Sunday
12/15/19 - Sidney UMC
Sermon Title: “We are never beyond redemption!”
(“Why we need a
little Christmas” Series – Part 3 of 5)
Old Testament
Scripture: Isaiah 35:1-10
New Testament
Scripture: James 5:7-10
Gospel Lesson:
Matthew 11:2-11
Welcome again on
this our Third Sunday of Advent. We are now three Sundays into this season
where we await the birth of Christ, the return of Christ, and we are called to
invite Christ into our hearts daily. Soon very soon, Christmas will come, as we
wait, as we anticipate, as we hope, and hopefully in the process, as we draw
closer to Christ and to each other.
In this weary and broken world, we need Jesus, we need
Christmas, or the coming of Jesus. Since we need Jesus, since we need
Christmas, maybe just maybe “We
need a little Christmas.” We need to have “Hope in Hopeless World.” We need a
reason to endure, a reason to move forward, and Jesus and him coming among us
is the best reason I know!
All of us in
this world are motivated by something. Some chase money, or relationships, or
power, and etc. Yet will these things in the end truly fulfill us? If our lives
are simply filled with self-centered pursuits, and we just die and go in
ground, then life has no meaning.
When we
believe in God, and have hope in Jesus though, we have a truth and a hope so
much bigger than anything this world can offer. Nothing can fill us like God.
In a world that sometimes seems hopeless, we need to remember how the story
ends, and that Jesus is victorious! We are forgiven through him, and will be
with him for eternity we believe in him. Nothing can separate us from God, and
we will be with God forever. Sounds like some good hope to me!
Once we
realize this hope is found only in Jesus, we can then realize all the more that
God loves us. We can realize that God made us in His image, and because of this,
“God can use even us!” God made us special, and God doesn’t make any junk. No
matter how strong, young or old we are, God can use us. In this season of
Advent and soon to be Christmas, let us have hope in Jesus, and let us allow
God to use us. We will all be used differently, but may we let God use and
guide us.
So we turn to
Christ, we realize that this world is fallen and broken. We receive
forgiveness, new life, and hope in Jesus. God equips us through the church to
serve Him and others in a variety of ways. After these mountain top experiences,
as I like to call them though, some of us then begin to go backward. You see in
the moment, on the spiritual mountain top, we are fierce like lions. Then
something happened, or some things happened.
I have sat
bedside, at tables, on couches, in airplanes, on trains, and many other places
with people. I have sat with people of all different walks of life. Regardless
of these persons education, wealth, power, and etc., some of them felt
unworthy. They looked back through their life, (many of these people bear in mind
being professed Christians) and they thought they weren’t good enough.
Did they turn
to God? Yes. Do they love and follow Jesus? Yes. They have been forgiven by God
through Jesus, yet at times they can’t seem to forgive themselves. Sometimes my
brothers and sisters, and especially in this season of Advent “We need a little
Christmas,” we need to hear again that “We are never beyond redemption”!
God says, I
created you in my image, and I love you. God says I am sending my son to earth
just for you. God says even though this world is broken, have hope in me
through my Son. Let me use you to serve and love others. So many of us know
this, but do we embrace it. Do we see ourselves, the way God sees us?
Do we truly
believe that “We are never beyond redemption”! Or do we just kind of believe
that? Jesus is coming to set us free. We all have made mistakes, we all, as I
am talking, can think of many things that we have done wrong. Maybe, hopefully,
we have gone to Jesus and asked for His forgiveness. We have been given this
forgiveness from God, but have we forgiven ourselves?
In the gospel
of Matthew, when the Wise Men or the Magi were on their way to see little
Jesus, King Herod summoned them. They ate and they talked with King Herod, and
King Herod encouraged the Wise Men to go and find Jesus. King Herod then told
the Wise Men to bring little Jesus to him, that he may worship Jesus. Of course
King Herod wanted to kill Jesus.
Why didn’t
King Herod go with the Wise Men to see Jesus though? I think, and many other
pastors and scholars think, that King Herod stayed back at his castle, because
he didn’t know what would happen if Jesus was actually there. If he truly stood
in the presence of the living God, come to us soon as a baby, could be honest
leave that encounter unchanged?
I think King
Herod stayed put and sent the Wise Men ahead without him, because he knew that
if we went with the Wise Men to Bethlehem that something would have to change
in his life. King Herod, I think, didn’t even get to forgiving himself, as he
wasn’t even ready to ask forgiveness! I think King Herod wanted to keep his
throne, as he should have gotten off of it, and put Jesus, the King of Kings
and the Lord of Lords on the throne of his life.
This Christ, this Messiah, this baby caused
the Wise Men to journey for weeks, maybe even months. They had everything
materially, but still they came. The season of Advent is journey to Bethlehem.
A journey to discover anew, or the first time, hope, joy, peace, and love like
we have never known. Being forgiven, renewed, reborn, and sent back into the
world to be used God as God calls us to be used, is the mission of the church. Make
disciple and be disciples.
In this
season of Advent though brothers and sisters, have we forgiven ourselves? Or do
we believe in and love Jesus, but yet deep down we still feel unworthy?
