And The Word | Manger & Majesty | Pastor Rob Koke | Shoreline Church | Message

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Good morning, everyone. You guys doing good today? So great to have you. Let's all of us stand to our feet. And as you're standing, we want to give a very warm welcome to everyone who's watching online from around the community and the state and even, in some cases, around the world. Welcome to our campuses here in Austin, Texas. Let's give them a great big hand clap. Thank you so much for being a part of our services today. We start every single message with a collection of phrases that we call our Shoreline Creed. It just helps to remind us, at the end of the day, that Christianity is all about God's amazing grace. If you're new to Shoreline today, you can read along. The rest of us, we're gonna say this with some enthusiasm and passion. You guys ready? Come on, you guys ready? All right, here we go. I am loved by God. I cannot earn it.

I cannot lose it. I am forgiven and made brand new. In Christ, I live with passion and purpose. I am empowered by the Spirit to be the church in the world and to live this love revolution. Come on, let's give God praise for that. All right, you may be seated. Really, really excited about today. We are kicking off the Christmas season here at Shoreline. And the title of this particular season, the theme that we're going to embrace for the month of December is majesty and manger. Manger and majesty. So we're gonna talk about the beauty of what Christmas is truly all about. And to do that, we are gonna go to the gospel of John. So if you have your Bibles with you here today, you can turn with me there. Gospel of John chapter one. And we're going to try to discover together exactly who Jesus is. Because John, the apostle, makes some bold declarations as he begins this chapter to tell us exactly who Jesus is. And the reason why that's important is because I think there's a lot of misconceptions out there about who Jesus is. I heard the funny story about a young boy who got it all confused, Santa, Jesus, the whole thing. And so he was writing a letter because he wanted a new bike for Christmas.

And so he starts out, dear Jesus, you know I've been good all year. I'd like a new bike for Christmas. And then he thought about it and realized that he hadn't been good all year. So he kind of crumpled that up, threw it away, started again. Dear Jesus, I've been good some of the time and I really want a new bicycle. And then he thought about that and realized he hadn't even been good some of the time. So he crumpled that up, threw it away. And then he went into the living room where there was a nativity scene. And he took Mary, the statue of Mary, out of the nativity scene, wrapped her in a blanket and hid her in the house. And then he started a letter again. Dear Jesus, if you ever want to see your mother again. So certainly he had a misconception, but I think in our society today, maybe even a few of us here today, we can carry some misperceptions around Jesus. Some people just think that he was a myth, some kind of religious fantasy. Some people think that he was like a mirror. You just hold up Jesus and he reflects back to you everything that you think, all of your opinions and convictions and politics and things the way that you think

that they should be in society. Some people, when they think about Jesus, they think that he's like a magician perhaps or a genie and you just rub Jesus and then you'll get every single wish and desire that you want in life. Some people think that Jesus was a precious moments figurine that we card out at Easter time and at Christmas. And, you know, I was playing pickleball the other day, and someone came up to me and said, Pastor Rob. And, you know, so we were engaged in a conversation. I didn't recognize him, but he said that he comes to Shoreline faithfully every Christmas and Easter. And he actually called himself, it was really interesting, he said, I'm a Chriester. That's what he said, I'm a Chriester. I'm a Christmas and Easter attender. And so there are some people that that's, you know, how they manage their relationship with Jesus. Just come at Christmas and come at Easter. And then some people, you know, think about Jesus as just being fire insurance. You know, we don't want to go to hell. And so, you know, we just kind of get that insurance policy, you know, to avoid that kind of situation unfolding. But the most important question in our lives, when we think about Christmas, the most important question of all is, who is Jesus? And what was his mission?

