Sermon Tone Analysis

Big Idea:  Because God came to us in the flesh, we can come to Jesus.

I.

Introduction

A.    Secular – Virtual reality

1.      We’ve come a long way since Madonna sang about living in a “material world” in 1985.

We now live in a world that is more and more virtual.

a.       Regular mail to email

b.      Going camping at Yosemite National Park or watching a 3D IMAX presentation of the Park

c.       Playing tennis or guitar to video games

d.

You can go online and attend a virtual church, where you pick your style of music, the type of message or Sunday school you want to hear and even sign up for childcare (although I don’t know what that looks like), all without leaving the comfort of your own home.

e.

Even now surgeons and US Navy personnel can train for their jobs by putting on virtual reality goggles and gloves to simulate real operations or real parachute jumps.

f.

We live in a world that is becoming less and less real, less physical.

2.      We perhaps even see God as being virtual and not real.

a.

He is invisible – I can’t see Him or touch Him.

b.

He in some indefinable place called “Heaven”

c.

He doesn’t speak audibly or show Himself

d.

He is more like gravity – we know He exists, but we need someone else to tell us about Him and what He’s doing.

B.     Personal

1.

There can be several reactions to thinking that God is not real and present, but only virtual.

a.

One is that we don’t pray to Him because we don’t believe He can actually help.

We’re content to try to do things on our own.

b.

Another is not submitting to His authority.

If He’s not around to enforce His rules, why should I abide by them?

Or, if He’s not here to reward me, why should I do the hard things?

c.       Another reaction is to dismiss Him altogether.

After all, how can I believe in something I can’t see, hear, feel, touch or taste?

2.      Many of us sitting here right now, who call ourselves Christians, treat God in one of these ways because He seems too far off and impersonal.

3.      We need God to be personal and physical and tangible.

We need something we can hold on to.

C.     Biblical

1.

The Bible gives us some encouragement towards that end.

2.      God has shown up in the past

a.

Walked in the cool of the day with Adam and Eve

b.      Spoke to Moses and Abraham face to face

D.    Textual

1.      Vital for us to talk about the Incarnation

II.

The Meaning of the Incarnation – What is it?

A.    The incarnation simply means “God in the flesh”

B.     John’s description of the Incarnation

1.      John 1:1-2, 14.

a.       Three things we learn immediately from these first two verses.

1.)    First, is that the Word is eternal.

a.)

“In the beginning” takes us right back to Genesis 1:1, where God steps into history and consciousness by initiating the creation of everything.

b.)

It has existed since before the beginning of anything.

2.)    Second, is that He is in relationship with God.

a.)

This is important, because both Old and New Testaments tell us clearly that everyone has sin, and therefore no one has the moral capacity to be in relationship with God.

b.)

And this relationship has existed from eternity past.

3.)    Third, this Word is God Himself.

a.)    Deut.

6:4 tells us that there is only one God.

b.)

At the same time that John is affirming this truth, he is trying to describe a plurality within this unity.

b.

Finally, in verse 14, we are given a clear understanding of what this “Word” is.

1.)    John tells us that it is clearly Jesus of Nazareth.

2.)    He also tells us that there is a duality to Jesus

a.)    Jesus is fully God, from verse 1.

b.)

Here in verse 14, He is fully human.

c.

In this verse we are given the clearest description of the doctrine of Incarnation: “The Word became flesh.”

1.)

People were convinced that Jesus was human, because He had flesh and He tabernacled, or dwelt, or took up residence with them.

2.)    People were also convinced that He was God, because He was completely full of the grace, truth and glory of God.

3.)    In his description, John recalls the image of the tabernacle from the wanderings of Israel in the wilderness.

a.)    Israel was concerned about the presence of God always being with them.

So God instructed them to make Him a tabernacle for Him to dwell in.

b.)

When the tabernacle was completed, Exodus 40 says that the glory of God filled the tabernacle.

4.)    In the same way, John is describing Jesus as a human, fleshly tent, that was filled with God’s own glory.

d.

If we have read this properly, we see that Jesus is both fully God and fully man.

1.)    God has incarnated and put on flesh.

2.)    He possesses two different natures at the same time.

C.     Historical understandings of the Incarnation

1.      John Walvoord, in his book /Jesus Christ Our Lord/, says, “The study of the person of Christ is one of the most complicated and intricate studies that can be undertaken by a biblical theologian” (pg.

106).

2.      The Incarnation is a truth that is both simple and complex at the same time.

a.

It is simple, in that the Scripture is very clear in what it is intending to communicate.

b.

It is complex, because it doesn’t make any sense.

And people have been misunderstanding it for a very long time.

3.      The church has always confessed the truth about Jesus being both God and man.

The problems came as people tried to explain how they thought this could be and what it really meant.

a.

Some erred in denying the fullness of Jesus’ humanity.