Chapters
Shownotes Transcript
Welcome to Gospel and Life. In our broader culture, you may have heard that working hard to help others and making the world a better place is the true meaning of Christmas. But if you look at the story of Christ's birth in the Gospels, you'll find a completely different message, that Jesus came to earth because we absolutely cannot save ourselves by our good works. Listen now as Tim Keller shares the amazing news of the Christmas message and the gift we have in Christ.
Colossians chapter 1, verses 15 to 20. Colossians 1, 15 to 20. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities, all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
This is God's word. Now, Christmas is about...
the doctrine of the incarnation, God becoming human, veiled in flesh the Godhead, see, hail the incarnate deity. That's what we sing about. And the passage you just read is a breathtaking, a breathtaking rollercoaster ride through the doctrine of the incarnation. And let me just, let me show you just a couple of the hairpin turns, just a couple.
And then what I'd like to do is, instead of looking so much at the doctrine, I would like to talk about what it means to us, how it makes our lives different. First of all, this passage teaches us, in perhaps an absolutely incomparable way, that Jesus was God. Look at verse 15 and 16. It says, He is the image of the invisible God. And many people immediately jump to the conclusion, they say, ah, firstborn over all creation. In other words...
He was the first in all creation who were born. In other words, he was the first one born, the first thing that God created. That's not what it says. If you look carefully, it says he is the first born over all creation. Everything that was created, he's over. In fact, it says that everything that was created was created through him, meaning...
Anything that has a beginning had a beginning in him, so he couldn't have a beginning. Everything that was created had to be created through him, and therefore he was not created.
If you were reading this when Paul wrote this, you would know immediately what he's talking about. You see, in most parts of the world at that time, the law of primogeniture meant that the firstborn got all of the wealth of the father. The firstborn got all of the wealth, all the status, all the standing, all the power, and therefore the firstborn was equal with the father. And Paul is saying, this one Jesus Christ is absolutely equal in power and dignity with God the father.
He is beginningless. He is the creator. He is not one whit inferior to God the Father. And then it goes on. Let me show you another hairpin turn. In verse 19 it says, All the fullness of God dwells in him. All the fullness.
And the little Greek word that's used here, pleroma, the fullness, is astonishing. And I'll tell you why it's astonishing. If you're like me, and I think most of you were, for most of my life, when I heard about this doctrine of the Trinity, I heard about this idea that God was one God, but in three persons. And I always thought of him as a pie. In other words, you have a pie of God's stuff. Okay? Now, this is really the... It wasn't until recently I realized that's how I always thought of it. It's a pie of God's stuff, and there's three slices. Okay?
You know, and the Father has a slice, one-third of the God stuff, and the Son has a slice, one-third of the God stuff, and the Holy Spirit has a slice, and they're all sort of joined at the hip. And so you have one God, kind of a sort of a, you know, three persons in that sense. Paul says, no, wait a minute. All of the fullness of the Godhead, all of the fullness of God is in Jesus Christ.
Which means that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit dwell repletively in each other. All of the attributes of God. There is not a single attribute of God. There's not a single part of the Godhead that's not in Jesus Christ. It's not just that Jesus Christ is fully God, but God is fully in Jesus Christ. You see, that's a hairpin turn on that roller coaster there. Did you feel, sir, your stomach? You lost your stomach on that little... This is going beyond anything that anybody says anywhere in the Bible.
about the absolute deity, the absolute divinity, the supremacy of the nature of Jesus Christ. And then it turns around, however, and says that though he was God, he was dead. Dead. You see that? Firstborn from the dead. Beginningless. Creator. The pleroma. All the fullness of God. Dead. God became flesh. Veiled in flesh. The Godhead see.
God became dead. Or I think Dick was talking about that other place in the Charles Wesley sermon, "'Tis mystery all, the immortal dies, who can explore its strange design." There's the doctrine. God, real God, became flesh, real flesh, not a hologram from heaven, not a ghost, dead, bleeds, sweats, cries, dead.
Now, there it is. But what's it mean? Some of you were here when I was in the very beginning. I just mentioned that my family and I used to live in a town and the smell was so bad when we first got in. We said, we'll never forget it. We'll never not notice it. But it wasn't long before we didn't notice it. Some things that are huge, but are always there. It's amazing how the human heart's got the ability to adapt to it and filter it out. That's how people filter out abuse after a while.
That's how people filter out smells after a while. And I want you to know that that's how people filter out Christmas. The same thing that enables a person, because it's always there, to just not see it anymore, not smell it anymore, not hear it anymore, is what makes it possible for us to come to a Christmas service like this and go out unchanged. Let me tell you three things that if the baby in the manger was God...
