Christmas Day 2023

John 1, it is not the manger story, is it?

It's the beginning of a gospel, but it's not, in a sense, a classic version of the Christmas story.

Nevertheless, it is the traditional story, the traditional reading, rather, on Christmas Day.

It speaks of the light of the world that has come to save it.

You know, one of the biggest disappointments I personally have, but maybe you as well,

with a lot of modern storytelling, specifically movies, is that often there's no clear good versus evil.

There's a ton of gray, there's a lot of nuance and emphasis put on anti-heroes,

and the valorization of vice that's often masked with a kind of living one's truth or discovering one's self.

And all too often, there's a bit of moral relativism.

Again, no good versus evil.

And, I mean, the fact is, real life is full of nuance, and it's full of gray,

and heroes are obviously blemished, and victims are relatable.

But in our stories, it seems like there's this move away from good versus evil.

So, Christine and I watched a movie recently, and it was really refreshing.

There was good versus evil.

There was resolution.

There was redemption.

It ended well.

There wasn't, like, any kind of moral, you know, question marks.

It was nice, and we both commented how it seems like this just isn't the norm anymore.

However, the Christmas story isn't the beginning of a new story,

but, in fact, it is the resolution of the biblical story.

It is, in a sense, the beginning of the resolution.

If you remember a couple weeks ago, I guess it was last week,

we did Lessons and Carols.

And a part of Lessons and Carols, we sing, obviously, it's lovely,

but we rehearse the entire biblical story by going through the Bible.

And we start not in Matthew 1 or Luke 2.

Instead, we start in Genesis chapter 3, after the fall,

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

where God prophesies that one will come that will destroy the serpent,

all the way back in the opening chapters of the Bible.

The serpent, who is the devil that tempted our first parents to sin,

would not be the victor of the story.

It would be God Himself.

That story and all of what followed

highlights, in a sense, the angst of mankind.

The angst that evil exists

and is darker than a moonless, starless night.

The angst that brokenness and evil and strife,

it's everywhere.

It's ubiquitous.

There's no part of humanity,

in no part of the world,

at no point in time,

where brokenness and evil and sin

didn't touch our race.

And really, it's the angst that we are estranged

from the Creator of Heaven and Earth

without the means to reconcile.

And our best efforts get turned into destructive things.

We feel the angst.

We know the angst.

It's deep in our bones.

And with futility, we try to resolve it to no end.

The biblical story solves the angst.

It resolves the evil.

It fixes the problem.

The biblical story is a story of good versus evil,

light versus darkness,

death versus light.

And in no way does this story end with nuance

or question marks about who the real victor is.

So it is with that angst,

that tension,

that we read these opening verses of John 1, verses 1-5.

John 1:1–5

It says this,

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.

I'll read verse 5 again.

The light shines in the darkness,

and the darkness has not overcome it.

The Word who is God,

the Son of God,

it says the Creator of all things,

nothing that is made was made apart from Him,

is the source of life and light,

and was about to fix and restore and redeem.

That good would triumph over evil,

that there's no chance darkness was going to win.

But the question is how.

We'll jump to verse 9,

and John tells us, verses 9 to 11,

The true light, which enlightens everyone,

was coming into the world.

He was in the world,

and the world was made through Him,

yet the world did not know Him.

He came to His own,

and His own people did not receive Him.

So the idea of a deity coming into humanity,

it's not a new idea.

The Greek epics record gods coming down from Olympus,

and messing around with the human world.

There's stories about that,

about how they join and steer the affairs of humanity,

often putting their thumb on the scales,

choosing winners and losers.

So what is the difference between that,

those Greek epics,

and what we read about in John 1?

And you'll see the difference in verses 12 and 13.

But to all who did receive Him,

who believed in His name,

He gave the right to become children of God,

who were born not of blood,

nor of the will of the flesh,

nor of the will of man,

but of God.

The God of Scripture,

the real and only God,

doesn't interact with mankind

to manipulate our affairs,

but He comes into our existence,

that His presence descends down

to resolve the brokenness,

and the angst,

and the evil,

and all of the things

that we find frustrating about this life.

Ultimately, He comes to remove sin and death forever.

