John 1:17 “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”

A popular misconception people have about Jesus and Christianity is that Jesus came primarily to tell us what to do. His primary purpose was behavior modification on a gigantic scale. I know a young man who faithfully read our church’s devotional magazine, Meditations. With each devotion he tried to find the “moral of the story,” the lesson meant to change your behavior. It was something of a revelation to him that, when God speaks, he isn’t always trying to change your behavior. He may want nothing more than to tell you something about himself. John is telling us something similar about Jesus here. He came to give you more than rules.

Everyone knows the name of the most famous movie about Moses, the one starring Charleton Heston: The Ten Commandments. It’s no surprise, then, that John says the law was given through Moses. If you read the first five books of the Bible, the ones written by Moses, you find that God gave Moses more than ten commands. There were hundreds. They covered every facet of life. He gave laws to govern what you ate, what kind of clothes you wore, how you worshiped, whom you married, how you conducted business, how you farmed, how you schooled your children, how you practiced good hygiene, and even where and how you used the restroom. Hardly a moment went by in the lives of Old Testament believers when they weren’t consciously carrying out some rule, some instruction God had given them through Moses.

The world didn’t need Jesus to come and bring more rules. It had more than it needed from Moses. Jesus’ coming actually rolled back many of the rules given by Moses. He fulfilled them for us. That is why you don’t even feel a little bit guilty eating your Christmas ham, or worshiping on Sunday instead of Saturday.

But didn’t Jesus give us new commandments about love, like “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and all your soul, and all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself”? No that was Moses, too, Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18. Jesus just brought them to people’s attention again. Didn’t Jesus give us something new when he taught us, “Love your enemies”? No, that’s in Moses, too, (Exodus 12:49) if you read the context of what he says about the commandments. Jesus clarified things for a generation that had lost its way.

So why does John make a point of this? People have a tendency to think this way about religion, “Don’t bother me with theory and theology. Just get to the practical part. Just tell me what I’m supposed to do.” It so happens that the “theory and the theology” (which really involves no theory at all, but is all based on unchangeable facts God has revealed. More about that in a moment.) is the main part. Without it, none of the practical stuff works. You can no more follow God’s rules and live a Christian life without understanding God and his love, than a doctor can perform surgery without studying anatomy, or a mechanic can fix your car without knowing how an internal combustion engine works.

It’s not that Jesus is unconcerned about the rules, but he knows, better than we do, how miserably we fail to keep them. That is why he comes to give us something more than rules: “Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” Didn’t grace also exist before Jesus came? Didn’t the Lord describe himself this way to Moses: “The Lord, the Lord, the gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger, abounding in love, forgiving wickedness, rebellion, and sin”?

Yes he did. But God never joined us in our world as a man before Jesus. God never fulfilled all the law’s demands as our substitute before Jesus. God never died in our place to pay for all our sins before Jesus. It wasn’t until Jesus came that we had the basis for our freedom from sin, and guilt, and fear, and legalism, and Satan, and death. These gifts, this grace and truth, came through Jesus Christ. They are so much more than another set of rules.

John 1:16 “From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another.”

Allyson attended Catholic schools for 14 years. Today she is a “none.” She is part of the growing number of Americans who claim no religion. She tells people that she went to Christian schools for 14 years to learn that she has no faith in organized religion. She regards religion as “death insurance,” and she isn’t willing to pay the premiums. Like many younger people, she believes that religion in general, and Christianity in particular, gives you less not more. It makes demands on your time, your money, your behavior and lifestyle. And for what?

In contrast to Allyson, there are the preachers who would like to convince you that Christianity will give you more right now. They host their own TV shows. They preach to tens of thousands in stadium-sized churches. They tell you that if you follow the right Bible principles, you can be wealthier, healthier, more popular and more powerful today. The only thing standing between you and a fabulous life is a big enough faith and a big enough donation to the preacher’s ministry.

The Apostle John assures us Jesus has something very valuable to offer, in spite of what people like Allyson believe. But it isn’t necessarily the “fabulous” life offered by the preachers on TV. “From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another.” “One blessing after another” is literally “grace upon grace.” Grace is God’s gift-love. The picture is that grace just keeps piling up. One gift comes right after another in a stream of gifts that never ends.

