← ArchiveMiracle in the MangerThe IncarnationDateDecember 13, 2020SpeakerDr Josh BurnhamText—Passages in this sermonMatthew 12:43Isaiah 76:55Philippians 211:04John 111:48John 1413:10John 1518:48John 321:21TranscriptMachine transcribed. Click any line to jump there.0:00Music.0:30Well, good morning. Let me get on stage real quick. My name is Josh Burnham, lead pastor here. And if you're just now joining us for the first time, whether online or in person, you're thinking, what is going on here? Let me describe what you just witnessed. This is what we call church. We've already had church. This is where the people who are called by the name of Jesus Christ gather in the name of Jesus Christ.0:59And we bring into this assembly, the sacred assembly, the spirit of God. And we gather around the word of God because the people in the name of Jesus believe that his word transforms our life. And so we leave here today wanting to live out the words of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. This is the church.1:28And today it's festive again. One, it's the Christmas Advent season. Two, we have seen people give their life to Christ and go public in believers' baptism. And at the end of the service, we're going to join together as a people of God and celebrate the crucifixion and celebrate the death, burial, and resurrection through the Lord's Supper, through communion. And here's our hope.1:59As we say every Sunday, if you are a Christ follower, as Tyler shared earlier, we're not asking if you think you're a Christ follower, do you know? If you are a Christ follower, our prayer is that when we sing, that when we pray, as we leave here, you are encouraged in your faith. And if you are not a Christ follower, that by the time you leave here, you see something or you hear something and you say, I want this Jesus. I need this life change. I am also dead in my sins and I want new life that is only found in Jesus Christ.2:25This is the power of the gospel. And today we continue our message, Miracle in the Manger. And we're going to look at the incarnation, God with us. So as we begin that, you can turn to Matthew chapter 1 if you have your Bibles. We're going to look at one verse today, one verse. For many of you, and myself too, the sounds of Christmas bring the greatest joy to your hearts.2:51Maybe it's listening to the radio. Some of you, like me, I can listen to Christmas music all year round. Now, when I say Christmas music, do not come at me with the Christmas song. That is not a Christmas song. Like, I reject it. Right? Don't come at me with Grandmother Got Run Over by a Reindeer.3:19That's not a Christmas song. Don't come at me with the 12 Days of Christmas. I want songs that are deep. Theologically. I want songs that talk about the birth of Christ. I want songs like this song. Maybe lyrics that you have heard before. Christ, by highest, heaven adored. Christ, the everlasting Lord. Late in time, behold him come.3:46Offspring of a virgin's womb. Veiled in flesh, the Godhead see. Hail, the incarnate deity. A song that talks about God with us. Maybe you know these lyrics from O Come All Ye Faithful. God of God. Light of light eternal. Lo, he abhors not the virgin's womb. Very God. Begotten. Not created. And if you have ever sung these songs, whether you know it or not, you are displaying a belief in the incarnation.4:17This God becoming man. And we're going to look at that this morning. The incarnation is Latin for God taking on flesh. Or God becoming flesh. And we're going to ask two questions about this theology. How it shapes our heart. But before we do, here's our incarnation.4:46It is God. Fully God. Becoming man. Fully man. So it's the union of God and man. The incarnation. God becoming flesh for us. It's exactly what we see in Matthew chapter 1 and verse 23. So as we worship in light of the virgin birth last week, today we worship in light of the incarnation.5:09And we're going to ask two questions. One, what do we make of this? What is this thing? What is this incarnation? How do we wrap our minds around this? What do we make of this? And the second question is equally vital. It is what does this, if it's true, what does this make of me? What does this make of me?5:37So let's read one verse. Matthew chapter 1 beginning in verse 23. I forgot to welcome our online viewers. So thank you guys for tuning in. We're going to be amening and shouting and reading here. So feel free to comment and raise. I think there are little praise hands that you can put online. So feel free to share that and amen there. Just act like you're here. And we thank you that you're worshiping with us online.6:05This is the word of the Lord. Matthew 1, 23. See, the virgin will become pregnant. Now some of you are still trying to wrap your minds around that phrase. We cannot explain it unless God is involved. There's no natural explanation that you can conceive to make this prophecy make sense.6:27Other than saying the Holy Spirit is involved. That's why it's a miracle. It's a supernatural intervention into the natural world. But wait, there's more. And this virgin will become pregnant and she will give birth to a son. And they will call him his name Emmanuel. This is what Isaiah 7, 14 says. Why?6:57Why? Because he is God with us. He is God with us. Let's pray. Father, we simply ask you right now, Lord, to open our eyes and behold the beauty of Christmas. To open our eyes and see who you are and what you're doing in our lives. And Lord, we don't simply want to make something great of this mystery that is the incarnation.7:24But Lord, we want this miracle to make something great of us. So Lord, may we be changed. May we be moved. And may we lead here differently because you have been in this place. Lord, we thank you for the sacred assembly. Where your church can gather in your name