Death, that foe of foes.

The God of Scripture does this

by bringing those who are far off near.

And He gives the right to become children of God.

And He does it

by giving us His very Holy Spirit.

Giving us Himself.

The very thing that we long for.

No longer estranged from God.

But we are children of God.

It's a wonderful story.

And it would be lovely

if it just ended in verse 13

in some ways.

It's neat and tidy that way.

But the next verse,

in some ways,

is the linchpin of the whole chapter.

And in a sense,

it makes Christianity a weird religion.

And I don't mean weird in a bad way.

I mean weird in that

it is totally other than

what we would describe as normal.

So let's read it.

Verse 14.

And the Word became flesh

and dwelt among us.

And we have seen His glory.

Glory as of the only Son

from the Father,

full of grace and truth.

So God does all this wonderful thing.

He comes into the world.

But we could read that

potentially symbolically.

If we wanted to,

He gives us His Spirit.

He calls us children.

We're not far off.

Sounds great.

But then it says in verse 14

that the Word, God,

became flesh.

God Himself,

the light that enlightens everyone.

Everything.

The Word that created all things

become flesh.

And is this symbolic?

The answer is no.

It means that He literally

came in the flesh.

Flesh, skin, muscles, blood,

hair, nails,

big toes,

kidneys,

ears, lips,

flesh.

The Word, the light,

has taken on humanity

into Himself.

And not only did He become flesh,

but He dwelt among us.

So unlike the Greek gods

who would dabble

or mess up with human affairs

and then scurry off back to Olympus,

when situations would get crazy,

the Word becomes flesh

and dwells continually

among His people.

And He experiences

everything that there is

to experience

about human life.

So that He,

from His mother's womb

until He is born,

He experiences

what it's like

to develop as

an unborn child

and to be born

and to grow up

in infancy

and into

teen years

and experience puberty

and become a man.

But He also experiences

everything

that there is

to experience

about human death.

And He tasted it.

Everything.

He tasted the pain

of death.

The embarrassment,

in a sense,

the shame

of being

crucified,

naked,

on a cross,

being abandoned

completely.

in fact,

He experienced

separation

and true estrangement

from God.

God became man

and experienced

everything that there is

to experience

as a human being,

but He remained God.

And this is a big part

of the story as well

because God descends

to earth,

takes upon Him

our flesh

as our representative

and when He dies

and rises again,

it means that all

who are in Him,

us,

rise with Him.

It's a promise

of what there is

to come.

All who are in Christ

have the same

future of Christ

to rise with Him,

to glory

forever.

Verse 14 again,

And the Word became flesh

and dwelt among us

and we have seen

His glory,

glory of the only Son

from the Father,

full of grace

and truth.

John 1 tells us

that real greatness

is rooted in humility

for God condescended,

we talked about this

a few weeks ago,

condescended,

left His divine prerogatives

and He came down.

Real greatness

is service.

Christ didn't come

to be served

but to serve

and give His life

as a ransom for many.

So real greatness

is humility

and service

and sacrifice

but it's motivated

by love.

Real glory

is seen

in the lowest descent

of the King of Kings

into the very brokenness

of our world.

The grace of God

given to humanity

in the incarnation.

John 1, 16,

it's not a part of our reading

but I'll read it.

It says this,

And from His fullness

we have all received

grace upon grace.

Friends,

the Christmas story

is one of

God rescuing us,

resolving the tension.

God that does not

leave evil

to win the day

but instead

will win the day

Himself.

No nuance,

no second guessing

that God

in Jesus

born on this day,

Christmas Day

has saved us

and is the ultimate

resolution.

Let's pray.

Lord,

we thank You so much

for this beautiful,

wonderful Christmas message

that Jesus

is God,

the Son of God,

incarnate,

fully man

and fully God.

And Lord,

we thank You

that we can celebrate

this wonderful reality

and that it is

our reality

and that Christ's

reality

rising from the grave

never to taste death

again,

it is our reality

if we are found in Him.

So Lord,

help us

to dwell,

of course,

on the birth

of Christ

but really

the mission

of Christ,

what He came to do.

And we pray this

in Christ's mighty name.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.