WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:00.880 Morning, everybody. 00:00:01.040 --> 00:00:02.080 Merry Christmas. 00:00:03.439 --> 00:00:04.639 Good, you're learning. 00:00:05.120 --> 00:00:07.919 When I preach, I want you to talk, talk back. 00:00:08.800 --> 00:00:09.919 Quick word to the parents. 00:00:10.080 --> 00:00:18.000 I I spoke to like three parents of young kids today, and they all mentioned that they're nervous about having their kids in the sanctuary today. 00:00:18.239 --> 00:00:19.920 Let's just take that off the table. 00:00:20.079 --> 00:00:23.120 If your kid makes noise, you don't even have to get up and leave. 00:00:23.760 --> 00:00:24.719 We want you to stay. 00:00:24.800 --> 00:00:25.920 We want your kids here. 00:00:26.079 --> 00:00:30.320 And if you're someone who's annoyed by other people's kids, you know, just breathe. 00:00:30.399 --> 00:00:31.679 You'll be fine. 00:00:33.359 --> 00:00:34.799 Well, again, Merry Christmas. 00:00:34.960 --> 00:00:39.920 This is the first Christmas, not first Christmas, first Sunday in Christmas. 00:00:40.399 --> 00:00:42.960 I love to teach on this a little bit every year. 00:00:43.119 --> 00:00:46.479 Christmas is actually a season of 12 days. 00:00:46.719 --> 00:00:48.159 That's where the song comes from. 00:00:48.320 --> 00:00:51.679 It always goes from December 25th to January 5th. 00:00:52.640 --> 00:00:55.920 And there's often one or two Sundays in Christmas. 00:00:56.000 --> 00:00:57.280 This year there are two. 00:00:58.479 --> 00:01:02.640 This is why I love the church calendar. 00:01:02.799 --> 00:01:07.519 It teaches us about the gospel and interweaves it into the rhythms of our life. 00:01:07.680 --> 00:01:13.200 Advent, that we just finished, the four Sundays leading up to Christmas, is a time of anticipation. 00:01:14.159 --> 00:01:18.000 It's actually a time to look into our hearts and see the longing that's there. 00:01:18.319 --> 00:01:21.439 It's very similar to Lent leading up to Easter. 00:01:21.920 --> 00:01:32.640 And if you study Advent, there's actually kind of an emphasis on the darkness and kind of the need for the coming of Messiah to bring the light into the world. 00:01:33.120 --> 00:01:37.760 And that's why it's such a wise thing to observe and to meditate on. 00:01:38.000 --> 00:01:39.280 But now we're in Christmas. 00:01:39.439 --> 00:01:41.439 Christmas is a time of celebration. 00:01:41.519 --> 00:01:44.400 The darkness has been pierced by the light. 00:01:44.560 --> 00:01:56.319 And so this morning I want to invite you, invite all of us, to join with the angels who appeared to the shepherds on Christmas morning and rang out Glory to God in the highest. 00:01:56.959 --> 00:02:13.439 Christmas calls us to lift our eyes to the heavens and remember that as dark as the world still is, the light shines triumphant over heaven and earth, even as we await for our Savior's second advent. 00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:19.280 This morning, we're just going to spend a few minutes meditating on what Christmas is about. 00:02:20.080 --> 00:02:23.520 And in one word, Christmas is about the incarnation. 00:02:23.840 --> 00:02:27.599 The word became flesh and dwelt among us. 00:02:28.159 --> 00:02:31.520 Let's look again at our sermon passage, first few verses. 00:02:31.919 --> 00:02:35.120 John writes for us, In the beginning was the Word. 00:02:36.080 --> 00:02:37.919 And the Word was with God. 00:02:38.800 --> 00:02:40.879 And the Word was God. 00:02:41.680 --> 00:02:43.599 He was in the beginning with God. 00:02:43.919 --> 00:02:50.879 All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. 00:02:51.199 --> 00:02:56.240 Our first point is that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. 00:02:57.199 --> 00:03:04.240 John begins his gospel as a knowledgeable Jew, echoing the book of Genesis. 