It’s Christmas!! The trees are decorated. The lights are up. Christmas songs are in full effect. The presents are wrapped. Christmas meals are planned. It really is one of the most beautiful and exciting times of the year. And one of the most exciting things about this time of year is the great opportunity we have to exalt Christ.

We get to exalt Christ in the midst of the commercialized consumer driven frenzy we live in. We get to exalt Christ and rejoice in the truth that Jesus is the life-giving, life-sustaining presence we need. We get to exalt Christ in the midst of wrestling with our unmet desires and struggling with our fleeting feelings and battling with our inconsistent habits. What a privilege we have to exalt Christ on this Christmas Eve together.

Last week in John 1:1 – 13, we learned that Jesus is the divine Word and the light of the world who gives us the right to become children of God. We all struggle with making our wants into needs and making our actual needs into unwanted waste. But what more could we really want other than Jesus? What else could we really need other than Jesus? And as we come into verses 14 – 18 this week we get to be reminded that we are not alone this Christmas season. We get to be reminded that we are not unimportant this Christmas season. And we also get be reminded that we can experience the fullness of grace and truth this Christmas season. We get this privilege because Christ came to the Earth. He came to this sin-soaked planet from his perfect place in Heaven so that he could be born as a human to die as the Savior so that we could become children of God.

John 1:14 – 18…

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) 16 For from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

Jesus is the life-giving, life-sustaining presence we need. Think about all the ways we seek and search and crave and thirst and hunger for a better life than the one we have right now. Think about your struggle with loneliness and all the ways you pursue the better life of not feeling alone. Think about your struggle with feeling unimportant and all the ways you strive to be more important. Think about your struggle with your checklists of do’s and don’ts and all the ways you work to justify yourself and hide your sin. Think about your struggle with truth and how hard it is to walk in the light and freedom of truth instead of living in deception and darkness and bondage to your sin.

The good news from this passage is that you are not alone, you are not unimportant and you can experience the fullness of God’s grace and truth because Jesus is the life-giving, life-sustaining presence we all need. And according to John, Jesus came into this world as God in the flesh who existed since before the creation of the world and lived among us as the fullness of the presence of God in grace and truth.

#1: We are not alone (14; 18)

Loneliness is a powerful emotion. It springs up from many different desires. We desire comfort, affirmation, security and acceptance. When those desires are not met by a sustainable and life-giving presence we feel alone. When we feel alone we chase things we believe will satisfy those desires. We believe the prospect of a new friendship or romantic relationship will satisfy our loneliness. We believe the thrill of pursuing a new job will satisfy our loneliness. We believe the high of drowning our feelings in a substance or an obscene habit will satisfy our loneliness. As we struggle with these feelings of loneliness and all the desires that feed those feelings and all the habits that flow out of those desires and feelings we need a fresh drink of water.

This is where what John says about Jesus in verses 14 and 18 becomes a fresh drink of water for us. John says that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side has made him known.” We are not alone. Jesus became one of us and lived among us. His glory or the weight of his presence has been felt throughout the world for 2,000 years. Jesus is the visible manifestation of the presence of our Heavenly Father. God the Father is made known to us through Jesus and when Jesus ascended back to Heaven after his resurrection he sent his very own Spirit to take up residence in us. We are not alone.

When I struggle with feeling alone I need to be reminded that my feelings are fickle and my desires are corrupt but in Christ my feelings can be quenched and my desires can be transformed by the life-giving, life-sustaining presence of Christ.

#2: We are not unimportant (15)

Feeling important is a powerful emotion. Just like loneliness, this emotion springs up from many different desires. We desire power, respect and success. When these desires do not get satisfied by a sustainable and life-giving presence we feel unimportant. When we feel unimportant we chase things we believe will satisfy those desires. We crave success so we try to climb the vocational ladder. We hunger for power so we try to control people. We thirst for respect so we buy things we cannot afford. We do these things to make ourselves feel more important. As we struggle with these feelings of unimportance and all the desires that feed those feelings and all of the habits that flow out of those desires and feelings we need a fresh perspective.

