December 25 - Matthew 1:18-2:23 - "A Christmas Going According to Plan"

MPC 25^th December 2022.

Hamish Burke

Big Idea: A Christmas going according to plan.

Last year our Christmas was very small - just 3 of us. This year our Christmas is large. Lunch for 30.

This year has taken quite a bit more planning. As I speak the meat is cooking; in large quantities, in a brand new charcoal cooker, first time I've done a cook at this scale on it. What could possibly go wrong? That big red egg could be the symbol of disaster or success - who knows!

I'm hoping that this will be an instance of plans unfolding rather than things unravelling.

Whatever your Christmas plans are this year I am very happy to see that joining us at church this evening/morning made it on the list, thanks so much for coming.

I don't know how the rest of your plans are going so far or how things will turn out ... but my prayer for you is that Christmas would go as planned.

My heartfelt hope for everyone of you is that you would personally experience a Christmas which goes according to plan.

When it comes to the story of the first Christmas, the story that we are probably most familiar with... It really seems to be the story of nothing going particularly close to any sort of plan - things unravelling rather than plans unfolding.

Got a sense of that in the Social Network Christmas clip we just saw - things kind of unravelling rather than plans unfolding...

Mary is pregnant before she is officially married. Joseph fails to make a reservation before heading to Bethlehem. The whole birth of the long promised, long awaited Messiah seems to be all very last minute and making things up as you go along type of situation - a baby lying in a manger, !?! Mary has reached term and yet no one thought to pack the port-a-cot!?! Seriously?

The Christmas story that we are most familiar with seems to be the story of nothing going particularly close to any sort of plan.

But the account of the first Christmas as recorded by Matthew is a little bit different. He does tell us that Mary is found to be pregnant before she is officially married - which doesn't sound like things are going according to plan.

But then Matthew says,

1:22 "All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ... "

What did God say through the prophet Isaiah 750 years beforehand?

That's what we heard from the video at the start of our gathering, "Operation "No more tears.""

v23 The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel (which means "God with us")

So that was a planned pregnancy. That was how God intended it to be. God did have a plan and here it is - unfolding not unravelling.

But Matthew doesn't stop there. In chapter 2 we meet the wise men. These guys come from a country somewhere East of Palestine, they are not a part of the Jewish nation. But they arrive in Jerusalem, the spiritual capital of the Jewish people, and start asking around,

"Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him."(v2)

God placed a sign to lead the wise men to Jesus. There is a plan.

Then we read that their quest causes a bit of angst in Jerusalem.

We read that King Herod who thought he was the king over the Jews, and pretty happy with that job, is getting upset that someone else is on the scene vying for his position.

Doesn't say but I reckon that the religious leaders are disturbed too. Probably disturbed that foreigners have learnt about this significant religious event before them.

So it's no wonder that the people of Jerusalem are perplexed, not good times ahead when all the leaders are on edge and grumpy - certainly not a good atmosphere for celebrating the first Christmas.

But sure enough the religious leaders consult their Bibles and find that God's plan was for this promised one to be born in Bethlehem (v5-6).

What we see here is that the wise men from the East have been let in on God's plans for the first Christmas.

So for all the seeming chaos we see this first Christmas is actually going according to plan.

Plans unfolding, not things unravelling.

These are not a random string of events, this has been meticulously planned and well advertised for a very, very long time.

Have you ever wondered why the wise men are called the wise. In some carols they are called kings, in some Bible verses they are called Magi and in others they are called wise men.

Not sure about the official reason but I would say they are called the wise men because they were happy to go along with God's plans for the first Christmas.

They understood that there was something a lot bigger than them at work here and they were willing to check things out.

We aren't told how they knew that the star that they saw pointed to the one born to be king of the Jews; We're not told how they knew that even as foreigners they should go and recognise his rule and worship him.

But we are told that that is what they did (v10-11).

When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.

Let me say that this is the wise response to Jesus, God's Christmas plan.

There are a lot of Christmas cards with the guys on camels decorating the front - maybe you got one this year, we did.

Cards celebrating the wise response to Jesus. But I wonder, did anyone get a Christmas card depicting Herod's response to God's plan that first Christmas?

We read v13 that Herod isn't interested in worshipping Jesus, the one born to be king of the Jews. He doesn't want to worship Jesus, he wants to wipe him out!

Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him."

