God With Us

What’s your bottom line?

‘God With Us’ was not a temporary story in history, but an eternal reality to enjoy.

What’s your opening line?

Are you living a life where Jesus is acknowledged but he’s not your source of enjoyment and purpose?

Introductory Hook; Why does this matter?

This is so key for us to catch because we often surround ourself with Godly things; we go to church, we talk about him, we listen to others talk about him, we try to get rid of things that Jesus says are bad… but do we really engage with Jesus. Is there a real relationship where there is communication, listening and responding to his presence, thinking and consuming ourselves with improving our relationship with him?

Have you ever experienced the high and low of anticipating a big vacation? You are so so so ready for a break and to just escape from the real world. You are thinking about it constantly, prepping mentally and even physically for the trip. What you are going to bring, what you’re going to enjoy. You working really hard because you know that here in a week you’re going to be kicking it on the beach. Then you get to beach and you are just on top of the world for a few days and then about that last day and then traveling back you start to feel yourself going into a mild state of depression? Even now, we anticipate the first snow and time leading up to Christmas because it’s so fun and amazing but then we experience a low on the 28th of December because its back to the real world.

I want to present to us that there is a better and steadier way to enjoy life and what God has in store for us. If you experience something similar to what I described, you’re not alone. This could be a result of living a life where Jesus is just talked about but not truly engaged with on a daily basis. Jesus isn’t the true sense of enjoyment in our lives and so we supplement him for holidays and vacations to give us something to look forward to and push toward.

Let me quickly say, holidays and vacations and other similar things are absolutely meant to be enjoyed. But can you enjoy them without the lows that follow. This is a gauge of how steady your engagement with the Jesus is.

Transition In

What does this have to do with the Christmas story you might say? Well if you read in John 1:6-11, he talks about how God came into the world as a light in the darkness but many of his own creation did not recognize him as the light. They chose to stay in darkness. They saw Jesus, talked about Jesus, maybe even followed him around for a little while but didn’t actually let Jesus be what their world revolved around.

John 1:6–11 CSB

There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify about the light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but he came to testify about the light. The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was created through him, and yet the world did not recognize him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.

When we get close to Christmas I think we do an amazing job at remembering the story of Jesus coming to the earth but we forget one thing that shifts our whole life.

Main Point (Bottom Line)

‘God With Us’ was not a temporary story in history, but an eternal reality to enjoy.

It’s not just a story to be remembered and create some fun things to do around this time but YOUR story to be lived out today because he is still with us.

Where’s the power in the text?

So Jesus comes into the world and this is the popular Christmas story but I want to point a couple important things out to help us make the shift to realize how close this is to our story today.

Matthew 1:21–23 CSB

She will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: See, the virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they will name him Immanuel, which is translated “God is with us.”

They will name him Immanuel (God is with us). This is Jesus’ temporary time on earth that he was physically walking with people but, “Jesus will save his people from their sins” was not just temporary but thats for you and me today.

Let’s remember that the Christmas story is something to remember because of what Jesus did for us on the cross.

It has always been God’s plan to be with us. Not to be distant, but to be very close.

At the beginning of it all, God walked and talked with his creation freely and perfectly and this was the design. What a beautiful picture of how God intended life to be.

Even in the wilderness and through humanities failures, God continued to work with his people to make a tabernacle to meet and be with his people. The tabernacle was like the Garden, a place where heaven and earth meet, God and man are together.

The tabernacle was where one could be in the presence of God in the wilderness, where one could worship, where one could hear from God, where one could receive direction.

If you continue the story, the whole reason for Jesus’ coming to the earth was to set up a permanent way for us to be able to be with Jesus and close to hime and his presence every single day. And we look forward to one day again being physically in his presence again.

This is what John clearly teaches in his opening chapter. But lets zero in on John 1:14

John 1:14 CSB

The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Word Pictures in the New Testament John 1:14

σκηνοω was an old verb to pitch ones tent or to tabernacle that we often translate to dwell. But John is clearly giving a call back that Jesus is doing the same thing here that he did in the wilderness.

Something amazing is happening here. God is making his presence permanent in us. When we recognize God as the true light and we receive him and make everything in our life about him we become children of God. You know how Jesus describes children of God in the world? Matthew 5:14-16

Matthew 5:14–16 CSB

“You are the light of the world. A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand, and it gives light for all who are in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

When we recognize the weight of ‘God With Us’ was not a temporary act in history, but an eternal reality to enjoy. We become little tabernacles where God’s light shines and his presence resides, in a constant state of conversation and communion and worship to him. We become walking Garden of Edens in the world.

So you begin to see how slowing down to see this changes our daily habits, our ups and downs, and helps us grow in maturity.

Transition out

Those volatile ups and downs, highs and lows, emotionally unstable days, lack of purpose, meaning in life, day to day grind and burnout problems I mentioned earlier stem from not recognizing the weight of God with us, here and now. That he is present in your story right now but we must recognize him as the light.

John 1:12–13 CSB

But to all who did receive him, he gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born, not of natural descent, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God.

When Jesus becomes not just the center of the story but the center of what our life revolves around we become steady, mature, unshakable followers that are able to enjoy all that comes our way without the falls after the high.

When this message sinks into our heart and soul we realize that there is not high that the world can give us that is better than Jesus with us. When you walk with Jesus it’s better than the vacation which means there is no low after the vacation because you already have something better.

If you could spend most of your day walking in the Garden of Eden with Jesus, this is all you had, would you do it? Would you live there? Don’t miss out on walking in the Garden with Jesus.

What’s the Main To-Do?

There are a couple of responses to a message like this: one being to ignore that you struggle with a lack of engagement with Jesus and you don’t deal with the symptoms I described and everything is fine and live from comfort to comfort, high to high and never acknowledge you might be missing the main joy in life

or

you take inventory real quick and think about the patterns in your life and if Jesus really is at the center. If maybe it’s true that right now Jesus is just kind of around your life and not the source and center of enjoyment and purpose for you.

Here is the main step that I think will help everyone, myself included, make Jesus not a story to be told but a very present part of your daily life: From today through the end of the year make it a priority to wake up and have an actual engagement with Jesus. Not just a task to tick in the morning but a proper engagement. To engage takes effort. Spend time meditating on the fact that if you are a Christian you are a tabernacle where Jesus dwells and what all that implies for the day.

Why Does it Matter?

God wants us to fully enjoy life but he also wants to fully be with us. If we don’t make Jesus the focus then we get lost in the business of the seasons of life.

How are you closing?

What a special privilege we have to take communion today. Not only to remember what God did for us on the cross but to remember what that means for us today. That we have freedom through a new life in him. We are free of darkness because the light has overcome the darkness. Let’s not forget that I don’t think it is coincidence that Matthew opens with Jesus by saying, “See, the virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they will name him Immanuel, which is translated ‘God is with us.’ And then he closes by repeating Jesus’ commission to his followers, “And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”