Merry Christmas! We are so glad that you are here, especially if this is your first time at a Church in a long time, or your first time ever. You picked a perfect day to come to church. That first Christmas the very first people who ever celebrated Christmas, the shepherds, were definitely not “church-people.” We’ll get back to them in a moment.
Anyway, I invite you to take a moment just to relax. Over the last month you have been racing around shopping and wrapping, baking and decorating attending events and hosting them too. For the next few minutes you don’t have to do anything, you can take a deep breath and relax.
If you grew up in Church, you probably know there are four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Each tells the story Jesus’ life from a different perspective – same story, just different perspectives.
Most of the Christmas stories we know and love: the iconic scenes pictured on Christmas cards, and sung in carols, the shepherds, the kings, the angels, the star: they’re all found in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke.
John tells the Christmas story as well, but it is from a more theological, almost a mystical point of view. John describes the arrival of The Word. The Word refers to Jesus himself, God’s word: a totally new communication from God, that is God, telling us about God, who he is
and what matters to him.
To know God’s character and values, we can simply look to the person and life of Jesus Christ. And the very first thing John tells us about God’s word is that, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Jesus became flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus moved into our neighborhood to communicate two aspects of who God is: grace and truth.
Both are consistently demonstrated by Jesus’ words and actions. Scripture doesn’t say that he balanced grace and truth. It’s not half and half. Just like Jesus himself is not half God and half human, but fully both. So he brought the fullness of grace and truth into every encounter he had.
Grace is favor. It’s unmerited favor, it’s God’s help. Which means you can’t buy it, you don’t earn it and you’ll never deserve it. All you can do with grace is take it or leave it. You can refuse it and proceed to ignore it or receive it and cooperate with it. Jesus is the fullness of grace.
And, at the same time, he is the fullness of truth. Truth is reality. It is not something we get to make up. We can’t alter it. It just is, whether we know it or not, whether we like it or not, whether we want it or not. It is something that can be taught and learned, sought and discovered. Or, conversely, it can be ignored, denied, misrepresented. There’s quite a lot you can do with the truth, but there’s one thing you can never do: you can’t change it.
The truth is often uncomfortable. The truth can even be painful when it belies our self-deception or self-interest. But, the truth can also be beautiful, it can be dazzling when its beauty is recognized. The truth can be liberating. It can be transforming, it can change everything.
Grace and Truth. At first glance, they seem contradictory. They seem oppositional but actually they’re related and interdependent. Truth asks, “Is it real? Does it correspond to reality?” Grace asks, “Does it help? Does it heal?”
The truth might reveal that everything is not always OK. The truth can let us know when we have problems to solve, rights to wrong, work to do. The truth often lead us to awareness of the distance between who we are and who we want to be.
As such, the truth is the first step toward grace, toward opening our hearts and minds to acknowledging our need for grace. Grace and truth are meant to naturally work together. Truth leads to grace, grace insists on truth.
Jesus brought the fullness of both grace and truth into his interactions with others. He faced facts. He wouldn’t just explain them away or pretend they were not real.
But along with the facts he provided comfort with grace. Jesus was the fullness of grace and truth. It was this ability to embody both that shocked, surprised, confused people. It was also why people were attracted to him and followed him because they sensed they needed both.
And the two together are powerfully attractive.
One time the authorities bring him a woman caught in adultery. They want to condemn her for her transgression. They are without mercy. He, instead, forgives her sin and pardons her unconditionally. That’s the grace part. But, he tells her to “Go and sin no more.”That’s the truth part.
Once a rich young man came up to Jesus. He thought he had it all together, but in reality
he loved his possessions more than God. So when this man asked Jesus what he needed to do to be a Christ follower we are told Jesus first of all “looked at him and loved him.” That’s the grace part. Then he challenged him to give away all his possessions and follow him as a disciple. That’s the truth part.
And on and on we could go through the whole story of the gospels…how Jesus brought grace and truth together, again and again in their full measure. Not Grace or Truth, but Grace and Truth.
We see this played out in the scene of the first Christmas described by Luke. Luke tells us that Mary and Joseph travel to the town of Bethlehem to take part in a census ordered by Caesar Augustus.
While there, Mary gave birth to Jesus, the Word of God. God reveals this news to a most unlikely group, those shepherds we mentioned earlier. Luke tells us, “Now there were shepherds in that region living in the field and keeping their night watch over their flock” (Luke 2.8).
It was a common understanding in that culture that only a select few could really be in right relationship with God. That’s because the practice of religion was governed by laws and rules. It was a common notion that God would only accept you and love you, and listen to you, if you followed the rules perfectly.
The Law was extensive. There were 613 of them and they covered everything from what you could eat, to how to wash your hands, to what you could and could not do on your day off. While the Law had some helpful information, and good advice, it was impossible to follow completely unless you had some wealth and a lot of leisure time.
That definitely disqualified the shepherds, for sure. For one thing they were poor. And not just poor, they were barely above destitute. And their lives were busy. Caring for the sheep of their flock required constant care and attention. Making it impossible to attend to the religious laws. Besides, a shepherds’ life was a mess. Literally. They lived and slept outdoors, often in contact with the blood and the waste of the animals they tended.
For all these reasons, they would have been judged as unclean and unfit, and as such,
unwelcome among religious people. And yet, it was to this group, that God chooses to grace with the most beautiful truth ever.
“The angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were struck with great fear. The angel said to them, “Fear not!” For behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all people.” (Luke 2:9-10).
Grace is not just for some people. It’s not just for rich people. It’s not just for church people. Grace is for all people.
The angel continues; “For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you
who is Christ and Lord” (Luke 2:10). A gift is given to you. A savior has been born for you. That’s the grace part. The truth part, the difficult truth is that you need a Savior. So do I.
For all of us, admitting we need a Savior can be a difficult truth to acknowledge. We like to think that we are in control. We like to think that we have it together and sometimes go to great lengths to protect and project that illusion.
And when we do, the idea of a Savior is more of an annoyance than anything else. The shepherds had no such illusions. They knew perfectly well their lives were a mess. And when we’re actually honest with ourselves we would all probably have to admit to some messiness of our own.
Maybe my mess is a bad habit I just can’t kick. I’ve tried to kick it before and I continues to struggle. Maybe my mess is a financial mess. Over the last few years I’ve been living above my means and now it is starting to catch up with me. Maybe my mess is with my temper. I hate that I lose my temper with the people I love the most. Maybe my mess is with telling the truth. I consistently find myself outside of it. Maybe my mess is just my self-centeredness. I would like to be more helpful to the people around me, but it just doesn’t seem to happen. Maybe my mess is relational. My marriage is in a difficult place, I’m in a difficult place with a good friend and I don’t know how to get through it.
On the outside we look good. We look good on the outside, but inside, in our head and in our heart, it can be a different story, there can often be messy thoughts and messy emotions.
If you could wave a magic wand you would make the messiness disappear, but you don’t and you can’t. You need help and hope. You need a Savior.
The good news of great joy is that you have a Savior, who is Christ and Lord, who alone has the power to deliver you from messiness. Grace and truth tell us we need and savior and that we have one. Grace and truth teach us that we don’t have to live in regret, or fear, or isolation, or loneness or defeat. Grace and truth reveal that everything we need, and more, is freely given in Jesus Christ.
That’s the beautiful truth about grace.