Christmas is in high gear at Cross Church and allow me to say to wish you a very merry Christmas! Thank you for joining me for a Christmas sermon series entitled, A Timeless Christmas.
I invite you to find John 1 with me.
People are increasingly talking about the holiday as Christmas Day approaches. We all know it’s the most wonderful time of the year. You are cueing up your favorite Christmas songs, choosing your favorite holiday recipes, and choosing which Christmas parties you attend. We all know about the Wise Men who came to the Christ child.
I loved this from Ruth Marshall, a retired pastor’s wife in Missouri: Her dishtowel reads, “Three Wise Woman would have asked directions, arrived on time, helped deliver the baby, cleaned the stables, made a casserole, brought practical gifts and there would be Peace on Earth!”1
There is so much happiness for so many when it comes to Christmas. Others struggle to find happiness even in the merriest of times.
Pearl Harbor
On this past Thursday (December 7), our nation observed the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The bombing began at 7:55 am local time in Hawaii. Hours later, the last bomb was finally dropped, and 2,403 lives were lost. In just a few hours, America would declare war on the Axis powers of Japan, Italy, and Germany. If you are like me, we often forget just how close the bombing of Pearl Harbor was to Christmas. After all, coffins and Christmas carols don’t go together.2
A number of families were burying their dead sailors on Christmas 1941. No matter if you are riding the highest of highs or the lowest of lows, Christmas promises everlasting joy and a profound meaning in life for each and every one of us.
Christmas brings us, Jesus. And Jesus promises everlasting joy and a profound meaning in life for each and every one of us.
Let me show why in John 1.
Today’s Scripture
“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 any thing 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 gives light to 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” (John 1:1-11).
Have you ever seen that in the stained-glass windows of some of really old churches? Often, John would be depicted as an eagle. In the early church, whenever the different gospel writers were depicted, ordinarily John was depicted as an eagle. Do you know why? One of the theories on why that was true is because the eagle is one of the few birds that can fly into the sun. The eagle was thought to be one of the few birds that could actually gaze on the power the beauty, and the glory of the sun.2 So why does the eagle often portray John’s gospel in old stained glass? Because John is someone who can get us to look straight into the matchless majesty of Jesus. John shows us an angle on Jesus that no one else does. John shows us the promise of Jesus and the everlasting joy Jesus brings.
You have to ask, “Just who was in the manger on that first Christmas morning?”
1. The Appeal of Jesus
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). To understand why Jesus is so satisfying, you have to ask. “Why Does John Call Jesus ‘the Word?’” Why not simply call Jesus the Son of God and be on your way?
1.1 Logos
John uses a word for Jesus that is unusual, even mysterious, if you will. It’s the Greek word, Logos. Now we know John is calling Jesus Logos because of verse 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” (John 1:14).
Since the Father has one and only one true Son, the Word is Jesus Christ.
1.1 Why Word?
John’s readers would have recognized logos as a dual reference. Logos means “word” and it speaks back to the powerful, creative Word of God in the Old Testament. Remember, it was the word of God that created the heavens and earth.
1.2 The Word in OT
John makes hundreds of references and allusions to the Old Testament in his gospel. The word is God’s powerful means of deliverance. The word is God’s commanding means of creation itself: “By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host” (Psalm 33:6). So, the Word has this deep connection with the Old Testament.
1.3 Logos in Greek Thought
But why did John call Jesus the Word to begin this all-important letter? But Logos also meant something special in Greek thought as well. The word logos was really popular in the first century when the New Testament was written. The logos was a mysterious organizing principle of the universe, the thing that held it together and allowed it to make sense to many Greek minds.
Today we debate lots of terms like equal rights and human rights, but in that day, logos was a greatly debated issue. Logos was a philosophical term. It was a loaded term, and John knew exactly what he was saying when he said it.3
To really understand why John calls Jesus, “the Word” or the Logos, I need to take you down the rabbit trail of Greek philosophy for a moment.
