WEBVTT 00:00:00.620 --> 00:00:01.650 Christmas here we go. 00:00:02.060 --> 00:00:02.890 Continuing in our Christmas series. 00:00:03.760 --> 00:00:09.360 I just want to start off in a little bit of honestly over Christmas. 00:00:09.360 --> 00:00:16.700 One of the things that makes Christmas cool is the gift giving, and I know that's really not what Christmas is about or what it's intended to be about, but 00:00:16.700 --> 00:00:19.760 when you're a kid, that really matters. 00:00:20.820 --> 00:00:27.780 When I was a kid, Christmastime, I think, when I think back, I don't know how my mother let me live. 00:00:28.140 --> 00:00:28.840 I was a horrible child. 00:00:29.660 --> 00:00:36.840 When Christmastime would come around, I had learned that if I could take a razor blade to my gifts, I could slice 00:00:36.840 --> 00:00:43.940 the tip on my Christmas package just right, I could actually open it up, slide out the box and it sort of became 00:00:43.940 --> 00:00:44.700 a game for me. 00:00:44.700 --> 00:00:48.020 I would see how long I could go wearing whatever she got me before she would notice. 00:00:48.460 --> 00:00:50.870 I grew up with a single mom who worked and went to school. 00:00:51.280 --> 00:00:52.670 She didn't have a whole lot of time on her hands anyways. 00:00:53.260 --> 00:00:55.950 There were times when on Christmas I would open up my box and it was empty. 00:00:56.080 --> 00:00:56.520 I'm like, mom what? 00:00:56.860 --> 00:00:57.710 You ripped me off. 00:00:58.020 --> 00:01:01.620 I'm just like wearing the hat she bought me or whatever. 00:01:02.060 --> 00:01:03.640 Horrible child, right? 00:01:03.960 --> 00:01:11.140 Some of you think that, shame on you, but I just want to call out your stuff too and say whatever, because it's not like 00:01:11.140 --> 00:01:11.640 you're any better. 00:01:12.200 --> 00:01:15.510 I know how Christmas works as an adult now that I am one, or at least pretend to be. 00:01:15.920 --> 00:01:22.740 It's like, as an adult you use the holiday as an excuse and you just buy what you want and you're like "Honey you'll never believe what you got me," right? 00:01:22.960 --> 00:01:25.710 It's not like you're surprised by your package. 00:01:25.820 --> 00:01:29.720 I mean what do you get someone who's got the resources to get what they want anyway, right? 00:01:30.640 --> 00:01:37.680 You're no different than I am, but you know when I think about Christmas, there was one Christmas 00:01:37.680 --> 00:01:44.290 morning when I can remember I received the most incredible gift anyone could receive. 00:01:44.780 --> 00:01:46.720 Or at least I thought that, right? 00:01:47.460 --> 00:01:51.300 Some of you are thinking, oh this is the part of the message where he starts getting into the spiritual party, you know. 00:01:51.620 --> 00:01:56.900 The greatest thing he could ever receive, he accepted Jesus and received the gift of eternal life on Christmas right? 00:01:57.510 --> 00:01:57.960 No. 00:01:58.340 --> 00:01:59.370 I'm not being that spiritual. 00:01:59.700 --> 00:02:07.010 The greatest gift I have ever received, one morning in the 1980s, 00:02:07.300 --> 00:02:12.680 I remember I woke up to the sweetest sound ever known to man, right? 00:02:13.120 --> 00:02:15.210 Sounded a little like this. 00:02:16.040 --> 00:02:19.940 There it was, right? 00:02:20.240 --> 00:02:22.040 Revolutionized my life. 00:02:22.060 --> 00:02:29.280 I got to spend weeks, go on a journey with two Italians with incredible mustaches to rescue a princess from this dark, 00:02:29.280 --> 00:02:30.560 evil individual. 00:02:30.560 --> 00:02:32.840 It was amazing, but not only did it stop there. 00:02:33.020 --> 00:02:35.740 I got a gun and a power pad with it, right? 00:02:35.740 --> 00:02:42.740 So I got to go hunting with my two-dimensional dog, taking out duck after duck, and then when I got bored of that, I got to beat every 00:02:42.740 --> 00:02:49.580 time in a track and field race, a guy named turtle, a guy named rabbit and a guy named cheetah, right? 00:02:49.580 --> 00:02:51.500 Nintendo changed my life. 00:02:51.500 --> 00:02:55.360 For our family, it did not end there. 00:02:55.560 --> 00:02:59.920 I don't know if this is fortunate or unfortunate, but Nintendo took our family by storm. 