Happy Groundhog Day! In America we set aside February 2nd to observe a relatively small rodent as he reacts to sunshine and we are to base our weather forecast on this animal's reaction. Seems like a colossal waste of a holiday, doesn't it? One good thing that has come out of this holiday though is the movie titled "Groundhog Day." In this funny tale, a seemingly rotten individual is doomed to repeat the same day over and over again until he finally does things the right way. Every morning he wakes up to the same day and has to make all the right decisions to get out of this turmoil. For days he wakes up in the morning and does mean and obnoxious things. He must do this until he breaks the cycle and makes no mistakes.

Can you imagine being in that situation? Can you fathom the absolute distress that we would be in if we had to go even one day without sinning? Everyday we sin and we commit the same sins over and over again. What if God said that your eternal life depended on you going sinless for just one day? You had to break the cycle of your sin. We would all be doomed. We would all be sentenced to eternity in hell.

Let us give our complete and utter thanks to God that this is not the case. Let us praise God today that he loved us so much he solved the problem of sin in our lives and the world. For God sent his Son, Jesus. And Jesus broke the cycle. We are no longer doomed in our sin. Jesus did this by sharing in our humanity. He did it by destroying death and devil. He did it by freeing us from slavery.

First of all, Jesus shared in our humanity. We saw this once again quite vividly in the Christmas story. God came to earth and was born of a virgin. In our culture of pride and insistence on total respect this almost seems an affront to our basic ideology. Titles and actions of reverence are demanded. Yet this spirit of egotism was not evident even in the slightest with our God. He made himself low and became a human being for our sake. Jesus was true God and true man.

This had to be. It was a must in order to break the cycle of sin. For since the beginning of time man was caught in this cycle of sin. Each mortal was born with sin. Each and every human being was guilty of transgressing against God's law. The Bible shows this in countless Bible stories relating the sin of people. And when we look in the mirror we see that sin is just as evident. We see greed, selfishness, lust, and a host of other sins. This is evident even though we are commanded to be holy, perfect, and sinless. And so the one who would break this vicious cycle of sin would have to be God in order to be perfect.

He also would have to be true man. Why? In order for this cycle to be broken, a life would be demanded. It would have to be a perfect life filled with total obedience to God's law. It would have to be a life extinguished for the ransom of all mankind. Jesus not only fulfilled the requirement of true God, but he also fulfilled the requirement of true man.

He suffered temptation, yet remained perfect. We are told in the Bible that the devil tempted him in the desert. And if you still need proof of Jesus temptation, read the story of Jesus in Gethsemane and feel the agony that our Savior went through, as he was tempted to give up on his divine mission to redeem the world. Jesus was true man and suffered as true man.

There are some who say that the claim that Jesus was true God and true Man is not factual. Some say that he was only true God. Some say that Jesus was only a good man. These assertions cheapen the gift that God has bestowed to the world. God gave a perfect gift and the Bible is not vague when describing this gift to us. Stand firm in the knowledge that one who broke the cycle of sin shared our humanity with us. Be comforted that God loves us that much.

I have wondered from time to time how I will face death. We all know that it is inevitable. Have you ever speculated if you will stare down death with the resolve of John Wayne, or will you be a whimpering scaredy-cat. As we look at these words from the book of Hebrews, we are given the confidence that we need to face death without fear. Death has lost its sting because Jesus has broken the cycle. He has destroyed death and the general of death, the devil.

Christ broke the cycle of death that we would have all been forced to face. I am not speaking of just the death will come as the result of our hearts ceasing their work in our bodies. I am speaking of the death that loomed over the world because of sin. That death was an eternal death. It was a death that would have dragged us all down to the depths of hell. It was a death that would have removed us from the presence of God. And that is the worst part of this death. In the Old Testament, the people of Israel received astonishing blessings when the presence of the Lord was with them. His presence led them out of the land Egypt. His presence filled the temple of Solomon, where countless sacrifices were offered for the sins of the people.

However when the presence of the Lord was removed from them, great destruction and calamity piled upon the people. Other countries enslaved them. Famine and pestilence devastated their communities. It was horrible for the people of Israel when the Lord's presence was not with them. Now imagine the Lord's presence removed entirely from your life. Imagine that there would be no hope whatsoever that the Lord's presence would return. There would be no blessings, no forgiveness, no life. That is eternal death. That is hell. That is what the devil wants for all of us.

Thank the Lord that Jesus broke the cycle so that death was rendered ineffective. Jesus destroyed death with death. It was through his death on the cross, the ultimate sacrifice, that devil was finally defeated. Satan's purely evil plan was obliterated. Jesus broke the cycle that started with sin and ended with death. And because of that great victory won on the cross, we have no fear of death, for we know that we will live. We will live forever in the presence of God. We will experience the blessings and love of God for eternity. Let us take comfort in the fact that the cycle of sin and death has been broken.

Two summers ago I had the amazing experience of taking a group of teenagers to the Museum of African American History in Detroit. As you walk into one of the exhibits, you see the hull of a large ship. It is a replica of an old slave ship. On that exhibit in the museum were the names thousands of ships that carried slaves to America. It really made an impression on me because those slave who were brought to America often took the name of the ship as their last name. And those last names are still used today by the ancestors of those slaves.

The Bible tells us that we were all slaves at one point. We were slaves to the devil. His name was on us. He had control of our lives. He was our master. The chains of sin and death shackled us. But by God's grace, we were set free. Because Jesus broke the cycle of sin and death, He was able to free us from our slavery. Jesus destroyed the chains of sin and death and let us go free.

If you have ever read or heard stories of slaves that came to freedom in the North during the civil war, I am sure you realized the great joy that was felt by those free people. I have heard stories of grown men falling to the ground, after reaching freedom in the North, weeping and kissing the free soil that they were on. I have read accounts of men and women saying that they would never take their freedom for granted.

I see that kind of response in you also. It is with pure joy that you have come to God's house in order to praise his holy name for setting you free from slavery. It is with great excitement that the Bible studies here at St. Stephen, adult and teen Bible classes, Sunday school, and Campus Ministry Bible studies, are filling up so that you can learn more about the freedom that Jesus won for you on the cross. It is with sheer pleasure that men and women, young and old come to serve in many different capacities because you are free to serve. May we, free people, continue to worship, study, and serve together out of love and gratitude to Jesus who set us free from our slavery. He broke the cycle and the shackles that held us.

What a relief it is that we are not doomed to repeat the abysmal cycle that would have led us to eternal death and never-ending slavery! The holiday celebrated this day in the USA really is not celebrated all that much. I know I am not having a Groundhog Day party today. The day more often than not passes by with an amazing amount of apathy. May God keep reminding us with his Word that Jesus broke the cycle of sin by sharing in our humanity, destroying death and the devil, and setting us free from our slavery. And as we hear this message, let us celebrate, not with apathy, but with utter joy, unceasing praise, and continuous service to God.