Ugly Sweater | Week 1 · Rewind

Ugly Sweater | Week 1 · Rewind

Pastor Bill Bush · Dec 3, 2018

Big Idea

Quoting the message: Christmas is about a mission, not a moment, end quote. — God went on a mission for us in Jesus, and now He wants to continue that mission through us.

Christmas isn't a season we pack away once the feeling fades — it's the story of God's unfailing love and faithfulness breaking into the darkness through Jesus. Pastor Bill shows from John 1 that Jesus came to restore the light and life we lost, and that He now invites us to come and see, and come and be part of that same mission.

Key points

1
1We treat Christmas like an ugly sweater — worn proudly for a season, then packed away.
Pastor Bill opens with the tradition of ugly Christmas sweaters and holiday decorations, noting how we bring out extra joy, generosity, and faith during the season but then put it all away once the moment passes, treating the meaning of Christmas the same way we treat decorations.
2
2John's gospel tells the Christmas story differently, focused on who Jesus is and why He came rather than the birth narrative details.
Pastor Bill explains that John, writing decades after the other gospels as the last living original disciple, skips the manger scene and instead starts 'in the beginning,' echoing Genesis, to show Jesus as the eternal Word who created the very world He entered.
3
3Jesus is the light the darkness can never extinguish, and He came to restore what sin had broken.
Working through John 1, Pastor Bill points out that Jesus is called the Word because He is God's glory, His unfailing love and faithfulness, made visible; even though His own people rejected Him, the darkness could never put out the light He brought.
4
4John the Baptist models the mission: he pointed away from himself and toward Jesus.
Pastor Bill shows that John's job description — to be a witness who testifies to the light — is the same calling given to every follower of Jesus; when challenged about his authority, John made clear the mission was never about him.
5
5Jesus' question, 'What do you want?' and invitation, 'Come and see,' exposes whether we're living for a moment or a mission.
Pastor Bill unpacks the exchange with the first disciples, arguing Jesus was asking a deeper question about their expectations, not just where He was staying, and that His answer, 'come and see,' calls people to follow rather than demand.
6
6We often want a toy from Jesus when He's offering a tool for real life.
Pastor Bill tells the story of receiving a World Book Encyclopedia for Christmas at age six and being disappointed, only to realize years later his mother's gift reflected real love and lasting purpose; he applies this to how we treat Jesus like a vending machine for momentary wants instead of trusting His deeper, faithful plan.

Application

Pastor Bill frames the charge as choosing to come and see, and come and be part of Jesus' mission rather than staying stuck in the moment.

Ask what you actually want from Jesus
Sit with Jesus' question, 'What do you want?' and be honest about whether your answer is a moment answer (fix this, give me that) or a mission answer that trusts His deeper purpose.
Surrender your expectations of what Jesus should do
Like Israel expecting a political savior, or a child expecting a toy, recognize when your disappointment comes from expecting the wrong thing from Jesus rather than trusting His unfailing love and faithfulness.
Choose to come and see
Follow Jesus into whatever He's doing rather than waiting for Him to meet you where you already are; trust that following leads to greater things than you can currently imagine.
Point others to Jesus like John and Philip did
Take up the same calling given to John the Baptist and Philip: be a witness who testifies about Jesus and invites others, 'come and see,' rather than making the mission about yourself.

Take it into your week

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7-day devotional

A personal reading plan from this message — scripture, reflection, and prayer for each day.

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Day 1

Before the manger, before Bethlehem, before any of it — there was the Word. John doesn't open his Gospel with a birth announcement; he opens it with a declaration about eternity. 'In the beginning the Word already existed.' Christmas, then, isn't the start of something. It's the arrival of Someone who was already there at the very foundation of everything. The light and life John describes aren't seasonal feelings — they are the character of Jesus Himself, woven into the fabric of creation from the very beginning. This matters because it reframes what we're actually celebrating. We aren't just marking a holiday or honoring a tradition. We are standing inside the story of the eternal God choosing, in love, to enter the world He made. That world was broken — and He came anyway. That's not sentiment. That's mission. The sermon pointed here on purpose: if Christmas begins 'in the beginning,' then it can't be something you unpack in December and put back in a box in January. It's the opening movement of a mission that is still unfolding — one you and I are invited to be part of right now, today, wherever we are.

For reflection

How does it change the way you approach Christmas — or your faith in general — to see Jesus not as a seasonal figure but as the eternal Word who entered His own creation on purpose?

Pray

Pray for fresh eyes to see Jesus as He truly is — eternal, present, and actively at work — not just as a figure tied to one season of the year.

Small-group discussion guide

For leading a group conversation about this message.

Open

Think about the last time something surprised you by being far bigger than you expected it to be. This message suggests that Christmas is exactly that kind of surprise — not a moment to be celebrated and packed away, but a mission that stretches from eternity past all the way into our ordinary lives.

Discussion questions

1
John 1:1-5 opens by placing Jesus — 'the Word' — not in Bethlehem but 'in the beginning,' as the eternal Creator who entered His own creation. What does that framing add to the way we understand what is actually happening at Christmas?
2
John 1:6-8 introduces John the Baptist with a very specific job description: he was not the light, but a witness sent to point others to the light. What does that distinction tell us about what it looks like to make a mission about something larger than yourself?
3
In John 1:38, Jesus turns to the disciples who are following Him and asks, 'What do you want?' The message frames that as a deeper question about expectation — not just an immediate request but what someone hopes following Jesus is ultimately going to lead to. What kinds of expectations do people tend to bring to that question?
4
Jesus responds to the disciples with 'Come and see' rather than a direct answer, and Philip uses those same words when he tells Nathaniel about Jesus in John 1:45-46. What does that repeated invitation suggest about how the mission of God tends to move from one person to the next?
5
The message drew a contrast between 'moment-level' faith — give me something I want, take away something I don't — and a missional life oriented around 'greater things.' How might a community of people who have made that shift actually look different from the outside?
6
John 1:5 says the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has never extinguished it. The message connected that promise to the 'greater things' Jesus points toward — ultimately the cross — as the foundation of God's unfailing love and faithfulness. How does anchoring that hope in who Jesus is, rather than in a particular outcome, change the way we might hold onto it together?

Pray together

Asking God to loosen our grip on moment-level expectations and to give us eyes to see — and courage to follow — the greater things He has prepared for those who trust His mission

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Topics

Beyond the Moment Come and See God's Mission Light in Darkness Witnessing to Jesus

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