00:02:59.960 --> 00:03:01.940 My grandmother got so obsessed with it. 00:03:01.940 --> 00:03:07.220 To this day, no joke, I remember as a kid going to her house and that's what we did at grandma's house. 00:03:07.220 --> 00:03:08.660 We just played Nintendo with grandma. 00:03:09.120 --> 00:03:11.150 I was at her house in January. 00:03:11.220 --> 00:03:15.360 I don't get time much to go back East very often, but I was at her house this past January. 00:03:15.860 --> 00:03:23.240 Go into her spare bedroom where we used to play Nintendo, and no lie, that same TV with super Nintendo still there, and 00:03:23.240 --> 00:03:26.160 Mario Kart in the cartridge, like it's never stopped. 00:03:26.520 --> 00:03:28.590 My grandma is cooler than your grandma. 00:03:29.160 --> 00:03:30.460 My grandma is cooler than you. 00:03:30.460 --> 00:03:34.440 She can kill you at Mario Kart, any course, any day of the week, right? 00:03:34.460 --> 00:03:35.260 It is amazing. 00:03:36.960 --> 00:03:41.720 You know we think about Christmas and all the gifts you receive. 00:03:44.860 --> 00:03:49.920 Granted gift giving at Christmas is over-commercialized, unless you're giving gifts to me. 00:03:50.060 --> 00:03:52.010 Then we'll just let it continue to work. 00:03:52.810 --> 00:03:59.920 Gift giving at Christmas tends to be over-commercialized, but giving around Christmas, it's intended to 00:03:59.920 --> 00:04:02.140 reflect what the Christmas story is about. 00:04:03.440 --> 00:04:08.620 Reality is, Christmas is more than just a day or a season. 00:04:10.420 --> 00:04:12.840 The truth is, Christmas is a lifestyle. 00:04:14.700 --> 00:04:19.279 The real meaning of Christmas, Christmas becomes a never-ending gift for us. 00:04:21.240 --> 00:04:22.820 That's what I want to talk about today. 00:04:22.880 --> 00:04:26.460 We want to see how we can celebrate Christmas every day. 00:04:27.780 --> 00:04:34.820 I know when I say that, some of you need convinced right away that would even be an important thing to do, because when you get to the Christmas season, you just 00:04:34.820 --> 00:04:40.890 get worn out with running kids around and all the performances and all the shows and all of the expectations and all the buying and all the shopping with all the people. 00:04:41.360 --> 00:04:45.220 When I talk about Christmas, that's not what I mean in regards to Christmas. 00:04:46.980 --> 00:04:54.300 When you see Christmas for what it is in Jesus, I think you can and should and as a believer you will 00:04:54.300 --> 00:04:56.480 celebrate Christmas every day. 00:04:58.100 --> 00:05:05.360 When you start to read the Christmas stories in the gospels, I don't think it's too bold to say that I believe the gospel writers wanted 00:05:05.360 --> 00:05:08.140 us to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas every day in our lives. 00:05:09.520 --> 00:05:16.680 When you read the gospel of Matthew and the gospel of Luke, in the very beginning, they record for us and describe 00:05:16.680 --> 00:05:18.380 the event of Christmas. 00:05:19.780 --> 00:05:26.560 When you get to the gospel of John, rather than just describe the event of Christmas, John describes the meaning of Christmas. 00:05:27.700 --> 00:05:28.880 We looked at that last week. 00:05:28.880 --> 00:05:35.940 We started off in John chapter 1, and we know that how John begins the story and the painting the picture of the identity of who God is, and how he became flesh 00:05:35.940 --> 00:05:36.500 for us. 00:05:36.860 --> 00:05:37.880 It says in the beginning was the Word. 00:05:38.220 --> 00:05:42.480 The Word was with God and the Word was God, the same in the beginning with God, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. 00:05:42.480 --> 00:05:46.020 We beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. 00:05:47.620 --> 00:05:54.310 John creates this wonderful explanation and the meaning of Christmas as it unfolds in that text. 00:05:54.780 --> 00:06:01.490 Right after he gives this introduction to the identity of Jesus, he then moves to another John. 00:06:02.620 --> 00:06:07.480 John writes the gospel of John, then moves into the story of a man named John who we refer to as John the Baptist. 00:06:09.440 --> 00:06:16.860 John the Baptist solidifies the meaning of Christmas by giving us this presentation of Jesus in regards to what Christmas represents. 