The Incarnation: The Tangible Heart Beat of God

THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS - I WILL BE ADDING NOTES TO THE FIVE DISCOVERIES IN THE NEXT DAY OR SO. KEEP CLOSE TO JESUS -

and love to you from Brian


I read from an arti cle in the Christianity Today Library that was written by Philip Yancey about Henri Nouwen. Its a great read. If you go to the Christianity Today Library Site you might be able to get to read it. CT Library is a wonderful source of all kinds of stuff on all kinds of subjects. I subscribe because of my interest in Christian History really. Go to CTLIbrary.com

Brian




PHILIPPIANS CHAPTER TWO

1 If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
7 but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
14 Do everything without complaining or arguing, 15 so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe 16 as you hold out the word of life—in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing. 17 But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. 18 So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.


INTRODUCTION

1. Today I want to talk about an issue which is as vital to every part of Christian faith as your heart is vital to your body. It is perhaps consistent therefore that this was among the first issues to challenge the church of the first generation and has challenged the church in every generation since then.

A College professor by the name of James Edwards wrote an article a few years ago entitled, “The Jesus Scandal” and the subtitle says, “The church has had a long history of discomfort with Christ.”

He says this:

“The Christian gospel differs most radically from all other religions in the doctrine of the Incarnation. Yet it also seems true that the church is scandalized by the Incarnation no less than the world is.”[1]


We have just celebrated the season we call Christmas. The Christmas story is breathtaking in the extreme. It is the story of a marginalized girl betrothed to a similarly marginalized man from a marginalized town in Galilee. The Christmas event is replete in its commitment to what has no status and no significance. The stable, the birth, the nature of the prophetic witness. It was one of the most disregard-able series of events in history. The son of God lived for thirty years without a mention of his identity, his purpose or his status. Could you keep a secret like that for thirty years. Could you wait for thirty years to begin the ministry for which you have been given breath. Well if you are a follower of Jesus that sort of stuff doesn’t come as a surprise. Its what the master did.

Little wonder that matters like this scandalized the “church world” of the day. What was happening was what we refer to as INCARNATION. The classic Bible verse that talks about this is from John’s gospel:

“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us; and we beheld his glory. The glory as of the One and only from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)

Now this statement was the observation of his disciples. And this wasn’t written twelve days after Christmas. Interestingly the verses that precede this statement are as profound in the negative sense as this is in the positive.

“He was in the world, and though the world was created by him, the world did not recognized him. He came to that which was his own, and his own did not receive him.” (John 1:10,11)

It is clear that the church had a problem from the beginning with the idea that Jesus Christ was not just going to become a man, but he was going to become a very common man. The Bible says there was nothing about him that would make him a stand out. Until the day he stepped into the water to be baptized by John he identity and his exalted nature was totally unknown. It was the very unpretentiousness of Jesus life that was the source of the scandal. The “church” of the day abhorred what we today have worshipped. The church of Jesus’ day ignored what we have honoured. The church of Jesus own day rejected what we have largely embraced.

And they have done it in different ways in every generation since.

1/2nd Jesus was an addition to the observance of Jewish traditions and customs
Jesus was not really a man (Gnosticism)
2-4th Jesus divine and human nature compromise with Greek philosophical worldview
4th Post Constantine Jesus replaced by the church “Christendom.”
13th Thomas Aquinas Jesus replaced by philosophical reason
19/20th Liberalism Jesus replaced with humanism “The fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man.”
Post Modernism God centred faith replaced by man centred (“solipsism” - self is the only reality)

Theology of transformation replaced by a theology of affirmation


What appears to be the case from this summary of the church’s response to the idea of the incarnation down through the years is that the ministry of Jesus will always qualify as the most easily discard-able aspect of the ministry of Jesus.
If you ask the question of people today whether Jesus was a good man most people on the street will agree – i.e. they cannot as easily set it aside
If you as the same people whether Jesus is the Son of God come in the flesh you will find more people can discard that idea that the previous one.
The same with the virgin birth
The same with the idea that Jesus provides the only way of salvation

But you can find the same thing IN the church as OUTSIDE of the church. Just think what it means today. You and I can walk into this building with sin burdened lives and walk away without embracing the saving life of Christ. We can sing worship songs and remain committed to our self pity, to our resentment, to our idolatry. It is because we have not embraced the incarnation.

