Home for Christmas Series# 1, I’m Dreaming of a Right Christmas

Home for Christmas Series# 1, I’m Dreaming of a Right Christmas
By: Bobby Sullivan

“We consider Christmas as the encounter, the great encounter, the historical encounter, the decisive encounter, between God and mankind. He who has faith knows this truly; let him rejoice.” -Pope Paul VI     QUOTE OF THE WEEK

John 1:1-5  “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. ⁵ The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” N.A.S

^1-2 The Word was first, the Word present to God, God present to the Word.
The Word was God, in readiness for God from day one. ^3-5 Everything was created through him; nothing—not one thing!— came into being without him. What came into existence was Life, and the Life was Light to live by. The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness; the darkness couldn’t put it out. The Message

In its earliest years, the Christian Church didn’t keep Christmas. It wasn’t until more than three centuries after the birth of Christ that the holiday began to be associated with Roman Christianity.

History does not reveal exactly when professing Christians first celebrated the holiday, but it is clear that when its customs were finally adopted, Christianity quickly gained converts. According to some historical accounts, Christmas was being observed in the Roman Empire’s capital by A.D. 336. Within 20 years, the celebration of the Nativity on December 25 was officially embraced by the church at Rome, and its position in church liturgy was then established.

I’M DREAMING OF A RIGHT CHRISTMAS

Intro:  We place a huge emphasis on getting Christmas right.  We want it white and bright.  We want the tree, the decorations, the lights, the eggnog and the presents. We want everyone to be happy.  We want to be able to get and give plenty. We want peace and joy to abound. We want the turkey just right, the dinner table just right, the bacon cooked perfectly and most of all if we have quests coming over, we want to make our home presentable!

In reality, Christmas often turns into a real hassle.  You are rushed and pushed for time. You spend money you don’t have for people you don’t even like to acquire things they don’t even want or need. What’s worse is boxing day! Taking back the gift that didn’t give you chills or didn’t fit.

My gift list is simple. Lights, gift cards, ruffles or Cheetos, fruit cake and coke (drinkable). But now that I’m in the maritimes-scallops, lobster and more lights! LOL

In our struggle to get it right, we often get it dead wrong and end up making ourselves and others miserable. I believe God wants us to get it right.  I believe that He is not so interested in our having a white Christmas as He is interested in our having a right Christmas.

So, how can we have a right Christmas? How do we keep it real? What do we need to understand that will allow Christmas to be a time of blessing and wonder instead of being a time of stress and tension?

This passage reveals some ingredients that are absolutely essential if we are to have a right Christmas.

Now, I realize that this is not the traditional Christmas text.  John does not write about angels, shepherds, stars or sheep.  But He does something the other Gospel writers do not do.  John puts the greatest Christmas delivery of all time into context. He tells us all we need to know to have a right Christmas.

1. v. 1-2         CONSIDER THE PERSON OF CHRISTMAS

Christmas is filled with many distractions and I’m sure my neighbors can testify to that.  Between the Personalities, the Presents and the Practices, it is easy to forget the real reason for this day. Verse 1 brings us back to the real essence of Christmas.  We know Who the Word is, John 1:14. In keeping Christmas real we can bring some balance to it all.

1. He Is Eternally God– “In the beginning was the Word.” – This phrase does not imply that the Word had a beginning.  It means that the Word has always existed.  The word “was” is in the “imperfect tense” it signifies “an action of the past that continues into the present.”  It could be read this way, “In the beginning was the word, is the Word and always will be the Word.”

The Word is eternal.  He always has been, and He always will be.  Before there was anything else, there was the Word.  Jesus had His birth in Bethlehem, but not His beginning. It was in Bethlehem that the word was revealed. It was like opening a new book or better yet the opening of an audible book.

A couple of months before Christmas, the wife of a mail carrier was killed in a car accident.  The husband was overcome with grief and was trying to work through his sorrow, and he had stayed late at his post office sorting through the mountain of mail that always comes through at Christmas time.  His job that day was to go through the mail that had been lost and to find out where it should be re-routed.