That's not a wise response. If it is wise to check out Jesus, God's Christmas plan, then let me say that it is unwise to resist God's Christmas plan.

It's unwise to resist or even ignore Jesus because it will never come to anything good. You see no matter how secretive and conniving Herod is he doesn't catch God off guard.

God tells the wise men in a dream - (Herod is up to his old Twix) to go home a different way, do not talk to the king anymore.

God tells Joseph in a dream about the king's plans to try and kill the infant Jesus, so he better just get out of Palestine for a while.

God had also told a variety of prophets hundreds of years beforehand that this would happen, that Herod would be unwise and cruel v15, 17.

To fulfil what the Lord had spoken through the prophet.

God's plans are unfolding, things are not unravelling. There is a reason we get cards depicting the response of the wise men. Because worshipping Jesus is a wise response, and one that leads to joy and celebration (v10-11).

There is a reason that Herod does not feature on any Christmas cards - well none that I have seen. Because his response is unwise and leads to mourning and death (v16-19). It's just not something to be celebrated.

And instinctively we know that joy and celebration lies at the heart of Christmas.

We recognise this when we buy an abundance of special food for Christmas Day (12 kg of brisket and pork), when we spend money on thoughtful gifts for those we love, when we make time for friends and family.

This is why that feeling is absolutely true. Because on that first Christmas God sent his King into the world, a reason for joy and celebration. Good news that God loves his people and his plan of rescue was being revealed.

And if this season for you is a time where there is some sadness, or an increased sense of loneliness - Then may I suggest that Christmas is a reminder that it will not always be this way for God's people; God has come to rescue, to walk with us in our suffering, to one day take us home to be with him and His family for eternity.

Let me read some of those words from the opening video, "Operation No more tears!" These words are about God's long promised King the one who arrived on that first Christmas.

He will be a king but he won't live in a palace. And he won't have lots of money. He will be poor. And he will be a Servant. But this King will heal the whole world. He will be a Hero! He will fight for his people, and rescue them from their enemies. But he won't have big armies, and he won't fight with swords. He will make the blind see, he will make the lame leap like a deer! He will make everything the way it was always meant to be. But people will hate him, and they won't listen to him. He will be like a Lamb - he will suffer and die.

It's the Secret Rescue Plan we (the Father and the Son) made - from before the beginning of the world! It's the only way to get you back. But he (the King, the Hero) won't stay dead - I will make him alive again! And, one day, when he comes back to rule forever, the mountains and the trees will dance and sing for joy! The earth will shout out loud! His fame will fill the whole earth - as the waters cover the sea! Everything sad will come untrue. Even death is going to die! And he will wipe away every tear from every eye. Yes, the Rescuer will come. Look for him. Watch for him. Wait for him. He will come! I promise. Love God.

We have a nativity scene in at our place. It comes out every year. My daughter and I have a friendly tussle over which figure is really Joseph. Cait thinks one of the shepherds is Joseph. It's very cute, very Christmassy but it's missing one significant feature.

On that first Christmas, resting in the background of the nativity scene was the cross on which Jesus, the Saviour would die, where he would deal with the brokenness of all those who would call on him in faith and belief.

On that first Christmas God's eternal plans of rescue for his world, his people were unfolding, things were not unravelling. The unwise response, which leads to misery and death is to reject him, to ignore him, to live apart from him.

The wise response is to seek out the King and to worship him.

You see God's Christmas plan is that you would find his King, Jesus. When I said that my hope for each one of you was that Christmas would go according to plan I meant according to God's plan - that you would respond in wisdom and seek out his king, Jesus.

And one of my New Year's Resolutions for 2023 is to help as many people as possible get to know Jesus in a personal way.

So, here is my offer to you, my Christmas present to you - the gift that keeps on giving.

A copy of Matthew's gospel - with room to write observations, shape questions, pen prayers. We'll be investigating in more details from Sunday Jan 29.

Or a book outlining some further details about God's Christmas plans.

Meeting Jesus course starting in February - scan the bar code and let me know.

And if you know Jesus - then let this be a reminder to you that no matter how unravelled our world gets, and it doesn't seem to take much these days, remember that God has got this under control; Christmas is a reminder that God's plans are unfolding, things really aren't unravelling.

Whatever, else you do this Christmas let me encourage and exhort you to respond wisely to God's Christmas plan.

I pray that your Christmas would go according to plan.

And that my meat dish will be tender, juicy and perfect.