Christmas Eve: God With Us

Well, Merry Christmas.

What we love to say every week, we've been saying it for 12 years now, is we are more broken than we originally thought.

We're more sinful than originally thought, but we're more loved by God and Jesus than we could ever dare to dream.

And so that's what our church talks about every single week.

And again, that's what we're going to talk about today on Christmas Eve.

Our Christmas text is Matthew 1, 21 through 23.

She will bear a son, Mary will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet.

Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us.

So in verse 23, when it's declared that Jesus will be born, it said, they shall call his name Emmanuel.

Emmanuel means God with us, not God against us, although it can often feel that way.

Not God, sort of for us.

Like if we're for him, then he'll be for us.

Like an eighth-grade girl, like, do you like me?

Because if you like me, I'll like you, but like, do you really like me?

Because maybe I like you, I'm not gonna tell you I like you, but if you like me, no, I like you.

That's that's not it.

God is certain and stable, he's wonderfully for us and wonderfully with us.

This word Emmanuel appears three times in the scriptures here in Matthew, twice in the book of Isaiah.

Isaiah 7.14, the prophet prophesies that Emmanuel will come to a virgin.

Isaiah 8.8, the prophet prophesies that the people of God belong, belong to this Emmanuel.

It's a good question.

Just where do you find your belonging?

Just a one-point sermon tonight.

You're welcome.

Here it is.

The heart of God is for you, and he desires a relationship with you.

That's what we need to hear to become a Christian, and that's what we need to keep hearing every day.

The promise of Emmanuel is God's presence with us no matter our condition.

The problem, of course, is how can we know him?

And how can we be for sure how he feels about us?

How can we know for certain that he loves us?

And Christmas gives it to us.

The incarnation solves the problem.

That objectively into history, the Creator decided to come toward us.

So that whether we're doubting or how we feel or how wonderfully we're behaving as a Christian or not as good, like all of that, objectively, God is for us in this Jesus.

Two years ago, I started my doctorate at Covenant Seminary in St.

Louis.

And so we study, there's a group of us, there's 10 of us, ten pastors were in this cohort.

So we study a lot, and then we come together one week each semester.

Our professor's the seminary president, Dr.

Tom Gibbs.

Here's Dr.

Gibbs right here.

Dr.

Gibbs planted a church in San Antonio 20 years ago.

He planted it, he grew it.

Not only did he grow it, he actually handed it off to somebody else, and it's still flourishing after he leaves.

Now he's a seminary president.

I mean, this is sort of like in my line of work, like this is it.

Like this guy has done it.

He's smart, he's distinguished, he's accomplished, he's respected.

And so we sit in a circle, ten of us, with him, each semester for a week.

And he asks very pointed questions and he shares, and then we share, and I talk some, and then after I talk, you know, I overanalyze it for the next 30 minutes.

Yeah, you know, what did I did I sound smart?

You know?

Was I impressive?

Did I say something insightful?

Does he think I'm smart?

Like I'm I'm actually wondering this at age 45 years old.

Does Dr.

Gibbs think I'm smart?

But I just felt like I couldn't associate with him.

I mean, he's a seminary president, right?

I mean, how many seminary presidents are you hanging out with all the time?

It's just not a common thing.

I felt like I couldn't quite associate.

And then last summer, we were in New York City for a week of class, and I come down to the hotel lobby because we were gonna go to a Yankees game that evening.

I come down to the hotel lobby, and there is Dr.

Gibbs in shorts.

And let me tell you, once you see a man that you respect in shorts, right, everything changes.

Like everything just changed.

We walked to the game together, we talked about family and daughters, we talked theology, we talked SEC football, Auburn, he's an Auburn guy, Auburn people.

He became accessible, right?

Like that far off, distant Dr.

Gibbs, accomplished, distinguished.

He's just wearing a ball cap and shorts, eating a hot dog.

Right?

He came toward us, he came toward me.

It's been different ever since.

The relationship's been different ever since.

He became knowable.

He was with me.

He incarnated.

Now, this Jesus, God with us, is the incarnation of the Creator God.

And when he comes to the world, he doesn't remain distant or unknowable.

And he doesn't even come to like a regal castle, he comes to a humble manger.

