Sermon Summary

Title: Fall on Your Knees Speaker: Nick Lugg Context: A Christmas message exploring the true cost and response required by the coming of Jesus.

Overview: In this message, Nick Lugg challenges the congregation to move past the sentimental traditions of Christmas and confront the reality of who Jesus is. Referencing the line “Fall on your knees” from O Holy Night, the sermon asks a central question: “What is Jesus worth to you?”

Key Themes:

• Response is Mandatory: Just like the Shepherds, Wise Men, and King Herod, no one can remain neutral to Jesus. His presence demands a response—either worship or resistance.

• Worship as Surrender: True worship isn’t just singing songs; it is a life posture of “falling on your knees.” Nick uses the imagery of the 24 Elders in Revelation casting down their crowns to illustrate surrendering our status, identity, and security to God.

• Jesus is Central, Not an Add-on: The sermon warns against treating Jesus like an “interior decorator” who just enhances our existing lives. Instead, He often comes as a “wrecking ball,” dismantling our wrong priorities to rebuild us on a better foundation.

• The Call to Re-evaluate: Listeners are urged to identify what “crowns” they are holding onto—career, reputation, comfort, or sin—and to determine if those things are worth more to them than Jesus.

Audio Transcript

[00:00] Nick Lugg: Good morning.

Congregation: Good morning.

Nick Lugg: Happy Christmas. Not quite there. We, um… Oh look, it’s there. Because it’s Christmas we are going to do PowerPoint. Now, this is not my primary skill set, so it’s a bit like rubbing your stomach, patting your head, and standing on a beach ball all at the same time. So I’m hoping to remember to press the button at the right time.

[00:26] Our prayer and our desire all the time—and always has been every Christmas—is to enjoy the Christmas season, to enjoy the atmosphere, to enjoy all that Christmas is to us. But at the same time, by God’s grace, crack it open and get to the reality of what God is wanting to say to us each and every time. We can’t be reduced to people that just do traditions. That just do, um, repeat—you know, we just get on rinse and repeat every year. Same thing: bring out the same songs, do the same things, go through the same motions. Because God has always got something fresh to say to us.

[01:05] And that’s why we’ve had this mini-series over Christmas where we’ve, uh… the eagle-eyed amongst you will know that it’s been related to the carol O Holy Night. The first one—I think they were slightly in the wrong order, but it doesn’t matter because we’ve got grace—but the first one Johnny spoke was “A weary world rejoices.” And then I think Andy, uh, last week was speaking on “The thrill of hope.”

[01:32] And it’s just those… just those lines have so much relevance and so much resonance for us in the world that we live in and the lives that we are leading. A weary world rejoices. But yet, and behind everything that we seek to do as a church, and everything we seek to begin, is to bring that thrill of hope. But as the curtains open, and as heaven is drawn back, and as we begin to see all that is going on behind Christmas, there is also the response, which is: Fall on your knees.

[02:07] And the question this morning: What is Jesus worth to you? What is Jesus worth to me? That if we don’t come out of Christmas with a greater sense… You know, we’ve sung these majestic carols—Adore, come let us adore, let’s worship Him, and all the other lines that I’ve forgotten. You know, they—but they are majestic, honestly. But… you know, we adore Him. But if we don’t actually adore Him, if we don’t actually wrestle with the question: What does, therefore, it mean that He’s worth to me? How does His coming—Christmas, the coming of Christ—how does His coming impact my life? How does it change the shape and the way that I think and the way that I act and the way that I live this life that He’s given me?

[02:54] What is Jesus worth to me? Oh look… [clicks clicker]. So the real story of Christmas, we say it every year, it’s not sentimental, is it? But it’s one of humility. Anonymity. Struggle. And the telling and the retelling of the story of Mary and Joseph and all that they went through doesn’t really ever quite connect and communicate what it must have been like for them to experience what they experienced.