00:03:04.479 --> 00:03:09.439 These are the very same words that begin Genesis chapter 1, in the beginning. 00:03:10.080 --> 00:03:12.240 But John does something different than Moses. 00:03:12.479 --> 00:03:14.560 He does something quite audacious. 00:03:14.800 --> 00:03:17.840 Where Moses goes back to the creation, right? 00:03:18.000 --> 00:03:21.919 He writes, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 00:03:22.240 --> 00:03:26.319 But John speaks of what was before creation. 00:03:27.039 --> 00:03:28.960 In the beginning, was. 00:03:29.919 --> 00:03:34.159 In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God. 00:03:35.280 --> 00:03:41.039 Before creation, there was God and there was the Word. 00:03:41.280 --> 00:03:44.319 Now this might strike us as a little odd. 00:03:44.879 --> 00:03:52.000 Since Judaism was a monotheistic, was and is a monotheistic religion, as is Christianity, of course. 00:03:52.159 --> 00:03:54.319 There was nothing other than God before the beginning. 00:03:54.400 --> 00:03:55.439 Isn't that right? 00:03:56.000 --> 00:04:07.280 And it even the Old Testament tells us that someone was there with God before the creation and in fact participated in the process of creation. 00:04:07.439 --> 00:04:08.879 It is wisdom. 00:04:09.599 --> 00:04:14.400 This is what Proverbs chapter 8 says, the embodiment of wisdom speaking. 00:04:15.280 --> 00:04:18.639 When he created the heavens, I was there, says wisdom. 00:04:19.439 --> 00:04:32.399 When he drew the circle on the face of the deep, when he made firm the skies above, when he established the foundations of the deep, when he assigned to the seas its limit, so that the waters might not transgress his command. 00:04:32.560 --> 00:04:36.879 When he marked out the foundations of the earth, then I was beside him. 00:04:37.199 --> 00:04:49.439 Like a master workman, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him, always rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the children of man. 00:04:50.959 --> 00:05:02.480 This shadow, this kind of mysterious figure of wisdom, John points us back to and says, This was the word, the Lagos of God. 00:05:03.759 --> 00:05:09.279 And he says he was the word, the light, the life that was coming into the world. 00:05:10.800 --> 00:05:14.639 John tells us about what was with God at creation. 00:05:15.680 --> 00:05:18.000 The word created all things. 00:05:18.879 --> 00:05:20.639 Nothing was created apart from the word. 00:05:20.879 --> 00:05:25.120 And in fact, he reveals to us that this word was God Himself. 00:05:25.360 --> 00:05:32.399 And then we're told in verse 14 that this word became flesh and dwelt among us. 00:05:32.639 --> 00:05:36.319 I love the way Eugene Peterson translates this verse in the message. 00:05:36.399 --> 00:05:41.040 He says, the word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood. 00:05:43.680 --> 00:05:45.439 God was not high and lifted up. 00:05:46.079 --> 00:05:49.759 He didn't remain in a gated community on the other side of the tracks. 00:05:51.040 --> 00:05:56.639 He moved into our neighborhood, full of brokenness, poverty, and conflict. 00:05:57.439 --> 00:06:02.800 This is the incarnation, divinity wrapped itself within humanity. 00:06:03.199 --> 00:06:09.759 And this is the stumbling block that Paul talked about, both among the Jews and the Romans. 00:06:10.319 --> 00:06:17.759 The idea that God would take on flesh was a stumbling block to the Jews and folly to the Gentiles. 00:06:17.920 --> 00:06:20.560 And it remains so to this very day. 00:06:20.800 --> 00:06:27.120 The idea that perfect divinity might denigrate itself and take on flesh is too much for some. 00:06:28.319 --> 00:06:36.399 But this is where John, right at the beginning, begins to move us toward understanding the gospel. 