WHY IS GOD WITH US?

By Dr. Eric C. Stumpf, Senior Pastor

St. Paul’s Ev. Lutheran Church – Munster, IN

Mt. 1:18-25 + Advent 4 (A) + 22 & 23 December 2007

             Advent is that four week period before Christmas.  It was set aside as a time of spiritual preparation for the coming of Christmas.  Most have spent that time physically preparing for Christmas – putting up a tree, the lights, buying presents, sending cards, etc.  Have you given attention to your spiritual preparation? 

            Physically we have gone through many advents hoping to have everything prepared, but often finding some things missing.  Perhaps it was the year you forgot to send the Christmas cards, or the year that not all the lights were put up outside, or the year illness came to the family and hardly anything was done.  No wonder we find ourselves bearing a heavy load of feeling that it is all up to us to be prepared.

             Our text gives us good news that when it comes to celebrating the true meaning of Christmas we can be a child again.  If you haven’t noticed children do not spend much time in preparing.  They have no large lists of shopping to do, they generally don’t send out hundreds of Christmas cards, they don’t scale ladders to put up Christmas lights along the eaves of the house.  They look forward to receiving.  That is the key to being prepared as a child of God for Christmas.  And what do we receive in the real meaning of Christmas?

 The Text

            The Matthew account is sometimes called the “other Christmas story,” i.e., it is different in emphasis from Luke, but it does not contradict it.  It looks at it from Joseph’s view.  It begins ordinarily enough.  Marriages were arranged all the time between families.  If they were in agreement with the match, the couple was betrothed.  For all purposes it was a done deal.  The only thing left was the ceremony and the consummation.  However, into this what appeared to be an ordinary arrangement came a problem.  As we know secrets are rarely kept and word came to Joseph that Mary was pregnant.  He knew he wasn’t the father.  He could accuse her of adultery openly, but not wanting to cause her embarrassment and shame, he simply wanted to end the arrangement quietly and quickly. 

            But before he did this the Lord spoke to him in a dream.  As a man of measure and trade, a carpenter, he was probably a very practical man.  Dreams probably did not play much in his planning and conduct.  But in the dream God explained the conception of Mary still a virgin.  We confess it every time we say the creed.  The child was of God, his only begotten Son, who was to be born for a purpose.  Matthew records the meaning of Jesus, “God saves.”  Seven hundred years before Isaiah moved by the same Holy Spirit said he would be “Immanuel,” i.e., “God with us.”  The text tells us the simple but oak strong faith of Joseph.  He awoke, believed, and acted.  He took Mary as his wife, as the foster father of Jesus.

 God With Us

            Two months ago we observed Halloween.  Children came to the front door dressed as policemen and firemen, super heroes and monsters.  No one seriously believed that they were really any such thing.  For God to bring salvation, real salvation – something every human being needs – God could not pretend to be a human being to be in our place.  God sent his only begotten Son to be born a real human being, to take our place, but to accomplish it without sin, to be the perfect sacrifice and substitute for us.  God is with us, not to be just a good friend, although he is the best, but to be our atonement for sins.  While God trained his special people to think in terms of atonement – someone who pays for the sins of others – it was always temporary.  Now in Jesus it is fully done. 

God Saves

            God is with us, he came to live among us, but he also came to save us.  How do we during Advent prepare ourselves to receive Jesus?  I am reminded of a time when the hospital called and urgently told me to come to the hospital because my father was near death.  As you can imagine, at a time like that, you are not always thinking clearly.  I jumped into my car and sped away.  I was about 3 miles away when the car sputtered and the engine stopped.  I looked down and saw the gas gauge was way past empty.  I put the car in neutral and coasted, but I knew I would never make it to the hospital that way.  The hospital was in Elk Grove Village, before it was as developed as it is today.  I was only a lonely stretch of road with forest preserves on either side.  The car came to a halt.  I turned to my right and saw a hidden driveway, never saw it before when I had pass along the road.  A man was working in his garage, a garage hidden from the road.  I got out and called to him.  I told him I ran out of gas and could I buy some from him, if he had any.  He looked at me and picked up a gas can, which he was going to use to fill his snowblower.  Within a short time I had gas in the tank.  He refused my offers of money.  I was on my way.  Are we not like that?  On our way but stopped by sin again and again.  Jesus comes to save us, he offers it freely, he needs no repayment, but only wants us to take what he has to offer to give our life a blessing.

             What can we take from this Gospel lesson?  Joseph is an example of God working in a person to make him a good husband, and a faithful son of the Heavenly Father.  Let me suggest the following from Joseph’s example.  First, and foremost believe Jesus came to be with you and save you.  God can do great things and bring great blessings in your life. 

• Men, if you are divorced and hate your ex-wife, know that it is sinful.  God can forgive you for Jesus’ sake.  Confess your anger, ask God to root out the poison and bitterness and replace it with forgiveness. 
• Men, if you have a blended family, step Dad to her children, but they resent you and that upsets you, remember the power of God’s forgiveness which will give your grace to love her children just as God gave Joseph grace to meet his challenges. 
• Men, if you don’t believe in marriage, but want  to have affairs, one night stands, or move in with someone, that is a sin.  Acknowledge your sin, receive God’s forgiveness in Jesus and do what is good and right.  Honor marriage as Joseph did. 
• Men, if you are married, but its not perfect, remember God forgives you and your spouse so you might amend your lives and grow.  Just as the Word entered both Joseph and Mary and changed them, so God can power change and growth in you.

 Prepare for Jesus’ birth by being a child again.  As a child simply receives with happiness the gifts they have, receive the greatest gift “Jesus with you”, “Jesus saves.”  As you follow him and are forgiven and empowered by him, see how he directs and blesses your life.  Amen.

SDG