1.3.1 Heraclitus
One of the earliest Greek philosophers was Heraclitus (sixth century BC). He thought about the fact that things constantly change. His famous illustration was that you can never step twice into the same river; it is never the same, because the water has flowed on. Everything is like that, he said because everything changes and is never the same. If everything constantly changes, how can there be any order in the world? His answer was the Logos, the word or reason of God. This was the principle that held everything together in a world of change. There is a purpose and design to the world and events, and this is the Logos.
By the time Jesus came along, there were these famous philosophical schools had fractured and fragmented because nobody could come up with any real consensus. Nobody could agree on the essence of life, the logos. By the time Jesus came along, the philosophical schools had gotten to the place where they were saying, “You know what? Maybe there is no reason for life.” Now to say there is no logos is the ancient version of hearing someone today say, “I guess there just aren’t any answers.”
Do you know someone who says there’s no big answer to why we are here? Someone who says, “We live. We die. And that’s all there is.”
1.3.2 Epicureans and Stoics
An ancient group called the Epicureans effectively said, “Well, there are no answers. The only thing to do is to have a good time, to live for pleasure, to go to it.” This philosophical school is what many people do in college for a couple of years. There was another ancient school called the Stoics. The Stoics sounded a lot nobler. They said, “Even though there are no answers we have to live actually as if there is right and wrong.” “Be strong. Be moral. Be generous. Be good. Live that way or else the world is an intolerable place, and not only that, life is intolerable. There are no answers, but let’s live as if there are.” Nearly everyone in the Greco-Roman world when John was writing had thrown their hands up in the air saying, “There is no reason for living.”
1.3.3 Jesus is the Logos
So, when John calls Jesus, “the Word,” John is saying in effect, “Get this. There is a logos, but it is not an abstraction. It is a person.” John was using the word logos to reach beyond the walls of the church into Roman and Greek society to invite them to worship Jesus.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1).
John says, “All of us are struggling with the futility of life. Life’s pointlessness is addressed by the Word, Jesus. The Word, the Logos is a person to be known. It’s a Person to be served and a Person to be loved.” God Himself has punched a hole in the roof of the world and has climbed in. What John is saying is that while Christianity answers the philosophical questions, it is not a philosophy. There are some really big questions to life more than “What should we do this weekend?” There are some heavy questions, “How do I deal with death? What am I doing in my life? What am I accomplishing? What is it all for?”
1.3.4 Modern Movies
For all the years that have passed, our world is still asking the same questions as the Greeks. We may not be searching for the Logos, but we still seek to silence the despair of our empty lives. Nearly every single person in this room has a Facebook account. In 2010, The Social Network portrayed the start of Facebook and its founder, Mark Zuckerberg. Most of you know his name. Now, you should Zuckerberg disputes the movie as more fiction than fact. The movie begins by showing a 19-year-old Harvard sophomore being dumped by his girlfriend, Erica Albright. In revenge, Zuckerberg hacks into the college database to steal photos of female students and uploads the photos to Facemash. There, others can rate their attractiveness. Zuckerberg is placed on probation for crashing the university’s servers. During the interim, he begins to realize the popularity of his Facebook prototype. As do others. Several people come and go to help him form his social network. Eventually, he settles on the name now famous Facebook, but he faces numerous lawsuits from those who offer assistance and brain-storming along the way. The end of the movie shows a still really young Zuckerberg sitting a table talking to one of his lawyers who is representing him. She informs him that he will need to pay millions in a settlement or what she calls the equivalent of a “speeding ticket” for his net worth. She assures him that he’s a good person despite the sordid tales of Facebook’s start of greed and jealousy. The end of the movie shows a lonely Zuckerberg looking up his old girlfriend, Erica Albright on Facebook. He sends her a friend request and keeps refreshing the page every few seconds to see if she responds. At the time of the story, Facebook was worth $25 billion and had 500 users and yet, he still hadn’t found what he was looking for.4
Zuckerberg hasn’t found the Logos. You don’t need to be a Greek philosopher to search for the meaning of life.
