verse 1 and we'll read through verse 14. John chapter 1 verse 1 through verse 14 for a regular scripture reading today. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him and apart from him nothing. came into being, that has come into being. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. There came a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify about the light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but he came to testify about the light. There was the true light which coming into the world enlightens every man. He was in the world and the world was made through him and the world did not know him. He came to his own and those who were his own did not receive him. But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become the children of God, even to those who believe in his name, who were born not of the blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. May the Lord strengthen us and help us as we read and understand His Word together. Let's bow our heads for prayer. Father, we thank you that we can again commit all of our time to you, our time in worship, our time studying your word, our time praying or singing hymns or celebrating communion or Advent. We come today asking for your grace and your guidance and your help. Will you open the eyes of our understanding? Open us so that we take all in the things that you have for us this morning. We pray thanking you for the Holy Spirit who is to be our teacher in Jesus name. Amen. Back in the summer in June, I had the opportunity to go to General Assembly. And when I was at the General Assembly meeting in Nashville, I got to see my old friend Peter Jones. Peter is from Liverpool, England. And he grew up with John Lennon of the Beatles. They went to the same schools, grew up in the same neighborhood. Peter and John both came to the United States in 1964, but they came for very different reasons, didn't they? Peter came to get his seminary training, and John came to make music, to make his fortune in the music business. Peter was telling me that he had written a new book. And Peter's book is on Romans one and it's called one or two. Seeing makes a world of difference. Now, I had to get Peter's book to read about what he said, because, you know, Peter has spent the last number of his years studying. The uniqueness of Jesus Christ and the uniqueness of the Christian faith. And you know, what we're celebrating today is the uniqueness of the Christian faith. When we come to Advent season, when we come to communion, we're celebrating the uniqueness of the Lord Jesus Christ, that he's the only Savior, that he is the only Savior of the world. The other religions in the world have a worship, they have a worship agenda, and they talk about serving God. But do they know and serve the God of the Bible? Do they embrace the salvation that's spoken to us in Holy Scripture? The world's answer to religious faith is pretty simple. And their answer to religious faith, whether it's Hinduism, Buddhism, paganism, animism, or folk Islam, is to worship the God either that's in them, they think, the God inside, in other words, to worship self, or to worship the God that's outside of them, the God that's in nature. Now, we see this in some of the people who are very avid environmentalists. They worship nature, and therefore anything that is hurt in nature is an affront to them. Many believe in all of these other religions, whether it's Buddhism, paganism, Hinduism, or animism, or folk Islam, that God is one, God is all, and God is everything. God is the one unifying substance. God is the one power behind nature. You know, if you saw the movie Avatar a couple of years ago that was made up so much in the press, That movie talks about a force behind nature that controls is in everything and is part of everything and ties everything together. That's what the world worships, isn't it? It's not just James Cameron or Star Wars, the force in Star Wars. It's many in Buddhism, Hinduism, paganism. And even in Islam, when I go to West Africa, the people are worshipping the spirits in the trees and in nature. They're worshipping animistic spirits. Now, we Christians are different. We worship the unique son of God who is revealed to us in scripture. We worship the one who is revealed to us here in John chapter one. In John 1 it says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. In the beginning was the Word. In John 1.14 it says, He was the One that became flesh and lived among us. This One that we worship is the One, not a God far off. But the God who took on human flesh, he understood what it was like to be human and to suffer. He lived where we live. He ate the food that we eat. He experienced sickness and hunger and sleepless nights. He experienced rejection and hurts and pain. He came to live in our world to experience the things that we experience. He was the one full of grace and truth. He was the one that existed from the very beginning. And yet he exists today and he always will. Now, in the original language, the Greek word for word is Logos. And it's interesting that God allowed even the pagan philosophers of 500 years before Christ to talk about the Logos, the word. the very word that's used here in John 1. Many of the people in that culture followed a famous philosopher by the name of Heraclitus. Heraclitus believed that the world was in a constant state of change, but that that change was controlled, and he believed that the change followed a pattern which he called the Logos, the word. To him, nothing was without design or purpose. In other words, everything in creation had a purpose. That sounds familiar, doesn't it? And he believed that the plan behind everything was called Logos, or Word. Now, the Stoics who came after him, several years after him, also believed what he believed. And they said that the Logos was the power that set up the world and kept it in perfect order. Now, these people aren't Christians. These people were, this was a broad philosophy that was embraced at the time, 500 years before Christ. And yet, look how God used that. When John comes along, he knows what the people are thinking. And so when he writes his gospel, the Holy Spirit led him to write, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word Was. In the beginning. In the very beginning. Because you see the one we worship is not nature. The one we worship is not a force, but the one we worship is the one revealed to us who was there with the father in the beginning. John said. The one in the beginning is the one we worship. Today, as in John's day, people wanted to worship the gods of nature. They wanted to worship the impersonal force behind nature. And yet the Christian message