Main Idea: Christmas connects us with the promise that I will be completely redeemed.

Introduction: Growing up in Hot Springs, a very popular store long before Wal-Mart or K-Mart, was the Oklahoma Tire and Supply Store. Every year at Christmas that store near my home became to me heaven on earth. Oh, it was always a very special place for a boy—all the things you needed for hunting, fishing and tools. Yet, at Christmas 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 a Avery Street hill in front of my house. The steel runners with the enameled red paint sparkled. The smell of the wood and the feel of the smooth finish the prominent 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 come up with the idea of "Lay-A-Way." It was for low-income families like ours and wise shoppers a brilliant strategy. You know the way it works: You pick out an item that for some reason you can’t pay for all of it at once, you take it to the counter and pay a small amount of money to get the store to hold it for you until Christmas, then over a period of time you pay more of the cost of the item until that day near Christmas you make the last payment and it’s 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. I decided then and there that while I prayed for sleet (every boy in Arkansas knows sleet is faster than snow!) that I would thank God for "lay-a-way."

In a very real way that same idea of "lay-a-way" is the Christmas connection I want us to discover today. No, the Bible doesn’t have a "lay-a-way" plan. It has what is called a plan for redemption. Redemption means simply setting something free or making something yours by the payment of a price. That’s what I want us to talk about today. You see, Christmas connects us with God’s "lay-a-way" plan or plan of redemption. It connects us with the hope that one day we will be completely redeemed.

The theme of redemption runs through the veins of the story of Christmas found in the New Testament:

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 is a form of the Hebrew name Joshua which means "Yahweh is salvation." This baby would mean 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."

John the Baptist’s father Zacharias would declare that John would be the proclaimer that in Jesus, God, "has visited us and accomplished redemption for His people" (Luke 1:62).

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)

Later, after Jesus’ birth He was taken to the Temple in Jerusalem where Mary and Joseph encountered Simeon, an old Jew who had been waiting for the Messiah. When he saw the baby Jesus he was ecstatic and said to God, "My eyes have seen thy salvation" (Luke 2:30). While there they met Anna, a prophetess, who when she saw the child, it says she, "began giving thanks to God, and continued to speak of Him to all those who were looking for the redemption of Israel."

This theme continues beyond the birth narratives. When Jesus began His public ministry John the Baptist could see Jesus and say, "Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). Paul would use the words redeem, redeemed and redemption several times to describe the actions of Jesus for us. He would say that in Jesus, "…we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins in accordance with the riches of God’s grace…." (Ephesians 1:7 NIV). The Apostle John would begin His Revelation with a vision of Jesus seen in his mind as "Lamb looking as if it had been slaughtered and hearing people cry out…" (see Rev. 5:9-10).

That theme of redemption, setting something free by the payment of a price is woven through our carols that we sing at Christmas. Phrases like:

"O Come, O Come Immanuel and ransom captive Israel."

"And with His blood mankind hath bought"-The First Nowell

"Cast out our sin and enter in…"-O Little Town of Bethlehem

" He comes to make His blessings flow far as the curse is found" – Joy to the World

It’s in the more modern songs of Christmas. In the song "Mary, Did You Know?" there is the question, "Did you know that the baby you delivered would deliver you?" Another by Bill Mallonee called "On to Bethlehem" says, "God wraps Himself up in human skin for those who want to touch. And God let ‘em drive the nails in for those of us who know way too much."

The bottom line is you can’t go far in the story of Christmas and not hear the angel’s words ringing, "You will call His name Jesus for He will save His people from their sins," "…for to you is born this day…a Savior which is Christ the Lord." You don’t hear "Merry Christmas" and not hear also the story of redemption.

To better understand the idea of being redeemed or redemption, let’s go back to the "lay-away" idea for a moment. Remember when you lay-a-way an item you see 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." Here’s how it worked: 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 he 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 those things that destroy us spiritually. What destroys us spiritually is sin. Sin is knowing the right thing to do and doing the wrong thing. Every one of us is a person who is not free from sin. We are people who can be described as totally ruined by sin. Our sins, in our eyes, may not seem so bad but we are not the ones who get to make the rules.

Recently PGA golf pro Glen Day disqualified himself from a tournament. The problem was that he discovered that he had too many clubs in his bag and the rules only allow a certain number. What happened was that after playing several holes his caddie noticed something in his bag with a pink handle. Pulling it out, he discovered that his three-year old daughter had decided that the best place for her little golf club was in Daddy’s bag. He took the club to the officials and was immediately disqualified. You want to say, "Gimme a break! It was a kid’s club!" The club, its size or origin, wasn’t the issue. It was the rule was broken.

Regardless of our sin’s size or justification in our eyes, we are not the ones who get to make the rules. God makes the rules and we are people who are going to keep breaking the rules no matter what. The sins committed are like a poison that runs through our veins to our heart, rendering us completely under its control. 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.

That’s why, though the Angel told the shepherds that the announcement of the baby’s birth in Bethlehem was, "Good news of great joy which shall be for all the people" (Luke 2:10). This baby is our connection with our need to be delivered from our sin. Our situation as people had become so desperate that only God’s Son himself would be an adequate payment and substitute for us. This baby’s body, feet and hands, were destined for a cross. It would be there on that cross that by His blood that was shed from this body that would be the price God would require for our freedom, for our redemption.

A few weeks ago an article in a newspaper described how that the famous National Park, "The Petrified Forest" was being destroyed by tourists. It wasn’t that they were using bulldozers and making roads through the property; no, it was that they have been stealing the pieces of the petrified logs in small chunks. So pervasive has the theft been that annually the forest loses twelve tons or twenty four million pounds of petrified wood.

