The Church of Eleven22 - Christmas from Eternity - Unwrapping Christmas Wk. 1

Episode Date: December 4, 2023

The son of God became a man so that men and women could become sons and daughters of the one true God. We invite you to join us in celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ this Christmas season! Go to coe22.com/christmas for all of the details on Christmas Eve services and how we're celebrating this year! - The Church of Eleven22™ is a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. Eleven22 is led by Pastor Joby Martin and based in Jacksonville, Florida, with multiple campuses throughout Jacksonville and the surrounding areas. To support The Church of Eleven22 and help us continue to reach people around the world, visit https://www.coe22.com/donate

wrapping Christmas together. Amen and amen. Well, Merry Christmas, Church. If you got your Bibles, and I hope you do, we're going to start out in John, Chapter 1. I love this time of year. I love that video so much. It gives me some Christmas ideas.

I think I'm going to get my wife and kids goats this year for Christmas and see how that goes. If you've got any maturity to you whatsoever, I'm not even talking about, like, in your walk with Jesus. I just mean, if you grow up at all a little bit, you'll get to the place during Christmas where you realize the words of Jesus are absolutely true that it is better to give than to receive. Amen? And that's what that video was about. And over the next four weeks, we're going to be looking at Christmas from a bunch of different angles. But you also heard

from our campus pastors that this weekend is our big give weekend. That a year ago, we started this thing called the 10-10 life. You've heard a lot about it. It's rooted in John, chapter 10, verse 10, where Jesus says that we have an enemy, and he's a thief. and the only thing that he does is he comes to steal, kill, and destroy. But Jesus, who is the good shepherd, he comes that we may have life and have it abundantly. And we are in this two-year discipleship journey, and this weekend marks the beginning of the second year. And our primary goal in this 10-10 life journey was that 100% of people that consider 1122 to be their church, that they would go all in on what this 10-10 life is all about.

And a part of what it means is that we're going to continue to do what we do as a church, We're going to make disciples to make disciples to make disciples. We're also going to plant churches all over the world on our way towards a thousand churches in a 10-year period of time. And we're going to put campuses everywhere that we can put them, 1122 campuses all over, not just Jacksonville, but all around the place. And in addition to that, that we are going to get into the fight and fight for the dignity and sanctity of life for every single image bearer of God from womb to tomb.

And that's what the 10-10 life is all about. And then about three or four weeks ago, we had a commitment weekend because we know that where your treasury is there your heart will be also, and we were calling our people to bring their first and best to God and make a pledge or a commitment, a financial commitment to the Lord to say, God, this is what first and best looks like to us,

and this is what we are bringing to you to accomplish all of the things that you have called our church to accomplish. And so I want to share with you some of the results of what you are what you are doing to accomplish. what happened just a few weeks ago. Again, first and foremost, our primary goal was that 100% of our people would play along

in the 10-10 life. And a few weeks ago, we had, this is unbelievable, 6,944 people make a new individual first-time pledge through the ministry of the Church of 1122, okay? Which is pretty remarkable because we've grown by about that many people over the last year. In addition to that, we had almost 2,000 people say that they were going to increase the pledge

that they made last year, and then check this out, the total number of commitments that were made to the 10-10 life are 19,726 individuals. Amen? Now, I can tell by your TPC golf clap, you don't realize what a big deal that is. Listen, man, in my world and church world, that's just not how it goes.

And almost every church around the country right now, about 20% of people fund all of the ministry. But here at the Church of 1122, not only are we a movement for all people. We are a movement by all people. That no matter, I mean, basically, everybody that comes to 1122 on a weekend is making some kind of commitment here. If you didn't get a chance to do this so far, maybe you're the one person that didn't do it, okay? So I'm talking to you. If this is your very first time, go ahead and make a commitment.

It's worth it, I promise. This commitment card is in front of you right now. It'll be the last weekend. It's there. but again 19,726 people have made commitments and the total number of commitments and expected giving. If you'll remember when we kicked this thing off a year ago,

our goal was $110 million over two years. Your generosity exceeded that, so we upped it to about $136 as a goal. And our total number of commitments and expected giving over this two-year period of time is $144,106. And $63. Praise God, man.

Praise God. Now, if you're saying, well, what are you going to do with all that money? We're going to do exactly what we said we were going to do. We're going to continue to make disciples, plant churches, launch campuses, and fight for the abundant life of every image bearer of God, wound, and tomb. But because of your generosity, we'll just be able to do more faster. Amen? Amen.

Now, if you're a commitment person like I am, then this is our big game of weekend. This kicks us off for this final year. Gretchen and I have prayed about it like crazy. and so whether you made a first time commitment or you upped it or you committed to finish strong, we're not doing any special, like we don't pass a plate here in case you're new, but at the end of the service or you could do it right now,

we want you to go ahead and get started there. Why? Because Christmas teaches us it is better to give than to receive. I'm going to tell you, I love Christmas, okay? I'm not the anti-Christmas guy. In fact, it looks like Buddy the elf threw up on our stage and I love it so much. I love all the things, man.

I love the lights. I love the movies, I love the stories, I love the eggnog, loaded, I love the, all the things. Whatever you're into with Christmas, I'm into it. And if that offends you, it's going to get way worse for you. And what we're doing over the next four weeks is we're unwrapping Christmas. We're going to take a look at four different narratives or Christmas stories in the Bible. You see, because I love Christmas stories. I hope you love Christmas stories.

