The Sent One

About a month ago, I finished reading the Chronicles of Narnia series by CS Lewis to my kids… which I had never read the whole way through before...

For those of you who have never read all of them, I would HIGHLY recommend doing so… do it as a family, it’s really fun.

My favorite book in the series of 7 books was the last one, which is called The Last Battle.

There’s this part toward the end where the main good characters of the whole series come BACK into Narnia from OUR WORLD and have this dialogue that really stuck out to me and got me excited about Christmas…

The group has just entered a stable… this stable had been the source of much fear due to people dying when they went inside… I don’t want to go into telling the whole story…

but when THIS GROUP of humans entered, they find a whole NEW, beautiful world inside (that was different both from ours and Narnia)… similar to the wardrobe that brought four children into Narnia: this Stable door brought them into yet another world (Aslan’s country).

So let me just read a portion of their dialogue and see if this conversation captures your imagination:

“It seems, then,” said Tirian, smiling himself, “that the stable seen from within and the stable seen from without are two different places.”

“Yes,” said the Lord Digory. “Its inside is bigger than its outside.”

“Yes,” said Queen Lucy. “In our world too, a stable once had something inside it that was bigger than our whole world.”

It was the first time she had spoken, and from the thrill in her voice, Tirian now knew why. She was drinking everything in even more deeply than the others. She had been too happy to speak.

(Lewis, The Last Battle, 102-103).

As I read that, I just fell in love with that line… it almost brought me to tears... “In our world too, a stable once had something inside it that was bigger than our whole world.”

While most of the Chronicles of Narnia are fantasy that is designed to capture our imaginations, what sounds like fantasy in that moment is actually reality.

“In our world too, a stable once had something inside it that was bigger than our whole world.”

When I read that, I thought, “That’s one of the most profound statements about Christmas that I’ve ever heard.”

And much like Lucy, it made me drink everything in even more deeply. It made me exceedingly happy.

Because a baby in a manger is a nice thought… a CUTE thought…

BUT… the God who created the Universe... now in human flesh... sheltered inside a man-made structure… that’s more than a “nice thought”… that’s an incomprehensible thought!

That’s a thought that can make your head spin for a lifetime if you allow it to.

And I want us to allow it to make our heads spin for at least a little while this morning.

A huge goal is that we would allow our hearts to soar in WONDER at what God was doing in that first Christmas.

I think this is the central challenge of celebrating Christmas… to talk about the birth of Christ… but to do so in a way that captures his BIGNESS as God… inside his SMALLNESS as a baby.

The big theological word we use for that is “incarnation.”

It means that God took on flesh.

That the baby Jesus was fully God and fully man from the moment he was conceived.

He wasn’t a man who BECAME GOD… he was GOD who BECAME MAN… he came INTO the world… in fact, to make our heads spin even more … he is one member of a TRINITY who was SENT into the world...

The Father… fully God… sent the SON… fully God… into the world… by the power of the Holy Spirit causing a VIRGIN to conceive.

Now while Matthew and Luke give us the birth story of Jesus and definitely point to the fact that he is GOD, the Gospel of John gives us the best window into the WONDER of the INCARNATION itself.

The idea that GOD BECAME FLESH… that Jesus was SENT.

The theme comes up a number of times in John’s Gospel… and the final one is John’s account of the Great Commission.

In John 20:21, Jesus says, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” (ESV)

If we really think about it, that verse SHORT… but at the same time it is BIG.

As the Father has sent me...

The FATHER sent the son… that’s what happened in ALL of Jesus’ life, starting with CHRISTMAS>

CHRISTMAS was the first flight of a big MISSION TRIP to make disciples.

But here’s what’s crazy… that Mission trip is supposed to be the pattern for the mission of OUR OWN lives.

As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.

Jesus is “The Sent One. And his disciples are to be sent ones just like him.

This is what we’ve been talking about in our most recent sermon series called “The WAY”… that Jesus came to make DISCIPLES… and that those disciples are then SENT to make disciples...

And so I wanted to use this theme from the book of John… that Jesus is THE SENT ONE… to continue our focus on making disciples this Christmas: because JESUS is THE SENT ONE… WE are commissioned by him AS sent ones…

Making disciples is the purpose… even… of Christmas.

