Unforgettable Christmas

This is the first Sunday in Advent.  This year's Advent Series is Unforgettable Christmas, and we'll be looking at some of those foundations of the Christmas story, to remind us of the importance of Christmas, and help us to understand how to have a truly unforgettable Christmas.  

This message is based on John 1:1-18.
 
 
 
I have a confession to make.  Some Christmas’ I get so busy getting ready for the holiday that I don’t feel like I really enjoy the holiday.  With Christmas cards, decorating, lights, the tree, shopping, and everything else we do this time of year, I’m betting I’m not the only one that has that problem.  Don’t get me wrong, I like all the activities, I like to decorate, I like putting up the tree, I like sending the cards, even though they don’t really get sent with much regularity anymore.  I like doing everything we do.  There’s just so much of it, isn’t there?
 
So this week we are starting a series titled Unforgettable Christmas.  We’re going back to the foundations of the Christmas Story.  Because I really think the best way to have a real Unforgettable Christmas is to make Jesus the center of your life.  Even when times are tough, He will never leave or forsake us.  He is, after all, “God with us.”
 
This week we look at this text in John to see that the Jesus we celebrate in the manger at Christmas wasn’t just a cute baby born in a manger.  Jesus really is God, and He really did come to earth as a human being, still fully divine, still fully the second party in the trinity.  He left heaven to come to earth to reconcile us to God.  We can rejoice because the nativity story isn’t just a cute story shared this time of year.  It’s an integral part of God’s story, and it’s the part of God’s story that makes our salvation possible. 
 
A couple of points I want to make about our reading that will help us remember the Christ in Christmas – the significance of Jesus’ coming from heaven.
 
1.  In the beginning…  This is the introduction to the book of John.  John is introducing Jesus as the main character in his gospel, and he starts in the beginning.  “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”  Skipping down to verse 14, we get an idea who John is talking about, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”  He’s obviously talking about Jesus.
 
Something significant about this introduction that you might not have thought about before, but John is starting his gospel using the opening words of Genesis.  “In the beginning.”  I think John does this to tell us that Jesus wasn’t just born in Bethlehem, He’s been around since the beginning.  The New Living Translation says, “In the beginning the Word already existed.”
 
Something else from verse 3, “Through him all things were made.”  The Jesus that we celebrate as the baby in the manger, was the same one that created everything that was created.  The word that is translated as ‘made’ (through Him all things were made) is Greek word “ginomai.”  It means to become existent after not existing at all.  To make something from nothing.  I could make something, but I would be using materials that were already in existence.  I could use them to make something new – I could take 2x4’s and make shelves, but I’m using something that already existed. 
 
This Greek word implies that something was made that hasn’t existed before in any form.  When God created the universe and everything in it, it was from scratch.  Nothing was in existence before.  And our Jesus in the manger did this.  This Christmas, don’t make the mistake of thinking so much about the baby in the manger that you lose track of who this baby really is. 
 
2.  In Him was life…  (v.4)  Now we already saw in the last point that in creation, Jesus made everything that was made.  The Greek word here for life has that sense of a life source, something that can produce and maintain a healthy life characterized by happiness, exuberance, energy, and vitality.  Not just existence, but a healthy, happy life. 
 
In Colossians 1:17, we see, “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”  So Jesus is our life.  He not only created life, but He holds our life together.  Last week we saw John 6:35, “Then Jesus declared, ‘I am the bread of life.  He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.’”  So we have a sense that Jesus not only created us, and holds our life together, but also that He gives us everything we really need to live life.
 
In John 10:10, Jesus says, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”  The word full refers to this happy and healthy life with everything we need.  Some translations say, “have life in abundance,” or as the NLT says, “a rich and satisfying life.” 
 
Back to verse 4, “that life was the light of all mankind.”  The word light is a metaphor for salvation, or a spiritual awakening that takes place at salvation.  The light that overcomes darkness is found in salvation, and salvation is found in Jesus.  To have a truly Unforgettable Christmas this year, remember that to be happy and healthy, to have a rich and satisfying life, you need Jesus – He’s not just a baby in the manger.  He is the author, not just of life, but of an abundant life.
 
3.  Children of God…  Skipping down to verse 12, we see “to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”  In verse 10, it says that even though He created the world, the world didn’t recognize Him.  In verse 11, it says He went to His own people, meaning the Jewish people, but they didn’t receive Him.  Here it says that God opened it up to all of us, to everyone, and says that if we do receive Him, we get a special right, we’re granted a special privilege.  We get to be Children of God. 
 
I think it’s pretty clear that in Jesus’ time, the Jewish people were the people of God, His chosen people.  Since Abraham, God set aside a people, descendants from Abraham, to have a special relationship with Him.  He cleared out the nations and gave the Israelites the promised land, the best of Canaan.  But looking through 1st & 2nd Kings, you’ll see that most didn’t follow Him.  Most didn’t live as God’s people.  And when Jesus came, they didn’t receive Him.  He came to His own, but they did not receive Him. 
 
So what did He do?  He let them go their own way.  He started dealing with those people who were not parties to the original covenant, because that covenant was violated when they didn’t follow Him.  So He created a new covenant which applied to those who chose to follow Him, who actually wanted to follow Him. 
 
That’s what Peter means when he’s writing to the church, and he says, “you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light [again, light is a metaphor for salvation – these are people who received God’s salvation].  Once you were not a people [they were Gentiles under roman rule] but now you are the people of God.”  
 
I think this means that now to be Jewish doesn’t make you the people of God.  You are only part of the people of God if you believe in and follow Jesus.  That’s the new covenant we hear about when we share communion.  The new covenant is a new promise that applies to those who have received Jesus.  To have a truly Unforgettable Christmas, remember that the baby in the manger is the Savior who brings us into God’s family, we are children of God, we are the people of God.
 
4.  Grace & Truth.  In verse 17, it says, “For the law was given though Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”  This is the biggest difference between the two covenants.  The old covenant was based on following the law of Moses.  You showed that you loved God by following His commands as spelled out in the 613 Jewish laws.  The problem was that no one could follow them – there was just too much there.  They served the people well during the Exodus, but once they were led into the promised land, it was a different story.  And by the time of Jesus’ birth, the religious leaders had gotten so nit-picky and so difficult about the law that no one could follow. 
 
But Jesus changed that.  Jesus brought grace and truth.  Grace doesn’t mean you can do anything you want, because He also brought truth.  But to those that receive Jesus, He grants grace.  The emphasis is no longer on the law.  In fact Paul goes so far as to say if you even try to follow the law you’re turning your back on Jesus. 
 
It’s all about Jesus.  It’s about having a relationship with Him.  If we are in Him, as He is in God, we are looked on with grace.  We don’t have to be perfect, we just have to His.  To have a truly Unforgettable Christmas, make sure you belong to Jesus.
 
If you’re not sure where you stand this morning, if you know you fall short and would like to receive Christ, or if you’ve been having some struggles and you need some extra prayer, make sure to see me or someone on diaconate after service today.  Because we really want you to experience an Unforgettable Christmas.