The Greatest Gift of All [Christmas Eve]

December 24, 2025

Luke 2:1-14

“The Greatest Gift of All”

What is your favorite Christmas song? Now, before you answer, I will not accept secular songs. No chestnuts doing whatever chestnuts do on an open fire. No grandparents getting run over by reindeer. And definitely no "Jingle Bells." Holy tinsel, Batman, that’s not even a Christmas song. I know, I know there are some secular songs that aren't campy. And I know I'm being a bit bossy. But it's Christmas Eve, and we’re worshiping in the light of the reason for the season, so I will only accept Christian songs.

What is your favorite Christmas song…?

One of my favorites is "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel." I love this song. Here's verse three:

O come, thou Dayspring, come and cheer our spirits by thine advent here;

and drive away the shades of night, and pierce the clouds and bring us light!

Rejoice! rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!

I love this song. "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel," deeply rooted in God's Word.

We're going to focus on one word from the song. Emmanuel. If you're

taking notes, you might want to write down what it means:

God With Us

Let's say that together…God With Us.

So, what is so meaningful about "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel?"

First, a little Biblical direction. From Matthew 1:21-23:

She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his

people from their sins. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel" {which means, God with us}.

"God with us." So what does that mean? How is God with us? Why is God with us? How is that relevant to our lives here in Michigan in the waning days of 2025?

To answer that let's look at another Christmas song.

Another favorite hymn is the paraphrase of an ancient Greek verse. “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence,” is based on Habakkuk 2:20, “But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.” Here is the best literal translation:

Let all mortal flesh keep silence,

And with fear and trembling stand;

Ponder nothing earthly-minded,

For with blessing in His hand,

Christ our God to earth descendeth,

Our full homage to demand.

King of kings, yet born of Mary,

As of old on earth He stood,

Lord of lords, in human vesture,

In the body and the blood;

He will give to all the faithful

His own self for heav'nly food.

Rank on rank the host of heaven

Spreads its vanguard on the way,

As the Light of light descendeth

From the realms of endless day,

That the pow'rs of hell may vanish

As the darkness clears away.

At His feet the six-winged seraph,

Cherubim with sleepless eye,

Veil their faces to the presence,

As with ceaseless voice they cry:

"Alleluia, Alleluia

Alleluia, Lord Most High!"

This is a beautiful song for a beautiful season sung by beautiful people. You are all beautiful people. Look around you. Really, look around at each other. Notice the people sitting around you. I don't mean look at the superficial stuff. I don't mean what's on the surface. Notice the people sitting around you. And as you do, say to the people around you, "You are beautiful." "You are beautiful." Not because of anything inherently good in you or because of anything you’ve done. But because of what our beautiful Savior has done for us.

Here's what it all means. You are beautiful because God made you and He says you are of such worth to Him, He sent His Son to die for you. As the song puts it:

King of kings, yet born of Mary,

As of old on earth He stood,

Lord of lords, in human vesture,

In the body and the blood;

He will give to all the faithful

His own self for heav'nly food.

Even better than the song, here's how Jesus put it:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

- John 3:16

Those are the words of Jesus. This is a beautiful evening. We celebrate because in Christ, God has chosen to make us beautiful people. God has

chosen to love us, in spite of us. God has sent Jesus, His only Son, to die

for us. I think now is a good time to say "Amen."

Here's the follow-up to John 3:16, which reinforces the "Amen" we just said:

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in

order that the world might be saved through him.

- John 3:17

Make no mistake. The world has given God plenty of reasons to condemn us. We are a rebellious people. We turn from God. We turn from each other. We do the things we know we shouldn't do and we don't do the things we know we should do. We've all been there. Watch the news. Yikes. Go through your neighbor's trash. Not that I've ever done that, but oh, the things you'd find. I don't know about you, but sometimes I'm pretty condemnable.

But Bethlehem says otherwise. Bethlehem says we are loved, not condemned. It says we are beautiful children of God. From Matthew's Gospel:

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." All this took place to fulfill what the Lord has spoken by the prophet - "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel {which means, God with us}".

Let's say that again…God with us. Not God-against-us or God-to-condemn-us, but God with us. That is the Good News of Bethlehem.

Good News. Some of you are in a tough spot right now. You're facing a hardship and you need good news.

Some of you are facing an empty chair this year. Someone is not going to

be here for Christmas. It could be death, or divorce, or distance, and it just wrecks you. You need some good news.

Some of you are facing relationship tensions. You wish the holiday spirit would make them go away. You could use some good news.

Some of you might be thinking, I've done some pretty bad things in my life, I don't see how there could be any good news for me. These are exactly the moments when the Christmas story speaks encouragement into our lives. God is with you. God’s not against you. God is with you. If you believe that, you will never be the same.

Wherever you go from here; wherever your Christmas plans take you, I want you to go with the knowledge that no matter what you go through or experience in life, God will be with you. God is with you now. And because of Jesus Christ, you will be with God forever. That's the greatest gift of all.

We end with this affirmation from Charles Spurgeon:

“FOR, FIRST, THE BIRTH OF CHRIST WAS THE INCARNATION OF GOD: IT WAS GOD TAKING UPON HIMSELF HUMAN – A MYSTERY, A WONDROUS MYSTERY, TO BE BELIEVED IN RATHER THAN TO BE DEFINED.”