and hear from your word and live out the mission to bring the gospel to the nations.7:45Lord, we love you. And we thank you before we loved you, you loved us by sending your son Jesus to be our atoning sacrifice. And to be with us. This is the miracle of the incarnation. Lord, we pray all these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. And amen.8:14And amen. So the Christmas narrative begins this way, right here in verse 23. See, the virgin will become pregnant. And they will name him Emmanuel. And the Bible tells us what the name means. Emmanuel simply means God with us. Not God somewhere out there. Not God far and lifted up so far that you can't reach him or he can't reach you. Emmanuel is God with us. That is what his name means.8:43And from the beginning of time, the early church and the infant church have tried to wrap their minds around what this means. And so thankfully, in the council of Calcadan in Istanbul, about 451 AD, if you've ever thought our business meetings were long, this council was a month long. A month long. And the early church gathered. And this is how they defined the incarnation in the early church.9:11So for 400 years, they wrestled with what we're looking at right now. And they said this. In the council of Calcadan, they said that Jesus was not two persons. He was not on one hand God and on one hand human and they were two different people. Rather, it was a single person made known in two natures. Human and divine.9:39So what do we make of this? This is what we make of the incarnation. At the birth of Jesus Christ, and it's hard to wrap our minds around this. But at the birth of Jesus Christ, when Jesus laid in the manger, He was upholding the universe at the same time. Think about that. This baby that some of you have in your front yard right now. Or a manger scene in your house. The baby in the manger was at the same moment holding the stars in their place.10:09This is the power. This is the miracle of the incarnation. Fully God and fully man. One person and two natures. Think of it like this. Think of the world's two fastest sprinters running a race. But they're running a three-legged race. Some of you know three-legged races?10:38It's where two people tie their legs together and they begin to run the race tied together. So in that moment, the world's fastest sprinter does not lose his ability. But he chooses to run the race to the full extent where he limits his ability for the duration of the events. You see, Jesus Christ did not lose his divinity when he became man. But he chose to lay aside that, not considering himself equal with God as Philippians 2 says.11:04But he laid aside that. He didn't lay aside his divinity, but he laid aside the power. And he chose to confine himself as a man that we might have everlasting life. So what is the incarnation? Jesus, fully God, yes? And Jesus, fully man. And so we ask, well, what does this make of us?11:32Thankfully, we have a verse in Scripture more than any other verse that fully encapsizes what the incarnation is and means. It is God with us. So let's look at John chapter 1. So we're going to jump to John in the Gospels, the fourth Gospel. John chapter 1, beginning in verse 14. This God becoming flesh. John offers the most explicit statement of Jesus' humanity and deity in all of the New Testaments.12:04And it's interesting in the book of John, if you look at verse 1, John says, In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God. And the Word was God. He was God in the beginning. And for those of you who might know something about the Word of God, God, in the beginning, makes your mind jump to Genesis.12:32Because Genesis says, In the beginning, God created. So what John is doing for us is saying, The beginning of Jesus, the incarnation, is equally as important to the creation of the world. Why? Because at this moment, the world is still dark. And it is still fallen. And it is still in need of order. And only Jesus Christ can give the world what it needs.12:58Only Jesus Christ can make all things new. And bring new creation to that which is broken. So John 14 says, The Word, which is Jesus, The Word became flesh. And He dwelt among us. And we observed His glory. The glory as the one and only Son from the Father. Full of grace.13:27And full of truth. In crystal clear language, John says, This child is fully God. And this God is fully flesh. So what do we make of this? The Bible is not saying that Messiah merely changed. Or that He took on a fleshly appearance.13:55Some believe that when Jesus Christ came to earth, He put on a fleshly overcoat to go out into the world. That's not what Jesus did. The Bible very clearly says that He became flesh. He didn't take on flesh, but He fully became that. Think about it this way. In this moment, right here in John, when Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary,14:23the eternal God took on a birthday. How does someone who's never been born have a birthday? How does God who has no beginning take on a birthday? And that's exactly what He did. This God who is infinite chose to die on a cross. This child who upholds the universe in His hands,14:50in this moment chose for human hands to hold Him. This is the power of the incarnation. So what does this make of us? The incarnation indicates Messiah's solidarity with all humanity. It's as if God is saying, I know how you feel.15:19I will walk in your shoes. It's in this moment that Yahweh chose to be with His people in a more personal way than ever. Never before in the history of the world has this happened. And I believe that we should read the Scriptures and go, whoa, did you just see? Did you just see what happens? I think sometimes we take this for granted. Never before has God chose to be this personal and make Himself known in a real historical man.15:49And yet