Good
evening everyone! We are so glad that you’ve joined us for this service. In
fact, I love doing this kind of thing. I love gathering people together around
a common purpose… a common celebration… a common idea… a common mission.
Simple
ways I like to engage in this have included meals, parties and holidays. We, as
a family definitely like to share our home and
hospitality. In fact, every year it seems that our Thanksgiving through
Christmas time home-events are filled not just with family, but with friends
and people who we know are without family for certain events… or just because
they’ve become like family to us!
Now,
knowing this about me, you may think: that guy’s never been lonely a day in his
life… that’s not actually true. In fact, because I’m so outgoing, sometimes
I’ve felt it more strongly than others. Now, it’s harder these days with a
family of seven, but it sometimes still does happen… especially if I’m
traveling without my family.
One
of the most heart-wrenching feelings of loneliness for me came during my
Christmas break in college… very young
Christian… surrounded by my frat (70 guys)… growing and learning and laughing
together for 4+ months in a row… everyone went home… sitting in my dorm room…
almost felt like anxiety and stress… lots of tears… I began to write out my
thoughts to God on paper…
Have you ever felt lonely?
A recent Newsweek article say’s ¼ (25%) of
Americans…
So many of us have! Especially around the
holiday season as we think about those family and friends who either have moved
away, we’ve lost touch with, or that have passed. This season of celebration
can actually be very difficult for many…
But there is a tremendous amount of hope also –
there is the reminder that God never wanted us to remain lonely… He wants us to
feel loved at all times.
Before God made Eve, he’s made Adam and he
decided something very important:
"It's not good for man to be alone!" Genesis 2
Believe it or not, this text is a key part of
the Christmas story. It’s not just God’s encouragement that marriage is a good
thing and that us men really needed our wives to keep us in line J.
Our Father thought the curing of loneliness was
so important, that He sent his son Jesus on an amazing Adventure! And He’s
inviting each of us into that ADVENTure.
GOD
The
word ADVENT is centered on this idea of “arrival.” So, when we celebrate Advent
we are celebrating the adventure of Jesus’ arrival on earth. Have you ever
thought about how Jesus left the most amazing community to come to the loneliest
of places?
Jesus’s
life – throne room, angels, living creatures, multitudes… perfect love… no more
crying, death, pain… perfect situation and everyone loves and worships him.
But,
Jesus understood this idea: It’s better to be loved than to be lonely… It’s not
good for man to be alone. Loneliness is a disease… a sickness... a lie from the
enemy… loneliness tells us that we don’t matter.
Jesus
steps into that as a baby and says that I’m not going to cure this from the
outside, but I’m going to completely re-shape your view of God! Remember what
happened to Joseph? (Matthew 1)
21 She will bear a son, and you
shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All
this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23 “Behold,
the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name
Immanuel”
I
may be God, but I’m willing to leave everything for YOU. That’s how much I love
you. I will come to not only SAVE you, but to be with you (Immanuel)… I want to
be with you, be known by you, and live through you.
Or
do you remember how excited the angels became at the thought that their amazing
Lord was going to show the full extent of His love to the earth? (Luke 2)
10 And the angel said to them,
“Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all
the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who
is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby
wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was
with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
There
are some amazing truths for you in this Christmas ADVENTure story!
TAKE
SOME TIME WITH THESE 3 THINGS!
·
God wants to be with you!
·
God brings with him good news for your life!
·
God is pleased with you!
And
therein lies the cure for loneliness… the revelation that the God’s Adventure
into humanity brings with it a new day for us… a new life for us… a life where
we are never alone… a life where God is never disappointed in us… a life where
we can be free from our anxieties and pains and frustrations because we have
now been counted worthy by the King in everything!
At
the core of loneliness is the idea that we are not worthy of love. At its root,
we find that there is a love deficiency in our lives… But God is love… and His
great Adventure was to show us just how worthy we really are.
(return
to story) That night in college when I began to journal my loneliness,
I went to some pretty sad places… I went to some really selfish places… but the
Father had other plans for my life…
In
my moment of frustration and sadness, God stepped into my life with His life. I
can remember vividly the Holy Spirit wrapping me in his arms of what can only
be described as “liquid love.” It’s been 19 years since that winter and I can
still remember the joy that flooded my heart knowing that God counted me worthy
enough to want to be involved with my pain… and every time I feel lonely now,
I’m reminded of that amazing truth by the Holy Spirit.
That’s
how much He loves us. That’s why it’s so important to understand His view of
us… because it’s not good for man to be alone… and the Father wants the world
to know that THEY ARE NOT.
So,
he commissions us to go on the ADVENTure with Him. Our arrival on the scene is
what has the power to transform lives… because we know we are not alone… He
goes with us to love those around us.
"Love your neighbor as you love yourself" Matthew 22
We
are invited… invited to share in the Advent-ure… invited to tell people they
are worthy… that the cross was a success… that God is and always will be with
us by His Spirit who comes to live inside us… invited on the Adventure to move
our world from loneliness to loved.
