Merredin Uniting Church

Christmas Day    *   25th December 2010

9.00am

Merredin Uniting Church       Fifth Street, Merredin

A Traditional Christmas Carols Service including the baptism of Isabella Stones, the daughter of ‘Stones’ and Anne

Scriptures: Isaiah 7:10-16   Matthew 1:18-25

As we come to the end of the Advent season and with Christmas about to dawn upon us, we need to ask ourselves who it is that we are waiting for.

A couple of years ago, Joan Osborne had a song called “One of us”. It asked the question, “If God had a name, what would it be …”

The One we are waiting for has many names – the Son of the Father, the descendent of David, the Saviour of sinners and more.

The very name ‘Jesus’ means “God saves!” He is God’s promise to deliver us!

He is Messiah, the Christ… “the anointed one”, our KING and we are his subjects!

Today we look at a special name we have for Jesus in the Advent and Christmas seasons. It is the name: “Immanuel”.

As millions the world over pause to celebrate the season of the Christ, I wonder if, amidst all the pomp and circumstance of the season, many truly understand the significance of the event. We put on music with Christmas Carols and our mind’s eye is filled with the image of the baby Jesus nestled in that manger in that stable in Bethlehem. The shepherds are there adoring the newborn king…”no crying he makes”.

But do we really understand what’s going on?

Matthew says,“All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’– which means, ‘God with us.’”

The name given to Jesus by the angel means that Jesus is “God with us.” He is God-in-the-flesh!

In that song by Joan Osborne …one of the lyrics posed another question: “What if God were one of us?” The question was answered in Jesus!

God did become ONE OF US! In the person of Jesus, God Almighty left the throne of Heaven, wrapped himself up in human flesh and became a man! And he did it in the most unflattering of circumstances… by being born as an infant (a completely dependent child) to a young woman who was pledged to be married to a common carpenter (certainly no royalty); and on that first night, placed in an animal’s feeding trough because there was no room for them in the inn. How much more humbly could God have entered into our world? But that’s what he did, and that’s what is so implicit in the name: Immanuel!

To understand the significance of the name, we’ve got to go back to the book of Isaiah to see the original prophecy in its context…

The word Matthew interprets to mean “God with us” appears three times in two Old Testament passages; both in Isaiah. Both are set in the context of God’s promised deliverance of the Kingdom of Judah at time of great national peril. The Northern Kingdom (Israel) was in league with Syria to capture Judah (the Southern Kingdom). Judah’s king at the time was Ahaz, and he was frightened about his prospects against the mighty Northern Kingdom. He was a wicked king, and he knew that he was in no position to claim God’s presence or power for deliverance. Nevertheless, Isaiah was sent by God and gave assurance that God would deliver the people, not for Ahaz’s sake, but for the sake of the Lord’s own faithfulness to his people.

So, when Isaiah was sent to Ahaz, God offered the king a “sign” that the message was authentic.

“The Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”

So why does Matthew use this Old Testament prophecy to describe Jesus?

Its because he wants us to know that Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promise to always be with his people! Matthew is saying that this child who is to be named Jesus (God saves), is the ultimate fulfillment of that prophecy… for the virgin Mary will be with child; and that the child himself is “God with us.” That was the promise given in Isaiah’s words to King Ahaz and it has been His promise to His people ALL throughout the Scriptures!

Do you remember God’s promise to … Moses (Exodus 3:12)

In many ways Moses was an unlikely candidate for ‘Deliverer of God’s people.’ Even though he had grown up in the household of Pharaoh, he had been banished from the kingdom after he had murdered an Egyptian slave master. Since that time, he had worked as a shepherd for his father-in-law. Its not until he reaches the age of eighty that God calls Moses to: “Go back to Egypt and free my people!”

At first Moses doesn’t want to go! In fact he starts offering up excuses why he can’t go and if you look at Exodus 3:11 you see him trying to get out of it… “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” Here is the answer that he received:

“And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.” (Exod 3:12)

If Moses was afraid… notice how God answers his fears… “I will be with you!” (Immanuel) And He was… as Moses faced the new Pharaoh, he could do so with confidence… God enabled him to perform a number of miracles… and when Pharaoh refused, God brought upon a series of plagues… and when Pharaoh finally relented and the people found themselves free, but wandering around the desert, God was still with them… leading them with a pillar of cloud of by day and of fire by night… sustaining them with manna from Heaven! In fact God never left them! He is true to his promises!

