Sermon Central
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Stop Making Your Brother Cry
Contributed by Shawn Drake on Dec 27, 2004 (message contributor)
Summary: This Christmas sermon summarizes the season and its meaning.
STOP MAKING YOUR BROTHER CRY
Introduction:
“Stop making your brother (or sister) cry”. How many times a day do I say that?
At my house a battle breaks out every 5.7 seconds (or at least it seems that way). Now my mom enjoys that because she feels avenged for all the fighting my brother and I did. This morning I want us to answer the question, “What makes our brother Jesus cry”?
Does Jesus cry because…
He Became One Of Us?
As Philippians 2:6-8 says, “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death- even death on a cross!
Jesus, who is God, left Heaven to become one of us. The creator of everything and He left Heaven to fix our problem. In fact Jesus knew what was going to happen even before we were created; and yet He still created us.
I would have cried if I had to leave Heaven to come die for you; but not Jesus. He came willingly.
Does Jesus cry because…
He Fears Us?
Herod tried to have the baby Jesus killed. Satan tempted Jesus for 40 days. The religious leaders hated and Him and succeeded in having Him killed. The people who praised Him one week yelled out, “Crucify Him!
I would have cried if these people I came to saved tried to kill me. I would have cried if I had to the face the devil for 40 days or be crucified on a cross; but not Jesus.
Does Jesus cry because…
He Loves Us?
Jesus’ purpose for leaving Heaven and being born into this world as a human was to seek and save the lost. His motive for coming was because He loves us so much.
He endured temptation, torture, etc… for us and never cried about that; but Jesus did cry. You will find only 2 times in the New Testament where Jesus cried.
Jesus had been given word that His friend Lazarus was sick and He had been requested by Martha and Mary to come. When He arrived Lazarus had been dead for 4 days.
Did Jesus cry because Lazarus was dead? No. The Jews got it half right in verse 36. Jesus cried because He loved them and did not want to see them hurting. When we hurt, Jesus hurts with us.
Jesus also hurts because of verse 37. The people did not get it. All they could see was the physical. They immediately started passing judgment upon Jesus. They had just been looking for a show.
The next time we find Jesus crying is on Palm Sunday.
Jesus cried because the very people that knew about the coming Messiah missed it. The Jews had been looking for the Messiah for years and He lived, taught, and performed miracles among them and they didn’t know who He was.
Conclusion:
During this holiday season, there are many who miss the whole point of Christmas. They ignore the true meaning of Christmas and miss out on the saving power of Jesus.
There are also many Christians who are held down by sadness and discouragement during the holiday seasons. Don’t forget that Jesus knows what suffering is like and He will strengthen you and lift you up if you will allow Him to do so.
