But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt,saying, Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child's life are dead. And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee. And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene. Matthew 2:19-23 We re SO thankful that you ve chosen this evening to let YOUR family be a part of OUR family. Please know that you re welcome here ANYTIME, but I m especially thankful that you ve chosen to make this service and this reminder of Jesus this evening to be a part of your family s celebration of Christmas. You know it s easy to do sometimes in all the craziness and the hustle and bustle of the holiday and we have family coming over and dinner to prepare making sure all of the preparations are done and done perfectly. Sometimes in trying to make sure we don t forget the tiniest detail it s really easy to forget the most important detail! And that s true even here! Making sure we have all our people in place to serve you and making sure all the parking spaces and coat racks and the rooms are ready to receive YOU, it would be a terrible tragedy if we forgot about THE ONE REASON that we even get to share this celebration together. We can t forget about Jesus! And you know if we were living in the time of our Bible history this evening and we were actually watching this event unfold, we might ve done just that we might have forgotten about Jesus! In the passage for this evening we read that Joseph was visited by another angel after Herod had died. In Gus message yesterday, we heard about the command by the Angel for Joseph to get Mary and the baby out of Bethlehem and escape to Egypt perhaps even on the very same night that the Wisemen left to go back to their home countries. If you were here with us or if you want to take the time to watch or listen to that message on our website, please do. We try to be very intentional about our website and about the sermons that we post there for people to be blessed by. But in our passage this evening, we find Joseph and Mary and Jesus living in Egypt perhaps some two to three years AFTER they had arrived.
Because of Herod s desire to do away with any threat to his throne by this newborn King of the Jews and his command to have all the baby boys under two years old to be killed, Jesus may have been two years old at THAT point and NOW with the fact that Herod is now dead and Joseph and Mary will be moving BACK, Jesus could possibly be as old as five years old by this point. Man, a LOT can happen in 5 years! I know Heather and I, probably just like many of you have been amazed by how quickly the time flies as we watch our children grow up. A few times this week we have even been sad as we ve watched Hannah and Caleb AND HOPE all get into three different cars and DRIVE AWAY off to their three different places WHERE HAS THE TIME GONE! We ve found ourselves on the opposite end of many of you who get to enjoy your small children and the wonder of all of the Christmas festivities. Don t get me wrong Christmas is still amazing even with older children but we certainly miss the days of them being little. And let me tell you, as expensive as buying toys and games was for them when they were younger, the gifts get a bit more expensive as we buy Passports and adult clothes and the other things that I CAN T tell you about right here because they re all sitting right here with us this evening! For you parents here this evening who have small children, I just sincerely say to you, don t blink because BEFORE YOU KNOW IT, they won t be small children for much longer! And Joseph and Mary must have been thinking the same thing as they ve watched their son Jesus grow into this amazing young man! And by all right by this time, those people who weren t directly related to Mary and Joseph may have just moved on with their own lives and have FORGOTTEN about them time has passed and life has happened and the ONE CHILD who many of them couldn t have even known to be the SAVIOR of the entire world had now been FORGOTTEN! And so when we all say that we re so thankful that you re taking this time out of your busy family schedule to be with us this Christmas Eve, to REMEMBER this baby boy, JESHUAH, the SAVIOR OF THE WORLD, with all our hearts thank you for NOT forgetting!
