A Time for Salvation

Galatians 4:4 (TEV) says, “When the time finally came, God sent his own Son. He came as the son of a human mother and lived under the Jewish law.”

Years ago I was sitting in my parked car on a hot summer day with the windows rolled down waiting for my wife, Kelsey, to come out of a store. Elyse, our daughter, was three years old and strapped into a car seat in the back. Frustrated by having to wait in the heat and limited by her car seat, she hung her head out the window and yelled, “Please, God! Get me out of this!” She was crying out for a savior.

Because she couldn’t free herself, my daughter, needed someone bigger and more powerful to rescue her from her frustrating predicament. Ever felt like that? We all have. Maybe you’re feeling that way this Christmas. You feel like yelling, “Please, God! Get me out of this!”

 The second purpose of Christmas is salvation! Salvation is typically defined as deliverance from sin, self, and hell. It definitely includes all that, but it also embraces much more. We are not only saved FROM something bad, we are saved FOR something good. The Bible says, “In Christ Jesus, God made us to do good works, which God planned in advance for us to live our lives doing.”

God has a great purpose and a good plan for life. Salvation also means being given the freedom and power to fulfil God’s purpose for your life.

The announcement of salvation for anyone in the world who’d accept it was the angel’s second declaration of good news to the shepherds of Bethlehem at the first Christmas: “Today…there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11, NASB).

Notice that this Savior is “for you”! He came for your benefit.

When people think of spiritual salvation, they often have a very narrow concept of it: they think that salvation is being saved from hell. But God had so much more in mind than just fire insurance when He came to be our Savior. God’s gift of true salvation is freedom, purpose, and life in three dimensions. It includes your past, your present, and your future: Jesus saves you from something, for something, and by something.

1. Jesus came to save you FROM sin and yourself. Let me be blunt: YOU are the source of most of your problems. Even when other people cause you problems, your natural response often makes them worse. You trip yourself up far more often than you realize or would like to admit. If you’re honest with yourself, you’ll admit that you have habits you can’t break, thoughts you don’t want, emotions you don’t like, insecurities and fears you can’t hide, and regrets and resentments you can’t let go of, and you say things you later wish you’d never said. Frankly, YOU are the problem with you. For change to happen, it must start in your heart.

We’re all born with an “I” problem. We are, by nature, self-centered. Just ask any parent who has raised a child. We don’t have to be taught to be selfish. It comes naturally. Our natural inclination is to want our own way instead of God’s way. This tendency to make wrong choices instead of right ones is called SIN. The middle letter of sin is “I”, and whenever I place myself at the center of my life, I sin. It is any attitude or action that denies God His rightful place at first in my life.

Sin is our greatest problem, and it is universal. You and I sin every day – with our words, our thoughts, and our actions. The Bible says, “Not a single person on earth is always good and never sins.” Nobody’s perfect. Nobody bats a thousand. No one has a perfect record. God says, “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”

On a global level, we see the effect of sin all around us: war, injustice, corruption, prejudice, poverty, sex trafficking, and all our other social problems. Even many diseases are caused by our refusal to live by God’s standards for healthy living. Who can save us? Not government. Not business. Not academics. These can only deal with the visible symptoms and results of sin. But any lasting solution must start in the heart, and only God can transform hearts.

   2. Jesus came to save you FOR a purpose. At some point in life, each us struggles with three basic questions: Why am I alive? Does my life matter? What is my purpose?

God has never created anything without a purpose. Since you are alive, you can be certain that God has a purpose for your life. The Bible says, “Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us the focus of his love.” But here’s the problem: every one of us has strayed from God’s intended purposes for our lives. Like a train that has jumped off the tracks, we’ve been derailed by our own stubbornness and sinful choices. The Bible says, “We’re all like sheep who’ve wandered off and gotten lost. We’ve all done our own thing, gone our own way. And God has piled all our sins, everything we’ve done wrong, on him (Jesus).”

Although God created each of us for a purpose, we’ve all taken many detours in life, thinking we knew better. So God had to come as our Savior – to redeem us from sin, to reset the directions of our lives, and to restore us to his original purposes for our lives. We are not just saved FROM evil; we’re saved FOR good!

For the past 10 years, one of my life verses has been Acts 13:36: David served God’s purpose in his generation, then he died. This phrase, “he served God’s purpose in his generation,” is the ultimate definition of a life well lived. You use your life to do that which is timeless and eternal (God’s purpose) in a timely and contemporary way (in your generation). You serve that which never changes (God’s Word) in a setting that is constantly changing (the world).

