Welcome Christmas - Love that Protects - Matthew 2:13–23

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Well, good morning. You know, you don't have the the position I have every morning when I get up on Sunday mornings and look out across the the room here and just seeing the faces and seeing the individual people and it just brings a smile on my face. And so, here's what happened this morning. I'm going across and I'm seeing these folks I know and I'm seeing these. I'm seeing these. And I go and I won't call anybody out because I wouldn't want to embarrass Travis, but he has the ugliest Christmas sweater I've ever seen in my life. So Travis, welcome to South Sub Church. And don't ever wear that shirt again. Okay. Thank you very much. Just need a public service announcement right there. Hey, it is just good. Can you believe we're just a few days before we celebrate Christmas Eve and we celebrate Christmas together? So, we're so glad you're here today. And if you've been with us the last few weeks, we've been going through the Advent season together. And um if you know much about the Advent season, one of the traditions that have taken place with churches literally for hundreds of years is every week a different candle is lit. And so the first week that we did Advent, we we lit the hope candle. And we talked about the hope candle just through the genealogy of Jesus because we've been working through the book of Matthew. And so we just looked at this long list of names. But we saw in that long list of names that there's been this hope that people have always waited for. And that hope finally came in the form of of Jesus Christ. And the second week in the Advent process or the Advent discussion, we did Joy. And as we looked at Joy, we looked at Joy through just Joseph learning about the pregnancy of his wife. Now, I say the pregnancy of his wife. It's really the pregnant fiance. And you wonder how can you find joy in that? But the angel showed up and just let him know that know that God was in charge. And so we can find joy in difficult seasons. And then last week, if you're here, we looked at peace. And that was the magi visiting Jesus and the peace that they found as they worshiped this ch Christ child. And so this week, the fourth Advent candle is love. And we're going to look as we continue studying the book of Matthew. There's a section of what's called the Christmas story that most people gloss over because it's the part of the Christmas story that the magi have already come, the shepherds have come, the angels have sing sung, and everybody kind of thinks the Christmas story is over with. But there was this this moment in the life and the birth of Jesus that took place that really just just brought about a lot of just just consternation probably. It brought about a lot of just insecurity. And so people often just take this part of the Christmas story and they put it on the shelf and they never bring it out at Christmas time, but it fits in it beautifully and it actually is going to teach us about this idea of love today. And so if you have your Bibles, you can read. We'll have it up on the screen. If you have an handout, you can look in the handout. But we'll be looking at Matthew chapter 2 and we'll be starting in verse 13. And let me just read it for us here together. Matthew chapter 2, starting in verse 13. And it says this, "After the wise men had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. And the angel said this, "Get up. Flee from Egypt with a child and his mother. And the angel said, "Stay there until I tell you to return because Herod is going to search for the child to kill him." So, can you imagine Joseph? Like, you've had this amazing dream from an angel. the angel appeared in your dream and told you that that you're going to be the earthly father of King Jesus. But now this angel shows up in your dream and says now somebody's going to try to kill your son. So you need to pick up your wife. You need to pick up your son and you guys need to flee from from Bethlehem that you need to go ahead and flee to to Egypt. And then that ver in verse 14, that night Joseph left for Egypt with a child and his mother Mary. Now we're not exactly sure where they went to when they fled to Egypt. Bethlehem to the Egyptian border was about 75 miles. But if they would have reached the Egyptian border, it would have been a wilderness area. And so most historians, most theologians don't believe they stopped right there at the border. In fact, they also think they went far enough along because remember, they're escaping this idea of Herod trying to kill the baby Jesus. And so many think they went to one of the more populated cities. In fact, many often think they went to the city called Alexandria. Alexandria would have been about 200 miles from Bethlehem to um to Alexandria. And the reason they went there is because there was just a lot more safety. Imagine if you're an immigrant running for your life and you're leaving your country to another country. You're looking for people like yourself, people that you can fit into, places that you can get a job. And so Alexandria would have been a bigger town that Joseph being a carpenter probably found some kind of work to take care of his family. There's a good possibility they would have went to Alexandria. there would have been already a community of Israelites that had for whatever reason fled um Israel and gone to Egypt. So they could have been a neighborhood, a community of people like themselves. Um it'd been much