A Thrill of Hope: Christmas Day

This podcast is a ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people know, enjoy, and glorify God.

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Let's pray together.

Lord, we've come to do just that this morning to adore you, to make much of you, music and song, because you make much of yourself in the Bible.

The Bible's not like our high school yearbook.

We didn't come to open it up today and look for our picture.

We came to understand, to grow in our understanding of you, in our enjoyment of you, and our enjoyment of each other.

There's a joy that's not complete until we open up our mouth and the truth of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ comes out through our personality, through our gifts, through our experiences, through our dysfunction, through our brokenness, and through your redemption.

That way you tell this big story through a bunch of different people from all different walks of life and struggles and victories and everything.

So increase our joy that we understand and experience in you so that this joy would be made full by our obedience to the nations.

That's why the incarnation happened.

That's why Jesus was born in a manger.

That's what this is all about.

And so, Lord, let us get our head around it and our heart around it so that we can it can find expression in our hands.

We pray this in Jesus' name.

And everyone said, Amen.

You can have a scene.

If you've got a Bible, I invite you to take it up and open up to 1 John.

1 John, not the gospel of John, but 1 John.

The easiest way to find 1 John is just go to the very back of the Bible and just turn back to the left.

You'll see Revelation, which I don't understand, but Clyde does.

He'll be teaching in the in in next semester.

But 1 John, the first epistle of John, I'm going to read the first four verses.

I want to talk to you this morning about the progressive nature of the incarnation.

The progressive nature of the incarnation.

What I mean when I say the incarnation, I mean the fact that God took on flesh and dwelt among us.

Baby Jesus in the manger.

That's what I mean when I say the incarnation.

And so I'm under strict orders from one of my little friends who asked me again this morning, like he asked me last night, how long are you going to talk today?

And as I said last night, not as long as normal, so I'll have time to whip you when this is over.

So anyway, the progressive nature of the incarnation, because look at me, beloved, it's easy to get to a night like last night at Christmas Eve service or this time of year, or okay, God comes into the world and rap.

And that's not what the Bible says.

As a matter of fact, John starts off his epistle in 1 John chapter 1, verse 1.

1 John 1:1

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and we have touched with our hands concerning the word of life.

The life that was made manifest, and we have seen it, and we testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us.

And that which we have seen and heard, we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us, and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with the Son Jesus Christ.

And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

Our joy may be complete.

What do I mean when I say the progressive nature of the incarnation?

What I mean is that uh it's interesting that this is one of the only books in the Bible, I think it is the only book in the Bible that starts with the word that.

He just starts off with this place of assumption.

He says, hey, that.

He's referring to something in particular, and it's not something as much as it's someone.

But I just want to take it.

Here's what I want to do today.

I'm just gonna just take this and just break it into sections and just kind of say, hey, let's think about this.

It's like a like a good meal.

I don't know if you're going after this, you're going to have lunch, or you have your big Christmas meal, but there's usually, you know, you got some appetizer, then you've got an entree, then you've got a dessert, and you've got all this kind of stuff.

And I want to just kind of portion this out in some pieces and say, hey, let's think about this for a second.

The first thing I want us to think about are these six words right here: that which was from the beginning.

That which was from the beginning.

And so what John tells us right off the bat is that when we think about Jesus, we don't need to think about him in terms of the manger, but in terms of eternity.

Let me say that again.

We don't need to think of Jesus in terms of the manger, but think of him in terms of eternity because the Bible says that he was from the beginning.

That which was from the beginning.

In other words, he's pre-existent.

In other words, he existed before we existed, which means that before we ever experience him or could even think about him, uh, he existed.

So, because of that, you say, well, what's the big deal?

Has radical implications for us.

But because he existed, think for a minute this morning.

Can you think on Christmas morning?

Are you foggy?

You good?

Y'all are like, man, you've had too much coffee.

Uh your kids are kind of like, hurry, I've got presents under the tree.

Uh just think for a minute, because it's one of these implicational things when the Bible says of him that he existed, that which was from the beginning, the pre-existence of Jesus, that he's existed.

It's not like the Old Testament went bad and God had to come up with a better idea and he said, Okay, we'll invent Jesus.

No, he's always existed.

And the fact that he's always existed means that his existence doesn't depend on us.

