God With Us

Intro: Hark the Herald Angel Sing

Over the next three weeks we’ll be looking at the hymn “Hark the Herald Angel Sing.” As we do, we’ll be unpacking the verses to understand the truth of Jesus becoming man, which is called “the Incarnation,” and why that’s important.

For this week, we’ll center on the part of verse 2 that says,

“Veiled in flesh the Godhead see

Hail the Incarnate Deity

Pleased as man with men to dwell

Jesus our Emmanuel”

To process this, let’s look at a few Scriptures that Wesley was probably referencing:

Colossians 1:15, 19

15 He [Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

Hebrews 1:3

3 He [Jesus] is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.

John 1:1, 14

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Matthew 1:23

23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel”

(which means, God with us).

So, when we look at Jesus, we see God. Jesus is God. Jesus is the exact imprint of his nature. So, what we see Jesus doing, God is doing. When Jesus heals, God is healing. When Jesus eats with sinners, God is eating with sinners. When Jesus is weeping, God is weeping. Jesus was and is “God with us,” “God dwelling among us.”

So, this evening, I want to talk about God’s Purpose in, our Problem with, God’s Provision for, the Product of and our Posture because GOD DWELLING AMONG US.

But first, let’s pray. <PRAY>

Creation/Deception

In the beginning God created heaven and earth and it was good. God, who is three persons (Father, Son, and Spirit), exists in perfect relationship and love. Out of the overflow of that love he creates. He creates the world and “the fullness thereof” (plants, animals, and humans), and then creates a garden within the world as a space where god-space and human-space overlap.

God-space is that realm where God rules as King The place where order reigns over chaos, where peace reigns over strife, where humans flourish because they are humble before God and each other.

In the garden, God dwelled with man. Genesis says that God walked with the humans in the evening. They were friends. Their job, or calling, or purpose was to “be fruitful and multiply” and to “rule the earth and subdue it;” or, to grow their family and spread out, to be the family and friends of God over the whole earth, making the whole earth god-human space.

From the beginning, God’s purpose has been to dwell with humanity.

God created humanity from the overflow of his loving relationship with the purpose of living with/dwelling with God.

God had one rule: that they would humbly learn wisdom from God rather than try to make themselves the judge of right and wrong. God is the all-wise, all-loving Father that will lead his children into the right way of living as they simply dwell with him.

And we know the story, right? They listen to the Deceiver who tells them that God’s trying to withhold something good from them, that God is controlling, that God has ulterior motives, that the grass is greener outside of god-space.

Parenting

Spencer says that he has a new perspective on this idea since having Ruben. He says that before he had Ruben, it was easy to look at his own parents as restrictive. “They don’t want me to experience life and figure it out for myself,” he thought. But now that he has Ruben, things are different.

When you are a parent, you want your child to have fun. In fact, when they are happy, it makes you happy. But you also see the dangers in the house that could end their fun and happiness. You suddenly see the sharp corners, the smothering fabrics, the 400-pound bookshelf that would end more than their happiness! And so, as a parent who want their child to be happy and healthy, you have to set boundaries.

Spencer and Brittony try to let Ruben have as much freedom as he can, and so, instead of keeping him in his crib all day, they put him in the middle of the living room and barricade him in with furniture and pillows. They want him to be where they are; in the safety of their presence and gaze. But, as you would expect, the only place he wants to be is outside the living room. Instead of toddling around in the middle where the toys are, he is crying and trying to squeeze around the barricades. He is Deceived into thinking that there is something good in the hallway that they are keeping from him and so he tries to escape to find it.

Our lives

Often, we are like Ruben. We are called to simply Dwell with God, but we are Deceived in to thinking that to that his rules and boundaries are there to control and limit us. Instead of Dwelling in obedience and enjoying the good that God has for us, we try to push past the boundaries to find the good he’s holding back.

Instead of living generously, we hold tight to our time and money because we don’t trust God to provide. Instead of living mercifully and forgiving, we hold grudges and bitterness because we don’t trust God’s justice. We resist living under God because we believe the Deceiver that says it’s better to go our own way.

Summary

So, God, like a good Father, wants us to be happy and healthy, and he knows that our highest happiness is found in dwelling with him, but through the Deception of temptation we, like Ruben, break free from the safeguards chasing so-called freedom but find a world of sharp corners and heavy bookcases ready to do us in.

Temple/Distraction

We continue the story, heaven and earth, god-space and human-space have been driven apart because humans didn’t trust the God who wants to dwell with us.

God continues his project of bringing heaven and earth together by choosing a family to resume the mission. He chose Abraham and through Abraham we get Isaac, Jacob, and the whole people of Israel led by Moses.

