GOD WITH YOU Matt.1:23 Look, the virgin shall conceive & bear a son, & they shall name him EMMANUEL," which means, "GOD IS WITH YOU."
Once upon a time, a certain king was very rich & very powerful. He lived in a huge palace, & all the kings around him bowed before his might. While traveling through a small peasant village, he laid eyes on a young woman. She was just a peasant, dressed in rags most of the king's courtiers & nobles would not have thought much of her. But to the king, she was beautiful. Instantly, he fell head over heels in love. He had to have her for his wife!
The king went back to his palace & considered how he might win the heart of the fair maiden. "I know, " he said, "I will issue a decree! I will order her to be brought to my palace & made my queen!" But then the king realized that plan was no good, for love cannot be commanded.
He thought some more. "I know," he said suddenly, "I'll sweep her off her feet! I will shower her with riches, crowns, jewels, & fine clothes. " But then the king realized that plan was no good, for love cannot be bought.
Thinking some more, the king formulated a new plan: "I will disguise myself! I will dress in rags, & sneak into the village. Then, disguised as one of her own people, I will find the peasant woman, & declare my love." But the king did not like the duplicity of this plan for love must be based on truth.
Finally the king knew what he had to do. He stood up & removed his royal crown. He laid down his royal scepter. He took off his royal throne. He gave up his royal throne. & then, he actually, literally BECAME a peasant. He dwelt in a hovel, he scratched out a living in the dirt, & he groveled for food. & after a time, by living this life, he won the heart of the one he loved.
That story is actually a parable, created by a Danish philosopher named SOREN KIERKEGAARD to illustrate what we celebrate at Christmas: that the God of the Universe, the King of Creation is so in love with you & me that He BECAME ONE OF YOU. He lived among YOU, suffered with YOU, died for YOU.
Matthew 1:23 "The virgin will be with child & will give birth to a son, & they will call him Emmanuel" --"God with YOU." Make no mistake: the child whose birth we celebrate was a real, flesh-&-bone baby. He laughed, he cried, he wet his diapers. But he's not just a baby for Mary's child is named Jesus, which means "God saves," & Christ, which means "God's anointed one," & Emmanuel, which means GOD WITH YOU.
Every year on his Christmas Day broadcast, Paul Harvey tells a story that has come to be a favorite of mine. & every year around Christmas time, I try to find a way to slip it into a sermon!
It's the story of a family who is about to go to church on a cold, snowy Christmas Eve, & the husband & father of the family declines to go. "It wouldn't be honest," he explains, "because I just don't believe it. All that business about God becoming a human. I just don't buy it. You go on without me, & I'll stay here & read by the fire."
The family gets bundled up to go. It is a bitterly cold night & the man cozies up to the fire with his book. After they've left, he suddenly hears a loud thump coming from the huge plate glass window in the living room. Could it be some kids throwing snowballs at the window? He hears the thump again. This time he gets up to see what it is. Nearing the plate glass window, he sees a small bird crashing into it. Apparently the bird wants to come inside the house, but doesn't understand that the window is covered with glass. Looking out into the yard, the man sees an entire flock of these little birds huddled together on the frozen ground. He realizes that they will not make it through the night exposed to the cold.
& so he goes out to his barn, turns on the light, & opens the door wide. "Here you go, little birds," he says. "Come on in!" But the birds do not understand. They don't go into the barn. So the man decides to try to entice them in. He gets some bread from the kitchen & places crumbs around the inside of the barn. The birds don't budge. He even tries making a trail of crumbs from the birds to the barn. They don't go for it.
The man is getting frustrated, because he knows these little birds are not going to survive without some shelter. He decides to try scaring them into the barn. He positions himself so that the birds are between him & the barn, & he begins to shout & wave his arms. But the birds only fly around in circles & come right back down into the snow.
"What can I do?" The man is frustrated. He thinks, "If only I could communicate with them somehow. If only I could make them understand that I'm trying to help them, not hurt them. If only I could speak their language.
"But to speak their language, I'd have to be one of them. I'd have to. I'd have to...I'd have to become one of them."
At that precise moment the man heard the church bells chiming "O Come All Ye Faithful," proclaiming the Good News that God had become one of YOU. & silently, he bowed his head, & sank to his knees in the snow.
You see, when God saw YOU floundering around out in the cold, lost, headed for destruction, God did not just leave YOU to die. No, GOD CAME, in person. He became one of YOU, to save YOU.
& so The God We Serve Is Not Some Far-Off Distant Creator Who Made The World & Then Forgot About It. Our God Is The God Of Emmanuel, Which Means GOD WITH YOU: God Living With YOU, God Suffering With YOU, God Feeling Pain With YOU.
• Have you ever skinned your knee? Smashed your finger? Stumped your toe & wanted to cuss?
• Have you ever felt the pain of being rejected or laughed at, or betrayed?
• Have you felt the pain of standing by the grave of someone you loved & weeping bitter tears of grief?
The amazing news of Christmas is that God has felt all those things & not just vicariously, from above, but in person, for real, AS ONE OF YOU.
So enamored was the God of creation so head-over-heels in love was the King of the Universe that He laid aside His glory, gave up His throne, & became one of YOU so that He might win the hearts of the ones He loves.
