Title: God Made into Breakable Flesh
Church bulletins have been the source of some pretty fun bloopers.
Some have to do with needs in the church.
One in particular seemed like it was trying to recruit small children
“Volunteers needed: We are short on children in the nursery.”
Another nursery announcement made the mistake of over explaining just who it was targeting.
“For those of you who have children and don’t know it, we have a nursery downstairs.”
Birth announcements are always good, except when there’s one incorrect letter.
“The rosebud on the altar this morning is to announce the birth of David Alan Belzer, the sin of Rev. and
Mrs. Julius Belzer.”
The most amazing birth announcement that ever took place was in that pasture outside of Bethlehem when
the angels proclaimed to shepherds
* Luke 2:10–14 10 “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the
people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will
be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly
there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the
highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
Why did myriads of angels announce the birth of a simple baby?
Why did the Shepherds worship a baby?
Why did the wise men travel for years seeking for a toddler in order worship him?
The obvious answer is that Jesus wasn’t a simple baby.
He is God in human flesh and worthy of our worship.
To Worship means to give honor or to show how worthy or valuable someone is.
We were planning to celebrate communion last week.
But with the weather cancelation last week, we decided that this week would be a perfect time to celebrate
it still.
You might be wondering, “How is a Christmas service a good time to celebrate communion?”
I think our title explains this as God Made into Breakable Flesh
At Christmas, we celebrate the incarnation of the eternal God.
“Incarnation” means to take on flesh.
The one who is eternal stepped into and was constrained by time.
The one who lives in unapproachable light took on skin.
The one who was deserved to sit on His throne in heaven surrounded by angelic worshipers was laid in a
manger surrounded by smelly animals.
It was right that the baby Jesus was surrounded by angels and worshipers at His birth.
And I hope that our time in John 1 will remind you this morning of why you should worship Jesus too.
First, as incomprehensible as it is, you should –
1. WORSHIP BABY JESUS AS GOD. (1-4)
* 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He
was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not
any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
What word do you expect me to say next when I say, “In the beginning…”? - GOD
* 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God
This would’ve been what was expected by John’s original readers as well.
And it sets the tone for the idea that the one who is going to be described is God Himself, which is true.
The idea of “the beginning” doesn’t mean the start of the world.
It’s talking about a period that is outside of the limits of time - before time - eternity past.
Jesus is described in these verses as “the Word.”
And this is defining Him as THE Message of God for us in His very person and the life He lived.
He’s the self-expression of God.
Or as John Piper put it, “What God had to say to us was not only or mainly what Jesus said, but who Jesus
was and what he did.
And Jesus, God’s message to humanity, is described as in the beginning, with God and God Himself.
This means that He is eternal, equal to God & in communion with God as a member of the Trinity.
Wallace described this relationship that’s foreign to us saying -
Jesus “shared the essence of the Father, though they differed in person.”
In that period of eternity, Jesus was with God, uncreated by God, meaning -
* 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
Certainly, Jesus being a member of the Creating Trinity is a common teaching in other places in the NT.
Colossians 1:16 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.
Of course, all this also means that Jesus has always existed.
Jesus is self-existent as God, meaning He’s the maker and wasn’t made.
John uses some very general terms here to describe what Jesus offers.
* 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men
This is likely because of the gospel being written for a broad audience of both Jew and Gentile.
Mose Greeks and Jews would’ve recognized and valued life and light as spiritually significant
When we’re told that Jesus is life, it means that He is the source of both physical and spiritual life.
None of us possess anything more precious than life, for which Jesus is the source.
And the life of our eternal souls is more important than anything temporary.
This is why Jesus asked us, who have every pleasure imaginable at our fingertips -
“What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul.”
To lose our soul in eternal death is to lose what is most precious of all.
And Jesus is the source of eternal life for our souls.
Can you see how the life He gives is the light of men?
The life Jesus illumines the way to eternal life and abundant life on this earth.
You know, all pagan religions have an entire collection of gods, because each god is thought to be
responsible for one little slice of life.
In the Greco/Roman world, they needed a god of the sky, so they thought up Zeus.
They needed a god of the sea, so they prayed to Poseidon.
If the crops were struggling, they turned to Demeter, the goddess of agriculture.
If they wanted love, they called on Aphrodite.
If they went to war, they called on Ares.