What do these gifts look like? Let’s unpackage a few of them. The foundational gift is God’s love itself. Jesus preached it. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son…” He lived it. “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Now remain in my love” (John 15:9). He finally gave up his life for it. “No greater love has anyone than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).

Isn’t this the one gift almost everyone wants most of all–to be loved? And isn’t this one of the hardest things for us to believe–that we are loved, just as we are, imperfections and all? How much sinful behavior doesn’t come from our insecurities about being loved and lovable? Young people become promiscuous because they want to create an illusion that someone loves them. But sex isn’t love.

We pile up more possessions, more stuff, than anyone can reasonably use. We shop without control, because we are trying to fill some hole in our heart. But things aren’t love.

We smoke something, or drink something, or pop something, or inject something to numb our emotional pain and forget our emptiness. But being buzzed or wasted isn’t being loved.

We criticize others and pick at their faults to feel better about ourselves. But pride and self-righteousness may cut us off from love more than all the rest.

Jesus gives us more than substitutes, counterfeits, and distractions. He gives us the genuine artifact. He gives us grace, the gift of love from God that we don’t have to deserve or earn. And from that gift, we receive so many more.

Because God loves us he forgives all our sins, and Jesus paid the supreme price to make it so. Because God forgives us, our fear and doubt are replaced by faith. Because we trust God and know that our sins are forgiven, we have peace in our lives. Because our hearts are at peace and God loves us, we can experience real joy, even when our outward circumstances aren’t so positive. When God’s love leads us to faith, the Holy Spirit comes and lives in our hearts. In addition to love, peace, and joy, he starts producing “kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22).

That’s more than death insurance. It’s part of a mighty river of gifts that never stop flowing over us from the spring of divine grace. And every one of them traces its origin back to Christ, who has come to give you more.

Joshua 1:9 “Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

Like most little boys, I wanted to be more like my dad when I got big. That meant I wanted to be tall. I wanted to be strong. I wanted to be skilled at making things and fixing things. Tall, strong, “handy”–those are all fine features, fine abilities and characteristics to have. But I don’t think that we would call them “virtues.” No one may be shooting for short, weak, and clumsy, but we don’t accuse people of indecency or godlessness if they turn out that way.

What about “brave”? What about “courage”? Does that make your list of virtues? If God commands it, can it be anything else? God’s words for Joshua as he entered the Promised Land were, “Be strong and courageous.” Was Joshua afraid? The Bible never says it in so many words, but three times in four verses the Lord gives this command. The third time he adds, “Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged…” It seems something was going on inside the man.

Looking ahead, Joshua faced a mine field of big challenges and serious dangers. He was leading his nation into a foreign land as unwelcome guests. For the next 20 or 30 years he and his people were going to be at war. On Joshua’s side, the people lived in tents. They had limited weapons and military training. They were fewer in number. On the other side the people lived in walled cities and had regular armies. Joshua needed God’s encouragement for all the dangers and uncertainties that lay ahead of him.

We have just crossed the border into a new year. What frightens you as you march forward? You don’t have to be a soldier anymore to be concerned about bombs and bullets. The war in Ukraine concerns us, but terrorist attacks are everywhere, and school shootings are common in our own country. We are still getting over the horrible loss of life at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX last May. Is it safe to go outside? Is it even safe to stay inside? “Be strong and courageous,” the Lord says. “Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged…”

Our financial security seems so fragile at the year’s end. Inflation continues to rise. The stock market is stagnant at best. Many warn of recession and an economic crash in the hear to come. Some predict 2023 will bring a return to normal. Many more believe we are primed for more financial pain. Which will it be? “Be strong and courageous,” the Lord says. “Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged…”

Why? “For the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

You see, this “Be strong and courageous” issue is a moral issue and a faith issue, not just a psychological or emotional one. What are we saying about God and his promises when we trade “strong and courageous” for “weak and fearful”? Are we not, in effect, saying, “I don’t think you are really all that powerful. I don’t think you are really all that faithful about keeping your promises.”

