SPEAKER_00: I had completely forgotten that on the very first Sunday of 2023 we studied a passage together that I want to revisit here for just a minute or two with you.
SPEAKER_00: John chapter 1.
SPEAKER_00: It set the trajectory for our church for the year.
SPEAKER_00: And as I was looking through it a little bit this week, I was thought, I just thought to myself, wow, how are we doing on staying on course?
SPEAKER_00: How are we doing heading in that direction?
SPEAKER_00: And here as we come together on Christmas Eve, we uh of course want to talk about Jesus, but not just the sweet little baby Jesus, which I think is a wonderful image and all that sort of thing, but the whole no crying makes thing, I don't I don't buy that.
SPEAKER_00: I think he made some crying happen.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you have had some baby?
SPEAKER_00: Well, we've heard some kids here in the room, and we know kids make noise.
SPEAKER_00: I was a two-year-old that arched his back and cried like crazy if I didn't get what I wanted in the store.
SPEAKER_00: And so I'm not saying Jesus did that, but I am saying he came to be a human being, and there was a reason for it, and it's really good news.
SPEAKER_00: Let me read from John chapter 1 for you.
SPEAKER_00: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
SPEAKER_00: He was in the beginning with God.
SPEAKER_00: All things came into being by him, and apart from him, nothing came into being that has come into being.
SPEAKER_00: In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
SPEAKER_00: And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
SPEAKER_00: There was the true light, which coming into the world enlightens every man.
SPEAKER_00: He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world did not know him.
SPEAKER_00: He came to his own, and those who were his own did not receive him.
SPEAKER_00: But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in his name, who were born not of blood, not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
SPEAKER_00: And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
SPEAKER_00: I love those words.
SPEAKER_00: Here's John the Apostle, one of Jesus' closest disciples.
SPEAKER_00: And if you wanted to get to know somebody and you had access to someone who was close to them, their eyewitness account, for instance, you could pretty well count on that person to give you some pretty accurate information about who that person is or was, especially somebody from 2,000 years ago.
SPEAKER_00: And so John, one of the closest of Jesus' disciples, uses his poetic voice, just like our curate used her poetic voice.
SPEAKER_00: John used his poetic voice to use some images to try, just to begin to unpack for us who is Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: How do you describe Jesus, John?
SPEAKER_00: You who knew him so very well, what would you say about him to introduce somebody to Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: And I love the way he has done this.
SPEAKER_00: I'll put up on the screen for you.
SPEAKER_00: In Christ we find that Jesus is the Word.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is the life, and Jesus is the light of God, and Jesus is the love of God, the glory of God, the grace of God, and the truth of God.
SPEAKER_00: Go back to the top of that list.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is in him we find the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: That was at the top of that passage I just read.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is the first and the last word.
SPEAKER_00: And it's a good word.
SPEAKER_00: What if it wasn't a good word?
SPEAKER_00: What if the first and the last word was a really depressing word?
SPEAKER_00: Just fade to black and it's all over.
SPEAKER_00: This life is all there is.
SPEAKER_00: Or you are the center of the universe.
SPEAKER_00: Man, how disappointing a universe would that be?
SPEAKER_00: Oh man.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, the word of God, the first and the last word, he is a good word, and he is faithful and true as the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: Do you need tonight?
SPEAKER_00: Are you here wishing that God would somehow or another speak to you, looking for some word from God, some word of hope, some word of encouragement, some word of comfort, perhaps, some word of clarity, some word of truth in a world that is worshiping at the altar of ambiguity.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is the life of God.
SPEAKER_00: He came to bring us life.
SPEAKER_00: And that abundantly, he told us, the light of God.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus came to dispel the darkness all around and within us.
SPEAKER_00: I don't think I don't think we would be surprised if I were to ask you, how many of you think the days have gotten darker, and I don't mean the physical days, but that the world has gone mad and gotten a bit darker within the last five or ten years.
SPEAKER_00: I bet a lot of you would raise your hands.
SPEAKER_00: It's not just the old guy up front saying that.
SPEAKER_00: I think a lot of people would say, we are in a dark period of time.
SPEAKER_00: We need a light that can pierce the darkness.
