Noah & Baby Jesus

hear your word. We acknowledge before you that unless your Holy Spirit moves in our minds and

hearts and wills, we cannot truly properly understand your word or receive it. So Father,

we ask that your Holy Spirit would do such a work in our minds and hearts and wills in the depths of

our souls, so that we might hear and understand your word, and not just, Father, to hear your word,

but to be doers of your word as well, that we might bear fruit for your glory. And this we ask in the

name of Jesus, your Son, and our Savior. Amen. Please be seated. I was going to stand up there for my

sermon, but we're a small little intimate group, and it would feel funny me standing up there for

an intimate gathering. I love looking at bumper stickers in cars. It's one of those things that

I like looking at bumper stickers, but I don't like having a car with a bumper sticker myself.

Anyway, probably I would put bumper stickers on my car if I got around to it, but I'd end up

probably regretting it after I put them on. I think they were funny or cute or absurd or something,

and then I'd be a bit embarrassed by it. But the other day, last Sunday, in fact, just this past

Sunday, when I was leaving the church to start to drive home, I saw a car with this bumper sticker on.

Hopefully, Andrew has it. There you go. You must have seen this bumper sticker coexist on different

cars. Sort of an interesting bumper sticker. There you sort of have, you know, peace, and underneath,

I think, if you were to blow it up, you'd see the different Christian, different faiths, Jewish,

Muslim, Taoism, a variety of different faiths, sort of all represented by it. I don't, maybe afterwards,

I'll find out that one of you has this bumper sticker on your car, and you can tell me why you

have it on your car. I never feel threatened by it or anything like that. I just sort of, I think

often it probably means some type of syncretist. That's a big $100 word that just means that a lot

of people in Canada believe it doesn't matter what path you follow or what religion you follow,

we all end up in the same place. And if we're all going to end up in the same place, we might as well

coexist and get along with each other. But the interesting thing about this past Sunday,

when I saw this bumper sticker on the car, the same car had another bumper sticker right beside it.

Andrew? Fiction.

So they obviously weren't syncretists, who just thought that all the different faiths are going

to get, you know, should just get along because we're all going to end up in the same place.

This particular car, actually it had a couple in it. So either it was that the man thought one

thing and the woman thought the other thing, and they'd have interesting conversations when they

drove. Or it meant that that was sort of their view, that, you know, once again, you see the

different faiths represented up there in the words that spells out the word fiction. So I guess for

this, the people in this particular car, they have the view that since all of the different religious

faiths and spiritualities are fictions, they might as well get along with each other. I mean,

it would be the same thing as like, why should people who like reading Jane Austen get into big

fights with people who like watching The Walking Dead? Like they're both just fictions. You might

as well just get along with each other. It'd be silly to get into any type of a fight over something

which is just, just a fiction. And, but, but here's the thing about this, and it sort of fits in with

Christmas and stuff, is that, Andrew, if you could put up the first point, Christians should often seem

like atheists or agnostics. That's going to be my first sort of comment. I think that in Canada,

it should often be that Christians seem like atheists or agnostics. Now that sort of maybe is a bit of a

puzzling idea to some of you, that we should seem like atheists or agnostics. But I think that, I think,

I think what we're going to look at in the, in the Tower of Babel in a few moments and in John's

Gospel, I think I can show you that that's in fact, that why we often must seem, why we should seem

like this. Andrew, if you could put up the next slide. Christians, the reason that we should often

seem like atheists or agnostics is I think that we should agree with atheists and agnostics that men

and women cannot know God by the working of their minds or hearts or wills. I think that's something

that we should agree with. That, that, in fact, so there might only be a very small number of hardcore

atheists who deny that you could, that there's a God that exists or hardcore agnostics that would

believe that even if there is a God that does exist, you couldn't possibly know it. And, and I think

that on a fundamental level, Christians should agree with this. They should say, I think you're

completely and utterly correct. I think there's good reasons to accept what you say, that it's very,

very hard to know whether or not there is a God that exists or whether we should practice any of

these particular faiths at least, because it's, I think it's probably correct that it's hard to know

whether God does exist just by the exercising of our minds or hearts or wills. The idea that

