Matt 1:18-25 God Events (Christmas)
Read Texts Matt 1:18-25; Luke 1:26-38
- It is that time of the year
- When we as a society get into the spirit of the season
- We go about celebrating Christmas
- By putting up decorations
- Lights, trees, wreaths
- All over our homes inside and out
- We seek out the right gifts for the family and friends
- Enduring crowded stores and difficult traffic
Of course that is our custom and it has grown over the years
- It has some traditional roots
- Just as the Magi gave gifts to the infant Jesus
- We give gifts
- But many of our traditions have roots in the ancient culture of northern Europe
- Under all that custom and culture is found the real story
- The birth of the Messiah
- The birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God
- The Father’s chosen Son
- Who came to bring salvation to the world
- And to establish His kingdom
- It was a time when God came Himself to accomplish
- The task of reconciling the world to Himself
- He came in the flesh
- To do for us what we could not do for ourselves
- To bring us into relationship with Him
- Through the blood of Christ and our faith in Him
This event, the birth of Jesus
- Was a God event
- Look at vs 20
- “It is by the Holy Spirit that she has conceived this child.”
- Jesus was fully man and fully God
- He was God come to earth as a man
- God dramatically broke into human history
- To change everything forever
- Jesus’ birth was a God event
- Blackaby calls it a milestone
- There are other God events recorded in the Bible
- These are times when God does something of significance
- To move history toward its fulfillment in Himself
- The creation, the flood, calling Abraham
- Calling Moses, rescuing His people from Egypt
- Mount Sinai and the Law
- David coming as king, building the temple
- The captivity, the crucifixion, Pentecost
All these are recorded in the Bible
- And are the activity of God in ways
- That changed the course of history
- And brought God’s purpose closer to fulfillment
Some of these God events involved nations and peoples
- But often they involved only one or two persons
- Who were called of God to do something for Him
- Some things were large and impacted thousands
- Some were smaller and impacted only a few
- But all had eternal significance and involved divine intervention into human affairs
- To bring God’s purpose to pass
Let’s look closer at Matthew 1:18-25 and also at Luke 1:26-38
- Looking at the characters involved
- We find Mary and Joseph
- And God
- Mary was a simple, devout young girl
- She was not particularly note-worthy
- She was not wealthy or well-educated
- She was not prominent in any particular way
- But she had a heart for God
- She was living in the small backwater town of Nazareth
- And she was engaged to a man named Joseph
- Some think Joseph was an older widower
- Taking Mary as a younger wife
- But there wasn’t anything particular
- That would make her stand out in her town
- Then God intrudes into her life
- Gabriel was sent by God to that town in Galilee called Nazareth
- With a message for Mary
- A message that would bring her to a crisis
- She was told she had been chosen by God Himself to conceive and bear a son
- He would be called Jesus, the Son of the Most High
- That the Lord God would give Him the throne of His ancestor David
- Wow, what an announcement
- Think of the impact and implications of that announcement
- Mary had to decide
- Just how she would react
- The Gospel of Luke tells us
- That she was at first frightened, troubled
- By the appearance of Gabriel, the Archangel
- Then came those words of peace
- That Jesus Himself would speak so many times “Do not be afraid.”
- God knows that God events frighten and unsettle us
- He understands that we have trouble grasping these things
- Because they go against so much of our own expectations and experience
Now we have Mary, pregnant with the Son of God
- And engaged to a man
- Who expects her to be a chaste virgin
- How does she explain
- That she is a virgin but chosen by God to bear His Son?
- The common practice of the day
- To deal with unfaithful brides-to-be
- Was to put them away
- Setting them aside quietly
- Or exposing them publicly to shame them
- They could have been stoned
- Mary risked being stoned for her situation
- Her fate lay in Joseph’s hands
- But not really
- You see, God never leaves things to chance
- He had plans for Joseph as well in this God event
Matthew tells us
- That Joseph remained a man of principle
- He did not want to take Mary as his wife
- Since she was pregnant with a child not his own
- He also did not want to expose her to harm
- So he decided to have the marriage contract set aside quietly
- He had considered the situation thoroughly
- And resolved that this was best for all concerned
- But God had other plans
He sent an angel
- Who appeared to Joseph in a dream
- “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home with you as your wife. It is by the Holy Spirit she has conceived this child. She will bear a son; and you shall give him the name Jesus (Savior) for he will save his people from their sins.” (Matt1:20-21)
- “Joseph,” God said through the angel, “I have plans for you in this God event.”