And it didn’t stop there. They even believed in a god of sleep (Hypnos),
a god of dreams (Morpheus),
a god of fear (Phobos),
and a god who watched over property lines (Terminus).
All pagan religions have a god for every domain of life—
one for the sun, the moon, healing, fire , storms, music,
one for the harvest,
one for fertility,
one for death.
Pagan worshipers have to carry around a whole mental Rolodex of deities just to get through a week.
But the true God (the one of the Bible) is the God of all the earth because He created it all.
He’s not the god of one category.
Not the god of one need.
Not the god of one moment.
And JESUS is that God.
This means that Jesus Christ is not the “God of one department.”
He is not the god of wind, or wealth, or beginnings—
He is Lord over all creation
He is God. Period.
He’s the One through whom all things were made.
The One who sustains all things by the word of His power.
The One to whom all authority in heaven and on earth has been given.
And that is why He alone is worthy of our worship.
For you, how much of this Christmas season is still about the birth of the “Savior, who is Christ the Lord”?
How much of your Christmas celebrating would be considered “worship”?
This might seem repetitive for most of you, but I want to challenge you this Christmas to –
2. WORSHIP BABY JESUS AS GOD-MAN. (14)
* 14 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.
What’s the main amazing idea here is how God chose to be with us in a more personal way than before.
In the garden of Eden, God walked with Adam and Eve.
In the wilderness, God appeared with His people in the form of a cloud or pillar of fire at night.
He didn’t become a cloud even as He was God.
The cloud or fire signified his presence.
But in Jesus, God BECAME one of us by becoming flesh.
It’s interesting that God didn’t use some prettier terms when John writes that Jesus became flesh.
He could’ve said He became “a man” (“Anthropos”) or given him a “body” (“soma”).
Instead, he uses the word “flesh” (“sarx”) which usually refers to the crudest parts of human existence.
This is why the term “incarnation” has the same root word as the term “carnal.”
Jesus got down into the nitty gritty of what it means to be made human and was made of the same flesh
that we’re tempted by daily.
It’s important to also note that Jesus didn’t lose any of His God-nature by becoming flesh.
And Jesus didn’t become like a man, became a man.
Fully God and fully man.
Alber Mohler spoke on this verse on Friday, and I appreciated what he said.
“John 1:14 is an astounding, shocking, indeed by conventional wisdom, an outrageous statement, “The
Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”
Like flesh? No, flesh.
Flesh like something other than full humanity? No, full human flesh, born of a human mother.
This shows us that the eternal plan and purpose of God was that we shall be redeemed from our sin by
none other than the Son of the living God, sent by the Father, who assumed human flesh, born of the Virgin
Mary, the Word through whom the worlds were made, became flesh.
And not only that, he dwelt among us.”
The Tabernacle that God had His people construct was the place where His presence would dwell.
When John says that God dwelt among us as Jesus Christ, it literally says “He tabernacled” with us.
Jesus became the place where man and God meet, taking the place of the tabernacle and temple.
Kelly and I were expecting Hannah only four months after we got married.
I learned really quickly that expecting a baby means that the little one is already present in your life.
So much of life becomes about getting ready for that baby.
And the truth is that there’s no amount of getting ready that can prepare you enough.
From the moment that the baby is born, it’s all hands on deck
From mommy feeling like a 24-hr milk cow.
Dad feels like he’s working 3 jobs on little sleep.
Siblings can feel like they’ve been evicted from their spot of the “baby of the family.”
But, of course, it’s worth changing our whole world for the sake of a precious baby.
With the birth of Jesus Chist, the God-baby if you will, even more than our whole world changed.
Everyone else’s whole world for all of time changed.
The heavenly beings were dumbstruck by things that they had longed to see before it finally happened.
God didn’t just take up residence with man again.
God lived as a man.
And He lived as a man for many reasons and to benefit us in many ways.
But He ultimate lived as a man so that He could die as our substitute… Gospel
As the only God-Man, do you recognize Jesus as the only person who can secure salvation for any person?
What does it mean to you that Jesus took on flesh so that He might die in your place?
This morning, we have the privilege of celebrating that God was made into breakable flesh
* 1 John 4:10 (NIV) 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as
an atoning sacrifice for our sins. (NIV)
If Jesus hadn’t taken on flesh as we have, He couldn’t have been our substitute.
And being our substitute meant dying the death that our sins deserved…
And He did so by His sacrifice.
