Thank you for watching. ¶¶ Hi, I'm Leah, and I'm going to read Luke 2, 8-14. It is for Christ the Lord. Here is how you will know I am telling the truth. You will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a manger. Suddenly, a large group of angels from heaven also appeared. They were praising God. They said, May glory be given to God the pastor here. Dalton, this is the last time we let you lead worship on Christmas Eve. You're going to leave the music stand up there like that, pal. I'll tell right back. everybody. I'm glad that you're here. Merry Christmas to you. This is really, really fun. Christmas Eve service is my favorite service of the year. Every year, I love the energy. I love the singing. If you have children in the room today, do not worry. My sermon is intentionally short and simple. I would call it a message, okay? So it's going to be quick, and that's by design, because I think Christmas Eve, the singing together and all the things that go along with it should really steal the show in the service that we have together. And I'm thrilled that we get to be in person this year. Since last year, we had to do it over video. I was in Atlanta when we had our Christmas Eve service, watching it on the computer. So this is way better, and I'm very glad that everyone is here. As we've been going through December, working towards this Christmas Eve service, we've been doing a series called Renewed Wonder. And in each of the sermons in the series, we've been looking at the Christmas story through the lens, through the eyes of different people involved in the Christmas story. So we've looked at it through the eyes of the shepherds and through the eyes of Mary, and we've looked at it through the eyes of the angels and through Herod and through the wise men. And so today for the Christmas Eve message, I wanted us to take a minute to look week, I was reminded of a story, a poignant memory in my life. I was 21, 22 years old. This was in 2003. I think it was for my 21st birthday. My dad said, hey, for your birthday, I want to get you tickets to any sporting event you want to go to. What sporting event do you want to go to? And I'm like, this is fantastic. And at the time, my biggest interest was women's field hockey. And so we went, no, I'm just messing around. I said, I'd really love to go to a national championship football game. And he said, all right, we can make that happen. So we got tickets to go to the national championship football game. This particular year happened to be in Tempe, Arizona. It was the 2003 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. So we got to go. We took my best friend and his dad. They came along and we went to the Grand Canyon, made a whole weekend out of it. I think the Cheesecake Factory was involved, so you know it was fancy. And then we go to the game. And the game was the game between Miami and Ohio State that went into double overtime. And it's one of the best national championship games ever. And I got to be there. And there was some really, really cool moments during this game. And there was several moments, in fact, and I didn't have a dog in the fight. I don't like Miami. I don't like Ohio State. I don't care. I'm just there for fun. But there were several moments where each fan base thought their team had won the game and were national champions forever, right? And so that crowd goes nuts. And then they find out it was a pass interference, or it gets called back, or that was a fumble, or he actually landed out of bounds, or whatever it was. And then they kind of get deflated. And then a few minutes later, Ohio State thinks they win. And then they find out, no, you didn't. They broke the rules there too. And so it just kept going back and forth into double overtime. And I'm sitting there and I wish I could remember. I tried for the life of me to remember, but I can't remember the specific moment. I can't remember what happened. But something incredible happened, unbelievable. And the whole stadium's going nuts. And I'm thinking to myself, I can't believe I get to be here to see this. This is so cool. And I turn around to kind of share this moment with my dad. My dad had to sit behind us. I don't like to sit on the same row as him. So he had to sit behind us. And I turned around to kind of share this moment with my dad. And you would have thought that there was no one else in the stadium but me, because he was staring right at me, grinning from ear to ear. And it was like in that moment that there was no one else in the stadium. And it dawned on me in real time, his joy is in watching me enjoy his gift. I'm thrilled that all of this is happening and he's thrilled that he's the reason that I'm there while it's happening. And to turn around and see my dad grinning from ear to ear, finding his greatest joy in my enjoyment of his gift, to me is a good picture of how God the Father must have felt when he gave us his good and perfect gift. The book of James tells us that God the Father gives good and perfect gifts from above. And then Matthew tells us that if our earthly fathers know how to give us good gifts, how much better does our heavenly Father know how to give good gifts? And Jesus, we