Matthew 1:18-23 • Immanuel at the Mall
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(This transcript was prepared using software tools and has not been reviewed for complete accuracy.)
Let me ask you to look in your Bibles this morning, Matthew chapter 1.
In recent weeks we've been looking at the backstory, all that was happening in the Old Testament where the Lord was preparing us to see why there had to be beauty for ashes,
light coming out of darkness.
Even in His holy Word, He tells us about the dirty laundry of so many of His people that has to be covered by the work of His Son.
And now as we get to the New Testament, first chapter of the first book of the New Testament, God begins to say, "How am I going to be providing for all of that dirty laundry, covering it by the cleansing work of the Lord Jesus?"
The story starts in an unusual and difficult place. An angel comes and says to Joseph what has happened that his fiance is expecting a child of the Holy Spirit.
It must be hard to hear, hard to understand, but the angel is here to explain why.
Let's stand as we read together Matthew chapter 1 and we'll start at verse 21 as the angel is explaining about Mary.
"She will bear a son and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins."
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet.
"Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and they shall call His name Emmanuel,"
which means God with us.
Let's end there and pray together.
Heavenly Father, thank You that You remind us that Jesus came to make His tabernacle among us.
In fact, He came to make His tabernacle, His place of dwelling, us.
By His Holy Spirit, He would indwell us and would prepare for that by coming to be with us as a child, made perfect in righteousness as a man, and then suffering for our unrighteousness as a Savior.
All of this because He was Emmanuel.
God with us.
You're still with us. So guide us, we pray, as we would seek Your Word and learn what it means to have a God who is with us this hour, this day, and forever. This we ask in Jesus' name, amen.
Please be seated.
Well, it was a real shopper-stopper of a choir.
My family had gone to the mall to do our Christmas shopping. It was a time when we were all younger, and so my wife took the older kids and they all went on their secret missions across the mall.
And I was left with the two-year-old to take care of, which went fine for a while.
At first there were plenty of toys to see and store windows and people to watch, but all the bustling after a while kind of wore her out or maybe it just wore me out, and so I began to look for a place that we could sit.
And I found a place to rest in the center courtyard of the mall where a church choir had gathered to sing Christmas carols amid all of the holiday hullabaloo.
Now this, I thought, is going to make a great Christmas illustration.
Already in my preacher mode I was thinking now, now here we are, all the materialism, all the people passing by, but wedged into all of this material pleasure is a choir that is singing the message of the Lord Jesus. Everyone is out buying gifts, but here is the message of the greatest gift of all, being sung beautifully by a really great choir. This is great. And I just sat down to enjoy my gift to myself. A good sermon illustration I could use later.
What made it really good was that the choir was really good.
It was so good that a number of shoppers appeared actually to stop from their shopping as they were, you know, in their own secret missions, hunting for the latest tickle-me-elmo or hoverboard or Barbie Dreamhouse or whatever was that generation's version of the nitro stealth stinger Skylander.
Star Wars fans know what that is.
People actually stopped to listen.
And that meant I really liked the way that this illustration was developing.
And then it began to sour a little bit. I realized as I watched those who were stopping taking out their video cameras, and by the way, there was a time that video cameras had to be taken out of cases that were about this...remember what a portable video camera used to look like and about 20 pounds of it?
Those who were taking out their portable video cams and those who were taking out their cameras more and more became obviously related to those who were in the choir. If you actually counted the people that did not appear to be related to the choir members, it seemed like maybe just a dozen or fewer people were actually stopping their pursuit of presence to actually listen to the gift of the Christ child music.
The Christmas illustration was not quite as good as I wanted, and the more I began to observe the whole scene, the worse my illustration got.
The choir was not really featured in the courtyard. It was one of those days that if you bought anything in the mall, you got your gift wrapped for free, which meant that the courtyard was actually filled with tables of people who were going to be doing Christmas wrappings. So while we were trying to listen to the Christmas choir, more people were interested in kind of the cellophane paper and the plastic ribbons and getting all of that done correctly rather than whatever the choir was singing. The choir was really background to whatever was going on in the real center of attention, which was getting Christmas gifts wrapped.
