Christmas: What It's All About—From an Authority
John 1:1-14
Christmas Eve, 2018
I know most of you this evening came expecting to hear another repetition of the Christmas story, focusing on the angels visit to Joseph or Mary, the virgin birth in Bethlehem, or even the Magi's visit. And those are all wonderful stories, but we've been there and done that this month—they have all been the subject of our Christmas series on Sunday mornings entitled the Divine Advent(ure) this past month.
This evening we're going to focus a different passage that is rarely associated directly with Christmas. It's the conclusion of the matter. It explains as well as any one passage in all of the Bible what Christmas is all about.
It was written by the Apostle John, who was an expert on such authorities, and as he wrote it He was living apostle. He had had more than 50 years to reflect on the incredible experiences He had had following the Christ of God, Jesus Christ for 3 ½ years.
As he wrote the Gospel of John, his biography of Jesus Christ, he wrote it in a rather unusual way. He provides us with nearly all of his conclusions about Jesus, and life, and what it's all about at the beginning of the Gospel, in the first 18 verses. And then he provides us with stories of the experiences he had that resulted in these conclusions in the rest of His Gospel. It's ordered much like the papers I had to do in freshmen Chemistry in college about the experiments we had done. There was what was called an "abstract" at the beginning, in which all the important conclusions about the experiments are summed up and concluded. And then there's a detailed description of the concrete experiments done and the results found in the body of the paper. So as we look at John 1:1-14 this morning what we're going to find is an expert conclusion about what Christ, Christmas, and what life is really all about.
The Apostle John addresses five vital questions that each one of us need to consider ourselves about our lives in relationship to Jesus Christ this morning.
1. Who God is, and who Jesus Christ is in relationship to Him.
2. What He offers.
3. Why we so desperately need Him.
4. How we can receive what He offers
I. To know eternal-creator God, you must know Jesus, the visible expression of God. (John 1:1-3).
ST: John immediately plunges us into some of the deepest theological waters found anywhere in the Bible. He writes, "In the beginning was the Word, and the word was with God and the Word was God."
John was a Jew knowing that many Jews would be reading this Gospel. The first thing
They would notice, and you should notice is that this verse is very similar to another very well-known verse in the Bible. It begins with these three words, "In the beginning." Do you recall another Biblical verse that begins with these three words? Yes, it's Genesis 1:1. Genesis 1:1 says, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." Right there,
We have the Bible's definition for who God is and what He has done. God was already
In the beginning when everything else came into being. And He was the Creator of all else that exists. Everything that exists exists in one of two categories: the creator or the created. What He's about to say is that this "Word" that He is about to tell us about, this
Jesus belongs in the Creator category. That is Jesus is Himself very God of very God, and He qualifies as such because of two distinctive characteristics—He existed before all
Other things and is therefore eternal, and He created all other things and is therefore the
Creator. Therefore, as the eternal Creator, He uniquely qualifies as God Himself.
Then, immediately, if you're not already familiar with the passage, the question that should come to mind is why He uses the word "Word" to identify Jesus Christ. And secondly, how can the Word be with God and God at the same time.
In the context, it becomes evident that the Word refers to Jesus Christ. We see this in
John 1:14: "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us as the only begotten of the
Father, full of grace and truth." Clearly, the "Word" refers to Jesus Christ, the God-man,
the incarnate God, God in the flesh.
So, then we ask this, why did John refer to Jesus as "the Word" in this context? Why
didn't he just call Him "Jesus?"
Well, the original word behind the word Word is the Greek word "Logos." It literally
means "speech" or "expression." It was often used by Greek philosophers of the day to
refer to the all-encompassing mind that controlled the universe. A "word" or "expression" often refers to an invisible concept or abstract idea even in our language.
In other words, Jesus was the "expression," the visible, tangible and audible expression,
of the invisible God. He is what we can see of the unseen God. As John 1:18 puts it,
"No man has seen God at any time. The only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the
Father, He has explained Him." So Jesus is the visible expression of the invisible God.
If you want to know God, then know Jesus. He is the exact representation of God's
invisible power, nature and character, as Hebrews 1. He is the expression, word, or
representation of the one true, living God, while actually being very God of very God Himself.
If you would know God, you can only know Him through Jesus as Jesus Himself later stated in John 17:3: "This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." John 14:6 also says knowing Jesus is the only way to know the true God, for Jesus there said, "I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through Me."
So first big point this morning is this—if you would know the eternal creator God, you must know Jesus as God. And conversely, if you deny Jesus is God, the visible expression of the one and only true eternal creator God, then you don't know the one true living God.
Now this is a pretty big deal isn't it? We have answered the first question: Who is God, and Who is Jesus Christ in relationship to God? God is the eternal creator who has been ultimately revealed to us in the visible, tangible and audible expression of God—the God-
Man, Jesus Christ. If you would know God, you must know Jesus.
