The birth of a Saviour

Matthew 1:18-25

Morning Service Only:

Christmas Play

BBQ in the park after the service.

Chritmas time is upon us, soon our stores will be in full Mariah Carey mode, and the stress of present buying is starting to hit.

Welcome to church this morning, a special welcome to you if its your first time,

My name is Joe and as we head towards the Christmas season, when we get swept away in the events and drama that holidays bring, it’s so good to reflect on the true meaning of it all. Because Christmas wasn’t always about Santa, it wasn’t always about wishing for the lastest Iphone, and trying to prove that you’ve been good all year.

See Christmas is all about a really really big promise.

Because God made a big promise all the way back at the beginning of the world, and Christmas is about the day that God delivered on his promise.

and I wonder,

Have you ever experienced someone who makes big promises, or we might say, talks big?

Maybe you are the one who has the big talk, makes the big promises?

Well, Last week our youth group had the end of year celebration, along with driving dirt bikes, sliding around a paddock and drifting a car, there was a pool!

And during dinner, a number of the youth were talking some big talk, making some big promises, as youth often do. Now I was convinced that no one would go in the pool! Far too cold, far too late at night!

So I asked, surely no one is crazy enough to jump in the pool?

And the response I got was a number of youth folk eagerly expressing their intention to go for a swim, but only after we did all the crazy farm stuff!

Which meant that at around 8 pm the big talking youth, had their moment of truth, and to my surprise they all actually followed through! pretty much all 20 or so youth got in the pool!

I was amazed!

They talked big, and they followed through!

And it stuck me, as I was preparing for our message today, how do we respond to God’s promises?

Because if we put ourselves into Joseph’s shoes for just a moment,

Noting that the woman he’s looking forward to marrying is carrying a baby child that isn’t his. We would have to admit, it would take a lot to convince us to trust God in this moment

I mean I didn’t believe the youth would jump into a 12 degree pool until I saw it happening. But according to verse 24, Joseph accepts God’s word, and trusts that God will do what he says he will do.

And we might be asking ourselves, why? why did Joseph just accept this news, seemingly without questioning it. Is he just the most easy going guy in the world? Or is there something more to it?

Today we will see that Joseph had 2 very important reasons why he believed God’s big promise, why he believed that this child to be born would be very special indeed. Because the author records for us 2 names that were given to this child to be born on Christmas day.

Jesus. in verse 21

Immanuel. in verse 23

Both these names carry significant meaning.

And to help us understand the significance that a name can bring, imagine if I were to say to you,

Come meet Bruce Wayne

Or Clark Kent,

or Peter Parker.

Now those are some exciting names, not because of choice of letters, but because of what those names represent.

Bruce Wayne is of course Batman

Clark Kent, Superman,

and Peter Parker is Spiderman.

For many of us comic book geeks, just the mention of these names brings an explosion of stories in our minds of their adventures.

Which is basically what is happening to Joseph as he hears the angel tell him to call his son Jesus.

Jesus.

It’s not widely known that the name Jesus comes from the name Joshua. But importantly for Joseph, when he heard the angel say to name the boy Jesus, Joseph knew the angel was referencing the name Joshua,

Now I can tell that the name Joshua isn’t the most exciting name for us all today,

And that’s because we probably don’t understand the symbol that Joshua represents.

So if you Google the name Joshua it will tell you the name means “Yahweh is Salvation” or “God delivers”

But those are just words to us really.

It’s like telling someone who’s never heard of Batman how cool Batman really is by just saying he’s Gotham’s knight.

So thanks to DC Comics, they made up all these grand stories of how Batman always beats the bad guys, so we can learn and experience the coolness of Batman.

Did you know that God did the same thing to prepare God’s people for understanding how epicly cool Jesus is?

Except God didn’t have to make up the stories, rather he used the lives of many people who lived many years before Jesus, as stories to help the world understand what Jesus would one day come to do in full.

You see, long before Jesus’ time, a man named Joshua would deliver God’s people out of the consquences of their sins, to live with God.

See, God’s people needed to be saved from their sins and so God sent a man called Joshua to deliver them.

