​First Presbyterian Church of Blackwood                          
21 E. Church Street
Blackwood, NJ 08012                                                                              
Sermon Notes (Sunday ~ December 29 2024)
Sermon Title – The Logos of Creation
Text – John 1:1-18
Rev Joel Buckwalter

​First Presbyterian Church of Blackwood                          
21 E. Church Street
Blackwood, NJ 08012                                                                              
Sermon Notes (Sunday ~ December 22 2024)
Sermon Title – A Spirit-filled Pregnancy
Text – Luke 1:39-55
Rev William Gaskill

The First Presbyterian Church of Blackwood
Sermon Notes – December 15, 2024
Rev. Cliff Jones, Guest Preacher
 
 
 “Find Your Focus for Christmas”
Matthew 2: 1 – 20
           
Two weeks ago, we talked about Christmas manger scenes and the missing piece.  Do you remember what animal I suggested you add to your nativity set at home?   (Pause)
You remembered!  A crocodile, representing King Herod who sought to kill the baby Jesus.  The crocodile in the manger reminds us of the evil and brutality that still exists today in our world, yet, we also remember, God’s power is greater.  God power is greater.
 
Now, I’d like to return to Matthew’s account of Jesus’ birth to find different responses to the birth of Jesus.  As we look at these responses, my hope is you will:  Find your Focus for Christmas.
 
Let’s read Matthew 2: 1 - 20.
 
2 In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, magi from the east came to Jerusalem, 2 asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews?  For we observed his star in the east and have come to pay him homage.”  3 When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him, 4 and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born.  5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it has been written by the prophet:
 
6 ‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah, for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.’ ”
7 Then Herod secretly called for the magi and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared.  8 Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.”  9 When they had heard the king, they set out, and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen in the east, until it stopped over the place where the child was.  10 When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy.  11 On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they knelt down and paid him homage.  Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  12 And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.
13 Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.”  14 Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt 15 and remained there until the death of Herod.  This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, “Out of Egypt I have called my son.”
16 When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the magi. 17 Then what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:
18 “A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.”
19 When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, 20 “Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.”
Fifteen helicopters had just zoomed over my sister-in-law’s house in Annapolis and she was calling with the news:  “The eagle has landed!”  The helicopters were carrying an earlier President and dignitaries to the Naval Academy.  Now, I would imagine there was a crowd outside the gates of the Academy.  There always is.  There’d be supporters, clapping and waving little American flags.  Then, there’d be protestors, yelling and carrying signs.  One event, one person; two different reactions.
 
And, it was the same for Jesus:  one event - the birth, one person - Jesus; two different reactions.
 
On the one hand, there’s Herod.  You remember Herod the crocodile, the murderous man who killed his mother-in-law, his uncle, his son, his wife, 2 other sons and the 300 soldiers who pleaded for the sons’ lives, who slaughtered women and children in the siege of Jerusalem, who murdered infants 2 years and younger when he couldn’t find the baby Jesus, who decreed that when he died, one person in each household should be killed so that the nation would have something to cry about.  We understand when it says in verse 3, that Herod was ‘frightened’, or as other translations say “disturbed”.  Paranoid Herod would not take well the news of a new king born in his territory.  He shows us a murderous reaction.
 
But, not only did Herod react.  It says that “all Jerusalem was (troubled) with him.”  So, think about the chief priests and scribes, whom Herod consulted.  They were not notified in advance of a king, possibly the Christ’s birth.  They may be thinking how come they were left in the dark and it was these pagan non-Jewish wise men who got the message?  They would not react well to the news of this birth.  And, the general population?  They would be worried, wondering how Herod would react to the news.  So, we have a range of reactions, from murderous, to negative, to neutral reactions.
 
Matthew includes these to prepare us for these reactions throughout Jesus’ life.  Before Jesus even begins his public ministry, Satan tries to de-rail him.  When Jesus heals a man in the synagogue on the Sabbath, the religious leaders begin to plot to kill him.  It all leads up to Jesus’ death - and he warns us that those who follow Jesus will experience persecution and negative reactions as well.
 
