Jesus Christ is the Word. As such, he was the\u00adre from the begin\u00adning. He gave the world his light and ther\u00adeby also life. His light shi\u00adnes in the dark\u00adness and can\u00adnot be over\u00adco\u00adme by it. At Christ\u00admas we cele\u00adbra\u00adte the grea\u00adtest gift. We cele\u00adbra\u00adte that the Word beca\u00adme a man and lived among us. If we now belie\u00adve in the word of Jesus Christ, i.e. accept him as a gift from God, then we beco\u00adme child\u00adren of God.<\/p>\n
My first god\u00adson Bueb has also left school by now. But I can still remem\u00adber our first shop\u00adping trip for his Christ\u00admas pre\u00adsent. We were out and about tog\u00ade\u00adther for the first time in Thun and wan\u00adted to find a pre\u00adsent for him. My idea: we spend the mor\u00adning tog\u00ade\u00adther, go shop\u00adping for a pre\u00adsent, walk through the town, have a hot cho\u00adco\u00adla\u00adte some\u00adwhe\u00adre to warm up. His idea: \u00abYay, I\u2019m get\u00adting a pre\u00adsent!\u00bb. But at that point I was\u00adn\u2019t yet awa\u00adre of the dif\u00adfe\u00adrent ide\u00adas. In rea\u00adli\u00adty, it loo\u00adked like this. We both went into the first toy shop and he saw some\u00adthing he wan\u00adted. We could\u00adn\u2019t lea\u00adve the shop until I bought it for him. Now I got stres\u00adsed \u2013 becau\u00adse it was\u00adn\u2019t expen\u00adsi\u00adve at all, but now I had just under three hours with the boy and no plan for what we were going to do in that time. \tHow stressful was the Christ\u00admas peri\u00adod for you? Were you able to look for\u00adward to Christmas? Jesus Christ is the Word. As such, he was the\u00adre from the begin\u00adning. He gave the world his light and ther\u00adeby also life. His light shi\u00adnes in the dark\u00adness and can\u00adnot be over\u00adco\u00adme by it. At Christ\u00admas we cele\u00adbra\u00adte the grea\u00adtest gift. We cele\u00adbra\u00adte that the Word beca\u00adme a human being and lived among us.\u2026<\/p>","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":7666,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","wpfc_preacher":[79],"wpfc_sermon_series":[90],"wpfc_sermon_topics":[],"wpfc_bible_book":[],"wpfc_service_type":[12],"class_list":["wpfc_preacher-cedric-bruegger","wpfc_sermon_series-heilig-heilig-heilig","wpfc-sermon-single","post-7659","wpfc_sermon","type-wpfc_sermon","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","wpfc_service_type-gottesdienst"],"acf":[],"sermons_blog_filters_topics":"\t\t\t\t
\nHow are you doing with Christ\u00admas? Was it stressful for you? Someone recent\u00adly said to my wife that we should\u00adn\u2019t be sur\u00adpri\u00adsed if Christ\u00admas is stressful, becau\u00adse Christ\u00admas has always been stressful. Or how did the pregnant Maria fare on the long journey?
\nIn the begin\u00adning was the word
\nI would like to go back with you to this shop. Ima\u00adgi\u00adne the\u00adse shel\u00adves full of pres\u00adents. But if they lack any con\u00adnec\u00adtion to the shi\u00adning eyes of child\u00adren, they are not a source of joy in and of them\u00adsel\u00adves. But Christ\u00admas is pre\u00adcis\u00ade\u00adly the fes\u00adti\u00adval of presents.
