Immanuel

A favorite theme of Advent is the promise that God has come to be with us. He is the God who now is near. This is something that Matthew includes in his account of the birth of the Messiah.

Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel (which means, God with us).

There's just something about that promise. God is with us. If you think about it, even just for a moment, it seems too good to be true. So, it seems right to look at it a bit more closely to get a better sense of what God has promised us. Part of what I want to do is to contrast what Matthew means by Immanuel with some of the ideas about this that so many people around us have. And one reason that I want to do that is because there is more to be enjoyed here, and I want you to enjoy that more. The Gospel is not just to be believed. It is also to be enjoyed.

Let's start with this. Who is this God who has come near? What's He like? I think that it's important to understand that He comes with an agenda. He has a list of things that He wants to accomplish. And that's why He has come to be with us. So, what's on His agenda? Well, for one thing, He comes to advance His fame throughout the world. His agenda is about Himself. He wants to be famous. Here are some examples of Him making that clear.

Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!

For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.

God has a certain way of thinking about this world and all the people who inhabit it. From His perspective, the world exists for His benefit. The world exists to disclose something of the greatness of who He is. So, what He does with this world, He does for this reason. And that includes being with us.

Here's another part of His agenda, and I think that you'll agree that it fits with that first item on the list. This God runs this world on His own authority. There is no constitution. People have no rights with Him. He makes all the rules. So, as part of His agenda, He intends to have everyone yield to Him, to yield to Him as they would to an absolute monarch, as they would to a king. Again, some examples.

For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods.

Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle!

There's one last item on His agenda that I want to mention. And, again, this fits with the other items. He expects His royal authority to be embraced by all in every detail of life. That is, He expects to be obeyed and promises consequences to those who refuse. Examples:

Like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God.

And in anger and wrath I will execute vengeance on the nations that did not obey.

So, you see, when God comes to be with us, He comes with an agenda. He has goals and a to-do list to match those goals.

I did not generate these three agenda items out of the blue. They are items that you are not just to agree with. They are items that you are to be praying for. From the Lord’s Prayer: 'Hallowed be Thy Name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done.' God intends His fame to be spread, His rule to be acknowledged, His laws to be obeyed. This God comes with an agenda. And so, His coming to you - the promise of Immanuel - has a goal. His goal in coming to you is to give you a mission. His goal in coming is that you might work toward the fulfillment of His agenda. Immanuel is about you advancing God's fame, spreading submission to His authority, establishing His laws throughout this world.

Now, why am I pointing this out to you? The common opinion among so many in our culture is that God comes in order to fulfill our agenda, not His. He comes so that we can achieve our goals, make our dreams come true, make life easier and more pleasant for us. Immanuel is about God the Great Comforter who is with us to make sure that our lives work pretty much according to what we were planning on. And, when things don't seem to be working out that well, when evil touches us, then everyone believes in prayer. But the substance of those prayers has to do with fixing whatever the problem is so that life can return to what it's supposed to be about: our agenda. Think about your neighbors, your co-workers and maybe some of your Facebook ‘friends’. Isn't this pretty much how they think about God's role in their lives? He exists for their sake. That's the attitude of our culture. And as I've said before, the tone and themes of our culture affect us. To think otherwise is to be naïve.

So, one goal of today's sermon is to remind you of what you already know, but to do that from a slightly different angle. We live in a God-centered universe. And that affects what Immanuel is about. It's not about me and my agenda. It's about Him and His.

Now, that might sound a little off. Frankly, I hope that it does. I hope that something doesn't feel quite right about what I've said. Let me remind you, here, of something I've mentioned more than once or twice. Satan is a liar. And one of the ways in which he crafts his lies is by including a bit of truth. What I've just told you about God's agenda is true. It's all true. But if that's all I tell you about God's agenda it so very easily becomes a lie. If that's all I say, then it's just a little step to thinking of God as selfish and that we are just pawns in His master plan. And that is a vicious lie. So, there is more to say, more that needs to be said. But whatever more that I say does not change what I've already said. God comes to us with an agenda, His agenda. He comes to accomplish those things on His list, things about Himself. That's just true and not to be changed. But what more that I have to say will help you to understand those truths accurately so that you will not fall into some lie.

When God comes to exalt His own Name, to establish His own kingdom, to bring about obedience to His will, He does that with an eye to your good. He wants you to flourish. He is so for you that it's almost unbelievable. So, He comes to do you good. But the only way that that is going to happen is if He takes His rightful place in this universe and you take yours. There is but one sun in our solar system. It is the center of it all. The planets know their places. They orbit around the sun on the routes assigned to them. As long as they do this it all works well. They don't destroy themselves and each other by spinning wherever they care, ramming into each other. There is but one God. He is the center of it all. And life works well when we creatures orbit around Him on the routes assigned to us. And He has come to be with us to make all of that happen. Immanuel.

So, God has come in Jesus. He has come with His agenda: His fame, His authority, His rules. But He does not come to confront us with a whip in order to force us to yield. He comes with a basin of water to wash dirty feet. He comes touching outcast lepers, to make them acceptable. He comes shouting into tombs to raise the dead. He comes to bear a cross. And here's the trick. As you think about those things that Jesus did, those times when He was intent on doing good to others, remember that in doing those things He is still pursuing God's agenda: His fame, His authority, His rules. But as He accomplishes those items on that agenda He is making it possible for you to take your rightful place as one of the planets orbiting the focus of it all. He is making it possible for you to flourish.

So, you see, it is good and right to think of Immanuel, God coming near, as a great benefit to you. And it is a great benefit as some of you have noted by your comments on the Immanuel tree in the back.

When I feel lonely Jesus whispers in my ear, 'I'm here. One day we will all be together.

Jesus helps me to be kind to my brother.

Jesus saved me from my bad dream.

Even when times are hard, Jesus is always with me.

If you take a moment to think about it, you will be able to add to that list. God being with us really is a comfort, and experiencing His nearness makes it possible for you to live well. Immanuel is a great promise of the Gospel. God has come to us in Jesus. The Word became flesh and has dwelt among us. And remember that the promise of Immanuel is not limited to Jesus' past presence on this earth. We are not left alone now that Jesus has returned to the Father. God is still with us as the Spirit, something that we will look at more closely when we return to John's Gospel. You are not alone. You are never alone. Immanuel. There is so much in that one word for you to enjoy.

If you would enjoy this to the fullest then you have some work to do. You have to see more and more clearly how your agenda is to conform to His, how your agenda is to submit to His. And that will be hard. Remember that you live in a culture that is dead set on following its own agenda. 'The center of it all is me!' Bringing about change will be hard because the ways of the world are so much a part of us, more than we know. There are whole areas of life that we've gotten wrong, following the ways of the world around us, but we don't see them. It all looks so normal, so right. But it's not. We have much work to do in this. But as you work at these things you also need to remember that though the world is against you, your God is for you. And He is for you not by shouting advice and encouragement from far away. No. Remember: Immanuel. As you work on these things He is right there with you guiding you, revealing to you what you need to see and giving you the ability to change. And He does all that so that you might flourish - as you pursue His agenda.

So, let me encourage you by reminding you. He has already shown you some things. There has already been some change. We are becoming more and more the Church of Jesus, and less and less just another expression of the culture around us. Your efforts, while difficult, are worthwhile. Because of what you do, one day we will see God's Name being hallowed, His kingdom arrive, His will being done and all of that happening throughout the earth in the same way that it is already happening in heaven.