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Jesus for All Who Need Him: Christmas Eve · Beyond the Sermon

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  You're listening to Beyond the Sermon, the podcast of First
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  Methodist Church in Collingswood, NJ.
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  On our podcast, the goal is not just to share the sermons we've
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  preached, but to go beyond the sermon and talk about what we're
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  learning and what God is doing in US and in our community.
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  For Advent 2025 we are in a series called Brought to the
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  Light, Advent for all who need it.
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  This series is looking at the themes of Advent and how Jesus
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  comes to us all. You can find more information
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  about our church at fumccollingswood.org.
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  Thanks for listening. I want you to close your eyes
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  for just a moment and think back over the years to your very
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  favorite Christmas present that you ever received.
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  All right, go ahead. You got it in your mind.
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  OK, You can open your eyes. It just helps you think for a
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  minute. I want to hear a few of them
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  shout out a few of your favorite gifts.
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  Easy bake oven, sewing machine, a bicycle, a guitar, all kinds
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  of good stuff. That's great.
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  Chances are, chances are that. Whatever the gifts you thought
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  of was, it was something that you wanted rather than something
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  you needed, right? When I think back over some of
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  the best Christmas presents that I have received, rarely do the
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  gifts that I needed rank near the top of the list, right?
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  It's not the new belt that I needed, or the kitchen appliance
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  that replaces the one that burnt out, or the proverbial socks and
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  underwear, right? They they don't often make it to
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  the top of the list. It was the gifts that I wanted
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  that stick out in my mind, The things I wouldn't have
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  necessarily gotten for myself. The things that seemed maybe a
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  bit indulgent, sometimes even the things I didn't know I
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  wanted until I had it, right. And there's a reason for this,
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  right? It's because there's a
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  difference between a want and a need, even if society has
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  blurred the lines of distinction between the two.
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  Wants are nice. Needs are necessary.
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  This whole Advent season, our sermon series has been focused
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  on some of the needs that we have.
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  Our need for hope and peace and joy and love.
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  And we've talked about how those needs can only really be met in
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  Jesus. We've talked about how Jesus
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  doesn't just bring us hope and peace and joy and love.
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  He is hope. He is peace and joy and love.
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  He is our hope. He is our peace and joy and
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  love. And it's in the person of Jesus,
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  the God who put on our humanity, our flesh and bones, and and
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  entered into the world that he created, that the deepest needs
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  of our souls are met. And so the title for this
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  sermon, Jesus for all who need him.
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  It's a little bit tongue in cheek because the reality is,
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  friends, we all need him, right? Who among us doesn't need hope
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  and peace and joy and love? So God came to us and God came
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  for us. I love how the gospel writer
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  John describes God's coming to us in the person of Jesus.
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  Spoiler alert though, because in John's reflection on the
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  incarnation, that is Jesus taking on our our flesh and
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  bones. In John's version, there are no
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  angels, there are no shepherds, there's no stable or Manger.
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  John doesn't even talk about Mary and Joseph.
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  So I want you to listen to how John talks about God's coming
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  into the world. And John calls him here the
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  Word, right? So when you hear the Word,
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  you're thinking about the second person of the Trinity.
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  Here it is from John chapter 1, beginning in verse one.
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  In the beginning, the Word already existed.
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  Tim, can we throw that up there? As I read it, the Word was with
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  God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with
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  God. God created everything through
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  Him, and nothing was created except through Him.
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  The Word gave life to everything that was created, and His life
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  brought light to everyone. The light shines in the
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  darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.
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  God sent a man, John the Baptist, to tell about the light
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  so that everyone might believe. Because of his testimony, John
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  himself was not the light. He was simply a witness to tell
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  about the light. The one who is the true light,
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  who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.
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  He came into the very world he created, but the world didn't
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  recognize him. He came to his own people and
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  even they rejected him. But to all who believed him and
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  accepted him, He gave the right to become children of God.
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  They are reborn not with a physical birth resulting from
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  human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.
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  So the Word became human, and He made his home among us.
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  He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness and we have
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  seen His glory, the glory of the Father's one and only Son, the
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  God who created everything, that is the God who gives light to
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  all of creation. He was coming into the world.
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  John tells us the the word of God.
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  Remember, that's how John describes God the Son, the
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  second person in the Trinity, the the word of God who was with
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  God, who was God. The word became human, He took
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  on our humanity and he made his home among us.
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  He literally, it says he literally pitched his tent among
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  us. And it's in him, in Jesus, that
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  we've been given the fullest revelation of God's glory and
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  his character who God is. The baby born in Bethlehem,
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  swaddled in some some rags, some clothes, lying in the Manger,
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  was the God who came for us. The Word taking on our humanity
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  and becoming Jesus was the eternal light shining into the
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  darkness which could never and can never be extinguished.
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  He is the one we need, each of us, all of us, no exceptions.
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  And John says that Jesus was full of unfailing love and
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  faithfulness or or grace and truth, as some translations put
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  it. And he came for us.
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  He is Jesus for all who need him.
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  And friends, that's all of us, right?
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  Because he knew that there was no other way that we could come
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  to him. Because he knew that sin had
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  broken us and we couldn't heal ourselves.
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  Because even when we didn't want him, we still needed him.
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  And on that holy night, the night of our dear Savior's
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  birth, the light shone in the darkness, and God gave us the
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  greatest gift He could have ever given us.
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  He gave us Himself. And Jesus was born for us all,
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  because we all need Him. Amen.
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  And then would you pray with me? And then I'm going to invite
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  Christine and Arya to come and and sing some special music for
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  us tonight. God, we are so grateful that you
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  were willing to come to us to redeem us and save us because we
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  could never make our way back to you on our own.
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  We needed you and so you gave yourself to us, and tonight we
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  want to give ourselves to you in response to all that you've
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  done. We want to offer our love back
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  to you because you loved us first.
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  Thank you for taking the first step toward us even when we
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  couldn't even step towards you. Thank you for giving us the gift
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  of your son. We pray this all in Jesus name,
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  Amen.