00:06:18.280 --> 00:06:25.080 John the Baptist, it really gives an introduction, you'll see before verse 29, but in verse 29, he gives this statement. 00:06:25.080 --> 00:06:31.380 He qualifies it for the Jewish people right after that, but he gives this statement that helps us understand what Christmas is about. 00:06:31.520 --> 00:06:40.180 He says this in John chapter 1, verse 29, "The next day John or he, saw Jesus coming to him and said, "Behold 00:06:41.020 --> 00:06:48.760 the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world."" This 00:06:48.760 --> 00:06:49.660 is the meaning of Christmas. 00:06:51.510 --> 00:06:53.560 Now, the important question is that I ask. 00:06:54.620 --> 00:06:55.720 Well what does that mean? 00:06:57.340 --> 00:07:01.040 Because this statement meant a lot to the culture which John was around. 00:07:01.380 --> 00:07:05.340 John was a Jew, and predominantly Jewish people no doubt would have received this. 00:07:05.760 --> 00:07:12.960 This is full of Jewish imagery from the Jewish pool of words, of ideas as it relates to Jesus' identity, 00:07:12.960 --> 00:07:14.120 but what does it mean for us? 00:07:15.420 --> 00:07:21.880 It's hard to celebrate or even appreciate a gift when you don't understand its purposes and intentions. 00:07:24.140 --> 00:07:30.640 You ever get a gift where you lack the full story or understanding of it, and therefore you just didn't appreciate it like you should? 00:07:32.100 --> 00:07:36.720 But if you took the time to understand it would have made all the difference in the world. 00:07:40.200 --> 00:07:46.340 My grandfather, when I was a kid, he had an influence on my life. 00:07:46.360 --> 00:07:50.720 When I was a kid, I was a wild child, and my grandfather had a deep love for Jesus. 00:07:52.560 --> 00:07:55.800 There was a time as a kid where I actually, I would live with my grandparents. 00:07:56.020 --> 00:07:58.980 I actually lived with my grandparents off and on, at different points in my childhood. 00:07:59.250 --> 00:08:02.180 My grandfather had a routine that I was familiar with. 00:08:02.380 --> 00:08:07.300 He would come home from work or a busy day and he had a particular chair that he always sat in. 00:08:07.840 --> 00:08:08.580 It was his chair. 00:08:08.960 --> 00:08:12.700 Some of you probably have that, where it knows the indents of your rear end and your rear end alone. 00:08:13.360 --> 00:08:14.440 He had that chair. 00:08:15.880 --> 00:08:20.000 He would go in and sit in that chair and he would read his Bible. 00:08:21.970 --> 00:08:23.240 He would meet with Jesus. 00:08:25.740 --> 00:08:31.850 What took place in that chair, what was just a man sitting in a chair, became a very sacred image to me. 00:08:32.600 --> 00:08:39.210 My grandfather, he never nagged me about God, but his actions showed me what it looked like to take time out to meet with him. 00:08:40.679 --> 00:08:44.800 In my life, when I finally became inquisitive, I wouldn't even say about God. 00:08:44.800 --> 00:08:52.740 I'll just say when I became inquisitive about divine things, God used that consistent pattern in his life to 00:08:52.860 --> 00:08:54.380 prick my heart for the things of God. 00:08:56.520 --> 00:08:59.580 He had something that seemed real. 00:09:01.280 --> 00:09:05.460 I came to know the Lord and as time passed, my grandfather got dementia. 00:09:05.500 --> 00:09:07.270 My wife and I, we would take trips back East. 00:09:09.000 --> 00:09:16.280 Started to slip and but you know, no matter how many times we visited him, there was always one phrase that he 00:09:16.300 --> 00:09:17.040 could always remember. 00:09:18.160 --> 00:09:19.120 He would say it over and over. 00:09:20.140 --> 00:09:20.480 I love you. 00:09:24.280 --> 00:09:28.700 One Christmas a few years ago, my aunt mailed me a package. 00:09:29.240 --> 00:09:31.940 She told me when I got the package, I needed to call her. 00:09:32.800 --> 00:09:35.360 I got the package and I opened it up and inside was a book. 00:09:35.520 --> 00:09:36.540 It wasn't a great book. 00:09:36.740 --> 00:09:37.400 It was an okay book. 00:09:37.620 --> 00:09:40.290 It was a Christian book that I was familiar with, but it was an average book. 00:09:41.560 --> 00:09:47.720 I thought, okay, I'll call her but what's this going to do? 00:09:47.720 --> 00:09:49.200 I got an average Christian book. 00:09:49.200 --> 00:09:49.610 I'm a pastor. 