Matter of fact, he's not sustained by us believing in him or even responding favorably to him because he is sufficient for himself.

And so your response to God in the gospel today and every day of your life doesn't add to his being or take away from his being.

He he was pre-existent, he existed before we got here, and and our presence and our favorable response are singing songs, our believing the Bible, or listen to me, even your unbelief, it doesn't affect God's being, one iota, because he existed before you got here, which is what John says when he says, that which was from the beginning.

Now, if something existed before we got here, then how do we think we have the power to affect him with our being?

Oh man, it's Christmas.

Come on, he's into this.

Think a little bit, beloved.

You're smart people.

John says, that which was from the beginning.

Think about it this way: if God was not sufficient for himself, how could he be sufficient for you?

Maybe that's the best way, most successful way to get at it.

So what I'm saying is it behooves us to begin where the text begins on this Christmas morning by acknowledging that long before he was the babe in the manger, he was God in heaven and he left heaven.

Now, hear me, because it's not like God's playing keep away or being greedy or whatever.

He cannot help but be self-sufficient.

He cannot help because he existed, and John says, that which was from the beginning.

You say, Well, I I don't get why you're making such a big deal out of this.

Think about it.

If he existed from the beginning, and and and therefore our believing or not believing in him doesn't affect his being one iota, then why would he leave the sanctity and the security of heaven and come to earth?

And the Bible tells us just one simple reason.

So that you and I could believe.

Or as somebody on the radio sang about a long time ago, to give you something to believe in.

So that which was from the beginning.

Secondly, he says, which we have heard.

Verse 1, that which we that which was from the beginning, that's the pre-existent Jesus, which we have heard.

Now just think about those four words for a minute, which we have heard.

You ever ask yourself what God sounds like?

I know what God smells like.

God smells like that lavender baby wash you wash your babies in.

That's what God smells like.

We used to give ours a bath and let them just run loose around the house with a little hooded towel on.

Woo! Because your kids run like that.

They kind of run too high when they're little.

And so they would just run through our house with a hooded towel on, woo! And just wafting this lavender sin.

And I would look at my wife with tears in my eyes and go, that's what God smells like.

Maybe you could ask that question today at lunch.

Hey, what does God smell like to you?

And brace yourself for what comes out of your kid's mouth.

Don't call me because I'm not responsible.

I'd be driving my wife and kids to Florida to see my in-laws.

But today we're gonna have to think about what God sounds like because of which we have heard.

The Bible's very clear there's always been a sound connected to God's being and presence.

You say, What do you mean?

Genesis chapter 3.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

Just kind of think about this for a minute.

Way back in the garden in Genesis chapter 3, the Bible says that, hey, and they heard the sound of the Lord walking in the garden in the cool of the day.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

What was that?

What is the sound of God walking?

The sound, I know that if you work here at the church, everyone that works here at the church can tell you this: the sound of kneel walking is country music.

Or old school hip hop or RB, because my mind neutral is I sing something and I cannot sing.

I am tone deaf.

It is not good.

I'm walking down the hall, and every once in a while our ministry coordinator, Amy, will go, could you just not do that?

And I'm like, what?

And she goes, sing.

And I'm like, I didn't know I was singing.

You're singing, and it ain't good.

And I'm like, okay.

Anything else you want to say about that?

No, just be done.

But the Bible says that, and they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

He goes on to say, Hey, and and but the Lord called to the man and said to him, Where are you?

And look what Adam says.

As part his explanation, Adam says, Hey, I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked and hid myself.

So this is what I'm saying to you, beloved.

Look at me.

That there's a sound to God's being that has always been.

Even when you sin, even when you and I sin and we want to hide and kind of go, you know, God, pass me by and get somebody else because I'm not doing good right now.

God, there's a sound to God.

So here's the second question I want you to think about on this Christmas morning.

What is God's sound like in your life right now?

What is it that you hear when you think about God?

Is it just some of you it's like the it's like that great soundtrack from the Wizard of Oz.

It's oh yeah, oh that's why you hide.

Ask yourself, because the Bible says, which we have heard.

Ezekiel 43, verse 2, Ezekiel says this, and behold, the glory of the Lord, the God of Israel, was coming from the east, and the sound of his coming was like the sound of many waters, and the earth shone with his glory.

