The Gospel in the Insignificant

Gospel in the Insignificant

I. We encounter themes in and throughout the Bible and they are intentionally there to speak to us.

God becoming flesh (Existing outside of time and space to entering into time and space)

Flight into Egypt from Bethlehem (Fleeing Israel to go to Egypt)… He would go to Egypt as the children of Israel would

Leaving Egypt and coming back to Israel, specifically Nazareth

We see the phrasing is the same too in vs13 as it is in vs20 indicating intentionality and specificity.

In all of this He came to identify Himself with us. That we would know He has come and is with us. He is amongst us. His Spirit indwells those who believe in Him.

II. Sometimes the work of God on the forefront can seem insignificant maybe even difficult to perceive. But once you see it, you can’t unsee it. (Illus. Rainbow… God will take upon Himself the wrath against sin)

God had to do a work

God had to prepare a situation that where He would work His great and grand will.

Born in Bethlehem

Had to leave (Egypt)

Would move back to Nazareth

Eventually making His base of operations out of Galilee

As we read in our text… All of this was to fulfill scripture. God called His shot (like the great Bambino, Babe Ruth). This is how you know it’s going to be me.

God has a plan for your life. Sometimes he removes us from what is familiar and known and places us in a different/foreign place. It’s not permanent. It’s not our end. But He’s preparing something for us that will bring about His good and perfect will. That He is faithful to call us out of one season into the next. In His leading, He leads us to a place of complete dependence on Him. You’ll know this when your in one of those spots and people, skill, ability, friends, family, they all fail… God wants you to turn to Him.

Understand in our text in Matthew, God’s power and God’s oversight extended into Egypt. He wasn’t so far that God didn’t see Him. But He sent His angel to give direction as to their next steps.

as to their next steps.

III. The beginning can help us understand the end

God becoming flesh (Existing outside of time and space to entering into time and space)

In the garden, God walked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day.

Flight into Egypt from Bethlehem (Fleeing Israel to go to Egypt)… He would go to Egypt as the children of Israel would

Their misguided thought thinking they knew better than God robbed them of many things, but mainly deep significant relationship with the Creator God. It caused them to be expelled from the Garden so that they would not eternally live in this state.

Leaving Egypt and coming back to Israel, specifically Nazareth… He would come from Egypt as the children of Israel would but be the faithful Israel to come into the land. Where the nation fell short, He would be faithful.

We see the phrasing is the same too in vs13 as it is in vs20 indicating intentionality and specificity.

Since that time, God has been seeking ways to bring us back into relationship with Him. That we might know Him, that we would be His people, and that He would be our God.

In all of this He came to identify Himself with us. That we would know He has come and is with us. He is amongst us. His Spirit indwells those who believe in Him.

says that Jesus coming out of Egypt would fulfill scripture where it says, “ Out of Egypt I called my son.”

“Out of Egypt I called my son.”

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

This is a quote from . It states…

“When Israel was a child, I loved him,

and out of Egypt I called my son.”

Matthew is seemingly wanting the reader to understand and think back to the Exodus when God called His people out of Egypt. Out of oppression, out of injustice, out of slavery, out of sin and become a people for Himself. A people He would lavish grace upon grace.

But if we keep reading Hosea, we see what happens to this people. (Hosea 11:2)

“The more they were called,

“The more they were called,

the more they went away;

they kept sacrificing to the Baals

and burning offerings to idols.”

The more He pursued them the further they pushed back. The more He went to them in their depravity and self-inflicted hurt, the more they pushed Him away. But we see the amazing compassion of God in the following verses (,)

English Standard Version Chapter 11

How can I give you up, O Ephraim?

How can I hand you over, O Israel?

How can I make you like Admah?

How can I treat you like Zeboiim?

My heart recoils within me;

my compassion grows warm and tender.

English Standard Version Chapter 11

How can I give you up, O Ephraim?

How can I hand you over, O Israel?

How can I make you like Admah?

How can I treat you like Zeboiim?

My heart recoils within me;

my compassion grows warm and tender.

English Standard Version Chapter 11

How can I give you up, O Ephraim?

How can I hand you over, O Israel?

How can I make you like Admah?

How can I treat you like Zeboiim?

My heart recoils within me;

my compassion grows warm and tender.

English Standard Version Chapter 11

They shall go after the LORD;

he will roar like a lion;

when he roars,

his children shall come trembling from the west;

11  they shall come trembling like birds from Egypt,

and like doves from the land of Assyria,

and I will return them to their homes, declares the LORD.

English Standard Version Chapter 11

They shall go after the LORD;

he will roar like a lion;

when he roars,

his children shall come trembling from the west;

11  they shall come trembling like birds from Egypt,

and like doves from the land of Assyria,

and I will return them to their homes, declares the LORD.

Matthew wants to communicate that Jesus is the perfect Israel. Jesus would too come out of Egypt but that He’d be faithful to God unlike those in ancient times. Because He was faithful (and we are not), He has made a way to where we receive His faithfulness… it’s what He’s done.

His heart towards us is love and that we would embrace Him. If we are hurting, running, or defeated, turn to Jesus. Christmas is remembering that God has come in the flesh to accomplish what we could never do. Let us not turn away from Him as they did in the past, but let us understand that in Him is life. That it is Jesus that lights the path of our lives and how we might live in fullness sucking the marrow out of life!

We can not find our way back to the Garden. We can not find peace with God in and of ourselves. We compromise and settle for so much less. But God offers Himself in Jesus that we might have true life. That we might once again know Him, know His heart, His mind, and if you will, walk with Him in the cool of the day.

May we remember this Christmas season, that in Jesus we have life. That we can turn to Him for that which we are longing for.

If you want to give your life to Jesus today, I want to invite you to speak to anyone of our staff. I want to have them stand up now. If you want to receive what God has for you, a new life in Him. Please speak to one of our staff or elders.