When you finally begin fulfilling the purpose that God created you for and saved you for, you realize, “This is my niche! This is why I’m alive!” All the success in the world will never give you that deep satisfaction. There will always be a hole in your heart because you were made to know, love, trust, and serve God.

         3. Jesus came to save you BY His grace. What is grace? Grace is God’s love in action. Grace is when God freely gives you what you need even though you don’t deserve it and can never repay Him. Grace is when God solves your greatest problem before you even know it is a problem. Grace is the face of God when He looks at your faults, failures, and fears. Grace is God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense.

Christmas would have no meaning if Jesus hadn’t died on the cross for us and then proved that He is God by rising again three days later on Easter Sunday. By dying to save you, Jesus paid off your debt, compensated for the damages of your sin, redeemed you from slavery to evil, and substituted Himself to take the punishment you deserved. That, my friend, is what people are singing about when they sing, “Amazing Grace”!

Do you know why the tradition of gift giving began? Because God gave the first and greatest gift at the first Christmas – Himself. “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!”

Our world is full of frustrated people who don’t know what they are looking for and wouldn’t know where to find it if they did. They just know that something is missing, something is incomplete in their lives. It’s a gnawing feeling that there’s got to be more to life than a paycheck until retirement. Maybe you have tried to find fulfillment in status or sex or salary or security or success, to no avail. What you’re missing – what you REALLY need – is salvation. You were made BY God and FOR God, and until you understand that, life will never make sense.

The answer is not in a place, a program, or a pill. The answer is a person. It’s Jesus. What you’re missing is a relationship with the One who created you so He could love you. “For as you know him better, he will give you, through his great power, everything you need for living a truly good life: he even shares his own glory and his own goodness with us!”

Jesus said, “You shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.” On the day of Pentecost after being asked how to be saved, Peter said, “Repent, be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” In that same sermon, Peter said, “Save yourselves from this untoward generation.”

What have you got to lose by saying yes to Jesus? You’ll lose guilt, insecurity, lack of purpose, fear of death, hopelessness, anxiety, shame, powerlessness, and a lot of other baggage that you carry when you attempt to live without God’s guidance. Who would turn down an offer like that? Still, God gives you the choice. You can decide to keep living a self-centered life, separated from God, or you can choose to turn your mind and heart from going your own way to following Jesus. Then ask for forgiveness for all your sins, take on His name (Jesus) through baptism, and then receive His Spirit (the Holy Ghost). With those decisions you activate what Jesus has already done for you. THIS is one of the purposes of Christmas. We rejoice because Christmas is a time for salvation!

A Time for Celebration

Psalm 118:24 (TEV) says, “This is the day of the Lord’s victory; let us be happy, let us celebrate!”

Christmas is a party. Specifically, it’s a birthday party – for Jesus – and birthdays are meant to be celebrated. It’s why we say “Merry Christmas!”

Ironically, at most Christmas parties the person whose birthday we’re supposed to be celebrating is completely ignored. He’s never even mentioned. Although Jesus is the reason for the season, He’s often overlooked or merely mentioned along with Rudolph, Frosty the Snowman, Santa Clause, the Grinch, elves, and a long list of celebrated fictional characters.

The first purpose of Christmas is celebration! We learn this from the angel’s opening statement to the shepherds of Bethlehem. God had wonderful news for us that would cause us all to rejoice, celebrate, and throw a party: “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people” (Luke 2:10, NIV).

The good news of Christmas is worth celebrating for three reasons. It is personal: “I bring YOU.” It is positive: “GOOD news of great joy.” And it is universal: “for ALL the people.” It doesn’t matter who you are, what you’ve done, where you’ve been, or where you’re headed – this news is for you.

The most famous statement in the Bible is Jesus’ explanation of how he came to earth: “God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”

The entire reason for Christmas is the love of God. God loves you so much that He came to earth as a human so you could get to know Him and learn to trust Him and love Him back. Theologians call this the Incarnation. God became one of us, a human being, so we could understand what He is really like.

God has given us, as human beings, the capacity to know him in ways animals can’t. He created us in His image, which includes the ability to enjoy a personal relationship with Him. Then He took the initiative to come to earth robed in flesh so we could understand His love and our need for Him.

Of course, we know a little about God by simply observing His creation. For instance, by looking at nature we know that our Creator loves variety: He created an incredibly diverse universe. Think of the limitless array of plants, animals, rock formations, snowflakes, and people. No two human beings, even twins, are exactly alike. God doesn’t make clones or copies. Every one of us is an original. After you were born, God broke the mold.

