Who Was He Sermon by Russ Barksdale, Colossians 2:13-14

I don’t know if you’ve read the book by Victor Hugo or seen the Broadway show or the movie, Les Miserables. (pic) The title sets the plot: Les Miserables. The anglicized translation is “The Miserable Ones.” But there is a better translation, that being, “The Dispossessed.” What an incredible story. It is set during the early 1800s. The main character is a man by the name of Jean Valjean. He has been in prison for 19 years because he stole some bread to feed his starving sister and her family. When he gets out, he’s angry. He’s bitter. Because he is a convict and the papers he had to carry indicated such, no innkeepers will take him in. He sleeps on the street until he decides to knock on the door of a local bishop who gives him food and a bed to sleep in. Valjean ends up stealing some silverware and leaving. When he is caught trying to peddle them, he’s arrested and returned to the Bishop—who ends up covering for Valjean. He tells the officers that he gave the silverware to Valjean, and adds a couple of silver candlesticks to the silverware. This act of kindness, this act of mercy, this act of grace, this act-of-redemption haunts Valjean at 1st—and then changes him forever.

What a great story of redemption. We love stories of redemption, don’t we? In Charles Dickens’, A Christmas Carol, (pic) we love how it ends: Ebenezar Scrooge is redeemed from a life of miserable greed to a life of joyful generosity. In The Wizard of Oz (pic), the Tinman is redeemed from a life without a heart, the Scarecrow is redeemed from a life without a brain, and the Lion is redeemed from a life of cowardice….Courage! (little diddy from woman on bike)

Redemption. That’s not a word we toss around much in our culture anymore.

Redemption: the action of gaining or regaining possession of something in exchange for payment, or clearing a debt.

This morning we begin a new series entitled Vintage Jesus. We are going to spend the next four weeks examining the life and times of Jesus, and answering four classic questions about Jesus of Nazareth. So turn to the book of Colossians

And the first question of the series is: Why did Jesus come? There’s no denying Jesus was an historical figure. Even most atheists now acknowledge that Jesus was a real guy. They would agree that He was and is a religious figure. They would not agree, however, that He was who He said He was and did what the Bible says He did. And maybe that’s kind of where you are this morning. Someone has dragged you here this morning, or you dragged yourself because you feel somehow you should be here. But when you think about this Jesus, you still have a lot of questions that need to be answered. Well, this series is for you.

So the question for us to ponder this morning is: Why did Jesus come? Now the answer to that question would take about 3 days of constant teaching to fully answer. So I need to truncate the answer into the time I have this morning. To do so I’ve got to ask you To shorten the discussion, let’s agree to three assumptions:

Assumption #1: Jesus is eternal. No beginning & no end. You want to debate that another time, ok. But Jesus makes this claim about Himself and other Scripture backs that up.

John 8:58 “ Jesus said to them, “I assure you: Before Abraham was, I am.”

Colossians 1:15-17 “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For everything was created by Him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities— all things have been created through Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and by Him all things hold together.”

Assumption #2: Jesus is God. Again, if you want to debate that another time, I’m game. But for the sake of argument this morning, let’s accept the assumption that Jesus is God. Jesus makes this claim about Himself and other Scripture backs that up.

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