How to Celebrate Jesus at Christmas
Pastor Ryan
Part of Standalone Sermon Notes
November 27, 2022

As we enter the Christmas season, how will you celebrate?

• Ask questions during the message today with this link.
• If we are seeking to live under the Lordship of Jesus and under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, what should our Christmas

look like?
• Stuart Briscoe >> The spirit of Christmas needs to be superseded by the Spirit of Christ. The spirit of Christmas is annual; the Spirit of Christ is eternal. The spirit of Christmas is sentimental; the Spirit of Christ is supernatural. The spirit of Christmas is a human product; the Spirit of Christ is a divine person. That makes all the difference in the world.
• What we celebrate and how we celebrate shapes our lives. So, how should we distinctly celebrate Jesus this Christmas? Let’s look at John 1 as our guide.

What we celebrate (John 1:14)

• Word = John was speaking to the

who believed in the force or principle that orders the universe. But this Word was not just an impersonal force or regulating principle. The Word is a person – fully God yet distinct.

// Colossians 1:16-17 | For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
// Hebrews 1:2 | but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.

• Became flesh >> God the Son was born in a

. “Flesh” means He took on our weakened human bodies but was not born with our sin nature. He was susceptible to all of the temptation but didn’t have the inclination or bent towards sin that we do because He was conceived by the Holy Spirit.
• Steven Cole says, “Just as the tabernacle was at the center of Israel’s camp, so Christ is to be at the center of the church. Just as sacrifices and worship were offered at the tabernacle, so Jesus is our complete and final sacrifice, and we have access to God through Him.”
• Isaiah 7:14 | Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
• Why did Jesus come as He did? So that we could see and understand the of His nature – as the one of a kind Son from the Father.

// Cyril of Alexandria (376-444 AD) >> He undertook to help the descendants of Abraham, fashioning a body for himself from a woman and sharing our flesh and blood, to enable us to see in him not only God, but also, by reason of this union, a man like ourselves.
// Augustine (354-430 AD) >> God became a man for this purpose: since you, a human being, could not reach God, but you can reach other humans, you might now reach God through a man. And so the man Christ Jesus became the mediator of God and human beings. God became a man so that following a man—something you are able to do—you might reach God, which was formerly impossible to you.

How do we celebrate this true story of Jesus’ incarnation?

• Sacrificial giving so that others can hear about Jesus >> Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for Global Missions
• Read an Advent devotional book >> Jesse Tree or Jesus Storybook Bible Reading Plan
• Read a good Christmas book
• Learn about the different names of Jesus
• Focus on being a blessing to those in need. Ask the question: What people rarely get thanked for what they do that you can bless? Here is a good idea.
• Incarnate for others >> be there…you have a body for a reason. Remember Romans 6:13? “Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.”

How we celebrate Jesus’ first coming will influence how much we look forward to His second coming.