The Christmas Gift
Text: John 1:14-18
Introduction
1. Illustration: Why would we feel like it’s an imposition to go to Church on Christmas Day? How ironic to think of Worshiping Jesus as an interruption to His birthday celebration! It reminds me of a story I heard about a mother who was running furiously from store to store on Christmas Eve … trying to get those last-minute gifts. Suddenly she realized she’d lost track of her little 3-year-old son. In a panic, she retraced her steps and found him standing with his little nose pressed flatly against a frosty window. He was gazing at a Manger Scene. When he heard his mother call his name, he turned and shouted in innocent glee: "Look Mommy! It’s JESUS! Baby Jesus is in the hay !" The harried mom grabbed his arm and jerked him away, snapping, "We don’t have time for all that! Can’t you see that Mommy’s trying to get ready for Christmas!?!"
2. You know we spend a lot of energy and money on gifts for Christmas, but the greatest Christmas gift has already been given on the day that Jesus Christ was born.
3. The great Christmas gift is...
a. A Gift of Presence
b. A Gift That Keeps On Giving
4. Let’s all stand together as we read John 1:14-18
Proposition: Jesus has given us the greatest Christmas gift; the gift of Himself.
Transition: First, we should understand that the Christmas gift is...
I. A Gift of Presence (14-15, 18).
A. The Word Became Human
1. John has been talking so far in his Gospel about "the Word."
a. First, he makes clear that the Word was and is God.
b. Now, however, he is going to make the most astounding statement of all.
2. He says, "So the Word became human..."
a. This is one of the most important phrases in all the Bible.
b. John makes a very powerful and blunt statement. He says that the Word became human.
c. The Greek literally reads "and the Word became flesh."
d. He uses a term that put the incarnation of Jesus in its true light. He was dealing with a group of people who were teaching that Jesus only appeared to be human.
e. They believed that God would not defile himself by having real contact with humans.
f. However, John goes one step further. Not only did the Word have contact with humans, but he also became one. In one short but powerful phrase John gets to the heart of the Gospel by saying that the Word became human in order to save us from our sins.
g. Note the contrast between vv. 1 and 14. Verse 1 states that the Word "was," referring to its permanent condition or state, while v. 14 states that the Word "became" flesh, involving a change in state.
h. This is the basic statement of the Incarnation, for Christ entered into a new dimension of existence through the gateway of human birth and took up his residence among men.
3. John then takes it a step further saying, "...and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son."
a. The term translated "and made his home among us," is the term "tabernacled."
b. The term had come to refer to those who settled down in a permanent place.
c. John wants to remind us of the tabernacle in the Old Testament, and this is obvious by his use of the word "glory."
d. It was in the tabernacle in the Old Testament that God verified his presence among the people by allowing His glory to rest in the tabernacle.
e. Exodus 40:34-35 (NLT)
34 Then the cloud covered the Tabernacle, and the glory of the LORD filled the Tabernacle. 35 Moses could no longer enter the Tabernacle because the cloud had settled down over it, and the glory of the LORD filled the Tabernacle.
f. John emphasizes this fact by repeating the word "glory," and by clearly stating that the glory was seen in the person of Jesus (Morris, 91-93).
4. John now builds a bridge between the Word’s coming and His purpose by referring back to John the Baptist. He says, "John testified about him when he shouted to the crowds, “This is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘Someone is coming after me who is far greater than I am, for he existed long before me.’”
a. "Far greater than" is the translation of an adverb that denotes positional precedence, whereas "before" refers to rank of importance.
b. Jesus surpassed John because he was intrinsically greater (Tenney).
c. The reason the Word was far greater than John the Baptist is His eternal existence. Long before John was even thought Jesus was already there.
5. Now that we’ve built the bridge, let’s look at the Word’s purpose. In verse 18 John says, "No one has ever seen God. But the one and only Son is himself God and is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us."
a. The noun God (theon) has no article in the Greek text, which indicates that the author is presenting God in his nature of being rather than as a person. "Deity" might be a more accurate rendering.
b. The meaning is that no human has ever seen the essence of deity. God is invisible, not because he is unreal, but because physical eyes are incapable of detecting him.
c. The infrared and ultraviolet rays of the light spectrum are invisible because the human eye is not sensitive enough to register them.
d. The being and nature of God, which cannot be perceived directly by ordinary senses, has been adequately presented to us by the Incarnation.
e. Obviously the author implies that his writing gives an adequate record of this revelation.
f. The life and words of Jesus are more than an announcement; they are an explanation of God’s attitude toward men and of his purpose for them (Tenney).
g. As John Calvin puts it, "When he says that none has seen God, it is not to be understood of the outward seeing of the physical eye. He means generally that, since God dwells in inaccessible light, He cannot be known except in Christ, His lively image" (Calvin’s Commentaries: John).
h. As John’s Gospel unfolds we see a diverse nature of Christ’s mission of earth, but he starts here by saying that He came to reveal God the Father to us.