And what is he really like? One of my favorite books in the Bible, maybe yours too, it's all good, but I seem to be drawn to the gospel of John. And I'm not the only one, theologians will tell you that it is a rare combination of simplicity and depth. And a lot of times, you know, we do this here at Shoreline, a lot of Christian leaders around the country do this as well. When somebody comes to new faith in Christ, we tell them, hey, start in the gospel of John. That's a good place to start. And it, you know, contains one of the most popular verses of scripture of all time, John chapter three in verse 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. But we are gonna focus in on one verse, one verse in John chapter one that tells the whole Christmas story. And I gotta tell you, when I started preparing for Christmas this year, and I knew that we were gonna focus in on this one verse, I felt pretty intimidated by it, I gotta be honest, because there is so much depth to this verse, so much beauty, so much richness, that I was feeling like there is no way that I would be able to unpack it for you this morning the way that it should be unpacked. And I remember, you know, staring at a blank page for hours and hours saying, Holy Spirit, you're going to have to, you know,

fill my heart with some wisdom here, because what I think I know about this verse, probably, you know, about three feet above my head, but what there is to know about this verse, you know, stretches to the stars. That was one problem that I just felt like I didn't have, you know, the insight that I needed to have. But the second problem was the three feet that I do know, I didn't know if I would even be able to share that with the kind of clarity and insight that would do justice to this verse. And so as we begin today, I just thought we should pause for a moment of prayer and just ask the Holy Spirit to anoint the words that I'm sharing with you today, and then also anoint your ears to hear the truly significant truth that I think is carried in this passage. So let's take a moment to pray. Father, we thank you so much for our time together. And Lord, I ask that you would supernaturally anoint the words that I speak, and Father, with clarity and insight, and Father, I pray that you would supernaturally open up the hearts and ears of everyone here today that we might see the true meaning of what Christmas is all about in Jesus' name. And everyone said? Amen. Amen.

Thank you for that shout out, amen. There is a church in a small town of Nazareth where the angel appeared to Mary 2000 years ago. This church still stands today. And etched above the entrance of this church is a phrase that comes from a verse of scripture that we're going to focus in on today. The church has etched above its doorways these words. And I want you to picture the stone cutter cutting into the stone letter by letter this particular phrase. And the word became flesh. That church still stands today. And that phrase etched above the doorway comes from a verse of scripture found in the gospel of John chapter one and verse 14. And you've probably heard it before, but here it is. And the word became flesh. and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory, the glory as one only begotten of his father, full of grace and truth. And this one verse is going to be our theme verse for the entire Christmas season. And this is how it's going to go down. Today, we're gonna focus in on the phrase and the word. Next week, we will focus in on and the word became flesh. And then the third week, we will focus in and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And then the fourth week, which is Christmas Eve, we will focus in on the fact

that he was full of grace and truth. But in this verse, this verse, and the word became flesh, we have both the manger and the majesty. We have in that verse, the word in all of its magnificence, in all of its glory, in all of its mystery, becoming flesh, the word, the majesty, the flesh, the manger. We see that coming together in this passage. And I think that John starts his gospel this way, because he wants us to be filled with wonder. He wants us to be filled with awe. He wants us to sense the majesty of what's unfolding. He wants us to feel the feels and to celebrate wildly what is taking place, what's really happening. I'll never forget my dad. You know, we were together with all the kids and we were asking him about his life and he was telling us the story of his life. And there was one part where he was talking about World War II and how he was captured by the Germans. And then he was going to be put to work in a ammunition plant to build ammunition for the war effort for the Germans. And he escaped and we were all fascinated. This should be made into a movie, we thought. And then he told us how he had to hide out in his house for four years so that he wouldn't be captured again. And then he told with this glint in his eye,

he had these beautiful blue piercing eyes. My dad told the story about how the Canadian Army and the US Army marched into Holland and set the Dutch people free. And there was wild celebration and we were feeling the feels. And John, when he starts out to tell the Christmas story, I think he had that in mind. He wanted us to feel the feels. He wanted us to have this sense of awe and wonder. He wanted us to celebrate with wild anticipation. And when I think of wild celebrations, now that we are officially out of the playoffs, unfortunately, I was thinking about what happened nine days ago. I had the opportunity to go to the game. Somebody from our church graciously gave us some tickets and well, you can see for yourself. And the winning team, Texas A&M 17. All right. Yeah, just for me, just for me. I see these burnt orange T-shirts throughout the auditorium here today. But it's moments like that where you celebrate a victory, where you celebrate something significant that happened and it fills your heart with this overwhelming emotion. And that's exactly how I feel like John wanted us to feel as we opened up his gospel. And so we read, he starts out and the word inspired by the Holy Spirit