The second point is even more relevant to our lives. It answers the question: What does
This God, this Word, this Jesus of Nazareth offer us.
In short, He offers us what we most desperately need: life, real life, eternal life.
II. To have life—eternal, meaningful, spiritual life, you must receive the light of Jesus (John 1:5).
So our second point this morning: To have life—eternal, meaningful life, you must receive the light of Jesus (1:4)
John 1:4: "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men."
What John is implying here is that though all of us human beings have physical life,
we don't have the one thing we really need—spiritual and eternal life. Physical life is
not enough. To qualify for eternity, we must have an spiritual and eternal life, and
it is that kind of life that Jesus Himself possesses. It is that very life of Jesus that is
the light of men that should draw all men, including you and I, to Jesus to gain that
life.
Now when the Apostle John speaks of this kind of life, he is speaking of both a new quality and a new quantity of life. The new quality of life is the kind of life that Christ
Lived. It's the Christ-like life characterized by love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and self-control. It is also that new quantity of life—it is the
Kind of spiritual life that last forever.
The fact that we don't naturally possess this kind of life is evident from Jesus' conversation with Nicodemus, the teacher of Israel, a religious man who devoted himself
to keeping the Law and trying to be good enough for God. In John 3, this teacher of
Israel, a spiritual leader of the Jews, came to Jesus by night for fear of what other
Spiritual leaders like him would think if they knew he consulted with Jesus. And he was
Suffering from a terrible insecurity for a spiritual leader—he didn't know if he was
going to heaven. So he decided to ask Jesus about how he could be sure of entering
the Kingdom of God. Jesus knew his question even before he asked it, so Jesus began
with the answer, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3).
What Jesus was clearly saying is that Nicodemus was not going to heaven unless
He was born again, born from above, born of God's spirit. That being born once, physically, wasn't going to cut it in terms of getting to heaven. That Nicodemus,
Despite all his efforts to keep the law, wouldn't enter the kingdom of heaven unless
he experienced a new birth, a spiritual birth, that would change his entire life—
that would give him a new quality of spiritual life and a new quantity of life—eternal
life.
This is the life that Jesus offers to all of us—a new spiritual life, a new quality of life,
That invades us and makes us new creatures with a new destiny.
So this is incredibly important to each of us here tonight. Jesus offers something to us
Freely, something we really need, and that's life, real life, spiritual life, His life, that
Dramatically changes both the quality and the quantity of life we experience otherwise.
The question you must ask yourself, is this: Have you received this new life. Have you
Experience a new quality of life. Are you a new creation who lives the kind of life?
Jesus lived—not perfectly, but approximately, because you have been born again,
Because you have been born of God, because you have experienced a second and
New birth spiritually? If not, keep listening. It gets even more relevant to you from
here on out.
Why do we so desperately need Jesus and what he offers?
Third point this morning, this life, this physical life will not satisfy. It will never
Fulfill. It is darkness, spiritual darkness without the light and the life of Jesus.
III. Recognize life will not satisfy—it's darkness without Jesus (1:5)
John 1:5: "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not comprehended
It."
What John is saying here is that this light of Jesus still shines in this world. It is
Still shining in a world characterized by spiritual darkness. And tonight, what you
Need to know, is that this light is shining on you. You have a chance to receive it,
And it's the difference between life and death.
What clearly implied, if not expressly stated is that this life that we live on this earth,
Apart from Jesus, is characterized by darkness. Apart from Jesus we don't know what
Way is up, or what way is down. We're walking in the dark. Life is always going to be a puzzle, disillusioning, and disappointing and you're going to wonder what it's all
about and why it isn't working for you—because truth be told, it doesn't really work
for anyone without God, without Jesus Christ. It's meaningless for everyone, not
just you.
This was the conclusion of the great Jewish King Solomon, the wisest man who ever
Lived apart from Jesus, the richest and most powerful man of his time. He was a man
Who had everything and from the book of Ecclesiastes, we discern that He tried
Everything. He was the envy of all the nations. If you were looking for someone who
Had it made, whom you wanted to emulate back then, whom you imagined was satisfied
And fulfilled in life, then it was Solomon.
But guess what Solomon concluded after years of living for himself and his pleasure
Apart from God? He said life, if you live it for yourself apart from God amounts to this,
A chasing after wind. You never catch, you never find fulfillment or satisfaction no matter how much you have or how much you do. You only begin to get a sense of
Fulfillment and satisfaction when you honor and follow God.
I experienced a hazard of being a last-minute Christmas shopper this afternoon:
I stood in line at Wal Mart.
