Rediscover the Mystery
Rediscover Christmas

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Good morning church! We’re continuing our series entitled, “Rediscover Christmas.” Today, we’re going to be talking about what it looks like to rediscover the mystery of Christmas. The dictionary defines mystery as, “something that’s difficult or impossible to understand or explain.”

In a recent article in Psychology Today magazine, there was an article entitled, “A Sense of Mystery,” which said, “A sense of mystery may be the spice of life.” The article goes on to say that it seems to light up the brain in a unique way. It’s hard to describe the emotion, but it’s clear that people really enjoy the idea of mystery. Some say that actually a lack of mystery might be the cause of many human ills such as depression, for example. Depression might be defined as a loss of the sense of mystery. Someone who’s depressed might feel flat and one dimensional. They lose their curiosity for self, for others and for activities outside their room that they’re probably feeling trapped in. They’re really not thinking of mystery anymore.

Noted psychologist , William James, was noted for suffering from profound depression. He said the only thing that kept him alive was just the mystery of what’s going to happen tomorrow. Is it possible that a sense of mystery is actually one of the core emotions behind the desire to live, to prosper and to be happy? Perhaps mystery is, as the article claims, “the spice of life.”

Do you know this mystery that we speak of this Christmas? Do you remember when you were a child and, as Christmas was approaching, everything about it was mysterious and you were just so overwhelmed. Do you remember what it was like when life was more about questions than it was answers? Every day, there was something else mysterious you were trying to learn about life and then, somewhere along the way, we became adults and we feel like, either we’ve got all of our questions answered or we’ve just decided to stop asking those questions. We’ve given up on the idea of mystery .

You know, one of the things that’s at the heart of scientific discovery, is the idea that somehow the universe is understandable, that somehow we should be able to follow in the footsteps of the designer of the universe, the designer of life, and to somehow learn about it and understand it.

There are all kinds of mysteries. Many of them have to do with origins. You might say, ‘What’s the mystery? What’s the origin of the universe? What’s the origin of life? What’s the origin of intelligence? How do we have knowledge? How do we have minds that conceive of such things as love, beauty and morality in these things?’ There are many mysteries in life.

Now, you might be thinking, ‘Okay, Gary, but what does this have to do with Christmas?’ Well, did you know that the whole idea of the Christmas story is a revelation of the greatest mysteries of all?

As we look at the gospel of John today, chapter one , we’ll see that John says that Jesus Christ is the greatest mystery reveal of all time, of all humanity’s history. As we look at the text today, I think we’ll see three mysteries that can be revealed only in the person of Christ Jesus. Let’s look at the text; chapter one of the book of John. You’ll take note that the key verse in this passage is verse 14, which says, ‘The word became flesh and dwelt among us.” Let’s read this passage and then we’ll talk about it.

John 1:1-18 (ESV) 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 were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. 6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believethrough him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. 9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 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 have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) 16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.” This is God’s word, Amen.

We’re looking at how we might rediscover the mystery of Christmas by considering three mysteries. Here’s the first mystery:

1. The mystery of Christ as Logos.

If you’ll look in the first few verses, you’ll notice the word, “word;” it’s there four times in the text today. If you’ll take note, it’s capitalized, because it’s a proper noun. It’s a name; it’s a title. It refers to Christ Jesus as He finally reveals in His prologue, as John finally reveals to us. We have to get all the way to verse 17 before he finally names who this is after giving so many wonderful hints at this mystery. The word, “logos,” is the word in the Greek that’s translated, “word.” It’s a word, that in the first century among the Greeks, was filled with a meaning that the Greek philosophers pointed to as something as the logic , the reason, the explanation for all these concerning the origin of life and of the universe. For the Greek philosophers, the word, “logos,” was filled with this meaning as an impersonal principle of existence of epistemology for the Jews that were living during this first century time. Jews, like the philosopher who wrote about this for him, it was not an impersonal principle; “Logos” was God. It was personal. It had to do with the divine, the creator.

John takes up this word, as the last living disciple, towards the end of the first century. He writes his Gospel and he begins it by describing Jesus as the “Logos.” For him, the “Logos” is not impersonal, nor is it just personal. It’s a person, it’s the second person of the Godhead, Jesus Christ. This is the word made flesh; the “logos” made flesh.

