"Born to Deliver from Oppression"

Christmas Eve Dec.24/04 Is.9:2-7; Mt.1:18-25

Blessed or Oppressed?

As we gather round the manger tonight, are you feeling blessed - or oppressed? Sometimes it doesn't take much to change our attitude from winning to whining. The prophet Isaiah wrote that God would "shatter the yoke" and rod of the oppressor (9:4). What's it mean to be "oppressed"? Does that apply to us?

      "To oppress" is defined as to "overwhelm with superior weight or numbers or irresistible power; lie heavy on, weigh down; govern tyrannically..." Are we feeling overwhelmed or weighed down tonight? Jesus came to help those who are weary and burdened; He says, "I will give you rest" when we accept His yoke (Mt.11:28-30).

      Many people in the developing world might wonder how any Canadian could possibly feel oppressed. In many ways we are truly blessed, just living in this country. Recently we received an email with a PowerPoint presentation that emphasized how many blessings we often take for granted. I haven't checked the statistics, but it sounds correct. Entitled "Christmas Blessings", it said, in part: "If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep...You are richer than 75% of this world.If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish some place...You are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy.If you woke up this morning with more health than illness...You are more blessed than the million who will not survive this week.If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation...You are ahead of 500 million people in the world.If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death...You are more blessed than three billion people in the world."

      Obviously many people on the planet could claim to be more "oppressed" than us, who are gathered here in comfort and freedom to worship our Lord. But at Christmas time especially, Scripture reminds us that oppression happens in many forms; and Jesus was born to make a difference in our lives, whatever form our hurts and needs may take.

The Squeeze of Sickness, Selfishness, and Sin

Over the past few weeks we've been seeing how Isaiah's prophecies from 700 years before Jesus' birth form a backdrop for Christ's arrival that night at Bethlehem. Following the death of King Solomon, the northern kingdom of Israel broke away from the southern kingdom of Judah, making each more vulnerable to enemy attacks. People started worshipping idols rather than the one true God of Moses. When the nations weren't being invaded by the Assyrians, times were materially prosperous, but corruption was widespread and the poor were neglected. Prophets foretold such wickedness would be punished by destruction that would be brought by the Assyrians who conquered Israel and exiled the nation in 721 BC. The most northern tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali, later called Galilee, were particularly hard-hit; it's to this war-ravaged zone that Isaiah addresses his words in 9:2 - "The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned." These words were fulfilled when Jesus lived and ministered in Galilean towns.

      North Huron isn't ravaged by war like Iraq or Congo, but darkness still makes itself felt; sometimes our families are touched by "the shadow of death". There are threats to our physical condition. Various people, including myself, have been bothered by a persistent cold or flu bug that seems to get better then returns again. Try as we might, we can't always avoid getting ill: each week I visit a dozen or so people in Wingham hospital, and not one has planned to be there! They'd all rather be healthy and at home. Those who are wealthy are just as vulnerable as others to getting sick. Some family Christmases this year will be very different because of the death of a loved one. The birth of Jesus, wrapped in strips of cloth, reminds us of the power of His Resurrection which freed His mortal body that was wrapped in strips of burial cloth 30-odd years later. Because Jesus was born, there is now hope for our dying loved ones who've trusted in Him.

      There are other things besides poor health that bother us and make us feel "oppressed". If we're feeling well physically, but not getting along, that can cause incredible tension, sleeplessness, and anxiety. Is.9:4 says, "For as in the day of Midian’s defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor." In Isaiah's day it was the Assyrians who were the dominant world power, exacting heavy taxes and making life miserable. Who's this "Midian"? Midian was the head of a tribe that lived in the desert east of the Dead Sea. Back in the 12th century BC, these nomads would invade the young Jewish nation and take over the crops and basically ravage the landscape with their own flocks and herds, stealing everything they could. They were basically encroaching, squeezing the Israelites out, selfishly taking what wasn't theirs. The Lord led Gideon and just 300 men to set a surprise ambush, upon which the Midianites began fighting each other in the dark and were defeated.

