Matthew 1:1-17

December 6, 2020

Lord’s Day Worship

Sean Higgins

The sermon starts around 20:35 in the audio file.

Or, On the Increase of His Government

Series: Advent 2020 #2

Introduction

One December when I was a kid I got into big trouble for writing “X-mas” on a box. As I remember the circumstances, I wasn’t trying to make a theological statement or express a new commitment, I had seen X-mas somewhere and it seemed like fun, plus, it fit on my small box. My abbreviation skills were not appreciated and I got a good lecture on keeping “Christ” in Christmas.

Even with my contrarian streak it wasn’t my intention to keep the gifts but get rid of God in flesh. But I took the lesson to heart, and made the concern my own for a number of years…until I learned Greek in college. In Greek class I learned that the first letter in the word for Christ is a chi, which looks exactly like our English letter x. Perhaps the first person to ever write X-mas was a sophomore Biblical studies major who thought he was being clever, and little did he know how much consternation he would cause among Christian mothers trying to teach their kids about the reason for the season.

In more recent years we Christians have gotten garland wrapped up tight around our groins about business signage and disposable coffee cups and public greetings of “Happy holidays” rather than “Merry Christmas.” This verbal shift was calculated to promote the good-feels of the god of pluralism and avoid offending those who don’t worship the Christ. I’m fine with a deliberate “Merry Christmas” back with a twinkle in your eye, or if you have a little longer, maybe a response of, “Thanks, but what’s so holy about the holiday without Jesus?”

The Christ in Christmas is certainly key. Christ is more than Jesus’ last name, though after a while calling Him “Jesus Christ” became natural in a way that calling me “Sean a Pastor” never will. Being the Christ is part of Jesus’ very nature.

All of the gospel writers identified Jesus as the Christ, but Matthew highlighted this attribute more than the others. It is part of the reason that his gospel comes first of the four, and part of the reason that it comes immediately following the end of the Old Testament. The Law, the Prophets, and the Writings anticipated the Christ. The people of God were waiting for the promised Seed, the Christ.

Χριστός (Christos) is the Greek word, transliterated into English as “Christ,” that translates the Hebrew word for Messiah, a word that is difficult to define with just one word (which is why the English “messiah” is transliterated from Hebrew). It referred to one who was anointed, that is, recognized and appointed to a certain office or title or responsibility. We typically associate Jesus as Christ with Jesus as Savior, and that is good. But there are specific words for savior, like, you know, the word Savior. When we think of “Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 1:4), we think of Him as God’s-Son who saves and is sovereign. Again, that’s good. But it’s not enough.

Yes, Jesus will save His people from their sin (Matthew 1:21), but the saving work, the primary aim of His first coming, is prominent in His earthly name: Jesus; the Hebrew name Jesuha means “the Lord is salvation.” Calling Jesus the Christ makes prominent that He is the Savior King. Keeping Christ in Christmas is only as good as we’re thinking about it as keeping the King in Christmas.

If you are a serious Christian, one who reads his Bible, one who hates the commercialism and the materialism and the secularism of what our holiday has become, you also probably think about Jesus as a King in terms of Jesus’ explanation to Pilate when He said, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). The way such a serious Christian honors Jesus as King is w[...]