Why are you here? I mean, not at church. That's a good question too. But why are you here at all? Why is it that you and I live and breathe and move upon this world? What is the point? I mean, what is the intent of our existence? And if you do know some answers to that question, if you have real answers in your head, if I'm to ask you that question, I really want you to think about it. Why are you here? What is the point of your existence? How much of your time this week reflected that you actually believe that that's why you're here? And how many hours did you put in to the project? And those are big questions. Why are we alive? What's the meaning of our existence? As one author writes, indeed, I do not envy teenagers. Far from carefree, their adolescence is a tangled web of angst. And that angst, I think, is qualitatively different from that of past generations. Granted, self-consciousness is part of the rite of passage that is adolescence. The hormonal effects of a teenage body make them realize they are bodies in ways that even surprise them. They inhabit their bodies as foreign guests. constantly imagining that all eyes are upon them as they go up to sharpen their pencil or climb the stairs at a football game. Such self-consciousness has always bred its own warped ontology in which the teenager is the center of the universe, praying both that no one will notice and simultaneously that everyone will. The advent of social media has amplified this exponentially. In the past, there would have been spaces where adolescents could escape from these games. Most notably, the home. Whatever teenagers might have thought of their parents, they certainly didn't have to put on a show for them. The home was a space in which you let down your guard, freed from the perpetual gaze of your peers. You could almost forget yourself. You could at least forget how gawky and weird you were, freed from the competition that characterizes teenage-dom. Her Twitter feed incessantly updates her about all the exciting hip things she is not doing with the popular girls. Her Facebook pings nonstop with photos that highlight how boring her homebound existence is. And so she's compelled to constantly be on, to be updating and checking in. The competition for coolness never stops. She's constantly aware of herself and unable to lose herself in the pleasures of solitude. If you tuned out, tune back in. More pointedly, she loses any orientation to a project. Self-consciousness is the end of teleology, which means it's the end of having a goal or a big project in mind. Of course, while teenagers may feel it more acutely than the rest of us, this is all of our problem, the problem of self. I mean, the dead-end street that self-consciousness and focus on self creates. The more I focus on me, the more I lose the plot. or the more I think, conversely, the plot is about me, that I am the plot, that I am the reason for the story, that I exist for myself. But the world has got to be bigger than that. I pray that the world is bigger than that. I hope you do as well. That we have to exist for more than merely making our own day. or giving ourselves something to post about so everyone can see as we validate our existence. This morning I want to talk to you about why you are here and how Jesus somehow fits into all of that. because it seems at times that we are wondering what Jesus has to do with real life. Now listen to how we phrase that, and churches even perpetuate this. What does Jesus have to do with real life? But I think the problem is more, what is real life? Because if we answer that question, we'll realize that Jesus has everything to do with real life. And the problem is most of us aren't living there. We're off doing something else of our own invention entirely. So the first thing I want us to see this morning as we look at the scriptures is that God creates a man with a plan. God creates a man with a plan. You open the Bible, and there you have the God of creation. I mean, the first words of the Bible are about the beginning. Not the beginning of God, of course, who's always existed, but the beginning of this place, this world, this cosmos in which we exist. Heaven and Earth, it's called. A place of space and time. The Bible begins not with God in himself, explaining himself, but with a God acting, doing something in the world. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. This God begins something. He makes a place, and that place has intention behind it. He has a plan. He has constructed it for a reason. He is an architect that has a design for this world that He has created. And we see this God, the Holy Spirit, present in this formless world. hovering over the waters with the goal of giving this formless void order and intention to form it and to fill it. And he does so, he separates. He separates light and dark and water from dry land and he designates, he names things. I'm going to call this night and this day and this earth and this the sea. And after he has separated and designated, he fills these things He populates them, both the heavens above, populated with stars, rulers for the night and day, and the world, populated with vegetation and animal, and the very center of that world is man. And when God is done, He rests. So the Bible tells us, He enters the seventh day, and He rests. And the high point, I mean the pinnacle of the whole creation, is this last thing that he makes. According to Psalm 8, man is, in a real sense, the center of the world. That strikes us strange, especially in church. It doesn't strike us strange Monday through Saturday, but in church, we don't like to hear those things. But the Bible makes plain, man is the center of God's creation, the pinnacle and the high point of all that he's done. And God has a plan for that man. He's got a role to play. This man who is made in the image of his maker is charged with a task that looks a lot like his creator's tasks. Adam is to be fruitful and multiply. He's to fill the whole world. And he's to rule and subdue it. The God who fills all because of his omnipresence tells man to fill the world by procreation. The God who rules over all makes a man in his image to rule over this place. The God who formed and named puts a man to subdue and to name all of the creatures in the world. Stop