      Did you know that Midian and Israel were closely related? Midian was actually a son of Abraham, just as the Jews were descended from Abraham. It's bad enough when strangers take advantage of us; even worse when our own relatives act selfishly and start squeezing us, edging us out of what we feel is rightfully ours. Sometimes selfishness shows up especially well in families: all the way from arguments over the last cookie or piece of pizza, through to divvying up a deceased parents' furniture or estate. When somebody treats us in a way that makes us feel pressure or squeezing so we want to yell, "That's not fair!" - that too can be called feeling "oppressed". Selfishness is a diseased condition, not of our bodies or minds, but our heart, our inner person.

      Besides sickness and selfishness, SIN is another factor that squeezes the life out of us: not literally, at least at first, but it's deadly. In 9:7 Isaiah foretells that the Messiah will establish and uphold His Kingdom "with justice and righteousness". Justice has to do with fairness, sorting out those personal selfish squabbles. Righteousness though is more profound, having to do with godly character itself. The Hebrew word "tsadaqah" has connotations of intrinsic blamelessness, a character that's totally unspotted, perfectly right, clean from any accusation. Not a speck of suspicion. Absolute righteousness and sinlessness is something Jesus alone has; the rest of us humans are infected with sin, this mysterious internal bentness or twistedness of our fallen nature. This squeeze of sin is the hardest to avoid, and most significant eternally, shutting us off from God if we keep on rebelling against Him and resisting His help.

To Us a Child is Born, Called...

Back in Isaiah's land 700 years before Christ, there was pressure from antagonistic nations such as Assyria, then lesser nations ganging up like Israel and Syria against Judah. People felt very "squeezed" and longed for a Messiah, God's anointed Deliverer who would save them from their troubles. In chapter 7(14,16) the prophet offers the king the sign of a son to be born who will be called Immanuel, a sign that "God is with us"; before the boy matured, the foreign nations the king was so afraid of would be laid waste. In 9:6 other names for this special person are mentioned that go beyond any normal human king: "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." These are Jesus' throne titles. As Wonderful Counselor, He knows what to do and can advise us in the right course of action through His Spirit, the "Counselor": whatever upsets are happening in your life right now, God's still in control, He's got the Master Plan. The Messiah would be called "Mighty God, Everlasting Father": showing divine power, God's own timelessness, provision and protection. And "Prince of Peace" - wholeness and well-being. The Messiah will be different from the Midianite raiders that squeeze, from the Assyrian tyrants that destroy and impoverish. Jesus said (Jn.10:10), "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." And He also declared (Jn.14:27), "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.I do not give to you as the world gives.Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." He is the Prince of Peace, through whom God was reconciling the world to Himself (2Cor.5:19)

      But there's a difference between a title and a name. When you call someone by their title you distance yourself from them and show them respect; when you call someone by their first name, it implies a closeness. The name comes to be associated with the actual person in the most intimate and loving sense. The name the Messiah was actually given is found in Matthew 1:21: the angel told Joseph, "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." Jesus is how "Yahweh saves", Yeshua; He rescues us from our rottenness, He's made it possible for us to be freed from evil's spell and not have our sins counted against us.

      Jesus did this to some extent by His life, being "the Light of the world" (Jn.8:12): teaching people how to live God's way, following the Almighty's commands, loving one another. Through the New Testament we have a precious deposit of holy teaching, eternal truth.

      But Jesus saves us even more by His death. For this, He became the spotless Lamb. Think about it: What kind of founder of a worldwide religion would CHOOSE to be born in a barn? Doesn't that strike you as odd? Why bother to have an imperial decree issued to drag Joseph and 9-month-pregnant Mary on a 3-day journey on foot all the way south from Nazareth to Bethlehem, just to be born in a stable? Bethlehem was David's town; but couldn't the accommodations have been a little better planned?

