Christmas Day December 25, 2016

Christmas Day
John 1:1-18
December 25, 2016

“Behold His Glory”

The biggest thing that Christmas tells you about God is that He cares.  He cares about you.  And He cares about everyone else.  And He cares about all of His creation.  Some people who don’t believe in the true God—they say that our God stinks.  They say our God doesn’t really care because He doesn’t do anything about all the evil in the world and the violence and the wars and the death and the sadness.  They think that if God were real then He should just take care of everything all at once the way they want.  But they don’t understand Christmas.  Christmas shows that God cares more than we ever would imagine.

Think of it this way—go back to Adam and Eve.  Now God had made them perfect.  Along with all the rest of the perfect creation.  There wasn’t any evil or violence or wars or death or sadness or any of that stuff that we don’t like.  It was all good.  Very good.   The way we think God should be and should have it.  And even maybe that’s the way people think God should make it now if He really cared.  Maybe He should make it back like the Garden of Eden.

But then what happened?  Satan came.  Satan was an angel who went bad.  Rebelled against God and was cast out of heaven.  So he comes to Adam and Eve and gets them to doubt God and believe a lie.  So they sin, they eat the fruit, and the whole world gets messed up.  Just like it is now.  And here’s the big question—what did God do about it?  We want to know if God cares, right?  So what did He do about Adam and Eve and all of us when we sinned and went evil?

Apparently, if we listen to some people, if God really cared then He would’ve taken care of business right then and there.  Destroyed the evil right then and there.  But, of course, what would that have meant for Adam and Eve?  What would that have meant for all of humanity?  All of us?  Well, God would’ve destroyed us.  If He really cared, right?  Then He’d get rid of the evil.  Which is us.  We’re the ones that cause all that evil and violence and wars and death.  So if God really cared, He’d get rid of us, right?

But God didn’t do that.  He didn’t kick His creation to the curb and say, “Ugh, what a mistake that was!  What a mistake to create those worthless humans!”  He didn’t do that.  Instead, He made a decision that shows you that He cares about you far more than you can fully understand.  He made a decision to become one of us.  He told Satan, “You’re doomed.”  He told Satan, “You won’t get these people.  I love them too much.”  He told Satan, “I will put enmity between your offspring and her offspring. He will bruise your head and you will bruise His heel.”

That was the first promise of Christmas.  Right there on that first day of this evil world in the Garden of Eden.  God said to you, “I care.’  I will send you a Savior.  He said He’s not going to just destroy you and everybody else so that we can get rid of the all the problems of evil.  He said He wants to redeem you.  To win you back.  He said He won’t let Satan have you.

So it took thousands of years, but God made good on His promise.  He didn’t destroy the world like we deserve, but He came into it.  Here’s how St. John says it, “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.”  We have seen, John says, God’s glory.  We have seen that God cares.  Do you want to know if God cares?  Do you want to show the rest of the world that God cares?  Then see this child, Jesus Christ.  There’s your answer.  God cares.  He came and dwelt among us.

We have seen His glory, John says.  Behold His glory this morning.  God’s glory isn’t in coming down in a big lightning strike and zapping the evil world away.  God’s glory isn’t in being an all-powerful God who can dropkick planet Earth into a black hole and try to make a better one.  No.  God’s glory is in suffering with you.  That’s where you see how much God cares.  He becomes a man to suffer with you.

We all want to know if God cares about us, right?  Does He care about little ‘ol me?  Does He care about what I’m going through?  Does He care about the troubles I’m facing?  The heartache I’m feeling?  Does God care about me?  And His answer is the baby lying in the manger wrapped in swaddling cloths.  God says to you, “I do care about you.  I want to redeem you.  I want to save you.  I’m going to suffer with you and win you back from evil to be my own children.”

And that’s God’s glory.  His glory is His suffering with us.  His dying with us.  And His rising to give us new life.  His glory is His grace for us evil sinners.

So let’s talk then about how much God cares about you.  When God looks at you, He doesn’t see someone to kick to the curb.  Someone to kick into Satan’s black hole and never worry about again.  He doesn’t look at you and say, “Oh, I’m so sick of her, so sick of him, I never want to see ‘em again.”  No, God looks at you and sees someone redeemable.  Someone He loves.  God looks at you and sees the good.

Now, granted, because of sin there’s no good in us.  We’re lost in sin and enemies of God.  BUT…we are still God’s own creation.  You were made by God Himself.  Fashioned in your mother’s womb, Psalm 139 says.  He sees all the good that He made you to be.  He sees you and knows more about you than you’ll ever know about yourself.  He sees you and knows how many hairs your head has ever had.  Knows your Mom and Dad and knows where you were born and where you have grown up.  Knows your thoughts.  Your sorrows.  Your joys.  He knows it all—because He made you.  And He doesn’t want to lose you.  He doesn’t want to lose you.

And that’s the really remarkable thing.  That God knows all the bad that is us too.  He knows every single evil thought I’ve ever had.  He knows every single evil thing my eyes have looked at.  He knows every single evil thing I’ve said about others and said about Him.  He knows all the hate I’ve had in my heart.  All the selfishness and pride.  All the jealousy.  He knows every bit about you.  And YET—He still doesn’t want to kick us to the curb.

So God looks at you—sees all the good and all the bad—and He says, “I love you.  I’m going to redeem you.  I’m going to make you Mine again.”  And that’s why there’s a baby boy in the manger in Bethlehem on Christmas.  Because God cares about you.  And He wants to redeem you.

So Jesus went to battle for you.  He did battle with Satan and resisted His temptations.  He did battle with demons and cast them out.  He did battle with sickness and disease and healed them.  He did battle with death itself and gave life.  And then He took every one of your sins and walked into Jerusalem to be hung on a cross.  Every whip He took was for you.  Every mocking was for you.  Every thorn was for you.  Every nail was for you.  He wanted to win you back.  He wanted to save you.

So I’ll say it again.  God’s glory isn’t, like some people think it should be, coming down here and punching evil in the face.  Because He’d be punching us.  His glory is coming down here and letting evil punch Him in the face.  His glory is dwelling among us and suffering with us.  His glory is giving His perfect life into death so that we will not die but will have eternal life.

God does care about you.  And there’s no greater evidence than Christmas morning.  God came here to you.  To live with you.  To live for you.  To redeem you.  Because He loves you.

And finally, then, you’re invited up here this Christmas morning to receive His love and care right here—in the body and blood of this baby Jesus Christ—who suffered for you.  Here He says, “I care about you.  Here is My own Son, body and blood, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.”  Let there be no doubt.  The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.  God cares.

In Jesus’ name. Amen.