Jesus Christ Really Is That Awesome

In one paragraph

This was the third week of Advent, the Sunday of joy, and Pastor Ray continued his Harmony of the Gospels Christmas series by walking through the genealogies of Matthew and Luke. Rather than skipping over those lists of names, he slowed down to show why they matter. The message closed with the congregation reading through the first four verses of Hebrews together. Pastor Ray opened by noting that...

Read together

1. Luke 2:15 shepherds saying to each other, let us go to Bethlehem and see what has happened
2. Luke 2:8-11 Advent candle reading about shepherds in the fields and the angel announcing good news of great joy
3. Matthew 2 (partial, unclear) wise men seeing the star and being filled with joy, entering the house and worshiping
4. John 1:1 in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God
5. John 1:14 the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth
6. John 1:12 as many as believed in him, he gave the right to become children of God
7. Matthew 1:1-17 legal genealogy of Jesus from Abraham through Joseph
8. Genesis 12:1-3 God calling Abram to go and promising to bless all families of the earth through him
9. Genesis 15 (partial) Abram believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness
10. Romans 4 (partial) Paul quoting scripture that Abraham believed God and it was credited as righteousness
11. Genesis 22:15-18 angel of the Lord swearing to bless Abraham and his seed because he did not withhold his son
12. John 3:16 (partial, paraphrased) whoever believes in him would not perish but have everlasting life, drawn as foreshadowing from Abraham and Isaac
13. Luke 3:23-38 natural genealogy of Jesus going backward from Joseph to Adam, the son of God
14. John 14:6 (paraphrased) no one comes to the Father except through me
15. Hebrews 1:1-4 read aloud congregationally as the exordium describing Christ as heir of all things, radiance of God's glory, and better than angels
16. John 14:9 (paraphrased) Jesus telling Philip that whoever has seen him has seen the Father
17. 1 Peter 5:6-7 benediction calling hearers to humble themselves under God's hand and cast their cares on him

Talk about it

1. Pastor Ray walked through his own family genealogy to make the biblical genealogies feel personal. Is there a name or a story in your own family line that has shaped who you are? How does thinking about your own lineage change the way you read Matthew 1 or Luke 3?
2. Pastor Ray said Matthew's genealogy includes women whose stories involve what he called 'some sort of sex scandal,' and yet God wove them into the line of the Messiah. What does that tell you about how God works through broken or surprising people and circumstances?
3. Pastor Ray drew a contrast between Adam, who failed his probationary period and was thrown out of paradise, and Jesus, who voluntarily left paradise and humbled himself to be born in a stable. What does that contrast mean to you personally?
4. The sermon described Jesus as 'the express image' of God, pointing to the moment Jesus told Philip, 'If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father.' What does it do to your understanding of God the Father to look at the life and character of Jesus?
5. Pastor Ray said we do not talk much about the session, the moment Jesus sat down at the right hand of the Father after purging our sins by himself. Why do you think that part of the story gets less attention, and what difference does it make that his work was finished?