And yet, until Jesus arrived, our understanding of God’s love was limited. So God invaded earth! It was the greatest invasion in history, and nothing has been the same since. God could have chosen thousands of ways to communicate with us, but since He designed us, He knew the best way to communicate with us would be face-to-face.

If God had wanted to communicate to birds, He would have become a bird. If God would have wanted to communicate to cows, He would have become a cow. But God wanted to communicate to us, so He became one of us. He didn’t send an angel or a prophet or a politician or an ambassador. He came Himself. If you really want people to know how much you love them, you can’t send a representative to communicate it. You have to say it personally. That’s what God did at Christmas.

The Bible tells us that God is love. It doesn’t say God has love, but God is love. Love is the essence of God’s character. It is His very nature. The reason that everything in the universe exists is because God wanted to love it.

You were created as an object of God’s love. He made you in order to love you. His love is the reason you’re alive and breathing and reading this article. Every time your heart beats and every time you take a breath, God is saying, “I love you.” You would not exist if God had not wanted you. Although there are accidental parents, there are no accidental babies. The parents may not have planned them, but God did.

One potential problem of our annual Christmas celebrations is that many people only think of Jesus as a baby! Their conception of Him is only as a helpless newborn in His mother’s arms. If Jeus had never grown up to do what He did, He’d have no power to transform lives.

But the baby born in Bethlehem did not stay a baby. Jesus grew to manhood, modeled for us the kind of life that pleases God, taught us the truth, paid for every sin we commit by dying on a cross, then proved that He was God and could save us by coming back to life. This is the Good News.

Many people feel alone at Christmas. Right now you may not feel like God is with you. But God’s presence in your life has nothing to do with your feelings. Your emotions are susceptible to all kinds of influences, so they are often unreliable. Sometimes the worst advice you can get is “Do what you feel.” Often what we feel is neither real nor right. Your emotional state can be the result of memories, hormones, medicines, food, lack of sleep, tension, or fears. Whenever I start to feel anxious about a situation, I remind myself that fear is often Falso Evidence Appearing Real.

God came to earth at Christmas to remind you that He is always with you, no matter where you are. That’s a fact, whether you feel it or not. But you must connect or “tune in” to His presence on a moment-by-moment basis, and that is a skill that can be learned.

Sometimes babies are given two or three middle names to honor relatives. Jesus was given several names to explain his purpose for coming to earth. One of those names is Immanual. It means God with us. It’s no wonder the angel told the shepherds, “Do not be afraid!” You lose your fear when God is near. God’s presence trumps our panic. And the fact that God is with us is definitely something to celebrate!

One of God’s great promises in the Bible is this: “When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you.” I don’t know what difficulty you feel you’re drowning in right now or where the heat is on in your life, but I do know that whatever it is, God knows about it, cares about it, understands it, and is going through it with you. You’re not alone. That leads to a third aspect of God’s Good News.

Christmas is a time to celebrate that God is FOR you! The phrase “for you” is often used in the Bible. For instance, when Jesus met people, his first words to them were often a question: “What do you want me to do for you?” When Jesus instituted communion he said, “This is my body, which is given for you.” Saint Paul said, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” When you’re facing a personal attack, it is great to have God with you, but it is even greater to know He is for you!

Many people feel that God is secretly out to “get” them – that He is constantly playing a game of “Gotcha!” and just waiting for them to mess up and fail so he can say, “I told you so!” They imagine God as some kind of sadistic cosmic grouch who enjoys frustrating our plans and is always looking for ways to criticize, judge, or get even with us. But God Himself says otherwise: “I know the plans I have for you. They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”

No one wants best for you more than God. No one knows better what will make you truly happy! God doesn’t want you to be afraid of Him. He wants you to run to Him, not from Him. In fact, 365 times in the Bible, God says, “Don’t be afraid!” That’s one “Fear not” for every day of the year! So what are you afraid of? None of us knows what we’ll face this next year, but we can know that God loves us, God is with us, and God is for us. One plus God is a majority in any situation.

So where does our fear of God come from? Primarily two sources: a guilty conscience and ignorance of what God is really like. The Bible tells us, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives our fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” Guilt makes us insecure.