00:09:49.720 --> 00:09:51.280 People give me Christian books all the time, you know? 00:09:51.740 --> 00:09:53.600 Inside with the book there was a notebook. 00:09:53.600 --> 00:09:59.440 I called her and she said, "Did you get the book and the notebook?" I said yeah. 00:10:00.940 --> 00:10:07.980 She said, "You know, that book, I really wanted you to have because that book belongs to your 00:10:07.980 --> 00:10:08.340 grandfather. 00:10:10.340 --> 00:10:14.000 In that book he wrote notes of the way God impacted his life as he read it. 00:10:15.340 --> 00:10:16.740 But not only do you have that book. 00:10:17.080 --> 00:10:17.940 You have the notebook. 00:10:19.640 --> 00:10:24.800 That notebook was the notebook that sat beside his chair when he would meet with the Lord. 00:10:26.460 --> 00:10:33.860 As he met there, he wrote notes about the way that God impacted his heart and life." When 00:10:33.860 --> 00:10:38.580 I understood the intentions of the gift, my heart soared. 00:10:40.980 --> 00:10:44.760 But it wasn't until I understood the picture that I really appreciated what it was. 00:10:47.540 --> 00:10:54.860 The same is true with what John is saying about this story because guys, that was just a gift that my grandfather gave me. 00:10:56.000 --> 00:10:59.650 That gift that he gave me was a greater reflection of what Jesus meant to him. 00:11:02.060 --> 00:11:03.760 That's what John's proclaiming in this story. 00:11:06.000 --> 00:11:13.000 When you read John the Baptist introducing Jesus to the world, he says, "Behold the 00:11:13.000 --> 00:11:20.000 lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world." This word behold is 00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:26.100 John saying, take time to examine and understand this gift, so you grasp its beauty. 00:11:27.160 --> 00:11:34.560 You know last week, in John chapter 1, verse 16, when John the Apostle is introducing Jesus to us, in the meaning, he says we, John 00:11:34.560 --> 00:11:41.720 the Apostle says, "We beheld his glory," and now as he gives the proclamation introducing him to the world, it's 00:11:41.720 --> 00:11:47.960 as if he's saying to you, now as we have beheld his glory, now John the Baptist is saying now you behold his glory. 00:11:50.640 --> 00:11:53.700 This beholding is acknowledging that God is inviting you in. 00:11:55.860 --> 00:12:01.620 Beholding is also telling us to give God the attention to understand exactly what this Christmas is about. 00:12:02.740 --> 00:12:06.660 You know I think for us, this world behold also comes with an idea of a warning. 00:12:08.060 --> 00:12:15.240 That warning if for you to stop and recognize that in this moment, it is so precious that if you don't take the intentions, intentional pursuit 00:12:15.240 --> 00:12:22.540 to understand what Christmas means, you can miss something crucial, by 00:12:22.580 --> 00:12:26.880 being distracting by things that you might even call better things in life. 00:12:30.360 --> 00:12:38.080 This word behold becomes a place for us to meet God, to 00:12:38.280 --> 00:12:43.700 quiet your heart before him, to understand what he's done for us. 00:12:46.800 --> 00:12:50.600 When you think about living life today, life is incredibly busy. 00:12:53.000 --> 00:13:00.120 The refreshing thought of this word behold is for us to recognize, guys, that busyness for us 00:13:00.120 --> 00:13:05.560 as a people, is a challenge for us in our relationship with God. 00:13:05.600 --> 00:13:06.820 In fact, I would say it like this. 00:13:07.740 --> 00:13:11.120 Busyness is the enemy of intimacy. 00:13:13.380 --> 00:13:20.480 This word behold is for us, to recognize that in our life, as it relates to this story, this story will never 00:13:20.480 --> 00:13:28.360 change your life without you giving it the attention it deserves and understanding the importance of the gift, just 00:13:28.360 --> 00:13:29.120 like my grandfather's. 00:13:31.280 --> 00:13:38.300 And in understanding the importance of this gift, this gift can daily change your life when you walk in the way that 00:13:38.500 --> 00:13:40.010 John shares it with us. 00:13:41.680 --> 00:13:42.040 Behold. 