God's Gift Exchange
Notes
Transcript
We are in God’s house. Imagine for a moment that we are in His living room, and His Chrismas tree is set up. Under the tree are some gifts for you, and you have brought some for Him. We are going to trade gifts with the Lord!
Illustration: The white elephant gift exchange. We had to bring something that we absolutely did not want, wrap in, and give it to someone. For example: a cement state of a boy fishing, ridiculous-looking slippers, a VHS player, blank cassette tapes, etc.
The Lord wishes to make an exchange with us. What we give him is of little value. In fact, worse, it's negative!
Illustration: For certain things, you have to pay to get rid of them. At the dump, we had to pay to go throw out junk. Not only could we not give them away, we had to pay to get rid of what we did not want to keep.
It may be cliche, but God gave us the greatest gift at Christmas.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
We appreciate the gift, and we also appreciate that he takes what we give him! Because what we give her is not pretty or pleasant.
And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.
You and I must absolutely take advantage of this reason for the coming of Jesus. To accept the trade he came to offer. The exchange of gifts ... at least a gift, a gift for us, even if what we have to give him in return is not very nice.
Notice the first exchange:
I. Healing for injuries v. 1
I. Healing for injuries v. 1
Are you hurting? When you bring your hurt to Jesus, he takes care of you. He cares about you and takes care of you.
Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
When God takes care of you, He does it perfectly. No human being can care for you like the Lord can.
At Christmas, God proved beyond any doubt that He desires to take care of humans. He wants to help us, transform us, take care of us.
Thomas Moore: Earth contains no wound that Heaven cannot heal.
We learn in this verse a simple but sweet truth: God the Father has sent God the Son to heal your wounds. The wounds of your heart.
We can't do it this moment... But if we could be open and unfiltered. Speaking of our childhoods. Speaking of what we experienced as young people. Many would speak of hurts.
If we were to talk about the secret wounds we carry. The things we don't talk about, that we cover up. The painful memories that are hidden in the deepest closet of our being.
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me;
Because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek;
He hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
Does Jesus care when my heart is pained
Too deeply for mirth and song
As the burdens press and the cares distress
And the way grows weary and long
Oh, yes
He cares
I know He cares
His heart is touched with my grief
When the days are weary, the long nights dreary
I know my Savior cares
Does Jesus care when I've tried and failed
To resist some temptation strong
When for my deep grief I find no relief
Though my tears flow all the night long
Oh, yes
He cares
I know He cares
His heart is touched with my grief
When the days are weary, the long nights dreary
I know my Savior cares
I know my Savior cares
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; Because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
God’s gift is a healer. The gift he takes in exchange is a broken heart.
We sometimes think that Jesus always heals by snapping his fingers. By speaking one word. And amen sometimes he does! But He’s not the Great Finger Snapper; He is the Great Physician. He kneels by us when we hurt; He takes the hurt and puts ointment on it; He wraps the bandage around it, and stays near. He knows exactly how to heal.
Sometimes, wounds get infected when humans try to heal it. But if we leave our wound in the hands of Jesus, no infection of bitterness gets in there.
The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; And saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
He healeth the broken in heart, And bindeth up their wounds.
We learn of his great tenderness in this verse. We see the same touch of love that attracted lepers, that made the blind Bartimaeus plead (Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!), That prompted 4 friends to carry their friend on his bed to Jesus.
It's the same Jesus. He is still as tender. He has not changed.
If he is able to heal blind eyes, he is able to heal a broken heart. To heal it, to do it perfectly, until it heals.
Healing from our wounds is wonderful. But that's not all. Jesus offers another exchange:
II. Liberty for captivity v. 1
II. Liberty for captivity v. 1
Sans Christ, nous sommes captifs du péché. Incapable de nous en déprendre, incapable de nous en sortir.
Illustration: As a child, we often went to Sweden to visit my relatives. Near the cottage my grandfather had built there were a few islands in the middle of the lake. I went with my cousins and got stuck in the mud. I sank into deep mud, unable to get out. But an uncle handed me a pole and I was able to get back to dry land.
