This is the final week of the theme “What Child is This?”
Today the message is entitled “Christmas – The Tip of the Iceberg!”
We are finishing a year of making each message end with some form of Gospel connection. It is both the end and just the beginning – there is still so much out of sight – just like an iceberg!
Earlier in the service I shared 2 Cor 8: 1-7 and a portion of Our Daily Bread Dec.25 devotional, to thank you for the wonderful gift you gave my family on Christmas Eve. I stressed the power of giving and how God generously gave us the most unselfish gift of all: His only son on Christmas Day.
Then we had the children come up and sing “Away in the Manger,” a simple song with so much power, just like an iceberg.
This was followed by the animated video of the song, “It’s About the Cross!”
A song moving us from the simple beginning for our Lord Jesus to the much bigger and complex story of Jesus’s life and death and resurrection.
I am hoping that you are starting to see where the idea of the iceberg comes in. Jesus’s birth was just the tip of the iceberg for God’s new relationship to mankind and the birth of Christianity. Much more was and is still hidden, waiting to be revealed.
First, let’s understand what an iceberg is.
https://www.nationalgeographic.org › encyclopedia › iceberg
“Icebergs are large chunks of ice that break off from glaciers. This process is called calvin. Icebergs float in the ocean, but are made of frozen freshwater, not saltwater. Most icebergs in the Northern Hemisphere break off from glaciers in Greenland.”
Jesus’s birth was God breaking away from heaven to come to earth. Pure water coming into not so pure sea of people!
Iceberg
“An iceberg is a large piece of ice that has broken off from a snow-formed glacier or ice shelf and is floating in open water.
Since the density of pure water ice is ca. 920 kg/m3, and that of sea water ca. 1025 kg/m3, typically, around 90% of the volume of an iceberg is under water, and that portion’s shape can be difficult to surmise from looking at what is visible above the surface.
This has led to the expression “tip of the iceberg”, generally applied to a problem or difficulty, meaning that the visible trouble is only a small manifestation of a larger problem.”
Note: The above text is excerpted from the Wikipedia article “Iceberg”, which has been released under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Jesus’s birth was the small beginning of a much larger plan of God. When Jesus was born, no one understood the whole plan. No one could see all that was about to be revealed by Jesus as He grew and taught others about God’s love.
“Icebergs form when chunks of ice calve, or break off, from glaciers, ice shelves, or a larger iceberg. Icebergs travel with ocean currents, sometimes smashing up against the shore or getting caught in shallow waters. When an iceberg reaches warm waters, the new climate attacks it from all sides.”
Quick Facts on Icebergs | National Snow and Ice Data Center
https://nsidc.org › cryosphere › quickfacts › icebergs
As Jesus started His ministry, He was attacked from all sides. The Romans and the church leaders tried to destroy Jesus
Eph 2: 4-10 NIV and Daily Bread Dec. 26
4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,
5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.
6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,
7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—
9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Romans 13: 11-14 NIV
11 And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.
12 The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.
13 Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy.
14 Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.
Hebrews 12: 1-2 NIV
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Robert J. Morgan in his “Nelson’s Book of Stories” gives us this item: pg. 606
“The Puritan Thomas Watson put it this way: God the Son is called the Prince of Peace. He came into the world with a song of [peace: “On earth peace…” He went out of the world with a legacy of peace, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you.” Christ’s earnest prayer was for peace; He prayed that His people might be one. Christ not only prayed for peace, but bled for peace; “Having made peace through the blood of His cross.” He died not only to make peace between God and man, but between man and man. Christ suffered on the cross, that He might cement Christians together with His blood; as He prayed for peace, so He paid for peace.”
I started this message with: “Jesus’s birth was just the tip of the iceberg for God’s new relationship to mankind and the birth of Christianity. Much more was and is still hidden, waiting to be revealed.”
I hope that you have started to see more of God’s plan for you and all the people of the world! Jesus came to show and teach us the truth that we need to be able to survive in this deadly world. Our part is to learn and teach the rest of that truth.
Go forth and learn, teach and grow in God’s love.
Amen!
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