Good morning.
On April 12th, 1961, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human being to enter space and orbit the earth.
! This was a momentous event in human history.
And if you know the history of that time, you know that it also spurred on the competitive space race between Russia and the United States,
and it led to the massive expansion of NASA and ultimately the U.S. landing a man on the moon.
But the Russian government used this moment to promote some bigger ideas.
The Kremlin ended up producing lots of propaganda, including a poster of a picture of a cosmonaut in outer space saying a message,
and the message said, there is no God.
As if to say, we went to outer space, we looked around, we didn't find God,
and so therefore that's clear and convincing proof that God does not exist.
Were they right?
I think that's a totally fair question.
I think for many people in our modern culture, perhaps even for some of you,
this is a pretty convincing argument.
If you broaden it out that we've, through science, we've looked at the world through empirical observation,
and we have yet to find convincing proof of God.
But this time of year, it's great to sing Christmas carols and spread holiday cheer,
but at the end of the day, Christmas isn't a reason to believe in God.
Now, that's one possible story,
but we see another possible story in our gospel passage this morning in Matthew chapter 1,
where we are introduced to somebody named Emmanuel.
Emmanuel, this name that comes from a prophecy in Isaiah chapter 7,
a name that means God with us, God with us.
And this name, Emmanuel, God with us,
is at the very heart of the Advent and Christmas season,
and it's at the very heart of the Christian faith.
And so a question that we have to ask this morning is,
which story is true?
Is the story that we've looked for God,
but yet we haven't found any evidence of him,
is that story true?
Or is the story true that God has come to be with us?
And that's what we're going to look at this morning.
And also, if that story was true, what difference would it make?
So we're going to look at this name, Emmanuel, God with us,
and we're going to look at these two stories together.
So first of all, Emmanuel means God with us.
It means God with us.
In Matthew chapter 1, verses 18 through 21,
an angel appears to Joseph and tells him not to be afraid
about Mary's pregnancy.
Nothing scandalous or immoral has happened,
but rather this has all happened through the initiative
of the Holy Spirit.
In verses 22 and 23, the angel says that this is to fulfill
the words of the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 7,
behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall call his name Emmanuel.
Now, many people, I think, in our culture find this to be pretty
irrational and implausible.
Surely Jesus was a historical figure.
He was a good spiritual leader and moral teacher,
but he certainly wasn't conceived supernaturally.
He certainly wasn't God.
How could we possibly believe that story?
But around the time that Yuri Gagarin,
the Russian cosmonaut, went into space for the first time
in the early 1960s, there was a professor of ancient literature
at Cambridge University by the name of C.S. Lewis.
And in 1963, Lewis published an essay responding to this claim
that the Russians had been to space and confirmed that there is no God.
And in this essay, Lewis writes this,
the Russians, I am told, report that they have not found God
in outer space.
But looking for God or heaven by exploring space
would be like reading or seeing all of Shakespeare's plays
in the hopes that you find Shakespeare as one of the characters.
If God does exist, he is related to the universe
more as an author is related to a play
than as one object in the universe is related to one another.
He's saying if you're trying to find God in outer space
would be like Hamlet trying to find Shakespeare.
Hamlet could never possibly find Shakespeare
by exploring and examining his own world.
He would never find him.
But that doesn't mean that is not evidence
that Shakespeare does not exist.
In other words, the claim that there's no empirical proof
for God in the world is nowhere near a convincing argument
that God does not exist.
Why on earth would we assume that if God did exist
that that is how we would find him?
Of course we would never find him like that.
For Hamlet, for Hamlet to know Shakespeare,
Shakespeare would have to write himself into Hamlet's story.
For Hamlet to know Shakespeare,
Shakespeare would have to reveal himself
to Hamlet in a personal way.
And this is the claim that Christianity makes on the world.
It's the claim that Christianity makes on the world
at Advent and at Christmas
that in the birth of Jesus Christ,
God has written himself into our story.
In the birth of Jesus Christ,
God has revealed himself.
You may say, well, I believe that Jesus
was a historical person.