\nThis mor\u00adning we are immer\u00adsing our\u00adsel\u00adves tog\u00ade\u00adther in a Bible text that is often read at Christ\u00admas, but does\u00adn\u2019t actual\u00adly have much to do with Christ\u00admas. \u00abIn the begin\u00adning was the Word. The Word was with God and the Word was God\u00bb (John 1:1 NLB<\/span>). Three things are com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adca\u00adted to us here. First\u00adly, that the Word was the\u00adre from the begin\u00adning. It is not abs\u00adtract, as we other\u00adwi\u00adse ima\u00adgi\u00adne words to be, but it is an object. Second\u00adly, the Word is with God. It is loca\u00adli\u00adsed. Third\u00adly, this word is God. And this word is Jesus Christ, who\u00adse bir\u00adth\u00adday we cele\u00adbra\u00adte at Christ\u00admas. The evan\u00adge\u00adlist John, who wro\u00adte this text, uses this for\u00admu\u00adla\u00adti\u00adon to refer to Gene\u00adsis 1:1, i.e. to the first ver\u00adse of God\u2019s writ\u00adten word. Other evan\u00adge\u00adlists, when they speak of Jesus, start eit\u00adher at the birth or with Abra\u00adham. John, howe\u00adver, has a dif\u00adfe\u00adrent approach. He starts right at the begin\u00adning. In this first ver\u00adse of John\u2019s Gos\u00adpel, he makes two refe\u00adren\u00adces to the Old Tes\u00adta\u00adment. First\u00adly, to crea\u00adti\u00adon: \u00abIn the begin\u00adning, God crea\u00adted the hea\u00advens and the earth\u00bb (Gene\u00adsis 1:1 NLB<\/span>). Second\u00adly, through the use of the Greek word \u00ablogos\u00bb. This means \u00abword\u00bb. In gene\u00adral terms, but when John uses it, he places it on the same level and in the same con\u00adtext of mea\u00adning as the Old Tes\u00adta\u00adment wis\u00addom (Pro\u00adverbs 8).
\nJohn crea\u00adtes a con\u00adnec\u00adtion and shows that the man who appears as Jesus Christ is God. He is iden\u00adti\u00adcal with him (John 1:1). He is the\u00adre from the begin\u00adning. \u00abHe was with God in the begin\u00adning\u00bb (John 1:2 NLB<\/span>). In doing so, he joins the Old Tes\u00adta\u00adment. \u00abBy the word of the Lord the hea\u00advens came into being and the stars were crea\u00adted by his com\u00admand\u00bb (Psalm 33:6 NLB<\/span>). Unli\u00adke the other evan\u00adge\u00adlists, John starts with the ori\u00adgi\u00adnal sta\u00adte befo\u00adre crea\u00adti\u00adon when describ\u00ading Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ has always been God, right from the beginning.
\nThe Gos\u00adpel of John has its own way of tal\u00adking about Jesus Christ. The Eng\u00adlish theo\u00adlo\u00adgi\u00adan N.T. Wright says of this book. \u00abThis book is like a pond in which a child can safe\u00adly splash around, but which is also deep enough for an ele\u00adphant to swim in\u00bb (N.T. Wright). This is exact\u00adly how we encoun\u00adter Jesus Christ at and around Christ\u00admas. On the one hand, lovin\u00adg\u00adly as a baby, he needs to be pro\u00adtec\u00adted, shel\u00adte\u00adred and well loo\u00adked after. On the other hand, pre-exis\u00adtent even befo\u00adre the first peo\u00adp\u00adle in the world. He is even pre\u00adsen\u00adted as the ori\u00adgin of the world! Ever\u00ady\u00adthing lies in this pre-exis\u00adtence. \u00abThrough him ever\u00ady\u00adthing that exists was crea\u00adted. The\u00adre is not\u00adhing that he, the Word, did not crea\u00adte\u00bb (John 1:3 NLB<\/span>). The enti\u00adre crea\u00adti\u00adon came into being through the Word. God spo\u00adke \u2013 and it hap\u00adpen\u00aded. This word, which is descri\u00adbed here, is powerful. Just as an evil word can des\u00adtroy a gre\u00adat deal. Inde\u00aded, we are often jud\u00adged by words and not by deeds. \u00abSo it is with my word that comes out of my mouth. It will not return wit\u00adhout fruit, but it will do what I want and accom\u00adplish what I have sent it to do\u00bb (Isai\u00adah 55:11 NLB<\/span>).
