12/4 Sermon: Christmas at Family, Part 1

It now being December...and with Jesus being the 'Christ' in Christmas, The Family Church, which I attend here in Gainesville, is embarking on a new series centering on the nature and character of Jesus.  The first sermon, delivered last Sunday by Pastor Philip Griffin, focuses on passages from the Gospel of John, Chapter One and is titled "Truths About Jesus".  Here are those Bible verses, in the New International Version by means of the Bible Gateway website:

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was with God in the beginning. ³ Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ⁴ In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

¹⁰ He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. ¹¹ He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. ¹² Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— ¹³ children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
¹⁴ The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Pastor Philip uses these verses to present a picture of Jesus: he has always existed, is with God and is God, is the source of life, is the answer to the world's darkness, suffered and died so that we might live, and knows all my struggles...in the pastor's words.  These are all statements requiring faith, something doctrinal in nature and not to be wrestled with through a lot of precise reasoning.  This is especially true with the "is with God and is God" part, which is part of the doctrine of the Trinity that was a matter of major dispute in the first centuries of the church and is still challenged by some groups, which as a result are often regarded as not being truly Christian by the trinitarian churches.  I have to admit to being a little uncomfortable discussing these types of messages, because it has been my experience that, whether I am speaking to someone of another faith or just a non-believer...or even to a fellow Christian with their own arrangement of opinions on the issue, that doctrinal matters expressed in any degree of detail tend to either go nowhere or end in an argument.  That's just my own experience speaking, and yours may be different.  But our pastor picked just the right passage to begin this series about Jesus and I'm looking forward to the next sermon...

If you're interested in seeing this message for yourself, here is a link to my church's YouTube video website: [link]