much easier to find food living in a city than living in the wilderness somewhere. And so most people think, most theologians think that when Joseph took Mary and baby Jesus and they fled in the middle of the night, they didn't just do a hop, skip, and jump over across the border. They traveled about 200 miles. Now, pause there for a second and put yourself in the place of Mary. Your husband wakes you up. Your husband says, "Hey, baby, we got to go. Pick up the baby. We got to go." We're not sure exactly how old Jesus is at this point. Many think he's anywhere from six months, maybe even two years of age when they fled Israel. But pick up the small child and you have to travel 200 miles. Joseph doesn't have the car gassed up waiting. He's got the donkey fed waiting. You're not traveling down some slick lit highways that you're safe. You're traveling on country roads that are full of robbers. They're full full of thieves and maybe even soldiers leaving Israel looking to chase and find and kill your child. It would have been a long difficult 200 miles. But the Bible says that night that Joseph left for Egypt with a child and Mary's mother. And then it goes on to say this in verse 15. And it says, "And they stayed there in Egypt there until Herod's death. And this fulfilled what the Lord had spoken throughout the prophet. I called my son out of Egypt." And again, we're not sure how long they stayed in Egypt. The child's anywhere from six month to two years of age. Most theologians think when they fled to Egypt, they might have stayed there anywhere from another six months up to another two years. And the Bible says this in verse 16, Herod was furious when he realized that the wise men had outwitted him because remember going back to the story from last week, he had told the wise men, "Hey, once you find out when the c where the Christ child is, let me know because I want to go worship him." That was never Herod's intention. He wanted the wise men to let him know where the child was because he was so jealous of another king that he wanted to put that king to death. So he was furious. It says he sent soldiers to kill all the boys in in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under based on the wise men's report of the star's first appearance. And Herod's brutal action fulfilled what God had spoken through the prophet Jeremiah when he said this. A cry was heard in Rama weeping and great mourning and Rachel we reaps for her children refusing to be comforted for they are dead. Then in verse 19 when Herod died an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt. Get up, the angel said, take the child and his mother back to the land of Israel because those who were trying to kill the child are dead. And so Joseph got up and returned to the land of Israel with this Jesus with Jesus and his mother. So this night that Joseph has this dream and the angel says, "It's all clear. You can go home now." Can you imagine the joy? Can you imagine excitement that that they had left their land, they had left their family for anywhere from up to six months to two years. And so he goes and he wakes up. Mary says, "Mayor, guess what? We get to go back home. Get everything ready. I know it's going to be a long drive but a long travel, but it'll be worth it. So get up. Let's go. Let's go." And so as they set out, you can imagine their anticipation of going back was a little bit different than it was coming. Their excitement level was raised while before before when they um drove or when they rode to Egypt, they would have been great dread. And so they're heading back to Israel. But then look in verse 22. But when he learned, meaning Joseph, when he learned that the new ruler of Judea was Herod's son, Archelaus, he was afraid of going there. And then after being warned in another dream, he left for the region of Galilee. And so the family went and lived in a town called Nazareth. This fulfilled what the prophets had said. He will be called a Nazarene. So again, a part of the Christmas story that we've usually already sheld the Christmas story and put it away, but we forget about this one. But I don't know about you, but when I read this story, I'm going, "Isn't God good? Isn't God good that here the Christ child Jesus was born and God had it all planned before the baby was ever born that yes this mean man named Herod is going to try to kill him but God had already arranged everything that they could escape to Egypt and the Christ child Jesus would be okay and then they turn around when it's time to come home there's still someone that's out after him Joseph was worried for the safety of his family and God had already predicted hundreds of years before that that there would be a place in Nazareth where they would take the child and they would raise the child. And you just look at this going, "Wow, if the Advent candle we're lighting today is love, isn't it a great story showing of God's great love for for Jesus, for Mary, for Joseph?" Would you agree with me? But there's a problem with that. We're looking at the story in hindsight. We're looking back going, "Oo, look how prophecy was fulfilled." We're looking in hindsight going, "Oh, look how God took care of them." And it's so easy to wrap our arms around it and just going, "Oh, what a loving, wonderful story that we read in the Bible." Amen. But I propose this. If you were Mary in the middle of it in real time, if you were Joseph and you're the one having to saddle up the donkey for your two-year-old son and your wife to travel