"Have Seen A Great Light"
Isaiah 9:2-6
Third Sunday of Advent, 12/11/11

Introduction: Story- “The Kiss,” Stories for the Heart, p. 53. There is a story of a young woman, who was lying in a hospital bed. Her husband was right beside her. The woman had just had surgery, and her mouth was all twisted. The woman looked at her mouth in the mirror, and then asked the doctor, “Will my mouth always be like this?” “Yes,” the doctor answered. “It is that way because I had to cut the nerve to remove the tumor from your cheek.” The woman nods and is silent. The husband sensing his wife’s concern looks at his wife and says: “I like it. I think it’s cute.” Then he leans down to kiss her, and as he does, he twists his lips to accommodate hers, and to show her that their kiss still works!

Who are the people in your life that touch you? Who are the ones who can encourage you and lift you up when you’re down? Your spouse? Your parents? Your children? Your grandchildren? A good friend? Maybe even me as your pastor? These people are the ones who love us and who challenge us. Today is the advent Sunday of “Love.” And I want to talk about how God loves us, and how He has accommodated Himself for us.

I. How Does God Touch Us? (Isaiah 9:2-6; Matthew 11:28-30)

a. What God gives- In our scripture passage that was just read, Isaiah 9:2-

6, we heard some wonderful news about what God gives to us. Let me break down the passage, and point it out to you. Verse 2- “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light…” Verse 3- “…You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy…” Verse 4- “…You have shattered the yoke that burdens them…” Verse 6- “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given…”

In each of these verses, we are told some of the ways God reaches out to touch His people; how God shows us His love. First, we are told that He gives us light to see. Now the light that is referred to, is not so much the physical light of the sun (although this is a gift to us from God). But what is talked about in verse 2 is how God gives us the ability to see better how we should walk in our lives, and what we should do. By having this wisdom, we can make better decisions that will keep us on the right path for our lives. Without the light of God, we get confused, and distracted, and will tend to make decisions that lead us away from God and God’s will for our lives.

Next, we are told that God increases our joy. In verse 3 of Isaiah chapter 9, we see that the joy comes to Israel by their nation being enlarged. Israel’s nation was enlarged by God freeing them from captivity. Once free, they were able to live for God and serve God and seek to become who God had created them to be. By being restored as God’s people they experienced a realization of God’s profound love for them.

The same is true for the church. When we realize that we are not captives, but are free to live for God and serve God, then we can begin to dream about what God has for us. As the pastor I try to make sure Session is constantly thinking about what God wants for us. Each month we have devotional time together before our Session meeting as we try to keep in our minds what God has for us. When we think about our stewardship theme, we try to do it with God’s will for our church in mind. As we live for God in this way, we will experience God’s love all the more.

Then Isaiah talks about God shattering the yoke that burdened the people. God does not want us to live in slavery. I talked last week about how God has redeemed us, or paid the price for us, so that we would no longer be slaves to our sinful desires. We must live like people who are free. We must live with purpose and meaning. We must live out the passion that God has given us. Only then can we be free from our burdens. / But even more, God breaks the yoke of our burdens by taking our burdens from us. Jesus tells us in Matthew 11:28-30, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

God fully reaches out to touch us by giving us His son. This of course is the story of Christmas; the birth of Jesus Christ. This is what the advent season is all about. This is the culmination of what we are talking about each week. This is why we can have hope, and joy, and love, and peace in our lives. This is how God can be in a personal, intimate relationship with us. This is how God can instill His love in us.

b. How do you see him?- In the book “A Gentle Thunder,” by Max

Lucado (p. 163), Lucado challenges us with this question: “Suppose Jesus came to your church. I don’t mean symbolically. I mean visibly. Would you recognize Him?”

That is an interesting question, isn’t it? We think that we would recognize Him; we think that we would receive Him. But what if Jesus, as the Savior, came to our church, like he did back in the first century?

Lucado goes on to say: “It might be difficult to recognize Jesus. Jesus didn’t wear religious clothes in his day. So it is doubtful that He would wear them in our day. If he came today to our church, he’d wear regular clothes. Nothing fancy; maybe just a jacket and a tie. Maybe not even a tie. He would have a common name. Jesus was a common name in Jesus’ time. So maybe he would have the name Bob, or Terry, or Jim. He wouldn’t be from Nazareth, he would be from somewhere local: perhaps Lakewood, or Long Beach, or Marina del rey. And he’d be a laborer. He was a carpenter in his day; no need to think he’d change. But if he did, he might be an electrician, or a painter, or a contractor. God in the flesh; a contractor?…And one day he shows up in our church. He sits in the back. After a few songs he moves forward. Then after a prayer he walks up to the front and says: “You are singing about me. I am the Son of God. I am the bread of life.” Jim, the contractor, tells us that we are singing about him! Then he lifts up the bread and says that it is his body; and he lifts up the cup and says that it is his blood. And he invites us to celebrate with him. Would you do it? Jim the contractor is saying this. What would you think? Would you be offended? Would you be interested? Would you take him seriously? Would you believe him?”

It is easy for us to criticize those who doubted Jesus when Jesus was here. But would we do much better if we were in the same situation? Jesus didn’t fit their conception of the Messiah. Jesus didn’t come to them in the way they expected. And the challenge for us today, as we talk to people about Christmas, is that Jesus doesn’t fit into their concept of what a savior should be and how a savior should come.