And the more I watched, it got worse and worse.
While the carolers belted out, "Joy to the world! The Lord has come!" I recognized that the sounding board for the choir was really the plate glass windows of the stores that were kind of behind them in that corner wedge they were in.
Framing one side of the choir just behind them, and by the way getting a whole lot more business than the choir was getting, was the store entitled Success Unlimited, a store specializing in calendars and posters with snappy slogans proclaiming that you can be infinitely successful as long as you believe enough in yourself.
The other store on the other side was the Nature Songs store that had, of course, New Age music competing with the choir, selling its wares of, yes, lava lamps, Mother Earth curios and crystals that you could also believe in.
Those stores were getting a whole lot more business and attention from people than the choir that was in the foreground.
Although my free illustration before me was not all I wanted to be, all I wanted it to be, I began to feel it might still be okay because of the sweatshirts that the choir members were wearing.
I mean, you know, green and red and with the words printed on the front, "Wise men still seek Him." And they're like, "Yeah." You know, at least the message gets through a little bit.
But my free illustration was unraveling before my eyes because of the wise man who was actually using the choir. There was a particular wise guy I discovered because of what happened next. I actually sat down against a trash can to kind of rest my back and have my two-year-old sit beside me. And while I was sitting there listening to the choir, suddenly a bunch of security officers began to gather around me and behind me and above me, and they began to map out on the top of the trash can how they were going to corner a shoplifter who was hiding behind the choir.
He was using the choir as his cover.
Unfortunately, the security men got focused on their plans so much that by the time they looked up, the thief had slipped away. So they rushed off very quickly after their prey, expressing frustration in profanity that didn't quite fit the silent night, holy night theme that the choir was singing.
And I began to think to myself, "Was there going to be no redeeming feature of this scene?"
Well at least the choir's message in the songs was still right on target. I mean, I really did not mind that the choir's version of silent night had a disco beat. I have resolved to be tolerant of all different worship styles.
I still rejoice that the final words were, "Jesus, Lord at Thy birth, Jesus, Lord at Thy birth."
Ah, that was the message I wanted and that I had been waiting for.
And then, in what I'm sure was someone's crowning achievement of tolerance and charity, we went right from Jesus, Lord at Thy birth, to a rousing rendition of "Happy Hanukkah."
As we celebrated the holiday of those who reject Jesus as the Messiah.
I got up to leave in frustration and discuss there was going to be no redeeming moment in this scene. But as I got up to go, suddenly this worried wail broke through the air and arose from my two-year-old, who I had forgotten was sitting right beside me.
And she was suddenly aware that I was leaving without her.
All this time, she had sat contentedly at my side. She had been at peace through all the bustling and the cussing and the disco. She had been perfectly at peace.
And I began to recognize for my child the redeeming aspect of the occasion was not in what was around her, but in who was with her.
The significance of the prophet's word again hit me. They shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us.
Apart from the truth of that title, there may not have been much to redeem, not just the scene in the mall.
There may not be much to redeem the scenery of the Bible.
I mean virtually every Christmas scene we turn to is spoiled by what's happening around the Christ child if you just dare to read the specifics.
After the angel choirs deserving grandest cathedral glory sing in open fields to humble shepherds. The culminating glory of David's royal lineage is a child who is born among farm animals and laid in a feeding trough.
The holy child of heaven is dressed in strips of discarded cloth.
The miracle of the bright nativity star is actually providing target light for a king to murder babies.
The birth of the newborn king is actually an excuse for infant slaughter and enough of a threat to ultimately warrant the crucifixion of the one who calls himself the Messiah.
The images meant to communicate joy are actually prelude to disappointment and disaster. Each new detail is actually meant to bring upon us a sense of frustration and disgust if we will read the whole story.
As the more the story progresses, the worse is its horror.
Is there no redeeming feature of these accounts in the Bible?
Well, of course, the redeeming feature is the one who came in the manger to live in perfection and to die on a cross was named Emmanuel, God with us.
God is with us. That's the great message of the gospel, the redeeming truth that penetrates the vain pursuits and the hollow joys of the season. Despite the darkness of our circumstances, despite the darkness of our souls created by our own sin, God came to be with us. He knew it all. He knew the darkness and he knew he would be light. And so he came to be with us. The Bible is clear about the results.
