Jesus for Us

Good morning,

It is wonderful to be together. It is warm enough in here. We have good people here.

This is our us.

Every year, this season gives us an opportunity to renew our focus on Jesus. His birth, his life, and his sacrifice.

One of the things that I try to bring us back to is WHY he came.

Something that we should understand as people is that God didn’t have to do any of that.

Last week we started a sermon series, Jesus for them, Jesus for us, and Jesus for Me as we begin to celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus.

We started our series with Jesus for Them. The bible says that God so loved the WORLD, that he sent his only begotten son.

He loved the world.

As personal and present as Jesus is, we have to understand that the reason Jesus came wasn’t just for personal relationship with you, but for global relationship with all people.

We are all on this earth together, sinking together. Dying we shall die, together. Aside from Jesus, we don’t have it all figured out, we are standing on the same sinking ship as everyone else.

We make the jump, into the only lifeboat available, Jesus. And we encourage those around us to do the same, as we share the gospel.

In doing that, we confess our need. And we see the need in others. not out of judgement - how could you possibly be standing on a sinking ship?!?! But out of concern… Please.. get in. This is the only way you can be saved.

In that, we have to see that even though everyone was invited, not everyone makes the jump.

And that brings us to this mornings message, Jesus for us.

In Genesis we saw the first promise of the Messiah, and the need for one. Mankind had fallen.

God promised that a man would crush the head of the serpent. That he would be defeated.

Then, in Isaiah, we see a more defined promise to King Ahaz. Redemption - salvation, would come from this one.

The enemies of Ahaz would be defeated by this one called Immanuel. God with us.

Isaiah 7:14 CSB

14 Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign: See, the virgin will conceive, have a son, and name him Immanuel.

This promise is repeated in the Christmas story in Matthew. Matthew writes to a Jewish audience, that would be familiar with the story from Ahaz, so this is an important detail.

Mary, was to give birth to a son, and he would save his people. Matthew 1:22

Matthew 1:22 CSB

22 Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

Matthew 1:23 CSB

23 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.”

By his birth, Jesus becomes the God with Us.

By his birth, we become US.

Even though his birth was a gift to all people, there is a seperation here.

Some people aren’t going to get on the boat.

Jesus came for them.

But in coming he created us.

A different group.

Not All Jew, not all gentile. A new creation.

Us.

Christians.

Now, the fairytale version of faith says that once you get into the lifeboat, everything becomes peaceful.

In fact, that is often what we try to sell to others.

You have problems? Yall need Jesus.

With Jesus, your problems go away and everything is great.

From the lifeboat, we think everything should be good. The birds are chirping, the water is calm, everything is good.

Has anyone in this room experienced that? No.

Honestly, once we get into the lifeboat things get complicated.

In fact, there is an argument to be made that if we just stayed on the ship, we could have just kept doing what ever we wanted. Literally, anything you wanted to do, you could do.

But now you are on this much smaller boat.

And things are much more complicated.

Not only because your environment has changed, but also...

look at who else is in the boat WITH you. You see the person who votes differently, the person who annoyed you in the grocery store, the person who smells funny.... But also the people with a past. The people with a testimony.

We love the idea of “Jesus for me” My personal savior.. We are going to really celebrate that next week.

We understand the Jesus for them… He saves the lost, and everyone needs saving...

But Jesus for us? Thats the hard part. Because US. implies connection.

US implies proximity. US means that Jesus didn’t just save me to be a solo survivor.

Its not just the two of us in the life boat.

He saved me, to be a part of this family.

We like to say “Church is the family you choose” And in some ways, that means that you choose which church you go to, and how connected to be in that place…

But it also means, that you have chosen. To be a part of the church. The big C, all of us together, church.

Matthew 12:48–50 CSB

48 He replied to the one who was speaking to him, “Who is my mother and who are my brothers?” 49 Stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

Are there those who would claim to be christians, that aren’t? Yes, absolutely.

We don’t have fellowship with a great number of people like that.

But we have to reconcile with that scripture from Matthew 1:23

Matthew 1:23 CSB

23 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.”

God is with Us.

Immanuel doesn’t mean God watching us, it doesn’t mean God fixing us, and it doesn’t mean God for ME.

God with US.

The plural, is in the US.

We often treat faith as a private transaction. And there is a lot of that.

Your personal faith is a beautiful thing. But the Christmas announcement was collective. God didn’t come to be a private spiritual consultant. He came to dwell in the midst of a people.

