The Gift of a Savior
During Advent, Christians enter a season of waiting and meditation to prepare our hearts for Christmas. While there are thousands of reasons to grateful for a savior, we can look to John 1 for five doctrinal truths about the gift of our savior.
Although it's a good reminder at any time of the year, as we enter Advent, we want to begin looking at the significance of the gift of a savior. [Read more: What is Advent?]
Advent is a waiting period between Christ's first and second coming and a celebration where Christ has already appeared. Before Christ, the Israelites waited thousands of years for the promised Messiah. They endured years of hardship, silence, and grueling waiting.
In our modern age of consumeristic Christmas, it can be easy to overlook the significance of the Christmas holiday, specifically the gift of our savior. While there are thousands of reasons for us to thank God for our savior, we'll examine the five doctrinal reasons outlined in our passage.
Five Reasons to be Thankful for the Gift of a Savior
1) God in Christ is Eternal
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God." John 1:1-2
Is that a myth? Was He actually with God?
If you're wondering why a pastor is asking this, it's because this is quite an audacious claim. If you're a skeptic, it gets worse. If you're a believer, it gets better.
"All things were made through him (Jesus), and without him (Jesus) was not anything made that was made." John 1:3
In literature, we see a prevailing story told. Whether you're a fan of Marvel or the Hallmark Channel, stories always unfold with a protagonist, or some good, triumphing over the less-than-favorable, or even evil, intent of an antagonist or adversary.
As we read or watch these stories, we're being told that the world is filled with danger, sorrow, and tragedy but that, nonetheless, there is a meaning to things, there is a difference between good and evil, and above all, there will be a final defeat of evil and even an 'escape from death. [READ MORE: The Problem of Evil]
When we survey the Gospel, we see that it doesn't align with other mythological literature. This is because the Gospel points to a more profound, underlying eternal truth that doesn't align with other mythological literature. The Gospel story of Jesus Christ is the underlying reality to which all stories ultimately point because a transcendent truth has been imparted to humanity.
The Gospel story of Jesus is not simply one more great story pointing to the underlying reality. Instead, it's the underlying reality to which all stories point.
2) God is With Us
"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." John 1:14
Immanuel—God with us; This is known as the Incarnation, meaning God came to us in the person of Jesus Christ; He took on an "earth-suit." Christmas is about the word Incarnation.
If you understand the word Incarnation, you'll realize what Christmas is about. Although the Apostles' Creed doesn't use the word Incarnation, it does teach the doctrine of the Incarnation when it says, (Jesus was) "conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary."
3) God is Life
"In Him (Jesus) was life, and the life was the light of men." John 1:4 (ESV)
"But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God." John 1:12-13 (ESV)
John declares that every human has the potential to become a child of God through a relationship with God in the person of Jesus Christ. In that divine contact, life is awakened. That's why Paul wrote in Ephesians 2, "You were dead in your trespasses and sins, but in Christ, you have been made alive."
John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, experienced a divine contact at Aldersgate Street. As the pastor shared that salvation is by faith and grace alone through the person of Jesus Christ, the veil tore away for Wesley. He witnessed the Spirit of God.
Because of that experience, Wesley came to believe that Christians are given "spiritual senses" that connect us with divine reality, equivalent to how our physical senses connect us with physical reality.
"Some of Wesley's sharpest rebuttals (to his critics)," writes Randy Maddox, "concentrate on the importance of keeping emotions like joy, peace, and love central to religion (a Christian's walk with Christ), lest it degenerates into a 'dry, dead carcass.'"
Scripture teaches that God is life, and all who have received Him, as quoted in verses 12 and 13, have become children of God, and their affections have been awakened because there is life in the Son.
4) God is Light
"In Him (Jesus) was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." John 1:4-5
Scripture tells us, "Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path," yet why would John, in light of proclaiming that Jesus is life, unite the light that Jesus brings with the Word?
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God." John 1:1-2
Why the word Word? Why did he call Jesus the Word?
Truth is a person, and His name is Jesus Christ. So John calls Jesus the Word because He came to see the words of Jesus as the truth of God. Or, to put it more simply, as Jesus said, "I am the truth."
In Revelation 19:13, which John also wrote, he describes Jesus's glorious return, "He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which He is called is the Word of God."
Jesus is called The Word of God, even when He returns to earth. Two verses later, John writes, "From His mouth comes a sharp sword."
Hebrews describes the Word of God as a sharp, double-ended sword penetrating joints and marrow; it gets deep within us and does surgical healing.
In other words, Jesus strikes the nations in the power of the Word of God that he speaks, as referenced in Ephesians 6:17, the sword of the Spirit. But the power of this word is so united with Jesus himself that John says that He doesn't just have a Word of God coming out of his mouth, but He is the Word of God.
5) God is Love
Why did John write this Gospel?
"Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that by believing you may have life in his name." John 20:30-31
John knew the person of Jesus, which is why he glorified Him through this letter. The Holy Spirit inspired him to write it. But he also wrote it because the Gospel is love for God and others. The book is written to help people believe in Christ and have a new life, which goes on into eternity.
So, when John says, "These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that by believing you may have life in his name," he meant that he was writing to awaken faith in unbelievers and sustain faith in believers—and in that way lead both to eternal life.
We can't earn God's favor or grace; it isn't based on our performance. It is based on what God did through Christ on the cross to cover our sins for the glory of God. The Word has been made flesh and comes among us, giving us the power to become children of God.
But only one name has been given under heaven by which we can be saved; that name is Jesus Christ.
"But as many, as received Him, to them, He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God." John 1:12-13
TL;DR
It can be easy to overlook the significance of the Christmas holiday, specifically the gift of our savior.
Five Reasons to be Thankful for the Gift of a Savior
God in Christ is Eternal
The Gospel of Jesus is the underlying reality to which all stories point.
God is With Us
Immanuel—God with us; This is known as the Incarnation, meaning God came to us in the person of Jesus Christ.
God is Life
All who have received Christ have become children of God, and their affections have been awakened because there is life in the Son.
God is Light
Truth is a person, and His name is Jesus Christ. The words of Christ are the truths of God.
God is Love
The Gospel was written to awaken faith in unbelievers and sustain fain in believers.
Related Reading
What is Advent by William Merriman
The Christmas Story Prologue by Bro. Chris Carter
About Christ Church Memphis
Christ Church Memphis is church in East Memphis, Tennessee. For more than 65 years, Christ Church has served the Memphis community. Every weekend, there are multiple worship opportunities including traditional, contemporary and blended services