Salt + Light Fort Worth

Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas.

You know that song?

Uh, A Baby Changes Everything.

It's a Faith Hill song came out
in like the mid two thousands, uh,

had its moment and um, I always
thought it was a Christmas song.

I always thought it was about the
incarnation, but it turns out.

It's just about adjusting
to, uh, postpartum life.

Um,

I'm here today to confirm that a, a
baby does indeed change everything.

Y'all didn't tell me.

You didn't warn me.

We did.

We did.

I didn't know.

I went to church with a bunch of
psychopaths who love punishment and pain.

Some of you have done this.

Twice, three times, four times.

You're all gluttons for punishment.

You're, you're nuts.

Um, I, I don't even know if
I'm physically here right now.

Like I'm not, I'm serious.

Like for all I know right now,
in this moment, I am standing in

my kitchen preaching to cabinets
in a deep, just a deep REM sleep.

Like this is a dream.

This could be a dream.

Um.

That's how, that's how tired I am.

My, my daughter is a terrorist.

She, um, I don't know what
organization she, she works for, but

sleep deprivation is the number one
destabilization tactic she's using.

Um, if I, if I fall, if I pass
out and catch on fire, um, film

it and it might go viral, we'll
put it on on YouTube or something.

Um, no, it's good to be here.

Among, amongst the living.

It's good to be here.

Some of you guys know I was
a theater kid growing up.

I, uh, I studied theater in college,
which is why I have so much money.

Um, and so when Ben asked if I
preach today, I was very excited.

Luke two is the first monologue
that I ever memorized.

So when we were kids,
my mom would have us.

Memorized Luke too, starting with the
boring part about how Caesar determined

that the whole world should be taxed
and the census, and it went all the

way kind of through what we read today.

And so, uh, and then she, she
would film us, reciting it in

front of the Christmas tree.

I was like four.

Um, and so this passage lives
in my heart in a real sweet way.

Like I don't think about it a lot,
but when I hear it or when I read

it, I'm reminded of this time in my
life when this was all new to me.

Like, I didn't really understand
it, but it was a new story to me.

It was fresh.

And so when I was a kid, I, I, I treasured
up all these things in my heart like

Mary did, and they still live there now.

And so, uh, my prayer for us today
is that we would do the same.

That maybe we'd see this in a fresh light
that we'd leave today and ponder these

things and treasure them up in our hearts.

So pray with me if you would.

I know we've prayed a few
times today, but let's.

Let's do it again.

God, thank you so much for,
uh, the chance to be here.

Thank you for this church.

We pray that your word would, uh, ignite a
fire in our hearts, that it would burn in

our hearts as we leave this place today,
and that you would change us and help

us to carry it through, uh, this season.

And we pray for the preacher Lord.

We know his sins are many.

Amen.

So we've been watching a lot
of tv, a lot of movies, right?

When you have a baby, you have
an abundance of free time,

but you have no free time.

So you're, you're, 'cause you're,
you're, you're babysitting

this, this thing, this creature.

And she, and she needs all
of your attention, but you

can't really do anything else.

You're feeding, you're changing,
but you're kind of stuck at home.

You're worried about
germs, all the things.

So we're watching a lot of movies.

It's been great.

The other night we
watched The Family Stone.

You know that movie, the Christmas movie?

Mm-hmm.

Um, hadn't seen it in a while.

And, uh, by the way, if, if you are
emotional and don't watch the Family

Stone, um, it's, it's a, it's a
beautiful, it's a beautiful movie.

I love it because it kind of
shows the sadness that can,

that can be a part of just.

Yeah.

Of, of, of a Christmas season.

Um, but that's just a,
a tip from a tired man.

Um, so Sarah Jessica Parker, she plays
Meredith and she doesn't really fit in.

She's uptight, she tries
to control everything.

She's engaged to Everett, right?

She's, she's going to his
family's house for Christmas to

meet them for the first time.

And, uh, she just can't seem to sort of.

Relax, right?

She's trying so hard to be, uh,
accepted by this group of, of

new people, and it's not working.

Um, they're, they're kind
of judgmental, right?

