Isaiah 42: 1-9

Luke 2: 22-40

John 1: 12, 18

Brothers and Sisters, good morning and Merry Christmas! I hope your Christmas Day was wonderful; mine certainly was! I left here about 1:30 in the morning, and then it was time to wrap presents. I don't know if you're into late night Christmas wrapping or not, but that was the way for me. I got a call around 7 in the morning – "Dylan's up." And so I went over there to watch him open his presents. That was so wonderful. I visited my uncle, my only living relative who is contemporary with my parents. He's the last of that generation. It was so good to see him and all my cousins in Toms River . On Christmas Day, I went to visit my sister. We get together several times a year with the family, the nieces and the nephews, and we had a wonderful time.

I want to tell you about something that I noticed when I was visiting my sister this year. I was looking at my grand-niece (that would be my sister's daughter's child). Her name is Nyleah. She is 15 years old. She was sitting in a chair, writing in a book. I looked at that wonderful young lady, and I saw something interesting. I saw my aunt, who has gone to the Lord now. I saw my aunt's beautiful cheekbones. And I saw my Uncle Frank's noble forehead. And I saw my mother's sparkling eyes. All these folks gone to the Lord, but yet I see them in little Nileah. She was sitting, writing in a book, and I said, "Honey, what are you writing?" She said, "I'm writing a poem." "Oh," I said, "you write poems too?" "Yes." "So do I." It was so interesting to see the family resemblance.

There was another little boy at that gathering, named Joseph. I looked at him this year, and I thought, "My goodness, little fella, you kind of look like the picture of a little boy I saw in a photo album from about 50 years ago." Hmmm. Family resemblance.

I want to talk with you a little bit today about family resemblance, because family resemblance is one of the greatest joys a Christian has. Let me tell you how. Once upon a time, people used to think that God the creator was a hard judge. They used to think that God was angry. They used to think that God was tough and didn't understand, and that people weren't very worthy in His eyes. But it's as if God said, "Oh, no, that's not the case. I've got to fix this up. I have to do something about my image. I've got to tell people how it really is. Whatever shall I do? I know." And He said to Jesus, "My son, I'm going to send you to earth, so that you can tell ‘em and you can show ‘em how it really is. It's going to be hard, and it's going to break your heart, and it's going to break my heart, because they're so mixed up. But it's the only way I can think of to let them know how things really are."

So on Christmas, God sent Jesus. I heard a beautiful phrase – may I share it with you? "All of God that could be contained in a human form was contained in Jesus of Nazareth ." Isn't that a beautiful thought? I wish it were my own. All of God that could be contained in a human form was contained in Jesus of Nazareth.  So, oh my goodness! There was the family resemblance.

Christian, your first joy is – if you want to know what God is like, just look at Jesus. Look at the Jesus you know. Look at the Jesus you've invited into your heart. That same Jesus who found a man born blind and opened his eyes, who found a deaf man and opened his ears, who saw the tears of a widow whose only son had died and He said, "Come on up", and He raised him, that's what God's heart is like. Like Father, like Son. When you look at Jesus you see the heart of God. You see the heart of the Father. And that's the first great joy of being a Christian, because you know where and how to look to find out what God is like.

I want to point out in the Bible, John 1:18, "No one has ever seen God; the only Son, though, in the bosom of the Father, He has made God known." Family resemblance, the picture of God, is in Jesus Christ.

Second thought, back up to verse 12, Jesus was rejected, but listen to this: "But to all who received Him, who believed in His name, He gave power to become children of God." When you say yes to Jesus Christ, you become part of the family. You become a child of God. And here's the good news: you begin to experience retroactive heredity. You become more and more like your heavenly Father. You take on more and more of the family resemblance. St. John goes to great lengths to say that this is not biology. This is not about humanness or heredity. This is about saying yes to God. It's about spirituality.

You become more and more like your heavenly Father. You become more and more like Jesus Christ. Isn't that great? When you accept Jesus into your heart, your life changes. Wonderful things happen to you. If there was darkness, light comes in. if there was depression, hope comes in, because you've said yes to Jesus Christ. Transformation comes in because you become more and more like your heavenly Father, like Jesus Christ.

Is there a movie that fascinates you as much as A Christmas Carol fascinates me? It's the story of Ebenezer Scrooge. Do you remember what happened to him?  He was a miserable guy. He was stingy. He was angry. He didn't have time for people. He was sullen and introspective. And what happened?  He had visions – visions of the past and of the present and of the future. He says, "There's not much time. I have to change if I'm going to really live." And we watch him become a generous, loving, kind, understanding person, who is a pleasure to be with and a joy to himself.

We're always fascinated by that movie. Why? Because it shows what the Spirit of God can do in a person. May it be so for you. Are there ways that you would become more like the Savior? Are there ways that you would become more a picture of His gifts – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-mastery? They're yours, because you're part of the family. God loves you. I do, too. Have a blessed new year. Amen.