is that God is not an impersonal force. God is not unknowable, as many of the Eastern religions teach. The Eastern religions teach that God is so far out there and that it's so far away that he has nothing to do or very little to do with us. God's almost a philosophy to them. But God revealed himself to us in Scripture, and he sent his son, the true Logos, the true word, and this word is eternal. He was there in the beginning. He never had a beginning. He always was. He always is. He always will be. Nature had a beginning. Creation had a beginning. So nature can't be God, because nature and creation had a beginning and had a time when God spoke them into existence. All things came into being through him, the one who was there in the beginning. He created nature so we can't worship nature. We can think that nature's important, it is, and we want to take care of things in nature, but we don't worship nature because nature is not God. God is above nature because he created it. You know, the potter is greater than the vase that he makes, isn't he? And the architect is greater than the building that he creates, that he draws, and that he sees built in front of his eyes. He's greater than that. The building is just an it or a thing. But the architect of that building is one that knows far more and he's greater than that. So nature is not God. God is the one who created nature. We don't worship nature. We're thankful for it. We use it. We enjoy it. We see God's hand in it, but we don't worship it. Have you ever noticed when you turn on the Weather Channel or when you pick up Smithsonian or National Geographic that they start talking about, you know, they talk about billions and billions of years ago and they talk about all of how Mother Nature knew certain things. Like sometimes you hear, Mother Nature knew that we were going to have these droughts in the summertime. So Mother Nature designed it so that the hurricane season would come along and drench this part of the world in rain. And so the rain comes to undo the force of the drought. Mother Nature knew this and so created all this for us. Mother Nature is not a creator. Mother Nature isn't it. It's not a person. It's don't think. People think. The personal God is the one that created this world. He's the one that knew that we would have droughts. He's the one that allows us to be thirsty so that we'll appreciate the water, the rain that comes down from heaven. When I go to Senegal, it does not rain from November till June. When you see it rain, you appreciate the rain over there. When you see it rain, you rejoice because that means the rainy season is starting. And that means the crops are going to grow again. And they're going to be able to plant millets and peanuts and the things that are going to grow. And there will be green where there is dry, dusty fields with nothing in it but sand and dirt and dust. Then you can come in the rainy season and you look and you see it grow up. And you see the beauty. You see the greenery. You see the plants come to life and the flowers. Nature is created by God. Nature did not create. Nature does not decide about things. If you have your Bibles open, turn with me to Proverbs. Let's look at Proverbs chapter 8. I want to read verse 22 for you. Proverbs chapter 8. I want to read verses 22 to 30. And I want you to listen and notice what it says here. Proverbs chapter 8, verse 22. The Lord possessed me in the beginning of His way, before His works of old. From everlasting I was established, from the beginning, from the earliest times of the earth. When there were no depths, I was brought forth. When there were no springs abounding with water, before the mountains were settled, before the hills I was brought forth. While he had not yet made the earth and the fields, nor the first dust of the world, when he established the heavens I was there, when he inscribed a circle on the face of the deep, when he made firm the skies above, when the springs of the deep became fixed, When he had set to the sea its boundaries so that the water would not transgress his command, when he had marked out the foundations of the earth, then I was beside him as a master workman, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him." Notice the picture of who that is. Pure wisdom, God the Word, God the Son. He said, I was there in the very beginning. I was the workman, the architect that carried it out before there was a circle inscribed on the face of the deep, before the skies were placed, before there was a boundary between earth and heaven. He was there and he made it. The unique son of God is the word who creates and controls all things. He is unique in His relationship to the Father. In John chapter 1 and verse 14, it says, And the Word became flesh and dwelled among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father. Jesus is the only begotten Son, the only begotten of the Father. He is unique. He's not only the Creator, but He is the unique Son of God, the only one that proceeds from the Father. The word powerful and eternal, the only begotten from the father, the only one. Remember, John wrote this gospel to tell us about the Lord Jesus Christ. He wants us to see that Jesus is the word that was there in eternity past. He wants us to see that Jesus was the creator of the world and that his creative work. Made everything that has come into existence. He wants us to see that Jesus is unique, the only begotten of the Father. He wants us to see that he's the God-man. Verse 14 said, the word became flesh. This one who was there in the beginning was no longer spirit, but he took on himself a body. He took to himself a human nature. And you know, he's still got that, doesn't he? He's still got a human body. He's got a resurrected human body, but he's got a body that can be seen and touched just like the disciples did after the resurrection. The one who took on a body still has it. He has a resurrected body. He is unique. Muhammad is not unique. He lived and he died. Buddha They've made these huge things over there, but he's a legend. Do you want to worship ancestors or legends or people who can't even keep from dying? Die, his grave's with us. But where's the grave of Jesus? He's raised up in victory. Death could not hold him, the acts of the apostles tell us. The power of death could not hold him down, but he broke the power of death and sin for us. And that's what we celebrated this morning when we came to the table. The word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father. And then it says in verse 14 that he took on flesh. And when it uses that taking on flesh, it says he tented among us. Now, a tent, we think of a tent as being a small thing, but the