Ugly Sweater | Week 1

That this is what happens when you let the young adults pastor go buy all the sweaters for the series. I shouldn't have trusted Daniel. I end up with cat sweaters. Hey, Merry Christmas. Anyways, here we go. Hey, how many of you guys have an ugly sweater? Some of you didn't raise your hand, just call it your Christmas sweater.

You're not in on the joke, but we are. And no, you know, ugly, it's like this is kind of one of those Christmas traditions. Right? They even have parties for them and stuff. I don't usually wear these. When I get invited in an ugly sweater party, I just wear a Seahawks jersey, but still.

Sorry. I should have said Rams. I I but anyways. No.

But but but you know this is one of the traditions. Like, bust these out. You you wear just like putting up the lights, getting the the things, like maybe your nativity scene, you know, to say, hey, I am a believer in Jesus. See? You know, right next to your Santa and all that stuff. But but we we we we have these traditions that become a part of the season. And Christmas is about the seasons. It's about these moments, and we remember it. And and the ugly sweaters are one of the things that that we'll we'll we'll wear. Right? But are you gonna wear this in March?

No. Especially not here. It's already '90. But still, you you you're not gonna wear like you'll wear these proudly now. You'll walk out and go, look at this sweater. This is awesome. It's so festive. I'm I'm declaring the season. I'm okay with it. But once the season's over, once the moment has passed,

we put it all away. Right? Some of you are quick. My wife, like the day after everything's going. You know, it's done. You know? And the truth is we we we wear this proudly. We're okay with it for that moment. But then we think it's time to pack it up until next year, till it comes around again.

Well that's great with Christmas decorations and ugly sweaters, but what about the idea of what it means? What Christmas really means?

What are we celebrating? Like a lot of us bring a different joy to Christmas. We bring out our faith in Christmas. We wear it like an ugly sweater. We we we are much more joy filled. We believe in Jesus. We declare more. We act more generous. We do all these things that it means the mission behind Christmas, but then we almost

put that away when Christmas is over too. When the when the moment has passed. When the season ends, so does that. Well, what we want to talk about for the next few weeks is is really what is Christmas all about?

And the reality is here's here's the big idea for today and for the next three weeks, and it's this that that that Christmas is about a mission, not a moment. Christmas is about a mission, not a moment. And what we're gonna see is sometimes we get moment focused.

We we get stuck in our moment theology, our moments thinking, and it can make Christmas a little weird. It can make our whole life a little bit weird when we get focused on the moments instead of the mission.

And for example, this is what we're gonna see in this, and hopefully help you to encourage you. Some of you in this room don't feel the festivity of the season. They say that Christmas time is one of the highest depression rates time, because everyone artificially goes time to have joy, time to And we act like it until the season's over. But what if you're in a season that doesn't feel the joy? What if you're in this moment that doesn't feel good? Well, then you know what? You're gonna really struggle,

because you feel like, I guess I'm just left out. But what if it's not about the moments? What if the meaning behind Christmas is not about a season, but a savior? What if it what if it's about the mission?

And what we're gonna see for the next few weeks is is the idea that that that that this mission of Christmas is something that God went on a mission for us, but he wants to continue it through us. So Christmas is about a mission not a moment. A mission that God has done for us,

and then wants to continue through us. And we're gonna look at it. We're gonna look at the Christmas story in one of the gospels. If you're newer to church, the gospels, it means good news. It's the first four books of the New Testament. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are the gospels. And almost every Christmas series you come to, it's like, let's go into the book of Luke and and and look at the story. Because that little story, it just talks about what's happening in the moment of Jesus' birth. But we're gonna look at the the Christmas story from a very different perspective.

We're gonna look at the Christmas story in the book of John. And and you're and if you know anything about the Bible, the book of John's different. It it was very different. Matthew, Mark, and Luke have about 90% of the same material. John is about 85% different than the other three.

And the reason is John who wrote it was the disciple of Jesus. He was known to be Jesus's like closest earthly friend, and then he also was the one that wrote John way late. Like most scholars believe ninety to a hundred eighty. So about sixty, sixty five years after Jesus was crucified.

So it was it was you're talking a second and almost a third generation of the church is now coming along at this time. He's this elder statement. He's the only original disciple alive, and and he writes with a very different intent in mind. Instead of focusing on these details and the moments like a classic biography,

John's gospel about Jesus and and and the whole story of Jesus is more about the why and the who. Who was Jesus? And what was the mission? Why did he come? He was concerned. Because in his day, a false teaching was starting to go around. And they were starting to have a battle with this next generation of Christians.

