I hope you’ll join me next week (January 2, 2011) for our church’s time of worship. In place of the normal sermon, we’ll mix things up a bit and take questions from you. You can consult this week’s guide for the basic instructions on how things will play out. Let me give you some brief examples of the kind of questions some are asking:
“Do you have to be baptized to participate in the Lord’s Supper?”
“My friend has buried all three of her children & her husband. Why do godly people suffer so emotionally, mentally, and physically?”
“Why would it be important for the family to be members of a church?”
I’m really glad God came up with the idea of Christmas. But what did God have in mind when He created Christmas? What motivated Him to bring Christmas to us? When we think about Christmas, we normally turn to passages inside our Bibles that give us the story of Jesus’ birth. We want to hear about the angels, Mary and Joseph, the shepherds, and the wise men. Yet, scattered throughout your New Testament are breadcrumbs, little statements of why Jesus came. Like Hansel and Gretel so long ago, these breadcrumbs tell you why Jesus came to earth that first Christmas. Now you have to look for these breadcrumbs – they’re not obvious at first. If we’re not careful, we’ll simply drive right by them.
So why did Jesus come, after all? Buried inside in our Bibles are God’s reasons for creating the first Christmas.
Today’s Scripture
"For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, 9 and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written,
“Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles, and sing to your name.”
10 And again it is said,
“Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.”
11 And again,
“Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples extol him.”
12 And again Isaiah says,
“The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles; in him will the Gentiles hope.”
13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. (Romans 15:8-13)
Christmas is the story of God.
Today’s Big Idea: God Designed Christmas for Fervent Worship Among All Peoples.
1. Christmas was a Long Time in Coming
Have you given much thought to how long God prepared for the first Christmas? Paul had given it a lot of thought. “For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs…” (Romans 15:8)
Paul records that Jesus Christ “became a servant.” Or, Christ became a man, the Incarnation. Paul records that Jesus did this so that the “circumcised” would see “God's truthfulness.” Or, Paul puts the same thought another way when he says the first (1st) Christmas occurred so that Jesus would “confirm the promises given to the patriarchs.” From the foundation of the world itself, the Godhead planned and plotted. God planned not only history’s first Christmas but the timeline of salvation itself.
And along the timeline of salvation, God made promises. What some people call the drama of redemption. Christmas took a long time in coming because God designed it for this reason. Just a quick look at any Bible will show that approximately two-thirds of the Bible is devoted to what happened before the birth of Jesus. Or to what we call the Old Testament. Like a young father waiting on the birth of a child in a nearby hospital, there was a lot of waiting going on for the birth of Jesus.
Allow me to walk you through a brief timeline of salvation history.
And while God oftentimes moves upon the timeline in slow and plodding ways, our brief survey will but show two Himalayan peaks that emerge from the pages of the Bible. What you need to know is that… The Trinity plotted and planned the first Christmas. God designed history to culminate in His Son’s death, burial, and resurrection.
Imagine watching a TV documentary where they offer a beautiful timeline across the bottom of your TV screen. We learn from the last book of the Bible that the death of Christ was no afterthought. Our timeline begins at the end of your Bible. In fact, it’s the last book of the Bible that tells us that Jesus Christ was slain before the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8). John confirms this as well where Jesus says (and I paraphrase), “No one takes my life from me. I have come to die” (John 10:18). Jesus Christ came to die.
When we read of the first sin in the early chapters of Genesis, God is not surprised. In fact, shortly after the first sin by the first people (Adam & Eve), God predicts the Son’s death: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15). So from these three verses, we learn of a plot. God has something up His sleeve. Only what God is planning isn’t revealed immediately.
From Genesis chapters four through eleven, we learn of the devastating results of the Fall. We see the progressive alienation of humans from God and from each other. These eight chapters witness moral deterioration and darkness. Sin has become so rampant that God has wiped out nearly all on the planet with a flood. Just a handful of people are spared, but the leader, Noah, promptly gets drunk. By chapter 11, a rebellion is towering through the land again, defying God.
Yet, from out the godlessness, God speaks.
1.1 Abraham’s Covenant
The first promise I would ask you to examine is in Genesis 12: “Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed’” (Genesis 12:1-3).
Understanding this promise is indispensable to an understanding of the Bible. If you are going to make any sense of the Bible’s plotline, you’re going to have to make sense of Abraham. You cannot understand Christianity without some comprehension of Abram, who becomes Abraham. He is a man who lived about 4,000 years ago or about 2,000 years before Jesus Christ. And we introduced to him for the first time here. Or what is known as a covenant. A covenant can be thought of as God’s self-written job description. The all-powerful, all-wise God writes His own job description so as to assure His followers that He will do them good and not evil. There are many covenants throughout the Bible, but let’s look at the one (1) with Abram first (1st).
God, Himself changes Abram’s name. Abram meant “exalted father.” Abraham probably means “father of many.” God’s changing Abram’s name is to show at least two of God’s promises to him. And the promise is best articulated in the verses I just read to you. Five times the word “bless” or “blessing” appears in these three verses. First, his progeny, over time, would become many. He is the ultimate ancestor of all the Israeli people.
Second, all the nations of the earth would be blessed by God. He is indeed the “father of many.” God’s original promise to Abraham wasn’t just for the Jews: “and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3b). History records that God did exactly what He promised He would do. He rose up a nation from the loins of Abraham. And, God blessed the nations through Abraham. From the beginning, God was working to reach Gentiles through His nation, the Jews. God chose Israel to be His spokesmen to the nations. Israel was to be God’s missionary nation. They were to share the message of the goodness of God with other nations. More on that later. Yet, God made a significant promise to Abraham, a covenant.
