SERIES: Advent
TEXT: Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:18-21
MESSAGE: “Experiencing Jesus In The Struggle”
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“The celebration of Advent is possible only to those who are troubled in soul, who know themselves to be poor and imperfect, and who look forward to something greater to come.” — Dietrich Bonhoeffer
“The abiding truth of this passage is that faith in the Lord and in his promises is a practical approach to life however great the crisis. To this message Isaiah received as cold a reply from the politicians and people of his day as would be the case today. Practical people, they would say, have to live in the real world where political astuteness and military muscle are what counts.” — Derek Kidner
“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son…” – Isaiah 7:14
TEXT: Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:18-21
How do we experience Jesus in the struggle? By understanding that…(1. He took on humanity. 2. He took on shame. 3. He took on sin.)
1. He took on humanity (v. 18)
“Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way.”
“Remaining what he was, he became what he was not.”
— Gregory of Naziansen
“The incarnation means that for whatever reason God chose to let us fall…to suffer, to be subject to sorrows and death—he has nonetheless had the honesty and the courage to take his own medicine…He himself has gone through the whole of human experience—from the trivial irritations of family life and the cramping restrictions of hard work and lack of money to the worst horrors of pain and humiliation, defeat, despair, and death…He was born in poverty and…suffered infinite pain—all for us—and thought it well worth his while.” — Dorothy Sayers
2. He took on shame (v. 18b-20)
“…When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.”
“In a guilt culture you know you are good or bad by what your conscience feels. In a shame culture you know you are good or bad by what your community says about you, by whether it honors or excludes you. In a guilt culture people sometimes feel they do bad things; in a shame culture social exclusion makes people feel they are bad. Crouch argues that the omnipresence of social media has created a new sort of shame culture. The world of Facebook, Instagram and the rest is a world of constant display and observation. The desire to be embraced and praised by the community is intense. People dread being exiled and condemned. Moral life is not built on the continuum of right and wrong; it’s built on the continuum of inclusion and exclusion.”
— David Brooks “The Shame Culture”
“…They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.” — John 8:41
“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” – Hebrews 4:15
3. He took on sin (v. 21)
“She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
“For Jesus to save us he had to become one of us. ‘The Word became flesh’ (John 1:14); God became man…The more you think about it, the more staggering it gets. Nothing in fiction is so fantastic as is this truth of the Incarnation.” – J.I. Packer
“…Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners…” – 1 Timothy 1:15
“He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.” – Psalm 130:8
TAKEAWAYS: How does Jesus meet us in the struggle? He calls us to…
– Surrender control
– Confess our greatest struggle
– Receive Him in the struggle