Tag: Christmas

Luke 13:18-21 Jesus is the Son of Man Big God in a Little Package (X-Mas)

Luke 13:18-21

Jesus is the Son of Man

Big God in a Little Package

 

(Note: It has come to my attention that my sermon posts from Nov ’21 through the begining of Feb ’22 have been lost. So i will be reposting them here, meaning they wont necessarily be in the order they were preached and recorded. THank you for your understanding)

All right, please turn with me in your Bibles to Luke chapter 13. As always, of you do not have a Bible or have a need of a Bible, please see me after the service and we can see if we can get one into your hands.

As I was praying and reading over the last few weeks and months, I was trying to figure out which passage of scripture to go over for Christmas. I looked at all the traditional Bible passages and some non-traditional ones as well. They were all good of course, but I was having trouble making a decision, feeling called to a certain passage.

Then I looked ahead and saw this passage in Luke, where we would be, what the next text in our series was and it was too good to be true. This morning is not going to be one of the traditional Christmas texts, but we can see the coming of and the importance of the birth of Christ here this morning.

To set the context of where we are in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus has been focusing and prioritizing telling us where our focus should be and what our priorities should be. They need to be on Jesus, on God, on the Kingdom of God and having a right understanding of those things. And he shows us that having our priorities and our focus right will apply itself in our lives through belief, or faith and repentance, leading to eternal life in Christ.

 

And what easier time for us to focus on, our maybe renew our focus, or maybe focus rightly for the first time, focus on the object, the person, the God that The Bible points us to and tells us to focus on, Jesus Christ.

So, lets go ahead and read this morning’s short passage. Luke chapter 13, verses 18-21. Ill be reading, as always, out of the English Standard Version. Please grab your preferred translation and follow along as we read Gods Word.

Luke 13:18-21, Luke inspired by the Holy Spirit records the Words of Jesus:

He said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? 19 It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.”

20 And again he said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? 21 It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.”

Thus says the Word of God.

 

So, a couple of “First-of-all,” s. First, we see that the word, therefore. And as we have seen, the word therefore is a connecting word. That means that this passage is directly connected to the preceding passage or passages. TO contrast, we look ahead and next weeks passage, where it says, “HE went on his way.” That is a transitional phrase. We take a break and move on from the previous passage. There still connected of course, as scripture, but not in a direct connection, inseparable.

And so, last week we saw Jesus miraculously heal a woman, correct a misunderstanding about the Sabbath and before that, the importance of our faith bearing fruit and before that the importance of repenting of our sins.

Now, therefore, he reaffirms the central message of his teachings. Bruce Larson writes:

As varied as his teachings are, the central message is always there. He keeps underscoring that He came to establish a kingdom, the kingdom of God. In that kingdom, there is a new way to live in relationship with God.

 

And here, Jesus gives two examples, two answers to the question, what is the Kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to?

 

First, He gives an example of the mustard seed. Proverbially the smallest of the seeds. IT was the smallest of the seeds that were sown in Israel. It is one of the smallest seeds out there, though some take issue with the phrasing, thinking that because there are seeds that are smaller, that Jesus was wrong, and the bible is untrustworthy. Jesus often speaks proverbially though. The key is to understand context. To Israel at that time, for all intents and purposes, there was no smaller seed than the mustard seed, certainly not one that mattered.

Jesus uses the mustard seed in another context as well. In Matthew 17, Jesus extols the power even that small amount of faith, faith the size of a mustard seed. He compares the kingdom of God, and he compares our faith to a mustard seed.

It starts small, tiny in fact. And it grows from so small to very large. The mustard seed grows from the seed up to a very large tree. Big enough to cover the ground and for the birds to nest in its branches. This is also an allusion to Old Testament language where God will encompass not only the nation of Israel, but also the gentiles. The Kingdom of God grows this way. As RC Sproul says it starts with small beginnings and it grows to yield great and vast fruit.

Our faith grows from a small initial, immature, beginning faith and it develops, over time, also yield fruit, into a mature, full grown faith in Christ.

And it all starts with Jesus. It all started in a manger all those 2000 years ago. The most important person, the truest religion, the most monumental started in the most humble and small way possible.

Philippians 2:5-8:

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,[a] 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,[b] 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant,[c] being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

 

He started as a baby, a human baby, God clothed in flesh. And his ministry grew to encompass everything. Started in Nazareth, well Bethlehem really. It spread to all of the region of Galilee. It spread out to all of Israel and over time it spread over the whole world. All over the known world within 3-400 years and it has been brought across the globe over the last hundreds of years. And the scriptures show us that it also spreads between this world and the next.

One commentator writes that “From a small and seemingly insignificant beginning, the kingdom of God grows- at times invisibly almost imperceptibly- until it reaches all nations with its transforming power.”

 

          Seeds like the Kingdom of God will grow. Sometimes fast, sometimes slow. Sometimes outwardly, like a seed to a tree. Sometimes inwardly like the yeast in the dough, as we are about to see. But always growing.

And like God, clothed in flesh, like the seed that is buried underground and starts to sprout, it all starts with an inward change. The change starts with the Holy Spirit changing your heart, it happens first on the inside, without being seen. But making us different from the inside out, instead of what we often try, which is to show the change in our outward behavior without actually changing us inside.

And Jesus gives another example showing the inner, unseen changing and comparing it to the Kingdom of God. He talks about a little leaven hidden in a large amount of flower. Basically, this is yeast being mixed through some dough.

To me this is a very interesting example that Jesus gives because, again, the leaven being spread throughout a batch of flour is used elsewhere in scripture. Only in other parts its used to show the corrupting power of sin. Paul talks in 1 Corinthians 5 how a little bit of sin corrupts much. The principle is that a little bit goes a long way.

It’s that principle that Jesus is using here. A little bit of Jesus goes a long way. It changes everything. It doesn’t take much. A little bit of Jesus transforms a whole person. OF course, it won’t continue to stay a little bit of Jesus. The amount of Jesus in your life should continue to grow and expand, but that’s more in line with the mustard seed.

The kingdom of God is the same way. It starts little, it starts with a small incursion, and then it spreads, and it will end up transforming the entire world. Transformation happens. The old passes by, and there will be a new creation. Our old selves are dead, and we are newly made alive in Christ.

Heaven comes down and invades this world and changes the culture. And we think that we need to fight this war on behalf of the kingdom of God. Yes and no. We are both winning and losing this war. We are destined to both win and lose this war.

We can’t succeed here on this earth. We will not “Christianize” the nation or the world. But we have seen what happens when the church decides that their main mission is to win the culture war. We end up moving to one extreme or the other. We move to the left, embracing friendship with the world over biblical fidelity and holiness. Or we move to the right, and we embrace power, especially political power over love and compassion.

But Jesus tells us that neither of these is right. He came, not to win a culture war, not to be the political leader like Israel was looking for at the time, or like we look for today. He came, not to allow and accept and embrace sin.

No, he came to ransom himself for the needs of the many. He came to acquire and offer salvation to sinners like you and me. He came to bring those who are dead and make them alive. He came to introduce the Kingdom of God to this world. And he succeeded.

