Christmas Day 2024

I asked ChatGPT a question this week.

I said, God is...

God is...

And I said, give me an answer from a child's perspective.

And this is what I got in return.

God is...

God is the best hide-and-seek player ever.

You can never find him, but he always sees you.

God is like a super-duper computer that knows all the answers, but he doesn't like to share them.

Now, this is a computer telling us this.

God is the guy who makes the sun shine and the ice cream melt.

I think there's a little bit of sarcasm in there that's quite profound.

It's interesting.

God is like a giant hug.

You can't see it, but you can feel it when you're happy.

God is like a big cloud that floats around, making sure everyone gets a fair share of rainbows.

It's interesting what artificial intelligence tells you when you say God is.

In his or her mind, its mind, God is an it, not a person.

He can never be found.

He doesn't like to share and he melts ice cream.

I'm not sure artificial intelligence has worked out who our God is.

The God of the Bible has personhood.

He is a he, three in one, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

He can be found.

Amen.

He likes to share.

And just because he gives us the son, it doesn't mean he is doing it to melt our ice cream.

We are, as a church, studying the Bible as we do.

We tend to open up a book of the Bible often and spend some weeks in it, and we call it a teaching series.

And so throughout December, we've been in One John.

It's a small book written by John, one of the apostles, the disciples of Jesus.

And there are three little books at the end of the Bible, and we've been working through One John, and so we're in the fourth message.

And so we are looking at One John 4, 9 to 10.

But before I get there, I want to mention, there is an answer we find in the Bible, God...

God is love.

God is love.

One John 4, 9 to 10.

This is how God showed his love among us.

He sent his one and only son into the world, that we might live through him.

This is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

And then verse 16, God is love.

So let's start with that.

God is love.

A lighthouse has a pretty simple job, would you agree?

It's a pretty simple job.

It sort of just goes around and around and has the job of shedding light to ships, often in the night.

And it's just saying, there's a truth to be known.

There's a point here.

There is a shallow reef that you want to avoid.

And I remember growing up, we went to the entrance.

Anyone holiday at the entrance by chance?

And we used to stay at a place on the point on the south side of the opening called Dolphin Court.

And I used to be able to lie in bed and watch the Nora Head lighthouse.

And I think I counted it was often 8, 9 seconds.

And then there would be this light that would come across the dark night on the water and then flash me in the eyes.

And that's what lighthouses do, isn't it?

They just keep on saying something to travellers.

And you know, I thought about that, and my job preaching on a Christmas day service is a bit like a lighthouse.

Because some of you don't come to church very often.

And that's okay.

It's great to have you with us.

Sometimes we go to church on a Christmas, maybe an Easter, maybe another special service, and it's a bit like the lighthouse.

You just get told again, God loves you, you know.

And then you go away and live your life, and you come back and you hear something from the Bible, and often it's along this line of God is love and He loves us.

And so I hope that that is what you will hear today, whoever you are, however many times you come to church.

God, you know, he does make judgments, but he is not judging.

He's not a judge.

That's not who he is.

He is love.

He gets angry, the Bible says, but he's not anger.

The Bible says, God is love.

And that's a good thing, isn't it?

God is love.

1 Corinthians 13, another part of the Bible.

The Apostle Paul wrote, Love is patient.

Love is kind.

It does not envy.

It does not boast.

It is not proud.

If God is love, then God is patient and kind and doesn't envy.

He's not boastful.

He's not proud.

So can I encourage you, as the lighthouse goes around and reminds you of things that maybe you forget, God is patient with you.

His love is patient.

There's a point in our lives, the Bible says, that patience will run out.

It's when we die, we will face the judge.

But I hope you can be reminded today, that God's love is patient with us and we all need his patience.

The passage goes on to say, love does not dishonour others.

It's not self-seeking.

It's not easily angered.

It keeps no record of wrongs, does not delight in evil, but rejoices with truth.

It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

So God is all these things.

Love never fails.

God never fails because God is love.

And God who is love, the text says, this is how God showed his love among us.

He showed his love.

And that's a good thing.

It's easy to say that you love someone, but the proof, I guess, is in the pudding.

God showed his love.

I wonder if anyone saw the movie.

It was out in 2016 called Hacksaw Ridge.

