God is with Us

I had not intended to have a special sermon this past Lord’s Day for Christmas. My views on celebrating Christmas have changed over the years, that is a subject for a differ post, so I figured I would simply continue on in Genesis and look at Genesis 28:10-22 and Jacob’s Dream. Well, as I was doing my final review of the sermon on Saturday and then Sunday morning it occurred to me that the “God is with Us” theme is part of this passage. That is the message we need to remember all year long not just once a year.

As I read the front page of the Sunday morning paper there was an article about a family that cared for the homeless and the paper boldly proclaimed that this was what the season was all about. As great as it is that people would care for those who do not have that is not the reason to celebrate the incarnation. The reason for the incarnation was for God to be with Us in His Son. Moses message to the Hebrews as they prepared to cross the Jordon and the message to us as we journey in the City of Man is that God is with us. Jacob needed to be reminded that God was with him wherever he was and we need to remember that God is with us as His people wherever we are. We need to not simply see God as “for us” but that He is that and just as important “He is with us.”

For those that celebrate Christmas in the traditional sense keep this in mind as the externalities of this time of year vie for your affections. For those that do not celebrate Christmas as many do let us not for the sake of avoiding Christmas forget this message that we are to carry with us daily. Jacob was not given his dream by God for informational purposes; it was to change his life. We are not to read about his dream for informational purposes as it is to change our lives as if we had the dream ourselves.

Let us never forget that if we are one of God’s children through His electing grace God is with us no matter the circumstances. No matter what goes on in the world God will not forsake us or leave us. It is truly a message of victory to know that “God is with Us” and not just a victory spiritually but it is a victory in every aspect of life. Let us live as such. The martyrs of the past died knowing this and did not let their circumstances influence this great truth so let us also not let the circumstances that surround us hinder us living out this great truth.

If you would like to hear this past Lord’s Day message here it is: Jacob’s Dream – God Is With Us