Freedom of Christmas
Christmas 2023 • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 1 viewNotes
Transcript
Shame
Shame
When people think of Christmas they think of Joy, happiness, little baby Jesus in the manger.
However if you look before Jesus was born we see two different instances of shame.
First we see shame in the story of Martha.
In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old.
Now in this time, it was very shameful for a woman to not have children. In the culture that they had Women pretty much had one main job. That job was to give their husbands at least one son. Now we understand today that this culture was not correct in their thinking but because Elizabeth and Zechariah were far past child bearing age there was a lot of shame on Elizabeth because she had never given Zechariah a son.
We can see Elizabeths response when she found out she was pregnant in verse 24
After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. “The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.”
So early on in the coming of Christ we can see that God has taken away the shame from Elizabeth.
We also see shame pop up in the story of Mary.
This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
Here we see shame for the opposite reason. In Elizabeths story we saw shame because she could not provide a son, here we see that there was shame because Mary and Joseph were not yet married, and well up until this point there was only one way for someone to get pregnant, and yet we see here in the story that God spoke to Joseph and took the shame away confirming what Mary had told him.
However when Jesus entered into the world shame wasnt just removed for these two, but we can see story after story of when Jesus came and removed the shame from anyone that turned from their sin.
The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?”
The Pharisees brought this woman to Jesus, and we dont really know many details other than it says that she was caught in the act of adultery, talk about being ashamed, and having your sin brought out in front of everyone. Because remember everywhere Jesus went He was surrounded by people.
When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Now we dont know what it was that Jesus was drawing on the ground some people suggest that he was writing down the sins of her accusers, others say he was just drawing in the dirt, but in reality we dont really know what Jesus wrote, but what we do know is that when He called them out as all being sinners they all left.
The only person that could have fit the requirement to throw the first stone was in fact Jesus. However He chose to forgive her.
In the same way, Jesus came into this world so that we could be free from our shame. We all make mistakes, some of those mistakes are more public than others, but Jesus calls us to Himself and wants to take away your shame. He wants to say to you as well, Neither do I condemn you go and sin no more.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Joy
Joy
Not only did the Christmas story remove shame from our lives, but it also brings Joy to our lives. Generally anytime the Bible tells us to avoid something it gives us a way to avoid those things. In the same way when God takes something out of our live, He tends to give us something to replace it with. Now we may not always get that replacement right away, but God does fulfill His plan.
And 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 that will cause great joy for all the people.
Here this tells us that the shepherds were told about the birth of Jesus however it doesnt just tell them that there is a baby that has been born, The angel tells them that he has news that will cause great Joy for everyone. So we see that not only is the Christmas story about ridding us of our shame, but also about bringing Joy to the World.
Lets keep reading and find out why this baby will be bringing us joy.
Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.
So the great news that they are being able to see is that the Messiah, the one person that the Jewish people had been looking for for hundreds of years had finally come.
What does the word Messiah mean.
The anointed one, sent to redeem the world.
So the Angels are telling the shepherds that they get to be some of the first people to actually see Jesus in the flesh. The one that has come so that they could have a full relationship with God again.
So this Christmas season, if you have shame over things that you have done, or if you are embarrassed about your past. Jesus came so that you would no longer have to face that. Yes you may still have consequences from your past, but Jesus came to earth to take away our sin, and take away our shame.