Well, I don't know about you, but in our house, the Nye household has been pulling out some old favorite Christmas stories, both to watch and to read.
One of my favorites is called Mooseltoe.
Moose and mistletoe.
It's really funny.
You'll have to read it.
It's one of my kids' favorites.
My daughter absolutely adores the nutcracker tale.
But probably my favorite is this one right here, The Grinch.
Anybody like this one?
It's become a cultural classic.
And if you don't know the story, which I'm sure is a minority of you, all the Who's down in Whoville liked Christmas a lot.
But the Grinch, who lived just north of Whoville, did not.
And that's how the book starts.
And the Grinch is this horribly mean character who decides that he is going to steal Christmas from the Who's.
And the way he does it is he becomes the anti-Santa Claus.
And he dons a Santa Claus hat and coat.
And he invades their homes.
And instead of giving, he takes.
And he sucks every Christmas tradition, decoration, food, everything out of their house.
Even the log for the fire.
So that the crumbs that he leaves in their houses are much too small for all of their mouths.
And it is a horrible thing to do.
He steals Christmas.
And he loads it all up in his sleigh, pulled heroically by his little dog, Max.
Who knows how he does it.
And he takes it up 3,000 feet up to the top of Mount Crumpet to dump it.
And he is standing there.
And it's balanced on the peak of Mount Crumpet.
And he's ready to shove it over the side.
And he says, poo-poo to the Who's.
He was grinchously humming.
They're finding out now that no Christmas is coming.
They're just waking up.
I know just what they'll do.
Their mouths will hang open a minute or two.
And then all the Who's down in Whoville will all cry, boo-hoo.
That's a noise, grinned the Grinch, that I simply must hear.
So he paused.
And the Grinch put a hand to his ear.
And he did hear a sound rising over the snow.
It started in low.
And then it started to grow.
You've got to love Dr. Seuss.
But the sound wasn't sad.
Why?
This sound sounded merry.
But it couldn't be so.
But it was merry, very.
He stared down at Whoville.
The Grinch popped his eyes.
Then he shook.
And what he saw was a shocking surprise.
Every Who down in Whoville,
the tall and the small,
was singing.
Without any presents at all.
He hadn't stopped Christmas from coming.
It came.
Somehow or other,
it came just the same.
This is when I start to tear up.
Seriously, every time I read this to my kids,
I'm like...
And the Grinch,
with his Grinch feet ice cold in the snow,
stood puzzling and puzzling.
How could it be so?
It came without ribbons.
It came without tags.
It came without packages, boxes, or bags.
And he puzzled three hours
till his puzzler was sore.
And then,
the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before.
Maybe Christmas, he thought,
doesn't come from a store.
Maybe Christmas, perhaps,
means a little bit more.
A little bit more.
If a Grinch came to your house
and sucked all the Christmas traditions,
all the festivities,
the lights,
the cookies,
the decorations,
the activities,
the presents,
the stockings,
sucked them completely out of your house.
Is every physical evidence of Christmas
completely gone?
Would there be any Christmas left?
Another way to ask this,
my wife and I were talking about this the other day,
what is the bare minimum,
the lowest common denominator,
that has to be there
in order for Christmas
to be Christmas?
Is there a center of gravity
to the whole Christmas season
that if you could take it out,
Christmas would just implode
or it would just be an empty shell?
You could almost ask the question this way,
what is the glory
of Christmas?
What is the center of gravity
that weighs it all down?
What's the oomph
of Christmas?
When the Bible uses the word glory
to describe something
or someone,
it's getting at the idea of oomph,
weight,
gravity,
importance,
fullness,
excellence on display.
So what is the weight?
What is the oomph?
What is the excellence on display
at Christmas?
Well,
I'd like to argue this morning
that the glory of Christmas
is this.
The glory of Christmas
is that the fullness
of God's glory
came to dwell
with us
as one of us.
The glory of Christmas
is that the fullness
of God's glory
came to dwell with us
as one of us.
Now,
I don't want you
to move past that
too quickly.
Keep gazing at it.
Look at that baby
in the donkey's feeding trough.
Get it in your mind's eye.
He is the fullness of God
who became a human being
and did not cease
from being God.
Chew on that for a sec.