God, God, not just a guru, not just a supernatural being, not just the first created thing, not just a hologram from heaven, but God himself. If that baby was God, let me tell you three differences it should make. It should lead to, I'll just say them now and then I'll go through them. It should lead to a reordering, a relinquishment, and a rejoicing. Three re's. A reordering, a relinquishment, and a rejoicing. Let me show you. Number one.
a reordering. It says in verse 18 that in everything he might have a supremacy, in everything. When a truck goes over a bridge, it's too big. It's too big for the bridge. When a great big truck goes over a tiny little bridge, sometimes there's a bridge quake. And when a big man goes onto a little thin ice, there's an ice quake. And when Jesus Christ, if he is the beginningless creator of
Whenever Jesus Christ, whenever Jesus Christ comes down into a person's life, there's a life quake. Everything is reordered. If he was a guru, if he was a great man, if he was a great teacher, then there would be, even if he was the genie of the lamp, there would be some limits on his rights over you. But if he's God, you cannot relate to him at all and retain anything in your life that's a non-negotiable.
If he's God, you can't relate to him at all and retain anything in your life that's a non-negotiable. Anything. Any view, any conviction, any idea, any behavior, any relationship. He may change it. He may not change it. But at the beginning of the relationship, you have to say in everything, he must have the supremacy. Imagine you had a friend who was dying of a very rare disease and you brought her to
or him, your dear friend, and you bring this friend to a doctor. You'll be dead in a week. I can cure you, but I want you to know, if I give you the remedy, there's just one thing. It'll keep you alive for the rest of your life, but you can never eat chocolate again. Well, you're so excited, you turn to your friend, and you say, isn't this great? And your friend says, no chocolate? Forget it. And you say, are you crazy?
Now, over the years, let me tell you, since I have gotten to New York, I very often have this conversation one way or the other. A person says, you know, I know I need something in my life. I know I need something. I'm interested in Christianity. But I've got a question. I've heard a rumor. I've heard that if you become a Christian, you can't have sex unless you're married. Now, with all due respect, there is something rationally and emotionally wrong with us that a question like that would even come up at that point.
If there's a God who services perfect freedom, if there's a God who is the source of all beauty and truth, if there is God whom to know would result in all of his glory and wisdom and power passing into you so that for endless ages you would run and not be weary, you would walk and not faint, his love and his joy and his glory would double in you every day forever. And if there was any chance that Jesus Christ, if there was even a chance that Jesus Christ
was that God? How can you say, gee, in that case, forget it. No sex for five years at least. I mean, look, you can't know the absolute if you absolutize anything, whether it's chocolate or sex or anything. Don't you see? You can't know the absolute if you absolutize anything.
You can't know the supreme one if anything else is supreme. Well, you say, what do you mean anything else is supreme? I'll tell you. I've had people say, well, I'm a Christian, I think. I'm a Christian, and I know I'm doing something over here. Some people think it's right. Some people think it's wrong. I don't know. All I know is I have to do it. All I know is I need it. Some people think it's right. Some people, all I know is I have to do it. You know what that is? That's the language of supremacy.
That's the language. That's absolute language. That's the language of ultimacy. If Jesus is God, he can't just come into your life to round it out. He can't just supplement. He's not a vitamin supplement. He can't just be your buddy. He can't just make you a little better. There's nothing in the middle. It's all or nothing. That's what Christmas means. You can't know the absolute unless you relativize everything but your relationship with him. I will give you supremacy in any area of my life.
Anything your word says, anything your will touches, I will not hinder the supremacy of your will or your word. There's no place in my life that I'll point to and say, Lord, not that. Don't touch that. That's what it means to be a Christian. There's nothing in the middle. Reordering. If Jesus Christ comes down in your life, there will be a life quake in everything he must have the supremacy. That's what Christmas means.
As you probably know, the end of the year is an important time for ministries like ours, and it's your generosity that allows us to continue to grow and share the gospel with more people. When I've spoken to others about the potential for gospel in life to reach more people, they're encouraged that the good news of the gospel is going forward.
Please join me in praying that God would move through the resources of Gospel in Life to transform the hearts and minds of more people all over the world in the coming year. Your support is vital to our ministry, and I ask you to prayerfully consider whether God is calling you to make a year-end gift to Gospel in Life. To make a gift, go to gospelinlife.com slash give. Again, that's gospelinlife.com slash give.
