Grace in Tullahoma

Matthew 2:16-18

I. The world’s MADNESS. Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men was exceedingly angry, and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he determined from the wise men.

II.  The world’s SADNESS. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, a voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, weeping and great mourning. Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.

1) Don’t judge the victims.                                         

2) Don’t judge God.

III. The world’s GLADNESS. Thus saith the Lord; “A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.”   

Thus says the LORD: “refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears; for your work shall be rewarded, says the LORD, and they shall come back from the land of the enemy.

 He heals the broken in heart, and binds up their wounds. He counts the number of the stars; he calls them all by name. (Psalm 147:3-4) 

There is hope in your future, says the LORD, that your children shall come back to their own border.  

But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting. (Micah 5:2)

The Birth of Jesus from Joseph’s Perspective

Matthew 1:18-25

Matthew shows us the LEGAL line of Jesus                                                       

Luke shows us the LITERAL line of Jesus

I. Joseph’s DILEMMA. Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph,

before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit.

Then Joseph her husband, being a just man,

(1) He is facing the tension between law and love.

When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some uncleanness in her he can write her a certificate of divorce and send her out of his house. Deuteronomy 24:1

(2) He is facing the tension between conviction and compassion.

And not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly.

II. Joseph’s DREAM. But while he thought about these things, behold an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying…

(1) The Holy Spirit whispered into Joseph’s ear the cause of Mary’s conception. Joseph, son of David,do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.  

(2) The Holy Spirit let Joseph in on the character of her child. She will bringforth a son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins…and they shall call His name IMMANUEL.

There is salvation in no other, there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby wecan be saved. Acts 4:12

So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet.

Behold the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel which is translated “God with us.”

III. Joseph’s DECISION. Then Joseph being aroused from sleep did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife.

1) He decided to be faithful to the WILL of God.

2) He decided to be faithful to the SON of God.  

JESUS

Luke 18:18-30

It costs to follow Jesus.

“The cross is laid on every Christian. The first Christ-suffering which every man must experience is the call to abandon the attachments of this world. It is that dying of the old man which is the result of his encounter with Christ. As we embark upon discipleship we surrender ourselves to Christ in union with his death—we give over our lives to death. Thus it begins; the cross is not the terrible end to an otherwise god-fearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ. When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” -Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“Push back against the age as hard as it pushes against you. What people don’t realize is how much religion costs. They think faith is a big electric blanket, when of course it is the cross.”[1] -Flannery O’Connor

I’ve read two Lifeway Research articles this week that reveal the same thing this text does. And it makes me see how much we are like the rich young ruler who turns away from following Jesus. The research revealed that pastors see comfort as the most significant modern-day idol that has a significant influence on their congregation.[2] They also see people’s apathy or lack of commitment as the most challenging people dynamics in their ministry.[3]

Many people, Christians even, don’t want to pay the price that comes with following Jesus. We would rather have comfort and not commit to something that might impose on our schedule or our comforts. But I want to tell you tonight, whatever the cost is that comes with following Jesus, he is worth it.

Jesus is worth it.

When you aren’t in Christ, when you’re not saved, when you’re not regenerate, you have faulty hardware. You’re not working properly. Your mind deceives you. Your desires entice you. You can see the things of the world as greater than Christ. You can even see God as evil and repulsive. Romans 1:18-25 makes this very clear to us. The truth is suppressed because of unrighteousness.

Some people will say, “Well if I view God as evil and manipulative and bad, he is. Who are you to say any different? If I view him that way, he is that way to me.” A lot of people live this way. What they think or feel is what reality is. I want you to think about this, though. We don’t live this way with our physical bodies…why would we expect to with spiritual realities?

Let’s take Covid-19 as an example. What was one of the original weird symptoms? People were losing their smell and taste. I want you to think about this. Something was wrong with them. They had a disease that made them experience reality in a way that didn’t actually correspond with reality.

Here’s what I mean. You could eat a piece of cake and say, “That’s not sweet. It’s actually bitter.” That is how that person experiences cake. They could say, just like we saw before about God, “Well if I view cake as bitter and disgusting and bad, it is. Who are you to say any different? If I view it that way, it is that way to me.” Would they be right? No. We could factually say, “Look how much sugar is in it. This cake is in no way bitter.” They were experiencing real reality in a wrong way because they had a disease.

It’s the same with God. The disease is sin. The Bible makes it very clear. And you can deny it all day long, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have the disease. And the only cure is Jesus. And once you are cured, here’s what the Bible says you will experience about God: “Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good!” –Psalm 34:8. Here’s what the Bible says you will experience about God’s Word: “More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.” –Psalm 19:10

It doesn’t only say that, but hear the next verse, which goes along with our encounter with Jesus in Luke 18.

“Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.” –Psalm 19:11

We are warned of our disease, and we are t

How long do you think it would take to lead the whole world to Christ? America? Tullahoma? Your school?

Statistics (32% or the world claims to be Christian; 68% non-Christian)

U.S. population: 332 millionWorld population: 7.75 billionEach day (in the world)385,000 babies are born261,800 of those will end up non-Christian150,000 people die102,000 die without knowing ChristEach hour (in the world)7,425 people die5,049 die and go to hellIf you stood all the lost people of the world shoulder to shoulder, they would circle the globe 30 times.If just Southern Baptists could see 500,000 conversions a year and freeze the number of people who were born and died . . .It would take 664 years to reach America15,500 years to reach the worldIf one person led one person to Christ the first year, discipled him, and then both led one person to Christ the next year, then continued the process  . . .We would reach your school in 10 years (1,024 converts)We would reach Tullahoma in 15 years (32,768 converts)We would reach America in 29 years (536,870,912 converts)We would reach the World in 33 years (8.5 billion converts)

We are called, as Christians, to make disciples of all nations. We see that in Matthew 28:19-20. We see it stated a little differently in Acts 1:8. We are to make disciples around the world and where we are.

