Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
Text: (John 1:1-14)
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.
Prayer: Let the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Today’s Gospel reading is one of the most important readings in the entire church year. It is so important that at one time in church history this passage from the Gospel of John was read at the end of every single church service, every single Sunday. And so, here we are, on Christmas Day 2011, to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh. We are here to hear the living and active words of this same Jesus Christ who is present here today in the flesh to speak these words into our own ears himself, and we are here today to receive his body and blood in the Lord’s Supper.
During this last December, it has struck me, and many people I have spoken to, that Christmas is not looking much any more like it used to. There are decorations around the place, but not much. Children are not learning Christmas carols in school any more. Mention of the birth of Jesus in schools and kindergartens is becoming more and more taboo. Some say that there haven’t been many Christmas carols on the radio this year.
Christmas next year and in years to come could do with a come-back, don’t you think? But the problem is this: Christmas is something that is not built on sentimentality, nostalgia, and nice warm fuzzy feelings. Anything built on these things will eventually run out of petrol and find itself stuck in a ditch on the side of the highway while the rest of the world drives past not even noticing the wreck.
Christmas will never have a come-back though, until the central event of Christmas that we commemorate, the birth of Jesus Christ, our Lord and our God, the Word become flesh, is confessed with boldness and confidence by sinners throughout the world once again.
You see, it’s not Christmas that needs a come-back: it’s Christianity. Christmas without Christianity is like a dead empty shell. You don’t invent a festival if you don’t believe what it’s about. Nobody thinks to build a grand cathedral in Europe anymore if no one’s going to come and worship in it. Nobody builds an empty building with no purpose. The empty shell of Christmas can only be filled with goodness again when it is filled with the Word of God and the Holy Spirit.
And so our text today is the solid, solid rock on which all the rest of Christmas is built.
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.
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But before we get to the event of Christmas. We need to backtrack and sort out some other things first.
In the first chapter of the book of Genesis we read: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Christmas is nothing without these words, and without this fact.
There is a God. God exists. He is real.
And not only that, but God created us. He made you. He made everything that you can see, and everything that you can’t see. And he made these things in the beginning. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Full stop. No argument.
Ah! But I want proof, you say?
Well, let me say a few things about science and faith.
Most people misunderstand how these two things are related.
Some people say that science is based on facts, and faith is based on feelings.
Wrong.
Science is not based on “any old facts”, it is based on research. Faith is not based on feelings, it is based on events where God intervenes in human history.
Science is based on observing things, and learning things by observation. Faith is based on listening to the word of God.
Let me tell you how science works: A scientist first of all observes something. Scientists discover things, they look at things, like a fossil, or a rock, or bacteria under a microscope, or stars, or glaciers, or weather, or whatever type of a scientist they are. And they make experiments, and they measure things. They observe all the detail very carefully. And then they make a theory (or an hypothesis) about the big picture, and they test it out.
Theology, Christianity, religion, faith works completely the other way around. We don’t start with a small detail and make a theory about the large picture. God reveals his word as an entirety, as a package, in advance. And then in each generation of the church, we break down the big picture into little pieces. We take the bible verse by verse, and book by book and we dissect the bible for the benefit of each generation.
Christianity doesn’t take a small detail like a leaf or a stone, and make a theory about the existence of God. We believe in the existence of God, because we trust in God’s word. We believe as Christians that at specific times in history, God has gradually revealed his word and his will to the sinful, fallen human race.
You see, science sees itself as always moving forward. Theories are only facts until someone disproves it and comes up with a better theory. And many scientists overstep their mark, and are not humble enough to realise this. Even this year, the Nobel Prize for Physics was awarded to the Australian scientist, Brian Schmidt and his colleagues, for “the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the Universe through observations of distant supernovae”. He discovered something new, which nobody knew before. He made observations and made a new discovery. And that’s a good thing.
But faith is talking about something else. It doesn’t work like that. Faith doesn’t move forward. It stands its ground. It listens to the Word of God.
Faith is built on facts just as much as science is, but it’s a different type of fact. We believe that God spoke in many and various ways through the prophets, but in these last times he has spoken to us through his Son. (Hebrews 1:1). The fact that God has spoken his word is an historical fact.
