WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.040 We begin to look at John 1. Let's just bow our heads in prayer. Father, 00:00:03.680 --> 00:00:10.259 sometimes we just like things night and cut and dry, just the facts, ma'am, 00:00:10.480 --> 00:00:16.280 but we know, Father, that you both want us to give us truth, but you would like us to be like 00:00:16.280 --> 00:00:23.100 Mary and ponder things in our hearts. And so, Father, we ask that you would help us to ponder 00:00:23.100 --> 00:00:27.879 your word this morning, not just this morning, but in other times throughout the days and weeks 00:00:27.879 --> 00:00:33.539 and months ahead, that we would be like Mary and ponder your word. So, Father, may your Holy Spirit 00:00:33.539 --> 00:00:39.739 help us to ponder and wonder. And we ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen. 00:00:40.939 --> 00:00:44.719 Just, I don't know how many of you, probably all of you know who Jordan Peterson is, 00:00:44.980 --> 00:00:51.460 and he just put out some videos in the last couple of months on the Gospels. He sort of sits at the 00:00:51.460 --> 00:00:59.439 center of a table with eight brainiacs, all of them having probably double my IQ and a hundred 00:00:59.439 --> 00:01:05.480 times more knowledge than me. And one of the things that they talked about was John 1, 1 to 14. 00:01:05.659 --> 00:01:10.500 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in 00:01:10.500 --> 00:01:14.540 the beginning. All things were made through him, and without him nothing was made that was made, 00:01:14.540 --> 00:01:22.400 and on and on and on, till the crescendo, which is that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, 00:01:22.840 --> 00:01:27.400 and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 00:01:28.000 --> 00:01:32.940 And the ep, I only watched part of it, I read, I watched maybe about a third of it, and it begins 00:01:32.940 --> 00:01:39.360 with Dennis Prager, whom if you're not familiar with him, he's a Jewish public intellectual. And he 00:01:39.359 --> 00:01:45.239 begins by saying, what's with the Word? Like, I never got my mind around that. Why on earth would 00:01:45.239 --> 00:01:51.579 they pick such a weird, odd phrase as the Word? Can somebody help me understand why they would pick 00:01:51.579 --> 00:01:58.400 such an odd way of talking about Jesus? And these brainiacs being brainiacs, you'd be surprised at all 00:01:58.400 --> 00:02:06.340 the things they get out of that. But I think it's sort of a bit of a simpler thing. One of the things I 00:02:06.340 --> 00:02:13.960 think connected all of their thought is that this phrase, the Word in the beginning was the Word, 00:02:14.099 --> 00:02:18.640 and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, that whole thing. I think one of the things that 00:02:18.640 --> 00:02:27.259 they approach it as is that it's almost as if it's a bug that needs to be fixed. And as I'm listening 00:02:27.259 --> 00:02:31.240 to them talk, for the first time it struck me, because every year I have to preach on this, and I 00:02:31.240 --> 00:02:37.379 puzzle over it a lot. And I realized, one moment, if God is the author of Scripture, the ultimate 00:02:37.379 --> 00:02:44.300 author of Scripture, then this can't possibly be a bug that we have to fix. It's obviously a feature. 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:51.200 And I should look at it as not as a bug that I need to fix, but a feature that I need to ponder. 00:02:51.199 --> 00:03:00.139 And so let's just go back to this whole thing about whether or not we're being visited by UFOs. 00:03:00.799 --> 00:03:07.099 And as many WAGs have said, why UFOs would pick New Jersey to visit out of all of the places on Earth, 00:03:07.159 --> 00:03:12.019 that's of course a whole other question. But it's very interesting. All they need to have, 00:03:12.179 --> 00:03:18.120 people have to have, are some unexplained lights in the sky. And they're not even inherently 00:03:18.120 --> 00:03:22.860 unexplainable, because it could be done by drones and a whole pile of other things. And people start 00:03:22.860 --> 00:03:29.680 to wonder whether there's life, human, not in human life, intelligent life beyond our world. 00:03:30.960 --> 00:03:35.520 And if we think about it for a second, maybe we can start to get a little bit of an idea about why 00:03:35.520 --> 00:03:41.960 it is that God chose the word, the word. This is just me pondering why he chose the word, why this 00:03:41.960 --> 00:03:50.580 is a feature of the Bible, not a bug that has to be fixed. And one of the first things is that if 00:03:50.580 --> 00:03:57.620 you think about it, if just mere flashing lights communicates that there might be intelligent life 00:03:57.620 --> 00:04:02.680 somewhere else in the world, and that's not even very unexplainable, just think of all of the other 00:04:02.680 --> 00:04:09.540 types of things that if we see them, we understand, human beings understand the difference between 00:04:09.539 --> 00:04:15.900 just things that happen randomly by nature and things that come from a human mind or human 00:04:15.900 --> 00:04:19.779 intelligence. So for instance, if you could put up the Inuksuk, Claire, that would be very helpful. 