The Glory and Humility of Christmas

you. And it's such a wonderful time with children, just like watching home movies, and I love it so much, to watch these kids. And you're all written for yours, I know. You heard them hit all the sweet notes, and it's such a delight. Christmas is a wonderful time because it really does reflect the character of God. The early church really didn't celebrate Christmas. That was something that came quite a bit later. What they celebrated was Easter, the resurrection of Christ, because of course that is the event upon which the church is built. The fact that Christ has gone to the cross, gone to the grave, and he's been raised in the dead, but he couldn't have done that if it wasn't for Bethlehem.

It wasn't for the fact that he came into this world. John 316, the most well-known verse in all the Bible, for God so loved the world that he gave. That's what Christmas really is about. It's about this celebration of God's giving. It's wonderful giving. This morning I like to take a few minutes. I know it's hard for you after all that music to sit and listen to me talk, but I'm going to do my best. I can't sing and tune, but I want to talk you for a few minutes about the humility and glory of Christmas. If you want to, you can open your Bibles to John chapter 1. John chapter 1, it's not really a typical Christmas passage, but it's a passage really, which is the message, the interpretation behind this event of Christmas.

Those first 18 verses of John chapter 1, they're some of the most theologically heavy and dense verses in all the Bible. It's a wonderful passage. It's a passage that you can study all your life. There's my fly. Somebody said, did you bring your fly today? He's here. There's a Christmas tradition. The fly. John chapter 1, John begins his gospel. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and apart from him, nothing came into being that has come into being. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. Isn't that wonderful? The life that was in Christ is the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

There came a man from God, John says, whose name was John, not the man who was writing the letter, but another man, John the Baptist. And he came to testify of this light so that all would come to believe. He was not the light, John says, but he came to testify concerning the light. There was the true light. And coming into the world, he enlightens every man. He was in the world. The world was made by him, and yet the world did not know him. He came into his own things, and his own people did not receive him. But true, as many as received him to them, he gave the right to become the children of God, even to those who believe on his name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, or the will of man, the God.

And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory. The glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. And John testified concerning him, saying, What did he say? What did he say? This is the one of whom I said, the one who comes after me is before me. He's of a high rank that I am because he existed before me. This one that we announced today is not somebody who was just born 2,000 years ago, but he has existed from all eternity, John says. For we have all received of his grace, the fullness of his grace, grace upon grace. The law was given through Moses, but grace and truth were realizing Jesus Christ, and then he ends this way, the first 18 verses, the prologue of John, and he says, no man has seen God at any time, the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father.

He has explained him. That's marvelous. He has explained him. You see, that's what Christmas is about. Christmas is about the fact that God decided that he would explain himself to this fallen world that it moved so far from him and was in darkness. And so Jesus coming into the world is this very truth, that he has explained God. No one has seen God at any time, the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father. He has explained him. What I like you to do is to notice just these things in this text about how Jesus Christ explains the Father, and he continues to explain him to everyone who comes to him. First of all, the text begins by telling us, John begins by telling us that Jesus is God's Word.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. You know, every family has a spokesman. You have a spokesman in your family who is the most outspoken one who is always communicating to the world who you are. And sometimes we're not so happy about that. Sometimes we have spokesmen that we wish were not spokesmen. But the Son, the Son of God is the spokesman for the Godhead. He is the Word. He is the one that from all eternity has revealed God. We've seen him throughout the Old Testament. From the very beginning of the testimony of the Old Testament, we see the Word, God, the angel of the Lord, appearing to man, speaking to man, unveiling the truth about who God is.

So Jesus Christ, the one who was born in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago, is the Word of God. He is the spokesman for God. He is the one who has come into the world and is unveiled to us who this God really is. If you want to know who God is, you must find out who Jesus Christ is, because he is the Word of God. But then John goes on and says that not only is he the Word of God, but he is the life of God. He is God's life. In him was life. And this life that was in him is the very life of God. And that's why it enlightens every man who comes to him. The life of God is revealed in Jesus Christ. And John, the same writer writes a little epistle, sometimes later, in fact, actually was written before the gospel, but it comes later in your Bible.

