Christmas Day

Let's pray.

Father, many of us have just spent our entire life celebrating Christmas.

We have no memory of a time that we didn't celebrate Christmas.

And Father, it can lose its wonder and its mystery and even its grip on us.

And you know that, Father. You know that about us.

And so we ask, Lord, that the Holy Spirit would bring these words deeply into our hearts.

That amidst the ways that we will celebrate today and over the next few days and all the other ways that we've celebrated.

That the wonder of Jesus and who he is and the wonder of the cradle that led to a life, that led to the cross, that led to the grave.

That that would be brought home to our hearts in a deep way.

And we ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.

Please be seated.

It's, I've been thinking a little bit about darkness and over the last little while.

And I guess I've been really struck by two things that have been in the newspaper just recently.

And I have to, of course, qualify all of this, that it's in the newspaper.

So I don't know if the reports are accurate.

I'm just going by the newspaper accounts.

And so that's just a very important caveat.

And the first one is those eight girls, 12, I think some of them were as young as 12 and the oldest were 16,

that met on social media and met somewhere in Toronto area, I believe, and killed a homeless man.

And I've thought about that a fair bit.

It's just, it's really, you know, it illustrates how, like in our culture, we want to maybe try to psychoanalyze that.

And maybe they haven't said anything about the ethnic or cultural backgrounds or, you know,

whether the kids had been traumatized by abusive dads or had been from a war zone.

And maybe if that eventually came out, our natural inclination as a culture is to try to figure out some type of biological or sociological ways to explain something,

which is just part of the evil of it.

It just seems to be just so willful and random.

Like it wasn't as if he attacked one of them and they sprang to that person.

They just seem to think, let's just kill a guy.

And it really reveals that, you know, at the end of the day, our culture doesn't want to acknowledge that there's just this mystery of evil.

That evil is a bit of a mystery.

And it's a mystery that frightens us.

You know, and it's an evil that we type to deny.

The other thing that's, and I've just been thinking about this since I'd missed it in the news.

I think it's Thursday.

It was in, I've discovered about Thursday.

I went and looked it up.

And this, according to the paper, this principle that basically just assumed at a local elementary school here in Ottawa that kid,

and in effect what she did is just that kids were fundamentally basically good,

that there should be no consequences to their action.

There should be no discipline.

That everything should be completely and utterly kid-centered.

And that there just should be nothing, like nothing to limit them or constrain them.

They should, we as adults, the teachers just needed to listen.

And, and, and, and by the way, it seems as if, at least from the press releases,

as if the school boards think this is a very, very good way to do that,

and they haven't disciplined the principal.

But the result was that kids didn't go to class, and bullies terrorized younger kids.

And, and teachers that wanted to bring some accountability to this or stop it got functionally fired.

Like, so on one hand, we have this evil, and we have this other idea that we don't want to,

we don't want to face the fact that there's this darkness, this evil that's in the world.

Like I mentioned last night that, I mean, and this isn't anything new,

that it appears reporting, once again, according to news reports,

that Russia uses indiscriminate bombing and, and raping as a means to try to control the Ukrainian people.

And if you followed what happened in Middle East for decades,

the entire structure of Palestinian, well, it's just they, they target civilians.

Like they target civilians.

Not just accidentally, they, they do it on purpose.

And, you know, if we think about it at all for, for a moment,

if we have any type of self-reflection,

every single one of us, there's a mystery of evil and darkness within every single one of us.

Like not all the time, maybe for some of us it feels like all the time.

But, you know, our friend or somebody just says a very kind word or nice word to us

and we do, we say something back to them that's snarky or puts them down.

Or we, we have a chance to be generous or helpful and, and we, we just knowingly don't do it.

Or we have an opportunity to be more forgiving or more loving

and it's as if we come up to that and then we just walk away from it.

And there's not, and afterwards we might say it's because of this or because of that or because of that.

But the fact of the matter is, is that there's just parts of us that just do bad things.

We just do them.

