Christmas Eve 2024

What is it that is so captivating, so magnetic, even mystifying, about this baby born in a manger 2024 years ago… that for a brief window of time every year, we find ourselves rethinking our lives, and rethinking priorities, and rethinking our futures and our relationships?

The truth of the matter is that in a few days Christmas trees will come down, decorations and eggnog will go on sale, and diets will begin.

A friend got an invitation to a party right after Christmas last year. It said the dress was — “post-Christmas relaxed.”

He thought, “What is that?” And then in parentheses it said: Whatever still fits.

In a few days we’re going to turn the calendar to a new year. Business plans will heat up; and thousands of us will be off on our quest to find meaning and significance through another deal, another dollar, another relationship, another purchase, another trip.

So what is it about this baby in a manger that is practically bringing the whole world to a screeching halt today?

Whatever else you may believe about him, you would have to admit that his birth is so important that it split all of history into two parts: B.C. and A.D.

Some say he was a symbol of hope.
Some say he was a representation of God.
Some say he was a great prophet.
Some say he was a good moral teacher.

But the writer of Scripture makes this incredible claim in Matthew 1 about the identity of this baby:

The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel—which means, “God with us.” (Matthew 1:23)

I want to reflect on those three simple words for a few moments: God with us.

The writers of Scripture make these astonishing claims that this baby in a manger was the eternal, transcendent, second person of the Trinity.

That in one millisecond, the God who made this vast universe left the staggering magnificence of heaven, and voluntarily reduced himself to a microscopic cell in the womb of a teenage girl.

And there he lived in darkness for nine months until the day he was born — not in a VIP suite in the maternity ward at Stanford Hospital, but in a barn where his first smells were those of animal waste and his first sounds were those of animal grunts and groans.

He who was extraordinary became ordinary. He was ‘God with us.’

You know, the horrible temptation at Christmas is for us to reduce this baby to less than he really was, less than God — because if you can reduce him to less than God, then you can remove him from the center of your life.

Christmas then becomes just nice seasonal folklore. And you can stay away from the manger.

But if he was who he claimed to be, that has quite an implication for us.

And maybe some of you need to do like those shepherds did out on a hillside that night: stop and be still and consider who was this baby born in a manger.

We sing the Christmas carol, “O Come, All Ye Faithful.”

There’s a line that says, “Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing.”

Have you ever wondered what that means?

John, who was one of Jesus’ closest friends and followers, said:

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. (John 1:14)

If he was God, the eternal, transcendent second person of the Trinity; if those little fingers reaching into the night sky from that manger were the same hands that measured the skies when they were formed; if he was Immanuel, God with us — that has enormous implications for our lives and for our eternities.

The Apostle Paul — a man who became a follower of Jesus after living a life that was far from God. He was actually one who would imprison and persecute Christians.

Then he became a follower of Jesus and he begins to teach that Jesus was what he calls:

The visible image of the invisible God. (Colossians 1:15)

Paul is writing to the Colossians and part of the reason he’s writing a letter to the Colossians is to correct a heresy called syncretism.

Syncretism means to sync up a bunch of stuff. It’s kind of a layman’s term for a kind of theology that was being spread.

The Colossians thought Jesus is just one of many Gods.

You can have Jesus, but you can also worship angels.
You can have Jesus, but you can also have spiritual enlightenment.
You can have Jesus, but you can also have, fill in the blank.

And a kind of bad stew was being created.

Where I grew up in the midwest, school lunch in grade school was like this:

Monday — green beans.
Tuesday — corn.
Wednesday — broccoli.
Thursday — carrots.
Friday — mixed vegetables.

All the stuff that was left over went into Friday’s lunch.

This is what was happening in the Colossian church. Kind of like school lunch on Friday. Let’s just put it all together.

And Paul writes “No, I want you to know the truth. Jesus Christ is with us and he is enough.”

Jesus Christ is God with us — the visible image of the invisible God.

The apostle Paul wrote this letter to tell us that Jesus Christ is supreme, He is sovereign, He is over all, above all, in all, through all, for all, Jesus Christ is enough.

