Advent: Incarnation

Announcements:

Joining Main for next 2 Sundays

Introduction

So last week we spent some time reflecting on Advent season

How in the middle of the busyness we are invited to slow down and prepare our hearts of Jesus

How Advent is about waiting on the Lord

And we spent some time taking stock of our lives

What are we waiting for?

What are we longing for?

This morning we are going to be talking about Christmas itself! — What we take time to celebrate

The Birth of Jesus — The Incarnation

And today I hope we can take this idea that can seem so familiar—and see the wonder in it

Familiarity can destroy awe and wonder

New car — New Phone

And each year we are in danger of letting Christmas pass by without remembering the purpose behind it all

Incarnation — Carne

Putting flesh and bones to something

God became human — and took on flesh

The Incarnation is a part of the Gospel

It is very good news for you and me

Scripture Reading:

John 1:10–14 CSB

10 He was in the world, and the world was created through him, and yet the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, he gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in his name, 13 who were born, not of natural descent, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God. 14 The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Outline:

The Mystery of the Incarnatiom The Humility of the Incarnation The Power of the Incarnation

The Mystery of the Incarnation

Have you ever heard of the saying: “Hindsight is 20-20”

What does it mean?

On this side of the Life of Jesus, we can take for granted the truth of the incarnation…

But really, it was something no one expected

That God would take on human flesh and step into the world he created

The mystery of the incarnation: Unlike any other religion

Every other religion teaches that God is above and transcendent

And we have to make the effort to reach up and fill the gap

But this is not the case with Christianity

God has become man

But not coming down as a ruler and tyrant

But born as a weak and vulnerable baby

Who would have ever seen this coming?

Jesus in a conversation with one of his disciples says:

John 14:8–10 CSB

8 “Lord,” said Philip, “show us the Father, and that’s enough for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been among you all this time and you do not know me, Philip? The one who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who lives in me does his works.

There is a level of mystery in the incarnation

We can’t fully wrap our minds around it

That an infinite God became finite in Jesus

The unseeable God — has become seen in Jesus

The Creator of the heavens and earth has entered creation

We literally split time and history by this event (BC//AD)

And with this comes a sense of wonder:

We can’t let over-familiarity with this truth drain it of its wonder

There is no cross and no resurrection without the incarnation

The miracle of our salvation begins with the incarnation

How do we grow in wonder? — We ponder

At Christmas we take time to reflect on the mystery of the incarnation

The Humility of the Incarnation

The incarnation teaches us the heart of our God

He is a humble and lowly God

It is not just that he became human… but how he became human

He isn’t full of pride and power-hungry, demanding us to be humble

But he sets the example, He doesn’t ask us to do anything He hasn’t already done

In his letter to the Phillipians, Paul writes:

Philippians 2:5–8 CSB

5 Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus, 6 who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. 7 Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man, 8 he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death— even to death on a cross.

The incarnation displays the humility of God to us

Again, how would we imagine an all-powerful God to come down into this world?

Probably a lot more like the second coming of Jesus

From the Clouds in power

Or as a king to rule over

Emperors and leaders taking divine titles was a normal thing in the ancient world

But the way of our God is completely different

But in Jesus, God lowers himself to the lowest of the low

From the heavens to the earth

Not born into a royal family or a family of wealth

Instead born into a poor family

To a teenage mother

Not born in a city of notice

In the years of Augustus Caesar (the son of the divine)

Jesus is born in some small occupied territory of Israel

And not even in their capitol

But backwater Nazareth

And shortly after he was born, him and his parents had to flee for their lives and become refugees in Egypt

God was born poor and needy, a refugee

John 1:10–11 CSB

10 He was in the world, and the world was created through him, and yet the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.

The incarnation shows us that God means what he says

He knows what its like to be poor and in need

He knows what it is like to be oppressed

He knows what it is like to be overlooked

God enters our world, not as a kingly ruler, but as a poor and humble baby

And Christmas is the time we reflect on this truth

God is not distant

God knows the human experience

The highs and the lows

He is a God that identifies with the lowest of us

Whatever we are going through — Jesus understands

The incarnation is the ultimate display of humility

The Power of the Incarnation

The Power of the Incarnation is from the fact that it is lived out in real life

It shows us that Christianity isn’t just a heady set of beliefs and ideas

“the opposite of abstraction: incarnation” ― G.K. Chesterton, Saint Thomas Aquinas

And I just have a couple of points about the importance of the incarnation

It addresses 2 misconceptions we can have

It is vital to the good news

Misconception #1: An Overemphasis on Doctrine

Orthodoxy — Orthopraxy

Christianity is not just about how you think

It’s about how you live

It’s not about having all of the right answers

It’s about reflecting the character of God

Incarnating the way of Jesus

And I’m not saying we can’t have any right answers—or that orthodoxy (correct belief) doesn’t matter

But we have to balance it

How many of you know some hypocritical Christians that might know a lot — but don’t reflect Jesus at all?

The incarnation shows us that how we live actually matters

God sent his Son in order that we might become like him — that we would reflect Jesus

Misconception #2: The Spiritual is Good — The Physical is Bad

Spiritual vs Physical

God became human — Jesus took on a physical nature

For all eternity

We are physical beings

Our bodies matter

The physical world matters

Heaven is physical

The incarnation is about God coming into this messed up world to renew and restore it

Not God zapping us out of the physical world to live a ethereal life

But in all of this: The incarnation sheds light on the gospel

All of this is pointing towards Jesus’s Sacrifice—the spotless lamb

He didn’t come just to set an example

Jesus was born to die

To die for our sins

God became man — to live a sinless life

To take on our sins—and die on the cross

There is no Easter without Christmas

It all starts with Jesus’s humble entrance into humanity

As a poor and helpless baby

God among us

And the last thing I want to talk about is the fact that the incarnation is so central that it is actually our aim as followers of Jesus

We seek to incarnate the love, faith, and deeds of Jesus in our own bodies

We are representatives of Jesus

Just as Jesus came to put flesh and bones to the heart of God — We have the same mission

With our actually bodies — the things we do (serving others), the things we say, the things we think — are all to reflect our God

That we would stoop low to meet others where they are at

And this is my prayer for myself, and for all of us

That we would have life in Jesus’s name

That we would reflect who he is—not as a copycat or counterfeit

But because his Spirit lives in us—helping us along the way

Conclusion

Comfort:

Christmas reminds us of the humanity of Jesus

God meets us where we are

He comes down into the lowest and hardest of situations

He sympathizes with us

And he invites us to walk with him

He invites us to take on his life

He shares his life with us

Discussion Questions:

We just have one simple prompt:

It’s hard to teach on Christmas because there’s nothing new to Christmas

I can’t teach something that is going to blow your mind

But it really is about sitting with the Christmas story

Overcoming over-familiarity—and seeing the wonder once again

So in our groups we are just going to think through this together:

What makes Christmas special? What are we celebrating and what does it mean to us?

Prayer