Do you remember God’s promise to … Joshua? (Josh 1:5)

When Joshua replaced Moses as Israel’s leader, he had his work cut out for him. Moses had been a great and charismatic leader. The people had seen miraculous wonders under Moses’ leadership. They had been freed from 400 years of bondage; they

had miraculously escaped Pharaoh’s army; They had seen the law delivered unto them. The promised land lay before them and it wasn’t going to be handed to them on a silver platter… there would be much work to be done in its conquest. Would the Lord do through Joshua the same mighty things he had done through Moses? This is what God said to Joshua…

“No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you;

I will never leave you nor forsake you. 6 “Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit

the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. (Josh 1:5-6) His word to Joshua– “Be Strong & Courageous because I will always be with you!” (Immanuel)

Do you remember Jesus’ promise to … His Disciples? (Matt. 28:16-20)

What a roller-coaster ride they had been through! They had seen their Lord crucified.. they had seen his body placed in that tomb… they had wept for him… some had scattered… some had denied him… one who had turned on him subsequently took his own life. But then they had witnessed the most remarkable thing any of them would EVER see… Jesus had risen!

First the tomb was found empty and then they realized why, as the risen Jesus appeared to them… not just once or twice but on a number of occasions over a period of several days! There was no doubt! Then, on that last occasion just before Jesus is taken up into Heaven, He gives them a set of last instructions …. “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” And one last promise … “And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age.” The Disciples would face continued persecution as the teachings about Christ were indeed spread all over the world… and they would ultimately face death just as their teacher had done … but the reassuring promise that each of them carried to their graves… “I will be with you always!” (Immanuel)

And THAT’S the promise of Immanuel to US… even today!

He is WITH US! True, he is no longer with us in the flesh… as he had been ‘with’ his disciples But, he is ‘with us’ in an even more special way today… through his Spirit!

His promise to us… John 14:16-18

“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever– 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

God continues to be ‘with us’ through the precious Holy Spirit; the counselor, advocate, comforter; who has come and now lives with us and in us! And God’s promise remains: He will be with us forever! He will never leave us nor forsake us!

And so, Immanuel is God’s promise to always be with YOU…

…In the tough times & trials of life. These are tough times for many. From drought impaired crops, and financial difficulties, from family turmoil and marriage problems… we live in a harsh world and the reality is that trouble and tough times hit us all!

David knew what it was like to face tough times and he knew what it was like to seek solace in the comforting arms of God. Some of his psalms reflect his awareness of the presence of God in his life.

“The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. 10 Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.” (Ps 9:9-10)

“For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter” (Ps 27:5)

Immanuel is God’s promise that you are safe in his dwelling/ abiding place. He is with you…. even when everyone around us seems to have gone. The holidays will be tough for many, possibly celebrating for the first time without a loved one. You know the pain of separation… be it from death, or distance. Is there someone in your life you miss very much? A child? A parent? Grandparent? A spouse? Maybe you’re dealing with the pain of a separation or marriage breakdown and the holidays are going to be difficult days for you? God is with you in those moments. Immanuel is God’s promise that you don’t have to be alone!

The fact that we especially feel His presence at certain times doesn’t mean that He isn’t with us at other times! No, he is with us ALWAYS! When you’re going out to work in the mornings… he is there. When you’re dropping the kids off to school… he is there. When you’re watching the cricket on TV, or at the WACA … he is there. When you and your wife are in the middle of an argument … he is there. God is with us in the ordinary moments of life, because he is with us and within us! So we don’t have to face anything in life without him!

And He is with us … even when we have failed to be “with him.” None of us are perfect. We all know that we have failed him and the Bible confirms it.. “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” But that’s why he came in the flesh in the first place! If we had been able to be perfect and get to Heaven on our own, there would have been no reason for God to become Immanuel! But we aren’t and He is… and so we can take confidence in the fact that God is with us!

The story of Joseph, Mary, Bethlehem and the baby Jesus is the story of God choosing to come and live with us.The Message puts it this way. “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood.” While that might be quite an understatement, THAT’S what God did! He chose to move in next door, into our run-down, beat-up, world weary neighborhood. The gospel is the story of God, loving us so much, that he became one of us… that he came to live among us so that we might prepare to one day live with Him!