There are still negative and neutral reactions today about Jesus.  Of course, there are people who don’t like Jesus, who think He never existed, despite historical evidence.  They want nothing to do with him.  But, I’m thinking even more of people who welcome Christmas and Christ and have the best intentions, and want Christmas to be meaningful.  But with all the activities, it’s hard.  Can we just be honest?  It’s hard to experience the wonder of Christmas again like a 5 year old child, or a new Christian still caught up in the wonder of Jesus coming to earth.  I was asked this week if I missed leading worship services during Christmas.  I told them that I actually had the opportunity of leading worship this week here at Blackwood, which is great, but then, I went on to say that after so many decades trying to think of something new to say about each Christmas to make it meaningful… I did not miss that pressure.  But, we lose some of the glow of Christmas, don’t we, with the decorating, and baking, and making and mailing Christmas cards; shopping, and buying, and preparing, and cooking -  and cleaning, and after Christmas, we feel like collapsing!  Yes, we want a meaningful, spiritual Christmas, but all too often, it feels like we’re trying to pump air into a leaky bicycle tire or basketball.
 
But, there’s another part to the account of Jesus’ birth.  Wise men come looking for Jesus.  We picture them as kings, but… they weren’t.  These wise men are called, ‘magi’, a word used in two other places in the Bible.  Paul the apostle (Acts 13: 6) encounters a man who was called a ‘magus’, the singular form of ‘magi’.  He is a sorcerer, or magician.  Peter the apostle comes in contact in Acts 8: 9 with Simon, popularly called Simon Magus.  He, too practices magic.  Magi were understood to have special powers to interpret dreams, or practice magic or see into the future by interpreting the movement of stars.  The magi in Jesus’ story seem to be this kind, using the stars and heavenly events as signs from God about the future.  Somehow, they interpreted the sky and came looking for a Jewish king.
 
And, early on, Christians who heard this account of foreigners coming from another nation began to connect it to Isaiah, chapter 60, which predicts that “The Lord’s glory will be seen in Israel…and kings to the brightness of your rising.”  Soon enough, the magi became kings, and, specifically 3, since 3 gifts are mentioned.  In the Roman catacombs, pictures of the wise men appear crudely painted on the walls, 200 years before any pictures of shepherds and bleating sheep.  It wasn’t until the 1500s and the Christian Protestant revolution that the magi were overtaken in the popular mind by the shepherds.
 
The magi come to find Jesus, and when they do find him, they do something.  The word used here is proskuneiv.  It means to fall down before someone, to bow the knee, out of respect.  It can also mean worship.  Each time it’s used, you have to ask, “is this person bowing down out of respect, or is it worship?”
 
Matthew 8, a leper kneels before Jesus and asks for healing.  Is that respect or worship?
Matthew 9, a father bows before Jesus on behalf of his deathly ill daughter; an act of desperation or worship?
A woman begs Jesus on her knees to heal her daughter; is this recognition of who Jesus or a bowing, out of custom?
And, for the magi come, it says, “Falling down, they proskuneo(d) him.”
Is this respect, or worship?  You decide.
 
I think for many of us, we would decide, the wise men come to worship Jesus.  They come to honor a king, who is more than a king, the King of the Universe, and they bow down and worship him.  And, that is what we want to do as well, this Christmas, to worship Jesus.  But, amid all the busyness, all the rush, and hearing the Christmas story for so many years, it’s hard to worship.  It’s hard to worship.
 
So, how do we focus in on worshipping Jesus?  How do we do the Christmas thing and still focus in on Jesus?  If I had the answer, I could write a book and make millions!  But, if we, like the wise men, focus on worshipping Jesus, appreciating the gift of Jesus born into our world, taking on human flesh, having human nature, knowing intimately what it’s like to live in our skins, dying and rising victorious for us, overcoming the powers of evil, living to intercede for us (Hebrews) giving us his Spirit, I think we can at least move closer to worship.
 
