Incarnation - He Came To Live WITH Us

Introduction

Have you ever wondered why God does things the way he does? Have you ever thought about the Christmas story like this? Why did God have to come down from heaven to save us? What is he teaching us in this?

He was born of a virgin, he lived for 33 years, he died and he rose again. Seems like a whole lot when he could have found a simpler way. I don’t believe it was accident. I think God wrote the story this way on purpose. God had a plan in the birth of Jesus.

Today we are starting a new sermon series for the holiday season called “Incarnation” which literally means, “to put on flesh.” This is going to be a four part series, starting today with “He Came To Live WITH Us.”

Next week will be, “He Came To Live FOR Us”, followed by “He Came To DIE For Us” and ending on Christmas Eve with “He Came To Give Us Hope!” So if you have friends or neighbors, invite them to church, this is one of the best seasons to invite someone to church.

So let’s kick this off by diving into the word. The main text today will be found in John 1, so if you have your Bibles go ahead and turn there, if you have the Cornerstone App, notes will be loaded in there and the words will be on the screen.

John 1:1 (ESV)

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:14 ESV

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 Gospel of John was written over 50 years after the birth of Jesus, and commentators believe the reason John waited so long was because he wanted to really soak in what had happened and he wanted to present the story from a different angle than Matthew, Mark or Luke did.

I’ve said this before, Matthew, Mark and Luke tells us mainly about what Jesus did. John tells us who Jesus was. John is looking at the heart of Jesus and trying to portray what he feels is the most important parts of who Jesus was while he walked the earth.

John starts then, in a very unique way compared to the others, he starts by harkening back to the creation in Genesis 1. In the beginning. Every person who has ever heard or read Genesis 1, when they read John 1, they automatically think back to that. John starts by reminding us of creation.

I think there is a powerful reason as to why John starts his gospel this way, and I think it connects to the Incarnation, which is what we are talking about. I think John is linking us back to the beginning to help us answer one very important question: Why the Incarnation?

Why did God put on flesh and dwell among us? Why was he born? What does it tell us about Jesus that he became a baby and walked with us? John is connecting us to the beginning in order to help us answer the why question.

Here’s the answer in my opinion. Why the Incarnation? It teaches us that…

Everything God Does Is Based In Relationship

Relationship with mankind is the common theme throughout Scripture. God wants relationship with us. He enjoys his creation. He thinks its good. This is Genesis 1. He says these things. He creates man and woman and he says it’s very good!

The only time in the first two chapters of Genesis that God says something is not good, is when he looks at man before he creates woman and he says, it’s not good for man to be alone. In other words, the absence of relationship is not good. If you don’t have relationship, that’s bad.

And even today, when we talk about eternity, we would say that the worst part of hell is that God isn’t there. He’s not present. Relationship is the point.

In the garden, we know the story, God creates Adam and Eve and he walks with Adam daily in the cool part of the day. He spent time with Adam. They had relationship. Of course, you know the serpent comes and deceives them and they fall into sin and they hide.

There is separation, for the first time since creation. Man and God are separated. Sin now stands in between God and man. Man is feeling shame, God is looking for him and calling out to him. This is the first rescue mission. The man had hidden himself from God and sewn together fig leaves to cover their nakedness.

God finds them. He seeks them out and finds them. He then looks at them and he knows what has happened. So he makes a promise for redemption. He promises that one day, the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent. You will be redeemed.

In other words, I will have our relationship restored. I will have you again all for myself.

A few thousand years pass, and God makes good on his promises. The seed of the woman, the redeemer is born, and his name is Jesus. God had sought us out. He came for relationship.

He came to live WITH us!

Matthew 1:20–23 ESV

But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).

His name will be “God with us.” God in relationship. God here. God present. God in community. God came for us. He didn’t just leave us. He saves us from our sin so that we can be in relationship with him.

Sin is a fundamental relationship; it is not wrong doing, it is wrong being, deliberate and emphatic independence of God.

Oswald Chambers (Lecturer and Missionary)

While most of us focus on the acts of sin, the state of sin or the state of being a sinner is that of being out of relationship with God. Chambers here is saying that the important thing isn’t the actions of sin, but the position it places you in. It puts you out of relationship with the Father, you are independent of Him.

And the primary purpose of life is to be in relationship with Him. The catechisms say it this way, “what is the chief end of man? To glorify God and enjoy him forever. You cannot enjoy him unless you are in relationship with Him! Our chief end (or our main purpose in life) is dependent on being in right relationship with God.

This was done in the incarnation. Jesus being born of a woman, was the fulfilment of the promise made in the garden. The seed will crush the head of the serpent, sin and we will be brought back into relationship with God.

It’s About Relationship Not Rules

The Incarnation is about relationship, not rules. Most people get this part wrong. We think we need to earn God’s favor. We need to follow all the rules in order to do that. But that’s not what the Incarnation teaches us. It teaches us that God values relationship with us so much that he came to fulfill the law because we couldn’t.

Now this is important because I think that Christianity has gotten a bad rap over the past few years because people have mistakenly associated Christianity with rules. It’s all about the rules. Don’t do this, do that, don’t do this, etc.

Now, I’ve got some people I know personally that have gotten this confused too. They want us all to go back to living under the Old Testament rituals. They think we should not eat pork, celebrate the feasts and insist on trying to return to Judaism.

And let me be clear. These people are dangerous. These are the people that the Apostle Paul warns us about in Galatians. They want us to turn back to the law, as if the law could save us. And Paul says they should castrate themselves. Paul vehemently defends the idea that our relationship with God is based on faith, not rules in that letter to the church in Galatia.

Galatians 3:23–26 ESV

Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.

In other words, Paul says that it’s not about the law anymore. Now, I’m planning to spend more time on this next week, but the law was given to us for a reason, but now we are justified by faith and we no longer need the law to watch over us. And notice what he ties this to…He says “in Christ you are all sons of God, through faith.”

He ties it back to relationship. We are sons and daughters. This is more than just a relationship this is a family. He has taken us into his family and the relationship is more than just mere acquaintances. This relationship is about being adopted into his family and being apart of his household. He loves us as his little children. This is the message of the Incarnation. Everything God does is based in relationship.

Relationship With A Purpose

I want to remind you though, this is relationship with a purpose. This isn’t just about warm fuzzy feelings. This isn’t just about you. Sometimes we can get caught up in the fact that it’s me and Jesus and we forget about the purpose behind this relationship.

This relationship has a purpose. The purpose is for us to love others. The entire point, that can sometimes be easily missed is that God saves us for a purpose. He wants relationship with us, yes, but he also wants us to have relationship with one another.

We do not live by rules but by relationships, a loving relationship to God that enables us to have a loving relationship with others.

Warren W. Wiersbe

This is what we see in the Incarnation, that God came to rescue us, to crush the serpent and bring us back into right relationship with Him, so that we can have loving relationship with others. That’s the point.

So what keeps us from coming into relationship with Jesus?

Sin

Religion (I’m talking to you)

Pride

Ignorance

Conclusion

I want to give you a chance to respond. If the point of the Incarnation, the point of Christmas is this…God wants relationship with you and he wants you to love others, then I need you to respond to that call. I want you to repent, change your mind, and come to Jesus. This will be the best Christmas ever, if you actually hear Him calling you into a deeper relationship and you actually respond.

So whether, it’s your sin, your pride, your ignorance or your false religion that is keeping you from coming to Him, I want you to respond today. Today is the day. Don’t look back, it’s time to come. Let’s stand and sing.