Sunday, December 30, 2012

How Christmas Changed the World


How Christmas Changed the World
Matthew 1: 18 – 25.

Introduction
Christmas is an interesting holiday.  Christmas is a Christian holy day and the day we set aside to celebrate the birth of Jesus, the Son of God.  It is also a secular holiday…the banks are closed, the Post Office is closed, most businesses are closed and the schools take a two week break.  Christmas contains elements of both the sacred and the secular.
As a Christian holy day, Christmas brings special worship services for the four Sundays of Advent and Christmas Eve.  We set up manger scenes depicting the birth of Jesus and we read the biblical accounts of Jesus’ birth from the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke.  As a secular holiday, Christmas brings parades, lights, trees, Santa Claus and a general celebration of the winter season.
Christians rightfully get defensive when secular Christmas celebration encroaches into the sacred.  We say things like, “Keep Christ in Christmas,” and, “Christmas is a Christian holiday.”  Both of these sentiments are true and right.  Christians should observe Christmas as a sacred, Christian holy day and defend against secular encroachment.
 Of course, this is often easier said than done.  Christmas is complicated, because we observe Christmas on December 25.  Have you ever wondered why Christmas Day is on December 25?  There are two theories about how this came about.
The most popular theory is that the ancient world was already celebrating the winter solstice on December 25.  Since this was already a popular celebration, Christians joined in the celebration by adopting the same date for Christmas and the birth of Jesus.
This is a very intriguing theory, but it is still nothing more than a theory.  There is no historical evidence that it is true.  (And, how do we account for the fact that the winter solstice happens on December 21, not December 25.  That raises another question about how December 25 became a special day instead of December 21.)
It is historically true that the earliest Christians did not celebrate Christmas.  They did not even have a holy day to acknowledge the birth of Jesus.  Many of the earliest Christians avoided celebrating Jesus’ birth, because they thought it was too much like their pagan neighbors who celebrated the birthdays of their numerous gods.  Instead, the early Christians preferred to celebrate Easter—the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.
The New Testament Books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John all tell the story of the life and ministry of Jesus.  Interestingly, all four of these Gospels describe the crucifixion and resurrection.  However, only two Gospels (Matthew and Luke) describe the birth of Jesus.  All four Gospels also tell us exactly when the crucifixion and resurrection took place—it took place during the Jewish Passover, a specific date on the calendar.  But, neither Matthew nor Luke tells us when Jesus was born.
This has led to a great deal of speculation about when Jesus was born.  Some people find a clue in the Lukan story about shepherds watching their flocks by night.  This might indicate a time during the Spring of the year.  December might be too cold to sleep in the open air.  And, during the Spring, the flock would need around the clock attention as new lambs were being born.
The other theory about December 25 comes from an ancient Jewish belief about the great prophets.  Ancient Jews believed that all the great prophets died on the same day of their conception.  One suggested date for Jesus’ crucifixion is March 25 in the year 29.  If Jesus was conceived on March 25, then his birthday would be nine months later…December 25.[1]  This leads some historians to conclude that December 25 started out as a Christian holy day which was later adopted by the culture at large as a winter celebration instead of December 21.
The fact remains, we do not know when Jesus was born.  The New Testament tells us that Jesus was born but does not give us a date or even the season of the year.  I believe it is enough to say that Jesus was born, even if we don’t know when he was born.  Because the birth of Jesus changed the world…

Matthew 1: 18 – 25.
 18 This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, [fn3] because he will save his people from their sins.”
22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:23 “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” —which means, “God with us.”
24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.


We didn’t read all of Matthew chapter 1.  In some ways, it is a difficult chapter to read…Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers.  It is a genealogy.  But this is no ordinary genealogy…It is the genealogy of Jesus.  And, Matthew goes to great lengths to demonstrate for us that Jesus is the son of Abraham, the son of David, and the Son of God.
What we read in verses 18 – 25 doesn’t sound like a genealogy, so we might be tempted to say the genealogy is over.  But, it is not over.  Matthew introduced this section in verse 18 by telling us literally, “This is the genealogy of Jesus Christ…”  In other words, Matthew is helping us to answer the question, “How can a man who is a son of Abraham and a son of David also be the Son of God?”
There is a relatively simple answer to this question.  We can know that Jesus was the Son of God, because of the virgin birth.

