Its Hard to Believe

Intro

So this morning we are in the middle of our Christmas message series The Gift. And its name is based on the account in Matthew 2 of when the Magi, or the wisemen as most of us refer to them came to visit Jesus and give him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

And for most of us, we have this picture in our minds of what this might have looked like. We set up nativity scenes each Christmas that show Mary and Joseph and the little baby Jesus in his manger. And all of them are surrounded by shepherds, animals, and the wisemen.

But as I mentioned last week, this isn’t an entirely accurate picture of what happened. We learned last week that according to Matthew 2 the Magi were not present the night Jesus was born. In fact they didn’t come to find him until much later, most likely when he was a toddler.

We also learned that we don’t know how many there actually were, there could have been 3, there were 3 gifts given, but we don’t know how many were there.

So here you have the Magi show up to a house where Jesus’ family was obviously staying at about a year or two after he was born and they present these gifts not to baby Jesus but to toddler Jesus.

Matthew 2:10-11 NLT 10 When they saw the star, they were filled with joy! 11 They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

These were odd gifts to give to a toddler.

Have you yourself ever received an odd gift from someone?

Last week we looked at the gift of frankincense and how that in a lot of ways foreshadowed Jesus’ role as our High Priest who represents us to the Father and who understands our weaknesses.

Next week we will look at the gift of gold, but for today we are going to focus in on the gift of myrrh.

Myrrh—Valuable gum like substance—Mentioned 17 x bible Occasionally used anesthetic—Jesus cross—Wine mixed myrrh. Most commonly known ingredient Embalm Dead. (Burial Jesus)

Power in the Text

Imagine with me if you could that I could predict the winner of this year’s Super Bowl. It would be impressive if I could predict the two teams that would make it, and then which would win.

But honestly I could look at stats and how the teams are playing and get lucky with a good guess. But what if I could not only predict the winner but I could tell you what the final score was going to be down to the exact point? How long each drive would last, the penalties that would be called, and which players would score which points and when in the game they would score them.

Now that would be impressive if I could do that. It would be miraculous if I could do that and chances are you might be interested in what I had to say. But let’s make it more interesting. Let’s assume Jesus doesn’t come back yet and the Super Bowl is still a thing and I could make all those same predictions I just mentioned and be right about every single one of them about a Superbowl 700 years in the future.

I would be considered one of the greatest prophets to ever live. Well, I can’t do that, but there was someone who could and his name is Isaiah. Isaiah was a major Old Testament prophet who made some very specific predictions about Jesus that came true, but he made them 700 years before Jesus was ever born.

You want to know why I believe the Bible is truly the word of God, because of books like Isaiah which we have copies of from hundreds of years before Jesus was born that predict with such accuracy future events about Jesus’ life that it would be impossible if not for the fact that Isaiah’s words were actually God’s words.

Lee Strobel did some calculations on this probability; listen to what he said. “I imagined the entire world being covered with white tile that was one-and-a-half inches square—every bit of dry land on the planet—with the bottom of just one tile painted red. Then I pictured a person being allowed to wander for a lifetime around all seven continents. He would be permitted to bend down only one time and pick up a piece of tile. What are the odds it would be the one tile whose reverse side was painted red? The odds would be the same as just eight of the Old Testament prophecies coming true in any one person throughout history!” Jesus fulfilled over 400 prophecies.

I want to start by showing you our problem and look at what Jesus did to fix it. I mentioned to you last week that we have a sinful nature that is always in tension with the holiness of God. Look at how Isaiah describes this problem.

Isaiah 53:6 NLT 6 All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the LORD laid on him (700 years later) the sins of us all.

Isaiah says we are sheep. This is not a compliment. If he wanted to compliment us he would have called us something smart, powerful, or majestic like a lion or eagle. No he calls us sheep. And if you know much about sheep they are a few french fries short of a happy meal if you know what I mean.

You can train a lot of animals, but I don’t know a lot of people who go to the circus to watch the sheep act. They just aren’t known for their intelligence.

There are three things we all know about sheep.

Weak-There is nothing about a sheep that serves a good purpose for defending itself or attacking a predator. If a coyote or a wolf shows up, the sheep just bunch together like an all you can eat buffet. No claws, sharp teeth, or other traits that make them tough. They are weak and need protected day and night for predators.

Witless-They can’t think for themselves. They simply follow the crowd. Sheep have been known to walk in circles because each sheep is following the one in front of it. They will walk right into danger if that is what the other sheep are doing they can’t think for themselves.