in this moment, Jesus Christ does that. God is saying this to us. You want to know who God is? Look to Jesus. If you're looking for God today, look to Jesus. Because when you find Jesus, you see God. This is the power of the incarnation. And it's a reminder. Why would God do all of this?16:20Because God wants to have a personal relationship with you. God did not have to go to all this trouble for you and for me. But He went to these lengths that you and I might know Him. You don't have to search the heavens for God. All you have to do is look in a manger. And you will find Him. This. This is the power. This is the hope of the incarnation. This is the joy.16:50When we read, the Word became flesh. But Jesus wasn't simply born on Christmas and then, poof! He disappeared. Sometimes we celebrate that, don't we? We celebrate Christmas and on the 26th we're packing those decorations up back in the closet. Never to be seen again until next year. But Jesus doesn't do that. Look at what the Word says. It doesn't say the Word became flesh and he's gone.17:18No, it says the Word became flesh and what? Dwelt among us. Now for the astute Jewish person, or for the Greek-speaking Jew that would be reading this, the Word dwelt would make their ears raise. Because they've heard that word. It's the word that means tabernacle. It's said this way. Some of your versions say the Word became flesh and he tabernacled with us.17:46It's the reminder in the Old Testament, the same way that God dwelt in the middle of the camp through the tabernacle, it's the same way that God dwelt in Jerusalem, in the Holy of Holies, and in the ark. That's who Jesus is. He is God dwelling with his people. The tabernacle was the very real dwelling place in the camp. No matter where you were, if you were Judah to the east, you could look to the camp and say,18:15Aha, there's God. I see the tent. I see the smoke rising. I know God is with us. And in the same way, Jesus is the reminder that God is with us. He is dwelling with us. He is abiding with us. He will not leave. You see, God doesn't just visit you. He dwells with you. And not only does he dwell with you, this is how Jesus can say,18:44If anyone knows me that I abide, and he abides in me in John 15, then I will abide in you. Churches should give us great joy to know that God just doesn't leave us on our own. Not only did Jesus become flesh, God became flesh and united the two, but he did what? He dwelt among us. And this is not only a past tense. He is dwelling with us. Like right now, God is here because of Jesus Christ.19:13That's his promise to us. This is the power of the incarnation. God dwelling with us. The word became flesh and he dwelt among us and we observed his glory. See, in this manger of Bethlehem, a new light had dawned and the light had a name. His name is Jesus because he saves us.19:40Right, Tyler? David, right? Audrey? They will testify that his name is Jesus because he does save. He saved them and he can save you. This is the hope of the light, but this light was a hidden light. There's a hiddenness to Christmas because John reminds us, we observed his glory. And I think the veiled reminder in this is there are people that have not observed his glory.20:09Because, yes, Jesus was born for all men and Jesus died for all men, but not all will see. See, the wise men journeyed three to six months from Persia because they what? They saw a light and they get to Jerusalem after six months and they say,20:35Guys, Jerusalem, we're looking for the king of the Jews. The Bible says that Herod and everyone was disturbed. What would cause wise men who have journeyed six months to see the star, but the people who live six miles away not see it? There's a hiddenness to Christmas that we can miss.21:06There's a hiddenness to the Messiah. You see, by faith we believe. It's by faith that we receive and hold on to the power of the incarnation. It's a reminder in John 3, 16, it's the same gospel that God so loved the world that he gave. He gave his son who became flesh and dwelt among us so that none would perish, but that all would have everlasting life. But what does John say for all who believe?21:36Yes, the light is for everyone to see. Yes, Jesus died on the cross so that all will believe, but not all will believe. You have to, by faith, receive the gift of salvation. And when John says that we observed his glory, it's the reminder that some have not. And I love what Tyler shared earlier in his testimony.22:06He said, I prayed a prayer when I was eight, but I hadn't seen Jesus. But then he said, now I have. And now I have seen his glory. And you can even hear the joy in Tyler's heart when he shared this. You know, we observed, I observed his glory. And the question that the word asks you right now is, have you? Yes, you know the story of Christmas.22:34Come on, everyone knows it, right? But have you seen the light of Jesus Christ? That is God's hope for you. He wants you to know him. This is the power of the incarnation. And may the miracle in the manger not be hidden to you this year. So how important is this? How important is the incarnation? What do we make of this and what does it make of us?23:04The word became flesh and dwelled among us. So we, John says, we observed it. As if the only son from the Father, full of grace and truth. So again, the incarnation illuminates our heart. It's the glory of God here as the one and only son of the Father. Some of your translations might say the one begotten son of the Father. But what's interesting in Scripture is that this word only is always used for an only child.23:32It's as if God is saying that this is my only son. He has special status. This is my beloved son. Do you remember when Jesus was baptized? There's a voice from heaven. I've always wondered what the voice of God sounds like. One day