00:13:44.860 --> 00:13:50.440 Busyness is the enemy of intimacy, but yet God invites you near. 00:13:52.280 --> 00:13:54.380 It's really a revolutionary thought when you think about it. 00:13:56.420 --> 00:14:03.620 All religions in the world, God seems pretty distant, like you sort of do your thing and hope in the end that you've done good enough, but the Christmas 00:14:03.620 --> 00:14:05.740 story isn't you pursuing God. 00:14:05.740 --> 00:14:10.660 It's God pursuing you, and he calls you. 00:14:12.020 --> 00:14:12.200 Behold. 00:14:15.060 --> 00:14:22.180 We behold and in order to behold the way that John calls us to, he wants us to celebrate the significance of 00:14:22.180 --> 00:14:22.630 Christmas. 00:14:22.700 --> 00:14:26.620 So to identify that for us, he then demonstrates exactly what Jesus has done. 00:14:26.620 --> 00:14:33.900 He says he is the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, which is an incredibly powerful thought for the Jews. 00:14:34.700 --> 00:14:42.000 The identity of Jesus being lamb beckons into the thought of the Passover, when the Jews would go to the temple and they would sacrifice 00:14:42.000 --> 00:14:44.220 a lamb during the Passover every year. 00:14:45.800 --> 00:14:47.780 Every year, the Passover celebration would come around. 00:14:47.780 --> 00:14:55.080 Every year the Jews were expected to go to Jerusalem and every year they were expected to buy a lamb at their expense and to make a sacrifice for 00:14:55.080 --> 00:15:02.380 their sin, and every year, they had to do this because no matter how many times they did this, they knew that no lamb, no physical lamb would ever, 00:15:02.680 --> 00:15:04.880 ever take away their sins or at least the animal. 00:15:06.900 --> 00:15:13.940 In fact Hebrews 10 starts off that way, that year after year, they would make the sacrifice and they knew it was never sufficient because they always had to 00:15:13.940 --> 00:15:14.900 do it again and again. 00:15:16.740 --> 00:15:18.840 Then all of a sudden, John gives this pronouncement. 00:15:20.560 --> 00:15:27.440 Here is the lamb who takes away the sins for his people for all time. 00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:31.280 Never to pay the expense again. 00:15:33.700 --> 00:15:34.710 What does it cost them? 00:15:36.180 --> 00:15:37.940 Nothing. 00:15:38.840 --> 00:15:40.340 The Jews didn't have to pay anything. 00:15:42.180 --> 00:15:44.850 The world for who Jesus dies, we don't pay anything. 00:15:44.860 --> 00:15:45.940 For us, it's free. 00:15:45.940 --> 00:15:49.080 It costs Jesus everything, but for us, it's free. 00:15:50.260 --> 00:15:53.060 The lamb of God come on our behalf to take away our sins. 00:15:53.120 --> 00:16:00.320 When you think about this word taking away sins, this is where, this is where the rubber meets the road for us because we don't like to talk in these sort 00:16:00.320 --> 00:16:05.470 of, this sort of language, because when you talk about the idea of sin, we might refer to it in third party. 00:16:05.680 --> 00:16:06.140 Look at them. 00:16:06.140 --> 00:16:07.060 They're worse than I am. 00:16:07.860 --> 00:16:08.600 Aren't I good God? 00:16:10.200 --> 00:16:17.320 But when you talk about sins related to the world, what God is saying in this statement is it's not third person, that God did this for 00:16:17.320 --> 00:16:21.200 those out there, but rather that God includes you in this story. 00:16:22.620 --> 00:16:26.380 So when God takes away sin, what he's doing is exposing our need for him. 00:16:26.420 --> 00:16:27.720 He's exposing our sin. 00:16:28.740 --> 00:16:29.740 We don't like to have our sin exposed. 00:16:32.900 --> 00:16:33.780 You know what it's like. 00:16:34.320 --> 00:16:36.040 I'm not the only one that's messed up in life. 00:16:38.220 --> 00:16:39.680 You mess up and everyone sees it. 00:16:41.960 --> 00:16:42.450 What do you want? 00:16:44.060 --> 00:16:49.280 When it happens, you fall on your face, and you do it publicly, exposed. 00:16:50.440 --> 00:16:52.420 You want to hide. 00:16:53.660 --> 00:16:55.170 You want to find grace. 00:16:56.940 --> 00:17:02.020 When you receive true grace, it is refreshing to the soul. 00:17:04.200 --> 00:17:08.000 I know when I mess up in my relationships, that's what I long for, grace. 