Intro: In many ways the season of Advent is like a pregnant woman. It’s all about expectation. Of her we say, “she’s expecting.” Expecting what? Mail? A promotion? We’ll, a birth of course! She’s looking forward to a birth that will make the struggles of this present life, really wonderful after all.
She walks around with a watermellon strapped to he stomach. She feels dizzy in the morning. Her legs swell up. She can’t hold her ice-water or any other strong drink very long. When she squats down to read a soup lable she may find herself unable to rise back up again. She isn’t her usual seductive self. I’ts a hard way to live. But she’s expecting!
[show picture of baby footprint on mother’s belly.]
So it’s wonderful anyway.
And this is the message of Advent. We are expecting a birth. There is good news coming! Isaiah speaks of it in chapter 61:1
“The Lord has annointed me to preach good news to the poor.” Good news. Isaiah is the only book in the OT to use the term. Good news liberates. It releases you from apprehension. The doctor got the results of the scan back and has good news. That kind of good news.
Well, Isaiah has good news. The chapter is messianic, that is, it describes the coming messiah. And there’s something in the promises and expectations of the messiah that convince us again that indeed It’s A Wonderful Life.
Here’s the key and the central message I want us to remember today. It’s a Wonderful life because a soverign God is has purposed to give us a fresh start, and a second chance, call it even a “new birth.”
1. Jesus came to remake my physical world
A. The God of the Bible is different than the gods of other world religions. In other religions, the gods don’t come into our world. People are all trying to get into thiers.
Hindus have as their goal the escape of reincarnation, getting out of the repeated life-cycle with all it’s hardships, into the indefinable state of non-being.
Isalm teaches that after years of obedience, heroic deeds, pilgrimages, prayers, and rituals -one gets rewarded in heaven.
Fatalism says “stuff happens. That’s life. You must endure it. There may be some joys, there will be pains and hurts. But it’s pretty much random. Going no where. Stinks to be you!
But God’s word says it all differently. Genesis tells us that God came down and walked beside Adam and Eve. The Gospels tell us that God came down and walked among the Jewish people of the first century in the Middle East!
That God joined human existence in tissue and cartilege. He walked on limestone, and humus. And that place, that physical place and condition, those physical people are to be reclaimed and put back.
B. Just look at all the reversals Isaiah says the Messiah is all about: (vs1-4)
bind the broken hearted v1
free the captive v1
release the prisoner v1
comfort the mourner v2
put a crown on a head instead of ashes (the symbol of sorrow)
praise will replace dispair, v3
ancient ruins will be rebuilt, v4
This is Jubilee language. The “year of the Lord’s favor” in v2 comes from Leviticus 25, the Year of Jubilee.
God instructed Israel that every 50th year they must free their slaves, cancel all debts, return land to original families who may have sold them to pay debts.
The message of Jubilee was that when you live with Godyour failures couldn’t ruin you for good. A fresh start was always coming. God is a god who flips things around to remake them.
Isaiah even points at it with a word play. Verse 3: a crown (phe-er, (show hebrew) instead of ashes (epher, (show hebrew). Ashes were the sign of mourning. A crown/turban was the sign of festivity.
C. God’s nature is all about fresh starts, for you, for me, and even for the ground we walk on!
“The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.” Romans 8:19-22, NIV.
Just look at what Jesus did we he walked our roads! Did he teach theology of escapism? Was it only religious data he delivered? Yes he spoke of entering God’s Kingdom, finding passage into heaven and the Father’s presence. But he also brought the Kingdom!
In Luke 4 when Jesus was beginning his ministry on earth he went to the synagogue and read our text! Luke writes,
“Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”” Luke 4:20,21, NIV.
In Luke 7, when John asks if Jesus is the promised Messiah, what does he say?
““Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.” Luke 7:22, NIV.
D. Do not overlook that fact that God is concerned with these mundane, earthy things! It tells you what you can expect from God. He has open ears, watching eyes, sensative finger tips, a heart that feels.
That’s why mourners get his attention. It’s why he wants to give to those without.
Illy: I think that one of the reasons It’s A Wonderful Life has been a Christmas classic film is because it captures a characteristic of the Christ of Christmas even if unwittingly so. The story is all about fresh starts and second chances. Reflect with me if you’ve seen the film:
When they were just young boys on the frozen pond George saves his little brother Harry from drowning when he falls through the ice.
Later George saves Mr. Gower from sending bad capsuls of medicine to a customer.
Bailey building and Loan doesn’t exist to make money. Old man Bailey is clear about that. It’s there to give struggling people another chance at affordable housing.
Mary brings to George the “chance of a life time” by loving him.
Mary gives the old Grandville House another chance by loving “that old house” and refurbishing it.
And of course at the climax of the film, the people of town are the hands and feet of God when they give George a fresh start, another chance by donating cash to make up for the bank deficit cause by Uncle Billy losing $8000.00.
[I think the classic example is the fact that God gives George a second chance. You remember the scene. George gets a chance to see life as it would’ve been if he never lived. Bedford Falls is now Pottersville. His once good buddy, Ernie the taxi driver is divorced, living in a shack, and has no idea who George is. The fella at Martini’s Bar who used to be his friend throws him out into the snow. He’s been shot at by Bert the cop, who was supposed to be his friend. He has no life. No family. No history.
[scene26 watch 02:01:05 - starting where George runs onto the bridge and prays to live again, through 02:02:46 “Merry Christmas!”]
Now let me ask you. Why is George now elated in a place he was once doubtful. Because he’s gotten another chance! Pure and simple.
That leads us to one more very important thing about Christmas.
2. Jesus came to remake my spiritual world.
A. Why does another chance move us so? Isn’t it because you and I both know what it’s like to need another chance? We alternately slice or snip at the strings that delicately hold our lives together.
We make cutting remarks to people we love the most.
We invest poorly.
We loose our innocence too soon, maybe preempt plans for education to raise a child we didn’t plan well for.
We step out on our obligations, or into a sinful experiment that dirties us. Now we don’t want to be around our friends, or our family because down deep we feel guilty.
Simply put, we sin and mess up and that’s the reason we need Christmas.
B. Did you know the Year of Jubilee began on the Day of Atonement? That was the one special day of the hebrew year when the priest actually set foot inside the holy place in the temple, the place where God’s spirit would meet with man and accept a sacrifice, letting man live.
God’s point is this: social restarts, economic second chances, physical repairs, relational do-overs –they all are founded in spiritual renewal. Jubilee came out of atonement, payment for sin. The new heaven and new earth only comes on the heels of the forgiveness of human sin. The Messiah brings hope because the Messiah brings righteousness. cf. v3,10
God is not overlooking the spiritual cause behind our cancers, our temptations, our AIDS pandemics, and even our colds. Human misery exists because of human sin.
You’ve heard the proclamations at Christ’s birth:
“But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:10,11, NIV.
“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.”” Matthew 1:21, NIV.
Conclusion:
Friends, because of Jesus you can start over. You can begin again. The Bible says confess your sinfulness, ask him to take your punishment and he will. More than that, he offers you a new day. He calls us a “new creation”. He says the old is gone!
I don’t care what you’ve done, where you’ve been. God will take you back! He will start you over.
All you need to do is say, “God, I want to live again.”
Do it right now... I urge you. He is the God of the Fresh Start!
