Christ PCA Temecula

This Christmas we’ll look at the fifth mother in Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus, Mary. There is so much in her brief story that fills us with awe. Mary is a model disciple, a model follower of her own son who helps us to see not her own greatness but the God who intrudes into our world to redeem it and to redeem her. The story of Mary is not about her sufficiency and worth but her own needs being met by her covenant-keeping God in the one she carried in her womb.

The fourth and final woman from the Old Testament listed in Matthew’s genealogy is Bathsheba, who Matthew lists as the wife of Uriah. From Tamar exposing the sin of Judah, Rahab delivering the Hebrew spies, and Ruth just so happening to glean in Boaz’ field, in the tragic story of David and Bathsheba God remains at work in the midst of these broken people from whom the Savior will come.

This Sunday we turn to the book of Ruth, the third woman mentioned in Matthew’s genealogy. Ruth is not only a distant relative of Jesus but anticipates his redemptive love as she enters into the life of Naomi to bring hope where there appears to be only hopelessness and darkness. In the end, Ruth is a fitting story for this time of year where we are reminded of the weight of life in this world of sin and death and the hope found in a baby born in Bethlehem.

This week in our Advent series “Mothers of Jesus” we arrive at the story of Rahab, a Canaanite prostitute living in the wall of Jericho. Yet she’s in the line of Israel’s promised Messiah, the One the angel told Joseph to name Jesus, because he came to save his people from their sins. Rahab’s story has much to teach us about the scandal of grace and the meaning of true faith in the One who came to save sinners, and who is coming again to rescue his people.

It might seem strange to base a sermon series on the “begats.” The genealogies of so-and-so’s who begat so-and-so’s, but this advent season this is where we are turning our attention. In Matthew’s genealogy in Matthew 1, we have one of the most interesting list of names in the Bible. As Matthew makes the case that Jesus is profoundly connected to men like David and Abraham, he also sprinkles in the names of four women, that communicate just what kind of Messiah Jesus is.

“Did God actually say?” These words set in motion the fall, mankind’s loss of fellowship with God. But this tragedy set the stage for redemption in the Promised Savior to conquer the cunning serpent, Satan. All the pain, sorrow, and loss in our lives trace back to when Adam and Eve abandon God’s Word for Satan’s lies. But the Gospel of Grace has the final word. We see what was lost when God’s Word was abandoned and how God’s final word of grace triumphs over sin.

As we conclude our series in Colossians we see how it looks to live out of the supremacy and sufficiency of Jesus. Last week, Paul applied these Gospel realities to our everyday relationships. This week, Paul calls us to a larger kingdom mindset; called to a life of prayerful watching, anticipating, and expecting God’s work in our lives and to be a people who exhibit Christ to the world around us in a post-Christian world in need of the saving power of the gospel.

Paul begins to wrap things up at the end of the letter by spelling out what the glories of Christ mean for even our most ordinary relationships. In our passage this Sunday, Paul details what it might look like to do everything in the name of the Lord. The lordship of Christ means everything for the places in life God has called us as we explore what it might look like to do marriage, family, and work life in the name of the Lord.

This week looking at the well-know story of Jonah, we’ll turn to chapter 4, where we will contemplate Jonah’s displeasure and anger at his enemies receiving mercy and in doing so, we must also search the condition of our hearts and ask ourselves this question: Are we okay with our enemies receiving mercy? In thinking through this question, we must first bear to mind the great mercy and forgiveness that our Heavenly Father has shown us in His Son our Lord, Jesus Christ.

In the final section of Colossians, Paul unpacks what it means to live our lives in the fullness of Jesus. While the opening emphasizes the supremacy and sufficiency of Christ for all things pertaining to our status before God, the closing turns to the practical topics of application. Paul and other New Testament writers offer the basic message that how you live always comes from who you are. Join us as we consider what growth and maturity in Christ look like in the life of the believer.