RC Sproul writes: Within 40 years from the time Jesus spoke that parable, the kingdom of God had penetrated every locale in the Roman Empire. He started with a handful of people, and they leavened the whole lump. The little seed that was planted by Jesus has since grown into a tree that keeps us in its branches today, 2000 years after the life of Jesus.

          Small things can grow and will grow. The gates of Hell cannot prevail against it because it’s the Kingdom of God, not the kingdom of men. With God, all things are possible. With Christ all things are possible. A woman bent in half can be made straight and a culture twisted and distorted can be turned right side up when the people of God act like the people of God.

         

 

          Jesus of Nazareth was born, come down from Heaven, God with us, born all those 2000 years ago. He came to introduce the Kingdom to us and this world. That’s what Christmas is. Celebrating and remembering Jesus’ first coming. We celebrate and remember his birth.

He came, he died on the cross. He rose from the dead three days later and then ascended into heaven. He calls us to respond to the offer of forgiveness and salvation by faith. He calls us to repent of our sins as we become new creations.

And he will be coming back. He introduced the kingdom, and he will return to consummate the kingdom. He will return to recreate the world. The New Heavens, the New Earth, all will be filled with us, His New Creations.

Christmas is the first advent, God come into the world to save sinners. Emmanuel, God with Us. He came to bring the Kingdom of Heaven. And it points us to the second advent, which we look forward to with, among over things, hope, faith, love and peace.

As we celebrate the first advent, the first coming, the introduction of the kingdom, we see the mustard seed sprouting and growing onto a large tree. We see the leaven being mixed into the flour and transforming it from the inside out. And then we will see the final and full manifestation of the kingdom, the transformation of the world completed when he comes again.

Joy to the World is one of the most famous Christmas songs although its not actually written about Christmas, Christs first coming. Instead, it was actually written about his second coming. Look at the lyrics with me as we finish up and then pray.

 

Joy to the World, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.

Joy to the World, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.

Joy to the World, the Lord is come!

 

Christmas 2020: Luke 2:1-20 How and Why Jesus Came

Christmas 2020
Luke 2:1-20
How and Why Jesus Came

Good Morning! Please grab your Bibles with and turn to Luke chapter 2. Yes, we are travelling backwards in time to October, which is when we recently looked at this text. Go ahead if your able and put your finger or a bookmark or whatever into Matthew chapter 1 as well.
You know, most pastors love doing their Christmas and Easter Sermons because its easy for them. It’s the same source material for each year, and its material they know intimately well. There are no more important days to Christianity than Christmas and Easter.
The stories and the verses in the Bible about Christmas are some of the most well know stories in the Bible by people in the congregation. We get so familiar with the texts and the themes.
But I’m going to be honest with you. These are the sermons that are really tough for me. Partly because we ARE so familiar with the stories of Christmas and Easter. Part of it is because these are the stories that you hear the most. We bring aspects of Jesus birth and incarnation and Jesus death and resurrection into, most if not all of the sermons we do on a weekly basis.
In this particular case, we add in that we just went through Luke chapter 2, and the birth of Jesus in October and this was a tough sermon to plan and prepare. So, here’s my thought, we are going to go back and camp in Luke chapter 2, reviewing his birth, with an emphasis on why Jesus came, for what purpose he was born.
We will bounce around into a lot of scriptures and let the Bible speak for itself in a lot of places. Because of this, and so that you’re not frantically trying to keep up and wasting time turning to pages that I am already moving on from, I’ve included in the bulletin a list of most, if not all of the scriptures that we will be reading during the sermon this morning, so please feel free to refer to that and turn ahead if needed.
So, let’s start first with the Christmas story itself, reading from Luke chapter 2, verse 1-20. Ill be reading out of the English Standard Version, please follow along in your Bible, with your preferred translation. The Word of God is inspired and inerrant and we believe in letting it speak for itself, so its absolutely important for you to read it for yourself and not just take anyone’s word for it.
Luke 2:1-20, the Holy Spirit inspires Luke to write:
In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This was the first registration when[a] Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 And all went to be registered, each to his own town. 4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed,[b] who was with child. 6 And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. 7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.[c
8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”[d]
15 When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. 17 And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. 18 And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

That’s the story we all know. That’s the story we all grew up hearing. This is the Christmas story. This is where we see Jesus born and brought into this world, and the effects are immediate.
Jesus, from Nazareth, born of a virgin, born in Bethlehem, under the humblest and the lowliest of circumstances. This was all foretold, both in the recent past, to Mary and Joseph, and in the distant past, starting all the way back in Genesis 3.
And where I want to start is touching on just a few of the hundreds of Old Testament prophecies that God gave to the people of Israel that would lead to them waiting for the Messiah to arrive and that Jesus would fulfill.
Genesis 3 is where it starts. Setting the context, Adam and Eve are in the Garden of Eden, perfect, sinless and walking in perfect communion with God. The Serpent, or the devil, comes along and tempts Eve to go against the one command the God had given them. Adam, right there with Eve allows her to give in and gives in as well. Sin enters the world. Death enters the world. Sin has now infected mankind. Romans 6:23 tells us that the wages of sin is death. God told Adam in Genesis 2:17 that if he would eat from the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil that he would surely die.
And so, now what? Adam and Eve are doomed, right? And so are any offspring coming from them. Except God. Except God already knew all about this> God knows and ordains the future and so he already had a plan for this before he even created Adam and Eve. So, after they sinned, God talks to Adam, Eve and the Serpent and says in Genesis 3:14 & 15:
The LORD God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this,
cursed are you above all livestock
and above all beasts of the field;
on your belly you shall go,
and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life.
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring[e] and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.”
God the Father knew before then and told us that he was going to send a solution, a savior to rescue us from our sins, to restore our broken relationship with him and to grant us forgiveness and everlasting life in the Kingdom of Heaven.
And so, throughout the Old Testament, through Genesis with Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Joseph. Through Exodus and the rest of the Pentateuch with Moses and Joshua. Through the historical books with the judges, Ruth, King Saul, David, Solomon and the rest of the Kings. And through the prophets, God continued to foreshadow, to prophecy and to remind all people that there was one coming who was going to make everything right again, who was going to restore the peace and the rhythm of the world of which he created.
Real quick, two of the most famous prophecies we read in the Old Testament, two of those that are most common attached and used in the Christmas story; first, Isaiah 7:14: Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
One of the greatest Christmas songs there is is Oh Come, oh Come Immanuel. Read the Lyrics, seriously. Goosebumps. Immanuel means God with Us. That’s exactly what the messiah, the promised savior would be, God with us.
Second, Isaiah 9:6 & 7:
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon[d] his shoulder,
and his name shall be called[e]
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.

This is who Jesus is and would be. This is what he would accomplish in many ways. He will reign from the throne of David, and his kingdom will be everlasting. It will be perfect, justice and righteous. We see the trinity hinted at in that passage as well. Counselor, Holy Spirit, Father, Son and Prince, Jesus Christ. All God.
So, everyone was waiting for this promise to be fulfilled. They were waiting for a few thousand years. We see God speaking to the prophet Malachi and then, nothing. Silence. For over 400 years. Not until we see the angel Gabriel show up to Zachariah and to Mary and Joseph prophesying the births of John the Baptist and Jesus the Messiah.
Luke records Gabriel showing up and speaking to Mary in Luke 1:26-35:
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed[b] to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!”[c] 29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. 30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”[d]
35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born[e] will be called holy—the Son of God.

