All right, please take your copy of God's Word and turn to the Gospel of Mark, chapter 3, and join me in prayer.
Father, we praise you for this day that we have been granted to come together and study your Word.
I pray, Father, this morning that you will use our frailty and that you will maximize the preaching of your Word by its transforming power to make us more into the image of your Son for your glory.
And I pray this in Christ's name. Amen.
So as a general habit together here at Christ Family Church, we preach verse by verse, expositionally.
And there's a number of reasons that we do that that I won't get into in their entirety.
There have been many faithful preachers throughout history that have done this differently, not always preached in this fashion.
An example of a fairly dogmatic verse-by-verse preacher is John Calvin.
In fact, when he was driven out of Geneva for a time, he had left off, I believe he was in the book of Leviticus at the time.
Forgive me if you know when I'm getting that wrong.
Came back a couple of years later, was rehired, so to speak, back at the church that he was leading.
And he picked right back up at the verse that he left off at a number of years prior to that.
Charles Spurgeon, said to be the prince of preachers, thought that preaching verse by verse actually quenched the Spirit
because a pastor wasn't required to search God for what he would have to say to the people for that week.
And so I always try to find a healthy balance in that.
While we preach through a book together, that's kind of the normative pattern, but each week I ask,
God, is this what you would have me do?
Is this the text before me that I ought to preach to this people this day?
And so this week I've been preparing Mark chapter 3, verse 20 through 35,
pretty fervently for what's commonly called the unpardonable sin.
How about that for a week before Christmas sermon for you?
We get that from verse 29.
Jesus says, but this is an eternal sin.
And I prepared for it.
I had it all prepped and ready to go.
And guess who changed my mind this morning about preaching such a sermon?
So I have half a page of scribbled notes on a piece of notebook paper.
And we're going to look at an entirely different text and text together today.
And so I want you to start by turning to Revelation chapter 1, verse 8.
And I have to tell you this morning that I come to you to preach with a pretty heavy heart.
I'm grieving a bit in my heart.
And the reason for that is last night we attended a great event that Sam's family does every year.
Sam's mother's side of the family, she has five siblings.
There's six of them, and they all have kids who now have kids.
And so it's quite a troop.
I have no idea how many we number in total, but it's a clan to be sure.
We call it Puckett Family Christmas, and it's always the Saturday before Christmas.
And last night was that very event.
It kind of kicks off the season for us.
And there's lots of good food and cute kids in their Christmas sweaters and the like.
Presents to go around and things of this nature.
And in previous years, this has happened, and it happened again last night.
There's suddenly a great excitement in the room because a particular jolly character arrives at the house.
who's been hired in the past.
This year it was Uncle Buster wearing an elaborate costume.
I'm going to speak in code just in case.
I don't want to burst any children's bubbles this morning.
I'll let you do that at some point.
But you know who I'm talking about.
Shows up, and the house just lit up.
Adults and children alike.
I mean, just the excitement level in the room went from a 2 to a 10.
And all the cameras came out, and everyone was so excited.
One of her adult cousins came to me and said,
I'm having flashbacks of being a kid.
And then kept on going.
I'm like, what is happening in this room right now?
It almost seemed as if they were drugged.
I mean, really, like the super excitement came on the room.
And I started out a bit frustrated, just, you know, the kind of typical,
this isn't what Christmas is about kind of frustration,
which I've experienced in years past at this event.
I'll tell you later if you'd like to know.
I'll give you three clear reasons why we ought not do the Jolly Man.
But my frustration really quickly turned to sadness.
And that's really what I want to talk about today.
Because I realized, and it was when Cademan ran up to me,
jumped up on the couch, I was sitting on the back of the couch,
came up to me and said, Dad, I just saw Santa Claus.
And I went, yeah, buddy.
And he hopped down.
And I just, this sadness came over me because that kind of joy is infectious.
Like, there's no way.
Like, we've been very clear with Cade on this particular issue.
And there's no way by what we've been teaching him
that he should have been that stoked about it.
But the whole house was really, really excited.
I mean, kids who were apparently afraid of this costumed man,
creepy-looking guy, were being, like, drugged to go meet him, right?
Like, kicking and screaming to go see this character.
There was much, much excitement.
And I realized all in kind of one moment that we as a Christian people,
and myself personally, we don't get that excited about Jesus.
That we don't look for opportunities to make much of him
in all of the various settings.
This was an elaborate costume.
I mean, it was well done, right?
He had to leave, change, come in, the whole thing.
He planned it out in order to make much of this particular character.
And I hadn't even given a thought to that evening
to how I was going to make much of Christ with Sam's family, right?
I was going for food and Christmas sweaters
and maybe some presents along the way.
And we do the same thing with our church.
We come together 52, 53, if you count our Christmas Eve service,
times a year as a congregation
to make much of Christ together.
And we do some things certainly to be deliberate about that.
But is it infectious?
Do our kids see what we do and go,
what is going on in that place?
Right?
And I thought about some of the reasons
why that's a challenging thing to do.
