The Virgin Birth

This time of year we celebrate the Virgin Birth of Christ.  One of the reasons we believe in the Virgin Birth has to do with the Old Testament prophecy in Isaiah 7:14 which says:  14 "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.”  Then in the New Testament we have the fulfillment in Matthew 1:23 which says “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”  It is my belief that Matthew here is making a reference back to Isaiah 7:14 which is a good reason to understand that this is a prophecy about the coming Messiah who Matthew contents and whom I believe is Jesus.

So you might wonder today, what does this have to do with me? Sure the Bible in the Old Testament says in a prophecy that a virgin would give birth and then in the New Testament we see that Mary is a virgin and gives birth but again what does that have to do with me today in December of 2011? What difference does this make in my life.  Let me share with you five reasons why I feel this is important to us today.

First, the virgin birth was necessary to fulfill Old Testament prophecy that we looked at today. Isaiah 7:14 predicts that when the Messiah shows up, he will be born of a virgin. If a prediction is made in the Bible and it does not come true then it calls into question the whole Word of God. In other words, it helps us trust the validity of the Bible as being true which we see is the case here.

Second, the virgin birth emphasizes both Christ’s humanity and deity. Christ was both since He was the unique God-man. He was one hundred percent God and one hundred percent man. The fact that Christ was born of a woman and not a man which we see in Genesis 3:15 and Galatians 4:4 emphasizes His humanity, and the supernatural element of His virgin birth emphasizes His deity. So today we have in Jesus someone who is both God and man. Since Jesus is one hundred percent man he can understand what we go through in this life. Our God understand us.

Third, Christ’s virgin birth emphasizes His eternality. Christ has always existed. There never was a time in which He was not. Had Christ experienced a natural conception, He would have had a beginning point. Yet the eternal Christ had no beginning point. This means when we worship Christ, we are worshipping the eternal God, the only one who deserves our praise and worship. We are worshipping the One who was, who is, and is to come!

Fourth, the virgin birth was necessary in order to maintain Christ’s sinlessness. The Bible indicates that Christ was the only sinless man to ever live. If Christ had a biological father, then the sin nature, which is passed down to all of us, would also have been passed down to Him at the point of conception. Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit and therefore the sin nature was not passed to Him. We have a sinless God whom we worship. We worship a perfect God!

Fifth, the virgin birth was necessary in order to protect Christ’s bodily atonement. Only an eternal God could pay the eternal penalty for man’s sin. Christ’s virgin birth protects His eternality. Also, only a perfect substitute could pay the penalty for man’s sin. God will only accept a perfect sacrifice in the place of the guilty which is all of us. Christ’s virgin birth protects His sinlessness. Therefore, the virgin birth protected both Christ’s eternality and sinlessness. Both of these elements are required for Christ to atone for the world’s sin debt. It affects us today because we who believe in Christ do not have to carry our sins around because Christ has atoned or died in our place. Christ the perfect one gave himself for us so that we could have eternal life!

The Virgin Birth is one of my favorite parts of the Christmas story and I see it as so important.  Here again is why I see it as so important: the Virgin birth shows us that the Bible is true, Christ understands us because he is one of us, Christ is the eternal God, Christ is perfect, and because he was virgin born he was able to die in our place for our sins. The Virgin birth makes all the difference in the world to us today!

What is your favorite part of the Christmas story?  Can you think of another reason that makes the Virgin Birth important to us in 2011?  

Impossible?

I am an unabashed Philadelphia Eagles fan – that is American Football for those who read this from other countries.  Yesterday my Eagles played quite a game.  They were down 31-10 with seven minutes to go in the game. I told my wife and son with 7 minutes to go that I should just turn it off because the game because it was over.   Then the Eagles did the impossible in my mind, they came back in those seven minutes with some great plays and win the game on a punt return with no time left on the clock.  It was awesome but I honestly thought it was impossible that they would make a comeback like they did.

