I Loose Thee This Day: Christmas and the Chains

Sermon outline

Jesus came not only to save us from hell but to restore the blessing, God's empowerment, so that every believer is purposed to carry it to their neighbour, and on Christmas Day the chains that kept them from doing so are broken.

1. Jesus came to restore the blessing

   God did not send His Son to condemn the world, and Jesus did not come only to save us from hell. He came to deliver us from the curse of sin, death, lack and insufficiency. In Eden, Adam and Eve wore the blessing, the glory of God, as a garment, and when Adam sinned it left him and he knew he was naked. The blessing passed through Noah and Abraham to Jesus, and through Him it is available to everyone. It is not money; it is the empowerment to be fruitful, multiply and have dominion in every area of life.

   “So when you hear the word blessing to a Christian, it's not talking about money. It's talking about an empowerment.”

   • John 3:17
   • Genesis 1:28
   • Galatians 3:13

2. The true form of information is you and your Bible

   In an age of information there is just as much disinformation: protein is good, then bad; eggs are good, then the villain. The same is true of the word. The only sure footing is a relationship with Jesus, the only way to the Father, the baptism of the Holy Spirit and your own Bible. Everything must be tried, judged, weighed and measured. As Mary pondered these things in her heart, ponder what God has laid in yours and ask how to enact His kingdom with it.

   “The true form of prophecy and the true form of information will be you and your Bible.”

   • John 14:6

3. Blessed in order to bless

   As Jesus left the disciples He lifted His hands and blessed them; He did not open His bank account and hand out cryptocurrency. The gospel announced to Abraham was that all nations would be blessed, and as the Father sent Jesus, He sends us. God's love poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit flows out to the sick, the destitute, the depressed and the disillusioned. Getting caught up in the cares of the day, or controlling and manipulating people, shows we have lost sight of the blessing.

   Illustration: Throwing a tantrum because your wife made chicken curry when you asked for mutton curry is a sign you are focused on the affairs of the day, not on the blessing of the Lord.

   “We need to go and be the blessing to the world.”

   • Luke 24:50
   • Galatians 3:8
   • Mark 16:15
   • John 20:21
   • Romans 5:5

4. Fan the flame, and stop the stinking thinking

   Love the Lord with all your heart, soul and mind, and stir up the gift of God in you. Peter wrote to stimulate wholesome thinking: an unhealthy mind makes an unhealthy heart and everything that flows from it diseased, while a healthy mind lets love flow out. The blessing of the Lord makes rich and adds no sorrow, but money with stinking thinking leads to destruction, and money with a healthy mind is a tool.

   Illustration: At a braai you can have the ribs, or the T-bone if the ribs get no amens, basted and ready, but if the fire is not prepared it will not cook the meat. The gift in you needs the same preparation.

   “Stinking thinking is a diseased life.”

   • Matthew 22:37
   • 2 Peter 3:1
   • Proverbs 10:22
   • Matthew 5:13-14

5. Who is my neighbour?

   A priest and a Levite, two holy men, passed by the robbed and wounded man, most likely someone they did not consider their own creed or culture. A Samaritan stopped, bandaged him, carried him to an inn and paid for his care. In the kingdom of God there is no colour, creed, social status, employee or business owner; there is a man and there is God. Get over the black, white and brown thing, and stop reading the nation through which political party will do what, because the church enacts God's kingdom. Your neighbour is the person in need, and you are meant to be the answer to that need.

   “In the kingdom of God, there's no color, there's no creed, there's no social status.”

   • Luke 10:25-37

6. Purposed to be like Jesus

   To be purposed means single-minded, tenacious, resolute, focused and convicted. Our purpose as Christians is to be like Jesus, and if He was all about love, so must we be. When people are treacherous or bitter, love forgives; turning the other cheek can mean saying, I don't like what you did, I forgive you, and walking away. We make disciples by being a disciple, and when we are free in mind and heart the world around us is free.

   “If Jesus was all about love, then you and I need to be all about love.”

   • Matthew 5:39
   • Matthew 22:37-39

7. I loose thee this day

   After communion he gives a final word of release from Jeremiah 40:4, where the prophet is loosed from the chains on his hands and given the choice where to go. He reads it as a choice and then breaks the chains by name: on the soul, on the mind that kept people from the mind of Christ, on the vocal cords that could not speak freely of God, on wallets and purses that felt full of holes, and on the spirit grown discontented and disillusioned. In their freedom they will help others find the same freedom.

   “You've been bound long enough, but now is the time to come forth into freedom in the name of Jesus.”

   • Jeremiah 40:4
   • John 8:32
   • Psalm 105:20

In this message