Today on the Evangelist Podcast, Glenn preaches from John 1.
SPEAKER_01The Evangelist Podcast from Revival. Find out what's new in telling people the good news about God, the world, and you. With Andy Brinkley and Glenn Scrivener.
SPEAKER_03Welcome back to the Evangelist Podcast. We're still in Glen's office.
SPEAKER_02I tried to be held in there for two weeks. Just with some minced pie. Hope you've had a very good Christmas. And we're going to hear you speak, Glenn.
SPEAKER_00Yes, this is a sermon I gave last year after Christmas on John chapter one about Christmas is for dark places. I think, you know, every every year there's some kind of tragedy strikes just around Christmas, you know, the Sandy Hawk or just after Christmas with the Boxing Day tsunami. We've had the Peshawa thing and the Glasgow thing. Um and actually at those moments people kind of think, oh well, Christmas has nothing to say to suffering. But that is to buy into a very modern sort of Western view of Christmas that's just this consumerist kind of uh chintzy, tinsel laden thing that's about as as deep as a flat screen TV. But no, actually, Christmas goes very, very deep. That Jesus joins us in the darkness and he has everything to say to us in the midst of that. And so, you know, maybe you've had a rubbish 2014, maybe you've got a hard 2015 coming up, but Jesus is the one who meets us in the Valley of the Shadow and He leads us through. So that's what that's what the sermon's about.
SPEAKER_03Okay, excellent. The web address for this episode is TEP80. So we'll leave it there, we'll just go straight into the sermon. So see you next time.
SPEAKER_00Well, I'm guessing uh my Christmases were a bit different to yours growing up. Uh I remember getting up uh Christmas morning uh so early, not just because we're so excited about the the presents and everything, but because the sun is just so bright, blazing into the through the windows. And and uh my my family used to go to church on a on a Christmas morning, so we'd uh we'd dress up really nice for church with my best pair of board shorts and my surfer t-shirts, and uh we'd have a breakfast of sort of mangoes and pineapple, something like that. And then uh after church, back we were a traditional Australian family, if you can have such a thing, you know, it's kind of like an oxymoron, isn't it? Sort of military intelligence, traditional Australian family. But uh we used we used to have uh roast dinners. So even though it was 40 degrees outside, we'd uh we'd still eat the hot kind of the food and then outside for a swim, and we'd round off the whole day by singing one of those traditional Australian Christmas carols. Uh jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way, Christmas in Australia on a scorching summer's day. Jingle bells, jingle bells, Christmas time is butte. Oh, what fun it is to ride in a clapped-out rusty ute. Uh we we didn't sing uh see a might amidst the winter snow. That's that's not one that I grew up with. Not not very appropriate. And uh and as I describe my Christmas to you, I'm I'm getting that sense from you uh with your arms folded together. You're you're you're saying, that's wrong. That is not how Christmas is meant to be. And I know what you're thinking, because I I've lived over here now for half my life, and there's there's a lot of things that the English can understand about the Australians. There's a lot of things that you forgive us for. Danny Minogue, we're very thankful that you've forgiven us for her. We're sorry again. But you know, but there's one thing the English cannot get their heads around. It's it's a summer Christmas. And actually, I I think you might be onto something. I think actually in the Bible, Christmas always happens in the dark. It's always a celebration that takes place in the valley of the shadow of death. It's always that bolt from the blue for the broken. Christmas is for dark places. We just had a reading from John chapter 1, verse 5 says, The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. All the Christmas verses are about darkness, actually. Isaiah chapter 9 speaks of those living in the valley of the shadow of death, those who are walking in darkness. To them the light of Christmas comes, but it begins in darkness. Christmas is not actually a celebration of our sunny circumstances, it's actually a celebration in spite of the darkness, in spite of the chill, in spite of the death that's all around. There is an otherworldly hope that's come in. The Christ child shines light in our dark places. And I think that's something that's really important to think about, uh, especially if you're in a dark place right now. Christmas can be a really hard, a really hard time for people, especially if you've had uh a lousy 2013. Um we put the statistics up on the screen there. 250,000 elderly alone this Christmas, 80,000 children, homeless this Christmas, 500,000 people died this year, which means there's 500,000 families where there's a an empty chair at Christmas dinner, and it's very, very raw indeed. I was uh speaking at uh Heathfield Chapel just yesterday, and and uh the guy who gave me a a lift there, um, I hadn't spoken with him uh since I think about uh March this year, and I said, How's your wife? Um and and he said uh she died. She got diagnosed with cancer in April, and she died in November. Uh all out of the blue, 65 years old in in great health, and now he's facing that kind of Christmas, a Christmas in a very dark place, but he's not alone. There'll be people in this room for whom that is exactly the case. Is there any point celebrating if you've had a year like that? Actually, I want to say that Christmas is a time for those dark places. Whether it's death or divorce or debt or