Receive His Life.

Our theme for 2022 is “Begin Again”

This Sunday is the second in our 2022 Advent Series.

Advent literally means “the coming.”

It is a time of building anticipation for Christmas, which is the celebration of Christ’s coming.

We recently completed a series on the Gospel of John, so someone suggested to me, “Why not do an Advent series from the Gospel of John?”

I thought it sounded like a good idea.

It’s especially interesting because John is the only Gospel writer who does not include any details about the birth of Jesus.

John is more that just a historian, he’s an artist.

He doesn’t want to just convey facts, he wants you to feel the impact of these events.

It is not enough to know that God sent Jesus into the world.

John wants us to know that this is the essence of life and to receive that life.

John 1:1–5 ESV

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Do you feel the impact of Christ coming into the world.

It’s like life coming into a lifeless body made from clay.

It’s like light shining into darkness.

The darkness doesn’t stand a chance.

Light is greater than darkness and life is greater than death.

Life is greater than mere physical existence.

Along with John’s imagery, I have been weaving some of our traditional Christmas imagery into these messages.

We talked about believing being like the imagery of the bell, which only children can hear.

Last week we talked about Santa, who was an actual person and a Christ-follower who was known for generosity and gift-giving.

So much of our Idea of Christmas spirit is in that tradition, but it all goes back to Jesus, the real reason for the season.

What about life? What is the symbol of life?

The Christmas tree has been a symbol of life and its roots go back to pre-Christian times.

According to History.com The history of Christmas trees goes back to the symbolic use of evergreens in ancient Egypt and Rome and continues with the German tradition of candlelit Christmas trees first brought to America in the 1800s.

Long before the advent of Christianity, plants and trees that remained green all year had a special meaning for people in the winter. Just as people today decorate their homes during the festive season with pine, spruce, and fir trees, ancient peoples hung evergreen boughs over their doors and windows. In many countries it was believed that evergreens would keep away witches, ghosts, evil spirits, and illness.

Some Christians are quick to point out that the Christmas tree was a pagan symbol before it became a Christmas symbol.

But the truth is that many of our Christian symbols began as pagan symbols, then Christians saw within them a meaning that they could relate to the gospel message, so they reinterpreted them with a gospel meaning.

The Christmas tree is no exception. Evergreen trees were believed to be magical because they remained alive-looking when all or the other trees, grass and flowers were dying.

At the winter solstice when the days are shortest and the nights are longest, bringing a bough or a small tree inside the house was a reminder that life would win over death.

Just as light conquers darkness, life wins over death and evil will one day be conquered by good.

It may be just a superstition for many, but there is a real, truthful message in it, if you know where to find it.

Let’s take a closer look at what John says about Jesus coming into the world and bringing life.

All things were made through Jesus.

In missions, we look for things in the culture that point to God’s truth, because the Bible talks about general revelation - that God can be know just from nature.

Romans 1:19–20 ESV

19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

Nature tells us about God. Even pagans can know something about God from nature - just by observing the essence of life.

That’s why the ancient Egyptians brought branches into their houses to celebrate the triumph of life over death as each year nature (symbolized by their God Ra) would arise from the dead.

Romans had a similar tradition in their feast of Saturnalia which was to remind them that life would return in the Spring and abundance would come again.

Some believe that the Emperor Constantine chose December 25 to celebrate Christ’s birth because it coincided with this feast and also with the winter solstice.

The Celts and the Vikings are said to have worshipped the evergreen tree, but they were also a sign to them of the everlasting nature of life.

These people and these cultures did not know about Jesus when they started these traditions, but they contain some truth about life which ultimately points to God the Creator.

God created the world with seasons, a perpetual cycle of dying and rising again.

At the same time, the world lives as if death is final and there is nothing worse than death.

It was written into creation that life always wins over death.

But Jesus showed us that this is really the truth about God and about the divine nature when he dies and rose again.

He showed us that there is life beyond death.

Yes, pagans worshipped trees because they believed that they contained a living spirit or spirits that could drive away evil.

General revelation could teach them that life is greater than death and evil.

But only the Bible tells us how God intervened to give us life and to rescue us from death and evil.

In Jesus is life.

John 5:25–26 ESV

25 “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.

So from general revelation one can know that life is greater than death, but what is the source of that life? Where does it come from?

One would think that it stands to reason that life comes from a Creator.

But if life comes from a Creator, then that would make us indebted to our Creator for our very life?

That is the conclusion that mankind has tended to avoid.

Romans 1:25 NLT

25 They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.

It is much easier to celebrate the idea of life than to realize our debt to the giver of life.

It’s easier to look at a tree and celebrate that not everything dies, but what dies comes back to life - than to ask ourselves, and why is that?

Maybe you think having a live tree is so much better than having a fake tree, because - after all- it’s alive! Never mind, that you just killed it by cutting it down!

It brings us comfort and consolation to bring the outdoors in, but to we ever ask ourselves, what is so special about what is out there that I would want it in here?

We love living symbols, but we avoid the meaning of life that they point to.

If my life comes from God, then am I not accountable to God for what I do with that life?

Jesus is God who is come into the world to the people that he created.

I said last week that a lot of people have this idea that Jesus is constantly judging them.

We probably think that because other people that represented God to us, parents, teachers or pastors were critical and judgmental.

Yes, Jesus is going to judge the world, but the whole point of his coming was to save us so that we don’t need to fear judgement.

Remember this verse?