00:04:20.439 --> 00:04:27.740 So imagine that you're out camping or canoeing in the wilderness, and you have a terrible canoeing 00:04:27.740 --> 00:04:36.319 accident or whatever, and you get off onto the shore. And if you see something like this, 00:04:36.319 --> 00:04:43.000 nobody will say, wow, I wonder what type of explosion caused that. Like nobody would think 00:04:43.000 --> 00:04:48.279 that. Like not one single human being would think. In fact, if you were with a buddy and you've both 00:04:48.279 --> 00:04:53.060 climbed out of the canoe, you're freezing to death, and you come and you climb off the shore, 00:04:53.120 --> 00:04:58.620 and your buddy said, come on, you say, come on, you have hypothermia. Like, you know, that's obviously a human 00:04:58.620 --> 00:05:04.680 being did it. And if it was all covered with moss, you'd feel a bit depressed because that means it's 00:05:04.680 --> 00:05:09.459 been there a long time. But if it looks like it was just freshly put there, what would happen? You'd 00:05:09.459 --> 00:05:15.639 have a feeling of excitement. Good grief. There must be a human being nearby or who comes by here. 00:05:15.639 --> 00:05:23.639 And that would give you some type of sensor or excitement. There's a... I forgot. I should have 00:05:23.639 --> 00:05:29.979 written it down. John Sanford wrote a science fiction novel a few years ago. And I'm going to talk about 00:05:29.979 --> 00:05:34.419 this a little bit more this coming Sunday when I talk about the Magi. But one of the things in the 00:05:34.419 --> 00:05:39.399 science fiction book is that astronomers are watching stars and everything that lights in the sky. 00:05:39.399 --> 00:05:45.560 And the astronomers note what looks like a comet that they haven't seen before. And that shows you, 00:05:45.560 --> 00:05:48.939 well, you know, it's sort of interesting who's going to be the first one to record it. They have 00:05:48.939 --> 00:05:54.019 that little bit of professional, you know, ego and everything. But all of a sudden, the light stops 00:05:54.019 --> 00:06:03.299 and stays in one spot. And as soon as that happens, a chill goes down the spine of every astronomer. 00:06:03.300 --> 00:06:12.500 Nothing in nature stops. This is obviously a very large spaceship. There's obviously intelligent life 00:06:12.500 --> 00:06:20.460 which is out there. God has given scientists a natural word. But very few scientists have gone 00:06:20.460 --> 00:06:28.340 to understand that if there's this natural word or natural meaning, then obviously there must be some 00:06:28.339 --> 00:06:33.039 type of God who does exist. And I'm referring to DNA, which has now been known to be for about 70 00:06:33.039 --> 00:06:42.000 some odd years. And DNA is basically coding to the coding required for a cell to replicate and make a 00:06:42.000 --> 00:06:49.319 human being. It's clearly a message. It's clearly information. It's clearly instructions. It's clearly 00:06:49.319 --> 00:06:55.539 like a word. And yet it says something about the hardness of human hearts that if we see a word like 00:06:55.540 --> 00:07:01.540 that, we don't go to think that there must be something that exists that could create such a 00:07:01.540 --> 00:07:06.860 message that's more than just us. So one of the things which I think is interesting about this 00:07:06.860 --> 00:07:13.300 phrase of the word is if you go to the end of John's gospel, he tells you why he writes the gospel. 00:07:14.420 --> 00:07:19.320 Like, you don't have to try to guess. He tells you, I want to tell you about just some of the things. 00:07:19.460 --> 00:07:24.980 If I was to try to write all the things that Jesus did, boy, you know, it would take millions of books. 00:07:25.540 --> 00:07:30.900 But I wrote this. Why? So you would come to know Jesus and believe and trust in him. That's why he 00:07:30.900 --> 00:07:37.100 writes the book. And he writes it as a pastor, and he writes it as a missiologist, so to speak. He's 00:07:37.100 --> 00:07:42.140 already been familiar with lots of different cultures, lots of different religions, and he's 00:07:42.140 --> 00:07:48.439 intentionally writing something that will be able to speak to many, many cultures in many, many times 00:07:48.439 --> 00:07:53.600 so that people will come to know Jesus. And this very, very first thing is when you see even in 00:07:53.600 --> 00:08:00.379 anukshuk, you know person. When you see a word, you know a person, you know intelligence, you know 00:08:00.379 --> 00:08:07.760 meaning. And that's how he begins his gospel. We Christians don't understand entirely how weird 00:08:07.760 --> 00:08:15.580 we are. And especially, I think, maybe under the pressure of Islam and atheism in North America, 00:08:15.579 --> 00:08:23.079 Christians are a little bit almost embarrassed about the Trinity. I know a lot of ministers who feel 00:08:23.079 --> 00:08:28.680 hesitant to even mention it very much in their sermons. They prefer to just keep talking about, 00:08:28.860 --> 00:08:34.139 you know, Jesus or God the Father or God the Holy Spirit, never really trying to talk about the fact 00:08:34.139 --> 00:08:41.819 that we Christians believe there's just one God who exists in three persons, the triune God. But, you know, 00:08:41.820 --> 00:08:48.800 the Trinity is one of those doctrines that we should rejoice in, we should exult in. It is only the 00:08:48.800 --> 00:08:56.840 Trinity explains so many human experiences and longings. Only the Trinity makes sense of the Bible. 