Getting Ready for Christmas
Matthew 1:1-17
November 25, 2007
Morning Service
Introduction
Here we are one month away from Christmas Day. The stores are already filled with people searching for gifts. The streets are filled with impatient drivers. The weekends will be filled with anxiety over doing everything that needs to be done before Christmas. Not what I would call a season of comfort and joy.
What do you do to get ready for Christmas? My family has already started with the preparations. We have prepared lists of gifts that we would like. We have already gone shopping, before Thanksgiving. We have cleaned the house and made room for the decorations. We have sorted out the decorations that we want to display and put them out. Before Christmas, shopping will need to be finished, gifts will need to be wrapped, food will need to be bought and prepared. There are number of things that we all do to get ourselves ready for Christmas. Many of them rarely involve the meaning of Christmas in them.
Yet all of these things are often done to get ready for Christmas. We often spend a great deal of time and money getting ready for
As I was reflecting on the nature of Christmas, I thought about something that became the driving force of this message: What did God do to get ready for Christmas? Have you ever thought about all of the things that God had to do to get ready for that first Christmas?
God worked to make the world ready for the arrival of Jesus.
• God had to defy the very laws of nature
• God had to redefine His personal role with His people
• God had to fulfill ancient promises
• God had to move from being infinite to being finite
The most amazing thing about the whole Christmas story is not that God broke into history but that He broke into history through ordinary people. Everything that God does in this world He does through His people. God uses people to accomplish His work and plans. God works through human beings to do divine work.
This morning I want to look at the human preparations that god had to make to accomplish His divine plan for Christmas. If you have your Bibles open them to Matthew 1:1-17.
1 A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham: 2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3 Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, 4 Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5 Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife, 7 Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa, 8 Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram, Jehoram the father of Uzziah, 9 Uzziah the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 10 Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, Amon the father of Josiah, 11 and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon. 12 After the exile to Babylon: Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13 Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, Abiud the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, 14 Azor the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Akim, Akim the father of Eliud, 15 Eliud the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob, 16 and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. 17 Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Christ.
Key Question: What do all of the preparations God made for the first Christmas mean to us today?
Even when God seems silent He is still bringing His divine plan into completion
Look again at the first verse of Matthew: A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham. This would have been like a major headline in our newspapers today. The statement is amazing and we often read right over it without giving it much thought. Matthew is incredibly bold here making a number of important claims.
Jesus is the Christ
Matthew makes it clear that he is claiming that Jesus is the long awaited Messiah. Christ is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word Meshiac which means king or anointed one. Matthew says that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah and the anointed one of God.
Three offices in Israel were considered anointed:
1.) Prophets: The prophets were God’s special spokesmen. They were considered to have a direct connection with God. They were the link between God and His people. Prophets were seen as the connection with God’s word and will
2.) Priests: The priest oversaw the sacrificial system of Israel. They were given the charge over spiritual practice. The priest was the connection with God’s forgiveness
3.) Kings: The kings were meant to be the political representatives of God. The kings were anointed as the leader God had placed over the people. The king was the connection to God’s authority.
When Matthew says that Jesus is the Christ, he is saying that Jesus is more than just a king. Matthew is saying that Jesus is the awaited Messiah and the anointed one of God. Jesus fulfilled all three of these offices. He was prophet, priest and king.
Jesus is the son of David
Matthew is literally saying that Jesus is the descendant of David. Jesus was part of the family line of David. It is this fact that allows Jesus to be a king. He is of the bloodline of David
Jesus is the son of Abraham
Genealogies were used by the Hebrews to prove their place as one of God’s people. They were used as a symbol of social standing. Matthew starts his genealogy with Abraham because of his purpose. Matthew wanted to prove that Jesus was the Messiah. This process had to begin with Abraham, the father of Israel. No record would be complete without a connection to Abraham.
Jesus is the long promised Messiah, He is the savior of Israel and the hope of all the nations. Matthew understood that to communicate who Jesus is must begin with a bold statement to make it clear that Jesus is all of these things.
No matter who you are or how messed up your life is God can use you
These 17 verses span the lives of 46 people and almost 2,000 years of history. Matthew’s record shows a variety of people and personalities. There are various cultures and manners of conduct. All of these make the tapestry of God’s work even more amazing.
Notice that Matthew makes it clear that the family line of Jesus was anything but spotless. He includes the wicked kings along with the righteous ones. God used the dysfunction found in the line of David to accomplish the divine.
God is always faithful to His promises
Remember that history is the revelation of how God works to complete His divine plans. The key to all of this is in verse 16 where Matthew finishes his claim that Jesus is of the line of David and the Son of God. Look again at what Matthew says in that verse: And Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. Matthew makes two things vitally clear here, Jesus is the Christ. He is the promised messiah that Israel had been waiting for. Jesus is the promised son of David. He is the king over all Israel.
Matthew also makes it clear that Jesus is the son of Mary, wife of Joseph. Why is this so important? Jesus was born to Mary and Joseph was not His fleshly father. Joseph accepted Jesus as his son but was not the father. If Jesus was born through human conception, He cannot be God.
Conclusion
What do you need to do to get ready for Christmas?