and think about that. The God who created all, who owns all and rules all gave the world to man. to reflect all of God's characteristics back to him. The heavens are the Lord's heavens, the psalmist said, but the earth he has given to the children of men. So in a very real sense, the world is ours by God's gifting. That was his intention. If we learn last week the absolute independence of God in relation to us, we learn this week because of God's kindness, because of His goodness, that man has this unbelievable and undeniable dignity. invested him, because God chose to. He made man, and He made man like unto Him, to reflect Him, so that man, every human being, marked with the image of God, has dignity and worth, and is given a place of high praise in the creation. He is the King of the world. What is man that you are mindful of Him? The Son of Man that you take thought of Him. You made Him a little lower than Elohim. That's what the psalmist says. You made Him a little lower than God. and you put him in the world. So the God who had a plan for his creation gives man the central task in that plan. Man will work in the creation. He will form and he will fill. And when man is done with his work, he will rest, just like God. You'll notice everything God does in the first chapter, he gives to man and he says, you're going to do it too. And you will join me in my rest when you're done. That we will do this together. I will make all things, and you will then form all things into fullness, and we will then join in the same rest, creator and creature." And consider the goodness of God. He creates even though He doesn't need to. He gives us a place of dignity even though He doesn't have to, and He rewards us If we do His task with His own rest, we get to enter into the very blessedness of God with Him. And that is why this world is here, to fill it with creatures that reflect back to God His own glory, to join in with God in His own blessed life. This is what you were made for. This is why you live and breathe. This is why you take up space on this globe. This is why, apparently, you're ruining the whole of the ecology by breathing out terrible fumes and eating more than you're supposed to or whatever it is you're doing this week. You were made to enter God's enjoyment by doing God's task and reflecting your creator. You were lent breath for this purpose. Now, if that's true, Think about your life for a moment. Perhaps you're realizing that this grand vision of all things isn't what occupies most of your energy. Just a bit higher than he was given, even though he was given the highest seat in all creation. He wanted a seat that was like unto God's. To get the final say, to get to do what he wanted to do. And from that day on, everything has gone awry. Instead of filling the world with images that reflect God, we fill some labor until we finally just die, which is why the wise man of Ecclesiastes just says, vanity of vanities. I mean, this is now a waste if this is all there is. Maybe that feels a little bit more familiar to your weekly routine, that part of the vision, where there's toilsome labor and then there's death awaiting you at the end of it all. where there's brokenness, both in your own life and the lives of those around you, and all of you are bumping into each other, bringing one another's messes all to culmination. The Old Testament is replete with stories that prove this is the way it is. God acting for man, and yet man time and time again choosing the way of Adam. Self-will and defeat and slavery, and when there is victory, it is always short-lived, and it never continues on. This has been the long, hard road of mankind. Until this one day, that day that we read about this morning, where God creates the man as the plan. See, God made a world and he had a plan in place with man at the center of it. And when it looked like that plan had completely just been, you know, saved up for the scrap heap of history that it was never going to come to right, God creates a man. Well, he creates a human nature and joins it to the person of the Godhead. It's an old story. Again, it's the first words of our English Bible in the New Testament, the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. And one of the things we want to stress at Providence is that we're whole Bible Christians. This blank page that I'm staring at doesn't really exist in the Bible, that this is here because somehow we've come to believe that these are two different things that are going on. But the first sentence, even, of our English Bible hints at the fact that this whole story is connected. That this child who is born is somehow a Davidic son, an Abrahamic son, and he's connected to this whole story that's gone before. It becomes obvious when we look closely at the language of Matthew. This kid is David's kid. Why does that matter? Well, because David's family was promised that they would have a child who would rule in the nation. And he's Abraham's son. Again, we're pulled backwards and we go rushing in reverse to every promise of scripture to this family that Abraham headed up that was promised that God would make them fruitful, he would multiply them, there would be a blessing to the nations, and he would give to them a land. You know, the whole story of Israel is hidden in the person of Abraham. in these promises. This child is linked to this whole Old Testament lineage. He's a child of Abraham. He's from the tribe of Judah. He's a Davidic son. He's linked to these families that are told they will be fruitful and they will multiply and they will rule over the earth. Does that sound familiar at all? Notice the story of Abraham and Israel was the story of Adam. They were going to be fruitful and multiply and they were to rule through David's line. They were to expand the territories of Israel until they also once again reconstituted the plan of God that was there in the garden. But of course, the Old Testament ends with that plan in shambles. But the New Testament begins with a new beginning. Notice the language very closely. It's not just that he's a Jewish son of David. If you look again at the first sentence, we see this word that is translated in our text, the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ. It can also be translated the book of beginnings