Christmas is in high gear at Cross Church and allow me to say to wish you a very merry Christmas! Thank you for joining me for a Christmas sermon series entitled, A Timeless Christmas.
Christmas is by far and away America’s most popular holiday. I bet it’s even your personal favorite holiday. Nine out of ten people celebrate Christmas in America so it’s a near-universally celebrated holiday. Get this: Christmas is so good that it EVEN unifies Republicans and Democrats as they celebrate it equally!1 While Christmas is wildly popular, more Americans celebrate a secular Christmas each year.
Here’s the troubling news: while nine out of ten people celebrate Christmas in America, one out of every third person celebrates Christmas with no spiritual meaning behind it.2 Imagine if the people you care about most didn’t know the significance of Christmas.
We all know it’s the most wonderful time of the year. But many of us just don’t know the “why” behind Christmas.
Christmas Confusion
When I think of confusion, I am reminded of the funny story of an elderly man who rear-ended a really expensive sports car. The driver is enraged, and he hops out and confronts the old man, “Look what you did to my car” he yells! “You’re going to give me $10,000 right now or I’m going to beat you to a pulp!” “Oh my,” says the old man, “I don't have that kind of money. Let me call my son, he trains dolphins and he will know what to do.” The old man pulled out his phone, dialed his son, and just as his son answered, the irate man snatched the phone away from the old man. “So, YOU’RE a dolphin trainer, huh? Well, your old man here just rear-ended my expensive and rare car and I need ten grand right now or I’m going to beat you AND your old man to a pulp.” “I’ll be there in 10 minutes,” the voice said calmly on the other end. Exactly ten minutes later a Jeep pulls up, and proceeds to pulverize the bully, leaving him in a heap on the side of the road. When he finished, he walked over to his father and said “For the last time dad, I train Seals, Navy Seals..... NOT dolphins!”3
Don’t be like our elderly friend. Don’t be confused about Christmas. I want each and every one of you to know the significance of Christmas. It really is quite amazing that all over the world, billions of people will stop everything they are doing to celebrate this Son of a carpenter, born in a “no nothing” town, to a teenage girl and a young man who wasn't even His biological father. When you pull back the curtain to Christmas, there’s a lot more than giving some gifts, and decorating a tree. Let me show the “why” of Christmas in John 1.
Today’s Scripture
“The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:9-13).
1. His Own Received Him Not
“He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him” (John 1:10-11).
Christmas is centered around Jesus Christ and His birth. But the most unusual thing happened. He was rejected by His own people. Now pause with me to really consider John’s statement. The Creator of the world is rejected by the very world He created.
1.1 Is This How I Am Treated?
When a son comes home from fighting a war, his mother wraps her arms around him, and cooks for him, while his dad beams with pride. When a political candidate is elected by their party, they walk out on a platform and are greeted by loud cheers. A Super Bowl-winning coach is hoisted up on the shoulders of their players as confetti falls from the ceiling. If your children come home from any distance this Christmas, you will smoke a brisket and have a time to rejoice with them. In every area of life, people receive their own. They love their own. And they celebrate their own. But not with Jesus.
The Bible says ironically, “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him” (John 1:11). As hard as it is to believe, in spite of all the miracles Jesus did, all the wonderful things that Jesus taught, and the unbelievable way that Jesus lived, many people did not recognize Jesus. It’s puzzling, to say the least.
1.2 The World
Let me help you read the gospel of John for a moment. Notice that the term “world” appears three times in verse 10. John uses the term “world” 78 times, more than five times as many times as any other gospel does. John loves this word. When John says Jesus made the world yet the world did not know Him, what does He mean? It’s the Greek word “kosmos” from which we get the word “cosmology.”
1.2.1 The World Hates Jesus
For John, the world is often not the earth God created but it is the human beings and human affairs that are in rebellion against their Maker.4 When John uses the term “world,” he means those who have no faith in Jesus. Later, Jesus will teach us, “If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” (John 15:19). John is telling us that the people of the world have organized themselves in opposition to the Son of God. Christmas is this: Herod kills every newborn child in Bethlehem in an attempt to murder any rivals to his measly throne.
1.2.2 The Richness of Christmas
And this is the richness of Christmas. Jesus went from the heights of glory to the depths of shame. He went from the wonders of heaven to the wickedness of earth. He went from exaltation to humiliation. He had experienced coronation in Heaven before Christmas only to experience the curse on this earth. Yes, He went from the halls of Heaven to the nails of earth.5
1.3 His Family
John says this world stands opposed to Jesus. Think about Jesus’ own blood family. Jesus’ ministry was exploding. He was doing miracles everywhere he went. Yet, it got to the point where Jesus had become such a phenomenon that this was the reaction of his family: “And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, ‘He is out of his mind’” (Mark 3:21). Jesus looks like God, lives like God, loves like God and yet His own family thought He was nuts!6
1.4 Fresh Rejection
Even all these years later, our world still rejects Him. When you say ‘‘Jesus Christ was God in the flesh,’’ Jews, Muslims, Unitarians, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Buddhists, and Hindus all checkout. Everybody wants to pay Jesus a compliment. They will say, ‘‘He was different, but he wasn’t divine.” Or, “He was great, but he wasn’t God.” “He is to be welcomed, but he is not to be worshipped.”
