Word made Flesh

Can you believe it? Christmas Eve is here!

The excitement is high for many children in our households. The anticipation of what tomorrow will bring. But tonight we will take a moment relax and take a breath and realize the true meaning of the season is Jesus.

A precious babe in a manger made a difference to the world that none of us could have ever anticipate or imagine could happen.

This evening we heard John 1:1-5 read and it reminded us that the Word became flesh which is Jesus.

John’s account of the Christmas story is different than Luke’s account but that’s ok because we need both.

We hear the story of how the word became flesh.

The Gospel of St. John has been called a crown of pure gold and our text has been called the central jewel set in that crown.

John states the humanity of the Son [Jesus] as fully and as completely as the divinity and godhead, Jesus is fully God and fully man.

The miracle of the ages is that the Word became flesh and dwelt among men."

Jesus is the reason why we Christians celebrate Christmas - that should probably go without saying. You are all saying well pastor tell us something we don’t know.

But the other day I was driving around and heard a radio advertisement for Netflix were it said the "reason for the season" was to stop and spend time with family and friends ... and then of course when you do that you should ... you know, watch something on Netflix together to build up your bank of warm holiday family memories. Which cut my heart to the core.

I love spending time with friends and family. I love my family with all my heart.

He came for you

But Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Jesus the Christ, He and He alone is the reason for the season - but remember His reason for the season is you - Jesus wasn't born for His own good,  He was born for you.

The part of the celebration of Christmas where people get together with friends and Family is simply, and hopefully, a happy by-product of the celebration of Jesus' birth for you.

The motivator behind Jesus becoming flesh was His love for us. He came as a baby in a manger to begin the plan, to fulfill the plan of salvation laid out by His father. So to take away from the divine moment that started the plan of salvation is trying to rob us of the blessings God has given us.

Don’t be afraid to proclaim who He is

The virgin Mary looks down at her newborn son, the words of the Angel Gabriel echo in her ears, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.

We have been given the blessing to embrace the gift of Jesus. We have been called to share, to proclaim what a difference He has made. We should not be silent about why Jesus came. We are in a time where the message of scripture are becoming convoluted and corrupted. But my friends make no mistake there are those who will stand strong for the Word of God and all He has brought to us. Will you stand for Him?

His path was ordained by His father.

And the Lord God will give to Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.” 

Swaddled in her arms, Mary held a king, a king laid in a stone feeding trough, a manger with straw for his bed. This is not really the sweet and adorable scene we make it out to be, it is actually the beginning of Jesus' suffering for you.

This king has left His eternal throne in heaven at His Father's right hand and is now wreathed in straw, His head uncrowned except for the kiss of his mother's lips.

The Promise

There were so many details unknown. The future was unclear to these new parents.

But The promise - the Word of God - had taken on flesh, and as they contemplate that promise they had to faithfully believe as men, women and children believed God's promises all the way through the Old Testament from Adam and Eve to them that day.

We too many not know the future but we put our faith in God’s hands to lead us.

These parents did not know what the future of that promise will look like, what that future holds, they don't know what kind of crown their Jesus will wear or what it means exactly to have the throne of king David.

Was he to replace the current king, king Herod?

Was Jesus to kick out the Romans?

Is that the crown He'd wear?

How could they know that Jesus' crown would be a cruel crown of mockery, a twisted crown of thorns.

How could they know that this twisted crown of thorns would bloom with the precious blood of His sacrifice and become a trophy of love and grace, and that which wicked men meant for evil would become a thing of hope, something God meant for good.

Hope

When they take Jesus' little hands in theirs and count his little fingers and toes they would not know what those hands would accomplish, where those feet would walk.

Joy

How, Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, would for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and be in the end seated back at the right hand of the throne of God.

Love

How Jesus would take the throne of David in His body and blood into heaven washed clean from every hurt, every suffering, every sin. How in His love for us Jesus would become the Way, not just for king David and the Old Testament people but for us also, so that we with them all would be able to be led on that way and finally be gathered around that same throne (The Throne of God the Father), that Jesus would make Himself the way for us to come to the Father in heaven. Joseph and Mary knew that this baby Jesus would grow up to save them but how and when this would happen exactly was still more than they could grasp even as they held this baby in their arms and rocked Him to sleep. They couldn't fathom that those little hands would grow to one day be nailed to a Roman cross.

Peace

As they feed their little Jesus to make His body strong could they imagine that this same Jesus would feed countless millions, billions, with His very Body and Blood for the forgiveness of their sins. That when Jesus' "had increased in wisdom and in stature and in favour with God and man,"

that He would be the very fountain of grace, and mercy, and steadfast love to hard hearted, cruel and fickle men. That Jesus would be their only hope for life, that Jesus "was [in fact] life, and [that as the Life, Jesus was, is and ever shall be] the light of men."

John tells us that Jesus, "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome [Him]."

It doesn't matter how hard hearted, cruel or fickle the darkness may be it cannot overcome this Jesus.

The grown Man Jesus, the Son of God, the Word of God made flesh cannot be stopped

by whips,

or harsh words,

He can't be stopped by hate,

or mocking crowns of thorns.

He cannot be stopped by cold iron nails,

or crucifixion,

He can't be stopped by the Devil or Sin,

Jesus can't be stopped by the World

or by Death.

He can't be stopped by me or my sin,

He can't be stopped by any feeling I might have down in my heart

or by any thought I might have up in my head.

This precious bundle of Joy in the arms of the Virgin Mary and Joseph that Christmas morning is unstoppable, this impossible baby will grown and come forth mighty to Save and nothing will stop Him from saving you.

Jesus the True Light of the World

Jesus is "the true light, which gives light to everyone." He has come into the world: And to you, to each of us, who have received Him,

John 3:3 NIV

Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”

It is God's will to use the birth of His son Jesus, the miraculous birth of Jesus, to provide a miraculous birth for you - that you would be reborn in Christ Jesus and be made a new creation reconciled to God, that your former sins and troubles would pass away,[

2 Corinthians 5:17–19 NIV

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

Jesus is your life and in love Jesus makes a promise to you saying this about Himself.

Jesus has taken a crown of thorns so you will be crowned in glory, He made His first home in a room for livestock so that He could go and prepare a place for you in His Father's House, a house with many rooms.A place where presumably your bed will not be made of straw.

Jesus is the one who works for us.

1 John 4:10 NIV

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

The atonement for our sin. And now,

1 John 4:19 NIV

We love because he first loved us.

So then today, on Christmas, we recall, and remember, and trust that the Father loved us by sending His Son, Jesus loved us by living a life of straw so you might have an eternal life of gold;

And while the angel Gabriel had helped the Virgin Mary and Joseph to expect His coming, they and the whole world couldn't expect just how wonderful Jesus would turn out to be after he'd arrived.

John’s account given to us by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, has given to us a Gospel that lays out this wonderful saviour, this Word become flesh, our Jesus who loves us yesterday, today and always. Our Jesus who is our crown and glory, our light in a dark world.