And yeah, maybe sometimes we could psychoanalyze them

and sometimes we could say there's context.

But the fact of the matter is that if you were at all self-reflective,

you know that there is something that is dark and chooses evil within you.

Now this might seem like a very odd thing to talk about on Christmas morning,

but actually the gospel text is going to talk about it in a way which brings great hope.

In fact, in a way that if you are present or watching

and you don't call yourself a follower of Jesus,

I, I would hope that by the end of it, you want it to be true.

Your mind might still think it's impossible to be true,

but that you actually could see it and say, I'd love that to be true.

Now we're going to be looking at very abstract things.

And before we go any further, we want to get the details of the story straight.

So if we, we're going to watch a short little video

called The Wrong Christmas that'll just get the fundamental parts of the story straight up for us.

And in the same region, there were shepherds out in the field,

keeping watch over their flock by night.

And an angel of the Lord appeared to them,

and the glory of the Lord shone around them.

And they were filled with great fear.

And the angel said to them, Fear not,

for behold, I bring you good news of great joy

that will be for all the people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior,

who is Christ the Lord.

And this will be a sign for you.

You will find a king wearing a magnificent crown.

No, Dad, that's not it.

Oh, really?

Let me try it again.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior,

who is Christ the Lord.

And this will be a sign for you.

You will find a powerful, well-trained soldier.

No, Dad, you did it again.

That's not right.

Okay, how about this?

And this will be a sign for you.

You will find a democratically elected president.

What? No.

A trendy motivational speaker.

No way.

A big tech CEO.

A movie star.

Time-traveling cyborg.

No, no, none of those are right.

The shepherds, we couldn't find any of those.

Okay, then, little Miss Noah doll.

What did they find?

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior,

who is Christ the Lord.

And this will be a sign for you.

You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.

Oh, that's right.

A baby.

Does that even make sense?

A baby is totally helpless.

Yeah, but if Jesus didn't come as a baby,

then he would have known what it was like to grow up.

Ah, but wait.

Why did he have to grow up?

That's easy.

To save us.

Ah, well then that means that the best part about Christmas is...

The baby.

Right, the baby.

Oh, well, I guess it's time you get some sleep.

We got a big day ahead of us tomorrow.

No, we're not done with the story.

Okay, just a little longer.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host

praising God and saying glory to God in the highest

and on earth peace among those with whom he was.

One of the things which is so wonderful and powerful about the Christian faith

is that not only there's very simple stories,

but at the same time those stories are connected to very profound

and beautiful and wise and true ideas.

And in fact, you know, we're going to read John 1 verses...

If you have your Bibles, you can turn to John chapter 1.

John 1 · chapter mention

We're going to begin reading it in a moment.

But if Jesus hadn't risen from the dead,

if the grave hadn't been empty, we wouldn't know anything about Jesus.

He would have just been one of the hundreds of thousands of people

who died by crucifixion.

Completely irrelevant.

And even if Jesus had risen from the dead,

if he had risen from the dead and it was just like a random event,

like Louise rose from the dead or I rose from the dead or something like that,

that would just be weird.

But the fact is that the resurrection,

his death upon the cross and his resurrection

was connected to this long story and series of writings.

And it was connected to these very, very, very profound ideas.

And it's because of that that we recognize that...

I mean, that's why these things are written,

because it's not just some, like, random weird thing.

It's connected to these centuries of prophecies

and these profound and wise ideas.

And as I've shared before,

they are, in fact, the basis of human rights.

They are the basis of justice.

They are the basis of the dignity of human beings.

They are the basis for science.

These are very profound ideas,

and it's within this very big context

that we have Jesus dying and rising from the dead,

and then people looking back and thinking about Jesus

and what he taught,

and then telling the story.

And out of all of the ways that the story of Jesus was told,

there's four ancient biographies.

John is the one who most nests this story

and these profound ideas.

So let's listen to how he begins the story of Jesus.

Chapter 1, verse 1 of John.

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,

of the human race.