telling us who Jesus is. But he does it differently than any of the other writers of the gospel. You got Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and all of them are the story of Jesus. Matthew and Luke start with the birth of Jesus, but Mark kind of captures the story, after John the Baptist. But John starts completely different. In Matthew and in Luke, as they're telling the story, Luke actually says, I'm just gonna tell you exactly what happened so that you would know the narrative. And he was writing to a friend and he said, I just want you to know what happened. So glad that the Holy Spirit was behind all of that and capturing all of that, because now, even 2,000 years later, we get to read the narrative of how it unfolded. But John doesn't approach it that way. He starts a little bit more mystical, and I think it's to inspire us and to cause us to wonder. And John is unique. He doesn't tell any of the parables that Jesus told that the other gospel writers record. He jumps around. Order is not all that important to him. And he starts out wanting us to know exactly who Jesus is. In John chapter one and verse one, listen to how the story unfolds.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and He was with God in the beginning. Through Him, all things were made. Without Him, nothing was made that has been made. John starts out with these words in the beginning. And every single one of you who have even had a cursory read of the Bible will recognize that John starts out the book that bears his name with the same opening sentence that the Bible itself carries in Genesis chapter one and verse one. The very first verse in the Bible starts the same way that John started his gospel in the beginning, and that's not an accident. That's not a coincidence. In the beginning, Genesis chapter one and verse one, God created the heavens and the earth. And in the beginning, Genesis chapter one, verse 26, let us make mankind in our image. Let us make mankind in our image. There is this idea of three in one, the Trinity, and we'll unpack that just a little bit more in a few moments, but he said, let us make mankind in our image. And there is in this Trinitarian God that we worship, one God expressed in three distinct persons. There is a perfect love in this Trinity. The Father loves the Son and the Son loves the Spirit

and the Spirit loves the Son and the Father. And out of that Trinity of love comes a creation. Out of this love comes someone to love. We were created out of love, by love, for love. And someone here today needs to hear this. When you think about yourself, you were created by God to be loved by God. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Laura and I, we had the privilege of, you know, being parents to three incredible children. And when Laura gave birth to Luke, not long after, I was holding Luke in my arms and I was thinking, you know, about, you know, what we saw in him. And Laura and I, we looked down at Luke, holding him in our arms and he had my eyes. I said, Laura, look, he's got my eyes. And then I said, and he's got your nose. Look at that cute little nose. He's got your nose. And I said, yeah, and he's got my muscles. And then we said, he's got your toes. We were gushing in love at the miracle of a baby born into our lives. Could you imagine God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit looking out on his creation and saying, look, they've got eyes that can see

and ears that can hear and they have the ability to choose and they can make decisions and they can create and they can, you know, take dominion and rule and reign in this life. They were ushering and gushing with love out of what they created. I don't think we realize at all just how much God loves us. In the beginning, John starts out, in the beginning. In the beginning was the word. And that word was is a very, very important word. The verb was in the Greek means to be continuous, unending, eternal existence. It was not that the word came into being at the beginning. It's not that the word began at creation. It's that the word was. eternal, without origin, ponder the majesty and significance of that for a moment, ponder the fact that Jesus always was before time and space and cosmos were created. Jesus was already there. He knew about us and was loving us even before time. Jesus pre-existing the universe is a hard concept to understand because we think everything has a beginning and has an end. Last night as I was thinking about trying to communicate this thought that even though God made our minds brilliant there are some divine realities that our brains will never be able to fully fathom and so we have to just take it by faith. But I remembered an illustration early on in my Christian walk about this idea that God always was and it was too late to try to organize it with our team to pull together you know something that would be you know like a really you know fashionable you know illustration and prop. But I wanted a tube and I thought how can I illustrate for our congregation this morning this idea of eternity and and so I went into the closet and I found a Christmas wrapping paper kind of cardboard tube and I got to tell you Laura I'm sorry I unwrapped the paper and it's in the closet hopefully it's not too wrinkled so you can still use it but I grabbed this tube and then you know you know that how much I love to play golf so finding a golf ball wasn't too difficult so I've got the ball and I've got

