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I do not normally post my sermons on-line. They are written for a specific congregation, and I like to keep them in that context, but today I am making an exception. Below is a version of the sermon I preached this morning.

John 1:1-14

Grace mercy and peace be unto you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”(John 1:1)

The first verse in today’s Gospel lesson. Takes us all the way back to before the world was created. Today we are celebrating the birth of a child, why have this text? Would not the story from Luke chapter two be far more appropriate?

In truth, if all we were celebrating today was the birth of a child, then yes, Luke would be more appropriate, and even more enjoyable, However, this day we commemorate and celebrate much more than the birth of a mere human child. Today we mark the earthly birth of God’s own Son, who has been sent that we may “have life, and have it abundantly”!(John 10:10)

In order to for this to make sense, we need to recognize, deep down in our very being, that this child is in fact God himself, and not some lesser created being. This is the very point made by The Apostle in today’s lesson.

“In the beginning”, or before creation. “was the Word”. Virtually all scholars recognize the “Word” here to mean the Christ. So far in this text we are told that the Christ existed before creation, before anything was made.

“The Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

The Son, or the Christ and God are one and the same. This is critical, God and Christ are not two separate beings, but one and the same. We worship a triune God, and all three parts of the Trinity were in existence even before the universe was created.

“All things were created through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.”

Our God, the one true God brought into being an entire universe.

I could go on through the whole text and comment on each phrase, but in many ways, what we have looked at so far is the most critical, and here’s why.

This verse demonstrates that the coming of the long promised Messiah, the event we celebrated last evening and still celebrator this morning, was not something God came up with after mankind “blew it”. God has always planned that the Messiah should come and win for his creation, eternal life. We see this in that both the Son and The Father predate creation. This is the true celebration, the fact that our God loves us so much that he came to earth, became human, and offered himself as our redeemer.

As important as this is, there is another equally important thing to consider in this text.

Though the Christ came into the world, and was in the world, the world did not recognize him. Despite the events surrounding his birth, and despite the many signs he performed, and despite three years of patient teaching, most people still did not see the man Jesus as the promised Messiah.

The truth of the matter is, most Jews saw Jesus at most as a gifted teacher, and at worst as a troublemaker and potential revolutionary.

The same is true today. Most people in the world, including many who are members of Christian churches, do not recognize this carpenter turned rabbi from the First Century as any sort of savior; let alone the one promised by God since the Garden. In fact, the hard truth is that most people will never recognize Jesus as Lord. That is the bad news.

Today, however, we celebrate good news!

Today we celebrate the good news that those who do recognize the “True Light” have been granted the right to be children of God. In other words, through our faith, the faith granted to us in the waters of our Baptism, and poured out upon us regularly through God’s Word and through the sacrament of the Altar, we have become God’s own family!

“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.”(John 1:12-13)

John sort of sneaks it in, but in verse thirteen he points out that we are not saved by our will, we have not become these children of God, by any choice we have made. but instead our God has declared us to be his children. It is by God’s will that we are his children.

A good example of this is the adoption of an infant. When a couple adopt a newborn infant, the child has absolutely no say in the matter, instead it is the parents who choose him.

(As an aside, the newborn child also does not know he needs parents. This can also be a picture of fallen, unregenerate man)

In our case, the wonderful fact is that God chose us even before the creation of the universe. We have no idea how this could be, how God could possibly know these things, except to say that our God is indeed omniscient, or all knowing.

Honestly however, the fact that God was able to select us as his children, even before we were created is not important. We simply understand that the all powerful creator of the universe has such power, and we rejoice that he loves his creation enough to choose us.

What is important is that this gift of membership in his family, is the gift our Lord came to bestow, and is the entire reason he was born in that stable.

As cute and cuddly as a baby is, and as much as we enjoy our Christmas celebration, we recognize that this is only a part of God’s ultimate plan.

You see, ultimately, Our Lord has chosen us for no other reason than his love for us. Like the adopted baby above, we have done nothing to deserve membership in God’s family. As a matter of fact, if our conduct was the deciding factor, we would be cast far from God, into eternal damnation.

God has chosen us, has granted us faith and forgiveness through the water and the Word, in spite of our conduct. Because he has chosen us, and because of the faith he has given us, we are indeed “children of God”.

This is what we celebrate this day!

May the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Amen.