1.2. David’s Covenant
The second promise I want you to see is a promise God made to King David:
“‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel. 9 And I have been with you wherever you went and have cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. 10 And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly, 11 from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. 12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, 15 but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. 16 And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever” (2 Samuel 7:8-16).
God says to David, “I took you from farmland to appointed you a prince over my people. I have been with you wherever you have gone.” And now, God says, “I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth” (2 Samuel 7:9). This passage is prophetic or it predicts. The passage works like a telescope. It takes a long survey of events and telescopes them down so that the near and distant events are viewed together.
Let me show how these verses act as a telescope. In this verse, God predicts that Solomon, David’s son, will reign after David. It’s in verse fourteen, which God speaks of Solomon’s sin: “When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men…” (2 Samuel 7:14). But the prediction goes far beyond Solomon and his imperfection. See verse thirteen: “He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever” (2 Samuel 7:13). The word “forever” appears an additional two more times in verse sixteen. Here are God’s promises. Here is God’s covenant.
Yet, years go by and God hasn’t kept his promises. God made a covenant with Abraham approximately 2,000 BC. God made a covenant with David approximately 1,000 BC. The question emerges on the lips of nearly everyone, “Where is God? Why hasn’t He said He will do what He promised?” He promises to make someone of David’s lineage on the throne forever.
He promised to bless all the nations from Abraham’s lineage.
2. Christmas is Designed to Confirm God’s Promises.
Christmas is the story of God keeping His promises. Christmas is the story of God keeping His covenant. Christmas is the story of God. Yet, most of us don’t feel the worth of that statement. Most of us don’t feel the worth and the value of God. Nor do we sense the magnitude of His faithfulness to do what He said He would do.
Like a TV news story, telling of the tragedy of a natural disaster in a faraway country like the Pakistan flood story on August 4, 2010 that claimed more than 1,100 lives. Or the distance of the 8.8 magnitude earthquake in China set off a tsunami where 500,000 homes were destroyed on February 27, 2010. Neither of these two promised and the time elapsed feel close to us. What feels close to us is the mortgage we are paying. Or introductory level English class during the freshman year at the University of Arkansas Fort Smith. These feel close to us.
To value and appreciate the worth of God in worship, you need to feel the distance between these promises and the first Christmas. To value and appreciate God’s work at Bethlehem, you need to feel the unlikelihood of God’s work in Mary & Joseph. And I want you to feel the distance and the anguish so that Romans 15:9 comes alive to you: “For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs…” (Romans 15:9).
Paul records that Jesus did this so that the “circumcised” would see “God's truthfulness.” Or, Paul puts the same thought another way when he says the first Christmas occurred so that Jesus would “confirm the promises given to the patriarchs.” A little-known and horrific story is tucked away in 2 Kings 6 will help us feel the distance. The time is after King David’s promise. The nation of Israel has been split into two nations: Judah in the south and Israel or Samaria in the north. The time is around 800 years before the birth of Christ. Ben-hadad is the king of Syria and he has mustered his entire army in order to besiege Samaria (2 Kings 6:24). The Bible records that a great famine had fallen over the land. The severity of the famine was so severe that even the humblest of commodities were going for highly inflated prices (2 Kings 6:24) One day, the king was on a tour examining the embattled city’s wall when he stumbled upon a conflict between two (2) women (2 Kings 6:26-29). The first women reported to the king that the two women were so hungry they had agreed to first boil and then eat one another’s children. The first mother did just that to awake the next morning to find that the second mother had hidden her child.
When God made these two promises to Abraham and King David, God finally confirmed His promises. Christmas felt a great distance away from this king and these two mothers.
God’s promises seemed an eternity away. Yet, God confirmed His promises: “… when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son…” (Galatians 4:4)
God kept His covenant. God keeps His word despite even the horrifying events we find ourselves in. He can be relied on.
“Thus says the Lord: If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that day and night will not come at their appointed time, 21 then also my covenant with David my servant may be broken, so that he shall not have a son to reign on his throne, and my covenant with the Levitical priests my ministers. 22 As the host of heaven cannot be numbered and the sands of the sea cannot be measured, so I will multiply the offspring of David my servant…” (Jeremiah 33:20-22a).
God confirmed His promises. God kept His covenant. When the baby arrives in Bethlehem, all the toil and misery are brought to fruition. The Son is the promise kept.
“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” (Luke 1:31-33).
He rules forever! He blesses the nations! And He blessed you! All God’s promises find their “YES!” in Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 1:20)!
3. Christmas is Designed for Worship.
“and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written,
‘Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles, and sing to your name.’
10 And again it is said,
‘Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.’
11 And again,
‘Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples extol him’” (Romans 15:9-11).
The saying, “All roads lead to Rome.” All of history is moving toward one goal: the white-hot worship of God and His Son among all the peoples of the earth.
Israel was the means to an end. The end was to see all peoples, both Gentile and Jew, worship Christ for His mercy. Christmas screams from a megaphone that God is central and God is supreme. God has inspired Paul to tell you the reason for Israel… the reason for Christ’s love for you… the reason for the first Christmas. All of this is done so you might exalt in Him! Find your ultimate joy in Him! As we watch “The root of Jesse” “arise” to “to rule the Gentiles” so that “the Gentiles hope,” this is our song.
He is our joy. God’s end goal for all of history: “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb” (Revelation 7:9-10)!
Christmas is the story of God. It’s the story of God’s praise for His mercy.
Today’s Big Idea: God Designed Christmas for Fervent Worship Among All Peoples.
And it brings together His people from the four corners of the earth. He does everything for the praise of the glory of His grace.