Virgin Birth / Son of God
To say that Jesus is a son of Abraham is to say that Jesus can trace his ancestry all the way back to Abraham.  This is another way of saying that Jesus is a legitimate Jew.  He had a pure Jewish heritage.
To say that Jesus is a son of David is to say that Jesus can trace his ancestry to Abraham through the line of King David.  Therefore, as a descendant of David, Jesus comes from a royal family.  Jesus has a claim to be King of Israel.  This is Matthew’s way of showing us that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Jewish hope for a coming Messiah.  But, Jesus is more than a son of Abraham and a son of David. 
We can see this in the miraculous nature of his birth.  Jesus’ birth was announced to Joseph by an angel.  And, that is a good thing.  Joseph was a righteous man who followed the letter of the Law.  Joseph was engaged to Mary.  They could not simply end their relationship by “breaking up.”  If they wanted to end their relationship, they would have to go through the legal proceedings of a divorce.  But, they could not live together until after their wedding ceremony.  Therefore, when Joseph found out that Mary was pregnant, he knew he was not the father of the baby.  (It is a good thing the angel announced the birth of Jesus to Joseph.  Otherwise, Joseph would have divorced Mary.)
The virgin birth tells us something very important about Jesus.  It tells us that Jesus was not the son of Joseph.  Jesus was and is the Son of God.  As the Son of God, Jesus reveals the character and nature of God to us like nothing else can.
When we look at the life of Jesus, we can see what God is like.  Jesus knew the Bible and quoted from the Old Testament several times in his earthly life.  And, Jesus lived out the commandments from the Old Testament.
None of us will ever be able to keep all of the biblical commandments perfectly.  But Jesus did.  He lived a perfect and sinless life.  Jesus knew the Law.  Jesus kept the Law.  And, Jesus interpreted the Law perfectly for us in his teaching and in the way he lived.
When we look at Jesus we also see God’s will for our lives.  Jesus reveals God’s character as perfect and holy.  But, Jesus also demonstrates how we are supposed to live.  We are supposed to live in relationship with God and in relationship with others.  We are to tell others about God’s love and to demonstrate God’s love by serving others.

Savior
In verse 21, the angel gave Joseph a second instruction.  First, Joseph was supposed to take Mary as his wife.  Second, Joseph was to name the baby Jesus.
Jesus is the Greek form of the English name Joshua, or the Hebrew name Yeshua.  This is significant, because it translates as “The Lord Saves.”  This child would be the embodiment of salvation…not just any salvation…The Lord’s salvation.
Jesus had a miraculous birth.  But that was not where the miracles ended.
Jesus also had a miraculous life.  Jesus’ life was miraculous for at least two reasons.  First, Jesus performed miracles by healing the sick, feeding the hungry and even raising the dead.  Second, Jesus lived a perfect and sinless life.  This is nothing short of miraculous that Jesus could be tempted in every way (as we are tempted) yet never committed a sin.
Jesus’ miraculous life led to his miraculous death.  By outward appearances, it seems that Jesus was tried and convicted by the Jews then executed by the Romans.  But, no one took Jesus’ life from him.  Jesus willingly gave his life as the perfect and final sacrifice for our sins.  Jesus’ death on the cross was the fulfillment and completion of all the sacrifices described in the Old Testament.  But, that was not the only miraculous aspect of Jesus’ death.
Death was not the end for Jesus.  After three days in the grave, Jesus miraculously rose from the dead.  As a result, Jesus is our Savior.  He died as a sacrifice to save us from our sins, and he rose again to save us from death…to give us eternal life.
In the birth of Jesus, we discover that God loves us so much that he sent us a Savior.  God does not expect us to save ourselves.  God does not ask us to “clean up our acts” and become righteous.  God provided the way for us to be saved from sin and death.
The problem is that many people don’t think they need a Savior.  Some people don’t think they need a Savior, because they don’t think they have a problem.  Other people don’t think they need a Savior, because they think they can solve their own problems.  But, we do have a problem…and we cannot solve our problem.
Our problem is sin.  We try to live a good life, but even our best efforts miss the target.  We stray away from God’s will and find ourselves asking, “How did I get here?  I am not this person.”  We even intentionally rebel against what God has told us is right—thinking my way is better than God’s way.  In short, we have made a mess of our individual lives and the world we live in.
Without the miraculous birth, the miraculous life and the miraculous death of Jesus, we could never solve this sin problem.  This is why God sent a Savior.  We cannot solve our problem.  The only way to have forgiveness of sin and eternal life is to accept it as a gift.  Through faith in Jesus, the Savior, we receive forgiveness and eternal life.

Immanuel / God with Us
In verses 22 and 23, Matthew interprets the angel’s words to Joseph by showing us how it fulfills the ancient prophecy of Isaiah.  Again, Matthew wants to help us connect the birth of Jesus with the Jewish hope for a coming Messiah.
This is significant, because the birth of Jesus was no ordinary birth.  It was unusual for a child to be born to a virgin.  And, it is also unusual for a baby’s birth to be predicted hundreds of years before the actual birth.  This child was the fulfillment of biblical prophecy and the fulfillment of all of Israel’s hope.
In Matthew’s interpretation of Jesus’ birth, he tells us this child has two names.  His given name is Jesus, meaning “The Lord Saves.”  His symbolic name is Immanuel, meaning “God is with us.”
I say that Immanuel is a symbolic name for Jesus, because I do not know of any other place where Jesus is called Immanuel.  No one ever addressed Jesus as Immanuel.  They addressed him as Jesus, Teacher and Lord…But never Immanuel.
This symbolic name tells us something very important about God’s plan for our lives.  Yes, God sent his Son to be our Savior…to save us from sin and death.  But, God also sent his Son to be his presence in our lives.  God wants to save you from sin and death, AND God wants to be in relationship with you. 


Conclusion

God loved us so much that he sent Jesus to be with us…and nothing can change that.

This is an important part of the Christmas story.  God is now with us.  No one can run away from God.  And no human power can keep God out. 

As an individual, you cannot run away from the presence of God.

If you are the head of your family, you cannot keep God out of your family.

And, no nation can remove itself from God’s presence.  No legislative action, no judicial decree and no popular vote of the people can remove God from a nation.  There is no security force strong enough to prevent God from entering.

For wherever God’s people are, God is present with them.  Christmas changed everything…God is now with us.
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