You are listening to a message from Southwood Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama.
Our passion is to experience and express grace.
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I love Christmas.
Singing these songs that we've heard and love, enjoying these beautiful decorations.
Thank you, ladies.
Mostly ladies.
I think there were a couple men who helped.
It's wonderful.
People especially celebrating the life-changing, history-altering entrance of God into this world in human flesh.
That's what we're celebrating, right?
As we often do, I want us to focus for a few weeks in our sermons on Christmas.
And this year we're going to use John chapter 1 as our starting point.
Over the next few weeks we're going to leave John 1 and jump into a few other passages from time to time.
But that will be our focus, where we'll be getting our themes.
It's this glorious prologue to John's gospel.
Talking about the glory of Christmas.
We'll read it in a couple of minutes.
But as you'll see here in this really nice graphic that Eli made for us,
the focus, the most Christmas part of these 18 verses is there in the middle.
The Word became flesh.
This shocking statement that John has for us.
One that no Jew or Gentile, no one would have had categories for this.
The Word became flesh.
If that's true, that God became man, that the material, the immaterial actually became material
and walked among us, then it changes everything.
If that happened, that can't be ignored.
Nothing else could possibly be more important than that.
That's why we need to spend some time thinking about the incarnation.
The Word became flesh.
I'll use this as a working description of the incarnation for our time together.
What the essence of Christmas is over the next few weeks.
You know that Christmas means the coming of Christ, right?
That's what the Word means.
So we'll talk about the incarnation as the intentional entrance of the divine Son of God
into our fallen world in human flesh to secure our redemption at the cost of His life
because of His great love.
Nothing fancy or complicated in that, but it is glorious.
We're going to look in the next few weeks at all the aspects of that description,
but right now I especially want to point out the uniqueness of the incarnation.
This is a one-time event in history that we cannot replicate.
The divine Son of God becoming man to accomplish redemption.
And you may say, yeah, well, we know.
That's what it's all about.
I say that in part because part of my heart in this series is that we would understand
and learn for ourselves a few things about how the incarnation impacts our lives.
How it changes the way we live.
The pattern in that the way Jesus relates to people can be for the way we relate to others.
Jesus is sometimes referenced biblically as a pattern for us, an example for us.
Now, that's not the point of John chapter 1.
It's simply not there.
But we'll see it in some other passages as we read in the next few weeks.
And I want you to know something as we see that.
I want you to know how important it is that we not see the incarnation primarily as an example
for us to replicate.
First and foremost, it is the unique, unrepeatable event by which we are rescued, not merely redirected.
So we're going to talk in the next few weeks about the sacrifice of the incarnation.
What Jesus gave up.
The pain of the incarnation.
What Jesus endured.
The motivation for the incarnation.
What drove Jesus to become flesh.
And in all of those, we're going to learn important principles for our lives.
How we relate to God and those around us.
How in some ways, as Jesus says in John 17, 18,
as God sent Jesus into the world, so Jesus sends us into the world.
There's connectivity there, right?
There is a pattern going on.
But we're going to end by coming back to the uniqueness of the incarnation.
The one and only Son of God who became man.
You got that?
Am I belaboring this point at this point?
We're going to focus on the incarnation of Jesus.
On Him.
The glory and the uniqueness of Jesus' incarnation.
Celebrate it.
Worship Him for it.
And learn, where appropriate, how He's a pattern for us.
This morning, we'll focus on the need for the incarnation.
The first few verses of John 1.
I'm going to read this whole beautiful prologue this morning.
Why don't we stand together and give our attention to the reading of God's holy word in John 1.
This is the word of God.
In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
All things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.
In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
There was a man sent from God whose name was John.
He came as a witness to bear witness about the light that all might believe through Him.
He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, yet the world did not know Him.
He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him.
But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God,
who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.
And we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John bore witness about Him and cried out,
This was He of whom I said,
He who comes after me ranks before me, because He was before me.
And from His fullness, we have all received grace upon grace.
For the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
No one has ever seen God.
The only God, who is at the Father's side,
He has made Him known.
Thus far, God's holy Word.
Father, pray with me.
Father, for Your Word, we give You great thanks.
And we beg this morning that You would teach us,
not just lessons for our heads,
but that You would help us to experience Your truth,
to know it in the depths of our beings,
and to have it transform us that we might be different people,
that we might worship You,
and know You,
and serve You.
To that work, we pray,
by Your Spirit, in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Please be seated.