disappointment in life, Christmas is for dark places. I don't know if you uh have found online there's a video that was released this week. Um, and uh this will sound like uh sour grapes now, because I'm I'm gonna sort of disagree with the video. It got 19 million views this week, and our video did not quite do so well. But uh uh WestJet, have you seen this? WestJet um uh had this uh sort of promotional video, it's gone viral on YouTube, and uh they're a Canadian airline, and what they did was as people arrived at the airport uh for this certain flight to another Canadian city, uh Santa asked them what they'd like for Christmas, and everyone sort of told Santa and thought it was a big joke. And then they they take off and uh Westjet phone ahead to the city where they're going, and they like crazy go to all the shops and they buy every single thing that the people were asking for. And so when the when the plane lands, they come into the baggage handling area, and off the conveyor belt comes all these beautifully gift-wrapped presents, and sort of the music sort of swells to this crescendo as as you know, the little boy gets his Android tablet, hallelujah! And then the you know, a couple gets their 50-inch flat screen TV that they really wanted. And and people are in tears, and it's being shared all over the world as this kind of experience of the spirit of Christmas. Is that the spirit of Christmas? Is that the spirit of consumerism? I wonder. Maybe it's just sour grapes because the video did so much better, but I wonder. I wonder. Interestingly, this morning I did a bit of research um into the video because I found it odd that everyone was just asking for sort of luxury consumables. Uh what did they really ask for? It turns out that uh people actually asked for a lot deeper things than what ended up on the video, but they didn't show that bit. So, for instance, one one woman when Santa asked, What would you like for Christmas? Uh, she responded half-jokingly, I'd like a husband, please. Um they phoned ahead to the to the next city and they bought her a Ken doll. So they had to improvise. See, there's some things that Santa cannot get you, and and there's some things that our consumer society cannot give you. And they they can't give you what you really want this Christmas. I don't know what you really want this Christmas, but I'm sure it goes a bit deeper than a flat screen TV. That would be nice, but I'm sure you want things a little deeper. Maybe, maybe you want maybe you want your health back. Maybe you want your youth back. Maybe you want that relationship back. Maybe you want that job back, maybe you want that that opportunity back, and this time you're not gonna blow it. Maybe maybe that's what you want this Christmas, and and Santa can't give that to you. So what do we do? Do we just rug up warm and try and celebrate anyway? Do we just buy each other the the tablets and the TV screens to make up for that loss? I think John's Gospel and chapter one will give us a much deeper understanding of what Christmas is really about. And it will give us a much deeper reason to celebrate this Christmas. The real Christmas goes deeper than any of our consumer longings. In John chapter 1, the reading that we've just had in verse 10, it speaks about Jesus. It says, Jesus, the Son of God, he was in the world. And though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. Children born not of natural descent nor of human decision or husband's will, but born of God. Here's the good news that I want to give to you out of this passage. The good news is this the Son of God has entered our family so that we can join him in his. That's a way that Christians have explained Christmas for two thousand years. He, the Son of God, became what we are so that we might become what he is. He entered into our family so that we can join him in his family. Let's think about those two things just very briefly. What's our family? What's our family like, really? According to the Bible, our family is dysfunctional. Um you're probably sitting there thinking, tell me something I don't know. Um I don't mean your your particular family, I mean the human family. The human family is a dysfunctional uh entity, really. Um the human family tree is is is a little bit like a Christmas tree. Let's think about a Christmas tree for a second. Um in this last week, there have been sort of woodsmen who've gone into a pine forest, and in the name of Christmas joy, uh they have hacked to death a pine tree. They have wrenched it from its natural habitat, and they've brought it indoors. And what have we done? We've we've we've dressed up our trees with, you know, bling, uh decorations and lights and that kind of thing. And and we want to surround our Christmas trees with, you know, family and celebrations. But the trouble is, as soon as that tree was cut down, it was dead, wasn't it? And it was perishing. And already, perhaps, you've had to hoover up some pine needles in your house because the the leaves start to drop, the needles start to drop, and and the tree starts to get a bit browner, but that's okay. We keep on celebrating, we keep on surrounding it by family and celebrations and good times. But at some point in January, what do you do with a Christmas tree? You just chuck it out, don't you? According to the Bible, that's that's what the human family tree is like. According to the Bible, we we read our first reading, Genesis chapter 3. Humanity turned away from God and was disconnected from its life source. And from that moment onwards, we've been dead and perishing. I mean, we don't look dead and perishing, and I'm sure your Christmas tree doesn't look dead and perishing. I'm sure your Christmas tree looks verdant