持之以恒 Always Will Be

Title: Always will be
Date: 24 December 2022
Preacher: Rev Enoch Keong

I.
If Jesus is the promised Messiah, what would he wish to do today?

Year after year we come to this moment in time, where we retell the story of God being born as a baby into our world. Matthew, I think, told us 2000 years ago, that every year when we come back, it will not be just a time of remembering and recollecting something that had happened long ago. And to sing some familiar, yet old songs. There’s more to it, says Matthew.

Matthew wants his reader to know that Jesus came to carry out a mission. A mission fulfilled 2000 years ago, yet is still ongoing. Much like how a humanitarian organization has been set up to help, and continues to help perpetually. Jesus’ mission will be the topic of our meditation this evening.

But Jesus’ mission is not the primary reason for Matthew to write his account on the conception of Jesus. Matthew writes primarily to solve a problem that he has set up for himself. Matthew begins his work with,

1The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

2Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers… (1:1-2)”

and so on and so forth.

Matthew went on and on with this formula or pattern, “someone the father of someone”. But then in verse 16, he breaks the pattern. The verse reads, “and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ. (1:16)” The breaking of the pattern signals that Jesus who is called a son of Joseph, wasn’t a son born to him biologically. The purpose of Matthew’s account of Jesus’ conception is therefore to make clear that Jesus is Joseph’s son only through adoption.

This is so important for Matthew because he needs to show that Jesus is legally a son of Joseph, only that he is not biologically so. As a son of Joseph, Jesus is therefore a descendant of King David, and this connection gives him the first – not the only – but the first qualification to be recognized as the promised Davidic Messiah.

So, we are clear about Matthew’s primary purpose of writing.

But when we take a closer look at the way Matthew writes, we will see that Matthew is also telling us about the mission that the baby is here to fulfil.

Every Christmas Eve, we hear the story of Jesus either through the gospel of Matthew or the Gospel of Luke. In Luke, the angel Gabriel says to Mary, “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.”That much Luke records for us on what the angel Gabriel says concerning the naming of Jesus. Angel Gabriel then went on to elaborate on things that will happen much later, such as God shall give to Jesus the throne of David and that he will reign forever, etc.

Matthew does things differently. Not only does he mention the name to be given, he went on to supply an interpretation of it, “She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, [and here comes the interpretation] for he will save his people from their sins. (1:21)” The same thing he does again 2 verses later. He quotes the Old Testament, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” [and he adds the interpretation] (which means, God with us). (1:23)”

The two interpretations Matthew supplies outline how Jesus’ mission would look like. We the readers are then invited to reflect on the names and the nature of his mission.

II.
Let’s begin with the name Jesus. In verse 18, we see the name Jesus Christ instead of Jesus. Friends, Jesus or Jesus Christ. The 2 ways of expressing the name, any difference to us? I guess not much. Because, with the colorless translation of Matthew’s Greek into Jesus Christ in English, something is lost. What is lost is the excitement that Matthew seeks to convey.

The people back then had been waiting for a very long time for the coming of their messiah, their savior. Matthew declares in this chapter that that Messiah is finally here, and he is Jesus Christ. Or to retain both the idea and the excitement that Matthew’s Greek seeks to convey, He whom you have anticipated with great eagerness has come, and he is Jesus Messiah, Jesus Savior. Do we share Matthew’s excitement? Yes? No? If yes, why? If not, then on this year’s Christmas Eve, we want to ask ourselves why are we not or no longer excited about God jumping into our world and our lives to take away our sins?

Jesus did not come made and packaged according to the people’s requirement. The people placed order for a deliverer from the Roman Empire, their oppressors. God delivered one who will save them from their sins, not their oppressors. Expectation misalignment. If we are not excited, could it be because we are like the people in the olden days, encountering some expectation misalignment?

God is good, he gives us what we truly need, not what we order from him. He gives Jesus who will bear our sins, so that we may stand approved and accepted before him.

If we are churchgoers, to stand before God may sound like something that is far away from today. But, events that has happened in the past 3 years, COVID, the war in Ukraine, FTX’s collapse, amongst others, tells us, things in which we perceive to be far away, and may never come to pass, may in fact be fast approaching at our door steps.

The church observes the season of Advent before Christmas, it is a period of 4 weeks where churches focus on being vigilant, and ready for the Savior’s second coming. Advent is only 4 weeks long, but vigilance and readiness we should have at all times. Jesus’ first coming was long-awaited but happened suddenly, his second coming would not be different. Matthew knows that, hence is excited that Jesus has come to bear our sins, so that we may stand at any one point in our lives approved and accepted before God.

If we are not regular churchgoers, what has just been said may sound unreal to us. That feeling might even have been there since the passage which talks about a miraculous conception was read. This evening is not a time to examine if the Christian faith is true and believer. But one thing we can at least do, that is to let the bible say what it wants to, to tell us about this baby to be born and his mission.