He came to create an US.

Think for a moment about the manger scene. Our nativities simplify what was actually taking place, but consider the first few moments of Jesus’s life.

It didn’t look much like the birth of a king.

it didn’t look like a vip section

It wasn’t full of religious leaders.

The first gathering of Jesus’s people… the people he invited.

Shepherds. The Angel of the Lord went specifically to the shepherds.

Not the ones who were all cleaned up and at home. The ones that were watching their sheep.

The Magi.

Foreigners from the east.

Different culture, different religion.

And Mary and Joseph. A young couple shrouded in rumors and scandal.

God brought that group together. People that had nothing in common. People who would never speak to each other in the real world. And he made them stand shoulder to shoulder, in the barn. And they were there, in Awe of Jesus.

That is the church. That is the us.

The Apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians 2 that Jesus came to destroy hostility between groups. Eph 2:14

Ephesians 2:14 CSB

14 For he is our peace, who made both groups one and tore down the dividing wall of hostility. In his flesh,

Jesus tore walls down. He took Shepherds and the Maji, the jews and the Gentiles and put them in the same boat. From the very beginning.

Now, that sounds beautiful.

We are family; all my brothers sisters and me and stuff.

But it is also painful. Sometimes because choosing the US of the church means losing the US of the world. Sometimes because the US of the church are just as flawed as you are.

Some of you know this pain deep in your bones. You got in the lifeboat and got settled in… Real close to everyone around you in the boat, only then to take account of the people who didn’t get in. There are people you love who didn’t come with you.

Christmas is a terrible time for that reminder.

We are going to fill this place in a few weeks with people who come to church just once or twice a year to check the boxes and make granny happy.…

But they aren’t in the boat.

Jesus was honest about this. He said that following him would sometimes bring a sword. It would sometimes divide families. Some of you have lost friends because you chose to follow Jesus. Some of you have family members who would look at you faith and shake their heads. And - perhaps even harder - some of you are grieving people who WERE in the boat, but decided to get out. We live in a time where people are walking away. We are seeing friends deconstructing their faith. We see people deciding that culture is more appealing than the cross. and we see that empty seat where friends used to sit. It hurts. It makes us feel lonely. But that is where the benefit of us comes in. This is where Christmas shines the brightest. Because when we lose our earthly connections, Jesus gives us a new family.

Listen to the promise Jesus makes in Mark 10:29-30

Mark 10:29–30 CSB

29 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus said, “there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for my sake and for the sake of the gospel, 30 who will not receive a hundred times more, now at this time—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions—and eternal life in the age to come.

He doesn’t just say I will give you heaven. He says I will give you family. Brothers, sisters, and mothers. Now.

He fulfills that promise in the church.

Through this messy, imperfect, beautiful, us. If you have lost friends because of your faith, look around this room. These are your friends now.

If you biological family thinks your foolish for following Jesus, look around these places. These are your brothers and sisters now. If you are grieving someone who has walked away, you are not alone.

This is the power of Immanuel. Because God became God With us.

When you gather with us, he is the glue.

When you need someone to pray, because your world is falling apart… he is the bond that makes a stranger care about your burden.

When we sing these songs together, he is the harmony that makes everything ring.

We are the unlikely family.

We are a lifeboat full of people who might have lost everything else, but we have found Jesus, and in Jesus, we have us. Its not just about you.

Its about us.

So this week - when you pray, and you should be praying.. but when you pray…

Think about these people.

Pray for believers.

Be thankful for believers.

Being together is messy.

But Jesus holds us together.

Look around the room. Front and back, left and right.

This is the family God has given you. This is the family you choose.

This is a the miracle.

God is here.

And because he is here, we are together.

We aren’t just sinking. We aren’t just surviving. We are the people of Immanuel.

Next week we will finish this Christmas celebration by making this intensely personal. Jesus for me. But you can’t have me, without the us. and can’t have the us, without the baby who moved into the neighborhood - and started his own family.

Jesus came for us. He is with us, right here. Right now.

His word says - wherever two or more are gathered in my name,

Matthew 18:19–20 CSB

19 Again, truly I tell you, if two of you on earth agree about any matter that you pray for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there among them.”

As we celebrate Jesus this month, let us do that - with the knowlege that we do it together. Because Jesus is for us.

He is worth celebrating. Because he holds us together.