Have you ever noticed that some people get extremely nervous anytime anyone mentions God in a conversation? I’ve seen people have an instant reaction at the mere mention of Jesus. Instinctively, their stomachs, faces, and muscles all tighten up with a fight-or-flight response. Maybe you’ve felt yourself react that way and wondered why. Adrenaline starts rushing through your veins. One common reason is that we all carry secret, hidden guilt from things we’ve done wrong, and we feel ashamed of ways we’ve acted and treated others. Assuming that God is made at us and He’s going to scold us for al the ways we’ve fallen short, we seek to avoid even talking about Him,

But God is not made at you. He is mad about you! Jesus said that He did not come into the world to condemn the world, but to save it. If you study the life of Christ, you’ll quickly see that when you make a mistake, Jesus doesn’t rub it in. He rubs it out. He came to erase all your sins, mistakes, failures, and regrets. That’s why the first statement the angel made to the shepherds was “Do no be afraid!” Jesus came to save us, not to scare us! It’s a reason to celebrate!

The Purpose of Christmas

Ecclesiastes 3:1 says, “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven” (KJV).

Why is Christmas such a big deal? It’s the largest celebration around the world each year. Other holidays get a single day, but Christmas is emphasized for an entire month, one twelfth of every year. During the Christmas season, billions of people set aside their normal routines to decorate their homes, send out greeting cards, buy gifts, go to Christmas parties, attend church services, sing Christmas songs, watch TV specials, and travel long distances to be with their families. Christmas sights and sounds fill the air everywhere. There are stores, and even careers, that are exclusively dedicated to preparing for and celebrating this holiday. When Christmas comes, you can’t miss it. It’s everywhere.

If you stop to think about it, it is astounding that the simple, unassuming birth of a peasant boy born two thousand years ago in the Middle East has caused such a commotion – His birthday even causes traffic jams today in places like New York City, Tokyo, and Rio de Janeiro.

You may have never realized that every time you check your calendar or refer to a date or write one down, you are using Jesus Christ as your reference point. Because of Jesus, history is divided into BC (before Christ) and AD (anno Domini, in the year of the Lord). Every other history event in history and every event on your calendar today is dated by how many days and years it had been since Jesus Christ appeared on earth.

Even YOUR birthday is dated by HIS birthday.

The night Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem, a small group of poor shepherds were quietly tending their flocks of sheep in a nearby field. Looking up at the stars, nothing seemed any different from a thousand other nights. But what was about to happen would transform not only the shepherds’ lives but billions of other lives as well. The world would never be the same. Suddenly a bright light lit up the sky, and an angel from God appeared above them and began speaking to them. It seemed unbelievable and scared them. The Bible gives us the original Christmas story: “There were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.’ Suddenly, a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angle, praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his

favor rests.’”

The angel said that Christmas would bring “great joy…for all the people.” Really? For many people, getting ready for Christmas seems more of a hassle than a source of happiness. It is a source of stress. They feel pressure, not pleasure, when it comes to Christmas. It’s a duty, not a delight. They endure Christmas rather than enjoy it.

There are many possible reasons you might feel uneasy or lonely or even depressed during the Christmas season. You may dread spending time with oddball relatives. Maybe relationships are strained and uncomfortable in your family. Maybe you don’t have anyone to be with this Christmas. Christmas may remind you of losses or hurts or how things have changed. You may have a religious background that doesn’t include Christmas, or you have no faith at all; watching others celebrate may make you feel uneasy. Maybe you’re just exhausted and worn out from all that’s happened in your life this past year. This Christmas, God cares deeply about you how feel, and so do I. It’s why I am writing this series of articles over this Christmas season that will be published in our weekly worship guide.

Regardless of your background, religion, problems, or circumstances, Christmas really is the best news you could get. Beneath all the visible sights and sounds of Christmas are some simple yet profound truths that can transform your life for the better here on earth and forever in eternity. Right now there’s nothing more important for you to understand than the implications of Christmas for your life.

If you’ll slow down for a few minutes, the time it takes to read these articles over the next few weeks, and pause to consider the purpose of Christmas, you can receive and enjoy the best Christmas gifts you’ll ever be given. It is God’s Christmas gift to you.

God’s Christmas gift to you has three qualities that make it unique. First, it is the most expensive you’ll ever receive. It’s priceless. Jesus paid for it with his life. Second, it’s the only gift you’ll ever receive that will last forever. Finally, it is an extremely practical gift – one you’ll use every day for the rest of your life. Interested?

It is no accident that you are reading this article. God planned your birth, and before you were even born, he knew this moment was coming. In fact, it may be that all your whole life up to this moment has been preparing you to receive God’s Christmas gift to you.

On the first Christmas night, the angel announced three purposes for the birth of Jesus that we will cover each week, here on the blog:

“Christmas is a Time for Celebration” – Dec. 12^th

“Christmas is a Time for Salvation” – Dec. 19^th

“Christmas is a Time for Reconciliation” – Dec. 25^th

I hope you will join me each week, as we journey and discover “The Purpose of Christmas.”