the tube and maybe to help you illustrate today this idea that God always existed is is to come to grips with the fact that God created time itself and so the tube represents time and before time God eternally existed after time is finished God will eternally exist and the tube is time itself and maybe this is the earth or maybe this is your life and it's traveling in the tube of time that God created and it's always heading in one direction it's always heading forward unless you're Marty McFly and you've got a DeLorean but it's moving forward it's moving forward until the end of time and I just want you to know that God created time itself but he came before time and when time is finished and that last trumpet sounds and Jesus comes again then we will enjoy all of eternity in our relationship with our Heavenly Father the idea that even the significance of this baby that was born predating time itself is important because I think what John wanted to communicate to every single one of us here today that as miraculous as every baby is and every baby born we can all say is a miracle this baby was more than just a baby you need to know that this baby is more than a baby and that's how John is starting his message to every single one of us in the beginning was the Word and do you remember from Genesis chapter 1 what instrument God used to create everything did he use a magic wand did he have some kind of magic potion no what the Bible teaches from Genesis chapter 1 is that the earth was formless and empty and the spirit of the Lord was hovering over the surface and then the Bible says that God spoke and the Word burst into powerful expression and the world was created the most common phrase in Genesis chapter 1 and God said and God said let there be light and light was and God said let there be plants and plants formed and God said let there be animals and animals roamed the earth in Genesis chapter 1 God created the world through his word and now as John opens up the gospel that bears his name he makes the staggering claim that the word that God used to create the world is actually a person and his name is Jesus in the beginning was the word in the beginning was The word. The word. That means special, singular thing. The ultimate. The top of the mountain is the very pinnacle of the mountain. The word the is a very powerful word. It moves something from being experienced in the context of many things to a singular thing.

Jesus is not one of many sons. He is the son of God. Not a messenger. The messenger. Not a lord. The lord. Not a king. The king. Not some word. Not even a really good word. But the word. In the beginning was the word. And then the verse goes on to say, and the word was with God. This phrase adds to the incredible mystery. The word is not merely an attribute of God, but a distinct person in relationship with God. And this word with in the original language doesn't mean in proximity or in the general area of being with God. But it's in a close, personal, deep, intimate communion with God. It speaks of coexistence and distinct personality. Imagine the perfect eternal relationship filled with love and communication and peace and unity. That's what John is describing. And then the word was God. This is the thundering revelation of this passage. And the word was with God. But hey, wait, time out for a moment. Here's the real message. The word was God. Not just a person in relationship with God. But he is God. Distinct but equal. Three but one.

And we see the Trinity expressed over and over throughout the scriptures. Of course, in Genesis, let us make man in our image. The name for God, Elohim, is the most common name for God in the Old Testament. It refers to the one true God of Israel. But it's the plural name of God. When Jesus was beginning his ministry, a voice from heaven called down. This is my son in whom I am well pleased. Then you have God the son, Jesus, walking into the water. And then the Holy Spirit descended upon him like a dove. There's this mystery, this magnificence, this majesty of three in one. Three persons. One God. I know it's hard to understand. And as amazing as our finite minds are, some divine realities we just need to trust. Sometimes it helps to give some analogies, but all analogies will fail at some point. There is one God. The one who sits on the throne is the Father. The one that we see with our eyes and hear with our ears and can touch with our hands is Jesus. And the God who is moving in our hearts is the Spirit. A three-leaf clover is often used. One stem, three leaves. A triangle, one shape, three sides. Water has three different manifestations. You have water, the liquid form, and then you have vapor, and then you have ice. It's all H2O, but different expressions. All analogies fail. But I want you to know that what John is saying is that this baby that is born is a miracle, is beautiful, as all babies are miracles, but this baby is more than a baby. And the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And then he goes on to say in verse 2 and 3,