1.4 Hollywood Insecurities
You may be surprised to find out that some of the biggest names in Hollywood are still searching as well. The famous actor, Matthew Peery who played Chandler Bing for ten seasons on the NBC sitcom “Friends,” struggled with alcohol and prescription drugs. He went to rehab some fifteen times. When he moved to Hollywood a few years later, he thought stardom might replace his daily drinking habit and “heal the hole inside” him. Matthew Perry admits that his first-ever prayer was a request to become a celebrity. Peery told God, “You can do whatever you want with me just please make me famous.”5
Peery could/would tell you that fame isn’t the Logos. From Heraclitus to Mark Zuckerberg to Matthew Perry, people are searching for the meaning of life, the Logos. John says, “I’ve found the meaning of life. God punched a hole in the roof of the world and His Son is the Logos. He’s the essence of life. He fulfills the meaning of life. I want to get up in the morning because of the Word.”
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1).
1.5 Three Great Truths for Christmas Joy
Christmas means joy, and our happiness is based on three great truths:
1. Our Bad Things Will Turn Out for Good.
The bedrock promise of the Bible is this: “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). Everything terrible will turn around for good because of the birth of Christ!
2. Our Best Things Cannot be Taken From Us.
You are united with Christ for all time and eternity. God’s word says this, “You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound” (Psalm 4:7). If you are in Christ, then your name is written in Heaven above, and because of this, you know your best things can never be taken from you.
3. The Best Things Are Yet to Come.
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9b). God sent His Son to take away our sins – what a reason to celebrate! No one can take His deep love away from you! He’s the Logos, the very thing we are all looking for.
1. The Appeal of Jesus
2. The Life in Jesus
“In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world” (John 1:4, 9). John knows that Jesus is life. Jesus gives life to Lazarus as the man who was dead four days and rose to walk again (John 11). John knows that Jesus is Light. Jesus gives light to the blind man to see again (John 9:5-7). “In him was life, and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4).
2.1 Jesus Is Life
Jesus is the source of both physical and spiritual life. John uses the Greek word (zoe) here. Mothers name their girls Zoe to this day and Zoe means “life.” Zoology is the study of life, right? John uses the Greek word (zoe) some thirty-seven times in the gospel of John. And seventeen times the word life occurs with the word eternal. For example, John writes, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Most every other reference to life in John’s gospel has to do with eternal life. John loves to use words that have a double meaning. John tells us that both physical life and spiritual life are located in Jesus. Yes, who was there with the Father: “…the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature” (Genesis 2:7). Jesus has life in Himself. No one gives Him life; He existed before all time, from eternity. What is more, if He has life in Himself, He retains the prerogative to give life to whomever He, and God the Father, chose to give it.6 John adds a comment about the life of Jesus by saying: “In him was life, and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4).
2.2 The Prophecies of Jesus
Light is such a prominent theme of Jesus and Christmas. You ask yourself, “How can I be sure that Jesus is God?” One of the main ways the earliest people who encountered Him had their uncertainties erased was how Jesus fulfilled biblical predictions. Most modern people underestimate the challenge it was for anyone to believe in Jesus as God. Remember, much of Jesus’ own family did not believe He was the Messiah. It was hard for good, orthodox Jews to believe Jesus was the Messiah. So, what convinced them? It was the Old Testament’s predictions about Jesus that convinced them. Let me share one of the most prominent ones with you:
“But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this” (Isaiah 9:1-2, 6-7).
“The land of Naphtali” is along the western shore of the Sea of Galilee and extends north. While “the land of Zebulun” extends from “Naphtali” toward the Mediterranean Sea.
These areas were the hot zone for those despairing from war, famine, and thick darkness. God predicts, “Where the darkness had fallen, the light will show up first.” And 700-plus years later, what happens? “Now when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee. And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: ‘The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles— the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned’” (Matthew 4:12-16). Promise made, Promise Kept.