He came across a letter that was addressed to “Santa Claus” and he noticed that the address at the top of the letter was his own address.  So, he opened the letter. Looking down at the bottom of the page he saw that it was his only daughter’s signature, and he read:

Dear Santa:

My Mommy died two months ago and since then my Daddy has been crying himself to sleep every night. He says only eternity will heal him. Would you please send a little bit of eternity to my Dad this Christmas?

Well, God not only sent us a little bit of eternity, He sent us the very heart of heaven.  As John put it later in his epistle, “And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.”  1John 4:14

Not only is he Eternally God, He Is Equally God – The word translated “word” in this verse is the Greek word “logos”.  It refers to “speech, reasoning, explanation, a word about something.”  That is Who Jesus is! He is called the Word because a word is a visible expression of an invisible thought.  Jesus is the perfect expression of Who God is!

The word “with” means “face to face, or toward”.  This tells us that Jesus was “face to face” with God.  In other words, that He is God’s equal.

1. Not only is he Eternally God, Equally God, He Is Essentially God– The statement “and the Word was God”, is the clearest statement of the deity of Jesus in the Bible.  Not only is the Word co-eternal and co-equal with God; the Word is God!

All through his life He proved Who He was over and over.  From “Peace be still” to “Rise up and walk” to “Lazarus come forth” to “Thy sins have forgiven thee” to “It is finished” the truth and power of His deity was on constant display.  Every word, every deed, every miracle declared Him to be God.  He alone is the Person of Christmas!

CONSIDER THE POWER OF CHRISTMAS

2. vs. 3 ^“All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being” Passion: “And through his creative inspiration this Living Expression made all things for nothing has existence apart from him!”

If I were to ask you to tell me what you think the greatest manifestation of God’s power is; you might all have a different answer.  Some would say it is creation, His miracles, others would talk about the cross and still others would center on the resurrection.

I think the greatest expression of God’s power was that in his deity He partnered with humanity and came to live and die among men, Phil. 2:5-8.  Think for a moment about just Who was born in that manger in Bethlehem.)      BABY IN MANGER PICTURE

1. He Is the Maker of Creation– When you consider that this verse tells us that Jesus was the Creator of the universe, His birth as a baby becomes even more amazing.  The Creator of creation humbled Himself and became a creature in creation!  The all independent God became dependent upon a human mother.  Jesus, who was the Agent of Creation, stepped out of eternity, laid aside His glory and entered this world as a human baby!  That is the power behind Christmas!

That is why this season is not about trees and tinsel; packages and parties; bows and boxes, or meals and mistletoe.  This season is about Him!  He is the Maker of creation!

John 1:14
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. (Dwelt means tabernacle) He tabernacled in the Old Testament. It was the ark that held the presence of  God. Now fast forward NT, God is not in a box or in a building but a body. Mary’s womb is now housing the very nature and presence of God through the Holy Spirit. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.  

Hark the Herald Angels Sing

Christ, by highest heaven adored
Christ, the everlasting Lord
Late in time behold him come
Offspring of the Virgin’s womb
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see
Hail the incarnate Deity
Pleased as man with man to dwell
Jesus, our Emmanuel!

Jesus came home for Christmas

This verse is one of the clearest in all the Bible regarding the Incarnation of Jesus Christ. Incarnation simply means (“the bodily manifestation of a supernatural being.”)

1. The Manner of His Incarnation– This verse tells us that “The Word became flesh and dwelled among us.” The manner of His incarnation is a mystery. How could God become a man? The answer to this question lies in the mind of God alone. All we know is that God chose a virgin named Mary and caused her to miraculously conceive and bring forth a baby. I do know that on that night when Jesus was born, God had come to earth. Somehow, the Word, became flesh! While Jesus himself had existed from all eternities past, He took upon Himself a robe of flesh there in Bethlehem.
2. The Creator was born to the creature. God placed His life in the hands of humans. My, what a scene that must have been!