If you've ever been on a tour deep into a cave,
where they get you in the middle of the tour,
and then turn all the lights out,
and you can't even see your hand in front of your face,
then you know what darkness feels like.
My family took a trip this fall break up to Mammoth Cave, Kentucky,
and went on a tour like that in this huge cave.
And while we were in the dark part of that cave,
at that part of the tour where they turn all the lights out,
the tour guide told us the story of a man who decades ago
had been on a tour like that.
And he forgot his hat early in the tour,
and so he asked if he might be allowed to go back and get his hat.
And they allowed him to, in fact,
gave him a lantern to take with him to go back and find his hat.
And they were going to meet up later.
He found the hat and went back to look for the tour group,
but took a wrong turn and couldn't find them.
He thought perhaps he saw them coming
and thought he would see the light of the tour better
if he blew his lamp out.
So he blew the lamp out,
only to find himself alone in utter darkness,
stuck, no way to turn the light back on.
He sat down, and as the hours passed,
he, as you can imagine, began to get pretty frantic.
He thought he heard footsteps coming nearer to him
and began to call out and to bang rocks together over and over.
And the closer the footsteps got,
the louder he would bang the rocks.
And nobody showed up.
It was late the next day, in fact,
before a rescue team finally found him.
And when they found him,
they said, you know,
how have you been doing?
How's it going?
And he said, well,
people were close so many times.
Were you all in this part of the cave overnight?
They said, no, no one's been near here.
Those footsteps you thought you heard,
do you know what those were?
That was his heart.
That was his own heart beating in the darkness,
in the silence.
It was so confusing,
so disconcerting,
that he didn't even recognize his own heart beating.
He was stuck.
Trying to get out of the cave by himself
would have ended in certain injury or death,
falling into something that he couldn't see.
All he could do was sit
and wait for light to come.
I tell you that story
because it's a good picture
of what darkness feels like and is like.
We've been talking already this morning
of the darkness of our lives
and the light of Christ.
It's the kind of darkness
that John describes Jesus bringing light into.
Jesus' incarnation is necessary.
It's so needed
because of the darkness of this world.
That can't see my hand in front of my face
kind of darkness.
Can't take a single confident step
in the right direction.
Darkness.
Desperate for light.
Look at verse 4.
In him was life
and the life was the light of men.
The light shines in the darkness
and the darkness has not overcome it.
There's in these verses
a connection of light and life.
And so what we see is that
darkness is quite the opposite.
There's death associated with darkness.
The absence of life.
The Word, the light, is with God.
Connected to Him in relationship closely.
But the darkness is not.
You can feel the distance
from the light of life.
No connection to God whatsoever.
The world into which Jesus entered
was marked by the violence
and debauchery and idolatry of Rome.
Having nothing to do with Yahweh,
the God of Israel.
In fact, it's very similar
to the darkness of Babylon.
In that famous prophecy from Isaiah 9,
we've read a couple of times already
this morning,
verse 2,
the people who walked in darkness
there in exile in Babylon,
those people have seen a great light.
Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
darkness on them has light shone.
The darkness of exile in Babylon
featured a nation in control
who was totally opposed to Yahweh
and everything that He stood for.
Notice as well that feeling of distance from God
was not just true for that nation,
not just true for the Romans
and the Babylonians.
It was true as a feeling
for the people of God
in Babylon
and in John chapter 1, right?
They were feeling that distance from God.
In Babylon,
away from the promised land,
feeling neglected,
not knowing where to go
or what to do.
By the time of the incarnation,
John chapter 1,
God's people have been hearing what?
Silence from God
for hundreds of years,
generations,
not knowing if He's still there,
if He can still be trusted.
Darkness for God's people too.
Of course, darkness in the Bible
involves this element of moral confusion as well.
It's not just being separated from God,
but the people in power in Rome
and in Babylon,
they seem to do whatever they want.
They live however they please.
Maybe it's okay.
Where does obeying the commands of God
get one anyway?
Apparently not very far,
they might be thinking.
Perhaps right and wrong is,
you know,
it's more difficult to define
than we thought.
It's really quite confusing.
There's a word in verse 5,
the light shines in the darkness,
but the darkness has not overcome it.
Overcome.
That word there means
to grasp or seize something.
Sometimes physically.
So like it's translated here,
it would mean the darkness
has not overcome
or defeated the light.
Sometimes it means
hasn't been grasped
or seized mentally.
Hasn't been understood.
The thought hasn't been mastered.
It rejects it offhand
as later in chapter 1
we're going to see
the darkness just rejects
the light.
Just utter confusion
about what truth
would even be.