Sometimes we are in a situation where we cannot free ourselves. Often through our own fault, we have put ourselves in dire situations, and we do not have the strength in ourselves to come out of it.
Debt - one of the topics I have talked about the most with people in the ministry.
Sins that beset us so easily - addictions. Bad habits. A sin from which we are unable to let go.
Guilt - captive of one’s conscience, unable to live his life healthily, because of so much of his conscience.
The Jews knew about captivity. In fact their captivity in Babylon had not yet come. Isaiah prophesied from 742-701 BC. Jerusalem fell about 100 years or more later. The northern kingdom was deported by the Assyrians during Isaiah's prophecy.
But the Jews knew what it was like to put yourself in such a dire situation that you couldn't get out of it on your own.
In the Old Testament, if you became too poor to live, you became the servant of another. He had to be treated well, but there was a year every 50 years in which all Jewish slaves were freed. It was called the jubilee year and it is read in Leviticus 25.
And if thy brother that dwelleth by thee be waxen poor, and be sold unto thee; thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bondservant: But as an hired servant, and as a sojourner, he shall be with thee, and shall serve thee unto the year of jubile:
And if he be not redeemed in these years, then he shall go out in the year of jubile, both he, and his children with him. For unto me the children of Israel are servants; they are my servants whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.
This is most likely the image the Lord uses in verse 1-2. Not only does the Lord offer to take the wound and offer the healing treatment in return. He also offers to take our captivity to sin and offer liberation in return.
When we are imprisoned, we are powerless to get out ourselves.
Illustration: After working with dozens of inmates, I met two who were loudly proclaiming their innocence. They would do anything to try and prove that they had not committed the crimes for which they had been convicted. I'll never know whether they were right or not, but I saw how precious freedom is. Because when you lose it, it takes a big act and a lot of effort to get it back to us.
Jesus came to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. That means the year of grace. It’s the year when God gives liberty and freedom in exchange for all our mistakes.
If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
Are you chained by something stronger than you? Are you captive?
Perhaps a bad habit that displeases God that eats away at or destroys your life?
A terrible past experience that plagues your present life? Or a present experience that makes you fear your future?
Know that Jesus offers freedom to those who entrust their lives to him.
The Lord encompasses it all in a great jubilee declaration:
III. Grace for condemnation. v. 2
III. Grace for condemnation. v. 2
Jesus came to make a proclamation. He came to heal and yes to liberate but also to preach God’s grace
People were very confused when they brought in a woman taken in adultery and Jesus said to them, “Let him who is without sin first throw a stone at her (John 8: 7).
The Samaritan woman was confused when Jesus was waiting for her at Jacob's well. When he offered her the water of life and revealed to her that to be a Jew or a Samaritan was nothing but to worship the Lord in spirit and in truth. It does not matter the past, the number of past marriages, etc.
The religious were scandalized when Jesus allowed Mary to wet her feet with tears and to wipe them away, before saying to her: “Your sins are forgiven”.
Truly, Jesus came to offer grace in exchange for your condemnation.
For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Jesus came to offer a great exchange! We confess our sin to him and he confers his salvation on us in return.
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
Please notice Luke 4: 19-20.
Did you notice that Jesus stopped reading at the beginning of verse 2? He did not read the following sentence. He sat down.
The day of our God’s vengeance has not yet come. The day is coming when God will judge the world and all sin will receive just retribution. But Jesus came the first time to take retribution for sin for all who would like to place their faith in him.
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
So don't be afraid to participate in this gift exchange with Jesus. He offers you the dressing of your wounds, which we all have. He offers freedom to those who are caught or chained in sin. He offers grace, God's fortivenes to all who come to him.
The first Christmas was the expression of it all. Judgment is coming. But he hasn't come yet. So far, the only judgment that has taken place on sin was made at Golgotha. Jesus came on the first Christmas, when he first came to intervene for you.