A virgin birth. The throne of David. Son of the Most High God. A Kingdom with no end. All things we saw prophesied about in the passages we just read. What they had been waiting for. And then, Paul tells us in Galatians 4:4&5: 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.
God became man. God clothed in flesh. God with us. That’s How Jesus came to earth. How he was sent, by God the Father on a mission. That’s the how, now we let scripture tell us the why.
First, back to what the angels told the shepherds in the field the night that Jesus was born. Luke 2:10-14:
And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”[d]

The Glory of God. Good News. Peace among Gods people. These are some of the reasons that Jesus Christ condescended from heaven, incarnated truly Go and truly man.
He came and he started preaching Good News, preaching the Word of God. He preached at the synagogue in Nazareth, recorded in Luke 4:17-21:
He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
20 And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Spiritual healing. Setting the captives free. Free from our bondage to that very sin we looked at moments ago that Adam cause to enter the world. Good news to those who are poor in spirit. Jesus says in Matthew 5:3, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And very importantly, Jesus is the fulfillment of all of the scriptures.
Now, Jesus is the cure for the disease that is sin. Sin is what separated us from God and what keeps us from pursuing him and reconciling with him. Because of sin, we are in rebellion, open war with God. Jesus brings peace.
Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11:
Or do you not know that the unrighteous[b] will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,[c] 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

If this passage is ever used to pit people against each other, its being used wrongly and out of context. This is not the second group is better than the first group. The point of this is Jesus, the grace of God and the work that he did on our behalf. We are all born sinners and all live as sinners until God intervenes on our behalf. Jesus came into this world, intervening into history, on our behalf.
Why? Romans 5:8. God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Jesus being born a human man was not enough. Remember that that wages of sin is death? Death is the consequence of sin. It is required to atone for sin. To make things right from sin. Jesus, living a life free from sin had no sin to atone for. He did not need to die because of sin. But he did so on our behalf. Paying the price, we could not pay. Atoning for our sin. Bringing forgiveness where we deserved none. Jesus birth, life, death and resurrection are the whole of his mission, to bring us back to God.
Paul sums up this Gospel in 1 Corinthians 15:1-8:
Now I would remind you, brothers,[a] of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.

Jesus fulfills the scriptures, the promises that were made thousands of years before hand. He fulfills a plan that was made before the creation of the world. Jesus is God become man. Jesus came to save sinners, one mediator between God and man.
Salvation, freedom from sin. Forgiveness. Eternal life with God. Citizenship in the kingdom of heaven. Christs righteousness. All these things are available to us because of what Jesus did 2000 years ago. Available to us by the grace of God alone. Gods grace poured out on us, the vehicle for which is faith alone, no works, no deeds, no nothing on our end. The object of that faith shall be Christ alone. Jesus and only Jesus saves. There is one path to God the Father, and it is Jesus. And all of this as we have seen is for Gods Glory alone.
Ephesians 2:1-10 speaks to this, with Paul writing:
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body[a] and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.[b] 4 But[c] God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

This gift of God is free, though it is not what some would call Free Grace. Jesus doesn’t just save us so that we can stay as we are. Instead, he calls us to repent, to turn away from our sins, from our previous lives. The passage in 1 Corinthians 6 showed us that as well. There is a change in us if we meet Jesus and accept his gift by faith.

Lastly, God didn’t do any of this because he needs anything from us. He is trinity. Father, Son & Holy Spirit. Co eternal, Co-existence, One God. He wasn’t lonely or anything like that. But he does love us, his creations. And so that calm, starry night, 200 years, Jesus came down, in the fullness of time, to fulfill all prophecy and scripture to do something for us that we couldn’t do. That is what we celebrate at Christmas. That is what forget when we focus on anything other than the entire life and work and mission of Christ. Jesus born, but it didn’t end there, he lived and died and rose again and he is right now sitting on the throne of David, reigning and ruling over all of his creation.
So, we end with the most simple answer to the question: Why did Jesus come? WE let scripture answer, John 3:16-21:
“For God so loved the world,[i] that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

