This sermon was delivered in four parts at four places in the worship service
2007 Christmas Eve – “Why Christ
Came: Peace, Hope, Love & Joy”
Romans 5:1-11
Sermon preached at Curwensville Presbyterian Church – December 23, 2007
Sermon Introduction: The word Advent means coming. The season of Advent celebrates the Christ who has come and is coming again. It begs the question, why has Christ come?
The Advent
wreath has four candles around the Christ candle, which tell us four reasons why
Christ came. Tonight we will look at those four reasons – as they are summarized
in
I. Why Christ Came: Peace {Romans 5:1}
We begin with verse 1 – which is printed in the bulletin – and the first reason Why Christ Came: Peace. “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ…”
When the Bible speaks of peace, God isn’t talking about the world making peace with itself; the Bible speaks of God making peace with the world.
Why does God need
to make peace with the world? Because the world became God’s enemy when it fell
into sin.
We are born friends of the world and thus enemies of God. Russ Ford, a death row chaplain said, “Jesus didn't teach us to love our enemies for their good. It is for our own good – to keep from becoming the enemy.”
And so it is said, “Injuring puts you below your enemy; revenging makes you even with him; forgiving sets you above him” (Anonymous). God has chosen to forgive his enemy – us – through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
Think about your greatest enemy for a moment. Do you have an enemy? Someone who has wronged you severely. Perhaps it is a foreign enemy that you’ve never really met. But perhaps it was someone who was once very close to you – a best friend, or even a family member – who did something to you.
Kids can certainly think about this, too. People who are mean to you at school…
Even thinking about that person – and what they did to us – can cause us to burn with anger. But this pales in comparison with what we have done to God. Our rebellion in rejecting him time and time again to do things our way gives God every right to burn with anger.
But here is the amazing good news of God’s grace – instead of pouring out his righteous wrath upon us who deserve it; he poured out his wrath on Jesus – sending him to be born like one of us, living among us, and dying for us. And he did all of this so that we could have peace with God.
Herein lies the good news. If you have been justified by faith, then you are no longer God’s enemy. If you have received Jesus Christ as your Savior and surrendered to his Lordship over your life, God is no longer angry at you – and never will be again.
It is interesting that the Lord Jesus Christ is called the Prince of Peace. He is not called the Prince of Hope, the Prince of Love, or the Prince of Joy, all of which would certainly be appropriate. He is called the Prince of Peace.
A couple weeks ago I read, “Peace is the deliberate adjustment of my life to the will of God.” We are at odds with God when we pursue our own will; but when we pursue God’s will – as he has clearly revealed it in his word – we have peace with God.
Adjust your life to the will of God. Conform to the image of Christ. Be at peace with God. After all that’s why Christ came.
Light the candle of Peace from the Christ candle
II. Why Christ Came: Hope {Romans 5:2-4}
Again when the Bible speaks of hope, God is not talking about a worldly kind of hope – wishful thinking – like, “I hope it snows on Christmas” (and the rest of you hope it doesn’t).
Kids – there are things you “hope” to get for Christmas [don’t we all].
When God speaks of
hope, he is talking about a sure thing. As
By faith I don’t just wish that there is a God our there; I have confident hope in God – because I know him, by faith.
It is by faith that we gain access into sure hope. Charles Spurgeon said, “Little faith will bring your soul to heaven; great faith will bring heaven to your soul.”
Do you want to taste heaven, here on earth; then put all of your faith in Christ – who is heaven that came to earth.
Let’s make sure, then, that we understand faith rightly. “Faith does not mean believing without evidence. It means believing in realities that go beyond sense and sight – for which a totally different sort of evidence is required” (John Baillie).
St. Augustine said, “Faith is to believe what we do not see; and the reward of this faith is to see what we believe.”
And so, the Bible commentator, William Barclay said – “The Christian does not begin with what the human intellect has discovered. The Christian begins with what God has revealed.”
Indeed, “The Scriptures are the manger in which Christ is laid” (Martin Luther).
And so our hope is in the Christ – revealed to us by God’s Word and Spirit. Christ didn’t come to bring us hope, but to be our hope.
This hope, this faith, this trust in the Christ – whom we know – makes us view life differently. We don’t complain about sufferings – we rejoice in them; because they are producing greater and greater hope.
This hope, this faith, changes the way in which we live. Separating faith and works is like separating the heat and light from a candle. You know both are produced by the candle. You know they are not the same thing. You also know you cannot separate them.
True faith
is evidenced in our works. True faith is evidenced in hope. The benediction of
Embrace your sufferings as the God-ordained means to fill you with hope. After all, that’s why Christ came.
Light the candle of Hope from the Christ candle
III. Why Christ Came: Love {Romans 5:5-8}
And yet again, in the Bible, God gives us a different view of love – far different than the world’s view. Worldly love is a self-centered love. We love something because of what we get out of it.
We love certain foods, because they are satisfying. We love vacation days, because we can do whatever we want with them. We love a spouse, because of what they give us in return.