As I was there, I was exposed to all the gossip magazines featuring news about the lives of the rich and famous—all the people we think have got it made, and we think, if we could only have what they have and experience what they experience, we would really experience life as it was meant to be.
Guess what the headlines were on one magazine about a long-time Hollywood beauty. She was pictured without make-up, sobered, and obviously struggling with life. What
Had come to characterize her life after years of fame and fortune and success as an
Actress and model: Multiple personalities, hoarding, drug abuse, other horrors.
Other magazines featured cover photos and stories about Brad and Angelina. You know,
the two best looking people in the world, with fame and fortune who got together and
experienced the dream we all could only hope for. They were so famous in their union
that they were called "Brangelina." But now it's no longer Brangelina but Brad versus
Angelina, and there were stories about how Brad's kids never wanted to see him again,
And each of them were featured on various covers as they were out on secret escapades
With other lovers. What a mess! These are the people who have it all—and even they
Nothing, or worse than nothing. What does that tell us? That life without God, without
Jesus doesn't work for anybody. It's darkness. It's disillusioning. And you know what?
God set it up that way. He subjected the creation to futility with the hope we would come
To our sense and understand that a life lived without Him and the life Jesus offers will
Never satisfy or fulfill. In fact, that the wages of sin is ultimately death. And that's why
We so desperately need to find and trust in and follow Jesus for the life that only He can
Impart.
So now we come to the final big question and answer: How can we receive this light
And life. This is, by the way, the real gift of Christ.
(Now it should be noted that John from verses 6-8 addresses a very important question for his time. Who was John the Baptist? Who was the great prophet who came just before and at the beginning of Jesus' ministry? John briefly answers this question by saying that John was the forerunner, a great prophet, who was not himself the light, but pointed the people to the light, who was the only begotten Son of God, Jesus. We don't have time to develop this further, so we move on.
IV. Don’t miss this--You can have this new & eternal life—through a faith that follows Jesus (1:9-14).
Don't miss this, you can have this new and eternal life through a repentant faith that
follows Jesus. It's a free gift. It comes by faith, not by mere intellectual agreement
With the facts about Jesus, but a real personal trust that He died for your sins and
Rose again, that He took Hell on the cross so that you wouldn't have to.
John first notes an ironic thing. Many people in John's own time missed this incredibly
Important offer. They did not recognize Jesus, despite all His wisdom, miracles and
Even His resurrection, as the only begotten Son of God who came to save them.
John 1:9-10: "There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him."
In other words, incredibly, the Almighty, Eternal Creator of mankind came to the world
as a man, and most men did not recognize Him, despite all that He did that only God
Himself could do.
More than that, even Jesus' own people, the Jews, in the majority, did not recognize
or receive Him as their long-predicted Messiah and Savior. John 1:12: "He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him."
But there were some who did receive Him, and the spiritual and eternal life He offers.
And John tells us exactly how they did receive Him, and how they did not receive Him
In the next couple of verses. John 1:12-13: "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
How did they receive Him: Not by being born of human ancestry—sons of /Abraham.
Not by being born of human effort—by keeping the Law
But by being born of God
And they were born of God by believing in His name, trusting in Jesus Himself rather
Than their human ancestry or their religion or their good works to get to heaven.
You see even here we see a parallel to how people go wrong in finding Jesus and the life He offers today. They think they're going to heaven by means of their ancestry—that they were born to Christian parents or in a Christian nation or they were told they were Christians. Or that they're getting to heaven because they've been religious or baptized, or they are relatively good people. But what John is here saying is that there is absolutely nothing you can do to deserve heaven, or that new and spiritual eternal life. It is a supernatural conversion experiences, it is being born again, born of God's spirit, and it only happens when you truly believe in Jesus, that is, when you put your trust in Jesus as your Savior rather than anything you can do to add to what He has done. In other words, when you depend on Jesus and Jesus alone as your Savior, rather than on anything you or anyone else has done to get you to heaven. Because Jesus ultimately did the one thing that you needed to be done to get you to heaven—He died on the cross to pay the penalty for your sins so you wouldn't have to. And He proved it be being raised from the dead on the third day.
So John has given us his abstract, his summary conclusion of what the coming of Jesus
Christ, was Christmas is all about. It's about a gift God wants to give you—life, eternal
And spiritual life that comes through the light of Jesus Christ.
The light has shined in the darkness tonight, the darkness and disillusionment and
Disappointments of this world and this life for you. Well you let the light in.
Don't miss this as so many others have. This is the gift of Christmas. This is what
Christmas is really all about. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only
Begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have
Everlasting life."
This evening, will you receive Christ's spiritual and eternal life, the gift of Christ, by
Believing, on trusting In Jesus Christ. If you do, you will truly understood for the first
Time what Christmas is all about.
Let's pray.
