Every Wednesday morning I have the awesome blessing of speaking at Veritas Christian School during chapel. Below is the manuscript from Chapel on December 18th answering the question: what does it really mean that Jesus, God the Son, was born on Earth?

Y’all, Christmas is in 7 days! And I’m super excited! Are you? Why? What excites you the most about Christmas? (answers included: Jesus’s birth!, presents!, visiting family and friends, eating!) Wow, those are great answers!

What excites me the most is getting to celebrate Jesus in a special way. I worship Him every day, and we gather each week to learn from His Word together, but Christmas is an extra special time of remembering the amazing, true story of His birth and celebrating the Savior coming into the world. That’s what we’re going to talk about today. We’re going to answer the question what does it really mean that Jesus, God’s Son, was born on Earth?

Let’s start in John 1…

1-2In the beginning was the Word, and the Word with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.

14And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Jesus, one of the three members of the Trinity, God the Son, was never created. He has always existed, eternal just like the Father and the Spirit. So where was He before He was born on Earth? (a short pause before a few said “Heaven!”) That’s right! Jesus was in Heaven, so He left there to be born as a baby here.

What do you know about Heaven? (some answers were no crying, no murder, nothing harmful, gold streets, angels, perfectness…)

So Jesus, God of the universe, Creator and Ruler of all things left THERE and came here…where dust, splinters, aches, pains, crime, brokenness, and sin all exist. He came as a BABY. Jesus didn’t step out of Heaven as a grown man in white, shinning robes with golden crowns and jewels. Nope. He came as a baby to common-folk parents.

What do you know about babies? (answers included: they smell, they can’t talk right away, they have to learn to walk, they poo in their pants, they cry) Exactly! Jesus knew all of that about babies too, before He came, and He chose to be born as one! Our holy and righteous God was a baby. He grew up into a man, never sinning once in all his 30-something years. Jesus knew that He’d be leaving perfect Heaven to come to broken Earth as a helpless baby, unable to talk and walk for a while, growing up to adulthood, and teaching and preaching things that would lead to His death on the cross.

Why? Why would Jesus sacrifice so much, humble Himself in this way?

Colossians 1:21-22 tells us:

And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, He has now reconciled in His body of flesh [which He took on when He was born] by His death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before Him.

Reconciliation. Redemption. Christ came and died to bring peace between us and God. Sin separates us from God, but Jesus’s life and death bring us back together with God.

Philippians 2:5-11 also gives us a perfect picture of Christmas:

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Jesus left Heaven and came to Earth to live and die so that you and I could be saved from eternal punishment of our sin. When the angel announced Jesus’s birth to the shepherds in the field, he said “I bring you good news of great joy. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10-11).

We celebrate Christmas every year to remember the day that God kept His promise of a Messiah by sacrificing Himself and to hope for His return. When you wake up Christmas morning, take a moment to remember Jesus and what He gave. It’s bigger than a baby in a manger. When you open your presents, remember that Jesus received presents too, because the wisemen believed in who He is. When you visit family and friends, remember that the shepherds visited Jesus and worshiped Him the night He was born. And the wisemen traveled a great distance to see Him.

The Word became flesh and lived with us, humbled Himself and died on a cross for the redemption of those who trust in Him for salvation. Good news of great joy!

Merry Christmas!