Christmas 1 (2nd January 2011)
Text: John 1: 1-9

The gospel text for this morning is the same one that we read on Christmas morning, except that it is 5 verses short. Since I did not preach on this text last Saturday, I want to touch on it this morning as our starting point for the theme “Growing Together in the Body of Christ” for 2011.
One week after we have celebrated Christmas, and two days into the New Year, I think that it timely for us to reflect upon what we have done the previous years and what we plan to do in the future. Now, if you are to ask for my opinion as to how we have been doing these last few years, I shall say that we have not done enough, and neither have we done what we were supposed to do. I think in some ways I have failed and I don’t want anyone of you to tell me not to blame myself because as a priest-in-charge I know I should have done better. And that goes with every one of us here. The reason I say this is because it is so easy to blame outside factors and unforeseen circumstances for our failures: it is easy to point fingers at somebody or anybody, without thinking about our own shortcomings.
I have said on last Christmas Day that God was happy we could be in Church on Christmas to celebrate his Son’s birth. But I believe that God is more interested in what we are going to do with this Jesus every day of our lives. That’s why we start with John 1 – to help us understand what difference this child makes in our life. John doesn’t mess around with a lot of details about the birth of Jesus: he summarizes the whole event by saying this, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us (1:14). Jesus is the Word, and he was there in the beginning of time, and the Word, Jesus, was God. On Christmas Day, God came to earth as baby Jesus.
God had come in the flesh to walk among us, to experience the same ups and downs we do, the same temptations, the heartbreaks, even to experience a brutal death on a cross. Why would he do this? Why would he leave the splendor of heaven and come to the darkness of earth as a weak human infant named Jesus? The Bible tells us he did this because he loves us that much, he knew that if he didn’t come to earth, we could never experience a truly full and abundant life; we could not walk in the light of his paths, and we could never be adopted as his children.
There are three results of the Word becoming flesh:
First, we become adopted as God’s children. God wants every person on earth, every person here, to be his child. Just because we are born into this earth doesn’t mean we are his children. We must be born again, born of his Spirit to become one of his children. And when we believe that God came in the flesh and have accepted him into our life, we are given the rights to become a child of God. We are adopted into his family and we receive all the benefits of being children of God. What are the benefits? They include forgiveness, eternal and abundant life, light, blessings of love, joy, peace, etc.. These treasures God give us in abundance and He works them inside us so that they are unaffected by whatever bad things or suffering we must endure. God tells us we will experience suffering in our life but those who keep the faith will receive his treasures which will endure forever.
Second, we can receive his life. Verse 4 says, “In Him was life.” John repeats this over and over in his gospel, that Jesus has come so that we might have life, he even concluded his gospel by writing that the very purpose of his writing his gospel account is so that we might have life. What does he mean by that?
He means two things. First, God wants us to experience eternal life. He wants us to live forever with Him forever in heaven. Jesus repeated many times over that no one could experience eternal life without him. Second, having life refers, not only to a future, but to a present reality. We can live a full abundant life right now because of Jesus. Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly (John 10:10).” Without Jesus, we cannot live life to the fullest, we cannot have abundant life, and we cannot receive eternal life because he is the source of all good things.
Do you know what happens when we don’t receive his life? We experience selfishness, pride, hopelessness, guilt, anger, bitterness, and broken relationships. That is why as we look around us we see so much of these: they are the results of life without Christ. Even so-called Christians may experience these if they have no personal relationship with Jesus.
Third, we can receive his light in our darkness. John goes on to say, God came in the flesh, not only that we might receive life but so we could receive his light, “In him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it (v. 4-5).”
Whether we like to believe it or not, our world is shrouded in darkness. It has been shrouded in darkness since the very first man and woman walked the earth. It is shrouded in darkness because people follow the darkness: they make bad choices, say stupid things, and do stupid things. We may like to think that the world is getting better, but the reality is darkness still remains and will always remain until every person on earth receives Jesus, the light. The truth is we don’t have the power strong enough to resist evil, temptations and sins. God says there is only one way to eradicate darkness from our life, from our community, and from our world: and that is Jesus, the Word made flesh (John 8:12).
I know most of you have received Jesus at some points of your lives. But some of us still have problem of darkness hovering over our lives, like a shroud. Even those of us who are in the light can still fall into darkness, sin, and temptation. God tells us we will never be free from temptation and the only way to keep us falling into temptation is to have the light of God shining on all areas of our life. We may have received God’s light but certain parts of our lives are still in darkness because we have not let him deal with our anger problems, or our resentments, our fears, our selfish desires, our addictions, or whatever darkness we struggle with. Sometimes when we think that we have overcome certain temptations or sins, new ones will come out to make us fall. That is why God’s light has to shine all over our life, and not just one time but all the time; otherwise it will continue to bring a shadow over the other areas of our life.
