The Joy Journey Part 2: Jesus Revealed

That’s what we’ll be looking at tonight as we continue where we left off in Matthew last time and look at the account of Jesus’ birth in Matthew 1:18-25

Need:

There are two main reasons that you need to hear this message tonight

First, you need Christ’s identity to be displayed to you

Maybe you are feeling discouraged . Maybe you are tired and frustrated. Maybe you are feeling like everything is meaningless, and because of this, maybe you’ve got somewhat of a “bahumbug” attitude as we enter into Christmas

You need to see Christ’s identity on display and to receive the encouragement, energy, and purpose that come along with it

God’s got something to show you through the nativity, so you DESPERATELY need this

Second, you need to hear this message tonight because you need to put Christ’s identity on display by the way that you live your life.

Christmas time is the PERFECT time to commit to such a task, as Christ’s identity and it being on display lie at the very foundation of the holiday

So the calling is for us to behold Christ’s identity as it is put on display at the manger, and to then put it on display ourselves as we live in obedience to Him.

So let’s see how this all comes together in Scripture:

The Big Idea: Jesus’ birth puts His identity on display.

The Question: What aspects of the birth narrative display Jesus’ identity?

Answer 1: The Holy Spirit

Matthew 1:18-19 “This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. Joseph, to whom she was engaged, was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly.

Matthew 1:18–19(NLT)

This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. Joseph, to whom she was engaged, was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly.

Explanation:

In this section, we pick up where we left off with last time

Last week, we saw that Jesus is connected to the line of Abraham and David

But the interesting thing that we also saw is that Jesus isn’t Joseph’s literal dad. So wait, how does that work? (more on this later)

Here, we see this full hand; Jesus is not born by Joseph, but rather through the Holy Spirit

In the text that we are looking at tonight, the Holy Spirit is mentioned for the first time in Matthew’s Gospel, and not only that; its mentioned twice (you’ll see it again in the next set of verses)

So the Holy Spirit is really being emphasized here! But why?

What does this ultimately show about Jesus? What do you think? Take some time and talk about this at your tables!

Table Question #1: What does Jesus being born by the Holy Spirit reveal about His identity?

A. Jesus is the Son of God

The Holy Spirit’s role in Jesus birth displays the fact that Jesus is the Son of God; it was dependent upon Him rather than man.

This is why the fact that this is a virgin birth is so important! It demonstrates the power of God in all of this

This also reminds that Jesus literally IS God! He is deity in human flesh. Only the Holy Spirit could do something like that.

This isn’t just an ordinary baby! There is something very incredible about Him, and the main reason for this is that He is born by the Spirit.

Illustration:

Arlight; let’s talk about airdropping some more

If I were to airdrop my speedrun of Pokemon Stadium that put me in 12th place on the leaderboard, what would I be showing you? That I’m good at speedrunning (because this speedrun doesn’t involve luck at all; shhhh....

If you did something cool and you had a video of it on your phone, you might want to airdrop that so that everyone can see!

This isn’t something that someone else did; this is something that you did

To an infinitely greater degree, the fact that Jesus is born by the Holy Spirit displays that He is the Son of God; He is deity in the flesh.

This isn’t something that someone else did; this is something that God Himself did. It was completely dependent upon Him

Jesus was a human, but he wasn’t just a human; He is God in flesh, too, and the fact that He was born by the Holy Spirit is a testament to this.

Application:

How does it make you feel to be reminded of the fact that Christmas is a time to celebrate the birth of God’s own Son?

More specifically, how does it make you feel to realize that at Christmas time, you are celebrating the birth of God Himself in the flesh?

Christmas is ultimately a time to celebrate God.

In what ways do you need to celebrate God over your Christmas break?

Maybe you need to surrender control to Him. We so often try to do things on our own, but at the manger we see that its only through the Holy Spirit that the will of God is accomplished.

So what can you do to start relying on Him more today?

Another thing that this shows us is how reverent we should be to Jesus; after all, this is the Son of God that we are talking about

How reverent are you when you are reading your Bible? When someone else is talking about Jesus?

If Jesus is the Son of God, He deserves our full reverence and attention! So make the commitment to start being more reverent to the name of Jesus this Christmas season

The Question: What aspects of the birth narrative display Jesus’ identity?

Answer 2: His name

Matthew 1:20-23 “As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet: “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’ ””

Matthew 1:20–23 (NLT)

As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet:

“Look! The virgin will conceive a child!

She will give birth to a son,

and they will call him Immanuel,

which means ‘God is with us.’ ”

Explanation:

So while the last section ends with Joseph being horribly confused, here the angel comes and clears everything up

The angel specifically says that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, so the first thing that Joseph learns about Christ’s identity is the first thing that we see, too

But that’s not the only thing that the angel says about his identity. He also says, “you are to name him Jesus”

Alright; let’s chew on that for a minute

Joseph is told that he himself must name the baby Jesus.

Why that name?

Did you know that Jesus was an incredibly popular name during this period of time?

To us today, when we hear “Jesus,” we all think about the same person, but it wasn’t like that back then

Naming your child Jesus was like naming your son John or naming your daughter Sarah today.

Why is that significant?

Well, it shows us the first of two things that Jesus’ name reveals about His identity:

Table Question #2. What does Jesus’ name reveal about His identity?

A. He is relational

The way that one commentary phrases it is that it shows that he can relate to the “average Joe.”

He came the ultimate fulfillment of God’s desire to dwell with humanity.

