Thoughts Of Some Guy In Ohio
Thoughts Of Some Guy In Ohio
Redeeming Lineages and Finding Hope
What can a football rivalry teach us about the profound story of the Nativity? We kick off with a light-hearted tale of Eagles and Steelers fans before transitioning to the awe-inspiring journey of the Magi, who defied King Herod to honor the birth of Jesus. Come along as we explore the timeless significance of this divine event, painting a vivid backdrop for the Magi's wisdom and determination, and revealing the deeper meaning of Jesus' birth that transcends history.
Our exploration doesn't stop there. We examine the broken lineage of Jesus to find redemption and hope in those deemed imperfect, like Rahab, Ruth, and David. Their stories remind us that God's plan is inclusive, weaving even the flawed into His grand tapestry. By reflecting on these narratives, we emphasize the Nativity's connection to the Easter story, illustrating how both together shine a light on God's enduring promise of salvation and purpose. Join us for a heartfelt reflection that underscores the hope and light the Nativity brings to our lives, urging us to see ourselves as valued participants in God's divine mission.
By the way, just I want to clarify for those of you who have never been here before. Our worship team normally doesn't wear Steelers jerseys. But I'm an Eagles fan and the Eagles are playing the Steelers this afternoon. So for those of you who are Steelers fans, I pray the God of comfort finds you this afternoon after your loss. That God of comfort find you this afternoon after your loss. That God will be with you.
Speaker 1:But I didn't know they were doing the jerseys and I was going to wear mine, but I decided to be an adult and not. But I appreciate it, I appreciate the worship team and just the love and kind of the back and forth, but either way, that's not a typical thing. But yes, I'm an Eagles fan, so if you want to exit, you can exit. Now I realize where I am, but it's all right Because I'm a Pirates and a Penguins fan. So I feel like I kind of have a little bit of saving grace. You know, as we've been talking about the last couple weeks, the story of the Nativity is one of my favorite ones. Over to saving grace, you know, as we've been talking about the last couple weeks, that the story of nativity is one of my, my favorite ones? Um, because it's a story that is really for everyone and I know, like you know, scriptures, obviously, what's happening in lives of mary and joseph and that night and their family and it's you know, it's very specific. The coming of of the savior is very specific to the nation of Israel. But this is a story that would go on and it would continue to be told for centuries. I mean, even now we're talking about it some 2,000 years later. Because the weight of that night was incredible, of that night was incredible because in that night, on that night, god decided to step into the world as His Son. Israel had been waiting for a Savior. The journey to this moment had taken thousands of years, so many battles fought, so many won. So many battles fought, so many won, so many lost. But they had finally received what God had promised them that at just the right time and in just the right moment in history, the Son of God stepped into the world, a light would enter into humanity and not only start a journey to his death. But the moment that Jesus was born was the moment Satan realized that he didn't stand a chance. God had sent his son ultimately to die, but he started out in the most humble of beginnings. So today we're actually going to jump ahead a little bit and we're going to look a little further ahead.
Speaker 1:Cody's right, the wise men didn't show up till roughly about two years later. And we can tell this from a couple things, and one of them is Herod's request to look for all little boys between two and younger. Herod was kind of the one that heard they were traveling to see him and he basically said listen, you're going to go find this kid and I want you to tell me where he is. And his motive was he was afraid that this little baby, this toddler imagine thinking a two-year-old is going to overthrow your life and then you have kids. I could see why that would work. So Herod was afraid. And the plan was actually Herod was actually looking for all the children to and under with the intention of killing them. That was his purpose. And so the wise men, they kind of interact with the king and they start on this journey and they follow the star, and the star they're following eventually leads them to Jesus. Now I don't know about you, but I would like to think that they knew all the prophecies. They knew what they were walking into. As they stepped in to the house or they stepped into wherever they were and they saw this little two-year-old boy who was the son of God. I can imagine there was this excitement they felt to see him in the flesh, being a two-year-old. He was probably walking, he was probably babbling a little bit. I assume he was in a diaper at the time. He was probably falling over. He probably looked clumsy, probably hung tight or hugged his mom tight because he was scared of these men who were really well-dressed with gifts. But that night they would come to realize a promise that had been made to them and a promise that had been made to the world the Savior had come.
Speaker 1:So Matthew 2, verses 1 through 5, says after Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked where is the one who's been born King of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him. When King Herod heard this, he was disturbed and all Jerusalem with him. When they had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem, in Judea. They replied, For this is what the prophet has written. Continuing on into verse 6, it says but you, bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah, for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people, israel. Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me so that I too may go and worship him. After they had heard the king, they went on their way and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed On coming to the house. They saw the child with his mother Mary and they bowed down and worshiped him. And they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
Speaker 1:I remember I was telling this story one time and we were reading through the beginning of this adventure, this narrative, with Everett, and we're trying to explain to him who the Magi are and we said they brought him gold, frankincense and myrrh and he kind of thought for a second and he said, well, I like gold, he's like, but I don't know what those other things are. And we explained to them, we talked about it and I've always thought it's interesting because from a child perspective you're like why would a two-year-old need frankincense and myrrh? But they were honoring him, they were talking about or foreshadowing his future. But what matters is these magi. They saw the star and they followed it and that night they stepped into the house of the one who would eventually save them. You know, when I think about how incredible that story is to have waited hundreds of years, to have heard the prophecies from generation to generation, to eventually step into the house of the one who would save you it's overwhelming.
