The Promise: One Small Child

Bookmarks & Needs:

B: Micah 5:2-4

N:

Welcome

PRAYER

Good morning, church. I want to welcome you to worship this Advent day. I’m Bill Connors, senior pastor, and I so appreciate Michelle, the choir, the students, and the children who put in a lot of practice to prepare for this morning’s special musical time.

We’ve already heard the Gospel preached through the music that our choir shared this morning. I want to take just a moment to reiterate and reinforce that message.

The musical we presented this morning is called “One Small Child.” It was based on the Christmas song of the same name, which we sang during the musical. While that song certainly speaks to the birth of Christ, in a way it reflects some of the promises that we have been looking at this Advent—promises of hope, peace, joy, and love. One of those promises involved the location where the Christ child would be born, and what that one small child would do when He grew up. It is found in Micah chapter 5:

Micah 5:2–4 CSB

2 Bethlehem Ephrathah, you are small among the clans of Judah; one will come from you to be ruler over Israel for me. His origin is from antiquity, from ancient times. 3 Therefore, Israel will be abandoned until the time when she who is in labor has given birth; then the rest of the ruler’s brothers will return to the people of Israel. 4 He will stand and shepherd them in the strength of the Lord, in the majestic name of the Lord his God. They will live securely, for then his greatness will extend to the ends of the earth.

This one small child, from this one small town, in this one small land would come and literally change the world, because as the Lord said through Micah, “His greatness will extend to the ends of the earth.” This “one small child” is Jesus.

One of the scenes that we tend to incorporate into our Christmas and nativity images is that of the three wise men or magi, coming to kneel at the manger in the stable, bearing their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. This is because of chapter 2 of Matthew’s Gospel, which quotes this passage from Micah.

However, the text of Matthew’s Gospel doesn’t bear the magis’ incorporation into the original nativity around the manger:

Matthew didn’t say that there were three magi, just three gifts;

Matthew also didn’t say that the magi visited Jesus in a stable, but in a house;

We can’t even be completely certain that the magi found Jesus in Bethlehem itself, just that Herod sent them there, and that’s where Herod later took action to try and kill Jesus. All the Bible actually says is that when they left Jerusalem, they again could follow the star that had taken them to Jerusalem already.

But the truth is that, regardless of these things, the magi are still a part of the Christmas story. Why?

Because they understood. They knew when the King of kings had been born, and they went to worship Him. They traveled a great distance in order to do so, at great cost and sacrifice, and they would not be stopped from completing their quest. They knew, they understood, and they responded.

The thing that’s really interesting about this is what Matthew shared in his Gospel:

Matthew 2:1–6 CSB

1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, wise men from the east arrived in Jerusalem, 2 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.” 3 When King Herod heard this, he was deeply disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 So he assembled all the chief priests and scribes of the people and asked them where the Messiah would be born. 5 “In Bethlehem of Judea,” they told him, “because this is what was written by the prophet: 6 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.”

Notice who knew where the Messiah would be born—who knew that Bethlehem was the place—but hadn’t noticed the sign of His birth as the magi did… the leaders of the Hebrew faith—the chief priests and the scribes. They could even quote it. And even after they hear about these magi from the east, they don’t pack their bags to go find this promised Messiah. They just send the wise men on their merry way, asking that they come back and rat Jesus out once they had found Him and worshiped. All of the information was there and available to them… they just didn’t care. There was simply no room in their thinking for a Savior who was born in relative obscurity—one small child in a land of a thousand.

The question that we need to consider this morning is this: where do we fit in the nativity? Are we the wise men, laying down our lives and our agendas in order to worship Jesus? Or are we the religious leaders of Israel, hearing or even reading Scripture, but never being willing to apply its meaning as it relates to Jesus.

The Gospel is surprisingly simple: God loves us, but because of our sins, we are separated from Him because He is perfect and we aren’t. We can’t fix our problem because we are the problem. We can’t live up to God’s holy standard. So Jesus, the Son of God, came as that baby in Bethlehem and grew up while living a perfect life so that He could take the punishment that we deserve for our sins, dying on the cross in our place so we can be forgiven. But then He defeated death by the power of God, and rose from the grave, so that those who trust Him for their salvation will have eternal life.

This one small child revealed the depth of the love of God: in Jesus, and only in Jesus, can we be saved. He is the real reason that we have Christmas.

This morning, if you have never believed this message—the message of the Gospel of Christ—I ask you, I urge you, I beg you to take a moment right now, and ask yourself: “Am I lost? Do I need Jesus?”

Respond to the work of God by His Spirit this morning, and trust in Christ for your salvation. Surrender yourself to Him and Savior and Lord, believing the truth of the Gospel. The band is going to come in a moment, and during that song, I invite you to come and share with me, or Joe, or Kerry, or Trevor, that today you have surrendered your life to Christ in faith, trusting Jesus to save you. If you’re online, please reach out to me there at [e-mail] so I can get you resources or help you as you start this journey of faith.

Also, if you believe that Eastern Hills is a church family where you can connect, grow, and serve alongside your brothers and sisters, and you would like to join the church family through formal membership, please let me know that as well.

You can use this time of invitation for prayer as well, either where you are, or here at the steps, or if you would like to pray with one of us, you can do that as well.

And finally, the invitation is a good time for giving your tithes and offerings through our mobile app or the website. You can also place your offerings in the plates by the doors as we leave the sanctuary after service is over. Remember that we’re collecting our annual Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions to support our SBC missionaries throughout the world during December and January, and our goal as a church is $35K. We’ve collected $15,211 in just the first two weeks of this goal. Praise the Lord for that generosity!

PRAYER

Announcements

I’d like to invite all of you to plan on being here for our special Christmas Eve service on Saturday, 12/24, at 6:00 pm. It will be a beautiful time together as a church family. Also, I’d like to invite everyone to come for a special time of worship on Christmas Day at 10:30 am, since it falls on a Sunday this year.

TopGolf Men’s Outing 7-9pm Tuesday

Bible reading (2 Chr 9)

Pastor’s Study tonight

Prayer Meeting this Wednesday

Adam Pittman

Instructions for guests

Benediction

Titus 3:4–7 CSB

4 But when the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared, 5 he saved us—not by works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy—through the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit. 6 He poured out his Spirit on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior 7 so that, having been justified by his grace, we may become heirs with the hope of eternal life.