In Turkey in 2005 (true story) 1500 sheep walked off a cliff (400 died), you can look this up. Once the first one did it the others just followed. It seemed like the thing to do since everyone else was doing it.

Wayward-they wander because they don’t do great on their own. They get easily stressed, anxious, and overwhelmed. They don’t rest enough, overspend, overwork, over worry…Oh you thought I was still talking about the sheep.

Like sheep we are weak and incapable of defending ourselves against the enemy of our souls. We are witless and make decisions based on what everyone else is saying, thinking, or doing. We are wayward, we chase after things, approval, status, likes, we are sheep.

Isaiah 53:6-7 NLT 6 All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the LORD laid on him the sins of us all. 7 He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth.

Have you ever been hurt, betrayed, left out, misunderstood, Jesus has. Our problem is that we are sheep, but look at what Jesus did.

Isaiah 53:3-5 NLT 3 He was despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care. 4 Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins! 5 But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed.

Big Idea

So why does all of this matter? Why talk about this at Christmas of all times? This is more of an Easter message than Christmas isn’t it. Why talk about the suffering of Jesus at a time that we often think about joy, hope, and peace?

It needs talked about because it is hard for the world to believe, and for those of us that do, so often we believe so casually.

The reason this needs talked about is because it seems as though many people are what I would call a casual Christian during Christmas. What I mean by that is that people who normally never give God a second thought, will embrace the story of Jesus’ birth.

But being a Christian is more than embracing the Christmas story. When you understand the magnitude of Jesus' suffering, and the depths of his love, it will change what it means to call yourself a Christian.

Why it Matters

I will try to capture this as best as I can, though my words alone won’t do it justice, I will attempt it.

Let us start in the Garden/praying it doesn’t have to be this way

Hematidrosis

“My soul is overwhelmed to the point of death, but not my will…”

Betrayed by his friend, arrested, falsely accused, unfairly tried, and sentenced to death.

Stripped naked (imagine the shame), crowned with thorns that were 1-2” long

Spit on, struck, whipped, beat, blows to the head on the crown.

Isaiah implies that he beard was ripped out

At this point he would have been unrecognizable… but it was just the beginning

Then he had to carry his cross whose bar alone was 100 lbs over 650 yards along the “way of suffering” to Golgotha

7” nails driven into his hands/wrists and feet.

There he hung for 6 hours in naked shame, he was weak, organs exposed, pulling self up to breath with the nails while his raw back scraped against the rough wooden cross just so he could breath.

Eventually his shoulders would have dislocated and he would have fallen as he began to slowly suffocate to death.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, His Father turned from him as he cried out Why God…and with a final breath he cried out… it is finished.

Isaiah 53:8-9 NLT 8 Unjustly condemned, he was led away. No one cared that he died without descendants, that his life was cut short in midstream. But he was struck down for the rebellion of my people. 9 He had done no wrong and had never deceived anyone. But he was buried like a criminal; he was put in a rich man’s grave. (Joseph of Arimathea)

Isaiah 53:11 NLT 11 When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish, he will be satisfied. And because of his experience, my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins.

What sets Christianity apart from other religions? From Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and New Age? It is the bloody death of a helpless victim? Of a God who doesn’t tell people how to get to him, but of one who came to his people.

In the Old Testament the only thing that could protect the Israelites from experiencing God’s righteous judgment for the sinfulness of mankind was the blood of an innocent lamb.

This sounds confounding, disturbing, offensive… But it all foreshadows the cross.

What distinguishes the Gospel is that God loved you so much he sent Jesus to be pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins, beaten and whipped so we could be healed.

Closing

Why did the Magi give a child a gift of myrrh, an embalming substance? Because it foreshadowed the suffering he would one day endure on our behalf.

Luke 9:22-23 NLT 22 “The Son of Man must suffer many terrible things,” he said. “He will be rejected by the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He will be killed, but on the third day he will be raised from the dead.” 23 Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must (live your best life now, pray this prayer, go to Church when it is convenient) give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me.

Jesus wasn’t then and isn’t now just a baby in a manger that we think about once a year in between opening gifts and having family meals.

Being a follower of Jesus isn’t a hobby. It isn’t something we do, being followers of Jesus should be at the center of who we are and everything else flows from that place.

Jesus came to be your High Priest, but he also came to suffer for you. To suffer for your lies, lust, selfishness, greed, hatred, and anger.

He came to die so that we might live. I don’t know about you, but I can’t know that and not give up my own way, take up my own cross, and follow him.