This past Sunday December 20, we came together in old Main Street Baptist Church in Christiansburg for our third of four December Nights. It was an eventful night as Northstar’s ReVerb Youth Group had the opportunity to serve by taking over for the night. The youth group did everything from greeting, welcome, offering, worship, and the message.
Alex Kacere, our Youth Minister, preached on the Sentness of Jesus Christ. [podcast here] He had four points that encompassed the reasons why Jesus was sent. The main passages he used to support his points were Isaiah 52-53 and John 17. Alex said that Jesus Christ is the crux of the story of life. On Jesus’ life, every other event hinders. On the cross of Jesus Christ, the whole world hangs. If Jesus is who He said He was, we must know why He came to the world.
1. Jesus was sent to Fulfill Prophecy.
First, Jesus was sent to the world to fulfill the many prophetic words of the Old Testament. In fact, Jesus fulfilled over 350 prophecies in his lifetime that showed His deity. What is amazing is that there are unfulfilled prophecy that are going to be fulfilled in Jesus’ second coming that we can be absolutely confident in because there is not a single prophecy that had not been fulfilled about His first coming. Our faith can be assured in the fulfillment of prophecy that has already happened.
We learned that Isaiah called Jesus, “my servant” while talking about Jesus’ coming. We know that Jesus came to serve and to not be served on this earth. Isaiah also reveals that Jesus would come and be a servant that was rejected by man but bring revelation to the world.
2. Jesus was sent for Salvation.
In Isaiah 53, we see that it is Jesus who fulfilled the prophecy about our salvation, by carrying our sorrows. It is He who was oppressed and afflicted for our sins. His soul was made an offering for guilt, and He came to bear our iniquities. It is Jesus who poured out His soul to death. He bore the sins of many, and He makes intercession for the transgressors. All of these things are integral for the salvation of man. Jesus gives opportunity for salvation for every person that has ever lived. That means salvation for your neighbor and it also means salvation for the enemies for the world. We must believe that Jesus did come for salvation for all.
3. Jesus was sent to glorify the Father.
As Alex taught from John 17, he read the amazing prayer that Jesus made to the Father. We learned that Jesus emptied himself of all of His glory prerogatives to give all the glory to the Father. Everything that Jesus did in His life was to glorify the Father. In fact, there was not one thing that Jesus did that did not glorify the Father. As we are called to model Christ in our lives, this means that we also are called to glorification of the Father.
4. Jesus was sent to send.
This is important point sets up our next week’s sermon about the Church being sent. Jesus lived the way that He did so that He could send people. The way that Jesus sent His disciples into the world, He wants to send you and me. Jesus was sent to the world to give us purpose. Without Christ, our lives have no purpose at all. We must know that our purpose is rooted in Christ, and He gives us a sense of sentness. That means that we are sent to where Jesus puts us. Your perspective is changed in your place of work or school to wherever you go because you may have the opportunity to share Jesus with someone who would not get that chance otherwise.