The light shines in the darkness,

and the darkness is not overcoming.

Now, you see there a little bit for a moment

why I was reflecting upon darkness,

and we're going to get back to it in a moment,

because part of our deep hope

is that on one hand there's darkness within us

that we don't want light to shine into it.

But really, for those of us

who've had our darkness exposed by the true light,

there is nothing more freeing

than having the darkness exposed

and dealt with by the true light.

Like, we don't want it,

but after it's happened,

we're very deeply grateful that it's happened.

And it also expresses this profound hope

that the darkness within us won't consume us,

that the darkness in the world won't win,

that there is, in fact, a darkness in the world,

but there is a true light

that will never be overcome by the darkness.

But let's look just again,

just before to get that,

just very briefly.

Look at verse 1 again.

In the beginning was the Word,

and the Word was with God,

and the Word was God.

You know, it's very interesting.

I was thinking about this week again,

and, you know,

so scientists have put different things out,

hoping that if there's aliens out there,

they'll hear our messages

or they'll see something.

And it would be interesting to figure out

how scientists try to come up with something

that's language

that an alien would recognize as language.

And I'm sure there's some type of an intentional pattern

that can't be random.

It can't just be noise.

And so it's the very, very same thing here.

Like, our brightest scientists

are trying to figure out the same type of things

that John uses 2,000 years earlier

to describe,

to try to begin to describe the Trinity

and who Jesus is.

And it's very clever if you think about it.

If you were to go up

and you were to be God's advisor,

and God said to you,

I want to try to communicate in simple language

something about who Jesus is

and the reality of the Trinity.

And I want you to try to do it in such a way

that the Politburo in China,

that a semi-nomadic bushman in the,

or semi-nomadic tribes people in the Kalahari,

that they'll all be able to grasp it.

And you'd go, wow, like, that's quite a task.

And then he says, oh, and by the way,

it has to be something that will work,

like, in the second century,

and it has to be something that will work

in every century.

And you'd think, wow, that's really quite a task.

But what John says is he uses word.

Word.

Human beings use words.

A word shows intention.

It shows a desire to communicate.

It shows a desire to connect.

It sends a message.

It's personal.

And you could go on and on and on

and just reflect it.

And for those of you who are musicians or poets,

you could probably write,

or philosophers or theologians,

you could write a long type of things

about how brilliant it was

to try to communicate something

about the nature of the Trinity.

That there's, and that's how we look at it again.

First one, in the beginning,

that's before there's anything,

before the Big Bang was the Word.

And then the Word was with God.

And the original language, the word with,

there's more than two different ways,

but there's two different words

that can, in the original language,

communicate with.

One would be that I've put this cup with a table,

that two impersonal objects.

And the other word is,

Louise is with me at the service

of two persons.

And the word which is used here for with

is not the word to say that the cup is with the table,

but is the way of expressing that Louise is with me

or I am with Louise.

It's communicating that the word

is a person who's with God,

who's a person.

The word is God,

and the word was with God,

and the word was God.

And then again, he says it again,

verse two, look at that.

He was in the beginning with God.

Just to make sure we understand it,

it's all very simple.

All things that were made,

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 humanity.

The light shines in the darkness,

and the darkness has not overcome it.

Claire, if you could put up that little image for me.

So once again, as with last night,

the church gave me permission to hire

the most expensive graphic designers imaginable

to come up with this image.

We spent tens of thousands of dollars,

as you can tell.

And you just look at this for a second.

Just like it's one of the things,

even if you get nothing else other than this diagram,

just to puzzle over.

You think about it for a second,

how human thought works,

and what our longings and yearnings are like.

And I think if you think about this for a moment,

in these very simple categories

that the Gospel of John has given here,

you'd come to the conclusion

that you might say,

you know, I'm an agnostic,

or I'm a Muslim,

or I'm a Buddhist,

or I'm just a secular person.

I'm just a person who likes to go to drag shows.

Like, I'm just a secular person.