It's the most weighty,
the most wondrous,
the most meaningful
thing that has ever happened.
God
became
man.
God
and humanity
united
in one person.
The God-man.
And he's right there
in the manger
swaddled
and weak.
All of their glories
fade into the background.
It's staggering.
It jars you
if you let it.
That's the glory
of Christmas.
It's the glory
of history.
But why?
Why
would the fullness
of God's glory
come to dwell
with us
as one of us?
What I'd like to do
with the rest of our time
together
is I want to explore
that question
by
sketching out
the story
of glory
in the Bible.
We're going to do it
in three chapters.
Chapter one
is reflection
and residence.
Chapter two
replacement
and removal.
Chapter three
re-entry
and renewal.
You don't have to
remember that.
We're going to tackle
them one at a time.
I'll be in a couple
different passages
but we're going to
start at Genesis
chapter one.
So if you would
turn there with me.
It's pretty easy to find.
Very beginning
of the Bible.
Genesis chapter one.
Let's explore
this first chapter
in our story
of glory.
Reflection
and residence.
reflection
and residence.
One of the things
that I've had the
privilege of doing
for the most
majority of my
adult life
is teaching
teenagers.
And I've either
been a teacher
or a pastor
and there's a reason
it's a privilege
is because teenagers
although they're
really good at
hiding it
are almost as
curious as my
preschoolers.
They ask
good questions.
Really good
questions.
As long as they
can overcome
the uncoolness
of asking
questions.
And one of the
consistent questions
that I face
as a Bible
teacher or as a
pastor for
teenagers is
why did God
make everything
anyway?
What made him
want to do
this?
Was he lonely?
Was he bored?
It's a great
question.
It's a fantastic
question.
Now I'm not
going to read
the whole
creation account
but what I
want to do
to begin to
answer this
question is
begin to look
at how good
everything is
and then that
will lead us
into the whole
idea of
reflection.
So let's
look at the
beginning of
the creation
account.
Verse 3
God makes
something.
Let there be
light he says
and there was
light and God
saw that the
light was
good.
So what he
does is he
speaks,
creates something
and steps
back and
assesses his
creation and
then he gives
it his quality
control seal of
approval and he
says good.
It's good.
The whole of
creation from
the cosmos to
koala bears is
soaked in
goodness and
not just
impersonal
goodness.
No it's a
reflection of
the goodness of
their creator.
creator.
The whole
created order is
an overflow.
It's a reflection
of the goodness
of the creator.
It's just a
sample of his
creativity, of his
beauty, his
strength, his
majesty, not to
mention his
sense of humor.
I mean who
else would come
up with the
idea of a
three-toed sloth
that moves like
.2 miles an
hour?
Or a flamingo
with ginormous
legs?
psalm 19 sums
it up the best.
The heavens
declare the
glory of God.
The sky above
proclaims his
handiwork.
The universe is
24-7 busy
shouting out the
glory of the
creator, reflecting
his glory.
glory.
It's a spectacle.
It's a lavish
tribute to his
glory.
But wait, there's
more.
Skip on down to
verse 26 and
27 of Genesis
1.
Verses 26 and
27.
Then God
said, let us
make man in
our image after
our likeness.
And let them
have dominion
over the fish of
the sea and
over the birds of
the heavens and
over the livestock
and over all the
earth and over
every creeping
thing that creeps
on the earth.
So God created
man in his own
image.
In the image of
God, he created
him.
Male and female,
he created them.
So here he makes
humans in his
image.
When you look at
a mirror, you
see yourself.
But what you
see is not
you.
It's a reflection
of you.
When God looks
at humans, he
sees a reflection,
a mirror image
of his glory.
Sit and ponder
that one for a
sec.
Every person
that you see,
every person
sitting in this
room, is
is actively
reflecting the
image of the
glory of the
creator.
And we are
not God, but
we image him.
We reflect his
glory in a way
that sloths and
whales and
koala bears, they
can't.
They do exhibit his
glory in many
other ways, but
not in the full
way that we do.
So we are like
walking, talking
mirrors.
And we are
designed to be
glory reflectors,
par excellence,
scattering beams of
his goodness and
his wisdom like
human disco
balls, magnifying,
making known his
glory to all of
creation and to
each other.