Now, I want to take you to look our proclamation verse for today: “In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will…” (Eph 1: 11). I started with John’s Gospel because that is where we must begin. Now we look at a more specific reason as to why God came into this world and why he wanted to give us life and live in his light. Paul tells us that God has chosen us to be his children and that we are chosen for a purpose. Before Jesus was born God had already chosen Mary and Joseph to be his mother and guardian. And before Jesus, started his ministry, God sent someone else to go ahead of him, to prepare the way. The man was John. When God wanted the Good News to spread to the gentiles, he called Paul. You will find that pattern repeating itself in the Bible and in the history of the Church: that when God wants something done, he will send someone to do the job.
I believe St. Margaret’s Church was put up in Seria for a purpose. God did sent some people to start the Church. Whoever was called by God to help start this Church knew the purpose. But as years passed by and with so many developments taking place, that sense of purpose gradually become forgotten. So today many of us are content to be on maintaining mode. But all these years God has been sending someone to do something new and something more for him in this church. Do you want to know whom God has chosen and sent? It is every single one of us here, and including those who are not in church this morning.
Why are we chosen and sent? Look back at verses 6 & 7: “There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe”. That was a job description for John and it is also our job description. God chose and sent us as “witnesses to testify concerning the light”. God has no other plan or purpose or need for us, other than as witnesses and to bear witness!
I believe that we have missed the purpose and the process of effective evangelism right here. And now I know why the average church of Jesus Christ has limited power in our outreach. We miss a step and the step that we miss is a fundamental step in our witnessing attempt. Indeed, we are to bear witness of the light. We are to tell everybody about Jesus and what he can do. But before we bear witness, we are supposed to be witnesses. In other words, before we can tell somebody what Jesus can do for them, we must show them what Jesus has already done in our lives. That’s being a witness.
The reason we have a lack of power in the church today is because we only want to bear witness but most of us are not prepared to be witnesses. We want to talk about Jesus but we have not shown people what Jesus has actually done in our personal lives. But if people don’t see our lives to be any different from them, why should they believe in what we say?
I am not saying that Christians are perfect people. The church is a place where people come for spiritual or emotional healing, and naturally we will find people with various problems in church. But those of us who have been here for a long time, we can’t stay emotionally or spiritually unhealthy after we have encountered and accepted Jesus. Those of us who have received God’s forgiveness must be forgiving; those of us who have received God’s mercy must be merciful; those of us who have experienced God’s love must be able to love others; and those of us who have experienced God’s grace must be gracious to others.
We put our theme for 2011 as “Growing together in the Body of Christ” because we want to recapture the original purpose of the Church. Before we can be witnesses again to the outside community, we need to put our relationship with God and with one another, right. We need to grow and work together: there must be a team spirit. Each one of us needs to sincerely ask ourselves: Am I really contributing to the growth and the unity of the Church? When people look at me, do they see me as a witness? Do they see Christ in me? And if our answer is ‘no’ then we are not helping the church to grow. I know that God can do a miracle by just pointing his finger from heaven and bring immediate unity and love within this church, but he is not going to do that. He wants you and I do it. He wants us to work together to achieve it.
There is one final point that I want to make before I conclude. Note that, to bear witness is to point to Jesus as the Light. John was very clear about the role of John the Baptist. He wrote in verse 8: “He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.”
This is an important point to remember because people who are witnesses are not free from temptation – the temptation of wanting to be the Light. I have encountered good Christians, people who love God and trying to give God their best – end up talking about their own achievements. In other words, they were pointing to their own lights rather than Light of Christ. I tell you if you are a true witness you will indeed have a light and people will see the glow; you will also have power and peace from God. And the temptation is that you may want people to see your light. And that is why some people with the light, fall into disgrace because they allow their light to eclipse the Light of Christ, by bragging about all that they have done in the kingdom of God.
The words that I share with you as we begin the New Year are both words of encouragement and caution. We are chosen, saved and sent to be witnesses and to bear witness. God does not choose us so that we become spectators or observers. God calls us so that he can give us certain responsibilities in his Kingdom. And for those of us who are actively doing something for God and glowing in light, we must also remember not to let out light eclipse the Light of Christ. Let the glory belong to God.
May I wish you all a Blessed New Year.