CHRISTMAS WITH ISAIAH
[1]WELCOME: Good morning and Merry Christmas! I love getting to spend time with our Church family. I’m excited to be with you all today. If you’re new with us on campus or just now joining us online, my name is Nic Cook and I’m one of the pastors here at Cornerstone. We are in week three of our teaching…
SERIES: called B.C. A CHRISTMAS PREQUAL. The purpose of prequals is to tell the stories of the people and events that led up to the well-known stories that we love. Like the Hobbit makes us love the Lord of the Rings more. Solo or Rogue One make us love the Star Wars stories even more. Well Matthew points back to a number of stories as he’s telling his Christmas story that make it even more rich if we know about the people and events that led to the birth of Jesus. People like Abraham and David like we’ve talked about in the last two weeks. Well, this week as Matthew tells us about the birth of Jesus, he ties it back to another story. 700 years before Jesus was born, a man named…
• ISAIAH PROMISED THAT GOD HIMSELF WOULD BE WITH US: As we jump into our Christmas story this morning, if you’d like to turn to [2] [Matt. 1:18-25], that’s where we’ll be listening for what God wants to say to us today. And as you’re turning there in your bibles or digital devices, I want to ask you, [3]what do you fear most? That question makes me think of the Charlie Brown Christmas story where Charlie Brown goes to Lucy’s booth for help. He wants to experience happiness but is stuck. Lucy tries to help him identify the fear that is stealing his happiness. She mentions fear of: responsibility, cats, staircases, the ocean, crossing bridges. Finally, she asks if he has PANTOPHOBIA. Charlie Brown asks, what is that. She says, it’s the fear of everything. To which he screams “That’s it!” While we laugh at Charlie Brown, the truth is that there are a lot of things out there that we fear. If anything, I feel like fear has been the overarching feeling of our world for the last couple of years. The message of Charlie Browns Christmas special is that fear can steal our happiness. It can drain us of the things that give us a sense of hope and joy. As Matthew tells his Christmas story, he wants us to see that [4]Fear can keep us from living in a way that God intended us to live. It is God’s desire that we live in a place of trust and dependence on him. So, let’s pray and see what God has to say to us this Christmas. [READ MATT. 1:18-25] [5-9]
(TEACH) GOD’S PRESENCE IS THE ANSWER TO OUR FEARS
A YOUNG MAN AND WOMAN’S FEARS: The Christmas story starts with a young couple dealing with a lot of fear. After Matthew has told us the family tree of Jesus, he then directs us to that story of Jesus’ parents, Mary and Joseph. He starts very simply by telling us that Mary and Joseph were engaged. Jewish engagements were completely different than engagements today. Being engaged was every bit as official as being married. There was no sex before marriage. Yet Matthew tells us that Mary is pregnant. Needless to say, Mary and Joseph came face to face with fear. I can’t imagine the fear that Mary must have felt. First, fear that her life would look nothing like she had planned for it to look like. This was not part of her hopes and dreams. Secondly, if Joseph didn’t believe that God had miraculously created life in her, she feared he would divorce her. From that point on, she would probably never be able to marry because people would consider her to be unfaithful and immoral. And finally, the penalty for committing adultery was death by stoning. That is a lot of fear to deal with as a young girl and mother. Then there was the fear of Joseph. Fear that his own dreams for a marriage and family weren’t possible. Fear of how the town would look at him and his reputation. They’d say he wasn’t able to control himself and was a sinner. Or that he was raising an illegitimate child. THERE IS A LOT OF FEAR PRESENT IN THE CHRISTMAS STORY. Yet, the message given to both Mary and Joseph is [10]“fear not! The Lord is with you”. This is the part of the Christmas story that we all know. But Matthew says, you know what will make this story even richer? Let’s go back to…[11]