Let’s think creatively about how we can focus in on worshipping Jesus:

• We’ve talked about nativity sets.  In the Advent booklet, Whose birthday is it, anyway?, it suggests setting up a manger scene; then, each day, moving the wise men just a little closer towards the baby Jesus.  That physical act alone, can help us focus in on Jesus.  How about adding a reading from the Bible, even one paragraph each day from Matthew, chapters 1 -2, and then Luke, chapters 1-2?  Then, take a few moments to appreciate something about Jesus and what God has done.
• The wise men fell down, worshipped Jesus, then what did they do?  They offered gifts, costly worship of gold, frankincense and myrrh, all costly gifts.  Perhaps our worship can be like theirs.  In the midst of our shopping for gifts for others, how about adding another name to your “must buy for” list, the name of Jesus?  What you spend on a family member, spend on Jesus.  Give a gift of money to a Christ-honoring cause.  It could be a gift to this church, or Urban Promise, or sponsoring a child, or to missions, something that is Christ-honoring that represents a costly gift.

 

• What about a gift of your talents and skills?  Invest yourself in serving:  Decide to be a driver on Christmas day morning for meals on wheels, or help at a soup kitchen during this time of Advent, or tutor, or bake cookies for a neighbor you don’t know, or visit a couple of people you know in a nursing home or hospital and, as you serve, say under your breath, “Jesus, I’m worshipping you through my service.”

 
The gift the magi brings is worship.  What will you bring to Jesus this day for Christmas?
 
INTRODUCTION: The crocodile Herod, yet God is greater
                                    We will find different reactions to Jesus’ birth.
                                    Read
Trans: The eagle has landed: one event, one person; two different reactions

1. SOME REACTED AGAINST JESUS

1. Herod
2. Pharisees and Scribes
3. We are lukewarm

Trans:  But, there’s another part to the account of Jesus’ birth

1. SOME REACT TOWARDS JESUS

1. The wise men
2. The wise men worshipped

Trans:  How do we focus in on worshipping Jesus?

1. We find our focus for Christmas in worship

1. Move manger scene - and read the Birth Story
2. Costly gift
3. Serve

​First Presbyterian Church of Blackwood                          
21 E. Church Street
Blackwood, NJ 08012                                                                              
Sermon Notes (Sunday ~ December 8 2024)
Sermon Title – Gospel Roots
Text – Matthew 1:1-17
Rev Richard Herman

​First Presbyterian Church of Blackwood                          
21 E. Church Street
Blackwood, NJ 08012                                                                              
Sermon Notes (Sunday ~ December 1 2024)
Sermon Title – The Missing Nativity Piece
Text – Matthew 2:1-20
Rev Cliff Jones
 
 
Do you have a manger scene that you put up for Christmas?  Maybe on a table or mantle or front yard?  One of our traditions is to take a night and drive around neighborhoods to look at the Christmas lights and lawn decorations.  We always go by one house that’s covered in lights with a sign stuck in the front yard that says: ‘tune your car radio to this Christmas music station’ which we do and the lights blink in time with the music!  Other yards have the manger scene with Mary and Joseph and baby Jesus. In another yard, there’s another manger with Mary and Joseph and baby Jesus and next to them Santa in a blue plastic helicopter.  Funny, I thought Santa came in a sleigh.  Oh, and there’s Mickey and Minnie Mouse. I must be getting forgetful, because I don’t remember Mickey and Minnie being there in the Bible with baby Jesus. 
 
In all our looking, and every manger that I’ve seen - I’ve never found a complete set.  Every nativity and indoor creche I’ve seen is missing one part of the manger scene.  It’s not another shepherd or camel or star that’s lacking.  It’s a piece that isn’t there, but should be there, because it’s in the Bible.  Curious?  Let’s see if we can find the missing piece as we read the Gospel of Matthew’s account of Jesus’ birth,  Matthew 2:1 - 12.
 