God is with us. He is the One we have been waiting for. He cares about us …

Scriptures: Isaiah 35:1-10    Matthew 11:2-11

Today the Advent season takes us another step forward into accepting and acknowledging the Kingdom of God. If the first week was a week of preparation, and the second week, the week of hope; we now enter into the the week of joy, or anticipation.

The white knuckles of our hands on the steering wheel are not gripping that tight anymore, we are beginning to get to the end of the journey, we are nearly at our destination, the end is in view.

In our text in Matthew, Jesus asks us to first look back – to John the Baptist. Who was he? Was he just a reed swaying in the wind at the start of our journey into the Kingdom? Was he just a “fancy pants” in fine clothes? Or was he a bold prophet? Were his words not about the imminence coming of the Kingdom of God?

Oh yes, they were.  Its Kingdom come!

So then why does John now have to ask whether Jesus was the One? Had his faith become skeptical, unsure, uncertain?

“Are You the One, or should we wait for someone else?”

Earlier in his ministry, John had little doubt about Jesus. He spoke of the One who would come after him who would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. He blasted the Pharisees and teachers of the law, calling them a brood of vipers.

When Jesus came to him to be baptized there was no doubt at all in John’s mind –  Behold, the Lamb of God. Here is the Son of God. He heard the words from heaven, “Here is my Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

But now John is in prison. And nothing has quite turned out as he expected. Jesus does not seem to be out there with a winnowing fork. There is no ax at the root of the trees. There is no collecting of the wheat and the burning up of the chaff. John had thought that Jesus would come to turn over the establishment. Instead, He’s hanging around Galilee with a bunch of rag tag sinners, tax collectors and prostitutes. His lieutenants are fishermen rather than soldiers or scholars.

But Jesus is dealing with people; He is casting out demons, healing the sick and feeding the hungry rather than overthrowing the Romans, or at least the religious establishment.

John has doubts. “Are You the One, or should we wait for someone else?”

The signs John wanted to see (and, incidentally, which we also so want to to see) were signs of judgement of sinners, conviction of sin, fire burning up the rubbish around us and the Holy Spirit descending on God’s people.

He didn’t see any of that …

So, was Jesus the One, or was there someone else?

Gently, Jesus challenges John’s thinking, and ours. We have pictures in our own mind of what the Messiah should do, and what His Kingdom should like like. And mostly its nothing like it actually is.

Jesus says that John is more than a prophet and there is no one on earth greater than him but …. that the least in the Kingdom is greater than John the Baptist.

By implication then, the Kingdom is not of this world. It has another dimension. It is a Kingdom which is more than the present and yet is in the present. It is a life lived not by our own achievements or expertise but by faith in the Son of Man, accepting Him as Lord and King.

It is a life lived by His authority and under His authority. It is a life in which we see things differently.

It is a life where the faithful are the former rejects and the former elite are now seen to be faithless. Its a revolution!

It is a life where fire does not burn up but it does refine.

It is a life where the winnowing fork is doing its work other than where we think, and where the ax is chopping down different trees.

This is life upside down, where the poor become rich and the meek inherit the earth, where the merciful are shown mercy and the pure in heart see God and where the Kingdom of heaven belongs to the persecuted rather than the persecutors.

And so, in answer to John’s question as to whether He IS the One, Jesus says, “The Kingdom HAS come! There is healing and hope, joy and life….

The blind see,

The lame walk,

Lepers are cured,

The deaf can hear,

The dead are being raised,

And the good news is being preached to the poor.”

And so, after we have looked backwards … and seen the prophetic word from John – “This is the Son of God!” confirmed by the One he proclaimed.

And when we have heard that when we look around us with Kingdom eyes we will see blind men looking and lame men walking. Then we will have a glimpse of the Kingdom of God.

Is this Kingdom real?

Can we do more than spiritualize our joy?

When we say, “the joy of the Lord is my strength” can it be a reality or do we say it because that’s what we are expected to say when we follow Christ, even if we are feeling rotten?

This is touchy … because we DO spiritualize much of what we believe about God. We say that we believe things because we think that we are supposed to say those things even though they are not real to us.

