Christmas sermon series: God's Greatest Gift

1. I Wonder as I Wander - John 1

2. Interruptions at Christmas - Matthew 1

3. Are You Satisfied with Christmas? - Matthew 2

4. And They Were Amazed - Luke 2

The following model sermon draws from the prologue of John's Gospel that identified Jesus as the Word
made flesh. The sermon title is that of the delightful carol, I Wonder as I Wander, which reflects
something of the wonder Joseph experienced.

Scriptures: John 1

Introduction

As John brings the prologue to his gospel to a close, the last five verses - verses 14 through 18 - are like
the mighty finale of a musical composition played by some great symphony orchestra. We hear the
rolling of drums, the crashing of cymbals - the entire percussion section of the orchestra comes alive.
The fingers of the harpist fly across the strings and the trumpets blast.

In these five verses three arresting facts surface regarding the incarnation of our Lord - the mystery by
which God became man. First of all, let's note:

I. The great condescension (v. 14a)

The Word became flesh and took up residence among us.

To condescend means to lower oneself to a level not normally occupied - physically, mentally, or socially.
It means to descend voluntarily to the level of another person. And with human beings, this is not always
done with kindness. Sometimes there is an air of contempt, snobbery, and haughtiness in human
condescension. But there is another side to the use of this word. It also means to be graciously willing to
do something regarded as beneath one's dignity. This is what God did when He became flesh. With a
mysterious mixture of Divine grace and love, He performed the greatest act of condescension of all time
and eternity.

The Word that John personified is the very expression and manifestation of God. The creative power of
God was in the Word (1:3). With such limitless power, the Word of God condescended to be compressed
into human flesh.

John purposely used the crude, blunt word, "flesh." The sophisticated Greeks recoiled from the word
flesh in regard to Deity. Flesh, to them, was corruptible, temporary, and doomed to be destroyed and
cast aside. No God would deal with anything as degrading as human flesh. Yet that is exactly what God
did. He entered human flesh, which stands for the whole person.

In becoming flesh, God accepted the limitations of humanity. He became vulnerable to those natural
human weaknesses that accompany our flesh - hunger, thirst, physical weariness, and pain. He
experienced the emotional traumas we experience - disappointment, sorrow, hurt, loneliness, and
rejection. Because Jesus had no sin nature, He did this without the taint of sin.
While Jesus committed no sin while He was on earth, He experienced sin in a way that was far more
overwhelming than committing sin. Why did He cry out in Gethsemane in horror? What caused Him to
sweat "great drops of blood," and to plead with His Heavenly Father, "Abba, Father! All things are
possible for You. Take this cup away from Me" (Mark 14:36)?

Jesus was not about to succumb to some temptation to sin. It was worse than that. He was about to
"drink the cup" containing all the sordid sins of mankind compressed together. He became sin for us.
John said that Jesus "lived for a while among us." Literally, that means He "pitched His tent" or "cast His
lot" with us. He moved in with us.

II. The amazing discovery (v. 14b)

We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and
truth.

Another word of deep significance in this description of our Lord's incarnation is glory. Human beings can
achieve a degree of earthly glory. A person performs some outstanding deed, some benevolent act, or
makes a great monetary contribution to some worthy cause. Often this person receives honor in a blaze
of glory, admiration, and appreciation. Or, a person makes some astounding discovery that makes life
easier or more pleasant or safer for us - like Jonas Salk who perfected the polio vaccine, or Louis Pasteur,
whose process made milk and milk products safer for human consumption. A degree of human glory is
attached to these people.

The first time we see the glory of God is when He declares, "Let there be light" (Genesis 1:3). What light
was that? It was not the physical light of the sun, for the sun and stars had not yet been created. It was
the glory of God in all of His heavenly brightness. God's glory filled the earth with indescribable beauty.
The glory of God appeared next in the mysterious cloud that hovered over the Israelites from the
crossing of the Red Sea until they entered the Promised Land 40 years later.

But John wrote, "We have seen his glory." He wrote of the glory of God in Jesus Christ. It was manifested
every time He performed a miracle and in His life-changing teachings that arrested the people, convicted
them of their sins, and showed them God's desire to forgive them and make them His children. Jesus'
glory was revealed when He was transfigured with Moses and Elijah before Peter, James, and John.

What about now? Is it possible for us to observe His glory today? God's glory does not abide in one body
now, as it did in the body of Jesus. In the Person of the Holy Spirit, this glory dwells within every believer.
It is present not just in the stained-glass experiences we have in our corporate worship assemblies, but in
the marketplace on Monday, in the school room, on the athletic field, and in everyday tasks in the home.

Evangelicals are sometimes so afraid of a social gospel that we skirt the edges of desperate human
suffering. We can express the glory of God with supernatural effectiveness in such situations. Jesus
reacted to human suffering when He healed sick and crippled bodies, and to human hunger when He fed
the multitudes, and to human sorrow when He raised Lazarus and the widow of Nain's son from the
dead.

The crowning statement John made provided:

III. The startling revelation (v. 18)

No one has ever seen God. The only Son - the One who is at the Father's side - He has revealed Him.

Moses had an overwhelming desire to "see God" (Exodus 33:18-20). It was not mere human curiosity,
but the compulsion of a man who bore the awesome responsibility of leading Israel out of Egypt and into
the Promised Land. Often Moses reached the point of exasperation because of the people's rebellion
against his leadership. Feeling the extreme loneliness and sense of failure every leader feels, Moses
believed that if he could only see God's glory, he could press on.