• ISAIAH’S MESSEGE ABOUT FEAR: Matthew quotes something that Isaiah had said 700 years before. When you go back to [Isaiah 7] we hear a story about dealing with fear. Isaiah is a man that God spoke to and then told him to tell what he had heard from God to his people. Remember last week we talked about how the Jewish Kingdom split after David’s son Solomon died. Well for the next 200 ish years those kingdoms didn’t get along. In fact, they would fight each other from time to time. At this particular time in Isaiah’s life, there had just been the death of a decent King named Uzziah who was a descendent of David and ruled in the southern kingdom of Judah. When Kings die, it’s usually a good time to try to seize power. So, the King of the northern Kingdom of Israel decided to create an alliance with the king of Syria and try to overthrow the new King named Ahaz and place their own puppet king in his place. Ahaz does two things in response to this news. First, he makes an alliance with the superpower of the day Assyria. The Assyrian empire was starting to gobble up smaller Kingdoms and was considered an enemy to Syria. The idea is the enemy of my enemy is my friend. The problem is are they still your friend after you no longer have a common enemy. When the bully has taken care of your enemy, what’s to stop them from bullying you. Secondly, Ahaz goes out to inspect his water sources to see how well they can handle someone surrounding them. Will they still have enough water to survive. It’s into this situation that God sends Isaiah to deliver a message to the King. His message is this. [12][Is. 7:3-4] Notice the language that God says to the King? “Be careful, be quiet, do not fear, do not let your heart become faint.” God says when you look at the fiery fury of Israel and Syria, it scares you to death. But when I look at their power, they’re like smoldering firewood. They’re all smoke and no flame. Then God says, do you trust me? I know you don’t, so go ahead and ask me to prove it to you. He says[13-14] [Is. 7:13-16] God says, I know you’re afraid, and I know you don’t trust me. But I’m still going to show you how powerful I am. So, he says: DON’T BE AFRAID, here are three things that are going to happen. [15]
o (1) A YOUNG WOMAN AT THE RIGHT AGE TO BE MARRIED WILL BECOME PREGNANT (2) SHE WILL BEAR A SON CALLED “GOD WITH US”. (3) YOUR ENEMIES WILL BE DEFEATED. Last week I said that when you look at [16]biblical prophecy, there is often a “near” fulfillment of that promise and a “far” fulfillment of it as well. That even though God spoke these promises through people, they themselves were not fully aware of how they would be brought about in the near or far future. The truth is that we don’t really know what the “near” fulfillment of this prophecy looked like during the time of Ahaz. Who was this woman? Who was this special child? There are scholars who have made educated guesses, but we’re simply not told. What we do know is that the promise tells us that before the child is old enough to know the difference between right and wrong, the kingdoms of Syria and Israel will be defeated and will no longer be a threat. We know that Isaiah has a second child mentioned in chapter 8 and within 2 years of his birth, the Assyrian army has conquered Syria and the northern kingdom of Israel. That in and of itself would have been enough of a sign to say, don’t be afraid, God is with you and for you. Don’t turn to other nations or other God’s. God is trying to reassure both Ahaz and the people of Judah, that not matter how big their enemies are or how overwhelming the fear they may be facing, he is capable of dealing with it if we trust him. [17]HIS PRESENCE IS THE ANSWER TO OUR FEARS!
o So, Matthew is tying this story to his Christmas story and saying, that promise through Isaiah, as amazing as God’s promise was, we have an even better fulfillment of that promise through Jesus. As miraculous as it seemed for God to take care of his people before, what he did at Christmas is overwhelmingly more powerful. [18]That when the time was right, God chose a young woman at the right age to be married to become miraculously pregnant through the Holy Spirit. This child wasn’t simply given the name “god with us” but was actually God…with us! God himself in the flesh. And he came to defeat our enemies and bring us peace in the middle of our fears! This morning, I want to leave you with a PROMISE AND AN INVITATION[19]
(JC) GOD IS WITH US, TAKE YOUR FEARS TO HIM (JC)
THE PROMISE IS THAT “GOD IS WITH US”: I can only imagine what it would have been like to hold the baby Jesus. To look into his eyes and ponder the mystery of looking at the God who created you, knows you, and has plans for you, and has gone to unbelievable lengths to be part of your life and to be present with you. I don’t think Joseph and Mary’s fears disappeared, but I think they changed. They probably didn’t seem as significant as they did before they met him. I think if anything, it put their fears in perspective. Shattered plans and dreams and the hardships they were going through probably looked a little smaller.