Luke 1:37 tells us this:  “For nothing will be impossible with God.” The angel said this to Mary when he told her about Elizabeth who was barren going to give give birth.  That was something that Mary had to think impossible and then when told the impossible was going to happen thought that it was awesome.  Imagine how many impossible things are happening to Mary at this point:  she has an angel standing there, she hears she is pregnant, she hears that the baby is the Son of God, and she hears that her barren cousin is going to give birth.  A lot of impossibles are happening all at one time but the angel says something powerful – again he said “For nothing will be impossible with God.” How often do we think things are impossible?

Nothing is impossible with God!  Do you believe that?  I promise that Mary knows it and believes it because she saw it in action!  How often do we live like things are impossible?  Let us all start living each day like nothing is impossible because of the awesome God we serve!  Let us understand what Mary did after the angel spoke – nothing is impossible with God!

How are you living your life?  What do you think?

How ’bout them Eagles!

Surprise!

Matthew 1:30-33  ³⁰ The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. ³¹ “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. ³² “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; ³³ and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.”

The announcement of Jesus’ birth, which is formulated like Old Testament announcements stresses three things about Jesus: his position for it calls him Son of God, Son of the Most High, and calls him a ruler, his authority is seen in that he is seated on Israel’s throne forever; ruler of a kingdom that will never end and his divine ties which are seen in the Holy Spirit will come and overshadow you. In short, Jesus is the promised king of the Davidic line. Old Testament roots for this promise come from 2 Samuel 7:8-17 and Psalm 89 and 132. He is the promised One!

Imagine the surprise that Mary must have in thinking that she is going to be giving birth to the son of God.  Imagine what this would be like?  I would have to say that surprise would be an understatement.  I would say that surprised by the grace of God.

Have you ever been surprised by God’s grace?  Just think of how this just came out of now where for her?  Has you surprise ever been out of now where like that?

 

Faithfulness….

We have been discussing Mary and her character in the Christmas story and with that let us today consider her quality of faithfulness.  She is as we can see in the story of Christmas is a faithful woman.  She is faithful to God and she is faithful to Joseph even when it does not appear as though she was faithful to him.  Let me challenge you and your faithfulness this morning.

When things get tough in life, do you remain faithful?  Think about all the marriages that end in divorce.  I am too often stuck counseling one person of a marriage that is failing because when things got tough, one part of the couple decided that it was too tough and they decided to leave and not remain faithful and not even try to make it work.  They make that choice and then do not want any counsel as to how they can get back together.  It is a sad thing and my heart breaks for that those in a marriage who want to make things right and work but the other does not.

You do not only see it in marriages but you see it at times with God.  You see people that find themselves in tough spots and so they walk away from God.  They blame God for the choices that they have made and they get angry at God and become in a sense unfaithful to Him.  They walk  from Him and choose other things over Him.  So let me ask you, how faithful are you to God?  When things do not go as planned for you do you get angry and become unfaithful to him?  I challenge you today to begin to look to God even in those times when you do not understand why things are happening.  Remain faithful to Him and you will not be disappointed in the end.

It is amazing to think of the faithfulness of Mary and the desire of my heart is to remain faithful like her but I have to admit:  I have my days and times when I choose other things over God.

What about you?  What do you think about this?

Plan for Life?

Matthew 1:29- 33 -²⁹ But she was very perplexed at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was.³⁰ The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God.³¹ “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. ³² “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; ³³ and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.”

Do you think that this was Mary’s plan for her life?  Think about that for a moment.  Do you think Mary’s plan for her life was to give birth to the Savior of the world?  Do you think it was Mary’s plan for her life to have a cloud of suspicion over her and Jesus for the rest of their lives?  Because that is what there would have been.  Just as we talked about last week with Joseph, Mary would always have a tarnished reputation not because of something she did but because of something God choose to do in her life that was really a blessing. I am sure at the time it do not look like or feel like a blessing.  Do you think that she understood that?  Do you this that this young lady who was favored by God understood the gravity of her faithfulness, thoughtfulness, and obedience to God?

