Part 2: The Point of Jesus’ Incarnation (John 1:14-18)

Merry Christmas. In a season swollen with lights, cocoa, and nostalgia, I asked us to slow down and ask an honest question: What are you recalibrating your life around this Christmas? The cultural “Christmas spirit” might make December feel warmer, but it cannot reorder a life around what matters for eternity. Advent is the church’s invitation to reorient our hearts to why Jesus came—not only that He came.

John 1 tells the story plainly: the Word became flesh and pitched His tent among us. Jesus moved into the neighborhood. He is the new and better tabernacle—God’s presence not in fabric but in flesh and bone—dwelling right in the middle of ordinary lives. That means God did not love us from a distance. He came close enough to be heard, seen, and touched; close enough to show us not just how to die well, but how to live fully in our actual neighborhoods.

John says, We observed His glory—the blazing beauty that once could not be survived—now seen in Jesus as grace and truth together. In Him, there’s no soft denial of sin and no hard edge that withholds compassion. From His fullness we’ve received grace upon grace—like waves that keep rolling in—an inexhaustible supply that doesn’t run dry when we fail. The law could expose sin, but it couldn’t transform a heart; grace doesn’t excuse sin, it remakes the sinner.

And then the jaw-dropping line: No one has ever seen God, but the Son has revealed Him. Jesus is what God has to say about God. So the face you imagine when you think of God will either draw you near in trust or keep you at arm’s length. Look at Jesus—listen to Him, watch Him, receive from Him—and you will know the heart of the Father.

So here are two invitations. First, receive the first gift of Christmas—Jesus Himself. Own His grace, not as a vague idea, but as your rescue and new life. Second, walk in His pattern: ask, “Lord, where are you inviting me to live more incarnationally this week?” Name one person or place where you will be with someone intentionally and graciously—not as a project, but as presence. Because Christ has moved into our neighborhood so that His life might take root in us and radiate through us—everywhere we go, every day we live, to everyone we meet.

Key Takeaways

• 1. Recalibrate life around eternal realities The cultural version of the “Christmas spirit” can make us nicer and more generous, but it rarely reorders our lives around what lasts. Advent asks us to slow down long enough to examine what truly governs our decisions, desires, and direction. Recalibration means aligning habits, calendars, and hopes to the One who entered history and still speaks. This is not seasonal sentiment; it’s a lifelong resettling of the soul. [01:31]
• 2. Jesus pitched His tent among us God’s presence isn’t locked in a building or a holiday; He moved into the middle of human life. Jesus fulfills the tabernacle—God dwelling with His people in the campsite of our ordinary days. If He camped among us, then proximity is part of discipleship; love requires presence, not performance. The incarnation calls us to be with people the way God has been with us. [08:28]
• 3. Glory full of grace and truth The glory the disciples saw wasn’t merely brightness; it was the radiant beauty of moral truth joined to relational grace. Truth without grace crushes; grace without truth corrodes. In Jesus, holiness meets mercy—He names sin honestly and moves toward sinners compassionately. To follow Him is to hold together what we often tear apart. [17:04]
• 4. Grace upon grace replaces striving The law reveals God’s standard and our need, but it cannot change our hearts. Grace is not a tiny dose we must ration; it’s a shoreline wave that keeps arriving from Christ’s fullness. We don’t live to earn favor; we live because favor has found us. Transformation happens as we trust the Giver more than our grit. [19:26]
• 5. Jesus is God made visible Left to ourselves, our picture of God grows blurry or distorted. In Jesus, God clarifies Himself—His words and ways interpret the Father’s heart. If your image of God doesn’t look like Jesus, it needs a new focus. See Him clearly, and you’ll move from distance to trust. [27:05]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [00:26] - Culture’s Christmas vs Bethlehem
• [01:31] - Recalibrating life this Christmas
• [03:21] - Advent: reorienting to Jesus
• [04:10] - Reading John 1:14-18
• [06:28] - Camping image: pitching a tent
• [08:28] - The Word became flesh
• [09:44] - Jesus, the better tabernacle
• [11:51] - God with us in the neighborhood
• [15:35] - We observed His glory
• [17:04] - Full of grace and truth
• [19:26] - Grace upon grace received
• [21:16] - Law’s limits, grace’s power
• [27:05] - Jesus is God’s self-revelation
• [29:54] - Two responses and incarnational step

1. In John 1:14, what happened to “the Word,” and where did He choose to live? How does the phrase “pitched his tent among us” clarify this? “The Word became flesh and pitched his tent among us.” [08:28]
2. How does John 1:14 describe the Son’s glory? List the two qualities that stand together in Him.
3. According to John 1:16-17, what have we “received” from Christ’s fullness, and how does this differ from what came through Moses? “Grace upon grace.” [19:26]
4. In John 1:18, what problem is named, and who is the one who makes God known?

1. If God chose to be “with us” in flesh and blood, what does that teach about love requiring presence in our actual neighborhoods and rhythms? “He… came to show you how to live your actual human life in your actual neighborhood.” [12:05]
2. What does it mean that the Son’s glory is “full of grace and truth”? Where do people tend to split these apart in real life? [17:04]
3. How should “grace upon grace” reshape a heart that keeps trying to earn favor with God? [19:26]
4. If “Jesus is what God has to say about God,” what false pictures of God need to be replaced, and how does looking at Jesus correct them? [27:05]

1. “What are you recalibrating your life around this Christmas?” Name one habit, calendar item, or desire you will realign this week toward what lasts. [01:31]
2. Advent is an invitation to “slow down and… think deeply about why Jesus came, and not just celebrate that he came.” What is one simple daily practice (5–10 minutes) you will adopt this week to ponder why He came—and how will you remind yourself to do it? [03:21]
3. Jesus entered “your actual human life in your actual neighborhood.” Identify one way you can be physically present (not just digital) with someone nearby—showing up, listening, and serving in love. When will you do it? [12:05]
4. “Name one person or place where you will be with someone intentionally and graciously this week… not as a project, but as presence.” Who or where is it? What will being present look like (coffee, a walk, a meal, helping with a task)? [29:54]
5. “Where in your life are you living under the law?” Name one area where you feel pressure to perform for God. What would it look like to receive grace there today (confession, asking for prayer, resting, obeying one clear step)? [23:18]
6. “When you imagine God looking at you this December, whose face do you see?” If the face you imagine isn’t like Jesus—full of grace and truth—what will you change this week to refocus (read a Gospel story daily, memorize a verse, pray with someone)? [27:05]
7. Grace is like “waves on the shore,” arriving again and again. What rhythms help you stand where the waves keep hitting (Scripture, silence, Sabbath, gathering with believers)? What small adjustment will you make to stay in the flow of “grace upon grace”? [20:20]