Notice how he begins his book. It’s a familiar beginning. The three words are, “In the beginning…” What does this remind us of? It reminds us of the very first words in the bible, in the book of Genesis, chapter one, verse one. John harkens us back to that, to let us know and to remind us that this Christ who came as a child came as a babe. He became a man, He grew up and took on human flesh. He had always been. He didn’t begin 2000 years ago when He took on humanity. No. He has always existed. He’s the eternal one and the timeless one. He was present in the beginning. He was not only present, He is with God.

It says, “and the word was God,” so He’s both with God and is God. John is also hinting at the Trinity here, that He is God, but He’s also the second person, the son of God. As John reveals later in the same chapter, he points to Him as the only begotten Son. He is with God and He was God.

Verse 2 says, “He was in the beginning with God.” He’s not finished; He’s the eternal one. He’s the divine one. He’s the second member of the Godhead, the Trinity– the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Verse 3 says, “All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.” He’s the creator. He is the means through which God created the universe; He created everything. You might just harken back to Genesis, chapter one again, 1 “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” God said, “Let there be light.” We already see the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. He’s the Word that said, “Let there be light.”

Even the Hebrew name for God that’s revealed in chapter one is “Elohim,” which is in the Hebrew plural. We see that there never was a time when Christ was not. He is the pre-existent eternal one; He took on human flesh and all things were made by Him and through Him. Without Him, nothing was made that was made.

Sometimes, if we write a poem, build a house or build some work of art, we say that we are “creators,” but really, what we are are innovators, because nothing has been created that He didn’t create. What we do is just take what He created and stack it up differently. We can’t create.

Jesus was able to create. Remember the first miracle that John records in his gospel? Mary comes to Jesus and says, ‘Son, this is a wedding and the people have run out of wine.’ Jesus takes water and turns it into wine. We still can’t do that to this day because it’s a creative activity. He’s a creator God. He’s Christ the Lord. Nothing has been made that He didn’t make. He’s the creator.People, we are talking about the mystery; He’s God.God is the creator.

Going down to verse 14, it says, “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.” The Word became flesh. He already existed. The “Logos” became flesh. This is not about subtraction; it is about addition. This is the mystery of that. He did not let go of divinity, but He added humanity. He added the frailty of humanity–He was hungry, He was thirsty,He got tired and needed rest, He wept. He added the frailty, but not the fallen state of humanity. He was tempted as we, yet without sin.

This is who Jesus is; He is the God man–100% God and 100% man, not by subtraction, but by addition. The Word became flesh. He took on flesh. “Emmanuel,” God with us, that’s who He is.

Hedwelt among us. The word, “dwelt,” is the word that we could have said, ‘He pitched his tent among us.’ It’s a very colorful Greek word here. He is the “tabernacle;” like Moses and the Israelites in the wilderness who would set up their tabernacle, the tent of meeting. Jesus “camped out” with us. He put on the “tent” of humanity and lived with us. He became one of us. The beauty of this is that He came in this way. That the “Logos,” the reason for existence, came in this way.

The John that we’re speaking of in these eighteen verses is not John the disciple, John the beloved. This is John the Baptist that he’s talking about here. We see in verse six, “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.” He’s talking about John the Baptist. He came as a witness.

Then, we see later, he refers to John again. Verse15 (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) This is one of the most difficult verses to read. Think about it for a second, “This was he of whom I said, he who comes after me ranks before me because he was before me.” There’s some kind of paradox going on here– ‘He who comes after me ranks before me because he was before me,’ Make up your mind, John. Is He after you or before you? He’s seen both. It’s both.

Remember what the angel told Mary when he came to her and said ‘you’re going to be with child and you’re going to bear the son of God,’ and she says, ‘how is this possible because I’m a virgin?’ Then the angel said to her, ‘nothing is impossible with God. The Holy Spirit is going to overshadow you and you will conceive and bear a son and He’s the son of God and you will call Him Jesus. Here’s the sign, so that you’ll know, your barren older relative Elizabeth, who’s never been able to have kids, she hadn’t put it on facebook yet, but she’s six months pregnant.’ You know if it’s not on facebook it hasn’t been authenticated yet.

