Jesus Is at The Heart of Christmas – Advent 2023, week 5
During this series, we are looking at how hope, peace, joy and love are at the heart of Christmas. This message, delivered right before Christmas, shows us how God’s expression of love is witnessed in the birth of Jesus.
This series centers on the story of Jesus’ birth. It’s meant to help you grow in faith and prepare your heart to focus on the real reason for the season: Jesus!
Jesus having come in the flesh is the heart of christmas
We celebrate Christmas, Christ’s birth and the hope, peace, joy, and the love of God that comes with the birth of Jesus. The knowledge of the birth of Christ is the best gift anyone can ever receive. Nothing in all the world comes even close. The gift of God’s love, and the birth of Jesus is priceless, and it is never beyond anyone’s reach to enjoy.
Christmas is only possible because of the birth of Christ, the Messiah, The Word of God come in flesh. Jesus, the Son of God, the Lamb of God, the King of Kings having come down to earth. He is the reason we celebrate Christmas.
Jesus is 100% God and 100% man.
The Christmas story is real. It is the story of God’s love for you. It is the story of God’s love that was promised back in Genesis 3, prophesied in the Old Testament, and written in the Gospels of the baby Jesus having come in the flesh. Christmas is about the Son of God being physically born.
Jesus begins his physical life in a manger and ends his physical life hanging on a cross and placed in an empty tomb. However, that is not the end of the story. The Love of God did not end with Jesus’ physical death on a cross or laying lifeless in a tomb. The Love of God continues down the ages and is witnessed every day in the truth of scripture and the hope found in Jesus’ resurrection and his promised return. The Love of God continues down the ages and is as sure today as it is in the heart of God and when it was first spoken.
The hope, peace, joy, and the love of God for you is made real in your heart because of Jesus’ birth. The birth of Christ is not simply a nice story. Jesus’ physical birth, life, death, and resurrection is 100% true.
The blessed hope of eternal life with Christ in glory is as real today as it was when it was first announced to the shepherds. Jesus’ victory over sin and death is only possible because of Jesus’ physical birth, the Word of God come in the flesh. Let us never take lightly the birth of Jesus.
Remember year-round, of the hope, peace, joy that shines so bright as when you celebrate Christmas, the birth of Christ, each year. Each of us have come here today with one purpose in mind, and that is to celebrate the birth of Jesus, your Savior. Christmas is all about Jesus. All about the birth of Christ. Jesus is the heart of Christmas. Christmas is about the Love of God revealed in the flesh, in the birth of Jesus.
This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and 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, 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 be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"—which means, "God with us."
24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.
25 But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus. (Matthew 1:18-25, NIV).
Joseph loved Mary. When Joseph learned that Mary was pregnant, he did not want to embarrass or expose Mary. Joseph was going to divorce her quietly and not bring any disgrace to her or her family. It took an angel from God to change Joseph’s mind about divorcing Mary. I can only guess Mary told Joseph that she was pregnant. You can only imagine how that story must have sounded to Joseph.
God had different plans. The promise of a virgin having a child was about to be fulfilled. The virgin birth was prophesied long before in Isaiah 7:14: “Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”
Joseph has a dream, and he believes what the angel told him. In the dream Joseph learned several things.
The child is from God and Mary was with child, through the Holy Spirit.
The child’s name was to be Jesus and that he would save his people from their sins.
The child would be called Immanuel"—which means, "God with us."
Joseph, having been told all this in a dream, decides not to divorce Mary but takes Mary to be his wife. Joseph believed and obeyed the angel of the Lord.
Every follower of Christ, like Joseph, must decide for themselves if they believe the message of the Gospel.
Do you believe:
In the message of the Gospel?
The angel’s message like Joseph?
Jesus is Immanuel—God with us?
Jesus came to save people from sin?
The scripture John 3:16?
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son” (John 3:16-18).
These three verses clearly present the message of God’s love and God’s plan to save sinners. It is here we learn that the person who does not believe stands condemned already. It’s clear from scripture that it is only because of the Love of God that God sent his one and only son to the world, to save who so ever believes, from the curse of sin and death, all those who place their faith in Jesus.
“The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:56-57).
“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Christ willingly humbled himself and was made in the likeness of man. He left heaven to dwell with mankind and save all those who will believe in him.
“Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross!
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:6-11).
Has anyone ever gotten lost or confused about what way to turn? At times in life, you may not know what direction to turn until you stop and close your eyes and think for a moment. Take a moment and pray. Call out to the Lord, listen and wait upon the Lord’s direction.
Far too many people are living their lives with no direction and are spiritually lost. They do not know what way to turn. They carelessly make decisions and, unknowingly, they head in the direction that is away from God.
Christmas is God’s way of pointing us back to the place where we belong. Christmas, the birth of Christ, is God’s way of displaying his love and leading us by his grace back into a personal relationship with God. You don’t have to live your live lost and broken any longer because God’s great love has made a way.
The key to finding your way in life is to stop, pray, and listen:
Pray and listen for the voice of God.
Listen to the Gospel message.
Open your heart to the love of God.
Recognize you are spiritually lost and in need of a savior. Allow the truth of Jesus’ birth to become real in your heart and believe that Jesus came to redeem you from the bondage of sin and death.
Your faith and belief in Jesus are more than a mindset or a way of thinking. It means embracing the truth of God and believing Jesus is the son of God having come in the flesh. Doing so means turning from your selfish and wayward desires and to follow Jesus with all your heart.
Recognize Jesus, being in the very nature of God, and that Jesus took upon himself the very nature of a servant, made in human likeness to redeem those who will believe. Jesus was obedient in every way to God, and he lived as a man, yet he did not sin. Jesus left his home in glory to rescue you from sin and death, something you could never do on your own.
Listen to the Apostle Paul’s words to Timothy:
“Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners — of whom I am the worst. 16 But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life” (1 Timothy 1:15-16).
At the heart of Christmas, Jesus’ invitation for you is to have faith in him and experience the full life that is only available to you through faith in him. Redemption and Eternal life is yours in Jesus. The bondage to sin is broken and the forgiveness of sin is possible. Hope, peace, joy, and the love of God is possible in Jesus. When you say yes to Jesus you will no longer be under the curse of sin and death.
Thousands of years ago in a small Bethlehem town, Jesus was born. The Word of God became flesh that you might believe in him and be redeemed from sin and death. The invitation to believe in Jesus continues to this very day.
Of all the gifts you could possibly receive this Christmas, the gift of God’s love, the gift of knowing Christ as savior is by far the most valuable, because faith in Jesus will save your soul from being condemned spiritually for all eternity.
The gift od God’s Love is priceless and yet it is free for those who have faith in Jesus. Let this Christmas be more about the gift of God than anything else. Let it be about the birth of Christ the Lord. Let it be about the blessed hope every believer has who is in Christ. Let it be the day you say yes to God.
Allow me to close this message with this scripture:
“For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.
9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God” (Romans 6:6-10).
This can only happen because of Jesus’ birth. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.
Let your faith in Jesus be seen this Christmas and share your hope, peace, and joy in Christ with others. Let the love of God be seen in you and share the news of God’s free gift of Christ to all the world.
Remember, Jesus having been physically born is the reason we celebrate Christmas. Jesus having come in flesh is the heart of Christmas. Jesus, Immanuel, is God with us.
Suggested Praise and Worship
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Matthew 13:44-46: What does your forever—your eternity—look like? As hard as it is to imagine, God has already promised us a priceless, personal treasure. All we have to do is say yes to Jesus and He will help us get there.