We watch a lot of Christmas movies at my house, okay? and one of the things that you can know is coming at Christmas is you can know that at Christmas time Rudolph will get to play reindeer games, amen, that Santa against all odds gets the presents delivered, that George Bailey will realize that it is a wonderful life, that Ralphie will get the Red Rider BB gun, that Clarence gets his wings, that Kevin once again thwarts the wet bandits,

that Buddy is reunited with his father, that Clark finally gets the pool, and that Hans Gruber meets his maker at the hands of John McLean, in the greatest Christmas story. Now, I do not endorse that movie. I just enjoy it. All right. Now, so we love all the stories.

But we're going to talk about the Christmas story. And I just want to let you know. I don't even like using the word story because I don't want you to think flannelgraph or veggie tales or a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. That's not what this is. This story is an actual, vent. But every Christmas story is rooted in at its bedrock, something that is true. So when I say

this, when I say the word story, I mean it like this. It reminds me of, there's a guy named J.R.R. Tolkien. You know him because he wrote The Lord of the Rings. And he had a one more. Do you know who J.R.R.R. Tolkien's one more was? There's a guy named Clive Staples Lewis. And when your name's Clive, they call you C.S. Lewis was J. R. R. R. T. S. Lewis was J. are tokens one more. And those two fellows and two other guys would meet at this little restaurant, this little pub, really, and it's called the Eagle and Child, and it's right across the street from Oxford. And Clive Staples, C.S., he was a professor of medieval mythology at Oxford. Pretty smart guy. I know you're brilliant. This guy smarter than you. And he was an atheist. He did not

believe that Jesus is who he says he is, and he believed that this book, the Bible, was a myth or a story like every other people group had. And they would get together, and they called their little group the inklings. And they would talk about things like medieval mythology and fairies and fairy tales and where story came from, and they would talk about theology. The level of nerddom happening at the Eagle of Child

was really intense, okay? Then one day, after a pint, they also drank a pint, so Baptists just think about that next time you read mere Christianity or the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, after a pint, when J.R. Tolkien was trying to convince C.S. Lewis that Jesus is who he says he is, he simply says this phrase, because C.S. Lewis was talking about myth and mythology and all these things,

and J.R. Tolkien says, hey, listen, Jack. They call him Jack. I don't know why they call him Jack. That was his nickname. His nickname was Jack. And they said, hey, Jack, what if this myth is true? and that began to haunt C.S. Lewis. And he walks out of the Eagle and Child, and he gets on one of those goofy little English bike things, and he begins to ride to his little apartment,

and he lived on the campus of Oxford. And according to his own testimony, he said that when he got to the beginning of this little pathway that's called Addison's Walk, that when he got to the front of Addison's Walk on his bicycle, that he did not believe that Jesus is who he says he is, and somehow, as he was haunted by the phrase, What if this myth is true?

By the time that he had gotten to the end of the path, he said he became the most reluctant convert in all of England. Why? Because he knew that this wasn't just a story, that this was an actual event. And so we are going to look at four different Christmas stories or four different Christmas narratives in the Bible. Now, when we save a Christmas story,

most of our minds go to Luke chapter 2. That's the event of Christmas. Christmas from Mary's perspective, and Linus Van Pelt from Charlie Brown. We'll get there. That'll be our Christmas Eve text. Many of you know that Matthew Chapter 1 also records a Christmas story. This is from Joseph's perspective. This is when the wise men show up, but we're going to kind of ruin your manger scene because

the wise men don't show up for several years later. They don't even show up in Bethlehem at the manger. It's at a house when Jesus is a child. But please don't go out and kick your neighbor's manger scene down. and try to correct their theology, it's fine. Next week, we're going to look at Christmas from the perspective of the end of times. I don't know how many of you realize

that there is a Christmas narrative in the book of Revelation, so think about that. So if you've wondered on our Christmas wrapping why there's a dragon, then come back next week, we're going to tell you all about that. But today, we're going to study the event that is Christmas from the Gospel of John, and here, we're not looking at Mary's,

perspective or Joseph's perspective or in time's perspective, we're going to go all the way back to the very beginning. And then we're going to circle around and bring it back to the end, and then we're going to end up right where you and I are sitting right now. You see, I think many of us miss the magnitude of Christmas because we don't understand the backdrop of what was happening that led up to Christmas Day. You see, so often we just start at the manger, but it goes all the way back to the beginning. You see, it's not like God's ultimate plan. You see, it's not like God's ultimate plan was Adam and Eve and then they send up and he didn't know what to do and he said I see your sin and I raise you Christmas that's not how it went at all that this was the plan

from the very beginning John chapter one from a heavenly perspective an eternal perspective he says this in the beginning was the word and that word word is capitalized because it it stands for a concept and an idea called logos or Lagos. Logos is the Greek philosophical idea that there was this animating force and a source of all logic that was behind and initiating all things. And so John grabs that idea and says, you know what? You're right. There is an animating force. There is a source of all logic that initiates all things.

