Arrival: The Main Scene

Arrival • Sermon • Submitted 5 months ago • Presented 5 months ago

0 ratings

· 5 views

Notes

Transcript

Have you ever made a promise?

I bet you have---maybe even this morning before you came to church. I bet the average person makes hundreds of promises a month. Now, to be clear, like we tell our kids, making a promise is not just when you say “I promise” but when you make a commitment and state your intention to follow through.

We make intentional promises like

I will go pick that up

I will call you later

I will take care of that for you.

We make unintentional promises like

I’m on my way

We will do that later

Ill fix that later

In many ways promises are part of the fabric of relationships

Have you ever broken a promise?

I bet you have; and I have too. Again, probably every single day of our lives.

We are all guilty of this.

Sometimes we break promises intentionally. We conscientiously make a decision to go back on our word. We say we are going to go to something and at the last minute we decide to stay at home in our pajamas and skip; we say we are going to give to a cause and the money ends up being tight so we make a conscience decision to not give what we said we would.

Sometimes we break promises unintentionally. We get busy and forget to call the person back. The email we said we would respond to gets lost in the sea of messages in our inbox. We are not purposefully trying to break the promise, but life happens.

The Story of Christmas is a promise fulfilled

The promise of the Messiah goes all the way back to the Old Testament.

Isaiah 7:13–14 “And he said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

God makes a promise- hundreds of years before; and on that night in Bethlehem God honors his word to the world and Immanuel arrives on the scene- God is Faithful!

The Rings

Just a few minutes ago everyone was given a ring- gold, silver, or colorful- for the reminder of this sermon I invite you to take that ring in your hand; hold it, roll it around in your fingers, really get a feel of that ring, because those rings are going to influence the rest of our time together today as we prepare our hearts for Christmas. I would like to share with you three ways these rings connect us to the story of Jesus’ birth.

A Ring stands for a promise

In our culture the biggest sign of a promise is a ring- usually given on a wedding day; but in other settings to; to remind us of the lifelong promises that we make on our wedding day. May these rings be a reminder this Christmas of the promises of God in your life.

Deuteronomy 7:9 “Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations,”

Friends. God’s promises are eternal; the manger reminds us that God will fulfill his word even if it takes longer, or looks different than we think. It may have take generations and the Messiah may have shown up in a place they did not expect; but God did his part.

Consider this, God has never made a promise that is too good to be true- because God is the essence of goodness and truth.

As you hold that ring today; remember that every promise- over 8,000 of them in the Bible are good and perfect and you can hold onto them this Christmas season.

In the same way that God promised that they would find a virgin with child wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger, and years later that promise was fulfilled; You can hold onto the promises like God is for you not against you; that he will never leave you nor forsake you; and that all things work for the good of those who love Christ Jesus.

These Rings remind us of the Love of God

I have done around 50 weddings in my ministry- and all of them have a few things in common, and one of the things they all have in common is the exchanging of rings. And in all those ceremonies before we exchange rings I usually make the same remark- that the ring is a perfect symbol of love because it has no beginning and has no end; and if you all have been to wedding before I bet you heard something similar.

These rings today remind us of the eternal love of God. Consider what God told Jeremiah in Jeremiah 31:3 “the Lord appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.”

God did not wake up one day and just decide to start loving us; his love for us is eternal. There was not a day when you did something to convince God to start loving you.

1 John tells us that God is love- and God is eternal; so his love has been for all time.

Now, consider Romans 8:38–39 “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

There is nothing in all of creation that can separate us from the love of God. It always will be and will never grow weak or tired.

We are wrapped in the eternal story of God’s love.

- Love is not just a virtue of God. It is God Himself.

- Love is not something God begins.

- God does not “extend His energy to maintain” love.

- The love of God is as eternal as the nature of God.

- The love of God is self existing.

Brothers and sisters; Christmas is a story of God’s love; but it is not the beginning of God’s love for us- it is the moment that love embodied human in form in a Baby and walked among us. These rings remind us of the great love of God that always has been and always will be for us.

These Rings are a Reminder of the Reign of our King Jesus

Crazy to think that King of the Jews; the long awaited Messiah was born that night- but not in a palace and not in a mansion; but in a cattle stall.

Crazy to think that the King of Kings was born that night and lived for over 33 years, and the only crown he would wear on this Earth was one made of thorns on the day of his death.

Crazy to think that the ruler of the universe was born that night and he never carried a scepter or led an army into battle.

But you know, Jesus’ reign was not initiated by his birth.

John 1:1–5 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

Jesus was in the beginning, he was on the throne in Heaven Creating, ruling, and sustaining all of creation. There has never been a moment and never will be a moment when our Jesus has not be reigning. God did not create a King and send him to Earth in Jesus- that King just relocated for a time.

And make no mistake our King is going to come again as told in Revelation 19:11–16 “Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.”

Immanuel

So today, in these quiet moments; I want to ask- is he your Immanuel.

God promised that he would send his son and he would be called Immanuel- God with Us.

As you hold that ring today think of the promise that Jesus came into the world.

But that begs the question today, has he come into YOUR world?

You see he can be God with US and not be God with YOU- he can be in the world, and not in your heart.

He can be present here and it mean little to nothing for you...

Related Media

Related Sermons

Earn an accredited degree from Redemption Seminary with Logos.