1.5 Came to His Own
Imagine Dr. John Pemberton, the founder and inventor of Coca-Cola, walking into the corporate offices after all these years and people telling him, “Get out of here!” Imagine if George Washington was kicked out of the White House. Imagine if Jerry Jones were asked to leave AT&T Stadium on Sunday. As silly as all this is, now imagine the Creator of the World being rejected by “his own people.”
1.5.1 Why Did We Reject Jesus?
Jesus tells us the “why” behind the world’s rejection of Him: “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed” (John 3:19-20).
No doubt you have heard some arguments: are we inherently good or bad? Maybe you even participated in some of these debates: are we motivated to do right and wrong by nature or nurture? If we were to ask Jesus, “How do we know what is really in people?” Jesus’ reply is as simple as it is wise. Jesus says, “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil” (John 3:19). Jesus says in effect, “Here’s how you do who you are. Here’s the verdict. Light came into the world and the world rejected light because they preferred darkness.”
“…people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil” (John 3:19b).
1.6 His Own Race Rejected Him
All this makes the irony even more rich when John writes: “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him” (John 1:11). Verse 11 shows us that Jesus came not just to the world and rejected Jesus but Jesus came to His own race, His own people, and was likewise rejected. John says in effect, “He came home.” He came to the Jewish people, and they would not accept Him even though He was Jewish. Think of the implications of this. He came to Boston, and they rejected Him. Jesus came to Katmandu, and they rejected Him. He came to San Francisco, and they rejected Him. He came to Fort Worth, and they rejected Him. And He even came to Jerusalem, and they rejected Him. They rejected Him while celebrating Christmas. They rejected Him while winning homeowners association awards for “best-decorated home” for the holiday. They rejected Him while shopping for Christmas. And they rejected Him even when attending Christmas Eve services. And His own kinfolk crucified Him while celebrating Passover. The heartbreak of this is this: it’s not just Muslims that reject Him, but His own people did too.
1.7 He’s Genuine
Despite all this, Jesus is the true light, the genuine light (John 1:9). John doesn’t equivocate and doesn’t pull any punches. He says there is only one true light. There may be a lot of messiahs, gurus, and religious leaders who claim to be the light, but He is the only true light. He is not just the light for some; He is the light for everyone.
1.7.1 Not A Lamp
Now, just one verse earlier, John mentions Jesus’ cousin, a great prophet. Jesus will later call John the Baptist the greatest of the prophets. Yet, he wasn’t the light; he was simply a witness to the light. Later John records Jesus as saying John the Baptist was merely a lamp (John 5:35). Jesus is the true light all by Himself. Jesus is the light par excellence!
1.7.2 True
Notice John says, “The true light, which gives light to everyone” (John 1:9a). The word “true” means genuine and Jesus loves to describe Himself as “true.” If you gave Jesus a True/False test, Jesus says, “True, true, and true!” Later, John tells us that Jesus is the “true” bread from heaven, the “true” vine, and even His testimony is the “true.”
1.7.3 External Illumination
Most of the world says, “Look inside yourself.” Hollywood says, “Follow your heart.” Education says, “Trust yourself.” But the Bible says real illumination is EXTERNAL, not internal. We have no light inside of us. That’s why we need Jesus; He’s a light for us.
1.7.4 What’s Going On in the World Today?
If you want to know what is going on in our world it is the same thing that has been going on since the beginning of time. There is a battle between light and darkness. The Kingdom of God is a kingdom of light. The kingdom of Satan is a kingdom of darkness. Here is the wonderful news. Light is the undefeated, undisputed, champion of this battle! Light was crucified but it was in Light’s darkest moment that Light achieved His greatest victory.
1. His Own Received Him Not
2. To All Who Received Him
“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13). All of a sudden, John offers this sharp contrast. Though we reject Him, He receives us.
2.1 Your Reaction/My Reaction
That statement should make your jaws drop and it should take your breath away. That statement should bring tears to your eyes, and a clap to your hands! He receives us though we rejected Him! John never got over the astonishment of being a child of God. Even though we rejected Him, He welcomes us! And to prove that statement to you, listen to what the apostle John wrote years later, he wrote, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him” (1 John 3:1). This is the “why” to Christmas: He was born so I could be a child of God with all the rights, privileges, and happiness this brings.
2.2 American Birthright
Of all the rights that you have in the United States, one of the best-known rights is automatic citizenship which is given to everyone born within our borders.7 This wasn’t always the case.
2.2.1 The 14th Amendment
The 14th Amendment was passed so you can obtain your American citizenship at birth either through just being born on United States soil or being born to parents who are United States citizens. The 14th Amendment was added to the Constitution after the Civil War in 1868.
2.2.2 Benefits of American Citizenship
The benefits of being a United States citizen are tremendous.
Let me list a couple of these for you.