Sometimes that's because
of willful blindness.
Like what Jesus describes
in John chapter 3.
This is the judgment.
The light has come into the world
and people loved the darkness
rather than the light
because their works
were evil.
Why did they prefer
the darkness to the light?
Everyone who does wicked things
hates the light
and does not come to the light
lest his works
should be exposed.
Because of our willful choice
of these evil deeds,
I don't want the light
to expose the darkness.
darkness.
You're in that cave
and the right way out
is not just a 50-50 guess
this way or that way.
It's one of a million passageways
will get you out
but most of them
you'll fall
to your great injury
or death.
You can't see which step
has clear footing.
And even if you could,
perhaps you're not sure
you'd want to get out
that way.
You've kind of grown accustomed
to the darkness.
I'd rather stay safe here
than risk moving in that direction.
Moral confusion.
Finally, perhaps the most prominent aspect
of the darkness described here
is its utter helplessness.
If you try to find your own way
to safety in the darkness,
you're only going to hurt yourself.
You can provide no light.
All you can do
is sit there in the dark
with your heart pounding
and wait for light,
for help to come to you.
It's like Paul telling us
we're spiritually dead,
completely unable
to move toward light,
hopelessly stuck, right?
We've got to feel
the weight of this darkness
in the world
before the incarnation.
The darkness into which
Jesus as the light of the world
would come.
There's no help
for those walking in darkness,
for those in a land
of deep darkness.
No one else in the darkness
can help.
Sadly, it's not just
the pagan nations of old
or the people of God
in Babylon or Rome
who have felt darkness
like this, is it?
Relational distance from God.
moral confusion.
Utter helplessness.
Felt any of that lately?
Thought any of those things
recently?
Would you sometimes
describe the darkness
of the world
in which we live
as tangible,
as palpable?
I can feel it
everywhere I look
and everything I do.
You can feel the weight
of it all around you,
can't you?
We've been reminded daily
in recent months
and again this week
that we live in a culture
where we think
we have some special
kind of light,
but celebrities,
those lives that we follow
and idolize
and watch closely,
sports or entertainment figures,
they're openly acknowledged
to be distant from God
and regularly found
to be empty
and debased.
A culture where
moral confusion
is so epidemic
that even the most
basic issues
of right and wrong
can hardly be established.
We can't agree
on almost anything.
A culture where
elected leaders,
far from helping us
sort through
our deep confusion
and see virtue
and the right path
more clearly,
are the exemplars
in many cases
of this present darkness
displaying
and at times
even defending
their own corruption.
What makes it hard
for us to feel this
the way Israel
would have in Isaiah
or the Jews
in John 1
is that we now
within the church
of Jesus Christ
are shielded
from all of that.
The darkness
never comes in here.
We're immune
from those struggles.
Right?
Who are we kidding?
We certainly feel
oppressive darkness
around us,
but usually,
if we're honest,
we also feel it
inside of us.
Don't we?
In some ways,
we've been called
to be a light
in a dark world,
shining the light
of God before men.
But we too,
even in the church,
have neglected
God's Word so much
that He does feel distant.
And the path of righteousness
does seem unclear.
We too fail to love
each other faithfully.
Even the ones closest to us
whom we have
particularly promised
to love,
we fail to love.
We too experience leaders
preying on the vulnerable
and demonstrating
their own idolatry
and moral confusion.
And so,
because of these things,
we ourselves
often approve
of the darkness.
Why?
Just like in John 3,
we approve of the darkness
so that our own evil
is not exposed.
So we don't have to deal
with the ugly reality
we see in our own hearts
and in our own relationships.
Or we're at times
guilty of avoiding darkness,
hiding our light,
rather than putting the lamp
on a stand
where Jesus has called us to.
We keep to ourselves
thinking,
aha,
we will avoid darkness
altogether.
We'll just stay in here.
The completely nonsensical
opposite
of what our Savior
has done Himself
and called us
to do.
But some days,
you look around
and the darkness
just feels
too strong,
doesn't it?
Feels ever-present
around us,
too.
Are you starting
to feel a little bit
of why we need
the good news
of Christmas,
of the incarnation?
Why we need God
to break in
with light
to our darkness?
Back in the 11th century,
a theologian
named Anselm
asked that very question,
why did God
have to become
a man?
In Latin,
he said,
cur Deus homo.
Why the God-man?
And he gave us
a great start
on the answer
to that question.
