WEBVTT 00:00:02.080 --> 00:00:04.240 Well, we're finally here. 00:00:05.679 --> 00:00:07.519 It sort of feels like that. 00:00:08.240 --> 00:00:13.279 Because that list always builds throughout the Christmas season. 00:00:14.000 --> 00:00:17.839 The things you need to buy, the presents you need to buy, the presents you need to wrap. 00:00:18.079 --> 00:00:19.839 It can feel like a lot of stress. 00:00:20.239 --> 00:00:30.719 Maybe you had to go to one party, or maybe you had to go to 12 parties, or your kids Christmas sing along, or your nephews, and all of it can kind of start to add up. 00:00:30.800 --> 00:00:31.920 And some of you love it, right? 00:00:32.000 --> 00:00:33.759 Some of you love the festivities. 00:00:33.840 --> 00:00:40.960 Like you are starting to sing with Amy Grant Christmas at Halloween, going right through Thanksgiving all the way to Christmas. 00:00:41.200 --> 00:00:48.159 Others of you, you would like to join me on a beach in Mexico, sort of skip December, you'd be real happy for that. 00:00:48.399 --> 00:00:52.159 But something happens to me come December 24th, something shifts. 00:00:52.240 --> 00:00:53.920 And it always happens, it happens every year. 00:00:54.000 --> 00:00:57.359 There's a shift that occurs on Christmas Eve. 00:00:57.439 --> 00:00:59.679 And I've just been starting to think about like, what is it? 00:01:00.079 --> 00:01:04.719 Why does this shift occur and all of a sudden I start to enjoy this? 00:01:05.040 --> 00:01:09.439 I only have one day to go, but all of a sudden I enjoy it on Christmas Eve. 00:01:09.599 --> 00:01:11.359 And you know, you know why? 00:01:11.599 --> 00:01:13.040 The pressure's off. 00:01:14.400 --> 00:01:15.439 The list is gone. 00:01:15.599 --> 00:01:20.400 I mean, either I lived up to it or I failed miserably before it, right? 00:01:20.480 --> 00:01:21.599 And I forgot a few things. 00:01:21.760 --> 00:01:23.439 Either way, it's over. 00:01:23.599 --> 00:01:29.359 Like there's just not a lot of room left to like really show up to things and do things and be Mr. 00:01:29.439 --> 00:01:29.920 Christmas. 00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:31.359 There's just not a lot of room for it. 00:01:31.519 --> 00:01:35.840 And so this list is sort of, there's this feeling like, oh, okay. 00:01:36.480 --> 00:01:36.799 Okay. 00:01:37.200 --> 00:01:41.439 You know, either I fulfilled it or I didn't, and finally we're here. 00:01:42.239 --> 00:01:52.079 And when Christmas season can feel never-ending, finally we're at the point where all that's left is to sit back, to sit back and enjoy the story. 00:01:52.400 --> 00:01:55.280 Like the actual story itself. 00:01:56.640 --> 00:02:06.480 I've been, just to catch you up, I've been at home this week with eight females and me. 00:02:07.680 --> 00:02:08.000 Okay? 00:02:08.240 --> 00:02:13.439 That's my wife, my three girls, my two nieces, my sister, and my mom, and myself. 00:02:13.599 --> 00:02:15.520 That's why my yard looks good. 00:02:15.759 --> 00:02:16.479 That's why. 00:02:16.719 --> 00:02:18.479 Because I'm making stuff up. 00:02:18.639 --> 00:02:21.120 What needs to be done, what's going on. 00:02:21.280 --> 00:02:23.120 I'm outside, I'm moving around. 00:02:23.199 --> 00:02:24.240 You don't know where I'm at. 00:02:24.319 --> 00:02:25.360 I need to run an errand. 00:02:25.520 --> 00:02:26.400 You know what I'm talking about? 00:02:26.719 --> 00:02:29.439 You've done it, or you saw your uncle do it, and you're like, why is he always leaving? 00:02:29.919 --> 00:02:30.560 He doesn't want to be there. 00:02:30.639 --> 00:02:31.360 That's why he's leaving. 00:02:31.439 --> 00:02:32.400 He needs a breather. 