As you think about your relationships this week… and the relationships you will enjoy… Christ’s purpose for you in all of them is to be a disciple who makes disciples.

Don’t miss giving the gift of Jesus this week.

“As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”

Here’s the big idea for the morning:

Big Idea: This Christmas, live SENT as Jesus was SENT.

Now the question we have to ask is, “How and why was Jesus SENT?”

And John gives us the answers to THOSE questions in the prologue of his Gospel

John wrote his Gospel WELL AFTER Matthew, Mark and Luke were written… to a group of believers in the towns and cities surrounding the city of EPHESUS where he was a pastor for a while.

And so he was like, “Those other Gospel writers covered a lot of stuff really well, but the disciples I’m making are facing some unique challenges and false teaching… so I’M going to include a bunch of stuff they left out… because I was one of Jesus’ closest disciples and friends.”

And so NINETY PERCENT of the material John’s Gospel can’t be found in the other three.

And instead of giving us another account of the Birth story, John gives us a window into the SPIRITUAL DYNAMICS of the incarnation… of Jesus COMING INTO the world.

And all throughout his gospel, he picks up on the idea that Jesus... unlike you and I… existed before he was conceived in human flesh… he existed eternally as THE SON OF GOD..

When you and I are conceived… THAT is when God creates our soul. (we are not PRE-EXISTENT)...

But for Jesus, he existed eternally BEFORE THAT… in perfect union with God the Father and the Spirit...

And he enjoyed perfect relationship in the Trinity…

And then… as the Holy Spirit overshadowed a virgin named Mary, the Father SENT the Son into the world.

So here’s John’s account of that event: Read John 1:1-18.

We are going to focus on verses 1-13 of this passage today, because verses 14-18 reflect the first verses like a mirror… and so I’ll draw them in as they do.

From this text we want to see what it means to LIVE SENT as Jesus was SENT this Christmas.

Why did Jesus come into the world? And what does that mean for how we are to live in this world?

Today we will see:

Four Reasons Jesus was SENT

1) Sent to reveal. (v. 1-3, 18)

Verse 1 - “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 were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” (John 1:1–3, ESV)

Here John takes us back, all the way to the beginning of time.

Genesis 1:1 - “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.” (Genesis 1:1–3, ESV)

This Word was in the beginning.

He was WITH GOD… literally “The Word was faced toward God,” meaning he enjoyed PERFECT RELATIONSHIP… perfect UNITY together.

Because, we find out later, this WORD was the only begotten Son from the Father...

He was at the Father’s side.

He was distinct as a person… but he was perfectly ONE as God.

He was WITH GOD… AND he WAS God.

He was Word proceeding from God through which God SAID “Let there be light,” and light broke through the darkness.

He was the agency through which God divided the waters into oceans and seas and brought order into chaos...

He was the operative force who separated the seas, designing the landscape with lush green forests and hot sandy deserts… causing the Himalayas and the Grand Tetons to rise in the midst of them.

He was working when the first plant broke the surface of the ground and the first tree bore its fruit.

He was WORD positioning the Sun and the moon in their place in our sky...

And he was there at the other end of the universe to hang the furthest stars in their place... which to this day... no eye to this day has ever seen.

He was the WORD who put the first song into the songbird’s mouth, and he designed the fins of every fish to swim playfully in the sea.

He was delighting in his creation as the first deer jumped through a wooded thicket...

And he was overjoyed when the Father said, “Let us make man in our own image, after our likeness.”

Because he was THE WORD that declared that ALL OF THIS was VERY GOOD.

“All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” (John 1:3, ESV)

This was the God who CREATED through his WORD.

Not primarily his HANDS… not primarily his THOUGHTS… HIS WORD.

Genesis 1 repeats it over and over… “And God SAID.”

That’s VERY SIGNIFICANT. Because why do we use words? We use words to express truth… to express our desires… to REVEAL our inmost thoughts and realities.

Jesus said, “Out of the ABUNDANCE of the HEART the mouth SPEAKS.”

And God… in CREATING by his WORD… was REVEALING the ABUNDANCE of his heart… he was REVEALING himself in Creation.

Psalm 19:1 “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” (Psalm 19:1, ESV)

He is CREATOR… all else is just creation.

Romans 1 we know his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature… because they have been CLEARLY PERCEIVED since the beginning of creation.