Anybody see that movie?

It was about an interesting character, a guy by the name of, there's a picture of him here, Desmond Doss was a conscientious objector.

He did not want to kill anybody, but he was a medic and he went to the war and he fought in the Battle of Okinawa in Japan.

And he said to his country, the army, he said, I'm happy to fight for you, but I'll be a medic and I won't carry a gun.

And I can show you without a gun, I'll be as committed as anyone else.

And if you remember the story, he did, he was incredibly brave.

He showed his commitment with action.

On one occasion in one of the heavy battles, he single-handedly without a gun saved 75 people and was given the highest award, the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Desmond Doss said that he was committed.

He said that he loved his country and he showed his love in action.

Now, this is what we see at Christmas.

God is love.

The Bible says that he showed his love.

And let me read to you for probably a couple of minutes, the story of Christmas from Matthew 1, and it tells us how God showed his love.

This is how the birth of Jesus, the Messiah, came about.

His mother, Mary, was pledged to be married to Joseph.

But before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.

Because Joseph, her husband, was faithful to the law and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

She will give birth to a son and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet, the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means God with us.

When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife, but he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son, and he gave him the name Jesus.

God is love, and God showed his love in that, the story of Christmas, God becoming human and his name is Jesus.

1 John 4 goes on to say, he sent his son into the world that we might live through him.

God sent his only son into the world that we might live through him.

The passage I just read tells us why he had to send his son into the world.

He would be called Jesus, do you remember why?

Because he will save his people from their sins.

Sin is a biblical concept, it's a word that sounds very churchy, I guess, but I think we can all relate to what it means.

Sin means missing the mark, the perfect mark that God has set for humanity.

We live in a morally accountable universe, and that's a good thing.

And the Bible makes it very clear that sin is a problem because God is holy, sin separates us from a holy God, and it needs to be dealt with.

It ultimately will be dealt with through death.

The judgment that sin brings upon itself.

God, who is love, did not want to leave us in our sin.

This is the wonderful good news of the Bible.

He didn't want to leave us in our hopelessness.

This drove him to act, so he sent his son on a mission that we read about on days like today, Christmas.

And how he arrived says so much about who he came for.

He sent his one and only son into the world that we might live through him.

Think about the story that we just read.

Do you know anything about shepherds?

Shepherds probably, often, are multimillionaires in today's society.

Sometimes, farmers have huge blocks of ground, but in the first century, shepherds were lowly.

They were not considered to be anything special at all.

The we that the son came to save included shepherds.

And yet, interestingly also, the highly educated wise men, the shepherd, the wise man, the we, included a poor teenager surrounded by disgrace named Mary.

The we you find include very interesting people, outcast lepers in the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

We read about the we that Jesus came to save, to reach out to, to heal the rich, the poor, the disabled, Jews, non-Jews, people affected by spiritual oppression, impaired mental health.

God who is love sent a saviour for all people.

The we is me.

That we might live through him, the we is you.

That's the message of Christmas.

This is love.

Not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

God is love.

He showed his love by sending his son.

Jesus paid our sin debt because God is love.

Jesus was born at Christmas, and we're familiar, I think, with that story.

But he grew up, clearly.

If you look at some of the, I can't think of the word, surveys over the years, he's often at the top, Jesus Christ, the most significant human being.

So he wasn't just a baby, was he?

He grew up, and in fact, if you read the Bible, the testimony of the gospel says he was an extraordinary human being, a brilliant teacher, a phenomenal healer, a peerless leader, yet his destiny was to be a perfect savior.

God loved us before we loved him.

And another part of the Bible, in Romans, it says God demonstrates his love for us in this, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

It wasn't because we were so lovable.

It wasn't because God looked down and said, wow, you guys are amazing.

I just, you're so, you're so loving towards me.

It was while we were rebels, sinners, that he sent his son to save us.

Christmas exists so that Easter could exist.

And Easter is about a divine exchange, where the perfect son of God gave his life on a cross to pay for our sin debt.

He took what we deserve, death, so that by faith in him, receiving a gift, purely a gift of grace, I could get what he deserves.

And what's that?

A perfect right relationship with the father and eternal life.

The story of Christmas and Easter is a story of a divine exchange.

