Advent Week 5 - Christ

[00:00:38] Speaker A: Ready your heart, child ready your heart, child the lion lamb is coming the lion lamb is coming soften your heart bright soften your heart bright wedding day is coming the wedding day is coming close we see him we shall be made like we see we shall be made like we see we shall be made like you justice always coming justice always coming yet we shall be made like death and I know gonna make it right child it's going to make a right child it's going to make a right child it's going to make a right child it's going to make a right child away it's going to make a right child away going to make a right child away gonna make a bright child away gonna make a bright child away gonna make a bright child away make a bright child away make a right child away make it right child away make it right child away make a right. [00:04:07] Speaker B: Welcome to Emmanuel Fellowship Church. It is good to be here worshiping together. It is Christmas Eve. I don't know about the rest of you, but this December has felt just crazy and insane to me. And it's great to be here, it's great to be at Christmas Eve. But it's also just been a really difficult season and a time that has felt just crazy and hectic. And I think for most of us that's probably true. I hope that this gathering can be a time where we can recenter ourselves on Christ. Everything that we are singing about and talking about this morning is about Christ Jesus, his coming. And it's the reason why we have this holiday. We are here to celebrate and to worship Jesus, that he decided to come down and join us, become one of us, in order to come as a humble, sweet, little innocent baby and then die for our sins. We sang about the lion lamb is coming. He came as the lamb. He came to be the sacrifice for our sins. But he is also coming back as the lion. He is coming back to make it right, to make everything right again. So if you haven't yet, take this time to reorient yourselves to recenter your life, to remind yourself that this holiday, that this time that our entire lives are meant to be about Christ. I'm going to read this passage from Philippians, chapter two. Speaking of Christ Jesus. It says, who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. Instead, he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death. Even to death on a cross. For this reason, God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name. So that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth. And every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Join with us in worship in confessing that Jesus Christ is Lord this morning, because he is. And that is why we celebrate this season. [00:07:50] Speaker C: Joy to the world the savior rains let men their songs employ wild field and floods, rock seals and flames. [00:08:07] Speaker A: Repeat the sounding joy repeat the sounding joy repeat, repeat the sounding. [00:09:16] Speaker C: Makes the nations prove the glories of his righteousness and wonders of his love and wonders of his love and wanders wonders of born on Christmas day to save us all from saints how when we were gone astray o tidings of comfort, enjoy comfort, enjoy o tidings of comfort enjoy. [00:11:20] Speaker A: Oh, star of wonder, star of night star with royal beauty bright westward leading. [00:11:35] Speaker C: Still proceeding guide us that perfect light. [00:11:45] Speaker A: Born a king on Bethlehem's plain gold I bring to crown him again king forever sees me never over a stall to rain. [00:12:11] Speaker C: Of wonder star of night. [00:12:15] Speaker A: Star with your beauty bright westward leading. [00:12:23] Speaker C: Still proceeding guide us that perfect night. [00:12:33] Speaker A: O is now behold him arise king and God in sacrifice hallelujah, hallelujah. Worshiping God on high hound star of night, star before you be right westward. [00:13:12] Speaker C: Leading, still proceeding got us that perfect God rescue. [00:13:26] Speaker A: Mary gentlemen. [00:13:28] Speaker C: God resting Mary, gentlemen. [00:13:30] Speaker A: God resting Mary, gentlemen. [00:13:46] Speaker D: Who is Jesus? Over the last 2000 years, many people have tried to answer this question. Historians, authors, skeptics, teachers, rock stars, celebrities, kings and more. This question drives seekers to find the answer in many different places and ways. Each of us has been faced with this same question and we need to have an answer. It's important. Who is Jesus? Over the last four weeks of advent, we have spent time giving a biblical answer. We've seen how he brings hope to the hopeless, faith to the faithless, joy to the joyless, and love to those seeking love. We have looked at the Christmas story and seen the mighty hand of God at work. We have seen God reveal himself to the young Mary, to give her the faith to do the hard things and prepare the way for his coming. We've seen Mary and Elizabeth's joy and expectation. We've considered the actual birth narrative and looked at shepherds and angels and the good news of great joy for all people. [00:14:53] Speaker E: These stories are worth our time, but they are also an invitation for self reflection. Do not let these familiar stories of the Advent season pass you by without taking stock of your own life. Have you answered the question? It is the most important question that you will ever answer, the only question that truly matters. Who is Jesus? Is he Lord and savior in your life? Or is he a nice, comfortable story about a baby to bookend your family holiday? Church we live in a time of real darkness and oppression, made all the more insidious because our lives are so often shielded from the harsh realities of the curse. Distractions, anxieties, fears and our abundant desires are constantly screaming at us for our time and attention. Take heart. Deliverance may seem far off, but it is not. Just as Jesus came once to light up a world in darkness, he is coming again. [00:15:59] Speaker D: Isaiah nine says this about our Jesus, the light in the darkness. The people walking in the darkness have seen a great light. A light has dawned on those living in the land of darkness. You have enlarged the nation and increased its joy. The people have rejoiced before you as they rejoice at harvest time, and as they rejoice when dividing spoils. For you have shattered their oppressive yoke and the rod on their shoulders, the staff of their oppressor, just as you did on the day at Midian. For every trampling boot of battle and the bloodied garments of war will be burned as fuel for the fire. For a child will be born for us, a son will be given to us, and the government will be on his shoulders. He will be named wonderful counselor, mighty God, eternal Father, prince of peace. The dominion will be vast and its prosperity will never end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from now on and forever. [00:17:08] Speaker E: Church, don't let this Christmas pass you by without asking yourself who Jesus is. He is the Lord of reality. He is a wonderful counselor, mighty God, eternal Father, prince