Thank you for your generous support because the Gospel truly changes everything, everywhere. Let me show you the second thing. There's also a life of relinquishment. If Christmas means that the Son of God came to earth, that God became human, it doesn't just mean that your life will be radically reordered if you let him in at all. But it also means that you will be called to a life of relinquishment. Well, what do I mean by that? Here's what I mean. Look at the titles.
Image of the invisible God. Firstborn of all creation. Fullness of God. Dead. That is the archetype of all adventures. Let me tell you what a great adventure is. Every adventure that's ever really been written goes like this. A person is in safety. A person is in coziness. A person is in security. But he or she or they are whisked away into peril and danger. They're taken away from safety. They're taken away from security.
They're taken away from coziness, and they brave all sorts of dangers and perils for some great cause. Now, Jesus Christ, or I should say Christmas itself, is the archetype of all adventures. Nobody left more security than Jesus left. Nobody left more safety than Jesus left. And nobody ever faced the perils that Jesus faced.
Nobody ever walked into the fire that he walked into. Nobody ever braved the storm that he braved. Nobody else ever had jaws come smashing shut on him as Jesus had. Because Jesus faced all of the justice of God for sin coming down on him, he paid the penalty. He left. Now here's what, what does this mean for me practically? I'll show you what it means. It's so odd that Christmas has come to mean the exact opposite of what it meant.
Christmas means coziness now, doesn't it? Chestnuts roasting on an open fire. Jack Frost nipping at your nose. I love that. Nipping, you know, just, you know. Seriously, Christmas makes everybody nostalgic for a fire. I mean, why do you think most of you go away on Christmas weekend? Because most of you don't have a fireplace. And you've got to get the coziness. I haven't had Christmas. I've got to find a fireplace.
You know, I've got to find chestnuts. I've got to find roasting. I've got to find coziness. You know what the manger means? It's the exact opposite. The manger means excrement instead of goose down feather pillows. The manger means rejection. The manger means Jesus Christ was willing to leave the safe, leave the secure, and for some great mission and some great quest. Let it all go. You know what it means to be a Christian? You know what the spirit of Christmas is?
A Christian who is aflame with the spirit of Christmas says, the last thing I want is a nice life, a nice comfortable little life, reaching my financial goals, keeping my figure past 50, having the home of my dreams. I want my nice little life. You can't look at Christmas and ever want that sort of thing anymore. A Christian who is aflame with the spirit of Christmas says, give me some great thing to do and I'll give up everything to do it.
Don't you see? It's the exact opposite of the postcards. It's the exact opposite. A Christian says, look at what Jesus did for me. I want my life to count. I want to make a difference. I want to change lives. I want to change the world. And I expect to give things up. Is that your spirit? Then you're not listening. You're not listening to Christmas. It's a smell that you're not smelling anymore. It's a sound that you're not hearing anymore.
If you think about it, what Christmas will mean is for you to do something not just like Jesus' adventure, but to be a Christian. Look at verse 18. It says he's the head of the body. Do you know what that means? When you become a Christian, you're grafted into the body. This passage is not saying, the Bible does not just simply say that Christ
Jesus Christ's adventure is an example for your adventure. It says when you become a Christian, you enter Jesus' adventure. You're in the same story. That's the reason why Paul says in Philippians 3.10, I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings becoming like him in his death. What in the world is he talking about? Paul knows that if you want to bring peace in the world, you see that?
Why did Jesus Christ become dead? Why did he leave it? Why did he go on the great quest? It says so right there. Peace, reconciliation. You want to bring peace between people and God? You want to bring peace between people and each other? You enter into the same adventure. Some of you, if you were here last week, you heard we did a diaconal offering. Let me give you one very, very typical example. Those of you who have been or ever have served on the diaconate here, that means you're deacons or deaconesses,
Deacons and deaconesses get involved with people's lives and very often their lives are in tremendous disorder. Economically, physically, socially, legally, spiritually. And you get involved with it and after a while you start to find yourself getting calls in the middle of the night. You find yourself getting emotionally involved. You find that you're not able to go to town when you want to go out of town. You find yourself... And then you find out the diaconal fund is out and then you start to just pay out of your own pocket.
And you start to say, what's going on? I'll tell you what's going on. It's the quest. It's the fellowship of sufferings. It's the relinquishment. And then when somebody's life actually comes together under the power of God and you see a change that you know just is greater than that which you put in. Here you were just trying to do your best and you see a change and you know it's God and there's an exhilaration. What is that? It's the adventure. Christians want that. A Christian who understands what Jesus Christ did says...
