The Word Became Flesh
Name Above All Names
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. 3Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made…The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. - John 1:1-3,14 (NIV)
OKAY THIS MORNING – we are kicking off a brand new series called, Name Above All Names…
AND – I am pretty sure that you know what that name is.
Paul writes…
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. – Philippians 2:9-11
Prayer
NOW UNDERSTAND - you can learn a lot about a person from what they are called.
FOR EXAMPLE – if you want to learn more about me.
YOU COULD - find out a bunch of stuff, just by unpacking the various names and titles I wear…
I MEAN – in any given week, I am called;
“Steve” “Mr Steve” “Mr Malone” “Dad” “Pastor Steve” “baby” “hey you” and “baba”
(which is one of my favorites).
AND - I wear titles like –
father, husband, parent, grandparent, brother, father in-law, #1 NE Patriot Fan
AND IF - you took the time to unpack the meaning of those names and titles, you would get a pretty good idea of who I am and in turn you would know me better.
WELL - it’s the same way with the man from Galilee…
The one called: Teacher, Immanuel, King of kings, Word become flesh, Savior, Lord, The Alpha and Omega, the Lamb of God, the bread of life, the morning star – the one called Jesus…
SO FOR – the next few weeks we are going to unpack the meaning behind a few of those names and titles.
NOW SOME - you are very familiar with others not so much.
BUT LISTEN – each name or title that we unpack will help you know more fully – the one you have chosen to follow.
OKAY – let the unpacking begin…
THE - first name or title that we are going to look at is… ‘The Word Became Flesh.’
UNDERSTAND - though Jesus was fully God when He walked this earth. HE – was also fully human; Jesus was flesh and He was blood… Jesus was a man.
Fully God, Yet fully man….
OKAY – let’s do this… and I listen I want to attack this conversation by unpacking two statements.
I. We Know Jesus Was A Man
AND – we know that he was a man for at least 2 reasons… First because
A) Scripture Reveals It…
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth… - John 1:1,14
When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. – Phil 2:7,8
Because God's children are human beings--made of flesh and blood--Jesus also became flesh and blood… it was necessary for Jesus to be in every respect like us, his brothers and sisters, - Hebrews 2:14,17
The Word was with God and Word was God
Jesus is deity
YET
The Word became flesh
Jesus became a human
Jesus… became flesh and blood
Fully God… YET – fully man….
AND LISTEN – IF that’s a hard concept for you to wrap your brain around… Don’t feel alone.
I MEAN - people have wrestled with this truth for 2,000 years.
IN FACT - there were a group of wrestlers in the first century who basically threw in the towel on this God-Man thing… AND – simply denied that Jesus was a man…
INSTEAD - they taught that he only appeared to be a man.
AND SO – the apostle John takes on this faulty thinking head on, as he opens up his first letter…
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched–this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.– 1 John 1:1
YES – even though it is hard for us to get our brain around it… Jesus was a man… How do we know…
Scripture reveals it… AND – also because;
B) His Life Demonstrates It…
UNDERSTAND – when you look at the life of Jesus…
YOU SEE – that He lived it as a man…
• Jesus was conceived in a womb
• He was born just like you & I as Mary pushed Him from her body
• And he came bloody and slimy just like you and I did
• Jesus had to depend on His parents, to fed Him, Bath Him and change His dirty diapers
• Jesus had to learn to walk and no doubt took many falls on that journey
• He had to learn to talk… I wonder what God the Sons’ first word was?
• Jesus got tired and he slept
• He got hungry and he ate
• He got thirsty and he drank
• If you hit Him – He bruised
• If you cut Him he bleed
• If you killed Him – he died.
Jesus was a man… I love how one author puts it…
For 33 years he would feel everything you and I have ever felt. He felt weak. He grew weary. He was afraid of failure. He was susceptible to wooing women.
He got colds, burped and had body odor.
His feelings got hurt. His feet got tired. And his head ached.
To think of Jesus in such a light is – well, it seems almost irreverent, doesn’t it?
It’s not something we like to do; it’s uncomfortable.
It’s so much easier to keep the humanity out of the incarnation. ( which by the way comes from the Latin word ‘incarno’ and literally means ‘to be made into flesh)…
It’s so much easier to keep the humanity out of the incarnation. Clean the manure from around the manger. Wipe the sweat out of his eyes. Pretend he never snored or blew his nose or hit his thumb with a hammer.
He’s easier to stomach that way. There’s something about keeping Him divine that keeps Him distant, packaged and predictable.
BUT – don’t do it. For heavens sake don’t.
Let Him be as human as he intended to be.
Let Him into the mire and muck of our world.
For only if we let Him in can he pull us out.
The Word became flesh
Though fully God… Jesus was fully man…
OKAY – now let’s unpack the second statement….
II. The Difference It Makes
UNDERSTAND – Jesus being a man, makes all the difference in the world…
LET – me share 5 reasons why; FIRST – because…
A) Jesus The Man, Allows You To See God…
No one has ever seen God. But God the only Son is very close to the Father, and He has shown us what God is like. – John 1:18 (NCV)
He has shown us what God is like.
