Christmas Eve 2017

Christ-mess

God Redeems our Mistakes

Christmas Eve 2017

Her name was Rahab.  His name was David.  At first glance, they couldn’t be more different.  One, a poor prostitute who encountered God’s people quite by accident as they showed up at her door looking for a place to hide.  The other, a King.  A man who had followed God from the time he was a child.  A king.  A prostitute.  What could they possibly have in common?

Well, both of them are in the family line of Jesus.  You heard the two tell the stories begin by reading the genealogy in .  That ancestry list ends like this…

-Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary.  Mary gave birth to Jesus, who is called the Messiah.

Though these two come from very different backgrounds, and they both played a part in God’s story. 

Around here we’ve been talking about the messiness of Christmas.  Christmas is a wonderful, joyful time of year, but also pretty stressful and chaotic. 

-If you are in debt…

-If you have a strained relationship…

-If you lost a loved one…

-If you’re lonely…

There is nothing like Christmas to bring those things to the forefront. 

One of the biggest stressors that people face this time of year is family.  Family makes up some of the messiness right?  In fact, some of you are in this room right now because some of your family came in town for Christmas, and you came here to get away from them for an hour.  Or, maybe that family decided to come with you and is sitting next to you right now.  Wow, this is awkward isn’t it?

Jesus’ genealogy shows us that he was not exempt from this issue.  The spotless Lamb of God had a lot of black sheep in his family.

Even if we simply focus on the familiar parts of the Christmas story, we see family messiness…

-Mary and Joseph - no one believes her.  Joseph is plotting divorce.  No record of either of their parents.

TS - It is in the midst of all this family drama that we receive some of the greatest news of all - God Redeems our Mistakes.

Think about Rahab - up until the moment she met God as her city was literally falling down around her, her life was one big mistake.  But God turned her life around.  She joined up with the Israelites.  Become one of God’s own people.  She married a good, godly man and had a family.  That family put her, this crazy mistake-filled prostitute, in the family line of Jesus himself.  God used her, despite her mistakes, as a stepping stone on the way to Jesus saving the world.

Think about David.  Though he knew God, and had for a long time, he committed adultery and killed a man to cover it up.  Yet God still used him.  In fact, a child of David and Bathsheba’s would become the greatest king over Israel.  Because David repented of his sin and God forgave him, David is remembered as a ‘man after God’s own heart.’

God used both David and Rahab to fulfill his plan.  Used them to bring salvation into the world.  Jesus’ very name means salvation.  He came to save.  And David and Rahab got to be a part of that.  In spite of their mistakes, God forgave them and used them.

We come into this room tonight filled with mistakes.  You’ve screwed up, right?  And no one but you and God know just how much.  The things you’ve done, said, thought.  Only you and God know how dark that darkness really is.  And on top of it, Christmas at times has a way of exaggerating those mistakes.

But know this tonight…the message of Christmas is that God can redeem those mistakes.  Through Jesus he offers salvation.  God has come into the world.  In spite of the mistakes and the messiness, in fact, to fix those very things, Jesus was born.  And that is what we celebrate tonight.

God doesn’t just redeem mistakes, he redeems people.  Concept of redemption (make up for, exchange) - “he redeemed himself with that one.” The Good News of Christmas, of Jesus, is that you cannot redeem yourself. You can’t make up for the mistakes. But God can. God does.

Here’s how…Many who get bent out of shape this time of year about keeping Christ in Christmas…and I understand the sentiment. But we dare not leave Jesus here at Christmas. This Jesus didn’t stay in the manger.  As God in the flesh, he lived sinlessly, and went to the cross to die in our place.  To take the penalty of eternal death for our mistakes onto himself, so that by placing our trust in Jesus, we could be forgiven.  Jesus died your death so you could live his life.

Believe

Repent

Confess

Baptize

COMMUNION

Candle Lighting -

Rahab

: “This is a record of the ancestors of Jesus the Messiah, a descendant of David and of Abraham: Abraham was the father of Isaac. Isaac was the father of Jacob. Jacob was the father of Judah and his brothers. Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah (whose mother was Tamar). Perez was the father of Hezron. Hezron was the father of Ram. Ram was the father of Amminadab. Amminadab was the father of Nahshon. Nahshon was the father of Salmon. Salmon was the father of Boaz (whose mother was Rahab).”

Her name was Rahab. For as long as she could remember she worked as a prostitute. It had been so long, in fact, that she wasn’t even sure how she had fallen into the profession. All she knew was that it paid the bills.