00:08:56.980 --> 00:09:03.080 So it sounds odd to us to say that only the Trinity makes sense of human experience, but it really does. 00:09:03.879 --> 00:09:09.560 And it helps us as well to understand a little bit about why John, very brilliantly under the influence 00:09:09.559 --> 00:09:13.899 of the Holy Spirit. And whether it was him or whether or not this is, in fact, just something 00:09:13.899 --> 00:09:19.279 that Jesus used to muse on while they're walking these long, dusty roads. Like, you know, it'd be 00:09:19.279 --> 00:09:24.919 really fat. Maybe in heaven we'll find out whether, as the disciples were walking in the heat. If you've 00:09:24.919 --> 00:09:31.299 ever been to, I think the last, I've been to Israel several times. Not the last time, but the time before 00:09:31.299 --> 00:09:36.619 that it was 40 degrees, but it's a dry heat. Some of you might be used to playing places where it's 40 00:09:36.620 --> 00:09:41.120 degrees. And so actually it was sort of interesting because if there was a really nice breeze and you 00:09:41.120 --> 00:09:45.580 were in the shade, you could actually feel a bit cool. Because when I was there, I didn't want to 00:09:45.580 --> 00:09:50.060 spend all my time inside cafes. I wanted to be out where I could sort of people watch and all of that 00:09:50.060 --> 00:10:00.680 type of stuff and enjoy Jerusalem. And why was I saying? Oh, yes. So one of the things which is 00:10:00.679 --> 00:10:07.399 is so interesting about this phrase, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, 00:10:07.799 --> 00:10:14.599 and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without 00:10:14.599 --> 00:10:21.459 him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light 00:10:21.459 --> 00:10:28.559 shines in the darkness, and the darkness is not overcoming. So what's interesting about this phrase, 00:10:28.559 --> 00:10:34.000 the Word, is this. How is John going to try to communicate? How are Christians going to communicate 00:10:34.000 --> 00:10:41.459 to the peoples of the world what the true God is really like? Well, this really is helpful. So 00:10:41.459 --> 00:10:48.339 John is having to speak to pagans, and pagans believe that there are many gods. And if, in fact, 00:10:48.419 --> 00:10:54.500 there's a, you know, if you go back and you read the story in Acts 17, where Paul is trying to 00:10:54.500 --> 00:11:01.139 communicate the truth about Jesus and the truth about the resurrection, the people who are, oh, not, 00:11:01.240 --> 00:11:10.220 it's not, it's not Athens, it's, it's in Acts 14, not Acts 17. But the people who hear him think he's 00:11:10.220 --> 00:11:18.879 talking about two gods, a male god named Jesus and a female god named resurrection. And they just plug 00:11:18.879 --> 00:11:24.320 that into their mental system and think that he's talking about two gods. So what is one way that you're 00:11:24.320 --> 00:11:29.080 going to try to communicate that that's not the way, that that's a completely wrong way to think 00:11:29.080 --> 00:11:34.760 about God? Well, one of the things is if he began by saying there's three persons in the Trinity or 00:11:34.760 --> 00:11:38.040 something like that, it would just, it'd end up just thinking there's three gods, sort of like what 00:11:38.040 --> 00:11:42.800 Mormons think, that there's, you know, a literal father, a literal son, and a little Holy Spirit 00:11:42.800 --> 00:11:48.160 somewhere up in heaven. So instead he uses this fascinating thing of saying in the beginning was the Word. 00:11:48.159 --> 00:11:55.199 Now they would have all scratched their heads, just like Dennis Prager and John and Jordan Peterson 00:11:55.199 --> 00:12:01.299 and all the brainiacs scratched their head at this. But it's obviously something which is non-physical 00:12:01.299 --> 00:12:06.959 that has to do with something more like spiritual. But he didn't use the word spiritual, what might 00:12:06.959 --> 00:12:11.719 end up thinking that there's like three spirits up there. They use this puzzling word that puts everybody 00:12:11.719 --> 00:12:16.279 a step back and they have to scratch their head and ponder about it as he's trying to communicate. 00:12:16.279 --> 00:12:20.779 And even that phrase in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. 