But if you understand this,

you'd say, you know what,

I don't know if Christianity is true,

but you know what,

for the first time,

I wish it was true.

Because look at what he does.

There's two different ways

to think about things.

It's like, you look at B,

and B is that life exists,

but it's not connected to light.

And that's, in a sense,

like what secularism is in many, many ways,

that we have life that's created

in one particular,

you know, through evolutionary processes.

But it's not connected to light.

It's not connected to insight or revelation.

You can have life without light.

I mean, animals have life,

but don't have light.

They don't have an ability to understand,

to discern,

to see into the mystery of reality,

into the mystery of themselves.

They're just animals.

And many people in our culture

struggle with the idea

that really, at the end of the day,

a human being is just an animal.

In fact, even not that,

we're just a clump of cells.

And consider for a second number,

you know, C.

C.

That's this idea that there is light,

that there is ways to see

and understand everything,

but it's not connected to life.

Because at the end of the day,

we all die.

And part of the tragedy

of being a human being

is that we have the light

to understand that

everything will just end in death.

And life is just something

that's borrowed for a short season.

And for some human beings,

a very, very, very short season.

And then at the end of the day,

you die.

And then consider

the most despairing of all,

which is the letter D.

That, you know,

at the end of the day,

you know,

if you were to really take

evolutionary theory

and the naturalism

which creates it,

at the end of the day,

you can't really believe

there is such a thing

as mind or reason.

You believe things

just because

that's just the processes

that have led you

to think.

The cognitions

are just mental events

that happen

inside of you

that are caused

by physical

and other types of events.

And they're just,

they just,

they're not really connected

to the real.

And at the end of the day,

we all die.

And in fact,

the matter is,

is that given that

there's just matter in motion,

there's not really

any fundamental difference

between life and death.

If you think about it

in terms of,

you know,

philosophical types of things,

at the end,

in the Eastern religions,

light is,

or conscious,

moral conscience

and mental insight

is something that

is a bit of an illusion

because everything

is just one.

And when everything

is just one,

it's not really

any different than death.

But we as human beings,

what do we really hope?

We really hope for A.

We really hope

that life

is connected to light,

that life is good,

that it's a value,

that it's something

to be celebrated,

that it's right

to celebrate

the birth of a baby

and to celebrate birthdays.

And that there is

such a thing as light,

there is such a thing

as insight,

and that these two things

are connected.

They're not at war

with each other,

they're not

sort of two random things

that might come together,

just like two random cars

that meet at an intersection

and have a traffic accident.

They're not just random,

that there must be

something connected to life

that's connected to light.

And that's what we long for.

And then look again

at verse four.

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.

Now,

this is going to make

a very profound story

about who is in the cradle.

And to help us

to understand,

we're going to watch

another mini-movie,

The Silence

and the Fury.

It was that silent night

when the stars

turned their gaze

to marvel at the earth,

when the heavens

gathered breathless

round a lowly stable,

when a young mother

wept tears of worship

falling on the baby

in her arms,

and the song

of the earth

arose in Bethlehem,

soft as the tender

beating of his heart.

And all was calm,

all was bright.

Yet could this be

the same God of Abraham,

the conqueror of Israel,

this baby,

this fragile life?

Is this child

the one who burned

his name in rapture,

across the gasping skies?

Whose voice spoke

the oceans

into crashing rhythms?

Who crafted the mountains

into guardians

of the firmament?

Whose hand ignited

the thirst of the deserts

and the warring surge

of the elemental hosts?

Who breathed life

from dust?

Broke the oppressor's rule,

scattered the chains

of his people like sand,

and led them

through the wilderness

with the pillar of flame?

Is this child

the one whose presence

billowed thunderous

on Sinai's peak?

Who surrounded Job

with the roaring wind,

stood defiant

in the raging furnace,

wrote judgment

against tyrants,

emblazed on the lips

of the prophets,

scorching history's pages

with the fury

of his might?

