God's Miraculous Christmas Connections

God's Miraculous Christmas Connections

John 1:1-17

Sermon by Rick Crandall

Grayson Baptist Church - Dec. 10, 2017

*God truly works in mysterious ways. It's amazing how He works in our lives to bring us together. If some false friends, hadn't taken advantage of my dad 48 years ago, Mary and I never would have met. If she had not been listening to the radio in Stuart Florida 44 years ago, we never would have met.

*God has wonderful ways of creating new connections. But nothing can top the miraculous Christmas connections of Jesus Christ.

1. First: Jesus connected divinity with humanity.

*In vs. 1-3, John called Jesus "The Word," and boldly declared that Jesus is God:

1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2. He was in the beginning with God.

3. All things were made by Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

*Then down in vs. 14, John said this about Jesus: "The Word, became flesh and dwelt among us. . ." "The Message" paraphrase says: "The Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood." For 33 years, God moved into our neighborhood as a man! "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us." The word picture for that word "dwelt" is "pitching a tent." When Jesus came at Christmas, God pitched a tent right here among us. (1)

[1] Why did He do that? One reason why is because God wanted us to know Him very well.

*Mary and I don't do a lot of camping. In fact, we don't do any camping. But in 1976, Mary and I went all the way from south Florida to Toronto Canada, and most nights we stayed in a pup tent. Let me tell you: There's not a lot of privacy in a pup tent!

*God "pitched a tent among us" so that we could get to know Him very well. And He did this in a way that should have been impossible. Jesus had to be, and He was born through a one-of-a-kind, miraculous, virgin birth. That's why we find a miraculous connection between divinity and humanity in Jesus Christ.

*As the Apostle Paul said in 1 Timothy 3:16, "God was manifested in the flesh." How was God manifested in the flesh? -- Through the miraculous, virgin birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

*Luke 1:30-35 tells the story. There the angel Gabriel said this to the Virgin Mary:

30. . . "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.

31. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS.

32. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give 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. Then Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I do not know a man?"

35. And the angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God."

*That's how "God was manifested in the flesh." Jesus was not half God and half man. He was and is fully God and fully man. Jesus is 100 percent God. All that God is, Jesus is. But at the very same time, He is all that we are, except for the sin.

*God Almighty humbled Himself to become a man. Just like you, He learned to walk and talk. Just like you, He got hungry and He got tired. Just like you, He laughed, and He cried. He threw up on His mother. He dirtied His diapers.

*Imagine you are sitting in school, -- and sitting next to you is God! You go to the store to buy a chair, -- and the nice young man waiting on you is God!

*Here is the wonder of wonders: The God who holds the universe in His hand humbled Himself to become a man. Jesus made a miraculous connection between divinity and humanity. Why did He do that? Why did God the Son humble Himself to become a man?

[2] Because He wanted us to know Him very well. And because it was the only way to save our souls.

*Hebrews 2 explains:

9. . . We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.

10. For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the author of their salvation perfect through sufferings.