Sermons for Christmas 2
In the bleak midwinter, why not shine a little light?
Sermon Opener #1 - Light of the World
The full text of the following sermon is available at www.Sermons.com.
Sign up today HERE. Or call: 1-813-808-1681.
Members: Please see John 1 or Christmas 2 for the sermon titled "Light of the World"
One of the striking features of the Gospel of John is the way it depicts the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. The other gospels usually tell us stories about Jesus. Then, like the disciples, we are left to ask, "Who is this, that wind and sea obey him? Who is this who feeds the multitude on a couple of loaves and a few fish?" But in the Gospel of John, there's never a doubt who Jesus is, because he tells us. Usually he does so with a statement that begins with the words, "I am." Put him in a situation and he will clarify who he is and what he has come to do.
You can put him in the desert surrounded by people who are chronically unsatisfied, and Jesus says, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty" (John 6:35).
You can put him in the midst of people who are confused, people who ask, "Who are you, Jesus? What makes you different from all the other gurus, rabbis, and religious leaders?" And Jesus says, "I am the gate for the sheep. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture" (10:7, 9). It is an act of self-definition.
You can put him at graveside, in the midst of grief-stricken people, and Jesus says, "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live" (11:25).
Or put him in the midst of people who feel disconnected by life's difficulties, and Jesus says, "I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing" (15:5).
In the Gospel of John, in one situation after another, Jesus defines himself and says, "This is who I am...." In the eighth chapter, Jesus says, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life" (8:12). His words echo the opening words of the Fourth Gospel, where the writer defines the person and work of Jesus in terms of light. "What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people ... The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world" (1:3-4, 9).
Jesus says, "I am the light of the world." This is the kind of thing we might expect to hear in these days after Christmas. Not long ago we gathered on Christmas Eve to hear the prophet Isaiah say, "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light." We don't know if old Isaiah had any idea who or what he was talking about, yet we celebrate Christmas as a festival of light. We string up twinkle lights on fir trees. We illumine our houses. We burn candles in the windows and plug in GE bulbs on the shrubbery. We burn up the kilowatts because Jesus Christ is born. In the bleak midwinter, why not shine a little light?...
1. The Light of the World.
2. The Light Comes into Darkness
Sermon Opener #2 - The Greatest Gift
The full text of the following sermon is available at www.Sermons.com.
Sign up today HERE. Or call: 1-813-808-1681.
Members: Please see Matthew 2 or Epiphany for the sermon titled "The Greatest Gift"
By the time we get to Epiphany Sunday, for most people, the season of “gift giving” is over. The sea of presents from Christmas has been mostly put away, the decorative trees and lights are coming down, and, having celebrated New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, people are moving on to resume their lives, hoping for a positive year. Stores, no longer selling Christmas, are already focused on St. Valentine’s Day. The thrill of the holiday season has passed. For most, Epiphany just doesn’t have the “zing” that Christmas did!
In fact, even in Jesus’ day, Epiphany happens at a much later date than you probably imagine. Most likely visiting the Bethlehem household sometime in Jesus’ first or second year of life, the initial “Gloria in excelsis deo” (or in the case of Mary and Joseph….their initial fear of discovery) has already passed and things at Joseph’s household have gotten pretty much back on track. Sometime in their first year of marriage, Joseph’s managed to build them a home (or at least he’s added an extension to his current family homestead). So, by the time the Magi arrive “at the house” from somewhere east of Israel, young Jesus is most likely somewhere between 9 months and 2 years old. They find him there with Mary, his mother, and have a serious “sit down” with the family.
Now, when most of us hear this passage, as we do each and every year, we like to focus on the gifts. Let’s face it, gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh fascinate us. Why these? Why these treasures? And yet, if we think about it, in dwelling on these physical treasures, we’ve missed a far greater gift that the magi have offered –the gift of....
Illustrations for John 1:1-18
Closing the Chasm
Many years ago, I was walking in the farm that has belonged to my father's family in Kentucky for many generations, and I happened to looked down and I saw this giant anthill. There must have been thousands of these little creatures scurrying back and forth. It was a world unto itself. And as I looked down, I thought to myself, given the capacity of an ant, they have no way of understanding something as big and complex as a human being. If they were aware of me at all, I must have loomed over them as some kind of ominous presence. Then it dawned on me that if I had the power to somehow become an ant and yet take into that new condition as much of the reality of a human being as would be possible - in other words, if I could cross this chasm of otherness from my side - then it would be possible for ants to understand the human in ways that they could never have known before.
