Experience His Strengthening this Christmas.
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YOU KNOW CHRISTMAS IS ALMOST HERE WHEN:
There are more pine needles on your carpet than on your tree
The credit card is smoked along with the turkey and ham.
A trip to the mall and back is more challenging then the Indy 500
You are pulling an all-nighter because of the words "Some Assembly Required"
Your Christmas list is written in black while your check book balance is written in red.
The infamous fruitcake returns from it’s 12 months of hiding.
Christmas is a wonderful time of the year of being with family and enjoying all the activities surrounding the Christmas season.
It is also be a stressful season with busyness and added expenses... It is a difficult time of the year for those who have lost loved ones through the year....
My prayer this morning ... is that as we Celebrate the Birth of Christ...we will receive the gift of His strengthening.
When then angel Gabriel appeared to Mary, He came to her with "Great News" that she would be the mother of the Messiah... but ... for Mary it was also troubling news... we are told that it caused Mary great anxiety... she was greatly troubled by the angels Greeting...
And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
Mary is anxious and --- with good reason...
You can imagine being found with a Child while you still betrothed to be married - especially in a religious and legalistic environment of Pharisees, Sadducees and scribes... it would have naturally caused a young women like Mary to be trouble and anxious ....
A Betrothal represented a permanent relationship nearly equivalent to marriage; breaking off a betrothal required a decision akin to divorce.
The problem with Mary being with child would be the issue of unfaithfulness and adultery.... This explains Josephs response when discovering that Mary was pregnant that he was secretly planning to quitly divorce Mary...
There is this tension, a juxtaposition - there is the privilege for Mary of being chosen (called) and favored but it also came at personal cost .... You have Privilege and Persecution...
but at the same time... God has provided for Mary - grace and favor --- Mary has been promised the gift of strength..
The Angel Gabriel strengthens Mary's faith... he assures her that- she should not fear... "Do not be afraid" ---- why because - "Lord is with Her." She is favored by God"
--- Mary would be part of the greatest miracle that would ever happen in History.... the coming of Son of God.
Her womb would literally become the Holy of Holies ... where God himself would be formed and born.. in the narrative of Luke that Mary moves from the place of fear ...to the place of faith where Mary submits herself to the will of God.,
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.
Being a Christian doesn't mean that we will experience less troubles... than the agnostic or the athiest... Being a Christian does however mean that we will be equipped and strengthen for challenges of life.
What is Strength?
Strength is the quality of inner resolve or the physical ability to accomplish an endeavor, influence an outcome, or prevail in a conflict.
The incarnation reminds us with that with God nothing is impossible..
J.I. Packer “... the thing that happened at the first Christmas, that the profoundest and most unfathomable depths of Christian revelation lie. The more you think about this, the more staggering it gets.”
The Mystery of the incarnation... Is the fact God came to earth... that the God in heaven in His the fulness of Deity (being God) sunk himself into human flesh... God did not become -- less than... half man and half God... rather he was fully God and fully man ....one Person in two Natures.
John tells
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
The WORD... here is the word ...... logos a term familiar to the Greek philosophers. They used it to mean “reason, thought... speech.." it was the principle or the force that gave order to the universe and generative power to nature. Philosophers loved to argue about the meaning of life and for centuries have been debating the reason and meaning of life.
The same philosophical question you and I have wrestled with ....the question... What am I living for? What is life for? were debated for centuries...
John settles the Big Debate-- the answer to life is found in the descent of God.... that God came to us.. Heaven comes to earth in the form of a baby..
John tells us...
In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God... that in Christ all things were made and all things are through him and without him nothing was made..
The same God who created the universe was the same God in the manger ....
The most incredible words in the Bible are the words are found in John 1:14 "
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.
The incarnation has been a core teaching of the Church since its inception...
The early church father Origen (200 AD - That just 160 some years after Christs death.) gave this illustration....A village had a statue so immense that you couldn’t see exactly what it represented. Someone finally miniaturized the statue so one could see the person it honored. “That is what God did in his Son". ----
What the incarnation does is give us this framework to understand the omnipotent.... all powerful God.
In the Gospels we have the eye witness testimony/account of the life of Jesus... We have a record of His immaculate Birth (the virgin birth), His miracles, His teachings, His Death and His resurrection...and His ascension..
John says in this text, "We witnessed Jesus in the Flesh.... he ate with us ...he lived with us... and even in his Humanity we saw the glory of God... We saw past his humanity we got a glimpse of his Divinity... the glory of the Father.... Full of Grace and Truth... Jesus came to us in the Flesh...
The incarnation made the God of heaven knowable..
