John  1_12-14      What's Amazing About Christmas

Rev. David Holwick  ZJ                                      Christmas Eve

First Baptist Church                                           

Ledgewood, New Jersey                    (adapted from Christmas Is Amazing)

December 24, 2005

John 1:12-14


WHAT'S AMAZING ABOUT CHRISTMAS



  I. The wonder of Christmas.

      A. Gifts and letters to the ends of the earth.

          1) The post office is moving 800 million pieces - every day.

              a) 115 of them were mine.

          2) I take a box to UPS, she shows me a map that indicates

                the area of next-day delivery.

             It goes all the way to California.


             This is encouraging, because I mailed my brother's present

                on Friday - to Korea.


             I think I spent twice as much on postage as I did on

                contents.


      B. Decorating, cooking, buying gifts.

          1) We get so wrapped up in the preparations, we can forget

                the event!


      C. Martin Luther once remarked that Christmas consists of

             three miracles:


         "The first, that God became man;

          the second, that a virgin was a mother;

          and the third, that the heart of man should believe this."

                                                                    #1702


II. God became a Man.

      A. Hard to believe the concept.

          1) "Incarnation" - that God took a human body - it difficult.

              a) How can a person be both 100% God and 100% man?

              b) Why does Jesus pray to God?  And die?

          2) Many modern people reject the idea.

              a) Jews and Jehovah's Witnesses don't accept it.

                  1> Jesus is a supernatural being, but not God.

                  2> Jesus is a fantastic person, but not God.

              b) British theologian John Hick, who doesn't believe in

                    the incarnation, admits this:


                 "If he was indeed God incarnate, [then] Christianity

                    is the only religion founded by God in person,

                       and must as such be uniquely superior to

                          all other religions."                    #30233


          3) The Bible insists it is true.

              a) John 1:1,14     The Word was God, and lived among us.

              b) Col. 1:15       Jesus is the image of the invisible God.


      B. Beauty of the incarnation.

          1) God became one of us.


             One of 1995's biggest singles was Joan Osborne's

                "One of Us."

             Here are some of the words of that song:


             "If God had a name, what would it be,

                 and would you call it to his face,

              if you were faced with him in all His Glory,

                 what would you ask if You had just one question...


             Chorus: What if God was one of us?

                     Just a slob like one of us?

                     Just a stranger on a bus,

                     trying to make his way home.


             The song had an irreverent tone, but a good question.

             "What if God was one us?" could very well be the most

                 important question ever asked this side of heaven.

                                                               #25142


          2) Jesus can empathize with our weaknesses.        Hebrews 2:14-18

              a) Many religions make God unapproachable.

              b) Jesus understands EVERYTHING we go through.


III. A Virgin was a Mother.                                  Matthew 1:23

      A. Rejected by many modern people.

          1) High percentages of ministers don't believe in it.

          2) Regular people have issues with it, too.


             Rev. Adrian Rogers once had an opportunity to witness to

                the boxer Muhammad Ali.

             Adrian had a burden on his heart for Ali's soul and was able

                to arrange a meeting late at night before a fight.


             Ali was studying the Islamic faith, and so they were

               talking back and forth on various issues.

             Ali challenged Adrian with this question.

             "You say that Jesus Christ is the Son of God because He was

                 born of a virgin.

              He didn't have an earthly father."


             And then he said, "Adam didn't have a father or a mother.

                Wouldn't that make Adam more a Son of God than Jesus?"


             Rogers told him, "Champ, I want you to understand this:

                Jesus was not the Son of God because He was born of a

                   virgin;

                He was born of a virgin because He was the Son of God."

                                                                   #26148


      B. Biblical account.

          1) Prophesied in Isaiah 7:14, 700 years before Jesus.

          2) Matthew and Luke have very different Christmas stories,

                yet both agree Jesus was born of a virgin.

          3) Angel Gabriel revealed ultimate meaning: the virgin-born

                child would signify Immanuel - "God is with us."


      C. Why a virgin birth?

          1) It shows that "nothing is impossible with God."    Luke 1:37

          2) It shows that God can use you and me to do His will.


IV. The greatest miracle of all, Faith.

      A. Miracles are difficult for modern people to accept.

          1) Ancient people expected great signs to accompany the birth

                of kings.  We don't.

          2) As a non-Christian, the idea of a virgin birth didn't

                impress me at all.  Seemed like a myth.

          3) We are skeptical of anything that breaks the laws of nature,

                unless we see it with our own eyes.


      B. Christianity has always seemed like foolishness.   1 Cor 1:22-24

          1) Our faith is not in reasonableness, but God's power.


      C. Jesus was born as a king, and he demands our worship and

            obedience.

          1) Repentance is harder to accept than the virgin birth.

          2) Our problem is not that Christmas is hard to believe, but

                that we don't WANT to believe it.

                   Belief requires change.


          "Calvin & Hobbes" cartoon on Thursday, December 17, 1992:


          CALVIN:  I'm having a lot of holiday stress.


          HOBBES:  Why?  You don't shop for anyone.

                     You've got two weeks off from school.

                     And your parents do all the cooking, cleaning

                         and decorating.

                     How could you have holiday stress?


          CALVIN:  Deep down, I doubt my greed for presents can

                     overcome my desire to misbehave.

                                                                  #2396

          3) By nature, people want to excuse themselves rather than

                repent.

          4) But once we ask God to save us and change us, we can

                become what God really intends for us.


  V. Jesus fulfills the greatest needs we have.


         Rev. Eric Ritz refers to a Christmas card he received:


           "If our greatest need was for information,

            God would have sent an educator."


           "If our greatest need was for technology,

            God would have sent a scientist."


           "If our greatest need was for pleasure,

            God would have sent an entertainer."


           "If our greatest need was for money

            God would have sent an economist."


           BUT SINCE OUR GREATEST NEED IS FOR FORGIVENESS,

              GOD SENT A SAVIOR.

                                                                    #2386



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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:


# 1702  "Whose Child Is This?" Richard Longenecker, Christianity Today,

           December 17, 1990, page 25.


# 2386  "What Do We Need For Christmas?" Rev. Eric Ritz, Dynamic Preaching

           (www.sermons.com), Winter 1992 "A"


# 2396  "Turmoil Over Christmas Goodness," Bill Watterson's "Calvin And Hobbes"

           cartoon, December 17, 1992.


#25142  "What If God Really WAS One Of Us?" Matthew Rogers, www.SermonCentral.com

           newsletter, October 20, 2003.


#26148  "Muhammed Ali and the Virgin Birth," Rev. Adrian Rogers, Kerux Sermon

           #19967, derived from Baptist Press, December 23, 2005.


#30233  "Why Jesus Was Not Incarnated," Peter D. Glickenhaus, illustration

           edited by Rev. David Holwick, <<http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/~

           0664255035/102-7413241-4308158?v=glance&n=283155>>.


These and 25,000 others are part of a database that can be downloaded,

absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html

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