Speaker 1:That's the kind of experience that I pray people have when they find themselves in our church, not because of us, not because we do something special or grand, but because in this place they find the One who can save them, the One who is willing to give His life as a sacrifice. Because that's what you and I are supposed to do. We are supposed to point people to Jesus. We are the star that they should follow. Not for my recognition, not for anything other than my goal in life. Our goal as a church is to help you understand that we have something you need and it's found in the one who was born in the flesh as a baby, the one whose family lineage was not pretty.
Speaker 1:You know, around this time of year I always think it's interesting, because holidays are tough for some people, because some people and I don't know your story, but some people might be the don't know your story, but some people might be the black sheep of your family. And if you're not the black sheep, maybe you have family members who are, and they're the family members that when they come around, you really kind of hope they don't stay long. Maybe you feel that way. Maybe you feel like you're the person who doesn't belong. Maybe you're the person who stepped in the church this morning and you feel like you don't belong here because there's nothing here for you. But here's the beauty of the story of Jesus is his family lineage gets him to a point. The people that God used him to bring about his birth, which ultimately would bring about salvation for mankind it was all a bunch of broken people.
Speaker 1:We talk about Rahab. Rahab was a prostitute. So Joshua 2.1, it says so. They went in and they entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and they stayed there. We talk about Ruth. Ruth was a widow. It said Ruth the Moabite. Her name actually means the dead man's widow. That'd be kind of rough. Ruth 4.5 says at this time sorry, at this time a widow's only hope for security, uh, would be her son. So ruth 4, 5 says ruth the moabite, the dead man's widow that's how she's referred to in scripture a woman that really her only hope for security would be her son's ability to provide for her. But she didn't have any kids.
Speaker 1:Then you have David, a man who we know is a man after God's own heart, but a man who in 1 Chronicles 22.8, god says to him you were not to build a house for my name because you have shed much blood. He was the king of Israel and a good king, but he had killed a lot of people. Not only that, but he would go on and have an affair. He killed a man to have an affair and his son, solomon, was born to him. And Solomon was a pretty good king, but he still wasn't perfect. As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his hearts after other gods and his heart was not fully dedicated to the Lord. So in the lineage of Jesus, when you look at his lineage and we find this in Matthew there's a prostitute, a widowed woman, there's a king who sheds so much blood that God wouldn't allow him to build a temple for him, and then he has Solomon, who had so many wives that his wives turned him away from God.
Speaker 1:And I know that I've said this before. If I was trying to write this story to be believable, I probably wouldn't include so many bad references in it. I definitely would have not let anyone know that Rahab was a prostitute. But in the lineage of Jesus, if you trace back his family tree, the Solomon, the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab Boaz, the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth Obed, the father of Jesse and Jesse the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah's wife, uriah being the man that David had killed.
Speaker 1:But if you trace back the lineage of Jesus, all of these broken people, all of these imperfect people, were used in the story. They were part of the lineage, the narrative that eventually led to the birth of the Savior of the world. I don't know about you, but my family tree looks pretty clean compared to Jesus' A bunch of broken people, a bunch of imperfect people, a bunch of imperfect people, and yet God still used them to do something profound. They would be the reason that Jesus would eventually come into the world. They would not only be the reason, but they would be part of the prophetic nature the prophecies of Jesus that talks about him coming from the house of David, a perfect savior born to a bunch of imperfect people, born to a bunch of imperfect people. Can you fathom that? The perfect son of God, born to an imperfect mom and an imperfect dad, who had imperfect brothers, imperfect cousins, aunts His entire family lineage was full of people that you and I would probably say shouldn't be there, but God never cared about that.
Speaker 1:God's plan has always been redemption. He had to use imperfect people. So the reason I and I go back to this is the reason I love this narrative, the birth of Jesus, and the reason I love the Bible in general is God is constantly using imperfect people to do extraordinary things, even if they don't feel qualified, even if they don't feel like they're the ones he should be using. Moses struggled with this. He didn't even want to speak for himself. David was a man who did extraordinary things, but he also did a lot of stupid things. But throughout the entirety of the Old Testament into the New, you can see God's redeeming nature. The sacrificial system I think I talked about this last week of the Old Testament would eventually find itself useless Because man is unable to save themselves, no matter how hard they try. A perfect sacrifice had to be made and the night that Jesus was born the ball started rolling. The story of redemption was found not only that night, but even the men and women of the lineage of Jesus.