of peace and he will rule on the throne forever with justice and righteousness. And he loves you. Let us spend time worshipping our Jesus, our savior, our Emmanuel. [00:17:45] Speaker A: Holy night the stars are brightly shining it is the night of our dear savior's birth long lay the world in sin and air pining till he appeared and the soul felt its a thrill of hope the weary world rejoices beyond breaks a new and glorious morning fall your knee come here the angel voice says all night divine when Christ was born freely he taught us to love one another his law is grace and his gospel is peace chain shall he break for the slave is our brother and in his name all the precious sweet hands of joy in grateful chorus raise me let all within us praise his holy name Christ is the lord I'll praise his name forever tonight divine, I know night when Christ was born with humble heart we bow and adoration before this child. Gift of God matches sent from on high to purchase our salvation that we might dwell with him ever what grace untold to leave the bliss of glory and I forgot your knee for jes the wonder story all night behind all night when Christ was born all night we fight all night. [00:22:35] Speaker F: Please be seated. Every Sunday we want to pray for one of our missional partners. And I just want to say this Christmas season has been a genuine treat for me as your outreach and missions pastor. Because whether it's through the shoeboxes that were collected, whether it's through the senior care ministry that we had a wonderful Christmas service and party with them, whether it was visiting the shut ins of our church and Christmas caroling and leaving treats, or with a school across the street, you guys are incredible. I mean, you should have seen the responses of the teachers and things. To have 40 something gifts for a family that wasn't going to have a Christmas and to have 120 dozen cookies shared with the teachers is just. You guys, generosity and sacrifices is a real blessing. So we want to pray for Ellisville Elementary School, that our acts of service and love will prayerfully demonstrate the love of Christ and continue to give us inroads into revealing Christ to them. So let's pray. Dear heavenly Father, we just want to thank you for, first of all, your love for us. And we want to thank you, Lord, that how you've touched our lives with your love over and over and over again. And we're thankful, Lord, for the people of this church, Lord, who decided this Christmas season to share that love with others in overwhelming ways. They sacrificed and gave of themselves to bless others this Christmas season, Lord. And I just thank you for that. Lord, we want to pray for Ellisville elementary school and the acts of service that we extend it to them. And we pray, Lord, that in a real tangible way this Christmas season, they would be reminded of the reason for this season, which is you, Jesus. And we pray, Lord, that as we continue to develop our relationship with them as neighbors, that you would continue to give us inroads to not only share in the love of Christ through service and gifts, but to be able to share the gospel of Christ with others, Lord, just that we might make a difference in that school because you've planted us here. And Lord, now I want to lift up Sam as he brings the message to us and I just pray, Lord, that you would fill him with your spirit, that we'd be prepared to receive what it is that you have shared with him and he's going to share with us that it might uplift our spirits as we continue to focus on you and worship you and be prepared this Christmas season, Lord, to reflect you with all of our friends and extended family. And we ask that in your most precious and holy name. Amen. [00:25:08] Speaker G: Good morning, church. What a joy to be together today. Merry Christmas, man. What a cool way to step into our Christmas celebration tomorrow than this. Oh, my goodness. God is so good. Christmas Eve on a Sunday. We just get to do our normal routine. What a cool thing. And by the way, really quick, they don't know I'm going to do this, but can we just really quick say thank you to the creative team? They pulled double duty, they prepped this for us and they're coming back and serving us again tonight. You guys are awesome. I think that was the most funky Christmas Eve music. And I don't mean funky like smelly. I mean like, there was funk. You guys are awesome. Thank you for that. Today we lit the Christ candle, right? The advent wreath is complete and we're ready to celebrate the incarnation. That's a $3 church word. That just means God is among us. Emmanuel, God with us. I'm going to do that today from a pretty nontraditional Christmas text. I apologize if you showed up today expecting Luke two and the narrative from there. We did that one last week, so sorry for that, but I think it's still going to be great. We're actually going to look at a text from the gospel of John today that most of us probably wouldn't immediately associate with Christmas. But I really just believe God has something good for us in this. I think this is going to be a blessing for us. So go ahead. If you have your Bible, turn to John, chapter eight. If you don't have a Bible with you this morning, we have ones around the room. Just look at the chairs in front of you. There's some House Bibles. Feel free to grab one of those. By the way, I say this every week, but I really mean this. We are passionate about access to God's word here at Emmanuel. If you're here today and you do not own a physical copy of God's word, I would strongly encourage you just to take one of the pew Bibles home or even tell one of the pastors we have nicer ones. We would love to give you a copy of God's word. So you have access to it. You don't hear the gospel of John referenced much around Christmas, and there's a reason for that. He basically skips the entire nativity narrative. He just doesn't tell that part of the story. If you go and read the Gospel of John, he just skips all the parts about Mary and Joseph and the angel and the baby in Bethlehem in all of that. What he does instead is in the introduction to his gospel in John, chapter one. Instead of giving us the facts of the nativity story, right here's what happened. He gives us a theological explanation of why the nativity story happened. He opens with kind of a theology of incarnation, and I think it's helpful for us. John one opens with this. In the beginning was the word. And this is a phrase that John uses to refer to Christ himself. It's a phrase the early church used often. In the beginning was the word was Jesus, and the word was with God. And the word was God. He was with God in the beginning. All things were created through him and apart from him, not one thing was created. That has been created in him was life, and that life was the light of men. That light shines in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not overcome it. John opens his gospel by telling us exactly why the incarnation, the nativity story, needed to happen. Because sin is real, the curse