The church now is no longer mainly Jews. It's actually much more Gentiles or non Jews. And so his tone of writing is in a way that he tries to explain things to to to more of the Greeks and and the people. That's why if you're new to church, lot times people say, I want to start reading the Bible. Where should I start? They say start in the book of John.

Because he's trying to explain who Jesus is, and he was concerned with the fact that he was God. And so it's a different tone, but it still lands what Christmas is.

And and I want to look at a whole bunch of the verses from chapter one, but as we go into the series, we're gonna be in the first three chapters of John. If you're someone that wants to dig deeper and go on, we actually have a journal, like a

reading prayer journal that you can go through with us. You can get it downloaded this week. Next week we'll have actually hard copies, and I invite you to go back this week and go through John one, and go through it slowly, and take it verse by verse, and just really let it saturate you if you're if you've had a minute. And let this speak to this is what Christmas really is. This is what Christmas really is, because this is what John was talking about. So here's what wanna do. I wanna do something like, hey, let's just read the Christmas story out of the Bible. But instead of like in the time of Caesar Augustus,

a census was decreed, that story, and with the shepherds and the wise men and all that, I want to read out of John chapter one. And it's going to sound very different than what you've ever heard as the Christmas story. Because it's saying why. Who and why. And it starts a lot earlier than Jesus' birth,

and it goes past his birth. But here's what I want you to listen to. If you're newer, just hang in there. I'll explain after. But if you've if you've been in the word for any length of time, listen for how this chapter is actually if you go in with the mindset that it's describing the mission,

And it's really describing what who Jesus was, and the mission he had for us, that he wanted to continue through us. If you think of that as the theme of what he's trying to land, this chapter makes a lot more sense.

Otherwise, it'll seem like he talked about this, then he threw this guy John the Baptist in there, then he goes back to this other story. But think about it in the form of a mission to us and through us, and you'll see the flow of the chapter as I read it. As I as I walk through here. And one last thing before we read, because I'm just gonna read it. I'm not gonna comment, I'm just gonna read it.

Is is there's a guy called John the Baptist that's mentioned too. Don't get confused, because that's not the John who wrote John. That was John the free Methodist that wrote the book of John. It's a joke. But no, it's John. This is a different guy.

It's John the Baptist. It's actually Jesus' cousin, by the way. So alright. So I just want to do this. I just want to read it. So let's just go through this, and imagine let's read the Christmas story from a very different perspective. In the beginning, the word already existed.

The word was with God, and the word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. The word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it. God sent a man named John the Baptist to tell about the light so that everyone might believe because of his testimony.

John himself was not the light. He was simply a witness to tell about the light. The one who is the true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.

He came into the very world he created, but the world didn't recognize him. He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They're reborn not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.

So the word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness, and we have seen his glory, the glory of the father's one and only son.

John testified about him when he shouted to the crowds, this is the one I was talking about when I said someone is coming after me who is far greater than I am. He existed long before me. From his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses,

but God's unfailing love and faithfulness came through Christ Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but the unique one who is himself God is near to the father's heart. He has revealed God to us. This was John's testimony when the Jewish leaders sent priests and temple assistants from Jerusalem to ask John, who are you?

He came right out and said, I'm not the Messiah. Well then who are you? Are you Elijah? No, he replied. Are you the prophet we were expecting? No. Then who are you? We need an answer for those who sent us. What do you have to say about yours for yourself?

John replied in the words of the prophet Isaiah, I am a voice shouting in the wilderness. Clear the way for the Lord's coming.

Then the Pharisees who had been sent asked him, if you aren't the Messiah or Elijah or a prophet, what right do you have to baptize? John told them, I baptize with water, but right here in the crowd is someone you do not recognize.

Though his ministry follows mine, I'm not even worthy to be his slave and untie the straps of his sandal. This encounter took place in Bethany, an area East of the Jordan River River where John was baptizing.

The next day John saw Jesus coming towards him and said, look, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He is the one who I was talking about when I said a man is coming after me who is far greater than I am, for he existed long before me. I did not recognize him as the Messiah, but I've been baptizing with water so that he might be revealed to Israel.