or the book of generations. It's a very interesting phrase. It's only used one time in the whole New Testament, right here. This is the only use that it gets. But it's used twice in the Greek Old Testament. So when the Old Testament was translated into Greek, this phrase was used two times and both of them are used in the book of Genesis. So three times in the whole scripture, once of Jesus, and then twice in the book of Genesis early on. The first use is here. These are the books of the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created. We read that this morning. So that phrase, books of the generations, is the same phrase found in Matthew. The first use is in reference to the heavens and the earth, particularly to the fact that they were created. Moses gives us the family history of the terra firma that we stand on. He says, this is the family tree of the earth. This is the book of the genealogies. God made the heavens and the earth. And Moses does it again in Genesis 5 when he says, this is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. So notice, Genesis 5, we see this phrase one more time. The second use is Moses saying, this is the family history of mankind in Adam. So the first use, the books of the generations of the world that you live in. The second use, the books of the generations of all mankind found in Adam. It's two pretty major markers in the world. I mean, the whole start of creation. and the beginning of man that lives on that creation. And Matthew decides, I'm gonna use that phrase right here for this birth in Matthew chapter one. The first genealogy, the whole created world. The second genealogy, every man that would ever descend on this world. The third genealogy, Jesus was born in Bethlehem. So why is that one just as exciting or just as paramount as the first two. You'll notice he's not just a man. He's not just a man who has loose family ties to David. He's not just another Jewish boy related to Abraham, because there were many. This man and his birth are somehow connected to and important for the story of the whole creation and all mankind. The whole created order and every man that lives on the earth somehow finds its culmination in this person, as he's listed here in Matthew chapter 1. Maybe that seems like a stretch, trying to get that much out of that phrase. But Matthew backs this up pretty quickly. You'll notice the first thing he wants to say is, this child is a new creation. So the first creation, that was a good thing, but this child, he's a new creation. He's the beginnings of a brand new creation. Where does Matthew say that? He says right here, when he starts talking about how he was conceived, she was found to be a child from the Holy Spirit. He is of Holy Spirit. Well, why does that matter? I mean, we're used to this on Christmas and, you know, we print our cards out, but why does it matter that he's of Holy Spirit? What place does the Holy Spirit have oftentimes in biblical narrative? When you send forth your spirit, they are created. Or, as we see in Genesis chapter 1, the Spirit's hovering over the creation. The Spirit is at work creating in the Old Testament. When God says He's going to renew the earth, He sends the Spirit forth on the earth, and life is given back. Well, Luke points his hat a little bit closer to the issue. The Holy Spirit will come upon you, Luke says, and the power of the highest will overshadow you. This should remind you of Genesis 1 where the Spirit is hovering over the waters of creation to form and fill this created order that God has made. That same Holy Spirit is hovering right now over the womb of Mary and forming from the dirt of her womb a child who will be both God and man and who will bring about a whole new world. It's not just part of the new creation. He's a new man. Notice, we aren't just told that he's conceived of Holy Spirit, but that he's also of a virgin, Mary. This man has no earthly father. Like God formed the first Adam from the dust of the ground, and he had no fatherly genealogy, and that Adam sinned, and all of us sins have come from him and have been corrupted by his nature, have had his sin imputed to us. This child has no earthly father. Instead, God is there forming in the womb of a virgin a new man. So that when this child is born, it's like a new Adam stepping out into the world, you know, to take a second swing at it, to see how things can go a second time around. Matthew marks this territory very clearly. The purpose of this world, the heavens and the earth, that first genealogy, the purpose of mankind, that second genealogy, is found fully in this person, Jesus Christ, the third genealogy that's mentioned in scripture. The climax of the whole Bible, the focal point of the whole of history, is this one human being born of a virgin and conceived by the Spirit. All that was intended in Genesis 1 and 2 for the world, for you as a human in the world, is accomplished by this person. all of human history find this meaning in this man. So to try to figure out what your place is in the world or what the plot is of history and to divorce it from this person according to scripture is completely impossible. When this man's ministry ends on earth, listen to what he says. All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age." Notice what we have at the end of his ministry. We have a man, Jesus Christ, the Risen One. who now has all authority in heaven and earth, the created order. And then he sends out his disciples and says, now you go out and you teach the whole world, discipling them, teaching them to do whatever I've commanded you. And if they do that, they will image me. You have a world that's ruled over by a man that is spreading his image throughout all the nations until finally, when all the nations are discipled, the world will reflect back to God the glory that was intended from the beginning. And it's all because of one man that stepped out into human history that brought about a new creation through a new Adam. And when he was done giving that assignment, he ascended into heaven. was seated at the right hand of the Father, and he entered his rest. See, he's accomplished what you and I were supposed to accomplish from the beginning. He did the work that was given to him as a human being. At the end of that