God's death,

could this be the same God

who chose to come

as the vulnerable king,

setting his throne

on straw and manger,

drawing forth the tears

of shepherds,

receiving the gifts

of wandering travelers,

his fame unknown

in this world?

God's death,

God's death,

God's death,

God's death,

God's death,

God's death,

God's death,

God's death,

God's death,

He is Jesus,

the one who thunders

through the heavens,

yet whispers

to our hearts,

who reigns victorious,

yet bows

to serve the broken.

He is God

in the fury,

God in the silence.

He holds this mystery

balanced in His hands,

holds our questions

till they lose their need,

until all we see

is Him.

Jumping ahead a little bit,

but many of you know this,

that this whole beginning bit,

the first five verses,

is going to culminate

in verse 14,

where John will say

the Word became flesh.

And it's making this claim

that in the cradle

was the Word.

And on the cross,

there was the Word.

And it's also in this video

very helpfully saying

that this Word

is part of a bigger story.

It's not just God,

but it's a story

that began thousands of years

before the birth of the Word.

Let's look at verse 6

of John chapter 1.

John 1 · chapter mention

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.

Right?

So now,

one of the ways to describe

this word is light.

That's another name

for Jesus.

Light.

When you see the cradle,

you're seeing light

entering our fallen world.

when you see the cross,

you're seeing light

dying for darkness.

And then verse 8,

He was not the light,

but came to bear witness

about the light.

And one of the things,

if you go on to read

the rest of the Gospel of John,

and if you read

the other ancient biographies

of Jesus,

you'll see that Jesus

makes the claim

that John was the last

of the prophets,

that he is the greatest

of the prophets.

And the reason he is

the greatest of the prophets

is actually going to come

a little bit later on,

if you go on and read

another 20 or so verses

in the Gospel of John,

is that,

you know,

John,

Jesus in John chapter 12

John 12 · chapter mention

says that Isaiah,

over 700 years before Jesus,

that Isaiah saw Jesus' glory

and spoke of it.

We talked about,

we read that in Isaiah chapter 9.

Isaiah 9 · chapter mention

But Isaiah sees it in some ways.

He sees a word,

he sees a vision

700 plus years before.

But John,

out of all of the prophets,

John is the one

who's standing there one day

and he watches Jesus come by

and he points to Jesus

and says,

behold the Lamb of God

who takes away

the sin of the world.

Like,

that's,

you see that guy there?

You see that guy there?

He still has a little bit

of tabouli in his beard.

He missed after lunch.

You see that guy?

That,

that's the Lamb of God

who takes away

the sin of the world.

That's,

that's the one

who God shouts from heaven,

this is my beloved son

with whom I am well pleased.

That's him right there.

That's the,

the claim

that

John the Apostle

is making about

John the Baptist.

And it's not just

that we have these,

remember I said

at the beginning,

maybe you don't,

that we have these

like very profound ideas

and so the life and death

and resurrection of Jesus

are connected

to these profound ideas

but it's not just ideas,

it's a profound story

and it's a very important story

because,

well actually,

if you could put up the slide

the true and greater story,

that would be very helpful.

Once again,

you can see that I,

we hired the same group

of graphic designers

to come up with

a cutting edge design

and I think I,

the one I have up there,

yeah,

I didn't,

I didn't put chapter numbers.

This is in a sense

the story of the world.

It's the story of the Bible

and the,

and the Bible claims

this is the true story

of the world.

It's the true story

of the universe

that you have

all those,

however you want

to understand it,

you have all these eons

and you have God

having a good creation

and that's chapter one

and two.

It comes out of the fact

that the triune God,

the word was with God

and the word was God

and together

they made everything that is

and they made everything that is

and it's very good.

That's the first two chapters

of the book of Genesis

and then you have the fall.

This is where evil

enters into our world

and evil is a type of absence.

It's a type of a brokenness.