They, they're very, very close.

Uh, and, and she's new and she has
these weird ticks and she's from the

city and she, you know, whatever.

And so Grace, not, not a person named
Grace, but Grace shows up to her.

When Luke Wilson gets to the house for
Christmas, he's one of their brothers.

His name is Ben.

So Ben shows up and he's kind of
the odd man out in his family.

He, uh, I mean, they love him,
they love him to death, but he's

just, he's a little different.

He's very casual.

He is kind of the stoner brother.

Like, he doesn't really
care what he looks like.

He's just, he's just very chill guy, you
know, and he's, he's extremely genial.

He's very happy.

He's not judgemental.

Um, he's not concerned with his image.

He, he, he doesn't see Meredith
for her differences, right.

The rest of the family does.

He just sees another person and
there's this scene at the dinner table.

There's a lot of awkward scenes with
Meredith in this family, but there's

this very awkward scene where she
kind of gets tripped up and says

some things at the dinner table that
she shouldn't say, and she offends

some people and it gets very tense.

She gets very embarrassed and so she, she
storms off and gets in the car and tries

to leave and, and there's snow on the
ground and she backs the car into a tree.

She's, she's upset, right?

She crashes the car, and so Ben,
like Wilson goes out to the car, kind

of leans in and asks her if she's
okay, gets in the car and says, Hey,

I, I, I, I know where we should go.

So he takes her to a
bar and they just leave.

Uh, takes her to a bar and it cuts to
them sitting in this bar talking, and

they've had drinks, and he's so focused
on her, and he's with her, he's present

with her, and he's relaxed, right?

He's got his arms up on this vinyl,
you know, bench in this old bar,

and she's sitting there kind of
like this, just kind of like,

she, she's still very, very tense.

And he says to her, he says,
Meredith, you know, you.

You have a freak flag.

You just don't fly it.

And he is just trying to
tell her like, I, I see you.

I know that you're not this, I know
there's more to you than this person.

And he tells her, you should
just try to relax a little bit.

And in a very funny, painfully awkward
attempt, she, you gotta watch it.

She's like, it's like a scarecrow.

She kind of goes.

And she puts her arms up on
the vinyl and she's so all of

her mo, she just can't do it.

She cannot chill out.

And I wonder if you ever feel that way,
do you ever feel that despite having an

understanding or maybe knowing that God
loves you, you just can't let yourself

relax, especially around the holidays?

Are you trying to earn
your place in this world?

Are you trying to earn your place
in the eyes of others or are you

even trying to earn your salvation?

Right?

Are you trying to add one more
little thing to your punch card?

So maybe tonight, maybe you can
get some sleep and you can pick

back up where you left off tomorrow
morning and work all the harder.

I, I, I am like this, right?

I preach this to myself as much as I do.

To all of you came across this, uh, quote.

This prayer this week from Robert Capin.

He was a, talked about him up here before.

He was a, a priest and
a writer, and a chef.

He's, you should look him up.

He's amazing.

So he said this, Lord, please restore
to us the comfort of merit and demerit.

Show us that there is at least
something that we can do.

Tell us that at the end of the
day, there will at least be one

redeeming card of our very own.

Lord, if it is not too much to
ask, send us to bed with a few

shreds of self-respect upon which
we can congratulate ourselves.

But whatever you do, do not preach grace.

Give us something to do anything
but spare us the indignity of

this indiscriminate acceptance,
this indiscriminate acceptance.

He is being funny there, right?

He's, he's saying we shouldn't
try to perform so much.

And if I'm honest with you,
again, this is how I operate.

I know God loves me, or at least
I think, I know God loves me, but

my tendency is to believe that I
can only be loved if I perform,

if I'm moral right, if I
try to not sin so hard.

And I hope that the incarnation, this idea
of adoption as sons, as the Bible calls it

can help us shift our mindset here today.

So the section of Luke, right?

We just read it, records to us the
beginning of what we call the incarnation.

It's the descriptive picture
of, of, uh, John one.

So there's this great intro to
John one that the word Jesus Christ

took on flesh and dwelt among us.