[03:22] There was pain. Discomfort. Fear. Anxiety, no doubt. Stress. Uncertainty. Tears. Maybe there were short tempers. There were… there were all sorts of things going on that we would instantly relate to, and yet we don’t see on the Christmas cards. But it’s into that world, not the Christmas card world, that Jesus came. Jesus came to our world. We might think, “Well, it was all right, you know, Christmas was just so lovely and everything was just so beautiful and there was like shining tinsel and angels and shepherds and it’s all so peaceful and everything else on the Christmas cards.” But what about us? What about Sheffield? What about Jordanthorpe, Batemoor? What about where I live? What about my background? What about my world? Jesus came into that world.

[04:15] And everyone who encountered Jesus had to respond. And the question for us today is the same. As we ask “What is Jesus worth to me?”, how do I respond to Him? How do I respond to the fact that He has come? Not just come to the world, not just come to all people—He’s come into my life. How do I respond, therefore, to this majestic appearance?

[04:42] He’s the Son of God. [Struggles with clicker] Is that the one? This is where it all goes wrong, you see. Anyway, it don’t matter… [Adjusts slides]. He comes on the margins of society. He’s ignored by society. He’s unnoticed by society. He’s born away from comfort and privilege. The Bible tells us in Philippians that He, though being in very nature God, He didn’t consider equality with God something to be grasped, but He came down, took on the very nature of a servant. He took the opposite of what we would think somebody of His power and authority had.

[05:22] I was… saw an article or a video report about Air Force One—the President of the United States’ plane. You know how when it flies around, all the preparations and all the protection that it has, you know, fighter jet escorts and all of that. None of that for Jesus. But even as a baby, before He ever taught anything, before He said anything—He just cried like babies do—before He healed anyone, before He performed a miracle, He provoked profound responses.

[05:54] You know, the first miracle we read about was when He turned water into wine at a wedding. He was an adult. But before all of that, the story of Christmas is about the responses that people made to who He was. Not what He did. Who He is is what makes a difference in our lives and causes us to respond.

[06:14] And so we have the Shepherds. Ordinary people. Caught in their routines. But shaken awake by God to say: “Good news of great joy for all the earth, a Savior is born.” Pointing the way to Him. And so they got up from their routine, they got up from their humdrum existence, and they left everything to go and see Him, to go and worship Him.

[06:37] The Wise Men. Men of influence and education. They were willing to travel hundreds of miles and bring costly gifts because He was worth it. That’s not an easy thing to do. It’s not easy to travel. You might think it’s easy… you know, even traveling these days, going to Zambia or going to Nepal, it’s a… it’s a consideration. Even just sitting still doing nothing on a plane. Let alone getting on a camel and going hundreds and hundreds of miles. But they considered that they needed to respond to what they had heard and what they had seen.

[07:11] There was King Herod. He was a king with wealth and power and influence and all the things that the world could give him. And yet he saw Jesus as a threat and said He’s worth eliminating. He wanted… he responded to Jesus. There’s no neutrality. One baby, three responses, but everyone responds. There is no neutrality when it comes to Jesus. When He comes into our world, there is no neutrality for us today. When He comes into… we have to respond. We have to ask: What does His coming demand of me? What is He worth to me? What do I do… what do I do about His coming?

[07:51] Jesus demands a response. His very presence draws a response from our hearts. Or it should do. Because there is no neutral. No matter how much we want to live in neutral gear. No matter how much we want to be observers and spectators of all of this and just say, “Oh well, you know, we’ll see how it goes.” Jesus demands a response. And His very presence forces a collision with our priorities. He comes into our hearts.

[08:19] I remember that experience. I’ve given my testimony before, but I remember how I was like a spectator. I was somebody who was beginning to think, when I was 17 years old, and thinking, “Oh yeah, I think I believe in Jesus. I think He’s real. I think…” and I went through all of that process for a year. But at that moment that I asked Him to come into my life—BANG—there was that explosion. Things happened. Everything changed shape in my life, in my priorities, in my understanding, in the values. All of that had to be reassessed.

[08:50] When Jesus comes into our world, everything has to be reassessed. When He steps into someone’s world… when He steps into your world… you cannot carry on as before. I cannot carry on just as before. Everything that we hold dear. Everything that we love. Everything that shapes our identity, that makes us say, “Well this is who I am.” Jesus confronts it. He collides with it. Causes it to change shape permanently and forever.

