An Unexpected Christmas: Unexpected Kingdom
Background to 2 Samuel 7
God is saying that this is ok… this is where I have been now for awhile.
2 Samuel 7:8-13
“8 “Now therefore, thus you shall say to My servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be ruler over My people Israel. 9 I have been with you wherever you have gone and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make you a great name, like the names of the great men who are on the earth. 10 I will also appoint a place for My people Israel and will plant them, that they may live in their own place and not be disturbed again, nor will the wicked afflict them any more as formerly, 11 even from the day that I commanded judges to be over My people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. The Lord also declares to you that the Lord will make a house for you. 12 When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.”
Review/highlight
Luke 1:26-33
“26 Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And coming in, he said to her, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” 29 But she was very perplexed at this statement and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was. 30 The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; 33 and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.”
Luke 1
Is your mind ever spinning on wondering what the right thing to do is in a specific situation?
Verses 32-33
From an unexpected town, with an unexpected life circumstance, and an unexpected greeting; Mary bore the expected King who brought an unexpected Kingdom!
Jesus’ Kingdom was unexpected… the jews wanted someone who would overthrow the romans and yet Jesus came with Love and Grace to set up a kingdom, bigger, better, and strong than anything they could ever imagine.
That Kingdom is accessed in Jesus and through Jesus! Jesus even said himself that he came to begin His kingdom. When Jesus was arrested, Pilate had a private meeting with Jesus.
John 18:33-37
“33 Therefore Pilate entered again into the Praetorium, and summoned Jesus and said to Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?” 34 Jesus answered, “Are you saying this [j]on your own initiative, or did others tell you about Me?” 35 Pilate answered, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered You to me; what have You done?” 36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom [k]is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not [l]of this realm.” 37 Therefore Pilate said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”
Application
Some of us, including myself, treat Jesus at Christmas time the way I thought about my parents visiting. Jesus is coming into my life, so He needs to be flexible with my plans, my traditions, and not disturb what I want.
Jesus came to fulfill the kingdom promise.
Big Thought: In an unexpected year, you can encounter the unexpected Kingdom of the expected King Jesus!
Let’s be honest…We have to allow the Kingdom of God and Jesus to overthrow and lead our kingdom… or what we think is our kingdom and in reality, we have been blessed to have what we have, by God, and it should drive us to want to surrender our kingdom over to God.
Things we can do:
No matter where you are and what you are going through… lean into Jesus… because in an unexpected year we can expect Jesus to be there for each and every one of us!
- David is made King
- David has some ups and downs happening with him and around him.
- But starts to get some momentum in establishing his rule & kingship…
- He wins a battle of the Philistines.
- God spoke to him about how he was to win by coming around behind them.
- God won the battle through David.
- He wins a battle of the Philistines.
- David brought the ark of the Lord to Jerusalem.
- And from these events we see David begin the next step… build a house for the Lord.
- But the plan is halted by God…
- In 2 Samuel 7 it begins with David talking to the prophet Nathan and about how he, David, lives in a nice house but the ark of the Lord is in a tent. Nathan tells David, go do whatever is on your mind because the Lord is with you.
- That very night the Lord speaks to Nathan about David’s plan. He has been dwelling in a tent…
2 Samuel 7:6 “For I have not dwelt in a house since the day I brought up the sons of Israel from Egypt, even to this day; but I have been moving about in a tent, even in a tabernacle.”
God is saying that this is ok… this is where I have been now for awhile.
2 Samuel 7:8-13
“8 “Now therefore, thus you shall say to My servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be ruler over My people Israel. 9 I have been with you wherever you have gone and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make you a great name, like the names of the great men who are on the earth. 10 I will also appoint a place for My people Israel and will plant them, that they may live in their own place and not be disturbed again, nor will the wicked afflict them any more as formerly, 11 even from the day that I commanded judges to be over My people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. The Lord also declares to you that the Lord will make a house for you. 12 When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.”