00:12:20.919 --> 00:12:27.279 The Word and the Word was with God is in Greek a word, that word with is a word that's only used 00:12:27.279 --> 00:12:33.240 when it talks about two people being together. So in other words, if I said that I was, you know, 00:12:33.299 --> 00:12:39.319 off camping with my car, in Greek you would say with differently than if I said I was with Louise. 00:12:40.199 --> 00:12:44.319 The two words are different. And the word for two persons is what's used there in Greek, 00:12:44.320 --> 00:12:47.740 which is very, very fascinating, isn't it, if you think about it for a second. 00:12:48.300 --> 00:12:53.460 And so on one hand there he's communicating to pagans that the God who really exists is very 00:12:53.460 --> 00:12:59.560 different than your categories. And for those who come from the East, from Buddhism and from Hinduism, 00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:05.080 where, you know, at the end of the day there's just the one. We came from the one, there's some tragedy, 00:13:05.300 --> 00:13:11.520 human beings are a tragic mistake, tragic error, and our destiny is once again to be with the one. 00:13:11.519 --> 00:13:18.879 Well, here's the whole thing about words, is words imply another person. You have a word, you know, 00:13:19.199 --> 00:13:25.059 from one to another. That implies a second person. So it's all of a sudden saying to people from a 00:13:25.059 --> 00:13:30.879 more Eastern background, one moment, that's not describing the one word and with, it's describing 00:13:30.879 --> 00:13:35.419 as if there's some type of communication which is going on even before there's human beings. 00:13:35.419 --> 00:13:41.259 And of course, for our Muslim friends, they have a profound problem because if there's only Allah, 00:13:41.599 --> 00:13:47.139 why would Allah ever speak? Who would he speak to? Why would he need words? There's nobody other than him. 00:13:48.819 --> 00:13:54.120 And if there are words, it has to just be sort of like some weird thing because he wants people to 00:13:54.120 --> 00:13:59.459 serve him or some creatures to serve him. So he sort of thinks, oh, maybe I'll invent words. Whereas the 00:13:59.460 --> 00:14:04.960 whole idea in the beginning was the word, the word was with God, the word was God, that can only make 00:14:04.960 --> 00:14:12.600 sense if in fact God is something like the Trinity. And once again, this all fits in with human 00:14:12.600 --> 00:14:17.280 experience because the fact of the matter is, is that words are unbelievably important to us. 00:14:18.540 --> 00:14:24.600 When we have a loved one who sinks into Alzheimer's to such an extent that they can no longer speak to 00:14:24.600 --> 00:14:30.500 us, we experience a profound loss. When we have a loved one who goes into a coma that we can't speak 00:14:30.500 --> 00:14:40.540 to them, we experience a profound loss. Words are essential to human beings. Bit of an aside, I've told 00:14:40.540 --> 00:14:45.600 you this story before, but what the heck, it's Christmas. Christmas is for old men telling old 00:14:45.600 --> 00:14:52.100 stories time and time and time again. I look back now on how my son Tosh, I was with my son Tosh, and I wish I 00:14:52.100 --> 00:14:57.820 could rewind it. I'm the type of person, when I wake up in the morning, don't talk to me for half an hour, 00:14:58.220 --> 00:15:04.379 okay? I just sort of stumble into the bathroom, stumble over to the coffee maker, stumble over to 00:15:04.379 --> 00:15:09.320 the toaster, start to have some toast and peanut butter, start to have my coffee, and after about 20 00:15:09.320 --> 00:15:15.980 minutes to half an hour, I'm fit to talk to a human being. My son Tosh, it was almost as if if he slept for 00:15:15.980 --> 00:15:21.220 nine hours, the moment he wakes up, he has to catch up on not speaking for nine hours. 00:15:22.600 --> 00:15:28.820 He has to speak constantly, so he would get up and go, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, all excited 00:15:28.820 --> 00:15:34.340 and happy, and I'm just thinking, you know, whatever. I wasn't the best dad. That's one of those things I 00:15:34.340 --> 00:15:38.600 wish I could go back, although he turned out like a nice guy, and he still likes me, so that's one of the 00:15:38.600 --> 00:15:44.360 wonders of fatherhood or whatever. But words are so unbelievably important. It's so brilliant, something for us to 00:15:44.360 --> 00:15:51.100 ponder, that John begins to tell us about Jesus by talking about the Trinity of all things, and by talking about 00:15:51.100 --> 00:15:55.860 words. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the 00:15:55.860 --> 00:16:02.639 beginning. All things were made through him, to get the point, nothing was made that was made without him. In him was 00:16:02.639 --> 00:16:08.500 life, and the life was the light of men. And then later on, of course, the wonderful phrase, in the beginning, and the 00:16:08.500 --> 00:16:14.080 Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory. Glory is the only Son from the Father, full, 00:16:14.360 --> 00:16:25.980 of grace and truth. Human beings are really weird. We don't appreciate just how vastly weird we are. 00:16:26.659 --> 00:16:37.240 How is it that Bach can exist in the same universe as Hitler? How could the glories of the music that he 00:16:37.240 --> 00:16:47.620 composed exist in a world which also has Auschwitz? How is it that you can have marriages where at one moment 00:16:47.620 --> 00:16:54.139 the husband might say something unbelievably loving, perceptive and loving and moving to his wife, 00:16:54.700 --> 00:17:01.620 and then an hour later say something which is deeply cutting and wounds her for decades? How is it that 00:17:01.620 --> 00:17:09.920 human beings are like that? Like secular thought, moralistic thought tends to push us to either be 00:17:09.920 --> 00:17:16.700 very idealistic, you know, about our inner good child, which is what we really are like, or it ends up 00:17:16.700 --> 00:17:22.920 being like in zombie movies and apocalyptic movies where it's almost as if you have to fear human beings 00:17:22.920 --> 00:17:29.859 more than the zombies because it shows the unbelievable cruelty and evil in human beings. 00:17:29.859 --> 00:17:34.679 But usually those two things don't happen in the same movie, at least not in any type of way that 00:17:34.679 --> 00:17:40.059 tries to meditate upon how it is that human beings can be so radically different. 00:17:41.000 --> 00:17:48.539 Now this very brilliant story, I'm going to read it again, it captures this, only Christianity captures 00:17:48.539 --> 00:17:55.139 the riddle of the mystery of human beings and can begin to unlock it. Only Christianity does that. 00:17:55.140 --> 00:18:01.100 Listen to the John's Gospel again, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 00:18:01.540 --> 00:18:07.420 He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him nothing was made that was made. 00:18:08.180 --> 00:18:10.920 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 00:18:11.620 --> 00:18:13.580 But here all of a sudden we get the hint, 00:18:14.580 --> 00:18:18.800 the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. 00:18:18.799 --> 00:18:26.000 Why is it that human beings, on one hand you can say there's a light in them, but you can also say at the same time that there's a darkness in them? 00:18:26.519 --> 00:18:28.159 How is it that both can exist? 00:18:28.639 --> 00:18:30.139 Alexander Solzhenitsyn said, 00:18:30.139 --> 00:18:36.559 the difference between good and evil doesn't come between tribes or classes or nations or even people. 00:18:36.680 --> 00:18:40.279 The difference between good and evil runs right down the center of every human being. 00:18:40.359 --> 00:18:45.899 In a sense, every human being has something which is very much light, but also something which is very much dark. 00:18:45.900 --> 00:18:50.400 What a weird creature men and women are, human beings are. 00:18:51.320 --> 00:18:53.120 And the Torah continues, verse 6, 00:18:53.180 --> 00:18:55.420 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 00:18:55.500 --> 00:19:00.640 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light that all might believe through him. 00:19:01.280 --> 00:19:04.180 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. 00:19:04.300 --> 00:19:07.640 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. 00:19:07.740 --> 00:19:08.860 Now it's talking about Jesus. 00:19:09.380 --> 00:19:12.560 He was in the world, this is Jesus, and the world was made through him, 00:19:13.040 --> 00:19:14.500 yet the world did not know him. 00:19:14.500 --> 00:19:19.000 How is it that human beings, how is it that men can know something so profound about their wife, 00:19:19.059 --> 00:19:23.099 and yet at the same time, in the next breath, be so completely and utterly clueless? 00:19:23.299 --> 00:19:25.980 How is it that a mom can be like that about her daughter? 00:19:26.119 --> 00:19:28.880 On one hand, having this profound insight about her daughter, 00:19:29.180 --> 00:19:32.579 and the next minute, being completely and utterly clueless. 00:19:32.660 --> 00:19:35.819 On one moment, wanting her daughter to thrive, 00:19:35.900 --> 00:19:40.720 and on the next moment, wanting her daughter to do the things that she wants her daughter to do. 00:19:40.839 --> 00:19:43.799 How is it that human beings can be that at the same time? 00:19:43.799 --> 00:19:45.200 That's a profound mystery. 00:19:46.200 --> 00:19:46.759 Verse 11, 00:19:47.359 --> 00:19:50.480 Jesus came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 00:19:50.519 --> 00:19:53.200 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, 00:19:53.500 --> 00:19:56.000 he gave the right to become children of God, 00:19:56.319 --> 00:19:58.740 who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, 00:19:58.819 --> 00:20:00.279 nor of the will of man, but of God. 00:20:00.859 --> 00:20:03.460 And the word became flesh and dwelt among us. 00:20:03.599 --> 00:20:07.259 And we have seen his glory, glory, as of the only Son from the Father, 00:20:07.500 --> 00:20:09.859 full of grace and truth. 