Then John testified, I saw the Holy Spirit descending like a dove from heaven and resting upon him. I didn't know he was the one, but when God sent me to baptize with water, he told me, the one on whom you see the spirit descend and rest is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit. I saw this happen to Jesus, so I testify that he is the chosen one of God.

The following day John was again standing with two of his disciples. As Jesus walked by, John looked at him and declared, look, there is the lamb of God. When John's two disciples heard this, they followed Jesus.

Jesus looked around and saw them following. What do you want? He asked them. They replied, rabbi, which means teacher, where are you staying? Come and see, he said. It was about 04:00 in the afternoon when they went with him to the place where he was staying, and they remained with him the rest of the day. Andrew,

Simon Peter's brother, was one of those men who heard what John said and then followed Jesus. Andrew went to find his brother Simon and told him we have found the Messiah, which means the Christ.

Then Andrew brought Simon to meet Jesus. Looking intently at Simon, Jesus said your name is Simon, son of John, but you will be called Cephas, which means Peter or rock. The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, come follow me. Philip was from Bethsaida, Andrew and Peter's hometown.

Philip went to look for Nathanael and told him, we have found the very person Moses and the prophets wrote about. His name is Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth. Nazareth? Exclaimed Nathanael. Can anything good come from Nazareth? Come and see for yourself, Philip replied.

As they approached, Jesus said, now here is a genuine son of Israel, a man of complete integrity. How do you know about me? Nathaniel asked. Jesus replied, I could see you under the fig tree before Philip found you. Then Nathanael exclaimed, Rabbi, you are the son of God, the king of Israel.

Jesus asked him, do you believe this just because I told you I had seen you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this. Then he said, I tell you the truth, you will see all heaven open, and the angels of God going up and down on the son of man, the one who is the stairway between heaven and earth.

And how's that for the Christmas story?

It's one you probably never heard. That's

and what's crazy about this story is John in one chapter, which by the way, I didn't just read part of it. Read all 51 verses of it. So here's the cool thing. Even if you are a pagan, you don't have to feel like one this week. You could say, read a whole chapter of the Bible from start to finish today. So you're welcome.

But look at the flow of this. He he tells the Christmas story. He starts not in the time of Caesar Augustus. Where does he start? In the beginning. What other book of the Bible starts like that? Genesis. So it starts off declaring the mission of who Jesus is and why he was coming. He was trying to say, this Jesus,

who we think, you know, the light of the world, he comes into the world, he brings the light, Christmas light, and all this and joy. He's not just the one coming to bring the light. He was the one that created the light.

The one who came into creation, that was born. Emmanuel, God with us. He's the one that created the very creation he enters into.

He is God in a bod. And he was there before he had the bod. He was there. He created us. And and not only so the first mission was he created us, and then it goes on to describe, but there was darkness that entered the land. That brokenness is called sin in the Bible.

Because of this brokenness and the darkness, it's it's it's it's away from the light, And it doesn't see that light and that life. We don't have the light and life that Jesus spoke into us. That's why he's called the word. Because he is the very

He's God we can see. He's the very word of God. When when God said let there be light, we know according to John that was Jesus They said let there be light.

We know that this light and life came right from him. And then because of the darkness of our brokenness, we're now hopeless without him. So guess what? That's the Christmas story. The word became flesh. The mission was I'm gonna come and restore the very light and life I created in the first place.

Through his love and faithfulness. He says his unfailing love and faithfulness. His mission was to bring the glory of God to this earth, and that glory is described in John one as as the unfailing love and faithfulness of Jesus. That he will declare God's glory. So he came to restore light to us. Restore

life to us. And it says that but people were gonna reject him. But the encouraging part of the mission is it says in verse five, that the darkness can never extinguish the light. The darkness can never extinguish the light. Are you in darkness right now?

Is this season one of those seasons that you're like, I get depressed at Christmas time? Well, Christmas isn't a season. It's a savior. Christmas isn't about the moment. It's about the mission. And that mission was Jesus came because he has unfailing love and faithfulness to what he created.

So he showed up to restore it. That's the story of Christmas. He was on a mission.

But like I said, that mission wasn't just for us. It was something he wanted to continue through us. So it does it blows right past the birth story and goes right into the story. But he sets up with with two different examples. First, a guy named John that shows up to declare the way. He invites John into the mission.

