Love All

My hope this morning is that all of the Conspiracy comes together in a beautiful picture this morning. My hope is that a lightbulb or two will go off and you will walk away with something to think about.

But as we are on the edge of the Christmas week, and Christmas day is a mere 6 days away, I want to start off with this question

What are you looking forward to most this Christmas?

For myself, I am looking forward to taking a breather. December is always a crazy month for the church, and this week is one of the busiest in the church calendar. So after Christmas Eve, I look forward to a different kind of busy, the kind where I am running around with family and nieces and nephews. I look forward to a different kind of tired.

To kickoff this mornings message, we are going to rewind the Christmas story from last week. We are going back to Matthew 1, but we are going to look at the genealogy. Now for some of us, this may be the part of the chapter we skim over because it is just a bunch of names. But Matthew thought it was important enough to include, and each name listed is signficant. So as we read through the genealogy of Jesus, I want you to pay attention and take note of any names that jump out at you.

Matthew 1:1–17 ESV

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David the king. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph, and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon. And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ. So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations.

The Four Women

now as we went through, no doubt certain names you recognized like David and Solomon. Judah may have jumped out as we just looked at that story a couple months ago

But one of the intersting things about Matthew’s genealogy is the fact that he includes women in his genealogy. This is not a typical practice as blood lines typically run through the fathers. Remember, women didn’t have a high standing in Jesus’ day. Yet Matthew includes them

Additionally, the women that are included are an interesting bunch. We have Tamar, who dressed as a prostitute to trick her father-in-law into giving her a son. We have Rahab the prostitute. We have Ruth, who isn’t even of Jewish decent. And we have the wife of Uriah, who Matthew won’t even name, who had an affair with David, and then David killed Uriah to cover it up.

If you were going to include people in a genealogy of the Savior of the world, wouldn’t you want to include people of better repoir? I mean Bathsheba, really?

Then we jump ahead to Matthew 2

Matthew 2:1–12 ESV

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, 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.” When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: “ ‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’ ” Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.” After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

Wise Men from the East

Now we could get into the little intricacies of the wise men and everything surrounding their story, but why wise men from the east? Where are the wise men of Israel? Why are the scribes and Pharisees not seeing this star that Persian magi saw and travelled a great distance to investigate and worship the Messiah that the star signified?

Because Jesus came for EVERYONE

the Jews in Jesus day, and even continuing into today, believe that the Messiah was coming for them and them alone. They expecting a conquering king, clothed in majesty, who would rise up and establish Israel as the super power it was in David’s day

But Jesus didn’t just come for the Jews, or for the righteous, or those who have it all together.

He came for those like Tamar, who have been cheated out of what is rightfully theirs and done things they aren’t proud of in order to get it

He came for those like Rahab, who live less then reputable lives

He came for those like Bathsheba, who made a mistake and are forever marked by the error of their ways

And he came for those like Ruth and the wise men, those of other nations that God loves and desires to redeem.

the Christmas story is meant to remind us that Jesus loves and came for everyone, and we are to love everyone the same way. It is really easy to focus on our elite, our Israelites, our family and forget that there is a whole world of people who need to know that they are loved too

Who can you alongside this Advent season?

We’ve talked a lot about different charities you can support, but maybe you need to get a little more personal and come alongside a neighbour or a coworker who really needs to experience the love of Jesus this holiday season.

I pray God lays someone on your heart, or better yet, don’t wait and just ask him yourself.

How it all comes together

I started the Advent conspiracy by saying that unless understand what it means to Worship Fully, we could easily get trapped in going through the motions of the conspiracy, and really everything in faith as a whole.

I said that worship is about honor, praise, respect. It comes from a place of awe of the splendor of God.

One of the easiest ways to honor someone that you look up to is by imitating them.

Jesus said in John 5 that, “I only do what I see my father in heaven doing.” Jesus gave us an example of Worship Fully. In the same way he imitated the father, we are called to imitate him.

Spend less is inspired by the fact that God has always turned his attention to the poor and brokenhearted. Jesus sought out the sick and healed them, the poor and fed them. God doesn’t care how much stuff you have, but the condition of your heart.

Give more comes from the place that Jesus came to the earth that you and I could have a relationship with him. The same way God gives himself relationally to us, we are to give our relationally to each other.

Our spiritual act of worship is to imitate Christ to the best of our ability. Christmas should be a time when our imitation is amplified as we are constantly reminded of the object of our worship.

If imitation is the highest form of honor and worship, then we are never more like Jesus then we love the down and out, the less fortunate, the ones who need the love of God most.

With all of this in mind, let me ask you

What new traditions do you want to start?

as we strive to worship fully, not just at advent but all year round, what new Christmas traditions could you start to ensure that happens?

Are you going to spend less on presents and more on memories?

Are you going to be more relational, more intentional with the time you have with your family and friends?

Are you going show the love of Christ to those who need it most, even if it makes you uncomfortable?

How does the advent conspiracy change christmas for you?

Let’s Pray

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