And so we think about this concept of God touching us, and we sometimes wish that God were here with us, to physically touch us, so that we could really experience His love. We wish that Jesus would be with us, so that we could have someone to talk to us; someone to challenge us; someone who can physically show us how to live, and how to talk, and how to love. But I think it would be harder to let God touch our lives if He were physically here. I think that we would be less likely to receive God, and listen to God. I think we would struggle to allow God to be a part of our lives. I think we would be swayed by the doubts and concerns of all of the people around us.

The good news, is that there was a time when God was here; there was a time when God took on flesh and lived among us…

II. When God Was Present- (Matthew 1:18-25; 2:1-2)

a. And Mary gave birth- Now that we have a clearer sense of the challenge

it would be to have God the Son come into the world, we can maybe understand the challenge it was for Joseph to believe that Mary was pregnant with the Son of God. Joseph, who was pledged to be married to Mary, decided that he wanted to release her from this pledge, because he found out she was pregnant. Knowing that it wasn’t his baby, Joseph no longer wanted to have anything to do with Mary and the marriage.

Matthew 1:18-19 tells us, “This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹ Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.” So here is the situation. Joseph gets engaged to Mary, which in those days was binding. People were considered to be married for all intensive purposes once they were engaged. But then Joseph finds out Mary is pregnant. I’m sure Joseph was hurt by this; confused by this; probably angry at this. Joseph had a time when he no longer wanted to be Mary’s husband. Yet because of his love for Mary he did not want to embarrass her, so he was going to divorce her quietly.

Joseph had trouble believing that Mary could be pregnant any other way than the natural way of getting pregnant. Joseph had trouble believing that she could become pregnant by an act of God’s Spirit. So Joseph was going to walk away and try to come up with a plan B for his life!

Because Joseph was a very important part of God’s plan, in fact Joseph was the one who was in the line of King David, God acted by speaking to Joseph in a dream. It doesn’t say an angel appeared to Joseph in his dream, but the Lord Himself! And this is what the Lord said to Joseph in Matthew 1:20-21, “… ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹ 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.”

This dream gave Joseph a calm about how Mary had become pregnant, who the baby was, and the role Mary and Joseph were to play in Jesus’ life. Joseph began to understand the great love God has for His people as He let the words of God become real to him.

And the scripture tells us that Joseph did stay with Mary, and they traveled to Bethlehem, where Mary gave birth to Jesus. And the shepherds came to praise Jesus; and the wise men came to worship Jesus. And they were touched by God!!

b. “A Celebration of the Star”- [(by Fay Angus) from “A Christmas

Greeting from Guideposts; copyright 1992, 1996, 1999].

In a more contemporary setting, there is a story of a small girl who was watching the other children take their turns whacking away at the piñata at the PTA’s annual school Christmas party. She nervously twisted her fingers on the corner of her dress. One of the mother’s saw that she wasn’t participating, so she went over to talk to the girl. “Don’t you want a turn?” the mother asked. “I’ll go with you.” But the girl only stood there and continued to watch. A noise got both of their attention, as they turned to see another girl splitting open the star. It crashed to the floor and candy and trinkets flew all over to the delight of all the children. While the other children were going after the candy, this shy, small girl suddenly darted across the grass to pick up the star. She clutched it closely to her heart and shouted: “Look. I got the star!”/ It was reported by her mother later on, that she took this star home, and hung it on her bedpost. And she kept it there for several years.

Matthew 2:1-2 tells us, “After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem ² and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.’” The star should remind us of Jesus; the morning star; our guiding light. The star reminds us that God was present, in human form, and came to touch His people with God’s love.

Story: Last Sunday, after church, I was told that there was a man who wanted to talk with me. Usually this means that someone wants me to give them money. I have to confess that was my first thought. So, as I began to talk with him that was what was on my mind. I could find myself wanting to end the conversation even before it began. He told me that he had just moved into the area, and that he and his girlfriend had been talking about Christmas. “Here it comes,” I thought, “he’s going to ask for some money for Christmas gifts.” But then I was surprised by what he said next. He told me that they were looking for an opportunity to serve, where they could give of themselves to those who were in need. Did we have any opportunity for that at our church?

Christmas season isn’t about what presents we will get, rather, it is about under-standing God’s love. It is about receiving God’s love. It is about giving God’s love!

Conclusion: This third Sunday of Advent is about focusing on the love of God. Yet so many struggle to be able to focus on God’s love, even during the Christmas season. I believe this is because people’s minds are clouded with too many worries and concerns and problems. People’s minds are too busy to see clearly. In essence, they are walking in darkness.

Our scripture passage today, Isaiah 9:2-6 starts out with these words, “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light…” This light has come to them because of God’s presence among them. Christmas is about God’s presence being seen in the most profound way. It is because of the birth of Jesus Christ that we can be touched by God in the personal way that God touches us.

The words Jesus spoke; the things He did, the way He shone His light, were all meant to show us God’s love and to give us God’s touch. YOU KNOW HOW YOU CAN TELL IF YOU HAVE BEEN TOUCHED BY GOD? You are changed. You are changed in how you think, in how you love, in how you forgive others, in how excited you are about life. Those who have been touched by God want to share that excitement with others. They want others to experience the hope of God, the joy of God, the love of God, and the peace of God. As we celebrate this Sunday of love, let us let God touch us with His love; a love that transforms us into people who care. Amen.