It's a type of a shielding the light

so that the light can't,

in a sense,

or at least they think foolishly

that it can't penetrate

and it touches everything

in a human being

and some,

even if it's just

the tiniest of ways

and sometimes in very,

very deep ways

that there is now

this part within us

that is bent,

that's broken,

that's dark

and it touches everything

about what it means

to be a human being

and that God,

seeing our great need,

right back in Genesis 3,

he makes the promise

that we cannot fix ourselves

so he is going to provide

a means by which

we can be,

you know,

we've broken ourselves

by trying to be God

and that still fundamentally

describes human experience

that we act at different times

as if we're God

and that's a profound brokenness.

It's a profound,

it leads to all sorts of evil.

It leads to failure

to do what we should

and it leads to doing

what we shouldn't

and God sees

that we can't fix ourselves

so he promises

and prepares the means

by which God

will come into our world

and fix what we cannot

fix of ourselves

and that's in a sense,

it begins with Genesis 3

at the end

and it goes right

to the end of Malachi.

It's the time of promise

and preparation

and in a sense,

it ends with John the Baptist

and when John the Baptist

points at Jesus

and says,

you see that guy there?

He's the one

that God the Father said,

this is my beloved son,

you know,

listen to him.

This is the Lamb of God

who will take away

the sin of the world.

This is the one

that prophets

have been prophesying

about for centuries

and centuries

and centuries.

2,000 years

they've been prophesying,

1,400 years

they've been prophesying

that this is the one,

this is the one

and his name is Jesus

and so when we see the cradle

and we see his life

and we see the cross,

this is God's

keeping his promise.