And in the beginning was this logos, was this word. And the word was with God and the word was God. To which you go, well, which one? John goes right. The word was God and the word was with God. Verse two, he, not it, he was in the beginning with God. And all things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made. See, John wants us to know that before Jesus ever showed up in the manger in Bethlehem,

that in the beginning, he was there. You see, in the beginning, God. God decided for his own glory to create everything that is. Why? I don't know he's God. He does what he wants. And one God in three persons out of an overflow of God's love for God's self creates everything that is for His glory. Now, particularly when we talk about the triune nature of God that there's one God and three persons, I know it gets a little bit confusing. Do you know why? Because you're not as smart as you think you are. It's not your fault. You can't help it. To try to explain God, imagine if you walked out to the Atlantic Ocean and you had a Dixie Cup and you were trying to get all of the Atlantic Ocean into the Dixie Cup. You think it won't fit. Well, when you try to get your mind around the vastness of who God is, your brain, let's be honest, it's more like mouthwash cup style, and you're like, it won't fit, you think?

But there's one God and three persons, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, in a perfect, submitted love relationship with himself from the beginning. And out of an overflow of God's love for God's self, he begins to create the same. things for his glory. And he just speaks them into existence. And when he speaks, they're there. But for some reason, he does not speak you and I into existence. The Bible says, he gathers together the Adamah, that is the Hebrew word where we get the name Adam. It means dirt. He gathers the dust of the earth together. And then he breathes the ruach of life. That word is spirit of breath. And to the very first man. And the very first man opens his eyes and he is face to face with his creator,

his God, his heavenly father. And that's what every single one of us were created for. That's why you're going to be disappointed by 10 a.m. on Christmas Day when all the presents are open. And you got the gift that was going to finally and fully convince your kids that you're the greatest parents of all time. And they look at you and go, we're bored. It's because we were created for so much more than anything this world could offer.

We were created for that very moment. And God decides to create us in his image, male and female, he created them. To experience life in a manner that he knows life. That is to give and to receive love and to be in relationship with the creation. And in that moment, God was with his people. The Hebrew word, God with us, is Emmanuel. You probably have a Christmas card with that on it, Emmanuel. well. It's a way to understand the entire Bible, God with us. And God and his people were in this

perfect, unadulterated, unbroken relationship in the garden. And God was not into a bunch of rules. He was into relationship. And the way we know this is there was a whole bunch of dues, and there was only one don't. There was only one warning. There were all kind of positive things like subdue and cultivate, be fruitful and multiply. But then he gave this one warning. He'd go, but there's one tree in this midst of the garden, and it's the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and if you eat of that tree, it'll kill you, so don't. And so everything goes great for like a page in my Bible. And then in the ultimate form of FOMO, both Adam and Eve, reject God because the serpent, the enemy, the evil one, the trickster, comes to them and lies to them and says, God is trying to keep something

from you because he knows if you eat that tree, you're going to be like him. And so, So both Adam and Eve rejects God. And they reject God really in two ways. They reject God in rebellion and they reject God through religion. They reject God in rebellion because they say, forget you, who are you to tell us what we can and can't do? You ain't the boss of me. I do what I want with who I want, when I want,

and they took the forbidden fruit and they ate of it. And then they ran from God. They ran from God. Because up until this point, the Bible says that Adam and Eve, we're both naked and unashamed. Now, the older I get, the more amazing that verse is to me. Praise God. Yeah, that's the 50 and up crowd giggling.

I mean, just imagine for a minute. And then they run from God because they're ashamed. And now they're rejecting God through religion. God is chasing them down saying, what has happened? And they say, forget you, God. We don't need you to cover our sin and shame. By the works of our own hands, we can sow fig leaves and do it for ourselves. And so, God, God demonstrates his justice because he is holy and just and all sin must be paid for,

and he banishes them from the garden. But he also demonstrates his grace. And the Bible says, for the first time in human history, blood is shed, that an animal is slain, and he takes the pelt of that animal and makes coverings for Adam and Eve. And then he gives what theologians called the proto-evanglion. He looks at the woman and he says this, I'm going to put enmity between your offspring and this enemy, this serpent, this liar, and there will come a day from your lineage where you will have a son and this enemy is going to bruise his heel and think he wins. And in doing so, he's going to get his head crushed. And for all of the rest of the Old Testament, all of the people of God are looking for the fulfillment of that moment when the serpent crusher shows up on the scene.

See, fast forward a few chapters, about nine. God chooses a man named Abraham, changes his name to Abraham, makes a promise through this man. The promise seems impossible. The guy's 80. He says, you're going to have a baby. God's like, Abraham's like, how's that going to happen? Because I'm old, and he says about his wife, Sarah, and she's older than old.

Don't ever say that, husbands. Well, sure enough, 20 years later, God fulfills that promise. And Abraham has Isaac, and Isaac has, and Jacob has 12 kids. And these 12 kids end up in Egypt of all places. And then God uses a series of sufferings to prepare for himself a people. And out of this people, he has a very unlikely leader,

a guy named Moses, a guy who has screwed up in the past, a guy whose resume includes things like murder. And this guy is kind of seemingly wasting his life away. For 40 years he's been wandering around in the desert, working for his father-in-law, so you know he's outside of the will of God. And he's just mining sheep one day, and this bush is on fire, but not being consumed. And God Almighty speaks to Moses. It says, Moses, here's what I want you to do.

I want you to go stand before Pharaoh. By the way, Moses grew up in Pharaoh's house. He knew the garage door code and things like that. And so Moses is told to go before Pharaoh, and on behalf of the Almighty God, tell Pharaoh who thought he was a God, I'm here on behalf of the God Almighty and I'm here to tell you, let my people go. And Moses says, who should I say sent me? And God says, you tell them, I am that I am.

