Gillies Christmas 2023

From the very start of this short message time, I want to plainly acknowledge that this Christmas will be different than any other Christmas you have ever had. If you are here today, you are here today because you have experienced the painful experience of losing someone in your life.

The type of loss might very, whether it was a spouse, a child, a sibling, a grandparent, a grandchild a close friend or other relative. There are various types of relational losses in this room today, but all of them have pain involved in them and that pain can be amplified as we make our way through this season that is known to be “Merry and Bright,” “Holly and Jolly” a “season of hope, peace, joy, love and light.” This season is known for these things and you enter into this time of year after experiencing a loss.

This Christmas will be different.

This Christmas will no doubt be different, but maybe it will be different, in a different way than you might expect. Maybe this Christmas will be more meaningful to you than ever before as you are forced to consider what the season really celebrates.

I am sure that there are many emotions attached to the many memories of your loved ones from Christmas’s past, but let’s remind ourselves of the birth, life and death of the One who was known as “The Christ.”

We are all familiar with the old, old story. This time of year we remember that Jesus came to this earth and later on with the coming of springtime we will remember His death and resurrection and ascension back to heaven.

But between his coming and his going is what really really matters, because what he did while on this earth is of eternal significance to us who are alive gathered in this gallery.

1 John 3:8 (ESV)

8 The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

Jesus came to this planet in order to undo the destruction that was introduced into this place when the devil himself deceived Adam and Eve into thinking that God was somehow holding out on them. They were deceived and believed the liar instead of the truth teller, and so sin entered into the world and sadly we are told that the wages of sin is death.

We are here today because death has entered into the world.

But death ins’t the only thing that entered into the world…Jesus entered into it as well and the reason he entered into it was to destroy the works of the devil.

His arrival to this planet demonstrates to us that God wasn’t holding out on any of us. He was and is still willing to give us light and life.

That is line from maybe my favorite Christmas song, Hark the Herald Angels Sing. Listen to the beautiful presentation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in this verse.

Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace! Hail the Sun of Righteousness! Light and life to all He brings Risen with healing in His wings Mild He lays His glory by Born that man no more may die Born to raise the sons of earth Born to give them second birth Hark! The herald angels sing "Glory to the new-born king"

In the fulness of God’s timing, Jesus came into our world and between his arrival and his departure He lived a perfect life and died a sacrificial death so that all who believe and trust in his work on their behalf don’t have the face the eternal consequences of their sin which is ultimate and eternal death and eternal separation.

He was born to “raise the sons of earth.” He was born to give them second birth. That means that those who are covered by His sacrifice will be raised up out of the ground once the long hard winter is over.

The heaven-born prince of peace, laid his glory by and stepped into our messed up, sin filled, curse filled world and died on our behalf.

This is the hope that is held out for us in the Gospel, the gloriously good news of Jesus Christ.

Light and life to all He brings, risen with healing in His wings.

So we find ourselves here and not wanting to be here. We are grieving the fact that we are here, but even now we must remind ourselves that we aren’t the only ones here. Jesus said that He would never leave or forsake us, so that means Jesus is here too grieving alongside us in our sorrow.

We are soon going to be moving into a time of remembrance of our loved one by name.

Names are so so very important. Each of us has one and each of us is here at this gathering are “remembering” at least one name in particular. It is the name of someone that held a very special place in your life. We want to intentionally remember them now, but do you know who knew their name before they were even ever introduced to us?

God. The prophet Isaiah tells us this as He actually speaks on behalf of God to the people of God.

Isaiah 43:1 ESV

1 But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.

Jacob is a personal name of a person. And that person, we are told “wrestled with God” and clung to God and refused to let go of God. Even when he was in a season of despair, he refused to let go. And after refusing to let go of God, God renamed him with another proper name, “Israel,’ meaning one who has “struggled with God.”

Over the course of this last year, you yourself may have struggled with God.

Why did this happen? What am I supposed to do now?

And God says to you today, what He said to Jacob, renamed to Israel long ago,

“Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.”

He is not unaware of your struggle. He is not aloof to your sorrows of this past year. He actually knows your name and he knows your sorrows. And isn’t it amazing that one of the names Jesus was known by was the, “man of sorrows.”

God, took on flesh and dwelt among us as a “man of sorrows.” A man who came up close and personal with our grief.

So, as we move into a time of remembrance by name, those we have lost this past year, let’s simultaneously remember the One who has been with us in our time of struggles and sorrows. And maybe this Christmas, after experiencing such a sad loss in your life, might have the experience of God’s nearness to you this season as you remember that the name given to our Savior was “Emmanuel” meaning “God with us.”

The man of sorrows is with us in our sorrows, so that we can experience His sympathetic, compassionate, tender care at a time of year when we need it most.

Let’s pray