Advent: Hope
Questions for discussion
These are just ideas—feel free to add your own or skip.
- In Matthew’s account of the incarnation, we learn that Jesus was given his name because he would save his people from their sins.
- – What other names might have been appropriate for Jesus?
- – Which part of his character or work means the most to you?
- – Why do you think that God chose to name him as Saviour rather than after something else thatwould describe him well?
- To what extent do you think that Christians have a responsibility to be missional and talk about the need for salvation to those who do not believe? Is this a role for all believers or the responsibility of those gifted as evangelists?
- Do you think that God punishes sin?– If so, how?
– Where does the Bible say that?
– Why do you think that God behaves in that way? - How does sin pollute our lives. Can you think of examples where sin has damaged something good and wholesome?
- If we keep on sinning, are we really Christians?– What can be done about our ongoing tendency to sin? – When will we finally stop sinning?
– What does the Bible say about these questions? - Do you know people who have fallen away from the faith?– What led to this happening?
– Can a believer every actually lose their salvation?
– Do we have a role in helping to restore those who have fallen away from the church? If so, what?Sermon notesIntroductionToday’s sermon is part of our Advent series:• Peace (Nick) • Love (Simon) • Hope (Jonny) • Joy (Nick)Aretha Franklin once sang:You need a friend
And Jesus said “Call my name” And I’ll be there. . .Close, close your eyes And meditate on him And soon he will be there God can brighten upHe can brighten up your darkest hours
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That sounds like hope—today’s subject. So let’s test Aretha: we’ll meditate on Him’ and see if he can brighten up our darkest hours and give us hope.
Reading
Matt 1:18-23
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. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name
Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.’
All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’ (which means ‘God with us’).
What’s in a name?
400 years ago, Shakespeare penned these words:
What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.
Written for Juliet, star-crossed lover soliloquising at her balcony and worrying about the feud between the Montagues and Capulets.
What does your name mean?
• Jonathan is ‘God has Given’
• Does your name actually reflect your life?
• Most names are simply given because of fashion, family tradition, etc.
Jesus’ name was given by an angel appearing in a dream to Joseph.
• Not because it was a fashionable name (although it was—Josephus describes many people called Jesus) • Not because of Joshua, the great leader
• Not because Mary and Joseph liked the sound
• . . . but because it described his purpose in life. He was to be a saviour.
CH Spurgeon, great C19th preacher, teacher, author, wrote:
He is nothing at all if He is not a Saviour. He is anointed to this very end. His very Name is a sham if He does not save His people from their sins.
Aretha sang:
You need a friend
And Jesus said “Call my name” And I’ll be there
She was right.
• But Jesus’ name doesn’t mean ‘Friend’
• And Jesus’ name doesn’t mean ‘Guide’
• And Jesus’ name doesn’t mean ‘Comforter’ • And Jesus’ name doesn’t mean ‘Helper’
• And Jesus’ name doesn’t mean ‘Teacher’
Jesus was all these. But his name means, ‘Saviour’ because he will save his people from their sins.
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Who needs a Saviour?
Stanwell, Eden like the description, ‘missional’—it means we believe that the world needs Jesus and His salvation, and we should take the message outside the church.
That’s right and that’s good. But read the passage again:
you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.
Don’t see salvation in purely missional terms—he will save his people.
Salvation is not just a message for the world—it’s the source of hope for God’s people.
If we see salvation purely as something that others need, because we ourselves were saved many years ago, we risk overlooking the core reason why Jesus was born in Bethlehem 2000 years ago.
The New Testament repeatedly describes Jesus as Saviour and his people as having been saved:
- For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith
- Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners – of whom I am the worst
- By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you
- Our Saviour, Christ Jesus. . . has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light throughthe gospel.
- Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus ChristAnd there are dozens more similar passages, so salvation is something that the God’s people should care about.But what does it mean? CH Spurgeon in an essay on salvation says that we are saved in four ways.What is salvation?
Salvation from punishment of sin
Punishment is not fashionable. We prefer reform, re-education, de-radicalisation.
But God punishes sin. Yet he also offers salvation and forgiveness.
Let’s not fool ourselves—we all sin. You have sinned today; as have I. And, ordinarily, God punishes sin. Jesus came to take that punishment. If we seek forgiveness, that salvation becomes effective.
That is the central message of hope at advent—the baby in the manger brings salvation.
So Jesus brings salvation from the punishment of sin.Salvation from pollution of sinSin corrupts us:- Suppose I start gossipping to you about how dreadful a preacher Nick is. . . boring, long-winded, irrelevant and doctrinally unsound (he’s not, btw!).
- We put the world to rights and agree he is a terrible character with awful motives.
- Then Nick invites us to dinner
- How does the evening go? A few awkward moments, perhaps?Sin might seem small, but it grows to corrupt everything we think, do and say. And Jesus can save us from that. He can:• Purify the things we think • Purify the things we say • Purify the things we do
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Salvation from tendency to sin
And we have a natural tendency to sin, which is reinforced every time that we do sin. You know your weakness; I know mine.
Jesus is called Saviour because he can break that cycle. The Bible calls it sanctification—the process of making us like saints.
When we live close to Him; when we fellowship with Him; when, to reference Aretha’s song, we become his friend; then he will save us from our tendency to sin.
Salvation from apostasy
We all have fads in life.
- As a kid I was fascinated by ornithology—I liked to think that I knew every British bird and could even tell my cormorants from my shags
- But I haven’t picked up binoculars for years and my bird books lie covered in dust in the cupboard
- And each time I see a black bird with a long neck and a wide yellow beak fly past my office window, Iintend to mug up on the difference between a cormorant and a shag but never get around to it.As Christians, we are vulnerable to falling away, just as I have fallen away from an interest in birds. That can be manifest as:• To apathy amongst churchgoers.
• To falling away where we maintain an ember of faith but no longer practice it. • To apostasy, even, where we deny our Lord.Jesus, as Saviour, has promised to save us from this. ‘’I have not lost any of those entrusted to me,’ He once said.A Psalmic blessing, popularised this year by Kari Jobe, say: The Lord bless you and keep youOur faith may be weak. But, at advent, we have hope of salvation from falling away.Conclusion2020 hasn’t been a year filled with much hope.• A few have suffered severe health problems
• Many have faced enormous financial difficulties • Most have seen our plans disrupted
• All have missed our friends and familiesFifty years ago, Aretha Franklin sang to remind us that, when we ‘Close, close our eyes,’ and ‘Mediate upon Jesus,’ He brings hope.He brings hope in many ways—as a friend, guide, comforter and teacher, for example. But he especially brings hope as a saviour; that is why he is called, ‘Jesus’.
And, as Saviour, he brings us hope and salvation:• From the punishment of sins • From the pollution of sin
• From our tendency to sin
• From apostasyAt Advent, Jesus brings hope. Let’s meditate on him.