THE OTHER REASON JESUS WAS BORN…

MATTHEW 5:17-20: “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.”

OBSERVATION: Why was Jesus born? Why did God become flesh and dwell amongst us? During this Christmas season we are focused on the birth of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, the Word made flesh. We herald the coming of the Savior who came into this world to die for our sins so that we could be forgiven, made sons and daughters of God and have eternal life.

Yet – we often forget the other reason Jesus was born!

Jesus did not simply become a man so that He could take the penalty for our sins on the cross. While this is the culmination of His first coming and the sacrifice that opened the door for our redemption, it was not the only reason. We often forget that Jesus lived in obscurity for 30 years as a common man, walking in faithfulness and obedience to his parents and His Heavenly Father.

Jesus came to fulfill all that was written in the Law and the Prophets.

This was more than simply fulfilling all the prophecies regarding the Messiah written in the Old Testament. While Jesus did fulfill these prophecies, He did much more than that. He came to fulfill the perfect Law of God. He came to fulfill all righteousness. He came to do what no man since the fall of Adam was able to do.

He came to live a perfect, sinless life, in full obedience to the Father.

Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross would have meant nothing if He was not the sinless Lamb of God who had fulfilled all righteousness. If He had not fulfilled the Law and the Prophets perfectly – He would not have been the perfect sacrifice that would be accepted for our sins. He would have been just another sinful man who died for something he believed in.

Jesus was so much more! He was the second Adam who fulfilled the perfect will of God!

Why is this important to remember? It will impact the way we live our entire lives. It is the difference between being a Pharisee or a disciple of Jesus. It will determine whether we live by grace through faith or our limited human strength. It will influence the way we view the Word of God and communicate it to others. Jesus warned,

• “Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.”

The scribes and the Pharisees proclaimed God’s Word but lived a lie. They pretended they were fulfilling the Law but in their lives and hearts, they were breaking it every moment of every day. Their hypocrisy was in essence saying – “Do as I say, not as I do!” Jesus called them to be accountable for their hypocritical lifestyle.

The other error is to dismiss the Law of God as unattainable and therefore not important. It is to adjust God’s Word and standard of holiness to fit our broken lifestyle. This is what Jesus warned against. To teach anything less than the perfect and holy Word of God in its fullness and truth is to relegate our status to least in the Kingdom of God.

So what is the balance and how does this apply to the “other” reason Jesus came to live among us? Faith proclaims that there is only one who is righteous – Jesus Christ our Lord. Faith embraces the perfect life and sacrifice of Jesus Christ as the only means of salvation. Faith calls us to stop trying to please God by what we do (fulfilling the law in our strength) and trust fully in Jesus Christ for both our righteousness and salvation.

Yet, faith in Christ also calls us to be faithful to the truth. We do not proclaim the truth as something we have mastered or fulfilled in our strength. We proclaim God’s Word as the unchanging nature of His holiness. We don’t claim to fulfill the Law and the Prophets. We proclaim the wonder of the ONE who has, and the wonderful mercy and grace of God in extending the gift of forgiveness and eternal life to all who believe.

God never changes – but we can. We are not changed by changing God’s Word to fit our circumstances, lifestyle, or imperfections. We are changed as we look into the pure and holy Word of God, come to a place of sincere repentance, and place our trust solely in the Lord Jesus Christ who came to fulfill what we could not fulfill and pay the price that we could not pay!

A wonderful thing happens when we begin to live by faith in the completed work of the life of Jesus. We find that the law of sin and death that led to our demise as we tried to obey God’s Word in our strength is replaced by a new law – the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus. And, as we begin to walk in this new power, as we continue to uphold the truth of God’s Word, as we trust fully in Jesus Christ our Lord – something wonderful happens!

What we could not do in the power of our resolve God begins to do in and through us by the power of the Holy Spirit!

• “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” (Rom 8:1-4 NKJV)

We walk in the completed work of Christ. And, as we walk by grace through faith in His work, we begin to see our lives being transformed from glory to glory. What we could not do in the flesh we see God doing through us by the power of His Holy Spirit. This does not mean that we now begin fulfilling the law in our strength. It means that God begins transforming our character so that we no longer live in our strength but we surrender to the power of Christ living in and through us.

• “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Gal 2:20 NKJV)

Without this understanding, Christmas is not complete. We look to the manger and the cross and forget the pathway in between. It is this pathway that made the work on the cross acceptable to God and paved the way for us to be transformed into the image of God by faith in Christ alone! 

Heavenly Father, thank You for the gift of Your Son, Jesus Christ my Lord. This morning I once again confess that I cannot fulfill Your Word, that all my righteousness is nothing but filthy rags. I uphold the Word of Your truth and place my faith in the only one who ever fulfilled the Law and the Prophets – Jesus Christ my Lord! I no longer purpose to live in my own strength but through faith in my Lord Jesus Christ who loved me, perfectly fulfilled the righteousness of God, and gave Himself for me so that I could live through the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus!

In Jesus’ Name!