00:06:37.199 --> 00:06:50.560 The God of the universe, who is in fact holy and lifted up, perfection by definition, willingly stepped down into our mess, into our brokenness, into our sin. 00:06:50.800 --> 00:06:56.000 God got his hands dirty in this amazing act of humility. 00:06:57.040 --> 00:07:10.079 Paul himself meditates on this idea, this very idea in Philippians chapter 2, when he writes, To the church, in fact, instructing us based on God's own action in the incarnation. 00:07:15.120 --> 00:07:19.920 But in humility, count others more significant than yourselves. 00:07:20.879 --> 00:07:36.800 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God, a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 00:07:37.920 --> 00:07:42.319 Kenosis is kind of the theological term, the emptying. 00:07:42.560 --> 00:07:51.439 The God willingly emptied himself of his glory and took on our flesh so that he might be and live among us. 00:07:52.399 --> 00:08:01.519 This idea of a hidden king or a powerful person disguised has become a favorite theme of storytelling in our culture. 00:08:01.759 --> 00:08:05.759 Shakespeare's Henry V, Twain's The Prince and the Pauper. 00:08:06.240 --> 00:08:14.399 One of my favorite stories, The Lord of the Rings, has the character of Strider, who is really Aragorn, who is really the returning king. 00:08:15.279 --> 00:08:18.480 We love this theme of power being hidden in plain sight. 00:08:18.639 --> 00:08:25.439 The idea of the most powerful coming to the most lowly to understand their plight, moved to compassion. 00:08:26.079 --> 00:08:33.360 On a lighter note, if you've ever seen the SNL skit, the parody of Undercover Boss with Kylo Wren. 00:08:33.600 --> 00:08:34.639 Have you ever seen this? 00:08:35.360 --> 00:08:36.159 Outstanding. 00:08:36.720 --> 00:08:38.240 If you've seen it, you should watch it again. 00:08:38.320 --> 00:08:42.240 If you've never seen it, you should go on YouTube and watch it. 00:08:42.480 --> 00:08:43.919 It's hilarious. 00:08:44.320 --> 00:08:50.320 The idea that one would come down and dwell among the lowly. 00:08:50.879 --> 00:09:00.720 All these stories flow from the true story that has been woven into the creation itself, that God would become a human being out of love to save us from the darkness. 00:09:01.759 --> 00:09:05.679 This is what John goes on to tell us why the word became flesh. 00:09:05.759 --> 00:09:07.759 He said, In him was life. 00:09:08.480 --> 00:09:10.639 And that life was the light of men. 00:09:11.200 --> 00:09:14.960 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness does not overcome it. 00:09:15.039 --> 00:09:22.000 This is our second point that the darkness has not overcome this light, which he kind of subtly inserts, right? 00:09:22.879 --> 00:09:34.320 The light came to shine into the darkness, and he says that the darkness pushed back, foreshadowing what he would unfold in his gospel, the fact that Messiah did come into the world. 00:09:34.399 --> 00:09:36.080 He came to his own. 00:09:36.960 --> 00:09:41.759 He came to love and to serve and to save, and yet his own did not receive him. 00:09:43.120 --> 00:09:45.200 Let's actually continue reading in our passage. 00:09:45.360 --> 00:09:50.159 The true light, which was which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 00:09:50.399 --> 00:09:55.519 He was in the world and the world that was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 00:09:55.840 --> 00:10:00.799 So John begins here at its largest scope, right? 00:10:00.960 --> 00:10:08.480 All of the world belongs to Jesus because he created all things, whether Jew or Gentile, but the world didn't know him. 00:10:08.960 --> 00:10:14.080 But he came to his own, and his own people, the Jews, themselves did not receive him. 00:10:15.600 --> 00:10:27.759 As we trace the story of Israel, God's own people, through the Old Testament, we see a deeply imperfect people who are themselves also mistreated and oppressed, often by neighboring nations. 