God Likes You!

Does God like you? That’s a pretty huge question to ask, does God like you, isn’t it? Because, well, something kind of big hinges on it, our salvation, where we’re gonna spend eternity, hinges on what God thinks about me. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to humans, upon whom God’s favor rests. You know, the angels should have been mad. God didn’t come as an angel, he came as a human. God didn’t come to save the angels, he came to save the humans. You might have expected the angels to be angry or jealous or bitter. Nope, they’re praising God, because his favor rests upon us. Here’s the interesting thing about that Greek word that we translate favor. It means to like something and to not really have any specific reason for it. For example, which pizza topping do you favor? Pepperoni for me, but it could be sausage for you. Naomi’s shaking your head yes. And there’s no real reason for it, right? Just happens to be what I favor, happens to be what I like. Which Christmas hymn or carol do you favor? All of them, Mickey says. (laughs) Yeah, there’s a lot of really good ones. But the one you particularly like, for me, my very favorite Christmas hymn is, “Oh Jesus Christ, your manger is.” I’m gonna guess that’s not on the top 10 of most of your lists. I’m fine with that because it’s a subjective opinion. Those are the things I like. There are lots of things you like. You know what? God has chosen to like you and to like me. And how could he have shown that any more brilliantly than by the Christmas miracle? What does God do? God, yes, the almighty, powerful, omnipresent, omnipotent God, becomes a human just like you. So he can do what? So he can ultimately live a real human life just like you. And that he can die a real human death, just like you. All but with one mighty big difference. It was perfect. And because of that, it could save you. Oh, and now, what’s the result of it? Now God gets to take you to heaven so that people like you and me can spend eternal life with God. Does it sound like God likes you an awful lot? Does it sound like God likes me an awful lot? It sounds like God likes you and me an awful lot, doesn’t it? And so as you hear the angels sing, “Glory to God in the highest, “and earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” Hear God saying to you, “I favor you. “I like you. “I like you so much “that I’m gonna take you to spend eternity with me.” Merry Christmas, and amen. – Amen.