Ezekiel 43:2

There's always a sound that accompanies God's being.

This is uh Job 37, starting in verse 1, it says, At this also my heart trembles and leaps out of its place.

Keep listening to the thunder of his voice and the rumbling that comes from his mouth.

Under the whole heaven, he lets it go, and his lightning to the corners of the earth.

Can I confess to you this morning that I love that the Bible says of God that he lets it go?

Because he's such a God of accommodation that on this one occasion he just says of God, it's kind of coarse and barbaric and very masculine and probably feminine as well, because every once in a while, when my wife lets it go, my kids they know they're in trouble.

Because dad's always like, hey, y'all get it sorted, blah, blah, blah.

But when mom lets it go, and it ain't very often, and it's not loud, it's not screaming, it's just that one eyebrow goes up and mom lets it go, and those two scurry to their rooms.

The Bible says of God, under the whole heaven, he lets it go and his lightning to the corners of the earth, and after it, his voice roars, he thunders with his majestic voice, and he does not restrain the lightnings when his voice is heard.

God thunders wondrously with his voice, he does great things that we cannot comprehend.

For to the snow he says, fall on the earth, and likewise to the downpour, his mighty downpour, he seals up the hand of every man that all may know he made that he may made may known it.

Excuse me.

Well, try that again, verse seven.

He seals up the hand of every man, that all men whom he made may know it.

Then the beasts go into their lairs and remain in their dens.

From its chamber comes the whirlwind, and the cold from the scattering winds.

By the breath of God, ice is given, and the broad waters are frozen fast.

He loads the thick cloud with moisture, the clouds scatter his lightning.

They turn around and around by his guidance to accompany all that he commands them on the face of the habitable world.

Whether for the correction uh or from his land or for love, he causes it to happen.

Here verse 13 again.

Whether for correction or for his land or for love, he causes it to happen.

You can see what God does, but you can't know the motive by which God does it.

Verse 14, he says, Hear this, O Job.

Because see, there's a sound that accompanies God's nature and his being and his activity, and they didn't want Job to miss it.

He says, Hear this, O Job.

Stop and consider the wondrous works of God.

Do you know how God lays his command upon them and causes the lightning of his cloud to shine?

Do you know the balancings of the clouds, the wondrous works of him who is perfect in knowledge?

You whose garments are hot when the earth is still because of the south wind?

Can you, like him, spread out the skies, hardest cast metal mirror?

Teach us what we shall say to him.

We cannot draw up our case because of darkness.

Shall it be told him that I would speak?

Did a man ever wish that he would be swallowed up?

And now no one looks on the light when it's bright in the skies, when the wind has passed and cleared them.

Out of the north comes a golden splendor.

God is clothed with awesome majesty.

The Almighty, we cannot find him.

He is great in power, justice and abundant righteousness he will not violate.

Therefore, men fear him.

He does not regard any who are wise in their own conceit.

And she said, Well, why'd you read all of that?

That was a lot.

Quit it.

It's Christmas.

Why do you hate us?

Because I want you to understand the nature of God so that when he speaks to you, it doesn't, it never ceases to take your breath away.

There's a sound, beloved, that accompanies God's being and God's presence.

And so when when John says those little words, which we have heard, those are big words.

We hear him means that he speaks, and nowhere does he speak louder than in Jesus.

So ask yourself today.

Here's a third question.

What does the life of Jesus communicate to us about God?

What does the life of Jesus communicate to us about God?

Thirdly, we get to the third course, and here we got to sink our teeth into some meaty reality.

He picks up the text in the latter part of verse 1.

He says, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and have touched with our hands.

So you hear the progressive nature of the incarnation.

First of all, it existed, and then we heard about it, and now we've seen it, and now we've looked upon it, and now we've touched it with our hands.

It gets increasingly personal, beloved, concerning the word of life, the life that was made manifest, and we have seen it, and we testified to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was made manifest to us that which we have seen and heard, we proclaim also to you.

Now, at this point, you should be clear about what John is talking about here.

Now, let me get at you a little bit on Christmas Day.

Can I get at you?

So we live in love, of course.

Now, if you're my people, you know that I love you.

I'm not coming at you harsh or hatred or whatever.