So if you've ever wondered if God is interested in you and your condition, this should tell you that he really is.

He seeks the worn out and the weary and the broken down, the burned out, which is good news.

Because don't we all eventually at some point feel worn out and weary and broken down and burned out?

Listen to the first thing that Jesus communicates to his disciples after the resurrection.

So Jesus dies on the cross, our sin is put upon Jesus, his righteousness is given to us, he resurrects, his disciples have ran, just this bunch of guys, right?

Like no courage, no faith.

They are holed up in a room, they are hiding, no faith, no courage, and he comes to them, John 20, 19, on the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the door is being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews.

Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, Peace be with you.

Which is so very interesting because I can think of how many things I would say to like a group of people who were supposed to be on my team.

I mean, this group of guys had earned nothing.

Nothing.

And he gives them peace.

So very clearly, the peace of Jesus is not based on our resume or our merit.

Jesus proclaims this over them, his words.

Peace.

Martin Luther, 1500s theologian, he says this about the birth of Jesus.

This is what is meant by your king comes.

You do not seek him.

But he seeks you.

You do not find him.

He finds you.

And man, I need that and I love that.

Because I need to be found, I need to be loved, I need to be saved, I need to belong, and I need all this from outside of me causing it or maintaining it or earning it.

I keep getting duped by the world.

I keep looking for belonging in places that constantly let me down.

Two years ago, my Instagram feed started to get hit hard by uh poncho shirts.

Men, do y'all know poncho shirts?

Oh man.

And like I want to be, that's where I want to be right now.

I mean, I love being here.

This is great, you know.

But that looks fantastic.

They have a beer, they look like they're gonna cook dinner, they're at West, somewhere there's Tailgate.

I mean, that looks fantastic.

I'm like, I want to be with them.

I actually think I have that blue shirt, probably because of this picture.

I was like, that's that looks like something good for me right there.

So I bought two flannels, um, and then I went on to buy three more.

So now I have five poncho shirts.

This is the problem.

This is a problem.

I'm hoping for more tomorrow morning, you know, right?

Santa.

Could happen.

Could happen.

And here's what I realized that I keep realizing getting duped by the world.

Uh this shirt, as lovely as it is, it cannot deliver me peace.

I'm still me in the shirt.

Right?

Like you get the new car three months later, you realize you're still you in the new car.

Right?

It's the Adam Sandler quote: the sad you at home will be the sad you in Italy.

Like it's this like you're the problem.

It's a lovely shirt, but it can't really love me.

It can't deliver.

These things aren't stable enough to proclaim peace.

Yeah, there's another constant for us.

There is a constant for us.

Something incredibly stable because it's outside of us and is given to us and is earned outside of us by somebody else.

That's the power of Christ's work for us.

That Jesus constantly pursues and loves us exactly where we are.

Now, effort is not over, but earning is done.

Will you receive that?

Could you be loved there?

Because that's where peace comes.

His work for us, not our work for him.

A few weeks ago, my family went to Symphony Hall down in Atlanta to see the Symphony play the music to Frozen.

Do we have any frozen?

I know we got some kiddos in here, right?

Frozen adults, it's okay, we can be fans of Frozen also.

I'm a girl dad, I have three girls.

And so we went down to watch this.

So the so the orchestra plays all the music while the movie is shown on a huge screen over the orchestra, the orchestra's on the stage and huge screen, and so it's lots of families, lots of little girls in princess dresses, lots of princess stuff going on.

And we sit down, the five of us, and my family's to my left, and then I'm sitting here, and then sure enough, in comes this row of just a bunch of first-grade girls, just a whole bunch.

And so my daughter and I, we meet Fernie and Mia and Hatley, and I say, I say, hi, Allie, and she says, it, Hatley.

Okay, that's how this is gonna be.

That's the relationship that we're gonna have.

The movie starts, and right before the movie started, they're all over.

They are all over.

They are so loud, and there's like giggle, scream, giggle, and I'm like, it's a birthday party, is what I find out.

To Symphony Hall.

I had a birthday party at McDonald's.

I don't know where you had birthday parties.

I was like, Symphony, this is amazing.

I'm like, what kind of birthday party?

Who are your parents?

Can they can it be my parents, huh?

They're all over.