00:17:09.380 --> 00:17:15.119 I can think, when I mess up before my wife, I don't have the power to magically turn back time and fix things. 00:17:17.200 --> 00:17:21.220 I want to be near to her, when I can't undo things that I do wrong. 00:17:22.460 --> 00:17:24.800 But do you know what allows me to restore that relationship? 00:17:28.040 --> 00:17:29.060 It's really not even me. 00:17:30.620 --> 00:17:32.560 I confess to her. 00:17:33.480 --> 00:17:34.840 She forgives me by grace. 00:17:36.500 --> 00:17:43.800 It's truthfully the only way a relationship can survive, can thrive, can 00:17:43.820 --> 00:17:48.310 experience intimacy, is in a love that extends grace. 00:17:50.360 --> 00:17:54.620 When John describes the gift of Christmas, he says it that way. 00:17:54.740 --> 00:17:58.680 He says it's the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. 00:17:58.860 --> 00:18:02.280 What he's describing for us is an act of grace. 00:18:03.400 --> 00:18:10.480 In fact, as John the Baptist starts to define and introduce what Jesus has done for us, remember the backdrop of this statement comes 00:18:10.480 --> 00:18:12.380 on the presentation which John gave to us. 00:18:12.700 --> 00:18:19.960 What John the Apostle said about Jesus when he presented him to us, he says this, "For of his fullness we have all received and grace upon 00:18:19.960 --> 00:18:25.620 grace." You know what the coming of Jesus is like for everyone? 00:18:27.260 --> 00:18:30.080 He sums it up in this idea of grace, grace upon grace. 00:18:31.600 --> 00:18:35.480 Grace is God freely bestowing his best upon us. 00:18:36.180 --> 00:18:37.440 I've heard the acronym like this. 00:18:37.660 --> 00:18:39.580 God's riches at Christ's expense. 00:18:41.220 --> 00:18:46.280 It's nothing that we've paid to earn it, but what he's lavished on us, despite our sin. 00:18:47.160 --> 00:18:53.260 When you look in passages of the Bible related to grace, there's good verses in scripture that really define what grace is for us. 00:18:53.280 --> 00:18:55.360 Romans 11:6 is probably one of the best ones. 00:18:55.360 --> 00:19:02.780 It says, "If it's by grace, that God gives you himself, it's no longer on the basis of works. 00:19:04.480 --> 00:19:13.760 Otherwise grace is no longer grace." It has nothing to do with what you do, but 00:19:13.840 --> 00:19:14.890 what he's done. 00:19:15.820 --> 00:19:22.860 Because if you try to do anything to add to what Jesus has done, it's no longer grace, but his grace 00:19:22.860 --> 00:19:23.420 is sufficient. 00:19:25.080 --> 00:19:30.860 In fact Ephesians 2:8-9 says this "For by grace you have been rescued or saved, through faith. 00:19:31.740 --> 00:19:32.540 It's not of yourselves. 00:19:32.760 --> 00:19:36.060 It's the gift of God." That's Christmas right? 00:19:37.360 --> 00:19:40.060 That's why we give at Christmas, because it reflects the greatest gift. 00:19:40.180 --> 00:19:43.640 It's the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. 00:19:43.720 --> 00:19:45.540 By the way, gifts aren't the only thing that you can give. 00:19:47.600 --> 00:19:50.660 Words of affirmation, time, service. 00:19:52.180 --> 00:19:55.130 Gifts aren't the only thing, but it's a reflection. 00:19:55.460 --> 00:19:59.400 We give because we love and the greatest love we've ever seen is in Jesus. 00:19:59.840 --> 00:20:02.320 The Bible tells us, they'll know we are Christians by our what? 00:20:03.520 --> 00:20:04.180 Love, right? 00:20:05.980 --> 00:20:08.530 We love him because he first loved us. 00:20:09.680 --> 00:20:12.840 It's a reflection of our creator. 00:20:12.860 --> 00:20:16.460 So he's saying to us, that it's grace that he's lavished on us. 00:20:16.460 --> 00:20:18.340 That's why this lamb has come to take away our sins. 00:20:18.340 --> 00:20:19.520 We couldn't rescue ourselves. 00:20:19.820 --> 00:20:26.840 He comes, gives us the ultimate gift in himself so that we can be rescued from the sin that separates us in relationship from him, because apart from grace, we can't 00:20:26.860 --> 00:20:28.080 restore what's been destroyed. 00:20:30.380 --> 00:20:30.940 But grace. 00:20:32.880 --> 00:20:33.940 And he doesn't just say grace. 00:20:34.120 --> 00:20:35.600 He says grace upon grace. 