Every December, we’re surrounded by images of Christmas: lights, trees, cozy drinks, and of course, a big guy in a red suit who somehow knows if every kid has been naughty or nice.
Most of it is fun. I’m not anti-tree, anti-lights, or anti–hot cocoa. But if we started with the original Christmas story in Bethlehem and tried to explain our version of Christmas to an angel, it would sound pretty strange.
To poke at that a bit, we opened this week’s message with a clip from Nate Bargatze’s “nativity scene” bit. It’s a funny way to highlight how odd some of our Christmas traditions would sound if all you knew was the story of Jesus’ birth.
The question underneath all the humor is this:
Underneath all the extra stuff that makes Christmas “Christmas,” what are you actually recalibrating your life around this year?
Because whether we realize it or not, most of us do let something shape our priorities in December: sentiment, nostalgia, “being nicer,” consuming a little less or giving a little more. None of that is evil, but none of it is enough to anchor your life for eternity.
Advent is the church’s way of slowing down and saying, “Let’s not just celebrate that Jesus came. Let’s remember why He came.”
In John 1:14–18, we get one of the clearest answers.
“The Word Became Flesh and Pitched His Tent Among Us”
John writes:
“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us…” (John 1:14)
The word translated “dwelt” is a camping word. It literally means “to pitch a tent.” John is saying, “The eternal Word – God Himself – took on flesh and moved in with us.”
For John’s original readers, that word would immediately echo the Old Testament tabernacle: the tent in the middle of God’s people where His presence dwelt and where heaven and earth seemed to meet.
John’s point is huge:
Jesus is the new and better tabernacle.
Not God in a tent of fabric, but God in a body of flesh and bone.
This is what Christians mean by “the incarnation.” God didn’t love the world from a distance. He didn’t shout instructions from heaven and wait for us to climb our way up to Him. He came down. He “moved into the neighborhood” so we could experience His mercy and grace right where we actually live.
So a good Advent question is:
Do you mostly think of Jesus as a distant religious figure who lives in your “Sunday space” or “Christmas space”?
Or as Someone who has truly moved into the middle of your everyday rhythms?
Glory You Can See: Full of Grace and Truth
John continues:
“We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)
“Glory” in the Bible is God’s weight, beauty, and radiant holiness. In the Old Testament, Moses was told that no one could see God’s face and live.
Yet John says, “We observed his glory.”
How?
Because under the ordinary appearance of a Jewish carpenter, the disciples came to realize they were walking with the very presence of God. They saw glimpses of it in moments like the Transfiguration, when Jesus’ face shone like the sun and His clothes became white as light.
But notice how John describes this glory:
“Full of grace and truth.”
Not just awe and power.
Not God as a vague spiritual force.
But a Person whose glory is deeply relational and moral.
He tells the truth about sin.
He never withholds compassion.
Grace and truth together in one face.
Grace Upon Grace: Not a Tiny Dose You’d Better Not Waste
John goes on:
“Indeed, we have all received grace upon grace from his fullness, for the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (John 1:16–17)
The picture is like waves hitting the shore: one wave of grace, then another, and another. Not a single, fragile dose you’d better not waste, but a continual supply that can’t be exhausted because Jesus is full of grace.
John contrasts this with the law given through Moses:
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The law was good. It revealed God’s standard and exposed sin.
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But the law could not transform a heart or make anyone right with God.
You could say it like this:
The law says, “Do this and live.”
Grace says, “Jesus has done this. Now live.”
If you are someone who has decided to trust Jesus, it’s easy to believe in grace at the beginning and then spend the rest of your life living as if everything now depends on you.
“If I could just read more, serve more, finally quit this habit, then God would really be pleased with me…”
The message of John 1 is that real change grows out of receiving grace in those exact places, not just trying harder to fix yourself.
Jesus Is What God Has to Say About God
John finishes this section with a bold claim:
“No one has ever seen God. The one and only Son, who is himself God and is at the Father’s side—he has revealed him.” (John 1:18)
Every person and every religion has to face the same problem: God is invisible. None of us has seen Him. So where do our ideas about God come from?
Family.
Past experiences.
Church traditions.
Movies, podcasts, social media.
Left on our own, our picture of God will always be blurry and often wrong. We might imagine Him as:
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An angry judge
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A distant force
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A soft grandfather who never confronts anything
John says the only clear picture is Jesus.
In other words, if your idea of God doesn’t look like Jesus – full of grace and truth, honest about sin yet never withholding compassion – it isn’t yet the God John is talking about.
And here’s why that matters:
The way you picture God looking at you will determine whether you move toward Him in trust or keep Him at a distance.
How Do We Respond This Advent?
John gives us a simple, powerful picture:
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The Word became flesh and pitched His tent among us.
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We have seen His glory, full of grace and truth.
So what do we do with that?
1. Receive the first gift of Christmas – Jesus Himself
Before the miracles, before the cross, before the empty tomb, God gave His Son.
If God has mostly been a vague idea or a distant power for you, this season can be a moment where you respond personally to what God has done through Jesus to rescue and restore you.
That response might sound as simple as:
“Jesus, I believe you are the Word who became flesh. I believe you lived, died, and rose so that I could be forgiven and made new. I bring you my sin and my attempts to fix myself. I want to receive your grace and follow you.”
Not magic words. Just honest faith in the One who moved toward you first.
2. Walk in the pattern of Jesus’ incarnation
If you already trust Jesus, Advent isn’t just about remembering that God came near. It’s also about asking how His nearness reshapes the way you live with others.
A simple question for this week is:
“Lord, where are you inviting me to live more incarnationally?”
In other words, where is He asking you to show up with grace and truth in real relationships?
To make it concrete, you might:
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Name one person, or
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Name one place
where you will be intentionally “with” this week. Not as a project, but as someone who actually shows up, listens, tells the truth, and extends grace.
Because Jesus didn’t only come so you could go to heaven someday. He came so His life could take root in you now, so that everywhere you go, every day you live, to everyone you meet, there would be a living reminder of the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us.
Soli Deo Gloria.
-Pastor Phil