00:02:32.560 --> 00:02:34.400 That's what's going on with Uncle Lou. 00:02:34.719 --> 00:02:36.000 Uncle Lou needs a breather. 00:02:36.080 --> 00:02:37.039 That's what's going on. 00:02:37.280 --> 00:02:38.240 Alright, so here we go. 00:02:38.479 --> 00:02:43.360 So Luke chapter 2, which Katie read, that is the narrative of Christmas. 00:02:43.520 --> 00:02:46.879 So in Matthew and in Luke, they write the narrative. 00:02:47.039 --> 00:02:47.919 They write the story. 00:02:48.080 --> 00:02:52.879 Now John does something different, which is really interesting, and that's what we're going to look at tonight. 00:02:53.120 --> 00:02:56.319 He said, he talks about what does this mean? 00:02:58.159 --> 00:03:03.039 So the narrative, Matthew and Luke, we just heard it, but John doesn't start with the narrative. 00:03:03.120 --> 00:03:05.599 He doesn't start with the story of how Jesus is born. 00:03:05.840 --> 00:03:15.520 He starts with, what does this mean for you and your crazy, messy, performing, anxiety-ridden heart? 00:03:16.879 --> 00:03:20.479 So we get this verse in John 1, verse 14. 00:03:20.560 --> 00:03:21.759 So you're bulletined. 00:03:21.919 --> 00:03:26.639 We're just going to break down the first half of this verse just in a few minutes. 00:03:26.879 --> 00:03:32.080 And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory. 00:03:32.240 --> 00:03:39.039 Glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 00:03:39.360 --> 00:03:43.280 So Jim is my friend at the gym. 00:03:43.520 --> 00:03:44.719 Jim at the gym. 00:03:44.879 --> 00:03:45.599 He's my friend. 00:03:45.759 --> 00:03:48.560 Up at Health Place, up at the hospital. 00:03:48.800 --> 00:03:50.800 There's guys up there working out in jeans. 00:03:50.879 --> 00:03:51.680 That's going on. 00:03:51.840 --> 00:03:53.520 That's going on in case you're wondering. 00:03:53.680 --> 00:03:57.520 And you know, that's the doctor tells you to be there, but you're not sure if you want to be there. 00:03:57.599 --> 00:03:58.879 So I'm going in jeans. 00:03:58.960 --> 00:04:00.639 You know, doctor tell me I'm going in jeans. 00:04:00.960 --> 00:04:01.840 Jim's not that. 00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:03.039 Jim's showing up. 00:04:03.199 --> 00:04:04.800 He's a casual workout guy. 00:04:04.960 --> 00:04:06.000 He's very friendly. 00:04:06.159 --> 00:04:08.159 He's very boisterous even in the morning. 00:04:08.319 --> 00:04:09.120 I'm not that. 00:04:09.280 --> 00:04:12.240 I'm sort of kind of warming up to the day. 00:04:12.400 --> 00:04:19.040 And so I observe Jim for probably, I don't know, a year before we start to talk. 00:04:19.279 --> 00:04:22.079 Jim shows up every morning with a lady his age. 00:04:22.160 --> 00:04:23.199 They don't leave together. 00:04:23.279 --> 00:04:24.480 I start to notice this. 00:04:24.560 --> 00:04:25.279 That's interesting. 00:04:25.439 --> 00:04:26.800 I don't know the story there. 00:04:27.040 --> 00:04:29.600 He's friendly, showing up a lady his age. 00:04:29.680 --> 00:04:31.279 They don't leave together, okay? 00:04:31.519 --> 00:04:34.560 So at this point, I don't know a lot about Jim, right? 00:04:34.800 --> 00:04:37.279 You don't know a lot about somebody if you haven't talked to them. 00:04:37.360 --> 00:04:45.199 You make a certain amount of inferences, observations, and so you learn a certain amount, but there's a certain point where you can't learn anymore. 00:04:45.759 --> 00:04:46.560 You have to know them. 00:04:46.879 --> 00:04:49.360 You have to have their word, is what you have to have. 00:04:49.519 --> 00:04:50.959 Well, Jim and I start talking. 00:04:51.120 --> 00:04:53.439 We start, it is his wife, by the way. 00:04:53.680 --> 00:04:54.720 Good news, right? 