00:20:09.859 --> 00:20:13.539 See, here's one of the things which is about this text. 00:20:13.740 --> 00:20:18.119 The text is very clear that there's a type of light and darkness within human beings. 00:20:18.219 --> 00:20:19.659 And if you realize that for a second, 00:20:19.779 --> 00:20:23.099 that no amount of light in a human being ever gets rid of the darkness, 00:20:23.919 --> 00:20:27.740 although it does seem as if there are human beings where the darkness does swallow the light, 00:20:27.819 --> 00:20:32.619 and they are as close to being perfectly evil as you shudder to imagine. 00:20:32.759 --> 00:20:37.019 And unfortunately, there are people like that who have wandered the earth and still wander the earth today. 00:20:37.019 --> 00:20:40.980 And it's for that reason that we have to hope that we always have police and armies 00:20:40.980 --> 00:20:44.639 and be on our guard and everything. 00:20:44.819 --> 00:20:48.220 Just this past week, just a week ago Friday, 00:20:48.759 --> 00:20:52.019 I was in a downtown Starbucks, 00:20:52.299 --> 00:20:54.579 and all of a sudden, it didn't make it into the news, 00:20:54.700 --> 00:20:58.859 about 15 tweens and then a whole pile of adults, 00:20:58.980 --> 00:21:00.700 like about 10 tweens and about 10 adults, 00:21:00.799 --> 00:21:02.619 all came rushing into the coffee shop, 00:21:02.940 --> 00:21:03.839 all yelling, 00:21:03.839 --> 00:21:06.359 there's a man with a knife, there's a man with a knife, 00:21:06.500 --> 00:21:08.119 shut the doors, lock the doors. 00:21:08.220 --> 00:21:12.059 There was a man with a big knife out doing threatening actions on Bank Street. 00:21:12.579 --> 00:21:14.220 They all rushed into the store, 00:21:14.619 --> 00:21:15.839 and the doors was locked, 00:21:15.899 --> 00:21:16.879 because, you know, 00:21:17.279 --> 00:21:18.939 you don't want a guy like that in. 00:21:19.679 --> 00:21:21.019 And he wandered away, 00:21:21.119 --> 00:21:22.459 I don't know, the police never caught him, 00:21:22.480 --> 00:21:24.799 and I guess he didn't do anything bad, thanks be to God. 00:21:24.799 --> 00:21:28.559 But why is it that there is this difference within human beings? 00:21:28.559 --> 00:21:31.359 And so the Bible here is very frank about it, 00:21:31.419 --> 00:21:35.200 and the Bible here is also saying something as well about human beings, 00:21:35.240 --> 00:21:36.599 which is quite profound. 00:21:37.139 --> 00:21:41.819 It is only from Christianity that we understand the worth and dignity of human beings. 00:21:42.200 --> 00:21:44.779 Our culture is losing its Christian heritage, 00:21:45.379 --> 00:21:47.579 and so that's why we now have things like, 00:21:47.960 --> 00:21:49.039 well, MAID, 00:21:49.259 --> 00:21:50.339 which, as I've said before, 00:21:50.659 --> 00:21:51.740 you know, medically assisted, 00:21:52.259 --> 00:21:54.819 medically assisted, 00:21:54.819 --> 00:21:58.039 or medical aid in dying or something like that. 00:21:58.079 --> 00:21:59.059 That's what it stands for, right? 00:21:59.119 --> 00:22:00.039 Well, that sounds something good. 00:22:00.159 --> 00:22:01.099 That's not what it is. 00:22:01.159 --> 00:22:03.319 It's just doctors killing you, by the way. 00:22:03.619 --> 00:22:06.879 It should really be called scalp, right? 00:22:07.419 --> 00:22:10.399 Socially condoned administration of lethal poison. 00:22:11.019 --> 00:22:12.099 Everybody likes a maid. 00:22:12.220 --> 00:22:13.439 Nobody wants to be scalped. 00:22:13.519 --> 00:22:14.299 So maybe one of the things, 00:22:14.359 --> 00:22:16.619 we should create a revolution to change the name 00:22:16.619 --> 00:22:18.839 and say you want the government to scalp you. 00:22:18.839 --> 00:22:21.819 Maybe it will slow things down if we use that type of language. 00:22:21.819 --> 00:22:24.939 But the very fact that God, the Son of God, 00:22:25.019 --> 00:22:27.700 could take into himself human nature 00:22:27.700 --> 00:22:31.579 says that there is something profoundly important 00:22:31.579 --> 00:22:36.000 and of great dignity and great uniqueness about human beings. 00:22:36.279 --> 00:22:38.179 That a human being is not a chimp, 00:22:38.319 --> 00:22:39.179 not a dog, 00:22:39.480 --> 00:22:40.099 not a bug. 00:22:40.240 --> 00:22:43.579 Only human beings are created in such a way 00:22:43.579 --> 00:22:44.779 that God, the Son of God, 00:22:45.019 --> 00:22:47.519 and it's not a matter that God squeezed himself 00:22:47.519 --> 00:22:49.240 really, really tightly 00:22:49.240 --> 00:22:51.700 and stuck himself inside a human being. 00:22:52.480 --> 00:22:53.599 But that human being, 00:22:54.139 --> 00:22:56.179 the human nature is taken up into God. 00:22:57.399 --> 00:22:59.039 And that says there's something very profound 00:22:59.039 --> 00:23:00.319 about human beings. 00:23:00.799 --> 00:23:02.559 But now we've got to talk about glory. 00:23:02.659 --> 00:23:03.359 What does glory mean? 00:23:04.740 --> 00:23:06.939 Our gospel text, 00:23:07.019 --> 00:23:07.559 in some ways, 00:23:07.700 --> 00:23:09.579 if you want to ponder Christmas, 00:23:10.359 --> 00:23:11.839 I was thinking about that 00:23:11.839 --> 00:23:13.679 as I was driving in this morning. 