“JESUS IS HERE!” Matthew 1:23
FBCF – 12/19/21
Jon Daniels
INTRO – How do you prepare for those moments when life crumbles & caves in?
- When freakishly powerful, rare Dec tornadoes tear through your town, your home, & your life & change the landscape forever
- When sickness or disease invades your life & lingers on & on
- When job loss or financial crises disrupt your sense of safety & security
- When someone else’s sin & immorality impacts your life & your family
- When an accident on the highway or at the hunting camp or at work or even in your own home brings your life to a screeching halt
- When death comes, as it will…
- How do you prepare?
If you don’t know Jesus, your preparation & response will be based solely on your own limited resources, knowledge, connections, all of which may provide some limited, momentary relief, but will eventually prove to be futile.
For those who know Christ, our response will – or at least should be based on our foundation of faith that, b/c of what happened in Bethlehem, Jesus is here. And that means that, no matter what we are facing now or will face in the future, we will be OK. We will suffer. We will hurt. We will grieve. We will wade through confusion, despair, even anger. But, in the end, we will be OK.
In 1719, Isaac Watts composed the Christmas carol, “Joy to the World,” & in the 3rd verse:
No more let sins and sorrows grow, Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found, Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.
Jesus is here! And even though we still have to deal w/ the effects of sins & sorrows & the thorns of life, His blessings continually flow into our lives, even in our times of suffering. A pastor in KY who lived through the tornadoes last week wrote this:
“…let us not forget that the babe in the manger was the king on the cross. Let us not forget that the one born in a barn and raised by sinners was also buried in a cave yet raised to life. Let us not forget that we are not serving a life committed to a dead man in the ground, but we find hope in the promises of a resurrected savior who is alive and sitting at the right hand of the Father.” (https://gcdiscipleship.com/article-feed/what-a-record-breaking-tornado-in-my-state-taught-me-about-being-prepared-for-death)
EXPLANATION – Matthew 1:23 – Matthew wrote to Jewish audience. That’s why he’s the only Gospel writer who put an extensive genealogy at the beginning of his Gospel. His purpose in writing his Gospel was to establish that Jesus Christ is truly the Chosen One, the Messiah for the Jewish people. He wants his readers to know that Jesus Christ, the King & Messiah of Israel, has come. To bolster that truth, he quotes from the Old Testament more than any other Gospel writer. He quotes more than 60 times from prophetic passages in the OT & shows how Jesus fulfilled them. And in verses 23 when he quotes that Messianic prophecy from Isaiah, we sense the comfort & power & peace that comes in knowing that Jesus is here!
APPLICATION – Jesus is here & that means that He will be with us always!
HE IS WITH US NO MATTER WHAT OUR FAMILY SITUATION IS – v. 1-16 – Don’t hear many people preaching from Matthew 1:1-16 in Christmas sermons. Lots of sermons about Bethlehem, angels, shepherds, & Wise Men. Very little about the genealogy of Jesus. You’d think that this genealogy would be a hall of fame sort of list of names. In reality, more like a hall of shame.
- Abraham – ignored God’s promises & had sex w/ Hagar – Genesis 16
- Tamar – Genesis 38 – incest, prostitution, deception, no redeeming virtues attributed to her – “The ugliness of sin” written in margin of my Bible
- Rahab – known as the harlot – Joshua 6
- Ruth – Genesis 19 – Ruth a Moabite who were the product of a drunken incestual relationship when Lot was in a cave w/ his 2 daughters
- David – adulterer, murderer, liar
- Solomon – Started off w/ great wisdom, but disobeyed God & had 700 wives & 300 concubines who led him into idolatry
- Rehoboam, Jehoshaphat, Ahaz, Mannaseh – all of them kings in the OT who turned away from the Lord
- Everyone on this list sinners w/ sordid moments in their pasts
What does this tell us? It tells us that Jesus Christ, born in Bethlehem, identified completely w/ the humanity & brokenness of mankind. It means that, if He identifies w/ all of these in this genealogy, He identifies w/ me. He identifies w/ the brokenness of my family situation - & we ALL have brokenness in our families. He is w/ us in that brokenness. To be clear, He doesn’t approve of sin. But aren’t we thankful that He doesn’t throw us to the curb when our families are broken & jacked up like all of those families in HIS family tree?
You may be in a situation where you think, “Nobody understands.” JESUS DOES!
- Hebrews 4:15 – “We don’t have a priest who is out of touch with our reality. He’s been through weakness and testing, experienced it all—all but the sin.” (MSG)
Whatever you’re going through, whatever your family situation, Jesus has been there, understands it completely, & is HERE RIGHT NOW to help you through it. Turn to Him. Bring it to Him. Trust Him w/ it. And know that HE IS WITH YOU!
HE IS WITH US NO MATTER WHAT OUR FEARS ARE – v. 18-23 – Ever been so afraid that you can’t move, can’t think, can’t breathe, can’t function? I wonder if that’s how Joseph felt when he found out about Mary’s pregnancy. V. 18 – “she was found to be w/ child” – Gk. “learn something previously not known.”
It’s those unknowns that grab us & throw us into a place of fear. Phone rings – see child’s name pop up – vast majority of time it’s a normal phone call. But we’ve all had those times when the call is about a fear-inducing situation that you didn’t know about. What do we do in those moments?
We do what Joseph did – step forward in faith & obey God. We most likely won’t be told what to do in a dream like Joseph. But we don’t need a dream b/c Jesus is here, & we have the Holy Spirit in us, the Word of God in front of us, & brothers & sisters in Christ around us to help us move forward in faith & not shut down in fear.
HE IS WITH US NO MATTER WHO OUR FOES ARE – Matthew 2:13-18 – Jesus was born into a turbulent, violent world. And in Jesus’ corner of the world, King Herod was leading the way. Herod was an enemy king, an enemy of God, & an enemy of Joseph & Mary. “…Joseph parented Jesus in turbulent times. Perhaps our Christmases would be better if we remembered that innocence & responsiveness characterized the father God chose to guide a family through danger, not just children cuddled up in safety. Joseph surely knew how violent Roman rulers could be. On the roads, he may have passed by agonizing crucified people who, like his family, were a threat to the regime.” (“Gentle Joseph, Meek & Mild”, CT, Dec. 2021, p. 35)
While we know that “our struggle is not against flesh & blood” (Ephesians 6:12), there are people in our world who hate us b/c they hate Jesus. John 15:18-19 – “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 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.”
- Every week, people all over the world lose their homes, families, livelihoods, & lives b/c of the Gospel
- Missionaries are kidnapped
- Our own nation is filled w/ people who hate us b/c of our love for & commitment to Jesus. They want to scare us, silence us, & stop us. Some of these people are in positions of influence & leadership in the business world, entertainment world, financial world, & governmental world.
Face it – We have enemies. But so did Jesus. He’s faced them, been through it, defeated them, & is here to show us how to face our enemies, too.
- Face them w/ love – “love you enemies” (Matthew 5:44)
- Face them w/ truth – Jesus’ responses to His enemies was always the truth straight from God & the Scriptures.
- Face them through prayer – Jesus praying for His disciples – “I have given them your word & the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.” (John 17:14-15)
- Face them knowing that we are already victorious – “more than conquerors” (Romans 8:37)
CONCLUSION/TAKEAWAYS – Immanuel – JESUS IS HERE. GOD IS WITH US. So let’s live our lives for His glory!