is real, and God's good creation has been broken and cast into darkness. But we worship a God who is the light of life, who shines his light into the darkness. Jesus is the light that shines in the darkness, shines into our darkness. Beloved. This amazing truth, by the way, is actually the inspiration for why churches do Advent wreaths. It's why we have kindle light services on Christmas Eve is to remember this truth, that Jesus is the light of the world, that we're not just remembering a cute hallmark story. And don't get me wrong, babies are cute. And it's totally appropriate to just think about how cute and cuddly Jesus was on the day he was born. That's a beautiful, wonderful thing. But it's not the point of the story. It's not the point of the story. The point of the story is the light of the world has entered into our darkness, and he shines life over and above curse and death. Amen. Because Jesus lights up our spiritual blindness and he makes God knowable to us. There's an important truth for us in that today, if you hear nothing else this Christmas season, hear this, beloved. Jesus came to earth for a reason. He's more than a cute baby in a manger. He is God with flesh and bone. He makes the invisible God visible. He makes a way for you to get back to God. A pastor friend of mine said it this way. I saw it on social media this week. He said, there have been thousands of babies who grew up to be kings. There has only been one king who chose to become a baby. There's truth in that for us today, beloved, the light of Christ is available for you right here, right now, today. You need not miss him today. So let's look at John John, chapter eight. We're going to start in verse twelve in our strange Christmas text today. And we read this in the 12th verse of the 8th chapter of the Gospel according to John. Jesus spoke to them again. I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. So the pharisee said to him, you are testifying about yourself. Your testimony is not valid. Even if I testify about myself. Jesus replied, my testimony is true because I know where I came from and where I'm going. But you don't know where I came from or where I'm going. You judge by human standards. I judge no one. And if I do judge, my judgment is true, because it's not I alone who judge, but I and the father who sent me. Even in your law, it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is true. I am the one who testifies about myself. And the father who sent me testifies about me. Then they asked him, where is your father? You know neither me nor my father. Jesus answered, if you knew me, you would also know my father. He spoke these words by the treasury while teaching in the temple. But no one seized him because his hour had not yet come. And this, beloved, is the word of the Lord for us today. Pray with me, church, and we'll jump into this. Father, we need you today on Christmas Eve, where so many of us, our brains are just eking to go elsewhere. Right now, we're thinking about our schedule and family and connecting and all the different things going on. For those of us who are thinking about hurts and conflicts and loss, there are so many things trying to grab our mind right now. Holy Spirit, we need you. We need you to be our teacher today. We need you to be our shepherd today, to be our wonderful counselor and our advocate today. Lord, calm our anxious hearts, slow our speeding minds. Spirit, allow us. Allow us to be present and present with you this morning. Give us slow, quiet hearts, give us open eyes and ears and holy spirit, teach us through your word today. Father, we need you for this work. So we pray it in your name, Jesus. Amen. So we've been in a Christmas series since thanksgiving, right? We've been going through the advent wreath and the different themes of it, and we've spent pretty much the whole time in Luke. But today we jumped over to John, and I already said this, right? This isn't really a traditional Christmas text. We hit that one last week. But I think God has something in this for us. You see, John's gospel is just easily the most theological of the four gospels. By the time John wrote, he was the last of the four gospel writers to write. By the time he wrote, the first three gospels had been written and were readily distributed to the church. And so John wasn't concerned with getting out the story. He was concerned about preserving. Right. Theology of Christ. And so he wrote the story, in a way to point you to the gospel truths, right? The biggest thing he's concerned about is knowing you as the reader. Knowing Jesus is not just some person. He's not just some teacher. He's not even just some spirit or some God. He is the God, and he is your savior. To get to that point, John constructs the book uniquely amongst the four gospels. He builds his book around seven divine revelatory claims that Jesus makes and seven supernatural signs or miracles that give authority to those claims. John is structured around two sets of seven. Seven statements and seven miracles. So John uses the word signs to talk about miracles. Let's talk about these proclamations for a second. Over the course of the book, Jesus publicly makes these very specific statements that start with this phrase, I am now. That reads very innocuous in English. It was a very loaded phrase at that time and that point in history, because that is how Yahweh himself revealed himself to his people when he spoke to Moses in the burning bush. And he said, who should I say sent me? And God reveals his name for the first time. He says, and this is a weird. It doesn't really come to English, but he essentially says, here's my name. I am who I am. I was who I was, and I will be who I will be. That's a mouthful. We shorten it to I am because that's just easier for our human brains. Right? But it's a very loaded phrase. Christ is very distinctly connecting himself. Every time he says, I am followed by these metaphors and these images and these statements. He is claiming his godhood and his messiahship and clarifying what those things actually mean, because the expectations of the messiah at that point was that he would raise up an army and conquer Rome. And Jesus says, hey, I mean, that's fine, but I'm not really concerned about Rome. I have a cosmic plan in place. Right? Like, we Today wouldn't be talking about Jesus if his primary goal was overthrowing Rome, right? Christ has something bigger than Rome in mind. And so when he claims the mantle of Messiah, when he connects himself with Yahweh, God the Father, the God of reality, he speaks these truths and metaphors and images that broaden and illuminate and clarify what he means by his self revelation. I want to show you a list of these so you can see kind of, you can see the flow of the gospel of John through these statements Christ makes. He says, I am the bread of life, our text today. He says, I am the light of the world. He says, I am the true door. He says, I am the good shepherd. He says, I am the resurrection and the life. He says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. He