And know for sure that NONE of this story is a mistake! The angel REappearing to Joseph in Egypt wasn t just some knee jerk reaction. The angel didn t just realize, oh shoot! We forgot Joseph and Mary and Jesus were down there! No, you see history had to unfold, and all the pieces of this puzzle needed to be in place. There was a king that was still in Jerusalem that had other plans and didn t want his authority to be taken from him and THIS king surely would ve still had a price on Jesus head if he knew that He was still alive! And so when the time had come a time that was NO surprise, a time that was NO coincidence a time that had been set LONG before THIS moment in time this WHOLE STORY was established before time had even began but the TIME had come, King Herod was now dead and the threat on Jesus life was now passed and it was TIME for Joseph and Mary and Jesus to RETURN HOME. And Jesus, from this point on would grow up in Nazareth, and he would be called a Nazarene. Now I don t want to take you too far from this story, but there s something SO PROFOUND about all of this! In fact, if you ll fast forward in time with me just a second, we have record of the beginning of Jesus ministry and the calling of His first followers. In John s gospel, Andrew is one of the first of disciples to meet Jesus and he goes directly to get his brother, Simon, BOTH VERY IMPORTANT CHARACTERS in the BIG PICTURE. Andrew plays another very important role later on in Jesus ministry and Simon, his brother, gets his named changed by Jesus to Peter, who most people with any knowledge of the Bible would recognize that name! Well back to day one, Andrew meets Jesus goes to find Simon with the good news, We have found the Messiah. And the NEXT DAY, Jesus finds Phillip who was from the same city that Andrew and Simon were from, and Phillip goes to find Nathanael with a similar reaction that Andrew had, We have found THE ONE the ONE that
Moses in the Law and the prophets wrote about, JESUS!!! Of that s right!!! Jesus of NAZARETH, the son of Joseph. ( We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. John 1:45) And Nathanael s response is SO PERFECT! Nazareth?!? Can ANYTHING GOOD come out of Nazareth?!? (Nathanael said to him, Can anything good come out of Nazareth? John 1:46) And Phillip says to him, don t take my word for it Come and see John 1:46 And you hope you here tonight can see also for yourselves just HOW PROFOUND all of this is! Because Jesus story BEGINS in such a humble way, in a borrowed stable, a cave perhaps, in a feeding trough a manger. But that s not just how His story, and HISTORY begins it definitely wasn t the way that the wise men saw it it definitely wasn t the way that Herod perceived it. SOMETHING HUGE was ESTABLISHED that night in Bethlehem. It was a story that would continue to unfold it was a KINGSHIP UNLIKE ANY OTHER and it was a KINGDOM UNLIKE ANY OTHER! By this point most everyone else would ve forgotten about Jesus birthplace. In fact, until the story was written down, the only PEOPLE that would ve remembered His humble beginning in the manger would ve been Joseph and Mary and those shepherds that showed up! A MANGER! Quite possibly THE WORST place that the King of all Kings could ve been born was now remembered by only a few. But THEIR RETURN to Nazareth and Jesus identity as a Nazarene, THAT would be one that would stick with Him for the rest of His life And just to be clear, Nathanael wasn t wrong! NAZARETH Really Nazareth?!?
Quite possibly THE WORST place that the King of Kings could ve grown up now THAT ONE would stick with Him and NOT just for His lifetime, and NOT for the two thousand years now of history that have passed since then. Jesus of Nazareth will FOREVER be REMEMBERED. And not just on accident not just by some coincidence not just because Joseph was too scared to go to back to Judea it was INTENTIONAL and it was ON PURPOSE and just as important as Joseph and Mary being in Bethlehem THAT NIGHT (Luke 2:4) for Jesus birth because of the decree of Caesar Augustus was the fact that they would RETURN HOME THIS NIGHT to the town of Nazareth. (Matthew 2:23) Please don t think that we re leaving the importance of Jesus birth and please don t think that we re leaving the importance of the Nativity and the manger, the REASON that we gather to celebrate here every Christmas In fact, we have a very special gift for you tonight! A gift that we hope you ll go home tonight and share with your whole family. A gift that we know will absolutely NOT let you forget the importance of the Nativity or the manger. Because what we re hoping that we can show you here this evening is the REAL reason that we can even begin to celebrate the Nativity and the Manger and the baby Jesus Because all of this isn t just some made up story, this is a TRUE story, it s world history! This is Jesus story this is YOUR story and MY story this is story that we don t get to keep to ourselves this is a story that the WHOLE WORLD should hear about! Look around you! We can see through our own families lives and we can see through of our church family s life that time flies and it will blaze past us if we even blink for too long! Our own children grow up and as they grow older they realize their real purpose for being here on the earth, and the story of Jesus is NO exception! Jesus RETURN HOME and his identity as a Nazarene needed to be established because it would reveal the purpose and the reach of his whole ministry on earth.