He casts this immense vision of how immeasurable Christ is.

And I just want to walk you through a few verses in Colossians 1 today.

First of all, Paul says in verse 15:

Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. (Colossians 1:15)

This is a remarkable statement to make about someone who walked in a human body on this earth. Paul says, “When you look at Jesus, you see God.”

Now, the word Paul uses for “image” is the Greek work “eikon.” We get our word “icon” from this word.

Among other things, the Greeks used this word for a portrait of someone.

They obviously didn’t have photography in those days, so if you wanted someone to know what your grandkids looked like, you had to have portraits painted. That was an icon.

Well, Paul uses that word for Jesus. He says, “He is like the portrait of God.”

A little kid is drawing a picture one day and his mom says, “What are you drawing?”

The little kid says, “I’m drawing a picture of God.”

She said, “No one knows what God looks like.”

The kid says, “Well, they will when I get finished.”

How do we know what God looks like?

That’s been the great question since the very beginning of the human race. What is God’s character? What are God’s attributes? What is God’s heart?

The problem, of course, is no one really knew what God would look like. And Jesus says, “Well, they will when I get finished.”

Jesus said in John 14:

If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father. For I and the Father are one. (John 14:9)

Paul is adamant about this. He says in verse 19:

For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ. (Colossians 1:19)

How much of the fullness of God? ALL his fullness. Paul is saying, “When you see Jesus, you see God.”

We come to this same idea in Colossians 2:

For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. (Colossians 2:9)

How much of the fullness of God? ALL the fullness.

Again, you see that emphasis here because the Colossians didn’t think of God being able to inhabit matter — to inhabit a human body.

Paul says all of God is right there in a human body.

This means you can be absolutely confident of God’s loving heart. This means I don’t have to be afraid of God.

Think about this:

If you ever wonder what God thinks about something, all you have to do is look at Jesus.

If you ever wonder, what does God think of little children? Just look at Jesus. He says, “Let the children come to me.”

If you ever wonder, what does God really think of people who are lost and can’t find their way? Just listen to Jesus say, “For I have come to seek and to save that which is lost.”

If you ever wonder, how does God really feel about suffering and loss? Just look at Jesus weeping by the tomb of his friend Lazarus.

You don’t have to wonder if he’ll keep forgiving you when you sin. Read the story Jesus told about the Prodigal son.

You can run into his arms any time. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done or how far you’ve strayed from the father. You don’t have to avoid him when you feel inadequate. You don’t have to be afraid of God or intimidated by him.

Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the God that no one had ever seen before. You look at Jesus, and you’ve seen God.

You want to be an expert on God? You want to be a friend of him and fall in love with him? Just immerse yourself in the life of Jesus.

Jesus is the image of the invisible God.

Then Paul goes on, and this has to do with creation. Paul says:

Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. (Colossians 1:15-16)

He existed before anything.
He is supreme over all creation.
He created everything.

No wonder the wind and the waves obeyed Him, because they knew Him.

When Jesus spoke to the wind and the waves and said, “Be calm.” They recognized his voice. It was the same voice that created them in the beginning.

Isn’t it cool to think that God could just speak things into existence? Jesus was the one who said, “Let there be light.” And all of a sudden, boom, there was light.

Wouldn’t you love to be able to do that? Look at your car and say, “Let there be Ferrari.” Boom.

Jesus can do that. He is the creator of all things.

Look at Isaiah 40:

“To whom will you compare me? Who is my equal?” asks the Holy One. Look up into the heavens. Who created all the stars? He brings them out like an army, one after another, calling each by its name. Because of his great power and incomparable strength, not a single one is missing. (Isaiah 40:25)

God brings out the stars, numbers them, and calls them all by name.

How many stars are there in the universe?

God makes billions and billions of stars, and he’s on a first-name basis with every one. He knows them all.

God is over all creation and that means I don’t have to be afraid of anything in the created order. I don’t have to be afraid of disease or sickness or anything that might affect my body.

I don’t have to worry about what I will eat or drink or my finances or anything.

