Christmas Eve Service

Christmas Eve Service

John 1:14

A Good Time for a Visit

Intro: 2020 has wreaked havoc on family plans for many people. According to 2017 statistics Visiting friends and family is the single biggest reason Americans travel during the holidays. Visits account for 53 percent of all Thanksgiving long-distance trips and 43 percent of long-distance trips during Christmas/New Year’s.

Visits make up only 24 percent of all long-distance travel during the remainder of the year. While travel to visit family and relatives is up significantly during the holidays, other pleasure and leisure travel remains relatively unchanged.

The average Thanksgiving long-distance trip length is 214 miles, compared with 275 miles over the Christmas/New Year’s holiday. For the remainder of the year, average trip distance is 261 miles.

Being with family and friends is very high on the list during the Holidays or as they were originally called, Holy days.

The closeness, the sharing exchange gifts with people we have seen for a while. The time spent together takes on a new or special meaning. We should cherish it.

This idea of visiting is what Makes God the son coming out of the realm of Heaven and visiting with us on earth.

Immanuel, God with us. It is comforting that God came down to our level.

Read Verse: John 1:14 (ESV): And 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.

Main idea: The Gospels testify of Jesus’ Life on Earth and the Church has always believed that he was God incarnate.

I. Jesus came into the world In the [mostly] Usual Way

Because of the Census, Mary and Joseph traveled about 90 miles on foot to go from Nazareth to Bethlehem. And Mary was 9 months pregnant. Normal speed of travel on foot was about 20 miles a day so it would take about 4 and a half days. Being pregnant would probably add a few extra days on there so i would think at least 8 days. And The walk was literally uphill as there was about a 700 foot elevation change from Nazareth to Bethlehem. This is why Luke says they went up to Bethlehem.

Jesus was ready to be born. The doctors say if you want to move along the birth, just walk a lot. that is why yo see pregnant women walking up and down the hospital hallways. they are trying to get the baby moving out.

Other than being born in a living room with animals around possibly, everything was fairly normal. After a week of walking, No wonder. Luke and Matthew paint the picture for us, and that may be why John did not have to go into the origin story in His gospel.

But We know that how he was conceived was unusual. Mary, who was a virgin, became pregnant with Jesus from God. This fulfilled the prophecy from Genesis 3 when God told the serpent that there would be enmity or hostility

Between you and the woman,

And between your seed and her seed;

He shall bruise you on the head,

And you shall bruise him on the heel.”

Gabriel told Joseph what happened and Who Jesus was and was going to be.

Jesus was now born in the city of His ancestors and he would be raised among His people.

II. Jesus Lived among His People

Traveling is stressful and visiting with family can be stressful. Jet lag, which messes up your body clock and schedule. Odd food, you have to be polite to people and depending on where you are staying, living out of a suitcase and being surrounded by people 24/7 adds to the stress. Everyone is hopefully in their best behavior. A lot of Time it is a study in group dynamics

As a baby, jesus got swaddled like every other baby and kept warm and then Luke tells us in 2:39 When they had performed everything according to the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own city of Nazareth. 40 The Child continued to grow and become strong, increasing in wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.

Jesus grows up, presumably learns a trade and is just there. Jesus learned the languages, probably Aramaic, Hebrew which is similar and possibly Greek since that was the language of the world at the time. .and His people, the Jews, just thought that Jesus was nothing special and just one of them so they treated him as such.

But we know, from the angels, that Jesus is anything but a regular person. He is fully Man but he is, as John makes clear throughout his Gospel, as does the other three Gospels, Jesus is fully God. Jesus begins his ministry and begins to teach people about who he is and prepares His disciples for the future.

In the opening in his Gospel, John explains that Jesus is God.

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 came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.

Jesus Came for a purpose. His visiting was a meaningful event, and it wasn’t just to come and spend time with us. It was so he could fully understand what it was like to be human, he was tempted in every way

Hebrews 4:14-16 tells us 14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens—Jesus the Son of God—let us hold fast to our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin. 16 Therefore, let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in time of need.

III. Jesus Glorified His Father

How Did Jesus Glorify His father? He was obedient to God the father’s command to come to Earth and be the sacrificial lamb for the world’s sins. Jesus Paid the price for us and went back to being the ruler.

Hebrews 2:8-11

For in subjecting everything to him[Jesus] , he [God] left nothing that is not subject to him. As it is, we do not yet see everything subjected to him. 9 But we do see Jesus—made lower than the angels for a short time so that by God’s grace he might taste death for everyone—crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death.

10 For in bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was entirely appropriate that God—for whom and through whom all things exist—should make the pioneer[d] of their salvation perfect through sufferings. 11 For the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters,

God’s Gift of grace is not just to Forgive your sins, save you from God’s wrath on the last Day, get you a place in the new Kingdom, but it is also adoption papers that brings you into your new family.

And like Jesus, he is our example that we look up to and want to live like so we can also glorify the father in our lives.

Conclusion

God could have mailed our salvation into the world or just made a pronouncement that everyone was saved. Or he could have Identified everyone who is set apart for salvation, with a birthmark or tattoo.

Instead We have God the Holy Spirit to help us. He convicts us to our salvation and then he continues to work on our lives in what we call sanctification.

We also have our brothers and sisters to help us and we are here to help them.But our help is always guided by God through prayer for one another and then action.

So as we spend time with your family, give thanks to God for your extended family here tonight, Give thanks that God came to us in the flesh to be with us so that he would save us and provide us with the example and be the light of the world.