00:23:14.359 --> 00:23:16.299 Maybe what I'll talk about next year 00:23:16.299 --> 00:23:18.519 when I try to talk about biblical Christmas 00:23:18.519 --> 00:23:20.519 to any non-Christian, 00:23:20.700 --> 00:23:22.379 any person outside the Christian faith 00:23:22.379 --> 00:23:22.920 who asks me, 00:23:22.980 --> 00:23:25.039 I'll say it's a day for Christians 00:23:25.039 --> 00:23:27.059 to rejoice in and meditate upon. 00:23:27.579 --> 00:23:29.099 And the Word became flesh 00:23:29.099 --> 00:23:30.259 and dwelt among us, 00:23:30.480 --> 00:23:31.940 and we have seen his glory, 00:23:32.480 --> 00:23:34.500 glory as of the only Son from the Father, 00:23:34.940 --> 00:23:36.480 full of grace and truth. 00:23:36.660 --> 00:23:37.740 That's what Christmas is, 00:23:37.740 --> 00:23:38.660 that's what Christmas is, 00:23:38.700 --> 00:23:40.339 a day to ponder, 00:23:40.640 --> 00:23:41.220 to remember, 00:23:41.420 --> 00:23:42.019 to rejoice, 00:23:42.359 --> 00:23:44.339 to embrace this profound truth. 00:23:44.720 --> 00:23:46.099 And the Word became flesh 00:23:46.099 --> 00:23:47.120 and dwelt among us, 00:23:47.480 --> 00:23:48.700 and we have seen his glory, 00:23:49.200 --> 00:23:51.279 glory as of the only Son from the Father, 00:23:51.700 --> 00:23:53.059 full of grace and truth. 00:23:54.000 --> 00:23:54.279 You know, 00:23:54.299 --> 00:23:56.319 the wonderful thing about the book of John 00:23:56.319 --> 00:23:57.819 is that it begins with glory, 00:23:58.480 --> 00:24:00.660 and it's a major theme throughout it. 00:24:01.620 --> 00:24:02.360 And, you know, 00:24:02.380 --> 00:24:03.460 when we think of glory, 00:24:03.519 --> 00:24:04.420 we think of some of those, 00:24:04.519 --> 00:24:04.740 you know, 00:24:04.800 --> 00:24:05.980 spectacular things 00:24:05.980 --> 00:24:07.700 that we've just seen of nature. 00:24:09.440 --> 00:24:09.840 Sometimes, 00:24:10.220 --> 00:24:11.000 maybe we'll think, 00:24:11.160 --> 00:24:12.980 if you're a very urban type of person, 00:24:13.100 --> 00:24:14.680 you'll think of one of those wonderful 00:24:14.680 --> 00:24:16.040 urban scapes, 00:24:16.160 --> 00:24:18.220 seeing a city, 00:24:18.340 --> 00:24:19.200 especially at night, 00:24:19.259 --> 00:24:20.180 with all of its lights, 00:24:20.200 --> 00:24:21.120 and we think of glory 00:24:21.120 --> 00:24:22.400 in those types of ways. 00:24:22.800 --> 00:24:24.640 And those are all completely good ways 00:24:24.640 --> 00:24:25.400 to think of glory. 00:24:25.500 --> 00:24:26.720 I'm not saying that they're wrong. 00:24:27.220 --> 00:24:28.259 But John's Gospel 00:24:28.259 --> 00:24:29.560 isn't referring to glory. 00:24:29.559 --> 00:24:31.099 Glory is like a bit of a riddle 00:24:31.099 --> 00:24:33.379 that you don't discover 00:24:33.379 --> 00:24:35.460 until close to the very end, 00:24:35.599 --> 00:24:36.519 just before Jesus 00:24:36.519 --> 00:24:38.119 is going to die upon the cross. 00:24:38.779 --> 00:24:40.019 And it's just before Jesus 00:24:40.019 --> 00:24:41.319 is going to die on the cross, 00:24:42.079 --> 00:24:43.200 I think it's in John 17, 00:24:43.519 --> 00:24:44.940 that he says to his disciples, 00:24:45.059 --> 00:24:46.679 he's going to go right from saying this 00:24:46.679 --> 00:24:48.619 into being captured, 00:24:49.000 --> 00:24:51.039 and he knows he's within hours 00:24:51.039 --> 00:24:52.059 of being crucified, 00:24:52.700 --> 00:24:53.500 and he says, 00:24:53.980 --> 00:24:55.539 now is the Son of God, 00:24:55.659 --> 00:24:57.460 now is the Son of Man glorified. 00:24:57.460 --> 00:24:59.960 The glory of God 00:24:59.960 --> 00:25:01.660 is revealed in the crucifixion. 00:25:02.860 --> 00:25:04.160 The glory of God 00:25:04.160 --> 00:25:05.319 is revealed 00:25:05.319 --> 00:25:07.100 in the crucifixion of God, 00:25:07.180 --> 00:25:08.019 the Son of God, 00:25:08.539 --> 00:25:10.539 dying full of grace and truth, 00:25:10.620 --> 00:25:11.600 that when we put our faith 00:25:11.600 --> 00:25:12.480 and trust in him, 00:25:12.579 --> 00:25:13.579 the truth about God 00:25:13.579 --> 00:25:14.500 and the grace of God 00:25:14.500 --> 00:25:15.500 enters into us 00:25:15.500 --> 00:25:17.059 and changes us. 00:25:17.720 --> 00:25:18.059 You see, 00:25:18.100 --> 00:25:19.240 it's very, very interesting. 