Nobody will ever disprove the existence of God scientifically. In fact, it’s impossible to do that. The only thing you can do is to reject the Word of God. Science can’t measure God. Science can’t observe God. If it could measure God, and if it could observe God, then we would be the gods and God would be less than us. The one true God, the Holy Trinity (the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit) would just be like any old pagan god, who brings the earth into existence through his or her mistakes.
God brought the world into existence, not through mistakes, but through his love and through his word. And God said, let there be light. Because not only is there a God, but he is also a loving God, who is full of light, and life, and goodness, and gives light and life to the world.
Look at each tree, and how different each tree is, how different each leaf is, how each detail was shaped and formed. Look at each bird, each animal, each insect, if you can count them. Look at the stars and the supernovae, how magnificent they all are. Look at the earth, and notice that if the earth was thrown just a few degrees off its axis, then life as we know it simply wouldn’t exist. Psalm 8 says: I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place. Psalm 33 says: By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host. Psalm 104: O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. Here is the sea, great and wide, which teems with creatures innumerable, living things both small and great.
It takes almost more faith to believe that all these things came about by chance, or that there is some impersonal naturally selecting force ordering all these things. When science and human reason becomes a religion, which it has become, it becomes a crippling groping around in the dark and just another form of that other religion that has been passed down through the centuries: paganism, idolatry.
But hang on a minute, you might say? What’s all this got to do with Christmas? I thought I came to church to hear a sermon about the birth of Jesus!
Well, our text today for Christmas day, which has been read in the church every Christmas day for centuries starts in this place, with the words: In the beginning.
And when we say in the beginning, we mean: before there was anything that we can see, before anything could be measured scientifically. In the beginning means that we are talking about eternity. Eternity is not something we measure, it is a reality that we believe by faith. And in our Gospel reading today, we read that God is not just a non-descript nothing, but he has a shape and a form. He is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, but there are not three gods but One God. The Father is eternal, the Son is eternal and the Holy Spirit is eternal, but there are three who are eternal but one who is eternal.
And the Son of God, St John calls “the Word”: The Word of God.
And so St John begins his gospel with these words inspired by the Holy Spirit: 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 than was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of [all people]. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
We know these things, because God has spoken them, and because in pulpits throughout the world, this word is preached.
So St John says: There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. (The first Christian pastor, the first man sent from God.) He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, than 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 God (and not by scientific argument and not by scientific reasoning and scientific proofs), but [were born] 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.
This is what was happening at the first Christmas. The Word of God, who was with God, and who is God, became flesh. Your Maker became a baby that you can hold. This is what was happening when angels came down to sing with shepherds in the fields watching their flocks. This is what was happening when a virgin from Galilee became pregnant. This is what was happening when Joseph and Mary had to find lodging in a stable. This is what was happening when the donkeys, the sheep, the horses, the cows looked in their feeding trough to see the God of heaven and earth who created them. The animals there knew who their maker was, what about you?
The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us. This is what was happening when the angels came to bring good news of great joy to all people. This is what was happening when the stars themselves lead wise men from the east to offer to the baby their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. This is what was happening when Mary and Joseph gave the God who created them the name Jesus, because he will save them from their sins.
And so, we give thank to our heavenly Father today, for sending his Son, Jesus Christ into the world, and we ask him to send us the Holy Spirit through the same Jesus Christ. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. All we like sheep have gone astray. The wages of sin is death. But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
God bless you this wonderful, joyous, happy Christmas Day! May God bless you with a blessed happy Christmas! The Word has become flesh and dwelt among us. He still lives in the flesh among us in his church on earth. He speaks his words still today and forgives your sins. He comes to his church giving you his body and blood. And all the company of heaven, the angels and the archangels, rejoice with us!
Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts! Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased. Amen.
Lord God, heavenly Father, we believe that you, together with your Son, the Word of God, and the Holy Spirit are truly One God. We thank you that your Son took on human flesh and was born a humble birth in Bethlehem of the Virgin Mary. Send us the Holy Spirit, and give us the great joy which comes with the good news of Christmas, in Jesus name we pray. Amen.
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