In Exodus 25:8 God tells Moses to build him a Tabernacle, a tent, so he can dwell in their midst. Later, once the people are in the land, David and his son Solomon set out to build God a proper house, a Temple. According to scholar Tim Mackie with the Bible Project, the inside of the Temple had images and symbols that were meant to recall Eden, the original god/human-space. Images of trees and angels together. The Temple was the new Eden, the space where god- and human-space overlapped; the space FROM which god-space would spread to cover all human-space.

But, instead of joining God on his mission, the people and their priests turned aside and got Distracted by other gods or by the symbols that were meant to point them to the One who sought to dwell with them.

Engagement

The Tabernacle and Temple were like an engagement ring. They were symbols that a union was promised and, in a sense, had already arrived. When each one was built, it was filled with the Presence of God; God came to Dwell with them. But God was not confined to the Temple. Even the Psalms say, “The Lord is near to all who call on him.” But for later generations it became easy focus so much on the symbol that they forgot the God who dwelt in it.

Imagine a bride-to-be who, after getting engaged, doesn’t spend any time with her fiancé. She got her ring and then just went around showing everyone that she was going to be married. She spends all her time planning the wedding, down to the smallest detail. She gazes at her ring every night, so happy to be engaged. She writes and practices vows. She tastes the cakes. She does everything that would indicate that she is, in fact, engaged-to-be-married, but she never talks to her fiancé ever again. She never returns his texts. She never wants to go out when he invites her. She never shares her life with him because she’s so distracted being engaged to him.

This is what the people of Israel (and often we) fell into. They had the Temple, they had the sacrifices, they had the land, but they never turned their hearts to dwell with God.

Listen to the prophet Micah’s rhetorical question and answer as to what God desired from his betrothed:

6“With what shall I come before the LORD,

and bow myself before God on high?

Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,

with calves a year old?

7Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,

with ten thousands of rivers of oil?

Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,

the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”

8He has told you, O man, what is good;

and what does the LORD require of you

but to do justice, and to love kindness,

and to walk humbly with your God?

God desired them to walk WITH him, but they got Distracted by the religious duties and their hearts strayed away.

Religious duties are not bad, but when we make those MEANS into ENDS, we miss the true END of our faith; Dwelling with God.

OR, imagine a groom-to-be who proposes marriage to his lady but then during the whole engagement he’s stalking his ex’s Insta and sliding into the wrong DMs.

With his mouth he has said “I love you, my fiancée” but with his actions he has shown that his heart is elsewhere.

Maybe it’s not even as sinister as texting other women. Maybe he is working or doing a hobby or hanging with the guys all the time, but whatever it is, his heart is divided. He claims to want to start a life with this woman, but he is not making his fiancée a priority.

In the Bible, when God’s people turn their hearts away from Him, it’s called “idolatry.”

Pastor and Author Tim Keller defines Idolatry as “making a good thing the ultimate thing.”

Idolatry happens when we get Distracted from the ultimate thing, Dwelling with God, and allow any number of good things (Grades, Significant Others, Jobs, etc.) to take our affections.

Exile/Distance

When God’s people consistently listen to the Deception of the enemy, that God’s rules are just there to control us and thwart our joy, when we consistently give in to the Distractions of religious performance or idolatry, when humanity consistently rejects the attempts of God to reconcile god-space and human-space, then God allows us to live in our space without him.

Adam and Eve gave into Deception, and wanted to escape the barriers, so they were driven out of the Garden.

Israel kept chasing Distractions and ignoring the God who formed them, so they were driven out of the land.

In the Bible, when humans reject god-space, they are left alone in their human-space, and this is called Exile. Our Disobedience, born of Deception and Distraction, turns in to Distance between us and God. Like the Prodigal Son, when we reject the love of our Father, we leave for a distant country. God does not leave us, we leave him.

When we are Distant from God, instead of order we experience chaos, instead of peace there is confusion and strife, instead of human flourishing there is fighting and struggling.

After the people of Israel was taken into Exile, some were allowed to come back to the land of Israel and rebuild the Temple. But, when they did, the Presence of God did not fill it the same way as before. They were still in Exile.

So, the question open at the end of the Old Testament is this, “Has God left his people? Have we really screwed up bad enough to make him leave us for good? Has God abandoned the project of uniting heaven and earth?”

Jesus

So, when we come to Jesus and we hear the words from the Gospels, “his name will be Immanuel,” and “the Word was God and dwelt with us,” this is the continuation and consummation of that storyline.

Jesus, being fully God and fully man IS the new Eden, the new Temple. He is the place where God-space and human-space overlap. When John wrote, “the Word dwelt among us,” the word for “dwelt” means “to Tabernacle,” to set up a tent! Jesus is the true and better Tabernacle, the true and better Temple; He is the God-man.

