Sunday Recap for 120918

Sunday Recap for 120918

Sunday, December 9, 2018 Evident Grace Fellowship looked at Luke 2:1-7

Luke 2:1 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 And all went to be registered, each to his own town. 4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.

6 And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. 7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

From those verses, we pursued this Big Idea:

Big Idea: The End of Shame

With that Big Idea, we looked at these three causes of shame:

Unkept Promises
Lack of Compassion
Humiliation

Cause of Shame: Unkept Promises
The End of Shame: God Keeps His Promises

Luke 2:1 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 And all went to be registered, each to his own town. 4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.

In the midst of suffering from an unmerciful Caesar who demanded his subjects to declare, “Caesar is Lord”, Mary and Joseph trudged home to be counted. In the midst of this, God uses the actions of this dictator to bring about the fulfillment of His promises from Isaiah 9 that a savior would born in Bethlehem.

Unkept promises from loved one and people in authority cause shame. Our unkept promises cause shame. God keeping his breaks that cycle. As we approach God, God doesn’t need our promises because we will break them. God needs our brokenness and need.

Cause of Shame: Lack of Compassion
The End of Shame: A Sympathetic Savior

6 And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth.

The humanity of Jesus is important. In fact, owning his humanity as much as His deity is essential to our salvation. I think we lose an appreciation for His humanity but His humanness is as important as His deity. But we know from the scriptures that he was born, he grew, he got thirsty, he got tired, he got hungry. We need Jesus to be human. We need the compassion of a Savior who knows our every hurt, our every broken place.

Hebrews 2:17 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

Gregory of Nazianzus, the theologian who helped us understand the Trinity better than any other said this, “That which he has not assumed he has not healed.”

When we feel we lack this compassionate presence, we despair.

“We believe the most terrifying and destructive feeling that a person can experience is psychological isolation. This is not the same as being alone. It is a feeling that one is locked out of the possibility of human connection and of being powerless to change the situation. In the extreme, psychological isolation can lead to a sense of hopelessness and desperation. People will do almost anything to escape this combination of condemned isolation and powerlessness.” Brene Brown

Cause of Shame: Humiliation
The End of Shame: A Man of Sorrows

7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

No family or friends to take them in. Their child born in a stable. A scandalous reputation that they didn’t deserve. Homeless. Seemingly helpless. Your Savior endured this humiliation so that He may exalt you out of yours.

Big Idea: The End of Shame

Unkept Promises
Lack of Compassion
Humiliation

Truth: The lowly birth of Jesus is evidence that God keeps His promise to remove our shame.

Application: Live knowing that Jesus redeemed every discompassionate, humiliating, unkept promise that you have ever experienced.

Action: Ponder the end of your shame.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.