And John says that this one, this Jesus Christ, is eternal life. That's one of his 360 titles that are found in Scripture. That he is eternal life. He is God's life from all eternity and into all eternity. He is the one who unveils the truth about who God is. No one can know God except they come to have the life that is contained in Jesus Christ. John does something in 1 John chapter 5. He says, this is the testimony that God has given to us, we who are a part of this fallen race. He has given to us eternal life. And he says, this eternal life, if this represents life, he says, this life is in the sun. And this represents the sun. And he says, whoever has the sun has the life. And whoever does not have the son of God does not have the life.

Now the fact is, when you go back to the book of Genesis and you read the creation account, it's obvious that the reason that God created man and woman in his image was so that they could be containers of the very life of God. John 173 says, this is eternal life, that they may know thee the only true God in Jesus Christ whom you have sent. The purpose of Christmas is that God explains himself in his son. He sends his son into this world. God comes all the way down to where we are and his life is manifest in this person. The Bible says, everyone who receives this person, everyone who by faith receives this person and receives the very life of God. And in actuality, they fulfilled the very purpose for which they were created to be those who possess the life of God.

But John goes on and says that not only is Jesus the Word of God and the life of God, but he is also God's ambassador. He is the one that God sent on this mission. It says the true light which coming into the world enlightens every man. The reason that the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ is penetrating every border that men could put up, every barrier that men could put up. The reason the gospel is spread around this globe today. There are believers on every continent. The Bible says in Revelation chapter 5, and you can imagine the impact of that when it was first written in 90 AD for John to say that in the last time he saw men from every tribe and tongue and people group on the face of the earth praising God in Jesus Christ.

Every language barrier, every political barrier, every barrier there is, the gospel has penetrated. And as the gospel goes out today, this past week on Wednesday, one of our own left here to go to Uganda because she wanted to do the work of the gospel there on the other side of the world. See, the gospel goes everywhere. People are going everywhere today to take the gospel of Jesus Christ. There's probably those in this room today who even though you're not aware of it now in the future, you're going to be somewhere else in this world in order to take the gospel of Jesus Christ to be ambassadors like Jesus was and is and his people are. That's why the Bible calls him the sent one. You know, that's one of his titles.

As I said, there's over 300, one man says there are 365 titles of Jesus Christ in the Bible, names and titles. One of them is the sent one. Most of you, if you've read the Bible, you know about the the the stream of Shaloah or the pool of Shaloah. It was the water supply in Jerusalem and it was just a trickling stream, but it always supplied what they needed. And the the word Shaloah means sent one. And what God did in supplying them with the water that they needed, this water that sustained life was to supply it in a way that was so gentle. He calls it the gently flowing waters of Shaloah. The Jews had a hard time in Jerusalem trusting God to supply their needs just like you do at times. Trusting that God is actually going to give you everything that you need.

He's going to meet your needs in every circumstance. And they had that problem. And they often looked elsewhere. They looked to the enemies of God to meet their needs. They looked to pagan nations to meet their needs. Isaiah chapter 8, God in a very sarcastic way through the prophet Isaiah says, well since you won't trust the gently flowing waters of Shaloah, then I'll send upon you the mighty river Euphrates. And it's going to flood the land and it's going to come right up to the neck. What he was talking about was he was going to send the Babylonians, the Assyrians first and later the Babylonians into the nation and destroy the northern kingdom and come to sweep down into the southern kingdom among God's people and it would be like a flood that almost destroys them.

All they can do is keep their nose above water. You know why he did that? Because they wouldn't trust in the gentle flowing waters of Shaloah. They couldn't trust something so weak and so insignificant. How could you look to something that was so weak to supply the greatest needs in all of life? God loves to supply and deliver through weakness, doesn't he? He delivered us through a person, a hero. It says in Isaiah chapter 9, in fact it's a great Christmas passage because it gives us the titles of Jesus there, this mighty God, the father of the ages, this one that God sent who is a mighty deliverer like Gideon and yet in the passage it says, he's a little child. A child is given to us. Son is given to us.

A child is born to us. God delivers through this insignificant looking person, Jesus Christ, who was born in an animal shelter, who was so incredibly insignificant. He had no status in the country whatsoever. And yet God sent his son in those humble circumstances to show us that his deliverance comes through what the world says, his weakness. God loves to do that. He loves to confound the wise and the strong and the mighty with things that look weak, things that look not wise. He loves to deliver through one like his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The last book in the Bible, the book of Revelation, when you go there in the fifth chapter, things really come to a head and we have this scene in heaven.

