Advent: God's Search for Humanity

Sermon: FCC Afton 12-25-2022 Advent: God's Search for Humanity Scripture: Isaiah 7:14, 9:6-7 Today, as we celebrate Christ's birth, we are going to examine God's response to our journey of obedience and surrender, His offer of intimacy to each of us, and His search for humanity- I don't mean search as if He doesn't know who or where we are, but instead His journey to rescue His beloved creation. We've looked at the journey of the shepherds, God purposefully choosing to use the lowest of the low to be the first to know Jesus and to tell others about Him. The story of the shepherds is a reminder that Jesus did not come for the religious elites; He came to bring all of us, no matter our background, no matter our pedigree, no matter our past, back into right relationship with the Father. We've looked at the journey of the Wise Men, the Magi from Persia, and why God chose gentile scholars to find and worship the Jewish Messiah. Their journey of obedience shows us that relationship with the Father is for everyone, not just the Jews. Yesterday, we examined the example of obedience and surrender in Mary and Joseph. I think sometimes we glance over these two, but Mary believes and obeys when told that she is going to give birth to the Savior, even when being an unmarried, pregnant teenager would have resulted in great shame for her and her family. Joseph believes and obeys when told that his betrothed is pregnant, does not divorce her, and sets off with her on the journey to Bethlehem. They follow God's direction, not knowing where they would stay and unable to go to Joseph's family because of the dishonor of their situation- yet they go, because God said to go. God's search for humanity is a purposeful act- God orchestrated all these things- He purposed Jesus to live alongside us to show us that He has gone through everything, every pain, every heartache, every loss, that He allows us to go through- to prepare us for His death on the cross on our behalf so that we could have relationship with Him. With that search comes an invitation; this entire season is an invitation. Read: Isaiah 7:14, 9:6-7 Pray here! Quote: "Enemy-occupied territory- that is what this world is. Christianity is the story of how the rightful King has landed." (CS Lewis- Mere Christianity) Main Point: Contrary to the popular Christian idiom, Jesus is NOT the reason for this season; WE ARE! This is not some humanism talk; I'm not trying to make us out to be more important than we are, but everything that happened on that Christmas morning 2,000 years was done because of God's desire for relationship with you and me! God could have given up on humanity a long time ago; instead, He initiated a rescue plan! Christmas is the story of God's plan and purpose for humanity, setting His invasion plans in motion, all to get US back, to rescue us, those who rebelled against Him and lived in rebellion against His will. He comes with a plan to provide for us a way to come back into right relationship with Him. He hand-delivers an invitation of intimacy, the opportunity for you to accept salvation and reconciliation- Jesus hand-delivers it behind enemy lines and directly to your doorstep! God put aside His rightful deity, put aside His throne, and put aside the glory of Heaven, to come save us. Psalm 33 describes how God spoke and the earth and the universe around it was formed- "The Heavens were made by the Word of the Lord, and all the stars, by the breath of His mouth... For He spoke, and it came into being; He commanded, and it came into existence." (Psalm 33:6,9) That Word, the one mighty enough to create everything without lifting a finger, became flesh, joined us in these weak, frail, perishable bodies, in order to come live beside us, experience all of the worst of humanity, and then experience the worst death possible- in order to wipe clean our rebellious past and bring us back into right relationship with God. -God's invitation simply says this: "I love you so much that I am willing to walk through the worst things with you and then literally die for you (terrible physical death, but also crushing spiritual death) just to get you back." Question: Where could you possibly find a greater love than that? -I love the ending of Psalm 33: "We wait for Yahweh; He is our help and shield. For our hearts rejoice in Him because we trust in His holy name. May your faithful love rest on us, Yahweh, for we put our hope in You." (Ps. 33:20-22) The sum of the Christmas Season is this: we were without hope until our God sprang into action to come to our rescue! God chose this journey for a purpose; there is no other god who would have done things this way. God became us to save us! God could have done things completely differently. Everything about how He gave up His divinity to come save humanity is contrary to a normal vision of how a conquering King should arrive. He purposefully did things in such a way that it would show us His amazing love for us- to show us that we are His reason, not wealth, not power- saving us is the reason for this season. -He didn't have to step into humanity. The Creator God, the omnipotent, all-powerful Creator of all things, could have simply wiped out life on this planet and started again somewhere else. It wouldn't have been anything to