The Incarnation

In December my men's small group that meets Tuesday morning will be pondering the Incarnation. Here is the material for December 3 - perhaps there is something here from you.

Good morning brothers,

I’m going to ask us to keep two questions in the forefront throughout December, “What does the Incarnation look like in my life? What does it look like in the life of my church?”

If the Incarnation is frozen in time, that is, if we view Christ Jesus being born in Bethlehem and living on earth approximately 33 years as simply an historical event, then we are leaving Christ Jesus in the grave.  

Of course “incarnation” is a compound word, with the “carnation” part meaning “flesh” and the prefix being the preposition “in”. As John writes (John 1:14), “And the Word became flesh.”

But, and this is a very BIG but, this is more than simply the idea that God put on human flesh, that He took on a human body to live in for 33 years. When Christ became flesh He not only took on a body (Hebrews 10:5), He also became a man, a human, a member of Mankind. (Hebrews 2:9 – 18; 4:14 – 16; Philippians 2:5 – 11).

While the Virgin Birth is a miracle and mystery, if we limit our conception (no pun intended, but since I wrote it I’ll leave it) of the Birth to the physical miracle we miss the overwhelming miracle and holy mystery that God in Christ was not only born of a woman who did not “know” a man, but that He became a man while still remaining God. And so we have the saying that “Christ Jesus is fully God and fully Man.”

Words are not adequate to convey and encompass this holy mystery. I’ve attached the Nicene Creed as an example of how the Fathers grappled with expressing this mystery – knowing that their own words fell short; they were doing the best they could and they knew that their own words were inadequate. This is truly beyond words, but we do the best we can by the grace of God.

What do you see in the above passages?

What do these passages help us see about Jesus Christ and the Incarnation?

What does Hebrews Chapter 2 teach us about who we are in Christ? What does this passage tell us about how the Father sees us? What language does this passage use to describe our relationship with Jesus and the Father?

Do you think about yourself and other Christians in the way Hebrews Chapter 2 portrays us?

In Hebrews Chapter 2, why is the Incarnation critical?

God came to live in His People on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2), we are the place where God lives (Ephesians 2:19 – 22) – time and time again in the Upper Room Jesus said that He and the Father and the Holy Spirit were coming to live in us (John chapters 13 – 17).

This is one reason we ask the questions, “What does the Incarnation look like in my life? What does it look like in the life of my church?”

I love you,

Bob

C.S. Lewis

Today is the anniversary of Lewis’s death (November 29, 1898 – November 22, 1963), he didn’t quite make it to 65 years old. I can’t recall just how long I’ve been acquainted with Lewis, one’s memory begins to fade, but I’m pretty sure I first read him as a teenager.

While I am drawn to Lewis the writer, to his understanding of the world, of God, of the Church, of the cosmos, as communicated through the written word; I am perhaps more drawn to Lewis the man – to his life, his journey, his passions, his friendships. Can I separate the one from the other? Not really. But I make the distinction because I don’t pretend to be a Lewis scholar, nor do I pretend to be able to marshal Lewis’s apologetic arguments in a finely tuned intellectual array.

But I do so enjoy Lewis’s company – even when I can’t keep up with him. I do enjoy his simple faith, simple in the sense of Mere Christianity (both the book and more importantly the concept). I love visiting Narnia and look forward to being there. I stumble through Till We Have Faces and keep thinking that the next time I read it that the light will go on inside of my understanding. The Great Divorce continues to be a pleasant daytrip, and his essays are good companions. The Weight of Glory is something I think we should all read once a year, and the Space Trilogy is well worth the ride (in terms of stretching what can still be stretched of my thinking and imagination Perelandra is right behind Till We Have Faces). That Hideous Strength is being played out today – I’m sure there are elements that offend sensitivities, perhaps Lewis pushed some stereotypes too far.

As with all of us, Lewis had his flat spots, there are some in Mere Christianity and some more in The Four Loves, and I think in That Hideous Strength. Well, hopefully Lewis and the rest of us do the best we can in the light we have in the grace of Jesus Christ.

The best thing I ever did in terms of Lewis was to invest two or three years reading his letters – ranging from childhood to his final week in November 1963 – I felt as if I had traversed the decades with him and when I came to his last few letters I sensed that I had lost a friend…but of course he is still with me.

I look forward to seeing Lewis in Cair Paravel .

As True As His Own Existence

"Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust." (2 Peter 1:1 – 4, italics mine).

In considering 2 Peter 1:4, Charles Spurgeon said, “This word of His that you are now considering is as true as His own existence.” (italics mine).

This reminds me of Hebrews 6:13 - 14, “For when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying, I will surely bless you and I will surely multiply you.”

Then we have Titus 1:1 – 3, “Paul, a bond-servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness, in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago, but at the proper time manifested, even His word, in the proclamation with which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior,…”

God’s Word “is as true as His own existence.” If God’s Word were to fail then it would mean that God would fail, and if God were to fail then there would be no existence, for Christ “upholds all things by the Word of His power” (Hebrews 1:3) and Christ “holds all things together” (Colossians 1:17).

Consider what assurance we have; the very Word of God that lives in us, that is on the pages of Scripture, is and was and is to come – it is rooted in the I AM THAT I AM (human language fails in these things). To encounter the Word of God is to encounter the Face of God, for the Word of God reveals Jesus Christ, He who is in the bosom of the Father (John 1:14 – 18).

The Word that lives in us is the Word that will carry us into eternity. This Word came into our lives from eternity past, into time and space, and this Word will bear us in its arms into eternity future – carrying us into that City whose Builder and Maker is God (Hebrews 11:8 – 16).

