during Christmas time in 2012 in the middle of
Times Square where millions of people Walked
and shopped and would soon come to watch the
ball drop to usher in 2013 There was a billboard
which read keep the Mary dump the myth and Above
the words keep the Mary was a picture of Santa
Claus above the words dump the myth, was a picture
of the crucified Christ. This billboard was put
up courtesy of a group called American Atheists.
In something that strikes a little bit closer
to home, an assistant to a bishop of a major
Protestant denomination, who was himself an ordained
minister, was once commenting on the biblical
accounts of Jesus birth, and in his blog he stated,
I think that the stories are made up. They are
myth. We expect atheists to reject Jesus, but
we shake our heads in amazement as some who call
themselves Christian pastors not only question
the virgin birth, but reject the Bible's truth
outright. However, this sort of rejection of
Jesus is nothing new. In his own day, Jesus had
to contend with the Pharisees and the teachers
of the law, those who should have best known
the signs of the promised Messiah, calling him
a heretic and a liar and trying to undermine
his ministry and his teaching in every possible
way. Even within the early church there were
those who did not truly understand who he is
in the third century of the church for example
The divinity of Christ was being challenged by
a heresy called Arianism which wrongly taught
that there was a time when he was not In other
words the Aryan said that Christ was merely a
created being a most excellent created being,
to be sure, but even though there were some aspects
of him that were almost godlike, that he was
not true god. And it was because of this false
teachings that a number of concerned church fathers
gathered at a council at Nicaea to address this
deadly heresy of Arianism. If this teaching continued,
It would destroy the foundation of the Christian
Church. And so they put together a beautiful
confession defining the person of Christ. The
union of his human and his divine nature. They
wrote, and we confess it with them in the words
of the Nicene Creed, that we believe in one Lord
Jesus Christ, begotten, the only begotten Son
of God. Begotten of his father before all worlds
God of God light of light very God of very God
Begotten not made Being of one substance with
the father By whom all things were made Who for
us men and our salvation came down from heaven
and was made incarnate by the Holy Spirit of
the Virgin Mary and was made man These modern
and historical examples of unbelief acknowledge
the truth of God's Word recorded by the Apostle
John in our Gospel text for this morning. The
light shines in the darkness and now you're going
to hear something a little bit different than
you heard earlier because I am working from the
NIV translation. The light shines in the darkness
but the darkness has not understood it. The text
in your bulletin said overcome it but the NIV
states understood it. The life of the world baffles
the darkness. It baffles atheists. It baffles
liberal theologians. It baffles non -Christian
religious leaders. It baffles the outside observer.
God in the virgin's womb? God born just like
you and me? God beaten, bloodied, and crucified?
God dead and buried Words water bread and wine
we find God in these things Even in our own darkness
in our weak and sinful human wisdom we struggle
to grasp it sometimes to understand Jesus the
Christ the Word made flesh So it is good for
us to have and to believe such a clear confession
of faith that the Church Fathers crafted at Nicaea
under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. And in
a way, it's good that things like this billboard
and this blog happen each Christmas. It's good
to be confronted by the atheist's anger and the
myth mongering. It's good to have to deal with
the majority of the world who refuse to accept
the Bible as God's holy and unchanging truth.
And they try to twist it for their own purposes.
It's good because it forces you and me to think
deeply and then to speak boldly about our God.
And what better time is there to do that than
during this Christmas season, when the world
has tried to celebrate something they don't even
understand and have already put it away in a
box for another year. What better time than when
we, as believers, celebrate the miracles of that
first Christmas morning? And yes, you heard me
correctly. I did say miracles, plural. There
are two great miracles proclaimed in today's
gospel text. One is that the Son of God became
man. And the other is that because he did, we,
the son of men, can become the children of God.
On Christmas Day, we celebrate the day mankind
first heard about the arrival of the long -awaited
Messiah on earth. The day God's promise from
the Garden of Eden was fulfilled the day God
began his revelation of himself to mankind through
his beloved son. And every day since then, God
has been revealing himself to us through his
word and through his son. Today, God has reminded
us that he sent light and life into the world
and it is confirmed in those marvelous words
from our gospel text the word became flesh and
made his dwelling among us the word became flesh
the word who was in the beginning the word who
was God was with God the word who was and is
God the word through whom all things were made.
The Greek word the Saint John used for the word
is logos. Greek philosophers thought of logos
as the unifying principle holding the universe
together and giving it order. John borrowed this
thought from Greek philosophy and put it to use
in a new way. He took that term and transformed
it. He tells us that what holds the universe
together is not a principle but a person It is
this one whom he calls the logos the word It
is this person of the Trinity This distinct Person
separate from the father yet one with the father
in the Godhead It is he who created and upholds
all things It is Christ Jesus our Lord The word
made flesh is much more than he appears the human
eye While he is fully man he remains fully God
The word bears all the attributes of his deity
wrapped up in the physical nature of a man Jesus
is all of the things that John described in our
gospel text today out of necessity For this is
what you and I need Hebrews 2 tells us Since
the children have flesh and blood he too shared
in their humanity so that by his death He might
destroy him who holds the power of death that
is the devil and free those who All their lives
were held in slavery by their fear of death.
For this reason, he had to be made like his brothers
in every way in order that he might become a
merciful and faithful high priest in service
to God and that he might make atonement for the
sins of the people because he himself suffered
when he was tempted. He is able to help help
those who are being tempted. Only God. could
rescue us from our plight. Only the one who is
true God and true man could accomplish our salvation.
Those who say that it is only myth that God was
born as a little child and grew up to be our
savior by hanging on a cross and then rising
from the dead. Those who shout their skepticism
at the top of their lungs or plaster their opinion
of unbelief on billboards for all to see are
not Right In fact, they are dead wrong They are
dead in their sin Dead in their self -righteousness
dead in their denial And that is not what God
wants for any man or woman. God loves all human
beings and he desires that they should be saved
from that death, that they should hear the truth
of his word and that they should come to the
saving knowledge of Jesus Christ as Lord and
Savior of their lives. And so he calls people
like you and me to faith through the power of
his Holy Spirit and his word. And he calls us
to proclaim his truth, to shine this light into
the darkness of this world. So it is good that
we are given this opportunity at Christmas time
to share with those who have been shrouded in
darkness that a great light has come into the
world. It is good. That we have the opportunity
to bear witness to our wonderful Savior this
word become flesh who loves them yesterday today
and always It is good that we have the opportunity
to tell the world that Christmas is not only
about the son of God being born as a man It is
also about the sons of man being born as the
children of God This passage from John is perfect
for us to share with others during this Christmas
season. Nowhere are the most profound mysteries
of the Christian faith expressed more deeply
and yet more simply than here in this particular
passage from John 1. For here we find the astonishing
wonderful truth of what really happened on Christmas
Day. The eternal God. who created all things
came in the flesh to be the Savior of all men.
There is nothing more profound and mysterious
than this. And yet it is so plainly stated in
these verses from John. It's kind of like the
greatest Christmas present in the world wrapped
in a plain brown wrapper. And so I encourage
you to memorize these verses and be ready to
share this gift with those who are still in darkness.
Help them to unwrap and to enjoy this treasure
of life so that they will know that this miracle
is for them. That because of the great love and
the saving work of our Lord Jesus Christ, the
Word made flesh, they too can become the children
of God. Amen. Now may the peace of God which
passes all understanding keep your hearts and
minds through faith in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Amen.