- Did you catch the words “do not be afraid” in the angel’s message?
- “Joseph, it’s ok. Take Mary home with you as your wife. The child is mine.”
Matthew goes on to tell us in vs 24
- “Rising from sleep, Joseph took Mary home to be his wife, but he had no intercourse with her until her son was born. And he named the child Jesus.”
- Joseph was a man of principle
- And followed the directions God gave him
- Just as he had been told
- He changed his mind about what to do
- In order to do what God showed him
And because of the faith and obedience of these 2 simple people
- God changed human history forever
- He changed human destiny forever as well
Can you imagine what Joseph and Mary thought on that day after Jesus’ birth?
- Mary wondering, who is this child?
- What will happen?
- And Joseph wondering, what he is to do next
- Here was a child unlike any other ever before born
- Here was one conceived by the Holy Spirit
- One who was born to reign
- One promised to be the Son of God, the Messiah
- To sit on the throne of David forever
- One whose birth was celebrated by angels and shepherds
- One who was born in the humblest circumstances
- But who was God’s King of Kings
- One who was heralded by angels
- And to die on a Roman cross
- Buried in a borrowed tomb
- And raised to life on the 3rd day
- One who will come in power to judge the world
- And establish His kingdom on earth
What a God event!
- Simple people chosen by God to do a God-sized task
- To participate in what God directed
We have people here who are also chosen by God to participate in God events
- Maybe not so big as Mary and Joseph
- But equally important
- We are called to herald the coming of God’s Son
- So that others might find new life and new hope and new purpose, new destiny in Him
- Is it any more miraculous when someone we know receives Jesus as Lord and Savior?
- I have been privileged to be present as God says to someone “Do not be afraid”
- “Believe in Me and put your trust in Me”
- The wonder of that God event amazes me and thrills me
- I have seen right here God take simple everyday people
- And do wondrous things
- Have you seen a child accept Christ in faith here?
- Have you seen someone find love and acceptance?
- Have you seen someone’s need met, material or emotional?
- Have you seen God provide in ways you never expected?
- Just the New Hope Trailer Park project is an example
- God gave Mark an idea
- We saw $809 plus a large box of toys come in
- We saw the surprised faces of families receiving gifts when there was not much hope of gifts this Christmas
- We saw faces light up as we gave them a white bag with fruit and nuts and the Jesus video
- God events every one
- I have seen people here
- Come to worship
- Reach out to God in song, testimony and prayer
- I have seen people young and old
- Sing, lead singing, do drama
- Share their hearts
- Because of what God has shown them
- God events
- I have seen people right here share how God has told them what they are to do
- Teach a class, share a story, love someone
- And I know they all heard the same words “Do not be afraid”
- As they saw what was asked of them
- And saw their own ability
- Their obedience to God
- Brought another God event to pass
And God is not through with us yet
- We are just getting started
- Look at what He is doing in our midst
- Look at our vision
- The vision God has given us
- I have to admit it is too big for us
- So we must trust God to work through us
- We need to hear the “Do not be afraid”
- And continue to move toward the goal He has set before us
- Many here believe God wants to use this church
- To reach many for Him
- We see this church needing new facilities
- And new teachers, new workers
- God is in the process of developing us to meet those needs
- He is raising up workers and giving us tasks to train us to hear Him
- And allow Him to do His work through us
- Each one of you has a part
- And are an important part of that process
- He put us all here for a purpose
- Not for us alone
- He wants to build this body here in love and unity of purpose
- So He can do more God events here
- So He can change the course of history
- At least the history of those we touch
- In His name and for His sake
As we celebrate Christmas
- Let us go to Him
- Whose birth we celebrate
- And say “Lord, use me, use this church for Your work”
- Listen to Him as He replies, “Do not be afraid. I am going to take you where you cannot go without Me”
- Celebrate that God wants to enter your life and do extraordinary things through you
- He wants to do God events with you.
Prayer
Invitation
