Who Really Needs a Savior? (sermon)

Matt. 1:18-21

You shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Jesus. Jesus is a Greek translation of a Hebrew name. In Hebrew, ‘YASU” or YASUA means God saves.

But many in our enlightened and technologically sophisticated world would ask, “who needs a Savior?”

I. The deeper question behind the question is if we can overcome our human condition--Sin. Our highly sophisticated society was supposed to save us. Increasingly sophisticated technology has not brought us nearer to our own salvation, but moved us nearer to our own destruction. Consider this: despite a major reduction in arms by the world’s nuclear powers, a push of a few buttons could blow up the world 12 times! (As if one wasn’t enough.. . .) The idea that human progress would save us has been blasted by two world wars and innumerable smaller ones. I’m not saying technology is evil; I’m saying that while technology is neutral, in the wrong hands it can be used to great harm. Consider the computer and the internet. Today, statisticians tell us that about 2 in 3 men are addicted to internet pornography, innumerable people are falling prey to other addictions like compulsive shopping, gambling, etc. while one woman I personally know threw away her marriage and children after having an online affair with a man from Europe. Technology can not save us, for it is not inherently good. And in the hands of sinners, it will lead us into more sin.

And the church is not free from sin either. How much energy is wasted on attacking sinners without ever getting at the root -- the sin. A church in the old holiness tradition used to preach on the three cardinal sins: dancing, card playing, and going to the movies. Yet no mention was made of sins like hate, greed, pride, and a spirit of control that condemned so many and drove them away. The problem is NOT our sins, it is our SIN. For this nature alienates us from God, making us like the prodigal in Luke -- lost in sin and far from home. Yet like the prodigal, we easily fail to recognize our condition.

II. You see, sin blinds us. It deludes us into thinking we’re all right. Lucy says to Charlie Brown “Don’t you think I’m beautiful?” Trying to prick the swelling balloon of pride, Charlie Brown replies, “Remember Lucy, beauty is only skin deep.” Lucy replies, “I deny that! My beauty is not only on the surface; it goes down deep . . . layer after layer after layer! Yes Sir! I have a very thick beauty!” > We may laugh, but this is precisely what sin does. It convinces us that the good things that others see on the surface are the deep core of our being. We deny the words of St. Paul who told the church of Rome that “All have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God. Yet our denial doesn’t change the reality of what Paul said. Denial only makes us like the Pharisees, who sought to justify themselves instead of allowing the words that Christ spoke to have any life-changing effect upon them. Jesus called them wolves in sheep's clothing. Often we think about ourselves in the church as the sheep of God’s fold, but Christ tells us that there is only one way into the fold; Jesus said I am the door. We can not save ourselves!

III. But Pastor, Advent and Christmas are about the good news and this all sounds like bad news! “Your right, but the good news isn’t very good until we realize our need for a savior. The stain of sin on our life can not be removed by any human means. So God sent his son, the great stain lifter. (He is the good news, for when we needed a savior, God sent his son.) Humanity owed the debt of sin, passed down from Adam to his children, and from them down through the generations. Yet the debt, owed by humanity was so great that only God could meet it. Yet because of the lost relationship with mankind, he could not simply forgive it. It had to be paid by humanity. So God sent his son as the human incarnation of God. Incarnation is originally a Latin word. It has been moved into several other languages. In Spanish, the word means stew with meat. The Latin literally means God with meat on. God became meat, like us. Kierkegard perhaps explained the incarnation best in a parable.

Once there was a great and mighty king, a good king, who fell in love with a peasant girl. The king contemplated how he could win her love. He considered going to her directly or sending a messenger to her to ask her to become his wife, but he realized that as a subject she would be compelled to be obedient to a request from her king. He considered disguising himself as a peasant an approaching her as an equal, but eventually the truth would be known and deception and dishonesty violate the essence of love. Finally, the king realized that there was only one way left. He must give up all of the power and glory of kingship to become a peasant so that he might be one with his beloved. This is the unfathomable nature of love, that it desires equality with the beloved. God loved us so much, he came as a babe, born in a manger. He came so he could be our savior, paying the great debt of sinfulness. And in return he hopes to win our love.

IV. How then do we prepare for Christmas, in light of what God has done for us?

A. If we have never accepted him as lord and savior, we can come and give our life to him. If we ask him to come into our life and forgive our sins, he will gladly lift the stain of Sin.

B. If we are saved, but there is sin that is between you and God, come and give it to him. Allow him to cleanse you and restore that relationship.

C. If you’ve given him you sin, have you made him lord of all? Are you living for him or are you living for yourself? If you need to talk to Jesus this morning, his presence is here among us. Just step out in faith and God will meet you there.