Now, Joshua’s story is in a context of God’s people rebelling against God when they trusted their own judgement of evil, over trusting God’s judgement of evil.

And so by trusting their own judgement and not God’s, they did wrong. They did what we call sin. Sin which is basically doing the opposite of what God says to do.

And God has said to trust him. So when God’s people chose not to trust in God, they sinned against God and had to face the consequences of their actions, which lead to the story of Joshua the one who God sent to deliver them from their sin.

So when the angel in verse 21 of our passage says “you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” The significance of Joshua’s story is what Joseph would have immediately understood.

For it is in this moment with Joseph that we see God is about to deliever the fullness of his promise to deliver his people from the consquences of their sins. See In the past God sent Joshua as a way of showing what he planned to do fully in Jesus.

That is what Joseph has understood.

But that’s not all,

Because we have the second name,

2. Immanuel.

This name Immanuel,

Is quote from another book of the Bible, a quote that was given in a different context of deliverance,

Isaiah is a prophet of God, long before the days of Joseph. Isaiah spoke to The king, saying that God will deliver his people through any trial and difficulty they may face regardless of what this king does.

That is to say, Immanuel, God is with us, is really a name of hope for those who trust in God as they face trouble in their life.

Essentially, God’s people were in a spot of trouble because the kings who were in charge, were continually trusting in their own power and wisdom to rule the kingdom of God’s people, rather than trusting in God to rule.

The thing to note about the stories of the kings of God’s people is that when God’s people live towards righteousness, which means living as God has made us to live, then God’s presence is with his people.

Whereas, when God’s people trust in themselves, and live as they desire to live, God presence departs.

This is to show that God does not dwell in the presence of sin, Because God does not allow for sin to flourish in the blessing of his presence. Because God is Holy.

So God promised to send Immanuel,

A child to be born that would dwell with God’s people, showing God’s people the way to forever trust in the Lord.

But what does that all have to do with Joseph and him doubting his marriage towards Mary, and what does any of this have to do with Christmas?

Well, both names and their deliverance stories shared a significant common goal.

Which is that God was bringing his people towards himself. In both stories you find that God’s end goal is to dwell with his people.

And both names express a truth of how God does that,

Because for us today, we are just like the people in Joshua’s story, we love to live for ourselves, trusting our own judgements of what good and whats evil. Which means we are sinners.

And we are just like the king that the prophet Isaiah spoke to, as in, when we trust in ourselves and our own judgements of what is good and evil, we depart from God’s presence.

Meaning that we cant enjoy the blessing of God’s presence, unless we deal our sin.

And so God sent Jesus, he sent Immanuel.

Because Jesus would live to die. Meaning He would live to one day face the consequences of our sins, by dying on the cross for our sake.

Jesus would deal with our sins, that we could turn to him for the forgiveness of our wrong doing.

And Jesus would show the world that he is God by rising from the grave, to take the throne of his kingdom. Jesus has become our king, and his rule is always good.

Therefore we today, and forever, can live with God, immanuel because Jesus has delt with our sins.

But here’s the kicker..

Do you trust this news? This amazingly good news, that our sins are forgiven in Jesus’ name and we will live with him forever?

Because Joseph faced that same question.

Joseph doubting his future wife’s story, was faced with trusting God, or trusting his own judgement of the situation.

And praise the Lord, Joseph, having heard the name Jesus trusted God. Verses 24-25

24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

And so to each of you this Christmas, Let me encourage you to trust that God has delievered you from your sins, trust that he is with you today, by his Spirit. Trust that all your sins can be forgiven, by turning to Jesus! That you would live with God Immanuel today and forever.

Trust in Jesus this Christmas!

Let’s pray

God I pray that we would rejoice on Christmas Day knowing that you delivered on your big promise! That you delivered us from our sins,

God, You are so good to us that not only did you take the punishment for our sins but you choose to live with us, today by your Spirit, and in glory we will live in the fullness of your presence. God you are Immanuel, God you are Jesus, our saviour!

We praise your name, now and forever amen.

Let us now stand to sing our final song,

A song that captures the joy that the news of Jesus brings to the world. Joy that God has revealed the way to live with him forever.

Let us stand to sing, Joy to the World.