are told, is the good and perfect gift. We hear it over and over in this season that Jesus is the greatest gift of all. And so what must it have been like to be God the Father watching Simeon in the temple experience the joy of meeting the Messiah and seeing Mary and Joseph experience the joy of having the Messiah and bringing life to him and seeing the shepherds respond to the angels and going over to the manger and this progressive revelation of who this Jesus is and what he came to do and watching his creation, who he loves so much, enjoy the gift that he gave to them so perfectly. What must his joy have been like? Well, it had to be something like what I turned around and saw on my dad's face at that football game. And I think it's important to note at Christmas that if we want to see it through the eyes of God, that his greatest joy is in our enjoyment of his gift. God's greatest joy is at our delight in the good things that he places in our life. It's in, pointedly, it's in our delight in his son, Jesus. So as we sing, God delights in these songs. As we praise, I'm going to stop talking in a minute. We're going to do Oh Holy Night. It's my favorite song ever. I love it and I can't wait to sing it. And then we're going to do Silent Night. We're going to do the candles. And if that moves us to joy, if we feel any tinge of delight there at God the Father and his gifts in our life, then he is taking enjoyment in that as well. He is delighting in us as we delight in him. His greatest joy is to watch you enjoy the gifts that he's given you. And as I was thinking about this, I was also thinking about this idea that Jesus is the greatest gift ever. And I started wondering, well, why is that the case? If someone were to ask me, why is Jesus the greatest gift, how would I explain it? And I think that I would explain it like this, that Jesus is the greatest gift because he gives us everything that we want and need before we even realize that we want and need it. He provides for us everything that we want and need before we even realize that we want and need it. 2,000 years before any of us existed, he died on the cross for our sins before any of us ever knew that our sins would require a death. He does things for us without us even knowing his goodness, without us even having a full revelation of what he's actually doing in our lives. And to know Jesus and to accept the gift of Jesus is to see him get better and better and to have this kind of progressive revelation at how good Jesus actually is and how perfect of a gift he actually was. I think it kind of works like this check that I received a couple Christmases back. A few Christmases ago, it was in December and I think there was a men's Bible study or something. And then afterwards, one of the guys handed me a card, an envelope with a card inside of it, which is typical for people to do for their pastor. If you're here and you haven't done that for your pastor. But that happens from time to time, right? And so he hands me a card. I'm like, okay, great, thanks. And I go back to my office. And then at some point that morning, I open it up and there's a nice message. Merry Christmas to you and your family and blah, blah, blah. And all the stuff that you say. And then there's a check. And I'm like, this is great. They didn't have to write us a check. That's too, too kind. So I open it up. And there's a two and some zeros. And I'm like, they gave us a check for $200? That's too much. I mean, I'm going to accept it, but that's too much. And then I look and I'm like, oh, yo, there's more zeros here. Oh, oh, this is a check for $20,000 to the church. That's the part of the story I don't like. I wish it was for me. But I'm like, oh my gosh, this is a check for 20 grand. This isn't $200. The longer I looked at it, the better it got. That's how Jesus is. The longer we look at him, the longer we experience him, the more we learn about him, the more layers we peel off, the better he gets. Because he provides for us everything that we want and need before we even realize that's what he's doing. Here's how that works. If I could talk to you, we could just sit down and I could say, hey, what do you want out of life? We would all have different answers and say different things and have different ways of phrasing the same small group of ideas, right? If I could sit with someone who's just starting out their career and say, hey, what do you want in life? You would probably tell me there's other, you want family, you want wealth, you want whatever, but you would probably at some point or another land at success. I'd like to be successful. And if you really think about that, why do you want to be successful? Well, if you get to the heart of the matter, you probably want to be successful. I know that this is true for me because I want to prove myself. Because you want to accomplish and you want to perform and you want to be validated and you want to move up and you want to get to the end of your career and the end of your life and look back and be proud of who you are and what you did. You want your career and the people around you to say, you're enough, you're good, you did it. When we chase success, when