Senior Pastor, Robert Dennison, preached this message on December 24, 2025. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Audio Transcript
Chapter one, verses one through five. It’s printed in here, or you can find it in the Pew Bible. On page 941, we read once again. In the beginning was the Word, 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.
And we pray. Heavenly Father, as we take a few minutes to look at your word tonight, help us to reflect upon the reason why we truly celebrate Christmas this time of year, that we might honor the birth of your son and the great gift that you gave us to him. It’s in his name that we pray. Amen. John starts his Gospel with a different angle of the first Christmas.
He presents what we call the theological view of what had happened. Instead of the tangible things like angels and shepherds, he is talking about the intangible things, the invisible, the spiritual things that were going on when Jesus Christ came to earth. And I want us to just think about four words tonight. One is incarnation, one is revelation, one is celebration, and one is invitation. First is Christmas is about incarnation.
And incarnation is a theological term that we use to say that God actually became man, that the spirit of God came in a human in the form of flesh, as a man. You know, at Christmas time, we think about the gifts that we give to our family. I’ll ask you to be honest. How many of you thought about the gift in advance that you were going to give to your spouse? Okay.
Hopefully, men, you raise your hand. Now, if you don’t put any thought into the gift, all right. And you just go out and buy her something like a screwdriver, what is the response going to be? Something like that. It’s just going to fall, isn’t it?
You know, if you take time to think about the gift, it demonstrates to your loved one that you love for them and that you care for them, but it also is going to display something else. Because if you give her a screwdriver and she doesn’t need the screwdriver, it’s not something that she really needed or something that she desires. The best gifts are thought about and display the character of the giver, but they also meet the need and the desire of the one that’s being given to. And that’s what God did when he sent Jesus Christ in the flesh to live among us. It was a gift that came out of the loving, giving heart of our God, but it also met our greatest need.
And that was one for a savior. When Adam and Eve sinned into the garden, all of a sudden there was a need for restoration that was created in their lives. Restoration and a right relationship with Go. You know, God knew before he created them that this was going to happen. And even before they made their decision to turn against Him, God had already planned out the perfect gift that he would send one day to meet their need.
The gift Jesus Christ represents God perfectly. And it also perfectly meets the need that we have. And the only way to do both those things was for God to come into flesh and live among us. John says, in the beginning was the Word. 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. And in him was life. Once again, Matthew and Luke tell the Christmas story about Mary and Joseph and angels and shepherds and wise men, the Bethlehem and stable.
But John tells what was going on behind the scenes, what we really can’t observe, and that is that Jesus, the Word, who is God in the flesh, came so that he could shed light on who God is. Because instead of God being hidden away in the tabernacle or not able to be seen because he was spirit, now, when Jesus was in the manger, Mary and Joseph for the first time were seeing the face of God. And not only did he light up for us what God’s character and personality is and his love for us, but he gave us light to show us how we might be restored to a right relationship with God. He had created life initially, and only he can restore it to what God intends for us in the new creation. Christmas is also about revelation.
In John, it says 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. When we talk about revelation at Christmas, the revelation is that Jesus came and gave light to the world. He came in the flesh, and by his miracles, by casting out demons, by his teaching, and eventually by his death on the cross, he gave light. He revealed to us what true salvation is.
And without that revelation, we would not be able to understand the Gospel, we would not know how to be saved, and we would not know how to live our life at peace with the Lord. John talks about this in a letter that he wrote later on. After the Gospel, he said what was from the beginning, what we have heard with our ears, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have observed, and what we have even touched with our hands. He was given testimony of the fact that Jesus literally lived among them. They saw him, they heard him, they observed him and they touched him.
Concerning the word of life, John said that life was revealed, and we have seen it. And we testify and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us. God allowed himself to be heard, seen, observed, and touched so that we could understand him in the most intimate and perfect way. We come to the third word now, and that’s celebration. We go back to Luke now, the story that we’re most familiar with.
And it says while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And then she gave birth to her firstborn son. And she wrapped him tightly in cloth and laid him in a manger because there was no guest room available for them. If you’ve ever had a baby, was there celebration that night? Yes, there was.
