SERMON OUTLINE:
(1). The Word Who Became Flesh (vs 1-3 & 14).
(2). The Light Which Dispels Darkness (vs 4-5)
(3). The Choice Which Confronts Everyone (vs 11-12).
(4). The Gift Which God Gives (vs 14)
SERMON BODY:
Questions: What do you and your family need for a good Christmas?
Answer:
• Cards
• Tree
• Decorations
• Advent calendar
• Crackers
• Table decorations
• Drink
• Turkey & Food
• Music
• Jumpers
• Presents
• TV specials
• Carols
• The Queens speech
Questions: What are the essentials of the Christmas Story?
• Angels
• Mary
• Joseph
• Star
• Magi/Wise men
• Shepherds
• Herod
• Bethlehem
• Innkeeper
• Manger
• Gifts
• and, of course Jesus!
• TRANSITION: When the apostle John writes out his introduction to his gospel;
• The only thing in common with those two lists is Jesus!
• Just think about it!
• No Angels
• No Mary
• No Joseph
• No Star
• No Magi/Wise men
• No Shepherds
• No Herod
• No Bethlehem
• No Innkeeper
• No Manger
• No Gifts
• Only one thing in common with my two Christmas lists;
• And that is Jesus, because he is the one essential to Christmas!
(1). The Word Who Became Flesh (vs 1-3 & 14).
• John chapter 1 verse 14:
• N.I.V.: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”
• J.B.P.: “So the word of God became a human being and lived among us.”
Ill:
• Many stories start with;
• “Once upon a time…”
• Or: “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away”
• TRANSITION: But this is much more than a story;
• We are dealing with history – his-story!
• Events that happened in time and John the apostle says, even before time!
• So, the narrative does not begin; “Once upon a time”
• But rather, “Once before there was any time!”
• Rather it begins:
“In the beginning” Literally: “Before there was anything else”
“…was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning.”
• This is how the apostle John describes the baby that was born in Bethlehem!
• Deity in diapers.
• The birth of Jesus was an extraordinary event in human history:
• God became a man without ceasing to be the one and only God.
Question: What do we mean by the name – “The Word”?
Answer: A word is a means of communication,
Ill:
• We use words to communicate a message,
• This message has so far used about 350 of them!
• Hopefully, holding your attention,
• And helping you to understand something of the wonder of the Christmas message!
• TRASITION: Jesus is the expression of God’s being;
• God communicates clearly to us through him!
ill:
• My wife asked me why I was speaking so softly inside the house,
• I told her it was because I felt like someone was listening to us.
• She laughed…I laughed.... Alexa laughed....
• TRASITION: Jesus is the expression of God’s being;
• God communicates clearly to us through him!
Note: Verse 14:
• John chapter 1 verse 14:
• N.I.V.: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”
• J.B.P.: “So the word of God became a human being and lived among us.”
• Holman Christian Standard Bible: "…took up residence among us"
• Young's Literal Translation: "…and did tabernacle among us"
Ill:
• Devil's Island was one of the most infamous prisons in the world.
• It was forgotten and unknown until Dustin Hoffman and the late Steve McQueen;
• Were portrayed as two of its inhabitants in the film Papillon.
• Devil's Island is part of a cluster of islands off the coast of South America.
• A hundred years ago it was notorious for its prison,
• It was home to six thousand of the worst of the worst prisoners.
• Whilst serving their sentences, the men had to clear the land for farming,
• Work in the immense forests cutting down trees for export,
• Clear the swamps for fruit growing,
• And build their own huts, usually whilst chained in pairs.
• Medical attention was minimal, and medicines almost non-existent.
• And very few ever left the island if they survived their sentence.
Incredibly, volunteers form the French Salvation Army went and lived there:
• While on the island they could gather some prisoners,
• And work alongside the prisoners in renovate an old house.
• Soon, word got out that these salvationists not only worked alongside he convicts,
• But also slept in beds in the same rooms.
• TRANSITION: These members of the French Salvation Army,
• Did not just visit the prisoners, the dwelt among them!
• To reach them, they became like them!
• Now in an even greater way,
• God the Son, came into the world he had created and became one of us,
• So that he too might reach us with salvation!
(2). The Light Which Dispels Darkness (vs 4-5)
“In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome[a] it.”
• Some translations say, "have not understood it."
• Or I like the rendering: "Light is triumphant over darkness."
ill:
• The greatest light we will ever see is the sun,
• We tend to take it for granted, because it's up there in the sky every day.