Jesus wants
us to trust him so fully and so greatly, that he is coming down among us soon.
He will be born outside, in an animal stall, lowly, innocent, and vulnerable.
He will stop and nothing to show us his love, his forgiveness, and his hope. Do
we believe though that “We are never beyond redemption”!
Advent is
journey to discover Christ, to discover Christ anew, and an opportunity to put
our full trust in Jesus. This full trust includes forgiving ourselves.
In looking
again at our reading from this morning from the Book of Isaiah, the prophet
Isaiah tell us hundreds of years before Christ, what his life and reign will
look like. Once again, this is what prophet Isaiah tells us for this morning of
this Jesus who is coming among us:
“The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert
shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly, and
rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty
of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God. Strengthen
the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who are of a
fearful heart, “Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God. He will come with
vengeance, with terrible recompense. He will come and save you.” Then the eyes of the blind
shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then the lame shall leap
like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy. For waters shall
break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; the burning sand
shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; the haunt of
jackals shall become a swamp, the grass shall become reeds
and rushes. A highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Holy Way; the unclean
shall not travel on it, but it shall be for God’s people; no traveler, not even
fools, shall go astray. No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast
come up on it; they shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk
there. And the ransomed of the Lord shall
return, and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their
heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee
away” (Isa. 35:1-10, NRSV).
When Jesus comes among us soon,
everything will change. We will have hope, joy, peace, and love. Jesus will be
here, he will grow up, teach us, love us, die for us, rise again, ascend to
heaven, and one day will return in glory. When He and His hope are alive in us,
we can have truly “Hope in a hopeless world”. When He and His hope are alive in
us, we can have truly can believe that “God can use even us.” The question is
though, is can we love and forgive ourselves, the way that Jesus loves and
forgives us? Do we truly believe that “We are never beyond redemption”? Do we
believe that we are loved, forgiven, empowered, equipped, that renewed in
Christ?
In looking at
our scripture reading from the Book of James for this morning, James reminds us
to have hope, joy, peace, and love. He says once again for this morning:
“Be patient, therefore, beloved,
until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious crop from
the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late
rains. You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the
Lord is near. Beloved, do not grumble against one
another, so that you may not be judged. See, the Judge is standing at the
doors! As an example of suffering and patience, beloved, take the
prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord” (Jas.
5:7-10, NRSV).
May we have
hope, love each other, be patient, and have hope, peace, joy, and love. Jesus
is coming, let us have hope in him.
In our gospel
lesson for this morning we are reminded once again of John the Baptist who
prepares the way for Jesus. John the Baptist, the one who lives in the
wilderness, wears camel’s hair, and eats locusts and honey.
Once again,
this what the gospel of Matthews has to say for this morning:
“When John heard in prison what the
Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples and
said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” Jesus
answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their
sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead
are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone
who takes no offense at me.” As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John:
“What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind?
What then did you go out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes?
Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces. What then did you go out
to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the
one about whom it is written, ‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way before you.’ Truly I tell you, among
those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist; yet the
least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he” (Mt.
11:2-11, NRSV).
John the Baptist had hope, but not in
himself. John the Baptist had hope because of Jesus. John the Baptist lived in
the wilderness, baptized, and did everything that he did because of Jesus. He
will go to jail and be beheaded because of his love for Jesus.
So in this season of Advent and soon to be
Christmas, “We need a little Christmas,” We need “Hope in hopeless world,” we
need to believe that “God can use even us,” and we need to believe that “We are
never beyond redemption”.
In doing a little research, I found this good explanation
about forgiving ourselves from www.billgraham.org. Here is what it says:
“If
you have honestly committed your life to Jesus Christ and are
trusting Him alone for your salvation, then the Bible says that God has
forgiven you — fully and freely. You have been adopted into His family, and
nothing can ever change that. The Bible says, “Therefore, there is now no
condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).
“Don’t
trust your feelings; they aren’t dependable and will only lead you astray.
Instead, trust Christ and what He
has done for you by His death on the cross and His resurrection from the
dead. Trust, too, in God’s promises to you — because God cannot lie, and He has
promised to forgive and save all who come to Christ by faith”.
“In addition, ask God to help you
forgive yourself. The memory of what you did in the past condemns you — but it
condemns you falsely, because Jesus Christ gave His life for all those sins.
The Bible says, “We set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts
condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts” (1 John 3:19-20). If God has
forgiven you, shouldn’t you also forgive yourself?”
“Thank
God for His forgiveness — and then ask Him to free you from
the past. In addition, if possible go back to those you hurt, and let them know
you regret what you did and you hope they’ll forgive you — even as Christ has
forgiven you”.
Friends,
brothers and sisters, in this season of Advent, soon to be Christmas, “We need
a little Christmas”. We need to journey again to that manger in Bethlehem to
encounter the Christ child. In doing so we can have hope, peace, love, and joy
anew, or maybe for the first time. We can be restored, renewed, remade,
forgiven, and we can forgive ourselves, as we “We all need a little Christmas.”
As none of us “are ever beyond redemption”. Amen.
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