\nLife from the light
\nOnce again about the gifts in the shop. As soon as a gift meets a reci\u00adpi\u00adent, it brings a ray of joy. My wife and I have a fami\u00adly whe\u00adre we are god\u00adpar\u00adents to all three child\u00adren. Last year, we gave the eldest a pre\u00adsent and his reac\u00adtion was: \u00abSo gre\u00adat! I\u2019ve always wan\u00adted this!\u00bb We had hit the nail on the head with this gift. It would\u00adn\u2019t have done any\u00adthing on the shelf, but when it hit him, it brought joy. It\u2019s the same with Jesus Christ, if the word sim\u00adply comes into the world but is not asso\u00adcia\u00adted with peo\u00adp\u00adle, then the\u00adre is no joy.
\nBut Jesus Christ is more than just the Word, it is not emp\u00adty, it is a life-crea\u00adting Word. At crea\u00adti\u00adon, this Word crea\u00adted life. \u00abLife its\u00adelf was in him, and this life gives light to all peo\u00adp\u00adle\u00bb (John 1:4 NLB<\/span>). The Word of God does not return emp\u00adty. Rather, it crea\u00adtes life. This life gives light to peo\u00adp\u00adle. Signs of light are hope, gui\u00addance and a stark con\u00adtrast to dark\u00adness. The life that brings this about is in Jesus Christ. \u00abIt was from the begin\u00adning, we have heard it and seen it with our own eyes, we have loo\u00adked at it and touch\u00aded it with our hands: the word of life. Life has been reve\u00ada\u00adled to us and we have seen it. And now we testi\u00adfy and pro\u00adcla\u00adim eter\u00adnal life to you. It was with the Father, and then it was reve\u00ada\u00adled to us\u00bb (1 John 1:1\u20132 NLB<\/span>). Jesus Christ was not only here from the begin\u00adning of time, he is also here for eter\u00adni\u00adty. Jesus is the Word, light and life.
\nLife is in Jesus Christ and from this life comes light (John 1:4). Con\u00adver\u00adse\u00adly, it can also be said that the\u00adre is no life out\u00adside the light. \u00abThe light shi\u00adnes in the dark\u00adness, and the dark\u00adness could not extin\u00adgu\u00adish it\u00bb (John 1:5 NLB<\/span>). On the one hand, dark\u00adness is like a lack of light \u2013 I can\u2019t extin\u00adgu\u00adish dark\u00adness, but I can\u2019t extin\u00adgu\u00adish it eit\u00adher. Becau\u00adse the adver\u00adsa\u00adry of God is real and not just an absence of some\u00adthing. The light of Jesus Christ shi\u00adnes in all dark\u00adness. This light is hope.
\nAround 1815 the\u00adre were major uphe\u00adavals in Euro\u00adpe. The\u00adre were major chan\u00adges in Salz\u00adbur\u00adger\u00adland. The coun\u00adtry was emacia\u00adted after the war with Napo\u00adle\u00adon. A new bor\u00adder divi\u00added Bava\u00adria and Aus\u00adtria. Boat\u00admen, who had pre\u00advious\u00adly had the pri\u00advi\u00adle\u00adge of trans\u00adport\u00ading salt, lost this and were left with not\u00adhing. Many peo\u00adp\u00adle beca\u00adme desti\u00adtu\u00adte. During this trau\u00adma\u00adtic time, the assistant pas\u00adtor Franz Mohr wro\u00adte a poem, which was set to music in 1818. Exact\u00adly 205 years ago to the day, this song was sung for the first time and peo\u00adp\u00adle were thril\u00adled. It is cal\u00adled \u00abSilent Night, Holy Night\u00bb. This song inspi\u00adred peo\u00adp\u00adle. It is the sto\u00adry of the light that sho\u00adne into a dark world. The dark\u00adness was not gone in Salz\u00adbur\u00adger\u00adland, but it had to give way to hope.