I could describe to you some of the people who have profoundly influenced my life... mentors, pastors, professors... (and you could do the same thing) but unless you have met them in person... its a limited perspective... ... without Jesus becoming a man we would have an incomplete perspective of God of the Bible.....
You can learn a lot of things about God. You can know all sorts of things about God. You can believe in him. You can do all sorts of things you believe God wants you to do. But to know him it takes Jesus, because Jesus is the ultimate revelation of who God is.
Christ is the image of God..
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 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.
Christ is the visible icon or image of the invisible God (Colossians 1). In Christ we have can know God in a comprehensible way.... whether visible... visible...
As we come to the manger this morning.... we not only marvel at the incarnation... we also receive the gift of strength through --Jesus in the manger..
t/s How does the incarnation (the virgin birth give you and I strength?)
1. Christ's Strengthens us through His Light.
1. Christ's Strengthens us through His Light.
With all the progress in our postmodern world... with all our collective enlightenment and knowledge.....all advancement in Technology.... we seem to have be more convinced today by secularism ... that..... we actually don't need God. It's amazing how many people celebrate Christmas without believing in Christ... I spoke with a young man this week told me he is working Christmas eve but it is okay because he is not religious...but in the next breath he told he was going caroling that night...
That is exactly what our world does... it loves the sentiment of Christmas with out the Christ of Christmas.
It reminds me of the story.... told between of a convesation between..God and a scientist.
One day God was approached by a scientist who said, "Listen God, we have decided we don't need you anymore. These days we can clone people, transplant organs and do all sorts of things that used to be considered miraculous..
God replied,"Don't me huh? How about we put your theory to the test. Why don't we have a completion to see who can make a human being, say, a male human being.
God and the scientist. agree to do it the old fashioned way... the same way, that God did it when he created Adam... The Scientist bends down to scoop out a handful of dirt .... God stops the scientist and says... "Not so fast. You get your own dirt."
According to scripture, God is both the source and sustainer of all life. The book of Hebrews introduces Christ as God the creator.... Christ being Brilliance of Gods's light... Hebrews we told that Christ the radiance of the glory of God the exact imprint of his nature...
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,
It's the Brilliance of the radiance of the glory of God that is holding everything in balance in the Universe....
In other words.. the Son is sustaining the universe in a dynamic way;
He is “carrying CREATION along” or guiding it towards its intended goal, rather than merely passively supporting IT if CREATION were a burden.
Science tells us that creation BEGAN as an accident (big Bang) and will probably end with an accident (big bang)... The bible teachers us Divine initiative and intention... all things moving towards a purpose... new creation moves towards a new heaven and new earth..
This is what gives us strength and hope at Christmas.. That Christ brings light (illumination) and purpose and meaning to life...
In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
There is a play of words in this section... Life and light are used interchangeably... When God in the beginning initiates creation he does so with the words, "let there be light" and there was light...
Light is essential in creation and crucial part of all physical life.. everything in creation needs light in order to grow and function... without the sun..nothing would live.
Light makes life possible in the physical world; Jesus is the light that makes salvation possible in the spiritual world.
The word life is used in technical way in the book of John it is speaks of Salvation, a state of reconciliation and access to the presence of God... Light invokes the association with divine Glory and speaks of spiritual awakening..
In him was life "Salvation, reconciliation, access with God" and this was the light of men. This does not mean universal salvation or general revelation or even inner illumination. Instead, it means that Christ as the Light shines on each person in salvation...
John the Baptist was the forerunner to Christ... he was the one who announced the coming of Christ.... .He pointed to the truth of Jesus, the Reveler of the Father. People were in sin and in such darkness that they needed someone to tell them what is light. John’s goal was that all men might come to trust in Jesus.
Here is what makes light powerful... is that Christs light dispels Darkness... both phyiscal and spiritual world.
Light’s nature is to shine and dispel darkness. Darkness is almost personified in this verse: darkness is unable to overpower light...
In 2007 I went to India on a missions trip.. And the one evening we were visiting a village in the middle of the night and there were absolutely no lights where we were going.. We drove until the cars could no longer drive on the road... and from there we walked in the darkness... It was pitch black .... you could maybe see just a few feet ahead of us.. Steve and I had to be literally led by the hand by the bible students.... but there in the distance was a light powered by a generator... regardless of how dark it gets....
Light will always invade the dominion of darkness. Satan the ruler and his subjects will resist the light, but they will be unable to frustrate its power. What the incarnation tells us that there is reason and purpose in life and it is found in Christ.... Christ illuminates.. You might find yourself in dark place this Christmas.... let Christ light up your path... let Christ awaken your heart...