He was in the beginning with God, and all things were made through him, and without him nothing was made that has been made. He is the creator. This baby is more than just a baby. He's the creator of the entire universe. In Colossians chapter 1 and verse 16, All things have been created through him and for him. What's the greatest thing that you have ever made? You know, we had a staff Christmas party on Friday night, and there was a contest. to see who could make the best dessert. But it had to be made from scratch. You couldn't buy it at a bakery store. You couldn't go and purchase some specialty, you know, cookies. You had to make it from scratch. And I was thinking about that phrase made from scratch, because the idea here is that you take ingredients and you have your own recipe and you've got, you know, all the different stuff then you put it and you make it. But then I thought, you know what? You can't really make anything from scratch unless you're the creator of the universe, that is. Because all you do when you say that you made something from scratch is that you've taken ingredients

that God has already created and then you mix them to your own personal taste. But you didn't create the sugar. You didn't create the flour. You didn't create, you know, the the the syrups and the and the icing. You just took ingredients and made something out of what was already there. But God, when he creates, makes something out of nothing. There was nothing. And then he spoke and there was something. There were some scientists, you know, that had gotten so proud about their advancements and AI technology, and they can figure all kinds of things out. And and so they went up to God and said, God, we don't need you anymore. We have figured out the mysteries of the universe. We can make man out of the dirt and we don't need you anymore. And so God said, oh, is that right? Well, let's have a contest.

You create and I'll create. And the scientists said, well, we're on, let's go. And so the scientists reached down and scooped up some dirt. And God said, hold on. Get your own dirt. Out of nothing, God created the world. Think about that. Without him, nothing that is made has been made. Think every electron and atom and molecule, every spec was created by him and for him. Every asteroid, every moon, planet, star and galaxy, all were made by him and for him. I don't think we have any idea how great and majestic creation really is. They're at the site before the beginning of time. No point of reference was thrown to the dark, fleshed out the wonder of life. And as you speak, the heart of a little galaxy is born. And the vapor of your breath a planet is born. And the stars are made

of natural soul and mind. I can see your heart and feel your mind. And a burning star, a singing fire, a wonder of life. If creation seems to pray it's own life. We have no idea how great, wonderful, is our God. This baby born at Christmastime is more than just a baby. And John, when he's recording the arrival of Jesus into the world, he says, and the word became flesh. The creator of the universe became flesh. And all the words that describe God became flesh. When philosophers mused about who God was and they got it right, that God became flesh. When theologians reached into the scriptures to find the original meaning of all the incredible words that are in this book and they got it right, that word became flesh. When you think about all of the ways

that people have tried to communicate about God, musicians who played, when they played in a way that glorified God, that God became flesh. What all the singers sang about became flesh. What all rabbis taught about became flesh. When Leviticus taught us that God was holy, that holy God became flesh. When Exodus revealed that God was a deliverer, the deliverer became flesh. When Deuteronomy described that God was both loving and gracious and kind and powerful, that God became flesh. And when the prophet Isaiah was recording the words about this coming Messiah, this baby that would be born, he said, for unto us a child is born and a son is given and the government will be on his shoulders and he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Wonderful became flesh. Counselor became flesh. Mighty God became flesh. Everlasting Father became flesh. Prince of Peace became flesh. John wanted you to see the manger and the majesty. He wanted you to see the majesty in the word who always existed, the word who created everything we see. But he also wanted you to see the manger, the humility, that the one who created the universe was willing to come into our world to be nursed by a mom, to have his diaper changed,

to suffer all of the limitations of humanity and all of its injustices. What love, the manger and the majesty, the majesty and the manger. And the word was God. The word was God. Talk about wild celebrations. God came into the world to save us. Talk about courage for the future. Talk about hope for impossible situations, how nothing is impossible with our God. Talk about faith and joy and peace and love. Talk about feeling all the feels. Prayers can be answered. There's hope for healing. Financial breakthroughs can happen. Restoration can happen among relationships. And everything that the lost, everything that was lost in the fall can be restored again because a baby who is more than a baby came into the world. The word that was at the beginning, the word that was with God, the word that was God, the word through whom everything that is made has been made, that word became flesh. No wonder those three wise men on coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and they worshiped him. They knew that this baby was more than a baby. They knew this baby was a king, but not just any king, the king, not just any Lord, but the Lord.

And they bowed down and they humbled themselves and they worshiped. And honestly, I think it would be really appropriate for us in this moment to do the exact same thing. So would you please stand to your feet and let's worship. The word became flesh. Come on, let's sing and glorify his name together.