Sermon Category: English

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, long before the internet and the wonders of GPS, lived a people that used printed maps to get around. Sometimes when a map was not readily available, people would stop and ask for directions. Some of them hated asking for directions and instead chose to find things their own way. Many who chose to do so ended up inevitably lost. To be lost is to desperately seek direction but find none. Spiritually, the lost heart longs for God but is unable to find its way back to him. Proud and unable to ask for direction, the lost heart is searching for all the right things in all the wrong ways. That is why Jesus came. He came to give us the direction we desperately need but many times don’t want to hear. He came to tell us we are lost but do not need to remain so.

Modern Humanity is stuck. In spite of the fact that we can search the stars above and explore the secrets of the microscopic world, we are stuck. We are stuck with our longings for eternity and undying youth. We are stuck with our inability to keep the moral standards we know are right. We are stuck with the problem of evil and suffering, with sickness war, and death. We are stuck because we cannot save ourselves from ourselves. We need to be rescued, but to be rescued a ransom must be provided to make right what has been wrong. That is why Jesus came. In a world where everyone seems entitled to their own desires, Jesus came to serve. In a world where everyone takes, he came to give. He came to give his life as a ransom for the many who cannot save themselves from themselves.

When we are disowned, we are deprived from the basic dignity of our humanity. As bearers of the imago Dei we were made to reflect God’s glory and to belong with him. Ever since Genesis 3, our hearts long to return to him but are unable to do so. In the grip of sin, our hearts reject the very love they desperately need. That’s why Jesus had to come. He came to his own even if his own rejected him because, by God’s grace, the sinful rebellious hearts of those who respond to him in faith can be born again and become what God made us to be, his children.