What encouragement this morning that regardless.... of what we may be facing this Christmas -- that have his light.
This morning we are going to see....
T/S How the Incarnation brings Strength into our lives.... strengthened through his light.
2. Christ's Strengthens us through His Presence.
2. Christ's Strengthens us through His Presence.
John Piper gave this illustration in a Children's sermon.. which perfectly illustrates the power of presence.
Kids, suppose you and your mom get separated in the grocery store, and you start to get scared and panic and don't know which way to go, and you run to the end of an aisle, and just before you start to cry, you see a shadow on the floor at the end of the aisle that looks just like your mom. It makes you really happy and you feel hope.
But which is better? The happiness of seeing the shadow, or having your mom step around the corner and it's really her!?
That's the way it is when Jesus comes to be our [Savior]. That's what Christmas is. Christmas is the replacement of shadows with the real thing... What Christmas brings to us is the Presence of Christ. Paul tells us in...
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
The Bible tells us that Christ came at the right time... It happened after the four hundred silent years .... Between the NT and the OT there are these silent years where there is no prophetic writings or revelation... seems like things were so dark... Yet at the same time there was this Messianic Expectation that had been growing in Israel...
The Expectation that a King would once again rule on the throne of David.
Some of Israel's prophets foretold the coming of a royal King in the line of David, and their descriptions seem to portray him as far more than a mere mortal..... Christ is the fulfillment of Messiah expectation.
Paul tells us ..
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,
The long-awaited, promised Savior came at just the right time.
Jesus’ arrival during the Roman Empire’s Pax (the peace of Rome) was perfect timing. The known world was united by one language of commerce.
A network of global trade routes provided open access to the whole world. All of this guaranteed that the gospel could move rapidly in one tongue.
No visas. No impenetrable borders. Only unhindered access to help spread the news of the Savior
All in God’s perfect timing! All of this should remind us that the Lord knows what time is best for us as well.
If you’re waiting for answered prayer or the fulfillment of one of His promises, don’t give up. If you think He has forgotten you, think again. When the fullness of time is right for you, He’ll show up—and you’ll be amazed by His brilliant timing!
Not only did God Show up.... He came to bring us into a unique relationship with Himself.... (sonship) we have been given the right to be sons and daughters
John has said it already..
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
To all who received Christ... he gave the right to become Children of God... it is interesting phrase... those who received Christ has the revelation of God... (the Logos the eternal word) --- He gave the rights to be sons and daughters
Adoption process always has some sought of legal papers.... something has to be provided .. Paul tells us Christ provided all the documentation to fulfill all the requirements of the LAW.
The Son of God was born of woman and put under the law in order to redeem us from the law so that we might receive “the full rights of sons.” The Greek word translated “full rights of sons” in the NIV is huiothesia, literally “adoption.”
God not only sent his Son into the world; God sends the Spirit into our hearts.
There is external and internal movement..
The Son goes out there to procure something objective, something out there in the world, external, through a historical action. He procures full rights of sons.
But the Spirit is going to a whole different situation, a whole different realm. The Spirit is going inside, and the Spirit’s job is to give us an experience. It’s the Spirit’s job to help us feel like sons.
His coming has put his spirits into our hearts where by we now call hims ABBA FATHER... When the Spirit enters the heart, He says, “Abba, Father” (Gal. 4:6); and, in response, the believer cries, “Abba, Father!” (Rom. 8:15) The word Abba is an Aramaic word that is the equivalent of our English word “papa.” This shows the closeness of the child to the Father...
How does the incarnation Strengthen us... God strengthens us through his light, His presence..
3. Christ strengthens us through His Name.
3. Christ strengthens us through His Name.
Dennis, from Katy, Texas, needed some same-day dry cleaning before he left on a trip. He remembered a store with a huge sign, “One-Hour Dry Cleaners,” on the other side of town, so he drove there to drop off a suit. After filling out the tag, he told the clerk, “I need this in an hour.”
She said, “I can’t get this back to you until Thursday.”
“I thought you did dry cleaning in an hour.”
“No,” she replied, “that’s just the name of the store.”
There is something powerful about the names of God in Scriputure....the priests would not even utter the word Jahweh.... the eternal name of God because it was so Holy... The name of the LORD IS SOMETHING YOU CAN DEPEND UPON...
The name of the LORD is a strong tower;
the righteous man runs into it and is safe.
Isaiah is one of the prophets who spoke about the coming of the Messiah... That a great light was going Dawn on the nation of Israel....
Israel spent most of its existence in bondage and captivity to foreign nations... Egypt, Syria, Assyria, Babylon, and then the Roman empire... .... what does gives us four Names of Christ that give us great Hope... These name are Dependable.... and strengthen us..
