“God Who Came to the Rescue” John 3:16-18; I Tim. 2:6 12/23/07 Preached by Dr. Ben Sloan
This week I did a google search on my computer. I put in, “Christmas Tree Family.” The story came out about the Dominguez family. He took his three kids (aged 12-18) to the mountains to find a Christmas tree. It was snowing as they went, but after they got out of their pickup truck, it really began snowing very hard. They became disoriented and could not find their way to their pick up truck. They spent three days (maybe a symbolic of the resurrection here) camping out in the open in the snow without heavy coats, equipment or food. Their cell phones would not work. They were all wondering if they would ever make it back. Their tracks were erased by the snow, and they spent the night in a drainage pipe. Meanwhile hundreds of people were searching through the deep drifts and millions were praying. Steve Ward and David White, of the California Highway Patrol, had been circling the area for hours. They were told that another storm was about to arrive and it was risky to stay, but they decided to make one last pass before going home. When they passed over the area, Ward saw the word “HELP” stomped in the snow, and brought the chopper down. Mr. Dominguez ran out barefooted yelling for help. They were rescued. ABC and many others called it a Christmas miracle. In this life, however, not everyone makes it. I guess that is why this rescue was such an amazing thing. But the real Christmas miracle is available for everyone. It is that God came to the rescue for us. When we really couldn’t save ourselves, God came. This salvation is available to everyone—whosoever will.
Jesus came in part to rescue us. He was the hero who came at the last second, who risked it all so that we might be saved.
I. WHENEVER A RESCUE OCCURS THERE IS COST INVOLVED- As it costs those helicopter pilots time, gas, energy, effort and a threat to their own safety. We take this for granted too often. When trouble occurs, a price has to be paid to redeem us from that trouble. It may be trouble of our own making- or it may be out of our hands—it doesn’t matter a whole bunch. Whenever a mistake is made, a price is paid to fix it. If you spill milk, someone must clean it up and a napkin maybe used up to clean it up, and energy must be spent. If someone plays with fire, someone else may get burned, and someone has to clean up the ashes and maybe pay higher insurance premiums. Sin is something that has consequences and must be fixed. God is the One who fixes it. One of the steps to fixing this was to leave heaven and come to earth for us as the Christ child. The cross is the ultimate symbol that a rescue has occurred for us.
In 2006 a wonderful movie called, “The Guardian” starring Kevin Costner came out. It was about the Coast Guard and how much they risk to try to save others in trouble. The lead character was the only survivor of a rescue crew and he doesn’t want anyone else to die. In the end, he dies trying to save a ship’s crew from death in a storm. Rescue comes at a price. Experience will teach us this. Jesus teaches us this too.
II. FROM WHAT DOES CHRIST SAVE US?
There are people who believe we do not need saving. There were people who did not leave for Katrina because they couldn’t get transportation because they were too poor. There were police and firefighters who stayed, and those who could not leave physically who stayed in the face of that hurricane. But there were also thousands who stay to have a hurricane party. The internet has stories of thousands of them- those who went to the bar to drink the “Hurricane” drinks. They didn’t recognize their trouble and danger. Hundreds poured into not just one bar but several, ignoring evacuation warnings. While most survived, all were miserable. That was a bad decision. It is important to recognize our need for being saved. Let me talk about two things that point us toward our need of Christ’s coming into our lives-
A. Our Trouble is we are disconnected from God and therefore disconnected from each other and even disconnected from ourselves. A baby cannot be disconnected from its mother and remain healthy. Christ came as a mediator to bring peace between us and God and to reconcile us to God. He was God who came to be with us humans so that we might be with God. He is Immanuel- God with us. He is our Peace- the Prince of Peace. The angels said, “Peace on earth goodwill towards Men.”
B. There is another sense in which this life is not complete without Christ’s rescue.
If we do not know, really firmly know that Christ has rescued us, then we may live in worry, fear, sadness when we do not have to. We can easily get so caught up in the problems and sadness of this life, that we miss our eternal, abundant life- which does NOT begin after we die. Jesus said, “I came that they might have life and have it abundantly” (Jn. 10:10).
Jesus saves us from a meaningless life. I have talked to many, many very wealthy individuals who have little meaning in their life. They have spent their whole life climbing to the top. They may have a nice home at the beach, and two other homes, but now that they have reached their goal, they are wondering what life is all about. It is not about how many presents you have under the tree. Most people will forget how many presents they have by December 27th. They are missing the greatest Christmas gift that makes all the rest meaningful- Jesus.
I think of the former Soviet Union. They were following Marx’s philosophy that life is better if everyone is equal. This was a tremendous human experiment that ended up in failure and I might add almost destroyed the world. It should be a warning to us all. They took God out of everything in the name of tolerance and equality. They made clothes for everyone, but they were basically the same drab gray. They also took all incentive to improve away from everyone. People lived in fear of the government, who could throw them in jail or take away their lives. The truth is, no one wanted to live in such plainness anymore. No one wanted to live in fear and drabness. They wanted beauty and peace as well as motivation and meaning in life. They tried to ignore or eliminate God but found they could not. In America, we are in the midst of a tremendous experiment to eliminate all thought or mention or practice of God from the public square. It is a Bolshevik Revolution that is waged without a shot. But make no mistake, when we try to take God out, we take out morality, truth, hope, meaning, beauty, and yes—the abundant life.
The word for redeem in the Bible is “Luo” “to loose.” Jesus came to set us free-- to loose us to live the abundant life now and forever. Jesus came to set us free, and I hope you will take the freedom he offers.
III. THE REDEMPTIVE WORK OF CHRIST- Redeeming and ransoming are his redemptive work.
Christ ransoms us from our captivity. He said, “The Son of Man came- not be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mk. 10:45). I Timothy 2:6 confirms this when it says, “Christ Jesus became human, and gave himself as a ransom for all.”
Christ redeems us when we cannot redeem ourselves. He paid the human price so that we might have the chance to live- we have to recognize and accept his price paid for us. If I were to take some of Kay’s jewelry to a pawn shop in order to get some cash, (first of all I would be in real trouble at home) but I would probably pay a higher price than the money I got for it when I got it back—when I redeemed it. A very high price has been paid for our redemption. God Himself has paid it, and he started that payment when he came to earth. They called him “Jesus” because he would save his people from their sins.
We sing a lot of songs at Christmas. A recurring theme in Christmas carols and other songs is redemption (ransom, salvation): “O Come O Come Emmanuel and RANSOM captive Israel.” Or the First Noel that ends with “And with his blood our lives hath bought.” Silent night speaks of “With the dawn of Redeeming grace.” Hark the Herald Angels sings, “Born that we may no more may die, born to raise us from the earth, born to give us second birth.” And there are hundreds more- Joy to the World says, “No more let sins and sorrows grow—he comes to make his blessings known.” He is our Redeemer- he came to ransom us- and that is our joy! I wish you this Joy this Christmas!