[09:20] Not just an emotional moment where we just say, “Oh I think I believe in Jesus now.” But actually He physically comes… and He comes into our hearts, He changes the shape of everything from the inside out. Everything that commands our time, our energy, our attention has to be reassessed in the light of Jesus coming. All of it challenged by that one question: Is it worth more to me than Jesus?

[09:44] I remember when I was on a mission trip one time in Russia—in the old Soviet Union actually, I can say it now, we had to keep it secret in those days. But, um, we went and there was somebody that was really taken with the Gospel message and they were listening to it all. And they were saying to the person who was sharing with them, they said, “But if I become a Christian though, do I have to… do I have to stop smoking?” And the person was like getting into a bit of a twist, you know, “Oh well, you know, God understands us and God doesn’t judge…” and trying to explain it all.

[10:14] And then there was this evangelist guy that was with us who was much more to the point. He just came in and said, “Yes. You do.” He said, “And if you ask me if I believe in Jesus, do I have to stop wearing blue jeans? I tell you: Yes, you do.” He said, “Because it’s not about the smoking, it’s not about the blue jeans, it’s not about the whatever. But the very fact that you’re asking that question means that there is a confrontation with what you want. With what you hold dear. Is it worth more to you than Jesus? Give it up! Change it! Change shape!” That’s what happened at Christmas. Jesus came into our lives. And so those little questions that come in the light of Jesus… they should become irrelevant. “Can I still do this? Can I still do that?” Why are you asking those questions? Jesus is worth more than all of it.

[10:59] And so we have to reassess our priorities. That’s what happened at Christmas. So the Shepherds left their livelihood. They left… presumably they left the sheep… couldn’t have taken all the sheep to see Jesus, could they? The Wise Men gave their treasure. Herod protected his throne. And we do the same. When Jesus comes, we have to respond. Either we worship, or we resist. There is no neutrality.

[11:27] Worship is more than a song. “For a song in itself is not what you have required.” And the rest of it. It’s not just what happens on a Sunday, is it? We enjoy it. We enjoy the worship. We enjoy our singing. But we call it “worship,” we label it “worship,” and yet there is so much more to worship. Worship is not an event. Worship is not 30 minutes. Worship is a life posture. It’s a life position. It’s a life decision that says: “Come what may, Jesus, you are worth it. You are worth my life. You are worth everything I have, everything I can give you.”

[12:02] I remember a friend of mine who was on mission in India, and he took a team to India. And these sort of young, enthusiastic people that were there, and they encountered a church that was quite different to the type of lively, charismatic church they were involved in. And yet this church was full of people that had been imprisoned for their faith, had been beaten up for their faith, had been through all sorts of struggle. And this bright-eyed young evangelist person said to the guy who was leading the team, he said, “They don’t seem to know much about worship, do they?”

[12:35] And he said, “Well, it depends what you mean by worship. If you mean music and singing and songs, then maybe they don’t know… you know, all of that. But there’s an awful lot that they do know about giving their entire life for Jesus and saying: You are worth everything that I can give you.” Worship says you are more than anything else in my life. The old carol says: “What can I give Him, poor as I am? If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb. If I were a wise man, I would do my part. Yet what can I give Him? Give Him my heart.”

[13:12] So there isn’t anything we can give that impresses Jesus. There isn’t anything that He says, “Oh, I think I quite like…”—whether it’s our blue jeans or our cigarettes or whatever. It’s not about what we give up in that sense. But what we give Him. We give Him our trust. We give Him our obedience. We give Him our love. We give Him our hearts. And that is a whole life thing. That’s something that brings a change from the start, and it goes through year after year after year. It’s where Christianity is not a flash in the pan. It’s not something that we do for a season and then we move on to something else. It’s that if truly Jesus has come into our hearts, things have changed. Our priorities have changed. Our vision has changed. Our values have changed. Everything changes and it can’t change back.

[13:58] But our hearts are shaped, aren’t they, by our culture. By comfort. By self-protection. And so we’re tempted to use Jesus as an add-on. As a “life enhancer.” Someone who fits in with our lives. Instead of someone who rearranges our lives. We treat Him a bit like an interior decorator. Comes in and, you know, tells us what color curtains to have and how to enhance the arrangement of our furniture to give us the best energy and all of that sort of thing. And yet, when He turns up with His hard hat on and a crane with a wrecking ball to come and knock the whole thing down, we don’t like that.

