Remember

Now, IT’S REALLY ALMOST HERE!—Christmas is knocking at our door.

If you still have some shopping to do, you’re getting close to the last minute.

How many of you still have gifts you need to buy?

What about those who have everything bought but still have things to wrap?

Some of you are definitely procrastinators.

In just a 11 days we will be sitting around the tree, opening presents, reading the Christmas story together, having Christmas breakfast … or brunch … or lunch … or dinner.

There is generally some meal in there. What this means for us today is that we’re on our last week in this season of Advent.

If you’ve been with us from the beginning, you know that the season of Advent is considered the four Sundays prior to Christmas, leading up to Christmas day.

It is a season when the church focuses on the word “Advent,” which Oxford dictionary defines as “the coming or second coming or Christ.”

Typically, the church spends a lot of time talking about the first coming of Christ during this season, but we often neglect talking about our anticipation of Jesus’ second coming.

But through this series, we have done just that. This Advent, I have challenged you to not only focus your attention on the baby Jesus, whose coming we will celebrate on Christmas Day, but also to anticipate, in your hearts, the return of Christ.

In our first week together, we heard Jesus describe His own return in Matthew 24:36–44. We saw His warning that no one knows the time in which He will return and that we must always be ready.

Then, during Week 2, we looked to Matthew 3:1–12, where John the Baptist prepared the people for Jesus’ ministry on Earth. John told the people to “repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” We discussed how, to be ready for Jesus’ return, we must make sure our hearts are ready, and repent of any sin that we have in our lives and turn from it.

Finally, last week we were in Matthew 11:2–6 looking again at John the Baptist. We saw this same man of faith ask Jesus if He was really the Messiah. As Jesus’ ministry failed to match up to expectations, even John was tempted to lose faith in Jesus, but Jesus assured him of who He was and said all who could believe in Him would be blessed. It can be easy for us to lose faith at times and even to doubt that Jesus will return again.

In each of these weeks so far, I have challenged you to keep your hearts open and to use this time to look forward and anticipate Jesus’ return.

I know it also has not been easy when everyone else is content to anticipate the birth of a baby who came 2,000 years ago, while I have been asking you to think forward toward an unannounced date. Some of the things I’ve asked of you have been heavy.

At Christmas, we don’t necessarily want to worry about things like repentance and losing our faith/ doubt.

We would much rather hear the beautiful story that we read every year at this time.

I’m thankful that you’ve stuck with me and allowed me to take us on a different track. This last week, we will get to come closer to home as we remember the Christmas story.

Matthew 1:18–25 ESV

18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). 24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

Now that is what Christmas is all about. If you’ve been waiting for this series to get back to the point, there you go.

It is true that it all started in a small town, with a pregnant woman and a man who loved her, who both had faith in God and His plan for their lives.

It began in an uncomfortable place, a situation that would likely have been filled with shame and judgment.

And most of all, it began with a baby.

----->The baby that we celebrate and give thanks for each year. The ultimate gift that was given—knowing this life would lead to a far greater death—both offered for us.

These are the things we usually focus on when we look into this passage, and we should focus on them because they are important to the story of our faith.

I want to challenge you today that this passage might also be pointing us forward and challenging us to think ahead.

It might be foreshadowing the second coming that we have been emphasizing throughout this series. Let’s look at it in a new light tonight.

The angel of the Lord who appeared to Joseph told him that his, son, Jesus would “save his people from their sins.” (v.21)

This does not surprise us, since Jesus literally died to do just that. Knowing the entire gospel story, we often think that this is the entirety of the angel’s message here.

But what if there is more that he is trying to say?

We have spent this entire series being faced with the fact that our world is broken and sinful. We have discussed the darkness we are surrounded by, the hopelessness of those around us, and an overarching sense that we need Jesus to return.

Why do we want Jesus to return?

Is it so that He can judge those who are in the wrong?

Is it to get even with all of those sinners out there?

No...

Our hearts should seek Jesus’ return wholeheartedly because when Jesus comes again, He will eradicate sin. Darkness and hopelessness and evil will be no more. All that is wrong in this broken world will be healed. All that is dark will be made light.

Have you ever been stuck in the dark? Maybe you’ve needed to go into a dark room at night, but you can’t seem to find the light switch. Or maybe you’ve had to walk down a creepy hallway, and you got that feeling like you just needed to make it through as quickly as possible. When you finally reach the light, doesn’t it feel unbelievably good? Like somehow you narrowly escaped any number of horrors that were just waiting there for you in the dark.

Now think about the problems of this world (hunger, homelessness, sickness/disease, divide).

Think about the hurts and the pains (injuries, old age, hurt relationships, death of loved ones, sadness and loneliness).

Think about the injustices and the things that make your heart cry out for a solution.

Imagine if the light switch was flipped on for those things. If suddenly Jesus were here, and all was made right.

Wouldn’t that feel like the most amazing sense of peace?

For a long time, I wouldn’t have said that I was anticipating Jesus’ return.

I would have said that I believed Jesus would return, but I wasn’t in any hurry for it. My life was actually in a pretty good place.

I really felt like I had a lot ahead of me (still do), and why would I want to cut that short?

My prayers, honestly, would have probably been telling God that I was okay with waiting until I got married or had kids (or recently for me to get to see my kids grow up) before He sent Jesus back. I didn’t see the urgency. I didn’t know why it should be rushed.

Sometimes I am tempted to still feel this way. What changes my heart is remembering these things that we’ve talked about. When I see the broken lives of people, I pray for Jesus’ return. When I hear stories of those who are hurting and have no hope, I pray for Jesus’ return. When I experience the effects of sin in our world, I pray for Jesus’ return.

The people in the Old Testament had been praying for a Messiah, as well.

Our passage mentions the prophesy from Isaiah, saying that this Messiah would be called Immanuel, which means “God with us.”

This is another verse that allows us to accept at face value that Jesus was God and was with humanity on the Earth.

Used in the Old Testament, the name “Immanuel” signified hope to the people of Israel. It was mentioned surrounding times of fear and unrest to bring peace and signify God’s covenant to never leave or forsake them. Many saw this name tied to a promise of deliverance from enemies and captors.

In knowing all of these things, it is no wonder the people expected Jesus to do so much as a king and a conqueror.

But we know from Jesus’ life that those things were not pursued (In the way they thought it would be).

Does that make this name and those promises any less true? I don’t think so.

I think that the Immanuel that the people of Israel sought to bring deliverance will come again.

Jesus will again be IMMANUEL (God with us), the second coming of Jesus will be one that last forever and will bring a time in which both Jesus is forever with us and we are also forever with God.

As we remember the story of Jesus’ birth tonight,

let us take it all in.

Let us remember the hundreds of years that the people of Israel waited for the birth of their Messiah.

Let us remember the pain and struggles that they had been through.

Let us remember the declaration that Jesus would be the one to save these people from their sins and that He would be Immanuel—God with us.

What a powerful and glorious day. As we remember this story, let us also think of all that Jesus accomplished on this Earth.

That He healed,

taught,

loved,

forgave,

died,

and saved.

The most amazing events in history held within 30 or so years. But what we know to be true is that the story isn’t over yet.

Jesus is still coming back to... heal, teach, love, forgive, and save.

This year as we wrap up our advent season, let the celebration of the coming of Christ not be where we stop, but let it spur us on in an even greater anticipation of Jesus coming again.