I believe that he was a good spiritual and moral teacher.
But I still can't quite believe in God
because I don't see the historical evidence.
And may I suggest that if that's your view
and if that's where you're coming from,
perhaps you haven't examined
the historical evidence closely enough.
Perhaps you haven't examined
all of the historical evidence.
Let's just look at one.
If we look at the eyewitness accounts of the Gospels,
which were reliably recorded and reliably transmitted,
we see in the Gospels that lots of people come to Jesus
and they don't just receive his teaching,
but they actually worship him.
That some people actually fall down on their knees
and worship him as God.
And what you need to understand
is that this was a completely absurd
and an even immoral thing to do in Jewish culture
in the first century.
In Jewish culture, it was completely blasphemous
to treat another human being as God.
Only God could be worshiped.
And there were all kinds of traditions and laws
that prevented people from treating other people like God.
And what's amazing is that in the Gospels,
in no one instance, does Jesus respond and say,
hey, you've got the wrong person.
You know, you've got the wrong idea.
I'm just a rabbi.
I'm just a teacher.
I'm not God.
Don't worship me.
Worship God alone.
No, in every instance, he doesn't turn them away,
but he accepts it and he worships it.
He welcomes it.
Which, if you think about it,
if he wasn't God, if that wasn't true,
Jesus was either a fraud, a complete fraud,
or he was a complete narcissist,
or he was both.
If you have captured this better than C.S. Lewis
in mere Christianity,
by the way, I try to limit my C.S. Lewis references
to one in most sermons,
but sometimes just, you gotta have two.
This is one of those days.
C.S. Lewis, mere Christianity,
says, I'm trying here to prevent anyone
saying the really foolish thing
that people often say about Jesus.
I'm ready to accept him as a great moral teacher,
but I don't accept his claim to be God.
That is the one thing we must not say.
A man who is merely a man
and said the sort of things Jesus said
would not be a great moral teacher.
He would either be a lunatic
on a level with a man who says he is a poached egg,
or else he would be the devil of hell.
You must make your choice.
Either this man was and is the son of God,
or else a madman and something worse.
You can shut him up for a fool.
You can spit at him and kill him as a demon.
Or you can fall at his feet
and call him Lord and God.
But let us not come up with any patronizing nonsense
about him being a great human teacher.
He has not left that open to us.
He did not intend to.
Lewis says, when it comes to Jesus,
there's only really three rational responses
if you consider the historical evidence.
He's either a liar,
or he's a lunatic,
or he's Lord.
He's either a complete fraud,
he knew who he truly was
and completely lied about it to everybody.
Or he truly believed that he was God,
but he in fact wasn't,
which would make him insane.
Or he actually is who he says he is.
If the Christmas story is true,
it means that Jesus is Emmanuel.
It means that he's God with us.
We can't just think of him
as a good teacher or spiritual leader,
but as someone who has the right
to make claims on our lives.
As somebody who deserves our worship
and who deserves our obedience
in every single aspect of our lives.
And so we have to decide,
was Jesus a fraud?
Was he a narcissist or a liar?
Or was he God?
So first of all,
Emmanuel means that Jesus is God.
Second of all,
it means that he is God with us.
He's God with us.
In the Old Testament,
it was always a pretty radical thing
when people got to be with God,
to be in his presence.
God appeared to Israel on Mount Sinai
with a cloud of fire
and an earthquake
and the roaring sound of trumpets.
And of course,
if you know the Exodus story,
no one could even go close to the mountain
except for Moses.
God told people,
if you even touch the mountain,
you're gonna die.
Encountering the presence of God
in the Old Testament
is kind of like dealing with nuclear radiation.
To deal with nuclear radiation,
you need a lot of preparation.
There's a lot of rules that you have to learn,
a lot of protocols,
and there's a lot of stuff
that you have to wear.
You have to have the right credentials.
You have to wear a really expensive suit.
And if you don't do that,
if you become unprepared,
it's gonna kill you.
And that's what kind of the tabernacle
and the temple
and the sacrificial system
were for Israel.
