Introduction
I hope that you don’t mind, but I thought that I would show you some of the pictures from our family vacation…
Isn’t this one of the times when you are looking for the door, looking at someone else’s family photo’s is usually not good, unless you are tied in some way.
I think that this is one of the reasons that we have so much trouble with trying to read through the gospel of Matthew…be honest, how many people have tried only to end up in the 1st chapter with the list of Jesus’ family tree and it became like watching pictures of someone else’s family vacation…boring
There are some names we recognize – Abraham, king David, Ruth, and at our house the name Josiah is a big hit, but there are some names that we just struggle with.
It isn’t until we come to the end of the passage that we finally come to a name or two that we know and it get’s really interesting from here.
Matthew 1:16 (NIV)
16 and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.
Why have such a long list of names, just to get to Joseph, the Husband of Mary, the mother of Jesus?
I think that we have become so used to the Christmas story that we read this passage each and every year and get used to the Mary, the mother of Jesus
But THIS baby changed the world.
1. The coming of the King
Matthew 1:20-24 (NIV)
20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”—which means, “God with us.” 24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.
Who is this Baby?
A. This Baby is Jesus – which means “YHWH” saves
• God told Joseph that this baby already had a name, a name that reflected his character and God’s purposes – God saves, that is what Jesus means.
• The name Jesus means “God is salvation” in Hebrew. Parents often intended the names they gave children to have some meaning, but if God gave the name, it had special significance. The Old Testament taught that God’s people would be saved in the time of the Messiah Jewish readers in the first century would have understood this salvation to mean more than just personal forgiveness. God would deliver his people from the consequences of their sins slavery to their enemies. Jesus came to deliver his people from personal sin and thus to deliver them from its judgment as well.
B. This Baby is Emmanuel which means “God with Us”
• I don’t recall any time in the New Testament where someone comes up to Jesus and calls him “Emmanuel” – but this name is so important to us
• We have gotten something wrong in the Church when it comes to Salvation – We place all the emphasis on heaven, and miss some of what God has in store for us
John 3:16 (NIV)
16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
• This verse is often quoted to say that when we trust Jesus we will go to heaven, (and that is true) but is really says that we will have eternal life – starting from the moment we become a Christian
• The presence of God in us is the Holy Spirit – but God’s presence with his people began with Jesus.
Every time we feel alone, trapped by temptation, crushing problems, persecution, he is present, and is working.
He is Emmanuel, and he will save the people from their sins.
2. The command of the King
Before we think that the reign of Jesus is only in His birth I want to point you to the end of the book – To chapter 28
Matthew 28:18-20 (NIV)
18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
There are those two names again – Jesus and Emmanuel, I hope that you see them in these 3 verses at the end.
A. Jesus, the Christ is found in 1st part
• He has all authority – This is one of the major differences in Baby Jesus verses any other Baby – authority
• Matthew is committed to making sure that we realize that Jesus is the one that God has promised from the moment that Adam and Eve sinned – this is the one to make that right and finally bring the kingdom of God back.
• This is the end of the story and it is still the same – Jesus is ruler without rival
• Go make Disciples by baptizing and teaching as many people from the whole world as you can.
B. Emmanuel is in the end – I’ll be with you always
• Maybe the fact that Jesus is king is not that important to you, but I hope that Immanuel is, because God with us sets following Jesus apart from anything else in the whole world – there is nothing like it.
• The command to go and make disciples is not always an easy one, and anyone that has volunteered to teach a Sunday school class, serve in a leadership capacity, reach out to a neighbor with the good news, or has been the one Christian at work knows that it is easy to get tired…
• That is where the good news of this Baby being Immanuel comes in – He has not left us alone to do all these things without His presence and strength
When you and I became Christians God deposited his spirit in our hearts and promised that He would be at work. Each and every time that we go out to make a difference we are the temple of God on wheels – The presence of God is there to make a difference. When we come together we are a spirit filled church only to the degree that each of us is walking with God.
Jesus promised that we are never alone in the world and this is a great source of strength for anyone that has felt like they were on a solo mission
3. Our Response to the King
Matthew 16:13 (NIV)
13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
Will the disciples get it, will we get it? This is the most important question in the whole book of Matthew – will the people understand who this baby is and what he came to do, and like the 1st century there still people that will miss the significance of this baby.
Jesus asked his disciples – do you get it after all this time?
A. Who do you say that I am?
Matthew 16:14-17 (NIV)
14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.
• Was He a prophet – many millions of people today think that is the case, and it is not
• Some thought a great teacher, preacher, and leader – and that would be true but incomplete
• Jesus is the Christ – the anointed king of heaven come to his creation
B. What do you think the real king should do?
Matthew 16:21-25 (NIV)
21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. 22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” 23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”
• Peter knew the answer to that question – a King should rule
• We think of authority and we think of Power, influence, and rule – and when Jesus pointed the disciples toward Jerusalem and said that sacrifice and servant hood are the marks of his kingdom Peter couldn’t take it.
• Jesus told them that he came to die – to be the sacrifice, and the disciples thought that he’d lost his mind.
He came to be killed and then be raised on the third day – From Christmas there was only one outcome planned – The cross
What is the response Jesus had in mind when He came?
Matthew 16:24-25 (NIV)
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.
Shane Claiborne, who spent a summer in the slums of Calcutta with Mother Teresa, wrote the following about one of his experiences there:
People often ask me what Mother Teresa was like. Sometimes it’s like they wonder if she glowed in the dark or had a halo. She was short, wrinkled, and precious, maybe even a little ornery—like a beautiful, wise old granny. But there is one thing I will never forget—her feet. Her feet were deformed. Each morning in Mass, I would stare at them. I wondered if she had contracted leprosy. But I wasn’t going to ask, of course. "Hey Mother, what’s wrong with your feet?"
One day a sister said to us, "Have you noticed her feet?" We nodded, curious. She said: "Her feet are deformed because we get just enough donated shoes for everyone, and Mother does not want anyone to get stuck with the worst pair, so she digs through and finds them. And years of doing that have deformed her feet." Years of loving her neighbor as herself deformed her feet.
This is the kind of fasting that creates the divine longing for justice, where our feet become deformed by a love that places our neighbors above ourselves.
I read this week about a theft in New York City that is a picture of what our world wants:
In August 2003, New York City’s Church of the Holy Cross was broken into twice. First a metal moneybox next to a votive candle rack was stolen. Three weeks later vandals got away with something far more valuable: a statue of Christ. The thieves unbolted the 4-foot long, 200-pound plaster Jesus from a meditation area, but they left the wooden cross on the wall.
David St. James, 49, a caretaker who helps maintain the sacristy of the church, was amazed that someone would try to take Jesus without also taking his cross. "They just decided, ’We’re going to leave the cross and take Jesus,’" he said. "We don’t know why they took just him. We figure if you want the whole crucifix, you take the whole crucifix."
