The First Sunday of Christmas
Light of Christ Anglican Church
Dr. Doug Ludeman December 28th, 2025
The First Sunday of Christmas
Daily Morning Prayer
Text: Colossians 3:16
About this time of year when I am with my patients in the office, we often talk about what kind of year they had. One of the heavy things about my job is that year after year I see bad things happen to my patients. Illness. Strokes. Accidents. Death of a spouse or child. Cancer. Often things like this will get talked about. Then they will say something like I’m ready for this year to be over. I’m looking forward to having a better year next year.
I have a patient, named Charlie, who is a Christ follower. He told me of a New Year’s tradition they had as a family that I thought was pretty cool. At some family gathering after Christmas they would all get together to come up with a “word” that would help them intentionally follow Christ better in the New Year. One year Charlie told me the “word” was “listen” because he said he needed to listen to the Lord better. At the beginning of the next year when I saw him, I asked what the “word” for the year was and he told me it was “listen.” I said, “Charlie, that is the same “word” as last year.” He said it was and that he picked the same word because he hadn’t done a very good job of “listening” the year before.
We are all like that aren’t we. Try as we might we don’t always live up to our expectations. We try and fail. We have bad years. Bad things happen to us.
But, there is something great about the prospect of a New beginning. Starting over. We love the idea of New beginnings. This is part of what we like about the Advent season. As we see Jesus, The Son of God, come down from heaven, take on human flesh to rescue us and save us from our sin and failings and inaugurate the Kingdom of God on earth, we ourselves are filled with hope that things are going to be better.
Last week, a friend, actually my old pastor, at the end of our men’s small group meeting quoted this passage of scripture to us as an exhortation.
Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly… Colossians 3:16.
When he finished, he exclaimed “Wow” in a way that only he does. If you knew him, you would know what I mean. After we got off Zoom, I couldn’t stop thinking about that verse. I thought of Charlie and his “word” for the New Year and thought that for me this could be something similar. But instead of a “word” it could be a verse for the New Year. As I began to think about this, I came up with some thoughts that I would like to share.
Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly. Colossians 3:16
First, look at what it is that dwells in us. “The Word of Christ.” The Word of Christ, is of course, what Christ says. This is what Jesus says:
“I am the good shepherd. You are my sheep. I lay down my life for the sheep. My sheep hear my voice. I know them. I give them eternal life. They will never perish. I have them in my hand and no one will snatch them.”
And this,
“I have come that you may have life and have it more abundantly.”
Also, this,
“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me.” And this,
“Come unto me, all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Don’t forget this,
“I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Truer words as these have never been spoken. More gracious words like these have never been said.
But, the Word of Christ is more than what he literally said—you know, the red letter words. The Word of Christ is every word of the Bible. Jesus himself said “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Because Jesus is God, The Word of Christ is The Word of God.
Let the Word of Christ dwell in you.
Brothers and Sisters, consider that it is the WORD OF CHRIST that dwells in you. It means to inhabit or reside. As Christians, this Word of Christ actually DWELLS in us. Inhabits. Resides. Lives.
Not words in a book on a shelf. Not words on a page in morning prayer. The Word of Christ actually ‘dwells’ in you. And this is how:
If you have been born from above by the Holy Spirit and have believed on Christ in faith and repentance, then according to Romans 8:9, “the Spirit of God dwells in you.”
This is personal. In you.
The next verse goes on to say, “Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him.” So, just to spell it out, the Spirit of God in verse 9, the Holy Spirit, is identified as the Spirit of Christ in verse 10.
So, if the Spirit of Christ dwells in you, so does His Word. Right? They are two sides of the same coin in a sense. The Spirit of Christ brings His Word.
And, that Word of Christ that dwells in you changes you. It is “living and active” according to Hebrewa 4:12. It is not just sitting on a shelf in a bookcase somewhere inside of you.
This is because the Holy Spirit who indwells us uses that Word of Christ as His means to remake our hearts and change our lives. This is how the Holy Spirit works. He takes that Word of Christ and uses it to perform His work of sanctification-forming Christ’s character in us... making us look, act and think like Jesus. This does not happen apart from the Word of Christ. It is a spiritual formula. The Word of Christ plus the Spirit of Christ equals Christ likeness.
This past week I looked at Psalm 119 because that Psalm extols God’s Word. All 176 verses. According to Psalm 119, that Word of Christ that dwells in us personally that is living and active does amazing work in us.
In one pass, I found 42 things that the Word of Christ indwelling in us does. Y’all have a look at it this week and see what you come up with. I’m sure I missed some.
• The Word of Christ indwelling in us Saves us.
• The Word of Christ Delivers us.
• The Word of Christ Blesses us.
• Keeps us.
• Guards us.
• Delights us.
• Counsels us.
• Answers us.
• Strengthens us.
• God’s Word Inclines us.
• The Word of God Promises us. And these promises are kept. • The Word of God Comforts us.
