Christmas Eve 2012

Merry Christmas. Good to see you all again, it's hard to believe that Christmas is upon us and we were all teased this morning, the hope of a white Christmas. My hopes were dashed. I grew up in Florida, so I always dreamed of a white Christmas. I always got up and looked out the window thinking that, you know, perhaps for some miracle of God, by some miracle, we might have snow. But at 70 degrees, it's hard for snow to stick, even if there was any. I'm confident one day, now that I'm a Virginian, that we will have a white Christmas. But even growing up in Florida, even growing up there where there was no snow, my Christmas hopes could not have been higher, my Christmas enthusiasm. I was just, I was one of those children that just loved Christmas. I remember weeks in advance, you know, getting the periodicals and the ads in the magazines and things, looking through, making my Christmas list very carefully and, you know, going through parties and things at school and just the momentum building as the day approached. You know, making one of those chains where we would tear off a day as Christmas approached and Time going on until finally this day, Christmas Eve was here, the longest day of the year for a child. I remember just it seemed like the time was ticking by so slowly. Finally, it would be time to get ready to go to church. We do the church service. We go out to eat. We would ride around and look at Christmas lights for a while and then we would go home to bed, but not to sleep. I was the ringleader, really, I'm the oldest. My sisters were there with me and we were all just too excited to sleep. You know, we're surrounded by toys and stuff in our room and yet the anticipation, the wonder at what might be under the tree kept us awake all night. And so we would wait, wait, wait. Finally, finally the time would come, we could go out and for a few minutes or a few hours, all was right and good with the world. You know, as we opened presents and that sort of thing. As I reflect back, one of the things that really stands out to me is how different Christmas night is than Christmas Eve. You know, going to bed Christmas night after it's all over, after we've had family time and family over and meals and all that stuff, but to go to bed without that, that sense of anticipation that no matter, no matter how good things were Christmas morning, it was over. It was done. And you're just left for 365 more days to wait until that time would come around again. And I can remember as I got older, even even knowing that that was coming, like feeling this tension of I'm excited and yet I know it's not quite going to live up to the hype. It's not going to be what I expected to be feeling that even opening presence, knowing that as I open one gift, that's one less gift under the tree to be open, feeling that melt away. Now, maybe Maybe I was just a particularly superficial child, but I think that we can all resonate to some degree with that sense of expectation that the newness of stuff has a pull on us that fails to deliver. Whatever it is, we find ourselves disappointed, I think, with the new. And that's because we are missing the true meaning of Christmas. Now, that's not the point of the message, because you could have stayed home tonight and watched any network Christmas special and gotten that message, that Christmas is not about stuff. So that, of course, is not the main point. But if you watch Christmas specials, what they're going to tell you is that Christmas is really about family. It's about spending quality time with people you love. Now, if we're honest with ourselves, our time with family, our time with friends, as great as it might be, can often leave us with that same disappointment, the same failed expectations. And no matter how good we think of the time we're going to have, it takes one comment from that one cousin or sister or whoever to kind of set the family off and things kind of go astray or one casserole gets burnt and the meal doesn't turn out like we wanted it to. But even if everything goes seamlessly, It still has to end, right? It still comes to a conclusion. It's time for everybody to go home and go back to real life. And even in the times when everything is good, everything is right, I think the holidays for some can be some of the most difficult times of the year, can't they? They're reminders of what would have been of those who aren't with us anymore. Some people for this year are celebrating for the first time without a particular loved one. And so the holiday isn't just the time of celebration, it's also a time to mourn and to remember, again, leaving us hollow and empty. If Christmas is really about, if it's not really about stuff, it's not really about family or loved ones. If it was just about those things, then it puts us in a place where we have to just constantly feed it. We have to give it more stuff, more stuff, more time, bigger and better. We always have to outdo the last one. It's an appetite that can't be quenched. or it leaves us in a place where we just kind of have to ignore it. We have to ignore the brokenness, the emptiness, the hollow feeling, just kind of suppress that and pretend it's not there. Well, friends, that's not what Christmas is about either. See, that hollowness that we feel, that emptiness, the disappointment that we feel is real. It tells us that we're not experiencing Christmas as it was intended to be. Christmas, the message of Christmas is all about real, full, lasting contentment and satisfaction that's found only and yet fully available in the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's what Christmas is about. Stuff and people don't ultimately satisfy us. Only God does in Jesus. And so it's our prayer as a church. We're thankful that everybody's here today. It's our prayer that you would come to experience the true meaning of Christmas, all the satisfaction God intends for you to have in his son, Jesus Christ. And so with that in mind, we're going to spend just a few minutes this evening looking at scripture. You'll see it printed in your bulletin. It's John, chapter one. There should be a few Bible there. And if you if you're not familiar with the Bible, just elbow the person next to you, ask them for help to get to John, chapter one. And that's where we'll be we working from. I'm going to read verses one to 18 and then we're going to concentrate on verse 14. In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to bear witness about the light that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but he came to bear witness about the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world and the world was made through him. Yet the world did not know him. He came to his own and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor the will of flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glorious of the only son from the