WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.040 Good evening again. My name is Matthew Capone, and I'm the pastor here at Cheyenne Mountain 00:00:08.040 --> 00:00:13.919 Presbyterian Church. And it's my joy to bring God's Word to you this evening. If you've been 00:00:13.919 --> 00:00:18.699 with us this month, you know that we are in the season of Advent, and that's a time when we focus 00:00:18.699 --> 00:00:25.460 on Jesus coming or arriving to the earth. And we've been asking this question, which is, 00:00:25.460 --> 00:00:30.719 how do we rejoice when it comes to Advent? We ask that question because for many of us, 00:00:30.780 --> 00:00:36.899 we've seen more Decembers than maybe we'd like to admit. And so there's this temptation for Advent 00:00:36.899 --> 00:00:43.219 to be a rote or routine, something that just washes over us. It's not new or fresh anymore, 00:00:43.219 --> 00:00:48.480 and I've given you this illustration of the difference between a commercial that plays over 00:00:48.480 --> 00:00:54.579 and over that we become tired of, and a cup of water that we need over and over because it gives us life. 00:00:54.579 --> 00:01:00.560 Our hope is that Advent is like the water, not the commercial. And we've been answering that 00:01:00.560 --> 00:01:06.280 question all month. We're going to answer it again tonight briefly with two answers, which are two 00:01:06.280 --> 00:01:14.079 names that we've seen in our readings. One name was told by an angel to Joseph, and the other name was 00:01:14.079 --> 00:01:18.700 told by an angel to Mary. I'm going to go out of order, and we're going to start with Joseph first. 00:01:19.140 --> 00:01:24.379 When we read our passage from the Gospel of Matthew, remember an angel is coming to Joseph to 00:01:24.379 --> 00:01:30.280 explain to him why Mary is pregnant. And this angel tells Joseph about Jesus' name. He says, 00:01:30.399 --> 00:01:37.219 they will call him Emmanuel, which means God with us. That's in Matthew chapter 1, verse 23. And of 00:01:37.219 --> 00:01:43.159 course, there's obvious ways in which God, Jesus is God with us. He lives as a human being. He 00:01:43.159 --> 00:01:49.719 experiences the frailty and frustrations of this world. We also have some concrete illustrations of 00:01:49.719 --> 00:01:55.480 that in these readings. We saw in Luke chapter 2, verse 1, that there's a registration. Now, 00:01:55.560 --> 00:02:01.680 registration is what you and I would call a census. Now, you have to think back a little bit. There's 00:02:01.680 --> 00:02:08.400 been a lot that's happened in 2020, but we also had a census this year. And so, Jesus experiences the 00:02:08.400 --> 00:02:14.400 everyday things that happen in our lives. This was a census that was ordered by a political ruler. We're told 00:02:14.400 --> 00:02:21.240 it was Caesar Augustus. The place of Jesus' birth was determined by the order of someone in government. 00:02:22.060 --> 00:02:26.939 And we're told in chapter 2, verse 2, that this was while Quirinius was governor of Syria. And so, 00:02:27.000 --> 00:02:32.840 there are these geopolitical events that are going on, these political leaders that are telling people 00:02:32.840 --> 00:02:38.800 what to do. And Jesus' life is affected by those in the same way that our life is affected by those 00:02:38.800 --> 00:02:45.260 things. We're also told in Luke chapter 2, verse 7, that there was no place for him in the inn. We could 00:02:45.260 --> 00:02:52.900 put it this way. The local economy was overwhelmed by demand, and so there were shortages. We, of course, 00:02:52.980 --> 00:02:58.800 know what that's like. It wasn't necessarily a shortage in toilet paper at that time, but it was a shortage 00:02:58.800 --> 00:03:07.760 nonetheless. And so, the point is this. Jesus was not a stranger to the mundane frailty of this life. 00:03:07.759 --> 00:03:17.359 Like us, Jesus was affected by geopolitical events, and he was affected by the decisions of rulers 00:03:17.359 --> 00:03:27.180 and leaders. God worked through Caesar Augustus, and he worked through Quirinius, and he is still at work 00:03:27.180 --> 00:03:35.899 through the leaders and the politics of this world. And so, we rejoice because Jesus is Emmanuel. 