Do you remember the story of the Emperor who had no clothes? He wanted the best set of clothes in the kingdom and two rascals said that they could produce an outfit for him. It would be so fine that only a king would be able to feel it and so beautiful that only the best people could see it. They worked on the invisible and non-existent garment for months and then pretended to dress the king. He paraded down the street stark naked and everyone ummed and ahhed about how beautiful the clothes were, though they could see nothing. But they didn’t dare acknowledge that for fear of being thought stupid. Then a little boy admitted that “The king has no clothes.” And everyone realised that they had been living a lie.

The “clothes” of the Kingdom, by Jesus’ admission, are not legalistic nonsense, or fine ceremonies, but blind people seeing, lame people walking and dead people climbing out of their coffins. It is the deaf actually hearing the good news being preached to them.

Isaiah spoke of this too, in his prophecies of the Messiah and the coming Kingdom. He looked forward into the future and he saw that deserts will bloom, feeble hands will become strong, weak knees will be steadied….

the eyes of the blind be opened

and the ears of the deaf unstopped.

The lame will leap like a deer,

and the mute tongue shout for joy.

Water will gush forth in the wilderness

and streams in the desert.

And the ransomed of the Lord will return.

They will enter Zion with singing;

and everlasting joy will crown their heads.

Looking back we see the proclamation from John that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. Looking forward, in the words of Isaiah, we see that as the Kingdom comes upon us, the desert begins to bloom, the eyes of the blind are opened and the ears of the deaf are unstopped.

But what are we to make of this present time. Are we just marking time until the Kingdom comes? Are should we see it around us? Should the signs which Jesus used to answer John’s question about whether He really was the One, be real for us too? Should we see blind people looking, lame people dancing, mute people shouting for joy and the water gushing forth in the wilderness?

Why not?

In explaining the situation of the Kingdom, Jesus said, “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.”

While the interpretation of these words have been long discussed, I would argue that in the context Jesus is talking about people acting on the courage of their convictions.

The Kingdom has been relentless in its advance since the days of John the Baptist, and the people who believe are taking hold of it with all their heart and mind and soul. They are not waiting for some day, it is now. Today we see these things, today the Kingdom is here. Today, as we open ourselves in faith, we will see the miraculous.

Jesus is saying that people acting on the courage of their convictions are no longer being limited by the impossible but are seeing that in the great power of God, all things are possible.

This is the week of joy. Because in the celebration of the Kingdom, all that which was broken is being mended. The limitations are being stretched, hope is a reality.

Scriptures: Isaiah 11:1-10    Matthew 3:1-12

Last week Advent sprung itself upon us. We were suddenly confronted with a need for preparation. God is at hand. We’re in the season of Emmanuel.

Last Sunday I gave some guidelines on how we should behave, live and make our decisions in this time of expectation of the coming of the Messiah. The truth is that we’ve been caught by surprise. We’ve been involved in the routine of our lives and suddenly the Scriptures are telling us that the Kingdom is at hand and we realize that we’ve stopped looking for it.

A year ago (last Christmas season) the promises held out for us by God were larger than life, but our trials since then have put a damper on our sense of a beautiful and joyful future. In the intervening time the wind has been taken out of our sails.

A promising season that didn’t materialize, loved ones who left us, sickness and pain which came upon us, dreams that were lost. And all the enthusiasm we once had, has been turned into – well, to use Isaiah’s imagery: stumps. And all we want now is to find nice comfortable stump to sit down on and give up. Of course, the tragedy is that what we are really giving up on is God.

For Isaiah the stump represents all that was left of the glorious promises of David’s kingdom. The Northern kingdoms of Israel had fallen to the Assyrians. The Southern kingdom of Jerusalem fell shortly after that to the Babylonians. The Promised Land was overtaken by enemies. The golden era had not just tarnished, it had been melted down into coins and sold off. Talk about a stump. Many Jews could not see past the stump. It completely dominated the horizon. It loomed – dead, barren – a testimony to everything they had believed and lost.

We all have stumps which are blocking our view. Worries, concerns, failures, and unrealized dreams; all of which keep us from seeing God clearly.