Jesus did what we cannot. He was tempted with Deception but was fully obedient. He was assailed with Distractions and temptations to veer from his course but stayed true. He always recognized his position before God. He often retreated to be alone with God, to dwell with him.

God’s purpose is to Dwell with us, but we are pulled by Deception and Distraction to be Distant from Him. Jesus is the “us” who perfectly Dwelt with God. He is the true and better Dweller!

Us

But the story doesn’t end there. Because Jesus was the perfect Dweller, after his Death, Resurrection, and Ascension, he sent his Spirit, his very Presence to Dwell in the church and the individual believer. In Acts 2 we read,

2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

The Spirit of God, his very Presence came and filled the church, just like it filled the Tabernacle and Temple. We, the church, those people IN WHOM the Spirit Dwells and those WHO Dwell in God through Christ are now the “carriers” of the Presence of God. We collectively and individually are God-human spaces.

Took

This is hugely important because this is how God is now working to Dwell with humanity. Because of the work of Jesus, we are able to join God’s mission spread God-space over the whole earth.

There are two Postures that this directly calls us to:

Dwelling with God and being “God with us” to those around us.

Dwell with God

God’s purpose has been from the beginning to Dwell with us. And, all he calls us to is a simple Dwelling with him. Jesus says, “abide in me.” Our primary posture towards God is that of Dwelling. God is not wanting mere moral obedience, although that is important. He is not wanting religious action and zeal, although that is important. And He is not wanting to only take material care of us, although he does that too. The primary relationship he wants with us is to Dwell and be Dwelt with.

When you are someone’s friend, there is a reality where you don’t have to DO anything with them, it’s enough just to BE with them. In fact, if you only hang out when there’s an agenda, most likely the friendship is not that deep.

And so, the question becomes HOW do we Dwell with God?

The answer is not complicated but it can be difficult. We Dwell by just being with God.

We dwell by praying, we dwell by listening, we dwell by reading the Bible, we dwell by sitting in silence, we dwell in our work, we dwell in our rest, we dwell by dwelling.

Brother Lawrence, a 15th century monk, in his book Practicing the Presence of God encourages us to “think of [God] as often as we can,” that “a little lifting up of the heart suffices,” that “one act of inward worship…is very acceptable to God.” He says that, “no one will notice it, and nothing is easier than to repeat often in the day these little internal adorations.”

If you ask a woman how much time her man should talk to/be with her, she won’t have an exact answer, because she isn’t looking for a specific AMOUNT of time, she’s just wanting her man to think of her often as he can. A text during the day, a surprise dinner date, a change of pace. She wants to know that he’s thinking of her.

This gets at the same idea of dwelling with God. He is not keeping tabs on how much you read or pray, but those are some of the means we can use to “lift our hearts towards him.”

How can you lift you heart towards God during the time away from Ball State? How can you make space to listen and hear from God? What are some things you need to eliminate to help you Dwell with God? What are some things you need to add?

The THINGS that we do, like prayer, reading, meditating, serving people, fasting, etc., are all MEANS to the END of Dwelling with God. And, although they are not the END in themselves, they are still the MEANS that we can use to facilitate the END.

They are like the trellis that you use to grow tomatoes on. The trellis is not the tomato, but it facilitates the health and growth of the tomato, and without it, the tomato wouldn’t grow as well.

The THINGS we do, the RHYTHMS we cultivate, the DISCIPLINE we take will help us to DWELL and bear fruit as Jesus says in John 15. For more info on the “how” of Dwelling, check out Joey’s videos on Spiritual Disciplines.

Dwell with Others

A second Posture that “God with Us” calls us to, is to be Dwellers with others. The Great Commandments are to Love God and Love Others, and in fact, our Love for God is proved and lived out in our Love for Others.

Pastor and Author Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote that “[the church] is the presence of Christ in the same way that Christ is the presence of God.”

Of course, we are not fully God like Christ, but we, the people filled with his Presence, are carrying the Spirit of the Dweller in us. And so, when we are back with our parents over break, we are the presence of “God with Us.” When we visit our families for Christmas, even virtually, we are the presence of “God with Us.” When we are hanging out with our siblings, or working a side job, or even just checking in on a friend via text, we are the presence of “God with Us.”

Conclusion

So, whether you are going to be isolated and alone for most of the next month and a half or moving back with family, let’s all meditate on the truth that “Veiled in Flesh the Godhead see, Hail Incarnate Deity” he was “Pleased as man with men to Dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel” and to be people that Dwell WITH God and Others.