There was a series of plagues, a series of events. Moses shows up on the doorstep before Pharaoh and says, let my people go. And the tenth plague that really breaks the will of Pharaoh is that God goes to Moses and says, you go take a perfect spotless lamb, you shed the blood of a lamb, you put the blood of the lamb on the doorpost of your house, house because tonight an angel of death is going to come through all of Egypt and take the first

born of everybody except for the one that has the blood of the lamb on the doorpost of the house. And so the angel comes. Pharaoh says, you can go. Moses takes his people through the Red Sea. They walk through on dry land. God brings Moses and the nation of Israel to a place called Mount Sinai, and he gives him something that you've heard about. We call it the Ten Commandments.

He actually gives him like 613 commandments. He brings him up on the mountain after Moses consecrates himself and he gives him the law. And the reason that he gives him the Ten Commandments and all of the law is because the law in the Old Testament is both a map and a mirror. It's a map to show God's people how to live rightly before a righteous king, but it's also a mirror

so that when you hold it up and look at yourself, you realize, uh-oh, there's a problem here. And right after he gives the law, I mean, the very next words in the Bible after the law is the sacrificial system and what you do when you break the law. Why? Because God knows that they can't keep the law. By the way, you saw a picture of this today

before you got ready to come here. In your bathroom, there's a mirror, and under every mirror there's a sink. Why? Because the sink is after you realize, uh-oh, there's a problem, then you make atonement to do whatever you need to to your face to get it ready to show up in public again. There's the law and there's the sacrificial system.

So God, he creates the tabernacle, which one day will be the temple, and this sacrificial system says cover over the sin of God's people. Leviticus 16, it's called the Day of Atonement, that one day the nation of Israel would gather together and they would confess out loud all of their sins before the high priest, and the high priest would hear the command. confess sins of the nation of Israel and transfer those sins to the head of this goat. It was called a scapegoat.

Then he would take this goat to the edge of the city and cast it out into the desert, and all of the people would watch their sins be cast away as far as the east is from the west. Then they would gather together around the temple, and the high priest would consecrate himself, and he would take another animal, a spotless lamb, and he would shed the blood of the lamb, and he would go past the outer court and pass the inner court, And he would go to this place called the Holy of Holies. And inside the Holy of Holies, there was a curtain that separated the presence of God from the people of God. And inside the Holy of Holies was this box.

It's called the Ark of the Covenant. And on top of it, there was a mercy seat. There was this big gold throne. And that's where God's presence would be. And one time of year, this high priest would take the blood of the lamb and sprinkle it over the top of the mercy seat. The hylisterium, the propitiation. This is what it was called. The idea was that when God Almighty looked down, he did not see the broken laws by his people,

but he saw the blood of a lamb covering over the broken laws. And they did it year after year after year. And all of this was to prepare his people to be ready for the serpent crusher. And not only did God give the law, and not only did he give the sacrificial system, but he also gave prophets. He gave major prophets like Isaiah that you're going to hear a lot about, all over Christmas, that the Virgin will be with child, and the government shall be upon his shoulders, and he will be called Prince of Peace, mighty God, Emmanuel. He gave major prophets,

and he gave minor prophets like Malachi, the very last prophet in the Old Testament. And one of the last things that the last prophet says is this, there will be one who comes to prepare the way for the serpent crusher. And he will come in the spirit of a lot. Elijah, and God will use him to turn the hearts of children to their fathers and fathers to their children, and following him will come the son of righteousness with healing in his wings. That's the very end of the Old Testament. Then you turn your page, and for 400 years, the people that studied this book, the people

that went to synagogue, the people that went to the temple, the people that read the prophets, the people that participated in the sacrificial system, they're just waiting and waiting and and waiting for the promise to be fulfilled. And then on the scene comes this man. His name is John, John the Baptist. Now, it's not the John that writes the gospel of John. It's a different John. And he's not a Baptist.

Like when I was growing up, I didn't have a good church background. I thought there was like Pete the Presbyterian, Mike the Methodist, and John the Baptist. That's not how it worked. He just actually baptized people in the Jordan. He was preparing the way of the Lord. He would show up, and he was kind of an outdoors guy, a big beard and ate weird food and screamed at people a lot.

It's amazing the amount of people that would show up and listen to somebody like that. And he would just say, repent and prepare your heart for the way of the Lord. And then one day, out of nowhere, he points to this man who happened to be his cousin. And he says these words, behold, the Lamb of God who's come to take away the sin of the entire world. Not another Lamb of God that's here to cover over to the sin of the Jewish people until this next year. Oh, that was pointing to this, and this moment is here. And what John the baptizer was saying is the serpent crusher is on the scene.

You see, Christmas is a landed invasion of the Redeemer on a rescue mission, entering into enemy territory to ransom captives free. See, that's the context of what's happening on what we celebrate is Christmas, that in the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God. and the Word was God, and He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. And in him was life, and the life was the light of men, and the light shines in the darkness,

and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. This is the baptizer. And he came as a witness to bear witness about the light that all might believe through him. I've got really good news that if you find yourself in the all-cats. category that you might believe through him. And he was not the light, but he 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. And you could read all about that in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And then the crux of Christmas, the why he came is this, verse 12. but to all who did receive him. That's right. But to all who did receive him. Do you know what you receive?