UNDERSTAND - before Jesus no one had ever seen God… IN FACT - the closet that anyone had ever gotten was Moses. (1,400 years before Jesus)
YOU REMEMBER – the scene…
We read about it in Exodus 33.
BECAUSE GOD – was please with Moses, He tells Him that he would give whatever asked…
QUESTION - what would you have asked for if you were Moses facing what he was facing?
• Wandering in a desert wilderness leading a million+ stubborn and rebellious people
BETTER YET - what would you ask for right now, facing whatever it is you are facing – hoping for whatever it is you are hoping?
MOSES - request was, “Lord show me your glory! I just want TO SEE YOU”
AND GOD – replied (no doubt smiling overflowing with joy) “Awesome request dude..
BUT – here’s the deal, I can’t let you see me directly or you will die… SO HERE - is what I will do, I will put you behind that big rock over there. AND - as my glory passes, I will cover your eyes with my hand… AND THEN - I will remove my hand…so that you can my back…”
AND – for 1400 years that was as close as any one ever got to seeing God’s glory…
UNDERSTAND – it is really hard for finite creatures (like us) to wrap our brains around an infinite God.
I MEAN - the distance is too great! Beyond measure…
SO – Jesus became a man… The word became ‘incarno’
Philip Yancey in his book ‘The Jesus I Never Knew” writes;
I learned about incarnation when I kept a salt-water aquarium. Management of a marine aquarium,
I discovered, is no easy task. I had to run a portable chemical laboratory to monitor the nitrate levels and the ammonia content. I pumped in vitamins and antibiotics and sulfa drugs and enough enzymes to make a rock grow.
I filtered the water through glass fibers and charcoal, and exposed it to ultraviolet light. You would think, in view of all the energy expanded on their behalf, that my fish would be grateful. Not so.
Every time my shadow loomed above the tank they dove for cover into the nearest shell. They showed me one ‘emotion’ fear. Although I opened the lid and dropped in food on a regular schedule, 3 times a day, they responded to each visit as a sure sign of my designs to torture them. I could not convince them of my true concern.
To my fish I was deity. I was too large for them, my actions too incomprehensible. My acts of mercy they saw as cruelty; my attempts at healing they viewed as destruction. To change their perceptions, I began to see, would require a form of incarnation. I would have to become a fish and ‘speak’ to them in a language they could understand.
AND LISTEN - a human being becoming a fish is nothing compared to God becoming a man.
AND YET - that is exactly what happened. The infinite God stepped down into history to become like us in every respect.
UNDERSTAND FOR – centuries God had done the best that he could to help men to see what he was really like. HE - called on various men (David, Moses, Jeremiah and Isaiah) to be His prophets. BUT – even then all they could see were shadows…
Long ago in many ways and at many times God's prophets spoke his message to our ancestors. But now at last, God sent his Son to bring his message to us. God created the universe by his Son, and everything will someday belong to the Son. God's Son has all the brightness of God's own glory and is like him in every way. – Hebrews 1:1-3 (CEV)
Like God in every way… Like us in every way… Jesus brought God close…
Jesus – showed us what God was like… He gave us an up close & personal view of God. AND – what a view it was!
I MEAN – God’s; love, compassion, patience, joy, mercy and grace….. literally explode from the life of Jesus…
AND – Jesus the man answered a lot of questions people had about God;
• Does God really care about me?
• Does he love me?
• Will He be patient with my stumbling?
• Will he have compassion for my pain?
• Will He respond to my needs?
• Am I good enough to approach Him and be in His presence?
UNDERSTAND - Jesus the man gives us a view of God that takes our breath away and causes us not to dive in fear under the nearest shell…
BUT RATHER - to come out from our shells of hiding and swim as fast as we can to Him! Just keep swimming.
Jesus The Man, Allows Us To See God
NEXT…
B) Jesus The Man, Allows You To See Yourself
QUESTION – how do you see yourself this morning?
NOW – my guess is that the way you see yourself today (April 26, 2020)…
IS - closely connected to the way that you think the world sees you. SO – this morning… do see yourself as;
Important? Valuable? Desirable?
Acceptable? Significant?
Do you see yourself as someone who is worth being with?
NOW – my guess is that a large % of people watching this livestream (because of what a parent, spouse, achild, a friend, an enemy or the world has said…)
DON’T – see themselves as; important. valuable, desirable, acceptable, significant or worth being with…
THEY FEEL LIKE - they’re not… pretty enough, smart enough, don’t have enough, are good enough, haven’t accomplished enough… they simply do not measure up.
YES – I imagine that a lot of people feel like a lady from Nashville Tennessee that I heard about a few years back at Leadership Seminar.
One of the speakers Rubel Shelly talked about a lady he met the previous weekend. She was invited by a friend to come to his church.
