CHRISTMAS WITH MICAH
[1]WELCOME: Good Morning Church and Merry Christmas! If you are new with us this morning either on campus or online, my name is Nic Cook and I’m one of the pastors here at Cornerstone. We’re continuing our teaching…
SERIES: called BC: Before Christmas, a Christmas Prequal. We’re walking through a disciple named Matthews telling of the Christmas story. Matthew loves to point back to major stories that happened long before angels, Bethlehem, and baby Jesus. As we’ve seen, he’s pointed to Abraham, David, Isaiah, and today a man named Micah. As we dive in, I want to talk about making Christmas plans.
• PLANS FOR CHRISTMAS: When I think about planning for Christmas, I think about another famous set of stories. The beloved Christmas classic of [2]National Lampoons Christmas came out in 1989. Now technically national Lampoons Christmas is a sequel to the movie National Lampoons Vacation from 1983. However, if you saw the Christmas movie first, then going back and watching the vacation movie felt like watching a prequal. If you watch the prequal, then the sequel makes much more sense. And one of the main themes of these stories is that [3]NO MATTER HOW WELL CLARK PLANS THINGS OUT, THINGS ALWAYS END IN DISASTER. The perfect tree ends up blowing up. The perfect meal together is nasty and not the Norman Rockwell picture he hoped for. The perfect gift of a swimming pool to his family ends up not being possible because his Christmas bonus check doesn’t come and gets a jelly of the month club instead. I think that at Christmas, we too can be disillusioned. Maybe this year didn’t turn out like you planned. Maybe this world looks darker and like it’s blowing up around us. Maybe you’re worried about 2022 already. We make plans that don’t work out, we make more plans, that don’t work out, and then in anger, we’re tempted to blow our top, or in despair sit and stare helplessly. The beautiful promise of the Christmas story is that even when it looks like everything is blowing up around us and our plans aren’t working out there is a God whose plans never fail and include us…
(TEACH) PLANNING AND PROTECTING OUR KINGDOM
[4][PRAY/READ/MATT. 2:1-12][5-10] Over the last two weeks we talked about how the Christmas story keeps mentioning the word “Messiah” which was the term the Jewish people used to talk about a promised King that would come from David’s family and would build a kingdom that ruled and reigned forever. We talked about how this was dangerous because it was being announced in the middle of the Roman Empire who already had a king named Caesar Augustus. Well, in the passage we just read, we’re introduced to someone named Herod the King. I think this is Matthew both acknowledging that Herod thinks of himself as king, and also taking a jab at him. Herod is pretty typical of the mindset, yea, there’s a king named Caesar, but I’m king of this patch of dirt. Here’s the problem with calling yourself king. When someone else comes along and claims to be king, it’s a threat. As you can imagine, a caravan of wealthy scholars from the area of Babylon coming into your kingdom and asking where they can find the new king of the Jews would be a problem. King of the Jews? No! I’m King of the Jews. (side note, I love that these people are the least likely people to come to worship Jesus, Babylonians, pagans, outsiders, Gentiles, probably worshippers of false Gods, come looking for Jesus. God loves and invites everyone to come into his family through Jesus.) So, when Herod hears this, it says that he is “deeply disturbed.” That word in the Greek is also translated in other places as terrified. Here is a threat to my plans for my life and my kingdom. I hadn’t thought about it this way until this week, that…[11]
• HEROD IS HIDING IN OUR HEARTS: None of us want to think of ourselves this way, we want to have a heart like the wise men, pursuing Jesus, or we want to have hearts like Mary and Joseph having faith and trusting Jesus. And we can be, but we can also have Herod hiding in our hearts. We have dreams, plans, and a vision for our lives. Then along comes something that looks like it’s going to mess them up. My Kingdom. I’m King. No one else gets to be king but me. Or the Christian version of this is, God this is my plan, please make it happen. I’m king, now please fulfill my wishes. Then we’re angry or sad when God doesn’t jump through our hoops. Underneath our fears and angers is the desire to be king and to make sure our kingdom comes here on earth regardless of how heaven feels about it. My question is, is there something in your life that if Jesus walked in and said, let me be king of that area, let me be in control and change that, would you be angry with him? So, Herod starts trying to figure out how to protect his kingdom. He wants to know where this new “king” is so he can have him killed. And he’s told, Micah the prophet promised that…[12]