Familiar, isn’t it?  We can almost quote a part of this Christmas account.  We remember the start:  “Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came….”  And, we remember the gifts they brought:   “Gold and frankincense and… myrrh.”  Familiar stuff.
 
Underneath the familiarity, Matthew wants us to see some things.  He wants us to make the connection that Jesus is King, not only a king, but King of Creation, King of the Universe.  So, Matthew’s nativity starts out with a King, Herod, and his kingly court, with his kingly advisors, who receive Magi, whom we call Wise Men, who were themselves advisors and astrologers to kings and princes, part of the nobility.  And, these noble Wise Men, are themselves bowing down before Jesus, the King of our world and history.  This emphasis on Jesus’ kingship becomes even more obvious when we compare the nativity of Matthew with Luke.  It’s in Luke, not Matthew, that the angel accounts Jesus’ birth, not to a king, but to poor shepherds.  It’s Luke that gives us Mary’s exaltation, when she says, God “has put down the mighty from their throne and exalted those of low degree.”  (Luke 1:52)   It’s Luke that tells us about an 84 year old widow, Anna, who meets Mary and Joseph as they bring baby Jesus to the temple. Luke wants us to see God’s special concern for the poor and the marginalized, and the old.   Having these two different accounts gives us a wider perspective on who Jesus is, and that’s a good thing.
 
So, in our account this morning of Jesus’ birth, we find noble Wise Men who see a sign in the night-time sky.  They know enough of the Old Testament to travel to King Herod to find where a new-born king can be found.  That’s the logical place to ask.  Herod’s advisors quote a prophet from 600 years before, Micah, who gives Bethlehem as the location.  They find the child, worship him and present him with gifts, then go home another way.
 
But, before we close the curtain on the nativity, there’s a question left hanging in the air.  Why do the Wise Men go home another way?  Well, because they are warned in a dream.  But why? Well, because they are warned in a dream; but why?  There’s more to the Christmas story.  It doesn’t end here.  It keeps going.  Let’s keep reading, Matthew 2:13 - 20.
 
Can you imagine including this part in the annual Church Christmas pageant?  Can you imagine the calls the pastor would get from furious parents?  “My child had nightmares after seeing children dressed as soldiers stabbing other children with plastic swords!”  So, we drop this part of the story and forget about Herod.  But, we shouldn’t forget about Herod. 
 
Herod built the second temple in Jerusalem hundreds of years after the first temple was destroyed.  We can still see his massive limestone blocks of the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, but they are just the retaining wall for the hill where the big second temple was built.  But, beyond his buildings, Herod is also known for his brutality.  When he was named king, he needed the Roman army to put him on the throne.  He put down a revolt in Israel against his rule by laying siege to Jerusalem.  When it fell, he began slaughtering people.  Women and children fled the city and he ordered his soldiers to pursue and kill them.  Later, suspicious that his wife’s mother was plotting against him, he killed his mother-in-law.  Then, he killed his wife’s brother.  Later, out of his suspicion, he killed his Uncle, then his wife, then his two sons, and then the 300 soldiers who tried to intercede for his sons.  After that, another son. History tells us that when Herod was making plans for his funeral, he knew few of his subjects would mourn his death.  So he ordered – fortunately, it was not carried out – that one person in each family should be killed when he died, to make sure everyone would be crying at the time of his death.
 
In the birth of Jesus, we come face to face with Herod, with a force that threatens to overwhelm what is good and pure and right and holy.  In the story of the nativity, the force of evil comes rushing towards the baby Jesus with gleaming, sharp teeth and open jaw to devour him.  Only by God’s intervention is the child saved.
 
When we keep Herod in the birth account, we acknowledge that there is suffering and cruelty and war and brutality and inhumanity and evil.  They live alongside Jesus, and us as well.  We know it, no matter how hard we try to cover it up.  My daughter was driving on I-76 last week in traffic.  The car in the lane next to her moved slightly ahead of her and then cut sharply into her lane without getting fully in front of her.  To this day she doesn’t know why that car didn’t crash into her.  There was no space, but she slammed on the brakes and somehow, they did not collide. How irresponsible to drive in such a crazy way!  She could have been killed.
 