And I wonder if you've ever
thought about why that's important.

Why is his birth important?

Right?

You might say what I mean.

I the incarnation is important.

'cause he got here and then he went to be
crucified and die for our sins and rise.

And that's, that's how he got here.

Right?

He was born and that's true.

Um, but what does his birth
and life mean for humanity?

It's gotta carry some weight.

We spend a month every
year doing advent, right?

We, we sing songs about his coming.

So it, it's gotta have a deeper
implication in our lives than

just the end of his life, right?

So Athanasius steps in here.

We, uh, we've been talking about his
ideas and to get us back on track.

This is a quote from him
that summarizes everything he

taught about the incarnation.

He said this, he, Jesus
became what we are.

That we might become what he is.

Oh, we're al We're almost there.

Sorry.

We're not there yet.

That's the wrong slide.

That's okay.

He became what we are, that
we might become what he is.

So that's at the nation
theology, just in a sentence.

So he believed in taught that
God created us, created humanity

for this incorruptible life.

He created us for life in his image.

No decay.

That's what incorruptible means, right?

We were, we were eternal beings.

We had a oneness with God.

We had unity with God, and then we sinned.

And when we sinned, we lost the
grace of that image in ourselves.

Right?

We fell toward corruption from being
incorruptible to corruptible, and

we became estranged from God, right?

We, we, we couldn't.

Um, we couldn't get back to that place.

God created us is what he teaches, and
we, we didn't create ourselves so we

couldn't restore that image in ourselves.

We were made in his image
and we couldn't do it.

So the word again, Jesus, the eternal
son, became human and he became human

to restore the image of God in us.

He showed up to reclaim.

And recreate the human condition
from the inside, making us children

of God again in him, right?

He didn't just come to forgive
our sins, he came to reconstruct

sonship, human sonship.

The incarnation matters because
it's how we become God's kids again,

right?

He became like us so we
could become like him.

He gave us our image back.

He gave us our dignity back.

So in Galatians, my slide, man
over there, Paul puts it like this.

We were in slavery under the elemental
spiritual forces of the world, but

when the set time had fully come, God
sent his son, born of a woman born

under the law to redeem those under
the law that we might receive adoption.

To sonship because you are his sons.

God sent the spirit of his son
into our hearts, the Spirit

who calls out Abba Father.

So you are no longer a
slave, but God's child.

And since you're his child,
God's also made you an heir.

And then the next slide, he goes on
an Ephesians and says it this way, for

He chose us in him before the creation
of the world to be homely, holy and

blameless in his sight and love.

He predestined us.

For adoption to sonship.

There it is again, through Jesus Christ,

in accordance with his pleasure
and will to the praise of his

glorious grace, which he has freely
given us in the one he loves.

I also just pause.

I I love it when the Bible does
that, when the Bible just tells

us that God did something.

'cause it made him happy.

He made you.

He called you because it just made
him happy, his pleasure, right?

Love that Henry Nowan said, kind
of summed up Athanasian theology.

He said, Jesus came to announce to
us that we are loved as he is loved.

That's why he did it.

This is amazing.

This is good news.

It means that you are somebody

you know.

Jesus appeared to shepherds the
lowest of the low in that society.

They, they, there was no fanfare.

I mean, there was a celestial
fanfare, but they, they were the

only ones that got to see it.

And, and the angels said to the
shepherds, Hey, for unto you is

born this day in the city of David,
by the way, who was a shepherd.

He's, he's relating to these people.

A savior.

Who's Christ the Lord.

You are somebody

Frederick Ner.

In telling Secrets his book, he
said, the gospel is the news that you

are somebody because God loves you.

So that's, that's a restored image.

That's what Athanasius
would call a restored image.

So on that, that phrase, that word
sonship or adoption as sons, I just

wanna pause and talk to the, the women
of salt and light regarding those terms.

So in the ancient world.

Only sons had full inheritance rights.

Only sons had guaranteed legal
standing, and only sons could

be the heir of their father.

So when Paul and Athanasius use this
language, this adoption, as sons,

they're actually saying something
pretty radical for their time.

They're talking to all of us.

