This is a sermon I spoke yesterday at Lifepoint Church in Renton, WA. If you want to listen to it podcast style it will be available here in the next day or 2. There has been light editing to make it more readable.
In 6 days I will be leaving Washington. I know, sad...
I will be leaving the cold and the rain, 2 things that I have been really beginning to loath.
Before moving up here I would have never referred to myself as a “Cali boy,” or a “California Kid”, but after being up here, I can’t help but long for the sunshine and the 100 degree summers of Sac town.
A sunny Christmas with a high in the 60s sounds perfect to me right now.
I will be leaving the cold and the rain, 2 things that I have been really beginning to loath.
Before moving up here I would have never referred to myself as a “Cali boy,” or a “California Kid”, but after being up here, I can’t help but long for the sunshine and the 100 degree summers of Sac town.
A sunny Christmas with a high in the 60s sounds perfect to me right now.
I can’t wait to be home.
However its not the weather that makes me most excited to be home, because in reality Seattle is ten times the city Sacramento is.
But there is one thing missing in Seattle.
Its my cousin, a 7 year old named jack, my really cool brother, my sweet mom, and my amazing dad. Its the people that I love that make me most excited about going home.
There is a reason why children, no matter their age, go home for Christmas every year. Its not because we love the free food, which we do, its not because we feel like we have to, its not so that we can get a gift from our parents, which, I’m not going to lie, is pretty awesome.
The real reason we go home is because we know that our presence is the best present of all to those we love.
Its because being with those who love us and we love is more meaningful than anything else in the world.
However its not the weather that makes me most excited to be home, because in reality Seattle is ten times the city Sacramento is.
But there is one thing missing in Seattle.
Its my cousin, a 7 year old named jack, my really cool brother, my sweet mom, and my amazing dad. Its the people that I love that make me most excited about going home.
There is a reason why children, no matter their age, go home for Christmas every year. Its not because we love the free food, which we do, its not because we feel like we have to, its not so that we can get a gift from our parents, which, I’m not going to lie, is pretty awesome.
The real reason we go home is because we know that our presence is the best present of all to those we love.
Its because being with those who love us and we love is more meaningful than anything else in the world.
To slow down life and just “be” with the important people in our lives.
I never really understood this importance of presence in my life until I was gone from my family for the first time, when I moved up here, to WA.
Now, when I go home and I get to see the smile on my parents faces, it almost makes being gone worth it. Or watching 7 year old Jack’s face light up when I walk into the room. It simply shows the importance that our presence makes in the life of others.
Presence may be the single most important gift anyone can give.
Take a moment and think, what is the most memorable gift you have ever received? …
I bet for most of you the gift that comes to mind is a relational gift. A gift that celebrates the relationship between 2 people.
My most memorable gift was a baseball mitt. It wasn't the most expensive gift, or even the one I was most excited about at the time.
But its definitely the most memorable, because when I think about it I think about my dad, and the the times we played catch, and all the times he coached my teams, and how he taught me to be the man I am today.
I never really understood this importance of presence in my life until I was gone from my family for the first time, when I moved up here, to WA.
Now, when I go home and I get to see the smile on my parents faces, it almost makes being gone worth it. Or watching 7 year old Jack’s face light up when I walk into the room. It simply shows the importance that our presence makes in the life of others.
Presence may be the single most important gift anyone can give.
We can look at the patriarchs (Abraham, Issac, and Jacob) and see that God’s presence was with them, leading them.
We can look at Moses and the Sinai account to see God’s presence with the Israelites.
We can look at Israel’s tabernacle and later the temple as the defining physical object that showed God’s presence among Israel
You see, Israel was defined by one thing. The presence of the Lord.
God was with his people, His presence was made clearly known.
Israel’s identity depends entirely on the encounter between God and Man. The key word being “encounter." This was and is not simply a one sided relationship.
As a matter of fact we can look back to the time of Joshua and Judges to see the implications of this relationship between God and Israel.
Joshua 3:7-10
7 And the LORD said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to exalt you in the eyes of all Israel, so they may know that I am with you as I was with Moses. 8 Tell the priests who carry the ark of the covenant: ‘When you reach the edge of the Jordan’s waters, go and stand in the river.’”
9 Joshua said to the Israelites, “Come here and listen to the words of the LORD your God. 10 This is how you will know that the living God is among you and that he will certainly drive out before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites and Jebusites.
11 See, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth will go into the Jordan ahead of you. 12 Now then, choose twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe. 13 And as soon as the priests who carry the ark of the LORD—the Lord of all the earth—set foot in the Jordan, its waters flowing downstream will be cut off and stand up in a heap.”
14 So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them. 15 Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, 16 the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah (that is, the Dead Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho. 17 The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD stopped in the middle of the Jordan and stood on dry ground, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.
Its clear in this passage that Joshua listened to the Lord, and the Lord was with the Israelites on that day. His presence was known.