1. You cannot be deported.
2. You have the option to work for the Federal Government
3. You can travel with little restrictions with the protection of U. S. embassies.
4. You have the right to vote.
5. Studies show that American citizens will make between 50% and 70% more than non-citizens.8
In fact, someone has calculated that the monetary value of being an American citizen is at least 2.5 million dollars based on the median household income being over $56,000 and assuming that you can work here for 50 years. It’s a big deal to be an American citizen.
2.3 A Citizen of Heaven,
It’s an even bigger deal to be a citizen of Heaven! If you think the benefits of American citizenship are great, wait to you see the benefits of being a child of God! Now to be a citizen of the USA, you need to be either born on American soil or born to American citizens. To be a child of God, you must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12). That’s one of my personal favorite verses in all the Bible. Here it again for the first time and marvel: “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12).
2.3.1 A Child of God
“…he gave the right to become children of God…” (John 1:12c).
If you are united to Christ by faith, you preach this to yourself: “My Father in heaven loves me with all the power and magnitude that He loves His natural born Son. My Father loves me more than I love myself. My Father wants greater things for me than I even want for myself.” You who despair this holiday season, feel that down deep inside you. Feel His great love for you.
2.3.1 Believing in His Name is a Distinct Act
Believing in Jesus is a distinct act. Again, the Bible says, “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him” (John 1:11). Yet, in that very crowd of people was one who stood apart from everyone else. A woman comes out from the crowd, she separates from her family. She says, “I receive Jesus Christ as my Lord and my Savior.” The Lord says to her, “You are mine and I am yours. I will never let go of you for all of time and eternity.” A man says, “I believe and receive Jesus as my Messiah.” The Lord says to him, “I have set your name down in the Book of Life and you are a pilgrim to the celestial city.” Those who received Christ were different from those who did not receive Him. They were as different as white is from black, or light from darkness.
2.3.2 Believing in His Name is a Personal Act
Believing in Jesus is a personal act. Your parents may be the strongest believers in the community, but their faith cannot count for you. Their faith cannot count for you. Again, believing in Jesus is a personal act. I cannot believe for you. I can give you money but I cannot give you faith. You must believe for yourself. We come to Jesus poor, naked, and miserable. And we receive riches, clothing, and happiness in Him!9
Salvation comes by receiving Christ.
2.4 Three Great Truths for Christmas Joy
Christmas means joy, and our happiness is based on three great truths:
1. Our Bad Things Will Turn Out for Good.
The bedrock promise of the Bible is this: “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). Everything terrible will turn around for good because of the birth of Christ!
2. Our Best Things Cannot be Taken From Us.
You are united with Christ for all time and eternity. God’s word says this, “You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound” (Psalm 4:7). If you are in Christ, then your name is written in Heaven above, and because of this, you know your best things can never be taken from you.
3. The Best Things Are Yet to Come.
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9b). God sent His Son to take away our sins – what a reason to celebrate! No one can take His deep love away from you!
2.5 The Greatness of Jesus
Socrates taught for forty years, Plato for forty, and Aristotle for forty, while Jesus only taught for three years. Yet, his three-year ministry infinitely blows away the impact left by the combined one hundred thirty years of teaching from the greatest philosophers of all time. Jesus didn’t paint any pictures, yet some of the finest paintings of Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, and Rafael were inspired by Him. Jesus wrote no poetry, but Dante and Milton who scored the world’s greatest poems wrote about Him. Jesus composed no music, but Handle, Beethoven, Bach and so many others wrote hymns, symphonies, and oratories all about Him!10
2.6 Uniting with Jesus
You will never enjoy true life until you have united with Jesus. Jesus is life; He’s eternal life. Listen to Jesus, “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish” (John 10:28). That eternal life is in Jesus. If you have the Son, if you have Jesus — if He is in you and you are in Him, then life is in you, and you are spiritually and eternally alive. You have life forever. Vital union with Jesus is everything.
Repent – ask the Holy Spirit to help you make a U-turn
Believe – put all your faith in Jesus Christ
Receive – the last thing you need to do is to call upon the name of the Lord.
Would you bow your head as we pray?
End Notes
1 https://news.gallup.com/poll/272357/percentage-americans-celebrate-christmas.aspx; accessed December 13, 2023.
2 https://news.gallup.com/poll/272378/americans-celebrating-secular-christmas.aspx; accessed December 13, 2023.
3 https://twitter.com/614clinton/status/1716166298160583054; accessed December 13, 2023.
5 D. A. Carson, The Gospel according to John, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; W.B. Eerdmans, 1991), 122-123.
5 This is an adaption of R. G. Lee’s statement.
6 I am grateful for James Merritt for this point in his sermon, “Birth Right.”
7 I am grateful for James Merritt for this point in his sermon, “Birth Right.”
8 https://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/economic-value-citizenship-immigrants-united-states; accessed December 16, 2023.
9 I am grateful for Charles Spurgeon for this point. C. H. Spurgeon, “The Simplicity and Sublimity of Salvation” in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1892), 38:266-267.
10 This quote is widely attributed to Henry G. Bosch.