We need to understand that Mary obediently submitted to God in spite of the potential hardship for her future.  It was no longer going to be the future she dreamed of but she trusted God and had faith in Him that it would all be the best.  By saying in verse 38, “Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word.” Mary opened herself up to many trials.  Her fiancé heard of her pregnancy and decided that he would have to divorce her quietly. Her friends would have shunned her and her family may have disowned her. She would have been publicly shamed and rejected in many ways for the rest of her life. But in spite of all the potential hardship, Mary obediently submitted to God’s will for her life.  As a result, she was greatly blessed with this unique role in all of history, to be the mother of the Savior of the world.  Imagine that pressure on a teenage girl but imagine the blessing also.

Often, submitting to God’s will is not the easiest way to go. It may involve giving up the desire for popularity or worldly success.  It may involve your future not being what you thought it was going to be.  That could mean that you could leave family or friends to go to the mission field. It could mean that some people could give up the potential for marriage and family in order to serve God with their whole lives. It could mean your dreams completely change.  It could mean your retirement years are spent serving God wholeheartedly somewhere other than sitting on a beach drinking drinks with little umbrella’s in them. But whatever hardship we endure in obedience to God, He will richly repay. Because Mary obeyed God, she was blessed among women.

Have you submitted to God’s will?  Share you thoughts today.

Favored One

Matthew 1:26-45: ²⁶ Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth,  ²⁷ to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸ And coming in, he said to her, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.”

We see that the angel refers to Mary as favored one.  I think we need to look at the idea that Mary has been living a life that is God honoring.  I see that her being called favored most means that she is one who has some very godly character qualities.  I think she has been thoughtful, obedient, believing, and worshipful by the way she lives her life which is what I see favorable as meaning in part.  She is one who would be considered by all those who came around her to be a really good girl.

It must be emphasized, however, that despite all these qualities, God’s choice of Mary to bear this child springs from His grace, not from any inherent merit that she possesses. She is the object of God’s unmerited grace. Her description as one who has found favor with God makes it clear that God has acted on her behalf and not because of her but because of His Grace. In fact, Mary is totally perplexed by the sudden announcement. She did not ask for or seek this role in God’s plans; God has simply stepped into her life and brought her into his service. Her asset is that she is faithful. She should be honored for her model of faithfulness and openness to serve God, but that does not mean she is to be worshiped as is the practice of some. Luke wants us to identify with Mary’s example, not to unduly exalt her person.

Those of some faiths believe that when it says later in Matthew that she is blessed among women, that we can see that Mary is exalted above all women of all time.  I do not see that to be the case, but what I do see is this:  Mary was the best female of all the possible descendents of David to have the privilege and blessing to give birth too and raise the very Son of God.  I believe even as a teenager that she possibly was the very best woman in all Israel and that was why she was favored.  We at times tend to run from these kinds of issues.  Here is the center of it all when it comes to Mary, we should be careful to never downgrade Mary, but on the other side we should never think too highly of her either.  We should have a balanced view, because on one side she was a sinner just like us but on the other side she was also chosen to be the mother of God which was a very special honor.

An amazing young woman with an amazing character was Mary.  I pray I have that kind of character!

What are your thoughts here?

The Crisis Pregnancy Center and Maria

Maria walked into crisis pregnancy center and asked to speak to someone.  Amy who was a counselor came out and got Maria and they went into Amy’s office.

How can I help you?   I would like a pregnancy test to make 100%  sure that I am pregnant.

Okay before we do that I have a few questions for you.  Is this a planned pregnancy?  Well…ummm…not exactly.

Really, okay…..well we will come back to that in a minute.  Let’s continue with the rest of the questions.

What is your last name?  Well you can just call me Maria.

Ok, then how old are you sweetheart?  I am sixteen.

That is pretty early to be thinking about being pregnant but if you are we can help you deal with it and maybe find a good family to adopt the baby.  I am pretty sure I am pregnant and I definitely want to keep the baby.  I am here to just make 100% sure I am pregnant.

Okay then let us finish up the paper work with a couple more questions.  So are in you in a relationship?  Well I am engaged to Joe – he is really a great man.  Things seem to be stressed now that I am pregnant though.

So he is the father?  Well …. no …no he is not because I have never been with him or any other man for that matter.

Okay, something just is not adding up here – you know in order to be pregnant you need to have been with a man, right?  Yes, I know that but this is different.

