Rev. David Holwick
First Baptist Church
West Lafayette, Ohio
December 22, 1985
Have You Received Christmas?
John 1:1-14, King James Version
The story of the life of Jesus is given four times in the Bible and each one is a little different. This is especially clear in how each describes the birth of Jesus. Matthew shows the worldwide implications - wise men come from the East with gifts. Afterwards, Jesus and his family flee to Egypt. Luke shows how Christmas touched ordinary people - angels proclaim the good news to simple shepherds.
These two accounts are all that most people know about Christmas. The gospel of Mark doesn't even mention it - Jesus is already 30 years old in chapter one. The gospel of John mentions Christmas but in a very subtle way. Instead of starting with the manger, John takes us back before Creation. The phrase "in the beginning" points to the book of Genesis when God created the universe. John 1:1 says that Jesus was part of this. He is described as the "Word." He wasn't created - instead, he did the crating. John is saying that Jesus has always existed, and is in fact God himself.
This amounts to a very great claim. And it doesn't exactly fit in a manger scene. So most people are content to keep Jesus as a little baby. He is in the small box of hay, and he's a little on the chubby side. It's not very threatening and it fits well with the Christmas theme of love.
Sometimes people try to deal with the broader picture. An example is the poem, "One Solitary Life." In 1984 it was read by President Reagan during his Christmas radio program. It goes like this:
He was born in an obscure village.
He worked in a carpenter shop until he was 30.
He then became a traveling* preacher. [original - itinerant]
He never held an office.
He never had a family or owned a house.
He didn't go to college.
He had no credentials but himself....
Nineteen centuries have come and gone,
and today he is the central figure of the human race.
All the armies that ever marched,
and all the navies that ever sailed,
all the parliaments that ever sat,
and all the kings that ever reigned,
have not affected the life of man on earth
as much as that...
One solitary life.
This poem beautifully brings out the impact Jesus has had on the earth. Few people would dispute the far-reaching influence Christianity has had on art, politics and religion in the Western World. But the poem doesn't go far enough. As great as it says Jesus is, it never makes him more than a man.
Many people are satisfied with that. They are impressed with his moral teachings, especially the way he criticized religious hypocrites and preached love and forgiveness. The religious hocus-pocus about Jesus being God isn't really necessary, they say. It was probably just made up by the superstitious people who knew him.
There's only one small problem with this. The deity of Jesus is not just something the apostles dreamed up. His own words show that he believed he was more than human. C. S. Lewis wrote:
People often say about Christ: "I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God." That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic - on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg - or else he would be the Devil of Hell."
John states it very simply - the Word was God. He goes on to show what this fact means for us. Verse 4 says - "In him was life, and the life was the light of men." This presents a very basic question - what does it mean to be alive? We usually answer it by saying what make sup not alive - your heart stops beating, or your brain waves go flat. The distinction can be very important. When you have a hart transplant, the person who is giving you a new hart has flat brain waves. But their heart is still beating on its own. Is that person alive, or dead?
John isn't dealing with the medical definition of life here. He is looking at the broader issue - what does it mean to be really alive? Some people have brain waves and beating hearts, but they might as well be artichokes. They treat life as an opportunity to exist, nothing more.
Real living goes beyond mere existence. It involves making an effort to reach your potential. The most important potential we have is the ability to love others. If you can only focus on your own needs, your own problems, and your own desire, you are merely existing. This kind of selfishness is more command than we like to admit. But those who are living to their God-given potential are getting rid of the selfishness and focusing on others.
Jesus wants us to feel alive. Later in the gospel of John he says: "I have come that you might have life, and have it abundantly." The Christian faith should not be a negative, dreary prison for the soul. It should be liberating.
The key to liberation is found in the term "light." John says the life of Jesus is the light of men. This means we can be truly alive only when we let God illuminate us. Instead of just shining on us, he must shine within us. We need the spiritual dimension to be complete.
Divine illumination is not a universal possession. Verse 10 says Jesus was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. It would seem from this verse that the majority of people are going to ignore the demands Jesus makes on them. As verse 11 adds, even his own people, the Jews, did not accept him.
Many people like to blur this over. They make Jesus sort of a national possession. Believe he existed, believe he was a nice man, and you don't have to worry about offending anyone. The Bible doesn't talk about a middle-of-the-road on this issue. Jesus presents his claims: Many will reject him. But some will accept him. Verse 12 says, "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even the them that believe on his name."
The idea of "receiving" Christ may seem a little vague. It is related to the idea of receiving a guest into your home. They stand outside, but you have to let them in. The last part of the verse explains it further. "Even to those who believe on this name" does not mean you can get by with a superficial commitment. The word "name" stands for the whole personality of someone, so to believe in their name is to commit yourself fully.
There are two stages to believing. The first is to accept certain facts as being true. We must believe that God exists and has created us for a purpose. We also have to see that our selfishness and sin have separated us from God. Finally, Christ died for us so that our sins can be forgiven and we can have a new relationship with God.
This is the first stage. The second stage is to accept these truths for ourselves. The second stage doesn't automatically follow the first. Many people believe everything in the Bible but refuse to take the step of commitment. They're afraid of what they'll have to give up. Or what they'll have to do in the place of what they give up. Only you can decide if Jesus is worth accepting.
Spiritual birth has nothing to do with your background. Verse 13 says it is not from blood, or the will of the flesh or the will of man. Blood means human descent. You may have 13 preachers in your family. It won't save you. The will of the flesh means pressure by people. Maybe you were forced to go to church as a kid. Don't worry - God won't hold it against you. You can still reject him.
Humans cannot save themselves. Only God can save us. The true miracle of Christmas is that God became one of us so we could become part of his family again. One of the best analogies of the meaning of the Incarnation comes from the realm of ants. If you wanted to communicate your love to a colony of ants, how could you most effectively do it?
- Step on them? (or fry 'em with a magnifying glass like I did)
- Yell at them? (doesn't work with humans, either)
Obviously it would be best to become an ant yourself. Only in this way could your existence and what you are like be communicated fully and effectively.
The best and clearest answer to how we know there is a God is that he has visited us. The other indications are merely hints. What confirms them conclusively is the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. [Illustration #1423]
Copyright © 2024 by Rev. David Holwick
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