Full of Grace and Truth
Notes
Transcript
Who is this one whom we celebrate His birth?
This One by whom we set our calendars and mark the passing of time.
The One whose conception was miraculous - and whose delivery was common.
A king not born in a palace - but in a stable, surrounded by livestock, swaddled in strips of cloth and laid in a feeding trough.
His birth announced by an angelic choir to the lowest class of citizens - shepherds tending their flocks by night.
He is Jesus the Christ.
We hear about his birth in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. Matthew is set on convincing fellow Jews that Jesus is the long anticipated Messiah. He starts with Jesus’ family tree and shows that, humanly speaking, his lineage includes Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, King David, all the way down to Joseph, husband of Mary. Matthew briefly speaks to Jesus miraculous conception, fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy of a virgin having child, and how Joseph was told in a dream to take Mary as his wife. Matthew also mentions the visit by the Magi and the holy family’s flight to Egypt when Herod sent soldiers to kill all young children in Bethlehem. All to show how prophecies were fulfilled. Luke the physician, a Gentile, gives us a more detailed account. The miraculous pregnancy of Elizabeth and the priest Zechariah - parents to John the Baptist. Mary’s angelic visitor who told her that she was highly favored and that the Holy Spirit would cause her to be with child and she was to call Him Jesus. It is in Luke where we hear Mary’s beautifully obedient response “May your word to me be fulfilled.” We hear of Mary’s song and at John’s birth, we hear Zechariah’s song. And if you come to the Candlelight service tonight, you will hear a reading of the Nativity story - of Mary and Joseph traveling to Bethlehem, the shepherds in the field, the babe in a manger.
Mark was an eyewitness to Jesus’ life and he was writing to a Gentile audience, so he does not focus on Jewish family lineage - he skips the birth and jumps right into the start of Jesus’ ministry with John the Baptist baptizing him and then being led into the desert to be tempted. Mark’s is a fast paced gospel hitting home that Jesus was the suffering Servant who came to serve and give his life as a ransom for many.
Now John - John is the one who really answers the question: Who is this one whom we celebrate His birth?
John approaches the arrival of Jesus from a deep theological perspective - in fact, John doesn’t begin with Jesus’ earthly birth (in fact he does not directly mention it) - he speaks to who Jesus is before he arrived in the flesh. Tom Wright says about the opening of John’s gospel, “it isn’t just about the birth of Jesus, but about the full meaning of everything he was, and is, and did.”
John starts his gospel from the Beginning.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
In starting this way, he purposefully points the readers back to Genesis 1:1
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
As we recall the Creation story in Genesis, we remember that the climax of the six days is the creation of man - one who is made in the image of God.
Here in the 1st chapter of John we see that the climax is the arrival of of the God-man - the one who has always been and by which all things were made has now become one of us.
John wants us to start right off with the big picture. Jesus is God.
It is in John’s gospel that we find 7 “I am” statements that Jesus proclaimed of himself.
I Am The Bread Of Life (John 6:35)
I Am The Light Of The World (John 8:12)
I Am The Gate For The Sheep (John 10:7)
I Am The Good Shepherd (John 10:11)
I Am The Resurrection And The Life (John 11:25)
I Am The Way, The Truth And The Life (John 14:6)
I Am The True Vine (John 15:1)
Those are some bold statements - but he backs them up with powerful signs and wonders that underscore that he was indeed different than all others. He healed people of disease by word and by touch. He cast out demons and set the oppressed free. He walked on water and commanded stormy seas to be calm. He raised the dead.
The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.
Jesus is fully God.
Jesus is also fully human.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
The Word became flesh. Again, looking back at the Old Testament - we find God making something happen by his word. For instance, Psalm 33:6
By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host.
In Jesus, the Word, God’s creative action, became flesh. It is the most beautiful, hard to wrap your head around, seemingly impossible greatest mysteries. Jesus, who is God, became fully human.
In an article for DesiringGod.org, David Mathias writes the following :
“Not only did the Son of God have — and still has — a fully human body, but also a fully human mind, heart, and will.
This is what each of the gospel accounts reveal to us and why we are able to easily relate to Him - as the popular Christian media campaign states “He gets us.”
Jesus has a human body. He was born just like each of us. He had a childhood. He likely worked with his father as a carpenter. At times he was tired, thirsty, hungry. He experienced pain. He died. And when he rose from the grave, he had a human body - he told Thomas to touch the wounds in his side and on his hands.
Jesus has a human heart - when we read of his life, we don’t see a stoic, emotionless, machine. We see a man with the full range of emotions. Recall when his dear friend Lazarus died and he was visiting Mary and Martha…
When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept.
In Hebrews 5:7 we are told
In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.
Jesus also has a human mind. I can’t begin to imagine how his mind worked - being both God and man - but we are told in Luke 2:52 that in his youth…
Luke 2:52 (ESV)
……Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.
Lastly, Jesus has a Human Will. One definition of human will is “the human capacity to actively decide what to do instead of reacting automatically to stimuli.”
Jesus possessed both a divine will and a human will.
For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.
And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”
Jesus showed us what it looks like to be truly human and to have one’s will completely in sync with God’s will. It is a posture of humble obedience.
We typically don’t like the idea of submitting to God’s will in obedience to His Word. Our sin convinces us that we know what is best.
Yet look at Jesus. Do we not see in Him one we want to emulate?
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Who is this one whom we celebrate His birth?
He is Jesus. Full of Grace and Truth.
And if you are a follower of Jesus - if you have said with your lips “I believe Jesus is the Son of God” and in your heart believe that God raised Him from the dead - then God’s Word says that you are saved. You are now a child of God, a member of the household of God, a rightful heir to a glorious inheritance. Eternal life belongs to you.
It also means that you have decided to follow Him. To walk in His steps. To be full of Grace and Truth yourself.
Grace - undeserved favor. Freely forgiving others. Seeing in each person the image of their Creator. Welcoming and loving all people. Giving of yourself for the betterment of another.
Truth - obedience to God’s Holy Word. Living according to His commands.
As we enjoy Christmas - may we reflect on whose birthday we are celebrating. Spend time conversing with the One who is the light of the world. Seek His face.
He is Jesus Christ - he is the reason for this and every day. Amen.