There’s bad stuff going on:  one person develops cancer, another’s medically necessary test is denied by insurance, there’s job lay-offs, pensions are cut, relationships are split open, dreams are deferred and die, there are financial worries, political worries, wars, loss of innocent lives, an empty seat at this year’s Christmas dinner table.  Evil is a part of our world, just as there was evil in Jesus’ world.  We must be realistic, so include Herod in the nativity; Herod trying to destroy Jesus, like a crocodile with gleaming sharp teeth and wide-open jaws.  And, sometimes, all the bad stuff gets to us.  Sometimes, it’s hard, it’s hard to be optimistic.  Sometimes, it’s hard to hold on to hope.
 
The Christmas story is a story of hope.  The child does not die.  Herod’s plans are foiled.  The child survives, not by luck or chance or his parents’ intuition.  He survives because God rescues him.  It is God’s act, and God’s power.  It is the intention of God to save the child and He does. Matthew places Jesus within the overarching plan of God for the world.  Notice how he does this.
 
Five times, five times in chapters 1 and 2, Matthew quotes Scripture.  The Scriptures are ancient. They go back 5 - 600 years.  He quotes five. Quote one answers:
What is the child’s name?  Emmanuel, meaning God with us, from  prophet Isaiah.
Where is the child to be born?  In Bethlehem of Judea, from the prophet Mica.
What is the child to do?  Flee to Egypt, from the ancient prophet, which we read.
What almost happened to the child?   Death, fulfilling Jeremiah’s prophecy of 700 years before.
Where should the child relocate to?  To Nazareth, Micah’s words from 600 years before, ch. 2
 
God purposes and God brings about, as Peter says in Acts 2:23:  “This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified…  But God raised him up….”  This horrible evil, this death, this crucifixion is part of God’s plan created before the beginning of time.  God brings from death, life.  God brings from evil, good.  God snatches the child Jesus from the crocodile’s jaws, and works to bring his plan to full bloom in our world and in our lives, and in your life.  The day is coming when there will be neither crying or pain or sorrow anymore, where all things will be joined together into the perfection of heaven.
 
God is bringing about his eternal purposes, shown in the resurrection of Jesus over the powers of evil, and He is bringing about his eternal purposes right now, in our world, in our time, in our lives.  Hope exists because of Jesus.  Hope that we can hold onto, because of Jesus.  Hope that pushes us forward, even in the midst of sorrow and pain and the evil we see in this world.
 
Herod needs to be part of the telling of the Christmas story.  Without Herod, Christmas is a thin veneer of pleasantness, a pretend calm and bright that can’t quite cover up the heartache of our world and lives.  Evil hovers, threatens to overwhelm us, but in Jesus Christ, God’s power is
greater.  God’s power is greater. So, maybe we should add a crocodile to the manger scene, just to be as realistic as the Bible, but know this, God’s power is greater.
 
This summer, my wife and I took 3 of our grandchildren to Disney; quite a trip.  One of our nights there, at 9:30 at night, we got on a ride, Tron.  You get on a futuristic motorcycle, in line, and wait, not quite knowing what’s going to happen, but you can hear the screams of the riders who are already going on the ride, somewhere ahead of you.  Then, suddenly (CLAP), it starts.  I have never accelerated in a ride, a car, a plane, as fast as this ride.  We just shot forward.  We were going so fast that my mind and my body screamed on the inside, “We’re going too fast;  we can’t slow down!”  My body melted into panic mode.  But, at the same time, deeper within my mind, I knew that it would be okay.  Other riders survived.  I would, too.
 
That’s why we have crosses that are empty.  Jesus died, but He rose!  He is fulfilling the eternal purpose of bringing all things into harmony with God’s plan.  When you put the crocodile in your nativity scene, remember to put the child Jesus as well at the very end, because God’s power is greater.  We have hope.  God’s power is greater.