Baby Jesus & God's Big Story
March 12 | DNA Guide
Be Real Together
Take a few minutes to catch up, tell stories, and laugh together. Trust and friendship take time to build. If you’re launching a new DNA, one person should tell their story — what do we need to know about you? Next week, have another person in your DNA share their story.
Read Together: Matthew 2:13-23 CSB
Grow Together: Observe & Apply
The story from Matthew 2 this week is part of Jesus’ origin story, an origin story that isn’t just limited to his personal experience as a human on earth, but one that relates to the original purpose and hope of God’s redemptive plan. The author Matthew relates the story of Herod’s pursuit and Jesus’ family flight to Egypt to three distinct OT prophecies to highlight 1) the legitimacy of Jesus’ place in Jewish history and heritage and 2) God’s sovereign and intentional plan to bring Christ to earth for a specific purpose. The prophecies are listed below:
For a Jew in the day of Matthew steeped in OT scripture, consider what the fulfillment of these prophecies would do to one’s faith. Witnessing the fulfillment of God’s Word must increase our faith! Now consider Joseph, who was obedient to God and experienced first-hand the fulfillment of the angel’s words when Jesus was born. The fulfillment of God’s word to Joseph increased his faith to be able to subsequently obey as a result of seeing God’s power and goodness.
Question: What knowledge or experiences can you draw from to sustain your faith in God and increase your desire for obedience to his Word? Like Sean said on Sunday, when we leave obedience on the table we are leaving the joy of following Jesus and being under the authority of God. What might be leading us to leave this on the table?
Ultimately Jesus love for us and his willingness to humble himself as our sacrifice on the cross leads us to obedience, and this was foreshadowed by him being of lowly roots as a Nazarene as mentioned by Matthew in verse 23. Obedience to something or someone is ultimately a position of humility. When we are humble ourselves to be obedient to God through our faith in Jesus, what we are doing is submitting to God’s standard of goodness and righteousness rather than one we think we can create on our own, and God’s standard is complete and eternal. When we believe and are obedient to Christ, through God’s love we are imputed with his standard of righteousness that is otherwise unobtainable by our own design and independent of our works. So, are we willing to accept this standard and obey?
For a Jew in the day of Matthew steeped in OT scripture, consider what the fulfillment of these prophecies would do to one’s faith. Witnessing the fulfillment of God’s Word must increase our faith! Now consider Joseph, who was obedient to God and experienced first-hand the fulfillment of the angel’s words when Jesus was born. The fulfillment of God’s word to Joseph increased his faith to be able to subsequently obey as a result of seeing God’s power and goodness.
Question: What knowledge or experiences can you draw from to sustain your faith in God and increase your desire for obedience to his Word? Like Sean said on Sunday, when we leave obedience on the table we are leaving the joy of following Jesus and being under the authority of God. What might be leading us to leave this on the table?
Ultimately Jesus love for us and his willingness to humble himself as our sacrifice on the cross leads us to obedience, and this was foreshadowed by him being of lowly roots as a Nazarene as mentioned by Matthew in verse 23. Obedience to something or someone is ultimately a position of humility. When we are humble ourselves to be obedient to God through our faith in Jesus, what we are doing is submitting to God’s standard of goodness and righteousness rather than one we think we can create on our own, and God’s standard is complete and eternal. When we believe and are obedient to Christ, through God’s love we are imputed with his standard of righteousness that is otherwise unobtainable by our own design and independent of our works. So, are we willing to accept this standard and obey?
Pray Together
Take some time with your Group or DNA to pray that the Holy Spirit would graciously reveal that obedience and belief are interconnected and that it is worthwhile for us to obey in God’s authority and plan for our lives.