Sojourning Under the Sun: Our Sabbath Jesus (Matthew 1)

The name Jesus is a name that we have heard before in this series because it is the same name as Joshua.  Joshua was a great military leader and reformer in the midst of Israel.  He called Israel to look to their God, to serve their God exclusively, and to set the tone for their houses to serve the Lord.  Israel fell pretty far from this as a new people.  Their priests lost sight of their God, and the people lost sight of the priest’s significance.  The priest was supposed to bring them to God rather than being some sort of good luck charms to manipulate the true God.  So, is the Lord able to redeem such a people?  If the Lord can redeem such a people then who has to be the redeemer?

The Christmas Servant (Isaiah 50:4-51:16)

The servant is the one who lives out the promises of the Lord.  This is great, it is encouraging, and it is very significant for his mission.  However, why would we appeal to this text for Christmas rather than Isaiah 9 or Isaiah 7 if we were going to use a passage from Isaiah?  What does this servant teach us about the significance of Christmas?

An Unarmed Warrior (Isaiah 49:1-13)

The promised warrior is supposed to secure a life that never ends.  You would expect such a warrior to be well armed, and be dressed for battle in the most intimidating way.  This is what we want as humans to know that this warrior is an intimidating being.  The problem with this is it is not the picture that Isaiah casts for the redeeming warrior.  What kind of warrior will deliver and why is this the warrior that we need?

A Weak Warrior (Isaiah 42:1-9)

We can talk about the Advent of Christ, but do we really understand the nature of his mission?  Do we really understand the state of His people?  We can claim that this is only a problem for Israel, but are they the only broken people in the Lord’s Word?  How does this old prophet relate to us today?

The Star of Christmas (Numbers 24:10-25)

Balak has been paying Balaam to manipulate and to change the promises of the Lord.  They have offered the Lord the highest and greatest offerings to win the favor of God.  The Lord has responded to the sacrifices, but not in the way that Balak had hoped.  The Lord has continued to restate His promises to this man.  Now, in this fourth oracle something that changed.  There are no sacrifices, but the Lord reminds these men, and us today that his battle plan is fixed.  What is the significance of this oracle?  What does this tell us about the Christmas story?

Christmas is Coming! (Numbers 23:25-24:11)

Balak is beginning to realize that he cannot control the Lord.  However, he still tries by bringing Balaam to the Lord’s enemy territory.  The diviner follows Balak’s lead by going to the enemy territory.  Is Balaam able to curse the people of God even as they are camping in the wildness?  Is Baal able to overpower our God?  How does our God  make clear that the Lord will establish the true Christmas day?

Christmas’ Covenantal Confidence (Numbers 23:1-27)

The Lord has made a promise to his people that he will bring them to glory.  His people have messed up really bad, and so does the Lord really desire to establish His people?  How do we know that the Lord can and will do this?  How strong is the Lord? Is there a god, a prophet, or another power that can derail the Lord’s promises?  Balaam and Balak think they can, but can they?

Christmas’ Weak Diviner (Numbers 22:22-35)

The Lord has made a promise to his people that he will bring them to glory.  Is the Lord really able to do this?  How do we know that the Lord can and will do this?  How strong is the Lord? Is there a god, a prophet, or another power that can derail the Lord’s promises?  Balaam and Balak think they can, but can they?

A Christmas Transition (Genesis 49:8-12)

The season of Christmas concludes with New Years.  New Year’s Day is a day of transition of moving from an old year to a new year.  It is our tradition to make resolutions and hope that the new year is better and more blessed than last year.  This is not necessarily a bad thing provided that we are doing this in the confidence of the grace of God, but what should be the ultimate hope for the new year?  What should be our focus as we move from this year to the next year?  What can Jacob teach us about a struggled life in the Lord as he prepares for the ultimate transition from this age to being with our Lord?

Christ’s Sorrow and Saving (Luke 2:25-35)

It is easy to reduce Christmas down to a time of sentimental feelings or desires.  There are some people who might see Christmas only as joy, while there are others who might only dwell on the loss of loved ones.  There is no doubt that we may even vacillate between these two feelings.  It is also true that both of these views have a basis.  So, how do we keep these feelings or desires in a proper perspective?  How can our God understand both of these views of Christmas?  How does the strange man Simeon even help us to keep our Christmas struggle in perspective or reorient our priorities?

The Christmas Wrestler (Genesis 32:22-32)

We can understand that Jacob is afraid to meet his brother Esau because Esau vowed to kill Jacob which is why Jacob left his home.  So, we can understand Jacob’s angst as he is about to meet his brother.  So, why would God take the time to wrestle with this poor guy rather than simply defeating Esau?  What does this wrestling teach Jacob?  What does this wrestling teach us?  What does this wrestling declare about Christmas?

The Christmas Covenant (Genesis 15)

As protestants we champion the promise that we are justified by faith.  Justification by faith is a wonderful promise because we can be assured of enteringinto the presence of God by faith in Christ.  So, how did this blessing come to be?  Is this merely a New Testament promise?  What precedent do we see for such a promise?

Deceived then Relieved (Genesis 3:15)

Do we think about what it means when we say things like, “Jesus is the reason for the season?”  There is no doubt that Christ’s entrance into history is significant, but why is it significant?  What does it teach us about God being Sovereign and man not being as sovereign as man thinks?

Israel’s Christmas (Matthew 2:13-23)

So, Herod is trying to maintain his power and usurp the living God.  Herod is a wise ruler and has many years of experience.  He knows how to rule by his will to power.  Can he overrule the plan of the Lord?  Can the worldly ruler claim his power and see to it that the the Lord is not able to establish His rule and His kingdom? Is Herod then stronger than the Lord or does the Lord remind us why He is called the King of kings?

Christmas Commendation (Matthew 2:1-12)

So, there are travelers that come to see Jesus.  This is not something that should surprise us because He is the Son of God and the king of this creation.  It makes sense that people would come out to see Jesus.  However, we would expect that they would come out to see Jesus after He has done some teaching, or maybe after he has gained some sort of following.  We would not expect Jesus to be worshipped as a child who is 2 or a little under2.  So, why do strangers come from the east to worship this 2 year old child? 

Christ's Birth (Matthew 1:18-25)

Many times we think of the birth story of Jesus as being a nice story.  It is a nice story, but what is so nice about it?  Do we ever stop to consider what is so nice about the story of Jesus? What is so humbling to us to embrace a savior who is named Jesus?  What is significant about His name and why does Matthew call attention to the name Jesus?  Why does the angel insist that the name of this child is to be Jesus? 

Christmas Generations (Matthew 1:1-17)

When we summarize  our history we tend to avoid the embarrassing people in our family line.  We all have those relatives that we do not like to talk about because of what they have done or what they are currently doing.  So, when our Lord lays out the genealogy of Chris you would think that He is going to call to our attention the good people and ignore the embarrassing ones?  Well, if you look at the genealogy some of the most embarrassing skeletons in the closet are brought out front and center.  Why would our Lord do that?  Why would our Lord even give us a genealogy at all?