00:04:54.879 --> 00:04:55.759 That's good news. 00:04:55.920 --> 00:04:56.800 It's his wife. 00:04:56.959 --> 00:05:01.680 They drive in from Rome in the mornings together and they leave a car at the gym. 00:05:01.759 --> 00:05:03.920 So they leave the gym to go to their two jobs. 00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:06.639 They come back, getting one car to go back north. 00:05:06.800 --> 00:05:07.279 Brilliant. 00:05:07.360 --> 00:05:08.079 I love that. 00:05:08.240 --> 00:05:10.959 They're also building a house off of Whitlock. 00:05:11.040 --> 00:05:12.000 They have two sons. 00:05:12.160 --> 00:05:13.600 He's in financial planning. 00:05:13.759 --> 00:05:17.759 I know all of this by his word. 00:05:18.319 --> 00:05:18.639 Right. 00:05:18.879 --> 00:05:20.800 I also know how he feels about personal finance. 00:05:20.879 --> 00:05:22.000 I know how he feels about immigration. 00:05:22.079 --> 00:05:23.199 I know how he feels about politics. 00:05:23.279 --> 00:05:24.480 I know how he feels about religion. 00:05:24.639 --> 00:05:28.240 I know, I know there's a Marietta Community Church and he loves his pastor. 00:05:28.399 --> 00:05:29.920 I know that he's spiritual. 00:05:30.160 --> 00:05:32.879 I know that he's enamored that God loves him. 00:05:33.040 --> 00:05:35.600 I know that he likes salty language every once in a while. 00:05:35.759 --> 00:05:37.120 I know a lot about Jim. 00:05:37.199 --> 00:05:38.800 And how do I know this? 00:05:39.439 --> 00:05:41.519 By his word. 00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:42.879 Thank you. 00:05:43.920 --> 00:05:44.959 Some life in here. 00:05:45.040 --> 00:05:45.920 It's good. 00:05:50.160 --> 00:05:51.759 That's point number one. 00:05:52.000 --> 00:05:53.519 That's point number one. 00:05:54.399 --> 00:05:56.319 Jesus is the word of God. 00:05:57.759 --> 00:06:01.360 We can learn a certain amount about God without Jesus. 00:06:01.680 --> 00:06:04.720 You can learn a certain amount about God without Jesus from creation. 00:06:05.839 --> 00:06:08.240 But at a certain point, Jesus is the word. 00:06:08.560 --> 00:06:10.879 Jesus is the way in which you know more. 00:06:13.040 --> 00:06:19.839 In the abstract world of God and philosophy, Jesus is the concrete way we know. 00:06:20.160 --> 00:06:21.839 God is saying, hey, you want to know me? 00:06:22.000 --> 00:06:22.959 Here, here. 00:06:23.279 --> 00:06:24.639 Look at this person. 00:06:25.040 --> 00:06:26.319 You can know me. 00:06:28.560 --> 00:06:35.519 And then it's interesting, this word, word in that verse, the word word, word is the word logos or logic. 00:06:36.079 --> 00:06:40.959 And so John is saying, Jesus is the logic of God for you to know. 00:06:41.199 --> 00:06:43.839 And this gives us our second point, point number two. 00:06:44.079 --> 00:06:49.279 Jesus is the logic by which we are finally at peace. 00:06:50.480 --> 00:06:50.800 Right? 00:06:50.959 --> 00:06:58.800 I mean, our logic is to wake up and prove our value and justify our existence and earn someone's approval. 00:06:59.120 --> 00:07:04.800 A boss, a mom, a dad, a girl, a guy, a spouse, somebody. 00:07:05.279 --> 00:07:12.000 Or justify our existence within our career path or how much money we have, or justify our existence within a spirituality. 00:07:12.079 --> 00:07:16.240 Like we'll get in within a spirituality, just put ourselves to work, and I'm the wake up today. 00:07:16.319 --> 00:07:18.639 I'm not going to be justified by what God's done for me. 00:07:18.800 --> 00:07:20.879 I'll be justified by what I'm doing. 00:07:21.120 --> 00:07:23.519 And all of this is a burden. 