SPEAKER_00: Good news.
SPEAKER_00: John says, Jesus is the word.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is the life.
SPEAKER_00: And he's the light of men, the light we so desperately need.
SPEAKER_00: He's also the love of God.
SPEAKER_00: Why do I say that?
SPEAKER_00: Well, verse 14 says, the word became flesh and dwelt among us.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: He didn't have to.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't owe it to us.
SPEAKER_00: What motivated Jesus to come to this planet?
SPEAKER_00: Especially the more we learn about the universe, the more we discover about how many solar systems there are.
SPEAKER_00: How many, you know, just how vast the universe is.
SPEAKER_00: Why did he come to this dust ball-sized planet?
SPEAKER_00: Populated by a bunch of rebels such as we are.
SPEAKER_00: Why would he do that?
SPEAKER_00: And the Bible's answer isn't because we deserved it.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible's answer is because God's love is so strong, so great, so tenacious.
SPEAKER_00: He's coming for you.
SPEAKER_00: He won't leave us alone.
SPEAKER_00: And your being here tonight and hearing all of this and singing these songs like you do is no mere bit of nostalgia or sentimentality.
SPEAKER_00: We're saying, we're declaring that something happened in space-time history.
SPEAKER_00: And God made it happen because of his great love for you and his great love for me.
SPEAKER_00: The glory of God was mentioned here as well in verse 14.
SPEAKER_00: And from Genesis to Revelation, the Bible, we study through books of the Bible here for this reason.
SPEAKER_00: We want to see the glory of God.
SPEAKER_00: We want to experience the glory of God.
SPEAKER_00: We know that's why we were created to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.
SPEAKER_00: And so it's the glory of God.
SPEAKER_00: The word of God became flesh, dwelt among us, and we beheld His, say it, glory.
SPEAKER_00: Glory as of the only begotten from the Father.
SPEAKER_00: That's Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: So John is saying, you want a word from God?
SPEAKER_00: You want some life from God?
SPEAKER_00: You want the light of God to come into your life?
SPEAKER_00: You want the love of God to experience?
SPEAKER_00: You want to see the glory of God?
SPEAKER_00: Look to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: He has come.
SPEAKER_00: And then at the end of verse 14, I'll just wrap this up.
SPEAKER_00: It says that we beheld his glory, and glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
SPEAKER_00: Now I'm going to ask you to raise your hand.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you think this world could use a little more grace?
SPEAKER_00: How many of you yourself could use a little more grace?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I can too.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you think this world could use a little truth?
SPEAKER_00: I'm hearing a little murmuring.
SPEAKER_00: That's good.
SPEAKER_00: As we head into the election year.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we could use some truth, but we've discarded it in some settings, in some circles.
SPEAKER_00: We've denied its existence.
SPEAKER_00: We've turned our back on it.
SPEAKER_00: And probably some some folk never even imagining what the cost would be.
SPEAKER_00: And now there are so many who are enchanted with artificial reality, they can't endure actual reality.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm not against technology or anything like that.
SPEAKER_00: But actual reality is really what you were designed for and created for.
SPEAKER_00: There is a truth.
SPEAKER_00: It's Jesus who said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
SPEAKER_00: And it's Jesus who's gentle and lowly, and he's full of grace and truth.
SPEAKER_00: So if you're here tonight and you need any of those things, I echo what John said.
SPEAKER_00: Look to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: He's the word you need.
SPEAKER_00: He's the life.
SPEAKER_00: He's the light.
SPEAKER_00: He's the love.
SPEAKER_00: He's the glory, the grace, the truth of God.
SPEAKER_00: I'll close with this quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
SPEAKER_00: Look up, you whose eyes are fixed on this earth, you who are captivated by the events and changes on the surface of this earth.
SPEAKER_00: Look up, you who turned away from heaven to this ground because you had become disillusioned.
SPEAKER_00: Look up, you whose eyes are laden with tears, you who mourn the loss of all that the earth has snatched away.
SPEAKER_00: Look up, you who cannot lift your eyes because you are so laden with guilt.
SPEAKER_00: Look up, your redemption is drawing near.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.