says, I am the true vine. Each one of these images, metaphors Christ uses illuminates different aspects of his messiahship, of his godhood. Each one of them is a very blunt, divine claim. Sometimes you'll hear people say, oh, christians have so distorted the Bible. Christ never claimed to be God. Read John. There's seven examples right there. No one hearing Jesus mistook these words. In fact, in our text today, they're trying to kill him already, right? We're only in John eight. We're only in John eight, right? They're already like, this guy's nuts. He thinks he's God. Let's kill him. There were no questions about. I mean, there were questions because Jesus speaks in metaphor, and it's very mysterious sometimes. But there were no questions about these grand claims Christ was making. He was claiming to be God and claiming to be Messiah and telling them they all had that wrong, and it was a big deal. These seven I am statements in John, they're partnered with seven signs. Jesus performs seven specific miracles over the course of the book. They're all referred to as signs, and they put kind of the heavenly oomph behind Jesus's claims because his claims were so outside the accepted theological norm of what and who Messiah would be. Jesus does these signs and basically just says, you can argue with me all you want, but I have the power of God behind me. I'm right. It's basically how he backs up his claims. These two aspects of the book they work together to show us Jesus's character, his relationship with us, his relationship with the world. It shows that he isn't all talk. He is who he claims to be. So understanding that our text in John eight, this is one of the critical texts in the Gospel of John. This is an important bit of this whole book. In this text, Jesus is very specifically, intentionally, publicly revealing an aspect of his character as God and as Messiah. Now, before we dig too deep into this, into his actual claim, let me set the narrative stage for us. So at this point in the book, Jesus'ministry is pretty well established. He's well known. He's traveled back and forth between Galilee and the north and Judah and the south. He's taught. People know who he is. People are debating about his teaching and the religious establishment. The leaders in Jerusalem don't like him. They want him dead. In chapter seven, the time for the festival of booths arrives. Now, I want you guys to understand something Jesus essentially wanted. Sorry. The people in Jesus'circle, they want to know, hey, are you going to show up to the festival of booths? Are you going to make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem to celebrate, even though there's these people there, these leaders, who want to kill you. Now, just in case you don't have like jewish feast days and their historical significance on tap mentally, let me catch us all up real quick. The festival of Booths is one of the seven feasts that God commanded all of Israel to celebrate all the way back in deuteronomy. It was a festival of remembrance where God's people were commanded to consider and remember their time wandering in the wilderness and God's provision for them. The way they would celebrate this, it was called a pilgrimage feast. As many people as could would travel to Jerusalem. They would gather around the city and the surrounding villages, and essentially they would camp for a week. Now, by the way, this is still celebrated. I've got a picture today to show you guys. Here's some people celebrating the festival of booths. They do it in different ways. They set up tents. They set up these little shelters with kind of the palm fronds for roofs. They set up a temporary shelter outside their house, and they hang out in it for a week. Now, most modern practitioners today just eat their meals in the booth, but in Christ's time, it was like a week long. It was like family church camp. Everyone went camping for a week. They hung out, they worshiped God, they sang praises, they ate tons of food. They listened to good preaching. It was this really celebratory and beautiful time. There was a special Sabbath. It was just a time for family and friends to reflect on God's good character and his provision for his people. Historically, but also right now, there's something about hanging out in a tent for a week that makes you think about your home a little differently, right. It's a way to draw people to God's present provision in their life. So since so many people or Jews would gather around Jerusalem because this was one of the great times of the year to hear good preaching. And so people are wondering, is Jesus going to show up? There are death threats against him. Is he going to do this? Well, he's Jesus. He's not scared of threats. And so he does show up. And if you read in chapter seven, he attends the festival and he begins preaching in and around the temple each day, and it just causes a huge stir. The actual crowds are hearing Jesus'teaching, and they're really debating it. They're really considering it. The text tells us about conversations people are having, where they're going, is this guy for real? Could this guy really be the messiah? Is this how God is working? I don't know. It doesn't match with what I've heard before. But, man, look how the spirit is in him. So the people are listening, considering questioning, debating the religious leaders. They're done with this. They've had enough of it. They get increasingly angry that Jesus is publicly preaching, that he's making these claims about himself and about his ministry, and they're looking for opportunities to arrest him and kill him. There's actually a point where they order the temple guards to go arrest Jesus publicly out of the temple. And the guards walk up and they're listening to Jesus preach and they're know, I don't know. I just don't think I can arrest that guy. I feel like he's just really good at preaching in the garden. The religious leaders get mad at him. It's this interesting scene, but that's the setup for where we're at. This festival lasts for an entire week, right? And they're genuinely, like, in the midst of all this celebration, all this fun, all this family, there are these people who are really actually considering Christ's claims. Now, in the middle of this, these scenes where the common man is approaching Jesus and seeking him and considering his gospel claims, and the religious leaders are actively trying to arrest and kill him, John inserts this story about a scene where the religious leaders want to kill a woman caught in sexual immorality. This is the text immediately previous to ours. They drag this woman out who's been caught in adultery, and they want to kill her. And they're trying to get Jesus to get on board with their claims, to try her under deuteronomical law and put this lady to death. They're putting Jesus to the test to see if he'll join with them. In their judgment, Jesus instead challenges them to consider their own sin and God's grace upon them. And it's this beautiful scene where they just walk away. They've tried to shame