But what good is a
mirror unless you're
near it for it to
reflect you?
And now, we've got
the idea of
reflection down.
Let's get to this
idea of residence in
this first chapter.
It's incredible.
Go to the beginning
of chapter 2 in
Genesis.
Let's flip the page
or look across the
page.
Chapter 2.
Thus the heavens and
the earth were
finished, all the
host of them.
And on the seventh
day, God finished
his works that he
had done, and he
rested on the
seventh day from
all the work that
he had done.
So God blessed the
seventh day and made
it holy because on
it God rested from
all his work that he
had done in
creation.
Now, I'm pretty
sure we're all
agreed that God
resting doesn't mean
he sat and took a
breather.
He's God.
He doesn't get
tired.
What does it mean?
Well, it means a
couple of things, but
one of the most
exciting things that
it points to is
this.
Genesis was written
at a time when all
the other pagan
cultures around
Israel worshipped
lots of different
gods and they built
temples for them.
And the way that
these ancient pagan
cultures described
their gods living in
their society,
separate temples,
it would say they
rested in them.
And so that rest
language is pointing
to an idea of a
temple, of a divine
residence.
What's so cool about
this is that this is
saying that God has
just made an entire
universe temple for
him to reside in with
his glory reflectors,
his image bearers,
us, so that we
would be near him,
residing with him,
with his great glory,
reflecting and enjoying
and delighting in him
forever.
God created the universe
and he was
so that brings us
back to the great
question I keep hearing
from teenagers.
Why did God make
everything?
I think we can
summarize it by saying
God created the
universe not only to
be a theater of
reflecting his glory
but also as a temple
in which his glory
could reside and be
with his image bearers
for his glory,
which is, by the way,
our great delight.
That's God's plan.
But tragically, as I'm
sure that you know
all too well, that's
not how the story of
glory continues.
So we're ready for
chapter two.
Replacement and
removal.
Replacement and
removal.
We're going to be in
Romans chapter one,
so sorry for making you
launch all the way
across your Bible.
So back, let's go to
the New Testament,
Romans chapter one.
Matthew, Mark, Luke,
and John are the four
gospels, then go to
Acts, and then Romans
is right after that.
I'll let you have a
second to get there.
One of the most
condemning lines in all
of scripture is found
in Romans chapter one.
And if you found it,
we're going to be in
verses 21 through 23.
We'll start in verse
21.
Romans chapter one,
verse 21.
As I read, listen for
glory language and
image language.
For although they knew
God, they did not honor
him as God or give
thanks to him, but they
became futile in their
thinking, and their
foolish hearts were
darkened.
Claiming to be wise,
they became fools and
exchanged the glory of
the immortal God for
images resembling mortal
man and birds and
animals and reptiles.
Part of the perverseness
of sin is that we would
take his precious glory
that we were designed to
soak in and reflect and
delight in and replace
it.
Replace it with a lesser
glory.
Sin is exchanging the
glory of the undying
eternal God for images
of time-bound mortal
creatures.
Now, Paul here is
describing idolatry.
Idolatry is the
fundamental sin in the
Bible.
It is the unnaturally
natural tendency of the
human heart to get a
glimpse of God's glory in
some created thing that
was meant to reflect him
and point us to him and
say, hmm, there is
something good.
It is created by God to
reflect God's glory and
to inspire me to delight
in him.
But you know what?
I think I will take it,
turn it into God instead,
find my all in all in it
and not in the one who
made it.
It is a classic example
of this in Exodus 32.
You don't have to turn
there.
Let's tell you the story.
God's people, Israel, had
already beheld his glory,
not only in the incredible
rescue from slavery in
Egypt, but also they're
right at the base of
Mount Sinai and God's
visual glory is on
display right there on
the mountain in the
form of a thunderstorm.
They've heard his voice
speak.
They've been following
his glory cloud until
it led him to the
mountain.
No other people in
history have seen so
many visual glory
fireworks as these
people, but right here
at the base of a
mountain where God is
visually displaying his
spectacular glory, they
take a bunch of gold,
they melt it into a
image of a domestic
animal, they call it
God, and they worship
it.
Worshiping something that
is even less than a
copy of a copy when the
original is right there
in front of you.