He would spend 33 years here wearing THAT title, being misjudged and being underestimated all along the way! Gus reminded us yesterday morning that Jesus, The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. John 1:9-11 Even right to the end of His life here on earth, His own people would not only NOT receive Him but would actually betray Him to His death. Many of you may be familiar with this story but Jesus would stand in judgment before Pontius Pilate, the governor of Judea So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, Are you the King of the Jews? Jesus answered, Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me? Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done? Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world. Then Pilate said to him, So you are a king? Jesus answered, You say that I am a king. FOR THIS PURPOSE I WAS BORN and for this purpose I have come into the world to bear witness to the truth. John 18:33-37 We ve been talking these last few weeks about the Push and the Pull of God s purpose for the beginning of His son s life here on earth. And how through the earthly story of Jesus life there s been a much Bigger eternal story being told here. And remember that it all began hundreds of years earlier through his ancestors and then it was shown through the obedience of Joseph and Mary who, because of a census, would need to RETURN HOME to where his family registry was kept, Bethlehem But in all of this I hope that you can see that this story truly is about YOU and ME and that this place that we might call HOME is NOT ACTUALLY our
home but that Jesus, and His FATHER in all of His grand wisdom and because of His Great Love for us, He s calling US to Come to Him and have OUR names written into HIS FAMILY registry where some day, one day we can ALL RETURN to that HOME where OUR FAMILY registry is kept, Heaven! There s an incredible story in scripture, in Luke chapter 15 that we often call the story of the lost, or prodigal son a story about a Father who loved his son so much that he waited daily for his RETURN HOME Don t let yourself or anyone you love dearly be a lost and wandering, prodigal daughter or son any longer One commentator wrote about this story, that as long as mankind as long as you and I are away from God, we CANNOT truly be ourselves, that we can only truly be OURSELVES when we are on our way HOME. And NOW is your TIME! The passage from John 1 that I shared just a minute ago, ends this way, He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, Through Jesus birth, through His life and ESPECIALLY through the ultimate fulfillment of His purpose on earth, His death on the cross And you may be thinking, This isn t a very happy Christmas story! But I assure you that THIS IS THE BEST PART OF THE CHRISTMAS STORY! Because if it wasn t for the ENDING, the BEGINNING would have just been ANOTHER BIRTH. But God, our heavenly Father, through the HUMILITY and through the ACCESIBILITY of the baby Jesus born in a stable, and laid in a manger RAISED in of all places, a city like Nazareth, God, in all of His wisdom and LOVE for us, wants you and I to realize and to acknowledge our NEED to come HOME and return to Him.
He s already paid the price for you and me! Because of the sin that we have in our lives, because of all the ways we ve made mistakes and messed up His PERFECT plan in all of this, a SACRIFICE had to be made And the sacrifice has already BEEN MADE. AND God has accepted the sacrifice as Perfect enough once and for all! And that s what we re REALLY celebrating here together this evening! Tonight, we all get to be a part of this amazing celebration, Jesus sacrifice for US! As the communion is passed this evening, we invite EVERYONE to be a part of it. As the tray passes by you this evening we re asking you to take a piece of the bread which is an amazing symbol of Christ s body that was broken on the cross, and please take one of the small cups of juice, which is an amazing symbol of Jesus blood that he GLADLY gave for you and me. Please take each part of the communion and hold them until everyone has a cup and a piece of the bread and after they ve all been passed, I ll ask His blessing and then we ll all take communion together.