Upside Down Christmas Eve

We have been told stories of old. We remember the birth of Jesus, the Christ, tonight. 18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). 24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus. – Matthew 1:18-25 This is not just a legend. This is not a fairy tale that evolved into presents underneath a tree. This is the messy truth and reality that when you think about what a savior should be, is completely upside down in its rationale. Just think about it—Jesus was born out of wedlock, the Bible says that Joseph “knew her not.” This is truth—not a fairy tale. This is the upside down reality in which our stories intersect with God’s own. On Christmas, we come to understand, if nothing else, that we gather at church, to remember a movement that was started at the foundations of the world. This year, if you don’t know already, we are taking a step back from our tradition Christmas eve activities and moving forward to remember God for what He started to do on the first Christmas 2,000 years ago. Moreover, we remember, the upside down nature God embarked on when He decided to make himself lower than God and take the form of a man. Let’s look at who Jesus is: 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. (John 1:1-5) Jesus is God. He made us and gave us life and if we weren’t fortunate enough to be filled with Him our entire lives, then we come this Christmas to be filled with Him and remember that He created us to walk in the light he gives and thereby reflecting the life He intended for all people. This is not a life filled with money or glory, but a life filled with light. You see, it is the light that sheds the disbelief we have and carry in our lives that God, that Jesus, shines and makes all things, even wretched things like us. Let’s skip a few verses and go to verse 9. 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. – John 1:9-18 Christmas, the reason why it’s so upside down in comparison to any other time of the year or for any other reason is because it is one end of the spectrum where by everybody, regardless of belief or behavior can receive absolute truth. If you don’t get it, let me paint you a picture, our lives, our world, our society is marred, not by mistakes in need of correction; but of sinners acting sinful in need of a savior. We are sinners in need of a savior. We need more than a second chance. We need a second birth! This is what Christmas represents. Jesus, when he was born in a manger in Bethlehem, modeled this for us. It was a tension that God put together to throw things upside down in the world. How could the savior be born outside in nothing more than a roofed shed on the side of a pit stop? Verse 16. I want to stop here for a second because I want to press upon you the enormity of Christmas: Jesus’ birth, gives all of us something so unprecedented and mind blowing that we hardly think about it; that his birth to a mere 14 or 15 year old girl in the boonies was an act of grace flowing over grace. We throw that word around so often in Christian circles that the word has lost its meaning, but the word “grace” in the Bible means undeserved acceptance. When Jesus came into the world, he didn’t come into the world thinking that there would be people who needed help and fix some mistakes. He came into the world, being born into poverty for the sole purposes of bestowing an undeserved acceptance to those very people who would otherwise be rejected; and I’m not talking about rejected from the local country club, I’m talking about being rejected from the eternity that awaits us in life after this one in the present. We didn’t have to earn it and in fact, God made it totally clear and easy for us to encounter the truth that is our lives—which is the failure of it, in every and all aspects; and the flipside, that is the undeserved acceptance of that failure we so endearingly call “our life.” I wish to ask you tonight: How will we respond to God’s intervention in our lives? Whether you accepted Christ and call yourself a Christian; or if you’ve been going to church for so long that you don’t know what it means anymore; or even if you never really truly accepted Jesus in your hearts; what will your response be tonight? The truth of the matter is that no matter how hard we try and work, we are limited to being, at best, hypocrites—covering up our sinfulness, never ever fully being able to over come it. This is how all other religions function—that you have to earn grace and salvation. God’s paradigm is upside down in comparison. We simply embrace the grace that comes with realizing the truth that we’ll never get there without God and He wants to get us there. ?16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” – John 3:16-21