00:10:28.480 --> 00:10:39.279 They cry out to the Lord for relief, and the Lord promised to send one in the lineage of King David, their kind of quintessential king of the past. 00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:48.639 He said this anointed one, this Messiah, would come and sit upon his father's throne forever, and he would cast off their enemies. 00:10:49.200 --> 00:10:56.080 And yet, what do we find when we actually read the story of the gospels, the story of Messiah come to this people? 00:10:56.879 --> 00:11:08.480 We get those sweet stories of when Mary and Joseph bring Jesus in to be dedicated in the temple, they come across two prophets, a man and a woman. 00:11:09.360 --> 00:11:19.840 And they they prophesy these beautiful words of anticipation and celebration that God's Savior, God's rightful and true King has come into the world. 00:11:20.240 --> 00:11:24.000 They've anticipated, they've longed, they're excited and they celebrate. 00:11:24.080 --> 00:11:31.120 And yet, in an ironic twist of horror, what do we find in the story? 00:11:31.200 --> 00:11:43.759 That those he came to save actually end up partnering with their own oppressors in order to overthrow and murder this king who has come to save them. 00:11:45.200 --> 00:11:46.960 He is their rightful king. 00:11:47.200 --> 00:11:50.879 And yet they could not and were unwilling to receive him. 00:11:51.360 --> 00:11:53.759 I love this podcast called The Rest is History. 00:11:53.840 --> 00:11:55.279 I don't know if you've ever seen this. 00:11:55.440 --> 00:12:00.320 Um it's it's kind of blown up in the last year, but I've been listening to it for like three years. 00:12:00.399 --> 00:12:03.200 So I I knew I liked it before it was cool. 00:12:03.440 --> 00:12:09.919 Um over this the last few weeks, they've been doing a number of episodes on Jack the Ripper. 00:12:10.080 --> 00:12:16.480 And uh I don't know what, I don't know why they chose Christmas time to talk about Jack the Ripper, but anyway. 00:12:17.200 --> 00:12:22.320 Uh fascinating, they always make history uh interesting, and and I can't get enough of it. 00:12:22.480 --> 00:12:41.679 But as one uh a point that comes up in multiple episodes is that the English people, uh, if you if you've you know we know about Jack the Ripper in general, but if you read about the actual malicious acts he perpetrated on women, they are uh they're evil incarnate, right? 00:12:41.759 --> 00:12:46.879 And and they're just um they're they're kind of beyond words appalling. 00:12:47.440 --> 00:13:01.840 And what you notice in the English press is that as reporters are are reporting on these acts of violence and horror, they're struggling to grapple with the fact that an Englishman was actually capable of doing such evil things. 00:13:02.080 --> 00:13:07.039 And so all the theories early on are well, this must be someone from another country. 00:13:07.840 --> 00:13:12.799 Some immigrant, some alien who's come and brought evil into our midst. 00:13:13.600 --> 00:13:20.000 They believed that their English culture had actually rooted out such evil. 00:13:20.799 --> 00:13:30.080 But of course, the Bible tells us something very different that uh that sin and evil infect every human heart. 00:13:30.159 --> 00:13:41.360 And as I listened to the podcast, it reminded me of the famous quote of Alexander Soltsonitson, who every self-respecting pastor tries to quote at least once a year. 00:13:41.919 --> 00:13:43.360 He wrote this famous line. 00:13:43.519 --> 00:13:58.960 The line separating good and evil passes through, passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either, but right through every human heart and through all human hearts. 00:13:59.440 --> 00:14:03.600 The darkness that Jesus came to shine into isn't something out there. 00:14:03.679 --> 00:14:09.120 He didn't come to rescue his holy and innocent people. 