Christmas Sermon 2023
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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.
Pray
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).
I want to draw you to the two names for the Son of God here: Jesus and Immanuel
Jesus: Save his people from their sins
Immanuel: God with us (in that above way)
Immanuel comes from the word Immanent: present
This is often times considered as opposed to Transcendent: Beyond
Immanent could be considered as within our experience
Transcendence could be considered beyond our experience
In the realm of theology:
For God to be transcendent is to say God is outside of his creation: not part of it
So I cannot know God and describe him and experience him in the same way I can experience a tree
Since the tree is part of creation and God is not
Where we can get into trouble with this, and where man has gotten in trouble is found in modern philosophy that started with saying you cannot truly know God at all…and it has ended with postmodernism which says…there is no God!
We see the devastating effects in society when someone can do something that is clearly wicked, and yet do it without blushing or shame…for there is no God who is here or cares.
And this sort of insidious thinking can creep into your heart and mind when you perform a sin because it feels too good not too, and you convince yourself that God is too distant and does not care.
You might not say that explicitly, but its what’s driving the behavior of living in sin with no regret.
1 The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good.
4 Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers who eat up my people as they eat bread and do not call upon the Lord?
7 and they say, “The Lord does not see; the God of Jacob does not perceive.”
So the answer must be to emphasize immanence! After all, Jesus is called Immanuel.
Let’s throw God’s transcendence out the window, the idea that he is outside of his creation and make him be one with creation itself!
Eastern philosophy and theology has been enslaved to this sort of thinking for a long time: a common manifestation of it is pantheism. God is in everything and everything is in God.
I can do what feels right and good to me because its all god anyways. It must be right.
We can fall into this thinking when we do as we please without bringing it to bear upon God because I am God and God is mine
4 For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
What does it mean that our transcendent God took on flesh and was called, Jesus, Immanuel
Well as we can see from Matthew 1 it has to do with our sins, but not to ignore them or say its okay
Look at the way Psalm 97 explains God’s transcendence
9 For you, O Lord, are most high over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods.
The first part of this verse we see he is far above…but not in a way that is beyond our experience
But to a degree that the second half of the verse proclaims: he is far beyond us in his excellence and power and exaltation
1 The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad!
The primary thrust of the transcendence of God is to guide his immanency: that he intimately reigns over his creation in a way that is far beyond any exaltation, power, splendor, glory of any other authority…including the present god of self.
(I give credit to John Frame for this insight)
God is truly transcendent, and we can know this by his total reign over his universe: his immanency
Everyone will know that explicitly when Jesus the Lord returns in glory to practice his rule in judgement
11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. 13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
And everyone knows that now even if implicitly as they are receiving his wrath in part today
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
And so as they suppress the truth, God’s immanent wrath is revealed in how he gives them up to their sin
And so there is no such thing as sinning against a God that is too far away: be sure that the consequence of the sin will find you out: this is the rule of God and shows his immanence
This is the immanence of God in his lofty power and authority over us: he hates sin and his wrath is every present with it
But of course this is not the point of Matthew 1 when Jesus is called Immanuel.
For he is called Jesus: because he will save his people from their sins
Divine transcendence and immanence are the related Christian doctrines that while God is exalted in his royal dignity and exercises both control and authority in his creation (transcendence), he is, by virtue of this control and authority, very present to his creation, especially his people, in a personal and intimate way (immanence).
John Frame
Immanence = Immanuel, God with us
14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).
Transcendence does not mean beyond us and so beyond knowing.
It does mean he is Lord above all, and is beyond us in control and authority. He has rights over everything he made.
As he exercise those rights in his creation he is Lord over, he is immanent, or with us.
Thus God is transcendent and in his transcendence he is immanent.
And his immanency from our perspective is either through wrath, or, as we celebrate in the first coming of Jesus, in his grace.
God’s transcendence
33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! 34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” 35 “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” 36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.
3 Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.
God’s Immanence
7 Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
3 Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth.”
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.
