a savior.


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MAIN BODY:

  1. According to Ted Turner I can save myself. (3)

"Almost every religion talks about a savior coming. When you look in the mirror in the morning, you're looking at the savior. Nobody else is going to save you but yourself."

    1. Well there are certain circumstances where I can save myself.

      1. If I am visiting the Grand Canyon and desire to save my self from falling into the canyon, I do not climb over the safety fence.

      2. If I want to save myself from a serious automobile accident, I wear my seatbelt.

      3. If I want to save myself from starvation, I eat.

      4. You get the point.

    2. This is not what Ted Turner was talking about.

      1. He is making a pronouncement about religion.

      2. His sentiments may apply to some religions, but they do not apply to Christianity, or at least the Christianity that I choose to follow.

  1. I can only echo the sentiments and beliefs of the Apostle Paul

    1. He saw himself as a sinner

Romans 7.21-24

21So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. 22For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, 23but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? (Romans 7:21-24, NRSVA).

    1. Not only that but he saw himself as the foremost sinner.

1 Timothy 1.15

15The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners--of whom I am the foremost, (1 Timothy 1:15, NRSVA).

  1. I am a sinner

    1. Sin is not primarily an act.

    2. Sin is a condition.

      1. It is in the condition of sin that I commit sins.

    3. I am a sinner in need of a savior.

    4. This is because I cannot, of myself, free myself, from this condition.

      1. There is no human agency that can free me from my condition.

      2. So tell Ted Turner that he is tragically wrong.

  2. Christmas is about the birth of a savior.

    1. Matthew 1.21 describes it well.

21She (Mary) will bear a son, and you (Joseph) are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." Matthew 1:21 (NRSVA)

    1. So we need to be clear on this and understand what it is that Jesus did not come to do.

    2. Jesus did not come to punish us.

      1. Punishment can cause fear, but only forgiveness can create hope. Forgiveness makes it possible for sinners to change their ways, and perhaps even serve the people they have hurt.

      2. Peccatum poena peccati: Sin is the punishment of sin. (St. Augustine).

"One of the remarkable phenomena of our time is the persistence of the belief among those in power that we can coerce people into decent behavior if only we make punishment tough enough. We keep imagining that the problem is that young people aren't frightened enough," wrote Washington Post columnist William Raspberry in April 1995. "The real problem is that our young people aren't hopeful enough."

    1. Jesus did not come to discipline us.

A doting mother sent the following note to her son's teacher: "Dear Teacher: If my Archibald is naughty - and he sometimes is - just whip the boy next to him. This will frighten Archibald and make him behave."

      1. Discipline, 1 time in NRSVA

      2. Translated Admonition in KJV, Used 3 times

Means the same thing = calling attention to, that is, (by implication) mild rebuke or warning:--admonition.

    1. Jesus did not come to condemn us.

      1. Condemnation = an adverse sentence (the verdict):--condemnation.

      2. The lesson that we read for today ought to be burned into our minds and our spirits.

16"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. 17"Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him, (John 3:16 through John 3:17, NRSVA).

      1. Condemnation comes not from God,. But from the enemy of the soul.

        1. Read about the qualifications of an elder, bishop in 1 Timothy:

1The saying is sure: whoever aspires to the office of bishop desires a noble task. 2Now a bishop must be above reproach, married only once, temperate, sensible, respectable, hospitable, an apt teacher, 3not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, and not a lover of money. 4He must manage his own household well, keeping his children submissive and respectful in every way--5for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how can he take care of God's church? 6He must not be a recent convert, or he may be puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. 1 Timothy 3:1 through 1 Timothy 3:6 (NRSVA)

        1. Read what Paul has to say about this subject in Romans 8.1:

1There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. Romans 8:1 through Romans 8:2 (NRSVA)

      1. We cannot save ourselves, but we can sure condemn ourselves.

In one of Bruce Narramore's books, he wrote about a woman he was counseling. He asked her to write 10 sentences beginning, I am... Here's the way she began: I am a poor mother. I am a disappointment to my parents. I am overweight. I am unhappy. I am divorced.

Narramore said, Ma'am, I didn't ask you to name 10 bad things about yourself. Name 10 good things. Here are the kinds of things she listed: I try to be a good mother. I try to keep a clean house. I try... What was she saying? I try to, but I don't. Those were just 10 sneaky ways of condemning herself again.

Too many of us do the same. We worry about burning a trail to heaven or burning one out of hell until we're neurotic about it. We can't enjoy our religion. We don't believe there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. We feed this condemnation to ourselves: I can't do enough.

--Mike Cope, Living in Two Worlds (Nashville: Christian Communications, 1987), 119.

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  1. Jesus came to rescue us.

    1. If you are going into deep water, you had better know how to swim.

    2. If you don't know how to swim, you had better hope that there is a lifeguard handy.

    3. What or whom is going to save me FROM SIN?

    4. What does our lesson say

16"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. 17"Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him, (John 3:16 through John 3:17, NRSVA).

CONCLUSION:

  1. Jesus came to rescue us by becoming one of us.

A woman and her son prepared to set off for the 11:00 p.m. Christmas Eve worship at their church. The husband, as usual, decided that he would stay home, sit in his easy chair and enjoy the evening unencumbered by "church stuff." As he watched his family leave in the car, he could see that it was starting to snow.

While reading the newspaper, the man thought he heard some knocking at the window, but then decided that he was hearing things. But then there was some more knocking, some pecking.

He opened the curtains, and he could see that the snow had intensified and that the wind had picked up. Then ... then he could see a bird, no, a whole flock of birds in his lawn. A few had flown into his window, perhaps to seek shelter from the storm. It was as if they were disoriented. He could see that they would be in trouble if they didn't find shelter, so he thought he would scare them away by flicking the porch light on and off. But they wouldn't go. So the man went out on the porch and caused a tremendous racket, hoping that they would fly off to safety. But they still wouldn't go.

Then the man thought, "I have a barn that might offer them shelter from the storm." So he put on his jacket, went outside, pulled the barn doors wide open and put on a light, hoping to attract the birds inside to safety. But they wouldn't come. They huddled on the ground, sometimes flying into the window of his home.

"Food. Food will bring them into the barn," thought the man. So he went inside, took some bread, went again outside and tossed bread crumbs in a path that would lead them to the barn. Still, the birds would not come.

"Oh," said the man out loud, "I wish that I could become a bird, if only for a short while, so that I could show them how much I care for them and that I mean to offer them life."

Just then, in the distance, the church bells rang, announcing the birth of the Savior.

--Norman Wahl, Faith Lutheran Church, St. Charles, Minn., in Ecunet [database online], [cited 12 January 1995], meeting name: Eculaugh, address: norman_wahl,parti@ecunet.org.

1. Pastor Tim [posts@cybersaltlists.org]

2. British writer Jonathan Nicholas, quoted in Luis Palau Responds E-zine, February 15, 2000.

3. Ted Turner, vice chairman of Time Warner, quoted in Christian Century, December 20-27, 2000, 1326.

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