Still God is here to bolster our strength and courage with his presence. At no time are we ever alone. Until I was three years old I dragged a little blanket with me wherever I went. One day I went to my parents and said, “Here, I’m big now. I don’t need this anymore.” Of course, the blanket never actually provided me any protections. It was just a comfortable feeling. You have more than an otherworldly security blanket or pacifier in God’s promise. Whether awake or asleep, healthy or sick, in danger or secure, we live every moment in the immediate presence of the Lord God who made our universe, gave us life, and is even now writing all the details of the story we are living. His presence provides more than a nice feeling of security. It is a real reason to be strong and courageous for whatever is waiting in the year ahead.

He is, after all, the Lord “your God.” Those are his words, not ours. He has promised himself to us in love and faithfulness. He is not going to rain his terrible judgements down on you like he did Israel’s enemies because he is the Lord your God. He gave up the life of his one and only Son to atone for the sins of the world. He has removed our every sin and cancelled all our debts to him. By giving us his word and revealing his love to you and me, he has called us to faith and adopted us as his own children. Now he is simply waiting for the day when he will bring each of his children home. “Be strong and courageous,” for the God who goes with you is on your side in every way.

2 Corinthians 4:4-6 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

By outward appearances, glory may seem like the last thing one would associate with Jesus Christ. At his birth, except for the brief appearance of the angels to the shepherds, his circumstances seem anything but glorious.

It doesn’t get better as he gets older. He grew up to be a plain man, and a poor man. He was rejected by so many of the “right kind” of people. He was embraced mostly by “sinners,” the “wrong kind” of people.  He died passively, submissively, not like a glorious hero, but a common criminal. As Paul points out, many cannot see the “light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.”

But when Christ came, God was hiding himself in this human body. He did so that we might know him better. As we look at Jesus, God’s glory is shining on us, shining into our hearts. But we can see and know that glory only by faith.

 “The glory of God in the face of Christ” lights up our worship at his birth. It is the glory of a God who loves us so much he came here himself to save us from our sins. We believe this with all our hearts.

And one day we will not only see that glory fully with our eyes, we will live in it and share it in eternity. With Paul, this glory makes us servants to each other today as Christ’s glory shines in our hearts. With Paul, we will shine with Jesus in heaven’s light, for this Child gives us glory.

Luke 2:8-14 “And there were shepherds living out in the fields near by, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.’ Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.’”

Since the civil war ended in 1865, no significant land battles been waged on American soil. Most of us would have to trace our family trees back far beyond the time of our grandparents to find a time when homes and property were threatened by invading armies. The pax americana, or “American peace,” some have called it. We can simply count it a great blessing from God.

And yet, everyone reading these words has known the hardship and agony of war from the time they were born. From the moment we first arrived, we have participated in a war waged since almost the beginning of time.

This is not the conflict and the violence we see each night on the evening news, though we have seen plenty of that. This is the war of which the Apostle Paul is speaking when he says, “The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s will, nor can it do so.” This is the war the apostle references when he states, “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men…”

This is the war which began in the Garden of Eden and has been waged in our own flesh. Each of us has a part in it, because we are by nature objects of wrath on account of our sin.

At Jesus’ birth God declares, “The war is over.” The peace of Christmas is not just a mood. It is more than a utopian goal for the dysfunctional family of mankind. The hush and the silence of Christmas night reflect a deeper and heavenly peace: A Savior has been born to you! He is Christ the Lord.

His life and death appeases his Father’s anger at sin. They win human hearts to faith, for, as the angels remind us, this Child gives us peace.

Luke 2:1-7 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to his own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

There may be nothing which infuriates modern man more than to be told there are things he will never be able to understand. It strikes at his pride. It challenges and limits his ambitions. Sooner or later, he reasons, science, exploration, and education will unlock every secret and solve every mystery.

And so, he loses the ability to appreciate that response which so fills every child whose eyes are just opening up to the beauty and complexity of the world: the ability to look at it all with awe and wonder. The child who sees the caterpillar turn into a butterfly for the first time may not understand how the process works (and modern man understands far less than he is willing to admit) but at least the child can appreciate the simple beauty and wonder in front of him. The wise men of this age see only phenomena to be dissected, studied, analyzed and, finally, conquered.

You can’t do that with the birth of Christ at Christmas. At first glance this birth looks ordinary enough. If there is anything extraordinary about it, it is the meanness and the humility of the whole affair: the poor couple unable to find lodging after a long journey, the first-time mother giving birth in a shelter for animals.