00:14:09.519 --> 00:14:16.720 Rather, the darkness he came to shine into is within our own hearts, each and every one of us. 00:14:17.759 --> 00:14:27.440 In fact, learning to observe the church calendar that I mentioned at the beginning, especially at then in Lent, has taught me how important it is to pay attention to the darkness. 00:14:28.159 --> 00:14:34.240 Every year during the holidays, we kind of get receive or experience conflicting messages. 00:14:34.320 --> 00:14:36.639 There's a tension in the air. 00:14:37.039 --> 00:14:44.720 The fact that we're supposed to be, we're told to be, and rightfully so, we're to be joyous and celebratory and happy. 00:14:45.440 --> 00:14:48.879 Because light has broken into the darkness. 00:14:48.960 --> 00:14:56.399 And yet, because of that, it is often easy to be overcome by the contrast of the darkness that remains in the world. 00:14:57.279 --> 00:15:08.639 The darkness in us and around us can often drag us down and cause us confusion and even lead many into depression. 00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:16.879 But blessedly, what the church calendar teaches us is that Christmas is not a distraction from the darkness. 00:15:18.080 --> 00:15:25.919 It's not something to cast our eyes on so that we don't have to think about the evil in the world for a few minutes or a few days. 00:15:26.240 --> 00:15:31.519 Rather, it is a light of hope that is lit for us in the midst of the darkness. 00:15:32.799 --> 00:15:35.120 That our God knows that the darkness is real. 00:15:35.279 --> 00:15:36.720 He knows the evil in the world. 00:15:36.879 --> 00:15:39.919 He knows the evil inside us. 00:15:41.039 --> 00:15:44.559 And that is the darkness he came to save us from. 00:15:45.759 --> 00:15:49.200 Let's keep looking at our passage, jumping to verse 14. 00:15:49.279 --> 00:15:52.720 He said, In the word became flesh and dwelt among us. 00:15:53.039 --> 00:16:00.159 We have seen his glory, the glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 00:16:00.639 --> 00:16:05.039 For from him, his fullness we have received grace upon grace. 00:16:05.200 --> 00:16:09.440 For the law came through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 00:16:10.240 --> 00:16:14.480 No one has ever seen God, the only God, who is at the Father's side. 00:16:14.879 --> 00:16:16.799 He has made him known. 00:16:17.200 --> 00:16:18.399 That's point three. 00:16:18.639 --> 00:16:20.480 Grace upon grace. 00:16:21.120 --> 00:16:24.639 Beloved, this is the wonder of Christmas. 00:16:25.120 --> 00:16:30.960 No matter how dark the darkness, the light shines brighter. 00:16:31.679 --> 00:16:36.399 Jesus knew his people would reject him, both Jews and Greeks. 00:16:36.480 --> 00:16:37.759 And yet he came. 00:16:38.399 --> 00:16:45.919 Knowing he would be rejected, knowing he would be despised, knowing that he would be placed upon a cross. 00:16:46.480 --> 00:16:50.720 This is the grace upon grace that the child and the manger brought to us. 00:16:51.759 --> 00:16:57.919 It's enough to draw us into awe and wonder when we desire to behold him. 00:16:59.360 --> 00:17:00.879 He came to his enemies. 00:17:02.080 --> 00:17:02.960 What are we talking about? 00:17:03.440 --> 00:17:04.000 Grace. 00:17:06.880 --> 00:17:13.200 This is the wonder of Christmas that though we can look the darkness full in the face. 00:17:14.319 --> 00:17:18.000 Darkness in the world, the darkness in ourselves. 00:17:18.480 --> 00:17:19.599 The world is a mess. 00:17:20.079 --> 00:17:20.880 We are a mess. 00:17:21.359 --> 00:17:29.200 And if the God of the universe came to rescue us and all of the creation, grace upon grace. 00:17:30.079 --> 00:17:32.799 He saved us by his life and by his death. 00:17:32.960 --> 00:17:38.319 And more than that, through faith, we are now adopted sons and daughters of God. 00:17:38.480 --> 00:17:39.839 We are the beloved. 