Christians should support just general spirituality is, well, in fact, I don't think that's a biblical

idea at all. And we can sort of see a little bit that it's not a biblical idea if we look at the story

of the Tower of Babel. But before we do this, I'm going to show a movie clip, which, well, I mean,

the people who wrote the Coexist bumper sticker and the people who wrote the fiction bumper sticker

wouldn't agree with this. But I'm going to show you this interesting little video, or Andrew will,

and it sort of shows why it is that we would begin looking at Christmas by talking about the Tower of

Babel, which is way back early on in the Bible. So with this very Christian idea that, in fact,

there's one ultimate author of scripture and that the whole, all of the Bible has one primary theme

and points to one primary person and what that one primary person does, if you have your Bibles,

let's look again at Genesis chapter 11, which is the story of the Tower of Babel. Tower of Babel,

Genesis 11 · chapter mention

I don't know how you pronounce it, actually. I'll just say Babel. And Genesis right at the beginning

of the Bible. And listen to this story again. It's a very, very curious story. The book of Genesis,

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

chapters 1 to 11, are the basic introduction. They set the theme and many of the problems and the

issues that the rest of the Bible is going to address. Genesis chapter 1 and 2 talk about the

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

creation of the earth and how everything is created good. Genesis 3 talks about how evil enters into the

world through Adam and Eve. And they who represent all of humanity and from whom humanity flows,

bent, bend, and make our human nature bent, and therefore mean that we can't

everything is touched by a rebellion against God. And Genesis 3 through 11 talks about this bentness

working itself out in a variety of important human relationships and shows how it grows.

And Genesis 11 is sort of the end of that. It's going to open up to Abraham in the beginning in a

sense of salvation history, I suppose you could call it. But Genesis 11 is a very, very curious story of

the tower of Babel. It goes like this, just to refresh your memory. Now the whole earth had one

language and the same words. And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of

Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, now here's what they say to each other,

it's giving us their impression, their understanding of what it is that they're about to do.

Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone and bitumen for mortar.

Then they said, come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens.

And let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.

Now I sort of shared this on Sunday. The word for city, the thing that characterizes a city in the Old Testament

is one of two things. Either a wall of fortification around a place where people live, or a strong tower

or a fortress that people can gather when they're attacked. So it's sort of a very, very curious thing

that these people want to do two things. They want to create a place that will protect them from war

and in a sense allow them to wage war. They're not interested in just having tents or houses

unprotected by fences or fortifications. They want to build fortifications.

And they want to do something which will allow them to build a famous name for themselves, for their own glory.

And they want to build something that will be able to reach heaven.

And they want to do all three of those things. They want to be able to be, in a sense, protected from war

and also probably be able to engage in war themselves. They want to be able to reach heaven

and they want to do it all for their own glory.

And you see, one of the things that the Bible does is that there will be places in the Bible

where ideas will be communicated just very, very straightforwardly in a sentence form.

But in other places, ideas are communicated through story.

Some people like things like creeds. They like creeds.

They can remember creeds.

Other people, abstract ideas like a creed doesn't do anything for them at all.

They need to hear a story.

And I think most human beings need a little bit of both.

They need the story to sort of settle into our imagination and into our mind.

And so at the heart of it here, we see a very, very common human idea.

In fact, it's the idea behind fiction in Coexist.

It's the idea that in Coexist, they would say that we believe that everybody can strive to know God in their own way.

And so Brian over there, he has his own way where he's going to try to reach for heaven.

And Lisa has her own way that she's going to try to reach for heaven.

And George has his own way that he's going to try to reach for heaven.

And since we're all just trying to reach for heaven ourselves,

we might as well try to get along while we're on the journey.

And we see here in this story that these people are trying to reach heaven.

They might not be doing it through philosophical ideas or religious ritual.

They might be trying to do it more physically.

But their physical quest is very, very common with any human quest by their own effort to reach heaven.

And if you think about it, people who talk about these ideas are engaged in these quests.

I'm not saying that they're all proud people or more proud than you or I.

Sometimes our character can be better than our ideas.

Just as sometimes our character can be worse than our ideas.

But if you think about it for a second, it's actually an unbelievably proud thought

to think that you've figured out how to reach heaven.

Just think about it for a second.

I've managed to learn the timetables.

I'm old enough that they still made you learn timetables in school.

And I've figured out, you know, seven times seven.

And I just know the answer to that, you know.

Andrew there could probably actually work with imaginary numbers,

like the square root of negative one.

It's an imaginary number.

I've never been able to get my mind around the square root of an imaginary number.

So he's sort of smarter than me.