Mary and Joseph were excited about the baby. They spent nine months putting up with ridicule. Whose son is this? They had gone on a difficult journey from Beth all the way to Bethlehem from Nazareth, and she was about to deliver. And here they couldn’t even find room for them in the inn, and she had to give birth in a stable.
But in spite of all the bad things that happened, all the difficulties, they celebrated that night at the arrival of their firstborn son. But Luke tells us they weren’t the only ones that celebrated. Suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest heaven and peace on earth to people he favors. And as if that wasn’t enough, there was more celebration because the shepherds were involved. The shepherds returned after glorifying and praising God for all the things they had seen and heard, which were just as they had been told.
We give gifts at Christmas because they represent what God has given to us. We also celebrate at Christmas because it is appropriate to do that. As we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Incarnation, revelation, celebration, we come to the last word, and that is invitation. We go back to the letter that John wrote.
He said what we have seen and heard. He also mentioned that they touched him. They were with him all the time. He says, we declare this to you. And the reason John said this was so that you may also have fellowship with us.
And indeed our fellowship is with the Father, talking about God the Father and with his son, Jesus Christ. Christmas is a reminder that God invites every everyone to have a restored relationship with him and with Jesus. And that relationship is pictured in Scripture as being one of friendship. It’s pictured one as being a father also as. As being family.
So whatever you lack in your life in regard to relationships or good relationship, I mean, yeah, good relationships, God the Father provides those for you. Through his son, he created the world, and in it there was no evil. Everything was good. He created Adam and Eve to live in the world, and he provided them with everything that was good. He even walked with them, not only as their God and creator, but as a family and as a friend.
The scripture tells us that Adam and Eve sinned. They sinned by doing things their own way instead of God’s way. They sinned by thinking things their own way instead of thinking as God wanted them to think. And they sinned by desiring what they wanted instead of what God wanted for them. Doing, thinking and desiring our way instead of God’s way is how we describe what sin is in our life.
And as all of us are descendants of Adam and Eve, we all continually descend in these three ways, and it separates us from God. But John gives us good news. He writes that we can have fellowship with God again. And so we go back to his rendition of the gospel story in John, chapter one, when he talks about Christmas. He said that to all who did receive him, being Jesus Christ, he gave the right to be children of God to those who believe in his name.
John tells us in the very first chapter of his Gospel that if we receive Jesus and if we believe in his name, that we can have a right relationship with God the Father. The Apostle Paul expands on this a little bit more. He says specifically, what we believe is that Jesus is God in the flesh, that he died on the cross, that he was buried, and he rose from the grave, and he did that to pay for the penalty for our sin. And the invitation tonight is that if you have never received God’s gift of salvation, his invitation is ready at any moment. All you have to do is simply tell God that you want to turn from living your way to living God’s way.
And that you believe that by Jesus, death, burial, and resurrection alone, you can have a restored relationship with Jesus Christ. You might say, how do I have that relationship? What do I need to do? It’s just a matter of talking to God. And you might say something like this, God, I know I’m separated from you because I continually sin in my actions and thoughts and desires that go against you.
But tonight I want my life to change from Living my way to living your way. And I believe that Jesus died on the cross, that he was buried and rose from the dead, that I might be restored to a right relationship with you. If you tell that to God, you become one of his children. And I would love to follow up with you. There’s a little tear off get connected card in the bulletin.
Just write on there your name and say please give me a call. I’d like to have some more information. But if you’re not ready to make a decision tonight, we have a little pamphlet outside that’s called what is the Gospel that we would love for you to pick up and take home so that you can really think about this decision that will be the turning point in your life from now on. May we all give thanks to God for his great gift that represents who he is completely loving in his nature and character. That he would come in the flesh and actually die on the cross.
For all of us, may we pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you that we can celebrate tonight the birth of your son. We thank you for the invitation that you offer to all of us that we might receive the greatest gift of salvation and have a restored relationship with you. Father. That is one like having the best friend, having the best father, having the best family and being with you throughout eternity, enjoying that relationship.
We ask that you would touch the hearts of anyone here tonight that may not know Jesus as their personal savior. That they would make that decision or at least leave this place tonight. Father Concern considering if that’s something that they need to do. It’s in your son’s name that we pray. Amen.