It’s a crime to steal from a national park. Somewhere in the world there are tons of pieces of the Petrified Forest and a lot of guilty tourists. The fine for each violation is $250. If each person stole a pound of petrified wood the fine for all the violations for one year would be over 6 trillion dollars! What if one person, one very rich and benevolent person, said that they would pay the fine for every one of those who had stolen even a sliver of petrified wood. Then all of the tourists would be free from the punishment of their crime and the law against them satisfied.

What Jesus has done for us is that He Himself has paid the price for our crimes against the will of God. Paul wrote in Romans 3:24 , "being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus"; Galatians 3:13 , "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us; Col. 1:14 , "in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."; Titus 2:14, "who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds."

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. "You shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins."

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 pain 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.

Imagine, though, if you could pay the amount in full and have them keep it until you were ready for it. That is how God sees us. One of the wonders of redemption is that our redemption isn’t finished until Jesus returns. Again quoting from Paul’s writings in Romans 8:23, "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." Then in Ephesians1:14 , "who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory and Ephesians 4:30, "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption."

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. I remember one year getting a red AMF bicycle from the Oklahoma Tire Store for Christmas. I had never had a bike before so Daddy and I got out in the street to let me learn. I fell several times but eventually that bike became not just a bike; it was a jet, a motorcycle, a P-51 Mustang, a tank or anything I could imagine. It was mine from that first Christmas morning but years later it was all mine.

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.

This morning I ask you if you have made the connection you have with Christmas. Are you someone who doesn’t know what it is to belong to Jesus Christ? By yourself you cannot do it. The more you try the worse it becomes. Today you don’t need to try, you need to trust that He has paid the deposit with His blood to make you His and once you are His you are His forever. One day He will come to take you with Him forever.

In Max Lucado’s book In the Grip of Grace he tells this story: "A few weeks ago I traveled to the Midwest to pick up my two oldest daughters. They’d spent a week at camp. This wasn’t their first time at camp, but it was their first time so far from home. The camp was great and the activities outstanding, but their hearts were heavy. They missed their mom and dad. And Mom and Dad weren’t doing so well either.

"Not wanting to risk any delayed flights, I flew up a day early. Parents weren’t allowed to see their kids until 5:00 p.m., so I enjoyed the area, visited a few sights, and kept an eye on the time. My purpose wasn’t to sightsee. My purpose was my kids.

"I arrived at the camp at 3:00 p.m. A rope was stretched across the dirt road, and a sign dangling from the rope reminded me, ‘Parents may not enter until 5:00 p.m.’

"I wasn’t alone at the rope. Other parents were already present. There was a lot of glancing at wristwatches. No in-dept conversations, just the expected, ‘How are you?’ ‘Where are you from?’ ‘And how many kids?’ Nothing much beyond that. Our minds were down that dirt road. At about 4:30, I noticed a few dads positioning themselves near the rope. Not to be outdone, I did the same. Though most of the slots were taken, there was room for one more parent. I squeezed past one mother who was unaware that the horses had been called to the track. I felt sorry for her, but not enough to give her my spot.

"With five minutes to go, conversation ended. No more playing games; this was serious stuff. The cars were on the track. The runners were in the blocks. The countdown was on. All we needed was someone to lower the rope.

"Two camp counselors appeared to perform the honors. They knew better than to take one end of the rope and cross the road to allow the parents to enter. Such a move would have been fatal; they wouldn’t have survived the stampede. Rather than endanger their lives, each took one of the rope and, on a prearranged signal, lowered it to the ground. (They had done this before.)

"We were off!

"I was ready for this moment. I had waited long enough. I began with a brisk walk, but out of the corner of my eye I saw a dad starting to trot. So that’s what it’s going to take, eh? Good thing I was wearing jogging shoes. I broke into a run. Enough preliminaries. The hour had struck and the rope was down, and I was willing to do what it took to see my kids.

"God feels the same.

"God is ready to see his own. He, too, is separated from his children. He, too, will do whatever is necessary to take them home. Yet, his desire leaves ours in the dust. Forget plane trips and rental cars; we’re talking incarnation and sacrifice. Forget a night in a hotel; how about a lifetime on earth! I went from the state of Texas to the sate of Missouri. He went from the state of being worshipped in heaven to being a baby in Bethlehem.

"Why? He knows his children are without their father. And knows we are powerless to return without his help….

"’Andrea! Jenna! I’m here!’" I shouted as I ran down the camp road. (I won the race.) I spotted Andrea first. She was under a canopy preparing to practice gymnastics. I called her name again. ‘Daddy!’ she yelled and jumped into my arms.

"There was no guarantee she’d respond. Though I had flown a thousand miles, rented a car, and waited an hour, she could have seen me and—heaven forbid!--ignored me. Some kids are too grown up to run to their parent in front of their friends.

"But then there are those who have had enough camp food and mosquito repellent to make them jump for joy at the sight of their father. Such was the case with Andrea.

"All of a sudden, Andrea had gone from feeling homesick to feeling happy. Why? Only one difference. Her father had come to take her home."

You and I are in "lay-a-way" now waiting to be taken home. Christmas is our connection with the promise that one day we will be completely redeemed. "You shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins."

Sunday, December 19, 1999

Dr. Bruce Tippit, Pastor

First Baptist Church

Jonesboro, Arkansas

btippit@fbcjonesboro.org