The WORD revealed God through Creation.

God had also given his people WRITTEN WORDS for thousands of years to rule his people...

First on ten tablets of stone that he engraved with his finger.

Then in the whole law and the historical books of Israel and the Prophets...

This is our OLD TESTAMENT.

And what we learn throughout the Old Testament is that the WORD of GOD is an extension of himself.

In the Bible, you can’t really separate God’s words… his decrees… from who he is.

Every command is a reflection of his attributes.

Every word points us to our need for HIM.

Every word is an expression of his AUTHORITY and RULE.

The Word CREATED… the Word RULED his people through the Law...

But now, God, through the Word was revealing in a NEW WAY. The Word was not just spoken or written… it was SHOWN.

We are going to see in verse 14 that the WORD… who created all things... became flesh.

And for the first time in human history, we would see the image of the invisible God… the first in importance of ALL creation… the SON OF GOD.

Verse 18 - “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.” (John 1:18, ESV)

This is the WORD who became flesh.

This is the baby in a manger.

“A stable had... something inside it that was bigger than our whole world.”

God was REVEALING HIMSELF in the person of Jesus Christ, the WORD.

So if Jesus was sent by the Father to REVEAL GOD… to MAKE HIM KNOWN… if Jesus was SENT as THE WORD… and if Jesus said, “As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you...” then his disciples’ primary purpose MUST BE to reveal GOD THROUGH Jesus.

For our families and our friends this Christmas, we must use this opportunity to call their attention to the WONDER that GOD has made himself known.

It’s so easy to TRIVIALIZE Christmas… to make it about a cute little baby in a manger...

To say things like, “It’s Jesus’ birthday!” or “Remember, Jesus is the reason for the season!”

And those things aren’t wrong… but they can also make us satisfied with something that falls FAR SHORT of the WONDER of Christmas.

Yes, it’s Jesus’ birthday celebration… but this was far from a typical birth...

This was a birth foretold by ANGELS… consider what the angel said to Joseph:

“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). (Matthew 1:23 ESV)

This was a birth carried out by a VIRGIN WOMAN caused by the agency of the Holy Spirit… consider what the angel said to Mary:

“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. (Luke 1:35 ESV)

Listen… I’m not saying give up your Christmas traditions of a birthday cake for Jesus or the fact that Jesus IS the reason for the season… just work MORE to capture the WONDER of what that means.

Don’t settle for a CUTE view of Christmas… strive for a COSMIC view of Christmas.

God the SON was sent to REVEAL the Father.

The CREATOR entered CREATION.

I love what Dave Harvey wrote this week, “The more we glam up Christmas, the more the sacred is covered up by surface glamour. True beauty, meaning and transcendence can be lost if we are desensitized by glitzy distractions.

Apply: What could you do THIS WEEK to MINIMIZE the glitzy distractions and MAXIMIZE the wonder of what John is describing in this passage?

When people ask the type of question we asked in that Christmas carol this morning: “What child is this who's laid to rest on Mary's lap is Sleeping? Whom angels greet with anthems sweet while shepherd's watch are keeping?

Will we have the answer ready on our lips? “This... THIS is Christ the King!” and will our hearts be FULL OF THE WONDER that he is the KING of CREATION?

How can you live SENT with your family and friends this week… calling them to see that it was their CREATOR GOD in that manger?

The truth is, when we miss the wonder, we miss the true life-giving realities of the Christmas event.

So often, Christmas... and all the work and money that we spend on it... can feel like it is draining the life right out of us.

And so we need to be reminded of verse 4: "In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:4–5, ESV)

Jesus was sent to reveal, and as he revealed, he revived. Jesus was...

2) Sent to revive. (v. 4-5, 16-17)

In him was life.

Again we return to Genesis… this time chapter 2 -

“then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.” (Genesis 2:7, ESV)

And in the first man, Adam, that life was TRUE LIFE in Eden.

He had meaningful work that did not fight against him.

He had the richest of fruits and vegetables to eat in the Garden, the flavors of which the finest apples and oranges of our day could never compare.

And one of those trees that he ate from was “The Tree of Life" A gift of God to sustain him forever and ever… a fruit given so that he could eat it to the glory of God for eternity.

He had life and life abundant.

