16 Dec Incarnation: Joy 12/15/2019
Pastor Pete Hartwig
Sermon Notes
Incarnation – Joy 2019
SLIDE: Incarnation: JOY
Third Sunday of Advent Readings: Joy
Matthew 1-2 Emmanuel God with us!! – Joseph
Luke – Mary Wednesday night 7-8 Son Peter
JOY!!! VIGIL = 6:30-7:30 Carols/candles = prayer for the sick
SLIDE: Matthew 2:10-11“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. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.”
“Overjoyed”
SLIDE: Overjoyed = echaresan charan megalen sphodra
= rejoiced joy great exceedingly
Great = Mega – adjective
HUGE JOY! JOY TO the WORLD!!!!
Christmas = Joy (SAMS club lawn letters)
Text = Context
SLIDE: Matthew 2 The Magi Visit the Messiah
2 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “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.”
3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:
6 “‘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.’ ”
7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 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.”
9 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. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
CONTEXT! – people
Mary and Joseph – Jesus is born
King Herod – Biblical scholar Marty Solomon – wealthy
He was ½ Jew and appointed by Rome
Calls bible scholars –
Herod doesn’t seek
SLIDE: Matthew 2:16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.
Herod had killed three of his sons – favorite wife
Caesar Augustus = “it is better to be Herod’s pig than his son”
Kill the children! 20 babies die
King Herod is NEVER called king again
Magi
“We Three Kings.”
spiritual symbolism about Jesus himself—
gold representing his kingship,
frankincense a symbol of his priestly role, and
myrrh a prefiguring of his death and embalming
Myrrh – on the cross
King Seleucus II Callinicus offered to the god Apollo at the temple in Miletus in 243 B.C.E.
Isaiah Prophecy –
Kings from the nations … “bring gold and frankincense and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord” (Isaiah 60:6).
mystery of the Magi – Dwight Longenecker
Nabatean – Petra 180 miles 3 days – WEALTHY
Herod ½ Nabatean
Babylon – Iran
Isaiah 47:13 indictment on Babylon’s astrologers
Let your astrologers (magos) come forward,
those stargazers who make predictions month by month,
let them save you from what is coming upon you.
NT = magos is unfavorable
Acts 8:9-24, Simon the magos;
Acts 13:6-11, Elymas, the magos and false prophet
To Jews – Magi were idolaters, short and simple.
MAGI = STUNNING!! – God leads them! They believe
Contrast Herod – violently opposes
SLIDE: Feet to your Faith
THERE ARE NO “SMALL REACTIONS TO JESUS”
- “Overjoyed” Love, follow give up their lives for him
- “Furious” Reject him, oppose him Try to take his life
JOY!
UVA men’s soccer team 5PM! – JOY!
3rd national title in 2019!! Basketball, Lacrosse and Soccer
Temporal Joy – Don’t need God or Jesus for this!
SLIDE: Habakkuk 3:17-18 Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.
JOY = my focus
Young lady – Joy – weekly sermon prep process
SLIDE: Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Patience in the longest line –
How do we model this? How do we develop this?
JOY = is connected to Seeking
When they saw the star – baby!
Marionette relationship – heavens and earth
There is the sense of God even in the midst of struggles.
Observe VS participate
Luke 15:1-25
Lost sheep – searching – “rejoice with me”
Lost coin – searching – “rejoice with me”
Herod – 2 to 3 hour trip to make.
Magi – 2 years! JOY
SLIDE: Matthew 28:8 So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples.
Live in the world of two internal modes.
- The hurt of unexpected and grief and struggle in this broken world.
- Joy – all in the same moment.