Let’s Pray

Christmas 2019, Galatians 4:4-7, In the Fullness of Time, God became Man

Christmas 2019
Galatians 4:4-7
In the Fullness of Time, God Became MAn

Good Morning! If you would, please go ahead and grab your Bibles with me. We will visit several spots throughout scripture, but my intent is to park in Galatians chapter 4. If you do not have a Bible, there should be some under the seat you are in or the seats around you. If you do not own a Bible, please help yourself to one from the back table as our gift to you.
Let’s start with a question. Why are we all here this morning? Why do we celebrate Christmas? The answer is a simple one, even if not easy. We are here this morning; we celebrate Christmas to celebrate that Jesus was born. That answer leads to two more questions that I want to address this morning. First is simply, who was, or is Jesus? And Second, why is his birth worth celebrating?
Jesus is the true King of Kings. It says so in Revelation, chapter 19:16, the Disciple John writes about Jesus: On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.
Now, there are only a few events in History that can legitimately claim to have changed the world. Events that changed the status quo or changed the course of history. But none of those events can compare in influence, in scope or size, or importance to the one that took place that holy silent night 2000 years ago.
Most of the time, when we look at Christmas, when we look at the birth of Christ, we look at the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. And that’s where we see the stories that were recorded of his birth, life, death and resurrection. Charles Spurgeon once said, You only have to read the Gospels, and look with willing eyes, and you shall behold in Christ all that can possibly be seen of God. But today we see that there are other scriptures that speak to this as well.
God had spent all human history building to this point. Early in the Scriptures, in Genesis 3, after Adam and Eve fell from perfection and brought sin into the World. Man ruined their relationship with God, we ruined our relationship with God, but God promised a way to make it right. He had a plan.
God spends the whole rest of the Old Testament reiterating his promise and showing through prophecy how this plan would be fulfilled. We see the Gospel writers point out some of these prophecies when the tell the Gospel story. Matthew often writes in his Gospel something along the lines of, “This was to fulfill what the LORD had spoken by prophet…”
There were over 350 instances in the Old Testament of the writers and prophets pointing ahead towards the coming and arrival of gods rescue plan. Mathematically, the odds are so great of those prophecies being fulfilled as to be, in all practical senses, impossible.
And then we read, in our passage for this morning, what Paul writes in Galatians, chapter 4, verses 4-7:
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. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
That starry, holy, silent night, Jesus Christ became God incarnate. He came down from heaven, as the Christ, the Messiah, Gods great rescue plan. An event that hadn’t ever happened before. An event that will never happen again. An event that changed the course of history and an event that changed the people who believed and experienced it.
Now, I know, if you are not a follower of Christ, if he has not already changed your life, that this sounds so completely fantastical. That God literally, physically came down from Heaven and was born as a baby human man. I know how that sounds. But if you will look at the proof, the evidence, that history with open eyes, you will see the truth.
God exists. If he exists, then to be God, he must be all powerful, all knowing, and all present in all times and all places. What would otherwise be impossible, with God is possible. Somethings that would normally be impossible; being both God and man, being born of a virgin, performing the miracles that he did, dying and rising from the dead, all things impossible if not for being both God and man.
God loves us. The Bible that you hold in your hands, the Bible that is under your chairs, is a 66-book love letter that he wrote to us. It says that even though we spit in his face, that we openly rebelled against him and his gift of perfection and relationship with him, despite all that, he loves us. He wants to restore that relationship. He wants to be able to forgive us from our sins. He loves us and wants that so much for us that he sent his Son,
He sent him quietly, as an innocent baby, to grow up and live a perfect life, to teach and to be an example, and most importantly, to give his life as a ransom for many. Most of the people of that day did not realize who He was. That he was God as a man. Most people in the world today don’t know who Jesus is, that he is, as he says in John 14:6, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Jesus was born of a woman, under the law. He was born under the same requirements that we are all born under. He was born under the law. And he fulfilled the law. He did what we are unable to do. We can not keep a law. We have zero ability to keep the law. We are sinners and we are born sinners. This separated from God. But Jesus redeemed those if us from under the law, through his fulfillment of the law.
Jesus came silently, giving the world a chance to see who he is and to turn to him and embrace him have God repair that relationship between us and him. But he will come back and the next time, it won’t be silently. He will come back, but not as an innocent helpless baby, as he did here, but as the King of Kings and LORD of LORDs. He will come to separate those who will spend eternity with him and those who will spend eternity without him. What you think of Jesus, who you think he is, determines which of those groups you end up being in.
God became man to save sinners. He gave his son so that we might be called the sons of God. It is through Jesus Christ that we are redeemed to God and that we are saved from the consequences of our sins.
Christianity, the belief in, the worship of and the following of Jesus Christ is inclusive in that all who are born into this world, everybody will be welcome through the door to heaven, the door the Jesus walked through in this direction to be born here on earth. But there is only one door, only one way to get into that heaven. It is only by the way of Jesus Christ, God who became man, physically, literally born, physically, literally died, physically, literally rose from the dead, to pay the punishment for our sins, our rebellion. It is only the knowledge and faith in that that will restore our relationship with God and allow us to walk through that door. Will you be walking through that door? The door that was opened by the Holy Silent Night 2000 years ago, in a manger.
Timothy Keller has said, ““The world can’t save itself. That’s the message of Christmas.” We can’t save ourselves. The world can’t save ourselves. With sin in the world, we are without hope. Without a Messiah, without a savior, we are without hope. Without being the children, the descendants of Abraham, the line God chose to bless, we are without hope.
But then one-night 2000 years ago. To an unmarried teenage mother, far away from home, through the line of Abraham, of Isaac, of Jacob, of David, of Solomon, of all these men and women that Matthew lists in these first words of the New Testament. The adoptive, and therefore legal son of Joseph, hope was born into this world. A hope that we could believe in, a hope that we could trust in. A hope that had been promised for 4000 years was fulfilled that very night.
He was born a human baby boy, but he was so much more than that. He was God himself. Scriptures call him Immanuel, which means God with Us. God came down, became a man, and born into a world of sin, he remained sinless. He offered hope, not that we could remain sinless, but that God loved us enough to come down to us, to chase after us, to pursue us. He lived a perfect life so that when he was crucified, when his innocent blood was shed, it was not making an atonement for his own sins, but because he had no sin of his own, it was enough to cover our sins. He then rose from the dead to show that the result of the forgiveness of sins is eternal life with him.
So that we could be called sons of God. Paul writes, just a few lines earlier, Galatians 3:26: for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. And John writes at the beginning of his Gospel, John 1:12 & 13: But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
He promised a savior there in Genesis 3. And after so many failures, after so many years, after so many obstacles and adversity and persecution and exile. After years of darkness and wondering, “When LORD?”
Then, 2000 years ago, a baby was born. The bible says that it was “at the right time,” that Christ was born. Exactly when God the Father, God the Son, Jesus Christ, and God the Holy Spirit planned it to happen. Not too early, not too late, but at just the right time, The Father sent him, the Messiah, the Christ.
Jesus of Nazareth, born of Mary, eternal God, 1/3 of the trinity, he lowered himself, came down from Heaven, and was born a human baby boy, still fully God, now fully human. He was the one all the Old Testament guys was pointing towards. And where they failed, where they sinned, he succeeded, he lived a perfect, righteous life.
And it was because he was sinless that he was able to bridge that gap between God and humanity. And He did. He paid the price for sin, nailed to the cross, dead. He took the punishment for sin. But not his sin, as he had none. So, he paid for ours.
And he says repent, turn from your sins, turn to Jesus as both our LORD and savior, believe in him, trust in him and accept the free gift of grace and forgiveness, and we will be forgiven. Christ will clothe us with his righteousness, his perfect righteousness, and allow our relationship with God to be restored to what it is supposed to be.
Look, there are only two choices, only two options. And they boil down to what you think of Jesus. Reject who he is, who the Bible says he is. Reject the love of God, the gift of grace, the forgiveness of sins. Reject the knowledge that we need saving and there is only one that can give us that salvation. Reject the fact of Jesus is God and man and was born a baby. Reject that and you receive eternity without God, eternity outside of Heaven. That relationship with God that we were created to dwell in was shattered and lost and we can’t do anything to change that.
He wants us to live forever with him, praising him, worshiping him, being in the relationship that we were originally created to be in. Look, if you have not come to know the historical, biblical saving King of Kings, LORD Jesus, today is a great day. The day we celebrate his birth, the day we celebrate the literal personification of his love and the day we celebrate that we came to save us.
Salvation belongs to the LORD and today is the day of Salvation. I ask you to turn your life over to Jesus today and not to wait.
For those of us that have come to know Jesus Christ, we celebrate this today. And in this day, we celebrate all that Christ accomplished throughout his earthly life and ministry. He died, rose again and he will be coming back to put a final cap on all the evil in this world. Christmas celebrates his first coming. WE also use it to remember and look forward to his second coming where all things will be made right and new again.
Yesterday was the Winter Solstice, the longest day of the year. I saw this quote last night and it struck me how appropriate it is for Christmas specifically, but for our faith in Christ in general and I want to leave you with that quote.
December 21st. Winter solstice. The darkest day of the year. Every day of the fall has been getting darker towards today. But tomorrow? It starts getting lighter. In tiny tiny increments. But light is coming. It doesn’t get any darker than today. Light is coming.

Lets Pray

What happens after Christmas? Matthew 1 & 2, Luke 1 & 2.

Post Christmas Manuscript

What happens after Christmas?

Hope everyone had a great Christmas here. Let me ask you a question. How many of us were able to sit back for a moment, or more, and really reflect on what we just celebrated? Like really reflected what Christmas is. I want to take a quick look back at the Christmas story and see what that means for us all going forward into the new year and into the rest of our lives. Go ahead and grab your Bibles. If you do not own a Bible, please take one from the back table as our gift to you. We are going to be spending most of our time in Mathew and Luke, in the Christmas stories.  