Speaker 1:James 2.25 says this about Rahab. It said Rahab was the prostitute, uh, was considered righteous. The prostitute was considered righteous for what she did, when she gave lodging to the spies. I don't think anywhere else in all of the world in one sentence will you ever find the terms prostitute and righteous, despite her situation. You're talking about Ruth. Despite her being despised as a nation, ruth said to her Israelite mother-in-law your people will be my people and your God my God. Ruth turned things around. God redeemed her. He would go on to use her. She would bring the kingdom. The kingdom of God would become her. He would go on to use her. She would bring the kingdom. The kingdom of God would become her kingdom. David, and all of his flaws, is still known as the greatest king that Israel ever had, and he wrote most of the Psalms you and I have today. Solomon would build the first temple and he was credited with two books in the Bible. These men and women who, by all standards, should have not been anything, they were used by God to do incredible things. Not only that, but they were part of the lineage of the Savior.
Speaker 1:You know, when I first became a Christian, I had a really hard time when I first accepted Jesus, because if there was anyone when I was 15 years old, if there was anyone that I was convinced that didn't deserve grace, it was me. I didn't understand how in the world this perfect, loving God could ever choose me to die for. I couldn't wrap my mind around it. But the first church that I went to, the first youth group that I went to, I was surrounded by these teenagers who brought me in and they loved me, for me, which was like the weirdest thing in the world and they showed me respect, listen. They had no idea who I was. They had no idea the things that I had done. They had no idea the thoughts that I was wrestling with. But they loved me. A couple years later in my life, as I grew in my faith, god gave me a group of friends that eventually I'd have a band with, and this group of guys became like some of my they still are my best friends and then we've kind of separated. Life's gone kind of crazy. But I remember my friend Jed. Jed was a really good friend of mine. He plays guitar for Crossroads in Wintersville at the time.
Speaker 1:And I remember there was this one time that I was really struggling with kind of what my, my future was. Uh, I had failed out of college, uh, the first time, and I was back home and I was working a job that that I really hated. It was seriously I could have. I would have done anything else if I could have found something. And I remember that I was struggling. I had just lost this relationship that I was convinced was going to be like a long-term thing. And then I was trying to figure out what to do.
Speaker 1:And I remember and this is one of the moments that sticks out in my head because he didn't have to do what he did, but in this moment God was showing me through him that God has this incredible ability to meet us where we are. And so I remember I was at the church and I was praying and I was down at the altar. You know Crossroads had an altar and I was praying and you know the worship team was up there. So Jed was up there like playing guitar. He's like lead guitar, it's not like he's like the background guy, he's like front and center right. And I remember I was praying and all of a sudden I heard the guitar stop and the next thing I know is Jed standing on my side, next to me, praying with me. Like in this moment he realized that praying with me was more important than playing on the stage. And then, when I found myself here after I was Cincinnati for two years, I found myself with Jonathan, who some of you met for the first time a couple weeks ago, a man that had become a great mentor of mine, a man who I got the ability to watch him raise his kids and just seeing how much he loved me and he cared about me, and even to today, we still talk regularly.
Speaker 1:I've constantly been reminded of how God uses imperfect people, and it's weird, because the more I grew in my faith, the more that I wrestled with how could God love me? The more that he sent these people into my life. All I could think of is if these imperfect people could love me the way they do, then why would I ever doubt that a perfect God could too? The birth of Jesus is a constant reminder that, even though we didn't deserve it, christ came for us. He came with a mission and a plan to save us, because nothing else was going to accomplish it. That star wasn't just what they followed to find Him. That star was a reminder that God had finally shown up in a way that was going to change everything. So I can imagine when they stepped into the house of that two-year-old boy, it hit him like a ton of bricks. I can imagine when they stepped into the house of that two-year-old boy, it hit them like a ton of bricks. My Savior has come. This changes everything. The promise that God has given us is coming to fruition. The promise that God has given us is coming to fruition.
Speaker 1:The birth of Jesus is not just a story about a baby being born in a manger. It's not just a story about one long dark night. It's not a story about teenage parents trying to figure out how to raise a kid. It's not a story about shepherds. It's not a story about angels All of those are there. The story of Jesus is the reminder that redemption has come, that God has stuck true to His promise, that whoever comes to Him can find salvation.
Speaker 1:The story of the nativity is a reminder that imperfect people are used by God all the time. It's a reminder that everything God set out to do, he would accomplish. The story of the nativity would set the stage for the story of the cross. When Easter comes every year, we remember the sacrifice and the death that he made, the torture and the abuse that he would go through. We celebrate that. But there is no Easter without Christmas, there's no death without birth.
Speaker 1:The story of nativity is a story that's for you and me. It's a reminder every single year that, even though we didn't deserve it, god saved us. That's what I hope people find when they step into churches this year. That's what I hope people find when they step into churches this year. It's not the show, it's not the worship. It's not a good preacher. It's the reminder that in the darkest of nights, there's still a star. When life feels like there is no hope, there's still a star. When life feels like there is no hope, there's still Jesus. It's a reminder that, even if you don't think you're worth it, god did. He knows you are, so much so that he allowed himself to be born as a baby, to step into this chaotic world that we live in. The story of the nativity is not just a story for them, it's a story for us. It's a story for us. It's a story for the world outside these walls. The light has come. Hope is here. No longer needs to fear God. I thank you.