That's why the middle goes into John. Why does he just mention this? Because I prepared the way. This guy John was called to go be

a witness to me, and to testify, and to repair the way for me. But spoiler alert, if you've been in church for longer than ten seconds, I hope you had a pastor that preached the word of God to you that says what are we supposed to be as the body of Christ, as followers of Jesus? We are supposed to go and be what?

Witnesses who testify. John has the same job description we have. He was just the first one to have it.

And then when he gets challenged over his authority, he shows us that the mission isn't about me. It's about him.

Here's a practical point. When I get stuck in the moment, moment mentality instead of mission mentality, I tend to make it about me. Isn't that common in Christmas? You struggle with that every year with your kids. Every year you want to get a present, but guess what it becomes about? The moment.

When do we get to open the presents? Me. What did I get? John shows us that first example. That yes, we have the unfailing love and faithfulness of God. We will see greater things as it says, but it's it's about it's not about us. And that's good, because that's what Christmas is about. It's the mission not the moment.

And then it transitions from John to Jesus. Mission then goes to gathering his missionaries, his disciples. And he gives them the same call he gives us.

To go and invite others to come and see. If you notice, he says come and see to the first two followers. But if you go down a few verses near the end of that passage, Philip goes to tell this guy Nathaniel about who Jesus is. And he goes, from Nazareth? Can anything good come from Nazareth? Which is funny.

It's like it's like, can anything good come from Tucson? It's kind of the same thing. It's funny. Last service I said Apache Junction, I think two people walked out. So

changed it.

But what does he say to him? Come and see.

Christmas is about a mission not a moment. We're not supposed to put away Christmas. Christmas is our mission. And it's a mission that God did for us.

But John chapter one Christmas story says, but he wants to continue it through us. That's why Christmas is a mission, not a moment.

So what does that mean? How can we we take what I want to do now is now that I kind of sum that up for you, I want to jump back into the middle of this passage and I want to look at one interaction. There's one interaction that I think will really grab of what does this mean for me where I'm at right now. Like, am I stuck in a moment,

or am I a part of the mission? Do I understand what Jesus did for me, and am I committed to coming and see what he wants to do through me? And what what I wanna do is look at one interaction that Jesus had in here, and and what's interesting is all through scripture. Whenever Jesus interacts with somebody, there's always two levels, two layers

to the scene. You ever watch a movie scene where it seems like there's something going there's things being said, but you know there's something under the surface being said as well.

And and know that there's a question asked, but there's there's two ways that can be answered. There's a really surface y version of the question, or maybe there's a deeper meaning to the question.

Guys, you get it. It's kinda like well, wives, you get it. It's kinda like when you ask your husband certain questions, and and and and and and he doesn't get that you had a much deeper meaning to the question, and he just gives you that surface y answer.

It's just like that, only this one doesn't cause have as much wrath at the back end of of of not getting the question.

See, you get what I'm talking about. And and so Jesus interacts here, and it's when he he has his first two disciples following him. It says that John pointed, he pointed people to Jesus. He knew the mission was it's not about me. There's Jesus. Follow him. That's my job. I need to point you to Jesus. And so he's like, look to Jesus and what he has. Go follow him. So so it says they follow him. And then in verse 38, says, Jesus looked around and saw them following.

He says, what do you want? He asked them. So think about it. Jesus walked along, and all a sudden these guys are following him. And he turns around and says, what do you want? In other words, why are you following me? Now do you see how there's two layers to that? There's the literal

why are you following me right now? But it's Jesus always always means the deeper one. He's really asking them, what are you looking for? What's your reasoning for even pursuing me? In other words, what is your expectation of where you think following me is supposed to take you? I don't think they understood that,

which most of the time disciples don't. Which is really the truth about all of us too.

When Jesus asked what do you want? Like prayer. Prayer is us answering the question, what do we want? In a lot of ways. How many times is our what do we want the immediate surface level answer in the moment? Because look, he says, what do you guys want? Turns around and follow him. And imagine, they they're they probably are like, what?

The guy who John just said is God in a bod, he just turned around and asked us why we're following him. I can almost imagine that moment. They're both sitting there going, don't be creepy. Don't be creepy. Don't be creepy. Don't be creepy. What do you want? Don't be creepy. Where are you staying? It just got creepy.

Could you imagine if someone's following you? Why are you following me? Where do you live? Stranger danger. Stranger danger.

