“There is Forgiveness”
Key Text: Psalm 130:3-4; 1 John 4:8-10, 11; Matthew 1:18-23
Introduction
The “Holiday Season” — our cultural landscape of craziness and chaos and consumerism. Why does this season look like this? What story is driving this behavior? What is this behavior accomplishing? What is it doing to our soul? We may say that “Jesus is the reason for the season,” but what makes us different?
Consumerism — I must “have” or I must “give” to someone who must “have” and our well-being and joy is based on what I “get,” not on who God is, who I am, and what I have in Him. Culture must keep the economic machine churning, regardless of the consequences to our personal or national budget or our personal soul. Many just reject or protest such a culture, compensating for the pretentious joy with annoyance, skepticism, cynicism, and frustration; or many have suffered loss and give into despair. What are our options? Is there some other way of living than Buddy the Elf or Ebenezer Scrooge?
Advent — an alternative the church developed is a whole season to focus on the story of Jesus’ birth, not just read it, or worse yet, become bored by it; but we are to be infatuated by it, be immersed into it, be changed by it — and that story is intended to guide us in how we live. This season existed long before American consumerism hijacked the story. There is a Jesus way of living in the midst of our cultural landscape that is more than cliché, different than pretentious cheer, or cynical protest, or heart-broken despair.
Psalm 130:1-8 (ESV)
While we are in the depths, we pray; we abide in Jesus while in the dark seasons of life and the fruit we bear in that season will shine the light of Christ the brightest.
Christians, though, have a difficult time trying to navigate these seasons of darkness because we like things to be microwavable and instant. We think that because we love Jesus, things should instantaneously get better. And sometimes they do. But many times they do not. So the temptation for many Christians is to become pretentious: “fake it ’til you make it.” This is not faith. We have to recognize that there are big problems in the world, and big issues in our lives that Jesus cares deeply about and wants to work on your behalf, but does it within His overall plan for all mankind.
God did not stand aloof and careless to the issues of the world. It’s important that we see a bigger picture of what God does to deal with the world’s issues and how he deals with us.
Psalm 130:3-4 (ESV)
Iniquity – crookedness, being bent which should be straight; humans inability to do good in his sight. Justice from God is often described as our iniquities being “visited upon us,” or reaping the consequences of our crooked decisions. Another response God has to the iniquities of humans is for him to carry them, for him to take responsibility for the consequences of our crooked decisions.
Our sin is great, God’s salvation is greater
Matthew 1:18-23 (ESV)
Sin, in a general sense, is moral failure. The inability to do good on our own. He is coming to do something for us that we cannot do for ourselves. It’s not a “do-better talk.” We have needed rescuing from how messed up we are. The help that I need has to come from outside of ourselves completely.
God is not an abstract concept. How do I know God exists? Jesus. God has not given up on the human project, but has bound himself to it to save it. How do I know God loves me and hasn’t given up on me? Jesus. His life and love proves it.
1 John 4:8-10 (NLT) But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.
1 John 4:14 (NLT); Psalms 86:1-7, 11 (ESV)
Psalm 130:3-4 (ESV)
Our sin is great, God’s salvation is greater
Conclusion
There is forgiveness found in Jesus Christ. God did for us what we could not do for ourselves. We could not save ourselves from our own moral failure, or any of the failures in the world. His salvation is greater than any sin. Jesus is the Savior of the world and forgives us of our sin and invites us into relationship with Him.