I mean, there are just
no words for the sheer
audacity and stupidity of
this kind of glory
replacing idolatry.
And yet, this is us.
This is me.
This is you.
We replace the glory of
God with created things
that were only meant to
reflect him and point us
to him.
We exchange the eternal
pleasure of his glorious
presence for short-lived
thrills of pleasure, power,
wealth, status, recognition,
entertainment, fill in the
blank.
And in so doing, not only do
we replace his glory, but we
ridicule it and we rob God
of his glory.
We ridicule it by reducing
his infinite goodness to a
petty thing and exchanging
and exalting his creation
over him.
And worst of all, we rob him
of his glory by seeking to
exalt ourselves over him.
We crowd him out of his
rightful place, demanding
recognition and ultimately
worship for ourselves.
If we were designed to be
mirrors reflecting the glory
of God, then we have
become mirrors that bent
in on ourselves, seeking
to reflect ourselves, seeking
to delight in ourselves.
The problem is that mirrors
that do that get shattered.
And that's what happens to
us.
There is a natural consequence
to this too.
We've looked at the
replacement.
Now let's look at the
removal.
We get removed from his
glorious presence, which by
the way is our only good and
our greatest good.
If you flip back to Genesis for
just a moment, I'd like to show
you something.
The nice thing is it's all the
way back to the beginning.
Genesis chapter 3.
Adam and Eve have just done some
glory replacing.
They've replaced God's glory with
the glory of self.
They have replaced his rule with
their own self-rule.
And they've declared themselves
independent from God.
And then his glory draws near.
Look at verse 8 of chapter 3.
Genesis 3 verse 8.
And they heard the sound of the
Lord God walking in the garden in
the cool of the day.
And the man and his wife hid
themselves from the presence of the
Lord God among the trees of the
garden.
Their greatest delight, the very joy
that they were made for, draws near
and they run.
They remove themselves from his
presence.
They hide in fear and shame.
And this leads us to verse 23 of the
same chapter.
Therefore the Lord God sent them out of
the garden of Eden to work the ground
from which he is taken.
God finishes and formalizes the
removal process.
Adam and Eve began it.
And then God
finishes it up.
He sent them out from his presence.
He blocked them off from his glory.
Which they themselves have already
done.
And if you keep on reading Genesis,
the evil and the perversion that
results from this removal from his
glory is shocking.
And it's heartbreaking.
But I don't think we need to read
Genesis to know that, do we?
You and I know that pretty well.
We're very well aware of our unnaturally
natural tendency to replace God's
glory and to rob him of his glory.
To remove ourselves far from him.
Each one of us knows pretty well that
sense of shame and I want to hide and
get out of here.
I don't want to be exposed.
We are those curved in mirrors.
Those mirrors bent in on ourselves.
And we're shattered and we're broken.
But the story of glory continues.
And there's a light of hope that dawns.
Chapter 3.
Re-entry and renewal.
Have you ever been reading a story or
watching a movie and then all of a
sudden an old character that you
thought was written out of the story
suddenly re-enters after an absence?
I'm thinking like Gandalf from Lord of the
Rings.
If you haven't, I'm totally going to
spoil it for you.
I'm sorry.
He falls into the abyss.
You think he's gone.
And then he comes back.
He re-enters the story and hope
dawns again.
Well, the same thing happens with God's
glory in the story of glory.
God has been at work since the garden.
He's been initiating relationship by
grace with a guy named Abraham.
He's given, he's made a people out of
his descendants and he's called the
people to himself.
Even rescued them from Egypt.
And then his glory shows up again in
the book of Exodus.
Would you turn to Exodus 24 for me?
Exodus 24.
Referenced it earlier with the story of
the golden calf, but
God's glory shows up on a mountain and
God's people are beholding it.
And
it makes you realize
his glory is re-entering.
There's hope still.
Only this time
his glory is veiled.
And it's a little scary.
So
look at verses 15 through 18
in chapter 24.
This gives us just a taste of
what God's people get to see.
Verse 15.
Moses went up on the mountain
and the cloud covered the mountain.
The cloud is God's glory
made manifest.
The glory of the Lord dwelt
on Mount Sinai
and the cloud covered it
six days.