They they gave the very their answer was the moment answer, not the mission answer. Jesus asked a missional question. What is your purpose for pursuing me? What do you believe is gonna happen? What do you think the mission is? And they gave a moment answer. Where where are you going? Where are you going right now?

And how did Jesus answer them? Again, it could be taking a literal answer, but Jesus meant a much deeper answer. As we can see by the end of the passage when Philip saying the same thing Jesus said to them as they got came along. He says what? Come and see.

Do you think Jesus literally said, okay, I'll come show you my my my my tent, my hotel room, a cave. I don't know where he was staying. It's like, yeah, that rock, that's my pillow. There's there's the you know, I've I made a little stuffed animal out of that straw over there, you know. Don't touch it, you know. Do

you think he wanted I'm thinking about putting a window in over there. I I don't know. What do you think? You know, some, you know, maybe a pool next spring. I'm not sure. You know, do you think that's what he meant? No. He says, You want to know where I'm going? Why don't you just come and see?

Just follow me and see where we go. See where it takes you. You notice he didn't say, stay and wait.

We have to choose to come and see. We have to choose to just go and see where Jesus wants to take us. And I guarantee where he wants to take us is gonna end with greater things that it says at the end when he told Nathaniel,

oh, you believed in me just because I saw you under a tree? Just by a little explanation, you might not have caught that. Jesus had never been in that area. He was miles away. So when he said, saw you sitting under this certain tree, that was a supernatural thing.

And it freaked Nathaniel out. He's like, wow. And Jesus goes, wow. You believe by just seeing that. That's crazy, because you're gonna see much more amazing things. Greater things. But here's the thing, he then describes what those greater things are. He basically says, you're gonna see me be the stairway to heaven. There's the real song right there. Stairway to heaven is Jesus,

the son of man. And what he's saying is, you're gonna see my love and my faithfulness. My unfailing love, because I created you. You chose darkness.

I came back into the world to bring the light, and how I did it is I am gonna die on the cross, and that cross is the ladder. That is the ladder. That is the stairway. That's the way I'm gonna reconnect it. When he said you'll see greater things, you're gonna see my absolute unfailing love and faithfulness in the greatest thing ever, so you can trust me in the little things. That's

what he's saying. But when you hear greater things and you have a moment mentality, what comes to mind with greater things? What comes to mind if Jesus stopped and said,

why are you here?

Why are you following me? This Christmas, why are we pursuing Jesus? Why? Or in other words, you might just be here, might be new. But there's a reason you end up in this room. Jesus might look to you and say, why are you in church right now?

And what he really means is, where do you think this is supposed to go? But most of the time when we have a chance to answer that question, we fall towards the moment answer. And what I mean by that is most of the time if Jesus says, what do you want? It usually means give me something or take away something.

Give me something I want. Take something away I don't like. It's okay to talk to Jesus about those things. Don't get me wrong. Don't hear what I'm not saying. But if our relationship with Jesus only stays at that moment level, and we never get to the mission level, we miss out.

We miss out. We might come, but we'll never see. We might come, but we're not gonna see. We're just gonna be frustrated all the time, or really happy. Because if the moment feels good, you'll be happy. If the moment feels bad, you'll be depressed. But we can have the joy of the mission of seeing the greater things.

The greater things. But here here's the catch.

The catch is what do we expect to see when Jesus says come and see? It's all about what are we expecting that throws us off. That's why earlier on he says that he came into the darkness to bring the light. He says, but it says his own people rejected him. They chose the darkness instead.

John even goes on. John the Baptist. Remember he says, I didn't know who Jesus was right away. He says that right in the middle of this passage. He's saying, I I didn't I wasn't sure who the one was. I wasn't sure. I know God told me the Holy Spirit will come down anoint. If you notice in chapter one, if you're a theological minded, that it's God the Son, God the Father, and God the Holy Spirit are all in chapter one. The whole band's together right there. And and and and then he says, I'll know when the Holy Spirit says this is him. And and then he says, and I saw it when he did to Jesus. Here's what's weird. Why didn't he know Jesus was the one? Jesus was his cousin. If you read in the other gospels, there was a prophecy about John the Baptist's birth and Jesus's. He would have known Mary. He would have known the family. He would have known this. He would have heard the stories. He would have known what they were. Why did he struggle with knowing that Jesus was the one? I think in his head he knew it, but in his heart, he had the same expectation

that most of Israel, his own people, Israel was supposed to be on mission. God was gonna not just do something for them, but through them. They never understood it. Their understanding of a Messiah was get rid of Rome. They had a moment view of what the Messiah should be. We want a political and military savior.