What does Mary do? As soon as the angel leaves, she gets up the next morning and heads to Elizabeth’s house, because she needs to get that sign confirmed. As she approaches Elizabeth, the baby, John the Baptist, within the womb of Elizabeth, leaps for joy. Elizabeth, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit says, ‘I’m not worthy. Why is it that the mother of my Lord would come and visit me?’

We have this beautiful story. This is John the Baptist, the relative of Jesus. He’s six months older. So , John says, ‘He came after me, but yet, He surpasses me, because He was actually before me.’ That’s what John the Baptist is talking about. He came and he took on flesh. He always existed. He came after him in in birth, but he preceded him in life. This is what john is talking about. In verse 15, we’re talking about the word made flesh in psalm, chapter 33 verse six, we read this, the Lord merely spoke and the heavens were created. He breathed the word and all the stars were born X. And hello, the latin says, out of nothing, He spoke all things into existence. Christ is not only active in creation, he’s also active in sustaining everything. You notice what the the author of Hebrews writes, he says, God promised everything to the Sun as an inheritance, and through the sun, he created the universe. The sun radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God. And he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. I wonder what keeps the universe from flying apart? Well, we don’t have to wonder, the mystery here is revealed. He not only created everything, He sustains it, as well, by the mighty power of His word and of His command.

Many people ask, why is the universe the way it is instead of some other way? There was a German mathematician and philosopher credited with being one of the originators of calculus and, also, of this question. His name was Gottfried Leibniz; he went a step further, asking, “Why is there something rather than nothing?” Leibniz thought that the fact that there is something and not nothing requires an explanation. The explanation he gave was that God wanted to create a universe – the best one possible – which makes God the simple reason that there is something rather than nothing. As a philosopher and a mathematician, he said it would have been simpler for there to have been nothing, but there isn’t nothing. There’s something. Why is that? He came to a conclusion –the simple explanation is because God made something out of nothing.

When did we lose that sense of wonder? When did it happen? When did we get so grown up that we lost the childlike wonder and mystery of all of life? God is the eternal one. He sent His son, the eternal one, to come and take on human flesh. Oh, what wonder, what mystery to look into this. If you want to rediscover the mystery, look to Jesus. He is the “Logos;” the reason there’s something rather than nothing.

WE CAN REDISCOVER THE MYSTERY OF CHRISTMAS BY CONSIDERING…

2. The mystery of Christ as Life.

Look at verse four, “In him was life, and the life was the light of men.” He’s the source of life. The Greek word here is “Zoe.” One of the candidates that we baptized this morning is a young lady named Zoe. I commend the parents for such a wonderful name. The word, “Zoe,” is used in the Greek New Testament to describe eternal life, abundant life, full and overflowing life. There’s really two Greek words that they could have chosen. The other word is “Logos.” That’s where we get the word biology, the study of life, but here, the word Zoe is in view. in him was Zoe. This abundant life, full and overflowing.

Let’s keep reading. We begin to see words like “fullness,” Verse 14, “…and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” 16 “For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” 1 like verse 16. Fullness. What John is attempting to tell us here is there would be no life apart from Him, that all life emanates from Him. He is the source of life. He’s full of life, not because he’s getting life from somewhere else, but because in Him is life. He is life. As John writes in his first epistle, unless we know Christ and in Him, we have life apart from Him, we do not have life.

Then he talks about grace. I was thinking, as I looked back down in verse 12 and following, we see that the world rejected Him. They didn’t receive Him. Even His own people didn’t receive Him; in verse 11, “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.” He changes our lives and gives us the right to become Children of God. In other words, we are born again. This happens by grace, verse 14 says this, “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.” He’s full of grace. Grace is “unmerited favor.” In other words, He offers this life to us by giving His life to us. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.” He offers his “Zoe” life; His eternal life and He dies our death, which our sins call for. He dies our death and offers His life. This is grace. This is the free gift of life.

He goes on in verse 16, “For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” In other words, this overflowing life we’ve received grace upon grace. It’s poured out in us and then it overflows. It just keeps coming. Grace upon grace upon grace. He’s the source of life. It all comes through Jesus, from the overflow of life.