00:07:23.680 --> 00:07:25.120 It is exhaustion. 00:07:25.279 --> 00:07:26.879 It is not the logic of God. 00:07:26.959 --> 00:07:27.920 That's our logic. 00:07:28.079 --> 00:07:36.160 The logic of God is while you're messed up, I will come toward you in the most vulnerable, approachable way possible. 00:07:36.319 --> 00:07:39.519 So you will forever know how I regard you. 00:07:41.600 --> 00:07:46.079 See, our hearts are just wandering in utter confusion. 00:07:46.720 --> 00:07:53.120 Using merit for things that only grace, only grace provides. 00:07:53.360 --> 00:08:02.959 And this grace logic, the unconditionality of God's favor toward you because of Jesus and his work for you. 00:08:04.480 --> 00:08:06.240 That's for you today. 00:08:07.120 --> 00:08:08.879 Not just to become a Christian, right? 00:08:08.959 --> 00:08:11.040 It's not like become a Christian and then back to work. 00:08:11.199 --> 00:08:16.240 No, like that's for you today to know you are secure as a child of God. 00:08:16.879 --> 00:08:19.199 That's what the incarnation's about. 00:08:19.680 --> 00:08:22.720 Now listen to the rest of those verse, John 1, 1.14. 00:08:22.879 --> 00:08:26.800 And the word became flesh, so the logic of God became flesh. 00:08:26.959 --> 00:08:27.759 So we'll know it. 00:08:27.920 --> 00:08:31.439 The logic of God became flesh and dwelt among us. 00:08:31.600 --> 00:08:37.759 So point number three, the logic makes his home in you. 00:08:39.840 --> 00:08:44.960 A few weeks ago, I went up to my family's lake house to meet a worker who's doing a few things. 00:08:45.039 --> 00:08:49.440 So my grandparents bought this lake house 40 years ago before I was born. 00:08:49.759 --> 00:08:51.600 This old beat-up cabin. 00:08:51.679 --> 00:08:55.200 And now my mom owns it because my grandmother passed away this year. 00:08:55.519 --> 00:08:58.320 So I was up there meeting Ray, Ray the worker. 00:08:58.399 --> 00:09:04.720 And so I get up there and my phone dies as soon as I get up there because I'm too prideful to get a car charger. 00:09:04.879 --> 00:09:10.320 As I secretly believe anybody who's a car charger does not ration their battery power correctly throughout the day. 00:09:10.399 --> 00:09:13.360 And that's my prideful view of all car chargers. 00:09:13.519 --> 00:09:17.600 Although I'm running out of power pretty much every day at 3:30 in the afternoon. 00:09:17.759 --> 00:09:18.879 That's another subject. 00:09:19.039 --> 00:09:21.440 Still too prideful to get the car charger. 00:09:21.679 --> 00:09:24.080 Anyone with me on car charger? 00:09:24.240 --> 00:09:26.320 You're prideful of okay, there's three of us. 00:09:26.399 --> 00:09:28.320 It shows you how illogical we are. 00:09:28.480 --> 00:09:30.000 We are in the minority here. 00:09:30.080 --> 00:09:31.120 We're not thinking straight. 00:09:31.200 --> 00:09:33.039 And we know it, but we're not giving up. 00:09:33.120 --> 00:09:33.759 I understand. 00:09:33.840 --> 00:09:40.879 So I'm at the lake house, and no phone power, there's no TV going on up there. 00:09:41.360 --> 00:09:48.639 And I'm sitting out on the patio, I'm looking out over the lake, out over the dock my dad and my granddad built. 00:09:49.039 --> 00:09:54.159 I mean, this is this is a dock I've jumped off of my entire life. 00:09:55.120 --> 00:09:57.360 And it's just it's dead silent. 00:09:57.440 --> 00:09:59.120 It is totally quiet. 00:09:59.440 --> 00:10:03.759 And just hurt floods my heart. 00:10:05.200 --> 00:10:06.480 I don't like hurt. 00:10:06.559 --> 00:10:11.200 It's usually why I carry my cell phone, is to be able to pull up the Zillow app. 00:10:11.279 --> 00:10:19.039 I mean, this is a great time to figure out, you know, what the pricing of houses is in watercolor Florida, because you need that when you're starting to feel hurt, right? 