father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness about him and cried out. This was he of whom I said he who comes after me ranks before me because he was before me. And from his fullness, we have all received grace upon grace for the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, the only God who is at the father's side. He has made him known. And let me read again, verse 14, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we have seen his glory, glory as of the only son from the father, full of grace and truth. So in order to find this satisfaction that I'm talking about, in order to know Jesus, there's three things you have to know about Jesus. Number one, Jesus is God. Jesus is God. Look back, if you will, at verse one says in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. So we have two distinct characters laid out here. We have the Word and we have God. The word is kind of confusing to jump in there. What is the word? Briefly, it's the way that God has related to his people throughout their existence. It's God's self-disclosure in creation. God is said to have spoken the world into existence. And then as he relates to his people, it's always his voice calling out, claiming a people for himself and then directing them. So we see things like and the word of the Lord came to the prophet so and so. And it's God's way of relating to his people. But. Verse 17 here makes it explicit that that word is Jesus Christ. And so we have these two together and yet the same. The word was with God and the word was God. And this is what Christians have come to confess is the doctrine of the Trinity, where we have God holy, perfect in his essence and yet revealed in three persons, the father, the son and the spirit, one and three, three and one, a mystery that we don't quite understand, but we confess it because it is God. It is the way that he has revealed himself to us. And the point the point is here is that Jesus is God, if you read in verse three, all things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made. So he's not just part of creation. He didn't happen at some point in creation. He is outside of creation. He created anything that exists, exists because of the word, the second person of the Trinity who became Jesus. He is over the world, and so that has very significant implications for us, doesn't it? If Jesus is God, then he's not just a teacher. He's not just an ethicist. He's not just a good example. He's your maker. And we're not only accountable to him in worship, but he's also the one who can satisfy us as our creator. So you need to know that Jesus is God. Second, you need to know that Jesus is God become man. Jesus is God become man. Look again at verse 14. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory. Glory is of the only son from the father, full of grace and truth. Now, when we read that verse, if we could really read it, just understanding the weight of what's being said, it would stop us dead in our tracks. It would make us shudder. The word was God, God, eternal and holiness and splendor and glory and perfection. God. The word was all of that, and the word became flesh. Flesh is the lowest, the dirtiest, the messiest word that John could use to describe humankind. The word God became flesh. There is a vast distinction that's being made there. God became man. Creator became creation. having a toddler, she's actually getting all out of the toddler phase now, but I'm always amazed at the way that adults will act in a way to entertain a child. The way that they'll contort their faces, their voices, their bodies, sometimes even dressing up to entertain children, whether it's in person or on TVs, just to get a smile or a laugh out of a little one. By all accounts, to just observe what's happening, their behavior is absolutely absurd. except that it's for the joy of a child. Right now, if we could take that, we could take that adult acting silly to entertain a child and multiply it by billions. We're still not getting close to what John is describing here. God is becoming man, the second person of the Trinity, stooping down to enter into the world that he created. And it's not even as if he appears on the scene as a man, right? It's not that we don't just hear Jesus sort of pops down. He's a man and now he's on a mission. He comes into the world as a baby, right? That's what we think about this time of year, into a womb as a fetus, you know, to grow, to be born then into pathetic circumstances, not with sophisticated medical care that we have now outside and to be placed in a trough, in a food trough. That's the scene that we have that's described. And for so many people, that's that's kind of the extent of Christian Christmas is what you can kind of discern from driving by somebody's yard display where you have, you know, it's a nativity scene, a sweet young family, a father and a mother and a baby and maybe some shepherds and some animals there with them. And it's a sweet picture, but it's it's not enough in itself to just kind of look at the nativity scene. You know, we see it often during this time of year. We see it and it's right next to Santa and Rudolph and Frosty and it's just, it's cute. But it requires explanation, doesn't it? The nativity scene itself requires explanation. I mean, if you had no previous experience with it, you're just looking at this, it looks like a child has gotten a hold of the farm set and the home set and kind of mixed them together. And that's how things were left. It requires an explanation. What is what does it mean? What does it mean that God has become man? Well, that brings us to the final point is Jesus is God become man for us, for us. Let me read 14 one more time. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory. Glory is of the only son from the father, full of grace and truth. God became man and dwelled among us. He made his presence known to us. He became one of us to experience everything that we experience. Everything from the womb forth to dirty diapers, eating, drinking, sleeping, puberty, work, awkward conversations, excitement, frustrations, loss. He experienced all of it. All of it in order to show us the glory of God is what it says here. And that's God's glory is his value. It comes from the perfection and the righteousness of his character. And Jesus, as the son of God, displayed that for us. He displayed God's glory that's full of grace and truth, meaning that it's God's loving faithfulness, his commitment to save his people from their sin. That's the glory that's displayed in the incarnation. If you look back at verse 10, you'll see that says he was in the world and the world was made through him. And yet the world did not know him. Now that, as subtle as it may sound, is actually the greatest crime in human history. The world was made to know him and it did not know him. It's the essence of sin. We were created to know God, to live in perfect fellowship with him, to