John 3:17 NLT

17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.

So why don’t we immediately associate Jesus with life?

Why can’t we see that the Christmas tree points upward to Jesus?

And the cross is a tree, a symbol of death which became the symbol of life.

Jesus died on a tree so that we could have life.

Jesus is life! He’s the Creator and sustainer of life.

John 5:24 NLT

24 “I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.

God breathed life into man and he became alive.

It is God in us that gives us life.

Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit - the wind or breath of God to live inside us.

I think it is interesting that not only do we celebrate trees as a symbol of life, but we bring them indoors.

Early celebrations of German-American immigrants would have a community tree that they would decorate.

But over time it became more prevalent to have a Christmas tree in your home - for your own family to enjoy.

I think it speaks to the life of Christ (the Holy Spirit) as being both personal and corporate.

We have a personal relationship with Jesus, but we also have a corporate life in Christ.

What should we do with Jesus who is the embodiment of life.

Place Him at the center of our community life and experience.

Bring Jesus into our homes, our families and into our daily life.

Bring all your gifts and put them at the feet of Jesus.

Jesus lights up our life.

Christmas trees aren’t just ordinary trees, we decorate them with color and shiny ornaments and especially lights.

It seems that John isn’t the only one who likes mixing the metaphors of life and light.

Germany is credited with starting the Christmas tree tradition as we now know it in the 16th century when devout Christians brought decorated trees into their homes. It is a widely held belief that Martin Luther, the 16th-century Protestant reformer, first added lighted candles to a tree. Walking toward his home one winter evening, composing a sermon, he was awed by the brilliance of stars twinkling amidst evergreens. To recapture the scene for his family, he erected a tree in the main room and wired its branches with lighted candles.

So Martin Luther added lights to the tree reminiscent of the stars in the sky - a mixture of life and light.

It reminds us that life is happening against the backdrop of eternity.

Life isn’t just about our lifetime, but about God’s plan for all of history and beyond.

The meaning of life is more than just our present prosperity and happiness, its about God’s plan to restore the world for himself.

We are going to talk about light and darkness again next week, but for right now I just want to point out that the comparison between light and life is to show us the contrast.

Light stands out against the backdrop of darkness.

In fact the darker it is, the brighter the light shines.

Darkness can never win, because the light will only get brighter.

Life is like that too, sometimes it seems like life is not all that special.

But when does life mean the most? When we are faced with death, illness or tragedy.

Life becomes so precious against a contrasting backdrop.

A popular movie for the holidays is “It’s a Wonderful Life from 1946. It’s been acclaimed as one of the greatest films of all time with numerous awards. The main character George Bailey feel like his life is full of obstacles and nothing ever turns out quite the way he dreamed that it would.

When he loses a large sum of money by mistake, he thinks his life is over. But an angel shows him, just like in Dickens “A Christmas Carol” that his life has more meaning that he realizes and that he has inadvertently done some good, even though all he can see is regrets.

Suddenly everything looks different to him, after seeing his life from the perspective of what it would be like if he never existed.

Life is wonderful! But sometimes we can see it until we have an alternative to consider.

The German Christmas tree wasn’t just about life and prosperity.

It embodied the story of Adam and Eve and was called “the paradise tree.”

The earliest decorations were apples hung on the tree to represent the fruit of Eden.

Later, hey hung communion wafers on the tree as a reminder of redemption.

The communion wafers eventually became cookies, candy and popcorn strings.

Life on earth began with trees and it is going to end with trees too.

Revelation 22:1–2 ESV

1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

It is a wonderful life and it is going to have a wonderful ending because God is redeeming the life that he gave us.

Jesus makes all the difference!

Why did John say that life is like light? And that light overcomes darkness?

Because we don’t really understand life until we know Jesus.

You could say that knowing Jesus is a matter of life and death.

But we don’t seem to really believe that.

We treat our spiritual life as is it is an optional thing.

Maybe I’ll go to church today… if I feel like it.

Church is like a meeting with God …but it’s not that important …you can cancel it if it’s inconvenient.

I don’t have time for devotions because I’m so busy.

You can’t afford to ignore your time with God - where do you think your energy and focus comes from?

If life comes from God, then why would you cut off your life line?

John 6:63 NLT

63 The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life.

Did you notice something about the fill-in-the-blanks this week?

Every answer was “Jesus.”

I did that on purpose, because He is the answer!

Life is one way without Jesus, and other way with Jesus.

Without Jesus, life is survival.

With Jesus, life is an adventure!

Without Jesus, life is about me and my own happiness.

With Jesus, life is about me finding my place in His plan.

With or without Jesus, life is hard and sometimes disappointing.

But with Jesus even the hard times are things that God is working out for good.

It comes down to how you what you believe and understand about life.

Are you living life for what you can get out of it?

Or are you following life back to it’s source and living the life that you were created for?

John 15:5 ESV

5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

Your connection to Jesus makes you alive.

He is life! And without Him you are not really living.

He is the tree of life, and we are branches on that tree.

Questions for Reflection:

Is your view of Christmas Pagan or Christian? Do you worship symbols or do you see the meaning behind the symbols? Is Christmas just about trees and lights? Or is it about life and light?

How do you feel about your life? Is life a constant struggle? Or is it a source of gratitude and wonder? Does seeing your life in the light of Jesus make a difference?

What is life really about? Are you living for something much greater than your own happiness or existence? Do your current priorities reflect your answer to this question?