Then tell me why do you think you are pregnant Maria?  Well …because God told me I was going to be pregnant.

Wow I did not expect that answer from you.  So let me ask you, are you really sure it was God speaking to you?  Yes, God sent an angel to me and he told me that I would be pregnant with God’s child.

Listen, I do not want to judge you or anything like that Maria but it just does not happen like that.  I really do not believe God works that way, plus as I  mentioned,  biologically you need a man to get pregnant.  Are you really sure it was God who was speaking to you, you can tell me the truth, it will be alright?  Yes I am sure it was God’s Angel who spoke to me and I just want to be 100% sure I am pregnant.

Now do not be offended Maria but have you heard voices before or has God talked to you before or his angels?  No…never… this is the first time.

Have you been in counseling or seen a Doctor about any type of mental health problems?  No I have not.  I am just your average teenage girl.

Are you sure that you have not been with anyone or been assaulted or anything like that – if you have you can be honest and tell me, I will help you through this, this is why we are here at the Christian Crisis pregnancy center, to help girls like you who find themselves in this position.   We will help you through all this.   No, I am not hiding anything; I have been as honest as I can be with you, really it happened just like I said.

Well Maria, I am not too sure where to go with this with you so let me go ahead and check the pregnancy test to see if you really are pregnant.

Well you are right, you are pregnant.  I need you to tell me the truth because we know that girls do not just end up pregnant and God certainly does not work this way.  It did happen just like I told you.  God sent an Angel to me and told me that I would be pregnant with the son of God and I wanted to come here today to make 100% sure.  You have shown me the results and now I am 100% on knowing that that God is the father and now I know that I can trust Him even more that I already did.

Maria that just does not happen, it is impossible, God just does not make teenage girls pregnant.  But it did happen and now that I am positive about this I think I am going to go now and stay with my cousin now for a while.

Well maybe that is good idea, will she be supportive of you.  I am sure she will because she was barren but now she will is going to have a baby and that was told to me also by the angel of God. Maria, I am not sure what else I can do for you or even say so can I pray with you that God would bless you and your new baby before you leave?  Yes you can I would love that. Thank You.

***********************

This is obviously the story of Mary in a modern day context. In a modern day context it seems quite unbelievable and I am sure at the time of the birth of Christ it seemed quite unbelievable when Mary first heard it.  I hope reading this will help you gain a new or a fresh perspective on this story that we have heard so often that I think it becomes just a story to us.  Always keep in mind that God worked in amazing ways and we need to recognize that.  Think again how unbelievable this story really seems for us so imagine how it would seem for Mary.

Do you have any thoughts?

 

 

A Selfless Christmas

We see in Joseph a man who had did what was right, honored Mary, showed love and mercy but we also see a great devotion to Mary and Jesus.  His devotion to Mary and the Child within her took priority over his own needs or desires as we see here in Matthew 1:25 but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus.. He denied himself the intimacy that would normally be expected from the marriage relationship. There is no record of this being something that the angels had to do and it was probably not expected. Yet, it demonstrates the attitude with which Joseph approached his marriage. His consideration for the needs of his wife and his awe before the holy child that was being formed in her womb were such that he willingly took on a servant role on their behalf.

As a model father, Joseph knew the meaning of service and selfless giving to his family, even when it was costly to him.  This is the way a husband and a wife should be – not selfish regarding themselves but selfless towards their families.  Too many families struggle because of the selfishness of one or both parents.  Be a selfless person – by the way – it is an outpouring I believe of being someone who does what is right, honorable, and obedient.  Selflessness is not a popular thing these days, most people want what they want and do not even put to mind others.  We as parents and grandparents need to be selfless in all areas of our lives.  We are models to the younger generations and if they see us being a little selfishness then they will take it to a whole different level.  If you struggle with be selfish – I would bet you struggle also with doing what is right, what is honorable, and being obedient to Christ.  Begin to put doing what is right, honorable and being obedient and you will begin to see that selfish side of you slowly melt away.

Make this a Christmas of selflessness and do selfless acts with your family and with others.

What are your thoughts on this?

