God With Us - Christmas Service

Connect: 5 min

It is such an honor and blessing to have you here to celebrate the season together. I know there’s many places you could’ve been on this Sunday evening, but I’m glad you chose to spend it with us. I hope this becomes a family tradition and that we’ll be doing this again for years to come.

If we’re being honest with each other, there’s one thing that we are looking for more than anything else on this earth… I believe that one thing is genuine and intimate relationships. Someone or a group of people that will BE WITH YOU. This is a deep longing in the heart of every human on the planet.

Mother Teresa said “Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty.”

There are many types of relationships that I’m sure we’ve all experienced to some degree.

• You have the “fix you” people.

  • These are the people that see you more as a project than a real person. They always have an opinion about every area of your life, but are rarely present and engaging. They rarely listen to what’s really going on and empathize and show genuine love and affection.
  • Question: Anybody here married? I’M JOKING! :)
  • This is NOT ultimately what we are looking for.

  • You have the “it’s all about me” people.

  • These are the people that may be present, but every aspect of your relationship is centered around their life. They’re not willing to sacrifice anything if it’s inconvenient for them. They go where they want, when they want, and you’re just along for the ride.

  • Song: “It’s all about me, it’s not about you…”
  • Question: Anybody know any “It’s all about me” people? DON’T POINT!
  • Kids in the room - do y’all have friends like this?

  • Then you have the “bail on you” people

  • These are the people that you think you can trust, that you’ve invested in for a while, but when things get hard they’re out. These are the type of people that stick around so long as it’s comfortable, but aren’t committed to work through anything for the long haul.

  • This is NOT ultimately the relationships we are looking for either!

  • Illust: Consider all relationships that we have to be like a tree.

  • The leaves on a tree

    • These are people that are here for a season then gone the next. This isn’t a terrible thing, they may have served a purpose, but they aren’t the relationships that stand the test of time.

      • The branches on a tree

    • These are the ones that you think you can trust, but then once you step out on them they break. They may have been really close friends, but they bail when things get uncomfortable or hard.

      • Finally, you have the roots

    • The roots are those relationships that stay for the long haul. They don’t change with the seasons, they don’t break on you, but they give life and security to the tree. They know the good, bad, and the ugly and they stick through it all. They meet you right where you are and love you anyways.

No matter what relationships you have in your life, you may have 3-4 roots that are your besties and you’ve been close your whole life, the fact is that at some point the best of relationships are going to let you down. Maybe they already have let you down.

There’s one relationship that I believe is more important than any other relationship that we can look for, and that is a personal, genuine, and intimate relationship with Jesus.

In any relationship, you are looking to love and be loved. To know and be known.

And there’s nobody that loves you more, knows you better, than Jesus.

Jesus has many names in the Bible…

One of His names is Emmanuel, which means “God with us”. Jesus stepped down from His throne in heaven to come down to earth and be born as a baby. Jesus grew up and lived a sinless life, experiencing many of the same things we experience today. But Jesus was not sent to earth to just live a sinless life, He was sent to die.

Gospel: 5 min

Jesus endured the cross, was put to death, and then was resurrected on the third day so that we might have abundant and eternal life through Him. He took our sin, shame, and guilt on the cross, and defeated sin and death once and for all. So that we could live in victory through His blood shed sacrifice.

What do you think when you hear this story?

God surely could have had a different plan to redeem the people on earth right?

Surely there could have been a better way?

But there was no other way.

John 15:12-13 says “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”

Jesus laid down His life, taking the penalty of sin that should have been ours, so that through His blood we could experience His mercy, grace, and love.

God loved you so much that He sent His only Son, that whoever believes in Him would not perish but have eternal life.

Closer: 5 min

Unfortunately, often times people view this story as a religious story and not a love story.

A religious story means that we have to work our way to God. It is based in the idea that God has given us a set of rules and that we have to earn His favor and ultimately heaven.

But this is a love story, where God has come down to us! This is a story of “God with us.” God came down to us so that we might have a love relationship with the Father.

God sending His Son Jesus made a relationship both personal and possible. And it is through repentance and faith that we can accept His free gift of salvation today.

At Christmas we love giving and receiving gifts. God gave us the ultimate gift in His Son.

Ephesians 2:8-9 says “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

I want you to hear a story of what happens when “God with us.” intersects our life.

Story: 5 min

Dave Stifter