It's totally OPK, right?

Other people's kids, where you're just like, oh, OPK, OPK.

And the movie starts, boom, they are locked in.

Like Anna and Elsa, right?

They've all seen it 57 times, doesn't matter.

Boom, locked in.

Hatley is incredibly concerned.

She is curled up in her seat, and her face is all concerned because you remember what happens, right?

Elsa can't control her magical powers, right?

And she she runs off, and then Anna runs after her, and Hatley is all concerned, very, very, very concerned.

And I'm the ruin the movie.

It's been 11 years though, so I'm sorry about that.

Uh Anna turns to ice at the end of the movie.

And only true love can melt away the ice.

Now, right when Anna turns to ice from the back of Symphony Hall, this little boy yells out, no.

And then he just begins to sob.

Just sob.

I look over at Hatley and she she's like, Yeah, I know how you feel, buddy.

Like, I can tell.

And then Elsa throws her arms around her sister, right?

Elsa throws her arms around Anna and the tears come down.

And love melts away the ice.

That's what the movie's about, right?

And finally I look at Hatley, and for the first time in 90 minutes, like she has relief.

Okay, it happened.

You know, like you know, if the 58th time, I'm glad it happened again.

Because the lesson of the movie is that true love can melt ice away, can melt a frozen heart.

That's what the movie's thesis is.

And so then I remember the first time, I've seen this about the same time as Hatley, and um, in the middle, when they go see the trolls, the trolls who know about love, the love trolls, the head troll, the chief troll, he says this.

He says, People make bad choices if they're mad or scared or stressed.

But throw a little love their way and you'll bring out their best.

Now, of course, this was not an original thought to Frozen or to Disney.

Like this is this is in the scriptures.

This is how God works.

1 John 4, 7, and 8.

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.

Anyone who does not love does not know God because God is love.

Now, how does that work itself out in Jesus?

Romans 5, 6 through 8.

This is the message translation.

Christ arrives right on time to make this happen.

He didn't and doesn't wait for us to get ready.

He presented himself for the sacrificial death when we were far too weak and rebellious to do anything to get ourselves ready.

And even if we hadn't been so weak, we wouldn't have known what to do anyway.

We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice, but God put his love on the line for us by offering his son and a sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him.

See, this is the love that we have in God.

It's a one-way love.

The fact that it comes in history through an incarnation and a crucifixion and a resurrection, that makes it so stable for us.

The fact that it's not based on our merit, but on Jesus' merit, that's why he can say, peace, peace to you.

So we could say he is for us and he's with us.

Now here's how Charles Spurgeon connects this God of love to this idea of Emmanuel.

The glorious word Emmanuel means first that God in Christ is with us in very near association.

The Greek particle here used is very forcible and expresses the strongest form of with.

It is not merely in company with us, as another Greek word would signify, but with, together with, and sharing with.

This preposition is a close rivet, a firm bond, implying, if not declaring, close fellowship.

God is peculiarly and closely with us.

So this idea of Jesus incarnated, Emmanuel, that we could know God, the creator distant, Dr.

Gibbs, I don't know how to associate, but a creator, God making himself accessible and knowable, and he's doing this out of a motive that he wants to know you before you and with you and walk with you.

And that it's going to be such a relationship that the firm bond that it is is based on his love for you before anything about your love for him.

His movement toward us for a relationship, it is a firm bond and it is close fellowship, which means in Christ, God fully knows you and he fully loves you.

Even when you can't maintain it, even when you don't feel like it.

This is the very reason why we can have peace.

Is that Jesus is our Emmanuel.

This loving God comes to the world to love you and to save you and to walk with you.

Let's pray together.

Heavenly Father, we thank you that you do not leave us in our weakness or brokenness.

You do not leave us worn out or burned out or broken down.

You actually love us in that very weakness.

You are drawn to us even while we're a mess.

Thank you that Jesus' forgiveness from the cross is enough for all of our sin.

Thank you for Jesus' righteousness is enough for all of our right standing with you.

Thank you that the birth of Jesus, this incarnation, helps us to know you.

Helps us to know how you feel about us, how you love us.

Thank you that you humbled yourself to such a degree and that you want to walk with us.

Help us to trust you more in Christ's name.

Amen.