God Incarnate

12/20/20 • 27 min

Christ Redeemer Church >> Sunday Sermons

REFLECTION QUOTES
“The Son is the Father’s All.”
~Athanasius (c. 196-373 AD), North African theologian and church leader
“God cannot be Word-less, for the Word is God. Here then is a God who could never be anything but communicative, expansive, outgoing. Since God cannot be without this Word, he simply could not ever be reclusive.”
~Michael Reeves, president of Union School of Theology (Oxford)
“All praise to Thee, eternal Lord,
Clothed in a garb of flesh and blood;
Choosing a manger for a throne,
While worlds on worlds are Thine alone.”
“This is that mystery which is rich in divine grace unto sinners: wherein by a wonderful exchange, our sins are no longer ours but Christ’s; and the righteousness of Christ is not Christ’s but ours. He has emptied himself of his righteousness that he might clothe us in it, and fill us with it: and he has taken our evils upon himself that he might deliver us from them.”
~Martin Luther (1483-1546), German pastor-reformer
“God had one son on earth without sin, but never one without suffering.”
~St. Augustine (354-430), bishop in North Africa
“Being heard is so close to being loved that for the average person, they are almost indistinguishable.”
~David Augsburger in Caring Enough to Confront
“...the mystery...that Almighty God would come down...in the person of Jesus Christ and became one of us.... There is really nothing like that incredible social inversion of Almighty God coming here and living with us and dying with us.”
~Anne Rice, author of The Vampire Chronicles
SERMON PASSAGE
selections from Hebrews 1 & 2 (ESV)
Hebrews 1
1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs...
8 But of the Son he says,
“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever,
the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.
Hebrews 2
9 ...we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. 10 For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. 11 For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers....
14 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. 16 For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. 17 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 18 For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

Previous Episode

Walking with God: Mary’s Story

REFLECTION QUOTES
“One word became unbelievably clear, and that word was privilege. He didn’t take away pain or cruelty or humiliation. No! It was all there, but now it was altogether different. It was with him, for him, in him. He was actually offering me the inestimable privileged of sharing in some little way the edge of the fellowship of his suffering.”
“In the weeks of imprisonment that followed and in the subsequent years of continued service, looking back, one has tried to ‘count the cost,’ but I find it all swallowed up in privilege. The cost suddenly seems very small and transient in the greatness and permanence of the privilege.”
“God never uses a person greatly until He has wounded him deeply. The privilege He offers you is greater than the price you have to pay. The privilege is greater than the price.”
~Dr. Helen Roseveare (1925-2016), Cambridge-educated medical missionary to the Congo
“Do not imagine that if you meet a really humble man he will be what most people call ‘humble’ nowadays: he will not be a sort of greasy, smarmy person, who is always telling you that, of course, he is nobody. Probably all you will think about him is that he seemed a cheerful, intelligent chap who took a real interest in what you said to him. If you do dislike him it will be because you feel a little envious of anyone who seems to enjoy life so easily. He will not be thinking about humility: he will not be thinking about himself at all.”
~C.S. Lewis (1898-1963), British writer and theologian
“Self-sacrifice means not indifference to our times and our fellows: it means absorption in them. It means forgetfulness of self in others. It means entering into every man’s hopes and fears, longings and despairs: it means many-sidedness of spirit, multiform activity, multiplicity of sympathies. It means richness of development. It means not that we should live one life, but a thousand lives—binding ourselves to a thousand souls by the filaments of so loving a sympathy that their lives become ours. It means that all the experiences of men shall smite our souls and shall beat and batter these stubborn hearts of ours into fitness for their heavenly home. It is, after all, then, the path to the highest possible development, by which alone we can be made truly men.”
~B.B. Warfield (1886-1902), Professor at Princeton
SERMON PASSAGE
Luke 1:26-40 (ESV)
26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” 29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. 30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”
35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. 36 And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
39 In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, 40 and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.

Next Episode

Jesus, the Gift of a Cure

REFLECTION QUOTES
“We’re in a time where we exclude one major component out of this whole thing called life: God.”
~Kendrick Lamar, rapper, songwriter and producer
“We don’t have any control. And so, if you don’t have any control, then maybe everything you have is a gift.”
~Riz Ahmed, actor and rapper, speaking on NPR about the pandemic
“The Bible is God’s anthropology rather than man’s theology.”
~Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972), leading Jewish rabbi and theologian
“...the mystery...that Almighty God would come down...in the person of Jesus Christ and became one of us.... There is really nothing like that incredible social inversion of Almighty God coming here and living with us and dying with us.”
~Anne Rice, author of The Vampire Chronicles
“That a god should put up with adversity, I could understand. The gods of Hinduism face their fair share.... Adversity, yes. Reversals of fortune, yes. Treachery, yes. But humiliation? Death? I couldn’t imagine Lord Krishna consenting to be stripped naked, whipped, mocked, dragged through the streets and, to top it off, crucified.... [D]ivinity should not be blighted by death. It’s wrong.... The Son must have the taste of death forever in His mouth. The Trinity must be tainted by it; there must be a certain stench at the right hand of God the Father. The horror must be real. Why would God wish that upon Himself? Why not leave death to the mortals? Why make dirty what is beautiful, spoil what is perfect?
“Love. That was Father Martin’s answer.”
~ Pi’s response to hearing the Christian gospel in Yann Martel’s The Life of Pi
“If you stumble at mere believability, what are you living for? Isn’t love hard to believe?”
~Yan Martel in Life of Pi
“Love is divine only and difficult always.”
~Toni Morrison (1935-2019), novelist and college professor
“Life is short. Death is sure. Sin the cause. Christ the cure.”
~Source Unknown
SERMON PASSAGE
Luke 2:8-12 (ESV)
8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “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.”