I can figure out seven times seven.

He can figure out the square root of negative one.

And somebody else can figure out all the way to get to heaven?

That's pretty smart.

You have to be pretty proud to think that you're smart enough

to figure out all the way to get to heaven all by yourself.

Like, the person who says that I've figured out the spirituality

that will allow me to get in touch with God,

they might have a character which is very, very humble.

But the idea is actually very, very proud.

It's a very proud idea

that some human being, by their own mind,

their own effort, or their club,

or their group,

has managed to figure out how to reach God.

And in fact, you can see

the worry

of some people

that if you're proud enough to think

that you've figured out how to reach God,

then you probably want to do war

because you're smarter than other people.

It doesn't always happen that way

because often people's characters

are better than their ideas.

And so we see here in this story form

this fundamental human desire

of somehow being able to build,

by my effort,

a stairway to heaven.

I don't know,

my earlier point,

which Andrew put on,

was that Christians agree

with atheists and agnostics.

Men and women cannot know God

by the working of their minds

or hearts or wills.

And that's sort of shown here

in this story,

in story form.

What happens after their desire?

Well, actually,

it's a very ironic statement.

So here they are,

all very busily thinking

that they're smart enough

to try to reach to heaven.

And God's answer comes in verse 5.

And the Lord came down

to see the city.

And the Lord came down

to see the city.

They didn't even begin

to get close enough

to actually reach God

or reach heaven.

The Lord had to come down

to see the city.

You see,

that's actually,

it's not that God,

that's the,

you know,

sometimes we get so caught up,

we've been so,

we see Genesis 1 to 11

through the frames

of evolution

and all of that type of thing

and trying to figure out

a scientific thing.

We miss the irony

in the story

that the heart

of this particular story

is,

boy,

we're going to be smart enough

to think our way out

and work our way out

of heaven.

And God looks down

and has to come down.

They haven't even begun

to get close.

And,

and then,

and then the story

goes on about how,

in fact,

God is going to take

efforts in terms of

confusing their language

to make sure that

nothing like that

ever happens.

And you see,

that's why on one

fundamental level,

both in terms of God

actually,

you know,

sovereignly acting

to make sure

that that can happen,

but also that the whole

point of the story

shows that he doesn't

even have to really

do anything sovereignly

to make it not happen

because he,

he has to come down

to see them.

It's sort of another

topic of the thing,

you know,

another one of the things

about this story,

one of the ironies

is that all the way

through the book

of Genesis

from the very beginning,

God keeps saying to them,

I want you to be fruitful

and I want you to multiply,

so I want you to go

and be fruitful

and I want you to be

fruitful and multiply.

And what is it they do?

Because they're ultimately

seeking their own glory,

they don't want to be

fruitful and multiply,

they want to have

everybody come together

and be with them

so they can reach

for heaven.

And so God actually,

by scattering them,

continues in what

his original purpose is

to go and have them

to be fruitful

and to multiply,

that ultimately,

sort of a side topic,

we can relate to God

in one of two ways.

God's will will always

be done.

We can do his will

as his children

or we can do his will

as his tools.

But God's sovereign will

cannot be overcome.

But that's sort of

a bit of a sideline

from this fundamental thing.

Now,

some of you might say,

well, George,

this is very,

very interesting,

but don't at the same time,

don't you sort of,

doesn't the Bible

also teach that

there are ways

that we can actually

sort of know God?

And,

well,

I'm going to answer

that question,

but before I do,

let's see this other,

this other movie,

which starts to point

into a,

the completely different

direction that Christians

want to go

when it comes to things

like coexist

and fiction.

I don't know

if you can,

when it is,

if you can put up

the next point.

Christians sort of,

the reason they,

they sort of,

in a sense,

agree with that thing,

fiction,

although not with

the cross in it,

is that

atheists and agnostics

haven't considered

a particular idea.

It is,

in fact,

proud and vain,

if you could put

the next slide up,

it is,

in fact,

proud and vain

to think that

human beings

by their own minds

can reach up to heaven.

But what

if God spoke to us?

What if it has

nothing to do

with human cleverness,

human pride,

human vain glory,

human ability,

collective ability,

technology,

technique,

poetry,

spirituality,

religion,

or ritual?

What if it has

nothing to do

with any of those

things?

What if God

actually spoke?

What if God

actually stooped down?