• But our local star really is amazing.
• It's 93 million miles away, and 864,000 miles across.
• About one million earths could fit inside! That boggles my mind.
• Light from the Sun takes eight minutes to reach Earth.
• The Sun travels at 220 kilometres per second.
• And the sun is hot.
• At its centre the Sun reaches temperatures of 15 million °C
• Without the heat and light of the sun,
• Life as we know it could not exist on the earth.
• The sun is essential to life on earth!
• TRANSITION: The apostle John wrote:
• " The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
Question: When light fights with darkness- who wins?
Answer: The light…every time!
• Have you noticed that there is no torch that can switch on darkness?
• There is no candle that can produces darkness!
• No star radiates darkness.
• No fire glows with darkness
• When light fights with darkness- who wins?
• The light…every time!
Ill:
• Scientifically speaking, we know that light and dark are not opposing forces;
• Rather, dark is the absence of light.
• And when light enters in, the darkness is no more.
• TRANSITION: What is true of physical light is also true spiritually;
• The Bible says we walk and live in spiritual darkness.
Ill:
• At Christmas we often hear read the words of Isaiah the prophet,
• (Chapter 9 verse 2).
“The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
a light has dawned.”
• Jesus himself said; “I am the light of the world”
• (John chapter 8 verse 12 & chapter 9 verse 5)
• Words which must be either ridiculous delusion;
• Or some of the most significant words ever spoken!
• He went on to say; “Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness”
• (John chapter 8 verse 12.
• Using the same metaphor,
• The Bible tells us straight: (John chapter 3 verse 19.
“This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.”
Wow! Don’t miss that, because if you and I were finishing the sentence we would say:
• “Light has come into the world…”
• We’d say: And the people of the world loved it;
• Or: “And the people of the world flew to it like a moth to an outdoor bulb”;
• Or, “And we’ve never been the same.”
• But we’re not John the apostle.
• Instead he concludes his verse with one of the most chilling phrases of them all:
• “But people loved darkness instead.”
• Light reveals truth and exposes what was hidden.
• This, according to John the apostle is the reason why many people reject Jesus.
• His life, and His teachings, expose us all, every one of us as a sinful person,
• We are sinners by nature and sinners by practice!
• Quote: Romans chapter 3 verse 10: “There is no one righteous, not even one;
Ill:
• Book on Hand
• http://gsc.thegospelcoalition.org/download/122/outreach_illustrations.pdf
(3). The Choice Which Confronts Everyone (vs 11-12).
“He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”
Ill:
• Former British prime minister Herbert Asquith,
• (served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1908 to 1916.)
• He once spent a weekend at the Waddesdon estate;
• Of the 19th-century Rothschild family.
• One day, as Asquith was being waited on at teatime by the butler,
• The following conversation ensued:
• The butler asked him: “Tea, coffee, or a peach from off the wall, sir?”
• Asquith responded; “Tea, please,”
• The butler replied: “China, India, or Ceylon, sir?”
• Asquith answered; “China, please.”
• The butler replied: “Lemon, milk, or cream, sir?”
• Asquith answered; “Milk, please,”
• The butler then asked: “Jersey, Hereford, or Shorthorn, sir?”
• TRANSITION: Aren’t you glad life is not that complicated?
• But life is a series of choices.
Ill:
• Life is a series of choices:
• Studies tell us that we make more than 2500 choices every day.
• You have already made several choices today.
• You chose what you wanted to eat.
• You chose what clothes you wanted to wear.
• You chose to come to church.
• You chose to join in the Carol singing.
• Later you will choose to partake of the seasonal refreshments!
• TRANSITION: Many of the 2500 choices we make every day are trivial;
• They have no lasting impact on our lives,
• There are choices that have longer lasting importance:
• What career path we will choose,
• Who we will marry, how we will raise our children, and things like these?
• But the Bible teaches that there is one choice, and only one choice,
• That affects not just this life, but our eternal destiny.
• And that choice is what we will do with Jesus.
• But we would be amazed and maybe shocked;
• If we knew how many choices, we make every single day,
• That do affect our lives and future.
Note: the words ‘Received him”:
• Now it’s easy to misunderstand some words:
• Years ago, a colleague of mine Bob Telford was running a tent mission,
• After school they ran a children’s club and in the evenings a meeting for adults.
• The last children’s meeting finished Friday night;
• But they continued meetings for adults over the weekend.
• In those days Bob used to use Saturday mornings as a response time;
• A response time;
• And he said to the children on the Thursday and Friday evenings;
• “If you want to receive Christ, if you want to become a Christian,
• Then come along on Saturday morning”
• Saturday came around and one little boy turned up and said;
• “I am here for communion”
• Bob said; “We don’t do communion in the tent, you’ve got that wrong”
• But the boy insisted; “No! You said, come along to communion on Saturday!”
• Then Bob realised the misunderstanding;
• For a catholic “to receive Christ” means to take communion.
• TRANSITION: some words can have various meanings;
• Depending on your background or the context in which you use them.
• When the apostle Paul uses that expression; “Received Christ”,
• He is not talking about taking communion,
• Rather he is talking about the time these people were converted, came to faith.
• John the apostle uses the word, 'Believe' 49 times in his gospel.
• To him ‘believe’ means more than mental agreement,
• It means faith in who he is and what he came to do.
Ill:
• When the missionary John G. Paton was translating the Bible in the Outer Hebrides,
• He translated the Bible into the local language;
• But hit a problem with the word 'believe'.
• There did not seem to be a suitable word;
• One day he discovered what it should be;
• A man walked into his house and sat on a chair,
• As he did so Paton knew what word to use.
• The word he used meant "lean your whole weight upon".
• TRANSITION: God wants people to believe in his son;
• To receive him, to lean upon him and him only!
Quote:
• J. C. Ryle was born in the 1800’s and was the first Anglican bishop of Liverpool.
• He was was a prolific writer and author.
• In his book ‘Expository Thoughts on the Gospels’
• He comments (on John chapter 3 verse 18 but also relevant for this chapter):
“Nothing is so provoking and offensive to God as to refuse the glorious salvation He has provided at so mighty a cost, by the death of His only begotten Son. Nothing is so suicidal on the part of man as to turn away from the only remedy which can heal his soul.”
(4). The Gift Which God Gives (vs 14)
• N.I.V.: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”
• J.B.P.: “So the word of God became a human being and lived among us.”
• John chapter 3 verse 16 develops it:
• “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son”
• Jesus is the gift that God gives!
Ill:
• A few days before Christmas a woman said to her husband,
• “I just dreamed that you gave me a beautiful diamond necklace.
• What do you think it means?”
• The husband smiled and said; “Wait and see!”
• On Christmas morning; the husband gave his wife a small package;
• Delighted, she opened it only to find a book entitled “The Meaning of Dreams.”
• TRANSITION: Well, no matter how many hints you drop,
• Sometimes you will not get the gift you want!
The Bible teaches that Jesus is the gift for everyone!
• I don't know if you noticed when we read the passage in John’s gospel;
• But the reading contained universal references:
• Verse 3: "Through him ALL things were made."
• Verse 4: "This life gives light to ALL mankind."
• Verse 9: "The true light that gives light to EVERYONE was coming into the world."
• Verse 12: "Yet to ALL who did receive him…he gave the right to become children of God"
• These verses are for everyone one in the world;
• And you! No-one gets left out!
Ill:
• A dad was trying to explain marriage to his four-year-old girl,
• But the harder he tried the more confused she looked.
• He was about to give up, when he had an idea.
• He decided to pull out the wedding photo album,
• Thinking visual images would help.
• So, he showed her one photo after another,
• One page after another, from the bride arriving at the church, the service,
• The reception, etc.
• Worn out he said to the little girl; "Now do you understand?"
• She replied: "I think so, so it was after the reception,
• Is that when mommy came to work for us?"
• TRANSITION: Jesus did not come to work for us, He came to die for us!
• “Give him the name Jesus because he will save his people from their sins!
Quote:
“It has been said that at Christmas we need the message of Easter and at Easter we need the message of Christmas. At Christmas we need the Word about the cross which reminds us of what Jesus came to do; and at Easter we need the reminder that he One who died at Calvary was not just a martyr but the Word of the Father who became flesh for us and for our salvation.”
• “It has been said that at Christmas we need the message of Easter;
• And at Easter we need the message of Christmas.
• At Christmas we need the Word about the cross
• Which reminds us of what Jesus came to do;
• And at Easter we need the reminder that he One who died on the cross;
• Was not just a martyr;
• But the Word of the Father who became flesh for us and for our salvation.”
SERMON AUDIO:
https://surf.pxwave.com/wl/?id=PgwtzXIAPJWdQQD8CzZLKDDudEqyDrI3
