Video Sermon  Highlights

Angle #1: Is Jesus Your King... Really?  ~Steve Anderson, Elder

Angle #2:  The Story of Jesus in a Word- Unexpected   ~Pastor Kevin (Transcript below)

FULL WRITTEN TRANSCRIPT

THE STORY: Chapter 22  ~Birth of a King!

INTRODUCTION-  Unexpected

The story of Jesus is the story of the unexpected.

The very first chapter of the very first book of the New Testament, Matthew, begins in an unexpected way, at least to our western ears.  It’s a long boring genealogy of names that really don’t mean much to us.   But the truth is, it is one of the most powerful testimonies of Jesus Christ in the entire Bible. 

In fact, if we knew the parade of lives in this geneology, we wouldn't need much else to understand Jesus.  We’d know who He was; what He was really all about.  It's not just the Bible; JESUS is the one seamless story-- upper and lower. 

UNEXPECTED STRATEGY

-But here’s the thing: The story of Jesus, is not what you would expect

In this genealogy, it starts with an ordinary man named Abram, who by the standards of his time was not very successful.  In a culture where success was gauged in terms of family, Abram didn't have a single child of his own.   His biological clock was a long way into winding down and there were no prospects on the horizon.  Abram was extraordinary in only one way; his trust in God.  So Abram (which basically means "old guy") becomes Abraham (which means father of many).  --Abrahams life shows God makes God-sized promises and keeps them.  

In the list of lives, there are people like:

Tamar- a young woman robbed of her right to have a child through no fault of her own.  Her husband is wicked and she pays a heavy price.  (Doesn’t that sound like the experience of many women in our day!)  

She hatches a scheme and basically conceives her child through harlotry with her father-in-law, Judah (--not exactly pristine behavior); yet through all of this, Judah professes she is more righteous than he.  That child is part of Christ’s bloodline!   …There is…

David- proof again, that God makes God-sized promises, and even builds on them.  But this was also the David who was stained through murder and adultery, a child ultimately born out of that scandal was Solomon who became Israel’s wisest king and the bloodline of Christ.

There is:

Hezekiah- Holiest of the kings, who ruled Judah.  It was only because of his trust in God that the remnant of Israel didn't pass into oblivion in his generation.  God honored his reverence.  God honored his trust in Him. 

Yet, his son Mannasseh was as evil as his father was holy.  He basically undid all the previous reforms and went back to worshipping Baal.  (One step forward, two steps back.)  Not someone you'd expect in the lineage of the Messiah.

Then we get down to Mary and Joseph; while Israel expected a lofty, military-driven king, a child who IS of a line of kings, makes His entrance in a converted cave, the son of working class people. 

Not only that, He is born amid scandal, the child of an unwed mom.  And yet, He is also born by the blessing and announcement of heaven.  ...It was God’s plan; but it was not what anyone expected.

What do all these lives tell us about the Christ? 

There was an expectation that a Savior would enter the world; but no one expected His strategy.  God was expected to come in the flesh; but in the best of our flesh; noble, reagal, and lofty.  But instead, He comes through a line with all the gritty faults and failures that is real humanity; that is real life.  ...As far as the flesh is concerned, Jesus is truly one of us.

...The one thing that makes Him different is what will make you and I different; He was conceived by the Holy Spirit.  ...We are no relation to the Son of God until we too, are born of that very same Holy Spirit. 

By being like us; Jesus is approachable to us all, He is able to reach us all.  In that way, He is able to rescue anyone; and be an example to everyone.  Warts and all; it is not a strategy we would expect.  But it is brilliant! 

UNEXPECTED RESULTS

Because the strategy is not what we'd expect, it DOES what we would not expect

What does that mean?

Here’s another unlikely beginning to the story of Jesus -The Gospel of John

Imagine: There has been 400 years, of silence from God.  –No more revelation or challenges; no more prophets crying out the truth!  -Just a dim hope, that the Messiah would come as promised.

Imagine if it was you: Four hundred years, and then it happens; Jesus comes as the world’s salvation.  How would you explain it?  What would be your opening line to that first paragraph?

The problem was; the two groups to be reached, Jew and Gentile, were polar opposites.  Their very way of thinking was repulsive to each other. 

In a flash of divine inspiration, John begins his explanation in a way we would not expect, but in a way that is genius.  It was the single area both groups held in high regard. 

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1

For both Jew and Greek, the WORD meant far more than simply verbalizing.  To the Jew, every word had a life of its own.  It was a unit of living energy. 

“All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” John 1:3

And for the Greek, “word” was “logos.”  It wasn’t just the sounds that came out of your mouth; it was the reason on which your point of view rested.  It is the bedrock of your perception. 

