Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Merry Christmas everyone!

I’m sure everyone here has different traditions that they experience or practice on Christmas Day.

One of the things we like to do in our home is read the Christmas narrative from Luke 2 before we jump into opening up gifts.

It’s always a good reminder to us of the true gift of God’s Son.

And our kids really enjoy it.

We take turns reading through the passage together.

And if you’re anything like our family then you’ve had an early morning as well.

Now, we’re the mean parents that give our kids a specific time that they can finally come out of their rooms because if that we’re left unchecked, we’d be having kids waking us up at 4a most likely and, I’m not a morning person so that just wouldn’t make for a good Christmas morning in my book.

But, we’ve already dug into some gifts and celebrated and laughed a lot this morning as a family.

I love the Christmas season and when our kids, years ago now started getting older and appreciating and anticipating Christmas more and more I began to love it even more because kids just kind of bring a fresh view and experience of the season.

For example, several years ago on Christmas morning my son was opening up some of the gifts that were in his stocking.

Well, he’s always loved to draw and write and so we got him some new colored pens.

Now, there was nothing magnificent about these pens.

It was a Walmart special probably.

But man, when he opened up those pens, he was just so excited for Christmas Day itself that he just started running around the room, jumping up and down and with sheer joy and excitement shouted over and over again, “I got pens, I got pens!”

I don’t think I’ve ever gotten excited over a pen before, but, you know what, I was excited for him that day.

Kids just bring a fresh, childlike wonder to the season, to Christmas Day.

And it’s intoxicating isn’t it?

We get drawn into it with them and that’s a good thing and my hope and prayer for us this morning is that we’d come to this passage in Matthew, this condensed Christmas story with childlike awe and wonder looking at what may be a familiar passage with newfound, Spirit-filled curiosity and joy.

Problem

What, to many of us may have become, over the years, ordinary, we want to see through awakened hearts and minds the coming of Jesus into the world as extraordinary.

And what is so extraordinary?

“God is with us.”

Jesus has come to fix what is broken in us.

He’s come to make things right.

How beautiful is that?

God has come to heal and save us from our sins.

Main Aim

This is the wonder of Christmas.

God with us.

Our Savior, our Redeemer, our eternal Hope, Joy, and Peace wrapped up in the one wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.

Body

This morning, let’s approach the Christmas story with childlike wonder and awe.

In fact, it was Jesus himself in Mark 10 who said that we are to receive the kingdom of God like a child, with faith, hope, and trust.

Three wonders this morning to behold from Matthew’s gospel that reveal the beauty and glory of Christ.

Number one, “A supernatural conception.”

Number two, “A supernatural mission.”

And number three, “A supernatural presence.”

So, how did Jesus’ entrance into this world unfold?

Well, to be honest, it was a bit scandalous.

So, let’s look at wonder number one,

A Supernatural Conception.

Verse 18 and 19.

Matthew 1:18–19

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way.

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.

Don’t look past the supernatural occurrence of Jesus’ birth.

There’s wonder to behold here.

But, there’s a perceived scandal unfolding.

Two things are apparent from an initial reading of this text.

1) Mary is pregnant and 2) Joseph is not the father.

It’s clear from the reading that Mary and Joseph had not yet come together as husband and wife in a marital union.

But they were betrothed to one another which meant in this culture, betrothal, which lasted about one year was the closest step to marriage and they would have actually been known as husband and wife even though they had not yet been married and they were not living together.

The only way betrothal could be broken was through a legal divorce which is what you see Joseph setting out to do in verse 19.

Both Mary and Joseph were in a difficult spot here.

Mary was a young, unmarried woman finding herself pregnant for the first time in a culture that highly valued the law of God.

Unwed pregnancy was a serious offense against God’s good order for human relationships.

Joseph on the other hand was battling the emotions and pain of thinking the woman he had chosen to love and spend his life with rejected him and was unfaithful to him.

And so, what is Joseph to do?

He sets out to do what he believes is the right thing according to the full council of God’s law.

And I love how Joseph approaches this.

Don’t miss it.

The text says he sets out to divorce her quietly.

Why?

So as not to put her to shame.

He knew what God’s law said about unfaithfulness in marriage and yet, he also knew and understood that God is gracious.

God is both just and full of mercy.

In fact, later on in Matthew’s gospel Jesus will confront the religious leaders with this very truth.

The religious leaders were all about strict adherence to God’s law but they neglected God’s mercy and grace for people.

We see this in Matthew 23.

Matthew 23:23

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!

For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness.

These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.

Joseph exhibits here the essence of God’s law, of God’s character.

He is just and merciful.

Thankfully, though, God intervenes.

For Joseph was missing a very key detail.

The child that was in Mary’s womb was from the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 1:20

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.

This here is really the first wonder to behold.

Jesus was made a human being through the work of the Holy Spirit.

How?

I don’t know.

God’s Word doesn’t say how.

But it says he did.

Why is this necessary?

Because humanity needed another representative to do what we cannot do, to live how we cannot live.

In Genesis 1 and 2, Adam represented humanity.

He failed.

He sinned.

He rejected God.

Because of this, we all are born with a sinful nature.

One that rejects God, rejects His law, rejects His glory.

We needed another to come born in the likeness of man, likeness of humanity (Mary carried Jesus in her womb, she gave birth to Jesus), yet we needed one born without a sinful nature, we needed someone born with a divine sinless nature (Hence, why Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit).

The virgin birth of Christ is a wonder to behold for it is the reason that we can look to Christ for salvation and why He is sufficient and able to save.

He represents humanity as one who is fully human but he can also stand before God as the perfect sacrifice for sin because he is sinless and fully divine.