Misfit Christmas: Paradoxes Of The Christ Child Series

MISFIT CHRISTMAS: PARADOXES OF THE CHRIST CHILD

1 Tim. 3:16

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR

1. CHRISTMAS PLAY JOSEPH DECIDES TO MAKE RESERVATIONS

a. The Director of a Christmas play was nervous when she cast Jimmy, the middle-school class clown, as Joseph in the Christmas Pageant. Her fears were realized when Jimmy decided to do a little improvisation by pulling out his cell phone in the pageant’s opening scene.

b. The astonished Director, who was narrating, asked, “What are you doing with your phone?” Jimmy smiled and replied, “This year I’m phoning that inn to make a reservation!”

2. EMAILING MONEY

a. A young woman suggested to her mother that she should go “paperless” by sending emails as a way to save money and not have to pay for stamps. Being an older person, her mother chaffed at changing her methods, but at last she began sending emails.

b. So at Christmas the young woman received an email with a picture of a $100 bill from her mother with the short note, “Merry Christmas, Darling. You’re right—it is cheaper to email than to send Christmas cards. Love, Mom.”

3. Q: What do you get if Santa goes down the chimney when a fire is lit? A: Crisp Kringle. Q: What do you get when you combine a Christmas tree with an iPad? A: A pineapple.

B. TEXT

“And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory” 1 Tim. 3:16.

C. THESIS

1. Paul spoke of the Incarnation using the Greek word, mysterion that we translate as “mystery.” However, the use of this word often meant things which couldn’t be known. The Incarnation IS knowable; it’s baffling, but it’s an open secret.

2. It’s an enigma, because it contains the elements of paradox. This morning we’re on the theme of “A Misfit Christmas.” A misfit is someone that doesn’t quite fit, is different than expected. God becoming man is one of the most astounding incongruities of all time.

3. We’re looking at five profound paradoxes of the Incarnation. The first paradox is the Christ Child was...

I. SO YOUNG, YET SO OLD

A. THE ETERNAL SON BORN INTO TIME

1. That night, when the angels sang to the shepherds in the fields outside Bethlehem, baby Jesus had just been born -- He was only hours old, yet only physically so. Micah said, “But you, Bethlehem...out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting” (5:2).

2. The Nicene Creed says, “I believe in one God, the Father Almighty …And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of his Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father...”

3. Jesus didn’t become God’s Son at Bethlehem, but had eternally been God’s Son (Ps. 2:7,12; Prov. 30:4; Heb. 1:2; John 3:17). There could be no “everlasting Father” (Isa. 9:6) unless there was an everlasting Son. He is self-existent; He had no beginning of days nor end of years; He is immortal, invisible, the only wise God, our Savior (Heb. 7:3).

B. JESUS WAS FULLY DIVINE

1. Col. 2:9: “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form.”

2. Bishop Cyril said, "For although visible and a child in swaddling clothes, and even in the bosom of His Virgin Mother, He filled all Creation as God and was a fellow ruler with Him who begat Him for the Godhead is without quantity and dimension and cannot have limits."

3. He was the Eternal Word. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the Only Begotten” John 1:1,14.

4. Christ the Creator. John 1:3, “Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” Col. 1:16-17: “For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities….He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”

5. Jesus was Fully human & Fully God. The Son didn’t cease to be God when he became a man. He added manhood but he did not subtract deity. He was fully God and fully man—the God-man.

II. SO POOR, YET SO RICH

A. THE POVERTY OF CHRIST

1. If we had chosen the parents for the King of Kings, surely we would have chosen parents who were wealthy, well-educated, well-connected politically, and possibly were royalty themselves. That’s where the Magi first looked.