I'll get to hear. One day. But the voice, we don't know what it sounded like, but we know what it said.24:01And God said about his son, the only son here in John. He said, this is my what? This is my beloved son. This is my one and only son. This is my special son. And the power of the incarnation for those who believe, the same love that God has for his only child is the same love that he extends to you in Jesus Christ. You see, if you give your life and when you give your life to Jesus Christ,24:31the love of God for his son now extends and it becomes the love of God towards you. So you become a son of God. You become a daughter of the king. Think about that. So when God says, this is my son. This is my beloved son, whom I am well pleased. Now God says to you, this is Josh. He's my son. I'm well pleased. This is Bob.25:03And this is Susie. This is my daughter. And I'm well pleased. I love her because I love Jesus. And she accepted my son, Jesus. And the love I have for my one and only son, I have for you. This is what the incarnation makes of us. You can become his child. You can become his daughter. And if you are, think about that. Can you even wrap your mind around the love of God for his only son?25:33God has the exact same love for you by faith. This is the power and the majesty of the incarnation full of grace and truth. And so we ask, what does the incarnation make of us? I believe that the incarnation, God fully God, God fully man is one of the most shocking assertions.25:57Of Christianity. We're not only saying that we worship God. We are saying that we worship a God who became a man, who was born of a virgin, who died on the cross, and who rose again. And we're surprised when people hear this and they say, really?26:25And our response is, I don't know how to explain this other than saying it's God. This is the power of the incarnation. So the question is not, is Jesus fully human? I believe the question we have to ask this morning is, am I? You see, when Jesus became a man, it's the reminder that you and I will never be fully who God created us to be until we give our life to Jesus.26:51Jesus Christ is the ultimate man. You want to be a real man? Look to Jesus. You want to be a real woman? Look to Jesus. In Christ, that is the picture of what God wants you to be. If you've never given your life to Christ, what would keep you from doing that today?27:23And if you have, what is keeping you from following and being everything that God wants you to be in Christ? Because if the Holy Spirit is living within us, I don't have to pray for God's Spirit. We're reminded that God dwelled among us. The Christian now needs to pray for obedience. Say, God, give me the strength to be everything that you want me to be in Jesus.27:53I believe, though, there's another thought of what God makes of us in the incarnation. The magnitude of what Jesus left and gave up to become flesh is beyond our power to imagine. We can't even comprehend what Jesus left in heaven.28:19Because none of us have ever seen it. But one day, one day, I will. But until that day comes, if Jesus gave up everything that I might have life, what is keeping me from surrendering my life to Him? What is keeping you right now? If Jesus gave up heaven that you might have everlasting life, what is keeping you from fully surrendering and selling out to Christ today?28:49There is nothing. There is nothing in my life that compares to what Jesus gave up. What is preventing you from fully living a radical life for the gospel? We can't even comprehend. We have to ask this morning, too, have you beheld His glory? You see, the word glory here doesn't simply refer to His birth.29:18Often in John, when the word glory is used, it's used as an echo of the death of Jesus. I think John is reminding us that this child who was born in a manger that was holding the universe in His hands would one day spread out His hands and die on a cross for your sins. And so you don't have to live in your sins anymore.29:50You can give them to Christ and He has forgiven those if you believe by faith. And you have to believe by faith because faith is the only way that you can believe in the virgin birth. Faith is the only way that our minds can reconcile God becoming man. Faith is the only way that we can reconcile God dying on the cross and rising again. Faith is the only way that we can reconcile people who are dead in their sins and enemies of God becoming friends and sons and daughters.30:18Have you beheld His glory? If not, would you see the light? Would you pray a prayer of faith and just simply say something like this? God, I know, I know, I know I've sent. And today I believe you sent Jesus. You sent Him, fully God and fully man, for my sake.30:45Lord, today I believe. I believe you left heaven to come to earth and I will give my life to you because you surrendered your life for me. The Bible says whoever believes in Him with their heart confesses with their mouth will be saved. This is the power of the incarnation. And in a moment we're going to celebrate with the Lord's Supper,31:15which is a reminder that we announce the Lord's death until He comes. And as we respond to God in the flesh, so that fleshly men and women might have spiritual life, would you take time to purify your hearts? If you've given your life to Christ today, would you let us know? You can go on our website and there's a Connect card. We would love to celebrate with you and help you take the next steps of faith.31:44But as we spend time and reflect on this mystery, remember that Jesus did this for you. because you're worth it. And the same love of the beloved God to His beloved Son is the same love towards you by faith in Jesus. That is the power of the incarnation.32:15Let's pray. Father, Thank you.Next in Miracle in the Manger →The Miracle of Salvation