But the first Adam wanted more… He didn’t just want the breath of life FROM God… he wanted to BECOME GOD.

And so his wife showed him this fruit that he knew he shouldn’t eat… because he was commanded by God not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

But the Serpent promised so much would come from it… and so he indulged…

He believed the lie that a simple piece of fruit could illuminate his understanding and he could become like God.

But through that rebellion, he found darkness instead of light.

He found loss and separation and sickness and death… instead of life.

And not only him, but the whole creation.

All that we have been experiencing in 2020 that has been SO HARD is the result of that moment...

Sickness and death from COVID...

Racial tensions...

Political manipulation and division...

Darkness from the fall. Death from the fall.

Adam… along with US… was separated from life in God… because our SIN deserves DEATH… and yet God did not completely abandon.

He promised a seed, born of a woman, who would crush the head of the tempter.

He gave a law… the very Word of God… that was a lamp to his people’s feet… and a light to their path.

But the law couldn’t save. It could only direct to their need for a Savior.

People could NEVER save themselves from the death and darkness of the curse by being “good people” or “law keepers.”

They needed God himself to come and save them from their sin.

Enter Christmas… the Son sent into the world to revive…

“In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:4–5, ESV)

As Jesus is sent into the world, the God who breathed life into dust in order to make it flesh was now taking ON that flesh himself.

And his coming was a tremendous act of grace.

God is not required to enter darkness. He was not obligated to save ANY OF US.

HE is the giver of life… WE are the source of darkness.

But God is not so easily deterred from his purposes. The darkness has NOT overcome the light… the darkness COULD NOT overcome the light.

Verse 16 - “For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”

The law showed us our sin… and pointed us to the need for flesh to be broken and blood to be spilled for our sin.

Death was written all over the law.

But Jesus… the life… came to fulfill that law… he came to live the life we could not live… to die the death we deserve to die… and to rise again and conquer the enemy we could not conquer…

Jesus came to bring life to his people.

He is the WAY… the TRUTH… and the LIFE… and THROUGH HIM AND HIM ALONE… we come to the Father.

The one who breathed life into the nostrils of Adam breathes life into every person who puts their faith in Jesus for salvation.

If Jesus was sent to revive, then we are sent to revive by telling the good news of his salvation.

…by pointing people to the source of true life.

All around us, people are seeking life in things that don’t provide life.

2020 has shown how fleeting those things really are.

It has shown us how much we rely on things that don’t satisfy and we seek life in things that don’t give life.

I got an email from one of my college roommates this week… he’s a missionary in a very DARK and poor country in SE Asia… and he wrote this:

One of the greatest blessings of 2020 has to be the stripping of lesser things in our [family's] life. And if not the stripping of those things, at least the revealing of those… lesser things in which we find comfort, satisfaction and, dare I say it, security. The illusive sinking-sand upon which we can routinely, even if unconsciously, stand has been found wanting.... We can’t just “cope” our way through it. What a gift of grace it is to be shown our lack, our insufficiency, our deep rooted hatred of having our "normal" life thwarted. So thank you 2020 (or more precisely, thank you Father!) for calling our bluff, and for Your kindness in showing us just how quickly we chafe, how easily we fear, how slowly we trust and how utterly deeply we need You! - Grant Ruccio

Can you relate to that? Have you found yourself looking for comfort, satisfaction, and security… looking for LIFE… and been found WANTING?

Do you see the people around you in the same situations?

As you do, point them to Jesus.... He came to revive.

He came to give life and to give it abundantly.

He came to restore us to the life for which we were created.

He came to renew the image image of God in us.

Apart from Jesus, there is no life because HE is life.

Our problem isn’t just that we do bad things… it’s that we are DEAD because of our sin. We have NO LIFE apart from him.

It’s that we look to things that God CREATED, thinking they will give us life, rather than looking to the giver of life himself.

God created the world… he created YOU… so that you would find your life in HIM.

“In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

There is this strong connection between life and light… to have light is to have life.

So John transitions to make a statement about someone who was SENT to point others to the light.

Verse 6… There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.” (John 1:4–8, ESV)

Jesus was sent to reveal… to revive… third, he was...

3) Sent to radiate. (v. 6-8, 15)

Explain: Now, verse 6 seems to come out of nowhere a little bit...