They were to prepare people,
an unholy people,
to encounter a holy, radioactive God.
There's this line in Lord of the Rings
where in the fellowship with the ring,
where they're figuring out
what to do with the ring
and Boromir says,
one does not simply just walk into Mordor.
But one does not simply just walk
into the presence of an awesome holy God.
He is like radioactive nuclear radiation.
His glory will melt your face off.
And yet,
and yet,
the news of Advent and Christmas
is that the God who was so radioactive,
the God who was so glorious,
the God who was so holy,
came into the world.
Came into the world
as a baby.
This is something I've been thinking about
a lot recently
because,
as many of you know,
my wife Molly and I
are expecting our first child,
which is really exciting.
We're thrilled.
We're very excited to be parents.
It's a very exciting season in our lives.
And so,
Advent,
as parents who are expecting our first child,
Advent has made me think in a new way
about the reality of the incarnation.
And in particular,
I've been thinking a lot about this question.
why,
for Jesus,
did he have to come as a baby?
Why couldn't he have just come
as a fully formed adult?
He still could have been
Trinitarian Orthodox,
could have still been fully human,
fully divine.
He could have just come
as a 33-year-old adult,
showed up on the scene,
and done his ministry,
and done everything else that he did.
So why did he have to come as a baby?
Well,
there's a lot
that we could say
in response to that question.
But I think one of the things
that we have to say is this.
You know,
I think it's a common human experience,
whether we're Christian or not,
whether we're religious or not,
is,
how can I know
that I'm not alone?
How can I know
that God is with me?
How can I know
that God hasn't abandoned me?
Perhaps that's a question
that you're wondering
this morning
as you're coming into worship.
Where is God
in this struggle
that I'm facing?
Where is God
in this diagnosis?
Where is God
when it feels like
my life is falling apart?
Where is God
when it feels like
the world is falling apart?
Where is God?
Are we alone
ultimately?
And I want us
to consider the fact
that God didn't just show up
on the scene
as a fully formed human.
He became a baby.
There is no one
so more vulnerable.
There is no one
more open.
There is no one
more accessible.
there is no one
who is more completely
and totally
with you
than a baby.
For nine months
during pregnancy
and then for many months
after that
all babies can do
all they know
how to do
is just be there
with you.
They're sleeping
they're eating
they're crying
they're making
dirty diapers
of course
but they're just
there.
They're there.
What if God
came as a baby
so that you could know
beyond a shadow
of a doubt
that he's like that
with you?
He's just there.
He's with you
all the time
24-7
night and day
every other
religion
and philosophy
says here's what
you need to do
in order to be
with God.
Here's what you
need to do
in order to be
with the divine.
Only Christianity
says
look at what God
did to come
and be with you.
Look at what God
did to come
and be
with you.
Look at what he did
to make himself
utterly available
to you.
Look at what he did
to make himself
utterly open
to you.
The God
who revealed himself
in radioactive glory
on Mount Sinai
the God
who created
the world
and the glory
of the galaxies
and the billions
of stars
in our universe
is here.
He's available.
You have access
to him
by faith.
What's so amazing
about the incarnation
is that we have
this rock-solid
assurance
that God
is always
with us,
that he'll never
leave us
and he'll never
forsake us.
let's look back
at those two stories
that we talked
about in the beginning.
Story number one,
there's no God.
We call this
a secular story.
If the secular
story is true,
then in the moments
where you feel
most alone,
in the moments
where you feel
like I'm incredibly
lonely,
there's no one
with me,
if that story
is true,
then you're right.
You are alone.
There's no one
ultimately with you.
Your deepest feelings
of being abandoned,
your deepest feelings
that there's no one
with you
are right
and they're true.
But if we look
at the second story,
if the second story
is that God
has come to be
with us
in Emmanuel,
then when we
experience
those very same
feelings,
when we experience
those very same
emotions
that we're alone,
there's no one
with us,
if that story
is true,
then nothing,
nothing could be
further from the truth.
Our deepest sense,
our deepest feelings
that we feel alone,
there's nothing
that could be further
than the truth
because God
has promised
to always be with us.
