“The Gift of Freedom”

Matthew 11:1-6

November 30, 2008 – ©Rev. Dr. Linnea E. Carnes

Introduction

Today is the first Sunday of Advent, a season of getting ready for Christmas, for Jesus’ birth and second coming. People spend a lot of time and money getting ready for Christmas. We want to give the perfect gift to those we love, and we hope we will get what we really want.

Children write lists of what they want for Christmas. Adults also think about what they want, since they know someone will ask, “What do you want for Christmas?” So what is it that you really want for Christmas? If you could choose the perfect gift for yourself, what would it be?

When asked what the surest sign that Christmas is coming was, 10-year-old Sylvia said, “The biggest sign is one that we can’t see. God is busier than before. He’s working on what people really need for presents [because, you see,] all the best Christmas presents are wrapped in heaven.” [James W. Moore, Christmas Gifts That Always Fit (Nashville, TN: Dimensions for Living, 24].

That first Christmas, 2,000 years ago, God wrapped a special present in heaven, his Son Jesus. God sent the baby Jesus, born to an ordinary couple, so all people could know how much God loves them. Jesus did more than tell people about God’s love. He showed them. Jesus gives us even more than God’s love.

So these 4 Sundays leading up to Christmas, we will look at some of the gifts that Jesus gives those who put their faith in him.

Situation

In Matthew 11:2, John the Baptist again enters the picture. We met John the Baptist in Matthew 3 when John began his ministry, calling people to turn away from sin and be baptized. He called them to get ready for the coming Messiah, the one who would baptize them “with the Holy Spirit and fire” [v.11].

John the Baptist also pointed to Jesus as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” [Jn. 1:29]. John also said of Jesus, “I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God” [Jn1:34].

John believed that Jesus was the Messiah, the One whom God would send to set them free. John told many of his disciples to follow Jesus. However, John was now in prison. Herod arrested John because he publicly condemned him of stealing his brother’s wife. John was in prison because he exposed Herod’s self-seeking, corrupt ways.

Now John was having some doubts about Jesus. He sent some of his disciples to ask Jesus, “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?” [Mt.11:3]. If he was the Messiah, when was he going to set things right? As James Moore wrote, “When are you going to rally the people and lead the march on Rome? When are you going smash the Romans and seize he throne.” [James W. Moore, What Do You Want for Christmas? (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2008) 24].

John wanted to know when Jesus was going to set him free from prison. We can understand John’s feelings and fears.

We have elected a new president of the United States. Even though he has not yet taken office, we are anxious to see if he will fulfill his campaign promises. We want to know if he is the one who will turn our economy around, will solve immigration problems in America, and bring our soldiers home.

Is President-elect Obama the one who will set us free from these injustices? Or should we expect someone else (in four years)?

John was confused because Jesus wasn’t playing the game the way he expected. The Pharisees and priests also thought that Jesus didn’t behave as a Messiah should behave. Even Jesus’ disciples at times wondered if he really was the Messiah.

Everyone had an idea of what the Messiah would be like. Jesus didn’t meet their expectations.

Complication

So Jesus reminded John’s disciples of what he had been doing. “The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.” [Mt.11:4-5].

Those are words we heard in Isaiah 35, which was read earlier. The people of Israel were in exile because of their disobedience to God – their worshipping of other gods. Yet God promised to restore them, to set them free, and to bring them back into a good place where they again would know joy and gladness.

Verses 3-4 say: “Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.”

God told them that he would come and rescue them. During their time of exile they felt they had been separated from God. But God had been with them and promised to renew them.

However, they wondered if that day would ever come. Seventy years in exile had made them think they would never be set free from this prison of hopelessness.

In quoting Isaiah 35, Jesus said he was fulfilling that promise God made. Jesus not only said these things, but also did them. What God said he would do for the people of Israel, Jesus was doing for the people of his day. He was saying that he was God.