I don't think it'd be really appropriate
for us to hire somebody to dress up as Jesus
and show up at our Christmas parties.
I just, that would feel weird to me.
So, how do we make much of Christ?
And the thing I really came to realize
is that we must make much of Him in our preaching.
And I labor to do that,
but I don't know that I do that incredibly well.
I don't know that people leave here
excited about our Savior, right?
Wanting to run around.
Wanting to be really stoked about who He is.
And so I want to talk a little bit this morning
about who He is
and why we should celebrate Him properly this year.
Christ Himself is God.
We've seen that case made to us already in Mark.
He Himself has proclaimed it a number of times.
The great accusations that are being railed against Him
is that He's speaking blasphemy.
Which He would be if He weren't in fact the Lord.
Revelation 1, verse 8.
God the Father says this of Himself,
I am the Alpha and the Omega,
says the Lord God,
who is and who was and who is to come.
The Almighty.
In the Greek alphabet,
Alpha is A and Omega is Z.
Right?
There's nothing that existed before me.
There's nothing that will exist after me.
I am everything.
This is a more elaborate way of Him saying,
I am who I am,
which is the name He gave to Moses.
I am the Alpha and the Omega,
who is and who was and who is to come.
The Almighty.
But turn, if you will,
to the end of the book of Revelation.
Chapter 22, verse 13.
And here we see Jesus speaking,
and He says,
I am the Alpha and the Omega,
the first and the last,
the beginning and the end.
In this time of year,
we very readily forget
that Jesus who came in the form of a baby
was in fact God Himself,
incarnate amongst us.
Right?
I think sometimes in our minds
we celebrate the little baby Jesus.
Right?
Like we have in our mind
the picture in the manger
of us standing around
inside Northeast Georgia room
and we all kind of like
take turns holding the baby
and pass them on.
Oh, a cute baby.
Snap a photo.
Right?
This was God Himself
who came down off His throne
and dwelt amongst us.
And we can see some encounters.
When we see encounters
of the people have with God,
they lay prostrate on the ground.
One of my favorites
is in Exodus chapter 34.
Turn there if you will with me.
After Moses has gone back up on the mountain
for the second time,
he comes down the first time
and the people are worshiping
the golden calf
and he breaks the tablets.
He goes back up on the mountain.
God gives him tablets once again.
Chapter 34, verse 29.
It says,
When Moses came down from the Mount Sinai
with the two tablets of the testimony
in his hand,
as he came down from the mountain,
Moses did not know
that the skin of his face shone
because he had been talking with God.
He actually was illuminated.
Right?
He had a countenance about him
that brightened
what people were seeing
to be true of who he was.
And we see later in this text
that he actually begins to veil himself
because this brightness
was a fading brightness.
So he would veil himself
because it was going away
and then he would unveil
to go meet with the Lord again
and he would get bright once again.
And we see some commentary on this
in 2 Corinthians 3.
Bible drill.
Go with me to 2 Corinthians 3.
Paul here in 3, verse 6
has talked a bit about the law itself.
This law that Moses brought down
on these tablets of stone.
And it said,
For the letter kills,
but the Spirit gives life.
And what he means is that the letter,
the law itself,
simply brings the conviction of sin.
It cannot deliver us from it,
but it simply makes us aware
that it exists.
So the letter kills.
And then in verse 7,
he says,
Now if the ministry of death,
carved in letters on stone,
came with such glory
that the Israelites could not gaze
at Moses' face
because of its glory,
which was being brought to an end,
will not the ministry of the Spirit
have even more glory?
For if there is glory
in the ministry of condemnation,
condemnation,
the ministry of righteousness
must far exceed it in glory.
Indeed, in this case,
once once had glory
has come to have no glory at all
because of the glory
that surpasses it.
The glory,
the gospel of grace
that surpasses the law.
Verse 11,
For what was being brought
to an end came with glory.
Much more will what is permanent
have glory.
Since we have such a hope,
we are very bold.
Not like Moses
who would put a veil
over his face
that the Israelites
might not gaze
at the outcome
of what was being brought
to an end,
but their minds were hardened.
For to this day,
when they read the Old Covenant,
that same veil remains unlifted
because only through Christ
is it taken away.
Yes, to this day,
whenever Moses is read,
a veil lies over their hearts.
But when one turns to the Lord,
the veil is removed.
Now the Lord is the Spirit,
and where the Spirit of the Lord is,
there is freedom.
And we all,
with unveiled face,
beholding the glory of the Lord,
are being transformed
to the same image
from one degree of glory
to another.
For this comes from the Lord,
who is the Spirit.
You see what he's saying there now?
Is that we now have
this full revelation.
We have looked
into the face of Christ.
And as such,
we have a greater glory,
a surpassing glory.
And we don't experience
this glowing skin
that Moses had going on.
But what we do experience
is the transformation
of our hearts
and therefore our actions.
There has to be something
that comes out
of a devotion to Christ.
If we can't worship Christ
properly during this season,
it's probably because
we don't know him that well.
If we know him at all,
we don't know him that well.
He is a surpassing glory.
