A gift that gives freedom from your past and hope for your future.
A gift that sucker punches fear and feeds faith.
The greatest gift of all!
This morning, we unwrap the first gift of Christmas, which is the entire reason for us to celebrate this season; Jesus!
This priceless gift was given to us that first Christmas morning when God wrapped Himself in flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus is our source. He was there at the beginning and reigns supreme through to the end; the Alpha and the Omega!
He was there at creation, there when sin corrupted it all, there to make a way of salvation for that sin, there to judge sin at the end, and there to make all things new.
Between sin and making all things new, a way of salvation had to be pioneered. The only way for salvation to be possible was for a human to be born free from sin, like Adam was. Then, that person would need to live a sinless life by fulfilling God’s law perfectly. Finally, that person would need to pay the penalty for sin that they did not themselves owe; death.
This is exactly what Jesus did and it all started that first Christmas morning.
1 Timothy 3:16 (NCV/CJB)
Great beyond all question is the formerly hidden truth underlying our faith; our life of worship:
Jesus was revealed in the flesh (NASB, AMP, NLT, TPT)
Shown to us in a human body (NCV)
Manifested in the flesh (KJV, ESV, ASV)
Appeared in the flesh (NIV)
He was justified and vindicated in the Spirit,
Seen by angels,
Preached among the nations,
Believed on in the world,
Taken up in glory. (AMP)
God, the living, breathing, Word of God wrapped in flesh dwelling here on the earth just like you and I. The most significant difference being that He did not have an earthly Father. He was not born into sin as you and I were, He was born of the Holy Spirit and therefore, without sin.
Matthew 1:18-23
18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus (which means the Lord saves), because he will save his people from their sins.”
22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet (Isaiah 7:14): 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).
Jesus, Son of God and son of man.
Immanuel, God with us!
Jesus, the Lord saves!
Fully man and fully God. God literally dwelling among us in human form; what a gift!
Colossians 2:9-10 (NLT)
9 For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. 10 So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.
God did it all for us. That is how great and unstoppable His love is for us!
Jesus stepped down from Heaven in complete humility and was born as a helpless baby.
All the fullness and majesty and glory of God wrapped in weak flesh and rags laying in an animal’s feeding trough.
All of the fullness of God entrusted to a poor, young couple. They weren’t able to afford a lamb, so when Mary gave the burnt and sin offering required by the law after giving birth, she gave two doves or pigeons.
Complete humility as an example for us to follow.
In our culture, and in the church just as much as in the world, humility is severely lacking.
With access to information like never before, knowledge has puffed us up and our love has grown cold. Everybody is an expert and everybody is a critic. People are very quick to criticize and correct others. Social media has enabled us to do so with little to no relationship with those whom we are correcting. People type things that they would never say to them face-to-face.
Accountability is not desired although it is a key to the discipleship process and to our spiritual growth. We are easily offendable and not teachable. Pride has seeped in and blinded us to its presence in our lives. We have become deceived and often exchange truth for conspiracy and click-bait.
When everyone does what is right in their own eyes, it is not good. Pride and arrogance and lawlessness arises which ultimately leads to all of the fruits of the flesh. Instead of experiencing peace and joy, our lives are filled with envy and strife and drama. Instead of relationships being healed and reconciled, they are severed and despised.
Christmas reminds us that there is a better way to live; humbly!
Jesus came in complete humility and He did it all for our benefit. He did it so that He might completely relate to us.
Hebrews 4:14-16
14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Unless Jesus was born in complete humility and in the fullness of humanity, He could never empathize with us. He could not be our defender and intercessor and priest unless He lived like us. He could not guide and direct us out of temptation to sin and into freedom unless He was also tempted in the same way.
This enables us to approach the throne of God not in fear and trembling and shame, but with confidence all because Jesus understands and can relate. Confidence before God; what a gift! There, we receive the boundless gifts of mercy and grace.
Immanuel – God with us AND God for us!
In all of mankind’s history and throughout all of the man-made religions that we have come up with, there can never exist anything greater than the truth. All man-made gods require man to serve their needs in fear of punishment.
Only the good news of the Christian gospel proclaims the truth about the One, True, Living God who gave up everything to serve the needs of man and to save them from punishment!
Acts 17:21-27
21 (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)
22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship – and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.
24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.
God needs nothing from us, but freely gives everything to us. He is a gracious and merciful and generous God who gives everything to us. Every good an perfect gift comes from God.
This is all made possible because of Christmas morning. There is no longer a veil separating God’s presence from us so that we are not destroyed because of our sin! The veil has been torn! There is now NO condemnation for us all because of Jesus!
Immanuel – God with us AND God IN us!
Not only has that veil been torn, but the most holy place, the holy of holies has been moved from a man-made temple and created within us. God’s very presence literally dwelling within us. Not just among us, but within us!
What an incredible gift! We are truly never alone! God will never leave us nor forsake us! Jesus even told His disciples something that had to be confusing and troubling to them at the time:
John 16:7
very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.
How could it possibly be good for Jesus to leave them? What could possibly be better than Jesus physically being with us? Holy Spirit within us!
The Holy Spirit has been poured out into the lives of all believers and we want to be filled with even more until we are overflowing with God’s Presence! In this way, Jesus can be present with all of us simultaneously and pour directly into and through our lives every good thing!
1 Corinthians 3:16
Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?
This was a prayer by Paul for the church in Ephesus and a good prayer for us to pray for ourselves and others as well!
Ephesians 3:14-21
14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
All of this made possible because Jesus rose again from the grave!
All of this made possible because Jesus gave His life on the cross!
All of this made possible because Jesus lived a sinless life!
All of this made possible because Jesus was born that first Christmas morning!
What an amazing and incredible gift for us to receive!
Immanuel – God with us!
Mary and Joseph chose God’s will over their own. They surrendered their lives into His hands. I’m sure that they were mocked and ridiculed and likely even abandoned by friends and family. They believed and followed the words and directions of the angels; God’s word.
Luke 2:4-12
4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
Good news that will cause great joy for all the people; a savior has been born! The Messiah! The Lord!
A gift that gives freedom from your past and hope for your future.
A gift that sucker punches fear and feeds faith.
The greatest gift of all!
Immanuel, God with us!