Our Family is Protected

This advent season, we have bee in a series called “Our Family.” As a church, we want to recognize that those who have put their faith and trust in Jesus have been adopted by Him. Claimed as son’s and daughters of God. Which means, as believer’s, we are all part of God’s family.

In this series we have seen the rich history of God’s family. The Bible gives us thousands of years of our family history. We can look back and read about some of the most beautiful, awe inspiring moments. We can read the detailed stories of love, triumph, and joy. But not all of the stories are beautiful, not all are easy to digest, in fact, every generation faced its challenges. These hard dynamics teach us valuable lessons about things like rejection, betrayal, and selfishness. Throughout all of human history, the people of God have given into their own desires and felt the effects and bondage of sin. They have experienced the infliction of generational sin, and cyclical patterns in their own life. A clear pattern of the Old Testament is a deep truth about humanity's bondage to sin, it’s inescapable....

Yet, what we see from generation to generation, story after story, again and again, is that though people fall short, God is Faithful. Through incidental sin, seasons of rebellion, God leads us back to Himself again, and again - in so doing, He provides for us in ways that we could never provide for ourselves.

- God invites us into healing, doing our part where we caused damage. He helps us restore broken and hurting relationships. He delivers us from our evil and provides paths that lead us to putting down the weight of our sin so that we can finally rest in His presence.

Walking through Matthew’s gospel, we have seen the family lineage, the miraculous conception in a young virgin, the wise men, coming to worship the new born king. But we have also learned of about a Roman King named Herod or as some have called him, “Herod the Great.”

In the eyes of Rome, Herod was a great asset. He conquered several areas for the Roman empire. But was better known for his ability to keep the Jews at bay - not allowing for revolts, or protests to gather, Herod seemed to have the right balance of authoritarian rule and consideration for the practices and beliefs of the Jewish people. Additionally, Herod was probably most known for building beautiful palace’s, beautiful buildings, and community event locations where performances, races, and games could be held. In many ways, it seemed as though Herod was trying to build the beauty of Rome within the Jewish province. It was a way of slowly bringing Roman culture to the Jewish people.

We read on Sunday, how Herod was like a lot of other kings of that time. Hungry for power, and willing to do whatever was necessary. In the first 12 verses of Matthew chapter 2, we see Herod ready to deal with the birth of this “coming king.” He devised a plan to make sure that all would end in Herod’s favor. As you might have guessed, from his building projects, his ability to rule, Herod was a great planner. He likely had training and a strong intuition of how to respond.

Stepping away from Herod for just a moment, lets consider, some of the plans that we make, our skill at planning.

What types of plans come naturally to you? Where is it that you find a lot of success in seeing the desired outcome.

We all make plans. We all have ideals in life that we want to see come to fruition. Some big plans, lots of small ones.

Many of you you planned to be here tonight, others to watch online, and others, family arrangements. Some of you might be less of a planner and felt drawn here for whatever reason, or maybe you are following someone else’s plan as they have invited you.

Perhaps you are the family planner? The one who makes Christmas, birthdays, and other Holidays become a reality.

Maybe you are the work planner, knowing how to lead your business in the right direction.

This afternoon, I had a plan. I planned to pull my kids and their cousins around the yard on a sled behind my little John Deere mower. After about 10 minutes of driving, I ran out of gas. So, I came up with plan b. Plan b included me hopping off the mower, wrapping the rope around my waist and pulling these five around the yard. As I started to pull, I started hearing some chanting “Go Faster, Go Faster....” So I picked up my pace, I started running and then I remembered something. It has been almost 12 months since I gave up on my news years resolution! After just a short sprint, I had no strength, no oxygen, and no will to continue.

As we look at Matthew’s writing, we find that it is full of people who had a plan. Mary planned to be obedient to God. Joseph had a plan to divorce Mary. The Shepherds planned to be with and tend to their sheep. The wise men looked to the stars for years, planning to find a guiding sign.

There is nothing wrong with making a plan. But the real question boils down to this, “How do you respond when your plan fails? When it blows up?”

Or, we could ask, how well do you respond when you are asked to abandon your plans?”

We often get frustrated in life, because people are not considerate of the time and energy put into our plan. It feels like they don’t trust us enough or that they trust themselves too much.

Here is the tension, so many of us believe we know what we are doing, where we are going, and how we are going to get there. We are set on how we want to function. But what we read about here, in Matthew’s Gospel, is that God also has a plan. And He invites us to reconsider ours, take hold of His, and trust that His plan is better.