00:10:19.200 --> 00:10:22.000 This is why we all love to medicate on something. 00:10:22.159 --> 00:10:23.440 I like the Zillow app. 00:10:23.600 --> 00:10:26.480 You like something else, I don't know what it is, but you have it. 00:10:26.639 --> 00:10:27.279 And you do it. 00:10:27.360 --> 00:10:32.879 And most of us are using our cell phones for this, but mine's dead because of my pride, but it's coming back in my favor. 00:10:33.039 --> 00:10:37.120 So I'm sitting there, no phone, and just hurt. 00:10:37.279 --> 00:10:38.240 I have nowhere to go. 00:10:38.320 --> 00:10:41.600 I'm waiting on, I'm waiting on Ray, the worker, to show up. 00:10:41.759 --> 00:10:44.000 And I and I'm just sitting there. 00:10:44.879 --> 00:10:53.600 And it's it's broken, it's the brokenness of my family when I was 13, the way my family broke apart. 00:10:54.159 --> 00:10:58.000 My grandfather passed away the next year. 00:10:58.720 --> 00:11:06.480 And this place, this place that had been my entire life a place of relief. 00:11:07.679 --> 00:11:12.000 It became a place where I, as a 13-year-old boy, had to show up and work. 00:11:13.200 --> 00:11:15.200 And now this is no story of poverty, right? 00:11:15.279 --> 00:11:16.879 This is no story of suffering. 00:11:17.279 --> 00:11:24.480 I don't pretend to act like a family's extra house on the lake is some story of poverty because it's not about the house. 00:11:24.639 --> 00:11:26.559 And that's what the Lord was speaking to me. 00:11:26.720 --> 00:11:27.840 It's not about the house. 00:11:28.000 --> 00:11:30.480 What it's about, and I don't like this. 00:11:31.360 --> 00:11:34.960 It's about the fact that I have a wound of abandonment. 00:11:35.440 --> 00:11:39.919 And like that, I like to close that door real quick when that door starts to crack open just a little bit. 00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:45.200 That's a door I like to shut real fast, but it's there, and I know it's there. 00:11:45.440 --> 00:11:49.039 And I just started to think back because I'm stuck, I'm nowhere to go. 00:11:49.200 --> 00:11:52.960 I'm starting to cry, hoping Ray doesn't show up, mid-cry. 00:11:53.039 --> 00:11:54.320 That would be awkward. 00:11:55.120 --> 00:12:02.320 And I don't cry a lot, unless I'm watching an episode of This Is Us, because we're all crying when we watch This Is Us. 00:12:02.399 --> 00:12:07.120 If you haven't, if you need a cry, just watch an episode and you'll join the crying club. 00:12:07.519 --> 00:12:12.080 So I'm sitting there crying, hoping Ray doesn't show up, phone's dead. 00:12:13.039 --> 00:12:14.080 It's hurt. 00:12:14.399 --> 00:12:21.360 But not just hurt that I received, but then I think back of all the times my grandmother was asking me to do things and I resisted. 00:12:22.879 --> 00:12:25.840 Because I was upset, I was mad, I was angry. 00:12:26.080 --> 00:12:28.480 So there's all this hurt that I caused. 00:12:28.639 --> 00:12:31.919 You know, I couldn't see the fact that she had lost a husband, right? 00:12:32.000 --> 00:12:35.039 That wasn't in my view as a teenage boy. 00:12:35.519 --> 00:12:36.879 So there's all this mess. 00:12:37.360 --> 00:12:42.799 There's this hurt caused to me, hurt that I caused, there's there's all of this going on. 00:12:42.960 --> 00:12:46.879 I'm sitting there, I'm thinking, I'm thinking toward Christmas. 00:12:52.399 --> 00:12:53.679 It's been 25 years. 00:12:53.919 --> 00:13:07.919 I'm sitting there 25 years since the break of my family, grandfather passing away, and the Lord allowed me to see this abandonment, and then as well, allowed me to see like this is Christmas. 