In contrast we can look in Judges, after the death of Joshua how the people turned away from the Lord and the consequences because of the breakdown of this relationship.
Judges 2:11-14
11 Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals. 12 They forsook the LORD, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They aroused the LORD’s anger 13 because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. 14 In his anger against Israel the LORD gave them into the hands of raiders who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist.
Israel turned its back on God. He never left them, but they chose leave Him.
God created humans for relationship. God chose Israel as the means in which he could be known and have this relationship with the world.
Through out the entire Old Testament we see a picture of a God, that is desperate to be with His people. A God, that put up with unfaithfulness, and abandonment because He loves His creation and wanted to live and dwell among them. He wanted his presence to be known.
Thank God the story does now end there. God longed for a more intimate relationship with those he loved, us.
Enter Jesus.
Matthew 1:18-23
18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about[d]: 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[e] 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,[f] because he will save his people from their sins.”
22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”[g] (which means “God with us”).
God with us...
God’s presence is with us now.
We have received the ultimate gift of God’s presence.
Because of Jesus, the infinite God becomes more tangible, more approachable, and more comprehensible.
Jesus loved being with people.
He paid attention to the prostitute in Luke 7. While the pharisees were condemning Him, He forgave her of her sins.
He noticed little Zachariah, the chief tax collector, a man who stole from others, up in a tree in Luke 19.
Jesus paid attention, listened, and noticed. He did all the things that we don't do because we are in such a hurry that we forget.
Because we have God with us we have everything, and it changes everything.
Jesus came to be with the hurt, the lost, the sick.
We can see Jesus taking time to heal a man with Leprosy in
Matthew 8:1-3
Jesus Heals a Man With Leprosy
1 When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. 2 A man with leprosy[a] came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”
3 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy.
Jesus noticed those everyone else would have passed by. He was willing to be with the broken, and even heal the broken. He still is today.
Where is your leprosy, where is your hurt, where is your loss, where are you sick? Do you anticipate God’s presence to be there in those situations?
So, How should we celebrate His presence this Christmas?
This season is the celebration of the arrival of God’s presence in the person of Jesus.
Take a moment and think, what is the most memorable gift you have ever received? …
I bet for most of you the gift that comes to mind is a relational gift. A gift that celebrates the relationship between 2 people.
My most memorable gift was a baseball mitt. It wasn't the most expensive gift, or even the one I was most excited about at the time.
But its definitely the most memorable, because when I think about it I think about my dad, and the the times we played catch, and all the times he coached my teams, and how he taught me to be the man I am today.
It’s not the mitt that is special, but the relationship it helped build.
In the same way the life of Jesus was God’s celebration of the relationship between man and God. He gave his presence, in his only son, He gave himself.
Here we read the account of the birth of Jesus:
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.
I have been to Bethlehem, and let me tell you, Its not the pretty wooden manger with the cute baby animals that is depicted in movies, or the beautiful nativity scenes that we proudly display in our homes.
Where Jesus was born was quite the opposite. It was a dark, dirty, nasty cave. Now add in gross and dirty animals to the mix, and this is definitely not a place you would want to have a baby. Yet it was the place Jesus made his debut.
Jesus did not force his way into existence displaying the vast power of God, which he could have, rather he came humbly in a tiny dirty cave among animals in a small town called Bethlehem.
Could it be Jesus came humbly in a dirty cave, so that we could know that our sinful messed up hearts were not too lowly of a place for him to dwell?
In the same way the life of Jesus was God’s celebration of the relationship between man and God. He gave his presence, in his only son, He gave himself.
Here we read the account of the birth of Jesus:
Luke 2:7
New International Version (NIV)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.
I have been to Bethlehem, and let me tell you, Its not the pretty wooden manger with the cute baby animals that is depicted in movies, or the beautiful nativity scenes that we proudly display in our homes.
Where Jesus was born was quite the opposite. It was a dark, dirty, nasty cave. Now add in gross and dirty animals to the mix, and this is definitely not a place you would want to have a baby. Yet it was the place Jesus made his debut.
Jesus did not force his way into existence displaying the vast power of God, which he could have, rather he came humbly in a tiny dirty cave among animals in a small town called Bethlehem.
Could it be Jesus came humbly in a dirty cave, so that we could know that our sinful messed up hearts were not too lowly of a place for him to dwell?
Jeremiah 17:9
English Standard Version (ESV)9The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
Does that sound like a place for God to dwell? Probably not, but it does sound a lot like the little cave in Bethlehem.
Ultimately Jesus’ presence, his gift, cost him everything.
Lets not loose sight of why this season is so important. Its not a new video game, its not a new piece of Jewelry, its not the latest and greatest piece of technology.
This season is a celebration of important people in our lives
Its a celebration of our willingness to slow down and care for one another
Its a celebration of remembering, that Jesus came humbly to give his presence and be apart of our broken and messed up lives.
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