all those miles in a dangerous place. If you're the one moving them here, then moving them here, then moving them here, and not worry or or being worried for their own safety and security. Does it feel like such a loving story? In fact, I wonder this. Rather than Joseph running to Mary going, "Hey, high five, Mary. Guess what? We get to go home." I wonder this if it actually posed questions in his mind and in Mary's mind. I wonder if they asked the questions, where is God in all this? Like yes, they are getting a dream. They are hearing the angel telling them what to do. But even the directions of the angel leaves them going, but why God? Where are you, God? I wonder if it led them to ask the questions, God, you said you had great plans for us, but do you really? In fact, I'll push it one step further. I wonder if they even at times question going, God, do you really love us? And you may be sitting your seat going, Keith, that's heresy. How could you ever think those questions were asked by Mary and Joseph? You know why I think those questions were asked by Mary and Joseph? Because many times are asked by you and I when things don't go our way. When life becomes difficult, when we don't see exactly what God's doing and we definitely don't understand what God is doing, it often leads us to ask the question, God, where are you? God, what are you doing? And God, do you even love me? Are you with me? Sometimes as a preacher, I stand up here and I feel very alone because I'm asking questions that I wonder if anybody else is asking. Can you help the preacher out? You ever ask those questions before? Yeah. And you know why you ask those questions? You know why I ask those questions? Because we're living it real time. Now, I can look back in situations in my life going, "Man, I asked them then, but when I look back in hindsight, when I see what God was doing, I'm going, God, you're full of love." But when you're in the middle of it, you don't always feel that love. And here's what I'm thinking today. I bet there are a number of us in this season, this year, the end of 2025, that's in the middle of it. You've got the Christmas tree decorated. All the lights are hung. There's some presents purchased, but you're still feeling God, are you here with me? God, what plans do you have for my life? And many might even ask the question, God, I know you say you'd love me, but do you love me? Because I'm not feeling it right now, the way things are going. But here's what I want to declare today. That even when we don't feel it, even when Mary and Joseph might not have seen it, God's love is always there. And maybe God brought you here today and that's the words you needed to hear today. God's love is real and present in your life. In fact, what I'd like to do is take our next 15 minutes and go back to the story and I think we can dig deep and we can see where God demonstrated that his love is always there. And so, if you're taking notes and you're writing things down, you might even write this first one down. And here's what it says. God's love is present in uncertainty. God's love is present in uncertainty. You see, uncertainty in life has a way of unsettling us, right? Like why? Because we like things that are for sure. We like clarity. We like timelines in our life that everything fits perfectly. We like answers that we can hold on to. And when we don't have those answers, when that timeline seems like it's messed up. When we're unsure about things, it leaves us to feeling uncertain. And that uncertainty just leads us to be so unsettled. And so what happens is when we feel unsettled is when we begin to question God. When we feel unsettled, we wonder, does he love us? Is he hearing our prayers? Does he really have our life under control? I mean, let's go back to Mary and Joseph for a second. Joseph gets this dream in the middle of the night and the angel says, "Get your child, get your wife, and you guys head to Egypt." You're going, "God, what great plans." We'll stop there for a second. Egypt is about the size of Texas and and and Colorado combined. And so if the angels say, "Pick up your child and take off to Egypt," yes, it gives them a direction to go, but it doesn't give them a place to go. Like I I just wonder did did Joseph like, "Okay, that's nice, but can you be a little bit can you put a pin on the on the map somewhere where we're supposed to go?" And so he was left with a lot of uncertainty. And in that certainty, he could have asked a lot of questions. In that uncertainty that Joseph had as he picks up his wife, he picks up his child and they just start heading that way toward towards Egypt, not sureing where he needs to go. I'm sure he's full of anxiety. They were full of fear. Can you imagine the conversation taking place between Mary and Joseph as they rode? Mary's like, "Now, Joseph, why did we have to get up in the middle of the night? Where are we going?" And Joseph looks at her and says, "Egypt." And she looks back and says, "Why?" And he looks back and says, "I don't know." And she looks at him and says, "But where in Egypt?" And he looks at her and goes, "I don't know." And then she looks at him and says, "Do you know anything?" and he looks back at her and says, "I don't know." Like that conversation between a husband and wife trying to figure out where their life was going had to lead to the point they're just going, "What's next?" And here's what happens in mine and your life. And I'm sure it happened in their life. When we have uncertainty, when there's a blank