[14:38] His arrival demands more. And so the only response that we can give Him is to fall on our knees. One day in eternity, scripture says, the 24 Elders fall down and worship. They lay their crowns before the throne. They lay their crowns. In many translations, they take their crowns and they cast them. They throw them. They throw them down at the feet of Jesus. Why do they do that? Why the crowns? Because the crown is a symbol. The crown is a symbol of their identity. Their status. Their achievements. Their authority. Whatever gives their life value in the eyes of others.

[15:20] We love it, don’t we? Medals and gongs and crowns and uniforms and achievements and things that we can say about who we are and what we’ve done and what we’ve achieved. All of that constitutes our crown. And yet when they were in the presence of Jesus, they fell down and worshipped and they lay their crowns before the throne. Say: “Everything that I am, Lord God… have it. Whatever I think I am, You take it, Lord. Because it’s… YOU are worth more than that.”

[15:52] Fall down on your knees. Nothing I have. Nothing I achieve. Nothing that defines me comes close to the value of Jesus. And that’s what falling on our knees means. So we let Him question what we hold onto. We let Him reorder what we value. Rather than let’s have a discussion about it—”Lord, I think, you know, do a trade, do a deal. Maybe I can keep some of this… you can have this, but I’ll have that.” It’s a complete, radical reorganization, reordering of everything that is valuable to us.

[16:26] There are things that define our lives wrongly. Things that we would say about ourselves if somebody asked us, “Well this is what I am. This is why I am like I am. This is what has made me to be like I am.” And we settle into that because we think, “Well, this is me. This is just how I am made. This is how I am wired.” What if Jesus comes in and dismantles the things that wrongly define us? What if He wants to reshape and rebuild and change our outlook and change our vision of ourselves and change our vision of others and change our vision of the world? He can do that. And He does that as He comes into our hearts.

[17:03] Let Him replace our plans with His purposes. What is it that You want, Lord, in my life? What is it that You want in our life? What is it that You want for us as a church? Jesus. Because You are worth it. Whatever we think that we might be or we might achieve or we might… what status we might have… we lay it all before Jesus and say we fall on our knees before You, Lord. Have Your way among us. Fill us, God, with Your Spirit. Not only just to give us an experience that blesses us, but an experience that changes us from the inside out. That reshapes us. That demolishes us and rebuilds us.

[17:42] Let Him confront our comforts. The things that give us security. The things that we hold onto. All of those things. Like I said, He’s not an interior decorator. Someone making suggestions to make life better. But our worship says: “Do whatever You need to do, Lord, because I am Yours.”

[18:02] And so, as we fall on our knees, we re-evaluate what we treasure. Ask yourself a question: What in my life currently holds a higher value than Jesus? It’s a tough question. And it’s not coming from the pulpit saying “Ask yourself!”—pointing back at me—ask yourself. There’s so much that takes place in our lives, so much that is established in our lives that is… takes the place of Jesus. So re-evaluate what we treasure. Our comfort. Our time. Our reputation. Our resources. A career. Relationship. Control. A painful identity I don’t want to let go of. A sin that I cling to.

[18:50] All of that can form a crown. That Jesus demands a response. That we know that we are holding onto those things, but when we come into His presence, we know there has to be a response. There is no neutrality. There’s no “Oh, well I think I’ll take it or leave it” or “I think I’ll wait until next month and see how I feel then.” No. When we meet Jesus, there has to be that change. There has to be that response. There has to be that worship.

[19:14] And so, take one thing today that has become a crown you hold tightly and consciously place it before Jesus. What is it in your life this morning that you know… Ask God to reveal to you, to show you, what is it that you hold that you can actually… that you need to throw before Him? You need to surrender it. And tell Him: “Jesus, You are worth more than this. All my life I’ve held onto this thing. All my life this has defined me. All my life this has been the one thing that I don’t want to let go of. But Jesus, You are worth more than all of that. And I lay it before You today.” There’s an opportunity today to lay these things before the feet of Jesus.

