We’re all in the shopping spirit, I guess after traipsing round all the shops we can pretty much identify anything, so here’s a little test. Can you tell me what these things are?

Ipod, Armani T-shirt, Rolex Watch, Apples new iphone. Except that actually non of them are, we may think we know what they are at first glance, but actually they are all fakes.

What’s this? It’s the traditional nativity scene image. We all know the story. There’s Mary and Joseph in the stable because there was no room at the inn, the donkey grazing peacefully beside them after his long journey carrying Mary, and the baby peacefully asleep, no crying he makes. There’s the shepherds who have rushed down from the hillside closely followed by the 3 kings who’ve followed the star to see the baby who has been born and present him with their gifts.

It’s a beautiful scene isn’t it. But it’s a fake! It probably wasn’t an inn they were looking for but a guest room, there is no mention of a donkey in any of the gospels, and they weren’t kings but magi - wise men, and we aren’t told there were three of them, and they probably came when Jesus was a toddler rather than at the same time as the Shepherds. And there is no furious homicidal King Herod and his henchmen lurking the background. I guess the cardmakers would say that we shouldn’t let reality get in the way of a good marketing image.

But if we have got that much wrong about the Christmas story what other things have we assumed or missed? As we look at these verses this morning I want to focus on one in particular, it’s (21) and it sums up what Christmas is really all about, why it is really worth us celebrating.

"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."

1. Jesus is a name to believe in
I wonder why your parents chose your name, I guess it was because they liked it and its meaning. Do you know what your name means? Alastair means protector of mankind...I guess more importantly does your name reflect who you are?

Jesus is the name that God through an angel tells Joseph to give to Mary’s son and it isn’t a name picked from the air. It is a name with a history, it is the Greek form of Joshua and it means ‘the LORD saves’. It is more than just a nice name, more than just a name with a nice meaning it is Jesus mission statement.

Just look at (18) how is Jesus described? He is described as "the Messiah" God’s long promised king who would save God’s people.

This baby matters because he is a saviour, someone who comes to deliver people from peril, from danger, and the danger he comes to deliver them from is summed up in one little word at the end of verse 21; "sin" That sounds like an old fashioned word doesn’t it? I wonder how you react to that word? It sets an absolute standard, it says that some things are right and some things are wrong and God decides. But surely that isn’t right is it? There aren’t any absolutes, there is no truth, is there?

Imagine for a minute we lived in a world that functioned on that principle, that there were no absolute standards of right and wrong, there would be no criminal justice system. Imagine a man plants a bomb on a bus full of Primary School children killing 20 and injuring more, right or wrong? Does it depend on your point of view? If the perpetrator sincerely believes its ok does that mean he hasn’t committed a crime? If you are the parent who loses a child what do you want? You want justice, but in a world with no absolute standards there is no justice, because there is no basis for judgement.

But actually we instinctively cry out for justice because God hardwires us that way. What we don’t like about that word sin is that we know we can’t reach God’s absolute standard, and his justice will find us out.

But the word sin is actually about more than just a standard of right and wrong. Imagine a parent who brings up their child well, caring, teaching, providing, and setting safe boundaries for them. Only to find that one day when they come back from holiday that actually their key doesn’t turn in the door, the locks have been changed. They knock on the door and their child answers but looks blankly at them, 'Yes'. 'But it’s us, your mum and dad' they say. 'I don’t have a mum and dad he says they are dead.' And he goes on living as if that’s reality.

That is sin, it is where we want everything God gives us, the world, safety, security, love, relationships, family but actually we lock God out, living as if he didn’t exist. What does the child deserve who does that to his parents?

The Bible tells us that God is a God of justice and that if we want a world without him well one day he will give it to us. But just think about that, if all the good things we enjoy are because God gives them to us, in a place without God they go too, hell is a place without God and therefore without any element of good. If we reject him he will give us what we want and what we deserve.

But the great news of this verse is that Jesus comes to save us from that, because we can’t save ourselves. That is his mission.

2. A Saviour for his people
Jesus matters because he will save his people from their sins, their rebellion against God. It poses the question who will he save? "he will save his people". And who are his people?

It is those who believe that he is (23) "Immanuel... (God with us)." Jesus comes to save everyone but only those who actually put their trust in him will be saved. Only those who believe he is who he says he is; the Son of God, that as he lives he lives a perfect life before God for them, that as he dies on the cross he dies an innocent substitute in their place, and that as he is raised again to new life it is proof that he is God’s Saviour and has saved his people.

Jesus name matters, Joshua in the Old Testament was the one who led God’s people through to the Promised Land, to God’s place, God’s kingdom, where they would experience God’s blessing. Jesus comes to save his people and to take make them part of God’s kingdom.

Why celebrate Christmas because it is God’s ultimate act of love?

I just want you to watch this clip from Blood Diamond. In the film Solomon Vandy has been in pursuit of his son, Dia, who was kidnapped by R.U.F. guerillas weeks earlier. Solomon himself was enslaved by the R.U.F. and forced to work in the diamond fields. Where he finds a rare diamond worth millions and buries it, hoping to 'buy back' his son.

Meanwhile, Dia’s kidnappers, the violent militia known as the R.U.F., have brainwashed Dia and turned him into a killer. He’s given a new name, 'See No More, and is lied to about his family. His captors have conditioned him to be a ruthless killer and made him commit terrible atrocities, he can’t remember who he was, or his family.

After his escape from slavery, Solomon chases his son across the continent of Africa, risking his life time and again, to save his son.

That is love to pursue your son at such cost to yourself and then to forgive him, and it’s a great picture of what God is doing at Christmas, he sends Jesus to find us and save us from our life of atrocities.

But actually while there is love there is no justice in Blood Diamond, what about the families of those Dai has killed? Should he just get away with it?

God sends Jesus to save us because he loves us, but God is also just. Only in Jesus can God’s justice and love meet as Jesus is willingly punished and dies in our place at the cross so that we can be right with God.

Do you get the real picture of Christmas? It is of a Father, God, loving and searching for his lost children, us, sending his Son to find us and save us, and to be a willing substitute so justice is satisfied.

It means those who believe in him as their Saviour should make more of Christmas than anyone else. It is a reminder of how much God loves us and the lengths he goes to, to save us. If you believe in him you should really celebrate!

But what if I’m not sure I believe? The question is will I trust in the one who does that for me? Will I examine what he does for me? There are some booklets at the back with more information, why not speak to someone, or sign up for a 5 week course looking at who Jesus is and what he comes to do.

"you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."

1. What makes Christmas worth celebrating?
2. Who do I say Jesus was? What do I say he came to do?
3. Am I one of his people? If not why not? If so how should it affect the way I celebrate Christmas

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