Born in the ancient city of Jericho, Rahab was a woman in a culture that afforded women very few rights. She had few options, but she made the most of them. In fact, Rahab had done so well for herself that she was able to afford a nice house within the city limits, a fact that afforded her a level of security few in her profession ever achieved.

All that changed the day a couple of Israelite spies wandered into her home.

Rahab had heard of the Israelites. More specifically, she had heard about their God. Years before, the Israelites had escaped from the tyranny of Egypt with the help of their God. The signs and wonders He had done in Egypt were the stuff of legend in Jericho. So, when she saw that the Israelites and their God had come into her hometown, she knew things were about to get interesting.

As word spread throughout the town that there were some Israelite spies wandering about, the spies’ mission quickly became jeopardized. So, Rahab hid them in her house. The authorities searched for them. They questioned everyone in the city. But, Rahab kept them safely concealed until the danger had passed.

It was an act of treason. It was an act of faith.

Rahab believed in the greatness of Israel’s God. She believed that this God was the God of the Universe. Why would she stand against Him? All she asked is that this God would save her family when His people took the city. Because of her faithfulness, God honored her request. When the walls of Jericho fell, Rahab’s family stayed perfectly protected within her home.

Yet, God not only saved her family; He also provided her with a new one. Rahab became a part of the nation of Israel. She began worshiping the One, true God. In the course of time, Rahab even met a good and Godly Israelite man – a man who took her as his wife. The one-time prostitute of Jericho became an Israelite housewife. Eventually, Rahab even became a mother, giving birth to a son named Boaz – a name meaning “in Him is strength.” In many ways, that simple phrase came to define Rahab’s life. God was her ultimate source of strength. He rescued her from Jericho. He redeemed her from her mountain of mistakes. And, He gave her a life she could scarcely have imagined.

David

: “Salmon was the father of Boaz (whose mother was Rahab). Boaz was the father of Obed (whose mother was Ruth). Obed was the father of Jesse. Jesse was the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon (whose mother was Bathsheba, the widow of Uriah).”

His name was David. For as long as he could remember, he had been chosen by God. It all started when he was a young boy. One day, a prophet named Samuel arrived at his home. The prophet claimed he had come to find the next king of Israel. Surprisingly, Samuel chose David, selecting the youngest son for the greatest honor.

From there, David’s life quickly turned into a whirlwind. Not too long after, David found himself on the sidelines of a great war between the nation of Israel and the Philistine empire. A Philistine warrior named Goliath – a giant in every sense of the word – challenged any willing soldier to a one-on-one battle to determine the outcome of the war. Not surprisingly, no one took him up on the offer. Finally, David decided he had enough. He was tired of how Goliath taunted the Israelites and the contempt with which he mocked their God. So, he volunteered to fight the giant.

Needless to say, David looked hopelessly outmatched. And yet, God did something miraculous that day. Though Goliath stood with a sword and shield, David entered the fray with only a slingshot in his hand. With a flick of his wrist, David struck Goliath dead before the giant even knew what hit him. Before he had even hit puberty, David was a national celebrity.

By the time David was old enough to actually be crowned as king, he had already experienced great victories. His time as ruler over Israel provided him with even more stories of heroism and bravery. No enemy that stood against David ever emerged victorious. Sadly, it was a defeat of his own making that would come to define his legacy.

One year, long after King David had established his throne, he stood out on his balcony enjoying the cool, night air. As he did, he noticed a woman bathing in a nearby house. Her name was Bathsheba. Intrigued by her beauty, David sent some of his servants to go and bring her back to the palace. He had to have her for himself. She may have been married, but kings have ways around such things. Her husband, Uriah, was one of David’s fighting men. The king decided to have him killed. With her husband conveniently out of the way, David took Bathsheba as his wife.

Though David ultimately repented of his sin, it was this one terrible decision that would have terrible consequences for the King. It would undermine his leadership throughout Israel. A rebellion – led by his son Absalom – would threaten his life, not to mention his rule. Yet, through all of this, God proved himself faithful. He preserved David’s life. He maintained David’s kingdom. The king of Israel received undeserved grace and kindness from the King of Heaven.

Some of that kindness came in the form of a son. A few years after she became his wife, Bathsheba gave birth to a son, Solomon. Though the circumstances of his birth were less than ideal, Solomon would one day become the most powerful king Israel would ever know. His wisdom and wealth would grant the nation of Israel a stature it had never experienced before or since. David’s mistake may have been terrible, but it wasn’t terminal. God turned it around and blessed Israel with a great King.