And on the seventh day
he called to Moses out of the midst
of the cloud.
Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord
was like a devouring fire
on the top of the mountain
in the sight of the people of Israel.
Moses entered the cloud
and went up on the mountain.
And Moses was on the mountain
40 days
and 49.
And so
and there's another part of Exodus
where people are like
Moses
you got to handle this.
We can't bear
being so close
to this glory.
It's frightening to us.
And for a glory replacing
and glory robbing people
the pure glory of God
would be kind of frightening.
So Moses goes up
as a mediator.
He's a middle man.
He's a priest
who can relate to God
on behalf of the people.
He can also relate to the people
on behalf of God.
And God wants
to reside
with his people
so they can see
his glory
and be satisfied
with his glory.
His glory is reentered
but it has to be veiled.
It can't be unveiled.
They would die.
And also
there has to be a mediator.
Someone to go back and forth.
And so
to summarize
the rest of the story
of Exodus
his people can't go up
to be where he is
because of their sins
so he comes down
and comes to be
where they are.
He gives Moses
these really fancy
instructions
to build a tent
called a tabernacle
so that his glory
can reside
with his people
and yet be veiled.
Veiled in a tent.
And the glory
has to have priests
mediators
who can relate to
God on behalf
of the people
and relate to the people
on behalf of God.
But even though
it's veiled
and it needs a mediator
the glory has reentered.
Hope.
There's movement.
The plot's going.
And once his people
get to the land
that he has for them
the land is pictured
in the Bible
as a place
where it's kind of
a recapitulation
of Eden
of the garden
so that
God's glory
and God's people
can be together
again.
As long as
his glory is veiled
in a temple
and there's mediators
priests
and they obey
his word
and they follow him.
Israel failed
miserably.
They vomit.
Ultimately
in the book
of Ezekiel
he gets a vision
of the glory
of God
departing
out of the temple
and standing
outside the city
of Jerusalem
in judgment
and Israel
gets demolished
by the Babylonians
and God's people
are banished.
They've been removed
from God's presence
once again.
But then
in Ezekiel 43
there's this promise
that God's glory
is going to come back.
He's going to come back
and reenter
a new temple.
And
it's going to bring
renewal
to the human heart
to be able
to be in God's presence
and live
and reflect his presence
once again.
Well time passes
a new temple
is built
but nothing like
Ezekiel's vision
comes to pass.
And
God's people
are wondering
when will God's glory
come to reside
with us again?
When is he going
to reenter
and it's going
to be the same
as it was?
When will he renew us
so that we can
behold his glory
like we were meant to?
That's getting us ready
for the glory
of Christmas.
If you turn
to John chapter 1
If we look at John 1
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John
in the New Testament
fourth book in
If we look at the gospel
of John
the first five verses
he describes
this person
named the word
in the beginning
was the word
and the word
was with God
and the word
was God
He was in the beginning
with God
the ultimate glory
reflector
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
so we get a glimpse
of hope
there's a person
out there
who is God
and yet he's
distinct from God
and all things
were made through him
he is God's
perfect self-reflection
he's the ultimate mirror
because he is God
and check out
what verse 14
says about him
this is the glory
of Christmas
and the word
became flesh
and the word
became
flesh
God's
perfect
mirror
the ultimate
image
of God
the ultimate
glory
reflecting
mirror
became
flesh
God's glory
is laying
on a feeding trough
he's visible
we can see
his glory
look at the rest
of the verse
verse 14
the word
became flesh
flesh
and dwelt
among us
the word
in the original
language
is literally
to pitch
your tent
God
God's
fullness
of glory
has come
to pitch
his tent
among us
just as God's
glory resided
with his people
in a veiled
tent
in the wilderness
now God
has pitched
his tent
to reside
among us
once again
but not
as a place
as a person
in a temple
of flesh
and bone
just like the
Christmas hymn
that we sang
Hark the Herald
veiled in flesh
the Godhead
see
hail
incarnate
deity
and the next
phrase
we have seen
it
we have seen
