The Heart of Christmas

The Grinch

One my favorite Christmas movies of all time is The Grinch.

There are now 3 different versions to watch: the original, the live action Jim Carey version, and now the 2018 remake by Illumination (we really like this one).

Regardless of which one you watch, there is this point in all of them where the Grinch, who hated all the decorations, presents, and traditions of Christmas, finally understands that all the stuff of Christmas isn’t what makes Christmas special for the Whos of Whoville.

After stealing all the presents and decorations from the Whos, the Grinch is expecting Christmas to be done for them, but instead the Whos begin to sing and he suddenly realizes.

"Maybe Christmas," he thought, "doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more?"

That has been our focus through this Christmas season, seeing that Christmas is more than a cute little story of a baby born in a manger.

It is that story, but it is SO much more.

Let’s listen to the story again...

GOD-WITH-US

Matthew 1:18–25 CSB

18 The birth of Jesus Christ came about this way: After his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, it was discovered before they came together that she was pregnant from the Holy Spirit. 19 So her husband, Joseph, being a righteous man, and not wanting to disgrace her publicly, decided to divorce her secretly. 20 But after he had considered these things, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because what has been conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” 22 Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: 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.” 24 When Joseph woke up, he did as the Lord’s angel had commanded him. He married her 25 but did not have sexual relations with her until she gave birth to a son. And he named him Jesus.

Does that read any differently that it did a few weeks ago?

We have spent the last few weeks looking at the significance of the Christmas story from the words of John, one of Jesus’s closest friends and followers.

John doesn’t tell of how Jesus was born, but dive deep into what actually happened that first Christmas.

God, the pre-existent one, who created the universe, who sustains it all by His power, and who is above all, in all, and over all things...

He was knit together inside of Mary’s womb over 9 months, born just like each and everyone of us, grew, developed and matured.

“God became a man and made His home among us.”

This isn’t just a story, it isn’t just a historical account, it is the event that all of history hinges on.

It is TRULY the HEART of CHRISTMAS

Christmas has made it possible for us to really KNOW God.

He has revealed Himself is a way that He is knowable.

But what does it mean to KNOW God.

I want to look at three ways we can Know God through the Incarnation of Christ.

The angel says to Mary “They shall call his name Immanuel” God-With-Us

That name reveals the knowability of God.

GOD - Knowing God INTELLECTUALLY

Hebrews 1:1–2 ESV

1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.

As the Author of Hebrews says, God intentionally and purposefully reveals Himself to His people.

He wants us to KNOW him, not to have to theorize or try to find him some mysterious way.

He wants us to know who He, so He reveals Himself to us.

Theology is the practice of knowing God on an intellectual level.

We know things about God, His character, His nature, aspects of His plan and purposes, and His expectations and promises.

We know these things because He has revealed them to us, as Hebrews 1:1-2 points out.

The incarnation of Christ is the most clear and compelling revelation of God.

Hebrews 1:3 (ESV)

3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature...

Christmas is a reminder every year that God wants us to know Him

He wants us to be familiar with Him as He has become familiar with us.

At the most basic level, God wants us to know Him intellectually. To know about Him.

But He doesn’t stop there.

WITH - Knowing God EXPERIMENTALLY

God is not something to know about, but someone to experience the realness of

you can read about the enormity of the Himalayan mountains or the vastness of the ocean, but it is nothing like experiencing it in real life

John Calvin said the revelation of God prior to Christ was like a “pencil sketch.”

But, in Christ, God became accessible to us in a most familiar form.

He could be seen, touched, and heard.

That is what set the Bible apart from any other book, God didn’t choose one, special guy to communicate to His people through.

He chose to reveal Himself in a way we can related to and experience.

God WITH us means that the truths about God are experiential truths:

experiencing the goodness of his grace and mercy

experiencing the greatness of his power and provision

experiencing the hope of his everlasting love.

we experience God through his word, through community, through worship, and through serving others.

It isn’t about emotion, feeling some euphoric sense of God’s presence,

It is about knowing God as real, living, active, and present with His people.

That is what Christmas made possible

God WITH us.

But it is even deeper than that.

US - Knowing God PERSONALLY

God with US means that Jesus came with US on his mind.

Like the “me-and-you” US, not the general "us"

When Jesus says:

Luke 12:7 (NLT)

7 The very hairs on your head are all numbered.

He is expressing just how intimately God knows us.

In Jesus, God came to be known personally as He knows us personally.

The incarnation of Jesus allows us to know God personally.

To speak to God and know there is nothing there to hinder His willingness to hear us.

To trust in God with confidence that He is for us not against us.

He has shown us in Christ that He is for us.

He didn’t have to come as a man, but, compelled by love, He chose to.

God knows your struggles, our weaknesses, our hopes, dreams, worries, and fears.

That is as personal as a relationship can get isn’t.

The reason so many people have a cold, impersonal relationship with God is because you only have an intellectual relationship with Him.

Or you are just looking for the next experience that moves you.

To know Him personally means to:

Be eager to know more about Him

Be eager to experience Him in a real way.

Be willing to submit to His compassionate authority in your life.

How to know God:

Get to KNOW Him.

Learn about God

His character, His promises, and the deep truths of the faith.

Grapple with things you don’t yet understand.

Read the Word, read books about the Bible, listen to sermons and lectures from good Bible teachers.

If He is real, if He is knowable, then why would we not find out more about Him.

Get NEAR Him.

As you get to know Him, seek to get near to Him, in the places He promises to meet you.

Worship gatherings, community groups, family prayer and devotional times, serving others, personal devotional times, nature...

Sing, pray, read, meditate, listen.

Ponder the deep truths of God as truths that effect your life.

Ponder the incarnation of Jesus, Christ our Immanuel, these next few days.

Experience the reality of God-With-Us.

Give YOURSELF TO Him.

We often think of discipleship as downloading information about God and the Bible into our brains.

And/or doing more good/godly things than bad/sinful things.

But discipleship is the ongoing process of bringing every aspect of our lives under the Lordship of Jesus.

Submitting to Him as the king our lives.

The baby who was born 2000 years ago, who would be named Jesus, because He would save His people from their sins, He is the one Isaiah told us about.

Isaiah 9:6 CSB

6 For a child will be born for us, a son will be given to us, and the government will be on his shoulders. He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

Alister E. McGrath reflects upon the ultimate significance of Christmas: What sorts of things does the incarnation tell us about the ‘God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ’? Perhaps most obviously, it tells us that the God with whom we are dealing is no distant ruler who remains aloof from the affairs of his creatures, but one who is passionately concerned with them to the extent that he takes the initiative in coming to them. God doesn’t just reveal things about himself –- he reveals himself in Jesus Christ…. The incarnation speaks to us of a God who acts to demonstrate his love for us. That ‘God is love’ (1 John 4:8) is a deep and important truth—but far more important is the truth that God acted to demonstrate this love. ‘In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him’ (1 John 4:9). Actions, as we are continually reminded, speak louder than words.