SL Podcast - Ep. 17 | Christmas Part 2

Intro

Hello, hello! You’re listening to the studentlife podcast, where our goal is to help you know and follow Jesus, step by step. On this podcast, we take a dive into a recent topic from StudentLife Youth Ministry and look at how we can live it out. Studying what the Bible says helps us know Jesus, and finding ways to live it out helps us follow Him.

My name is Joe Farage and I’m one of the youth leaders at StudentLife. Let’s dig in!

Recap

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Last week we talked about Christmas and some of the historical and cultural background leading up to Jesus’ birth. This week I want to look a bit more at the first Christmas and what it means for us today.

Deep Dive

When you really think about the Christmas story, it seems ridiculous. The Creator of Heaven and Earth, a supernatural being, leaving behind his heavenly throne and coming to earth as a human baby. It can raise a lot of questions. Generally these questions revolve around the main question of,

If Jesus is God, why did He need to come to earth as a human baby? Why couldn’t he just come as God in all of His power to show people who He is?

I want to break it into a couple smaller questions to quickly look at them.

Why couldn’t he just come as God in all His power?

Throughout the Old Testament, we see God reveal His power and Himself and people still choose to ignore Him and turn away from him. Even before sin entered the world, Adam and Even walked with God in the garden. When God confronted them after eating the fruit from the tree, we’re told they were used to hearing “the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze”. So they quite literally walked with God on a regular basis and still made choices that broke their relationship.

Why did Jesus have to come at all?

This ties in with what we talked about last week, Jesus was the fulfillment of thousands of years of waiting. Jesus came to do what we could not, to live a perfect life, meaning one with nothing that He did that separated Him from God, then offer himself to be killed in our place, so that our relationship with God could be restored.

In Luke 4:18-21, we see Jesus in the temple shortly after he starts his ministry. He reads a scroll during the assembly, which was a common occurence, but then offers an explanation of it.

Luke 4:18–21 CSB

The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. He then rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. And the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on him. He began by saying to them, “Today as you listen, this Scripture has been fulfilled.”

Jesus came so we could experience restoration in our relationship with God our Creator.

To add onto that last question, why did Jesus have to come as a Human baby?

Hebrews 4:15 tells us

Hebrews 4:15 CSB

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin.

Jesus came as a human, so he could experience humanity firsthand. To be tested the same ways we are, and the navigate the complexity of daily life alongside us. He experienced pain, hurt, joy, love, frustration, anger, anxiety, doubt, fear, all the things we go through, and we feel alone in, Jesus experienced them.

But why as a human? Why didn’t he come as a god? I recently read that “Man alone partakes in both dimensions”. What this is referring to, is that as far as created beings go, humans are the only ones that really have an existence in both the earthly and heavenly realms. Sure Angels make appearances on earth, but they are very short compared to our lives on this side of eternity. And of the created earthly beings, humans are the only ones with a supernatural spirit who will enter into eternity after physical death.

Jesus came as a human to experience life as we do, and to show us a path forward into eternity as John 14:6 tells us. Jesus says “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Takeaway

So that’s a whole bunch of information, and that’s really only scratching the surface of each of those questions. There’s so much more to look at on each of those aspects of Christmas and why they’re important for us today. But I want to wrap up by boiling it down to a simple statement. Jesus came to earth as a human, because He loves you. Sometimes it can be hard to believe that or it seems like we haven’t earned it. But Jesus wants you and I to be in a personal relationship with our Creator, and He wants that so much that he came to earth as a human to go through life like we do, and ultimately be killed in our place. Christmas is all about Jesus and how much He loves you and me.

Announcements/Closing

This week and next week there is NO studentlife. January 10th is our next in-person StudentLife.

Next week’s Podcast is going to be a look forward to 2024 at Studentlife. I sat down with Pastor Jordan and Hunter and we talked about upcoming series, events, and plans for 2024. I’m excited to share that with you.

The following week, January 8th is going to actually be the start of our first series in 2024! We’re taking a look at world religions in January so Pastor Jordan and I are going to have a conversation about the first one we’re tackling on that episode of the podcast.

Then, as mentioned, January 10th is our first in-person StudentLife and we’ll be continuing with our world religions series.

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas with your loved ones. However you celebrate, I encourage you to think about why Jesus came as a baby.

Remember Jesus loves you and we do too!

Outro

On behalf of Pastor Jordan and all the StudentLife Youth Leaders, thanks for listening and we hope to see you at a StudentLife event!

StudentLife is a ministry of Life Church Buffalo. The High School group meets Wednesday nights at 7pm, and the Middle School group meets Sunday mornings at 11:15am. You can find StudentLife on Instagram and TikTok.

The original music for this episode was by Blakeis, you can find him on Spotify.

All those links and more are in the show notes.

Post-Show Bonus

Bible Verse from Trace or Hope

Show Notes

⁠Merry Christmas!

We continue our look at Christmas and look at the question, “why did Jesus come to earth as a human?”

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas with your loved ones, however you celebrate!

StudentLife is a ministry of Life Church Buffalo. The High School group meets Wednesday nights at 7pm, and the Middle School group meets Sunday mornings at 11:15am.

Check out StudentLife on Instagram (@lcbstudentlife) and TikTok (@lcb_studentlife).

You can find Life Church Buffalo online at www.lifechurchbuffalo.com.

The original music for this episode was by Blakeis, you can find him on Spotify.

Check out all these links, as well as referenced Bible verses, websites, books, and more at https://bit.ly/m/studentlifepodcast

Have a question you want answers to? Or do you want more information about StudentLife? Text 716-464-2276

Text <a href="”sms:[phone]"">[phone]</a>