Then,

in fact,

it's humility

rather than pride

to receive it.

See,

Christians,

Christmas is the

retelling of the story

of God stooping

to speak to

ordinary people

and to save them.

Christmas is the

retelling of the story

of God stooping

to speak to

ordinary people

and to save them.

Christians are

actually sort of

caught with two

types of ideas.

In the Bible,

they're very,

very clear,

in the Book of

Romans and other

places,

it's very clear

that when a person

appears before God

that there will be

no excuse.

It's very clear

in the Bible

that the Bible

teaches that God

has left all sorts

of clues and riddles

so that people can

know that there

must be something,

someone,

like a God.

God.

And, in fact,

I could give you

a range of

different clues

and riddles

in human existence

that would point

to the fact

that there must

be something

like a God.

Yet the fact

of the matter

is that it

would still be

the story of

Babel would still

speak against that

and how could we

possibly really

know there is a God

if all we have

are clues and riddles

and if our minds

and our efforts

and our hearts

can't reach to God.

And, in fact,

the riddles are

to create within us

a type of humility

to say,

God, there are

riddles and pointers

to your existence

but we don't know

if you exist

or what you're like.

We need you to speak.

We need you

to do something

because our power

is limited.

In fact,

all of the clues

and all of the riddles

are to bring us

to the point

of humility

and openness

and yearning

and asking for God

to do something.

And at the heart

of the Christian faith

is that God stoops

and God speaks

and God speaks

in such a way

that we can be

reconciled to him.

He doesn't merely

impart information.

He brings himself

to reconcile

ourselves to him.

In the Gospel of John,

we get this told to us

in sort of

very, very abstract

but very, very

powerful language.

If we're mindful

of the story

of the Tower of Babel

and our inability

to reach up to God,

mindful of that,

listen to how John

describes what's

happening at Christmas.

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.

See,

it's from that perspective

that you can understand

that there will be

riddles and clues.

Why is it

that we prefer

light to darkness?

Why is it

that we have

a sense of right or wrong?

Why is it

that there seems

to be design

written everywhere

in the universe?

Why is it

that we have

some sense

that there must

be something more?

Why is it

that reason

in our minds

seem to work

with this world?

Why is it

you can multiply

all these whys

and whys

and whys

and whys

and there's this

picture of God

having created

all things?

And then in verse 6

it's very interesting

it begins

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 came to bear witness

about the light.

And contrary to Babel

then it says

in verse 9

the true light

which enlightens

everyone

was coming

into

the world.

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

or of the will

of the flesh

nor of the will

of man

but of God.

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.

Before I talk

any more about that

let's look at this

next video clip

which uses

artwork

to tell the three

key moments

in the coming

of Jesus.

It might be a little

bit hard for you

to have to look

a bit closely.

It's an artist

working on a light

table with sand.

We were able

to follow that.