Why? Because the world needs Jesus. And the people around you need Jesus.

Over the next few weeks, we are going to look at a few accounts of people who had needs and how Jesus met them. As we see their needs, we will see our own. As we see how they needed Jesus, we will see ways in which we do.

Mark 2:1-12

The paralytic’s needs drove the four men’s action.

I’ve always seen the four men as the subject of the story. No. Outside of Jesus, the paralytic is the subject. He had needs that only Jesus could meet. The four friends acted off those needs. If they hadn’t, the man would have been left there, alone in his desperation, while Jesus walked by outside and right past him.

The man would have died a cripple, taking his last breath in that same bed that was his only companion. He would have died in that bed, a cripple, and died never having known Jesus…with his sins still unforgiven.

But that’s not what happened. Four people cared. They cared so much that they took that very bed that the paralytic would one day die in and picked up the whole thing up and used it to carry him to Jesus. And his world was changed.

Jesus meets our greatest needs. The man’s greatest need wasn’t for him to be able to walk. It was for his sins to be forgiven. It’s the same for you and me. The Jews were expecting the Messiah to come as a mighty king to rid them from their oppression. Instead, Jesus came as a sacrificial servant, to forgive sins of all who would believe. People don’t even know their truest need. All we see often are the circumstances around us, and we often don’t think about spiritual things or eternity…what happens when we die. You can have everything you need on earth yet still lack what you truly need…forgiveness of sins. So, may people don’t even know they have this great need. When need to be told we are a sinner before we see our need for the Savior.

How does someone get forgiveness of sins? Faith in Jesus. Jesus died in our place, taking the punishment for our sins.

Ephesians 1:7 – In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.

But here’s something big we need to see from this encounter with Jesus. The friends’ faith came before the man’s forgiveness.

It doesn’t say in verse 5, “When Jesus saw the man’s faith…” It says, “When Jesus saw their faith…” They believed that Jesus could heal their friend, even when their friend was helpless. Even when he was chained to his bed. They picked up that bed and carried their friend to Jesus.

There are people you know who are chained to their beds, their beds of depression, of f

Rest matters. You can get in some pretty funny and embarrassing situations if you don’t have rest. Every single person has probably had their picture taken at least once while asleep in the car or in a classroom with drool rolling down their cheek. I could tell story after story of hilarious instances where lack of rest has caused people to be embarrassed.

– Sara seeing man fall asleep at Christmas Eve service and put money in communion

– Pictures of recent vacation (me driving and me sleeping)

The commandment and principle we are looking at this morning has to do with rest.

I want to see a show of hands…Who in here kills people? Who is a kleptomaniac (steals things)? Who is an adulterer? Does anybody have an alter in their house full of idols they worship? Who in here regularly practices the Sabbath and holds the Sabbath as important a command as the others we just mentioned? It’s the 4th commandment in our ten commandments, and its origins go all the way back to the beginning—to creation. Let’s read it first as we know it best, from our ten commandments, then let’s dig in.

Read Exodus 20:8-11

You could make the case that the Israelites would have understood the 4th commandment to be the most important of the ten. It is the longest and most detailed commandment of all that God gave. It is mentioned more often than any of the other Ten Commandments—over 100 times in the Old Testament. God also gave this command to them before they reached Mt. Sinai (Ex. 16).

We see from the 4th commandment that we are to honor God with our time. J. I. Packer says, “God’s claim on our Sabbaths reminds us that all our time is his gift, to be given back to him and used for him.” This is what Sabbath reminds us. Our time belongs to Him.

Eugene Peterson, one of my favorite authors and pastors of the last century, had an article in Christianity Today in 1988 titled, “Confessions of a Former Sabbath Breaker.” I should just read his article for this message, say amen, and walk away. Hear what he says about time:

“One day a week I stand before you and call you to worship God. The conviction behind the act is that time is holy. But how often do you hear anyone say so? More likely you hear, ‘Time is money.’ And, as with money, you mostly feel that you don’t have enough of it, ever. On occasion, when you have time for which nothing is scheduled you will ‘kill time.’ “Odd, isn’t it? We have more leisure hours per person per year as a country than anyone could have guessed a hundred years ago. But we are not leisurely. We are not relaxed. We are anxious. We are in a hurry. The anxiety and the hurry ruin intimacy and sabotage our best intentions in faith, hope, and love-the three actions in which most of us set out to do our best. “That is why I as your pastor want you to keep a Sabbath. I want you to live well. I want you to live whole and mature, with appreciation and pleasure, experiencing the heights and depths of God’s glory in your bodies and your work, your friends and your gardens, your minds and your emotions, at the ocean and in the mountains. You can’t do that if you are’ on the run.’ You can’t do that if you are watching the clock. Sabbath is the biblical tool for protecting time against desecration. It is the rhythmic setting apart of one day each week for praying and playing-the two activities for which we don’t get paid, but which are necessary for a blessed life.”

Sabbath is important and so often neglected. This is why we must study it together this morning.

Sabbath means rest or cease.

Shabbat (שַׁבָּת) is the original Hebrew word for our English word Sabbath. It means “to cease, to end, to rest.”[1] What was it rest from? Work. On the seventh day of the week, God’s people would rest from work. They would go out of their way to rest from work. It’s taken so seriously that you see, at the time of Jesus, Pharisees, who were the keepers of the law, get upset that Jesus’ disciples picked wheat for themselves