Whether we feel it
or not,
whether we know it
or not,
he's there.
He's with us.
So Jesus,
Emmanuel means
Jesus is God.
Emmanuel means
Jesus is God
with us.
And third,
and finally,
Emmanuel means
that Jesus
is God
with us.
He's God
with us.
Verse 21,
the angel says to Joseph,
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.
Many Bibles
have a footnote,
probably yours does,
a footnote on that verse
that says that Jesus
is the Greek name
for the word Joshua,
the name Joshua,
which means
the Lord saves.
Jesus.
Why was Jesus
born into this world?
He was born
into the world
to save us
from our sins,
to save us
from our sins.
Now,
I think it's worth noting
that I think a lot of people
in our culture,
a lot of modern people,
educated,
sophisticated,
thoughtful people,
I think it's fairly
narrow-minded,
fairly outdated,
morally regressive
to believe in the doctrine
of original sin.
But I would actually say
that sin is the doctrine
that our culture
needs the most,
needs the most.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
was a Russian author
who was imprisoned
and sentenced to work
in the gulag
in prison camps
under the Soviet Union
for speaking out
against the government.
And as he's in prison,
he's thinking and writing,
and he's writing
about how the culture
that he lived in
believed fundamentally
that the dividing line
between good and evil
ran between groups of people,
between this group of people
and that group of people.
And he says,
he's reflecting on this,
he says,
you know,
if that were actually true,
we would have solved
humanity's problems
a long time ago.
If humanity was divided up
between good people
and bad people,
all we would have to do
is just separate
the good people
from the bad people
and then society
would flourish.
And many systems
and governments
have tried to do that
over the years
and it has ended horrifically.
Solzhenitsyn says,
the reason why we haven't
been able to solve
humanity's basic problems
is because the dividing line
between good and evil
does not run
between groups of people.
He says that it cuts
through the heart
of every single person.
The dividing line
of good and evil
cuts through the heart
of your heart
and my heart.
If the dividing line
between good and evil,
if we believe fundamentally
that the dividing line
runs through groups of people,
the oppression
and violence
and injustice
in the world
will never stop.
We'll always have an enemy,
it will always be us
versus them,
but if,
if the dividing line
between good and evil
cuts through the heart
of every person.
That is our only hope
of seeing society healed
because it's the most
fundamental basis
to say,
I'm no better than you.
I'm not more righteous
than you
because the evil
that exists in the world
isn't just out there,
it's in here.
It's in here.
And this is what it means
when the Bible
talks about sin
and it's why Jesus was born.
We all need to be rescued
from the same problem
and it doesn't matter
our race, class,
ethnicity,
social status,
rich, poor,
Democrat, Republican.
The Bible teaches
that we all fall short
of God's holy standard
of our lives
and we've all committed
treason against
the king of the universe.
We've all,
we all owe God a debt
that we cannot repay.
We are hopelessly
and irrevocably
lost in our sin.
That's the human condition.
But the good news
of Christmas
is not just that God,
that Jesus is God.
God.
It's that he's God
with us.
He's God with us.
On the cross,
Jesus took the evil
that's inside
each and every one of us
and he placed it
on himself
so that we can be
forgiven and reconciled
to God.
And this is not just
good news
for us as individuals,
it's good news
for the whole world.
Because if we admit
that Jesus was born
to save us
from what's inside
our hearts,
then we can't look
at someone
who's different
from us
and hate them.
We can never truly
hate other people.
You know,
in the Sermon on the Mount,
Jesus says,
love your enemies.
And this isn't
a cute phrase
on a coffee mug.
It's not also
an unattainable
ethical ideal.
It's a declaration
about the only
rational response
to the grace
that we've been given
in Christ.
Do you see?
Do you see this morning
that the dividing line
between good and evil
cuts through your own heart?
And have you trusted
in Emmanuel
to save you
from this condition
as your only hope
for the forgiveness
of sins
and for eternal life?
Verse 21 tells us
that Jesus was born
to save us
from our sin.