00:20:37.500 --> 00:20:41.320 Grace upon grace is taking the word grace and just multiplying it. 00:20:41.320 --> 00:20:45.660 It literally means an inexhaustible supply of grace available to you 24/7. 00:20:48.680 --> 00:20:55.980 So when you read John, John 1:1-4, all the way down to verse 16 really, it gives this identity 00:20:55.980 --> 00:21:03.060 of Jesus and then John 1:29, you see this introduction of Jesus about what he is, and 00:21:03.060 --> 00:21:05.260 then the rest of John, we're off and running. 00:21:05.520 --> 00:21:12.720 The letter of John becomes a series of stories that pepper the identity of this Jesus that we're introduced to in chapter 00:21:12.720 --> 00:21:13.260 1. 00:21:15.100 --> 00:21:18.780 People that meet the lamb and embrace his grace. 00:21:20.400 --> 00:21:27.460 Then John does something really interesting at the end of the book, and the reason he's about to do what he does at the end of the book is because 00:21:27.460 --> 00:21:34.640 what he wants to eliminate is the possibility I think of what most human beings will do when they read this story, and that's just to simply say oh 00:21:34.640 --> 00:21:35.660 that was good for them. 00:21:36.820 --> 00:21:43.900 But what John does at the end of the story in John chapter 20, verse 31 is this, "But these have been written," these stories in this book have been written, 00:21:44.160 --> 00:21:51.940 "So that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you 00:21:51.940 --> 00:21:59.260 may have life in his name." What John is saying, the point of John, 00:22:01.140 --> 00:22:08.240 is he wants you to see the intro, to see the never-ending grace, and to read the stories that relate to 00:22:08.300 --> 00:22:15.400 that introduction and then to take those stories and make their stories our story. 00:22:17.840 --> 00:22:24.960 You know we can read the Christmas story historically, but what this verse is saying is that God wants us to make 00:22:25.160 --> 00:22:26.360 this story personal. 00:22:28.860 --> 00:22:31.360 God wants this story to connect your life. 00:22:31.420 --> 00:22:38.580 This Christmas story isn't intended to be read and say, you know God that's nice that God gave them grace, but rather than say I can't believe that God continues 00:22:38.580 --> 00:22:45.660 24/7, grace upon grace, this inexhaustible supply, pouring out over 00:22:45.660 --> 00:22:46.220 me. 00:22:48.580 --> 00:22:53.640 When you read the stories in John's book, do you know the people that got Christmas? 00:22:57.160 --> 00:23:03.460 It was the ones that came to the lamb and the brokenness of sin and embraced the lamb's gift. 00:23:05.100 --> 00:23:06.530 Grace upon grace. 00:23:08.480 --> 00:23:10.710 Do you know the ones that didn't get the power of Christmas? 00:23:12.980 --> 00:23:19.190 The ones that remained in pride, and didn't make personal the gift of the lamb's grace. 00:23:21.320 --> 00:23:22.620 I'd like to say it like this, guys. 00:23:22.680 --> 00:23:30.220 That just as busyness is the enemy of intimacy, pride 00:23:30.220 --> 00:23:31.610 is the enemy of grace. 00:23:33.520 --> 00:23:37.160 In fact, James says it like this in James 4. 00:23:37.200 --> 00:23:45.820 He said, "God opposed the proud, but he gives grace to the humble." That's 00:23:45.820 --> 00:23:46.620 what beholding is. 00:23:48.740 --> 00:23:51.980 Beholding the lamb of God that came for a purpose and what was the purpose? 00:23:53.020 --> 00:23:56.380 Well as a lamb, the lamb who sacrificed, he came to take away the sins of the world. 00:23:58.180 --> 00:24:00.140 John didn't leave that story with them. 00:24:00.480 --> 00:24:05.550 He gave that story to me, so I don't just read it historically, but I read it personally. 00:24:07.720 --> 00:24:12.700 Because when Jesus poured out grace upon grace, it didn't stop when Jesus went to the cross. 00:24:13.200 --> 00:24:16.740 That grace flows new every day for me. 00:24:18.520 --> 00:24:23.140 The more we understand our need for grace, the better we respond to Jesus. 00:24:23.140 --> 00:24:27.020 Some people look at this story and it doesn't connect because it isn't personal. 00:24:28.480 --> 00:24:35.620 The key is to behold and understand that God's never-ending grace has made this intensely personal for you. 00:24:37.180 --> 00:24:43.480 The lamb takes away your sin, every day because his grace never ends. 00:24:45.220 --> 00:24:47.020 This is an important message. 