You receive a gift. You can't earn a gift because if you earn it, it's a wage. And what we have been offered through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we have been offered this kind of gift. But to all who did receive him, and you say, how, John, how do you receive this gift? who believed in his name. His name Jesus actually means Savior. So when you believe that Jesus came to save you,

when you believe that somehow when Jesus died on the cross, that counted for me, then in that moment you receive a gift. And here's the gift you receive, that he gave the right to become children of God who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

That's right. that if you believe, then you receive the right to enter into the family of God. And listen, there's a big difference between believe that and believe in. The Greek word is Pestuo. The best way I know to illustrate it is you are Pestu-Oing in the seat that you're in right now, and the reason I know it is because you have trusted that seat with the weight of your life. You didn't just evaluate it and know that it's there, but you put your life into that seat.

That's what Pestuo means. And listen, this gift of the good news to the gospel of Jesus Christ is better than anything this world has to offer, especially at Christmas time. Let me say it this way. Listen, man, we're pro-Santa Claus at my house, okay? We're into it, but I just need you to know this. Jesus is better than Santa. Kids, listen to me.

Santa's a rough deal, man. Okay, I'm telling you, Santa's a rough deal. Santa is his whole. whole scheme is based on works-based righteousness. And it's kind of creepy. He's got a list with your name on it. You realize this. And he's watching you, like when you're asleep,

that creepy old man is checking you out. And he is making reports about you. And he doesn't even grade on a scale. He's only got two cats. This is past, fail, with Santa. You got naughty and you got nice. And he's going to report on you. I mean, hey, there's some naughty stuff.

that you've done, right? Now here's what's even crazier. He's going to go and alert your parents about how naughty you are, and guess what his, guess what he knows about your parents? They're naughtier than you are. You'll find out one day when you get older. They're worse. They're worse than you think. You can find out some shady stuff about your mom and daddy, man, okay? And his whole message is you better try harder. And I'm even sending these little creepy elves out, and they're spying on you. I mean, he's, he's, he's, I mean, Santa's got some algorithms on your life that are just shady, shady. Because saying this whole world is based on works-based righteousness.

You've got to earn this. Jesus' whole world is based on grace-based adoption. That you believe, you trust, because Jesus has a list too. There's only one nice, and it's him. All the rest of us are naughty. And he takes what we deserve upon himself at the cross. and he gives to us what he deserves, which is a right standing before God, and gifts it to us if we will believe, we will receive the right to become children of God.

He's better. And then you get to this famous verse. You see, I did all of that. That's not even the sermon. That's just the intro, all right? This very, very famous verse, because we run by it too quickly. Then all of that is going on in the background, and then John finally writes, and the Word, the Logos, the Word, who was in the beginning with God and was God, that word,

the second person of the Trinity, God the Son, 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. Not a balance beam. There's no more full than full. He is all the way full, 100% grace. You see this on the cross because he dies in your place. And he is full of truth. 100% there's no more full than full truth and you see this at the cross when he pays the

full penalty for our sin and John bore witness about him and cried this was he of whom I said he who comes after me ranks before me because he was before me for from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace for the law was given through Moses it's kind of like Santa Claus there's rules if you don't obey them you're in trouble grace and truth came through Jesus Christ No one has ever seen God, the only God who is at the Father's side. He has made him known. You see, the Christmas story does not begin with the baby in the manger. It begins in the mind of the eternal God before the very foundation of the world.

And I don't know how it works, man. But somewhere, I mean, from eternity past until 2,000 years ago, Jesus is awaiting to play his role in redemptive history for God's people. and God, the Father, looks at God the Son, and at just the right time in human history. And in fact, probably the way it actually works is all of time and history has been bending around this moment that was to come.

And God the Father says to God the Son, it's time to go and give your life as a ransom for many. And I don't know how it works. My friend Charles Martin has helped me have a picket picture in my mind a little bit. Imagine what it was like in the heavenlies when the word, the second person of this Trinity, co-eternal with God, God the sun, steps up from his throne. The angels begin to shudder, what's happening? He takes off his crown. He lays down his diadena. He takes off his heavenly royal robes, and he swan dives into a manger in Bethlehem.

and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. You see, by the way, this is totally just a one-off, okay? If you ever got a baby in here and they cry a little bit, this is what I think about. It bothers me none. Now, if you're front row headspinning pea soup, you know, you mightn't have got to go feed the thing. That's not what I'm talking about.

I'm talking about, like, you know, we had one murmuring a little, I love it so much because it reminds me that all of heaven and earth that one time hinged on this moment when the Son of God put on flesh and he dwelt among us. And I'm just going to tell you, man, and we do not understand the severity of this. And the reason we don't understand the severity of this is because so many times at Christmas, man, we just start with baby in the manger. We are so, we've become so accustomed. We are so used to, you know, eight pounds, six-ounce baby Jesus, wrapped in swaddling clothes, Talladega Night, Jesus. You understand what I'm saying?

