The Word Became Flesh John 1:1-14 #89
Introduction
A Norman Rockwell painting on the cover of the Saturday evening Post showed a sales clerk doubled over, slumped over a sales counter, disheveled lying over a pile of picked over toys. On the wall in the background was a calendar. The date was December 24. Next to the calendar was a clock and the time was 5:05 p.m..
Evidently, she had made it through another American Christmas.
To that salesclerk Christmas was a major event in her job. It was a disrupting time when the normal routine of life was interrupted by the hectic business of Christmas.
An American Christmas to our shame is a riotous orgy of materialism punctuated by small dots of true Christian worship. Christmas has become so stylized, we cease to see how truly momentous an event it commemorates. The pre-holiday preparations tire is so much that when the day finally arrives it is a letdown. We need to remember that this is a celebration of the greatest event of history.
I The Word was made flesh
A. He who was with God and who was God suddenly appeared as a man clothed in flesh. God became man.
Oh, how Elijah would have rejoiced in the still small voice who spoke so mysteriously to him and appeared suddenly in a flash and communicated the greatest news of life to him.
B. What a momentous event
About 20 years ago there was a movie called close encounters of the third kind that told of an encounter from outer space and alien being who came to earth to bring great change.
The incarnation of Jesus Christ was when God came to earth from eternity and contacted man on man's own ground. Christmas is a celebration of this momentous event, Christmas is a celebration of this close encounter of Man and with God. It is the celebration of the love of God being manifested in the lives of men. And the world has not been the same since that time.
C. When we examine history, we find that all historical event's focus in on the birth of Christ. On that momentous night when Jesus came to earth, and ever since that night all history flows out from that very event.
II And Dwelt Among Us
A. During the Christmas season, we see many manger scenes we see many decorations commemorating the birth of Christ in our minds are brought back to that simple manger. The dim light of the oil lamps flickering on the walls of the cave. The smell of fresh hay and the sounds of the sheep and the donkeys shifting from one foot to another as they view the Christ child. These manger scenes make us think of the weathered features of the shepherds as they view the baby, the son of God who lies in the manger. Our minds are drawn to think of the Kings the magi who came from afar to bring great treasures to the young savior, resting in her mother's arms. All of the Christmas decorations focus our minds on a beautiful picture of Christmas. It's moving its picturesque. It is clean.
But behind these idealized scenes of the manger lies the Sin of Man. Behind all of these idealized pictures and pretty scenes which are created by man lies the hate of humanity for this child.
This is how it really was:
A pregnant teenage girl and her poor husband, who were refused a place in the hotel, but they found a place in a barn and there while she was lying on the ground gave birth to the savior of the world. Instead of a bed or a crib they had to lie him in a feed trough with the donkeys and sheep would be feeding.
Our idealized picture of the manger is not true. The savior was born not of the will of man, but the will of God. Mankind did not want to savior but God knew that we needed a savior: The world did not want a messiah, the world did not want a savior to save from sin, it doesn't want a savior now! What the world wants is a great leader, a great general, some sort of miraculous savior that will give us a better life. But not a savior who would sacrifice himself that we can have our sins washed away.
B. If we could travel back in time and peek inside the dimly lit cave. On that first Christmas morning, we would not see the pretty scene, which is depicted in manger scenes today. Instead you'd see a poor family and a poor child, but there are across that manger lies the shadow of a cross.
On the first Christmas, God humbled himself, shed his glory and became flesh to die for our sins.
At that very moment, all creation bowed down.
At that very moment all heaven rejoiced.
At that very moment, all hell trembled.
At that very moment, everything changed.
At that very moment new hope for man was born.
All the universe rejoiced to see the Savior born . That is except sinful men.
Many men and women who worship themselves men and and women who only consider their own physical well-being, have a hard time accepting the fact that they need a savior.
Verse 14(read it).
III And we beheld his glory.
A The only begotten of God.
Jesus was there to be worshiped-anyone could come-but only some shepherds came. And then some wise men came a few weeks later.
Today, Jesus Christ is here. He's here because he was not a mere mortal. He's here because he rose from the dead. He's here because he died for my sins and sent his Holy Spirit to be with us this day.
Today, anyone can accept the sacrifice and be saved, but who will.
Verse 12 (read it). Jesus came to give us the authority to be called the sons of God he died so that we can go to heaven and live eternally with our father, who is God.
If Jesus is to have an effect on your live is going to be because you receive him. The Bible says, " but as many as received him. To them gave he power to become the sons of God."
Christmas is a time of gift giving to those we love, and when we give gifts to those we love it is a symbolic act the gift of love that God has given us in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Don't pass through this holiday without accepting the gift, don't pass through this holiday without realizing the love God shows and that Jesus Christ died for you.
The Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the father, full of grace and truth.