and embarrass and trap Jesus publicly, and instead, he just turns it right back on him. All of that sets up our scene that opens with Jesus saying, I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. Now, there's a historical piece here that really sets the scene for us. So all this chunk of narrative takes place in a part of the temple, a courtyard called the courtyard of women, a large gathering place where all people could be together. It wasn't segregated by gender. And so during these big festivals, lots of people would hang out in the courtyard of women, an open area near the temple, almost always full at festival time. And there was this really large menorah, right? Like, think Hanukkah. Really large menorah. That was outdoor, that would light up this courtyard at night. And during the festival of booze, history tells us the jewish people kind of grabbed ahold of that piece and said, oh, this is good. We can use this space in the evening. And so they would set up fire pits all throughout the courtyard of the women. And during the festival, they would literally just stay up all night long with campfires, in spontaneous worship and dance. There was actually historical records of the rabbis talking about practicing their worship, dancing, getting ready for the festival of booths, because they would stay up all night long singing and praising God and dancing and preaching to one another. It was this really celebratory party kind of aspect of the festival of booths. Our text takes place the morning after the festival is over. You can imagine the scene, right, this big open space. The menorah has been like, the fires have been put out. You can see the folk in your head wandering around the courtyard, cleaning up messes, dragging away fire barrels, putting away the firewood. It's in this scene at the aftermath, the end of the festival, that Jesus says, actually, I am the light of the world. I know we've been worshiping and celebrating in this light all week long, but actually, I'm the light of the world. I'm the light it's a striking image. It's one that wouldn't have gotten past the people listening to him. There's actually another layer to this onion. You see, Jesus specifically mentions that his followers are in the light. Do you see that? I'm the light of the world, whoever follows me. Right. The idea of following light is kind of interesting because we don't usually do that. We usually don't follow light. We usually bring light with us. Right. If you find yourself in a dark room or a dark space, what do you do? You turn on a light. You light a candle. You grab a flashlight. You grab your phone and press the little button. Right. When do you follow light? That's just not a common practice. Well, guys, remember, the festival of booze was set up to commemorate Israel's time in the wilderness. Their time wandering when they lived. Intense. Well, how did Israel relate to God when they lived in the wilderness? God appeared to Israel as a pillar of smoke and fire. He lit up the night for them. He kept guard for them against their enemies. And you know how Israel knew when to break camp and move? When the pillar of God's light moved, they followed the pillar of God's light and smoke throughout the wilderness. He was their guide of. Yes. This is when Israel followed light. It's when God manifested himself as smoke and light and guided them. Is there light in the wilderness? Guys, Jesus is connecting himself with Yahweh here. He's doing it in a way that's mysterious and beautiful and subtle, but you got to know this. These are people who just spent a week at church camp. They just spent a week digging into the word, praying and saying, these are people who love the Lord. This would not have snuck past. And they know exactly what he's saying. These crowds are debating, right? Is this really the Messiah? Is he speaking the truth to us? And so at this point, he makes this bold claim, and the religious leaders go, we have to stop this now. We can't do this. Jesus doesn't fit in the mold of who the messiah is. He can't be the messiah. We have to shut him down. We got to get out of this. And so they use this very strange but honestly logical argument. They come up to him publicly when he makes this claim, and they go, you're just talking. You're just saying this about yourself. It's just words. We have no reason to believe you. You can't testify about yourself. Other people have to do it. And now our text gets, I think, really weird for us modern readers. But follow me on this Jesus'basic response to this is, I don't have to prove myself to you. I don't have to. I know who I am. I know what I'm doing. I speak out of that truth, and honestly, that's good enough. But beyond that, you're wrong. I'm not just speaking about myself. My father testifies about me as well. This is a reference to all the miraculous signs Jesus is doing right. God the father is showing his approval of Christ, speaking it through Christ's life. Jesus just identified with Yahweh through his claim, and now he's saying, yahweh identifies with me. But the Pharisees either miss this, or much more likely, they just reject it. Where is your father? Who is your father? They ask. You have to know. This is not like an innocent question furthering the discussion. This is actually mockery. This is a pretty mean thing to say in this culture. The first century, Jews saw their genealogy, their family records, as a really sacred matter of honor and spiritual connection. Challenging someone's legitimacy was a huge deal. It was a way to mock someone. Never mind the fact that we actually know. Like, people knew the story around Jesus'birth. People talked about the fact that Mary and Joseph weren't married when Jesus was born. Comments about Jesus'fatherhood were things that followed him through his life and ministry. So rather than actually engaging what Christ says here, the religious leaders decide to just mock him. Right? They just mock him. And Jesus'response to this, I mean, it's brutal, but it's also just so sorrowful. He basically just says, yeah, you really don't know my dad, do you? You really don't. And you don't know me, either. And he repeats one of these common thematic teachings of his ministry. To know Christ is to know his father. In that moment, in that moment, these religious leaders, I don't think, realized how profoundly a sorrowful thing Christ was saying to them. But we can see it clear as day. To know Jesus is to know God. And these religious leaders have missed Jesus, and as a result, they have missed God himself. End of our text. Merry Christmas. See you guys later. Why did I do this to you? Why is this our Christmas Eve text? What's the connection here, guys? There's a gospel connection here that I think is actually really important for us as we consider what it means to remember, to celebrate Christ this season. You see, Jesus'life on earth was a mission. He came here for a very specific purpose. He came here for a very specific work. And we trust and we believe that Christ accomplished this work. Jesus didn't enter into reality