We just lose the severity of what's going on here, that the king became a baby. The Apostle Paul in Philippians chapter 2, he's writing to the church at Philippiopi from prison, and he's trying to encourage them that we should be so humble that we treat other people as if they're more important than we are. And as an illustration to how far we should take it,

he says this, that gives us lots of insight into the incarnation. Philippians 2-4, he says, this. He says, let each of you look not only to his own interest, but also the interest of others. How far, Paul? Here's how far. Have this mind among yourself, which is yours in Christ Jesus. I memorized the NIV 84 version, and it says this, your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus. Who, though he was in the form of God, he did not count equality with God a thing to be grasp that when Jesus was walking around the market 2,000 years ago and you bumped into Jesus,

you bumped into God. That he had all the power, all the authority, wrapped up in that man, Jesus of Nazareth, 2,000 years ago. That means he was omnipotent. He was all-powerful, and yet he didn't walk around playing the all-powerful card everywhere he went. You remember this, like in Mark chapter 9 when the dad's got the sick kid and comes to Jesus and the disciples couldn't cast him out and then he asked Jesus if you can can you please heal my son and Jesus like if I can what you mean if I can all things are possible for those who believe and the man immediately replies I believe help me overcome my unbelief you see Jesus said all things were possible with him if you remember the conversation Jesus has with pilot pilot was the judge pilot thought he was

in charge and pilot says are you the king of the Jews And he goes, you saying this or am I saying this? He goes, I'm saying it. He goes, ding, ding, you're right. I am. And he goes, well, you know, Pilate, you know I have the power to set you free. And Jesus, like, taps him on the head. It's like, that's adorable.

This is a very loose translation of what happened. Read it for yourself. He goes, you know, that's adorable. The only reason you're here is because I let you be here. I can snap my fingers and angel armies will come down here. You'd be a greasy spot and I do what I want, okay? That he is all powerful. I mean, he would just, so one time he healed somebody on accident.

Think about that. He's just cruising through Copernum. He's like, who touched me? There's a healed lady right there. All powerful. Not only is he all powerful, he's all knowing, he's omniscient. That how many times do we read in the Gospels where the Bible would say that the Pharisees thought something? Who is he to say this?

And he'd go, I tell you who I am to say this. He would answer the questions that they thought. that's who Jesus is that he says there's not a sparrow that falls out of the sky without him knowing the Bible says I love this one especially right now that he can count the very hairs on our head how about that

I think that includes the whole I'm still about the same per capita as I used to be how about this ladies he knows which hairs are yours and which ones you're renting he does he can tell I know I can't tell but he can tell he knows he knows that this God

and yet he didn't flex it. He didn't flex it. He said he came not to be served, but to serve and suffer and give his life as a ransom for many. But here's what he did. He emptied himself. He emptied himself.

And our attitude is supposed to be the same as his. Which is shocking to our generation. Why? Because we are full of ourselves. Listen, man, on our watch, you know what we will be responsible for? the selfie. That's right.

We created the selfie. What a sad, sad thing to be known for. Did you know this? I looked this up. 339 people died this year. It's called death by selfie. Isn't that crazy? That means people were so into them.

They're at the Grand Canyon. They're like, ooh, if I take one more, this will be good to their death. Darwin wasn't wrong about everything. I just want to point that out. You understand? That we are obsessed with us, and he emptied himself.

by taking the form of a servant and being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form. Now, when we read these verses, we don't understand the severity because we're in human form, and we think, how bad is it? But imagine from the heavenly perspective, the best thing I can think of is this, man. J.P. and I have an 18-year-old, just turned 18, so we're real nostalgic right now looking at all the pictures.

It happened so fast, doesn't it? I was like, a minute ago, he was this big. And now he's this big. What happened? Now I remember it was Christmas time. And I think he was like, you know, 13, 14 months, that kind of thing. And we're heading up to see Gretchen's people in Virginia, probably coming out of a Christmas Eve service. And he was at that age where he's beginning to kind of do the bathroom thing by himself, but he needs help, that kind of deal.

And we have to pull over at a truck stop to take my precious little 13-month-old into the truck stop bathroom. Now here's the thing, man, I've been into many a truck stop bathroom, and they have never bothered me ever, ever, ever. I'm not like a fan of them, but, you know, it's not, I'm not hoity-toity. I'm like, that's fine, whatever, okay? And then that time, though, I mean, Gretchen keeps everything in our house clean, especially the firstborn. I mean, he's smelling like new baby well into elementary school, you know what I mean? Clean, we would keep 14, remember this? He would puke with the best of, man, I'm telling you what?

And you could shake him up and hand in with somebody, and he'd spew like a Coke, man, that's, but. So the moment he'd a little bit, boy, she would be, she'd be like a NASCAR pit crew in there, just gink, ink, she'd have him all done up. Where's my turn? I was like breaking bad. I had, like, gloves to hear and hazmat, and I didn't like it.

She's like, you can clean a deer. I say, this is different, this is different. So anyway, I'm taking this little precious child of ours that smelled like a precious moment. I'm just taking him into the bathroom. and as I'm about to walk in, Gretchen goes, hey, hey, I'm like, what? She goes, don't get it on him, you know?

I was like, what? And I walked in, and I had a brand new perspective of how nasty the bathroom is. I walk in and I'm like, what is wrong with people? There's like, a door hanging from a hinge. Who is like, I got the goat? Like, what, I don't, there's graffiti, you know, Mike is dumb, and apparently Mike gums,

and he's like, I'm not dumb, you're, you know, who's got that time? and the whole place is wet. It's like, why is it wet? Somebody washing off their St. Bernard, and he just, you know, it's terrible. And I imagine, the Bible doesn't say it word for word,

but when he's going to take the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form, when he begins to stand up from the throne and take off his crown and take off his royal robes, I imagine the hajurers are like, where are you going, boss?

He's like, I'm going down there. And they're like, what? You're going, we've been there. Don't get any of it on you. But he did. He emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form.

The word became flesh, and he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. That Jesus did not just come to be born as a baby in a manger. He grew up, he became a man. He experienced all the things that we experienced. Hebrew says that he was tempted in the very same way that we are, that he suffers in every way that we have suffered.

