HOME ALONE!?
Matthew 1:22-23
S: Christmas Eve
C: God’s Presence
Th: Holy Responses to God
Pr: JESUS IS “GOD WITH US”.
Kw: Truths
The ____ truth is…
1. We are far more precious to God than we imagined.
2. We have more to celebrate than we thought.
3. We are never really alone.
PA: How is the change to be observed?
• Recognize God with us and respond appropriately.
Version: ESV
RMBC 24 December 04 Christmas Eve
INTRODUCTION:
One of my favorite comedies that is set during the Christmas season is the film, “Home Alone.”
It is the story of a young 8-year-old, Kevin McCallister, who lives with his wealthy family in a large house in Chicago.
For Christmas, the family is taking a vacation in Europe.
As all the relatives show up, there is a lot of confusion in the house, and Kevin, being in that in-between age where he is neither cute nor mature, causes a ton of trouble.
When things get out of control, he is sent to the attic bedroom to sleep.
In the midst of this tantrum, Kevin tells his mother who punished him that he hated her and that he wished he’d never have to see his family ever again.
The next morning arrives and everyone wakes up late.
In all the hustle and bustle and chaos of trying to get out the door and make it to the airport on time, Kevin is forgotten, left sleeping in the attic.
All the while, the parents believe Kevin is with them, hanging out with his cousins.
Kevin finally wakes up to find that he is the only one in the house.
And in his understanding, he comes to the conclusion that his wish has been granted – his family has disappeared – to his delight!
So now he is home alone with the full run of the house.
He eats all the junk food he wants.
And he doesn’t have to answer to anyone.
He can do whatever he wants.
Kevin’s life begins to have added excitement when two crooks, Harry and Marv, are robbing houses in the neighborhood, as most families are away on vacations, and they target Kevin’s next.
In the movie, of course, we laugh hysterically as Kevin successfully sets up booby traps that will capture the crooks.
But as the success of his antics come to an end, he discovers he has a problem.
Being home alone is not what he thought it would be.
His freedom has brought on problems that are worse.
He is lonely.
And now he is sorry that he has wished his family away and wants them back again.
This film well illustrates the story of humanity.
We think that we can be happy without God.
Things would be just great if we didn’t have to answer to Him.
If only we were free from His rules.
If we could only be free from His restraints.
But as life moves on, we begin to feel the emptiness and loneliness that accompanies such a plan.
For we are fighting our own design.
We are not designed for isolation.
We are not designed to be alone and at odds with our Heavenly Father.
And, in turn, whether we realize it or not, as we become less and less satisfied with life, we are really homesick.
We know that life has to be better than this.
OUR STUDY:
There is a word that we commonly hear this time of the year.
It is “Immanuel.”
It is one of the names given to Jesus.
It is a beautiful and enlightening name.
For it means, “God with us.”
What I desire you to hear today is the very strange story of “God with us.”
For the story of humanity, in which we all play a part, is one of rejection.
In our sin, we wish for and gain our so-called freedom and thus we reject our Creator.
And this is what I find so strange…
For when our sins had reached the saturation point throughout the ages, we should expect the holy deity, at best, to be finished with us or, at worst, make an end of us.
Just finish us off…
I would have rejected man’s rejection and cast us aside forever.
But not God.
Instead of rejecting our rejection, He receives it.
He comes in the humility of a fragile baby.
He is born in the literal lowliness of a stable.
He does so to bind Himself to us by His death.
He who is so holy and pure that cherubs cover their eyes allows man to mock and kill Him, and complete their rejection of Him.
How strange…
1. JESUS IS “GOD WITH US”.
You see, the glory of Christmas is not a pageant or play.
The glory of Christmas is not this beautiful service.
The glory of Christmas is not the giving and receiving of gifts.
The glory of Christmas is that God came near.
The glory is that He would bind Himself to us irrevocably and forever.
This means that…
2. We are far more precious to God than we imagined.
You see, there is something about God that is so profoundly merciful.
He is so gracious.
He is so loving.
He desires to be with us.
And it is not something that happens because of our supposed intrinsic goodness.
In fact, we give very little evidence of that.
So the why of why He desires us is found in Him alone.
It is the kind of Being He is.
And it is why we celebrate “amazing grace.”
In an existence that constantly devalues us, we find that we are of infinite value to God.
The God who came in the form of an infant came to be closer to you.
He wants to be God with you.
The “why” of such thinking is too great a mystery, for it is lost in the nature of His being.
So this also means that…
3. We have more to celebrate than we thought.
God uses our rejection to cement His relationship with us.
We are His forever.
He decides that He will love us anyway…
…though we betray Him
…though we reject Him
…though we laugh and ridicule Him
…though we abandon Him.
How great a love He has for us!
And such love needs to be celebrated.
For the babe in the manger was God with us.
The babe in the manger had a single purpose, to reconcile us to Himself at the cross.
Who else has this kind of commitment to you?
Who else would return your regular unfaithfulness, frequent abandonment, and even apathy to be with you forever?
So, rejoice…for…
4. We are never really alone.
Culturally, Christmas is a family time.
But for those with broken families, fractured and fragile relationships, this time of the year can accentuate the pain.
Christmas can be a lonely affair.
But what we must not miss in the midst of all this is the true meaning of Immanuel.
He is God is with us, not away from us.
He is God pursuing us.
He is God preparing us for the journey home.
APPLICATION:
G. K. Chesterton wrote a poem that describes why we are not home alone…
A child in a foul stable,
Where the beasts feed and foam;
Only where He was homeless
Are you and I at home:
We have hands that fashion and heads that know,
But our hearts we lost — how long ago!
In a place no chart nor ship can show
Under the sky’s dome.
To an open house in the evening
Home shall men come,
To an older place than Eden
And a taller town than Rome.
To the end of the way of the wandering star,
To the things that cannot be and that are,
To the place where God was homeless
And all men are at home.
Where does Jesus live?
Come to Christ this Christmas, and see what it means to live.
For we do not have to be home alone.
He is God with us.
And we are truly only at home with Jesus.
RESOURCES:
“We’re No Longer Home Alone!” Dan Schaeffer, Moody, November/December 1997, pp. 59-61.
G.K. Chesterton, "The House of Christmas," from Robert Knille, ed., As I Was Saying (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 1985), 304-5.
