Finding Love in our Loneliness

Blue Christmas

Isn’t it odd how some of the saddest songs become some of the most popular ones.

In 1964, Elvis releases the song “Blue Christmas”. He wasn’t the first to record it, but he was definitely the most popular singer.

It was from the perspective of someone who got dumped by his lady and now he is spending Christmas without her.

Odd thing to sing on Christmas, a holiday filled with joy, love, family, and generosity, right?

Beyond the fact that Elvis Presley sang it, I think the reason it was such a hit is because it was honest.

Maybe it isn’t a love interest you are missing, but Christmas does remind us of those missing from our lives.

Christmas can be one of the loneliest times of year for many people.

Especially this Christmas as our traditions are disrupted by the current events of our world.

But I want to talk today about how the 3rd name of Jesus declared in Isaiah 6 speaks comfort into our loneliness.

Jesus our Everlasting Father

It might seem odd calling Jesus “everlasting father” since He is most commonly referred to as Son (Son of God, Son of Man).

The bible speaks of God as being 1 AND 3. One God that exists as three distinct, yet unified persons. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Each person is equally God and God is not God without all three being fully God. But they each have distinct roles within the Godhead.

Father God is what we think about as the architect, the one who holds all things together.

The Son is the hands and feet of the Godhead. In creation for instances, He is the one who actually does the work of creation. In Christ He is the one who physically comes, physically dies, physically rises, and physically ascends, and will one day physically return.

Then there is the Spirit who is the spiritual presence and power of God in the world and in His people. In creation the Spirit is described as “hovering over the waters” representing the presence of God in His creation. It is also the one present in the Temple and now present in the life of believers, our helper, sustainer, counselor, and guide.

So, when Isaiah speaks of Jesus as “Father” we could see this as a confusion of roles, but it actually isn’t. It is actually the very definition of His role.

It’s not the Messiah’s role within the Godhead, but the Messiah’s character toward us that Isaiah has in mind. Concerning the language of “Everlasting Father,” Sam Storms calls it “a descriptive analogy pointing to Christ’s character . . . he is fatherly, father-like, in his treatment of us.” Jesus the Messiah is the only one who can reveal God’s fatherly character to us, for he is one in nature and essence with the Father. — DAVID SUNDAY

Jesus says of himself in John 10 and 14

John 10:30 ESV

30 I and the Father are one.”

John 14:9 ESV

9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

So Isaiah is saying that the baby who would be born will show us the character of our God.

He will put on display the loving nature of God as our Father.

That might be challenging for some because we often project on God the Father the image of our own dads.

If your dad was harsh or critical then you might think of God like that.

If your dad was distant and uninvolved then you might think God is distant and doesn’t care about your life.

If you had an abusive dad, then trusting God as Father might be really hard for you.

If you are like me and had a generous and attentive dad who spoiled you, you might come to God with expectations rather than surrender.

That is what is so important about us understanding the Father Character of Jesus.

Everything you’ve ever dreamed a father could be—everything you’ve ever wanted from your relationship with your earthly father—Jesus is and will be for you. Your Messiah will forever be perfectly father-like in the way he shepherds and leads you. In Jesus, you have a perfect father forever. — David Sunday

But what does this have to do with loneliness?

He shows us OUR Father.

Listen to Hebrews 2 in the New Living Translation, which I believe beautifully captures this truth.

Hebrews 2:9–11 NLT

9 What we do see is Jesus, who for a little while was given a position “a little lower than the angels”; and because he suffered death for us, he is now “crowned with glory and honor.” Yes, by God’s grace, Jesus tasted death for everyone. 10 God, for whom and through whom everything was made, chose to bring many children into glory. And it was only right that he should make Jesus, through his suffering, a perfect leader, fit to bring them into their salvation. 11 So now Jesus and the ones he makes holy have the same Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them his brothers and sisters.

Jesus is called “brother” here, but only as a familial connection.

He is our brother in that He came as the “Son of God” to take away the sins of the world and bring us back in relationship to our Father.