we prioritize success, if we're being really honest with ourself, a root of that is we just, we want people to tell us we're good enough. And do you know that Jesus tells you over and over again in scripture and in worship and in circumstances that you're enough, that he loves you. And he says, hey, you don't have to perform for me. You don't have to do anything for me. You don't have to close a sale for me. You don't have to be excellent for me. You don't have to overcome for me. You don't have to do anything at all. I love you. You're enough. You can quit trying so hard. And when we learn to rest easy in that, we have what we've wanted all along, which is this validation for the creator of the universe to tell us that we're enough. Maybe we want wealth. Maybe we just want a little bit more money. I don't know what your idea of wealth is. We have different ideas of it. I'm not saying that necessarily you want a level of wealth where you have a yacht off of Fiji. I mean, maybe you do. Maybe that's your goal, and that's great. But maybe you just want enough to do whatever it is you want to do. But if one of the things we want from life is wealth, you know what's really behind that desire is a desire for a sense of security and safety, and I'm going to be okay. There's no greater security than Jesus. There's no greater security than resting easy in the sovereignty of God and knowing that Jesus has paid the price for your sins and there is nothing that can happen to you that he does not ordain. There's no greater security than Christ. Maybe we want a good marriage. We want to be loved. I just want to have a good family. Do you know that the thing that makes a marriage the healthiest is in a marriage when you are fully seen and fully known? All your nooks and crannies, all the bad parts, all the good parts, you are fully seen and exposed to your partner and yet still fully loved. That's what good marriage is. Do you know who sees you fully? Everything about you more than any human can ever see? Christ. He knows you deeply and he loves you. That validating love is found in him. You could give me anything that you wanted out of life and I promise you I could walk you through and show you that's actually found in Jesus. You may not realize that yet, but that's actually found in Jesus. So the longer we gaze at Jesus, the more zeros show up on that check and the better we realize he is. That's what we want. What about the things that we need that we may not realize just yet? I believe that we were created, that there is a longing in our souls for eternity. We're told that God wrote eternity on our hearts. We know that this life, there is something that tells us as we go through life and we see all the things we see, that this life isn't all that there is. We know that intuitively in our souls and our guts. We know it. And we yearn for eternity. And Jesus secures us that eternity. In our guts we know that we were created. And in our souls we long for harmony with this creator God. It's a thing that's designed into each one of us to long for harmony with our creator God, and Jesus provides that harmony. Our souls, and we know this now, and the stress and the strife of 2020 and 2021, our souls long for rest. They need it. We need a place to lay down. Jesus won us that rest with his death. The more we gaze at Jesus, the better he gets. The more we understand about Jesus, the more joy we can take in the gift that we received. So as we look to see Christmas through the eyes of the Father, let us acknowledge that his joy is found in our enjoyment of his good and perfect gift. And his good and perfect gift is good and perfect because it provides for us, Jesus provides for us, everything we could ever possibly want or need even before we know we want or need it. So my invitation to you at Christmas and my prayer for you is to simply accept this gift that God offers. If you've never accepted this gift, if you've never accepted Jesus, I pray that this is the season that you'll do that. If you have accepted Christ, I pray that in this season you will have a progressive revelation and just keep seeing more and more zeros and understand more and more about who Jesus is and what he does and how he provides for you all the things that you want or need, even before you know you want or need them. And in that way, let's take joy in the gift that the Father has given us this Christmas. I'm going to pray, and we're going to sing O Holy Night together. Father, thanks so much for who you are, for how you love us, for how good you are to us. Thank you for your good and perfect gift. Thank you for Jesus. God, if there are people here who don't know you, I pray that they would want to. God, if there are people here who have maybe held you at arm's length for whatever reason, I pray that you would help us see that you really are what we've been clawing for this whole time. God, let us receive you into our lives more and more. Let us gaze at your son more and more. Let us be overwhelmed by the layers of goodness that are revealed in his presence. And this Christmas, God, let us find joy in your good gifts so that you might delight in us. It's in your son's name we pray. Amen.