John 1:1-5 (NASB)
¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. ⁴ In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. ⁵ The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

John 1:9-14 (NASB)
⁹ There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. ¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. ¹¹ He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. ¹² But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, ¹³ who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. ¹⁴ And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Luke 2:7 (NASB)
⁷ And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger because there was no room for him in the inn.

Main Idea: When God speaks he asks us to see in Jesus all the needs to say.

Christmas is about God speaking. During the Sundays of Advent we have talked about how God spoke to specific individuals identifying for them their role in revealing Jesus Christ to the world. We’ve listened as God spoke to Zechariah, Joseph, Mary and the shepherds. To each individual God had a specific message. On this Christmas Day of 2005 we hear God speak again, yet this time we hear him speak not with words but in a person, a baby whose name was Jesus. In this child named Jesus would be contained all that He would ever need to say.

You might think that God’s voice at Christmas would say, "Listen," listen to the words of the man named Jesus spoke rather than the gurgling of a baby. We are wise to listen to all that Jesus said. You might imagine that God’s voice would say to us "obey," obey the words Jesus spoke to those who would follow him. Surely there is much that we are to obey as Jesus spoke to his disciples. However at Christmas rather than God saying to us to "listen" or "obey" Jesus, I believe God’s voice is saying to us to "see, see the child in the manger for who he is, for all I have needed to say I have said in him". John said, "And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth." (John 1:14)

What I hold in my hand is the manger from the nativity set of my childhood. It is at least 50 years old. In it is a form of a baby lying on a blanket on a bed of straw. It was the first visual image I had of the infant Jesus in the manger. What I see is the representation of Jesus by the creator of this mass-produced figurine. It is little more than cheap clay and paint. By itself, there is really not much to see. Yet on that first Christmas night what was seen there was the ultimate message of God in one tiny human body. It was as John said, "The Word became flesh." The message of God became human.

What do you see when you first see a baby? Oh, you see their face and laugh because they have features that are impressions of your own. You notice their hair and say, "Look how dark it is!" You examine their hands, amazed that their fingers are so long with tiny fingernails. What else do you see when you look at a baby? There is more to be seen than just the physical image that you see with the organ we call our eye. When you look at a baby you see the love of a husband and a wife that created them. You see the mystery of life pulsing through them reflected in the beating of their tiny heart. You see the risk of believing that somehow this child can be continuation of its parents’ life. You see also the sacrifice that will be required from those who gave life to this child to insure that this child has all that could be needed.

"Seeing" is more than what we observe by physical, rational observation. It can also mean to experience something or come to understand the meaning of some principle or idea. That is the meaning that John had when he says, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw (beheld) his glory…" (John 1:14). For the word John used here for "saw" was a word that meant apprehending the higher reality of something, grasping all the significance of a moment or event. It was a word used for amazement or astonishment.

Don’t get me wrong, seeing Jesus physically was an absolute in John’s mind. He wanted everyone to know that he had seen Jesus physically, that he was real, not some issue of his imagination. He would write in his first epistle, "What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life— what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also…" (I John 1:1-3a)

John saw Jesus! Our problem is we can’t see Jesus physically. We can’t go back to that stable and join Mary, Joseph and shepherds as they peered into that manger to see Jesus. To see Jesus objectively, rationally or visually is impossible for us. I think that is what frustrates us at Christmas. When we see a real baby that child has some sort of emotional appeal to us. When we talk about seeing Jesus in the manger we struggle because all we have are imitations. Yet we can see what God has had to say in Jesus. We can understand and grasp the significance of John’s words when he said, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (John 1:1)

What do you see when you look into the manger? You see in Jesus all that God needed to say. When you see that child in the manger you see the greatness of God’s love. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son…" (John 3:16a). There on that bed of straw was cradled the evidence of the magnificent love of God. We may wonder because of the turns that our lives take if there is any love in God. I understand. Yet there in that feeding trough is proof that God loved all of us so much that he gave his Son to us and for us.

When you look in the manger you can see the depth of God’s humility. John said that "the Word became flesh." He didn’t say that the Word became man or took a body but that he became skin, flesh, just like you and me. The mystery of this sight still defies definition! St. John Chrysostom wrote in the third century, "What shall I say! And how shall I describe this birth to you? For this wonder fills me with astonishment. The Ancient of Days has become an infant. He who sits upon the sublime and heavenly throne now lies in a manger. And he who cannot be touched…now lies subject to human hands. He who has broken the bonds of sinners is now bound by an infant’s bands. But he has decreed that lowliness shall become honor, infamy be clothed with glory, and abject humiliation the measure of his goodness."(Watch for the Light, p. 232-233) Seeing this child is to hear God say that there was no limit to what he would give up for us.

When you look in the manger you can see the shadow of God’s glory. John said, "And we saw (beheld) his glory." You and I might think of glory as being something brilliant or lustrous; yet Jesus would define his own glory as the cross. On the night he was betrayed he said in prayer to God, "Father, the hour has come; glorify Thy Son, that the Son may glorify Thee…" (John 17:1). When you and I look again at the baby we can’t help but see a shadow of the cross for that cross was the Son’s ultimate glory.

When you look in the manger you can see the magnitude of the risk that God was taking. For, "He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. (John 1:11) We sometimes forget that the manger was the greatest risk that God could take. That rejection first occurred because an inn was too crowded. That rejection still occurs because our lives are too crowded. God offered himself to be rejected by everyone so that anyone might receive him. John said, "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name…(John 1:12) When you look into the manger you see God willing to risk in order that we might become his child.

When you look in the manger you see the greatness of the sacrifice God was making. How can you and I describe the sacrifice of God himself for you and me? We don’t know when Jesus first understood that he was born to die but he was. Tiny hands, tiny feet and tiny heart would one day grow to that of a man’s to be pierced with the instruments of humanities violence. Yet somehow Jesus knew. For he would say, "Now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, 'Father, save Me from this hour'? But for this purpose I came to this hour." (John 12:27) He would be the sacrifice for our own rebellion so that we might have life eternal. When you look in the manger you see the sacrifice God was making.

When you look in the manger you see the promise of God’s triumph. Thirty-three years from the day of his birth in a manger would be the day of his death on the cross. On that cross he would cry out, "It is finished!" (John 19:30) While I believe those words were uttered with the last exhausted breath from his body, they were as well words that promised victory and triumph. At last the battle over death and evil had been won. Life and good had been declared victors over that which corrupted them. When you look in the manger you see the triumph God was promising.

"And the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we saw his glory…." Today God is speaking and he is asking us to see, to see in Jesus all he has needed to say. Christmas is about God speaking. The question is: Are we listening?

On this Christmas Day morning I invite you to see Jesus. There is no manger here for you to imagine except that which is found in stained glass. No, I invite you to see him in that which he left for us to remember him, in the bread and in the cup. He said about the bread, "See! This is my body." He said about the cup, "See! This is my blood!" We do not see him with our human eyes in a manger today. We can behold him through the eyes of our spirit to comprehend all that God needed to say to us. In this bread and cup we come once again to the mystery of the manger and the majesty of the cross. We see him in these in order that others may see him in us.

Sunday, December 25, 2005

Dr. Bruce Tippit, Pastor

First Baptist Church

Jonesboro, Arkansas

btippit@fbcjonesboro.org