Now, we have all heard the Christmas story, many times. And I’m willing to bet we all have our favorite people in the story. We heard the kids talk about theirs last week.

For some of us it is Mary. Mary was a young lady, possibly as young as 13 or 14, we don’t know for sure. She was a virgin and betrothed to be married. She was an everyday, average, normal jewish girl. Except that God chose her. She was visited by an angel, named Gabriel, who told her that she was going to bear Gods son.

Some of us, our favorite is Joseph. The Bible doesn’t tell us much about Joseph. However, in the christmas story, Matthew tells us that “Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream” The angel told Joseph that Mary was not cheating on him, but was conceived of the Holy Spirit and he decided not to divorce her, and to raise the child. Not to be overlooked is that Joseph was also called to be the one that named the boy, the name that we call the son of God, Jesus.

Some of us, we like the Shepard’s. These men were out in the fields on the night Jesus was born and angels appeared to them, and they quickly, hurriedly & purposefully went to Bethlehem and saw the baby Jesus.

And others of us, love the story of the magi. These men, saw a star in the sky, realized something big was happening and travelled a great distance, and presented gifts to a young Jesus, who was likely close to 2 years old by this time.

We all have our favorites, our people that we relate to the most, that speak to us. They are all different, different lives, different experiences, different encounters with God. But they all have something in common.

Each of these people risked a lot to respond to God and follow what they were told. None of them stayed with the status quo, instead they acted. They took risks to follow God. Lets look at some of those risks.

Mary risked being forever labeled and shunned. She was unmarried and pregnant. Luke 1:26-27 tell us, “ In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed[b] to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary.”

The text, as we saw a moment ago shows that Joseph was a just man and unwilling to shame her so he would divorce her quietly. Mary couldn’t have known how Joseph would react. We can read into this and see that a quiet divorce was not a guarantee. We see that Joseph is the exception and not the rule and that most men in that day in his position would have made as big a deal as possible of putting her as far away from him as possible. Mary was risking her marriage, her social standing, and maybe even her life. Her life?

Lets look at the passage in John chapter 8, verses 3-11.

3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst 4 they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. 5 Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” 6 This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 7 And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. 9 But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10 Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”]]

In this passage, the scribes and Pharisees brought Jesus a woman who was caught in adultery. They point out that the Law commands them to stone the woman. Now Mary was not caught in the act of Adultery. In fact, she did not commit adultery at all. But those who were not tuned into the Holy Spirit, who were not in tune with God, would point to her pregnancy as proof positive evidence that she had. Mary risked everything to do what she did. The comments behind her back or too her face, the ridicule her kids must have gotten, The disbelief of her explanation…and she held her head high.

Joseph also risked everything. Joseph was a just man and was ready to do what he was supposed to do. What he thought he was supposed to do, what he thought the right thing to do was to divorce Mary quietly, trying to allow her to keep as much dignity as possible. He would have been ridiculed in one of two ways. In the people’s minds there were only two options. Either his fiance cheated on him, or he broke the marriage contract and slept with Mary before they were married.

The other way Joseph risked all was in providing for his family. We see this today. Often times we choose to support or not support a business because what we know or hear about that business practices they use, or the owners personal actions. Joseph was a carpenter. He had to work to feed his family. And in that day, in that culture, your reputation was everything.

We see Jesus point this out time and time again with the Pharisees. He showed that their reputation was more important to them than their heart and then God to them. Josephs reputation would have been….. questioned…. to say the least. It is entirely plausible that some people would have chosen not to use Joseph as their carpenter.

Joseph was not the only one that risked his livelihood to listen to God that first Christmas. We look at the Shepard’s, how they saw the angels announce the arrival of the Messiah, and they hurriedly and purposely went straight to Bethlehem. Luke 2:15-20 shows us:

15 When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. 17 And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. 18 And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

They left their flock, they walked out on their career, leaving the sheep to do what it is that sheep do. They left them their without protection from wolves, bears, other predators or shepherds who would take them as their own. They didn’t walk away from visiting the baby Jesus with anything tangible in their hands either. They went there to see and to worship and because that’s what God was telling them to do. These men were not just risking a smaller paycheck or skipping a paycheck, the flocks they were keeping were responsible for their entire years wages.

You know, These shepherds pre-filled one of Jesus parables when they left their 99 and went after the One. They found the only one that matters. They found the Good Shepard who left heaven to bring himself down to come after us.

The Magi also did not leave their visit with Jesus with tangible items in their hand. In fact, they did the opposite. We don’t know where they came from exactly, only that it was from the east. In fact we know very little about them. We know they weren’t Jewish. They saw a star in the sky, not much brighter than the other stars and they knew that something much bigger than them was occurring, something that no one had ever seen before. That star had not been there before, and for a star to appear out of nowhere was an uncommon occurrence and a very big deal. They travelled for a long time to Bethlehem, leaving their home, risking their families and their well-being for a promise in a scroll that was from a culture not their own. They brought expensive, rare gifts for a baby….. a baby. , We wonder how they communicated with Mary and Joseph. No commentator I’ve read has seen any possibility that they spoke the same language. Herod, who was an absolute paranoid, violent ruler, wanted to use the Magi to find this new threat to him and then kill the Magi. They were risking their lives.

All of these characters risked their world. Why? Why would they do that? Why would they risk everything they knew for a baby? Because they encountered the living God. Mary, Joseph and the Shepard’s all encountered angels that told them what God wanted them to do. They all encountered that at different times, being given different messages and in different circumstances. The magi saw a star. They saw a star. Let me say that again. They saw a star.

But that’s what happens when we come, figuratively, face to face with God. None of these characters were allowed to stay where they were. None of them were allowed to encounter God, and then sit back and wait. Each of these characters physically got up and went. Now we have no idea where the shepherds were, but they went to the manger in Bethlehem. Mary and Joseph left Nazareth and went to Bethlehem. And the Magi came from somewhere in the East, some speculate it could have been as far as from China. We just don’t know.

Christmas is celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. A reminder that we could not raise ourselves up to be with God, that he had to humble himself down to our level for us to have any hope of being reconciled with Him. Thats what Christmas is. Usually we celebrate this with family. This could be blood relations, it could friends whom we consider family or it could be our church family. All of us here.

God doesn’t let us stay in our comfort zone. We are called to risk. There is a change in us when we encounter him and when we turn to him. We are called to turn away from the things that we used to turn to and instead turn to God. We are called to give things up. Like Mary and Joseph, some of us might be called to risk our friends and our family to follow what God has told us to do. Like the Shepard’s, some of us might be called to risk our jobs to follow what God has told us to do. Like the Magi, some of us might be called to risk our homes move far away to follow what God has told us to do. Gods call to risk the things in our life is not always the same for everyone. Not all of us will be called to risk our friends. Not all of us will be called to risk our jobs, or our homes. But some will be.

And we will all be called to risk pieces of our lives and turn away from things that we have held dear. I would argue that the tighter we have held onto something, the more likely it is that that is what God is going to call us to turn away from.