This verse says that God “dwelled” among us. That word is rich in meaning. God walked upon the earth and was unrecognized by many who came into close contact with Him.  What a tragedy that men came in contact with the Savior and still failed to recognize Him.

1. The Mystery Of His Incarnation– The word was “made” flesh. This word carries the meaning “to appear in history, to step onto the stage.” There in Bethlehem, God stepped out of eternity and onto the stage of human history.

He became a tangible proof of the existence of God and of God’s willingness to save mankind.  We can see that Jesus came to this world to reveal God to man. He did this through the medium of His flesh

1. The Majesty of His Incarnation– (Ill. “We beheld His glory”) John actually saw the glory of Jesus in a very real sense. In Matthew 17, John, along with James and Peter accompanied Jesus upon a mountain side. There Jesus allowed the veil of His flesh to be pulled aside and He revealed the glory that was concealed beneath. Jesus concealed His heavenly fame within an earthly frame. However, His greatest glory was revealed the day He allowed Himself to be nailed to a cross and died for sinners.

On Calvary, the glory of God was in sharp focus! After all, that was the reason Jesus left the halls of Heaven and came to live among men. He took upon Himself a robe of flesh so that He might be able to die for mankind. That is what He did for each and every one of us this evening. To me the greatest evidence of the glory of God is the broken body of Jesus Christ having demonstrated His love for me in the clearest of terms, Rom. 5:8.

17. He Is the Master Of Creation– Not only did He make this universe, but He is the power that holds it all together, Col. 1:16-17.  That is what the word “consist” means.  As one man put it, he is “the glue of the galaxies”.  He made it and He holds it all together too!

Think of it this way, man can’t really make anything that runs as it should.  But, take a look at our great planet and realize that it does not travel in a true circle; it travels in three directions at the same time.  It revolves on its axis; it travels around the sun; and it’s path is deflected by other planets.  Still it does not lose more than one one hundredth of a second everyone hundred years.  We can only say that Jesus is in control.

Then we look at the building block of this universe which is an atom, an entity so small that each atom is less than one hundred fifty millionth of an inch in diameter.  If you could take the molecules of a single drop of water, convert them into grains of sand, there would be enough sand to build a concrete highway half a mile wide and one foot thick all the way from New York to San Francisco. And, there are 120 drops of water in a single teaspoon!

Combine that with the fact that one cell from your body contains 200 billion molecules of atoms.  Whether you look at the universe with a telescope and see how big it is, or you look at this universe with a microscope and see how small it is.  When you see the order, the symmetry, the harmony, the beauty of all that is, only a fool would fail to conclude God did it, and that God is in control.)

What does it all mean?  It means that God is in control this Christmas!  It may look like the world is spinning out of control, but it isn’t.  It is all in the hands of He Who made it and all things are working toward the purpose who which He designed them!

The One Who made it all and controls it all was born into this world 2,000 years ago as a helpless infant.  He lived here in poverty and rejection only to die a horrible death on a cross.  He did all of this because He loved you, Rom. 5:8.

So, what is the power of Christmas?  Is it a fat man in a red suit taking toys to all the good little children?  Is it a red-nosed reindeer or a magical snowman?  Is it elves, presents, huge meals and family get togethers? And at my house LIGHTS, LIGHTS and more LIGHTS? No!  The power of Christmas is God in a manger!

The God of Heaven found a home in the hay.  That is the power of Christmas!  That is the reason we celebrate this day.  That is the essence of this whole season!

CONSIDER THE PURPOSE OF CHRISTMAS

3. v. 4-5 ^“ In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.⁵ The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”

( The question that begs to be asked is “Why”.  Why did the Creator desire to become a part of His creation?  Why did God put on human flesh and walk among men?  Why did He come into this world to live and to die?  What is the purpose of Christmas?)

