Pastor’s Weekly Note, Friday, December 16, 2011
Listen to these words from the apostle Paul in Galatians 4: “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.”
These aren’t words that are generally associated with the Christmas story. But as I look at them, read them and re-read them, I find them vital to the Christmas story.
Last week we looked at Zechariah and Elizabeth’s story surrounding Christmas. This week through these words, we’re going to look at our story surrounding Christmas.
Everything that Paul wrote, he was writing with a backward glance at what took place. He may have had a chance to talk with some that were alive when Christ was born, he may have talked with some that were within that second tier… those who weren’t witnesses to Jesus’ birth, but those who had talked with Jesus himself or with Mary in regard to the birth. Whomever he talked to, Paul is looking back, telling the story of Jesus’ birth, and is making it our story.
Why is that so important to grab?
Until we grasp where we were, we’re not going to understand how great the birth of Christ truly was. Yeah, we celebrate Jesus born in a manger. Yeah, we give and receive gifts, we sing the familiar songs, we celebrate with family and friends. But Christ’s coming is so much more than that.
Before Christ came, we were slaves. We were slaves to sin. We were slaves in a life that led to death. We were without hope. We were, as we saw a couple of weeks ago, condemned.
But Christ’s birth changed all of that.
As that verse tells our story, it says Christ came to redeem us. Redeem means to buy back, to pay for. And what Christ did by his coming, meant that he was able to go to the cross in our place, he paid for the sin that we had committed, and that by paying for our sin, the debt that we owed that we could not pay back, was taken care of.
Isn’t that great news! Isn’t that news that floods your soul!
But there’s more!
And if I told you the more here, you’d miss it on Sunday or you’d be able to sleep through what is shared, and I don’t want that. So you’re going to have to wait until Sunday to hear what the more is. And understand this: it’s great news that you don’t want to miss.
I’ll give you a hint… it ties into the latter portion of those verses I shared at the beginning… where it says “Abba! Father!” And trust me, you won’t want to miss out on it!
Are you ready?
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Russ
Don’t forget… Christmas Eve Service on December 24th at 6:00pm. Movie “Courageous” on New Year’s Eve, starting at 6:30pm.
