Decorating for Christmas

When Amanda and I first got married, we didn’t have a lot of decorations. And as a broke seminary student, we didn’t have a whole lot of money to buy them.

Amanda’s family gave her some of her baby ones. I brought nothing to our meager Christmas tree.

Walking out of Ikea, we found a stuffed rat that somebody had dropped. We did look around to see if someone had lost it, but to no avail. we took it home and we put it on our tree. And for the last 15 Christmases this rat has been on our tree. We call it our Christmas rat.

A few weeks later, I gave Amanda an ornament for our first Christmas.

Over the years we’ve added dog ornaments, pregnancy ornaments.

Baby’s first Christmas.

2nd baby’s first Christmas

3rd baby’s first Christmas

Vacations.

At the end of our lives, we will be able to tell a big part of our life story, just by showing you our Christmas tree.

You might say, we started deocating our Christmas tree 15 years ago. And here’s the many more to come.

Transition to the Text: Turn with me in your Bibles to Genesis 3:15. Did you know that there are at least 300 prophecies in the OT that speak of the coming Messiah? These prophecies range from the vague to the incredibly specific. And they start all the way back at the beginning in Genesis 3.

Now Jesus certainly couldn’t intentionally fulfill prophecies that speak of the circumstances of his birth. But could he accidentally fulfill all 300?

Let’s just say that the odds of Jesus accidentally fulfilling just 8 would be less than the number of futures Dr. Strange had to see before he found one where the avengers defeated Thanos.

No, what 300+ prophecies of the coming Messiah tells us is...

Introduce:

Authentic Principle: God started preparing for Christmas well in advance.

Now this sermon will be a little different in that rather than focusing on one passage, we’re going to do a survey of of some of the main prophecies of Jesus’ birth. Obviously we can’t do all 300.

The ones we will look at break down the prophecies into:

Jesus’ purpose.

Jesus’ family

Jesus’ world.

First:

1. God prepared Jesus’ purpose.

Explanation: In the beginning, God created the a good world. Adam and Eve were free to enjoy the fruits of God’s creation. He only had one rule: Don’t eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. In the day that they would eat from it they would surely die.

And that’s exactly what happened.

Adam and Eve defied God’s law and brought about their own condemnation.

Genesis 3 is the story of sin’s consequences. It’s a bleak and dreary outlook. What started as a good world, quickly went sideways as the world was marred by sin and death.

It would have been completely hopeless if not for a glimmer of hope.

Genesis 3:15 ESV

15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

It’s just a glimmer, like light at the end of a very very dark tunnel.

God would not leave His people to die in their sin. He, Himself, would make a way for God to have a relationship with HIs people. But it was going to take along time. But God was starting now.

Jesus’ purpose was to deal with our sin so that we could have a restored relationship with God.

Perhaps the clearest articulation of this is Isaiah 53:5

Isaiah 53:5 ESV

5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.

There are hundreds of such prophecies in the OT that spoke of the coming Messiah. The coming savior.

God was preparing for Jesus. Everything was getting put in place. The necessity was there. But the Roman World, the Jewish unbelief, the cross, the soldiers. It was all prepared beforehand.

Illustration: Decorating for Christmas takes a lot of work because it takes planning. You can’t just start stringing lights. Otherwise you might end up with plugs on the wrong end. It all works together so in the end when the switch is flipped, the lights come on into a beautiful display of light.

God was preparing all along so that everything was ready.

Galatians 4:4–5 ESV

4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

Application: Jesus didn’t come to be a good teacher or give us a model to follow. Jesus came first and foremost to save His people from their sins. You and me.

Jesus came to fulfil God’s purpose of saving us from our sins so we could have a restored relationship Him.

2. God prepared Jesus’ family.

Explanation: When God promised to send a savior, over time he revealed more about who that son would be. The Jewish people always expected a Messiah.

Eve expected that the savior would be her first born son, Cain. We know how that worked out.

Because God promised that through Abraham, the nations of the world would be blessed, Abraham expected that it would be Isaac.

Isaac expected that it would be Jacob or Esau.

Jacob thought maybe it would be Joseph. However, he later found out that it would be through his other son Judah. Oddly enough, Judah was likely the least godly of his sons…not whom you would expect to bring about a Messiah.

Over time, god narrowed it to the family of a man named David.

2 Samuel 7:12–16 ESV

12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, 15 but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. 16 And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’ ”

Therefore David expected the Messiah to be his son Solomon. But God was looking forward to a perfect son. Still God had more to reveal.

Ahaz was a wicked king of Judah in the line of David. In fact, most of Judah’s kings were evil in that they didn’t follow God at all. It’s hard to believe that one of the most clear prophecies of Jesus is originally a warning for the house of David to get their act together.

Isaiah 7:14 ESV

14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Isaiah goes on to prophecy that the House of David would be demolished to the point of no return.

Isaiah 11:1 ESV

1 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.

You might recal that Joseph who was the rightful heir to the throne of David....was not a king, but a humble carpenter. It was out of this humble beginnings, the Messiah would come.

Jeremiah gets in on the prophecy after talking about the destruction of Jerusalem.

Jeremiah 23:5–6 ESV

5 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 6 In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’

And finally, Bethlehem. The city of David.