So, it’s just natural to associate light with Christmas. Starting around Black Friday every year, the light intensity in American suburbs increases by 30 to 50 percent, and it doesn't return to normal levels until after the start of the new year. And of course, you know the reason. Christmas lights! Christmas lights are so prevalent as to be directly observable from space, according to the folks at NASA.7
No wonder John said of Jesus: “The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world” (John 1:9).
2.3 Are You Really Living?
Scattered throughout John’s gospel are invitations to come to Jesus. “Come into union with the Word who made you, and you will come to Life!” Later, John will quote Jesus saying, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10b). You don’t want to just exist, you want to live! Oh, how we need these even today.
John Lennon wrote the lyrics to the famous Beatles song, “Help.” Lennon would have been 80 years old late this last year. John Lennon wrote those first words, “Help! I need somebody. Help! Not just anybody,” Lennon said of the song, “When ‘Help!’ came out I was actually crying out for help. Most people think it is just a fast, rock-‘n’- roll song. I didn’t realize it at the time; … But later, I knew I really was crying out for help.”8 And it’s not just the Beatles, everyone is searching for the light of life. Lady Gaga said of herself, “I never felt pretty enough or smart enough or a good enough musician.”9
Every single person is searching for the light, searching for the Logos.
2.4 The Light of Christmas
Christmas is about light. Jesus is the light of the world. He’s a light every single one of us needs.
We love to sing “Silent Night, Holy Night,” but “Silent Night, Holy Night” is not about the night. It is about the light. And one stanza says, “Silent night, holy night! Darkness flies and all is light!”
2.5 Uniting with Jesus
“In him was life, and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4).
You will never enjoy true life until you have united with Jesus. Jesus is life; He’s eternal life. Listen to Jesus, “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish” (John 10:28). Again, hear Jesus when He says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life” (John 5:24). In other words, apart from believing in Jesus, we are all dead In order to live forever and not “come into judgment,” we need the gift of life. That life is in Jesus. So, when John says in John 1:4, “In him was life,” he means spiritual life, eternal life, life that saves from judgment. If you have the Son, if you have Jesus — if He is in you and you are in Him, then life is in you, and you are spiritually and eternally alive. You have life forever. Vital union with Jesus is everything.
Repent – ask the Holy Spirit to help you make a U-turn
Believe – put all your faith in Jesus Christ
Receive – the last thing you need to do is to call upon the name of the Lord. Would you bow your head as we pray?
2.6 Baptism
Heads are bowed and eyes are closed. I wonder how many in this congregation would say, “Pastor, I have received Jesus Christ as my personal Savior, I am born again”? I’m not just asking are you a baptized member of this church but you could say, ‘I know that I am saved.’ Lift your hand up and hold it there for just a minute. If you could give me that testimony, would you slip up your hand and hold it up?
Endnotes
https://twitter.com/john316marshall/status/1733448350211424272; accessed December 10, 2023.
2 https://michaelmilton.org/2018/12/22/christmas-eve-1941/; accessed December 7, 2021
3 Timothy J. Keller, “Reason for Life,” The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).
4 My friend, Marty Light gave me the idea to include the storyline of this movie in the sermon.
5 https://www2.cbn.com/news/entertainment/friends-star-matthew-perry-reveals-intense-addiction-battle-hole-inside-and-his; accessed October 29, 2023.
6 Andreas J. Kostenberger and Alexander E. Stewart, The First Days of Jesus: The Story of the Incarnation (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2015), 178.
7 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/11/24/what-your-christmas-lights-will-do-to-your-electricity-bill/; accessed December 6, 2023.
8 http://www.beatlesinterviews.org/dbjypb.int3.html; accessed January 12, 2021.
9 https://www.bustle.com/p/lady-gaga-opened-up-about-insecurities-while-sharing-a-message-to-her-fans-in-the-process-11456718; accessed January 12, 2021.