It was

she drew

the annunciation

and then she drew

the birth

and then she drew

the visit

of the wise men

and I can't draw

stick figures

I always find it

amazing that people

could do something

like that

with their hands

and so

the Christians

believe that

there is natural

revelation

but natural

revelation's

purpose is to

make us

humble

and to make

us yearn

and we are

to be made

humble

and we are

to yearn

for God

to speak

and to recognize

when God

speaks

and God

acts

because unless

he does it

we are helpless

and so Christians

believe that

if you could put

the next one up

Andrew

Jesus is God

come down

to earth

to make himself

known

and to redeem

all who turn

to him

in repentance

and faith

Jesus is God

come down

to earth

to make himself

known

and to redeem

all who turn

to him

in repentance

and faith

and that's

what we celebrate

at Christmas

the good

invasion

the return

of the true

king

come to deliver

us

and return

those who put

their faith

and trust

in him

to himself

the good

invasion

we're going

to now look

at another

movie

which

talks about

war

but makes

a really

important

distinction

between

celebrations

and festivals

and the

person

let's watch

it

sort of

just

wrapping up

Christians

agree with

atheists

and agnostics

men and

women

cannot

know

God

by the

working

of their

minds

or hearts

or wills

but at

Christmas

we remember

God doing

something

which is a

surprise to

atheists and

agnostics

and is a

completely

and utterly

different claim

than any

other religious

figure

Muhammad said

he could

point to

the way

Buddha

could

point

to the way

every

spiritual

teacher

and religious

advisor

can point

to the way

Confucius

can point

to the way

Jesus

says he

is the

way

all other

spiritualities

can point

towards God

Jesus

claims

well

the Bible

claims

that Christmas

is the retelling

of the story

of God

stooping

to speak

to ordinary

people

and to

save them

Jesus

is God

come down

to earth

to make

himself

known

and to

redeem

all

who

turn

to him

in

repentance

and faith

last night

I shared

with the

congregation

who was

here

a story

I was

in a

Starbucks

in the

corner

of

Laurier

and O'Connor

yesterday

morning

trying to

finish my

talk for

last night

and my

talk for

today

and I

was into

it for

about an

hour and

a half

and to

a table

there was

an empty

table

and a

table

beside me

there was

a younger

woman

probably in her

early

twenties

and a

woman

closer to

my age

not old

yet

and they

came and

sat down

in that

table

and they're

just talking

and I

overhear bits

and pieces

of the

conversation

and then I

see the

young woman

open up

a Bible

and I

realized

that the

young woman

is trying

to lead

the older

woman

to give

her life

to Jesus

and I

realized

that part

of the

reason I

was there

that morning

was not

just to

prepare a

talk for

last night

and tonight

but to

pray for

the two

of them

as the

woman

just shared

about

Jesus

and what

a better

time to

give your

life to

Jesus

than at

Christmas

because

Christmas

is all

about

God

stooping

to save

us

and

you know

so

this very

last movie

which we're

about to

show

makes the

very clear

connection

between the

Christmas

gospel

the Christmas

story

and the

gospel

and there

is no

better time

than Christmas

to either

give our

lives to

Jesus

in repentance

and faith

or to

recommit

our lives

to Jesus

in repentance

and faith

let's watch

it

let's stand

father we

give you

thanks and

praise

that your

son would

in obedience

to you

and in

love for us

would set

aside his

glory and

divine

prerogatives

his appearance

as God

that he

would set

aside

everything

father of

God except

the fact that

he never set

aside his

nature as

God and

we thank

you that

he set

all that

aside and

stooping took

into himself

our human

nature and

walked among

us we

thank you

father that

he came

to die

that he

father was

the only

baby born

to die

as his

express purpose

and we

thank and

praise you

father that

he died for

us on the

cross taking

our doom

upon him and

offering us

his destiny

we give you

thanks and

praise father

that you did

not merely

give us

information

but that you

spoke true

words to

us words

that point to

Jesus that

will also

redeem us

and if we

heed them

and accept

them reconcile

us to you

and make us

your children

by adoption

and grace

father

everything that

we can possibly

receive all

comes from

you it's

only you

your son

the holy

spirit who

leads us

to your

son

the sealing

of your

redemption

in our lives

it's all a

gift that

comes from

you

we ask

father that

this Christmas

that we

might be

gripped by

the gospel

more and

more so

that it

becomes the

means by

which we

live and

the means

by which

we see

and understand

ourselves

in the

world

and this

we ask

in the

name of

Jesus

your son

and our

savior

amen

please take

a posture

of prayer

and we'll

have a

brief time

of intercession

the responses

to the

different parts

of the

intercession

will be on

the screen

father we

all have

loved ones

who are

traveling

at this

time

maybe not

today but

over the

days before

and the

days to

come

we commend

into your

hands all

who travel

Jesus precious

savior

have mercy

upon us

father we

give you

thanks and

praise for

those in

our armed

forces who

serve overseas

heavenly father

we commend

into your

hands those

in our

canadian armed

forces serving

overseas and

we also commend

into your

hands their

loved ones who

wait for them

at home

Jesus precious

savior have

mercy upon us

father we

remember before

you the church

in north

korea we

remember before

you the church

in china

we remember

before you the

church in

syria and

egypt

we remember

before you

father the

church in

pakistan and

in northern

nigeria

heavenly father

we commend

into your

hands the

persecuted

church

Jesus precious

savior have

mercy upon us

father we

thank you for

the missionaries

that we have

the privilege to

be in

fellowship and

communion with

we ask your

blessing today

father for those

missionaries in

particular from our

own congregation

for brian as he

prepares to return

to china for

phil and janine in

kassagstan for

steve and his

wife stella in

new delhi india

for richard in

his work in

ottawa with

love ottawa and

across canada with

together canada

we ask father for

the other

missionaries that

we support we

think father of

diana with

pioneer missions

of great

as