as a spirit, right? He didn't show up with the army of angels and just proclaim his authority. He didn't show up and just rule over the earth and take over. He didn't show up in all his glory and all his divinity. Christ came to earth as one of us came to earth as a human. That night in Bethlehem, a baby was born, a real human baby. I don't know about you guys. Some of us, like I've been present, when a baby's born, it's a very human thing. It's a very intense thing. And that night in Bethlehem, a baby was born. He was laid down in a manger. He cried for his mom. He fed. He was changed. His family held him and cuddled him. They cut his umbilical cord. All the normal things that happen when a baby comes into this world happened that night. So why? Why would Jesus incarnate? Why would he come as one of us? Why would he put on flesh? Our text points us toward the answer to that, the amazing gospel truth. So let me clarify here to kind of get us there. Colossians one, we've read this text before, has this amazing christology, this kind of theology of Jesus. It says this in Colossians one, starting in like verse twelve or 13, something like that. He rescued us. He, being Christ, rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the son he loves. In him we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He, he being Christ, he is the image of the invisible God, the first born over all creation. For everything was created by him in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible. Whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things have been created through him and they are for him. He is before all things and by him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church. He's the beginning. He's the first born from the dead so that we might have first place in everything. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him and through him, him being Christ, to reconcile everything unto himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood shed on the cross, beloved, Jesus is God made visible. He's the image of the invisible God. Jesus shows us God. He shows us what he looks like. Guys, it's so easy for, we don't know any different. It's so easy for us to forget how terrible the curse of sin really is. Beloved, let me remind you, you are not just this perfect edenic creature who has made some bad choices. I'm pretty good, mostly, but, you know, sometimes I'm selfish. That's not who we are. I'll say this to harsh your vibe this Christmas, but it's true. Sin has ruined you. Sin has ruined you. It has completely corrupted your perfect, heavenly design. God made all things perfect without flaw, without evil, without sin. He made humanity perfectly in his image for communion with him. Sin has ruined that because you and I were made with a perfect eternity in mind. And yet each and every one of us has such brokenness and such evil within us. We are selfish, we are rebellious, we are angry. We contain the potential for much evil. And it's easy to deny that truth. But if you are honest in your self reflection for a moment, I promise you will find it as true. We contain within us the capacity for great evil. Great evil, beloved. This ruins us. And when you put your sinful self next to the righteousness of God, the Holiness of God, the glory of God, Paul describes it like this. He's writing a letter to this guy who's mentoring Timothy. He says this, he is the blessed and only sovereign, the king of kings, the Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen and no one can see. And to him be honor and eternal power and glory. Amen. God's holiness is completely incompatible with our sinfulness. To approach him as our broken, sinful selves is to be completely consumed by his glory. That's not a matter of God's anger. That's not a matter of wrath. That's a matter of fact. It's a matter of fact. If you walk into a big furnace of fire, fire is not mad at you. It's just not going to work. If a sinful human approaches the glory of God, the glory of God will consume you. When the prophets were given visions of God the father, if you read through, like, the big prophetic books in scripture, you'll notice they don't describe him. They describe things around him. It's interesting. Isaiah talks about his robe. Isaiah talks about the angels lit on fire by their proximity to his glory. Ezekiel talks about his light reflecting off the gems on his throne. John talks about lightning and thunder and rainbows rumbling around him. They don't describe Yahweh because his holiness makes him indescribable. His glory makes him unknowable. He is too other for us sinful, broken humans. We can't know him. And yet, here's the real tragedy, guys. We're made to know him. We're designed to be with him. We were made for relationship and intimacy with him. What a wretched tension to live in. How can we live as we were made to live, if we were made for God? But God's holiness would consume us. We're stuck. It's a wretched position to be in. It's why human beings strive for meaning and purpose. And yet, time and time again, throughout all of human history, if you look at the people who found everything this world has to offer, and you actually hear them be honest, they'll just go, I don't know. It wasn't enough. It didn't do it for me. Go read ecclesiastes. Read about King Solomon, one of the most wealthy, wise, successful human beings in history, who literally had everything the world had to offer him. At that point, you know what? His response to everything the world has to offer, that was not enough. Didn't get me there, didn't satisfy me, had everything. Because we're made for something we can't have. How wretched. And yet. Enter Jesus. Enter our sweet, wonderful Jesus. He comes to us. We can't approach his throne. The glory would consume us. So God comes to us. He puts on skin and bones. He lets blood flow through his veins. He fills his lungs with the very air he created and sustains. He lives with us. And you can walk up to Christ. You can hear his voice, you can hold his hand, you can share a meal with him. You can ask him his opinion on popular music. He lives amongst us, beloved. Jesus makes the invisible God visible. He makes the unknowable God knowable. He makes the way for us back to our design. He makes the way for us to know God, beloved, this is why he was born. This is why we celebrate the manger. The problem is that even this we miss because of our sin. Just like those religious leaders, we get stuck in the minutiae of the world, whether it's our self obsession, whether it's trauma or wrong things done to us, whether it's our own sin patterns, even our religious practice. We get caught up in the things of this world and the minutiae of what's right in front of us, and we miss God. And, beloved, you must know, if you miss Jesus, you miss God. If you miss Christ, you miss God. Paul described it like this in the second letter to the Corinthians. He says this, therefore, since we have this ministry because we were shown mercy, we don't give up. Instead, we've renounced all the secret and