Immanuel!
Christmas Eve Candlelight Service • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Matthew 1:18–24 (NKJV)
Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”
So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”
So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”
Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife,
Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s book, God in the Manger.From the Tegel prison in 1943, Bonhoeffer writes:
“Life in a prison cell may well be compared to Advent: one waits, hopes, and does this, that, or the other—things that are really of no consequence—the door is shut, and can only be opened from the outside.”
This is the True Christmas Story!
By the light of nature we see God as a God above us; by the light of the law we see him as a God against us; but by the light of the gospel we see him as Emmanuel, God with us.
Matthew Henry
The Door to Our Freedom can only be Opened from the Outside!
Phil 2.7 “but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.”
“Made Himself of no reputation” is from the Greek word kenosis which means “empty, or to make empty.” One commentary indicates this means “that Christ left his position, rank, and privilege.”
(NLT) “…he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being.”
(NCV) “…But he gave up his place with God and made himself nothing. He was born to be a man and became like a servant.”
(WEY) “…He stripped Himself of His glory, and took on Him the nature of a bondservant by becoming a man like other men.”
(MSG) “…he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human!”
(AMPC) “But stripped Himself [of all privileges and rightful dignity], so as to assume the guise of a servant (slave), in that He became like men and was born a human being.”
“The word [kenosis] does not mean He emptied Himself of His deity, but rather He emptied himself of the display of His deity for personal gain.”
Greek scholar, Ralph Earle, writes:
“The correct translation is: ‘He emptied himself.” Of what? All orthodox theologians are agreed that it does not mean that He emptied himself of His divine nature. Rather, it was His heavenly glory—‘The glory which I had with thee before the world was’ (John 17:5).”
We are to have this same mind...
And consider the example that Jesus, the Anointed One, has set before us. Let his mindset become your motivation.
Bonhoeffer also writes:
“Only the humble believe him and rejoice that God is so free and so marvelous that he does wonders where people despair, that he takes what is little and lowly and makes it marvelous. And that is the wonder of all wonders, that God loves the lowly…. God is not ashamed of the lowliness of human beings. God marches right in. He chooses people as his instruments and performs his wonders where one would least expect them. God is near to lowliness; he loves the lost, the neglected, the unseemly, the excluded, the weak and broken.”
Jesus was born in a stable, in a town considered least of all places.
Historically it had about 500 residents
Like saying the Son of God will be born in Wheeler, MI.
Because of that all can come to Him, the lowly outcast Shepherd and Wealthiest Kings of the East
Bonhoeffer- “Who among us will celebrate Christmas correctly? Whoever finally lays down all power, all honor, all reputation, all vanity, all arrogance, all individualism beside the manger; whoever remains lowly and lets God alone be high; whoever looks at the child in the manger and sees the glory of God precisely in his lowliness.”
God’s plan of redemption in thirty-eight words?
Word Spoken
Universe Created
Man Fell
Seed Promised
Covenant Established
Prophets Foresaw
Virgin Conceived
Baby Born
Angels Sang
Shepherds Saw
Kings Knelt
Word Displayed
Sin Cancelled
Death Defeated
Christ Reigns
Hope Fulfilled
Forgiveness Extended
Hearts New
Eternity Bright
-Tonight we symbolically share the light from the Christ Candle.
But the true light I want to share with you, is the opportunity to let that light into your soul.
SOULS, SOULS, SOULS