Notice, how we stop loving those things when they stop giving us what we want. Marriages break up because one, or both parties are no longer satisfied.
Families break apart, friendships break apart, because they aren’t getting what they want. We quit a job, a club, church, because we don’t get what we want. Something we once loved, we no longer love – because we aren’t getting anything out of it.
And then we look at the way God loves us. He doesn’t get squat out of us. We continue to rebel like spoiled little brats. But God continually pours out “his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.”
Those verses are really profound saying that someone would die for a good man. That is to say there are people for whom we might die. We would, perhaps, sacrifice our lives for family, friends – for those we love. Our military is willing to die for the country they love.
But God demonstrated his love in this, dying not for good people; but for his enemies.
Many people ask, “Why does God let bad things happen to good people.” The answer is, “Show me a good person and I’ll tell you.” God doesn’t love good people. God loves us. We’re not saved because we’re good. We’re saved because we belong to God.
This is what separates the God of the Bible from every other god in the world – the god of the Jews, Muslims; the secularist who is their own god. Every other religion and belief system says you must do good to be loved.
The God of the
Bible says, “You don’t have to do good for me to love you; I already love you –
so that you can do good.”
The God of the Bible is not just creator, but also redeemer. He not only creates, but he also cleans up – our mess.
I was thinking about this as I turned off yet another light that my kids left on. All kids, you know those light switches that turn lights on – did you know they also turn the light off? Did you know that the book you got off of the bookshelf can also be put back on? The toy you took out, can also be put back?
Kids naturally love to create; but they don’t naturally like to clean-up. In fact, most people love to create, but don’t like to clean-up. The exceptions to this aren’t really exceptions. It’s just that some people see cleaning as a form of creating – creating a clean room.
Our God – in love – created us; and even after we made the mess, our God – in love – cleaned up after us. God doesn’t love us for what he gets out of it. He loves us for what we get out of it.
And so let us love God and others – not for what we get out of it – but for what he, and they, get out of it. After all, that’s why Christ came.
Light the candle of Love from the Christ candle
III. Why Christ Came: Joy {Romans 5:9-11}
The Bible completely redefines the meaning of words, doesn’t it? Actually, it would be more right to say the world has redefined the meaning of words. Peace is not a world peace, but peace with God – “Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled” (Hark! The Herald Angels Sing).
Hope is not a wishful hope of worldly reward, but a hope in heaven – who has come to earth -“The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight” (O Little Town of Bethlehem).
Love is not self-centered, but self-sacrificing – “Be near me, Lord Jesus; I ask Thee to stay close by me forever and love me, I pray. Bless all the dear children in Thy tender care, and fit us for heaven to live with Thee there” (Away in a Manger).
And so we come to
And again, in the Bible, God gives us the right view of joy, which is far different than the worldly view – which is happiness.
Yesterday morning we saw the difference between joy and happiness from Webster’s dictionary. Happiness comes from what is happening TO you. Joy comes from what is happening IN you.
The other day I read a list of 10 things to do so that you won’t have joy:
1. Make little things bother you: don't just let them, make them!
2. Lose your perspective of things, and keep it lost. Don't put first things first.
3. Get yourself a good worry – one about which you cannot do anything but worry.
4. Be a perfectionist: condemn yourself and others for not achieving perfection.
5. Be right, always right, perfectly right all the time. Be the only one who is right, and be rigid about your rightness.
6. Don't trust or believe people, or accept them at anything but their worst and weakest. Be suspicious. Impute ulterior motives to them.
7. Always compare yourself unfavorably to others, which is the guarantee of instant misery.
8. Take personally, with a chip on your shoulder, everything that happens to you that you don't like.
9. Don't give yourself wholeheartedly or enthusiastically to anyone or to anything.
10. Make happiness the aim of your life instead of bracing for life's barbs through a "bitter with the sweet" philosophy.
God has a very different prescription. Instead of focusing on what is happening TO you, focus on what God is doing IN you. “Rejoice in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation” (verse 11).
For the Christian, the Lord is always working in us – especially during times of trials. We can fight it – and be miserable; or embrace it – and have joy.
On June 6, 1981, Doug Whitt and his bride, Sylvia, were escorted to their hotel’s fancy bridal suite in the wee hours of the morning. In the suite they saw a sofa, chairs, and table, but where was the bed? Then they discovered the sofa was a hide-a-bed, with a lumpy mattress and sagging springs. They spent a fitful night and woke up in the morning with sore backs. The new husband went to the hotel desk and gave the management a tongue-lashing. “Did you open the door in the room?” asked the clerk. Doug went back to the room. He opened the door they had thought was a closet. There, complete with fruit baskets and chocolates, was a beautiful bedroom! Opening all the doors in a honeymoon suite is like obeying all the words of Jesus. Discipleship is the door to joy.
Follow the Lord Jesus Christ, as his disciple, and let God re-define peace, hope, love and joy. After all that’s why Christ came.
Light the candle of Joy from the Christ candle