This is the end

of preparation has come

and God has provided

the means by which

human beings

can be made right

with him

and then after Jesus

we are in the time

right now,

we are in what they call

the last days

and I describe it

as the already not yet

and it's the already not yet

because on one hand

when you put your faith

and trust in Jesus

as we're going to see

in a moment,

he gives us the right

to become God's children

and Jesus,

Jesus' death

is a purification

for our sins,

we now belong to him,

we become his children

by adoption and grace,

we have the Holy Spirit

present in our lives

and so on one hand

we have the already

of what is going to be

the final thing

but on the other hand

it's still the not yet

because the not yet

won't come until Jesus returns

and that is both

the end of all things

and the beginning

of all things

and this is the true story

of the universe,

it's the story

of the Bible

and it's very important

because we live our lives

in Canada

as if we are characters

in the movie Inception

and many of you

maybe haven't seen

that movie Inception

but it's a movie

from Christopher Nolan

about 12 years ago,

it's a very fascinating movie

and some of you

have seen it,

you know there's a big debate

about the end

which I'm not going

to enter into

but what the movie

is about

is the movie

is about

entering into dreams

and using dreams

to change things

in people's consciousness

and so they have

this device

that they can enter

into a dream

and the fellow

is trying to explain

to a young woman

who has this ability

to do it

like what is a dream

and how do you know

whether you're in a dream

or not in a dream

and one of the ways

that they describe

that you know

you're in a dream

and you think about it

in fact my daughter

was telling me

about a dream

she had last night

and in a dream

we're just there

we don't know

how we got in that house

we don't know

you know

why we have goats

we don't know

why we're doing things

all of a sudden

we're just there

and all of a sudden

it's just over

and there's in a sense

no beginning

and no end

and that fundamentally

is what secular Canada

is like

we have no real beginning

and if that actually

if you think about it

a lot of the stuff

that's going on

around identity

and identity politics

on one hand

there's one aspect

of our culture

that wants to try

to trace everything

back to

being some type

of mechanistic

mechanistic product

of our race

just as

you know

a few years ago

it used to be

that you trace

everything back

to whether your mother

treated you

the right way

or the wrong way

and that could explain

all your problems

and there's always

been that aspect

of us

of trying to discover

something to explain

the darkness within us

and the darkness

of the world

but at the end of the day

it doesn't work

because evil is a mystery

we just choose it

and only this bigger story

of the fall

explains it

but for most of us

we just

it's as if we have

no beginning

we're just there

and we don't think about

evolution

we don't think about

what comes next

we just have this present

and the Bible

gives us

the true story

of the world

and what the Bible

says is that

every single one of us

when we are born

every one of us

we were born

in the already not yet

and this is where we are

like in a sense

if I was able

to be put

a little arrow

about where are you

you know

like in a mall

where are you

that little dot

would point to right here

we're in the already not yet

and so when I'm born

I'm born as one

who comes into a story

that begins with a good creation

that has the fall

and I am implicated

in the fall

there is a darkness

and an evil

and a brokenness

and a privation

that touches everything

that is within me

and I cannot fix myself

and it is just there

and there has been a time

of promise and preparation

which I can read about

and I can hear about

when I read the Bible

and there has been God's

keeping his promise

and ending his preparation

and providing a means

by which we can become

God's children

by adoption of grace

and that's Jesus

and we live here

in the already and not yet

and we don't know

if maybe even before

the end of this service

the end of all things

will come with the return

of Jesus

and it's the end of all things

the judging of the living

and the dead

and then there's the beginning

of the new heaven

and the new earth

it is both the end

and the beginning

and every single one of us

the meaning of our life

is that we are born

in the already not yet

and in every single human being

there comes a fork in the road

and because God

is a gracious God

he doesn't just give us

one fork

because after we choose

the wrong fork in the road

he gives us another fork

and another fork

and another fork

and another fork

because his desire is

that we will realize

that if we continue

in our way

our end will be

God's judgment

and his desire for us

is God desires

not the death of a sinner

but rather that he would

turn from his wickedness

and live

and time and time again

even today

even at this moment

I am saying

there's a fork in the road

and God is calling you

to choose that fork

that involves turning

from

you've spent your life

keeping God at a distance

and turning your back to him

and God is calling you

to stop

to turn

to lay down your sword

and shield

and to kneel

and to say to Jesus

not go away

but come

and when you do that

he will come

and the end of your story

is one

where the father

smiles at you

and says

you are the one

who accepted my son

I have loved you

with an everlasting

and eternal love

and I am so glad

that you have come

to be with me

and welcome

into my new creation

why does Jesus do this?

he does it for love

let's look at another

short mini movie

the spoken word

Christmas

why?

