Christmas 2022 (2)

The Miracle of the Incarnation

2022 Christmas Outline:

Seek not in courts, nor palaces,

Nor royal curtains draw;

But search the stable, see your God,

Extended on the straw.

Isaiah 9:2 “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.”

Isaiah 9:5-7 “Every warrior’s boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.”

Matthew 1:17–24 (NIV) Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah. This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.

Today I want to briefly share about the:

The miracle of the Incarnation

The infinite almighty, all powerful, necessary and self sufficient God became man; the divine Son became a Jew; the Almighty appeared on earth as a helpless human baby, unable to do more than lie and stare and wriggle and make noises, needing to be fed and changed and taught to talk like any other child.… The babyhood of the Son of God was a reality.

Nothing in fiction is so fantastic as is this truth of the Incarnation.

An amazing miracle that carries with it life changing and destiny altering implications. I will share 5 major implications of the reality of the Incarnation.

The 5 Implications of the Incarnation

1. An amazing love

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Jesus in John 17:3 “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”

From the great Karl Barth, “God does not will to be God without us.”

They will call Him: Immanuel, God with us. God gave everything because of His desire and love to be with us for eternity. He desires us, loves us, wants us.

The question the Incarnation asks us, the questin of this gift, are we with Him? Is our overwhelming desire to be with Him as He with us?

Mark 3:14 “He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach”

Disciples are “with him”

Being in Jesus’ presence means, conversing with him, learning from him, having his comfort moment by moment. The purpose of the incarnation is that we would have a relationship with him. The unapproachable holy God became human who can be known and loved.

When God showed up this time, it wasn’t as a pillar of fire, a cloud, a tornado, but a baby.

Because this time was not to bring judgment but to bear it so we can be together.

The implication of the incarnation is that we don’t have a relationship with an impersonal, distant, cosmic power, but with one that has a face and experiences like our own.

2. There are only extremes

Jesus created 2 extremes. Hatred and Complete Devotion and worship.

There was no middle ground, no indifference.

Either he is God or he isn’t. He is either absolutely crazy or infinitely wonderful.

If he is who he said he is, then we must center our whole life on him. Offer complete and total loyalty and devotion (not perfection). Utter devotion at whatever the cost.

If he is not who he said he is, we should all run away as fast as possible. There is no middle ground.

The implication of the incarnation is that to sit on the fence and neither run nor offer complete and total devotion, is to not grasp and believe who he said he is.

3. Though He was born in a manger, we are not his manager

He is not a character in our story, we are characters in His.

I would like to be a Christian but I don’t want to do X, Y, Z. Or “I will obey if, I will do this if...” That is not obedience at all. The incarnation means the creator has come not for us to manage him and decide what life will look like but he came to take over. As creator and a man, He is the rightful manager of all things, including us.

In this particular patriarchal culture, it was the duty and responsibility for the father to name the son, it was as his ownership of the child and responsibility to manage. But God names Him not Joseph. Joseph, you won’t be his manager, he will be yours.

The implication is we don’t name him, we don’t project onto Him what we want him to be or do, we don’t manage him. He as creator came to name us and manage us.

We need him to name us. He made us. He knows who we are, what we were made for, what will fit us.

The implication of the incarnation is that we give up our right of self-determination. We don’t look inward or to our feelings to find ourselves. Finding self is only found by finding Him.

4. Say goodbye to your reputation.

Mary & Joseph.

How can you believe while you seek glory from man?

To be identified with Jesus = to be hated by the world.

Shame for Mary and Joseph and they thought they were crazy. People will think you are crazy when you walk by faith carrying the seed of God’s word in your heart and acting on it.

The implication of the incarnation is that we don’t live for the acceptance and affirmation of the world, in fact we cannot. We live by the reality given to us from the Light of the world, the reality of eternity, the reality of God, the reality of the incarnation - God with us, the reality of His law and morality, the reality brought to us at the incarnation.

5. It’s the most humbling gift we could ever receive.

Isaiah 9:2 “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.”

They believed the answer was among them.

Isaiah 9:6 “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given…” To receive this gift, it requires humility.

The gift of the son implies, you need a gift.

An acknowledgement of your insufficiency. The answer is not in us, nor around us. We don’t need more strength or improvement, we need saving.

And Jesus came saying, Repent and believe for the Kingdom of God is at hand.

Repentance is humility, admitting your weakness and insufficiency and trusting God to save.

Jesus comes saying, “I have come for the weak. I have come for those who admit they are weak. I will save them not by what they do but through what I do.”

All throughout Scripture God chooses the weak, the marginalized, the small those who depend on God: Abel not Cain the older,

Isaac, not Ishmael,

Jacob not Esau,

Ephraim not Manasseh,

David not his older stronger brothers,

the old Sarah not young Hagar,

the unattractive unloved Leah not Rachel, Rebekah who cant have children,

Hannah who can’t have children,

Samson’s mother who can’t have children,

Elizabeth who can’t have children,

Nazareth instead of Jerusalem,

A manger instead of a palace

God says I choose the weak of this world to confound the mighty.

The implication of the Incarnation is: It doesn’t matter therefore your background or what you’ve done. If you repent and come to God through Jesus, THE GIFT, not only will God accept you and work in your life, but he delights to work through people like you. He’s been doing it through all of world history.

In closing

The gift of the eternal son is effective to save us to the uttermost because:

“The incarnation is the preparation of nerve endings for the nails.

The incarnation is the preparation of a brow for thorns to press through.

He needed to have a broad back, so that there was a place for the whip.

He needed to have feet, so that there was a place for spikes.

He needed to have a side, so that there was a place for the sword to go in.

He needed cheeks, fleshy cheeks, so that Judas would have a place to kiss and there would be a place for the spit to run down that the soldiers put on him.

He needed a brain and a spinal column, with no vinegar and no gall, so that the exquisiteness of the pain could be fully felt - for you.”

-John Piper