But Isaiah tells us that there is a gentle breeze blowing. The spirit of God is moving and a new shoot is coming forth. It is tender and seemingly inconsequential compared to the stump. But the spirit of God is upon it in a new way. It will bear fruit like the stump never did. The great desires of our hearts that originally called us to be the people of faith will be satisfied – the Spirit of understanding, wisdom, power and counsel, knowledge and fear of the Lord is sprouting anew.

If we are staring at stumps in our life, Advent is the time to allow our spirit to feel the breeze of God moving again and to take a deep breath. Now is the time to know God, not to say that there is no God. Right in our failures and in that which has failed us, out of that which has become unmanageable and unbearable, God’s kingdom is making a whole new start.

It is likely that during the past year a pretense has crept over us. It is as if we have been on a road trip. And rather than enjoying the journey, we are by this stage gripping the steering wheel. We are holding on too tightly – trying to resist the intrusive thought we could be going in the wrong direction, that we need to rest or that our fuel tank is dangerously low. We tell ourselves that as long as we don’t stop we will be okay.

This condition of the spirit is symbolized by the Pharisees in Matthew’s story. It had been 400 years since they had heard a prophet, since they had heard the living word of God. It had been 400 years since they had seen a petrol station. When we have not heard from God in a long time our religion can become a replacement for spirituality, rather than its facilitator. Instead of moving us forward, it holds us back. It becomes a shield, something we hide behind. We don’t expect God anymore, really, and we are suspicious of those who proclaim to know to Him – especially wild eyed hairy men by riversides. We have ceased to respond to God when he approaches us in unusual and new ways.

For those of us who need to pull over to the side of the road for a rest and to take another look at the map, John’s message is simple: Repent! It is a difficult word to capture in English. It has the sense of “change” or “turn around.” Paul used these words, “throw off the sin that entangles and weighs you down.” Better still, it means to reclaim your freedom to do what God has empowered you to do.

So, how do we move from “no hope” to “know hope”? How do we get up off the stump? First, we must realize this season is a celebration of God coming to us. Our part is to respond in faith. At its simplest level, this means being willing to entertain the possibility that God really is here. Faith is the assurance of things for which we hope, the confidence of what is unseen.

Yes, maybe we have longed too long for God to do something new with us, maybe it feels like ages since we have heard a personal word from Him. But this word says, no more sitting on stumps, no more just getting by. This is Immanuel! The promise is here. We can know God is near.

Isaiah offers the image of a child. The child appears again and again in his writing: leading, playing, reaching out a hand. Isaiah recalls us to a vibrant faith, that is not limited by what seems impossible. Only a child could imagine age-old enemies like lions and calves lying together or bears and cows feeding from the same trough.

In the kingdom under Christ there will be the reconciliation of our age-old enemies. Our love and our bitterness, our fears and our dreams, our faith and our doubt – our best and our worst – will be overwhelmed by the all righteous and peaceful domain of God.

John proclaims, “One who is greater is coming!” And this is exactly what we need to hear. We don’t have to do it all by ourselves.

The one whose sandal we are not even worthy to untie, offers to be Lord of our life. His is the authority, His is the responsibility. Remember how you were first attracted to him, how you were relieved when He said, “Come to me all you who are heavy laden, I will give you rest for your soul.” He is coming. And he is going to clean house. His winnowing fork is going to throw the clutter of our lives up into the air, where the wind of God will blow away all the chaff.

We can trust God that only what we need will fall safely back to the floor and be gathered at his feet.

Isaiah was right about the tender shoot. John was right about the Great One. They were talking about one and the same person, that person for whom we prepare ourselves now – Jesus Christ. The righteous king, the messiah of the world. As Christians we do not base our lives on a vague hope, a no hope. No, it is rooted specifically in Jesus Christ. It is concrete and real, and personal. So, for us hope is not simply a luxury, or an option. It is real. A way of life. Yes, our hope waxes and wanes, but it never perishes. To be a pilgrim on the journey of faith means we are always moving

from desert to Promised Land

from exile to the kingdom

from wilderness to the manger

from the cross to the empty tomb

from hopelessness to possibility

This is the new year. Be ready,

to wipe the slate clean,

to expect something new,

to believe afresh,

to meet God all over again as if for the first time.

Merredin’s Community Carol Service is at Merredin Senior High School on Sunday December 12th.
Sausage Sizzle at 6pm with the carols commencing at 7pm.
It’s a fundraiser for the High School Chaplaincy.