But, in Jesus coming, He has shown us the character and love of our Everlasting Father.

Jesus, your Everlasting Father, came down at Christmas into a broken and sinful world to fill our hearts with heaven’s love, and to teach us how to love one another. He came to make sons and daughters out of his enemies. This is the Father’s gift to us at Christmas. — DAVID SUNDAY

It is in Jesus that we see the most clear and powerful revelation of God’s love for us AS OUR FATHER.

And in the life of Jesus, we are given a clear and powerful picture of the way we are to live toward one another, AS A FAMILY.

He made us a FAMILY.

Throughout the NT, one of the main analogies of the Church is the Family of God.

We are the sons and daughters of God, the brothers and sisters of Christ.

John 1:12 ESV

12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,

Ephesians 1:5 ESV

5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,

Ephesians 2:19 ESV

19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,

1 John 3:1 ESV

1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

So Jesus as God came that we may know the character and love of our Father who is in Heaven.

But He also came to united together the family of God.

God has made us from the beginning to be in community.

We were created for togetherness, which is why, even before the fall, God declared that man’s aloneness was not good (Gen. 2:18).

God has always chosen a PEOPLE (plural) not just a PERSON.

And that has as much to do with us as it does Him.

We are not to be alone in this life, and so God, in is infinite and loving wisdom, draws us together as a family.

The gathering of the Church is a gracious gift from God our Father, regardless of how hard it is for us to live in community with one another.

Understanding this is essential to us growing to understand the goodness and grace of God.

We were created for community.

He showed us how to be FAMILY.

And also, in Jesus, we also get to see the Family Values of the Family of God

How is this family supposed to function in order to represent our Father’s heart?

God our Father is the one who establishes the values of His family and those values can clearly be seen in the life of Jesus, the one whose birth we celebrate on Christmas day.

Our FAMILY VALUES

SELF-SACRIFICIAL LOVE

Jesus’s birth is the greatest display of love, only surpassed by His death for our sins and His resurrection for our salvation.

He came for us.

Jesus was born that we might know God and that God might know us more fully.

Philippians 2:5–7 ESV

5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

We are to have the same mind as Christ, not thinking of ourselves more important than anyone else.

Philippians 2:3–4 ESV

3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

He died for us.

2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV

21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

1 John 3:16 ESV

16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.

He rose for us.

Romans 6:4 ESV

4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

The life of Jesus shows us the value of Self-sacrifice in the family of God.

We aren’t to be about our own comforts, our own agendas, our own satisfactions.

Selfishness destroys community as our eyes remain fixed on our own wants and needs, causing us to ignore the needs of others.

It is isolating and cold toward others as they do not feel loved or cared for.

DEVOTION to TRUTH

Jesus showed us with His life and taught us with His words what is true.

He spoke boldly, humbly, authoritatively, and compassionately.

He healed and cast out demons to shows us what is true.

All of these are examples of how we are to live in community with one another.

Paul says in Ephesians 4 that we are to “speak the truth in love.”

In 1 Thes 4 He tells us to admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, and be patient with all.

Honesty and grace and love-motivated accountability and boldness to speak are qualities of truly unique community and what we all need, and deep down what we all want.

DEDICATION to ONE ANOTHER

There are more that 50 One Another statements in the NT.

God speaks to His Church a lot.

Love one another, bear one another’s burdens, weep, rejoice, and encourage one another, build one another up, confess and forgive one another, correct and teach one another...

We think of Church as piece of our life, and attending a church service is just a piece, but the identity of church means we are a part of a family that needs us.

Our dedication shouldn’t be to an organization, a building, a history, an event, or any such thing.

Our dedication must be to the Lord and His people.

That is expressed here in this church family.

We are a dysfunctional family, but we are family.

And we are loved by our Father in a way that motivates our love for one another.

Love was born on Christmas day in the one who would be called Our Everlasting Father

May you find His arms safety and comfort.

And may you find in His family Love and community.