• [20]GOD WITH US MEANS HE CARES: One of the most beautiful things to me about the incarnation, of God in flesh, becoming one of us is that we don’t have to wonder if he cares. He could have simply created this whole world and sat back and watched as we broke it and set it on fire. But he loved us so much that he personally stepped into the mess with us. The fact that God is with us should give us comfort knowing that he cares. But it should also give us comfort because…
• [21]GOD WITH US MEANS HE UNDERSTANDS: One of my mentors who I’ve never met but deeply love, is C.S. Lewis. He said “friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: What! You too? I thought I was the only one!” There is something powerful that happens when there is someone else who actually understands what we’re going through, because they themselves have gone through it. We do not pray to a God who can’t understand our confusion, our pain, or our suffering. We have a God who knows what it’s like to grow up poor, to be marginalized, to be misunderstood, to be betrayed, to be abused, to experience sadness, suffering, trauma, anger, despair, and loneliness. So, when we come to Jesus we come to someone who says “me too!” I know exactly how you feel. [Z]UNDERSCORE
o [22]GOD WITH US MEANS OUR ENEMIES CAN’T WIN: For Ahaz, the promise was you don’t have to fear for your life, God is with you. His enemies weren’t simply nations and armies, but death itself. Ahaz had another enemy as well hiding in his heart, sin. His heart didn’t believe that God would care for him. He went looking for other solutions. He looked to other gods, he looked to other people. We share the same enemies of sin and death. One of the hardest thing about Christmas is when people the people you love are dead and gone and not around during this season. But because of the death and resurrection of Jesus, we don’t have to fear death any longer. Jesus defeated the grave. For those that love Jesus and have surrendered their lives to him, death is not the end for us. If our loved ones surrendered their lives to Jesus, we’ll see them again too! Our enemy of sin has also been defeated. Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit lived a perfect life of trust in God in spite of fear. At baptism we’re promised that the Holy Spirit will come to live in us as well, the ultimate GOD WITH US EXPERIENCE. NOT GOD NEAR US, BUT GOD IN US! When we actively seek to listen and obey the Spirit within us, we will not go looking for fake gods or people to provide our safety, security, happiness, or identity. God with us means HE CARES, HE UNDERSTANDS, AND HE’S DEFEATED OUR ENEMIES, SO WE ARE CALLED TO…[23]
(MEDITATION) GOD IS WITH US, TAKE YOUR FEARS TO HIM
TAKE OUR FEARS TO JESUS: Over the last couple of weeks, I keep coming back to the story of Jesus in the boat with his disciples. It seems like God knew we would need a picture of what it looks like to live without fear and how to come to him with our fears. [24]So, if it’s okay, instead of going to discussion groups, I’d like to end with a meditation together on it. To help you enter into discussion with Jesus himself through the Holy Spirit living inside of you. If you’ll close your eyes and place yourself in the story. You’ve just finished a couple long days of following Jesus as he's healed people, fed people, and taught them. He says, let’s get in a boat and cross over to the other side. So, you and the other disciples get into the boat and begin the trip. As you look out over the sea of galilee you notice that the clouds are building quickly above the western ridge of the mountains. Within a short period of time, the temperature drops, the rain starts and gets worse and worse. You’ve never seen a storm like this in your entire life. It’s so bad that the waves are coming over the side of the boat and it’s beginning to fill with water. You’re starting to fear for your life. When all of the sudden you look back to see how Jesus is dealing with the storm. You see him and he’s…sound asleep. At perfect peace in the storm as he would be at home in a bed.
• As you think about the storm or circumstances you may be feeling this Christmas, how does it make you feel when you see that Jesus is sleeping?
• You reach over to wake him up. As Jesus looks at you and then looks at the storm and your circumstances, what is the expression on his face?
• What do you want to say to him? Do you want to say what the disciples say, “Teacher do you even care that we’re perishing?” Or do you want o say something else?
• What does Jesus say or do in response?
• Now Jesus stands up and speaks to the storm and tells them to be quiet and be still and immediately the rain, waves, wind, and sea obey. What does it feel like to know Jesus is with you? How does Jesus feel about you?
Father, Your word tells us that we have been given your Holy Spirit. God with us. God in us. Your Spirit is able to comfort us and drive out fear. He is able to give us control over our fears. He is able to help us love in the face of difficulty. I pray that Spirit you will deliver your people from fear today.
Jesus, friend, brother, savior, and master. We are grateful for the promise that you will never leave us or forsake us. Thank you that even when the world around us causes us to have worry and fear, that we can trust you. You are not surprised by anything we’re experiencing. You will use it as part of your plan. We love you and ask you to help us seek your face in all circumstances. It’s in your powerful name we pray!