With risk comes fear. Fear causes us to stay still. Fear causes us to not act. It freezes us into inaction. Fear kept the Israelites out of the promised land for 40 years. It is one of the most human reactions to have. We are supposed to have fear. Fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, Proverbs says. But too often our fear is not of the LORD, instead, our fear is of what our friends and family will think. Our fear is what will happen when, in our minds, God fails to live up to his word. Our fear is what will happen when he sends us to do a task but wont help us accomplish it.

When we come face to face with this fear, and with our other issues, we need to go back and ask what the Bible says. The Bible is Gods word to us. It is the inerrant message that God wants to tell us. Lets look for a moment at one verse where God address fear to follow his commands. Joshua 1:9 reads in the NIV, Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”

There is a lot packed in to that verse. God speaks his commands, and the expectation on his end is that when he says go, we go. This also implies the expectation that when he tells us to go, he enables us and equips us to go. He will make us able to go. Then he says, Be strong and courageous, Do not fear; do not be discouraged. God tells us numerous times to not be afraid. I have often tried to count the times he says this in the bible and have lost track each and every time I’ve tried. I know that in the NIV, the Bible has this phrasing, Do not be afraid, over 70 times. He also uses variations and additions often. I’m just gonna run through a few real quick.

Deuteronomy 20:3 says Do not be fainthearted or afraid; do not panic or be terrified

Isaiah 7:4 says keep calm and don’t be afraid

And the Psalmist says in Psalm 118:6 The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid

This message is usually delivered by God, through a prophet, or through an Angel, as is the case numerous times in the Christmas story or through Jesus directly. We look again at Mary. Mary shows that we can receive the most impossible mission from God, and still respond in a godly way, full of worship. We see in Luke 1: 28-38:

28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!”[c] 29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. 30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”[d]

35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born[e] will be called holy—the Son of God. 36 And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant[f] of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

Mary knew that this was impossible for her to do. She knew it was not going to be easy and she knew that if this were to happen, that it was all God. Again, she knew it wouldn’t be easy. God never tells us that us following him is going to be easy. The Bible tells us exactly the opposite. Jesus tells his followers in John 15: 18-19, ““If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. “

Paul suffered greatly after he turned his back on persecuting the early church and following the call Jesus had on his life. He tells us a little bit about that in 2 Corinthians 11, saying,

24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; 27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food,[b] in cold and exposure. 28 And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.

Those are likely not the same hardships we are going to face in 2019, in the United States of America. But are we willing to deal with the hardships that come today with following Jesus. We are not called by God to come here once a week and sit in the pews and go home after the service. He has more than that for us. I was not called to stay at my warehouse job and just continue on with life. I was not called to have a steady 9 to 5 job that provided benefits and security to my family. Thats what I wanted and that’s what I had. God had more for me, once I was willing to listen and once I told him, as Mary did, “Behold, I am the servant[f] of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”

I’m not saying that he is calling all of you to quit your jobs and go into ministry. He doesn’t have the same calling for all of us. Remember Pauls analogy of the church body. We are not all arms, or all heads, instead some of us are the feet, some are the hands, some are the eyes, others the ears. He has a different call for each of us.

One thing he does have for each of us is a call to be active in our faith and in our spiritual growth. What are we being called to do? To grow in him, to learn to depend on him more and more each day. We are called to turn away from the things that keep us distracted from him and keep us from diving deeper into his word. Most often, those are the mundane things of everyday life. There usually are not big obvious things that come between us and God.

But are you willing to recognize those mundane, everyday life things. Recognize them and step out of your comfort zone? Are you willing to give up some of your time during the week to attend the prayer meeting, or Bible Study and contenders Discipleship Initiative when we start those up? I promise you that it will only improve your walk with God and often, God will reveal the path he wants us on through these. Are you willing to give up a little bit of time during the week to help clean the church or take care of the grounds? Are you willing to volunteer to teach the kids during the service in children’s church? It would require missing part of the service when you do, but we do have ways to supplement that.

A couple of those ways are that I print the manuscript of my sermons and have them here for those who would like a copy. I have also started printing of the scripture references and verses to put in the bulletin so it is easier to follow along. We record the sermon here and I post it, along with the manuscript online. It is available either on the Bangor Community Church Facebook page, or at CaseyHolencik.com. The sermon audio is also available as a podcast on iTunes. There is no excuse not be under the teaching and in the Word from Sunday Mornings.

Are you willing to come to events early to help set up? Or stay late to help clean up? Often times God will use us where we feel gifted. But other times, he needs you to step out of your gifting and do the job that needs to be done. Many of you have heard me talk about how all this up here, it’s not me. Its God, It’s the Holy Spirit using the areas where I am not gifted on my own, where I am weak, and God is using me here, the last thing I would have ever picked based on what I was good at.

The question I had to ask myself when I was searching for Gods calling for me, and that we all have to ask ourselves, what are my priorities? Is God, and walking with him, following him, living for him, is that my priority? Or is it something else? For me, it was stability and structure for me and my family. For you, is it your job? Is it your kids activities? Is it your house, your bank account? Youth, is it your grades, or your sports? Or is it God? What is your priority?

Every person in the Bible that had an experience with God, acted because of it. Even Jonah acted, by running away. At least he acknowledged what God was wanting him to do. He didn’t want to do it, but acknowledging who God was and that it was God who was doing the commanding, he ended up doing it anyway. He made God the priority. He stepped out of his comfort zone and did what he knew he was supposed to instead of what he wanted to. Abraham became the Father of the Jewish nation. Paul became what many consider the greatest evangelist. Peter walked on water. Moses parted the Red Sea. Mary gave birth to a son. Sheppard’s left their flock. Joseph manned up. His wife gave birth to a child that he did not conceive. Was Jesus Josephs step son? Technically, sure. You read what the scriptures say about Joseph and I’m willing to pretty close to guarantee you that Jesus was as much his boy as any other of Mary and Josephs kids. God gave us his son, Jesus. John tells us in his Gospel that “He came to his own,[b] and his own people[c] did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:11-13) and when we believe in him, when we turn away from this world and turn to Jesus Christ, we are adopted into Gods family and we are just as much his children as Jesus is his son.

God is then our Father. Our father has plans for us, better than anything we can imagine. But he also has some chores to do around his house, so that we, as he says in Romans 8:29, to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. God wants us to be like Jesus. And we only get to be like Jesus by doing the things Jesus did. Risking everything to do what God tells us, to follow the path that he has laid out for us, and to bear good fruit, being salt and light. Most of all, we can’t do any of that until we turn and follow Jesus Christ and are then given the right to be called a child of God.

It’s not easy, and Jesus does not pretend that it is. If someone tells you that become a Christian will make all your problems go away, or that if we have enough faith or pray hard enough then we wont have troubles or struggles, they either don’t know their Bible or they are lying.

But Jesus tells us that the reward is worth it. The promise that we can trust is that in this instance, the ends justify the means. That’s one way we can’t emulate God, our ends will never justify the means. But God can do that. That’s one of the benefits of being God.

Our reward and our treasure is in Heaven. Nothing this side of heaven will do. Nothing this side of heaven will give us an identity. Jesus sees you, and until that is enough, nothing else will be.

