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Merry Christmas, just in case you didn’t hear that. We are glad you’re with us this morning. Welcome home to the place where God nourishes you, where his holy manger lies, and we feed upon the bread from heaven, our Lord.
Bells have been ringing for hours around the world, joyful celebrations of Christians gathering either in homes, burned out churches, or famous cathedrals. They gather and have been gathering, and will continue to gather until the sun sets on this day, to celebrate the birth of the one made flesh, the Word made flesh, the one by whom this whole world was created, to become flesh and blood for you, honoring you, choosing to take upon himself your blood and your flesh, to redeem your blood and your flesh, as well as your dear soul, eternal.
This celebration and this ancient truth that John proclaims in his text this morning is a mystery indeed. The word became flesh and dwelt among us. We have seen his glory, glory as of the only son of the father, full of grace and truth. And from his fullness, we have all received grace upon grace. This sounds somewhat ethereal and kind of nebulous out there, but it is not. It is a way of simply stating a mystery. Mysteries are not understood by our mind, but they are believed upon, trusted in, and we close our eyes in death, holding fast to such mysteries.
We did not come here this morning to honor any kind of a force or abstract power. We did not come wedded to a concept or a philosophy that guides and monitors every facet of our life. We did not come to worship a disembodied luminous goodness that’s out there. We came to worship a child, the Word made flesh. We came to worship a baby boy full of grace and truth. One that is dependent utterly upon his mother for nourishment and for care. And one who obviously provides mother with life and breath, health and faith.
As the hymnist said, this mystery was born to raise the sons of earth up. This mystery was born to give the sons of man a second birth. This birth in the word made flesh.
The other facet of this mystery, this glorious celebration of which we are participating in, is the one that’s not quite as obvious of all the prologue that I’ve given you. It’s the fact that John says, though the world was made through him, the world did not know him, and his own people did not receive him. We could be affronted by that and say, well, what kind of people would they be? And they’re very holy people, very spiritual people. Jesus talked about this kind of spiritual people that did not receive him.
This kind of holy people that turned their back on him when he said, this people draw near to me with their mouth. This people honors me with their lips, but their heart, their heart’s far from me. How can someone be so spiritual and yet be so far away from our Lord, the word made flesh? And yet that is what our Lord proclaimed. That is what John proclaims about the word becoming flesh.
There are two ways of knowing God in this world, and only two ways. Either God is known by the law, and you know the rest of the story, or he’s known by the gospel. Seems so simplistic. It seems almost utterly below us and pedestrian. And yet that’s it. Because the very people whose religious rights were glorious and full of, we’re empty on the inside. The very people who knew God according to every jot and tittle were the people whose heart was far from him.
It’s not the obvious ones that you and I love to think about who turn their back on our Lord. It’s the unobvious ones. It’s the ones that can slide into it without even thinking about it. Because we think we understand God according to rules and regulations. It’s the ones that can slide into it without even thinking about it, and not according to the mystery of God becoming flesh.
Spiritual people abound in this world. The majority of the people in this world are spiritual people. They honor God with their lips. They draw near to Him with their mouths, but their hearts are far from Him. Because they only know God according to rules and regulations, the law. How do I make God happy? God issued also the gospel to be made known. This is the mystery, the gospel.
It is not an intellectual ability, the gospel. It is a mystery that God puts upon your heart and then creates something from nothing to believe in this truth that is unbelievable. That God would descend from the highest of all things and enter this cosmos and wallow in what you and I live in every day. And not just wallow, but drink it down to its very dregs. That he could redeem and lift up you and me.
It would be as ridiculous as this: Christmas dinner is going to happen today. And I’m sure some of you ladies are thinking, okay, now I’ve got to get this done and this done before everybody gets there. And the pastor better make his sermon short.
It would be as crazy and ridiculous as you who are preparing this feast to tell all of the holy people in your life to leave and not come to the feast, but invite rather the pigs. Yes, the sows and the boars. That’s what God did when he came to this world. Lots of spiritual people, but blind to him. Lots of spiritual people, but hearts aren’t near him. Lots of people who know God and know law and know how to live, but don’t believe the mystery of God, the word made flesh for you that lifts you up out of the pool in which we find ourselves swimming regularly.
Had God not found you in your lostness, had God not descended from on high and became one with you, taking upon your flesh and your blood, you and I would still be hiding behind the tree like Adam and Eve were. You and I still would be ashamed of our nakedness in the sight of the Word. But in the mystery of the Word made flesh, that mystery of the Gospel, He raises us up from the dead. The dregs in which we find ourselves. Rather than us thinking in terms of always wanting to show God we’re improving, we show God nothing but clothe me, O Lord, feed me, O Lord, care for me, O Lord, comfort me, O God, hold me, dear Jesus.
That’s the kind of soul Christ came to save. And the body of that person is the same kind of body that God came to redeem. Or he would have never taken on flesh and blood again, bone and sinew, muscle and tendon as he did for you.
Now the problem is, this knowledge of God according to the law will not be ignored. It will always be there for you. Not a bad thing, it is a good thing. It is that which drives us to our knees. It is that which reveals the very heart that’s far away from God at many times and in many places in our lives. That law is what centers us again and says… Lord, have mercy upon me, a sinner. But it cannot be reasoned away. It cannot be explained away. And it cannot be justified.
There are many people who say, you can’t put God in a box in order to justify themselves or their behavior or their lifestyle. And yet, as condemned sinners, you and I thank God that our Lord was found in a box for us—a manger. He fit that. And for that, we thank God. That’s the mystery of the Word made flesh.
There is no justifying any of our lives. It is only, Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy. Lord have mercy. The law can only be killed. It can only be crushed. And it can only be fulfilled, but not in you or me. In the babe born in Bethlehem, whose flesh and blood was pierced, whose bone and marrow lay in the tomb and was resurrected. That is our knowing of God.
Though the majority of the world is very spiritual, the minority of the world believe this truth for them. We’d love to paint it in such black and white terms that the ones that aren’t spiritual at all, they’re the ones who were the ones that rejected our Lord. And there will be a far more people in hell whose hearts were spiritual, but far away from the Word made flesh for you.
The good news is that the darkness of this world, though it wishes to overcome the light that has come in Christ Jesus, the Word made flesh, the darkness will not overcome this light. And you who are joined to that light shall not be overcome either. God entered your flesh and blood to make you his child and will not turn his back and will not rebuff you with his silence. But with tender words and encouragement will he draw you again that you may drink deeply at this well and have your soul filled.
In this world of spiritual people, we pray that God keeps us from a collection of other confessors of the truth who say, everybody’s okay. May God preserve us from such a communion that says, everybody’s okay. May God keep us in a communion of faint-hearted people. May God keep us in a communion of the feeble and the ailing, a little flock gathered around the Word made flesh.
May God keep us in the communion that recognizes the wretchedness of our own person. May God keep us in a communion that sighs and cries unto God incessantly like an uncomforted baby. For there they will find comfort and hope, true comfort and hope, a knowledge of God that is not found in this gray matter and is not explained by the same gray matter.
And may God keep us in this communion where we believe and find comfort in this communion of saints, this forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. And yes, we want to be found in the communion of saints that suffers for this truth, this mystery of the Word made flesh in a world that’s spiritual as can be and in which people draw near to God with their mouth and with their lips, but their heart is far from Him.
Draw our heart, dear Lord Jesus. Draw us again unto Thee, that we may be filled, comforted, fortified, established, and made strong only in such grace. In the name of Jesus, amen. The peace of God which passes all understanding. Keep your hearts and your minds on Christ Jesus, the Word made flesh for you. In His holy name, Amen.