Jesus talked about this. He said, “My advice to you is don’t worry about what you will eat or drink, what you will wear. God cares for the birds. God cares for the flowers. He’ll take care of you. Don’t worry about your life. Don’t worry about tomorrow.”

Well, Jesus is the image of God — he allows us know everything we need to know about God.
He is the agent of creation. We don’t have to worry about anything in the created order.
He’s also the Lord over every power.

Look what Paul says in verse 16:

He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see—such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. (Colossians 1:16)

Paul says, “He made things we can see and things we can’t see.”

The Colossians were very into speculating about spiritual beings, as people often are in our day. They were into angels and the worship of angels, and they were kind of obsessed with the spirit world.

I think people in our day make two errors when it comes to the spirit world. They either make way too much of it or they don’t consider it enough.

Have you been around people who attribute everything to the spirit world?

If things go well, it’s because an angel took care of them.
If things don’t go well, it’s because a demon defeated them.

If you get a flat tire as you’re about to leave for a meeting it must be because a demon was at work to prevent you from going.

I think, “What if it was because you ran over a nail? Maybe it was demonic, I don’t know. But maybe you just need to clean your garage.”

The truth of Scripture is the spirit world is real. There really are angels and there really are demons. There really are spiritual authorities and spiritual powers.

Paul here is simply saying, every human power, every government, every corporation, your boss, your CEO; and every supernatural force, whatever they may be, every angelic being, every fallen angel, every one of them is just child’s play in the hands of Jesus. Jesus created them all.

Thrones, kingdoms, rulers, authorities — Jesus is big enough to easily overpower any force that might hinder me from following him. They’re all under his control.

They may not know it yet. But Jesus is Lord over every government and over every organization and over every authority, every addiction, every supernatural being. I don’t have to live in fear of any of it.

Jesus is also the sustainer of all things. Check out verse 17:

He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together. (Colossians 1:17)

Now, Paul here uses the perfect tense which indicates continuous action in Greek. In Jesus all things are continually being held together.

In other words, he didn’t just create us and leave us on our own. He is sustaining us right now.

He is the one right now that causes the sun to keep shining.
He is the one right now that causes gravity to allow us all to be in our place.

Have you ever heard someone say, “I don’t think I can hold it all together”?

Well, you don’t have to. That’s not your job. Jesus is doing that.

The writer of Hebrews says:

The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. (Hebrews 1:3)

Just a word from Jesus and everything is being held together.

If he did not do that for a moment, it would evaporate like magic.

Every moment you and I live is the result of the sustaining grace of Jesus — God with us.

He also conquered death.

Look at verse 18:

He is the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead. So he is first in everything. (Colossians 1:18)

Our sure and certain hope is that we too will rise from the dead one day and we will be with Jesus in eternity.

Death is not the end.

Frank Peretti tells a great story about a family that’s on vacation and a bumblebee flies into the car.

The little girl in the back seat was afraid because she was severely allergic to bumblebees. So she started to scream.

The father didn’t know what to do because they were miles from the nearest hospital. If the bumblebee stung her, she would have an allergic reaction and they didn’t have any medication with them.

So, he just watched the bumblebee fly around the car. When it got toward the front seat, with one hand on the wheel, he reached out his other hand and grabbed the bumblebee and let it fly around in his hand until it eventually stung him. Then he let it go.

And the little girl started screaming again. “He’s buzzing, he’s buzzing!”

He showed her the stinger in his hand. He said, “Don’t worry honey, he can’t hurt you now. All he can do is buzz.”

When I heard that story I thought, “Oh death, where is your sting? Oh grave, where is your victory?”

All death can do now is just buzz. That’s all it can do.

Jesus Christ has taken away the sting of death, because he has the authority over death. He’s the firstborn from among the dead.

God with us!

He’s the image of God
The agent of creation
The Lord of all
The sustainer of life
The conqueror of death

Let me ask you this: do you live with the understanding that God is with you?

Moses was up against Pharaoh, who was the highest throne, the highest power, the highest authority, the highest ruler in the world at that time.