Jesus needs to be enough. He is enough. We have to treat him like he is enough. Because if he is not number 1 in our heart, mind, body and soul, then our rewards are here on earth and that is all we will see. Prioritize, take your thoughts captive. Do not Be conform to this world, but be renewed by the transforming of your mind. Put Jesus where he belongs, on the throne in your heart and follow him, no matter what that looks like, no matter what sacrifice that means, and no matter what he is calling you to do.

Lets pray.

Christmas 2018

Christmas 2018

Good Morning and Merry Christmas!

Charles Spurgeon once said, You only have to read the Gospels, and look with willing eyes, and you shall behold in Christ all that can possibly be seen of God. One of the great things about Christmas and the Christmas season is that the main focus in the scriptures tends to be in the Four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. These are, for lack of a better word, biographies of Jesus Christ.

If anyone has ever encouraged you to read the Bible, more regularly, every day, or at all, it is likely that they told you to start in one of the four Gospels. And that is a great place to start. We see the birth, the life, the teachings, the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ in the Gospels.

But there tends to be two things that we either miss, or we skip over all together. The first, is where we are going to start this morning and that’s in Jesus Genealogy. Go ahead and open up your Bibles to Matthew Chapter 1. When you open up to the New Testament, to the Gospels, Matthew is the first book. And the very first thing Matthew does is list Jesus’ ancestors, his genealogy. Along with his genealogy comes the 2nd part. We often skip right over the Old Testament or look at it as purely a history book.

But Jesus, who he is, where he comes from, is so much more important than skipping over those things. We are going to see why we are celebrating his birth and what it means to our future.

So let’s go ahead and read out text for this morning. Matthew Chapter 1. verses 1-17. I’ll be reading out of the English Standard Version. Matthew stats by writing:

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3 and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram,[a] 4 and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5 and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of David the king.

And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, 7 and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph,[b] 8 and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, 9 and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 10 and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos,[c] and Amos the father of Josiah, 11 and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.

12 And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel,[d] and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13 and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, 14 and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, 15 and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, 16 and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.

17 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.

At first glance, this is simply a list of names. Something we should read, but really just gloss over when we read. But when we truly look at this, this is a history of Israel and their complete looking towards the coming savior. Now, the first thing question that comes up is, “Why do they need to look forward towards a savior?” Good Question, I’m glad you asked.

For that we need to go all the way back to the beginning. Before Israel. Before any nations, any people groups. Before sin. We have Adam and Eve. They were sinless. They walked with perfect communion with God. They had it made. God showed his power, his omnipotence, by creating the universe, creating the heavens and the earth, creating the animals and finally, creating man, Adam and Eve. God showed his love, by creating them in his own image, his own likeness, and giving them open access to himself.

Then, they trip up. They ruin perfection. They break the one rule that God laid out and they brought sin into the world. And now, each one if us born in this world is born into sin. Can I make an assumption? I have not talked to one person that disagrees with this statement. There is something wrong, something broken in this world. This world, as we look out the windows, as we look at the News, as we look at our families and our selves, this is not what the world is supposed to be like.

It’s because of sin. We will come back to that in a moment. But first, lets look at this list. It starts with Abraham. Abraham was the first Hebrew. In Genesis 12, God promised to bless him, and through him, to bless the world. This promise would play out in a couple of ways, but ultimately, what God was promising, was the Messiah, the Savior.

And he choose Abraham, as the beginning of the line. God made many promises, many prophecies about how this Messiah, this Savior would be. And one of the first is that he would be a descendant of Abraham. We are going through Genesis here Sunday mornings and we see this promised getting passed down through the generations we see listed here in Matthews genealogy. From Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, to Judah and to Perez. This all takes place in Genesis and we get to see all sorts of fantastic stories where God supernaturally, miraculously keeps this promised line in place.

And its interesting that this line is not kept in place with the perfect, not kept in place with royalty, with the upper echelon. Often, the dregs or the controversial would be picked by God to be a part of this lineage, to be Abrahams descendants. Again, Genesis, looking at Abram, Isaac, Jacob, Judah and Perez, shows that these men have lived lives that are full of sin, full of doubt, full of faithlessness and they do not deserve, through their own doings the right to be a part of this line.

We see Rahab, a gentile woman, gentile being another word for non-Jewish, non-Hebrew, and she was very likely a prostitute. When the Israelites are coming to attack her city, she placed her faith in the God of Israel, she helped the Israeli army and was brought into the fold as a member of Gods family.

We see David, who committed adultery with a here unnamed Bethsheba, married to Uriah. When David got her pregnant, he essentially ordered Uriah to the front of the battle lines to ensure his death. From that union came Solomon, and the line of Christ was continued in a most unexpected way.

David, by the way, whose grandmother was Ruth. Ruth was a Moabite, which means that she was descended from a line that was cursed, and yet, she was redeemed by Boaz, and married into the line of Christ, by faith, through faith. These women and the children of these were brought into the family of God, they became, in Gods eyes, descendants of Abraham.

Why was the genealogical record kept so immaculately? Especially when the Jews got displaced, conquered and sent into exile? Why did it matter where Jesus came from? Israel was looking forward to this messiah, this savior.

Going back for a moment to Adam and Eve, once they sinned, things had to change. Sin entered and perfection left. Death entered. Adam and Eve died because sin came into the world. We will die because of sin. We all know some one, most of us, had someone very close to us, me, just a few months ago, and they died because sin is in this world.

God made a promise in Genesis 3, that the serpent, the devil, the one who tempted Adam and Eve, would get what was coming to him. Sin and death are here, thanks to Adam and Eve tempted by the serpent, but God would send a savior, someone to take away sin and death. He was promising hope, and he would fulfill that promise.

Timothy Keller has said, ““The world can’t save itself. That’s the message of Christmas.” We can’t save our selves. The worlds cant save our selves. With sin in the world, we are without hope. With out a Messiah, without a savior, we are without hope. Without being the children, the descendants of Abraham, the line God chose to bless, we are without hope.

And then, one night 2000 years ago. To an unmarried teenage mother, far away from home, through the line of Abraham, of Isaac, of Jacob, of David, of Solomon, of all these men and women that Matthew lists in these first words of the New Testament. The adoptive, and therefore legal son of Joseph, hope was born into this world. A hope that we could believe in, a hope that we could trust in. A hope that had been promised for 4000 years was fulfilled that very night.

Kids and songs

Why are we all here this morning? Why do we celebrate Christmas? The answer is a simple one, even if not easy. We are here this morning, we celebrate Christmas to celebrate that Jesus was born. That answer in itself leads to more question that I want to address this morning. First is simply, Who was, or is Jesus? And Second, why is his birth worth celebrating?

The kids just gave some answer to that first question, Who is Jesus? As they showed and as they told the teacher at the end of their program, Jesus is the true King of Kings. It says so in Revelation, chapter 19:16, the Disciple John writes about Jesus: On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.

He is the true King, the ultimate King. We see in the Old Testament a bunch of what we call types. Adam, Samson, David, Solomon, even John the Baptist. All of the, were a shadow, were a partial vision of what was to come and what was being looked forward to. They were setting the stage, whetting the appetite, if you will for the one that the world was waiting for, the coming savior, the long-awaited Messiah and the eternal Christ.