And the war is this battle that's beginning to be described, which hasn't come to a head yet, but it's this mighty beast, the enemy of God, who comes against God in this people. And John is wondering, who is it that's going to lead us people into victory over this mighty beast? And someone says it's going to be the lion of the tribe of Judah and all that title sounds like a mighty warrior. But when John turns, it says he sees in the middle of the throne of God a little lamb. In fact, it's a diminutive in the Greek language, it's not just the lamb, it's a little tiny lamb, and it's a lamb that has just been slain. Can you imagine an image that manifests more weakness than that? How could someone who was born in an animal shelter, in a little country that is still being siege by all of its neighbors?

That's a little tiny land where he is born in this little tiny city in an animal shelter. How could he be the deliverer, the deliverer of the world? How could he be the one upon whom the government is going to rest? He's an ambassador of God. He is the sentient one. And God loves the fact that when we preach the gospel, we preach a gospel that displays weakness. We say that the Savior of the world is one who was crucified on a cross. It was convicted as a common criminal, experienced capital punishment under the Roman government. It was hung on a cross, the most cruel and weak kind of death that you could imagine. And yet God says it's through him that I'm going to deliver and save. I'm going to save this world through this one who was a picture of weakness.

He is the sentient one, the Messiah, the very ambassador of God. But then John goes on and says he is also the man of God. The word became flesh and dwelt among us. He became one of us. In Romans chapter 8, the Apostle Paul says, what the law could not do was God did by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh. A weak looking man is going to deliver the people of God and this world that belongs to God. He becomes flesh and dwells among us. John says in his little epistle and first John, he says, I can, we used to listen to him. I can still hear his voice ringing in my ear. And we used to actually touch him. John, the one who was riding that was the one who had his head resting upon Jesus breast at the last supper.

And he says, I can still remember the smell and the feel and the atmosphere that was there when we were with him and we heard him. This one who became a man who could recline a table with his disciples who could get hungry and thirsty. He became flesh and dwelt among us. But there's another side of this humility and that is the glory of God because he said he was full of grace and truth. Now that has great significance to anybody who understood the Old Testament when they heard those words that the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory, the glorious as of an only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. Those words triggered something in their mind because those words are words that describe God himself.

And in Exodus, chapter 34, when Moses finds himself in a pickle because he's got two million people following him. I don't know if you've ever had 20 people following you, but can you imagine what it would be like to have two million people following you? Howard Hendrix used to say that the problem with being a leader is that you can never tell whether they're following you or chasing you. And here's Moses out in the wilderness with two million people and they are rebelling. They are rebelling big time. And so Moses goes to God and he says and God says to Moses, I'm going to destroy all these people and I'm just going to take you and I'm going to create a people out of you, Moses. And Moses says you can't do that because the nations of this world will look upon this and they'll see that this they will misunderstand who you are if you destroy your people.

And so Moses says to him, then God, if I want to go on, if I want to lead these people, then you have to reveal yourself to me. And so God says to him, all right, Moses, what I'm going to do is no man can see my face and live. Some of you think Bob Dylan came over that line, but that was actually God saying no man will see my face and live. And so he says to Moses, I'm going to put you in a cave and I'm going to put my hand over the cave and I'm going to walk by and I'm going to let you see my afterglow and I'm going to declare my name. You see declaring the name. In fact, you probably know this as you've read the Bible that the word name has a lot of significance in the Bible because the concept of a name is this, that the name reveals the person.

It is the person revealed. The reason that people love to name their kids certain things is they want their children to be like this. They want their children to be this whatever the name was given because the name was to reveal the character. God gave Jesus his name, Jesus, Jehovah salvation. So God walks by and Moses sees the afterglow. He sees God passing by and God declares his name and right at the heart, right at the heart of his declaring his name, he says, I am the Lord full of grace and truth. These are key words because they're words, they're descriptions of God that describe him as a covenant keeping God. You know, in the United States, in our culture, in Western culture, it is so unusual for us to have absolute confidence in a person to keep their promises.