in the story of our life, what do we usually end up doing? We write the story ourselves. If God doesn't give us the specifics, if God doesn't give us the timeline, if God doesn't tell us exactly what's about to happen, we get so anxious, so nervous, so overworked because of all the uncertainty, we just start writing the story oursself. And if you're like most people, our story never has a good ending. We think worstcase scenario. And that's what this idea of uncertainty leads in our life. But here's what we need to understand. God's love does not always remove uncertainty, but God's love always provides direction. He may not give us the full map, but God always says he'll tell you what the next step is to do. And in the story of Mary and Joseph, God's next step for Joseph is just go to Egypt. Didn't give him the full map. didn't give him just some pin on the map where he needs to go. He just said, "Go to Egypt." And what Joseph did so faithfully, he didn't question God. He didn't argue with God. He didn't try to negotiate with God. He just said, "Okay, God." And he took the next step. You see, here's what we need to realize in our life. If you are living in a season of uncertainty right now, remember this that unclear circumstances do not mean lack of God's love. Let me say it again. Unclear circumstances in your life does not mean there's a lack of God's love in your life. That even when you don't know exactly what the future holds, God is still guiding. God is still protecting and God is still working. His love is not proven by how much he tells us, but his love is proven in the fact that he walks with us. Let me say that again. God's love is not proven by how much he tells us what's going to happen in our life. His love is proven by the fact that he walks with us in his life and in our life. And so we can rest assured that when we're wondering, God, are you there? God, are you hearing my prayers? God, do you love me? God's love is present even in times uncertainty. Let me give you the second one. If you're taking notes, you can write this down. God's love is present in loss. God's present and God's love is present in loss. Loss is one of the most universal and painful experiences that you and I can go through. And there's all kinds of loss, right? There's a loss of someone losing a job and they lose their their identity, they lose their income. And so there's a loss when you lose a job. There's a loss of life that some many in our church this year is the first year they experience a Christmas without that special love person. And so there's a loss of life. There's a loss of friendships and relationships. There's a loss of dreams. We could just make a list of the different types of losses that you and I experience. But loss is one of the most just universal and painful experiences. You see, when we lose someone or something that we love and hold very dear to our lives, it reshapes our lives, doesn't it? It alters our expectations of what a day is today compared to the day that we had that individual or that thing in our life. When we experience a loss, it leaves us grieving what once was. A dear friend of mine that I talked to on a regular basis lost his wife of 50 years several months ago. And as we're talking about Christmas, he said, "Keith, I dread Christmas morning because for 50 years, this is what Christmas morning looked like for me and my wife." And so this loss he's experiencing not just the loss of the individual with him. He's me experiencing the loss and he's grieving what's once always was. Think about Mary and Joseph for a second when they had to flee to Egypt. All the losses they went through. They lost this sense of security of just waking up and think going to be okay because everything's fine. They're on a road. They don't know if robbers or thieves or some soldiers from sent by arid is going to attack them. And so they lost the sense of security. They lost their home. Anybody had to move and go to new home going, "It will never be the same." Can you imagine moving and not even going to a home? So they lost their home. They lost their community, their relationships they had built and and put around them. They lost financial stability. Joseph says, "Honey, get up and we're going to go." And she's like, "Okay, but but what are you going to do for a job?" And he looks at her and says, "I don't know." And so they were experiencing all of this loss. And that loss led to grief. It led to confusion. It led to loneliness. Loss is tough. But here's what we have to also understand. Loss can lead to a deeper dependence on God. Because when I don't have him or her, when I don't have this relationship, when I don't have this thing, when I don't have my security, I have nothing to do but going, "God, I need you." Like, we would love to think that we grab hold of God when everything is great, but most the times we grab hold of God more when things aren't great. And so, loss can actually lead us to greater dependence on God. You see, in the quiet ache of loss, God meets us not always with answers, but with his presence. God meets us not always with answers that we want, but with his presence. You see, loss may change what our lives look like, but it does not change who God is. God was the same God in Israel as he was in Egypt. God was the same God when the angels stood before the shepherds and sang in majesty and told him of this newborn king as he was when Mary and Joseph and Jesus were traveling along this road worrying about their own safety. God never changed.