All these men were looked at as leaders of Israel. And all these men were greatly flawed. The people we see in the Old Testament, the men we looked at here this morning and all the rest we see, they were all flawed. They were broken, sinful, fallen people. And they were sometimes faithful, God-loving people. They were just like us. Fallen, broken, sinful, sometimes faithful people.

And God used them, gave them a very specific purpose. John the Baptist knew what his purpose was. He told everyone around him. He was there to point towards Jesus.. All the men that we hold up in the Old Testament as Heroes of the faith could say the same thing. They were there to point ahead to Jesus.

Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus who was born in Bethlehem all those 200 years ago, he is the fulfillment of all that they were looking forward to. In each instance, where they failed, he was perfect and sinless.

We go back to Adam, at the very Beginning, the very first, and we will see why this was all necessary. Genesis 3, to be specific. Adam and Eve were created in Eden, in perfect paradise, but the serpent was craftier than any other animal and tempted Eve and caused Adam to sin. This caused Dam and eve to be separated from God, their perfect relationship, their perfect walk with God was now shattered, and now sin and death are a part of our world. See, God is Holy and cannot be with sin. And, as Romans 5:12 tells us, just as sin came into the world through one man, (That’s Adam) and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—

And so, to restore our relationship with God, to have our sins covered and washed away, to move out of death and into eternal life, we need something that we cannot do on our own. And there in Genesis 3, v 15 specifically. God tells the serpent, and Adam And Eve and all of us that there will be one who comes that will defeat the serpent, and will defeat death, will conquer sin, will restore everything back to its original intent and purpose.

All those types, all those Old Testament guys that we look at, that the Bible tells us about, that God sent, they failed. They were imperfect and they sinned and so they could not bridge that gap between humanity and God. But they were a continual reminder of Gods love and Gods grace.

He promised a savior there in Genesis 3. And after so many failures, after so many years, after so many obstacles and adversity and persecution and exile. After years of darkness and wondering, “When LORD?”

Then on that night, 200 years ago, a baby was born. The bible says that it was “at the right time,” that Christ was born. Exactly when God the Father, God the Son, Jesus Christ, and God the Holy Spirit planned it to happen. Not to early, not too late, but at just the right time, The Father sent him, the Messiah, the Christ.

Jesus of Nazareth, born of Mary, eternal God, 1/3 of the trinity, he lowered himself, came down from Heaven, and was born a human baby boy, still fully God, now fully human. He was the one all the Old Testament guys was pointing towards. And where they failed, where they sinned, he succeeded, he lived a perfect, righteous life.

And it was because he was sinless that he was able to bridge that gap between God and humanity. And He did. He paid the price for sin, nailed to the cross, dead. He took the punishment for sin. But not his sin, as he had none. So he paid for ours.

And he says repent, turn from your sins, turn to Jesus as both our LORD and savior, believe in him, trust in him and accept the free gift of grace and forgiveness, and we will be forgiven. Christ will clothe us with his righteousness, his perfect righteousness, and allow our relationship with God to be restored to what it is supposed to be.

Look, there are only two choices, only two options. And they boil down to what you think of Jesus. Reject who he is, who the Bible says he is. Reject the love of God, the gift of grace, the forgiveness of sins. Reject the knowledge that we need saving and there is only one that can give us that salvation. Reject the fact of Jesus is God and man and was born a baby. Reject that and you receive eternity without God, eternity outside of Heaven. That relationship with God that we were created to dwell in was shattered and lost and we can’t do anything to change that.

We cannot do anything to earn salvation. We cannot do good enough to restore that relationship. We cannot be sinless, cannot be perfect and so cannot have our own perfect righteousness to enter into perfect heaven with God the Father for all eternity. And when we trust in ourselves, when we reject what Jesus did and who Jesus was, we instead receive eternal rejection, and eternal torment.

But Gods love for us doesn’t want that for us. He wants for us to live forever with him, praising him, worshiping him, being in the relationship that we were originally created to be in. Look, if you have not come to know the historical, biblical saving King of Kings, LORD Jesus, today is a great day. The day we celebrate his birth, the day we celebrate the literal personification of his love and the day we celebrate that we came to save us.

Salvation belongs to the LORD and today is the day of Salvation. I ask you to turn your life over to Jesus today and not to wait.

For those of us that have come to know Jesus Christ, we celebrate this today. And we have a job to do.

We point to him just as the Old Testament did, and we celebrate today, the fulfillment of those promises that God made all those years ago, and we look forward to the day when the rest of the promises are fulfilled. See, Jesus also says that he will come again and that is when the earth will be restored and sin will be removed and every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is LORD. Right now, Jesus has given us the opportunity for the forgiveness of sins. But we still live in a sinful world. We will still slip in sin. We look to the promise of Heaven, and we look around this dark world, and we ask, “When, LORD?” Just like they did then, we do know, that is our job.

Our job as imperfect, fallen, broken, saved, redeemed people is the same purpose that all the men in the Old Testament that we looked at earlier had. Our job is to point to Jesus. We are to point to him and his saving work. We are to point to him and his loving sacrifice. We are to point to him and our need for him. We are to point to him and his commands. We are to point to him and his works and his righteousness. Matthews Gospel tells us in chapter 6, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

Lets finish with one of the most well know, most hopeful and one of my favorite Old Testament passages looking forward to Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the King of Kings and the LORD of Lords, Isaiah 9:6

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon[d] his shoulder,
and his name shall be called[e]
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 

On the day that we remember the birth of Jesus Christ our savior, its all the more important to also remember Christ’s death for us, that act on the cross, that act of pure love, grace and goodness. That perfect act of mercy. God holding out his hands to us, disobedient and contrary people.

We remember the sacrifice, the blood shed. We remember what that means to us, as those who have turned to follow Jesus Christ. It means that we have been declared righteous in his sight and we get to spend eternity with Jesus Christ and God the Father.

We often take this time somberly and soberly, because of what it cost Jesus, what he had to go through. But especially today, in celebration of his birth, we celebrate because Jesus is alive and we get to partake in eternal life with him if we chose to follow him.

Now, Paul makes it clear in 1 Corinthians 11 some things about partaking in communion. First of all, this is for those that have made a commitment to Jesus. This is a celebration and remembrance for what he won, what he purchased when he paid the penalty for our sins and rose from the grave. If you have not made that commitment, out of respect, please pass the plate.

Paul also makes it clear that we need to be in the right state of mind, that we need to be honest with ourselves and with God and about our sins.

I greatly encourage you, as we are passing out the items for communion, take that time to talk to God. Make sure you are examining yourself and you are taking it for the right reasons. Again, please do not be afraid to pass the plate along. There will be no glances, no judgments. What is important is for each of us to make sure that we are in right standing with God.

Paul gives us a picture of Communion in 1 Corinthians chapter 11. In verses 23-25 he writes:

 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for[f] you. Do this in remembrance of me.”[g] 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

So, what we are going to do here, is Mike and Jim are going to come up here. One will pray for the crackers, which symbolize the broken body of Jesus on the cross. They will pass them out and when we are finished we will take the cracker together as a church family.

Then, the other will pray for the juice, which symbolizes the blood of Christ, shed for the forgiveness of sins. They will pass them out and again, we will take it together as a church family.