why

why

did Jesus

come to earth

why

forsake the majesty

and fellowship

of heaven

exchanging

a palace

for a stable

immortal comforts

for a feeding trough

and robes

of glory

for the feeble

body

of an infant

an unparalleled

irony

this supreme

unrivaled nobility

experiencing absolute

and total

humility

our sovereign God

Emmanuel

as a baby

he didn't come

to heap shame

upon sinners

or to judge

and cast out

the impious

but to break bread

with those called

unrighteous

he didn't come

to illuminate

every mystery

of the cosmos

or to enlighten

the intellectual

but to fulfill

the testimony

of prophets

clothed in rags

he didn't come

to elevate

a single nation

or to advocate

a particular

political affiliation

he came because

he saw you

broken

in need of salvation

he saw you

lost

and abandoned

crying out

surrounded

by deaf ears

fighting through

the tears

but beaten down

by the torments

of this world

and unable

to bear

your distress

he renounced

his eternal throne

walked the earth

bore the stripes

accepted the nails

and gave up

his last breath

so that you

could receive

the breath

of life

our God

our holy

infinite God

beheld your pain

perceived

your heart

and determined

that your soul

was worth dying for

from the manger

to the cross

to the empty tomb

it is all

a story

of profound

love

of a savior

who rescued

his children

from darkness

of a blameless

king

who declared

that no sacrifice

was too great

for the sake

of his beloved

creation

why did Jesus

come to earth

he came

for you

as we bring

things to a

close

mindful of that

let's listen

to the last

few words

of John's

introduction

to the

biography

of Jesus

verse 9

the true light

which gives

light to everyone

was coming

into the world

that's why

John the Baptist

was here

to prepare

people

for the fact

that the true light

was going to

actually enter

into our world

he was in the world

verse 10

in other words

he actually did come

and in a moment

you'll see

if you were to go back

and read John 1

that moment

that first moment

where Jesus

where John says

look at that guy there

that's the lamb of God

that takes away

the sin of the world

that's who he is

right there

he was in the world

verse 10

and the world

was made through him

just to be clear

and yet the world

did not know him

he came to his own

and his own people

did not receive him

that's that time

of preparation

and promise

but verse 12

this is now

talking about

Jesus

and the already

not yet

those of us

look what it says

verse 12

but to all who did

receive him

who believed in his name

that's how we become

a Christian

we receive him

into us

we believe

we trust in him

and receive him

inside

verse 12

but to all who did

receive him

who believed in his name

he gave the right

to become

the children of God

the adopted child

of the triune God

how were we born

into this

not of blood

nor of the will

of the flesh

in other words

it's not something

natural

it's not something

that comes

out of my will

nor is it something

social

the will of man

that's bestowed upon us

the only way

that we have that

is of God

God gives it

God's accomplished it

verse 14

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

that is the gospel

we're going to watch

one more mini movie

and then I'll ask you

to stand

and we'll close

in prayer

and while they were there

the time came

for the baby

to be born

she gave birth

to her firstborn

a son

and she wrapped him

in cloths

and placed him

in a manger

because there was

no room for them

in the inn

where does the

creator of the universe

send his son

where does the

prince of peace

make his entrance

a barn

a stable

a manger

of all places

certainly no place

fit for a king

but then again

this was no ordinary king

the savior is born

in a stable

so there are animals

and uh

animal stuff

manure

mud

a pitiful place

for a human

much less

the king of kings

so

why

why would he do that

because

the shepherd

was coming

to care for his sheep

to make a way

for his sheep

and that's what

shepherds do

they

live where the sheep

are

they eat where they eat

and they sleep

where they sleep

and this will be

a sign to you

you will find the babe

wrapped in cloths

and lying in a manger

you ever thought

about that sign

sign for what

maybe

it is a sign

that Jesus

is accessible

to everyone

maybe it's a sign

that

the God

who owns

the cattle

on a thousand hills

can relate

to a homeless person

that God

will have nothing

to do

with the social

status

of mankind

either way

it's a sign

for all of us

to go

and do

likewise

you see

later

Paul would write

these words

that you should

have the same

attitude

as Jesus Christ

who being

in the nature

God

did not consider

equality

with God

something to be grasped

but he humbled himself

he made himself

nothing

becoming a servant

becoming a human

likeness

creator

who had been served

since before the dawn

of time

stepped out of heaven

to become a servant

who does that

the God

who's laid in a manger

a messy

feeding trough

yeah

why such a messy place

because he came

to save messy people

so

that first Christmas

was dirty

grimy

filthy

it was messy

but

thank God

it was

because without it

what a mess

we'd be in

I want to invite you

to stand

and close

in closing

let's pray

father we give you

thanks and praise

that in Christ

we can have hope

that in Christ

we know

that the darkness

will not overcome

the light

that death

will not win

that life

will win

that you know us

in all of our

particularity

and all of

those parts of us

that are very good

and bright and shiny

and those parts

that are very very dark

and from which we look away

you even see

when we get so fascinated

with the light

of our accomplishments

that it becomes

a darkness of pride

and narcissism

and you knew all these things

until you came

to be born in a manger

to live amongst us

to die on a cross

to taste all there is

to taste of death

to defeat sin

and death

and hell itself

and your death

and resurrection

and we thank you

that you did it all

out of love for us

and we ask father

that you would help

to make this gospel

this good news

more real to us

at a deeper

and deeper level

that it might be

the story

that we live out of

that we might know

that the end

of our story

in you

is to be welcomed

by our father

in heaven

and that this is his world

that you hear our prayers

that you want us

to have more light

and life

as we walk

day by day

until he returns

or until we see you

face to face in death

father grant us this hope

make it deep within

and we ask these things

in the name of Jesus

your son and our savior

amen