GOD’S PLAN WAS FOR A KING TO COME FROM BETHLEHEM: Let’s look at this promise that God made through Micah 700 years before the birth of Jesus. It’s in [13-16][Mic. 5:1-6] So what is going on during the time of Micah that helps us understand the difference between our plans and Gods? What started out 200 years before Micah as a powerful peaceful kingdom for the Jewish people under David and Solomon has shattered and splintered into two separate kingdoms. The kingdom of Israel in the north and the kingdom of Judah in the south where the Temple was. Both the prophets Micah and Isaiah that we talked about last week lived and preached around the same time. There are three major things are happening around this time. First, you have people making…[17]
• PLANS BASED ON FEAR: The first is that they live in the fear of their kingdoms being conquered and collapsing. The kings of Israel and Judah are trying to figure out how to either stay independent, or who to turn to for help. Should I fight on my own? Should I begin an alliance with Syria, or Egypt, or Assyria? The biggest looming danger is that is seems like Assyria is going to sweep over and conquer everyone and everything. Instead of looking to God for wisdom and trusting his plan, they’re busy trusting their own wisdom and making their own plans because they’re afraid God won’t come through. We do this all the time. God, I’m not sure you’re going to show up, so it’s my job to make it happen. Secondly you have people making… [18]
• PLANS BASED ON PERSONAL HAPPINESS: A persistent problem addressed by every prophet was the worship of false Gods, either as a replacement for the one true God, or in addition to him. They’d worship Baal, Asherah, Molech and others. Now again, this sounds foreign to us but here’s how we’re exactly like they are. If you want to have a baby, worship Asherah. Bring the right sacrifices and you’ll get what you want. If you want to have good crops so you can pay your bills or sell a lot of produce and be successful, worship Baal. Do the right rituals, say the right prayers, and you’ll be healthy, wealthy and have a good retirement account. Been worshipping Yahweh and he’s not giving you what you want? Ditch him and worship another God. Not sure God will give you want you hope for, worship another God just in case. I wonder how much of our prayer life is about knowing and loving God or asking him to give us something or complaining that he didn’t show up the way we wanted him to. Or maybe we say, yea God, I trust you, but I also sacrifice most of my time to my job because then I’ll be secure. Yea, God, you’re important till hunting season, or kids’ sports season, comes and then that’s what really makes me happy. And all of this leads to selfishness. Micah then tells them in the pursuit of happiness, the poor and the powerless were taken advantage of, abused, and forgotten. LOVING GOD AND LOVING OTHERS GOT LOST IN THE LOVE OF SELF AND THE PLANNING AND PROTECTING OF OUR OWN KINGDOMS. So…[19]
GOD’S MESSEGE IS ONE OF GLOOM! Get the army ready! Jerusalem is going to be surrounded in war. Its king will be defeated and humiliated. [5:1,6] Make your plans, but eventually your kingdoms will fail and collapse. You, your family, your friends, will be carried off as slaves and servants. Merry Christmas from Micah! Not going to see that one on a Christmas card. [20]Here’s a major principal about the prophets. They pronounce gloom and judgement, but their main purpose isn’t to tell the future, it’s to call people to a different future! You don’t have to experience all that pain, if you’re willing to let God be king, trust his plan. Repent. Turn back to God. Rethink your life and your plans. Surrender to God. Love him first. Things can be different. Don’t miss out on the good God can bring as part of his plans. Sadly, God’s people don’t trust him or his plans. And they are defeated, carried off, and enslaved. Even when they finally get to return, the King they hoped for had not come yet. They went from being ruled by Assyria, to Babylon, to Persia, to Greeks, to Egyptians, to finally the Romans. Had God been wrong? Had his plans failed? Gloom. [21]But the Glory was that… “from You, o Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from old, from ancient days.”[Mic. 5:2] FROM DAYS OF OLD, THIS HAS BEEN THE PLAN! And…[22]
GOD USED THE WORLDS KINGS & KINGDOMS IN HIS PLAN
What is so amazing to me is that God used the Persian empire to set his people free from Babylon and rebuild Jerusalem. He used the Greek empire to create a shared language for the world. He used the Roman empire to build roads and trade routes. Caesar didn’t care about Jesus or God’s plan, but it didn’t matter. When Caesar Augustus made a law intended to help him gather more taxes, a young couple would go to Bethlehem and give birth to a son that would fulfill a promise made 700 years earlier. And that baby would grow up, preach and teach that God’s plans were all coming true. The King of the world is here! Let him be King. Live the way he has shown you. Love the way he has shown you. And we killed him because we don’t like anyone but ourselves to be king. Yet Jesus rose again and proved that he was indeed God and was truly King of everyone and everything. And God used the stability provided by Rome and the roads built by Rome, and the language of the Greeks, to spread his message across the world. And this message traveled from the middle east, to England, then to the United States, all the way to Auburn, IL so that you could be part of this plan! Now, let me ask you a question…[23]CAN GOD’S PLANS BE TRUSTED???? Yes! DOES HE NEED OUR HELP MAKING PLANS FOR HIM??? NO! LAST QUESTION. DOES HE LOVE TO INCLUDE US IN THIS PLANS? YES! [24]