00:03:35.900 --> 00:03:43.800 Emmanuel. He's God with us. He doesn't know about this world just intellectually. He knows about it 00:03:43.800 --> 00:03:52.680 experientially. He knows it even better than we do. That's not the only name that we find for Jesus in 00:03:52.680 --> 00:03:59.300 these readings, though. It's not just that he's with us. It's also that he's above us. There's an angel 00:03:59.300 --> 00:04:06.219 that comes to Mary, and this angel also explains to her what's going on, and this angel gives Jesus a 00:04:06.219 --> 00:04:12.380 name as well. We see in Luke chapter 1 verses 32 and 33, the angel says this, 00:04:12.379 --> 00:04:18.800 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the 00:04:18.800 --> 00:04:24.379 throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom 00:04:24.379 --> 00:04:30.420 there will be no end. Of course, this is king. This is ruler language that we see here. He's going to 00:04:30.420 --> 00:04:37.199 have a throne, verse 32. He's going to reign, verse 33. He's going to have a kingdom, verse 33. And then, 00:04:37.199 --> 00:04:46.539 of course, there's this name. He will be called Son of the Most High. Jesus is not just a frail human 00:04:46.539 --> 00:04:55.480 who is with us. He is also the king of the world. He is coming, as we saw in verse, I believe, 33 here, 00:04:55.919 --> 00:05:04.779 that his kingdom will have no end. And so, these two names capture two things that are both true about 00:05:04.779 --> 00:05:11.319 Jesus at the same time. He is with us, and he's also above us. We see that again in Luke chapter 2 00:05:11.319 --> 00:05:18.259 verses 13 and 14. These angels show up, and they have something to say as well. They're praising God. 00:05:18.339 --> 00:05:23.179 We're told it's a multitude of the heavenly host. In Greek, this is a word for an army. So, there's an 00:05:23.179 --> 00:05:29.459 army of angels with Jesus when he's born, and they're saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, 00:05:29.459 --> 00:05:36.120 peace among those with whom he is pleased. So, this great ruler comes with his army, 00:05:36.120 --> 00:05:45.399 and he comes with peace. Jesus is not just with us. He's above us. And so, the point for us is this. 00:05:45.560 --> 00:05:53.539 Our hope is not in a new year. It's inconvenient to mention now, but if you think back all the way to 00:05:53.540 --> 00:05:59.819 the end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020, people were actually very excited about 2020. 00:06:00.480 --> 00:06:06.240 There was lots of talk about 2020 vision and how this was going to be such a wonderful year for 00:06:06.240 --> 00:06:13.520 everyone, and yet it turned out to be very different, right? Because Jesus is not just with us, 00:06:14.160 --> 00:06:21.020 he's also above us. He's over us. We know that no matter what is happening, he is still the king. 00:06:21.019 --> 00:06:33.579 He is still in control of everything. He is greater and more powerful than the rulers of this world. 00:06:34.579 --> 00:06:41.799 And so, our hope is also greater and more powerful than them as well. Our hope is not in a new year. 00:06:42.560 --> 00:06:50.639 Our hope is not in new rulers, but instead our hope is in the promise that we're going to look at soon 00:06:50.639 --> 00:06:58.099 in our series on 2 Peter. We see in 2 Peter 3, verse 13, that according to God's promise, 00:06:58.259 --> 00:07:03.639 we are waiting for new heaven and new earth in which righteousness dwells. 00:07:05.279 --> 00:07:10.379 Now, I've mentioned our readings from both Matthew and Luke, but of course, we also heard from John 00:07:10.379 --> 00:07:13.939 when the Callahan family read, and we saw this, John 1, verse 10. 