This is the Way (The BIG PURPOSE)

Last week we began this series called “This is the Way” where we discovered...

THE BIG PICTURE of Christmas from several passages, including the most well known passage in all of Scripture:

John 3:16 (NET) For this is the way God loved the world: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.

We paused to consider the weight of these words.

The God of the Universe who created everything out of nothing, put on flesh and came to US!

This week I went running at night and I could see lots and lots of stars. It’s incredible that those stars are all SUNS - huge nuclear ball of fusion - light years away. And there was a time that they didn’t exist. And then they DID! That every planet - including the finely tuned one we live on - was created by God. What kind of POWER & WISDOM does He have!?!?

And the God Who created ALL of that, showed up on the planet thousands of years later...

Galatians 4:4–5 (NET) But when the appropriate time had come, God sent out his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we may be adopted as sons with full rights.

This SON OF GOD, wasn’t God’s kid. He is GOD in skin. Look how John describes him later in John 1.

John 1:1–3 (NET) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was fully God. The Word was with God in the beginning. All things were created by Him, and apart from Him not one thing was created that has been created.

Just a few verses later John writes this:

John 1:9–10 (NET) The true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was created by him, but the world did not recognize him.

John 1:14 (NET) Now the Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We saw His glory—the glory of the One and Only, full of grace and truth, who came from the Father.

The Scriptures make an incredible claim, that the Christmas child we celebrate HAS ALWAYS BEEN - that the Christmas Child we celebrate, is God in skin who created all things…including those stars I was looking at the other night and the planet we live on!

So, why would God step out of heaven & live as a human?

Today we discover the BIG PURPOSE of why Jesus was born to a woman, lived as a human, and died like a villain.

Last week we read this passage from Galatians and I told you there were 2 incredible truths from Galatians 4:4-5.

Galatians 4:4–5 (NET) But when the appropriate time had come, God sent out his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we may be adopted as sons with full rights.

1) As already mentioned today and as we learned last week - God’s Son was born of a woman.

2) God sent His son as a human, to REDEEM us, that humans could become God’s sons & daughters.

Redeem = buy out of slavery. We are slaves to sin having broken God’s law. Jesus never broke God’s law and purchased us out of our slavery to sin by giving His body for us. Paul also writes:

1 Corinthians 6:20 (NET) For you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body.

This is the BIG PURPOSE of why Jesus was born to a woman, lived as a human, and died like a villain.

Jesus lived a real human life - even being birthed and growing from a child into a young adult. And despite His purity, Jesus was given over to the Romans and treated like a common criminal - a villain.

WHY? Before the question was ever asked, the answer was given to Joseph.

He had a few questions of his own as we read part of the short 9-verse Christmas account of Matthew.

Matthew 1:18 (NET) Now the birth of Jesus Christ happened this way. While his mother Mary was engaged to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.

This is a problem - when your fiancé winds up pregnant and you know it wasn’t because of you…that must be a real kick in the....tunic.

Matthew 1:19 Because Joseph, her husband to be, was a righteous man, and because he did not want to disgrace her, he intended to divorce her privately. 

Okay, so she has broken God’s command and broken his heart, but still - Joseph didn’t want Mary disgraced. Joseph decides to put an end to this marriage before it begins. But...

Matthew 1:20 When he had contemplated this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 1:21 (NET) She will give birth to a Son and you will name Him Jesus, because He will save his people from their sins.”

And when He was born, that’s exactly what Joseph named Him (see Mt 1:25)…JESUS or in Hebrew...

Yeshua = Yahweh saves

It’s more than His Name, it’s why He came!

His name answers the BIG PURPOSE of why Jesus was born to a woman, lived as a human, and died like a villain.

Sinners need a Savior

In just a moment we will see how significant this BIG PURPOSE is.

You see, while Matthew tells this birth story of Jesus in just 9 verses (1:18-25 & 2:1), that’s ONLY AFTER the previous 17 verses detailing the genealogy of Jesus.

Why would he take so much time to focus on a family tree?

First, Matthew wants his Jewish audience to see that Jesus IS the Messiah, the Anointed One promised through the family of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, from the tribe from Judah, through the family of David. So the writer starts the list with the 2 biggest names:

Matthew 1:1 (NET) This is the record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. 

Long ago, about 2000 years before the birth of Jesus, God had promised to bless all nations through Abraham.

Genesis 12:2–3 (CSB) I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, I will curse anyone who treats you with contempt, and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.

And then, as we mentioned a couple of weeks ago, God promised King David an “eternal dynasty” - that someone from his family would sit on the throne forever. That was 1000 years before the birth of Jesus.