 

Radical Obedience at Christmas

Joseph as we see here was a man of obedience to God.  Look at these verses ²⁴ And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife, ²⁵but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus. What do we see in these verses?  We see obedience to God.  God told him what to do and he did it.

What about you?   Do you have radical obedience to Christ or is it just the everyday doing what I can get by doing as far as obedience is concerned?  You might be tempted to say, “but it is hard to always do the right thing”.  I would say to that that you are correct with that and I would also say so what.  Do you think it was easy for Joseph to do the right thing here and Marry Mary?  It had to be extremely hard to because again his reputation was on the line here.  He again knew that there would always be questions about him and Mary as well as Jesus.  That in the end did not matter because he went through and married Mary.  He went through and did the right and honorable thing, he showed mercy and love, he went through and was completely obedient to Christ.

You see it is about obedience and trust.  Joseph trusted God enough to obey him. Yet such obedience was costly. Because Joseph married Mary, outsiders would assume that he had gotten Mary pregnant before the wedding. Joseph would remain an object of shame in a society dominated by the value of honor. This was a stressful way to begin a marriage! You see though there is a difference with Mary and Joseph than many of us today.  Mary and Joseph also chose to embrace shame to preserve the sanctity of God’s call.  Many times today we run from the call of God, we will not do things that might cause a stir because we want everything to run smooth.  So we will let people with sinful attitudes set the agenda for what we will do in our lives and in our churches because we do not want to rock the boat.  Those who make a difference in the world for Christ do not worry about consequences or about people being stirred up.

Joseph’s obedience to God cost him the right to value his own reputation.  It is never about protecting our reputation as individuals or as a church but it about doing what is right, what is honorable, and being obedient to God.  That is the bottom line.

Walking in obedience to God may result in humiliation and disgrace before men. When we obey God, even in the face of adversity and public shame, He leads and guides us.  Again I ask you – do you have this kind of radical obedience to Christ?  Do you have this kind of integrity to do what is right and honorable?  Are you willing to have God guide you through times of adversity and public shame because you are radically following Him?

Share what you think today.

The Scandal (Part 2)

Matthew 1:19 – And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly.

Verse 19 refers to Joseph as a righteous man.  “Righteous” here means that Joseph was one who carefully observed the law and valued his own reputation.  According to the customs of that time, adultery would made Mary unmarriageable and by marrying her, Joseph would have comprised himself in the eyes of the law. But his righteousness went deeper than a mere external righteousness before Jewish law. He was honorable and wanted to do the right thing.

Yet Joseph could have profited by divorcing Mary publicly. By taking her to court, Joseph could have impounded her dowry-the total assets she brought into the marriage-and perhaps recouped the bride price if he had paid one at betrothal. By simply providing her a certificate of divorce in front of two or three witnesses, he would forfeit this economic reimbursement-simply to minimize her public dishonor. Even though Jewish tradition ruled that a wife could lose her dowry for infidelity or for as little as scolding her husband, in normal divorces where the wife was not charged she kept her dowry.  Joseph would have to enlist the help of a village scribe or elders to get the money, and this would increase Mary’s public shame and in that creating and maintaining the scandal.

I have known of some churches that publicly shamed a young woman who became pregnant, usually leaving the less obvious father of the child concealed from public reproach. Joseph’s “justness” or “righteousness” reminds us that justice is not merely a matter of punishment and shame but also a matter of mercy. Joseph was going to divorce Mary, but wounded though he felt, he would do everything in his power to minimize her shame.

Do you see it here?  Do you see that he had mercy on Mary.  Mercy always triumphs. Joseph could have acted severely toward Mary’s apparent indiscretion, but he chose to offer love and mercy, even when he thought he had been wronged.  How often do we do that?  Just listen today to people who are divorced talk about the one they divorced.  Often times we do not hear mercy but we hear judgment and criticism.

What about you today?  Do you search out what the right and honorable thing is to do or do you just take the easy way?  Do you in life or business try to profit off of others misfortune?  Do you show Mercy and love or do you show judgment or criticism?

I am guilty for sure of not always doing these things, how about you?