and alive and lush and smells great, and I'm sure you're, you know, feeling verdant and alive and you smell great. I'm not going to get too close, but I'm I'm sure. And yet the Bible says we've been disconnected from our life source and we are perishing, and we feel that as a physical truth, but it's also a spiritual truth, says the Bible. We're disconnected from God. And and we just don't know God. That's the most astonishing thing, isn't it? That if God is there and if he made everything, why don't we all know him? But we all don't know him. In fact, to claim that you know God sounds really weird, doesn't it? To claim that I am connected to God, and my life runs through him, and his life runs through me, you know, if you start talking like that to your friends, they'll start dialing 999, won't they? They'll start to commit you. If you start talking about, I am connected to God in this deep and profound way. But that shouldn't be odd. It shouldn't be odd to know God. And yet it is, and and and this is kind of the human condition. We're born into this world, disconnected from God, and we don't know God. And one sign that we're disconnected from the life of God is in our reading in verse 10 of John 1, it says, Though the Son of God was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, and his own did not receive him. When our Maker shows up, we don't recognize him. We don't know him. I mean, even my cats know me, and yet we we don't know the God in whom we live and move and have our being. That's really weird. But this is our human condition. This is the dysfunctional family. We're disconnected, and because we're disconnected, there's also darkness in us, just like in the Christmas tree. The Christmas tree is disconnected, and so there's a lot of darkness to the Christmas tree. So in our own lives, you'll you'll notice that darkness comes out of you at times. You know, we we dress ourselves up very nicely, we decorate ourselves just like the Christmas tree, decorate ourselves in all sorts of performances and achievements and that kind of thing. But have you ever just, I don't know, with my wife, I'll I'll I'll manage to say something to her loving and kind and almost within the same breath, I'll say something cruel and cutting and harsh. And and in that moment, I want to say, oh honey, I don't know what came over me. But nothing came over me. Like it all came out of me. Out of somewhere very deep and dark and and old. This is the darkness that you and I all possess. And it's a sign of our disconnection. We've been disconnected from God, and there's darkness in my heart, there's darkness in your heart. And this is what our human family is like: disconnected and dark. And yet, here is the good news. The good news of Christmas is that the Son of God has entered into our family so that we can join his. So, what's his family? What is the family of the Son of God? Well, in John chapter 1, it talks about how Jesus, the Son of God, has always rested in the Father's love. In fact, in John chapter 17, uh, Jesus is praying before a whole bunch of people, and he says to the Father, he says, You've loved me before the foundation of the world. What a family. What a family. Before there was a world, there was a family. Did you know that? Before there was a world, there was love. Love's the one thing God never had to create, because God is love. God is this family of love. A father always loving his son in the joy of the Holy Spirit. That's the family that you and I were made for. That's the family we're meant to belong to. That's the family that's home. When you're in this family, you're home. You know who you are. It's a bit like, you know, a Christmas. The very best that Christmas ever gets is a faint hint of this love. You know, the best that Christmas ever gets is family and loved ones gathered together, celebrating, feasting together. That is just the faintest hint of this family: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That's the family that you and I were made for. And the Son of God became our brother. So that if you're connected now to Jesus, guess what? If you're connected to the Son of God, all of a sudden, guess what? You get his father as your father. You get his spirit as your spirit. You're in the family. That's how our verse uh goes on. In verse 12 of John chapter 1, it says, To all who received Jesus, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. Children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. Jesus enters into our family to bring us into his family. So that if we receive Jesus, we are in on the family of families. Now I've I've promised certain people uh this evening that I'm not going to mention the cricket. Um, and just not gonna mention how we're just walloping you in the in the ashes. Um I'm I'm just gonna be very magnanimous because you know Australians are just known for our grace and our being good winners. Um so so I won't mention the cricket. I'll I'll I'll mention I'll mention a sporting event that uh Team GB did brilliantly, didn't they, last year? And England and and Great Britain just blew Australia out of the water last year uh in the 2012 Olympics. Uh I wonder what your favorite uh moment was from the Olympics last year. Australia had such a terrible Olympics. I I there was no Australian involved in any favorite moments, really, but uh my favorite moment actually had to come from a South African. Um do you remember there was a there was a South African swimmer called Chad LeClow? Uh it's spelt LeClos, I think it's pronounced LeClow. And uh he won the 200 meters butterfly. He was racing against his childhood hero Michael Phelps, and he beat Michael Phelps, he got the gold medal, he got the world record, it's