God says, “I’ll deliver you, Moses. Take your people through the Red Sea. You’ll have to put a foot in the water first. When you do that, I’ll divide it. I’ll march you through. I’ll save you. You’re safe in my hand the whole time because I hold everything together. You’re safe in my hand, but you’re going to have to take a step of faith.”

Now, this is just a general principle. The way that we access the power of this great God is by faith. It’s by taking a step of faith. You must act like you believe you have God with you, and then you’ll discover you do have God with you.

So the question is, will you say today, “I’m going to stop living like God is distant; I’m going to live like Jesus is the visible image of the invisible God. And he is with me wherever I go.”

Some of you find yourselves this Christmas going through some pretty challenging and difficult circumstances.

Some of you are in stressful circumstances physically.
Some relationally.
Some emotionally.
Some financially.
Some spiritually.

I’m convinced God brought you here this Christmas so you could hear him say to you, “I am with you.”

“I am with you who live life alone and are going to walk to your cars today, and you’re going to watch families load up in their SUV’s; and you’ll be alone, and it may hurt.”

“I am with you who are carrying illnesses in your body, and you wonder if you’re going to live to see Christmas 2025.”

“I am with you who dreamed this would be the year with a baby around the Christmas tree, but the miscarriage or the infertility has left you with a hole in your soul that others don’t seem to understand.”

“I am with you who are headed into some challenging family dynamic during the gathering at home tonight or tomorrow.”

“And you who are dealing with ex-spouses and custody situations that are complicated.”

“I am with you who are going to have an empty chair at your table this Christmas because there’s a family member who moved away, or there has been a divorce, or there’s a loved one that you’ve buried this year… and the pain is unbearable.”

God says, “I am with you. I came at Christmas to be with you.”

That little preposition ‘with’ is used 89 times in the Old Testament to refer to God being with his people.

God walked with Adam in the Garden.
When God called Moses to be a leader and Moses said he couldn’t do it, God said he would with him.
Psalm 23:4 are words that we’ve turned to many times in difficult seasons of our lives, when God says to us that we need to fear no evil for he is with us.

God is with you.

God came at Christmas not just to be with you here and now. He gave his Son so that he could be with you forever.

If you ever want to know how badly God wants to be with you forever —

Just look at the baby in the manger.
Look at the one who died on a blood-stained cross.
Look at the one who walked out of a tomb.

When Jesus died on a cross, he who had no sin gathered up all of our greed, and our lust, and our selfishness, and our pride, and our ego, and our deception, and he said, “I’ll carry it for you. Why? So I can be with you forever.”

He is Immanuel. He is God with us. The visible image of the invisible God.

And that brings us to the question: How are we going to respond to this gift of ‘God with us?’

You know, the greatest gift you can receive this Christmas is not…

A new pair of Adidas.
Or a new iPhone.
Or a new game station.
Or a new car.
Not even the Marvel Spider-man super web slinger.

The greatest gift is Immanuel, the God who is with us.

I know some of you are not ready to receive that gift yet, but you could make the commitment this Christmas to say that in 2025 you’re going to examine who this baby in a manger was.

A great place for you to start would be to read the book on John in the Bible.

Have you ever gotten a great big gift, all wrapped up, and when you unwrap it, there’s another gift inside of that box, and then another gift inside of that, and another and another and another — until finally you get deep inside and you find the real gift?

Well some of you, spiritually speaking, have to go on a journey like that where you open one box and then another and another.

For many people around Blue Oaks, that first box has been our Sunday worship services where they start to discover.

And then a week goes by and another, and they open another box and another box until one day they find the real gift.

If you’re in the examination phase, I just want you to know that Blue Oaks is a place where your doubts and your questions are welcome.

Maybe you need to examine in the new year.

Or maybe you’ve done that and this Christmas, you’re ready to receive.

This gift of Immanuel, God with us, what we feel we get so close to at Christmas time, we can have with us all year long.

We just need to say to God, “I want Jesus to be the leader of my life and the forgiver of my moral junk and my closest friend.”