The same is true for Christian ministry. The incarnation is the defining character of all Christian discipleship. The incarnation has scandalized very much of what we have come to accept as valid Christian ministry. For some reason we have found ourselves having to re-define it and shape it so that it becomes more palatable. We have rationalized it and spiritualized it out of its true character.

It is precisely this issue that is raised in one of the prison letters that Paul wrote from Rome: the letter to the Philippians. If you can imagine how Paul’s imprisonment must have affected the church around the Mediterranean. Think of the prayer meetings that would have focused on the fact that their great hero and leader was kept for two years in Caesarea waiting for all kinds of red tape to be processed. Then the journey to Rome and under Roman guard – not just any guard but soldiers from the Praetorium. Caesar’s personal detachment. They must have wondered what the God of heaven and earth was doing. No matter what they said, how they fasted, he remained in chains.

When Paul writes about what is happening, he cites the fact that his imprisonment, among other things has had an effect on some people who see Paul’s incarceration as their opportunity to make a name for themselves in ministry. In the light of these grotty little samples of human sin Paul turns to the incarnation for a guiding light.



THE INCARNATION: THE GLORY OF MARGINALIZATION

1 If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.


The fact is that Jesus modeled a way of living that robbed the following human counterfeits of their power. Christian people down through the generations have testified to this power:

The power of earthly status
The power of human manipulation
The power of independence
The power of self determination
The power of familiar darkness


These powers are broken when we come to understand what it is like to take our cue from the Son of God.


There is encouragement

There is comforting love

There is fellowship with the Spirit

There is the experience of tenderness and compassion



ONE: DISCOVERING INCARNATION THE GLORY OF BEING A NOBODY
NO VALUE IN EARTHLY STATUS

“Who being in very nature God did not consider equality with God something to be grasped….”


1. Jesus was there when the world was created. On the night he was born the very stars that shone in the sky shone down on the small round face of their creator.

On the day that Jesus stood before Pilate he had the power to command legions of angels to come and deal with the petty derived human power vested in the Roman procurator and overthrow him completely.

When he was misunderstood, ignored, despised and rejected he carried in himself the stature of the godhead.

On no occasion did Jesus call on any one of these things. He came to the world without rank or station. He exercised a ministry totally devoid of human sponsorship

2. What we have to remember is that influence has nothing to do with status. We will never have influence because we have status. We are often going to fall short of understanding the incarnation if we assume that if we can only
Gain importance
Make a lot of money
Be successful in the world’s eyes
We will have influence for God.

The truth is we can have influence for God and those things may or may not follow. But the only influence we have for God will come because of God. It will come from a different source. (Daniel had no status).

3. Be careful of the way you apply the Scripture: “a man’s gift makes way for him.” We can often think that if we excel in the exercise and development of our God given talents, we will have influence for God. Not so. Talents can be useful. They won’t be useful because they are consecrated. They will be useful when they are anointed. It is a flow of the Spirit of God that creates influence.

4. We have the opportunity to represent the incarnation model Jesus gave us. When we accept our identity as sons and daughters of the living God and when we agree to avoid the exercise of human ambition thinking that if we make something of our selves we will have influence for God we will lose opportunity for that influence.



TWO: DISCOVERING THE INCARNATION THE GLORY OF BEING A SERVANT
NO VALUE IN SELF CENTREDNESS

“…but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant…”



THREE: DISOVERING THE INCARNATION THE GLORY OF IDENTIFICATION
NO VALUE IN FRANCHISED SYSTEMS

“..being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man…”


FOUR: DISCOVERING THE INCARNATION THE GLORY OF OBEDIENCE
NO VALUE IN SELF DETERMINATION

“…he humbled himself and became obedient to death…..”


FIVE: DISCOVERING THE INCARNATION THE GLORY OF REDEMPTIVE PURPOSE
NO VALUE IN COMPROMISE

“…even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and given him a name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, in heaven and on earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
[1] Christianity Today, 2002