Now,
Anselm understood
this dynamic
that even though
men ought
to be the one
to make the payment
to satisfy
divine justice
because men
were the debtors,
the ones who
owed that debt,
even though men
ought to pay it,
only God
was capable
of paying
the infinite debt,
of satisfying
the perfect standard,
and so God
had to become
man.
That's why
God had to
become man.
In my words,
human flesh
must be
divinely
perfect.
That's what
had to happen.
God created
humanity
to live in this
perfect relationship
with Him
where we trusted
Him
and obeyed Him
and reflected
His image.
He commanded
us to be
what?
Holy.
Just a little
bit holy?
No,
as holy
as He
is
holy.
Human
flesh,
divinely
perfect.
That's what
was necessary.
But then in our
rebellion,
we found ourselves
in the darkness.
Distant from
this close
relationship
with God
we were
created for.
Contradicting
His commands.
Without hope
and without
God in the
world.
Ephesians
chapter 2.
The darkness
of this world
leaves everyone
alone
and hopeless
and helpless
stuck,
right?
Unless,
unless light
comes
and finds
us.
Unless
light
moves into
our darkness
and shines
there.
and so
the Word
had to
become
flesh.
The light
had to
come
shine
in the
darkness.
God
Himself
had to
come
find
us.
Have you
been there
in the dark
cave
on one of
those tours
when the
light comes
on?
Usually it may
even just be
one flashlight
or something.
It doesn't
just light up
a little spot
in the
huge empty
cavern,
does it?
Very quickly
the light
fills the
entire space.
The people
of God
failed over
and over
to be a
light to
the nations.
And so
God promised
to send
one
to bring
them
light.
Even more
than bringing
light just
to God's
people,
that one
was going
to be
a light
that would
light up
and bring
light to
the nations.
Isaiah 49
verse 6.
Not just
for the
tribes of
Jacob and
the preserved
of Israel,
but a
light for
the nations
was this
one who
was coming
to fill
the entire
world
with light.
This is
what Jesus
offers to
all of
us.
The
light
of
life.
John
chapter 8.
Jesus
says it.
He spoke
to them
and says,
I'm the
light of
the world.
Here's
why I
came.
Whoever
follows
me will
not walk
in darkness,
but will
have the
light of
life.
Later in
John
chapter 12,
I have
come into
the world
as light
so that
whoever
believes
in me
may not
remain
in darkness.
That's
why he
came.
God
may seem
very
distant
to you
this morning.
I know
there are
some of
you for
whom
life
seems
purposeless
and
confusing
and you're
thinking
the best
way forward
is to
escape
from it.
Others
of you
have
failed
in such
humiliating
ways that
you just
feel like
there's
no hope
for you
at all.
Some of
you have
been harmed
in such
dark,
devastating
ways that
you think
there's no
way forward.
There's no
hope for
me.
Others
of you
have felt
the emptiness
of success
and you've
gotten there
and it
didn't
fulfill
and you're
feeling
nothing
left
to live
for.
And I've
had the
privilege
of seeing
some of
you in
all of
those
situations
hopeless
and stuck
and with
no way
forward
and to
find
God
show up
to see
Jesus
bring light
and meet
you in
those dark
places
and bring
life
and to
see you
rejoice
in that.
Jesus
says
no matter
how thick
the darkness
you feel
he brings
light
and life
into that
darkness.
That's the
message of
Christmas
that Jesus
has come
to be the
light of the
world that
whoever knows
him will
have the
life of
light in
you.
Will no
longer walk
in darkness
that there is
something on
the other
side of
where you
are right
now that
there is
deliverance
from that
pain and
hopelessness
that you
feel.
Because Jesus
comes as a
man who has
a perfect
relationship
with God.
The word
was with
God.
The word
was God.
And all
through the
life of
Jesus it's
not just
in his
birth we
see him
and we
hear him
talking with
the father
seeking the
glory of
the father
always doing
the will
of his
father.
He loves
and trusts
him as
we were
always
supposed
to.
No
relational
distance.
Absolute
intimacy
and knowledge
and trust.
That's why
Jesus has
life and
light.
And then
he provides
the perfect
righteousness.
He lives
as a man.
Human
flesh being
divinely
perfect.
Keeping all
the father's
commands.
Always
obedient even
in the great
temptations.
Even in
the agonizing
situations.
All the
way to
the cross
obedient.
He has
come to
do the
will of
the father
and to
finish his
work.
John 4
34.
This is
why we
need the
incarnation.
We needed
someone to
come do
that for
us.
The perfect
obedience.
The perfect
relationship
that we
were created
for.
Except it
gets even
better than
that.