Why are we all of the sudden talking about a guy named John? (this is a DIFFERENT John than the one who wrote the GOSPEL of John… here we’re talking about John the Baptist)

But we were just talking about the life and the light… why are we now talking about someone far lesser?

And the reason is that John is a very important person in the story of Jesus.

As Luke tells the story of Jesus’ birth, he weaves in the story of John’s birth, who is Jesus’ cousin.

Mary goes to visit her relative Elizabeth, who is John’s mother… and as soon as Mary enters the room, John LEAPS FOR JOY in Elizabeth’s womb.

He RADIATED JOY about Jesus from before the time he was even born.

And that was his whole calling in life.

The Old Testament said that a prophet needed to come before the Messiah to prepare the way...

To call Israel to repentance… to announce the coming of the Savior King! THAT PROPHET was John.

Now John was received fairly well in Israel… a revival broke out and people were repenting and getting baptized… it was AWESOME!

But too many people stopped with John and didn’t start following Jesus.

They followed the messenger instead of the Messiah.

Some people even thought Jesus WAS John the Baptist, resurrected after John was beheaded by King Herod.

We even see some of this confusion in Ephesus, long after Jesus’ ascension… (remember, Ephesus is where John the Apostle would first send this Gospel he is writing)...

We see this same confusion about John the baptist in Ephesus In Acts 18...

There was a whole group of people who ONLY taught the baptism of John… not Jesus.

Now John the Baptist would have NEVER wanted that…

Verse 15 clarifies further… “(John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’ ”)” (John 1:15, ESV)

John knew who the light was… and he knew HE wasn’t it.

He knew that JESUS was unique because he existed BEFORE John…

Now John is OLDER, humanly speaking… but he says Jesus was BEFORE me…

So he could only be talking about the fact that Jesus existed before him as GOD in eternity past.

John KNEW that he was merely the moon, but Jesus was the SUN...

And yet we tend to put people on pedestals where they don’t belong.

We said this last week… we need to make disciples of Jesus, not ourselves.

John the baptist understood that more than anyone… but his disciples still got mixed up on it.

And so possibly this problem is still going on in Ephesus and John the Apostle wants to clarify that John the BAPTIST was sent to bear witness TO the light… not to be the light.

Jesus is the light… the light shown in in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it...

And God sends his messengers… you and I… to bear witness TO the light.

We are SENT to bear witness to the light, just like John.

One of our favorite things to do as a family at Christmas, like many of you, is to drive around looking at Christmas lights...

And as a father, like my father before me, I believe it is my job to observe the BEST Christmas lights and to make sure my kids see them.

Because at their ages, they could so easily miss them...

They could be looking at some lesser light put up by some inferior neighbor on one side of the street… and miss the spectacular show on the other side!

So I’m constantly saying, look over here… look over there… look at THAT cool light.

That’s our job as disciples of Jesus… to make sure others are looking in the direction of THE LIGHT.

This world is trapped in darkness. The Christmas Hymn O Holy Night captures this well:

Long lay the world in sin and error pining

'Til He appeared and the soul felt its worth

A thrill of hope a weary world rejoices

For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn

This world is trapped in darkness. Confusion. Frustration. Strife. That has been the topic of MOST conversations I’ve heard about 2020.

Christmas celebrations aren’t what they hoped it would be...

Businesses are struggling...

Sin is evident in our government.

Disappointment and weariness and disillusionment are all over the place...

Will we bring the light of hope? Or will we just pile on, complaining about the darkness?

Will we point to the SON and make disciples of Jesus… or will we try to make disciples of ourselves by insisting people agree with US and our opinions and viewpoints?

ONLY Jesus makes sense of our darkness.

ONLY He reveals God’s purpose in everything.

ONLY He can help us understand the place of suffering in God’s plan of redemption.

ONLY He could win the victory of God over the fallenness of this world.

And when we know him… when we see the light, it is our MISSION to point others to the light.

John bore witness about the light. But he himself was not the light. And some received it… but others rejected.

Look at verse 9 - “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, ESV)

Jesus was sent into the world… to reveal… to revive… to radiate… finally...

4) Sent to relate. (v. 9-13, 14)

Explain: Notice verse 9 - the true light… was coming INTO the world.

God did not choose to deal with our sin and darkness and all of its effects from afar.