“In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.   And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” John 1:4,5

So, the reasoning of God, which is love, sent His own life-force, into humanity to deal with sin.  His logic wrapped Himself in human flesh, and experienced life as one of us. 

And the unexpected result of the “logos” is this…

"All who would receive Him, gave power to become the [children] of God"  John 1:12

For the sake of squeezing the richness out of this passage; indulge me with a little word study:

Receive- lambano—It covers the spectrum from something passively offered to even violently seizing something.   

Power-  exousia-  privledge, force, capacity, competency, freedom, authority

Become- ginomai-  to cause to be; to "generate"; to come into being, to be assembled, to happen,

Children- teknon-  simply means "child" -son or daughter

Put it together and this is what God's Word is telling us...

By taking hold of "the living reason"; you gain the capacity to "come into being" as something that you have not been up to this point in your existence; "a son or daughter" of God.  Up to this point you have been a creature of God; but being One’s creation is a far cry from being One’s child. 

The unexpected result of what God has done, is that you gain an opportunity that is so huge, so precious, that you and I can’t fully appreciate it in this life.  We really won’t get it until we are face to face with eternity.  Only then will we understand what it really means to be adopted into God’s family. 

CONCLUSION- The Meaning for you

So, bottom line: What does the unexpected nature of God mean for you and me?

The strategy of God does something unexpected with all the "stuff" of your life- 

-Everything gains purpose; every event; every skill; even every scar fits in to the greater purpose of what God is doing (or wants to do with your life).

I'll give you a personal example:  In my childhood, my father was a good man, but he had a serious problem with alcohol and as many of you know; that does some real damage to a family.  It left scars.  ....Do you know a common trend in the children of alcoholics?  -There is a tendency to nurture and try to fix; fix people or situations.  It's seeded in the child along with the scars. 

That didn't mean much to me for most of my life, in the ambitions I was pursuing on my own.  But when God called me to pastoral ministry, it all began to fit.  There was purpose given to things that seemed so senseless when I was going through them.

For you, it might be something else: why was I in that accident?  -Why was I abused?  Why was I sexually assaulted?  Why did I get cancer?  Or on the opposite side:  Why do I have this talent?  Why do I have this opportunity?  -As we follow God, continually-- the unexpected happens; all the pieces begin to fit.  ….And there is an….

Unexpected destiny for you-

You become someone you would not expect.  --I told the story before of the lady who lived across the street from me as a child.  She was “the church lady” in my neighborhood.   

Not many years ago, I was visiting over a lunch at her house, and in a moment of candor, she shakes her head and laughs, I never thought you would be a minister.  ...Then she got kind of embarrassed in her honesty, but I said, "Don't apologize, I laugh every time I think about it myself."

 --But even when I was that mischievous little kid, God had a plan for what I would BECOME.  -Something I never expected.  ….And because I became something I did not expect; I gained a destiny, I did not expect.

Christ has the unexpected waiting for you; but it begins in a way you may not expect--

The Son of God did the unexpected.   Hebrews 9:28 says: Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many.

So what's the unexpected beginnng for you?  -For a start, it might be the timing.  God has made Himself known to you right now; right now is the time to seize the opportunity.  –Respond!

-Respond in your heart-  Is there any part in there you haven’t given to Him.  You can’t take in the fullness of His blessing if you are holding areas aside.

-Respond with your hand-  Is there something right now, you could give to Jesus that would take you to the next step?  Last week Jim put it in a beautiful way; as God reveals things, and you give them to Him, it takes you deeper and then there is the next thing He reveals the next thing.  There is always a next step; always a more beautiful and closer step to take toward Him.  –Are you ready for your next step?  -Start with a baby step, raise your hand and tell Him and we’ll all pray together in a moment.

-Respond with your feet and knees-  I don’t think we fully understand why, but God puts a lot of stock in what we do physically.  Jesus came physically; He testified of the Father physically, He sacrificed Himself for you physically. 

Last week, we heard from Romans 12 what real worship is; it is to present your body as a “living sacrifice.”  Again, we’re talking baby steps, but if we are not willing to physically walk a few steps in the safety of a sanctuary, how will we ever walk out there?  (Come and obey what you sense inside as we sing.)

Maybe this morning as you were getting ready for church, the last thing you ever expected to do was physically commit or recommit yourself to Christ this morning…

But let me share with you: living the fullness of Christ that you never expected.  Meeting the destiny that you had never expected, begins with doing in obedience, a few things you never expected. 

This morning may be one of those unexpected moments of obedience for you.  ….Why not respond; and receive the unexpected?

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