Look what he says in John, chapter six. This is Jesus speaking to the crowd not long after He had fed the 5000 miraculously, taking just a little bit of bread and a few fishes from this little boy and multiplying them and feeding the 5000 men and, perhaps, including women and children, as many as 20,000 people being fed. He says this, John 6:35-40 (ESV) “Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. … For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. …For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” That’s the word, “Zoe,” right there ; I will raise him up on the last day.

For the Jew, bread was symbolic of life. It was a symbol of life. Jesus says, “I am,” which is the name of God. “I am the bread of life.” I am the bread that came down from heaven that you might believe and receive me and receive this “Zoe” life. This full life, full and overflowing. I’m the source of life.

It answers the questions, “What is the source of life? Where did life come from?” You see, there are separate questions, “Where did the universe come from? Where did the material world come from, the inanimate world, the stars, the moon and the planets in the universe.” That’s a question of the material world. “But where did the living world come from? Where did life originate?” The scripture says, “…in him was life.” He’s the answer to the question about the origin of life.

I don’t know what the answer to that question was in your biology books when you went to high school and college. When I was going to high school and college, they still contained an experiment from two scientists. This experiment was referred to as the “Miller-Urey experiment” that took place in 1952. Darwinists had postulated that the conditions on planet earth during that time were not like they are now, but that the atmosphere was filled with ammonia, methane and hydrogen. Perhaps, a lightning bolt struck the primordial soup of that early environment, that pre-living environment. Out of that electrical strike, accidentally, these amino acids, the building blocks of life, took place in a chemical conversion and the animate arose accidentally out of the inanimate. This is what the experiment was about.

What Miller and Urey did in 1952, is they took methane, ammonia and hydrogen, put it in a glass flask and they ran electricity through it. As they did, they noticed a stain appearing on the bottom of the glass. They evaluated it and discovered that it contained amino acids , the basic chemical building blocks of life. Not life itself, but the possibility of life. When they reported this, it made front page news. It made all the magazines and it made all of the biology books.

Some years later, scientists noticed a critical detail was overlooked; namely the glass flask. First, attempts at reproducing their results revealed that they overlooked a “critical detail,” namely the glass flask. They thought the glass was inert, but in fact, the silica in the glass has been proven to produce certain amino acids when interacting with the alkaline conditions that Miller-Urey used. They were in the glass. Second, it overlooks the fact that the amino acids weren’t alive, but merely chemicals that no one can explain how they could make the leap into the proteins necessary for the simplest forms of cellular life. The whole experiment was fallacious. It wasn’t true. That part failed to be mentioned for decades. Now, it’s no longer in books. If it is, you’ve got an old book, because Darwinists have run from that experiment as an example failed.

I’m not a scientist. I read all of what I just described to you from a scientific american magazine. The title of this article was, “A critical detail overlooked, namely a glass flask.’’ .

Why am I talking about this? It’s because scientists still have the desire to uncover these mysteries. As we look at Christmas, dear Christian, let’s be reminded that the greatest questions in the universe are revealed to us in Jesus, the Christ. He is the source of life. The mystery of the origin of life remains, unless you look to Jesus. Will you look to Jesus? In Him is life. If you want life, look to Jesus.

WE CAN REDISCOVER THE MYSTERY OF CHRISTMAS BY CONSIDERING… 3. The mystery of Christ as Light.

The word, “light,” in the Greek is “phōs.” It’s where we get the word, “phosphorus;” it’s where we get the word, “photo.” He’s not really talking so much about light itself because, by the way, light is a mysterious thing anyway. It’s something that, when you’re a kid, you ask ‘Hey mom, hey dad, what is light? Whyis the sky blue? Why is the ocean blue?’

We’re talking about light here as a metaphor, because light here has to do with revelation. It has to do with what the result of light is. Light enables us to see. Remember, it says that He’s full of grace? He’s the fullness of life and grace. It also says that He’s full of truth. Light has to do with being able to see the truth and to be able to see that thing revealed. Here, we see light as a metaphor for truth and knowledge, maybe even as the source of mind and as the source of intelligence.