We've got people in the highest rank in this country, in the business world, in government, in the church world, the highest level of respectability and trust who've made covenant with the people they lead who have failed them have been unfaithful. But this God, this covenant keeping God Yahweh, Jehovah the Lord of the Old Testament says I am full of grace and truth. These words refer to his covenant faithfulness. The word grace in the Old Testament, it's the word loving kindness that you often see. It's the same word as the New Testament grace and it means that God is faithful to those that he is committed to. One of the greatest treasures in life that you can have is to have people that have entered into covenant with you who will keep their covenant.

The greatest treasure in my life is having a wife who is a covenant keeper. God is a covenant keeper. He has a stubborn kind of love. That's what grace, loving kindness means. It means that God is a stubborn love for us people. He knows what you're like. Some of you don't really think God knows what you're like. He knows exactly what you're like. He knows what you do in the dark. He knows what you do and nobody else sees you. He knows the truth about your character and your life. And yet he is a covenant keeping God. You enter into covenant with this God and he only enters into this covenant with sinners like you and me. When you enter into covenant with him through faith in Jesus Christ, he is a God who is full of grace and truth.

In Jesus Christ was the manifestation of that grace and truth. Truth means that he is faithful, that he is trustworthy. You see, this is the God that Jesus came to reveal a God who is full of grace and truth. Now, you need both those things. You need grace just like I need grace. Because if I get what I deserve, I'm in big trouble. And if you get what you deserve, you're in big trouble. A lot of people think, well, I know God's fair. And so he's going to balance out my life and he's going to see that I have done some bad things. But I've also done a lot of good things. I think they kind of weigh themselves out, don't you? Well, it depends on who you ask, doesn't it? The fact is, the Bible says that every good thing I've ever done has been polluted by my own sinful heart.

At my best moments, my motivations are polluted. So God doesn't give me what I deserve. He gives me what his son deserves because he's full of grace. When you come to Jesus Christ, this one who's born in a manger, but who is not a baby now, but a reigning king at the right hand of God, when you come to Him and bow your knee and believe upon Him and call Him Lord, the Bible says that God in His grace, in the manifestation of this grace that has brought you to Christ, forgives all of your sins and trespasses. Isn't that amazing? But not only that, He's faithful. The thing is that when you enter into covenant with God, sometimes people do this, they come to Christ and they think, I'm going to make God a promise that I'll never sin again.

Well, that's a foolish thing to do, my friend, because you will break that before the sun goes down. If you understand what sin is, but what we do is we come to a God who for not only forgives us of our sins, but promises to be faithful to us. First, John, chapter 1 verse 9 says to Christians, confess your sins. Confess your sins because he is faithful and righteous to forgive your sins and to cleanse you from all in righteousness. That's a promise to the person who has rested their faith in Christ that God every day says, I will cleanse you from your sins, and all you have to do is rest in Jesus Christ. See, He is a God who is full of grace and He's full of truth, grace and truth. That's who you discover when you come to Jesus Christ to find out who God is like.

He is also God's heart. He's God's heart. You want to know what God's really like? You want to know what the heart of God is like? Then you look to Jesus Christ. Notice what He said. He doesn't want to see God at any time. The only begotten God. The only begotten God. What a strange thing to call Him. The only begotten God. The one of a kind God. That's what it means. It doesn't mean that He came into existence at some point in the past. It means that He is totally unique. This one of a kind, one, who is not only God but a man, He has become a man, and He will be a man for all eternity. Imagine that. This one of a kind God. This only begotten God. Who notice is no longer in the manger? He's no longer in the tomb.

He's no longer on the cross. He is in the bosom of the Father. He has explained him. He has explained him. You know, one of the wonderful things about Christianity is that there is a person who can explain God and his name isn't Frank Griffith or Billy Graham. Wow, I'm up there with Old Billy. He isn't a preacher. He is the Son of God. Jesus Christ can explain God and He has explained him. When you come to this Bible, this Bible, the New Testament begins with four gospels, four stories, four accounts by four different men who tell you the story of Jesus Christ, of his birth and life and teaching and death and burial and resurrection. All from four different men, four different perspectives, four different audiences, but they all tell the same glorious story, the story of the one who has explained God.

