Scripture Reading: Matthew 1:18-25 (Please open your Bibles to this text)
When a man fathers a child and then leaves he abandons his child. The father might live in the same town as the child but if he only ever observes the child then he is a biological father but not a father in the true sense of the word.
Fathers are supposed to love their children, provide for their children, teach their children, guide their children, discipline their children; that’s what fathers do!
If God the Father had created us and then just sat back to see how we would do He would indeed be a mighty God but He would not be a loving God. He would not be a loving Father.
However, God the Father is the best example of a father caring for His children, His creation. That’s us!
Because God did NOT create the world and just sit back to watch what would happen.
We can see the Lord interacting with humanity throughout the entire Bible.
We see Him interacting through the prophets and priests and through direct intervention on behalf of His children.
The Lord was, is and always will be a loving, providing, teaching, guiding, disciplining God and those of us who belong to Him know this to be true.
And, here at Christmas, we see the God the Father sending His One and Only Son. This is the greatest act of Fatherhood ever; the sending of the Messiah, Emmanuel, God with us!
So, let’s go ahead and read the Scripture for this morning. Matthew 1:18-25
(At this time briefly explain the following)
Verse 18 - The relationship between Joseph and Mary in that culture
Pregnant through the Holy Spirit (Suggest that they read Luke 1)
What could have happened to Mary
Why Joseph was required to break the betrothal if Mary had indeed
been promiscuous.
Joseph did not hesitate to obey what the angel of the Lord had
instructed him to do
By obeying the instructions from the angel to marry Mary immediately
he was opening himself up to suspicion and ridicule
In spite of this he did the honorable thing and preserved Mary’s purity
until after Jesus had been born.
Emmanuel – God with us
Jesus – the Greek version of Joshua meaning “the LORD saves”
Messiah (Hebrew) / Christ (Greek) – Anointed One
But, let’s think about Emmanuel, God with us. What a wonderful thing!
As we think about Emmanuel, God with us and try to comprehend the immensity of this act of God let’s take a look at a comparison in another religion.
This other religion is the Mormon religion and their beliefs about Jesus are totally different from what the Bible teaches.
Let me try to explain this:
We believe that God the Father, sent God the Son, a person of the Triune Godhead to earth for the purpose of reconciling spiritually lost humanity to Himself.
God the Son came from heaven, was born as a human in an event we call the Incarnation, lived a sinless life, voluntarily put Himself into the position of being tortured and crucified for our sins, was resurrected from the dead and has returned to God the Father.
Simply put, God became Man. That’s what the Bible teaches.
That’s what we believe.
Mormons however teach something radically different.
Consequently, the Mormon Jesus (and the Father) had to learn also how to become a God “the same as all Gods have done before.”
LDS Apostle Lorenzo Snow (who became the fifth President of the LDS Church), sums up the LDS man-to-God doctrine in a short, but most quoted, couplet:
“As man now is, God once was; as God now is, man may become.”
Why do I bring this up? We can’t miss this distinction; this is awesome!
According to the Bible the Son of God took on flesh, became a human.
According to the Mormons the only thing in the manger in Bethlehem was another little baby who would one day become a god.
So, in the manger in the Biblical account of the birth of Jesus, God Himself is in the manger! God Himself!
Of course, the Mormons say that the baby in the manger would one day learn to become a god and so could we, but at birth he was just another little baby!
So, I have to ask; if the Mormons are right and if he was just another ordinary human at birth, why the angels, why the shepherds, why the virgin birth, why the lineage of King David, why the wise men, why anything?
Why would we celebrate anything about this man until he became a god?
On the other hand, because w know and believe the Bible, we KNOW why the angels, why the shepherds, why the virgin birth, why the lineage of King David, why the wise men! We know why! Because it was nothing less than God Himself in that manger! God on a rescue mission! Praise be to God forever!
So, this amazing, awesome Baby in the Manger, Emmanuel, God with us; what else do we know about Him???
John 14:6
“Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’”
Emmanuel, God with us, is the ONLY path to the Father and salvation!
How did Emmanuel accomplish that?
John 10:11
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.”
Emmanuel, God with us, laid down His life for us!
John 6:35
“Then Jesus declared, ‘I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me will never go hungry, and he who believes in Me will never be thirsty.’”
Emmanuel, God with us, is the only one who can sustain our spiritual life once we come to Him for salvation.
John 8:12
“[Jesus, the Messiah, Emmanuel] said, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’”
Have you ever tried walking through a room barefoot in the dark? That can be a very painful experience! Emmanuel, God with us, lights the path for us.
John 15:5
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in Me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing.”
Emmanuel, God with us, is our source of life and our source of anything we can do that is of benefit to the Kingdom of God.
John 10:9
“I am the gate; whoever enters through Me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture.”
Emmanuel, God with us, is our salvation and our provision.
John 11:25-26
“Jesus said to [Martha, the sister of Lazarus], ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die.’”
Emmanuel, God with us, once again reiterates our salvation faith in Him.
Then He makes this amazing statement,
“Whoever believes in Me will live (spiritually, eternally and even physically), even though He dies (physically).”
At the end of this verse, Jesus asks Martha a question:
John 11:25-26
“Jesus said to [Martha, the sister of Lazarus], ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?’”
And, that’s the question we all must deal with at one point or another in our life. Do you believe this?
Emmanuel, God with us, taught so many other things while on earth that if we were to cover them all we would just have to start at the beginning of the NT and read through it to the end.
Sure, we love to think about that little Baby in the manger being God with us, but He did not come just to give us something to celebrate each year.
Isaiah 52:14 NIrV
“Many people were shocked when they saw Him. He was so scarred that He no longer looked like a person. His body was so twisted that He did not look like a human being anymore.”
Isaiah saw that image of Emmanuel, God with us, hundreds of years before Jesus was the baby in the manger.
When Emmanuel, God with us, came to earth it wasn’t just a site-seeing tour it was a rescue mission.
Romans 5:6-8 NIV
“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die.
“But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
The last verse of a new Christmas song we’ve been singing the past couple of years says it so well.
This is why Emanuel, God with us, came to earth:
I know You came to rescue me - this Baby Boy would grow to be
A man and one day die for me and you
My sins would drive the nails in You - that rugged cross was my cross, too
Still every breath You drew was Hallelujah!
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah
