CONSIDER CHRISTMAS
With Pastor~Timothy G. Porter
The Bridge Church Upstate
John 1:1-5
Introduction:
So, here we are. We are at the beginning of a very special time of the year. The season that began this past Thursday (Thanksgiving) and runs through New Years has come to be known as the holiday season. The word “holiday” is a shortened form of what ancient people called “the holy days”. So I want you to know, It doesn't bother me to hear this time of year called the holidays, because they are holy days indeed.
Some of you grumble about the holidays and you gripe about how people begin preparing for Christmas earlier each year. You fuss about all the activities and the expense this season brings into your lives. You complain about how society has commercialized a day set apart to honor the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ.
For the next few weeks I am going to Preach on the thought of "Discovering Christmas"
? The emphasis is going to be on getting Christmas right. We want it white and bright. We want the tree, the decorations, the lights, the ham, the eggnog and the presents. We want everyone to be happy. Even the disfuncintional family wants everyone to get along and be together. We want to be able to get and give plenty. We want peace and joy to be plentiful. That's what we want right?
But, In reality, Christmas often turns into a real hassle.
?You are rushed and pushed for time.
?You spend money you don't have ~ for people you don't even like ~ to acquire things they don't even want or need.
?In our struggle to get it right, we often get it dead wrong and end up making ourselves and others miserable.
?I believe God wants us to get it right. I believe that He is not so interested in our having a white Christmas as He is interested in our having and "Discovering the right Christmas."
So, how can we have a right Christmas? What do we need to understand and change in our lives that will allow Christmas to be a time of blessing and wonder instead of being a time of stress and tension?
The passage today reveals some ingredients that are absolutely essential if we are to have a right Christmas. (Turn you copy of God's Word to John 1:1-5)
Now, I realize that this is not the traditional Christmas text.
*** STAND *** READ *** PRAY ***
John does not write about angels, shepherds, stars or sheep. But, He does something the other Gospel writers do not do. John puts the greatest Christmas delivery of all time into context. He tells us all we need to know to have a right Christmas. Before we can have the right Christmas we must ~ "Consider The Person Of Christmas".
? Christmas is filled with many distractions. Between the Personalities, the Presents and the Practices, it is easy to forget the real reason for this day. In fact, many of the things we do and love so are nothing more than pagan rituals and symbols that were hijacked by the Christian church. Verse 1 brings us back to the real essence of Christmas.
*? We know Who the Word is, John 1:14 (NKJV) 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
So if we say we know who the word is and we are going to consider the Person of Christmas we must understand, it is not santa clause, it is Jesus.
So the first thing to consider when we consider the person of Christmas is
I.) He Is Eternally God
“In the beginning was the Word.” — This phrase does not imply that the Word had a beginning. It means that the Word has always existed. The word “was” is in the “imperfect tense” it signifies “an action of the past that continues into the present.” Now let me give you a little bit of Timology and give you Pastor Tim's translation. It could be read this way, “In the beginning was the word, is the Word and always will be the Word.”
The Word is eternal! He always has been and He always will be. Before there was anything else, there was the Word. Jesus had His birth in Bethlehem, but not His beginning.
? Before there was a ______; there was Jesus! Jesus was not “Plan B”. There never was another plan!
? ILLUSTRATION: A couple of months before Christmas, the wife of a mail carrier was killed in a car accident. The husband was overcome with grief and was trying to work through his sorrow, and he had stayed late at his post office sorting through the mountain of mail that always comes through at Christmas time. His job that day was to go through the mail that had been lost and to find out where it should be re-routed.
He came across a letter that was addressed to “Santa Claus” and he noticed that the address at the top of the letter was his own address. So, he opened the letter. Looking down at the bottom of the page he saw that it was his only daughter's signature, and he read:
Dear Santa:
My Mommy died two months ago and since then my Daddy has been crying himself to sleep every night. He says only eternity will heal him. Would you please send a little bit of eternity to my Dad this Christmas?
Well God not only sent us a little bit of eternity when He sent Jesus, He sent us the very heart of heaven.
As John put it into words, “And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world,” 1 John 4:14.
I.) He is Eteranlly God
II.) He Is Equally God
Yes He is equal, why b/c ~ The word translated “word” in this verse is the Greek word “logos”. It refers to “speech, reasoning, explanation, a word about something.”
That is Who Jesus is! He is called the Word because a word is a visible expression of an invisible thought. Jesus is the perfect expression of Who God is!
Jesus is everything God has ever said or will say. He is everything God is about in human form. Jesus is the explanation or narration of God!
The word “with” means “face to face, or toward”. This tells us that Jesus was “face to face” with God. In other words, that He is God's equal.
This reminds us that the God we serve is a triune God, thats right He is 3 in one "He is God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit". There is one God Who manifests Himself in three Persons. The Word, Jesus, is one of those manifestations.
You may say Preacher how can this be can you give me proof they are all the same?
Look in your bibles to Genesis 1:26 (NKJV) 26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
So who was He talking to? There was no one else God created the universe and all that is in it. Who was He talking to? He was talking to Jesus and the Holy Ghost! Thats who.
Matthew 3:16-17 (NKJV) 16 When He had been baptized, Jesus (the son) came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God (holy spirit) descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. 17 And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." (God) The Trinity
1 Peter 1:2 (NKJV) 2 elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied.
My friend if you are here and you deny the trinty or do not beleive in them you are not saved. Because you have denied God Himself!
I.) He Is Eternally God
II.) He is equally God
I.) He Is Essentially God
The statement “and the Word was God”, is the clearest statement of the deity of Jesus in the Bible. Not only is the Word co-eternal and co-equal with God; the Word is God! That is why Jesus could say the things He said,
John 14:8; I am the Father John 10:30; I and My Father are one John 8:58 I Am
? I cannot say “I am my father are one”. It just isn't true! Only Jesus can say that and be 100% accurate.
When God sent His Son into this world, and let me tell you He did b/c there is a vs. in the bible that said He did - John 3:16; He sent One Who was eternally, equally and essentially God. In other words, when the angels said, “unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord”, Luke 2:11, they were announcing the birth of God in human flesh!
All through his life He proved Who He was over and over. From “Peace be still” to “Rise up and walk” to “Lazarus come forth” to “Thy sins be forgiven thee” to “It is finished” on the Cross at Calvary the truth and power of His deity was on constant display. Every word, every deed, every miracle declared Him to be God. He alone is the Person of Christmas!
Conclusion:
So today for us to Discover Christmas we must consider the person of Christmas and that is Jesus. For us to consider Him we must remember Him and that is what we are about to do. But, before we do I want give you a chance to come to this altar to come clean to get right with Him. If there is anything that is not right with you and God or you and another person I strongly suggest you get it right before coming to the Lord's table. People in the NT were struck down and killed for taking light of the Lord's supper. It is a serious time only for the saved.
This is the invation, if you need salvation, Prayer, maybe you would like to join the church now is the time.
Communion Cermony.