And Jesus wasn't that. And my guess is John was affected by that too. And he's like, my cousin Jesus? Wow, he's a great guy. I've never seen him do anything wrong. And man, you know how many times he's made a sandwich go so far in feeding all of us? It's crazy.

But can he really lead us to get rid of Rome? It's the same thing we'll see when we get later on in the book of John.

Because we're gonna start the new year. We're gonna just keep going through this book. It'll be a different series, but we're gonna just keep going through it. And you'll see. There's a moment when so many of the disciples leave when they realize, wait,

you're not here just to solve our political problems and our financial problems and our and he describes dying. He describes the greater things. And they're like, yeah, no. It's in the expectation. And sometimes we miss the greater things, because we're stuck in the moment and we miss the mission. A mission that is for us,

but it's also supposed to continue through us.

I remember let me give you example just to wrap this up, is is I don't know about your Christmas traditions growing up, but when I was a kid, we had a tradition in our house that we had opened up all the presents, but my mom or dad or you know, sometimes it was more my mom's idea for the present for us. They would always save this last one, You know, the best one for the end. They wouldn't put it under the tree. They would just like kinda bring it out. Anybody have that kind of a tradition?

Well, you really missed out if you didn't, but but here's what's funny. Mom or dad would always act like, okay, that's it. Let's clean up. Wait, we got one more. And you know, it's like you know it. You expect it. So you play the game. Oh, that's it. Alright, thank you. Wait, there's one more. Really?

You know? As a matter of fact, it got so pathetic that you're actually acting like you're a surprise, but the reality is all the pre presents sometimes just become like when you go to a concert, and you really came for the main band, you have to watch the 15 bands beforehand. Open up the Hey, that one was pretty good. Didn't really like that one. Socks from grandma. Whatever. You know what I mean? You're opening these presents, and you do these things, but you really were waiting

for what was the big one. Well, in 1976,

when I was six years old, my mom goes, hey, there's one more. Really? And she hands me this this thing wrapped and I go, this feels like a book. What? And I open it up. My observation skills were accurate. It was a book. And I'm like, you gave me homework?

And my mom goes, no. That's just the a. The whole set I have, but I didn't want to wrap the whole set. Can anyone guess what book it was? World Book Encyclopedia. Now, some of you that are younger are confused when we said encyclopedia.

See, there was a time long ago, back when dinosaurs were roaming the earth, That a phone only called other phones. Okay? And and and and and it couldn't even leave a message. And if they were talking to someone else, you got a sound.

And and and so you couldn't just when you wanted to know something. In that era, in the dark ages of of of where monks were recording stuff for us, the the only way you could settle an argument was not like what you guys do. Hey, so and so, when did that happen? Did that album come out here, or did this person go or what's what's the gross national project of our of Argentina?

You never asked that question, but you know, if you're looking for something, you start arguing, there used to be those little family arguments about facts that they don't last very long anymore, do they? It's who got to Google faster. Not Google, right here. Here it is.

Back in the day, a simple disagreement over facts could go on for months. Months until someone finally decided as they were driving by a thing called a library. They're like Barnes and Nobles

with not frilly stuff and no coffee shop. There's just books in there. And you had to go through a card catalog. You couldn't even punch in a computer. You had to know this thing called the Dewey Decimal System. It's like rocket science, I'm telling you. And so if you wanted to find out certain facts, you had to go into a library and look stuff up.

The old fashioned way. So yeah, my mom got me a book, and her excitement was, here's what she said. She she she could tell. She could tell like right away. I gotta be honest, had to apologize years later. Because my attitude right away was no, I don't want this. What do you want? Not that.

This is worst Christmas ever. Think about a six year old. Your big present for the year is a book. And I'm like, this is terrible. I hate this. I was being a jerk, and then I backed it off because I almost went too far because I saw my dad's one eye starting to squint and then bold.

And my dad was the type that if you cross the line and go, okay, you think this is the worst Christmas ever. Watch this. He would have taken everything, including grandma's socks, and just dumped it in the trash, and say, now you got nothing but the book.