John declared that, in Jesus, we have the full revelation of God. No longer is He a faraway, mysterious
Being, awesome and unapproachable in His glory and majesty. Rather Jesus communicated the love and
tenderness of our God through His teachings and His compassion toward sinful, hurting, desperate
people. "No man ever spoke like this!" (John 7:46), His enemies said of Him. "This man really was God's
Son!" (Mark 15:39), the Roman centurion who led the crucifiers said of Him.

Indeed, Jesus gave to the world the eternal revelation of who God is and what He longs to become to
those who will place their trust in Him.

Conclusion

What can you say about Him today? You can observe His glory, not with the natural eye, but with the
eyes of your soul. You can know what God is like through a personal encounter with His Son, the Lord
Jesus Christ. You can experience the wonder that Joseph experienced when the angel revealed to him
that his beloved Mary would give birth to the Son of God, who would be the Word made flesh.

Illustrations

The story behind the song

I Wonder as I Wander, the title carol for this sermon, was discovered by John Jacob Niles, who spent
many years wandering around the Appalachian Mountains in search of the origins of folk songs. A
composer and singer born in Kentucky in 1892, Niles found one folk song that has become a monument
to his years of hard work.

On a cold December day in North Carolina, he watched the people who lived in a poor community going
about their daily chores. He heard the sound of a solitary voice that belonged to a little girl sitting alone
on a bench. She was singing a song Niles had never heard. When she finished, Niles asked her about the
song. She told him that her mother had taught it to her, like her grandmother had taught it to her
mother before her. The song was I Wonder as I Wander.

He wrote the words in a small tablet. Long after he had left the child, he continued to hear the
hauntingly beautiful words and melody. They were deeply spiritual, thoughtful, but profoundly contained
the joy and wonder of Christmas. When Niles introduced the song just before the beginning of World
War II, he awed people with his discovery. Until his death in 1980, Niles continued his search for the
source of the carol. He never found its author, and concluded that the little girl was an angel sent to
deliver a message of the wonder of Christ's birth.

"I wonder as I wander out under the sky,How Jesus the Savior did come for to die,For poor on'ry people
like you and like I.I wonder as I wander out under the sky.
"When Mary birthed Jesus 'twas in a cow's stall,With wise men and farmers and shepherds and all.But
high from God's heaven a star's light did fall,And the promise of ages it then did recall.

"If Jesus had wanted for any wee thing,A star in the sky, or a bird on the wing,Or all of God's angels in
heav'n for to sing,He surely could have it, 'cause He was the King."

(Source: Ace Collins, Stories Behind the Best-Loved Songs of Christmas, pp. 86-90.)

The mystery of the incarnation

Mystery is one of our English words that cover a lot of territory. There are many kinds of mysteries. In
the world of literature, there are the "who-done-its" of the Agatha Christie style of writing that are
entertaining for those who enjoy that type of reading. Then, innumerable scientific mysteries exist, such
as the process of photosynthesis by which light transforms carbon dioxide and water into plant food.
Today, there is the mystery of space and the knowledge being gained from observing the vast unknown.
Certainly there is the mystery of electricity we have harnessed but cannot fully understand.

Yet the greatest of all mysteries is that of the incarnation of the Son of God - that moment in time and
eternity when God chose, by His own methods, to become man.

The incarnation: Not a symbolic act

One of the formal duties of the mayor of a city is to participate in ribbon-cutting ceremonies when a new
business opens. Often the mayor does the actual cutting. This is a symbolic act in which the mayor serves
as the host who welcomes people to the new establishment. After the ceremony, however, the mayor
leaves and returns to his or her office or duties, and the business owner assumes the position of
prominence.

It was more than a ribbon-cutting ceremony when the Word became flesh. It was not just a symbolic act
when He identified with human beings and extended His offer of salvation to them, only to retreat
quickly to His exalted station of glory in heaven.

Additional sermon starters

Receiving Christ's fullness (Colossians 1:19-23)

When God condescended to become man, He did not diminish His glory or oneness with the Father.
Though it was God's plan for His Son to grow from infancy into manhood, He was fully God from the
moment of His conception. This fullness of God is available for us to enjoy as His children, born of His
Spirit into His kingdom.

The gifts of the King (John 1:17; Romans 3:24; 5:21)

The gifts the wise men brought to the Christ Child are a significant part of the Christmas story. But we
must remember that God also gives incomparably wonderful gifts to those who receive His Son as Savior
- grace and truth. God extended His grace to Joseph in the angelic visitation, and then declared the truth
of His Son's incarnation.

Application ideas for life stages or situations

Guarding our words - Jesus is the essence of God's Word. God's inspired Word reflects wonderfully who
He is. Even the words we speak as sinful human beings often have far-reaching effects, negative or
positive - on those who hear and evaluate them. For adults, a flippant word spoken may make a lasting
impression on the mind and memory of a child. Our words reflect who we are. Let us guard the words
we speak, lest we sin against God and against others.

A picture of God - Children often wonder what Christ looks like. They will draw pictures of Him. During
childhood, visual concepts are extremely important. This would be a good opportunity to impress upon
them that the glory of God that was present in Jesus was not observable in His physical appearance, but
in the way He reflected His Heavenly Father's love and patience and kindness. Before Jesus came, people
conceived God as an awesome Deity, unapproachable in His holiness. But Jesus, who became a man,
mirrored the true likeness of the Heavenly Father.

Creative worship ideas

Led by a child - Because John Jacob Niles first heard I Wonder as I Wander sung by a child, an effective
introduction of the carol could be to have a young girl sing it. As you tell the story of the carol, the child
could begin singing softly at an appropriate point in the narrative.

David Jenkins is retired pastor of New Hope Baptist Church, Big Sandy, Texas, where he remains a
member. David has been a frequent contributor to Youth and Adult Sunday School, January Bible Study,
and Vacation Bible School lessons for nearly 40 years.