If you look down
in chapter 4, verse 6,
Paul writes,
For God who said,
Let light shine out of darkness.
This all-powerful God
who said,
Let light shine out of darkness
has shown in our hearts
to give the light
of the knowledge
of the glory of God
in the face
of Jesus Christ.
That is who we behold.
He is more excellent
than anything in this world.
Certainly more excellent
than Santa Claus.
Who is an omniscient judge
of some sort.
Who hands out rewards
to those who have earned it
and who punishes those
who haven't.
If we are totally honest
with our story,
none of us are getting
any gifts this Christmas at all.
But Jesus instead comes
and he pours out eternal wrath
on those who have stood
in opposition to him.
The things that are just
and do them.
But by grace,
by grace,
not by our works,
not by the good things
that we could have
ever possibly earned,
but by grace,
he gives to us
eternal life.
Reward in him.
Adoption into his family.
Jesus is more excellent
than Santa Claus.
What else are your kids into?
Probably a million things.
We have a lot of young ones in here.
I couldn't think of an analogy
with Thomas,
the tank engine.
But Jesus is more excellent
than Superman.
Would have been a great character
of my day.
If you recall some of the
Superman movies,
there was a movie where
he turned the earth backwards
and therefore turned back time.
You guys remember that one?
By his great strength,
if you recall,
this was a big feat for Superman.
He flew around the earth
so quickly in the opposite direction
that he got it rotating
in the other direction.
Jesus holds the earth
in its rotation
by the power of his word.
Superman can't stand
against that.
Jesus is more excellent
than Superman.
In fact, he's the Lord of time.
Knows all things
from the beginning
to the very, very end.
Jesus is more excellent
than Iron Man.
Who forsook the glory
of being God.
Came down as a humble servant.
It's the opposite of that character
we see in the movie, isn't it?
He came as a humble servant
and emptied himself
and served us
to the point of death
that we might have life in him.
He traded his glory
that we might have glory one day.
He is more excellent.
Why?
Why in our homes
do our kids love these things
and they don't love Christ?
The very name of Jesus
ought to move us
in some way in our hearts.
We hear somebody say the name Jesus.
Has it become just
commonplace to you?
Is it blasé in your life?
It ought to perk your ears.
It ought to get your heart
motivated and open and warm.
This One,
this Jesus Christ,
salvation from God,
the Messiah,
it should warm us.
It should want us
to engage in conversation.
It should be the very thing
we want to talk about
in all places
at all times.
Turn to Philippians 2.
God has given this name
to Christ.
Chapter 2, verse 9,
Therefore God
has highly exalted him,
Jesus,
and bestowed on him
the name
that is above every name.
So that the name of Jesus
every knee should bow
in heaven and on earth
and under the earth,
and every tongue confess
that Jesus Christ
is Lord.
To the glory of God,
the Father.
Turn to Psalm,
chapter 66.
So what happens
when I scribble notes?
You've got to go with me
to the text.
Psalm 66,
beginning in verse 1.
Shout for joy to God,
all the earth.
Sing the glory of His name.
Give to Him glorious praise.
Say to God,
how awesome are your deeds.
So great is your power
that your enemies
come cringing to you.
All the earth worships you
and sings praises to you.
They sing praises
to your name.
This should be our heart
during the Christmas season,
and it should be such
that it is infectious.
We should look
for opportunities,
deliberate chances
to make much of Christ.
Christ.
We have such limited time
together.
As I said before,
53 services
that we'll have
this next year.
Many of you will get sick.
I know I do.
You'll go on vacations.
So let's give you 48.
Times we get to come together
into this holy assembly,
this thing that has been
specifically set apart
to honor Christ in.
Do we come?
Do we even come prepared
to do what we do together?
Do we simply roll out of bed,
hit the car,
get here,
go through the motion,
and take off?
Do we really devote time
and energy
to seeing how it is
we can exalt Christ
in our meetings together?
And I know you're thinking,
that's kind of your job.
You put together
the service aspect of it.
And yes, I agree.
It is.
And it's a labor
that I have got
to put my nose to.
But you play a part
in it as well.
The condition of your heart
matters.
You start coming to this place
ready to exalt Christ,
you will find yourself
exalting Him
in all sorts
of unique ways.
In your meeting beforehand,
in your meeting after,
in the singing of praises
to His name,
even just in your listening.
You want sermons to matter
and mean something to you?
Set your mind
to exalting Christ
as you come together
with the people of God.
How are we going
to treat Christmas?
Those of you with kids,
those of you without kids
who may have kids
someday,
those of you who have
some influence over kids
in some way.
Are you more excited
about Christ
than all of the other
trappings that come
along with Christmas?
And those things
aren't bad and evil
in themselves.
I say out-give the world
but point people to Christ.
I say out-decorate the world
but point people to Christ.
Out-eat the world
but point people to Christ
in all of that.
Show the world
that this is a lesser joy.
Right?
That it's just a simple,
I mean,
a tiny, minute shadow
of the greater,
more excellent joy
that is found in Christ.
Let's pray together.