While Adam was banished from the Garden, God followed him into the dessert.

God entered his sin-destroyed creation to rescue it.

He took on the suffering that he did not deserve to free his people from bondage.

He entered the darkness to bring light.

Look at verse 14 - “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14, ESV)

The Word who was with God and who WAS God in the beginning… the WORD through whom all things were created… no exceptions...

The world was made through him. But the world did not know him.

There he was… in a crowded town… in the womb of an outcast, unmarried woman… under the care of a poor carpenter...

Looking for room in a crowded city...

Pushed into the corner and laid in a manger out of which the animals would have recently eaten their supper.

And nobody noticed.

The world did not know him.

He did not receive the typical fanfare of an earthly king’s birth… let alone the King of all Creation!

He came into the world in Bethlehem... the town of David… where the King of Israel was to be born… but Israel… his own people… did not receive him.

He was born… and lived… as an outcast.

Hardly anybody noticed him for THIRTY YEARS until he started his pubic ministry.

Even when he did, he was consistently marginalized and abused and mistreated and shamed by the leaders of Israel.

John is pointing out the tragic irony of rejecting our Creator. And it still happens today.

We were CREATED to experience life in HIM… to SEE by HIS LIGHT...

But so many say, “I’d rather experience the DEATH of my own selfish ways. I’m satisfied with DARKNESS, thank you very much.”

Listen: if you reject Jesus… if you don’t turn from your sin and trust him and follow him as his disciple… then you are choosing death and darkness over life and light.

That’s the choice you are making.

You are saying, “I know better than God.” Which always leads to death.

The world did not know him… 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...

Jesus was rejected by many… but he was sent to RELATE to those would would believe in his name.

He was sent to restore relationship between people and their God.

He was sent, not just to give them a better life without God… not just to make them better people… but to restore their relationship to God himself.

Adam’s sin left an infinite gap between us and God.

Ephesians 2 says that we are all BY NATURE CHILDREN OF WRATH.

That means we are all DESERVING of God’s WRATH.. of his DESTRUCTION… of his PUNISHMENT in HELL.

NOT EVERYONE is God’s child.

Only those who receive Jesus… who believe in his name.

How does someone become a disciple? God reveals the gospel and they RESPOND in REPENTANCE.

They turn from whatever they believed about God before...

And they believe that Jesus is Savior and Lord… that he is GOD WHO SAVES (which is what his name means).

That he is the ONLY ONE who is life.

That he is the ONLY ONE who can deliver them from their sin.

That he is the ONLY ONE who is worthy of their dependence and devotion.

THOSE people are GIVEN the right to become children of God.

But that is a supernatural act of God. For that to happen, we have to be born again.

It’s those “who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” who become his children.

We talked about this a number of weeks ago: to become a disciple, we must be converted at a heart level.

You aren’t a child of God just because you say you are… just because you went through some external ritual… because you prayed a prayer or waked an aisle or got baptized.

You are a child of God because God MAKES you a child of God.

God does a work in our hearts through his word, his empowered people, his Holy Spirit, and full conviction… and he gives us a heart that is inclined toward him.

Christmas is about relationship.

It’s about God restoring his relationship with humanity by entering into their experience and bearing the massive burden of sin for us.

It’s about him sending his only Son into the world because he SO LOVES the world… so that whoever BELIEVES in him should not perish… should not be SEPARATED FROM GOD forever… but should have eternal life… through the one who IS LIFE… Jesus Christ the Son.

Jesus was sent to relate… to relate us to God...

And we are sent to call others to that same relationship.

We are called to GO INTO THEIR WORLD AND MAKE DISCIPLES.

We enter in and extend the invitation of relationship with God to those who are lost and dying.

Our relationship with God defines every other relationship we have.

I don’t want to preserve a bunch of relationships here only to lose them for all eternity because that person was never called to follow Jesus.

I love you all too much!

I love my family and friends too much!

I want them to relate to me… but most of all I want them to relate to GOD!

I want them to know God as their GOOD FATHER… and to be found as his BELOVED CHILDREN.

And that only comes through faith.

So are you his child today through faith in Jesus?

If not, you can be.

And if you are, who is God sending you to… in order to extend the good news of relationship through Jesus?

What will it look like for you to enter into someone else’s world to show them the relationship that is found in Jesus?