SERMON
God With Us Is Jesus – 9:00 pm Christmas Eve Service – December 24, 2025
Pastor Paul Georgulis
I’ve never preached this late on a Christmas Eve before, but I’m grateful to be here with you. And in just a few short hours, it will officially be Christmas.
But Christmas doesn’t always feel the same for everyone. For some, this is a night filled with excitement and anticipation. For others, it’s more complicated. And if I’m being honest, there have been seasons in my own life when the holidays were not easy. Times when joy didn’t come naturally, and Christmas—like it does for so many—only seemed to magnify what was already painful.
Christmas doesn’t deny that pain—it speaks into it. Not by telling us to pretend everything is fine or by rushing us toward happiness, but by announcing good news meant for real life.
One of the most memorable Christmas carols to me growing up was “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.” I don’t know if it was memorable because I absolutely understood what it meant on a theological level as a child, but it has one of those choruses that gets stuck in your head.
“Good tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy…”
Those words sound beautiful—but they also raise an honest question: Where does real comfort and joy come from, especially when life hurts? Not from quick phrases or neat explanations, which may be well-intentioned, but rarely reach deep enough.
Pain shows up in strained relationships, uncertain futures, lingering grief, and quiet loneliness—even in crowded rooms. And when life hurts like that, the question beneath all the others is this: Where is God in the middle of it?
That is not a lack-of-faith question. It’s an honest one that many of us have asked. And the good news of Christmas is that God doesn’t avoid that question—He answers it. Not with an idea or a feeling, but by coming near.
So let’s look at one part of the Christmas story we don’t often slow down enough to notice.
After Mary tells Joseph she’s pregnant—an uncomfortable conversation that upended everything—Joseph is left confused, hurt, and unsure of what to do next. This wasn’t a peaceful moment—it was a deeply human one.
Here’s how Matthew’s Gospel tells the rest of the story—beginning in verse 20 of chapter 1:
“20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “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.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). 24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he had no marital relations with her until she had given birth to a son, and he named him Jesus.” – Matthew 1:20-25
The whole Christmas story feels wild, messy, out of control, and painful. Yet, it is also filled with comfort and joy—because it is the story of how hope, peace, joy, and love came into the world through Jesus, as God stepped directly into our pain and mess.
Mary and Joseph had a plan for their lives. They were engaged to be married. They had expectations. They had dreams. And then God showed up and interrupted those plans with a calling that they did not choose but that would ultimately change the world.
Luke helps fill in the rest of the story. In his Gospel, we see that God sends an angel to Mary who tells her she is highly favored, that she will give birth to a son, and that this child will be the Son of God and reign forever.
A pregnancy before marriage came with real consequences in Mary’s world. Faithfulness came at a cost. And the story doesn’t get easier from there. Mary was near the end of her pregnancy, and the baby was coming soon, but they had to travel to Bethlehem for the census. It was not comfortable or convenient, and it was exhausting and uncertain—definitely not a joy ride.
Then, if they thought things couldn’t get any worse, they found out that there was no lodging available for them, so Mary had to give birth in a stable, already sore from traveling.
Then, just when you think they can rest, they have to go on the run because King Herod is threatened from all of the “Jesus is King” talk and wanted to kill Jesus. So, now Mary and Joseph had to flee to Egypt and couldn’t return to their hometown.
Can you see the pain that Mary and Joseph went through? This is not how they imagined things unfolding. And yet, God was still with them.
The Christmas story is a story surrounded by fear, disruption, and loss. And that’s important—because it tells us God meets us in these same kinds of places.
So where do we find comfort and joy in the midst of our questions, confusion, discomfort, and pain? The answer is found in one word, and it’s a BIG word—one word defined in three words—Immanuel: God with us! It’s not a concept or philosophy, but a Person who steps into real life—God with us is Jesus, the source of the joy we receive. About this joy, Jesus tells us:
“11 I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” – John 15:11
In other words, Jesus tells us these things so that we would be filled with HIS joy—a joy that flows from staying close to Him.
The big idea of Christmas isn’t perfect circumstances—it’s the presence of comfort and joy. Christmas is God saying, “I’m here. You’re not alone.” No matter what you’re carrying tonight—fear, grief, uncertainty, loneliness—God’s response is the same: “I’m with you!”
The word comfort means “to come alongside.” And joy is not the absence of pain, but the assurance that we are not alone in it. Together, comfort and joy remind us that God comes alongside us and stays with us, even in the middle of our pain.
Whenever my youngest daughter gets hurt, all she wants is her mommy. I try to comfort her, but I’m not good enough in those moments. But when mommy says, “Come here, honey,” she instantly starts feeling better.
The key word for comfort and joy is “here.” For my daughter, comfort was “come here.” With Jesus, it’s “I’m here!” If there’s nothing else you hear me say tonight, the one thing I want so badly for you to take away is this: joy is here, because Jesus is here!
