LIFE LESSONS
JESUS CHRIST
CHRISTMAS EVE SERVICE
DR. JIM DIXON
LUKE 2:1-14
DECEMBER 24, 2002
Do people seek God? I mean, do people really seek God? Are there people in this worship center tonight who are truly seeking God? Believe it or not, this question has become the center of a great theological controversy. There are some theologians, particularly Arminian theologians, who say the answer is yes. People DO seek God. All over the world people are seeking God. Some are Buddhists. Some are Hindus. Some are Muslims. Some are tribal animists. Some are Jews and some are Christians, but all over the world people are seeking God, and the very existence of religion proves and demonstrates people seek God.
Other theologians say no, people do not seek God. These theologians are primarily Calvinist theologians. They say religion means little. For many people, religion is just a substitute for God, a way of circumventing God. Religion is simply an effort to fill the “god void.” They say people are sinners and God is holy. People are not seeking God for the same reason that criminals are not seeking police officers. It may be true, they say, that people create their own gods in their own likeness, but they are not really seeking God.
And so, the debate continues. But on this Christmas Eve, God wants you to understand the debate does not matter. What is important is not whether or not you are seeking God. What is important is this: God is seeking you. This is what Christmas is all about. God is seeking you. The child born in Bethlehem, that child is the Son of God. He is, the Bible tells us, “Immanuel,” God with us, God come into the world, God seeking us. That is what Christmas is about. That is what Jesus is about—God seeking us. And God is seeking you tonight. God seeks you tonight. Immanuel seeks you. He seeks us for three reasons.
First of all, He seeks you tonight because He wants you to know Him. He longs for you to know Him. He already knows you. He knows you better than anyone knows you. He knows you better than your spouse or your children or your parents or your friends or your associates at work. He knows you better than you know yourself. But, you see, He longs for you to know Him. That is why He seeks you. He wants you to know Him.
Many other religions of the world tell us that God is utterly transcendent and ultimately unknowable, but the beautiful truth of Christmas is the transcendent God has come into our world and He seeks us that we might know Him.
You have probably heard of a second-grade teacher who told her students in her classroom to draw a picture of someone famous. The students began to draw pictures, trying to draw somebody famous. The teacher circled the classroom, went up and down the rows looking to see if she could recognize any face represented. She came to a student whose name was Jason. Jason was a confident, almost cocky second grader. She looked at what he was drawing. He was drawing pictures of an old man. This old man had gray hair and a long white beard and there were lightning flashes above his head. The teacher said, “Jason, you’re supposed to draw somebody famous. Who are you drawing?” Jason said, “I’m drawing a picture of God.” The teacher said, “Well Jason, nobody really knows what God looks like.” Jason smiled, handed her the paper, and said, “They do now!’
But, of course, the teacher was right. No one knows what God looks like. As it says in John, chapter 1, “No man has ever seen the Father.” We can look at the heavens and we can look at the cosmos. We can look at the universe and we can know that God is powerful. We can look at the galactic system. We can look at hundreds of billions of galaxies spanning 15 billion light years moving outward into the void. We can look at pulsars and quasars and black holes, stars in formation. We can look at the mysteries of the universe and we can see something of the glory of its Creator. The Bible says, “The heavens declare the glory of God.” We do not really know God, not by looking at the heavens.
We can look at another human being, look into the face of another person—perhaps a child, maybe an elderly person, any person—and we can see something of the imago Dei, something of the “image of God,” but the human race is fallen, and we are all sinners. The image of God given to us by our Creator is at best residual in us. It’s only Jesus who truly shows us the Father. He seeks us that we might know God.
It says in Colossians, chapter 1, “Jesus is the visible image of the invisible God.” It says in Hebrews, chapter 1, that “Jesus reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp, the very imprint of His nature.” It says in John, chapter 1, that “No one has ever seen God. But the Only Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made Him known.” Of course, we come to John, chapter 14, and there’s that absolutely amazing passage where Jesus is talking to the twelve and He says to them, “Do not be anxious about your life. Believe in God. Believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions, many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you that where I am there you may be also. You know the way where I am going.” Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. How could we know the way?” Jesus said, “I am the way,”—”Ego eimi he hodos.” “I am the Truth. I am the Life. No one comes to the Father but by Me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also. Henceforth, you do know Him, and you have seen Him.”
Phillip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father and we’ll be satisfied. Show us God and we’ll be satisfied.” Jesus said, “Have I been with you so long, Phillip, and you do not know Me? How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? How can you say, ‘Show us God’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in Me? He who has seen Me has seen the Father. He who has seen Me has seen God. I and the Father are One.” What an incredible passage of scripture. You see, Jesus was either who He said He was—He is either the Son of God—or He’s a raving lunatic. There’s nothing in between. He wasn’t just a good teacher. He was Immanuel and He is Immanuel, and He seeks you that you might know Him, that you might know God. You can choose tonight to believe. In the midst of your doubt, you can choose to believe. If you choose to believe and you hear His voice saying, “Follow Me,” and you begin to walk with Him, you will know Him. You will know God. This is the gift of Christmas. For this He came. Immanuel. He seeks you that you might know Him.
