God’s Presence In The Flesh – Christmas Eve 2023 – Sermon by Harold Long
December 24, 2023
Hello Kingdom Family,
Welcome to our Jesus-centered community. We are glad you are listening to today’s message.
“We are People Helping People Experience a Jesus-centered Life.”
In today’s message, we continue in our Advent Series, “Emmanuel, God With Us.” With our time today, we dive into God’s presence in the flesh. We unpack Luke 2:1-7 and Matthew 1:23-24 and discover how to experience “Emmanuel, God With the Us” from Mary and Joseph. For centuries, God’s people waited for God’s good and just King to arrive.
For centuries, they longed for God’s presence to come to earth and stay. They were tired of being alone. Yet, the moment of God entering the scene is presented, even anticlimactically:
And while [Joseph and Mary] were [in Bethlehem], the time Sher her to give birth. She gave birth to her firstborn, clothed him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger because there was no place for them in the inn (Luke 2:6–7 ESV).
God’s presence in the flesh is like a baby in a feeding trough. The most unlikely couple raised him—Mary, miraculously pregnant before marriage, and Joseph, her fiance. Mary and Joseph were a poor and seemingly lonely pair, but they responded to God similarly: They believed when God promised his presence through this miraculous baby (Matthew 1:24; Luke 1:38).
And so Jesus was born, the one called “Immanuel,” which means “God with us” (Matthew 1:23).
Interestingly, we don’t read the name “Immanuel” once we move beyond the birth narratives about Jesus. And yet, the whole of Jesus’ life flows from that name. “Immanuel,” God with us.
Jesus was born like us—vulnerable, weak, and dependent on his family. He needed his mother’s milk to stay alive. He needed swaddling clothes to keep his body warm (Luke 2:7). In his perfect humanity, he needed others to care for him, just like us.
Jesus lived like us, enjoying life’s pleasures and enduring moments of tedium. He played games. He got bored. He wanted a good meal (Matthew 11:19). He also fasted when God called him to it (Matthew 4:2). He was able to sleep like a stone (Matthew 8:22–23). He also stayed up all night, at times, praying to his heavenly Father (Luke 6:12). He spent decades learning the blue-collar trade of his earthly father. He forged friendships with people, laughing and weeping with them, just like us.
Jesus suffered like us. He got sick. He grew tired. He lost loved ones (John 11:33–36). He experienced the heartbreak of betrayal (Matthew 26:14–16). He fought against temptations to sin (Hebrews 4:15). He felt the brokenness of this world and the limits of his own body, just like us.
Then Jesus did something you and I haven’t done. He did something very human but still very foreign. He died.
Humans die. We all know this. But we haven’t done it yet. Don’t skip past that irony: Jesus has experienced something universally human—but that we living humans haven’t gone through yet.
That’s a bit ironic—and a lot comforting. Because even in his death, Jesus died as God with us (1 Corinthians 19–21). God himself experienced the full weight of the curse, the shadow of death, the loneliness and horror of death so that we would be able to approach death knowing we are not alone.
And then, remarkably, Jesus did something utterly unlike us: He rose from the dead. This miraculous event is something we’ve never seen. But we will. The Apostle Paul refers to Jesus’ resurrection as the “first fruits,” a promise of a future reality (1 Corinthians 15:20). Joining Jesus in his death, we will join him in his resurrection life. Jesus became like us so that we could become like him—alive forever.
Before you listen to the message, you are encouraged to go to our website and download the lesson bulletin for this message, dated December 24, 2023. The publication contains questions to reflect on as an individual, couple, or small group. You can find them on the home page by clicking the Bulletins and Lesson Plans tab. Today’s message is “God’s Presence In The Flesh.”
If you have been blessed by this message, please share it with others.
Please subscribe to our YouTube Channel and like us on Facebook.
If you would like to support Hill-Tran Ministries, please go to www.hilltran.org/online-giving/. You will have a drop-down menu to choose which campus you wish to support, HUMC or TUMC; then, you can select which fund and how much you want to give. We would greatly appreciate a gift of any amount. PayPal is the provider of our electronic giving, so it’s safe and secure.
Merry Christmas,
Hill-Tran Ministries
- Harold Long
- 2023 Advent Series
- Christmas Eve
- Luke 2:1-7
- Matthew 1:22-23
- Abraham and Sarah
- Angels
- Christmas
- Christmas Eve
- David and Bathsheba
- Doubts
- Elizabeth and Zachariah
- Immanuel
- Incarnation
- Jesus
- Jesus is the Light
- Jesus Revolution
- Jesus the Christ
- Jesus the first born
- Jesus-Centered
- Jesus-centered Christmas
- Jesus-centered Community
- Jesus-Centered Faith
- Jesus-centered life
- Jesus-Centered Living
- Jesus-looking God
- Mary and Joseph
- Merry Christmas
- Hillsboro UMC
- Transformation UMC
Immanuel – God With Us
December 24, 2021
- Harold Long
- Christmas Eve
- Luke 1 and 2
- Emmanuel
- God
- God With Us
- Heaven
- Holy Spirit
- Immanuel
- Jesus
- Jesus-Centered Living
- Kingdom of God
- Hillsboro UMC
- Transformation UMC
Today’s message is centered on the “Immanuel – God With Us.” What does this mean for you? What does that mean for the world?