And every single time he did the will of God. And he was arrested, put on trial, and he was crucified. And he didn't merely die for us. He died instead of us. And when he went to the cross, he pushes up on his nail-pierced feet, and he says this, it is finished. That's what this word means right here, Patelastra. Part of the reason I put it right there

is so that when I'm preaching, I can just be reminded over and over and over that it is finished. What was finished? The promise to Abraham. The proto-evangelion. The serpent had bruised his heel and in so doing he got his head crushed.

That it is finished. But he didn't say he was finished because he wasn't finished. They put him in a grave, doorknod bed. And three days later, he came walking out of that grave. And he put death to death. And anybody who would believe in him, just as he has been resurrected from the grave,

so too will we be resurrected in him. And he still wasn't finished. He appeared to over 500 people in the very town that he was crucified. And then he gets his disciples together, and he says, all authority in heaven and earth has been given unto me, therefore go and make disciples everywhere you go, all people groups, all over the world, baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and here's a big promise,

and lo, I will be with you to the very ends of the age. Then the Bible says he ascended to the right hand of God the Father. And so Paul, the way Paul is going to say it is this, therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name. And again, the name of Jesus means Savior. so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. This verse hit me different this week.

Every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. Those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth. Here's the reality of that. This is shocking, okay, and I just love you enough to tell you. Jesus will be your Lord. He will either be your Lord and Savior and you will be adopted into his family or he will be your Lord and judge

and you will pay for the due penalty of your sin. You see, honestly, in my mind, that makes sense to me. The bigness of God, the vastness of God, the omnipotence, the omniscient, the omnipresence of God, if God is God, I can at least acknowledge how big he is. You know what sometimes the hard thing to do is? It's to try to get your head and heart around how intimate, how personal.

I don't know how to say this, but how small the everlasting God decided to become. That's what we celebrate at Christmas. You see, the point is that the Son of God became a man, that men and women could become sons and daughters. of the one true God. This is about grace-based adoption. So as I was putting this message together, I began to think, well, what is he doing now? Because he says it is finished,

but he wasn't finished, and he's not finished. You can look through the New Testament and see some of the things that Jesus is currently doing. One of the things that he's doing is he's waiting. He's waiting. He's waiting for the father to tap him on the shoulder once again and go, all right, saddle up your horse, get your tattoos freshened up,

and get ready to go and bring my children. home. He's waiting. Now he says he doesn't know when that's going. I know some of you have figured out when he's coming back, but Jesus says that's only for the father to know. He doesn't know yet. Another thing he's doing according to Romans 834 is this. He's interceding for you and me. Interceding means he's praying. If you're in Christ right now, God the Son has the ear of God the Father and he is by name praying for you. Another thing he's doing according to John 14 is this, he's preparing, he's preparing a place for you. According to the book of Revelation, there's seven letters to seven churches where Jesus

sends a letter to these seven churches. And in these seven churches, to these seven churches, here's what he's doing. He's warning. He's like, hey, don't lose your first love, watch your teaching and doctrine, don't tolerate what the world says. He's encouraging. He says, don't stop persevering, suffer well, wake up, I'm going to open doors, and he's knocking.

He's knocking. You see, a big part of it. what we celebrate at Christmas is that Jesus did whatever it took to have a relationship with his children. Revelation 3.20, this is to a church. It's called the Church of Laudacea. And honestly, the description of this church is going to look like a whole bunch of churches at Christmas time. And Jesus to this church says, hey, listen, you believe all the right things. The problem is is that you're neither hot nor cold.

You're just like super casual, and it really makes me sick. I want to puke. That's what it says. And then he says, but behold, I stand at the door and knock. Now listen, I don't know if you ever plan on planting a church, but you could write this down.

If Jesus is on the outside of your church knocking to get in, it ain't going good. You understand? You want him on the inside of the church. You know where the Spirit of God shows up? Where he's wanted, and he is wanted in this place, amen? And that Jesus is standing at the door, not just to the church that lay out to see you, but at you and me.

Behold, I stand at the door and knock, and anyone who hears my voice and lets me in, the ESV says, I will come in and eat with him and he with me. The King James says, I will come in and sup with him and he with me. In high school, I thought that meant like, he comes into your life, he's like, suck, you know? And it kind of is. Think about this. the invitation of Jesus knocking at the door. And his desire, the almighty sovereign king of the universe,

his desire is to come in and to knock. And anybody that would hear him and say, come on in, Jesus. That the king of kings, the second person of the Trinity, would come in and sit down at your table regardless of what your table looks like. Some of you got real fancy tables. Some of you eat off beanbags. God is no respecter of person. And you think about the theology of table in the Bible.

You think about how important it is to sit down at a table in the Bible. I mean, think about it. This is where communion started. You get this? Big deal. This is where it's all going at the marriage supper of the Lamb. And even in your own life, think about how important the table is. I remember when Gretchen and I first started going out.

She stalked me at the gym for many months and then eventually, that's so not true. So after I finally chased her down, I didn't, I couldn't like cyberstalk either, you bunch of wusses, I had to like actually full on physically gym bag in my car and whenever the condo cord was there that became my time to work out for many, many months to finally convince her to let me take her out.

And we would go out and I would I was a baller too. I was a youth pastor. So, you know, Monday to Friday, we'd do leftover free pizza. But on Saturday sometimes I'd really scrape it together and we'd go fancy like Applebee's on a day night, that Burma Street steak. You know what I'm saying?

