Matt Chandler - Advent of Love

Hey, how are y’all doing? Y’all doing all right? Okay, if you have your Bibles, go ahead and grab them. I took a pretty big risk going to John 3:16 and 17, especially since what I’m trying to do is get you not to be so familiar with this story that we blow past it. It’s a big risk. So, what I want to do is spend a little time in the story that precedes these two verses so I can embed it in its context. I think that way it will have a little more punch. If you have a device, or if not, I believe there’s a hardback Bible around you somewhere, so grab that. I just want to point out some verses that precede John 3:16 and 17.

Now, I think—I’m not convinced, but I think, the older I get, the more convinced I become that in every married couple, there’s one who is weak in Christmas and one who is strong in Christmas. What I mean by weak and strong is not that one likes it a lot and one doesn’t like it; I’m saying there’s a target one that the kids have—that if they apply enough pressure and come at him or her the right way, they might be able to open up all those presents on Christmas Eve. There’s one who’s like, «No, they’re the traditionalist; come what may, it’s Christmas morning.» Then there’s the weak one. In my house growing up, Dad, I hope you’re listening: 100% my dad! I think my dad was just curious about what he bought us. Moms, I see you! Moms, like Dad, just got really excited and wanted to know what he actually got us for Christmas. So, we would target my dad starting Christmas Eve—just one, just one, just one! Jim, we just tried to wear him down, just tried to steal his resolve, thinking we could provoke his curiosity to the point where he would be so excited about learning what he got us that we might get all that done on Christmas Eve.

So, whether it was Christmas Eve or Christmas morning, my parents would hand out the presents. Then what happened next looked a little bit like something you’ve seen on the National Geographic channel, like lions and antelopes. I mean, we were just tearing in like it was incredible. There wasn’t order; it was absolute anarchy. Then I got married, and if the Chandler family looked like National Geographic, the Walker family looks like The Great British Bake Off. There were discussions like, «Are we going to use this paper again? Are we going to save this bow?» I’m like, «What?» So, it’s divvied up; it’s one at a time. «Please be careful with that bow! One at a time, be careful with the paper.» I mean, opening presents takes right around seven days—it’s nearly a literal 12 days of Christmas! That’s what it is.

What I want to try to do today is to slow us down a little bit. I just want to slow us down because this thing that we’re celebrating, this thing that we’re turning our attention to, is the most magnificent, ridiculous, unbelievable thing that you could ever dream up. Right? That the second person of the Trinity, co-eternal with the Father, has always been and will always be, put on flesh and blood, how humiliated, and dwelt among us—that’s crazy! The active force of all creation puts on this frail thing and dwells among us. See, I just think that’s crazy, and I think we’re moving so fast—we’re like National Geographic tearing it all open—that we haven’t stopped to marvel. I want to try this morning to root you in something, to slow us down just enough to consider how crazy all of this is. Because it is ridiculous, and without the help of the Spirit, we’ll never be able to get it. We’ll never be able to grasp it.

So, let me bring you to our passage. What immediately precedes John 3:16 and 17 is the story of a man named Nicodemus who comes to see Jesus in the middle of the night. He’s a good guy, man. In fact, one of my favorite things that the show The Chosen has done is display Nicodemus in his humanity, in a way that I think is really helpful for us to consider how Nicodemus might have wrestled with what Jesus was doing and what he was saying, and what he was kind of seeking when he ducked out in the middle of the night to find Jesus.

Here’s what we know about Nicodemus: if you have your Bibles open, I’m not— you can just listen to me talk, but the Bible’s better than listening to me talk. So in verse one, here’s what we read about Nicodemus: he is a ruler of the Jews. Now, that’s a loaded phrase. Here’s what we know from that phrase: he is a member of the Sanhedrin. Now, the Romans didn’t know quite what to do with the Jews—they were monotheistic, which you and I think, «Of course!» No, no, that was not a popular deal in the ancient Near East. In fact, it was a threatening deal in the ancient Near East.