The
Bible tells us that on the night Jesus was born, an angel of the Lord appeared
to some shepherds, and gave them the message of Christmas:
“…I bring you good news of great joy that will be
for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to
you; he is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:10b-11, NIV)
“Then a very large group of angels from heaven
joined the first angel, praising God and saying:
14
"Give glory to God in heaven, and on earth let there be peace among the
people who please God.” (Luke 2:13-14, NCV)
The purpose Christmas can be
summed up into three simple truths:
1. Christmas is a time for
celebration;
2. Christmas is a time for
salvation;
3. Christmas is a time for
reconciliation.
Christmas is a time to
receive the best Gift of all, Jesus our Immanuel.
In fact, dear friends, this
is the 4th --and best-- purpose of Christmas: It’s a
time to know
that God is with us!
As you may know, the
Christmas story was written by two gospel writers. We have spent some time
studying Luke’s account, and this morning we will be looking briefly at
Matthew’s account.
The birth of Jesus recorded
in Matthew chapter 1:18-25: “This is how Jesus the
Messiah was born.
His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to
Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she
became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit.
19
Joseph, her fiancé, was a good man and did not want to disgrace her publicly,
so he decided to break the engagement quietly.
20 As
he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph,
son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For
the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit.
21 And
she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save
his people from their sins.”
22 All
of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet: 23
“Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they
will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’”
24
When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as
his wife.
25 But
he did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born. And Joseph
named him Jesus.” (NLT2)
If there is only one thing that
you leave with today, let it be this simple truth: the purpose of Christmas is a time to rejoice, because
God is with us!
Over and again, the Bible
reminds us that God is not against us but God is for us. Because God is for us,
God is with us.
God has not abandoned us to
lead a life of hopeless existence, rather God is with us.
God does not want anyone to
perish, but God wants everyone to come to know Him. Because God is with us, we
can be with Him.
Because God came near;
because the Word became flesh and lived among us, we can receive the best gift
we’ve ever been given, the gift of Jesus, our Immanuelà God with us.
This assurance—Immanuel—was
first given to King Ahaz in the Old Testament book of Isaiah.
The Kingdom of Judah was
about to be attacked by Syria and Israel in an attempt to force Ahaz into a
coalition against Assyria. (A modern day episode of
Survivor)
“Isaiah called on Ahaz to place his trust in
the word of the Lord, so that the threat of Syria and Israel would come to
nothing.” (NIBD,593)
God then gave Ahaz a sign
that Syria and Israel wouldn’t be a threat to Judah, and that sign was
Immanuel, God with us. (See Is.7:14)
Even though Judah would
endure treacherous hardships at the hands of the Assyrians, they would not be
wiped out, because God was with them.
The promise of Immanuel “offered a
future and a hope for those who would place their trust in God.” (ibid)
Seven hundred years later,
the Promise of God was realized through the offspring of Mary. Immanuel had
finally come to save His people.
Church: no matter what we
endure, we have the Promise of Immanuel—God with us.
No matter how many times we
have to face trials and tribulations, the Promise of Immanuel is still true:
God is with us. Always.
Jesus said, before He
ascended into heaven: “…be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of
the age.” (Matthew 28:20c, NLT2)
The Promise given to King
Ahaz has been fulfilled in the birth of Jesus Christ: God is with us.
ILLUSTRATION-
Author and Pastor Max Lucado shares this thought with us.
Blake and Maura share a kindergarten class. One
day, Maura started humming. Her teacher appreciated the music but told her to
stop. It’s not polite to hum in class.
(Try as she might) she couldn’t
stop. The song in her head demanded to be hummed.
After several warnings, the teacher
took decisive action. She moved Maura’s clothespin from the green spot on the
chart to the dreaded blue spot. This meant trouble.
This (also) meant a troubled Maura. Everyone
else’s clothespin hung in the green. Maura was blue all by herself.
Blake tried to help. He patted her
on the back, made funny faces and offered comforting words, but nothing worked.
Maura still felt alone. So Blake
made the ultimate sacrifice. Making sure
the teacher was watching, he began to hum.
The teacher warned him to stop. He didn’t. She
had no choice but to move his clothespin out of the green into the blue.
Blake smiled and Maura stopped
crying. She had a friend and we have a picture of what Christ did for us.
Color us blue. Every single one of
us has sinned a blue streak. Our clips hang from the wrong end of the rope. Our
sins have separated us from God.
Jesus loved us too much to leave us
alone. Like Blake he voluntary passed from green to blue, from righteous to unrighteous.
Blake may have taken Maura’s loneliness,
but Christ… took our place. He passed from green to blue so we might pass from
blue to green.” (Lucado, 2005,
67-68)
Because
God is with us, we can receive the best gift we could ever hope to receive: freedom.
Joseph
was told to name the Child inside Mary, Jesus: “…because he will save his people from their
sins." (Matthew 1:21b, NIV)
Our
Immanuel has come to this earth to deliver us from the problem that has been plaguing
humanity for centuries. Immanuel has come to remove sin from—and live in—us.
The Bible
reminds us that God is with us. Here. In this place. Right now.
He is
“not an
above us God.” Or a “somewhere in the neighborhood God.” He came as the “with
us God.” God with us.
“Not “God with the rich” or “God
with the religious” but God with us. All of us.” (Lucado, 2005,65)
God
has come for us. God has come to us. God is for us. God is with us.
He
has come to change your world. He has come to live inside your world. He has
come to live inside of you. He has come to be your Immanuel. He has come to be
God with you.
Have
you received your Immanuel? Have you
taken the time to unwrap the Gift of God with us? Have you received Jesus, God
with us, God in us?
He was given to and for us,
and He is a gift that is still waiting to be opened.
PLAY “FOUR WORDS” CLIP
Only
Immanuel can make sense of your world. Only a God who is with us can help us
through our best—and darkest-- days. Only Immanuel was given to and for you.
In all
the hustle and bustle of this day, please don’t miss this important truth: God is with us.
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