\nWhen Jesus Christ came into the world and was here, he was not accept\u00aded. He sho\u00adne like a light in the dark\u00adness, but peo\u00adp\u00adle did not reco\u00adg\u00adni\u00adse him and did not accept him. \u00abBut alt\u00adhough the world was crea\u00adted through him, the world did not reco\u00adg\u00adni\u00adse him when he came. He came into the world that belongs to him, and his own peo\u00adp\u00adle did not recei\u00adve him\u00bb (John 1:10\u201311 NLB<\/span>).
\nBelie\u00adving in Jesus means accep\u00adting him as a gift from God
\nAs alre\u00ada\u00addy men\u00adtio\u00adned, our gift for Bueb, the eldest god\u00adfa\u00adther and god\u00adfa\u00adther, real\u00adly hit the spot last year. He was so hap\u00adpy. His youn\u00adger brot\u00adher was just under 2 \u00bd years old at the time and unwrap\u00adped his pre\u00adsent. When he unwrap\u00adped it and loo\u00adked at it, his big brother\u2019s reac\u00adtion was imme\u00addia\u00adte: \u00abWow. You\u2019\u00adve got a real\u00adly gre\u00adat pre\u00adsent!\u00bb We had to laugh quite a bit. \u00abWow. You\u2019\u00adve got that real\u00adly gre\u00adat!\u00bb This is exact\u00adly what Christ\u00admas is all about in the truest sen\u00adse of the word. At Christ\u00admas, we all got a mega gre\u00adat pre\u00adsent that we did\u00adn\u2019t choo\u00adse our\u00adsel\u00adves, but that we so despera\u00adte\u00adly nee\u00added. This is what we could also wish each other at Christ\u00admas. Not \u00aba bles\u00adsed Christ\u00admas\u00bb, but \u00abJesus Christ came into the world! You recei\u00adved this gift in an ama\u00adzing way!\u00bb Per\u00adhaps a litt\u00adle clum\u00adsy, but no less true.
\nTowards the end of the pas\u00adsa\u00adge in ver\u00adse 14 we find the sum\u00adma\u00adry. \u00abHe, who is the Word, beca\u00adme man and lived among us. He was full of grace and truth, and we beca\u00adme wit\u00adnesses of his glo\u00adry, the glo\u00adry that the Father gave him, his only Son\u00bb (John 1:14 NLB<\/span>). This one ver\u00adse is very com\u00adpre\u00adhen\u00adsi\u00adve and con\u00adta\u00adins seve\u00adral points.
\nThe Word beca\u00adme man. The Luther trans\u00adla\u00adti\u00adon reads \u00abAnd the Word beca\u00adme fle\u00adsh [\u2026]\u00bb (John 1:14 LUT<\/span>). Jesus Christ beca\u00adme fle\u00adsh and blood in deed and truth. With us, ever\u00ady\u00adthing is often very cere\u00adbral. What I think and feel is important. But faith is more than just some\u00adthing spi\u00adri\u00adtu\u00adal, it is a fact. For exam\u00adp\u00adle, it may not be a com\u00adpel\u00adling cri\u00adter\u00adion whe\u00adther I have ever been to Isra\u00adel. But when I walk the streets whe\u00adre Jesus wal\u00adked, when I am in the places whe\u00adre he was, I gain a new, dif\u00adfe\u00adrent approach. It is also no coin\u00adci\u00addence that many examp\u00adles of Jesus have to do with ever\u00ady\u00adday objects.