00:17:40.559 --> 00:17:42.799 And nothing can change that. 00:17:42.960 --> 00:17:43.599 Amen? 00:17:45.680 --> 00:17:49.920 The last line of our passage tells us something deeply profound as well. 00:17:50.319 --> 00:17:52.319 No one has ever seen God, ever. 00:17:53.200 --> 00:17:58.880 But the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made Him be. 00:18:00.400 --> 00:18:06.079 Again, the question we ask this morning is what does it mean that the Word became flesh? 00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:20.480 Early in our marriage, or not so early, you know, when Stacey and I would be having a serious discussion, perhaps an argument, sometimes she would she would say, What are you thinking? 00:18:20.720 --> 00:18:23.359 I can't tell what you're thinking by your face. 00:18:24.480 --> 00:18:25.759 And I was like, oh, all right. 00:18:26.079 --> 00:18:29.759 That's when I learned, you know, that body language also communicates. 00:18:30.400 --> 00:18:32.640 From my perspective, I was listening intently. 00:18:32.720 --> 00:18:38.880 I was considering her words, but but from her perspective, you know, my face was emotionless. 00:18:39.039 --> 00:18:40.960 It was at the stark. 00:18:41.920 --> 00:18:47.599 She needed my words to know what was going on in my heart and in my mind. 00:18:47.759 --> 00:18:51.759 And in a sense, this is exactly what is happening in the incarnation. 00:18:51.920 --> 00:18:55.359 Theologian Frederick Bruner echoes this idea well. 00:18:55.519 --> 00:19:00.480 He says, we long to know what people important to us are thinking. 00:19:01.039 --> 00:19:04.720 We get this deeply desired knowledge when they talk to us. 00:19:05.279 --> 00:19:07.759 We all know how important conversation is. 00:19:08.240 --> 00:19:13.759 The great God talks to the human race most specifically and especially in Jesus. 00:19:14.079 --> 00:19:17.599 We long to know who God is and what he thinks and does. 00:19:17.920 --> 00:19:24.000 In Jesus, his most personal word, God has spoken to us in the most human way possible. 00:19:24.480 --> 00:19:30.480 Giving us his innermost thoughts and heart in deeds that are as profound as his word. 00:19:31.440 --> 00:19:36.400 And the believing human race has experienced a deep help and everything. 00:19:37.599 --> 00:19:46.079 Beloved, this is what Christmas is about, the God whom we long to know and we wonder what does he think about us? 00:19:47.440 --> 00:19:50.880 All we need to do is look to Jesus. 00:19:51.519 --> 00:19:57.200 We look to Jesus, the baby in the manger, willing to become helpless and small. 00:20:06.799 --> 00:20:09.440 This is what Christmas is about. 00:20:09.599 --> 00:20:11.119 That the word became flesh. 00:20:11.359 --> 00:20:19.599 Divinity came to walk among us, to live in our neighborhood, to save us from sin and death, and to bring us to new light. 00:20:20.640 --> 00:20:31.200 So this Christmas, let us celebrate, let us rejoice, let us revel in the truth that the darkness has not overcome us, nor has it overcome the light that continues to shine today. 00:20:31.279 --> 00:20:37.440 And we worship our Lord and King until he comes again to get a second attitude. 00:20:37.680 --> 00:20:42.799 Let his church shine forth into the glory of our God and King. 00:20:45.440 --> 00:20:50.240 Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 00:20:50.640 --> 00:20:59.200 Lord, it is beyond our understanding that you became flesh and dwelt among us. 00:20:59.839 --> 00:21:02.400 Lord, thank you for what you have done for us in Christ. 00:21:02.640 --> 00:21:05.119 Thank you for what you are doing in us even now. 00:21:05.440 --> 00:21:16.160 Thank you that we, your beloved, await the coming of the new heavens and the new earth, and we will be with you as we were always intended to be. 00:21:31.039 --> 00:21:31.599 Amen.