If you're visiting and you're like, ooh, ooh, let me just get it all of us.

Let me put it that way.

Uh John's not talking about a better way of life, a higher ethic for living, or a pathway to prosperity.

He's talking about a person.

And we got to be careful because preachers in America are the worst because we've kind of got this American way, and I don't think it's just America, we've got this kind of way of thinking about God and Christianity that has nothing to do with Jesus, with the person of Jesus.

It's about the way, and and hey, I want to live this blessed life, and I want this and I want that, and breaking through to our manifest destiny and all this kind of stuff.

And John has nothing, nothing to do with that, because we he understands what we need to understand this morning that we've subtly found a way to get to God without Jesus.

And here John kind of corrects this drift away from the necessity of Jesus that plagues much of our preaching today.

We fall into this trap.

Said simply, we fall into this trap where we preach the benefits of Christianity without the person of Christ.

And so he begins with that which was from the beginning.

That's not a higher, that's not a morality, that's not a way of being nicer, that's not a way of getting the American dream with a cross on top.

That is the pre-existent Son of God slain before the very foundation of the world, the Bible says.

And here's why we don't want to preach Jesus in the American church, because the bloody reality of God on a stick, not a babe in a manger, but the babe in the manger, knowing that he was going to the cross, that bloody reality indicts everyone in this room, me first.

You say, I don't know what you mean.

I met with somebody a couple weeks ago for counseling.

Uh and the person said, Hey, I'm thinking about coming to your church.

I don't come, but a friend of mine recommended me to you.

And so if this goes well, I might start coming to your church.

Is this gonna affect how you think about me?

And I said, I'm not sure what you're saying right now, and I'm not even sure you're sure what you're saying.

Think about what you want to say and say it over.

And he said, Well, I don't want you to think I'm a bad person.

Just because I got problems.

And I said, Oh, I don't think you're a bad person.

And by the way, I knew you were a wretched sinner before you ever walked in this door.

And he looked at me and he's like, Well, that doesn't feel very good.

And I looked at him and said, So am I.

And he goes, Well, what do you mean?

Did somebody call you and tell you about me?

Did my friend call you?

And I said, No.

The fact that Jesus came indicts all of us as sinners.

And he goes, I'm not sure I get what you're saying.

And I said, Have you gone to church much?

And he said, I've grown up in church.

That makes me sad.

And I said, if we could do it on our own, why did Jesus have to come?

And I said, The cross makes liars out of us all.

So I knew you were screwed up before you ever got here.

So go ahead and tell me how screwed up you are.

And he's like, All right.

And it was great.

Because here's what happened.

We stopped trying to manage each other's impression of the other one.

And I mean, about 20 minutes in, I said, Man, you really are good at sinning, aren't you?

And he said, Yeah.

It's horrible, isn't it?

I said, yes.

The only thing that's more horrible is that God killed his son so you can be forgiven.

And at that point, he just began to cry.

He said, Is that really true?

And again, I couldn't help myself.

I'm like, you've gone to church your whole life and you don't.

See, here's here's why do I tell you that?

Look at me.

Don't miss this.

Because when you preach the benefits, you when you preach a lifestyle and not a person, this is the kind of people it produces.

They don't understand their depravity and they don't understand God's sufficiency on the cross.

And so they live with this low-grade fear that they're going to one day be found out, and so they got to manage everyone's impression.

And the gospel indices, excuse me, the incarnation indices all of us.

And so what is he talking about?

John says it like this in John chapter 1, verse 1.

John 1:1

We read it a minute ago, but it says, In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.

He was in the beginning with God, and all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that that was made.

And 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.

Picks up in John, down in John 1, pick it up in verse 14.

And the word became flesh and dwelt among us.

See, it's not just a moral code or an ethical standard.

God didn't set down a list of rules, he sent down a person.

And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as the only son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Not only did God send down this person, but he's the only begotten of the Father.

He's the only Son of the Father.

There's a solitary nature to Jesus, there's an oniness to Jesus that you don't get in anybody or anything else.

That's why the Bible says in Acts chapter 4, there's no name given under heaven whereby which men should be saved except the name of Jesus.

Acts 4 · chapter mention

John goes on.