B. Immanuel
1. Illustration: Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, Hail th’incarnate Deity! Pleased as man with men to dwell, Jesus our Immanuel. Hark! the herald angels sing, ‘Glory to the newborn King.’- Charles Wesley
2. The greatest Christmas gift is Christ Jesus coming to live with us.
a. Isaiah 7:14 (NLT)
All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’).
b. He came in order to identify with us and us with Him.
c. He came to show us that He loved us enough to give up everything for us.
d. He came to show us that He is not an impersonal God who is unconcerned with us and what we are going through.
3. The greatest Christmas gift is Jesus coming to show us a new and living way.
a. Hebrews 10:19-20 (NLT)
And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. 20 By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place.
b. He came to show us that we did not have to live a life of sin.
c. He came to show us that we did not have to live in defeat.
d. He came to show us that we could come to hear at any time and that He would welcome and hear us.
4. The greatest Christmas gift is Jesus coming to stand in our place.
a. 1 John 2:2 (NLT)
He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.
b. Jesus came as a baby, but He came to be a Savior.
c. Jesus came and was born, but He came to die and rise again!
d. Jesus came to do what we couldn’t do; pay the price for our sins.
Transition: The great thing about the Christmas gift is...
II. It’s A Gift That Keeps On Giving (16-17).
A. From HIs Abundance
1. Have you ever heard the expression in advertising, "It’s the gift that keeps on giving?" Where nowhere is that more true than with the Christmas gift!
2. Look at what John says in verse 16, "From his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another."
a. The phrase "From his abundance," carries with it the active meaning of "that which fills."
b. John stresses that all of our blessings come from Christ, and he even shows that limitless extent of his blessing by saying "we all received," from him (Morris, 97).
c. And what did we receive? One blessing after another!
d. "One blessing after another" is an attempt to express in modern English the Greek phrase "grace in exchange for [anti] grace."
e. When one supply of grace is exhausted, another is available (Tenney).
f. The grace and blessings of God are inexhaustible! They will never run out, run dry, or become obsolete!
3. Then look at what John says in verse 17, "For the law was given through Moses, but God’s unfailing love and faithfulness came through Jesus Christ."
a. Verse 17 is sometimes read as a rejection of Moses and the law.
b. But the relation here between Jesus Christ (now named for the first time) and Moses and the law is one of fulfillment--the graciousness of God revealed in Scripture has now been perfectly manifested in Jesus.
c. The careful construction of verse 17 even shows us more precisely how this is the case.
d. The significant contrast in John is not of the law over against grace and truth, since it is the same graciousness of the same God that is revealed in both.
e. Rather, it is the contrast between the verbs was given and came.
f. The verb "to give" itself speaks of the divine graciousness, because it obviously talks of God’s gifts.
g. So these verbs are not contrasting a negative with a positive. Rather, the divine graciousness evident in the divine was given is tremendously intensified in the divine came.
h. The same graciousness has now been manifested in an entirely new mode: the Word became flesh (IVPNT: John).
i. First God gave us the law to show us his ways; He came in the person of Jesus to show us Himself.
B. Blessings of God
1. Illustration: Our worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God’s grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God’s grace (Jerry Bridges).
2. The Christmas gift came to save us.
a. Ephesians 2:8-9 (NLT)
God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.
b. It is only by our Christmas, Jesus Christ, the living Word, that we can be saved.
c. We cannot earn our salvation; we can only receive it and accept it as a gift from God.
d. We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
3. The Christmas gift came to equip us.
a. Ephesians 1:3 (NLT)
All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.
b. We are blessed with every spiritual blessing,
c. Not a few blessing.
d. Not a couple of blessings.
e. But every spiritual blessing.
f. They are spiritual blessings, and they are capable of doing everything God intends them to do, capable of everything we need them to do, and capable of doing everything God called us to accomplish.
4. The Christmas gift came to empower us.
a. 2 Corinthians 12:9 (NLT)
Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.
b. By His grace we can accomplish all things.
c. By His grace all things are possible.
d. By His grace we can overcome.
e. By His grace we can live in victory.
f. By His grace we can accomplish His will in our lives.
Transition: The Christmas gift keeps on giving and giving and giving!
Conclusion
1. You know we spend a lot of energy and money on gifts for Christmas, but the greatest Christmas gift has already been given on the day that Jesus Christ was born.
2. The great Christmas gift is...
a. A gift of presence
b. A gift that keeps on giving
3. The question we all need to ask ourselves this morning is what are we going to do with this gift?
a. Some of us need to accept this gift.
b. Some of us need to tell others about this gift.
c. Some of us need to give priority to this gift.
4. What are you doing with this greatest of all Christmas gifts?