scrap the experiment- Humanity on Planet Earth, free will- scrapped. Begin again with slightly changed mission parameters. But He didn't. He stuck with us. He decided that despite our rebellion, He would save us. -Of course, He didn't have to step foot on earth. He could have handled it with a few angels. A few messengers to a few key people surely could have changed or shaped the direction of humanity. He could have handled it all from His throneroom in Heaven. But He didn't; He came to live amongst us. -He didn't have to come as a baby. He could have stepped out of the Heavenly Realm as a grown man, a warrior in His prime, ready to storm the gates of Jerusalem with His angel warriors at His side. But He didn't- He willingly chose to live alongside us and to die for us in order that we might find reconciliation with God. -He could have stepped into any point in existence as an adult, ready to begin His earthly ministry. He didn't have to go through birth. He could have skipped past childhood and puberty. He could have had Him born into the ruling class of Jewish elites, born into a palace to be worshipped and doted upon; He could have made Jesus' kingship very easy for everyone to recognize. But He didn't; indeed, as we've talked about over the last two weeks, in God's amazing, eternal perspective and perfect plan, He chose to do things in a way that makes sense to no one- He chose to confound those who consider themselves to be wise and strong. God chose to step into humanity in the most obscure way possible in order to live a normal life and then die the most horrendous death, all in effort to draw as many as possible into His Kingdom. It reminds me of this statement by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:19-22: "Although I am a free man and not anyone's slave, I have made myself a slave to everyone, in order to win more people. To the Jews, I became like a Jew, to win Jews; to those under the law, like one under the law- though I myself am not under the law- to win those under the law. To those without the law, like one without the law- not being without God's law, but within Christ's law- to win those without the law. To the weak I became weak, in order to win the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that I may by every possible means win some." Like the Apostle Paul said, Jesus became the most basic thing that all of humanity shares: a baby. He grew in the womb, was born, had a tough childhood, went through an awkward adolescence, and became an adult. He became all things to all men- We can relate to Jesus because He did things the way that we all do them. Question: How is it that we struggle to trust God's intentions? He could have done things very differently, but He didn't; He did things the same way He has us do them. He became us to save us! God became us because He desires relationship with us for eternity. Isaiah 9:6-7 "For a child will be born for us, a son will be given to us, and the government will be on His shoulders. He will be named Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. The dominion will be vast, and its prosperity will never end. He will reign on the throne of David and over His Kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from now on and forever." John 3:16 "Because God loved humanity so much, because He loved you so much, because He wanted to restore His relationship with you, He sent Jesus to live and die for you, so that you would be eligible to spend eternity with Him." -Because of God's desire to draw you back into relationship with Him, Christ pulls off the most daring, inconceivable invasion of enemy-occupied territory, spends 33 years in this fallen world, living life alongside His fallen Creation, sacrifices Himself to make a way for us to reconcile with God- all because He desires that we will be beside Him for eternity. Imagine the person that you love the most and the depths that you would undertake in order to save them and spend life together- now multiply that by eternity. To what end would you go to make sure they were beside you for all eternity? -The message of Christmas is this: God has sought you out and extended an invitation. He has searched for you from the moment sin separated you from Him, looking to draw you back across the chasm of sin and death. God has done everything, even the things that seem so amazingly crazy, to welcome you back into His arms. We are the reason that we do not have intimate relationship with the Father God. We still, even after everything He has done for us, rebel against Him and His desire for us. All we have to do is to surrender to Him and accept His gift of salvation! The entire story comes down to that. Closing & Invitation: The point of Christmas is not presents, not family time, not goodwill to your fellow man- those are all great things- but the reason for this season is the message of the cross and the sacrifice Jesus paid to get us back into right relationship with the Father! As you spend time with family today and the rest of this season, consider who at the table will sit with you around the table in eternity... will everyone at your table be there in eternity? If not, put down political talk, put down the pie, put away the presents- and extend this invitation of salvation to them. That's what Christmas is about.