You men and women alike, receive
the full unrestricted inheritance

that belonged to the sun.

That was Christ's.

So women are being given the
full status here that only sons

at the time would have had.

Sonship is a a legal term.

Sonship is a relational term.

It's not a gendered term.

So summarize here.

Christ is the son by his very nature.

It's begotten, not made.

We men and women are his
siblings by adoption.

And what is his, by nature becomes ours
by grace when he steps into our humanity.

There's a contemporary of a, a
contemporary of Athanasius, named

Gregory of Nisa, summed it up this
way, said In, in the inner man, there's

neither male nor female, all are equally
called to the dignity of sonship.

So I just wanted to say that to you today.

So.

We're part of the family.

That's why this matters.

My daughter, uh, Joanna, she
is flesh of my flesh, right?

She's blood of my blood.

I, in part, helped create her.

Um, and everything that
I have belongs to her.

She's in right?

She, she's in, she's part of my family,
but I don't know who she's going to be.

I have no clue.

Who she'll be.

She might be a horrible person.

She is now.

She a horrible person.

I hope I, I hope that she, I hope
good for her though, obviously, right?

I'm her.

I'm her dad.

I want good for her.

I hope that she grows up to love.

Love the Lord.

I hope that she's a
light in her community.

I hope people seek her out,
and I hope that they want

to hear what she has to say.

But I don't know who she's going to be.

I, I, I, I don't know.

But what I do know is that
she belongs to me, right?

In an earthly sense, she belongs to me,
and it's my job to give her everything.

Right.

I, I, she's, she's mine.

I don't know who she'll be.

So there's maybe there's a risk there.

I don't know that, I don't know.

But Jesus though, our creator,
like John one, says that everything

was made by him and through
him, Jesus knew who we would be.

You know, he, he saw through
millennia how we would forget him.

He saw how we would deny
him, how we would reject him.

And he still came.

Right?

He came to rescue us from
that and he did it as a baby.

Tim Keller talks about how he, he
chose the most vulnerable state to

come to us and he gave of himself
to the point of vulnerability.

It's, it's amazing.

Right?

He chose you from the
foundation of the world.

Gaza.

In Christ.

In Christ, you belong before you behave.

Remember that today.

You belong before you behave.

He knew what you were going
to be like and still he came.

You're somebody.

So here's, here's the hope.

The hope for you this Christmas.

The hope is that the truth of your
adoption into God's family would restore a

childlike trust in you, not a fear-driven
obedience, a hope that you would know

that deep in your heart, the the peace
of Christ, and know that God is not

distant, God is not disappointed in you.

God's not keeping score.

And he knows how you
feel and so you're free.

The incarnation's important because
you're free to love others freely.

You're free to have the same mind
among yourselves that Jesus had, right?

Which is yours in Christ Jesus,
which is to give of yourself, like we

said, to the point of vulnerability.

However, that might look for you.

So if that's money.

Give your money.

If it's your time, give your time.

If it's your presence, give your
presence because he gave himself

freely, and so you can too.

But you're also free to stop striving.

You're free to put your arms down in the
bar and try to relax a little bit, right?

Stop pushing back against God.

Meredith just couldn't
let go of that tension.

She couldn't rest in the
grace that Ben had given her.

And some of us are like that with God too.

We all, we, I, like we
said, we already are.

I am.

So, Joanna was born on Thanksgiving
Day, which is super cool.

Um, it stinks for her.

We have to make her
birthday special every year.

Try to figure that out.

I know it won't be on
Thanksgiving every year, but.

Um, anyway, because of that first
time dad here, and y'all can laugh at

me, but I, I, I, I'm a planner man.

Like I, I freak out about stuff.

Surprise.

Um, so we've been worried.

We've been, uh, Instagram
is, is the devil.

I think, I think it's helpful, but
I also think it's a tool of Satan.

Um, we just can't stop
using for some reason.

But anyway, it scared
me to the point of just.

Tension.

Right?

I'm so scared about germs.

It's cold and flu season.

COVID iss back baby, right?

We we got her vaccinated.

We got vaccinated.