00:07:13.939 --> 00:07:22.819 He was in the world, and the world was made through him. We see both God's with-us-ness and also his 00:07:22.819 --> 00:07:30.159 above-us-ness. He was in the world, he's with us, the world was also made through him, he's above us. 00:07:30.779 --> 00:07:38.159 And so, what's wonderful and scandalous and praiseworthy about the Christian God is he's able to do both 00:07:38.160 --> 00:07:44.200 things at once. There are other gods that other people believe in, not real gods, but false gods, 00:07:44.780 --> 00:07:50.620 who can only do one of those things. There are gods who are with people, but they're not powerful. 00:07:51.460 --> 00:07:57.580 There are gods who are powerful, but they're not with them. We worship the true God who is able to do both. 00:07:59.240 --> 00:08:04.520 Of course, John tells us something else in chapter 1. This joy that we have, this joy that we have 00:08:04.519 --> 00:08:09.919 because Jesus is both with us and above us, it is not joy. That's for everyone. We're told that there 00:08:09.919 --> 00:08:15.740 are people who reject him. John chapter 1, verse 11, he came to his own, and his own people did not 00:08:15.740 --> 00:08:21.139 receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become 00:08:21.139 --> 00:08:26.979 children of God. So, we see what it looks like to experience this joy. There's a receiving. 00:08:28.259 --> 00:08:33.840 To receive Jesus, of course, means that we have to believe in the reason that he came, 00:08:33.840 --> 00:08:39.680 and he came to save us from our sins. And so, we have to accept and confess that we are sinners 00:08:39.680 --> 00:08:48.139 in need of his mercy. We need a God who is with us and above us. Charles Spurgeon talks about faith 00:08:48.139 --> 00:08:53.700 as having three components to it. It's a component, first, of knowledge, that we know the facts about 00:08:53.700 --> 00:08:59.519 Christianity. We know that we're sinners in need of grace, and we know that Jesus came to save us from 00:08:59.519 --> 00:09:06.279 our sins. He was born to be with us and also to be sacrificed for us. It's not just enough to have 00:09:06.279 --> 00:09:11.799 knowledge, though. We actually have to have belief. We have to say that those things are true. And after 00:09:11.799 --> 00:09:19.639 that belief comes trust. We live as if those things are true. We live looking to grow more and more in 00:09:19.639 --> 00:09:25.539 holiness as God changes us and changes our lives. And we live in light of the hope that we have that Jesus 00:09:25.539 --> 00:09:33.000 has not just come in the past, but he's also come in the future. But for those who do receive him, 00:09:33.819 --> 00:09:41.219 those who do believe in his name, we can have great joy, no matter how many Decembers we have seen in 00:09:41.219 --> 00:09:47.539 our lives. We can have great joy because of Jesus' names. He is Emmanuel. He's God with us. 00:09:47.539 --> 00:09:56.500 And he is also the Son of the Most High. He is God above us. So we can rejoice because God is with us 00:09:56.500 --> 00:10:04.399 and he is over us. We can rejoice because he is the baby in a manger and he's also the King of the 00:10:04.399 --> 00:10:11.759 earth. We can be filled with great hope and great joy because of our great God. So that's what we 00:10:11.759 --> 00:10:19.120 celebrate tonight and tomorrow. It's the birth and coming of our Lord. Please pray with me. 00:10:21.700 --> 00:10:27.879 Dear Father in heaven, we thank you and praise you that your good news is never something that's 00:10:27.879 --> 00:10:32.600 stale, but it is something we need every day to give us life. I ask that that would be true 00:10:32.600 --> 00:10:40.039 of this community, those gathered now, even at a distance, that you would fill us with joy that 00:10:40.039 --> 00:10:45.939 comes from knowing that we have hope with a God who is with us and above us. We ask these things 00:10:45.939 --> 00:10:51.419 grateful that we don't have to earn them or deserve them, but we ask them in Jesus' name. Amen.