He says, John bore witness about him and he cried out, This was he of whom I said, he who comes after me ranks before me because he was before me.

See, John is kind of saying, Hey, he was before me.

He he was pre-existent, he was here before I got here.

For from his fullness we have all received.

By the way, let me stop and say this.

I think this is the Holy Spirit.

If you're here today and you're kind of like, I don't believe any of this.

Man, my my parents made me come because we're gonna eat ham after this and open presents.

Just be done.

Let me tell you something.

This is in love.

He was here before you got here, and he'll be here after you're gone.

And you should ask yourself, that's not what I wanted to say to you.

Stay with me.

I'm not trying to be snarky.

You should ask yourself what you're gonna what's your life gonna be like if you keep living without what Jesus makes available?

And what without what only Jesus makes available.

He who comes after me ranks before me, John said, because he was before me.

For 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.

Now hear that last part again.

No one has ever seen God.

The only God who is at the Father's side.

You don't break into God.

You don't figure it out.

You don't crack the code.

He's made him known.

The incarnation, God putting on flesh and coming into the world and said, Here I am, he made him known.

And from his fullness, you could receive grace upon grace.

So if you're empty today, God has fullness with your name on it.

And it's grace upon grace.

Finally, this morning we get to the last section of it.

You still with me this morning?

You get to the last section of it.

He says, it gets to the purpose clause of the whole thing.

By the way, in the Greek, which first John was originally written in, it's all one sentence.

And it is tough to diagram.

When you were in seminary and the professor said, we're going to diagram you're like, oh no.

The language is it's easy.

I mean, it's easy, it's not complicated like hard Greek.

It's very accessible, quantity Greek kind.

But the way it's structured, I mean, it begins with that which was from the beginning.

It's kind of like, it's like when I was in school and the teacher would give those word problems.

A river flows at 400 feet a minute if you throw it, yo! But he gets to the purpose and explains it.

Don't miss this and we'll be done.

He says, hey, here, so that you too may have fellowship with us.

And indeed, our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.

And we arrive in this thing so that our joy may be complete.

Did you hear that?

He says, There's two reasons this is happening.

Number one, for fellowship.

So that you too may have fellowship with us.

Ask yourself, beloved, because now that you've been told that Christ came into the world and you he existed before anything, he existed before he did anything.

He was here.

So he's standing in the just in the solitary nature of himself and the sufficiency of himself.

He existed and then you heard about him and you saw him and you got close and you touched him and now you testify and you experience that.

And the Bible says it now, so that you too, you begin to proclaim this.

Why?

Because you want other people to have the fellowship that you have with God.

That's why.

So if you're here today and your family's having religious conversations with you, they're not trying to turn you into a Trump supporter.

Relax.

This is not about politics.

You think Jesus died for politics?

There's nothing wrong with politics and politicians.

We need righteous men and women.

But I'm just saying, don't relegate it to that like we're not talking about religion and politics.

We're just gonna eat ham and celebrate our Jewish Messiah.

Maybe you should have something else for lunch, but that's another story.

For fellowship.

Here's a question to think about.

What if, have you ever asked yourself, what if people fellowshiped with God the way you do?

Let's see what John says here.

He says that you two may have fellowship with us, fellowship with other believers.

But he goes on and says, indeed, our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.

You were created to be part of a fellowship.

So I'm just gonna hear to tell you, because you were created to be part of a fellowship.

If you live here in the city and you don't have a church home, find you one.

Find one that teaches the Bible, find one that loves you and knows your name and won't believe your lies, but will tell you the truth.

If you don't have one, you're welcome here.

The best part of this place is the people.

The preacher, kind of iffy.

The people, solid.

He says right there, so you two may have fellowship with us, and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with the Son Jesus Christ.

Now I know this fellowship is not a word that we use every day.

Y'all like fellowship?

That's like Baptists get together and eat?

No.

Here's what that word means.

I looked it up in the Greek.

List and litany of words and definitions.

It means community, communion, joint participation, distribution, contribution, a gift jointly contributed, a collection as exhibiting an embodiment and proof of fellowship.

You're like, I got tired of just hearing that.

Let me say it again: community, communion, joint participation, distribution, contribution, a gift jointly contributed, a collection as exhibiting and an embodiment and proof of fellowship.