Some of you have done that, but you’ve kind of spiritually drifted away from the God who is with you.

You look the same on the outside; but on the inside — in your heart — you’re a long way off.

Christmas is a time when you can come back and decide you’re going to receive that gift all over again.

Who is this baby in a manger that the whole world is stopping to worship?

He is Immanuel.
He is God with us.

I hope you’ll think about how you’re going to respond to this gift.

Will you commit to examine him in the new year?
Will you receive him if you’re ready?
Will you receive him all over again?
Will you worship the God who is with us?
Will you embrace heaven’s love that came down to save the world?

Let’s all bow our heads for a moment.

Those of you who have been walking with Christ for a lot of years know just how important these moments are. I hope you would pray for the people around you.

Pray earnestly that God moves in the hearts and minds of people, and that many who are with us in this service would make significant spiritual decisions right now.

Now, God, I pray there are people in this room who can say…

I believe you are Immanuel, God with us.

Jesus, I believe you are the visible image of the invisible God.

I believe you created everything by a word from your mouth — just a word and it all came into being, and you sustain it all without any strain or effort at all.

I believe a word from you and storms ceased, and winds died, and fish were multiplied, and the lame leaped for joy, and the blind opened their eyes and saw, and demons and death have no power.

I pray there are people in this room who can say…

I believe that when you went to the cross, the entire universe held its breath. And time stopped, and history was suspended, and you brought about the reconciliation of the entire created order through the shedding of your blood.

I believe you went to the tomb, and the grave could not hold you, and after three days you conquered death.

I believe you have numbered every hair I’ve ever grown, and every tear I’ve ever cried, and every breath I’ve ever inhaled, and every word I’ve ever spoken, and every hope I’ve ever cherished.

I believe you are with me right now. And you will be with me on the car ride home. And you will be with me later tonight. And you will be with me when I wake up tomorrow.

God, I pray there are people who will say…

I’m sorry for keeping you at a distance. I’m sorry, and I’m done with that.

I pray that there are people who are willing to say this very moment, Christmas 2024, “I believe. I admit my need for forgiveness, my need for you to be the leader of my life to take my life on a new path.”

Now, God, if people have claimed those statements, move powerfully in their spirits even as I’m praying now.

Cause many of us to decide and declare and grab hold of this new life, the God-with-me life that has been made available as a gift upon request to anyone who would ask.

We pray this prayer in the wonderful name of Jesus. And everyone agreed and said, “Amen.”

Now if you prayed that kind of prayer, sometime as you’re leaving or sometime later today, tell someone you did that. Tell them boldly.

Just say, “I’m not sure of everything involved here, but God was moving in my life and I did that. I want a new beginning. I want to live as if God is with me.”

Probably the people you came with can help you take your next step spiritually.

We as a church would be happy to help you take your next step. We’ll do whatever we can to help you… just let us know.

Alright, now we just have a few more things to do.

First, Christian and the team are going to lead us in the song Silent Night.

And I’ll walk you through how we do this at Blue Oaks in just a moment.

First I want to ask you to get your glow stick and break it so we fill this room with light during this song.

Also, during this song we traditionally take time to extend words of affection and love — or actual expressions, hugs and things like that — to family and friends who are here with us.

I know some of you are missing someone this Christmas. And maybe you wish you could express your love or affection to that person one more time.

You know, all of us are really only one phone call away — all of us — from a different kind of Christmas.

And it’s a great reminder that life is a gift. And every Christmas you get with someone is a gift.

So we want to take advantage of this moment. So if you would stand we’re going to sing Silent Night.

And I want to ask you to turn to people you came with and feel very free to just say, “I’m glad I get to spend Christmas with you.”

Express it however is ethnically appropriate for you. If you’re from South America and you want to hug and kiss each other, go for it.

If you’re Dutch, and you want to just shake hands, that’s fine too.

We only really have one rule about this: don’t do anything weird with strangers.

If you don’t know them, you’re not responsible for spreading love to them.

As soon as we start singing, just move around if you have to, but express some appreciation to the people you came with.

Alright, let’s sing Silent Night.