shameful things, not acting deceitfully or distorting the word of God, but commending ourselves before God to everyone's conscience by an open display of the truth. But if our gospel is veiled, if it's unknowable, if it's confusing, it's veiled to those who are perishing. Because in their case, the God of this age, of this world, has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel, the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we're not proclaiming ourselves, but Jesus Christ is Lord and ourselves as your servants. For Jesus'sake. For God has said, let light shine in the darkness. It has shown in our hearts to give the light of knowledge of God's glory in the face of Jesus Christ. Beloved, spiritual blindness is a very real thing. It's a very real thing, and we suffer from it often. Paul calls it the God of this age who blinds us from the truths of God's glory. What this means, guys, is that sometimes, let's be honest, this is true of each and every one of us. Sometimes the world just weighs more to us than the kingdom of God. Sometimes the right now and the things in front of us just matter more to us than the things of eternity, the things of the kingdom. Sometimes you consider your job, you consider your financial situation. You consider your relationships. You consider your family. You consider your comforts. You consider your dreams. You consider the things you enjoy, and they just matter more to you than forever. And what an easy trap to fall into, right? Right now almost always weighs more than later, right? It's so easy to miss what's in store for us, the future, because we're caught up right now. But beloved, I am here to tell you the kingdom of God is not so distant as you might think. Yes, it is eternity. Yes, it is forever. Yes, Christ made you for forever. Yes, Christ wins you and saves you to his forever. Yes, there is an eternal promise in Christ. Yes, and amen. But I promise you, Christ is with you today as well. The incarnation means that Christ lives with you now when we focus on things, even good things, over and above God's kingdom, God's kingdom forever and God's kingdom right now, we become spiritually blind and we miss what's right in front of our face. And here's what's weird. A time like Christmas, where we celebrate the incarnation, where we celebrate this truth, is one of the easiest times to fall back into this spiritual blindness. Because we're distracted, we're busy. There's sorrow or loss or broken relationship. There's busy calendars and traditions we have to get in. There's guilt and shame and social pressure of making sure you make the right memories and post the right picture and buy more, more and more. The internal pressure of being good enough to the expectation. There are so many things. The times, like Christmas, they can be fun, they can be life giving, but they can also be so distracting and so blinding. I mean, even right now, right, like, all of us are going, like, we're thinking through what's going on today and we're like, is he going to preach much longer? No, I'm not. Beloved, I'll end with this band if you want to come back up. See, I told you, not much longer. Don't settle for blindness this Christmas. Don't be content with being so distracted by what's right in front of you, by the here and the now, by the things of this world, by the things that are passing away, that you miss Christ in front of your face. Think about those religious leaders, spent years of their lives studying and memorizing scripture, doing everything they could to know God, to be good enough, to be righteous, to be holy. And then God himself comes and hangs out with them and stands in front of their face. And they mock him. They miss him. So caught up, so caught up in this world, in this life, in this minutiae, they miss God in front of their face. Beloved, don't fall into that trap today. Don't fall into that trap this week. I mean, yes, do all the fun. Do all the fun stuff, all of it. Hang out with family and kids and grandkids, open presents, drink hot cocoa, do all the stuff. Feel the bit feels. Do the morning. You need to do this week. Like, do it. Yes, but can I just invite you, do that with Christ. Don't engage this season. Instead of engaging Christ, engage the season with Christ. He is with you. You need not miss him. You need not live your life totally detached thinking about the future. You can live with Christ right here, right now. Beloved, Christ is the light of the world. He illuminates the darkness. He shines the light of his love into our hearts, into our darkness, into our wounds, into our busyness, into our anxiety, into our worries. Right here, right now. That is available to you church, right now. So I'm going to do this. I'm going to end because I have talked too long. I'm going to invite you to take a minute and pray to consider your jesus, consider his love for you, maybe take a moment and think about the things that are blinding you today. Ask Jesus to shine his light in your life, in your heart, to illuminate to your soul the realities in front of you, to give you eyes, to see him with you today. I promise you. I promise you. Christ would love to celebrate with you today. He would love to mourn with you today. Whatever you need to do, do it with Jesus. Take a few minutes to pray and then we'll continue on our worship. [01:09:41] Speaker B: In worship, by taking communion. If you have your elements, go ahead and get them ready. If you don't, then raise your hand and someone will bring those forward. [01:09:50] Speaker A: For you're. [01:10:03] Speaker B: Christmas season is one where for most of us, we get to spend time giving and receiving gifts. I don't know about you guys, but that tends to look in different ways for our family. Last night we got to give some gifts to our children. And if you haven't ever been able to have the experience of giving a gift to a small child and just seeing the joy and the excitement as they open these presents, there's something just really incredible about that. And it's not because they need this little toy that they're opening, it's not because that's something super important to them, but they love it. They enjoy the wonder of getting to open a present and getting this thing that they weren't sure if they were going to get. We give and receive gifts at Christmas time because God gave us a gift and it was a gift that we actually truly, desperately needed. Sam just talked about this, that nothing in this life actually truly can satisfy. We were made for Jesus and God gave us this incredible gift of Jesus, and Jesus gave us a gift. He gave us this thing we call Communion. We're not Catholic. We don't believe that this little wafer and the juice actually become the bread or the flesh and blood of Jesus, but this is a representation that Jesus gave us of himself. He said, I know you will struggle. I know you will have trouble remembering. So take this and do it often in remembrance of me. And that's why we do it every Sunday morning. So we're going to take communion like we do. And I pray that this would be