WONDER, PART THREE – THE TOUCH OF IMMANUEL

WONDER, PART THREE – THE TOUCH OF IMMANUEL Isaiah 9:6 John 1:14 December 17, 2006 Given by: Pastor Rich Bersett [Index of Past Messages] Introduction I rarely do so, but I want to recommend a movie to you and your family – The Nativity Story. This is a high quality film with great redeeming value, and one you won’t be ashamed to take your kids to. It is somewhat fictionalized, but brings the biblical account of the birth of Christ in a most commendable way. We complete a three-part series this morning. A couple of weeks ago we looked at the Wonder of God’s Creation; last Sunday, the Wonder of God’s Plan and the prophecies surrounding the birth of Jesus, the Messiah. This morning I’d like us to consider another aspect of God’s Wonder – the coming of His Son into humanity. Eugene Sterner wrote: Christmas is when God came down the stairs of heaven with a baby in His arms. Consider with me this morning the staggering wonder of this extravagant reality. God, maker of heaven and earth, source and center of all wisdom, limitless power, determined to show His extravagant love for humanity, broke the barrier between the eternal and temporal, and broke into the space/time continuum He created. The Creator stooped to become one of the created. The holy, immortal, unfathomable Divine, who could have easily and right-fully punished sinful humanity with instant annihilation, chose instead to enter our world—the world we trashed with our sin, identify with us, suffer and die for us. Immanuel – God with us! The Word Incarnated Jesus—very God—becoming very man to bring to us the touch of God. All of history points either forward or backward to that point in time where the cleavage of BC and AD is marked in permanent ink. The Word became flesh and lived for awhile among us. (John 1:14) No one in the 1st century would have misunderstood what John meant by the LOGOS became flesh. The Greeks had long since infused that word with all kinds of significance. It graces our language today wherever we use the suffix –OLOGY as in biology, zoology, theology. It means “the study of”, or “the word or teaching about”. John says in Jesus we have the full and complete Word about God. He came to our planet to fully explain God and His plan to redeem all who would let Him. Hebrews 1:3  says the Son is the…exact representation of his [God’s] being… And Jesus Himself said, I and the Father are one (John 10:30) and  Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. (John 14:9) Because Jesus has come into our world, John says, We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. There is a great moment in the movie, Jurassic Park, when world-class paleontologist Allen Grant, who has devoted his life to the study of dinosaurs, suddenly comes face-to-face with real, live prehistoric creatures. It is one of the most splendid moments in the movie as he falls to the ground, dumbstruck. And the reason is obvious. It is one thing to piece together an informed but nonetheless imperfect image of dinosaurs by picking through fossils and bones. But to encounter an actual dinosaur—well, there can be no comparison. It is one thing to poke around in sterile belief systems and cold doctrines trying to understand God. But when the living God shows up—nothing but awe. No wonder kings felt threatened, shepherds and wise men alike fell to their knees, and men and demons shuddered at the drama of such saving love. For many people, spirituality amounts to picking through the artifacts of religious traditions handed down to them. But a truckload of empty tradition could never compare with the life-changing experience of encountering God as a real, connecting, loving and saving person. Here in the body and life of Jesus we have Jehovah God come to us as a real person, showing us what He and the Father are made of, demonstrating His love and compassion and personally inviting us into His friendship. Immanuel. God with us. The one who resided in heaven, co-equal and co-eternal with the Father and Spirit, willingly descended to our world. He breathed our air, felt our pain, knew our sorrows, and died for our sins. Wonder of all wonders! That’s what John is getting at in that last phrase: full of grace and truth. Truth is nothing other than God’s perspective on things. There was a British Conference on comparative religion. Dozens of experts from around the world debated what, if any, belief was unique to the Christian faith. They began by eliminating possibilities. Incarnation? Well, other religions had their stories of gods appearing in human form. Morality? Every other religion had their rendition? A Savior? Many religions focused on a single leader who promised deliverance. The debate went on for some time until C.S. Lewis arrived late. “What’s the rumpus about?” he asked, and his colleagues answered they were searching for Christianity’s uniqueness among the world’s religions. Lewis responded, “Oh, that’s easy. It’s grace.” In a moment there was complete agreement. The notion that God’s love comes to us free of charge through the loving sacrifice of His own Son is unparalleled anywhere else. The power and energy behind the incarnation of Jesus Christ is grace. He did it all for us undeserving creatures, because He loves us. He came to graphically demonstrate the love of God toward us, to heal and restore, redeem and perfect us. This is the touch of Immanuel. Immanuel – God with us! And here He is, in Bethlehem as promised, a helpless baby, needing his diapers changed, crying for his mother’s milk. The more you think about it the more staggering it gets. As J. I. Packer said, Nothing in fiction is so fantastic as the incarnation. The God who created the vast stretches of the universe is lying there in the straw, whimpering, barely able to open his eyes – very God and very man. Are you alert enough, humble enough, wise enough to bow down before Him and worship Him in the wonder of it all? Immanuel – God with us! The World – Missing the Wonder There is much ado these days about the so-called separation of church and state as it touches the public display of cr?hes and crosses, the singing of Christmas carols and even, of all things, simply saying “Merry Christmas” to others. You know what? When I consider how far God came for me and the wonder of His incarnation, somehow “Happy Holidays” just won’t get it for me. A few thoughts from a source I’ve never quoted in a sermon before – Ben Stein: Herewith at this happy time of year, a few confessions from my beating heart: I have no … clue who Nick and Jessica are. I see them on the cover of People and Us constantly when I am buying my dog biscuits and kitty litter. I often ask the checkers at the grocery stores. They never know who Nick and Jessica are either. Who are they? Will it change my life if I know who they are and why they have broken up? Why are they so important? I don't know who Lindsay Lohan is, either, and I do not care at all about Tom Cruise's wife. Next confession: I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees, Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are: Christmas trees. It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, "Merry Christmas" to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it … It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house. If people want a cr?he, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away. I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat. Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship Nick and Jessica and we aren't allowed to worship God? I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where Nick and Jessica came from and where the America we knew went to. Thank God for the religious freedoms we do have, but once the wonder of God’s incarnational love has truly dazzled my heart I will praise Him and testify about Him even if it costs me a fine, prison time, or my life. So real is the touch of Immanuel. Isaiah 9:6 - For unto 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. Another Name for Immanuel – Wonder Michael Card in The Promise: All we could ever imagine or ever hope for, He is ... He is the Prince of Peace whose first coming has already transformed society but whose second coming will forever establish justice and righteousness. All this, and infinitely more, alive in an impoverished baby in a barn. That is what Christmas means--to find in a place where you would least expect to find anything you want, everything you could ever want. In all the Bible Jesus has been given 256 names or titles, but the one that prophet and angel alike declared was Immanuel. God is holy, eternal, ineffable, righteous and perfect; His ways are infinitely higher than our ways. Yet He came near. Theologians use two words to capture the contrast: Transcendent and immanent. But He didn’t come to make a display – He came to make a connection. He came to bring us the touch of God. That’s the deeper point of the wonder. That God came to be with us. I remember it like it was yesterday. The little funeral home was clean and orderly. All the preparations had been made. The florists from that little town and all the neighboring towns must have sold out and worked through supper the night before as all the deliveries that day choked the small building. Two days before we got the shocking news that Charlotte’s mother, Roberta, had been killed in an automobile wreck when her car inexplicably careened off the blacktop, down a steep hill and into the opposing bank of a deep creek. The shock was still there with us the evening of the visitation and as if to medicate the sorrow we all stood close together, mostly silent, bonded by the glue of the great loss we had in common. As clear as anything, I remember my observations that night. One by one, hundreds of friends and family coursed their way through that small frame building. An enormous outpouring of support and encouragement for the bereaved family. But what struck me were the hugs. Each one bore a measure of empathic pain and compassion in their eyes, and each one hugged every member of the family. Hundreds filed by, some with kind words, others too stunned to say anything—but each one brought a touch. A hug, a hand held lingeringly, a brief, loving backrub, a caring hand on the shoulder. Each touch a minute erasure of some of the hurt. Touch heals. Charlotte and her siblings, all the grandchildren, Roberta’s suddenly widowed husband—everyone who to any degree had her wrenched from their lives, who wished now they’d have expressed their love to Roberta a little better the last time they talked. They all needed one thing from these comforting others – a touch – a little reminder from the outside of their wounded selves that their pain was shared, their faith would sustain, their needs would be met – that they would be there. The hurting, grieving family gathered in the little frame funeral home in Cisne, IL that night needed, above all else, a TOUCH. God brought His divine touch to a lost and hurting planet the one thing we really needed – the divine touch of Immanuel. His justice and righteousness demanded satisfaction for mankind’s rebellion; His love for us paid the price of that satisfaction in the only way that would truly work—the sacrificial visitation and offering of His Son. God could not just stand in heaven, far removed, waved His hand and dispensed His forgiveness and absolution. It would never do. We needed His touch. And He came – He brought the gift of Himself - Immanuel. Hebrews 2:14 says, Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared their humanity… He came to identify with our humanity, our hurts, even our sin. Then, in the quintessential act of empathic love, He died in our place to bring us back to Him. Wonder of wonders – Immanuel! Conclusion Now, most of the world will never appreciate the wonder and the glory of the incarnation (wide is the path and narrow the gate, you know). They’ll miss it—every year they’ll miss it. They’ll go on settling for the toys and trinkets, ornaments and gift exchanges and think they’ve got the best out of Christmas. But they’ll sadly have missed the peace, the good will and the wonder. But we who by His grace do see the wonder, who appreciate the incarnation and have tasted His kindness, it is ours to pray. To pray that many will come to understand and receive the salvation Jesus incarnated and died to bring them. And there will be a few more each year. They’ll learn and eventually confess Christ, be baptized, join a church and start living for the Lord. Together with these here and in heaven we will wonder at the incarnation. To us He has give the mission and mandate of declaring, through word and deed who He is and what He has done for anyone who will trust and receive Him. You see, we too are called to be the incarnation of Christ in His lost world, representing and reflecting the glory and the wonder of the loving, pursuing God. I close with the poetic words of the late Joe Bayly: Praise God for Christmas. Praise Him for the Incarnation for Word made flesh. I will not sing of shepherds watching flocks on frosty night or angel choristers. I will not sing of stable bare in Bethlehem or lowing oxen wise men trailing distant star with gold and frankincense and myrrh. Tonight I will sing praise to the Father who stood on heaven's threshold and said farewell to His Son as He stepped across the stars to Bethlehem and Jerusalem. And I will sing praise to the infinite eternal Son who became most finite a Baby who would one day be executed for my crimes. Praise Him in the heavens. Praise Him in the stable. Praise Him in my heart.   [Back to Top]