GOD IS WITH YOU: EMMANUEL Max Lucado
Many are TOO fluent in the LANGUAGE OF LONELINESS.
No one knows me, ……we think.
People Know My Name, BUT NOT MY HEART.
They Know My Face, BUT NOT MY FEELINGS.
I Have A Social Security Numbers, BUT NOT A SOUL MATE.
No One Really Knows Me. &…
No One’s Near Me. NO ONE NEEDS ME.
God Has A Specialized Treatment
For These Feelings Of Insignificance.
God’s Cure Takes You –NOT To A Bar Or Dating Service, A Spouse, Or A Social Club, BUT TO A MANGER! The babe of Bethlehem. …….Immanuel.
Remember the promise of the angel? “Behold, The Virgin Shall Be With Child, & Bear A Son, & They Shall Call His Name, Immanuel, Which Is Being Translated, ‘GOD WITH YOU’ (Matthew 1:23)
WITH YOU….
• NOT “ABOVE YOU GOD”
• NOT A “Somewhere In The Neighborhood God”
• NOT “God With YOU…BUT ONLY IF We Are Good Enough”…
• BUT …. GOD WITH YOU!
• Don’t we just love the word “WITH”? Will you go with me…??? …..
To the store, to the hospital, through this hard time ???
Jesus said “I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS” (Matthew 28:20)
NO RESTRICTIONS ON THIS PROMISE??
YOU WON’T FIND ….
• “I’ll Be With You …BUT ONLY
IF You Behave… IF You Believe … Or Just At Church?
There’s NO EXCLUSION EXCUSE on God’s “WITH” promise.
He Is With YOU. …. Even When We Don’t Know It!
Prophets Weren’t Enough. Apostles Wouldn’t Do. Angels Wouldn’t Suffice. God Sent More Than Miracles & Messages.
He Sent Himself; He Sent His Son “The Word Became Flesh & Dwelt Among YOU” (John 1: 14)
The Good News is that GOD NOT ONLY SENDS,…… HE BECOMES!
He Not Only Looks Down, He Lives AMONG YOU; HE Not Only Talk To YOU, …. He Lives WITH YOU AS One Of YOU!
He Swims In Mary’s Womb…. Wiggles In The Itchy Manger Straw.
Totters As He Learns To Walk….Bounces On The Back Of A Donkey.
God With YOU!
He Knows HURT. …..His Siblings Drive Him Crazy!
He Knows HUNGER.…..He Made A Meal Out Of Wheat-Field Grains.
He Knows EXHAUSTION. …… So Sleepy,
He Dozed In A Storm-Tossed Boat!
He Knows BETRAYAL. … He Gave Judas Three Years Of Love.
Judas, In Turn, Gave Jesus A BETRAYER’S KISS.
Most Of All,…. HE KNOWS SIN. NOT HIS OWN, MIND YOU.
BUT HE KNOWS YOURS! HE KNOWS MINE!
o Every Lie You’ve Ever Told…..Every Person You’ve Hurt.
o Every Dollar You’ve Taken. Every Promise You’ve Broken
? Every Opportunity You’ve Squandered.
And Because He LIVES IN YOU!
WE CAN… RE++PRESENT CHRIST TO OTHERS!
All Of The Religions In The World Have People TRYING To Be With God, People STRIVING To Earn God's Love. Most religions are like a LADDER, & Religious People Climb The Ladder To Reach God In Heaven. But Christianity Is Different.
In Christianity GOD COMES DOWN THE LADDER TO BE WITH YOU.
GOD IS WITH YOU. GOD WANTS TO BE WITH YOU.
WHAT AMAZING INCREDIBLE WONDER!
GOD WANTS TO BE WITH YOU. NO ONE CAN SEPARATE YOU FROM GOD...NO ONE CAN SNATCH YOU OUT OF OUR FATHER’S HAND.
JOHN 10:28 NO ONE! NOTHING! NO ONE!
Immanuel: God with YOU in the Ordinary!
It is easy to get sentimental about the first Christmas, because of the sweet Christmas songs and idyllic Christmas cards. But the fact is, Jesus came into this world during the rush hour, and it was a mess. There were no special express lanes open for Him and His parents. They just had to put up with the inconvenience and make the best of it.
Christmas plays with their bathrobes, and tilted halos and wiggly children always include the sad news of no room in the inn! What this really tells YOU is that God did not send His Son into the world with special privileges. Jesus came as one of the rest of YOU to endure a world where there is no end to inconveniences.
God does not give His children special privileges in the secular world. Jesus had to have reservations or be turned away. Jesus had to sleep or be miserably tired. Jesus had to pay taxes and walk dusty roads to get anywhere.
Jesus became a common man and not one who could skip the inconveniences of life. This is the message of the “no room in the inn”. Nobody was trying to be unkind to Jesus or His parents. This was just the real world where we all have to live.
The trivial details of commonplace life are where we will find our greatest pleasures. There will be untimely travel, bad weather, no room, missed connections, diapers, and spilled eggnog, and a list that could go on and on.
This Christmas will be no different than the first one, and we will not escape the realities of a fallen world anymore than did the Christ-child and His parents. But, now as then, God will be working in the midst of all the Christmas trivia to accomplish His purpose in our lives.
Thanking God for the Ordinary!
Pastor George Durham