Micah 5:2 ESV

2 But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.

Mary and Joseph likely grew up with their family story, wondering how GOd was going to bring this about. Each new boy born wondering....is this Him?

But all of these people were sinful in line with Adam and Eve. Still they waited. Even in the times between the OT and NT, some claimed to be the Messiah. but they died. He was yet to come.

The Messiah was going to be a perfect man who could die for the sins of mankind.

Illustration: A few years ago, Amanda did the whole ancestry.com thing. It’s funny how little we know about our families beyond our great grandparents.

Application: The Messiah wasn’t any man. Or any willing man. He was a specific man. Born to the family of David.

3. God prepared Jesus’ world.

Explanation: A big part of the story of Jesus’ birth is the visiting Magi. While the famous song calls them 3 Kings, they were Magi or wise men from the east. And there were likely a lot more than 3.

But have you ever wondered how the Magi would know that a star would be significant. And that it was worth following in the first place.

Matthew 2:2 ESV

2 saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

You may have heard that they saw the star in the east. Which is true. The star wasn’t in the east, they were. They were likely coming from Babylon. Which explains why they knew to look for a star.

Daniel was the lead Magi in Babylon for like 50 years and made sure that there was a copy of the Hebrew scriptures for the Jewish people living there as well as the Babylonians.

But oddly enough it was the Babylonian Magi who studied the Scriptures and looked for the star which Daniel likely told them about because he wrote about the coming Messiah.

Numbers 24:17 ESV

17 I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near: a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel; it shall crush the forehead of Moab and break down all the sons of Sheth.

They read it, and they looked for it. And when they saw it, they came running.

Now why is this significant?

At the Birth of the Jewish Messiah, the World was present. Because Jesus is the savior of the world.

Illustration: I often hear people try to say that the only reason I’m a Christian is because I was raised that way.

While I was raised as a Christian, you can’t ignore the fact that people around the world who weren’t raised that way are coming to Christ at alarming rates. Muslims, Chinese, atheists.

Why are they risking life and limb to come to Jesus? Because Jesus didn’t just come for one group of people. He came for the world.

Application: Jesus is your savior too. It starts with acknowledging that we need a savior.

But it’s also to know that He’s not just your savior. He’s the savior of the whole world. Jews, Greeks, Russians, Chinese, Latvian.

God promised Abraham that through Him, all the nations would be blessed. And at Jesus’ birth, they were there.

Response: Are you ready to celebrate Christmas in your heart?

Summation:

Authentic Principle: God started PREPARING for Christmas well in ADVANCE.

1. God prepared Jesus’ PURPOSE.

2. God prepared Jesus’ FAMILY.

3. God prepared Jesus’ WORLD.

Response: Are you ready to DECORATE your life for CHRISTMAS?

Closing Illustration:

Luke 24:13-34 tells the story of 2 of jesus’ disciples who were walking to a town called Emmaus. This takes place after Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection. Jesus appears a begins to walk with them. Though they didn’t know it was Him because many didn’t yet know he had bee resurrected.

As they were walking they are heart broken at Jesus death because they thought he was the Messiah.

So Jesus kind of rebukes them and:

Luke 24:27 ESV

27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

Jesus was able to do this, because the entirety of the OT tells the story of Jesus and God’s plan for that first Christmas.

Like Christmas tree filled with ornaments, each verse tells the story of God’s son.

too many of us think about the Bible as guide book for how we are to live our lives.

When in reality, the Bible tells us the story of Jesus, our savior.

So when we tell the Christmas story, don’t make the mistake of starting in Luke or Matthew.

Make sure you start in the beginning.

But at the same time. Don’t keep the baby in the manger either.

Remember that he grew up to live a perfect life. To die on the cross as our substitute, taking the penalty of our sin.

But on the 3rd day he was raised from the dead showing victory over sin and death.

All of this in accordance with prophecy.

This Christmas, it’s ok to

Let’s pray.

Week 16 of 2020-2021 Sermon Series: Family Traditions: Decorating for Christmas

Genesis 3:15; Isaiah 7:14; Micah 5:2; Numbers 24:17; Jeremiah 23:5–6; Isaiah 11:1

Authentic Principle: God started PREPARING for Christmas well in ADVANCE.

1. God prepared Jesus’ PURPOSE.

2. God prepared Jesus’ FAMILY.

3. God prepared Jesus’ WORLD.

Response: Are you ready to DECORATE your life for CHRISTMAS?

Opening Discussion:

Do you plan for Christmas? What does your Christmas plan look like?

Sermon:

What does it mean that God planned for that first Christmas well in advance?

What was Jesus’ purpose in coming to earth? Why is that purpose so important?

Why is it significant that God was so specific about the way in which the Messiah was to come into the world? Why is it significant that Jesus fulfilled all of those prophecies?

Why isJesus being born in the line of David so important?

What was the state of the world when Jesus came? How is the world today?

Application:

How does it feel that Jesus is the savior of the world, including you?

When Planning for Christmas, how will you make sure there is room for Jesus?

How does reading understanding the prophecies of Jesus increase our trust in God and His Word?

Why does the World now need a savior as much as it ever did? How will you help tell the world that Jesus is the reason for the season?

God planned for the first Christmas. He’s also planning for Jesus’ return. How will you make sure you’re ready?

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