Saviour, Messiah, Lord

Have you ever encountered someone who was different than what you expected?

Camera people on Rocky steps in Philly.

Celebrity encounters

We build up what they are like in our heads, then when that person doesn’t match what we think they should be like, we are so disappointed that they were being, “themselves.”

That’s what happened to Jesus in his lifetime on earth as well. So many people made up a narrative of what they thought he should be like and what he should do, that he ended up disappointing many of them.

And I wonder how many of us do that with Jesus today. How many of us make up narratives of who we think Jesus is and how we think Jesus should act? And if we are honest about it, most of the narratives we make up about Jesus are so we can justify something in our life.

But true spiritual freedom is found in taking Jesus as he is, not as we want him to be. And that means we need to look at his life, his teachings, and his miracles, especially his death and resurrection, and discern what they mean for our lives.

I challenge each person here and each person watching online, to start the new year by reading the gospels and getting to know Jesus really well. We have Bibles in the foyer if you want

But in the Christmas story, Jesus is just a baby, so we have to rely on what others say about him. And in the Bible passage that we read throughout the service earlier, the angels who proclaim the birth of Jesus to the shepherds describe Jesus using three special titles:

Luke 2:10–11 (NLT)

“Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David!

Saviour, Messiah and Lord - these three titles help us understand who Jesus is, really and why it matters to us. We begin with…

Jesus is our Saviour

I find it fascinating that Jesus is most for his miracles and his teachings, and yet, the first title that the angel gives Jesus is Saviour - not “The Teacher has been born in Bethlehem” or “The Miracle-Worker has been born.” It’s Saviour.

And that’s because although we need Jesus’ teachings to help us live according to God’s way and although the miracles prove his divinity and reveal his love, what we need most of all was a Saviour - someone to intercede on our behalf and free us from our enemy.

The people in Israel at the time of Jesus thought the enemy was Rome but the true enemy that Jesus saves his people from is death.

Because of what Jesus our Saviour did for us on the cross, those who put their faith in Jesus will live forever in eternal bliss with him. Though these temporary bodies may fail and perish, our soul - that part of us that makes us “us” - will live on with Jesus for all eternity in joy and peace. The Apostle Paul says it this way…

2 Timothy 1:10 (NLT)

10 And now he has made all of this plain to us by the appearing of Christ Jesus, our Savior. He broke the power of death and illuminated the way to life and immortality through the Good News.

Death does not have the final say in our lives because Jesus is our Saviour.

The second title the angels give Jesus is…

Jesus is our Messiah

At the time of Jesus, Israel was under Roman occupation. They were an oppressed people who were overly taxed and treated as a second class of humanity. Pouring through the Old Testament, the people saw passage after passage describe a Messiah who would free the nation and so the hope - the expectation - was that the messiah would free them from Roman by organizing a military coup that would expunge the invaders out of Israel.

But Jesus didn’t meet their expectations because their expectations were wrong. Jesus didn’t come to deliver Israel from Rome - he came to deliver all people from the power of sin.

Romans 8:2 (NLT)

2 And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.

Jesus isn’t only the Jewish Messiah - he the messiah for all of us! Through his defeat of death through his resurrection, he broke the power of sin so that God’s people can now live a life of freedom through faith. Where without Jesus we cannot help but be trapped by the power of sin in our lives, now, with Jesus and because of Jesus, we can be free and live lives that glorify and honour God.

Jesus is our Saviour and he’s our Messiah.

Jesus is our Lord

Here in the west, we don’t love the idea of submitting to other people. We love our autonomy and because of this, the idea of surrendering control of our lives to another, even to Jesus, can be a hard pill for some people to swallow. Our own pride makes us want to run our own lives. But the angel describes Jesus as our Lord - as one who has both power and authority over our lives. But what we fail to realize is that our life goes better when we stop fighting against God’s will, God’s plan and God’s instructions.

Matthew 16:24 (NLT)

24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me.

The call of Christian is to die to yourself and walk in obedience to Jesus. So many of the problems we experience are because we didn’t follow God’s commands. I’m not saying life would be perfect because we live in a world where most people will reject the way of Jesus. We will still have lots of struggles and problems. But if we conform our lives to Jesus - if we let him be Lord of our lives, then life will be better than if we spurn him - not easier, but better. May this Christmas be a time when you renew your love for Jesus by walking in greater obedience to our Lord.

Conclusion

When the angels pronounced the birth of Jesus to the shepherds, it gave them a great hope because their hearts were yearning to experience a better life - a life freed from the oppression of death, freed from the power of sin, freed to know God’s will and how to live according to his ways. And is that any different for us? Don’t we desire to experience that same freedom?

We can, by putting our faith and trust in Jesus, our Saviour, Messiah and Lord. And if you would like to learn more about what that means, I invite you to come and talk to any of the pastors and leaders you saw on stage today and we would be happy to help you take that beautiful step of faith. May you get to know Jesus deeply this Christmas season and through the New Year.

Pray.

Closing Benediction

Feliz Navidad y próspero año nuevo

meri-kri-su-mas se-hae-bo-man-yi-bat-wu-se-yo

sing dan fai lok, tung, sun leen fai lok

Merry Christmas, and have a Happy New Year