To take down
the dividing line
of good and evil
in your heart
and my heart
so that you and I
might cross
lines of
class
and race
and ethnicity
and politics
and to cross them
with love.
To cross them
with love
and to bring healing
into the world.
And to do
any different than that
is to completely
miss what Advent
and Christmas
are all about.
Because this
is what God
has done for us
in Jesus Christ,
in our incarnation.
Jesus is Emmanuel.
He's God.
You can't just
treat him as a good
moral teacher,
a good spiritual teacher.
He demands our worship
and our obedience.
He demands our whole lives.
He's God
with us.
He's made himself
completely open
and accessible
and available
to you
so that you can know
even in your darkest
moments of doubting
if you're actually alone
so that you can know
beyond shadow of a doubt
that you're never
actually alone,
that he's with you,
that he'll never
leave you or forsake you.
And he's God
with us.
With us.
Sinners
in need of a savior.
Dorothy Sayers
was a 20th century
British author
and novelist.
She was known
for a series
of detective crime novels
and her main character
is a detective
named Lord Peter Whimsey.
And midway through
this detective novel series,
Sayers introduces
another character
in addition to
her main character
named Harriet Vane
who joins up
with Lord Peter Whimsey
and helps him
to solve crimes.
And as they solve crimes
together,
these two eventually
fall in love.
And a lot of the
literary critics
over the years
who have looked
at these stories
have noticed
a pattern
that there's
a lot of similarities
between Harriet Vane
and Dorothy Sayers.
Harriet Vane
was educated
at Oxford,
so was Dorothy Sayers.
Harriet Vane
was tall
and had dark hair,
so did Dorothy Sayers.
Harriet Vane
wrote detective novels,
so did Dorothy Sayers.
And the literary critics
have said
it's quite obvious
what she was doing,
that she was writing
herself into the story.
She had created
this character,
Lord Peter Whimsey,
and the more
that she developed
his character,
the more that she
wrote about him,
the more that she
wrote his story,
the more that she
fell in love with him.
He was a great detective,
he was committed
to justice,
he was intelligent,
and he was rich,
but he had flaws.
He had a personal crisis,
he was lonely.
And so Dorothy Sayers
wrote herself
into the story
to rescue her main character
and to fall in love
with him.
And friends,
that is what it means
for Jesus Christ
to be Emmanuel.
It means that
God has written
himself
into our story
to rescue us
in love.
In March 1791,
John Wesley,
the great pastor
and theologian
and founder
of the Methodist movement,
was nearing the end
of a long
and faithful life
of ministry.
If you're not familiar
with Wesley,
one historian
wrote about the impact
of Wesley's life
and said that
in the course
of his life,
he rode over
250,000 miles
on horseback.
He gave away
over 30,000 pounds,
which was a lot
at the time,
and he preached
more than
40,000 sermons.
He formed societies,
opened chapels,
trained preachers,
administered aid charities,
helped the sick,
and oversaw many
orphanages and schools.
This was a man
who knew a lot
about God
and who did a lot
for God.
But in March 1791,
as he was nearing
his final days,
as he lay on his deathbed
at his home
in London,
his friends came
and gathered around him.
And as his friends
are gathered around him,
as he's laying
on his bed,
he grasped
each of their hands
one by one
and looked each of them
in the eye
and told them,
farewell,
farewell.
But in the moments
before he breathed
his final breath,
John Wesley called
his friends
to gather around him.
And he told
each of his friends,
the best of all,
the best of all
is God with us.
And as his voice
grew more feeble,
he lifted up his arms
and he spoke
in a feeble voice,
lifting up his arms
as if giving
one last pastoral benediction.
And he repeated it,
the best of all
is God with us.
Let's pray.
Our Father in heaven,
we thank you
that you have
come into the world,
that you have
written yourself
into our story,
that you are Emmanuel.
Lord, I pray
in the places
in our hearts
where we feel
most alone,
would you show us
and reveal yourself
to us
in a way
that we can know
beyond the shadow
of doubt
that you're always
with us.
We pray all this
in the name
of the Father
and the Son
and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.