Jesus takes our death so that we could receive his life.

And it is important to receive in the gospel that John wrote, he wrote one John and the gospel of John in chapter one says, yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.

Children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.

When we receive him by believing that Jesus has paid our debt, we receive the right to become children of God.

And that means we are regenerated, we are made new, we are forgiven of our sin, and we are filled with the Holy Spirit, made right with God, and given the hope of eternal life.

It's all good.

This is how God showed his love among us.

He sent his one and only son into the world, that we might live through him.

We, all of us, this is love.

Not that we loved God, but that he loved us, sent his son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins, because God is love.

Have you got your presents sorted for today and yesterday and tomorrow?

We all know what it's like to look for a present for someone that we love, and you find it, you pay for it, or you might make it.

And giving a present at Christmas is a wonderful thing, but when someone doesn't open your present, it's a little bit hurtful.

It's a little bit hurtful.

I wonder if you could use your imagination and think about that lighthouse at Nora Head.

And you're going in a drone, so you've got to use your imagination.

You're flying in a drone up north, up the entrance beach, and you can see that lighthouse in the distance, and you're coming flying closer and closer.

And you come to the window that's there at the top of the lighthouse, and you fly straight in.

Are you with me?

You got the special effects working in your imagination?

And you come in, and there's this really lovely Christmas tree in there.

And it's got a present with your name on it.

I'm working the metaphor, I know, but...

This idea of the lighthouse is so true, it really is.

And it doesn't have to be someone who comes to church on a Christmas day and an Easter day that this metaphor of God's love being shone and reminding us is only true for, it's for all of us, because sometimes we lose our way.

And we need to remember, wait on, I am not walking in intimacy with God who loves me.

I've let other things get in the way.

That's for people who already know Jesus as Lord.

Have you opened the gift of His love, of His forgiveness, of the intimate relationship He wants with you and with me?

The gift is there, don't let it just sit there.

Open it, open it.

The love of God.

At Easter this year, we've had a theme this year called Go, Go 24, and we've talked about, what do you need to stop doing in your life to start doing what God has called you to do?

We can always procrastinate in life, and it's this sense of sometimes you have to just go.

And so at Easter, Easter Sunday, there's a Baptist tree behind here, and we opened up the doors and we filled it with water, and we went and bought undies and clothing and shirts, shorts in all sizes and towels.

And we said, if you want to testify publicly that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior, because the Bible talks about Baptism as a wonderful way of testifying to say, I believe Jesus paid for my sin debt.

And I want to publicly go under the waters of Baptism, symbolizing I've died to my old life, and as I come up out of the waters of Baptism, there's a symbol of, I have new life forever in Christ.

And we said, who would like to be baptized spontaneously?

And seven people on that day got baptized, and that ended up being part of something wonderful that God did in our church, and we had about 23 people baptized, I think it was, throughout the year.

So has anyone ever seen a baptism on a Christmas day service?

Nobody.

Wow.

Well, no one thought that the virgin would be with child either.

It's amazing the miracle that happens at Christmas.

It was amazing the miracle that happened at Easter.

Jesus rose from the grave.

And today, I want to encourage you, if you have never been baptized, get baptized on Christmas morning, because I've got some clothes there, and I'm ready to go out there, and it's not to quickly write your five-minute testimony.

It's a simple testimony.

It's just Jesus Christ is my Lord and Saviour, and I want to testify publicly that this is the truth.

So it might be a recommitment that you'd love to do today.

It might be that you want to follow Jesus for the first time, and getting baptized is not about knowing everything about Christianity.

It is just purely a symbol that I have new life in Christ.

So would you have a think about that while Ben comes and plays a beautiful song we found that is so fitting about the love of God.

The song says, How great is the love of God.

He paid our debt on that rugged cross.

For all our days, we will sing our Saviour's praise.

How great is the love of God.

Ben's going to play, and then I'm going to hop up and pray at the end and finish this sermon.

And then I'm going to head off and get changed.

And if you would like to get baptized this morning as a declaration of receiving the love of God, just head out the back, around the back of that wall in the hall, and Leanne will be over there, and there's a whole bunch of clothing.

And you just go and get changed and meet me up here, and we will get you baptized.

Thank you, Benny.

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