00:13:09.279 --> 00:13:11.039 That you're never alone. 00:13:11.759 --> 00:13:21.519 That he comes into the mess, that he comes into your hurt, he comes into the hurt you've caused, and he comes into the hurt you've received. 00:13:21.840 --> 00:13:25.440 And you don't have to get your act together for him to come to you. 00:13:26.320 --> 00:13:26.559 Right? 00:13:26.960 --> 00:13:40.639 This is the fact that the incarnation, he could have come as military presence, he could have come as a as a king on a horse, he comes as a baby, the most vulnerable, approachable form. 00:13:41.679 --> 00:13:46.960 And it's for it's for us, that's for us to know his forever regard toward us. 00:13:48.159 --> 00:13:53.279 I mean, John's telling us this this is a new spirituality for us to receive. 00:13:54.879 --> 00:13:56.559 This is a cosmic shift. 00:13:56.720 --> 00:14:01.600 For these people hearing this, reading this John's teaching. 00:14:02.799 --> 00:14:12.639 See, these people at the time, the only God they knew was the one behind the curtain in the temple, the one that you had to live up to in order to even get close. 00:14:13.279 --> 00:14:18.960 Get your act together before the law, get your sacrifices together, and then you can approach a little bit. 00:14:19.120 --> 00:14:29.120 And God says, no, no, no, that God behind the curtain has made himself flesh, the most vulnerable, approachable form possible, and he has come, he's coming toward you. 00:14:31.759 --> 00:14:33.279 Imperfect you. 00:14:33.600 --> 00:14:35.440 And he dwells with you. 00:14:35.840 --> 00:14:38.240 Christmas tells me, tells you, tells us. 00:14:38.320 --> 00:14:42.320 This is what Christmas tells us God cares to pursue us. 00:14:43.840 --> 00:14:49.120 And Jesus dwells not with those who pretend that they have their acts together, Jesus dwells with the broken. 00:14:49.279 --> 00:14:52.799 And the logic of God, the word, the logic of God. 00:14:52.960 --> 00:14:54.399 We need a new logic, right? 00:14:54.559 --> 00:14:56.080 We need God's logic. 00:14:56.240 --> 00:15:24.559 The logic of God is that he stepped into that gap between who we should be and who we actually are, and he and his sacrifice took on that gap, took on our sin and our shame and all the mess, and he gifts over to us his righteousness and makes us secure children, so that by his death and resurrection we know his regard to us. 00:15:24.720 --> 00:15:30.240 Birth, death, and resurrection, his regard to us is not one of judgment, but one of love. 00:15:30.399 --> 00:15:41.279 So, my brothers and sisters, may you know this gracious logic, the person of Jesus who came in the flesh to bring you peace. 00:15:41.519 --> 00:15:42.960 Let's pray together. 00:15:43.840 --> 00:15:56.159 God, we thank you that while we could not move toward you, you moved toward us, and we come and we celebrate Christmas to receive a coming Savior. 00:15:58.080 --> 00:16:02.080 And we say tonight, we need an outside savior. 00:16:02.240 --> 00:16:09.440 We have tried on our own, by our own resources and our own work, and it exhausts us. 00:16:11.279 --> 00:16:15.440 The burden of the law and who we should be is crushing. 00:16:16.639 --> 00:16:21.039 And we receive Jesus, who fulfills the law. 00:16:22.240 --> 00:16:26.080 Would we receive this great gift of the unconditionality of your love? 00:16:26.159 --> 00:16:33.039 And would it radically transform our hearts in grateful response? 00:16:34.320 --> 00:16:37.120 Would the incarnation be more to us? 00:16:40.480 --> 00:16:42.080 We pray this in Jesus' name. 00:16:42.320 --> 00:16:42.960 Amen.