So it didn't really look like this. But we'd go out on these dates and listen, you know, one of the things I'd do, I'd order wine. Now, listen, I was Baptist. I knew I wasn't allowed to. And Baptist, relax, okay? Catholics just welcome home. And I'd order some wine.

You know I ordered wine? Because I liked it. I didn't even drink it. I wasn't drink. It was nasty. I didn't realize I liked wine until Petey, one of the elders, took us to Napa. And I realized the wine wasn't the problem.

It was just because the boxes I was ordering weren't that nice. In fact, before we went, my daddy called, said, what's you doing next week? I said, we're going to Napa. He said, so much wrong with your truck? That's fact. Okay, so.

Different napah. And G and I would go and sit down at all kind of different tables. And we would sit across and just look at each other and talk and share stories. I'd ask her questions about what she wants to do with her life and how she met the Lord and tell me some stories about her family

and her brothers and sisters. She'd asked me questions about my past and she'd asked me about high school and I'd lie and tell her how many touchdowns I scored and what a stud I was and all that stuff, you know. And we would just do this where we'd get to know each other. We'd confess things. We'd share things, hopes and dreams.

Married folks, remember this? Now, we keep doing this. We do this all the time still. Wednesday night, praise God from Wednesday night youth group. If you haven't bought into that thing, it'll help your marriage more than whatever your kid learns in youth group. We drop Reagan off right here, and then we go like this, face to face, knee to and just spend time together.

I can remember sitting at a table like this. looking at her thinking, oh my goodness, this is it. This is what they talk about. This is the songs they sing about. I love this girl. I want this for about 50 more years. I want to get to the place where we're like sharing teeth. All right, your turn, baby.

Go for it. Right? And you mean to tell me that the almighty sovereign king of the universe stood up from his throne and the word became flesh. and he became one of us. And he lived a perfect life and he died of sinner's death on a cross in my place and in your place.

And whoever would believe that would receive a relationship with Jesus Christ and behold, church, Jesus, at the door of your life right now is knocking. Now he's not the SWAT team, he's not to kick the door to him. He's just not.

knocking and he doesn't want to come in and judge you, you're already standing judgment. He refuses to come in and condemn you because apart from him, you're already standing condemnation. He's not coming in to just try to clean your life up. You can't clean your life up. You know this. The almighty sovereign king of the universe who became flesh and dwelt among us. Now, what he's doing is knocking on the door of your heart. And the Bible says, anyone, anyone, regardless of how you grew up, regardless of your struggles, regardless of how this world or some other church has defined you, and anyone who hears that knock and invites him in, he's going to come and sit down at the table of your life right now and eat with you, be in relationship with you.

actually what he's going to do is by grace adopt you into his family and you have the right to be a son or a daughter of the most high king and you say well how do i do that um it ain't easy following jesus ain't easy but it's incredibly simple it's just when you get to that place where you realize that his name means what it says that you can't save you and that you need a savior And that somehow way louder than the physical knock that you can hear, deep down at the soul level, you hear the king of the universe knocking on the door of your heart. And you would say, okay, I admit it. I can't do this. I need help. I need a savior. And I believe that somehow when Jesus died on the cross, that counted for me. And the Bible says, if you confess with your mouth that He's Lord and you believe in his heart, in your heart that he was resurrected from the grave, then you will be saved.

The way John says it is, for everyone who believes, you receive the right to become a child of God. So let me ask you, church. Have you ever done that? Not believe that, but have you trusted in? That when he died on the cross, that counted for you. It's as simple as receiving the invitation of him knocking on the door of your life right now. Would you bow your heads?

Would you close your eyes? And I want to give you the opportunity. if there is anyone at any of our campuses are watching online, if there's anyone. And in this moment, in a supernatural way, deep down at the heart level, you were ready to admit it. I need a Savior.

And you believe that when Jesus died on the cross, somehow that counted for you, and you want to answer the knock of God, the invitation of God to enter into your life for you to receive the right to become a child of God. Then right now I want you to confess him as your Lord. And if you've done that, I want you to raise your hand as high as you can.

If you were ready to receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior for the very first time, you lift your hand as high as you can. Say, Father, I am, save me. Our good and gracious heavenly, Father, God, we love you more than anything. God, I pray that you would remind the believer that you didn't come to fix us. You came to be with us. Emmanuel, God, with us, and us spending time if you fixes and changes everything. God, may we not miss this, this Christmas.

And God, I pray for the man, the woman, the student in this very moment that you are giving the gift of faith to hear your voice and to receive by fate the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, that when he died on the cross, it counted for them. And God, we thank you when we praise you. And we join with the angels in celebrating the many that this day have invited Jesus into their life. We pray this in the good, strong name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and our Savior. Amen. Church, would you please stand? We're going to respond to the good news of the gospel. Again, just as a reminder, this is our big give Sunday.

So if you are participating in the 10-10 life, now is the time to go big. So we are going to bring to God our first and our best, our ties and our offerings. And we're going to sing. And we're really going to sing the sermon as a big old corporate prayer. And we're going to pray. One of the incredible things about the incarnation of Christ is it gives us an invitation to take all of our problems. all of our cares, whatever the things are going on in our life, and bring them to our Heavenly Father, he has opened the door for us through the blood of Jesus.

So let's sing, let's bring, let's pray, let's respond.