The Incarnation: God's Love

Introduction

I would like to read the Christmas version of ,

If I decorate my house perfectly with plaid bows, strands of twinkling lights, and shiny balls; but do not have love, I’m just another decorator.

If I slave away in the kitchen, baking dozens of Christmas cookies, preparing gourmet meals, and arranging a beautifully adorned table at mealtime; but do not have love, I’m just another cook.

If I work at a soup kitchen, carol in the nursing home, and give all that I have to charity; but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

If I trim the spruce with shimmering angels, and crocheted snowflakes, attend a myriad of holiday parties, and sing in the choir’s cantata; but do not focus on Christ, I have missed the point.

Love stops the cooking to hug the child. Love sets aside the decorating to kiss the spouse. Love is kind, though harried and tired. Love does not envy another’s home that has coordinated Christmas china and table linens. 
Love does not yell at the kids to get out of the way, but is thankful they are there to be in the way.

Love does not give only to those who are able to give in return, but rejoices in giving to those who cannot. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. Love never fails.

Toys will break, pearl necklaces will be lost, golf clubs will rust; but giving the gift of love will endure.

Even non-believers know that Christmas is a time of giving, charity and love. But many non-believers and some non-believers forget or don't understand the root of our holiday love. . . the love of the incarnate Jesus. I love the traditions and pageantry of the Christmas season but we all have to remind ourselves why we give gifts, why we spend time with loved ones, why are attitudes are suppose to be filled with joy, love, and “Holiday Spirit.” Its because of the incarnate jesus and what his birth meant. It was a promise that redemption was coming, and for us it has already come.

It means that as our personal God, Jesus got down in the mud with us.

A professor once put illustrated this vividly to me. Our sinful world is like a smelly, disgusting swamp fully of decay. And Jesus to save us willing came down and got in the muck with us, smelling and experiencing the same disgusting mess that is our world.

When I was a kid, we had a fellowship meal at Fairview Church of Christ in Chesapeake. It happens to be a rainy day and adjacent top us was another church who was in the middle of a construction project. So, there yard was riddled with big stinky muddy holes.

We occasionally talk about the War on Christmas. Well no matter what people believe, no matter how your cashier greets you and no matter how much Santa gets more love than Jesus, make no mistake Christmas will always belong to Jesus and its meaning will always be the same. God’s love was so great that he sent His son into this world to save us. That love was shown in a couple different ways,

My mom told me not to play near them…. I didn’t listen and I what I thought was a shallow puddle was as hug hole. I was wet up to my stomach and smelled like a swamp.

Whenever I think of Jesus steeping down from heaven and coming to this world for us, I think back to that nasty swamp like field, and I am in wonder and amazement of how much our God loves us. That’s a huge part of the Christmas story God came down to dwell with us, because he loved us and wanted to save us.

[Scripture: ]

God with us also means…

God’s love leads to Jesus sharing in our pain.

tells us, 17 For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. 18 Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

Jesus was fully human in every way and suffered when he was tempted. And the author tells us how he can help those who are suffering and tempted, because he too went through it!

This was almost unheard of for most gods in other religions. Mythological gods are supposed to be beyond the human weaknesses of cold, hunger, loss or emotional stress. But through Jesus we have God who willing went through these events so that he could reach us and most importantly die as a sacrifice for us.

Who better to pastor his flock’s souls than the one who understood the physical, emotional, and spiritual struggles that we have. Who better to preach sacrificial love than the one who laid his life down for every man woman and child that ever lived. Jesus

When it comes to the suffering of Jesus, we often bring up passages like which predicted the Messiah’s torment for his people. Passages like this were perplexing to the rabbis then and know. Why and to what end would the messiah suffer? But if you understand the Incarnation you can then understand why and how he could suffer, God so loved the world he gave his one and only son, God gave of himself, Jesus the Son of God shared in our pain.

15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.

In the 90’s when i was a young teen this song by Joan Osborne called “one of Us.” Part of teh chorous fgoes like this:

What if God was one of us? Just a slob like one of us Just a stranger on the bus Tryin' to make his way home?

Just trying' to make his way…

I’m sure as with most music there is a 1000 interpretations on what was trying to be convey through these lyrics. Nevertheless, those questions were answered almost 2000 years before the song came out.

God did become one of us through the incarnation, he was poor and had to work like all of us, he was a stranger to most, even his own people, and he wasn’t trying to make his way HE WAS THE WAY!

Hebrews again preaches this truth in chapter 4:15,

15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.

God’s Love means Jesus became what we could never offer.

Paul says in , For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so, he condemned sin in the flesh,

The Christmas story tells us about Jesus becoming flesh, so he could condemn sin in the flesh. No animal sacrifice could wash away the sins of the world. Nor could any attempt of living a self-righteous live atone for our sins, only the perfect sacrifice. Only God himself coming in the flesh could do that.

[Gift image]

When you can’t earn it or merit it, it becomes a gift. A gift given out of love. Thank about the most amazing gift you have ever received on Christmas or any other occasion. Remember that joy and excitement that someone loved you enough to get you that special gift. Even if you multiply that joy by a billion, and you still haven’t gotten to just how awesome the gift Jesus himself is to the world!

The sacrifice of Jesus is once again a model for how we are to live.

Conclusion

Over the year’s, psychology has shown that human interaction: touch, communication, and friendship are not only essential in the development of children but in the psychological health of adults. Humanity desperately desires to have that relationship with God. You see this everywhere, people need and desire to connect with God. With Jesus coming down in the flesh and becoming our personal God, we can have that connection, which in fact is the only connection we will ever need for eternity.

Remember all of you, that we never have the right to say God doesn't understand. Beyond the fact God knows all and sees all, more importantly through Jesus God has experienced it all! Don’t doubt God’s love, because when you do you disregard all that Jesus did for you!

So maybe its time that as we celebrate His birth with all the fancy tradition (which I love BTW). That we remember just what God was willing to do for us. Loving us so much that he would identify with us through suffering and laying his life down. And it all begins at the Incarnation of Christ!

Christmas belongs to Jesus and its about His love to the world!