Comfort and joy are not abstract ideas—they are God with us. In your pain—in whatever you are facing tonight—Jesus is still whispering the same words: “I’m here.” And the Jesus who says, “I’m here,” is also the very source of comfort itself. Listen to how the apostle Paul describes Him in 2 Corinthians 1:3-4:
“3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles…” – 2 Corinthians 1:3-4a
At the heart of these verses is a simple but powerful truth: God with us is our true source of comfort. These verses show us exactly who God is. And yet, when pain appears, our instinct is often to look for comfort somewhere else.
For me, lifting weights helps me temporarily take my mind off of what I’m carrying. And we all have our own versions of this—what we reach for during painful times. For some, it’s busyness. For others, distraction. Fill in the blank with your own.
But the problem with numbing pain is that it never truly heals it. It dulls everything—including our capacity to feel love and connection. More simply put, false comforts don’t last. Christmas offers something deeper: the presence of real comfort and real joy.
Immanuel—God with us—means we are not left alone to carry what hurts us. It means God doesn’t fix everything instantly, but He refuses to abandon us in the middle of it.
Jesus Himself said: “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” – John 16:33
Jesus doesn’t deny our pain—He enters it. And nowhere do we see that more clearly than at the Cross.
When you look at the Cross, you see that God truly understands pain—physical pain, emotional pain, and relational pain. Jesus knows what it is to suffer. On the Cross, He even cried out to His Father, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
In that moment, it looked like evil was winning. It looked like everything God had promised had fallen apart. But even death was not the end because on the third day, Jesus did exactly what He said He would do—He rose from the grave, defeated the power of sin and death, and opened the way for you and me to have freedom and new life.
The Cross says, “I know ALL your pain!” Christmas is Jesus bringing us comfort and joy and telling us, “I’ve come to be with you in it.”
The rest of 2 Corinthians 1:4 reminds us that the comfort we receive was never meant to stop with us.
“…so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” – 2 Corinthians 1:4b
God says, “I gave you comfort in those moments so that you have an opportunity to comfort others when they face those same moments.” And when we do, we become “been there” people—wounded healers who can walk with others because we’ve been there ourselves. That’s why we need each other. Church is not a solo act.
The message of Christmas is that God was not content to leave the world drowning in its sins, so He gave us His Son, born humbly in a manger, to become “God With Us.” As Scripture tells us, “God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but so that through him the world may be saved.”
You see, the Christmas story—the birth of Jesus—pointed past the manger and to the Cross. That’s where the greatest gift was ever given. Immanuel: God With Us Is Jesus!
But Christmas doesn’t always feel the same for everyone. For some, this is a night filled with excitement and anticipation. For others, it’s more complicated. And if I’m being honest, there have been seasons in my own life when the holidays were not easy. Times when joy didn’t come naturally, and Christmas—like it does for so many—only seemed to magnify what was already painful.
Christmas doesn’t deny that pain—it speaks into it. Not by telling us to pretend everything is fine or by rushing us toward happiness, but by announcing good news meant for real life.
One of the most memorable Christmas carols to me growing up was “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.” I don’t know if it was memorable because I absolutely understood what it meant on a theological level as a child, but it has one of those choruses that gets stuck in your head.
“Good tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy…”
Those words sound beautiful—but they also raise an honest question: Where does real comfort and joy come from, especially when life hurts? Not from quick phrases or neat explanations, which may be well-intentioned, but rarely reach deep enough.
Pain shows up in strained relationships, uncertain futures, lingering grief, and quiet loneliness—even in crowded rooms. And when life hurts like that, the question beneath all the others is this: Where is God in the middle of it?
That is not a lack-of-faith question. It’s an honest one that many of us have asked. And the good news of Christmas is that God doesn’t avoid that question—He answers it. Not with an idea or a feeling, but by coming near.
So let’s look at one part of the Christmas story we don’t often slow down enough to notice.
After Mary tells Joseph she’s pregnant—an uncomfortable conversation that upended everything—Joseph is left confused, hurt, and unsure of what to do next. This wasn’t a peaceful moment—it was a deeply human one.
Here’s how Matthew’s Gospel tells the rest of the story—beginning in verse 20 of chapter 1:
“20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “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.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). 24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he had no marital relations with her until she had given birth to a son, and he named him Jesus.” – Matthew 1:20-25
The whole Christmas story feels wild, messy, out of control, and painful. Yet, it is also filled with comfort and joy—because it is the story of how hope, peace, joy, and love came into the world through Jesus, as God stepped directly into our pain and mess.
Mary and Joseph had a plan for their lives. They were engaged to be married. They had expectations. They had dreams. And then God showed up and interrupted those plans with a calling that they did not choose but that would ultimately change the world.
Luke helps fill in the rest of the story. In his Gospel, we see that God sends an angel to Mary who tells her she is highly favored, that she will give birth to a son, and that this child will be the Son of God and reign forever.