love him, to obey him, to walk with him, to be forever satisfied with him. But each of us rejects that. We each seek satisfaction and something else. We take our eyes off of God and we look around us and seek the things that are around us. And as a result, our fellowship with God is broken and we are all in darkness and helpless to do anything about it. And so we enter into the scene with Jesus. Here's Jesus, and as we encounter him in the Gospel of John, we find him over and over again extending these invitations to find satisfaction in me. Stop going to the world and find satisfaction in me. So he identifies himself as Jacob's ladder, as the bridge from God to man, as the bridge from earth to heaven, as the true temple, as the place where where God dwells with man. As the bread of life, the sustenance that gives eternal life to man, as the good shepherd who lays down his life for his people, as the resurrection, the one who gives life forever. as the way and the truth and the life, the only way to God as the vine to which every branch must be connected over and over again. We see him describing himself this way. And then he shows he shows this invitation as well through the signs that he performs things like changing the water into the wine to show that he's the true bridegroom. He's the life of the party. He's the one to whom everyone should go. Things like opening the eyes of the man who was born blind to show that he has the power, he has the authority to give spiritual sight. And finally, by dying, by dying, that's right. The eternal son of God came into the world to die. The ultimate expression of God's steadfast love for his people is sending his own son to be crucified in their place. See, he had to be cut off. He had to be forsaken by God so that his people never would be. He had to suffer the penalty for sin that they deserved and supply them with the righteousness that they need from God. And friends, if you want to talk about a great exchange, that's the greatest gift that there's ever been given, where God takes our sinfulness and puts it on Jesus. And he takes Jesus's righteousness and puts it on us. It's an amazing gift. And that's why Christmas and as we celebrate Christmas, we're never far from Good Friday, are we? We're never far from that day because the nativity scene in reality is just one step on the way to Calvary. Jesus's life was about revealing the extent of God's love for his people, and that didn't stop when it meant the death of his own son. But praise God, the story doesn't end there. The one who himself was the resurrection of the life proved it by raising himself up from the dead. By becoming alive, by ascending into God's presence and from his throne now he reigns. He sends the Holy Spirit who is at work in this world to inspire texts like the one that we're looking at tonight. To convict men of sin, to convict us in those hollow moments, in the moments where we realize that what we've been pursuing is coming in bankrupt. It's not fulfilling our desires. That's the Holy Spirit at work reminding us that we were created for God. And then not only does he convict, but he also gives life. And when we turn to Christ in faith, it's the spirit who's at work giving us new life, rebirth, eyes to see Christ. So look back at verses 10 to 13. He was in the world and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own and his own people did not receive him, but to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. who were born not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. So if you're here tonight, you fall into one of two groups. You have either received Jesus by believing on his name or you haven't. There's two camps to be in. And if you have, if you're here tonight, you're encouraged, I pray that this Christmas season would be one of you finding satisfaction in Christ, soaking it all up in a way that honors and glorifies Christ. And if you're here tonight and that's not you, you haven't placed your faith in Christ, then I just ask, what's it going to take? How long would you wait? How many tears, how many disappointments, how much stuff before you say enough? Enough, I'm tired of this, I'm tired of the shallowness, I'm tired of not being satisfied, of feeding this beast inside of me, but never having it satisfied. Nothing in this world will satisfy you because nothing was made to satisfy you. You were created by God, and He's the only one that has the power to do that. So look to Jesus. Look to Him in faith. Turn away from this cycle of sin, of disappointment. Repent of it and look to Him and find satisfaction. Only in Him will you find what you're looking for. And only then, only when you've found your satisfaction, when you're not seeking it elsewhere, are you free to enjoy the stuff, the relationships, all of that. Once you're right with Christ, then you can enjoy all of that in its proper place. So if that's you here tonight, don't leave here without a Bible. We've got lots of them available. I have more back in the office. If you don't have a Bible, please come see me. Come see Keith, somebody before you leave. And just if you're here with a friend, if that's kind of piqued your interest or something, come talk to me after the service. Or if you came with a member of this church, they would love to sit down and continue reading through the Gospel of John with you, continue talking about this conversation. There's a hymn that I think really captures, it's not traditionally a Christmas hymn, but it captures what I'm trying to say tonight. It says, turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in his wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. So this Christmas, friends, turn your eyes on Jesus. Look to him. Look to him and let the things of this earth, even even the presence and the lights and family and friends that are here with us, let them let them grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. Let's pray. Our father in heaven, we confess what we've read, that Jesus is the one who is made to satisfy us. where we confess that we too often spend our lives trying to fill a void that can't be filled apart from him. And so, Father, we pray once again that you would fill us with your spirit to rivet our hearts, rivet our attention on Christ. Lord, even amidst this time of year, especially with so many distractions, Father, we pray that he would be central and supreme in our hearts, in our minds, in our lips. And we pray that as we receive him, Father, that we would be able to receive all things in proper proportion. We would enjoy the time in a way that glorifies you. Father, I pray, especially for those here who do not yet know Christ, that your spirit would be at work in them, Lord, convicting them, illuminating him to them, Father, in a way that would lead them to him in repentance and faith and that would honor you on the last day. And we pray this all in Christ's name. Amen.