tabernacle, the tent that they thought of was a big thing. The tabernacle that they had in the middle of the camp, you remember when they were wandering in the wilderness and they always set up the tabernacle in the middle of the camp? The tabernacle in the middle of the camp symbolized that God's presence was right there with them. When Moses would go into that tent, he would talk to God and the presence of God would descend on that place. And there would be this powerful interaction between the servant of God and God. God was right there in the middle of them, and that's exactly what John is saying. He's saying, Jesus, the Word, came down and tended and tabernacled among us. In other words, he lived right here. When we walk over in the Holy Land, we can walk in the Holy Land and say, We're in Capernaum. Jesus was here. We're in Bethlehem. Jesus was born here. We're in Jerusalem. Jesus died here. There is Gordon's Calvary, the place where many believe that the hills were where Calvary, where the cross was. He came and lived and lived among us. He died there and we know that he rose and tabernacled among us. Jesus is the new tabernacle, he is the presence of God among his people. His name shall be called Emmanuel, for God is with us. God's not far off. He's not in some temple with a big Buddhist statue in front of it. God is here with us. He's with us, he's in us. Christ lives in our hearts and lives. The Jesus who speaks to us, the Jesus who has spoken to us in John chapter one is the one who reveals his word to us. And that's why we have the Bible is because he's given us his word of truth so that we know what he intends for us and how he intends for us to live. Jesus is the word, he's the word who came and tabernacled among us. He is the one who came to prove to us that God is with us and he gives us hope. I've got a friend by the name of Doug Tilley. Doug is a pastor in Asheville. And about a year ago, they found out that Doug has Lou Gehrig's disease. And he was telling us at Presbytery that his arms don't do what he wants them to do. They kind of hang there, but they won't follow his commands. But he says, you know what? I've got Lou Gehrig's disease, but I have this marvelous peace because Christ is my hope. And you see, that's where we are, isn't it? We have Christ, who is our hope. He is the one who gives us hope in this life because he's the word who was there in the beginning, because he is the one who came and took on flesh for us, because he's the one who died for us, because he's the one who was resurrected for us, because he is the one who lives with us now. He says, I am with you always, even into the end of the age. We have hope because of this one. Because of this one, Jesus. And he's glorious. You remember how the angels announced his glorious birth? We're going to celebrate that, aren't we? And we sing about glory, glory to God in the highest. Glory to God in the highest. When he stood on the mountain of transfiguration, you remember how scared the three disciples were? They looked at him and they said, Lord, we don't know what to say. Shall we build a tabernacle here? Shall we build a tent for you and Moses and Elijah? This is too much for us. We're afraid. We've seen all this glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. What do we do? The glory of this transfigured Son of God. They saw it. That's what John 1 says. We saw his glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father. Yes, this one was glorious. He is unique. He is the unique savior of the world. Every other religion in the world worships itself or the God within or the God in nature. But the Christian religion, every other religion is worshiping something else. They're worshiping the creature or the created world and not the one who created all of that. There's only one hope for the world, and that hope is Jesus Christ, the word revealed by God the Father. The one that we glory in. The one who is full of grace and truth. He is the only hope in the world. He is the Lamb of God who takes away our sins. John 1 29. So we trust in this unique Savior. He is to be worshiped forever. We don't just worship him on Sundays. We don't just worship him when we have Advent. We don't just worship him when we have Easter services. We worship him all the time. Because he's the unique Savior of the world, the only hope, the only joy. Is he your only hope? Is he your Savior and Lord? Is he the hope that you're sharing with the world around you? Those Jehovah's Witnesses came over and knocked on my door and they were going to tell me about their view of the end times. But they weren't giving me a Savior who died for me. The only hope we have is the Savior who died for us, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Word. In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God and the Word was God. The same was with God. He became flesh and dwelled among us, the Incarnation. And we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. This is the unique Son of God that we worship. And this is the one that we tell about to all the world. Let's pray. Father, we thank you that we can give glory to your son, the Lord Jesus. We thank you that we can celebrate his birth. We thank you that we can celebrate the fact that he has conquered death and hell for us, that he destroyed death and hell for us, that we may die physically, but we're never going to die eternally. We thank you that we go from this place to be immediately into the presence that is your presence, the presence of the holy angels and the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ and with the Holy Spirit. We thank you that we don't have to worry about what happens next, because we know that you are God and all of these things that are made are under your control. We rest today, Father, in the unique Savior that you sent for us, even Jesus. Help us as we celebrate his life, his birth, his death, his resurrection. Be with us this day, we pray, in the mighty, the holy, the wonderful name of our Savior Jesus. Amen. Let's sing. We've got a hymn down the way. Let's sing hymn number 98. Now, thank we all our God. Let's stand and sing this song together, and then we'll receive our morning offer. Hymn number 98. Let's stand and sing. Let's do First and the Last. Thank we all our God with heart and hands and voices. Wondrous things have gone, in whom His holy Child is raised. Who from our Father's arms, hath blest the Son of Man, with countless gifts of love, and still his eyes remain. All praise and thanks to God, God God, earth, and heaven. God's Son and King who reigns with them in highest heaven. of one eternal God. You were like heaven on earth, all that it was is now, and shall be