23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).
14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
Immanuel—Comes from the word Immanent
Transcendent—Immanent
Where transcendent means beyond our experience
Immanent means within our experience
Theologically these generic definitions have vast implications
Where we understand it biblically it is of great help
But like anything of truth, when it is twisted it has devastating effects
Twisting of Transcendence:
The modern era of philosophy saw the twisting of this concept.
From the 18th century an unhelpful understanding in skepticism gained popularity that God is so far above us, so transcendent, that he cannot be actually known at all
At best we can only say what he is by negation
He is not like us, he is not a human, he is not sinful
At worst we cannot say anything about him at all or even experience him
This gave way to the postmodern philosophy that has enveloped our society that there is simply no God at all
Just in case you are tempted to nod off now because i mentioned stuffy philosophy, this of course has implications through out society as a whole and if you consider it enough even your own life
This is what causes people to live obvious immoral lives and reject their conscious—because there is no God that cares enough about whats being done
Or why we as Christians might grow lazy in our pursuit of holiness over those sins that have a special place for our affections: For in such a moment of temptation, God is distant indeed
Of course the other side of the ditch to fall into is immanence (God with us) to the degree that transcendence is lost
There is no separation, creation is god, god is creation.
These are the people who find comfort in their sin because whatever they feel is right since god is every aspect of his creation: even our wayward desires and actions
This is seen when deeply spiritual people who see no need to bring their sins to bear to a standard outside themselves—they love god and thus themselves to do such a thing
Perhaps your struggle in this is seen in how you can let sin reign in your life and expect to have no hindrance to your walk with the Lord.
To truly appreciate Jesus’ name of Immanuel this Christmas, we must appreciate what it truly means that God is transcendent and because of this, he is truly immanent
God is truly transcendent
9 For you, O Lord, are most high over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods.
The first part of this verse we see he is far above…but not in a way that is beyond our experience
But to a degree that the second half of the verse proclaims: he is far beyond us in his excellence and power and exaltation
1 The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad!
The primary thrust of the transcendence of God is to guide his immanency: that he intimately reigns over his creation in a way that is far beyond any exaltation, power, splendor, glory of any other authority…including the present god of self.
(I give credit to John Frame for this insight)
33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! 34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” 35 “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” 36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.
Certainly this details an aspect of God’s transcendence that details our lack of be able to fully grapple with the ways of God—but this details the entire whole of how God governs his universe, not the fact that God is governor of his universe
Another words: my children are quite aware I govern my house, and when I tell them no to drink their fifth can of pop, they may not understand my ways and the nature of cavities and how bad it is to give into to fleshly appetites all the time, but they understand that i am intimate in my governance
Thus, with God, we cannot comprehend all his ways at any given moment, but one thing is clear, God is with us in the fact that he is the Lord over the universe.
God is truly transcendent, and we can know this by his total reign over his universe: his immanency
Everyone will know that explicitly when Jesus the Lord returns in glory to practice his rule in judgement
11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. 13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
And everyone knows that now even if implicitly as they are receiving his wrath in part today
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
The God of the Bible is the all sufficient, all powerful, all glorious ruler of heavens and earth
Who laughs at the accomplishments of Caesar and Napoleon
While with one finger keeps the earth and moon in orbit and with another slides the sun in its orbit in the milky way, and with his other hand he keeps the Milky way in orbit in its proper place of the universe
His rule is one of perfect righteousness and goodness
Who brings wrath on any creature that would introduce a stain to all that he is ruler over
So when you see the effects of the fall in all its different manifestations, you are seeing the transcendent God in his immanency
But there is another aspect of his immanency....one that brings our mind back to our text
23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).
And this sort of immanency is connected with what the angel said before
21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
The Son of God reigns, and brings wrath to all those who brings bad to what he has pronounced to be very good
Yet, he is immanent in a way that is truly good news
He has taken on flesh, given the name Jesus, for he has saved a people from their sins
This is an immanency of grace! Not wrath!