Secondly, He seeks you because He longs to save you. Jesus said, “The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” Jesus told the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin. He seeks you. He seeks the lost. He seeks in order that He might save.
“You will call His name Jesus,” the angel said, “for He shall save His people from their sins.” In the birth narrative of Luke’s Gospel, Jesus is given the title “Soter.” That title is no longer given today, and few know its meaning, but in the ancient world, in the Hellenized Roman world, soter was a prestigious title. It was given to kings and queens. The Emperor of the Roman Empire was given the title “soter,” and it means “savior.” Yet no earthly king or queen or monarch or magistrate can save us from sin or death. Only Jesus can, and He seeks you because He longs to save you from sin and from death. He is the Savior.
In London, England, there is Westminster Abbey. I know many of you have gone there, as Barb and I have. Within Westminster Abbey there is a chapel called St. George’s Chapel. In that chapel there is an altar, and on that altar there is a book. The book is always open. It is never closed. Above the book there is a light showing down in perpetuity. A page of the book is turned every day by government authority so that the 60,000 names in the book might all be seen. The 60,000 names are names of people who died in London during World War II during the Nazi aerial siege. Sixty thousand people. Some of them were just children. Some of them were grandparents. Some were poor, some rich. Some of them were nobility, some commoners. They have this in common: They all died. That book in St. George’s Chapel is a book of the dead.
The Bible tells us there is a book in heaven, another book. It is called “The Book of Life,” and it contains names. This book is mentioned in Revelation, chapter 3; Revelation, chapter 13; chapter 15; chapter 17; and chapter 21. This book is mentioned in Philippians, chapter 4. It is mentioned in the Old Testament from Exodus to Malachi. It is mentioned in Psalms 69. The Book of Life. Whether you take this book literally or metaphorically, it does not matter. God has recorded in heaven the names of the saved. Is your name on that list? Is your name in the Book of Life? My name is in that book and not because I am a pastor, not because I am a good guy, not because I do good works. The truth is I am a sinner in desperate need of grace. My name is in that book because of Jesus, because He sought me, and I heard His voice. I said, “Lord Jesus, come into my heart. Be my Savior and be my Lord.”
I asked Him to be my Savior when I was 5 years old in our family home in La Cañada, California, as I knelt by my mom’s side. I said, “Lord Jesus, come into my heart.” I knew at age 5 that He sought me. I know He seeks you. No matter what your age, He seeks you. He wants you to say, “Lord Jesus, come into my heart. Forgive me of my sins. Thank You for dying on the cross for me. Sit on the throne of my life. Give me eternal life. Make me Yours.” He seeks you. He longs to save you. He died for you. For this He was born. For this He came into the world. He died for your sins. He died for my sins. He died in my place. He died in your place. He died in substitutionary atonement, and He seeks you.
You may have doubt. And saving faith can be combined with doubt, but it cannot be combined with apathy. If you would have saving faith, you must make a choice. You must make a commitment. You must receive Him who is seeking you. You must embrace Him as Lord and Savior. You must resolve that you will follow Him. That is why He is seeking you this Christmas Eve. He longs to save you.
One of the birth titles given to Christ in Isaiah, chapter 9, is the title “Abi’ad.” I have a granddaughter whose name is Abby. She was here at the first service. She slept through my entire sermon. She does not have any respect for her grandpa. She is here, of course, with our daughter and her husband. We are so grateful she is here. Her name is Abigail. Of course, Abby comes from “Abba” or “Abi,” and it means “father” or “source.” Abigail means, “source of joy.” In Isaiah, chapter 9, Jesus is called “Abi’ad,” and Abi’ad is many times translated as “Everlasting Father.” But, of course, Jesus is the Son, not the Father. More literally it means “everlasting source.” In the Hebrew it means “source of everlasting” or “source of eternity.” Who IS Jesus? He is the very source of everlasting life. He is the very source of eternal life. He is Abi’ad, the source of everlasting life.
I do not know about you, but I sometimes feel like I’m really getting older. It is said that there are four stages in this life. The first stage, you believe in Santa Claus. In the second stage, you don’t believe in Santa Claus. In the third stage of life, you ARE Santa Claus. And in the fourth stage of life, you look like Santa Claus. Is not this true of life? We grow older. The grass withers. The flower falls. The Word of the Lord abides forever. Jesus is seeking you with eternal life. That’s why He seeks you. He longs to save you.
Finally, He seeks you because He wants to change you. He seeks you because He wants you to know Him. He seeks you because He wants to save you from sin and death, and He seeks you because He wants to change you. One of the divine titles in the Bible is the title “Jehovah M’Kaddesh.” That is Hebrew for “the Lord who sanctifies.” Jesus Is Jehovah M’Kaddesh. He is the Lord who sanctifies, and He has the power of transformation. He has the power to change you. He is changing me. He has much work yet to do, but He is the transformer. He is the one who changes us. That’s why He seeks you.