(NXT/INSP) YOU CAN’T MESS UP GOD’S PLANS, BUT YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS OUT ON THEM[Z]UNDERSCORE
There’s a phrase I’ve seen on social media that address this in their own way, but I think they’re incomplete. The first is that “When God put a calling on your life, He already factored in your stupidity.” This phrase speak to what the bible calls the Sovereignty of God. Which means God has incredible power over human history and will bring his plan to completion and it cannot be stopped. It also speaks to God’s Omniscience or complete wisdom and knowing of how things will turn out. God sees, knows, and is guiding the future. All of these things are meant to give us hope and comfort when the world seems scary or out of control. I believe that God is wonderfully able to make beautiful things out of the brokenness we create by our sinful choices. I know my God takes awful things and somehow uses them for his good purposes. But I also know, when we go our own way and make our own plans without including God, we can miss out of the good he originally planned for us. I don’t believe God planned for me to get a divorce. Part of that was my own fault and sinfulness. I believe he used it for my good and part of his plan, but I also think I experienced pain he never intended for me and may have missed out on some of the good he could have prepared for me. I believe that His heart beats with a desire see us live abundant, full, powerful, and fulfilling lives when we trust him and follow his wisdom and his leading and desires to keep us from harming ourselves. He doesn’t want to just weave our stupidity into his plan or to redeem our messes. He wants us to avoid those as much as possible and to live with freedom and joy by letting him be King and leading us. He wants to set our hearts free from being like Herod. [25]We are the Bethlehem’s of this world, small, unimpressive, and weak. God wants to place his king in us and then change the world around us. We say, King Jesus, I want your will, nothing more, nothing less, nothing else! HOW CAN MY PLANS BECOME YOUR PLANS? Let me give you 4 quick questions to ask when making plans for your life…[26]
1. IS THIS THE DECISION THAT KING JESUS WOULD MAKE IF HE WERE ME? Being a disciple of Jesus means asking, what would Jesus think about this situation? What would Jesus feel about this decision? What choice would Jesus make if he were living my life? Because the truth is, for followers of Jesus, he his living in us, and wants to help us live the kind of life he did. If you can’t see Jesus choosing to do what you are about to do, it’s a good indicator your plans have gone wrong somewhere. Secondly, when making plans you should ask…
2. IS THIS DECISION PRIMARILY OUT OF FEAR OR ABOUT MY OWN HAPPINESS? God gave us emotions. He uses them to help us in our decision making. Fear is not a bad emotion. However, making plans based on fear don’t end well. Abraham was afraid God’s plan wasn’t going to work out, and his plan brought heartache and division. Is this plan I’m making based on a fear that God can’t or won’t take care of me? A desire to be happy isn’t necessarily wrong either. But there is often a gap between what God knows will make us happy, and our selfish grasping. Is making sure that my kids are participating in everything really about giving them opportunities to grow, or about me feeling like a great parent who never disappoints them, or a perfect parent who’s kids are succeeding.
3. DOES THIS DECISION LEAD TO LOVING GOD AND OTHERS WELL? Is this just making me busy, or does it free me to focus on God? Is this something that benefits me mostly, or does this make it possible to care for others well? Finally…
4. DO I TRUST GOD EVEN IF THIS DECISION INCLUDES PAIN? One of the most powerful indicators of a good decision is not that we never experience pain. It’s that we experience peace knowing it’s what God wants even if it’s hard. Jesus himself chose the cross, knowing it would lead to suffering and death. However, the path to the cross was part of God’s plan to save every single one of us. Sometimes God’s plan includes pain. When we realize that certain relationships don’t honor God, it hurts to walk away. When we realize the way we spend our time is selfish, it hurts to quit the hobby or the team. When we realize that our God is our job, it hurts to not take the promotion or to work less hours and risk letting people down. When we’re used to being the one people depend on, it hurts to tell them no and let God be their Savior.
o But God’s way is always the better way, even if it’s the harder way! It always leads to freedom, to stronger relationships, to what Jesus called abundant life. [27]Will you be herod? Or will you be Bethlehem? The place where the King is and his plans are accomplished.
