Good Company (20)

Its always good to have company or at least good company. You know the type of company that doesn’t come empty handed. Shows up with a host or hostess gift. Then they assist with setting table or offers to help clean up when done. They are also conscious of not over staying their welcome. They enjoy the event and leave timely.

Yes that is the description of good company. The type of company you want to invite back. It was a pleasure having them around.

We all like that type of company. Well I have some good news if you never have the opportunity to host that type of guest don’t worry we have good company in Christ!

In truth, God is and always has been with us. He is omnipresent, which means He is everywhere all the time. Speaking of God, the ancient psalmist David wrote, “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence? If I go up to the heavens, You are there; if I make my bed in the depths, You are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there Your hand will guide me, Your right hand will hold me fast” (Psalm 139:7-10 NIV). And in Jeremiah 23:23-24, God said, “‘Am I only a God nearby,’ declares the Lord, ‘and not a God far away? Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them?’ declares the Lord. ‘Do not I fill heaven and earth?’ declares the Lord” (NIV).  This announcement that echos Isaiah 7:14. 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. (Is 7:14). Last week i reminded you to Be Still. This is another reason to BE Still because God is with us. During this Christmas Season we are reminded of God’s plan to be with us and to remain with us! In Matthew we learn the announcement of Jesus. The angel appeared to Joseph to to offer him assurance it was ok to take Mary as his wife. Mary was in an awkward situation. She was engaged to Joseph but found herself pregnant and he had not been with her. Under every other instance this would be a major problem. It was clearly a deal breaker. If this was discovered by others she could have been stoned. This is a family embarrassment. What would her family say? What would the community say? Joseph had made up his mind to secretly divorce her. The Lord had other plans. Joseph being a just man he was bale to hear God’s messenger. I wonder how many us can hear God’s messenger concerning our lives.

I found out that God will change yours plans! Joseph’s plan was to divorce Mary. Call off the wedding. Not make a big stink about it but just to get out a bad situation while he could. The shocking news is Mary was carrying the Son of God. Verse 20 says 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. (Mt 1:20). The word said Joseph was a righteous man. His subsequent behaviour only confirms the appropriateness of labeling this man as ‘righteous’. In Matthew’s understanding, it is important to be righteous; and, while this involves obedience to the law, righteousness is, for Matthew, a much wider concept. Joseph could be being linked with the heroes of the Jewish faith from the past (as in Mt. 13:17; 17 For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

It is more likely that he takes his place among the righteous of the present whose righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees who respond to God’s present initiative in Jesus, and who will enter into blessing at the end. That is the kind of righteousness God wants to find in us. Not appearing religious but listening and obeying the will of God!

So again what does it mean to hear God with us. This word with a proposition connects God with US. The use of with here indicates accompanied by. So we are accompanied by God.

With joins the thing before and after:

Celebrate with us

Work with us

Worship with us

Serve with us

You get the picture!

God does three things with is proclamation of God with us

First he comes along side of us. Accompanied.

He is God in the Flesh.

This is the time of the year when we hear the word “incarnation” being used more often than at other times. But what does the word incarnation mean?

A literal definition of the word incarnation means in the flesh. The root, “carn” is found in other words such as “carnage,” “carnality,” and “carnivorous” and means “meat” or “flesh.”

A theological definition of the word incarnation is “God's becoming human,” and another is “the union of divinity and humanity in Jesus of Nazareth.”

The Bible teaches that the incarnation refers to the truth of God, who without in any way ceasing to be the one God, revealed Himself to humanity for its salvation by becoming human. Jesus, the Man from Nazareth, is the incarnate Word or Son of God.

As the God-Man, He mediates God to humans

* If I want to know what God is like, I look at Jesus.

I see His gentleness with the woman caught in the act of adultery as He forgives her and tells her to “Go and sin no more.” (John 8:11)

I see His patience for a short man in a sycamore tree as He looks up and says to him, "Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house." (Luke 19)

I see His healing touch when He takes a blind man by the hand and leads him to a solitary place; takes some of his own spit and anoints the mans eyes making him see (Mark 8:22)

I see His love for the alienated as He touches a man with leprosy (Mat. 8:3)

* If I want to know how God feels about things or what is on His mind, I listen to Jesus.

I learn that God doesn’t want me to live by bread alone, but by every Word that comes from His mouth (Luke 4:4)

I learn God’s righteous indignation as Jesus takes a whip and chases the moneychangers out of the temple declaring, “My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you have made it a 'den of thieves.” (Mat. 21:13)

I learn that God expects me to forgive seventy times seven when my brother sins against me (Mat. 18:22)

I learned that God, who is Spirit, is looking for worshipers, who must worship in spirit and truth. (John 4:24)

As the God-Man, He mediates God to humans- If I want to know what God is like, I look at Jesus

But as the Man-God, He represents humans to God:

* As a man, God knows by experience what it means to be human—Because of Jesus, God “feels me.”

The writer of Hebrews, chapter 4:15-16 says, “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

The Bible says in Heb 5:8 that Jesus, “though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.”

* Jesus knows what it feels like to be human, so He stands before God the Father as my advocate.

1 Tim 2:5 - For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,

1 John 2:1 - My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

The term "Advocate" portrays Jesus as both an "attorney" and an "intercessor." He is the One who represents the cause of believers in the presence of the Father.

This is how the psalmist could even say:

Psa 103:8 The LORD is merciful and gracious, Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.

Psa 103:9 He will not always strive with us, Nor will He keep His anger forever.

Psa 103:10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor punished us according to our iniquities.

Psa 103:11 For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him;

Psa 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.

Psa 103:13 As a father pities his children, So the LORD pities those who fear Him.

Psa 103:14 For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.

Jesus is our defense attorney. He appeals to the Father on our behalf. He points to the evidence of the Cross; He directs the Father’s attention to “Exhibit A” the blood that He shed for our sins.

Like that little boy, I need somebody with skin on. I can’t imagine following a God that I can’t identify with or who can’t identify with me—this is the dilemma that followers of religion are in.

But the biblical Jesus knew what it is to be God so He represents God to us.

The biblical Jesus knows what it feels to be human, so He stands before God the Father as our advocate.

In John 14:7 Jesus says to His disciples, "If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him."

Then Philip responds and says, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us."

Philip is saying what many Jews and others have said, “Just reveal God to us.” “Just teach us about the invisible God—that’s all we need.”

Have you ever thought like this? You just want to know more about this God who you cannot see and have never heard His voice. When you ask for a “sign” of His presence you hardly, if ever, get one.