A pregnancy before marriage came with real consequences in Mary’s world. Faithfulness came at a cost. And the story doesn’t get easier from there. Mary was near the end of her pregnancy, and the baby was coming soon, but they had to travel to Bethlehem for the census. It was not comfortable or convenient, and it was exhausting and uncertain—definitely not a joy ride.
Then, if they thought things couldn’t get any worse, they found out that there was no lodging available for them, so Mary had to give birth in a stable, already sore from traveling.
Then, just when you think they can rest, they have to go on the run because King Herod is threatened from all of the “Jesus is King” talk and wanted to kill Jesus. So, now Mary and Joseph had to flee to Egypt and couldn’t return to their hometown.
Can you see the pain that Mary and Joseph went through? This is not how they imagined things unfolding. And yet, God was still with them.
The Christmas story is a story surrounded by fear, disruption, and loss. And that’s important—because it tells us God meets us in these same kinds of places.
So where do we find comfort and joy in the midst of our questions, confusion, discomfort, and pain? The answer is found in one word, and it’s a BIG word—one word defined in three words—Immanuel: God with us! It’s not a concept or philosophy, but a Person who steps into real life—God with us is Jesus, the source of the joy we receive. About this joy, Jesus tells us:
“11 I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” – John 15:11
In other words, Jesus tells us these things so that we would be filled with HIS joy—a joy that flows from staying close to Him.
The big idea of Christmas isn’t perfect circumstances—it’s the presence of comfort and joy. Christmas is God saying, “I’m here. You’re not alone.” No matter what you’re carrying tonight—fear, grief, uncertainty, loneliness—God’s response is the same: “I’m with you!”
The word comfort means “to come alongside.” And joy is not the absence of pain, but the assurance that we are not alone in it. Together, comfort and joy remind us that God comes alongside us and stays with us, even in the middle of our pain.
Whenever my youngest daughter gets hurt, all she wants is her mommy. I try to comfort her, but I’m not good enough in those moments. But when mommy says, “Come here, honey,” she instantly starts feeling better.
The key word for comfort and joy is “here.” For my daughter, comfort was “come here.” With Jesus, it’s “I’m here!” If there’s nothing else you hear me say tonight, the one thing I want so badly for you to take away is this: joy is here, because Jesus is here!
Comfort and joy are not abstract ideas—they are God with us. In your pain—in whatever you are facing tonight—Jesus is still whispering the same words: “I’m here.” And the Jesus who says, “I’m here,” is also the very source of comfort itself. Listen to how the apostle Paul describes Him in 2 Corinthians 1:3-4:
“3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles…” – 2 Corinthians 1:3-4a
At the heart of these verses is a simple but powerful truth: God with us is our true source of comfort. These verses show us exactly who God is. And yet, when pain appears, our instinct is often to look for comfort somewhere else.
For me, lifting weights helps me temporarily take my mind off of what I’m carrying. And we all have our own versions of this—what we reach for during painful times. For some, it’s busyness. For others, distraction. Fill in the blank with your own.
But the problem with numbing pain is that it never truly heals it. It dulls everything—including our capacity to feel love and connection. More simply put, false comforts don’t last. Christmas offers something deeper: the presence of real comfort and real joy.
Immanuel—God with us—means we are not left alone to carry what hurts us. It means God doesn’t fix everything instantly, but He refuses to abandon us in the middle of it.
Jesus Himself said: “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” – John 16:33
Jesus doesn’t deny our pain—He enters it. And nowhere do we see that more clearly than at the Cross.
When you look at the Cross, you see that God truly understands pain—physical pain, emotional pain, and relational pain. Jesus knows what it is to suffer. On the Cross, He even cried out to His Father, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
In that moment, it looked like evil was winning. It looked like everything God had promised had fallen apart. But even death was not the end because on the third day, Jesus did exactly what He said He would do—He rose from the grave, defeated the power of sin and death, and opened the way for you and me to have freedom and new life.
The Cross says, “I know ALL your pain!” Christmas is Jesus bringing us comfort and joy and telling us, “I’ve come to be with you in it.”
The rest of 2 Corinthians 1:4 reminds us that the comfort we receive was never meant to stop with us.
“…so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” – 2 Corinthians 1:4b
God says, “I gave you comfort in those moments so that you have an opportunity to comfort others when they face those same moments.” And when we do, we become “been there” people—wounded healers who can walk with others because we’ve been there ourselves. That’s why we need each other. Church is not a solo act.
The message of Christmas is that God was not content to leave the world drowning in its sins, so He gave us His Son, born humbly in a manger, to become “God With Us.” As Scripture tells us, “God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but so that through him the world may be saved.”
You see, the Christmas story—the birth of Jesus—pointed past the manger and to the Cross. That’s where the greatest gift was ever given. Immanuel: God With Us Is Jesus!