The Gospel According To Christmas
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
At Christmas we say and hear words we never use any other time
We sing words we usually pass over and never dive into
How about “Hark the herald angel sing”?
We all sing it and none of us Hark any other time of year
Every one of us proudly sings “In Egg Shells This Day OH”
Never caring it is In Exclesis Deo which means Glory to God in the highest
Don’t get me started on the train-wreck of a Christmas shoes song
We go through so many motions and miss in the familiar fly over words the depth of the Gospel on Display right in front of our eyes
“God and Sinners Reconciled”?
There is no deeper need for the human condition
“The King of Kings lay thus in lowly manger
In all our trials born to be our friend”
This is the Gospel According To Christmas
We are immersing ourselves this morning into the High Drama Matthew is laying out
Rodney Reeves sets the scene:
Matthew Explain the Story
the story of Jesus’s birth is more than a narrative of Israel’s covenant story coming true. It’s about two kingdoms colliding, two irrepressible forces clashing. The kingdom of heaven invading earth. The reign of God versus the rule of men. Herod against Joseph. It may look like a simple story about a boy born to Jewish parents, a son of David who would excite the messianic hopes of his people. But even Herod knew it is more than that. This is about who is running the show, who has the power to make it happen, who will win in the end, who is the legitimate king of Israel. In other words, as we read Matthew’s Gospel, we will discover that the answer to the magi’s provocative question, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews?” slowly unfolds before the reader—not only in the mysterious events surrounding his birth but eventually in the ironic placard affixed on the cross of his death: “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews”
From start to finish Matthew is writing to a Jewish audience announcing This Jesus is the King of the world
We are going to see 3 things this morning
Pain in the Promise Kept
The Question We All Must Answer
Why He Came
Pain in the Promise Kept (1:18-2:1)
Pain in the Promise Kept (1:18-2:1)
The birth of Jesus Christ came about this way: After his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, it was discovered before they came together that she was pregnant from the Holy Spirit. So her husband, Joseph, being a righteous man, and not wanting to disgrace her publicly, decided to divorce her secretly.
But after he had considered these things, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because what has been conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
See, the virgin will become pregnant
and give birth to a son,
and they will name him Immanuel,
which is translated “God is with us.”
When Joseph woke up, he did as the Lord’s angel had commanded him. He married her but did not have sexual relations with her until she gave birth to a son. And he named him Jesus.
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, wise men from the east arrived in Jerusalem,
The Gospel of Matthew is best understood with one eye looking back to the old story, and the other attuned to shifts in the new story.
Matthew begins his entire gospel with the language of Genesis
He wants us to remember the promise of our rescue and how it would come about
I will put hostility between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring.
He will strike your head,
and you will strike his heel.
Now none of us hearing that we have a hard road in front of us know what exactly the hard will look like ..or the pain that will take us further than we think we can take
I always laugh when people say “God will never give you more than you can handle”
Fake News..he will and does give us more than we can handle because he wants the world to see HE alone is the one who can handle it
The promise from genesis Matthew is declaring is fullfilled in Jesus is that the promise of salvation and pain we cannot imagine are being kept before our eyes
Think about the reality of this
The coming of this baby will ruin Joseph and Mary’s life
A 16 is year old girl engaged in a high honor culture ....pregnant in the time of engagement?
An excited young mom later holding her baby at the temple
The priest coming and celelbrating the long awaited Savior of the world…and he turns to her and says....
His father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and told his mother Mary, “Indeed, this child is destined to cause the fall and rise of many in Israel and to be a sign that will be opposed—and a sword will pierce your own soul—that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”
Any moms in here holding their newborn with all the love and hopes and dreams…could imagine the delivering doctor say…he is perfect…and because He is here a sword will pierce your heart?
Her life is never gonna be wait she expected
No earthly person felt the weight of Christ’s purpose like she did. While many were rejoicing at his coming, she would one day face the agonizing grief of watching her son suffer on the cross for her sins and our sins.
How about Joseph?
A faithful man…a man with societal duty and a lineage of honor to keep
And his fiance is pregnant? and its not his?
The Question We All Must Answer (2:2-2:8)
The Question We All Must Answer (2:2-2:8)
saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star at its rising and have come to worship him.”
When King Herod heard this, he was deeply disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. So he assembled all the chief priests and scribes of the people and asked them where the Messiah would be born.
“In Bethlehem of Judea,” they told him, “because this is what was written by the prophet:
And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah:
Because out of you will come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.”
Then Herod secretly summoned the wise men and asked them the exact time the star appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. When you find him, report back to me so that I too can go and worship him.”
Why He Came (2:9-2:12)
Why He Came (2:9-2:12)
After hearing the king, they went on their way. And there it was—the star they had seen at its rising. It led them until it came and stopped above the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overwhelmed with joy. Entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and falling to their knees, they worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And being warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their own country by another route.