These details, however, simply add to the wonder. Every birth is a miracle of itself, but no birth has ever been more miraculous than this one. Now God himself, the Maker and Ruler of all things, joins the human race. The Creator of all becomes a part of his own creation, and he does so in such weakness, and poverty. The God who is bigger than the entire universe lies in the manger.

This “great and mighty wonder,” this “glorious mystery,” is not a phenomenon for human investigation. It is a miracle. It calls for our wide-eyed, open-mouthed adoration and worship as this Child gives us wonder.

1 John 5:9-13 “We accept man’s testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son. Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

The birth of Jesus Christ is a matter of life and death. I do not mean his own death, though one might wonder how long the infant Lord Jesus could survive in the harsh conditions into which he was born. Infant mortality rates were certainly much higher in his day than ours, and he was born without doctor, nurse, or midwife, or even the relatively sanitary conditions of a home.

I am not alluding to the human neglect and hostility he faced from the beginning. No doubt the residents of Bethlehem failed the test of hospitality and basic human compassion when Mary and Joseph arrived so close to labor and delivery and no one offered them decent shelter. No doubt wicked King Herod’s plot to kill the infant or toddler should have succeeded under ordinary circumstances. Only divine intervention kept him alive.

The birth of Jesus Christ is a matter of life and death for us. The Apostle John promises that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Can we believe that this helpless little baby is our Savior? Will we believe that the infant in the manger is the solution for death, that he is our passport to heaven?

That is why God has revealed these things, not just so that this little Lord Jesus, asleep on the hay, will enrich our earthly lives, but so that one day he might bless us all as his dear children, and take us to heaven to live with him there.

For this Child gives us life.

2 Corinthians 1:3-7 “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.”

            Christmas seems like a terrible time for tragedy to strike. We want to be caught up in the joy and the merriment of the season, not wringing our hands with worry over the health of someone dear to us. We want the ability to spend freely and the satisfaction of giving liberally, not the anxiety of fighting to make ends meet or keeping our job. We want to celebrate the good things in life, not grieve the death of those we love. We want undistracted bliss, not unavoidable suffering.

            But Christmas also provides the perfect solution for life’s tragedies. It assures us God cares. It assures us he will take care. “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”

God’s promise to forgive our sins leads to eternal life, and this gives us the comfort that all illness, every injury, and even death itself are only momentary troubles. They will not and can never separate us from our Lord or from his love. God has been faithful to his promise to send the Savior. Christmas marks the keeping of that promise. Won’t he be faithful to his promise to take care of our every other need as well?

            And so, even in the face of tragedy, the birth of God’s Son still gives us tidings of comfort and joy. God still gives us rest, because, as the apostle Paul reminds us, through Christ our comfort overflows. No matter the tragedy we may be enduring at the moment, at Christmas we can still sing God’s praises, because this Child gives us comfort.

Micah 5:2-5 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times. Therefore Israel will be abandoned until the time when she who is in labor gives birth and the rest of his brothers return to join the Israelites. He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they will live securely, for then his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth. And he will be their peace.”

Society becoming more and more violent; the family breaking down, the ranks of those sliding into a poverty from which they are unable to extract themselves growing by the day; a constant threat of war hanging over the nation’s young people, raising the probability of being called up for military service in an unstable world; despairing people losing their faith, grasping for kind of meaning in materialism, immorality, or strange religions: these were the problems facing God’s people Israel at the time of the prophet Micah.

Sound familiar? What possible glimmer of hope could there be for such a people? Where could they find peace when everything in their world seemed so desperately wrong? Where can we?

God’s promises provided the answer. Through the prophet Micah he promised a ruler who would not deal merely with the outward symptoms of a broken world. He would deal with the root of the problem–the sin and rebellion living in human hearts.

This Savior King would be a true shepherd. He would make it possible for people to live in real peace and security, even when life and everything around them appeared completely beyond redemption or repair. His ruling power would reach to the very ends of the earth. He would give his people hope.

This King would be born in Bethlehem, the prophet tells us. As the people of that day looked ahead to the little town of Bethlehem, we look back to that same little town thousands of years later. There we find the same hope they received. “The hopes and fear of all the years” truly are met in Bethlehem on Christmas night, as the Christmas carol assures us, for Christ is born of Mary. And this Child gives us hope.