work, he was enthroned and given authority, and he entered the rest of God. He fulfills it all from the beginning to the end. He is the center. And if you and I want part of the plan, If we want to be a part of God's story at all, you have to find it. You have to find your purpose and your meaning through this man. You have to be connected to him. And not only do you have to be connected to him, your focus and your life will be hidden in his as we'll see. I mean, if creation story defines your meaning and purpose, if the reason that God created everything is what tells you who you are and why you're here, And if you and I didn't do that, and if Jesus is the only one who lived the story, showed us who we are and why we're here, then our meaning and our purpose is now fully attached and hinges on him. You can't know it otherwise, and you'll never fulfill your purpose otherwise. It's a long story, and it takes many twists and turns throughout scripture and throughout history, but the whole thing heads to one man. as its goal and its end. A man who is now crowned with glory and honor, who is now seated at the right hand of the Father and rules over all dominions and powers and authority, who at present reigns and is bringing all things under his feet, who said plainly, all power in heaven and earth has been given to me, who is the exact and the express image of the invisible God. And the kicker is, he is this man, this kind of man, For us. And not like for us in the sense that he's cheering us along, like he's on our team, he's for us. He is that too. But literally for us. He did it for us. In our place, in our stead. He did what we were intended to do, but we failed to accomplish. And he bestows it upon us. And he can do this because for a time, He was crowned with shame and dishonor, the sort of shame and dishonor that is rightly owed to us, because he tasted death, the death that you and I both are to taste and will taste apart from Christ. He was for us on the cross, taking our punishment for failing at our mission, for not doing all that God had intended for us to do, for being lackluster at our job. We were given one assignment and guess what? We are miserably off the mark and Christ performed the assignment and then he took the punishment in our stead so that we could be rejoined to the story. That we could be reinserted into the drama of God. That we could be remade into the perfect image of our creator and become truly sons and daughters of the king. So we could finally be done with our toilsome labor. and enter the very rest of God. Well, how will this happen? Only by being covered by Him. by being hidden in Him, by finding our life in Him, for you have died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, you better hope He's your life, right? You had a job to do, you had a life to live, and you didn't live it, but this one lived the life you were intended to. Now Christ, who is your life, when He appears, you also will appear with Him. in glory into the rest you were intended for. Or as he says elsewhere, you are in Christ who became for us the wisdom of God. righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, to be justified by Christ, and to be ever more united to him, that is the goal until we are finally made like him, until we're finally made obedient sons, until we're finally made truly human, until we finally become what we were intended to be at the beginning, and we kicked over from the jump. Christ has done that, and our being united to him will finally form in us what it means to be human. I mean, Christ is the story. He is the center. And if we're going to have any good, any part, it will come because of Him, by means of Him, empowered by Him, energized by Him. That fact that it's all united to Christ is why we exist as a church, literally why we exist as a church. Both we've been formed by that fact, and the only reason we keep doing this week in and week out is God has decided to use this as how we're going to be more and more united to Christ and formed into his image. As strange as that may seem. Our only hope is in Christ, and therefore as a church, We will center on Christ and offer Christ by preaching Christ, by feeding on Christ, by showing forth Christ. It is all we have. He is the one who has done it. And our only hope is to be ever more tied and united to him because we have already forfeited the rights to become children in our own doing. And it's only by being united to him that we will ever image our maker as intended. The whole story of the world find its meaning and its answer in Jesus. And therefore, we want to find our meaning as a church and our answers as a congregation in this same person. You see, we are daily in the business of centering on ourselves. And as we know, that has gotten us nowhere thus far. And it threatens to keep us from going nowhere as we continue to drive around kind of the cul-de-sac of me, myself, and I. You and I know, in our persons, that the more intent we are on pleasing just ourselves, deep down, the more miserable we are. It is this self-defeating routine that we can't seem to shake. We know it doesn't work, but we say, you know, I'll try it again one more time. And if everyone just gives me my way, then I'll be joyful and happy. And the scripture says, you've done it all wrong from the beginning. Start looking away from yourself and focus on the one who has already done it and is truly living the blessed good life in the rest of God. For he has become your life. So to come to church and to center on ourselves or to bring Jesus along into merely our situation is hardly helpful. Our situation is the problem. His doing and what he has done, his person, is the answer. Rather than focusing on ourselves and bringing in the Jesus bit to help us with our program, We want to focus on Christ to lift our eyes there in word and sacrament, look and see him crowned with glory and honor, ruling and reigning and resting. And remember that this one has tasted death for you and now ever lives for you and to make intercession on your behalf so that you too might become a true son of God. who enters into the very rest for which you were intended. May we set our eyes on Christ this morning as he's proclaimed and as we partake of him at the table as a congregation. Let us pray.