And some of y'all are like, I wish I had a pen to write that down.

You don't need a pen.

Let me give you a picture.

Last night, the staff and I, we met over here in the conference room before our two Christmas Eve services, just kind of pray and just kind of say, We're good, we're good, we're good, we're good.

All right, we're all good.

And so we're sitting in there, and at the end of the table, I'm at one of the tables, I looked up, and Cody Davis, one of our college kids, who's going to Texas AM, whoop now.

And I say, You can't help yourselves.

You can't help yourself.

Whoop! Shut up.

It's Christmas.

And so Cody's down there, and I wouldn't, I didn't plan on saying this, but I remember being in college and being just broke, broke, broke.

You remember that?

You're just kind of like, I wish I had money.

I would ask a girl out, but I don't have no money, and pretty girls don't like poor boys.

You realize that?

You're kind of like, if I had a dollar, I'd go to the 7-Eleven and get a big gulp.

But I don't.

And so I just said to Cody, hey man, you got any money you can ask a girl out while you're home for the holidays?

And he's like, uh no.

And so I said to everybody around the table, Who's got some extra money on right now?

You can just pull out.

We can just take up a love offering right here.

And the crazy people you go to church with start reaching in their pockets.

Cody, how much you walk away with?

And I said to Cody, I didn't know how much he gave money.

I saw people throwing money out there.

And I said to Cody, while you're home, ask out the best-looking girl you know.

As long as it ain't my kid.

And by the way, that ain't nothing against Cody.

That's a fine young man.

My kid just needs to focus on her academic progress at Baylor.

She's a committed student.

I'm not gonna take for the whole first year.

Who are you FaceTiming with every night?

Well, he's a friend.

She doesn't know, but I've been FaceTiming with him too.

When it's late at night and the demons come, what do you see, son?

Because I see me standing over your body.

Not in night.

Apparently he's having trouble sleeping over the holidays.

I don't know what the deal is.

But hey, here's the thing.

If you're visiting today from out of town, this is free.

You were created by God to experience fellowship.

Just that sense of belonging, that quantinea is the Greek word.

Just that sense of, I'm not alone in this world.

People know me and my junk and they love me anyway.

I don't have to be perfect, I'm gonna have it all together.

I'm just gonna go, hey, good, good, good, good.

Inside you're like, yeah, not God.

Jesus died to rescue you from being a religious poser.

The other thing, he says, so that you may have fellowship with us, and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.

And number two, we're writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

There's two reasons he says I'm writing.

Number one is fellowship.

The second one's joy.

Joy.

Reading those words reminds me of Simeon, the old man in the temple.

Remember, and God told him, Hey, you're not gonna die, you're not gonna depart until you see the Messiah.

And so when Mary and Joseph come after the birth narrative and all that stuff we read last night, they come after eight days to present him to the temple.

And Simeon's standing in there.

And he takes the baby in his arms, the Holy Spirit nudges him and says, Wake up, big boy, here he is.

See, I kept my word.

And he says, Now your servant may depart in peace.

There's a sense of just joyful peace that comes on us when we do what we were created to do.

That is not to have mean-spirited religious conversations.

That means that that which has existed from the which has been from the beginning, which we heard about, which we saw, which we touched, which we we've experienced, which changed our life.

We testify to this, we proclaim this to people.

Why?

Because we want them to have fellowship with us, and our fellowship is with God.

It's not with a religious institution.

Our fellowship is with God.

And you were, this is, by the way, this fellowship is what you were created for.

That's what Adam and Eve forfeited by their disobedience in the garden.

That's why they hid.

That's why the first thing the Bible tells about us, the sound of the God walking in the garden, was man breaking fellowship with God.

And God sends baby Jesus to restore fellowship.

So I don't care how much pot you smoke, how much whiskey you drink, how much money you burned on your addictions, God came to fellowship with you.

And there's a joy that is waiting you.

That's why John says, and we write these things so that our joy may be complete.

So I just, fifth and final question on Christmas morning: is your joy complete?

Someone asked me probably three or four months ago.

They said, uh, when you preach, you seem to enjoy yourself.

Yes.

And I said, it's not just the act of preaching.

That's not that.

That's a sobering, weighty responsibility.