\nJesus Christ lived among us. In the Old Tes\u00adta\u00adment, God cam\u00adped among the Israe\u00adli\u00adtes in the mobi\u00adle taber\u00adna\u00adcle and when they had rea\u00adched their land and sett\u00adled down, after some time he lived in the temp\u00adle. In the New Tes\u00adta\u00adment, God now lives among peo\u00adp\u00adle in Jesus. And God will con\u00adti\u00adnue to dwell among peo\u00adp\u00adle in the future. \u00abI heard a loud voice cal\u00adling from the thro\u00adne: \u00abBehold, the dwel\u00adling place of God is now with men! He will dwell with them and they will be his peo\u00adp\u00adle, and God hims\u00adelf will be with them\u00bb (Reve\u00adla\u00adti\u00adon 21:3 NLB<\/span>).
\nJesus Christ was full of grace and truth. Grace means gran\u00adting some\u00adthing to someone wit\u00adhout the expec\u00adta\u00adti\u00adon of retri\u00adbu\u00adti\u00adon or recipro\u00adci\u00adty. It is unde\u00adser\u00adved. The truth of the New Tes\u00adta\u00adment is clo\u00adse\u00adly rela\u00adted to the under\u00adstan\u00adding of faithful\u00adness in the Old Tes\u00adta\u00adment. The\u00adre, faithful\u00adness means a truth that is real and the\u00adr\u00ade\u00adfo\u00adre pro\u00adves to be relia\u00adble, con\u00adsis\u00adtent and sustainable.
\nJesus Christ was full of glo\u00adry in this world. Glo\u00adry means the honour of God in this world. In the Old Tes\u00adta\u00adment, this is what beco\u00admes visi\u00adble of God\u2019s majes\u00adty and glo\u00adry in his reve\u00adla\u00adti\u00adon to peo\u00adp\u00adle. In the Old Tes\u00adta\u00adment, the place whe\u00adre the glo\u00adry of God beco\u00admes visi\u00adble to peo\u00adp\u00adle is the temp\u00adle. In the New Tes\u00adta\u00adment, Jesus Christ beco\u00admes this place.
\nLet\u2019s get back to the pre\u00adsent, which we all got as a gre\u00adat gift. Becau\u00adse here the ques\u00adti\u00adon still ari\u00adses as to whe\u00adther the\u00adre are any ent\u00adry requi\u00adre\u00adments. \u00abBut to all who recei\u00adved him and belie\u00adved in his name, he gave the right to beco\u00adme child\u00adren of God. They did not beco\u00adme such through their ancestry or through human endea\u00advour or inten\u00adti\u00adon, but this new life comes from God\u00bb (John 1:12\u201313 NLB<\/span>). Belie\u00adving in Jesus means accep\u00adting him as a gift from God. What does it take to recei\u00adve this gift? It does\u00adn\u2019t requi\u00adre any par\u00adti\u00adcu\u00adlar lineage. No human endea\u00advour and also no good will that is dis\u00adplay\u00aded. Ins\u00adtead, the gift of life comes from God hims\u00adelf. We can only get it mega gre\u00adat. All we can do is say yes and belie\u00adve in Jesus Christ. In other words, accept him as a gift from God.
\nPos\u00adsi\u00adble ques\u00adti\u00adons for the small group
\nRead the Bible text: John 1:1\u201314<\/p>\n
\n\tDo you under\u00adstand the state\u00adments from John 1:1? Try to repro\u00addu\u00adce the three state\u00adments in your own words.
\n\tWhat does it mean when the Word, who crea\u00adted ever\u00ady\u00adthing in the world, meets you per\u00adso\u00adnal\u00adly in Jesus Christ?
\n\tThe light of God shi\u00adnes in all dark\u00adness. Whe\u00adre do you want more light in your life?
\n\tWhat could you draw hope from in your cur\u00adrent darkness?
\n\tWhen you read John 1:14. Which point appeals to you the most (Word beca\u00adme man; lived among us; full of grace &<\/span> wis\u00addom; glo\u00adry)? Why?
\n\tAt Christ\u00admas we recei\u00adved Jesus Christ in a mega gre\u00adat way \u2013 what is your answer?<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"