00:25:19.380 --> 00:25:19.519 You know, 00:25:19.559 --> 00:25:20.420 I said that 00:25:20.420 --> 00:25:22.100 if every human being 00:25:22.100 --> 00:25:24.000 has this profound mixture of, 00:25:24.000 --> 00:25:24.880 not mixture, 00:25:25.319 --> 00:25:26.359 sometimes it's a mixture, 00:25:26.519 --> 00:25:27.839 but sometimes it's just pure, 00:25:27.960 --> 00:25:29.140 unadulterated darkness, 00:25:29.319 --> 00:25:30.839 and sometimes it's as close 00:25:30.839 --> 00:25:31.920 to unadulterated light 00:25:31.920 --> 00:25:32.460 as you can get, 00:25:32.559 --> 00:25:33.220 although with the fall, 00:25:33.619 --> 00:25:34.440 there's always a little bit 00:25:34.440 --> 00:25:36.019 of a darkness connected to it. 00:25:36.400 --> 00:25:37.400 But if you think about it 00:25:37.400 --> 00:25:37.859 for a second, 00:25:38.240 --> 00:25:39.019 the true God 00:25:39.019 --> 00:25:40.640 can only reveal himself 00:25:40.640 --> 00:25:42.759 to a creature like you and me, 00:25:42.839 --> 00:25:44.359 who's both darkness and light, 00:25:44.720 --> 00:25:46.480 if he doesn't just reveal us, 00:25:46.539 --> 00:25:48.640 if he just tries to reveal truth, 00:25:48.640 --> 00:25:50.460 then the darkness 00:25:50.460 --> 00:25:51.700 is going to twist that truth. 00:25:51.800 --> 00:25:53.020 He can't reveal truth 00:25:53.020 --> 00:25:54.200 without redeeming, 00:25:55.000 --> 00:25:57.020 without delivering. 00:25:58.560 --> 00:25:59.400 And that's why 00:25:59.400 --> 00:26:00.440 the God, 00:26:00.520 --> 00:26:01.160 the Son of God 00:26:01.160 --> 00:26:02.200 dying upon the cross 00:26:02.200 --> 00:26:04.520 is the most perfect moment 00:26:04.520 --> 00:26:06.120 of God revealing himself 00:26:06.120 --> 00:26:07.320 truly to us. 00:26:07.440 --> 00:26:08.740 And he reveals himself 00:26:08.740 --> 00:26:09.520 at the moment 00:26:09.520 --> 00:26:11.100 of most profound grace. 00:26:12.940 --> 00:26:14.280 If human beings 00:26:14.280 --> 00:26:15.540 are both dark and light, 00:26:15.660 --> 00:26:17.320 there can be no revelation 00:26:17.319 --> 00:26:18.879 unless there is also redemption. 00:26:19.099 --> 00:26:20.779 And only the Christian gospel 00:26:20.779 --> 00:26:21.819 provides that. 00:26:22.799 --> 00:26:24.339 Only the Christian gospel 00:26:24.339 --> 00:26:25.220 provides that. 00:26:26.359 --> 00:26:27.839 And the word became flesh 00:26:27.839 --> 00:26:28.759 and dwelt among us 00:26:28.759 --> 00:26:30.059 and we have seen his glory, 00:26:30.240 --> 00:26:31.679 glory as of the only Son 00:26:31.679 --> 00:26:32.359 from the Father, 00:26:32.539 --> 00:26:34.859 full of grace and truth. 00:26:36.779 --> 00:26:38.639 The grace and the glory of God 00:26:38.639 --> 00:26:40.099 is revealed in the crucifixion. 00:26:41.079 --> 00:26:41.980 Brothers and sisters, 00:26:42.200 --> 00:26:42.480 friends, 00:26:43.279 --> 00:26:44.919 this is a day to ponder, 00:26:45.119 --> 00:26:45.700 to remember, 00:26:45.919 --> 00:26:46.559 to reflect, 00:26:46.559 --> 00:26:48.519 to meditate upon 00:26:48.519 --> 00:26:49.679 this profound truth 00:26:49.679 --> 00:26:51.359 that the word became flesh 00:26:51.359 --> 00:26:52.319 and dwelt among us 00:26:52.319 --> 00:26:53.419 and we have seen his glory, 00:26:53.559 --> 00:26:54.740 glory as of the only Son 00:26:54.740 --> 00:26:55.399 from the Father. 00:26:55.879 --> 00:26:57.359 He died to save us. 00:26:58.259 --> 00:27:00.500 And when he saved us 00:27:00.500 --> 00:27:01.179 as Emmanuel, 00:27:01.440 --> 00:27:02.179 God with us, 00:27:02.259 --> 00:27:03.419 and he lives with us 00:27:03.419 --> 00:27:04.440 as Emmanuel. 00:27:04.740 --> 00:27:05.559 He lives with us 00:27:05.559 --> 00:27:06.559 at our best moments, 00:27:06.919 --> 00:27:07.859 our worst moments. 00:27:08.099 --> 00:27:09.759 When he is our Savior and Lord, 00:27:10.019 --> 00:27:11.240 he never leaves us, 00:27:11.480 --> 00:27:12.799 he never forsakes us, 00:27:12.799 --> 00:27:14.839 he is God with us 00:27:14.839 --> 00:27:16.960 until he is God with us 00:27:16.960 --> 00:27:18.419 and we with him face to face 00:27:18.419 --> 00:27:19.079 in the new heaven 00:27:19.079 --> 00:27:20.240 and the new earth. 00:27:20.859 --> 00:27:21.879 God is with you 00:27:21.879 --> 00:27:22.919 if you are in him. 00:27:23.019 --> 00:27:24.019 We'll close in prayer. 00:27:26.419 --> 00:27:28.460 Father, we give you thanks and praise 00:27:28.460 --> 00:27:30.139 that the word became flesh 00:27:30.139 --> 00:27:31.279 and dwelt among us 00:27:31.279 --> 00:27:36.539 and that we know of his glory, 00:27:36.619 --> 00:27:37.759 the glory of the cross, 00:27:37.920 --> 00:27:39.519 that it is through the cross 00:27:39.519 --> 00:27:41.379 that grace and truth comes to us. 00:27:41.920 --> 00:27:42.839 We ask, Father, 00:27:42.960 --> 00:27:44.519 that the life and death 00:27:44.519 --> 00:27:45.799 and resurrection of Jesus 00:27:45.799 --> 00:27:47.240 would be ever more real 00:27:47.240 --> 00:27:48.480 and powerful to us 00:27:48.480 --> 00:27:49.799 and that, Father, 00:27:49.879 --> 00:27:51.779 in a world that worships power 00:27:51.779 --> 00:27:53.240 and its own glory, 00:27:53.700 --> 00:27:55.160 may we have a deep remembrance 00:27:55.160 --> 00:27:55.960 and appreciation 00:27:55.960 --> 00:27:57.200 of your willingness 00:27:57.200 --> 00:27:59.620 to become weak and poor 00:27:59.620 --> 00:28:02.160 that we might become strong and rich. 00:28:02.380 --> 00:28:03.579 And we ask these things 00:28:03.579 --> 00:28:04.519 in the name of Jesus, 00:28:04.680 --> 00:28:05.740 your Son and our Savior. 00:28:06.340 --> 00:28:06.740 Amen. 00:28:06.740 --> 00:28:06.920 Amen.