As Christmas gets closer and closer
there might already be some presents wrapped
and placed under the tree at your house.
And of course part of the fun is watching the suspense build
as we wait and we wonder what it is
that's underneath that wrapping paper.
Of course most of the time, that suspense comes to an end
when we finally get to unwrap the gift and see what's inside but,
maybe every now and then we unwrap a gift,
look at the picture there on the box,
and still wonder to ourselves,
"What exactly is this?
"And what exactly does this do?"
Believe it or not, it's possible to have the same questions
about the gift that God gives us at Christmas,
the gift of his son Jesus.
Even if we know who Jesus is, that he's God's son,
that he's the promised Messiah,
we still might wonder,
"What exactly is he here for?
"What exactly is he here to do?"
And so, thankfully, when God sent John the Baptist
to get people ready for Jesus,
he made sure that John
answered that question, too.
This week we've been talking about John the Baptist
and the important work that he did
to get people ready for Jesus.
He told them that the way
to be ready for Jesus was to repent.
As he baptized Jesus, God made it very clear
that Jesus was His son and the promised Messiah.
But, what exactly was he there to do?
Well, a short time after Jesus had been baptized by John,
Jesus was walking toward John,
John had a bunch of people gathered around him,
listening to him preach as was often the case,
and as Jesus approached, John pointed at Jesus and said,
"Look, the Lamb of God,
"who takes away the sin of the world."
Seems like kind of an odd thing to say, right?
There's a human being walking towards you and you say,
"Look, a lamb."
Even though John's words might be confusing to us
the people who originally heard them
would have known exactly what John meant.
You see, in the Old Testament,
lambs were often used as animals of sacrifice.
Maybe the most familiar and most famous animal,
the most famous lamb that was sacrificed
was the Passover lamb.
Every year at the Passover,
the people were to select one lamb from their flock,
a lamb without any spot, or blemish, or defect,
they were to slaughter that lamb, take its blood,
spread it on the door frames of their houses,
and then eat that lamb as part of the Passover meal.
In other words, even though the lamb
had nothing wrong with it,
it had no sin or guilt of its own,
the lamb became the victim.
The lamb was put to death.
Of course, all of this pointed ahead to the coming Messiah.
Even though Jesus had no sin and no guilt of his own,
the world's sin was placed on him.
And so as a result, he became the victim.
He was put to death and his blood
was shed on the cross.
So how does God get us ready for Jesus' arrival?
Yes, He tells us exactly who Jesus is,
he's God's son, he's the promised Messiah,
but He also tells us exactly what Jesus came to do.
And that's very important because it's so very easy for us
to really use Jesus for something else.
We might think to ourselves that Jesus
is the guy who sets the good example,
or inspires us to live the way God wants us to live.
Maybe Jesus is the guy who helps us cope
with all of our problems,
or get through the day to day struggles of our lives.
Maybe Jesus is the guy who serves as the spokesperson,
or even the mascot for whatever political
or social causes happen to be passionate to us.
Can we use Jesus for all of those things?
I suppose.
But it would sort of be like,
getting a brand new iPhone for Christmas
and as soon as you unwrap it and take it out of the box
you say, "This is perfect. I've got this wobbly end table
"and I've just been looking for the perfect thing
"to put under one of the legs to stabilize it
"and make it stay put."
Could an iPhone serve that purpose, could an iPhone do that?
I suppose.
But is it safe to say that you'd be missing out
on what the iPhone is really for?
Yeah, of course.
So as we get ready to receive the gift
that God gives us at Christmas,
let's remember John's words.
What is that gift?
Well look, it's a lamb.
And what is it for?
It takes away the sin of the world.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for your willingness
to sacrifice your innocent son
for a world of guilty sinners.
Keep our eyes focused on the lamb of God
rather than carrying the burdens we feel ourselves.
Help us place them all on him.
In His name we pray,
Amen.