He came to be one of us so that we could become one of his

Need further proof? Let’s skip ahead briefly to verses 22-23

This is a passage from Isaiah 7:14; Isaiah is the prophet that is being referred to here

Jesus is the true fulfillment of “Immanuel,” which translates “God with Us”

He is proof that God desires relationship

But there is one other aspect of Jesus’ name that we need to focus on here

Go back to verse 21 and look at the end

What does that say about Jesus name? Talk about it at your tables.

Table Question #2: What does Jesus’ name reveal about His identity?

B. He is Savior

Wait… how does that connect?

Well you see, Jesus is actually the Greek form of another name that you may have heard of before; Joshua

What does Joshua mean? “Yahweh is salvation.”

So Jesus’ name also shows that Jesus came as a Savior; and not necessarily the military savior that a lot of the Jews thought the Messiah would be; but one who saves people from their sins

What this all shows us is that Jesus’ name is a purposeful one!

Illustration:

Do you know how you got your name? I know how I got mine

It is really profound; are you ready?

… I was named after a character from Barney the dinosaur. Ouch

Now, the meaning of my name is actually pretty cool; it means, “who is like God?”

But that’s not why I was named that… I was named this because of Barney

The way that Jesus was named couldn’t be any more different than the way that I was named; it was intentionally planned in eternity past to demonstrate that God is a relational Savior

Application:

So what about you? Has Jesus saved you from your sins? Have you truthfully accepted Him as your Lord and Savior

This Christmas time gives you the perfect time to do that! Tonight would be the perfect night for you to give your life to Christ; I would love to chat with you about that

But maybe Christ has saved you from your sins; maybe you have accepted Him as Lord and Savior

I think one of the most practical applications for you is to meditate on the name of Jesus

Find some time to close your eyes, and think about nothing except, “Jesus.... Jesus.... Jesus”

There’s just something about the name of Jesus that is powerful. There is something about the name of Christ that can give you peace.

There is something about the name of Christ that can relieve you from any guilt that you are dealing with.

There is something about the name of Jesus that reminds us that we are loved by God

Don’t just let that be something that you hear; carry that with you in your heart wherever you go throughout your life; keep it with you when you go to school, keep it with you after you graduate, keep it with you in college, keep it with you in the workplace,, keep it with you in your future family

I promise you that you’ll be thankful that you did

The Question: What aspects of the birth narrative display Jesus’ identity?

Answer 3: Joseph’s Obedience

Matthew 1:24-25 “When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife. But he did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus.”

Matthew 1:24–25 (NLT)

When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife. But he did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus.

Explanation:

These last two verses make it clear that Joseph is a good guy.

What makes Joseph stand out is that he obeys God immediately

He does exactly as we was told to do

And one of the main things he was commanded to do was to name the child “Jesus”

This is significant; its not Mary who names Jesus, its Joseph

This is Joseph’s way of adopting Jesus. He wasn’t his actual son, but he did become his son legally when he gave Him this name

Because of this, Jesus does come from the line of Abraham and David by means of adoption!

Which means… what?

Table Question #4: What does Joseph’s obedience reveal about Jesus’ identity?

A. He is faithful

Joseph naming HIm Jesus is a way for him to say “This is the Savior of the World, spoken from ages past. God is faithful to keep His promises..”

So ultimately, through obedience, Joseph shows the world that Jesus is the heir of Abraham and David; that he is the one who to bless all of the nations. God has not forgotten His promises to His people

Illustration:

Obeying your parents as a teenager can be tough at times.

You start to develop your own ideas about things, and you strive for independence

It can be hard to be obedient when you want independence so bad, right?

But when despite this, you do obey your parents anyway, what does that say about them?

It might just show that you don’t want to get grounded, but it also might be (and hopefully is) showing that you are respecting your parents; that they are respectable. They can be trusted. They are faithful. They are worth obeying

Joseph’s obedience shows that God is worth obeying because He is faithful to His people and will never let them go.

Application:

When you obey God, you are showing the world that Jesus is faithful. You are putting His faithfulness on display

Have you been putting Christ’s faithfulness on display recently? Have you been serving Him in obedience? Or has something been holding you back?

One of the most beautiful ways to celebrate Christmas is to follow Joseph’s example here by obeying God

We have the beautiful opportunity to show people that our God is faithful, and one of the main ways that we have the privilege of doing this is by obeying what He has command us to do!

So what is He commanding of you this Christmas season?

What is it going to look like for you to stop running away from that and to start embracing it?

How can you respond to God’s faithfulness with obedience?

This Christmas season can be a clean slate for you to begin to get serious about obedience again

So, Enon Student Ministry! Let’s celebrate Christmas by being obedient to God.

Conclusion

Visualization

This is what God is wanting to Airdrop to you this Christmas season. Let Him do it, transform you through it, and then you can go and Airdrop it to others

Reiteration

Christ is on display in His full glory for you to see and experience this December

Don’t miss it. Don’t let this Holiday go by and for you to miss the implications of who Christ is

Its because of the birth of this baby that your life can be saved, and that your life can have purpose and meaning

The birth of Jesus shows us how much more there is to life than what we often see and experience!

Don’t miss it! Whatever you do, don’t miss it!

On the back of your card, there is a place for you to commit to this

This isn’t for anyone except you to see

I beg you; do not sign this unless you are going to be series about experiencing Christ in a unique way this Christmas

But if you are serious about it, sign your name and keep it in your Bible as a reminder of what you are striving towards this Holiday

We are going to spend some time in silence; talk to God, seek Him, and as you feel Him lead, if you are serious about this, sign off on this.