Herod plan included getting the wise men to do the work, find the kind, and report to Herod so that he could go deal with Him personally. The wise men found Jesus, and they worshiped Him. But they discerned it would not be wise to inform Herod where they found Jesus, but rather, took an alternate route home in order to avoid encountering Herod.

Tonight, we pick up in verse 16,

“Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. 17 Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah: 18 “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.””

Herod had a plan, he knew that he could not afford for the Jewish people to start following a prophesied king. But when his plan didn’t work, he went over the top. He decided to kill every male child in the region, to make sure that he eliminated any threat of the Jewish people rising up behind a leader.

Here is the hard reality, Herod tried to take control where God had a plan. God’s plans cannot be altered. When it blew up in Herod’s face, he did responded with a decision that would mark the lowest, most wicked moment in all of his life.

We are not so different. Have you ever tried to take things into your own hands? Desiring what the Lord did not have for you, but you wanted it anyway? When it blew up in your face (or maybe it hasn't yet) did you run to the throne of God? Or did you start to spiral? Making decisions that you knew were wrong.

Thankfully, God’s grace and His mercy are sufficient. In fact, it is the very reason that Jesus came. To restore life, freedom, and peace with God. He calls each one of us to turn to Him. To worship like the wise men. To confess our sin, and be obedient to His word. You are never too far gone. How fitting would it be, for you to turn back to God on Christmas Eve?

Even though Herod tried to destroy God’s plan, God used Herod’s behavior to bring about God’s previous promises. Earlier this evening, the Pratt family read three passages of scripture, where a prophecy was told. It is because of Herod and his son, that all three of these prophecies come true hundreds of years after they were promised. God already knew how Herod would respond, God spoke through Jeremiah to tell of the weeping that would come for the loss of children at Herods hand.

We also see that the Lord knew about how Herod would continue to pursue God’s son, to make sure that this new king was eliminated.

Matthew 2:13–15 “13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” 14 And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt 15 and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.””

What is amazing about our Lord, just as with Herod, is that He already knows how we will respond to life’s challenges. He knows when we will choose to be selfish, rebellious and when we will choose to live according to His ways. God is all knowing, there is nothing that surprises Him, and nothing He has not accounted. Because He already knows, even when we work in opposition to His plan, He can use our sinful actions to bring about His purposes.

This reality doesn’t give license to do whatever we want and simply claim God will use it for good. Rather, it is a truth that reveals the power and goodness of God. Nothing can thwart his plan. Even if all of mankind rebelled against Him, there is nothing that can stop God.

Through the prophet Isaiah God said that he would call his son out of Egypt. Many wondered what that meant, knowing that the coming king would be a Jew, coming from the line of David. Here we see, that Jesus, Mary, and Joseph went to Egypt until it was safe to return. A time when God would send a messenger to call them out of Egypt.

Let’s pick up again in verse 19:

“But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, 20 saying, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.” 21 And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee. 23 And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene.”

Not only does God use Herod’s wickedness to bring about His promises, but it continues with Herod’s son Archelaus.

Friends, here is the unstoppable love of God for you. When sin entered the world, it had a damning claim on all of humanity. We could not escape sin nor could we escape death, the ultimate consequence of sin. There was no hope for a better day or new reality apart from God.

Knowing our helplessness and loving us despite our shortcomings, God sent His own son to bring a message of good news. That anyone who would follow after Him, who would trust Him for salvation and confess their sins, knowing there is no other way - they could be adopted as sons or daughters of God. With adoption comes new life, where we can find freedom before God’s throne.

Not only can we be adopted, but it is God who goes before His children and protects them. All through this passage, we see how God the Father protects Mary, Joseph and God the Son. He goes before them and brings about a better and safer reality.

Psalm 121:3–4 says: “He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. 4 Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.”

Because of Jesus, we can be saved. Not only can we be saved but we can experience a life where we walk side by side with the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Ephesians 1:13–14 says: “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”

You see, part of the adoption process is God placing His Holy Spirit within you. Who acts as a guide, who protects you from evil, who gives you words to say to reach and build up the church.

As the family of God, we have been given a great gift, and we get to lean into life knowing that the family of God is protected and guided by His Holy Spirit.

John 3:16 “16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

Friends, from the very beginning, God had a plan to invite you and me to walk with Him in freedom. No longer carrying the weight and brokenness of sin, but invited into a new life, where we can learn to love others the way God loves us. To build up, bring peace where there is tension, to model care and consistent work towards healing what is broken.

We can experience this new life, because of Jesus coming as a man to live a perfect life. Inviting us to follow His lead. I hope you have reconsidered your plans. I hope and pray, that the Lord would call you to Himself and that you would eagerly follow after Him.