Psalm 89:3–4 (NET) I have made a covenant with My chosen one; I have made a promise on oath to David, My servant: “I will give you an eternal dynasty and establish your throne throughout future generations.”

Then Matthew lists the family of Abraham, but takes a couple of intriguing stops along the way.

Matthew 1:2-3a (NET) Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, Judah the father of Perez and Zerah (by Tamar)

A lot could be said about Abraham and his families’ sinful actions.

With the encouragement from his wife, Abraham slept with their servant to have a child (Gen 16) even though God had promised him a son (Gen 15:1-6).

Jacob was known as being slippery in his trickery - lying to his Dad with the help of his Mom (Rebecca) to steal his brother’s birthright.

And then we come to Judah - the tribe Jesus would be from; ever heard of “the lion of the tribe of Judah”?

It’s here that Matthew pauses and inserts a notorious name - TAMAR. Tamar was married to Judah’s firstborn son (Gen 38), but when he disobeyed God - God killed him. According to the custom, Judah gave her to his next oldest son, but when he disobeyed God - God killed him too. Tamar expected to be married to the next oldest son, but Judah drug his feet on that and she went back to live with her family.

Meanwhile, Judah’s wife dies. When Judah goes on a trip he finds a woman thought to be a prostitute to spend some time with. Unbeknownst to him, the woman he was with was Tamar - his daughter-in-law. She talked him into paying her with his staff & some other articles he had with him.

3 months later Judah is told that his daughter-in-law is pregnant (Gen 38:24) and he judged that she should be burned for her adultery.

Before she shows up for the roasting, she sends word to her father-in-law, Judah, that she has his staff and other stuff - that he paid the prostitute with.

Rut-ro-shaggy!

She had twins named Perez & Zerah - courtesy of her father-in-law, JUDAH. Those would have been awkward family reunions.

That’s the family line of Jesus? YEP! Full of sin. Good thing His name is why He came! Because...

Sinners need a Savior

We could give examples of many more significant sins of people in Jesus’ family tree, but let’s deal with 1 more.

Matthew 1:6b (NET) David was the father of Solomon (by the wife of Uriah)

Why doesn’t Matthew name Solomon’s mother - “Bathsheba, the woman David married”, rather than referring to her as “the wife of Uriah”?

This immediately reminded the Jewish people of David’s sin.

Do you remember the rest of the story? The Jewish people did. When David found out the news about the pregnancy, King David called Uriah home from the battle lines to enjoy time with his wife…then it will look like this is Uriah’s child. NOPE. Uriah is so faithful to his men and his king that he refused to enjoy his wife while they were on the battlefield.

So, King David sent him back out and sent him with a note to his commander to (2 Sam 11:14-15) put him on the front lines and withdraw from him. David had him murdered.

Wicked? Yes! Forgivable? Yes!

God can forgive murder. God can forgive adultery. God can forgive drunkeness and drug use. God can forgive slander and lies and unkindness. Name a sin…God can forgive it.

That’s why He’s named Jesus/ Yeshua (Hebrew) = Yahweh saves

His Name is why He came, because...

Sinners need a Savior

You can’t clean yourself, thoroughly.

We've been taking care of puppies at our house (Dec 2020). They are a week from going to others' homes and I have been taking care of them each morning. I release them from the little place we have them kept at night and they pour out to freedom and food. While they are running around outside I clean their little area. One particular morning these lovable little rascals did what they normally do, I jumped up on my leg wanting attention. That was super sweet until I realized that my clean pants had developed small brown streaks. After finishing with them I went inside and began to wipe my pants with water and soap from my knees down. Thinking all was well, I proceeded to the office to get some work done, and that's when it hit me - a consistent pungent odor drifted to my nostrils. Evidently, I did not give me a thorough job cleaning my pants, and I proceeded home to put a clean pair on.

Those who try to clean themselves might notice a lingering stench of past sin that is never really gone. We can't clean ourselves thoroughly - only Jesus can do that for us.

Jeremiah 2:22 (NET) You can try to wash away your guilt with a strong detergent. You can use as much soap as you want. But the stain of your guilt is still there for me to see,” says the Lord God.

Listen to how the apostle of Jesus recalls what how Jesus’ death gives us life!

1 Peter 2:24–25 (NET) He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we may cease from sinning and live for righteousness. By His wounds you were healed. For you were going astray like sheep but now you have turned back to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.

And THAT’S the BIG PURPOSE of why Jesus was born to a woman, lived as a human, and died like a villain because...

Sinners need a Savior

Have YOU turned from your sin and turned back the the Shepherd and Guardian of your soul?

You haven’t gone too far for God’s grace…yet.

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