Jesus didn’t come to free the people of Israel from political domination and set up his own kingdom. Jesus came to show them the true kingdom of God.

The people didn’t understand. John the Baptist didn’t understand. And people today don’t understand.

We want immediate answers to our problems. We want results today. We want our eyes healed now. We want our crippled legs made better now. We want our diseases healed today. We want our lives extended indefinitely. We want to be set free from all our problems.

We want the economy to turn around and restore our lost jobs and money. We want wars to end now and peace to reign. We want our governments to solve our problems.

We don’t understand that those things are not going to happen. Many people live as though they have to solve all the problems in the world. They celebrate Christmas but never understand what it’s about.

This weekend, as people shopped, they walked through stores playing joyful Christmas music. In one Toys-R-Us store in California, two men not only took their shopping lists, they also took their anger and resentment toward the other each other. The two men also took along guns. In the midst of this Christmas scene the two men argued and then took out their guns and began shooting at each other and killed each other. [Los Angeles Times, By Esmeralda Bermudez and Ruben Vives. November 30, 2008 ].

These two had never received the gift of freedom from their resentment toward each other. They couldn’t forgive. They were controlled by hate.

On the night Jesus was arrested, he was preparing his disciples for his crucifixion and death. He said,

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” [Jn.16:33].

Political systems, governments, rulers will continue.

Poverty will not go away.

People will still get sick and die.

Problems will still be a part of this life.

Jesus has overcome all these.

Jesus has overcome the world.

Jesus offers those who put their trust in him a better life today and a better future.

Jesus came to establish the Kingdom of God.

Jesus says that if we will freely give our lives to him, he will give us the gift of freedom – freedom from fear, anger, unforgiveness, or anything else that controls us.

We can be set free so we can experience the peace and joy and love that God’s give of Jesus Christ brings. In the midst of the problems of this life, Jesus can help us live beyond all this.

Resolution

However, Jesus has come to set us free from the things that imprison us. We may not be able to control what happens to us in this life, but we can control how we respond to this life.

· We may never be cured of an illness or disability.

· We may be hated or persecuted or rejected.

· We may be imprisoned unfairly or treated unjustly.

We can become resentful and bitter because of what life hands us, or we can live full of joy and free of resentment, knowing that Jesus is with us in every situation of life.

We can refuse to forgive people who have hurt us, or we can remember that Jesus forgave those who nailed him to a cross, and choose to forgive others as we have been forgiven.

We can hate those who hurt us, or choose to show them the love of Christ.

Think that’s impossible? Then you haven’t let the power of Jesus Christ take control of your life and set you free from bondage.

Jesus has set us free. Jesus has forgiven us.

Jesus has healed us. Jesus has given us life.

But we have to choose whether we will live as though we believe this or not.

Conclusion

Jesus said in John 8:31-32, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

What did Jesus teach? What was the commandment Jesus told his disciples they were to obey?

“Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples.” [Jn.13:34-35].

Jesus didn’t choose the way of might or power or wrath, but the way of love. Jesus chose to bring the Kingdom with love because he knew that love is the most powerful thing in the world, the most lasting thing in the world.

It is love that sets us free. … Love came down at Christmas (in a Christ Child) to set people free from those things that imprison them.” [James Moore, What Do You Want for Christmas? (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2008) 24].

So don’t doubt. Believe that Jesus is the Messiah.

Don’t doubt. Believe that God has come to set you free.

Let Jesus give you the gift of freedom this Christmas.

· Let Jesus set you free to love as you have been loved.

· Let his love overflow in your heart so others will see Christ in you and receive the gift of freedom.

· Let the power of Christ’s love empower you to live freely and fully for Jesus. Amen.

Return to the Sermons Page

Return to the Immanuel Home Page

To email Pastor Carnes or Immanuel Evangelical Covenant Church office@immanuelcov.org

This sermon is copyright ©2008 by Rev. Dr. Linnea E. Carnes, Immanuel Evangelical Covenant Church, Chicago, Illinois.