pandemonium in the pool. And do you remember this Claire Balding from the BBC? She picks up a microphone and she goes to find the dad of Chad LeClow. She finds Bert LeClow. He's a hero of mine now, Bert LeClo, this big gruff South African with a beer belly, and and and and Claire Balding is trying to conduct this normal, sensible interview and ask him about you know questions about his training regime and things like this. And all this loving, proud father can can do is say, he's unbelievable, he's unbelievable. Look at my son, I love him. And Claire's trying to bring things back in a bit of decorum and and and sort of talk, has he always been into butterfly? Has that always been him to think, oh, he's unbelievable, he's unbelievable. He says the word unbelievable nine times in 90 seconds, which is unbelievable. And you just get this this kind of effusive, brimful pride, praise, and joy, this father who is just so proud of his most worthy son. And according to the Bible, that's kind of a picture of heaven, that's a picture of God's life. There has, even before there was a world, there was a father belting out an almighty unbelievable for his son, the Lord Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit. And then what happens at Christmas? The Father gives his son to the world and says, Have him. And when you have him, you've got my family. When you have him, you've got my love. When you have him, you've got my forgiveness. When you have him, you've got my future, you've got everything. If you've got my son. I wonder what your picture of God is. What's your picture of God tonight? Growing up, I used to think God was a sort of a distant head teacher in the sky, high on power, low on personality, that kind of thing. Arms folded, telling me I must do better. Is that what God's like? Christmas says, absolutely not. Absolutely not. He is a proud father, a loving father, who has given us his son. That's that Christmas verse again from Isaiah chapter 9. To us a child is born, to us a son is given. Just imagine in the manger there, there is Jesus. Low within the manger lies he who built the starry skies. We've just sung that. Imagine that. That's mind-boggling, isn't it? Low within the manger lies he who built the starry skies. There's something even more mind-boggling than that. Imagine now that that child, and around his ankle is a little gift tag. And it says, From God the Father to you. What a present. That's what God's like. That's his attitude towards you. Whatever year you've had, whatever sense of disconnection you've had from God, whatever darkness you've experienced out there this year, whatever darkness you've known in your own heart, whatever it is, the Father offers you his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and says, have him, have, have my son. And in Jesus, you have the family. Suddenly you have Jesus' father as your father. You have his spirit as your spirit. This Jesus, he became what we are so that we can become what he is. He became what we are. Emmanuel. That's a phrase that keeps coming up in the carols, isn't it? Emmanuel means God with us. God with us. God the Son comes to be with us and to bring us into everything that He has. I don't know what you really want this Christmas. I'm sure it goes deeper than a 50-inch flat screen TV. But if you have this gift, this present, this sun, you really do have it all. No matter what the darkness is, no matter what valley of the shadow you're walking through, you can walk through with this God, this God who wants to be with you, wants to be for you, wants to share with you his family love, share with you his future, give you forgiveness, give you eternal life. This is this is the Christmas offer. And I wonder if if you want this for yourself. Is there something you want for yourself? Do you do you want Jesus? He is offered to you. Do you want him? He's yours. He's yours if you'll have him. Maybe there's one or two people here this evening who want to just say yes to Jesus, maybe, maybe for the first time. Maybe maybe you think this is too good to pass up on. It is, it is too good to pass up on. I just want to offer you an opportunity just to say yes to Jesus if you want to receive the ultimate Christmas gift. Why don't you turn to page three of your um uh readings and and your your handouts? And I just want to draw your attention to the final verse of O Little Town of Bethlehem. Because this little final verse, it's kind of a prayer, really. And it's a prayer that says, I want Jesus. You know, the Father is offering you a Christmas present. Here is a little prayer that kind of opens the present. Do you see the very last verse? It's halfway down page three. O holy child of Bethlehem, descend to us, we pray. In fact, in a second, I'm gonna make it personal. Instead of us, it's gonna be me. O holy child of Bethlehem, descend to me, I pray. Cast out my sin and enter in. Be born in me today. We hear the Christmas angels the great glad tidings tell. Oh, come to me, abide with me, our Lord Emmanuel. If that's something that you'd like to pray, then uh we're gonna have a moment now. Let's all bow our heads. And perhaps this prayer would be particularly significant to you, and you can just echo this in your own heart just silently. God will hear you. Just a prayer to receive Christ. Oh, holy child of Bethlehem. Descend to me, I pray. Cast out my sin and enter in. Be born in me today. We hear the Christmas angel, the great glad tidings tell. Come to me. Abide with me. Our Lord Emmanuel. Amen. You've prayed that prayer and it's meant something in particular to you. I'd love to give you a Christmas present, just uh a bit of John's gospel so that you can keep on reading this Christmas. But thanks for listening.