[19:54] Secondly, reorient our priorities around Him. What are our priorities in life? Does our lifestyle reflect the value of Jesus? The one we adore? The one we sing about? What about the application of that worship? Do we adore Him so much so that our decisions honor Him? Our schedule and our priorities reflect His importance? Our giving, our serving, our obedience demonstrate that He is worth it? Not only to Him, but to anybody that looks at our lives, they say, “No, this person values Jesus more than anything.”

[20:30] Does our worship cost us anything? Or is it just convenient? Those who responded to Jesus right back at the beginning, in the beginning of the Christmas story—their worship cost them. It took something out of them. It tired them. It stressed them. It pained them. But it was worth it because they were coming to Jesus.

[20:53] And so think about an area of life where Jesus has been an add-on. Where we’ve just invited Him and said, “I like the fact that You’re in my life, Jesus, and perhaps You can help me. Give me a little bit of power here and there just to help me through a few things, over a few humps. But don’t get too much involved. Don’t get too nosey into what’s going on. Because I think… I think You know Your place, Jesus.” Is He an add-on? Or is He central?

[21:18] That’s the challenge as we go forward. Not about “Can we raise enough money for 146?” or “Can we, you know, what do we do about this or that?” What’s the practical things to do with the growth of a church? It’s about as we grow as a community, will we actually have Him in the center of everything that we are and everything that we do? Will He be our first and our last thought in every decision that we make? How does this honor Him? How does this reflect His worth? How does this reflect His value? Because then the church will grow with people that will also know that Jesus is the priority. Jesus is the center. Jesus is the focus.

[21:55] And thirdly, reopen our heart to encounter Him. Some of these questions can be at the first stage of our faith… you know, “What’s Jesus worth?” But in actual fact, you can have that radical encounter with Jesus, you can have that moment where you know that you’ve given your all to Him… but five years, ten years, fifteen years down the line, things can look different. You can get jaded. You can get settled into “routine Christianity.” Familiar. Predictable. Safe. Christmas is familiar, predictable, safe. But Jesus is coming. Jesus comes into our lives and challenges our priorities.

[22:38] And so He’s calling us to meet Him again. And for those of us that have become dulled and routine and predictable and safe, there is still that call from Jesus to say: Will you actually reorient? Will you actually re-evaluate? Will you actually reopen your heart to encounter me again? Not emotionally or artificially, but deeply. Pray: “Lord, show me Your worth again. Disrupt me if You must. Call me out of my routine and lead me back to worship.”

[23:09] And so there’s a challenge. Will you worship Him now—today, this morning—and will you worship Him forever? Because it’s not sentiment, it’s transformation. Christmas is sentimental. It pulls at our emotions. It pulls at our nostalgia. If you ever spend any time on Instagram, these videos come up of what it used to be like in the 80s… I know some of you are thinking “What’s the 80s?” But they were good. Christmas was good. It was sentimental and it was emotional and you’ve got all sorts of childhood memories from there. Probably go a little bit back before the 80s as well, but we won’t go there.

[23:49] But Christmas is sentimental. But Jesus is transformational. The coming of Jesus transforms. He didn’t come to give us sentiment. He didn’t come to give us emotion. He’s not Father Christmas. But He did come to change everything. And so when the Shepherds saw Him, they ran to Him. When the Wise Men saw His worth, they knelt before Him. When the Elders see His worth, they throw their crowns down in front of Him. And when we see Him, what do we do? Fall on our knees.

[24:26] And so today the question isn’t simply “Do you believe in Jesus?”, but “What is He worth to you?” Will you worship Him not just now, but forever? Will you lay your crown before Him? Will you allow His presence to rearrange your life? Reshape you. Not just now, but forever. For the rest of your life. And into eternity. That Jesus will be worth it. What a terrible thing to just touch the surface of what it means to know Jesus and then arrive in eternity and think, “Oh, that’s what it was all about.” That we would know Jesus now. This Christmas, may we truly see Him. And when we see Him, fall on our knees. Amen.

[25:12] Nick Lugg: Jonathan, are you there? Oh, you’re there. The worship team can come back, please.