You know how children sometimes get words mixed up. They hear phrases or sentences or expressions, sayings, even songs where they get a word or two just confused. You know how kids do that. I read where, a few years ago, a family had a Christmas party and they had a whole bunch of people over to their house. They had a great time. There was lots of food, lots of fun. As people left the Christmas party that night, their daughter said goodbye to everybody at the door. As everybody left the Christmas party, she said “Merry Christmas and a happy new you!” She got one word a little bit wrong. Hopefully, people weren’t offended, but of course Christmas CAN make a new you. If Christ is in it, He can make a new you.
We can make New Year’s resolutions. We can try to gut it out in self-discipline and maybe we can improve in incremental ways. But Christ has the power to change us, and He seeks you because He wants to change you from the inside out.
As we close, I want to tell a little story, a true story, of a woman named Nancy Dahlberg. Nancy and her husband Dennis, along with their two children, drove up to San Francisco for Christmas Eve with family and relatives. They spent that Christmas Eve in San Francisco with their family. The next morning it was Christmas Day and they had to leave. It was a Sunday, Christmas Day. They had to leave and begin the long drive back to L.A. where they lived, four hundred miles. They set forth, Nancy and Dennis and their two kids, one age 6 and the other a baby—only 1 year old.
They stopped for lunch in a place called King City, California. There they went into a restaurant to get something to eat. They sat down and they put their 1-year-old little Eric in a highchair. They were almost finished with lunch when Nancy noticed that Eric was just giddy with joy, just smiling from ear-to-ear, so happy that his face was radiant. His eyes were sparkling. He was saying to somebody behind her, “Hi there! Hi there!” His little chubby hands were pounding the metal tray on the highchair. He was just so excited! Nancy looked behind her and was stunned to see who her son was smiling at. Little Eric was looking right at a homeless person who had come into the restaurant. It was a homeless man, an elderly man. He was in a tattered coat. It was dirty and it was greasy and worn. It looked to Nancy like this homeless man surely smelled. How could they let him in the restaurant? But this homeless man was looking at little Eric and Eric was looking at him. They were forming a bond.
The homeless man was smiling a toothless smile, all gums. Eric was smiling a toothless smile, all gums. As they just looked at each other, the homeless man came right up to the highchair. He knelt down, looked Eric in the face and he said, “Hi there! Hi there, big boy! I see a little guy! Can you play paddy cake?” He said, “Atta boy! He can play paddy cake! Do you know peek-a-boo? Hey! He knows peek-a-boo!” Everyone in the restaurant was looking. Nancy and her husband Dennis were embarrassed. They were kind of shocked. Eric was just so happy, so excited. He was just loving this.
Dennis turned to Nancy and said, “We’re finished with lunch. I will go pay the bill. Why don’t you take the kids and go out to the car.” Nancy is thinking, “Lord, just get me out of here. I do not want to talk to this worthless bum. Just get me out of here.” She did not even want to breathe the air that this homeless man was breathing. But as she got up and picked up her 1-year-old baby and with her 6-year-old at her side and as she began to leave the restaurant, crowds formed around her. She bumped right into the homeless man, and they were just looking at each other face-to-face.
Little Eric reached out for his new friend. He wanted this homeless man to hold him. The homeless man looked at Nancy with longing eyes and he said those words, “Ma’am, please let me hold your little baby.” Before she could say no, little Eric was squirming, and he squirmed free right into the old man’s hands. This homeless man held her baby and she was stunned to see how carefully and gently he held her baby, how securely, how lovingly.
She looked into the old man’s eyes and tears were beginning to form as he closed his eyes and held her baby. Little Eric held on as though this was the best friend he had in the whole world. Then this homeless man looked at Nancy Dahlberg and said, “You’ve got a special son here. Take good care of him.” He handed the little boy back to his mother and he said, with tears just flowing down his face, “Thank you, Ma’am. Thank you. Thank you. This is the best Christmas gift anybody has ever given me.” When he said that, Nancy Dahlberg began to feel something in her heart, something about herself. She began to sense that maybe something was not right within herself. Maybe something needed to change. She took Eric and her 6-year-old and went out to the car, and SHE began to cry. Her husband looked at her and said, “Why are you crying?” She said, “My God, my God, forgive me, forgive me.”
I do not mean to imply in telling you this story that you should hand your baby to a stranger. I am not trying to equate homeless people with suburbanites. I am just saying we all need forgiveness. We all need to change from the inside out. God seeks us all, regardless of socioeconomics. God loves us all, seeks us all. He wants us all to know Him. He wants to save us all from sin and death and He wants to change us all.
That is what Christmas is about. That is why Jesus is Immanuel, God with us, God come into the world. He is God seeking us. He seeks you tonight. Please respond. Let us close with a word of prayer.