Review/highlight
- God tells David…
- What He has done in David’s life,
- What he is going to do with and for the nation of Israel.
- 12
- When David is long gone and no longer with us on the earth, God will raise up the descendants of David….
- If you know the story, in Matthew 1 we see that Jesus came from the line of David.
- But I love at the end of verse 12, there is this shift, before it has been all about David’s descendants, multiples and changes to a personal pronoun that is singular.
- We know that “His Kingdom” refers to Jesus….
- Why?
- Because the king after David, Solomon’s kingdom was destroyed.
- The nation of Israel split into two different nations.
- Eventually taken into exile.
- The Kingdom of God is accessed through Jesus and only through Jesus.
- The kingdom of God becomes visible in Jesus Christ.
Luke 1:26-33
“26 Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And coming in, he said to her, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” 29 But she was very perplexed at this statement and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was. 30 The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; 33 and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.”
Luke 1
- Mary came from an unexpected town… Nazareth
- In John 1:45-46 it says, “45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” 46 Nathanael said to him, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”
- Mary had an unexpected life circumstance… “a virgin engaged to a man”
- In Deuteronomy 22:23-24 “If there is a girl who is a virgin engaged to a man, and another man finds her in the city and lies with her, 24 then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city and you shall stone them to death; the girl, because she did not cry out in the city, and the man, because he has violated his neighbor’s wife. Thus you shall purge the evil from among you”.
- Mary had an unexpected greeting. (v. 28-29)
- “Greetings, favored one”
- Mary was perplexed, she was greatly troubled.
- She kept pondering, wondering…
- She was trying to find any reason in her head as to what is happening.
Is your mind ever spinning on wondering what the right thing to do is in a specific situation?
Verses 32-33
- Re-read and walk through them.
- These verse show us that Jesus is the expected King of which would come from the line of David.
From an unexpected town, with an unexpected life circumstance, and an unexpected greeting; Mary bore the expected King who brought an unexpected Kingdom!
Jesus’ Kingdom was unexpected… the jews wanted someone who would overthrow the romans and yet Jesus came with Love and Grace to set up a kingdom, bigger, better, and strong than anything they could ever imagine.
That Kingdom is accessed in Jesus and through Jesus! Jesus even said himself that he came to begin His kingdom. When Jesus was arrested, Pilate had a private meeting with Jesus.
John 18:33-37
“33 Therefore Pilate entered again into the Praetorium, and summoned Jesus and said to Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?” 34 Jesus answered, “Are you saying this [j]on your own initiative, or did others tell you about Me?” 35 Pilate answered, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered You to me; what have You done?” 36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom [k]is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not [l]of this realm.” 37 Therefore Pilate said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”
Application
Some of us, including myself, treat Jesus at Christmas time the way I thought about my parents visiting. Jesus is coming into my life, so He needs to be flexible with my plans, my traditions, and not disturb what I want.
Jesus came to fulfill the kingdom promise.
Big Thought: In an unexpected year, you can encounter the unexpected Kingdom of the expected King Jesus!
- God told David that he was going to establish His kingdom forever.
- God told Mary that her child would have the throne of David, would reign over Israel, and His kingdom would have no end.
Let’s be honest…We have to allow the Kingdom of God and Jesus to overthrow and lead our kingdom… or what we think is our kingdom and in reality, we have been blessed to have what we have, by God, and it should drive us to want to surrender our kingdom over to God.
Things we can do:
- (Start) Start with an open heart.
- (Read) Read the Christmas story by yourself and with your family.
- (Slow Down) Don’t be so busy with your plans & your traditions that you don’t leave room for Jesus to come into your life and family.
- (Serve) Serve
- (Lean) If it’s a difficult season because of family that is no longer with us, lean into Jesus.
No matter where you are and what you are going through… lean into Jesus… because in an unexpected year we can expect Jesus to be there for each and every one of us!
Posted in Sermon Notes