What’s the source of the material universe? That’s an “origin” question. What’s the source of life? What’s the origin of life? Why do we think? Why are we able to walk in the footsteps of God, and have these five senses, but also come up with conclusions about things and learn things? Is it possible that this intelligence arose from non-intelligence, or is it more possible that an intelligent God made us in His image so that we could follow in His footsteps and know things, have a mind and have a source of morality. These values are not scientific at all. They really go against a lot of the idea of the “survival of the fittest.” This is the idea of love that would cause you to lay down your life for someone; this idea of beauty, this idea of morality. We don’t have time to “unpack” them all.

What if Christ Jesus is the source of knowing, the source of thinking and the source of light? Truth came from him. We see this in verse 17 and following. It says, 17 “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” Moses gave us the law, which told us we were in darkness; it told us the standard. Really, all the law accomplishes is it convinces us that we’re lost without a Savior, because no one can keep it except one and that was Christ the Lord. The law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. This truth is not a philosophy. It’s a person. His name is Jesus.

John says in verse 18, “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.” No one has ever seen God; Moses caught a glimpse of His glory. Moses said, “God, let me see your glory.” God said to him, “Get into the cleft of that rock and I will pass by. I will let you see some of My glory.” It was so amazing that it caused him to have to wear a covering over his face because people would become fearful to see the glory that was reflected on Moses’ face because he just caught a glimpse of God.

Isaiah was caught up in a vision in Isaiah, chapter six. He saw the train of God’s glory and he saw the angels, but no one had ever seen God. If you want to see God, John declares, look at Jesus. He’s the only begotten son of God, who came from the Father’s side, from His bosom. He has made Him known. He’s the final word. He’s the last word on God.

If you want to know how God talks, read the gospels. He talks like Jesus. If you want to know how He thinks, read how He thinks in the gospels. That’s how He thinks. If you want to know His character, look at Jesus. He’s the fullest revelation of God. If you want to know God, know Jesus; He’s the light. He has made Him known.

As the author Paul writes in Colossians, He’s the image of the invisible God. This is what John reports later in his Gospel, John 8:12, 32 (ESV) Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life… and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” If you want to know the truth, it’s a person. It’s Jesus; that’s His name. The truth has a name– it’s Jesus. He’s the light.

This is what he declares later in John 14:6 (ESV) Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Let’s rediscover the mystery of christmas. We’ve made it so small by enlarging it with so many things that have nothing to do with these wonderful mysteries. Let us rediscover the mystery of Christmas as we contemplate and meditate upon the person of Christ Jesus. Oh my goodness! He’s the word became flesh.

C. S. Lewis declared, in his Christmas poem, a similar thought: “Light looked down and beheld darkness Thither will I go said Light. Life looked down and beheld death Thither will I go said Life. Love looked down and beheld despair Thither will I go said Love. So came Light and shone truth. So came Life and conquered death. So came Love and gave hope. ‘And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.’”

Let’s pray. Lord, we thank you for Jesus. He is the gift that you’ve given us. He is the word made flesh. Lord, I pray for that person today that has never received Him. Many have rejected Him. The world has not seen this light. Maybe this morning, here or watching online, you’re contemplating following this Jesus. It doesn’t matter where you are, because He is God. He’s omniscient. He’s omnipresent. He’s right there with you. Would you pray to receive Him right now? John 1:12-13 KJV “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name: ” Would you believe in Him right now, right in your seat? Pray with me, ‘Dear Lord Jesus, I’m a sinner. I need a Savior. I believe You died on the cross for my sins, You were raised from the grave and You live today. I believe that; come and live in me, forgive me of my sin and make me a child of God. I receive You and believe in You, now as my Lord and Savior. If you’re praying that prayer, believing, He will change you and cause you to be born again and become a child of God. He gives you a new identity and a new reason for living. Others are here today and you’re a Christ follower, you’re a believer in Jesus, but you’ve allowed anxiety, discouragement or even depression to cloud these days that you’ve been living lately. Would you recapture the mystery now? Look to Jesus and meditate on Him? Look to Him, look to His face, look to the revelation of Christ and reconsider all that He is and what He invites us to. Oh, Lord Jesus, reveal to us the mystery of Your love for us and reignite within us, the joy of our salvation in Your name. We pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.