But it, and I said, Oh, well, I'll talk about this on Christmas Day because Christmas Day on Sunday comes like once every seven years.

You got to seize on an opportunity.

I said, I'll talk about it because my joy, as John says, is being completed because I'm telling you, I want you to have fellowship with us.

I want you to have fellowship with God, and I want my joy to be complete because, listen to me and I'm done.

There is a completeness that comes from obedience.

And you don't get anywhere else.

And so I ask you this morning as I close: is your joy complete?

Or is there a conversation you need to have before someone pulls out of your driveway today?

And it doesn't have to be long.

I have unbelieving people in my family.

I love them.

They're crazy dysfunctional and they enjoy prescription drugs way too much.

And I say to them, hey, life's too long and too hard for you not to live, not to experience what you were created for.

And sometimes they say thank you, and sometimes they say, That's enough, preacher man.

I'm like, one sentence?

That's all you can take?

And that's the answer is yes.

So I don't chase them down the driveway and throw Bibles in the window.

Take this, you sinner.

I just wave.

And I look at my kids and say, hey, that's my family.

I love them.

Now, by the way, that started when they were 14.

It's my brother.

All that you see that started when he was 14.

I know it's it's no big deal.

He's 53 now.

It's a big deal.

It's a real big deal.

Because in the beginning, you choose it, there comes a point it starts choosing you.

And my joy is complete.

Love him.

My joy is complete.

There's a completeness, there's a fullness to your joy.

There's a waxy seal that God puts over the top of your joy when you make known what's been revealed to you.

Let's pray together.

Just take a moment and just ask the Holy Spirit what he said to you today.

If you're a guest, relax.

What we like to do is just teach the Bible in all its gusto and rigor.

And then we'd like to give you some soul space just to think about it.

And so that's what we're gonna do this morning.

We're gonna just give you some soul space to think about it.

And so Clive's just gonna play and he may sing something over you.

And just ask yourself, what'd you hear today?

What had your name on it?

Don't try to take all of it with you.

Just take one or two sentences or maybe a question or two.

But just kind of ask the Lord, because He speaks a language you understand.

He's not hard to understand.

He's very clear.

So just think about that for a moment.

Father, we understand from the Bible this morning that the nature of the incarnation is progressive.

It's not static.

It doesn't come to us and stay.

No, it it on that starry night.

You said to those shepherds, go see this thing I've told you about.

And the rhythm of their obedience is what we see in 1 John.

What they'd heard about, they came and saw, what they looked upon.

It was a very tangible, demonstratable reality.

It's not a higher ethic or a better way of life.

It's not just us using you to feel better about us or get more stuff.

It's a living, breathing, incarnational God who put on flesh and came into this world, who moved into the neighborhood, knocked on our door, invited us over for dinner.

Because we try to convince ourselves that we're not hungry.

And then we smell what you're cooking and we're starving.

And so, Lord, I pray that we would taste and see that the Lord is good.

That our appetites would be quelled and our understanding would increase.

And so, Lord, I pray that at the end of our lives that we could look at those around our deathbed and just smile and say, all this for a king.

Let us do what we do for you and not for ourselves.

We pray this in Jesus' name when everyone said.

Amen.

If you're our guest today, let me say thanks for being part of our service.

When you came in your hand little worship folder, if you had an opportunity to fill that out, if you'd just tear it up on there, ask for some personal information on the inside.

It has information about a church, there's a little part on the far right side.

If you had a chance to fill it out, if you'll just tear it off, drop it one of these wooden boxes by the doors.

That's also where we receive our offering.

So if today's the day you practice obedience or generosity, that's where you do that as well.

Uh myself and Clyde will be available down front.

If you have any questions about anything you heard or saw, uh, we'd love to answer those.

And if you're done and you're going to start the Christmas festivities, as soon as you're dismissed, grab your kids and run out of here like your hair's on fire.

Now stand to your feet.

Hold your hands out and speak a blessing over you.

The incarnation by nature is progressive.

It existed, you heard about it, it was historical and distant, and you saw it, it was revealed to you in tangible ways, and you responded to it.

Now depart.

Which is a church word for get out of here and make known what's been made known to you.

For in doing this, your joy will be complete.

In the name of the Father, and the Son, the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Bless you.

You're dismissed.