Even when we can't see how thing anything good could come of what we've lost, we can always trust that God is still at work. And that's where some are in this room right now. You're going, Keith, I've got a loss. I've got a hole in my heart that doesn't feel like it can be filled by anything. And your eyes are so blurred with the grief. Your eyes are so blurred with the loneliness. Your eyes are so blurred with the hurt. And that's normal. There's nothing wrong with that. That it's hard to see what God is doing. But here's what you've got to grab hold of. That God is still working behind the scenes that you can't see. Like think about Mary and Joseph as they're traveling to Egypt. God was so much in the details that he had prophesied hundreds and hundreds of years before that what would take place. He was in the details. And in the details of Mary and Joseph's life of loss, in the details of your loss that you're going through right now, here's what God is doing. He's redeeming your pain. He's in the process of restoring your heart and he's helping you hold it together until the healing begins.

God is the God at all times. And God's love is present even in loss. Let me give you this last one. As we look at this story, this part of the scripture that we forget to put in the Christmas nativity story, the story of Mary and Joseph fleeing to Egypt and then coming back and and still feeling insecure. Here's what we can recognize. That God's love is present in tragedy.

You see, tragedy has a way of shaking us to the core. It interrupts our daily lives.

In fact, if you go back to the story of Mary and Joseph and as they fled Bethlehem, here's here's what historians tell us that there was probably three to 400 people living in Bethlehem at that time. And remember, Herod said, "Kill any child two years or any boy, male child two years of age and under." So it's estimated in that course of within a week anywhere from 10 to 30 young boys were killed. It's it's often referred to just in artwork and history and in different times. It's just often referred to as just this moment of that innocence, the massacre of innocence. Now we look back at that and you just shudder, right? I mean, think about 300 people. On an average Sunday morning, between this service and next service, we'll have 300 people here. Can you imagine having 300 people here one Sunday and the next Sunday we come back and maybe 10 to 30 of the little boys were no longer with us because of some tragedy, some massacre, some death for all of them. It would shake us all to the bone. But you and I understand tragedy, don't we? All you have to do is open the newspaper, open the internet and just read a little bit, watch the news. I mean, there is tragedies every week as we look and it seems like it's just another week and another mass shooting shooting at a school. There's there's tragedies like the historic flooding that we've seen across the United States this past year. Family violence that makes headlines and leaves a mom and dad dead.

I have a friend of mine that this Christmas will be the first Christmas she's experiencing without her husband and her her grandson and his wife. About eight months ago, they were driving down the road. They were all on motorcycles and a drunk driver pulled out and hit all four of them on a motorcycle and killed three. And she's left by herself alive. And she's feeling the tragedy. And so whether it's a personal tragedy you experience or just the tragedies that rocks our soul that we read about in the news, here's what we know that scripture reminds us that even in the darkest moments of tragedy, God is there.

His presence can never be cancelled by our pain. His care is never diminished by our suffering. He is there with us. God's love is present in tragedy. Now, I don't think there's anything wrong with throwing up our hands going, "God, why?" If you read the book of Psalms, there's a lot of wise in the book of Psalms. It is our natural emotion that erupts when things go away that we don't agree with.

But in our asking the why, we need to always hang on that God is still there. His love may not explain the tragedy, but his love enters the tragedy. Let me say that again. God's love may not ever explain the why of the tragedy, but his love always enters into the tragedy. Got the story of Mary and Joseph. They got baby Jesus. He escapes this tragedy of all these boys being killed. And you're going, "Well, that makes it really easy for him. He wasn't one of the child, one of the children being killed. He Mary and Joseph could sit back going, "Woo, we missed that one." Fast forward the life of Jesus 32 years and experienced an own tragedy of his own as he died on the cross. You see, God never tried to keep his son from the tragedy. He sent his son into this world to experience the tragedy with us. And it's in that tragedy that he stepped into that he gives us his greatest love.

And so this morning as we are looking through life through our own filters, it can lead us to ask the question, why God? It can lead us to ask the question, God, are you here? It can even lead us to ask the question, God, do you love me? But here's what I propose to all of us that even when we can't understand, even when we can't see all the details, even when we question God's God's love is here. God's love is here so great that we celebrate Christmas because he sent his son to come live in the midst of us. He didn't keep his son safe. He didn't keep him up in heaven going, "Okay, I love you guys. Don't forget that." He sent his son into the middle of our mess, into the middle of all the things we don't understand. He sent his son to live amongst us. And then he sent his son not just to live amongst us but to carry it for us. And so this morning I want you to know this that God's love is here. And sometimes we have to let that sink in our head before it can ever get into our soul. And so I want to let you know again, let your mind hear this. God's love is here. And even more personal, God's love is with you. In the middle of the uncertainty, in the middle of the tragedy, in the middle of loss, God's love is here. You know, Sid, today we we light the fourth candle. And it's interesting as you think about candles. Candles never extinguish all the darkness. Like if we turn all the lights down in here and we have these three candles lit, it just simply steps into the darkness. And I think that's a good reminder as we light the love candle today. God's love does not distinguish all the darkness in our lives, but God's love steps into our lives and becomes a light. And so I'm ask you to do me a favor. Would you just bow your head for just a second? I don't know what words God had for you to hear today,

but would you receive God's love today?

Maybe you need to voice those words. God, in the middle of my uncertainty, in the middle of my loss, in the middle of tragedy. God, I receive your love.

It may not extinguish all the darkness, but it's a step into lighting the darkness.

And as you pray that, would you open your eyes and join me as I light our love candle?

So, Father, we come before you today

and we embrace you, God.

We embrace your joy. We embrace your hope. We embrace the peace that you bring, God. We embrace your love. And though we may not understand all of it, and though we may not even agree with all of it,

God, we declare that you are God and we declare that you are love and we embrace and we pray these things in your name, Jesus. Amen. Amen.