Do you want to know God? Do you want to know who God really is? Do you want to know the true and living God? Without all of the other stuff that people place upon Him, all the religious stuff, all the stuff that people lay over Him so that you can't even see who He really is. Well, the way to do that is to come to Jesus. Jesus is the one who said to His disciples on the last night that He was with Him. The night He was going to be arrested and go to the cross, and Thomas, Jesus said, I'm going to where you can't go, but you'll come later and Thomas says, where are you going, Lord? How do we know how to get there? And Jesus says to Thomas, I am the way and the truth and the life, and no one can come to the Father except through me.

Peter is called by some Bible scholars, the apostle of the open door, the door opener. The reason they call him that is because he is the one in Matthew 16 that Jesus said, because of this confession, Peter, thou art Peter, but upon this rock, this rock of your confession of who I really am, and Peter said, thou art the Christ of Son of the living God, Jesus says to him, thou art Peter upon this rock, I will build my church. And then he goes on to say, I'm going to give you the keys to the kingdom of God. And as Peter preached this message, and as the other disciples preached this message, and as other preachers over these centuries, and generations have preached this message, they are door openers.

When you take the gospel, Christian, when you take the gospel, what a season to do it. Christmas time, the whole nation, even though I know they like to call this happy holidays. And I remember the first time I went to a public school when my youngest was in school, the first time I went to a Christmas program, and they never mentioned Jesus Christ. I was just totally dumbfounded. What is this about? It's about Jesus Christ. And when you take this message of Jesus Christ to the world, you know what happens? You are put in a position, the same position the apostle Peter was, you are bringing the keys to the kingdom of God, and you're a door opener. So take advantage of it, this Christmas season.

What an opportunity for you, as you shop, as you talk to people, your neighbors as you give gifts and receive gifts to tell them the truth about this Christ, whose birthday we celebrate. I'm Christmas Day. I'd like to encourage you to be a door opener, to introduce people to the only person in the universe who can explain God. I have people ask me things about God. There's no way I can explain it. I can't explain the events of your life. I can't explain the events of the Old Testament. There are things in the Old Testament. I read in the New Testament as well. And somebody says, we'll explain that. And I say, I don't know how to explain that. But I know someone who can explain God. His name is Jesus Christ.

And he's the one in whom we trust. I'd like you to stand with me. And as we close in prayer, I would like you in your own heart today to make this commitment that this Christmas season. And you've got, we've done this early this year. And so you've got plenty of time that this Christmas season, we're not just going to celebrate Christmas, but we are going to fulfill our calling to be witnesses of Jesus Christ as we live out our life in these days. What a time for people to hear the truth about who God is as he has revealed himself to be in Jesus Christ. So make it a point. Make a determination. Make a decision that you're going to speak the truth about Christ so that people can come to know the truth about God as he has revealed himself in Jesus Christ.

Let me pray. Our Father, we are so grateful today as we watch these children sing of the Lord Jesus Christ of His birth and His greatness and His coming rule and reign. So you heard this music, which is a gift from you. We are so grateful. You know, God, we thank you today that what we celebrate is the coming of the Son of God, the Word become flesh and dwelling among us. We saw His glory. They saw His glory with our own eyes. And we see it as we come to your Word, as we peer into your Word, as we look at this testimony of Jesus Christ, His greatness and glory are unveiled to us. And it changes us. And I pray for us as the people of God. I pray for this local church and the people of this church that you would make us bold witnesses for Christ in these days.

But some of us are more timid than others. Some of us are more threatened about talking about him. But what a wonderful occasion this is. As people celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ for us to speak the truth about Him. And I pray that you would give us boldness to speak and to live and to act as witnesses of Jesus Christ. I pray you bless every home. I do pray especially for those in our congregation who are going through incredible trials. I pray, oh God, that in these days, it's such a difficult time to go through this, that your hand would be upon them, that you would be the comforter. And I pray for all of us, Lord, that you would make us witnesses. I pray for those that are here today and have not yet come to know Christ and know you through Him, that you would open their eyes and their hearts this Christmas season.

They'd come to know the one that Jesus came to reveal we pray, that we could become worshipers of the living and true God. We thank you for this time. We thank you, Father, for the fellowship that we have in Christ. Bless our conversations, our time together in our fellowship in Jesus' name and for His glory. Amen. Amen. Thank you.