But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.
The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
on them has light shone.
You have multiplied the nation;
you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
as with joy at the harvest,
as they are glad when they divide the spoil.
For the yoke of his burden,
and the staff for his shoulder,
the rod of his oppressor,
you have broken as on the day of Midian.
For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult
and every garment rolled in blood
will be burned as fuel for the fire.
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
In the region of Galalee there is darkness... and into this darkness comes the Light...
But there is one who is coming who will be called..
1. wonderful Counselor...
This is an interesting phrase "wonderful Counselor." -- .
A counselor is a source of wisdom. God comes into a World a world which is dark and there is very little hope in Israel... They have suffered years and years of oppression.... Into this darkness.. comes illumination through Christ our Wisdom.
The whole idea of Christmas is God has come into the world because the world does not have the wisdom resources to deal with its own problems.
Tim Keller give this example of his boys fighting over a toy down stairs... while he was trying to do some work upstairs... he did what most us would have done.. he hollowed down the stairs and told the boys to stop fighting.... "share their toys and take turns.." at one point he said to them, "don't let me come down there myself..." but his words were falling on deaf ears..neither of his boys were will to give in... Keller says..
'I had to become incarnate into the first floor from the second floor. I had to be there in the body. Why? Because I had to fix it. They couldn’t fix it themselves. Do you know what the message of Christmas is?
He is wonderful Counselor...
God had to come downstairs himself. The message of Christmas is nothing less than the very presence of God"
2. He is the Mighty God.
Isaiah tell us that this Child would be the the Mighty God... In our culture we try to teach people Critical thinking skills... our colleges and universities teach people how to solve problems... If we just thing about something long and hard enough we would solve problems... And for the most part... we are pretty good at solving many things... The worlds mantra is that Knowledge = power..
Christmas is an absolute affront to the worlds view of power...
Can you imagine if God planned the way we made goals
“Two thousand years from now, I would like three-quarters of the human race to know my name.” That’s a good goal, right? Okay. Nice life goal. “Two thousand years from now, I would like a quarter of the population of the human race to center their entire lives around me personally. I would like my body of teaching and material to be the most influential body of teaching in the history of the human race. I’d like to have whole civilizations dependent and built on my teaching."
How would you go about it? If that’s your goal, you might get all the consultants together... get all the power networks... ecconomic powers, political powers, academic influences... lets get all the credentials ...
Jesus doesnt do that... He comes to us as a Baby in a manger... he comes to us in humilty and in weakness... God in a craddle?? what?? Why would he do that??
Because Christmas has made foolish the wisdom of this world. This is God! When Gabriel came to Mary and announced Christmas to her, what did she do?
When Gabriel said to Mary, “Even though you’re not having a relations with anybody, you’re going to get pregnant,” she said, like any modern person, “What? The child that is going to be born through me is going to be whom?”
You don't need to be a physician who specializes in human reproduction to know virgins don't conceive children. That's a biological impossibility. But those things that are impossible with man are possible with God.
So it was in the case of Jesus' conception. He came into existence through supernatural means, the power of God, and yet he did so in the Virgin Mary's womb.
Luke refers to this stunning miracle when he records the words of the angel:
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.
You see, in the conception of Christ in Mary's womb, God did something he'd never done before—and will never do again.
By the power of the Spirit, God brought together two radically different realities in a single unity: He wedded humanity and divinity in the womb of Mary and in the person of Jesus.
In other words, Christmas shattered her paradigm, her worldly wisdom. What is possible? The world says, “This is possible. This isn’t possible. That’s not possible.” Christmas comes and says, “This is God coming, so (Gabriel actually said this to her) anything is possible.”
We have great confidience today because our weakness is His Strength...
Conclusion...
3. Evelasting Father
which means this isn’t just a demigod or sort of a second-class god. This is God himself. He brings you into an intimate relationship. This knight in shining armor is your Dad! He brings you into an intimate family relationship with him.... through sonship...
Lastly,
4. Prince of Peace.
He is the Prince of Shalom.
Hebrew word shalom, which means full economic, spiritual, physical flourishing. It means Jesus is not just here to get you a wonderful, personal relationship with him and deal with your problems on the inside, but he is here to eventually create a new heavens and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness and justice.....
Prince of Peace reminds us that He has your best interest at heart..... God is able to take care of every need... What does it take to Get His Strength this Christmas...
Just as God provided everything for Mary in a difficult situation --- God has provided everything you need...... We may need to surrender.... Behold your servant ... may be "According to your word.."