00:24:47.180 --> 00:24:48.600 This is a beautiful message. 00:24:48.720 --> 00:24:54.800 This is the Christmas message and this is the reason why we can say Christmas isn't just a day or an event. 00:24:55.160 --> 00:25:01.320 Christmas is a lifestyle because behind the story it is a matchless grace for my soul. 00:25:03.360 --> 00:25:08.720 Can I add, probably one of the most powerful stories that we should share. 00:25:08.800 --> 00:25:13.300 I should say it is the most powerful story we should share especially for today. 00:25:15.100 --> 00:25:17.470 Because our world today is a pretty graceless place. 00:25:20.520 --> 00:25:22.460 Other people may attack you. 00:25:23.860 --> 00:25:31.360 Other people may give up on you, but grace upon grace says God will never give 00:25:31.360 --> 00:25:32.150 up on you. 00:25:33.900 --> 00:25:36.390 God is not finished with you. 00:25:36.880 --> 00:25:41.280 That he gave it all to you, as an incredible gift for your life. 00:25:42.620 --> 00:25:44.520 His life, for yours. 00:25:45.680 --> 00:25:46.180 I get it. 00:25:46.180 --> 00:25:49.200 Sometimes in life, we can think that we're not even worthy of God. 00:25:50.520 --> 00:25:51.240 But he's not finished. 00:25:52.880 --> 00:25:54.520 You think about the stories of the Bible. 00:25:54.520 --> 00:26:01.540 When I look at individuals like Moses or Abraham who, given a 00:26:01.600 --> 00:26:06.900 promise later in years, or David or Paul or even Jesus' genealogy. 00:26:06.940 --> 00:26:08.140 If you read Matthew or Luke. 00:26:08.500 --> 00:26:12.570 They take a point a couple times in Jesus' genealogy to say, now she was a harlot and she a harlot. 00:26:14.520 --> 00:26:16.040 David murdered people. 00:26:16.040 --> 00:26:17.040 Moses murdered people. 00:26:17.060 --> 00:26:17.900 Paul murdered people. 00:26:21.240 --> 00:26:23.220 The world could say, it's not worth God. 00:26:23.540 --> 00:26:24.020 You're not worth God. 00:26:27.180 --> 00:26:28.020 But God's not finished. 00:26:30.660 --> 00:26:31.710 Grace upon grace. 00:26:32.820 --> 00:26:34.240 New every morning. 00:26:37.000 --> 00:26:40.860 Could you imagine how the story of Christianity would be different if God had given up on them? 00:26:42.300 --> 00:26:42.980 The Apostle Paul? 00:26:45.740 --> 00:26:48.040 But his grace made him new. 00:26:49.840 --> 00:26:52.800 You can celebrate Christmas every day. 00:26:52.880 --> 00:26:53.480 That's what that means. 00:26:54.940 --> 00:27:00.580 Every day, the Spirit of what Christmas is about can be nurtured within my soul as I do just a couple of things guys. 00:27:02.040 --> 00:27:02.380 Behold. 00:27:05.660 --> 00:27:10.600 Refuse to let busyness become the enemy to my intimacy with God. 00:27:13.380 --> 00:27:20.480 Do not let pride become the enemy of experiencing the grace of God which he so freely pours upon 00:27:20.480 --> 00:27:20.980 me. 00:27:23.220 --> 00:27:30.380 I told you I received one of the greatest gifts of all time when I had Nintendo given to me and Atari got to go away. 00:27:32.060 --> 00:27:35.620 But you know over the years I've learned, I'm not that great of a gift giver. 00:27:36.380 --> 00:27:39.200 I've tried, but I just never feel like I've ever... 00:27:39.380 --> 00:27:41.540 When you love people you want to give the best to them. 00:27:41.540 --> 00:27:46.120 You always want to give that gift that you just think would make all the difference, the one revolutionary gift, right? 00:27:46.390 --> 00:27:47.840 I always feel like I strike out. 00:27:47.880 --> 00:27:48.500 I never quite hit it. 00:27:48.500 --> 00:27:49.820 I get close but I never get it. 00:27:49.920 --> 00:27:53.620 But do you know, Jesus did give the greatest gift of all time. 00:27:55.980 --> 00:28:03.320 He took away what separates you from him, to make you new in his grace, to give you a new beginning 00:28:03.320 --> 00:28:06.440 in your relationship and to give that grace every day. 00:28:08.140 --> 00:28:15.560 Celebrating Christmas is all about beholding the lamb who takes away the sin of the world every day, by 00:28:15.660 --> 00:28:16.680 grace upon grace. 00:28:17.960 --> 00:28:19.380 May we as God's people...