his glory
glory as of
the only son
from the father
full of grace
and truth
God's glory
has re-entered
the story
pursuing
his cracked
mirrors
pursuing
his broken
image bearers
he arrived
and he came
to renew
us
and if we
see
not in the way
that John
the apostle
saw
he got to see
with physical eyes
but plenty of people
saw Jesus
with physical eyes
and didn't see
the way that really
counts
which is seeing
and trusting
and believing
and understanding
by faith
if we see
this child
the glory
of God
as the one
who is
God's ultimate
mirror
came to restore
God's broken
mirror
God's broken
glory reflectors
then it renews us
and the fullest
display
is in John
chapter 12
feel free to
skip over there
real quick
in John
chapter 12
Jesus just
enters Jerusalem
for the last
time
he's there
ultimately
to die
and the way
that God
talks about
Jesus' glory
in the book
of John
is not
in terms
of
the mount
of transfiguration
where his
clothes are
shining
and his
face is
beaming
but it's
in terms
of this
look at
verse 23
of John
chapter 12
this is the
glory
of
the
son of
God
the hour
has come
Jesus said
for the
son of man
to be glorified
truly
I say
to you
unless
a grain
of wheat
falls
into the
earth
and dies
it remains
alone
but if
it dies
it bears
much
fruit
skip down
to verse
27
now my
soul
is troubled
and what
shall I
say
father
save me
from this
hour
but for
this
purpose
I have
come
to this
hour
father
glorify
your
name
and then
a voice
came
from heaven
I have
glorified
it
and I
will
glorify
it
again
so what
is the
glory
of Christ
what is
the
fullest
display
of God's
glory
that we
get to
behold
at Christmas
time
is that
this baby
who is
the glory
of God
came to
glorify
God
by dying
on a
cross
the place
it's this
beautiful
good news
where he
took on
the doomed
fate
of glory
replacers
and glory
robbers
like us
as the
perfect
glory
reflector
as our
substitute
and this
is what
renews
us
Paul
says in
2nd
Corinthians
that as
we behold
this stunning
glory
of this
good news
we are
changed
we are
transformed
in 2nd
Corinthians
he says
this is the
light of
the gospel
of the
glory
of Christ
who is
the image
of God
beholding
this glory
we get
to be
transformed
into his
same image
from one
degree of
glory to
another
when the
Grinch
beheld
the glory
of Christmas
when he
realized that
Christmas
isn't from
a store
but it's
something a
little bit
more
his heart
grew three
sizes that
day
he was
transformed
beholding the
glory of
Christmas
and that
is God's
intent for
us
to behold
his glory
dwelling
among us
residing
with us
to renew
us
and one
day he'll
return
with unshielded
glory
and we will
behold him
face to face
we will
reflect his
glory like
disco balls
what we
once hid
from
which
once would
have destroyed
us
will then
give us
eternal
delight
and his
glory will
reside with
us forever
Revelation 21
is just
astounding
go home and
give it a
read
it's the
new residence
that we will
have with
him
and listen
to this
and I saw
no temple
in that
city
no need
for veiled
glory there
for its
temple is
the Lord
God the
Almighty
and the
Lamb
whereas
before
the universe
was a
temple of
God's glory
now
the new
Jerusalem
he is
the temple
and 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
full
renewal
all because
of that
glorious
reentry
this is the
glory of
Christmas
feast on
it church
is this the
glory of your
Christmas
we are
distracted
people
maybe you
came in
pretty
distracted
and you
can't see
this
we are
weak
people
maybe you
came in
feeling pretty
weak and
empty and
exhausted
by life
we are
broken
people
we are
shattered
by sin
God's
glory is
able to
renew us
whether
broken
distracted
or weak
lift your
eyes to
the glory
of Christmas
let's
pray
father
thank you
for the
immense
mercy that
you have
shown
giving us
new birth
into a
living hope
of your
glory
your glory
veiled in
flesh in the
son of God
who came to
restore broken
glory reflectors
like us
God I pray
that this
truth would
sink down
deep into
our hearts
and that
we would
like the
Grinch
be changed
father I pray
particularly that
you would
help our
distracted eyes
to fixate
on the
glory of
Jesus
help those
father who
are weak
to attach
themselves by
faith and
then be made
strong
to the glory
of Jesus
father I pray
for those who
are broken
shattered by
sin
pray that they
would find
renewal
in the glory
of Jesus
we thank you
God for your
goodness and
kindness to us
in Jesus name
amen