As I walked away, I began to realize that the chasm between an ant and a human being, vast as it is, is nothing to compare between the chasm between a human being and this mysterious, divine reality that gives life. And I realized that we are as incapable of understanding God on our own as an ant would be incapable of understanding us.
John Claypool, God Became What We Are
Called to Obey Love
Kierkegaard has a fable of a king who fell in love with a maid. When asked, "How shall I declare my love?" his counselors answered, "Your majesty has only to appear in all the glory of your royal glory before the maid's humble dwelling and she will instantly fall at your feet and be yours."
But it was precisely that which troubled the king. He wanted her glorification, not his. In return for his love he wanted hers, freely given. Finally, the king realized love's truth, that freedom for the beloved demanded equality with the beloved. So late one night, after all the counselors of the palace had retired, he slipped out a side door and appeared before the maid's cottage dressed as a servant.
Clearly, the fable is a Christmas story. We are called to obey not God's power, but God's love. God wants not submission to his power, but in return for his love, our own.
God moved in. He pitches his fleshly tent in silence on straw, in a stable, under a star. The cry from that infant's throat pierced the silence of centuries. God's voice could actually be heard coming from human vocal cords.
That's the joy of it. God has come to be with us!
James T. Garrett, God’s Gift, CSS Publishing Company
Living without Christ
Fred Craddock once told a parable about a man who moved into a cottage equipped with a stove and simple furnishings. As the sharp edge of winter cut across the landscape, the cottage grew cold as did its occupant. He went out back and pulled a few boards off the house to kindle the fire. The fire was warm, but the house seemed as cold as before. More boards came off for a larger fire to warm the now even colder house, which in return required an even larger fire, demanding more boards. In a few days the man cursed the weather, cursed the house, cursed the stove, and moved away.
The futility that man felt is the futility of those who try to live the Christian life without Christ. He is the Word that was in the beginning with God and was God. And he is alive today. To those of us who are drowning he is someone we can hold on to. He is someone who can set our feet on dry ground again in this New Year.
King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com
Entertaining Angels Unaware
The Letter to the Hebrews in the New Testament reminds us of that incident, and counsels Christians to make hospitality a Christian virtue. "For you may be entertaining angels unaware." But more than that, you may be doing it to Christ, who said, "If you have done it to the least of these, you have done it to me."
Tom Long teaches at the seminary at Princeton. But for a while he lived in Atlanta, and attended a Presbyterian Church in downtown Atlanta. Like most downtown churches, it has to cope with the problem of the homeless. So they opened up their gymnasium in the winter as a shelter. It was the practice of that church, as it is in this church when we open our buildings as a shelter in the winter months, to have people from the church serve as hosts and hostesses.
Long volunteered to be a host one night. The night came and since no one else volunteered, he invited a friend to come and join him. His friend was not a member of that church. In fact, he wasn't a member of any church. But periodically, in their conversations about religious matters, this friend would say, "Tom, I'm not a theologian, but it seems to me...," and then he would express his opinion.
On this night as they were hosting the shelter, they met the men as they arrived, saw that they had something to eat, hung out with them for a while. Then as the men began to prepare to retire....
For the rest of this illustration and many additional illustrations, sermons, and commentary for this week and every week of the church year, login at www.Sermons.com.
Children's Sermon - He Lights Up Our Life
Object: (a description of all props needed for this children's sermon is available with a subscription)
Lesson Preview: Good morning, boys and girls. Today is a good day for us to continue to understand something about the person of John the Baptizer. We are only a short time away from the day when Jesus will be born again into our world as the Christmas child, but before then we need to get ready, and no one helps us more to get ready than John the Baptizer. John knew who he was. He did not try to kid anyone into thinking that he was the most important person in the world. He knew that he had a very important job which was to get everyone ready for Jesus.
I brought along something to help us understand who John was and how important he was. I have here something that all of you have seen many times. (Take out the light-bulb packages.) What are these? (Let them answer.) That's right, they are light-bulb packages. They are made especially for carrying light bulbs. It is hard to break a light bulb when you are carrying it in one of these packages. They are kind of soft and yet they are tough. They make a light bulb safe. But as good as they are, they are not the important part of the package....
The full version of this children's sermon, and many additional resources and activities to engage children can be accessed at www.Sermons.com. Just click Children's Sermons or Children's Bulletins from the drop-down menu to search our library.
Please visit https://www.Sermons.com/signup to subscribe to our library of resources.
To contact us, please call or text 813-808-1681, or email support@sermons.com.