1. He Came To Bring Life Into Deadness– When Jesus came into this world, He entered a world filled with dead men.  But, these dead men don’t know that they are dead.

A farmer years ago was trying to teach his son the ways of life on a farm.  So, he took his son out to the hen house, grabbed a chicken and said, “Son, your Mama wants a chicken for dinner, so you know what we have to do.”  With that he cut the chicken’s head off, and the chicken began to flop around on the ground.  Well, the little boy’s eyes got wide with amazement, and he said, “Daddy, look at that.  That there chicken is dead and don’t even know it.”  That is exactly the way lost people are, Eph. 2:1-3.)

Jesus came so that dead men could live! When a dead lost man meets Jesus, he passes from death unto life, John 5:24.  When that dead man becomes alive in Jesus, everything in his life changes, 2 Cor. 5:17.  All men need to realize that:

1. Jesus is the Strength of Earthly Life– We are alive today only by His good grace,  Job 1:21. He makes life possible!
2. Jesus is the Secret of Effective Life– It has been said that “three things make life worth living: a self fit to live with; a faith fit to live by; and a purpose fit to live for.”  Only Jesus Christ can give you all three, John 10:10!  He gives live and He gives it abundantly! The word “abundantly” means “superior, extraordinary, surpassing, uncommon”.  That is the kind of life He came to give!  He gives life purpose!
3. Jesus is the Source of Eternal Life– Those who know Jesus by faith will live eternally, John 11:25-26; John 3:16. He makes life permanent!

Real living is more than walking, talking, eating, breathing, loving, etc.  Real life, abundant life, joyful life is found in knowing God through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, 1 John 5:12.)

12. He Came To Bring Light Into Darkness– Now a person who does not know Jesus is more than just spiritually dead, he is also spiritually darkened!  Jesus came to change all that!  He said, “I am the light of the world: he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life,” John 8:12.  Jesus came to deliver the lost from their darkness and to bring them into His glorious light:

• “For you were sometimes darkness, but now you are light in the Lord: walk as children of light:” Eph. 5:8
• “To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.” Acts 26:18
• “Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:” Col. 1:13

Jesus came into this world to bring light into our spiritual darkness!  Just as He stood in the darkness of creation and said, “Let there be light”; there was a day when He stood in the cold darkness of my heart and brought light to my soul.  Listen to how Paul said it in 2 Cor. 4:6, “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

What is sad is that the world stumbles blindly in the dark seeking light in all the wrong places.

I heard about a drunk that was down on all fours late one night under a street light.  He was groping around the ground, feeling the cement, trying to find something.  A friend walked up to him and said, “Sam, what are doing you there?” He said, “Well, I’ve lost my wallet.”  So this friend gets down on his hands and knees and they both start looking for this man’s wallet.  Neither one can find it, and finally the friend says to his drunk buddy: “Are you sure you lost the wallet here?” “Well no.  In fact, I dropped it a half a block back over there.” “Well then why are we looking here?” “Because there’s no street light over there.“)

People are still looking in all the wrong places

That is just what the lost world does with the light.  They reject it when it comes their way, John 3:19, “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”  The word “comprehended” in verse 5 means “to lay hold on; to claim for oneself.”

And, they do worse than that!  The lost world is actively trying to quench the light to prevent it from shining anywhere.  But, I have news for them!  The Light that shined brightly from eternity past; the Light that gleamed in Bethlehem’s manger; the Light that shined for 33 years while Jesus walked this earth; the Light that flickered briefly at Calvary, but blazed forth at the entrance to an empty tomb will continue to light the pathway toward eternity for all those who desire to follow Him!

Conc: Are you dreaming of a right Christmas? Are you gonna make room for him or shove him in barn or a closet?                                                                     The captain of a whaling boat went to church one Sunday. The preacher talked to him later and learned that the sermon had made absolutely no impression upon him. “To tell the truth, sir,” replied the captain, “all the time that you were talking I was thinking about where I could likely find my next whale. I have no room in my heart for anything else but whales.”