      Perhaps God was wanting us to get the message that Jesus would be our Lamb, the sacrificial offering in our place. The baby was "wrapped...in bands of cloth and laid...in a manger" (Lk.2:6). Whether a barn or a cave, obviously a place for farmyard animals. The angels announced the birth to - whom? Shepherds, watching over (none-too-intelligent) sheep and lambs. A commentary notes, "The flocks reserved for the temple sacrifice were kept in the fields near Bethlehem throughout the year." When Jesus later began His ministry in adulthood, how did John the Baptist introduce Him? By saying, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" (Jn.1:29,36)

      Justice involves punishment of crime, seeing consequences meted out to "pay for" law-breaking and errors. Recently the Koebel brothers were sentenced for their part in the Walkerton water-poisoning tragedy. Jesus became an atoning lamb, drinking the deadly cup of God's punishment for our sin, dying as an offering so our transgressions could be dealt with and forgiven. Isaiah also wrote of the Messiah in 'lambish' terms in chapter 53(5-7a), "But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.He was oppressed and afflicted...he was led like a lamb to the slaughter..." Because Jesus was oppressed for us, because He offered Himself to die as a pure spotless lamb in our stead, He has received power to release us from our oppression to sickness, selfishness, and sin.

From Heaven He Came - for Me

Do you believe in the name of Jesus - that He is God's Lamb, taking away our sins? That makes a new birth possible for any sinner; and we have all sinned. No matter what you've done, tonight you can receive God's most precious gift of forgiveness and eternal life. John 1:12 promises, "to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God..."

      Kathy Brown of Michigan was chatting with a friend on the internet. The friend sent her a link to a memorial to his wife, who had become a Christian through the Singing Christmas Tree at a Pentecostal church in Edmonton. Browsing the memorial, Kathy clicked a link to the church web site, which had pictures of the tree - nearly 4 stories high, with some 50 singers, orchestra, and using 6,000 lights. But what Kathy noticed most was the people's faces. She recalls, "They all looked so happy.I wanted to be happy." As a senior in high school, she had denounced God and proclaimed herself an atheist.

      She listened to one of the pastor's online sermons. In her own words, Kathy says: "He explained how you can turn everything over to Jesus. That struck me -- I had reached a point where I recognized that I couldn't handle everything by myself.So, at the end of the sermon, I just pictured myself handing my heart over to Jesus and told Him, 'Everything I know about me I give to everything I know about You', over and over." Later she visited Edmonton to see the Singing Christmas Tree in person, and was baptized. Kathy Brown concludes, "I know from personal experience that Christ's love changes lives and makes them better, no matter what their circumstances. In fact, He died for the opportunity to change our lives.I needed to receive His forgiveness in order to actually experience the goodness of life."

      By receiving Jesus, the Messiah, God's Lamb in a manger, Kathy's situation changed from oppressed to blessed. Your situation can change too when you put your trust completely in Him.

      I conclude tonight with a poem called "From Heaven He Came", by Pastor Jack Hayford.

From Heaven He came, O praise His name,

The Christ who took my shame.

King of all was He, yet He chose to be

But a man like me

So He came.

The Son of God, chose earth's cold sod

Left heaven's splendour rare.

And with naught to gain, Jesus stooped to claim

Man's despair.

He emptied Himself of all but love,

And came to a manger bed.

He stepped from heaven's home

To ascend a cross-throne; where a thorn-crown

Pierced His head.

So now acclaim this Jesus slain

Upon that cross for me;

All because He came we, by faith, may

Gain heaven too.

From heaven He came, to things mundane,

And stirred hope's dying flame.

Heaven's stars shone bright, angel choirs took flight

To proclaim the night

That He came.

On high He reigned, that vast domain

He left to take my place.

Heaven bended low that the earth might know

God's great grace.

Majestic robes were laid aside;

In swaddling clothes we see

God has come as a man

To complete heaven's plan and provide

Salvation free.

Behold this gift of grace and lift

Your heart in faith above.

Praise the Christ who came from that heav'n

To bring us God's love. [Let's pray -- PASTORAL PRAYER]