Last time, we spoke of how Paul says that Christ is the eternal God of the universe who laid aside His eternal rights in order to accomplish His eternal purpose. Paul further says that in accomplishing His eternal purpose, Jesus Christ, the eternal God of the universe, took on human flesh. Why did God choose to reach out to mankind in this way? We might think that we would have surely done things differently. But then, we do not possess the wisdom and understanding of God.
A man sat under an oak tree with a friend. They were discussing creation and how God did things. He said if he were God, he would have done a few things differently. “For example,” he said, “I wouldn’t have wasted the strength of the oak tree on a little acorn. I would have designed the oak to bear a much larger fruit, like say, a watermelon.” Right then, an acorn fell on his head. “On second thought,” he said, “maybe God did know what He was doing.”
God does know what He is doing, and He especially knew what He was doing when He took on human flesh in the person of Christ. Paul tells us why God became flesh in verse 7.
1. God became flesh in order to bring revelation to us -
“made in human likeness”
A. Through Jesus Christ, we have revealed what God is like -
I can look at nature and learn things about God. I can notice the order of things and learn that God is a God of order. I can look at the wonder of creation and learn that God is a God of wonder. I can examine some of the mighty miracles of creation and learn that God is a God of power. But through the life of Jesus Christ, I learn that God is a God of forgiveness, compassion, mercy, grace, and restoration. Everything I need to know about what God is like is made known to me through the person of Jesus Christ. God has made Himself known in various ways, but the ultimate revelation of Himself is found in Jesus Christ.
“Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. But now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son he made the universe and everything in it. The Son reflects God’s own glory, and everything about him represents God exactly.” - Hebrews 1:1-3a (NLT)
B. Through Jesus Christ, we have revealed what life can be like -
“I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).” - John 10:10b (Amplified)
“It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.” - Ephesians 1:11-12 (The Message)
Many in our world today are not living. They are merely existing. They wake up, go to work or school, come home, watch TV and go to bed for about 60-80 years and then they die. But through the way Jesus lived, we have revealed how it is possible for us to walk with God and relate positively to others and the world around us. We learn how we can live a life of purpose and significance.
He was born in an obscure village. The child of a peasant woman, he grew up in another obscure village, where he worked in a carpenter shop until he was thirty. He never wrote a book, he never held an office, he never went to college, he never visited a big city, he never travelled more than two hundred miles from the place where he was born. He did none of the things usually associated with greatness. He had no credentials but himself. He was only thirty three. His friends ran away. One of them denied him. He was turned over to his enemies and went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between two thieves. While dying, his executioners gambled for his clothing, the only property he had on earth. When he was dead, he was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend. Nineteen centuries have come and gone. And today Jesus is the central figure of the human race; and the leader of mankind’s progress. All the armies that have ever marched; all the navies that have ever sailed; all the parliaments that have ever sat; all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of mankind on earth as powerfully as that one solitary life. - Dr James Allan © 1926.
This is part of the reason God took on human flesh - to show us how life can be lived. We can live like Christ. With God’s touch upon our lives, we can live in such a purposeful way and our lives can have make a positive, powerful impact for all eternity.
But God not only became flesh in order to bring revelation to us . . .
2. God became flesh in order to bring redemption to us.
“taking the very nature of a servant”
In Christ, God came to this earth to relate and respond to our need. As the old song says, “He looked beyond my fault and saw my need.”
God saw the human race lost in sin, and unable to do anything about their situation. Try as we might, there was no way we could ever remove the burden and barrier of sin that was keeping us from connecting with God.
So God came in the person of Christ to do for us what we could not do for ourselves, to remove the burden and barrier of sin, so that we might have a personal relationship with Him and live life to the full.
“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” - Mark 10:45 (NIV)
The word translated “ransom” in this verse literally means “rescue.” God took on human flesh in order to rescue us from our predicament.
That word also tells us how Christ brought about our rescue. It refers specifically to paying the price to free a slave or a prisoner and speaks to us of what Christ did when He died on the cross for the sins of the world. He paid the price so that we might be free to live life as He, our creator, originally designed us to live it.
“You must know (recognize) that you were redeemed (ransomed) from the useless (fruitless) way of living inherited by tradition from [your] forefathers . . .” - 1 Peter 1:18 (Amplified)
“It cost God plenty to get you out of that dead-end, empty-headed life you grew up in.” - 1 Peter 1:18 (The Message)
God looked upon the human race and saw that mankind was being held hostage by sin to live a life that was a waste. It was a waste because man was separated by sin from the Source of life, God Himself.
Man could do nothing to save himself, so God took it upon Himself to rescue us. To pay the price demanded so that we might be delivered from living a wasted life through entering into a personal relationship with God. You see it is only by means of my being personally connected with God that I can live life as I was created to live it.
When the great preacher of yesteryear, A.J. Gordon was pastor of a church in Boston, he met a young boy in front of the sanctuary carrying a rusty cage in which several birds fluttered nervously. Gordon inquired, “Son, where did you get those birds?” The boy replied, “I trapped them out in the field.” “What are you going to do with them?” “I’m going to play with them, and then I guess I’ll just feed them to an old cat we have at home.” When Gordon offered to buy them, the lad exclaimed, “Mister, you don’t want them, they’re just little old wild birds and can’t sing very well.” Gordon replied, “I’ll give you $2 for the cage and the birds.” “Okay, it’s a deal, but you’re making a bad bargain.” The exchange was made and the boy went away whistling, happy with his shiny coins. Gordon walked around to the back of the church property, opened the door of the small wire coop, and let the struggling creatures soar into the blue. The next Sunday he took the empty cage into the pulpit and used it to illustrate his sermon about Christ’s coming to seek and to save the lost - paying for them with His own precious blood. “That boy told me the birds were not song birds,” said Gordon, “but when I released them and they winged their way heavenward, it seemed to me they were singing, ‘Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed!’”
Why did the birds sing when released from their cage? Because they weren’t created to be caged, they were created to be free! Likewise, we I were not created to be caged by sin and enslaved to a life lacking purpose and joy. We were made to live life to the full, as we walk in personal relationship with the God of the universe, Jesus Christ!
God took on human flesh to rescue us from sin and lead us to discover life as He designed it to be lived. Christ came to us when we were at our worst, so that it might be possible for us to live life at its best.
Conclusion: God became flesh to pay the price required so that we might live life to the fullest. But what has been purchased must be received. That’s why the Bible refers to the life Christ’s sacrifice has made possible as a “gift.” Have you received the gift of new life in Christ? A good gift is one that touches our hearts, makes a practical difference in our lives, and motivates us to share it with others. Such is the gift of life we have in Christ! If you have, are you making the most of the gift you have received?