This Word is to live in us, breathe in us, flow through us; animating every fiber of our being – permeating spirit, soul, and body – drawing us into the Throne Room of our Father, unveiling the Lion of Judah and the Lamb of God. The Living Waters that we see in Revelation 22:1 are the Living Waters that we see in John 7:37 – 39.

As the Throne of our Father and Lord Jesus is established in us, from beneath that Throne Living Waters will flow from us, in Christ, to others. The headwaters from the New Jerusalem are to be gushing from His Bride unto the peoples of the world, there are to be fountains in us, springing up into eternal life (John 4:14).

His Word in us, “is as true as His own existence.”

Patriotic Songs in a Worship Service

Here is a thoughtful article from Richard M. Gamble, professor of history at Hillsdale College, on the place of patriotic songs in church, with a particular focus on the Battle Hymn of the Republic. Please
Click here to go to the article.

A Cloak or Character?

            “It’s true I may be an apparent loser by declining evil company, but I would rather leave my cloak than lose my character. It isn’t necessary that I be rich, but it’s essential to me to be pure.” Charles Hadden Spurgeon.

            Spurgeon wrote this in commenting on Genesis 39:12, “He [Joseph] left his cloak in her [Potiphar’s wife] hand and ran out of the house.”

            What about this cloak? Was it the cloak he wore when sold into slavery, perhaps given to him by his brothers after they robbed him of his coat of many colors? Was it a cloak given him by the slave traders on the way to the slave market in Egypt? Or was it a cloak given to him by his master, Potiphar, as Joseph was promoted to oversee Potiphar’s household? Surely the overseer of Potiphar’s household must dress the part.

            Is it likely that Joseph regained his cloak before Potiphar delivered him to prison? We can only speculate, we don’t know. We do know Another who had his cloak stripped from Him as He was delivered to the Cross. Christ was bereft of His cloak as He endured the shame of accusation and the Cross for us. Joseph was bereft of his cloak as he endured the shame of accusation and prison for his brothers.

            Joseph could only commit his obedience to the God of his fathers as he left his cloak in the hands of evil and temptation. We cannot engage in a tugging match with temptation, we cannot attempt to compromise, we cannot seek to salvage worldly power and wealth and respectability and at the same time have our eyes fixed on Jesus Christ. We cannot serve two masters.

            As Spurgeon reminds us, it isn’t necessary that we be rich in the things of the world, but it is vital that the son or daughter of the living God be pure in Jesus Christ. We are to be holy as our Father is holy. In Jesus Christ are riches beyond measure.

            As we look back over our lives, are there times we have left our cloaks for the sake of Jesus? Are we prepared to do so today?

Using Christ, Missing Christ

Times without number I have heard Christians say, “Most of the Jews didn’t recognize that Jesus was the Messiah because they were looking for a conquering Messiah who would deliver them from the Romans.”

Yet, how many of us are looking for that same type of Messiah? We want Christ to defeat the opposing political party. We want Christ to further our economic policies. We want Christ to exalt our nation above all other nations and to further our foreign policy. We want Christ to destroy our domestic and foreign enemies.

Well then, if that is the kind of Messiah that we are looking for, that we are promoting…perhaps, just perhaps, we are missing the True Messiah in our lives and in our churches.  

A Little

This morning I found much comfort in these words:

“I know your deeds. Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut, because you have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name” (Revelation 3:8, italics mine).

I admit that sometimes, perhaps many times, I lament my lack of effectiveness toward others in Christ. Yes, yes, I understand that “unless Yahweh build the house, they labor in vain who build it”, and I hear Jesus saying, “Without me you can do nothing.” Yes, I know that it isn’t the measure of my faith but rather the object of my faith that is critical.

And yet, I still struggle at times with the idea that after all these years I am not a more faithful servant of Christ, toward Him and toward others.

So then, the thought that we can be those who have but “a little power” and yet keep His Word and not deny His Name; the thought that He sees us and sustains us, that Christ loves us (Rev. 3:9), that Christ keeps us in this hour of trial (Rev. 3:10), and that He has a wonderful inheritance for us (Rev. 3:12) – well, this thought is comforting to me.

To have but “a little power” is enough, yes it is enough, if it means that I am in Christ and He is in me.

It Seems to Me…Christ-centered or Not?

Once again, I’m being encouraged to embrace a popular speaker and author on the basis of his positive and loving and life-changing message. To purchase his books, to attend his presentation, to get on the bandwagon.

In response I ask the question I always ask, “Is this about Jesus Christ? Is this Christocentric (Christ-centered)?”

So, it seems to me that if I go to this person’s website that I should readily find the answer – but I don’t. I have to look for the answer, I have to look for Jesus, I have to keep looking; I am still looking.

Now then, my question is whether this author’s message is Christocentric, that means, “Is it Christ-centered?” If it is Christ-centered then it seems to me that I would see Christ Jesus just as soon as I land on the author’s webpage. It seems to me that once I begin clicking through webpages that Jesus would be front and center, but I keep clicking, I keep reading, I am looking for Jesus. It seems to me that if I have to look for Jesus that I just may have answered my question about whether Jesus is the center of the author’s message.

But of course this is against the grain and I should not be unreasonable; after all, the message does others so much good, and it has changed lives, and people are better off for it, and, after all, it really is about Jesus after all, how could it not be if it helps so many people. It just feels so good and right.

Few people, men or women, commit adultery with someone who repulses them.