Just find me a place on the front lines. I don't expect to have the money I would have if I wasn't a Christian. I don't expect to have the career. I don't expect to have the friends. I don't expect to have the reputation. I don't expect it. I want to know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings. Do you know that? Are you out for adventure? Are you out for a nice little life?
And actually, maybe all you do, maybe right now you're just coming to church looking for some inspiration so you can have a slightly nicer little life. It doesn't work that way. That's not what the manger means. The manger means out. Loss. Come on. He's moving out tonight. Get your things. Life is short. You don't have that much time.
to do something for him and to enter into his quest. Now the last thing is, all this sounds like kind of, you know, gee, Christmas service. Where's the inspiration? It's right here. If you have, if this little baby is God, God become human.
It leads to a life of reordering. It leads to a life of relinquishment. But it will lead to a life of rejoicing. How is it possible that Jesus Christ faced what he faced? Let me read it to you. How did Jesus Christ face what he faced?
Hebrews 12, let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despised its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him until you do not grow weary or lose heart. He despised the cross. You know what that means? No self-pity. He scorned it. He made it light. He says, okay, the cross, okay, but it's nothing compared to the joy.
Christmas means the end of self-pity. Look what he did. There's a joy set before you so that if you have to sacrifice for any reason because you're Christian, you don't say, well, look at my sacrifices. You say, you despise your sacrifices. You don't complain about them. You don't mention them.
Well, you say, what is that? There's another place, though, Mark chapter 10, verse 29, where Jesus says, This is a quote.
and in the age to come, eternal life. Did you hear that? No one who has left houses or brothers or sisters or mothers or fathers or childs or fields for me and gospel will fail to receive in this life a hundred times as much and persecutions with them and in the age to come, eternal life. Don't you see? Some of you, if you are trying to live just a decent Christian life, some of you are going unmarried a lot longer than you would have gone if you weren't trying to live a Christian life. That's a loss.
Some of you could be making six and seven figures by now, but you went into ministry or you just wouldn't compromise. That's a loss. Some of you will never have the respect of your families because they think you've gone off the deep end religiously. That's a loss. And a Christian who understands the spirit of Christmas says, so what?
That hurts, but I will not give these things authority over me. I will not let the loss of them darken me because I've got a joy set before me. Oh, what is that joy? It's actually here in the passage, but it's in the whole idea of Christmas. In the passage it says, Jesus did all of this, what does it say? To reconcile to himself, himself. When I took a little baby into my arms, I was thinking about the sermon.
Whenever God showed up in the world, up until that moment, he came as a fire, he came as an earthquake, he came as lightning, he came as a tornado, and then he came as a baby. Why? I don't understand what this means. I don't understand this. I really don't. But what God says is, here is the joy. I will give you myself. God in your arms. I don't know what that means. But because Jesus Christ died on the cross,
Our sins are forgiven. That means that God in some way is going to take all of his unassailable majesty and all of his consuming fire holiness and put it into our lives in a way that it will just embrace us and turn us into something loving and glorious. He says, I'm going to give you me. There isn't anything greater than that. That's what the baby means in the manger. God says, if you do this for me, if you come to me, if you give me the supremacy in every area of your life, if you relinquish all for me and enter into my quest...
You will get me in your arms. God in the arms. Don't you see? That's the last anthem. Tomorrow shall be my dancing day. I would my true love did so chance to see the legend of my play to call my true love to my dance. Who's the true love? Us. That's the joy.
If you don't know what that is, I really don't, but if you don't realize that this dwarfs anything else that you might be called to give up, you still don't understand Christmas. God in the arms, a babe in the manger. In A Bleak Midwinter, the hymn, the last line says, What shall I give? What can I give him, poor as I am? If I were a shepherd, I'd bring a lamb. If I were a wise man, I'd do my part. Yet what can I give him?
I give him my heart. That's it. Let's pray. Our Father, we ask that as we conclude our service, we might come to realize that if your Son is God, if Christmas is true, it changes everything.
It moves us from a life of complacency to a life of adventure. It moves us from a life of selfishness into a reordered life, a life of perfect freedom under your service. And it leads us from a life of grumbling and self-pity into a life of joy. Help us to understand these things and think about these things until they have their full effect in our hearts. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.
Thank you for joining us today. If you were encouraged by today's teaching, please rate and review it so more people can discover this podcast. This month's sermons were recorded from 1994 to 1997. The sermons and talks you hear on the Gospel and Life podcast were preached from 1989 to 2017 while Dr. Keller was senior pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church. ♪