God
because Jesus
doesn't just
come to
show the
way.
He doesn't
just walk
in and say
here's how
you can
do it.
Here's how
you can
relate to
God.
Here's what
obedience
looks like.
He doesn't
merely show
us how to
relate to
God.
And how to
obey the
father so
that we
could maybe
find our
way to
light and
life.
No.
He is the
help that
we really
need.
Because of
our utter
helplessness.
That's why
there's hope
for every
one of us.
No matter
how thick
the darkness
you feel
is, there's
hope because
of this.
I want you
to imagine
for a minute
that you're
that person
stuck in
the darkness
of the cave.
You're utterly
helpless.
Just imagine
you've fallen
down to this
place and
broken both
of your
legs.
Is it
any use
to you for
someone to
show up and
say, hey, I
know the way
out.
If you climb
up this
really tall
rock face
and get to
the top of
it and turn
left and go
down that
passageway
about 500
yards and
then, that's
no help to
you at all.
In fact, it's
almost just
heaping a
heavier burden
on you,
taunting you
that you can't
do and get
out the way
that you've
been told
you could.
Those kinds
of directions
are not
enough.
Imagine you're
lying there
in utter
darkness,
stuck on
the floor
of the cave
and all
of a sudden
the ceiling
of the cave
starts to
shake and
pull apart
and light
comes crashing
in and a
rescue team
reaches down
and plucks
you up and
pulls you up
into the
light.
That's the
vision you
need to have
in your head
of what the
incarnation is.
See, Jesus
has broken
through heaven
and earth
to come into
your darkness
and not just
shine a little
light in the
corner, but
to come flooding
in with light
to grab you,
to rescue you
and bring you
into light
and life.
Not merely to
show us where
rescue can be
found, but
truly to
rescue us,
to give us
that perfect
righteousness,
to restore
that perfect
relationship with
our Father.
Did you know
you could know
that?
Did you know
as you trust
Christ that's
the relationship
that He's
invited you
into?
He's done all
that we were
supposed to do
and He comes
to restore
true life
to those of
us stuck in
the death
of darkness.
Not to put a
heavy burden
on already
confused and
helpless people,
but to give
you life.
In fact,
God breaking
in to be the
light in the
darkness is not
over yet.
He rescues
so thoroughly
that He brings
life forever
as the eternal
light.
Isaiah tells us
what it's going
to be like.
Chapter 60,
darkness shall
cover the
earth in
thick darkness.
The peoples,
we know that
condition,
but the Lord
will arise upon
you and His
glory will be
seen upon you
and nations
shall come to
your light and
kings to the
brightness of
your rising.
Where's the
light coming
from?
The sun shall
be no more
your light by
day, nor for
brightness shall
the moon give
you light, but
the Lord will
be your everlasting
light and your
God will be your
glory.
Your sun shall
no more go
down, nor your
moon withdraw
itself, for the
Lord will be your
everlasting light
and your days of
mourning shall be
ended.
There's hope.
Those dark days
are over.
John actually
sees a picture of
it in Revelation.
Here's what it's
going to be like.
The city has no
need of sun or
moon to shine on
it, for the glory
of God gives it
light and its
lamp is the
Lamb.
By its light will
the nations walk.
The kings of the
earth will bring
their glory into
it.
That's how great
this light is.
An eternal light
for the people of
God and all the
nations who in the
midst of their
darkness cry out
even today for the
light of Jesus, the
light we know only
he can offer.
it's for us, yes.
And it's for all the
nations.
May Christmas remind
you of something.
May you remember
when you think of
the incarnation and
you think of
Christmas that there
is a light powerful
enough and passionate
enough to break into
whatever darkness you
feel no matter how
thick it is.
Would you remember
that there's hope
because of that?
That there's life
on the other side
of where you are
because the light
has come in and
broken into our
darkness.
And would we not
rest until we have
shared the good news
of that light with
every nation and
every person who
needs to know there's
hope in Jesus.
Let's pray.
Jesus, thank you.
You have broken into
the darkness for us
to find us.
Come now,
day spring.
Come and cheer our
spirits by your
advent here.
Disperse the gloomy
clouds of night and
death's dark shadows
put to flight.
Jesus, we need you
to come.
We know what that
darkness feels like.
Many of us feel it
weighing us down this
morning and we beg
that you would come
and we rejoice that
you have come.
Might we glory in the
light that you have
given us and might you
come again quickly,
Lord Jesus, to bring
us into your eternal
light where you are our
light and you are our
life forever.
Thank you.
Amen.
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