special for you, that this would be a gift from Jesus, the gift of his presence, that it would remind you of who he is and what he has done for you and what he continues to do in your life. When Jesus was gathered together with his friends, he broke the bread and he passed it around and he said, this is my body broken for you. Take and eat in the same way also after dinner he took the cup and he passed it around and he said, this is my blood poured out for you to invite you into a new covenant of grace for to take and drink, Jesus is so good, let's continue in worship. [01:13:43] Speaker C: In Christ alone my hope is found he is my light, my strength, my song this cornerstone, this solid ground firm through the fiercest drought and storm what heights of love, what depths of peace when fears are filled, when striving seas my comforter, my all in all here in the love of Christ I stand in Christ alone, who took on flesh fullness of God in. [01:14:32] Speaker A: Helpless faith, this gift of love in. [01:14:38] Speaker C: Righteousness scorned by the ones he came to save. Till on that cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied, for every sin on him was laid here in the death of Christ. [01:15:02] Speaker A: I live. [01:15:23] Speaker C: There in the ground, his body laid light of the world by darkness, slain then bursting for me. For I am here and he is mine. Walk with the precious blood of Christ. [01:16:14] Speaker A: Wow. [01:16:29] Speaker C: No guilt in life, no fear in death. This is the power of Christ in me. From life first cry to final breath, Jesus commands my destiny. No power of hell, no scheme of man can never pluck me from his hand no power of hell, no scheme of man can never pluck me from his hand till he returns or calls me home here in the power of Christ I said. [01:17:38] Speaker E: Amen. Guys, you can be seated. One last time. Thank you for worshiping with us this morning, church. It is an honor to have you here this morning, and we're glad that you're here. If you're visiting us this morning, we welcome you as a guest. Thank you for being here this morning. We have a gift for you with no strings attached. On the welcome table there are some Emmanuel fellowship mugs. And we would love if you would take one of those home with you as a gift for us. If you want to connect with us farther, there are some connect cards on the wall in the back. You can fill those out, drop them in the box and let us know how we can minister to you or pray for you. And we would love to do that. You will hear this theme in our church, whether you visit us on Christmas Eve or in April, or in August. And that is that we believe passionately that the word of God teaches that as Jesus Christ pours into you, he will pour out of you this idea of Christ in you and Christ coming out of you. And that is a message that we believe passionately about. And so in that regard, we all have some sort of a next step. Whether you're connected with Emmanuel Fellowship or not, there is a next step for you to take in your faith. It may be that first step of faith in putting trust in Jesus Christ as your savior. And if that's the case, we would love to be a part of that and let us know how we can. But for most of us, it may just be. What is that next step that I need to take? Could be an inward step or an outward step, but we have several that we commend to you as a part of Emmanuel Fellowship church. I'm going to mention three this morning. The first is, and one of the reasons that we are a southern baptist church is to support the Lottie moon Christmas offering. Lottie Moon was a missionary in the 19th century, foreign missionary that wrote back to american churches, encouraging them to not just join the mission field, but to give sacrificially of their money to help foreign missions. And so 100% of your money that goes to that effort goes to the mission field. And so consider that as your year end giving above and beyond. What you may give to your church is to give to the Lottie moon offering. You can do that through the envelopes on the wall in the back. Or if you go to our website, emmanuelfellowshipstl.org, to the giving page, there's a drop down menu and there's a Christmas offering tab that you can give through that tab and that will be sent on the mission field for the Lottie moon Christmas offering. The second thing is for the men of our church. Beginning in January, on January 13, we are going to have a men's steak dinner. This is an opportunity for the men of our church to gather together, to have some good food and good fellowship, some gospel teaching and to connect our hearts together. We've been a church for just two years and so this is a new launch for us as a men's ministry. There's a sign up sheet on the welcome table, so if you would like to or love to participate in that, let us know. Put your name down there and we'll follow up with you. That is the 13 January. It's for a steak dinner, all the fixings. It'll be here in this building at 06:00 p.m. It's $15 is all you need to donate to join us for that. So please consider that there's a sign up sheet on the table. And the last thing is we are going to have a Christmas Eve gathering tonight. It's going to look a little different than what we normally would do on Christmas Eve since we've had a Sunday gathering. It's kind of an open house type of a thing. It's going to be from 05:00 p.m. To 630. There will be a fire pit out back. There will be some prayer prompts for the nativity scene out there. And then we're going to have about a 20 to 25 minutes rotating worship celebration. There'll be a gospel message and a candlelight service and some singing. Whether you have five minutes or 30 minutes, please consider joining us this evening beginning at 05:00 or anytime between five and 630. Come and join us for that. We would love to have you. And there are still some invite cards on the table back there. If there are some folks in your life that you would like to invite tonight, what I just described is what you would be inviting them into. And so grab some of those cards and ask some of those folks to participate tonight. I love what Jesse said about the joy that a child exhibits when you give them a gift. We all resonate with that, or we should. And it's no different than the joy of the gift that we've been given in Jesus. And we've just heard this message of Jesus as the light of the world. And so our benediction as we leave here tonight is from Matthew, chapter five. Jesus says, you are the light of the world. A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand. It gives light for all who are in the house. In the same way, Jesus says, let your light shine before others. Let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to the Father who is in heaven. Folks, as you leave today, let that joy of the gift of salvation that you have been given, if you are a believer in Jesus, shine in a world that needs it because they are desperately in darkness. Have a merry Christmas. We love you guys. We hope to see you back here tonight. Have a great day.