And so I was like, shut up, shut up, shut up. Don't cross that line. He's the nuclear superpower. I'm the third world country. I can't win this war. So so so I I I was like, okay. I backed up, and I could tell my mom in her love for me wanted to win me over.

And she was explaining, she goes, but Billy remember, we have these we have these understandings, we're watching a show or movie, and I'll also go, I wonder why that's that way. You always ask questions. Now we can go look it up,

and and and we could find out the answers, and and it'll help you in school. Down in a school of six years old. But she goes, at some point you have to write these things called papers,

where you have to cite things, and once again you can't just Google search, cut and type your paper, you had to go to a library, look through encyclopedias, look through these things, quote your sources. She goes it'll be helpful for you. What do you think that sound like to a six year old? Your life sucks.

That's what it sounds like.

She was trying to explain how this is a great gift. This is an awesome gift. Matter of fact, I realized now years later, it was the most expensive thing my parents ever bought me. It was like over $1,000 back in the seventies.

But and it comes, she goes, and every year you get this update book where they put in new information, because you can't just download

point two point o or anything like that. You got a book in the mail, and she was saying it's so exciting. It's the gift that keeps on giving. And and and she was trying to encourage my curiosity, help me in my understanding, and my growth, and my knowledge, and she knew.

She taught me how to read before I was even in in kindergarten. And when I was in first grade, I was reading at a twelfth grade level, which in today's world probably not saying much, but just kidding. Just kidding. But I've also digressed. I'm back down to middle school level in my reading. So

and so she wanted to so she says I wanted to encourage you to keep growing, to get more wisdom, to get more knowledge, and understanding that as you move along in life later down the road, this is gonna be very helpful for you. This is gonna be helpful for you. But here's the problem. I didn't see it.

I had a different expectation. I was in the moment. I wanted a toy. I didn't want a tool.

And we think we grow out of that as we become adults.

But in your life right now, if Jesus says, what do you want? Is what you really crave just a an adult toy? Something more like like, I just want this. I don't want that to happen. I don't want this. I want this out of my life. I want this in my life.

I want another toy. I want something in this moment to make life fun to play. Or do you want a tool that unlocks real life? My mom was showing me unfailing love and faithfulness towards the mission of what I needed in life. But I had a different expectation. So I missed it. And my six year old Christmas was a bad day.

I later had to apologize. Because you know what? It wasn't what I expected. But it turned out to be more than I ever imagined. Because she was right.

It settled things in in security. And when I got older in school, when my friends had to take a Saturday or late and get their moms or dads to take them to the library to write their papers, guess where I got to write my papers? Sitting at my kitchen table, eating a snack.

I didn't have to leave. I could do papers. I could do this. And then I started to read stuff. I started to get curious, And I started to look forward to that yearbook every year. What's new in the world? What's this? And it sparked my knowledge. Helped. And you know what? That ability to read and know stuff made high school so much easier. It made college

a lot easier. I would never could have gotten the grades I got and played baseball at the same time if I had not developed that passion, the ability to understand and read and and get through knowledge quicker. My mom gave me one of the greatest gifts ever for for my future and for what life was like. It was more than I could ever dreamed of. It was unfailing love. It was faithful,

and I rejected it because I wanted a toy. That is the point that we need to understand, especially if you're far from God, that Christmas is not about a moment. It's about a mission.

And that mission is God's unfailing love and faithfulness through Jesus who created you. Wants to bring you back and give you something that's not just about this moment, it's a tool for all of eternity. And he's invited us to come and see, and come and be part of that mission. That's what it means. So

why are you following Jesus?

In other words, why are you here?

Jesus invites you to come and see. That's what Christmas is. Father God, thank you Lord. I thank you for how you do care about us. And I thank you that you were the one that spoke us into existence. That you brought light and life. Christmas is you brought that light and life back into a dark world.

And Lord, it says that the darkness can never extinguish the light. If we choose to believe, as it says, if we choose to accept you. If we believe we belong. So I pray for each one of us in this room including myself that that if we are faced with that question right now of why are we following you? That

that yeah, we can bring up those moment issues we have. You want to talk to us about that. But can we turn the page to the deeper part of the story, and say, where are we hoping and dreaming? What are we expecting? And can we just surrender our expectations and trust your unfailing love and faithfulness?

And just choose to come and see what you have. But also to come and be part of that mission. May we share that love. May we be like like Philip did and tell other people, you need to come and see who Jesus is. I just pray this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.