I, I have, I have spent hours drafting
a text to my friends and family.

Many of of you received this that
said, you're not touching my baby

unless you get va like I'm hardcore.

Okay.

You can joke, we can
talk about that later.

Um.

Ooh.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But the reason I've been so
scared about this is because, uh,

she's vulnerable, she's little.

She doesn't have an immune system.

And if a baby gets a fever, a new
data alert, here, I've learned this,

they have to check for meningitis.

Do you know how they do that?

Parents?

Do they give your baby
a spinal tap a baby?

They have to pull spinal fluid
from her spinal cord and check.

To see if it's meningitis.

Some of you here have experienced
this, and I don't regret

doing any of that, right?

I don't, I don't regret my planning.

I don't regret the science, and I don't
regret focusing, but I regret, I think

I regret being so stressed out about it.

I regret the worry.

I, I, I, I've, I've done everything
I can to control this outcome.

And then the day after we get
home from the hospital, my

daughter stops waking up to eat.

She is, uh, just exhausted.

She is screaming.

She is inconsolable.

And, and in the night when it's time
to feed her again or to try to feed

her, she just won't, she won't wake up.

And she hasn't used the
bathroom in 24 hours.

So we, we, we've been monitoring
this, like hoping, trying to feed

her, trying to get her to do it.

She hasn't.

And so we call our pediatrician,
uh, who thank God by the way,

was working late that night.

She was charting, she was working at
like five or six o'clock and called us

and asked us some questions and said,
you need to go to Cook's now, right now.

So she called and.

It prepared the way for us,
for lack of a better term.

And, uh, so we get to cooks.

And what happens?

What happens at Cooks?

She eats, she poops, she goes, well,
eventually, but before that happened,

there's testing, there's taking of her
blood from her heel, and then the doctor

walks into our room and says, we have
to do a spinal tap on your daughter.

We don't know what's wrong with her.

She's clearly.

Probably just dehydrated,
but we just have to find out.

So the very thing that I was
fighting so hard to prevent

came about in a way that
I just had no plan for.

I had no context for this.

And so we're whisked away to this
family room and we're in tears, and

we're praying for her to be okay.

Like what else do you do in
that situation, you know?

Where do you go?

You're at the end of your rope, you,
your wit's end and all sense of your

control is just kind of taken from you.

And people like me, people who like
who, who try to control everything.

People like Meredith,
people who are tense.

We think that if we, if we
do everything by the book and

if we follow all the rules,

we we're, we're really worried that if
we don't, that bad things will happen.

Right.

And so when we do everything
right and bad things happen

anyway, it's doubly hard for us.

It's so confusing for us.

We're left wondering what we could
have done better, and, and, and we

think that, okay, I, I made a mistake.

I screwed up here.

And so we're in this little family room
again, just holding onto each other.

And in that moment I'm like,
okay, God is proving a point here.

Again, this is how I think, right?

This is where my mind tends to go.

God's proving a point.

He's punishing me for my obsession,
for not leaning on him, for not

trusting that he's in control,

but in that family room, at the
end of all of my striving, the only

thing that I, I, I had something
that I expected him to say, right?

I thought it was you caused this.

The only thing Jesus said, what I,
that I heard was, I know, I know.

It's okay.

I love you and I'm with you till the end.

And even if it didn't turn
out okay, she's fine now.

But if it didn't turn out okay, I would've
had storehouses of grace to pull from.

Of comfort from Emmanuel,
from God with us.

See, he could say, I know to me in
that situation, because he does.

He was born,

he was a baby.

He became one of us.

And so that's why it matters.

He knows what it's like to be human.

So my message to you today is rest.

Try to rest.

You are part of God's family.

Some of y'all need the Holy
Spirit of God to just pin you

down like a weighted blanket.

You know, she, when we swaddle
her, she, there's times when

she just, like, she just can't,
she, she's like me, apparently.

She just, and she, she won't,
she won't let the, the tightness

of that grip like hold her.

Um.

And so it's not until she lets
that happen to her that she

can sleep, that she can relax.

So I hope the same for you.

You're part, you're all
part of God's family