Matthew says that Jesus’ mission is to “save his people from their sins”. Friends, there will be no right or wrong, good or bad if there isn’t a standard to check against. There also will be no sin or holiness if there’s no one to tell them apart. The phrase, Jesus will “save his people from their sins” points to a God; a God who so generously sends us the baby who shall be the savior but is also himself the judge. In a word, Jesus shall safe his people from God’s final judgment, to help them stand approved and accepted before God.

But that’s not all. He shall also save them “… from their own worst instincts and behaviors and their consequences by graciously changing these instincts and behaviors.” 【1】

How will this come about? We might ask.

This leads us to begin our reflection on the name Immanuel; God with us.

II
The baby’s coming is not God’s first attempt to lead his people to walk in holiness and to turn away from sin. The laws in the Old Testament, the prophets, the painful lessons that Israel learned through the years, were there to guide them, even to push and shove them, to walk in righteousness.

All attempts yielded desired outcomes. But none of them was long-lasting.

The reason is simple. It is true that instincts can lead to behaviors and behaviors yields its consequences. The reverse is often harder to come by. Have we ever heard someone say this to us, “you have not yet learned your lesson.”

Guiding, pushing and shoving works, but not for long. So, 2000 years ago, God decided to save them by being born as Immanuel, to be with them, to walk through the process of change, from start till finish.

Changing instincts and behaviors takes time. Constant help and reminders will be needed. And it’s a process where there’s progress and setback. God says, I’ll do it together with you, I am God Immanuel.

The world cup has just concluded. Imagine the footballers. Imagine the early day of their training, when they were still learning how to use the correct muscles in the right way, especially when learning to execute consistently some fine movements of certain parts of the body. The athletes would need to locate those muscles, feel them and train them. A process involving trial and error, progress and setback.

Transformation, changing of instincts and behaviors is something like that. Just that it’s much longer process, where there will be progress yet also many setbacks. Still God says, I’ll do it together with you, I am God Immanuel.

This ‘I’ll do it together with you’ is not something said casually and then left behind. 2 other verses in Matthew confirms it. In 18:20, Jesus says, “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” And when we arrive at the very last verse of Matthew’s gospel, it reads, “…And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. (28:20)” I’ll do it together with you, to be your God Immanuel is the very thing that Jesus is here to do, guess that’s why Matthew mentions it at the starts and the very end of the book.

I like how a theologian and pastor expresses the idea of Immanuel,

The words of Jesus are the voice of God. The tears of Jesus are the pity of God. The wrath of Jesus is the judgment of God. All believers confess, with adoring praise, that in their most sacred hours, God and Christ merge in each other with morally indistinguishable identity. When in secret we look into God’s face, still it is the face of Christ that rises up before us. 【2】

We started the time of reflection by asking, what would Jesus wish to do today? The answer is to be with us, and as our help from above, to the end of age.

IV.
In this case, our time of reflection will not be complete without reflecting on us, as in human side of the story.

Joseph is the main human character in this story. Joseph lived in a world very different from ours. During his days, to be betrothed is the same as to be legally married. When Mary the fiancée is found to be pregnant with someone else’s child, the only thing that Joseph could do was to divorce her. To do so was to follow what the law requires, which is what Matthew meant by Joseph being a just man. In other words, according to the customs back then, to forgive and accept the adulteress was not at all an option. To condone adultery would be to sin against God in Joseph’s case.

Then came the dream. Then came the moment of decision. Not at all easy for Joseph. Mary’s pregnancy was already visible. Therefore Joseph knew and also other people. To take Mary as wife would then be seen by those who know as doing wrong, to no longer be a just man, reputation goes down the drain. And let’s not forget that life was lived in a community back then, all eyes seeing, all fingers pointing. Not at all easy for Joseph.

And all that Joseph could hang on to was but a dream, where the angel spoke with him. Was Joseph gullible is taking Mary as his wife? Don’t think so. Joseph couldn’t have went around telling people that the baby which is conceived is from the Holy Spirit. Such a crazy idea did not sound more convincing in 1st than in the 21th century.

Yet Joseph, and also Mary, chose to believe and act in accordance to what God has revealed to them.

Matthew wrote all these down. I want to say that Matthew did not write when he was hoping things will turn out the way Joseph had believed them to be. Matthew wrote long after the baby had been born, had grown up, had been crucified, had risen form the dead and continues to be with his people through the Holy Spirt who now lives in them.

Matthew wrote to affirm what he knows to be true. When he writes, he did not simply pen a record of events. He wrote to communicate the excitement he felt in himself. The excitement that the long-awaited Jesus Messiah, Jesus Savior has come and always will be with us, to enable us to stand at any one times approved and accepted before God. May we find that same excitement as we observe Christmas this year.

[1] Ben Witherington III, Smyth and Helwys Bible Commentary: Matthew (Georgia, 2006), p.46.
[2] H. R. Mackintosh, Doctrine of the Person (Edinburgh, 1913), p. 340 as cited in T. F. Torrance, The Christian Doctrine of God (Kindle Version), p.14.

12月24日烛光崇拜 Candlelight Service Video Link
https://youtu.be/P9suwCSb9QQ