• Reminds us.
• Directs us.
• Restrains us.
• Teaches us.
• Steadies us.
• Shields us.
• Deals with us.
• Keeps us safe.
• The Word of Christ Gives us hope.
• Christ Word indwelling in us Gives us understanding.
• Gives us life.
• Gives us truth.
• Gives us grace.
• Gives us wisdom.
• Gives us peace.
• Favors us.
• Lasts forever.
• Is ever with us.
• Christ’s word is sweet to our taste.
• Christ’s word is a light to our path.
• Christ’s words are joy to our hearts.
• Christ’s words make our eyes long for His salvation.
• Tells us of God’s steadfast love.
• Tells us of God’s righteousness.
• Tells us of God’s goodness.
• Tells us of God’s salvation.
• Tells us of God’s faithfulness.
• Tells us of God’s nearness.
• Tells us of God’s mercy.
• God’s Word is worth more than pure gold.
These 42 benefits just scratches the surface!
You have heard the credit card commercial, “What is in your wallet?” Well, this, the Word of God is not in your wallet, it dwells in our heart as a free gift and changes us.
Brothers and Sisters, think: this Word of Christ DWELLS IN YOU!
Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly.
The Word of Christ that dwells in you is RICH. It is like a bank account that is so full of gazillions that even if you tried, you could not put a dent in it. The Word of Christ is an abundant provision. This is how God deals with us in Christ.
• Generously.
• Lavishly.
• Extravagantly.
Overflowing. Imagine a glass of water that is constantly being filled and you try as hard as you can to drink it and it keeps filling and overflowing. This is what God freely and richly pours into our heart by His Word and His Spirit.
This just happened yesterday, We have a Primo water system: five gallon jugs of good pure water. We use it for drinking water. You have to go to the store and turn in your empties and get these heavy five gallon jugs and you have to haul them in and put them in this nice dispenser on the ground and it comes out chilled and its great!
We have 10 grandkids with us right now for Christmas. Well, the grandkids love it. The dispenser is just their height. It is fun. There are cups all over the place and they love getting this water. Full cups. Over and over. The problem is they only take two sips. 5-10 minutes later, they get another cup of water. Usually a bottle of this water will last 3-4 weeks. Yesterday, we went through one in 24 hours! And, I was joking with my son in law that I was going to put a hook on the door, you know that they can’t reach, to limit them getting water. But, I was really grouchy about this whole thing.
So you know where this is going, right!
Well, it didn’t take me long to think of my illustration. You know about the glass of water never running out and how God so richly gives to us. I felt like such a miser. To my own awesome grandchildren! God doesn’t treat us like that! Ever.
Even if God’s water were to run dry, He would happily go get some more. His favor toward us is so great, He would never think about limiting anything He gives.
He loves to give and give and give. Richly. Even when we waste what He supplies, He always has more for us. The thing of it is, what He gave to get us, the worth of His only Son, Jesus Christ, means that He will never hold back on us.
God gives us grace upon grace. His mercies never end. The Lord Jesus Christ is of infinite worth and so is His Word and that is what dwells in us RICHly.
Brothers and Sisters, think of the great worth of what RICHly dwells in you. Finally, our verse says
Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly.
LET. You cannot keep the Word of Christ and the Holy Spirit that dwells in you from working in you. They will teach you. They will change you. The Word of Christ will not return empty. It will accomplish all that it is sent out to do. Jesus came to save you and He will do it if you belong to Him.
But, as you approach this New Year, LET that Word dwell in you richly. This is actually a command. The New Living Testament says it like this: “Let the message about Christ in all its richness, fill your lives.”
The Message, the modern paraphrase that Pastor Mike sometimes quotes, says,
Let the Word of Christ have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives.
LET the Word of Christ change you. Read the Bible more and more. This is the time of year that many start a Bible reading plan. Good idea. Meditate on God’s Word.
Digest it like a cow digests. Y’all know they are ruminants. They have these four chamber stomachs. A specialized digestive system that takes tough plant material like grass and hay and breaks it down with the help of microbes and fermentation to extract maximum nutrition from the low quality stuff they eat. But part of this involves chewing, regurgitating, chewing some more. Cows spend hours a day not just eating but rechewing to break down fibers more and more so they can digest their food. It is fascinating really.
LET us ruminate on Christ’s Word. The Spirit of God will help you digest it. LET God’s Word be the nutrition for our hearts the way it is meant to be. LET it help you grow in Christ. LET it produce faith. LET it encourage obedience. LET it induce wonder and courage. LET it help. LET it create a grateful heart.
Brothers and Sisters, LET the Word of Christ and God’s Spirit work in you this year.
Look, It will not stop bad things from happening to us this new year. But it will give us all the riches and resources of Christ’s Word and the Holy Spirit to make all the difference when they do happen.
This year won’t you meditate with me on this:
Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly.
©2025 Dr. Douglas Ludeman