What John says about Jesus in verse 15 gives us a fresh perspective. John says that “(John the Baptist) bore witness about him, and cried out, ‘This was he of whom I said, He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’” We are not unimportant. John the Baptist was an important leader in Israel’s history. He was the forerunner for Jesus and he announced Jesus’ entry into our sin-filled world. Yet, as important as Jonny B was he knew that Christ was more important than him because Christ existed before him. And yet, that didn’t diminish John’s importance it elevated his importance while increasing his humility and magnifying Christ’s importance. Every ounce of John the Baptist’s importance was intimately tied to Christ’s being more important than him. We are not unimportant yet Christ is more important than we are.

When I struggle with feeling unimportant I need to be reminded that my importance begins and ends in Christ. My importance doesn’t rest on me having power. My importance isn’t contingent on people respecting me. My importance is not tied to my success or my failure. My importance flows out of Christ and who Christ says I am. Jesus is the one who gives me life and sustains my life. The presence of Christ helps me to battle my feelings of unimportance in a life-giving and life-sustaining way.

#3: We can experience grace and truth (14; 16-17)

Grace and truth can feel so intangible. We live in a world where grace has been relegated to license and truth has become relative to each individual. The world we live in teaches us that grace means ignoring and permitting sin and truth depends on what each individual believes based upon the society they live in. The outcome of this is moral and ethical confusion. How can we know what true grace is? How can we know the difference between what is truly right and truly wrong? If grace is license and if truth is relative then the result is a cocktail of moral and ethical confusion.

And into this moral and ethical confusion John presents us with Jesus who is God in the flesh, full of grace and truth, through whom, grace and truth is experienced. John says it this way in verses 14 and 16 – 17, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. For from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” We can experience grace and truth in the midst of a morally and ethically confused world. Jesus is the fullness of grace and truth. Through Christ we receive more and more and more grace. The loving law of God is perfectly manifested in the person and work of Christ. Jesus, the face of grace and truth is the presence of the perfect law of love. You and I can experience the presence of grace and truth in the person and work of Christ at the cross and the empty tomb.

What you and I do not need is cheap grace or watered down truth. When I struggle with moral and ethical confusion I need Christ. When I’m struggling with my sin I need the presence of Christ. What I don’t need is someone to excuse my sin or water down the truth or let me hide out in my fig leaves. What I need in these moments is to experience the life-giving, life-sustaining presence of Christ. In Christ, I experience true grace at the foot of the cross. In Christ, I experience the truth that sets me free to live in freedom as I sit in the shadow of the empty tomb. Christ died for my sin and he rose on the third day in power over Satan, sin and the grave. That’s the truth that sets me free to experience the life-giving, life-sustaining presence of Christ.

Conclusion…

How do we apply this message to our hearts and lives? How do we apply this message when we are feeling lonely or craving acceptance or affirmation or security or comfort? How do we apply this message when we are feeling unimportant and are thirsting for success or power or respect? How do we apply this message when we are struggling with moral and ethical confusion and when we are searching for grace and truth?

I think the simple application of this message is to apply the Word of God to our lives. John says that Jesus is the Word who became flesh. This means that every word of God’s Word is meant to get us into the presence of Christ where we can be healed, comforted, secured, corrected and empowered to live in the presence of grace and truth. Jesus is the life-giving, life-sustaining presence we need. Therefore we need to get into the Word of God.

Practically speaking, Sunday gatherings, gospel communities, podcasts and Bible reading plans are all good ways for us to get our heads into the Word of God and into the presence of Christ. We must use every means necessary to get our hearts and minds into God’s Word because that is where we will meet Jesus who is the life-giving, life-sustaining presence we need.

Lastly, during this Christmas season, when you feel alone or when you feel unimportant or when you are struggling to experience the grace and truth your heart needs, please remember that you are not alone, you are not unimportant and you can experience grace and truth in the presence of Christ who is the life-giving, life-sustaining presence we all need. Merry Christmas people! Love you guys.