His presence does not make the world go away.
The coming of our God into His creation did not remove all trial and difficulty and ugliness from our existence. It's still here.
But what is here at the very same time is the Son of God who dwelt among us and sent His Spirit to be with us as we put our faith in the one who said, "I will never leave you, nor will I forsake you." Never.
We mark the physical entry of our Lord into this world in this season, but we celebrate His continuance by this meal, by this communion. Every time that we celebrate communion, we acknowledge to the world and to one another
that our God knows the darkness and the disgust in our lives, and yet He came to be with us. Knowing that it would require that He would be broken and His blood shed for our sin, He still came to be with us. Knowing that even though we believe in Him and have received Him, that our lives continue to be muddled and muddy by other priorities, by an adultery of our affections, by an idolatry of our priorities, and still He came to be with us. And said, "I will make my dwelling place among men, and I will send my Spirit to indwell you. I will be so with you that I will be in you, tolerating you, helping you, forgiving you,
and we proclaim it to one another when we partake of this meal of communion. As we say to the world and to one another, I need to know that God is with me. And when I partake of this meal, I stop living out of my own achievements, out of my own accomplishments, out of a sense that I'm okay because I'm doing better than anybody else.
I simply kneel before the navel star or the manger or whatever dirt I'm in today and say, "God, be with me again.
I confess that I need You to wash away my sin, to give me the energy I need to face another day, be nutrient and life and bread and food. Be with me, Lord Jesus, I ask You today."
The images that we celebrate on a beautiful day like this, in a beautiful sanctuary like this, are only prelude to what is ahead for all of those with whom Jesus will be forever.
But when we partake of the elements of Christ's body and blood, we are reminded of the call and cost.
He came to be with us, knowing it would cost Him much, and still He came. And for that reason, He urges us to come.
Remember, you need me.
And you don't have to run away from me. And you don't have to let your sin drive you away from me. I came to be with you, remember? My name is Emmanuel.
And when He puts Himself before us in symbol again this day, we are reminded how precious and powerful and wonderful it is that He came to be with people who actually need His provision.
He tells us that again. We see it over and over again, sometimes in the worst of times, what it meant to have a God who would be with us. Just a generation ago when the captivity of the American hostages in Iran had stretched many, many months, the terrorists of that time made a small concession to the political pressures of the world, and they allowed those who were hostages to actually celebrate Christmas together.
Then they videotaped it for propaganda purposes. We know that. But they videotaped those who had been in hostage captivity for many months as they celebrated with the worship of the child who came to be with us. The most telling image that was broadcast around the world was the image of Katherine Coob.
She was an American embassy worker, and she sang a children's carol during that worship service. Despite the surrounding terror, despite the long captivity, despite an uncertain future,
she sang softly, "Away in a manger."
In those circumstances, the last verse was the most poignant and precious.
"Be near me, Lord Jesus.
I ask thee to stay close by me forever and love me, I pray."
The message of Christmas and the message of communion is that our Lord answers that prayer.
I will stay close beside you and love you forever.
After all, my name is Emmanuel, which being interpreted means God with us.
Father, teach us the old, old story how precious and wonderful it is that a God would come into darkness, that a Savior would save from sin, and that He would come to be with us knowing the worst about us. How precious to be at peace in the world because we know that our God is with us through whatever we must face, whether it's the darkness of our circumstances or the darkness of our own sin, failure, weakness, and disappointment.
You are with us. And deep down we know when Jesus is with us, we can face anything.
Remind us again of that this day, we pray, that we, your people, might rejoice in being able to say so much is He with me, that He invites me to come to Him again and again, knowledgeable of my sin, knowledgeable of my weakness, and confessing it to Him, be made whole again, knowing that even as this food symbolically feeds us, so He refreshes us by His Spirit. As we in faith turn to Him, sin is washed away.
The Spirit indwells. And you make us new again for the calling you give us to reflect the glory and the wonder and the goodness of Emmanuel.
So work in our hearts, we pray, in Jesus' name, amen.