Sermon Tone Analysis

I believe the most important question anyone can ask has a great deal to do with Christmas.

The most important question anyone can ask has much do to with really every corner of life, but this question—the most important question anyone can ask—is certainly something we must deal with at this time of year.

There’s no more important question to ask than, “Who is Jesus?”

“Who is Jesus?”

TIME Magazine once asked, “Who Was Jesus?” on their front cover.

They went on to ask these questions in the article:

How is Jesus to be understood?

Did he stride out of the wilderness 2,000 years ago to preach a gentle message of peace and brotherhood?

Or did he perhaps advocate some form of revolution?

When did he realize his mission would end with death upon a cross?

Did he view himself as as the promised Messiah?

Did he understand himself to be both God and man?

These are important questions to ask and answer.

A simple reading of the Bible would easily answer most of TIME Magazine’s questions, but that’s not really the point.

“Who is Jesus?”

This is the question—the most important question you can ask.

Many people are hesitant to commit to saying there is one absolute truth.

To many, Jesus was a philosopher.

Others view Jesus as a good man with some important things to say.

Still others view Jesus as just another prophet who came to point us to God.

There was a movie a few years ago where the main character, race-car driver Ricky Bobby, says grace before a meal and he prays to Jesus, and says: “Dear Lord, baby Jesus…”

His wife interrupts him to say, “Hey, um, you know, sweetie, Jesus did grow up.

You don't always have to call him ‘baby.’

It's a bit odd and off-puttin’ to pray to a baby.”

To this Ricky Bobby says, “Well, I like the Christmas Jesus best and I'm saying grace.

When you say grace, you can say it to grownup Jesus or teenage Jesus or bearded Jesus, whichever you want.”

With that, Ricky Bobby resumes his prayer: “Dear tiny Jesus in your golden-fleece diapers, with your tiny, little fists pawing at the air...dear 8-pound, 6-ounce, newborn infant Jesus, don't even know a word yet, just a little infant and so cuddly, but still omnipotent, we just thank you for all the races I've won and the 21.2 million dollars—woo!”

It’s a ridiculous movie, and a ridiculous prayer.

But it might represent a view some people have of Jesus, especially at Christmastime.

That Jesus is just a sweet little baby, come to make our seasonal decor a tad cuter.

“I like Christmas Jesus best…he doesn’t say anything or ask anything of me.

He just lays there, all cuddly and quiet.

Who is Jesus?

Just a baby born a long time ago…”

This is why the first words of the Gospel of John are so vitally important; these first verses answer the questions, “Who is Jesus?” and “Why did He come to earth?”

If you have your Bible (and I hope you do), please turn with me to the Gospel of John.

If you are able and willing, please stand for the reading of God’s Holy Word:

May God add His blessing to the reading of His Holy Word!

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You see, the Gospel of John calls us to pay attention, calls us to focus upon one thing, One Person, the One who came to save us.

John sets out in his prologue—the opening verses—to provide what many rightly call a “biography” of Jesus.

J.I. Packer tells us that John’s prologue (John 1:1-18) is read every single year by the Church of England “as the gospel for Christmas Day, and rightly so.”

Packer states, “Nowhere in the New Testament is the nature and meaning of Jesus divine Sonship so clearly explained as here.”

Christmas isn’t merely the story of Jesus being born in Bethlehem, little baby Jesus sleeping in a manger, swaddled up all nice and warm; Christmas isn’t about a magnificent baby who is perfectly silent— “no crying He makes” —as some sing.

Christmas is about a Jesus who is so much more than a baby.

In Matthew, the Magi “from the east came to Jerusalem and asked [Herod], ‘Where is the One who has been born King of the Jews?’”

When they got to the place where the child Jesus was, “they were overjoyed.”

“On coming to the house, they saw the child and His mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped Him…they opened their treasures and presented Him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.”

When the Magi looked at Jesus, they saw a King worthy of their worship.

In Luke, an angel appeared to some shepherds keeping watch over their flocks at night.

The angel tells them not to be afraid.

The angel brings them “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 the Messiah, the Lord.”

The shepherds go and see Jesus, reporting the message of the angel.

As the shepherds returned, they were “glorifying and praising God for all the things they had seen and heard.”

When the shepherds looked at Jesus, they saw a Savior; they saw the Messiah, the Lord.

When we look at the nativity, when we see Jesus, do we see a baby?

Or do we see something more?

Do we see that Jesus is more than a baby?

Part of getting Christmas right is realizing who Jesus is and who He has always been.

This is where John’s gospel, the prologue to the book of John is so helpful for us.

It’s here that John gives us Jesus’ biography.

What John writes about Jesus is meant to show us the divinity of Jesus—He is very God and very man.

Jesus Christ is God.

We are meant to see that Jesus is God and always has been God.

Jesus is eternal, everlasting.

Jesus is Creator.

Jesus is the Word.

Jesus is life and light to all mankind.

John makes and important connection for us: The God who created the universe is the One found lying in a Bethlehem manger.

John wants us to know that the “Jesus” he introduces is, in fact, the Messiah promised in the Old Testament.

More than this, the Jesus who is Messiah is the Jesus who is God.

Our Lord did not “begin to be” in Bethlehem.

Neither did Jesus have His origin in Genesis when God created the world.

Jesus was there.

Jesus already existed when the world was created.

Jesus was there with God.

He was there—God Himself.

(Verses 1-2):“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

He was with God in the beginning.”

JESUS IS THE WORD

“In the beginning was the Word.”

Words are powerful; if you disagree, you’ve been out of school for too long.

Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words, well, words can kill.

Words, when spoken, are powerful.

No words are more powerful than the words of the Lord.

Ps 33.6 “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth.”

Gen 1:3 “And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.”

Ps 107.20 “He sent out his word and healed them; he rescued them from the grave.”

Creation and salvation both come through the word of God.

In verse 14, “The Word” will be identified as Jesus, “the one and only Son who came from the Father.”

John’s Gospel is the only Gospel that begins with the story of Jesus Christ not as he appears on the earth, but as he existed before time.

John calls Him the Logos, “the intelligence” of God, who gave birth to everything that exists and who also became “the Word” (v. 1) “explaining that intelligence which is undiscoverable except through His word and works.”

The term “the Word” (Gk.

Logos) conveys the notion of divine self-expression or speech.

God’s Word is effective: God speaks, and things come into being (Gen.

1:3, 9; Ps. 33:6; 107:20; Isa.

55:10–11); by speech God relates personally to His people (e.g., Gen. 15:1).

There is no greater revelation of the character and nature of the Father than through the person of Jesus.

“Jesus reveals God’s mind.

Jesus expresses God’s will.