Main Idea: The message of the manger is that in Jesus Christ we have someone who is coming again to finally set us free.

During this Advent season we have spoken about the various messages that God says to us through the coming of Jesus Christ as a baby to a manger in Bethlehem. Today it is not so much his message to us that we hear but our message to him. As believers we know how the story ends. The baby would become a man, die on a cross, rise again and return to heaven but would promise to return. It would be that memory that would compel John to cry out at the close of his Revelation: "The Spirit and the bride say, "Come." Let anyone who hears this say, "Come." Let anyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who desires drink freely from the water of life…He who is the faithful witness to all these things says, "Yes, I am coming soon!"  Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!" (Rev. 22:17, 20-21) Today we join our voice with John hearing his promise to return and we say in reply, "Come again!"

This morning as we come to the table of the Lord I want us to understand that when Jesus comes again he will finally set us free from everything that keeps us from fully enjoying and knowing the life that God desires for us. The bread and the cup remind us of what the Bible calls "redemption". Joseph was told by the angel of the Lord that this baby in Mary’s womb would be named Jesus and would "save His people from their sins." When something is redeemed it means "to buy back" or "win back" or "to set free from what distresses or harms." The one who came as a baby would die on a cross as a man for all our sins. Yet while our salvation is secure, it is not final. There is something else to come—really someone: Jesus Christ. He is the One who is coming to set us totally free.

Growing up in Hot Springs, a very popular store was the Oklahoma Tire and Supply Store. Every year at Christmas that store near my home became heaven on earth, those wooden floors and shelves held all the magic a grade school boy could imagine. Sometimes on Saturdays my Dad and I would walk from our house to the Oklahoma Tire and Supply Store and I would spend an eternity looking at the toys. One year for Christmas rather than wanting a toy I wanted a sled. I would see that sled and then imagine myself racing down Avery Street hill in front of my house. The steel runners with the enameled red paint sparkled. The smell of the varnished wood, the feel of the smooth finish with the logo prominently painted on the top only solidified my dreams.

I don’t know how much it cost but I heard my Mom and Dad mention it one time with the word "Lay-a-Way." I don’t know who came up with the idea of "Lay-A-Way." It was for low-income families like ours a brilliant strategy. You know the way it worked: You picked out an item that for some reason you couldn’t pay for all at once, took it to the "lay-a-way" counter and paid a small amount of money to get the store to hold it for you until Christmas. Then over a period of time you paid more of the cost of the item until that day near Christmas you made the last payment and it was yours. As a little boy I didn’t know where "Lay-A-Way" was so that’s why I didn’t ask when Mom said the sled was in "Lay-A-Way." I didn’t care where it came from; I just wanted it for Christmas. That Christmas it was there under the tree almost glowing in my eyes and it was all mine and I would thank God for "lay-a-way."

In a very real way that same idea of "lay-a-way" is a picture of God’s plan for "redemption". As I said redemption means simply setting something free or making something yours by the payment of a price. The theme of redemption runs through the veins of the story of Christmas found in the Gospels. It began with the Angel Gabriel’s announcement to Mary in Luke 1:31 that the Son that would be conceived within her by God’s Spirit would be named "Jesus." Jesus means in Hebrew, "God is salvation." The Angel Gabriel told Joseph in Matthew 1:21 the same, adding that "and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins." The angels would tell the shepherds the good news that "today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ, the Lord." (Luke 2:11)

To better understand the idea of redemption, let’s go back to the "lay-away" idea for a moment. Remember when you put an item in lay-a-way you get what you want, pay a deposit for it, pay for it in installments until you make the final payment and it becomes yours and you "get it out of lay-away." The idea of redeeming or redemption is virtually identical. In the first century a slave could only be set free by "redemption." A person who owned a slave decided that because of a slave’s qualities they were to be rewarded with freedom. To free the slave a certain price had to be paid to a city official. The owner of the slave would go to the city official, pay the fee and the official would then declare that the slave was redeemed and delivered. In other words, they were free.

You and I are people who are not free from the sin that destroys us spiritually. We are people who can be described as totally ruined and controlled by sin. We are like a slave to ourselves and our sin. It doesn’t matter what you do you can’t be free. Unless someone comes and releases us from the debt and weight of our sin we will continue on into eternity in that condition. Our situation as people had become so desperate that only God’s Son himself would be an adequate payment and substitute for us. The baby in the manger’s body, feet and hands, were destined for a cross. It would be there on that cross that the price for our redemption would be paid. I am the one who committed the crime but he is the one who pays the price and receives my punishment so I can be free.

Let’s go back to the "lay-a-way" analogy for a moment. Remember that the idea of a lay-a-way" is that you pay a deposit and then pay on the item while someone keeps it for you until it’s paid in full. When Jesus died for us his death paid the deposit for us so that forever and ever we will be his. When we trusted Jesus to be our Savior our debt of sin was paid in full. Yet the New Testament tells us there’s more to come. Just as that item in lay-a-way is yours (as long as you make the payments) it doesn’t become completely yours until the final payment and you pick it up. One of the wonders of redemption is that our redemption isn’t finished until Jesus returns. Romans 8:23 says, "And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body." Now this doesn’t mean that God is going to wait and see how this all works out for us. No, it means that what’s waiting for me can’t be fully experienced until Jesus returns.

Today I am a person whose life has been purchased for Jesus Christ. The life I am living now is a life waiting to fully enjoy the redemption God has given me. Can you imagine a life free from the stains of our own sin? When you will never live with the haunting reminder that even though redeemed you are not free from sins’ effects or its power. One day we will know what it is to be completely redeemed. You and I are in "lay-a-way" now waiting to be taken home.

But let me ask you: Do you long for that moment with the same intensity and passion that John does when he cries out, "Amen, Come Lord Jesus"? Do you ache within yourself as Paul described for the full redemption of your very self that will only be complete when Jesus returns? I will admit that far too often I am trapped by the routines of my own existence that I don’t anticipate what it would be like to be fully and finally redeemed.

One reason we don’t long for our full redemption is that we fail to understand that we have nothing to boast about that would compel Jesus to return for us. He is not returning to redeem us because we are so worthy but because we are so helpless. I have asked Frank to sing a song that in 2002 became a cherished spiritual landmark. Isaac Watts, who also wrote Joy to the World, wrote it. It powerfully reminds us of our helplessness and Christ’s sufficiency and the reality that we have nothing in our selves to merit our redemption or his return for us. The song is called "Boast No More."

Today, the message of the manger from our voice to God’s heart is, "Come Again!" Come and set us free! Come and reunite us with yourself and with those we love! Until he does, we wait and we hold in our hands the promise of his return in a piece of bread and a cup of juice. We hear his voice say, "Yes, I am coming soon." And we can’t help but say, "Amen. Come Lord Jesus."

btippit@fbcjonesboro.org