NOW - she didn’t really want to go to a church, but her friend told her that not every church was like the ones in her past that had hurt her so much. So she came…
AND – after the service she came and talked with Rubel. AND – she asked him a question… “Could God accept me…”
AND - Rubel said “of course God can accept you”
AND THEN – she said, ”NO, you don’t understand I’m dying of aids, I’ve been a heroine addict for years. And to support my habit… I’ve sold my body to more men then I can count… after all that could God really accept me…”
NOW - Rubel spent a good amount of time talking to her…
AND – he commented that the thing he needed to do for her, was not to get her to repent for her wrong…
(because she had already done that over, and over and over again, even before she walked into that church building…) INSTEAD – the thing he had to get her to do was to believe… To believe that not only could God accept her.. BUT – that God through Christ already had accepted her…
(by the way she was baptized that very day)
B/S – Jesus the man, allows you and I to see ourselves. To see ourselves not as the world sees, not as other people see us and not as we see ourselves (because of past sin and failure)…
BUT AS - God sees us… awesome, loved by God, precious, valuable and significant to Him.
IF ONLY – we/you/I could only see ourselves through his eyes…
AND LISTEN – if we did I’m convinced that we would never again wonder; “could God accept me…”
YES - Jesus the man has cried out for 2000 years for all the world to hear…
You are acceptable… you significant, you are loved.
You are so much more then you think you are.
IN FACT – when Jesus the man walked this earth… There was a time when a woman who was a prostitute came to him looking for acceptance… CARRYING – ‘a jar’ of FULL of expensive perfume ‘and eyes’ FULL of tears wondering if God could accept her…
(we find her story in Luke 7)…
NOW – the Pharisees who were throwing the party saw her as ‘one of those woman’ and she probably saw herself that way too… BUT – Jesus saw who she really was… awesome, beautiful and acceptable…
AND SO – she left that room knowing exactly who she was.
YEAH – I know that is seems; remarkable, unbelievable, incredible and too good to be true…
BUT HERE’S THE TRUTH (and I hope you can handle it).. THERE IS - something so…
precious, awesome, desirable and good about you…
THAT CAUSED - God the Son to put on human flesh; live as a man, and die on the cross just so he could be with you!
Jesus the man, allows YOUT to see yourself as you really are…
I stand before you today to tell you that “you are pretty stinking awesome!”
C) Jesus The Man, Shows You Who You Can Become
HEY – do you know what one of my favorite words is?
It’s the word new… I just love that word. I even like the way it sounds. “new”
I MEAN – isn’t awesome to:
• start a new year;
• get a new car,
• move into to new house,
• learn new things
• read new books
• hear new songs
• start a new relationship,
• get a new beginning
AND – do you know what…? GOD – seems to be pretty fired up about the word new too.
I MEAN - throughout the bible we see God talking about;
New names… New songs… A new covenant
New wine & new wineskins… A new heavens & new earth
Behold I am making all things new
AND – speaking of new… check out these passages and see if you can see the new thing that has the God of glory all worked up…
They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. “Go, stand in the temple courts,” he said, “and tell the people the full message of this new life.” - Acts 5:18-20
All of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. – Romans 6:3,4
Those who become Christians become new persons. They are not the same anymore, for the old life is gone. A new life has begun! - 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NLT)
SO - what is the new thing that is exploding form those passages…?
New life!
YES – Jesus the man, shows you who you can become…
HE shows you the life that you were created to live.
UNDERSTAND - you don’t have to stay the same…
You can live a new life.
You can live a life just like Jesus lived when he walked this earth…
AND LISTEN – I am not making this stuff up…
THIS – is not wishful thinking.
UNDERSTAND – new life (was, is and always will be) God’s plan for you!
AND IF – you don’t want to take my word on it…
HOW ABOUT - taking God’s…
For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn, with many brothers and sisters. – Romans 8:29 (NLT)
You have begun to live the new life, in which you are being made new and are becoming like the One who made you. – Col 3:10 (NCV)
Chose YOU to become like His Son
YOU are becoming like the One who made you
UNDERSTAND - if you are a believer… God has but one plan for you. To live a life like Jesus.
LISTEN…
God loves you just the way you are, but he loves you far too much to let you stay that way, He wants you to become just like Jesus.
YEAH - Let that sink in for a moment…
OKAY – here’s the deal…
Jesus will (if you let Him) come where you are bringing you the life you hunger for.
YES - Jesus the man shows you who you can become…
D) Jesus The Man, Destroyed Death and the devil…
Because God's children are human beings--made of flesh and blood--Jesus also became flesh and blood by being born in human form. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the Devil, who had the power of death.
Only in this way could he deliver those who have lived all their lives as slaves to the fear of dying…
it was necessary for Jesus to be in every respect like us, his brothers and sisters, so that he could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God. He then could offer a sacrifice that would take away the sins of the people.
- Hebrews 2:14-17
NOW – I don’t really have a lot of time to spend on this point, this morning… BUT GUYS – this is so HUGE!!!
UNDERSTAND…
• Because God the Son, became a man
• Because He was like us in every respect
• Because He was flesh and blood
• Because He lived a sinless life
• Because he offered that life and as payment, as a sacrifice for our sins…
The devil has been defeated
Death has been destroyed!
Mercy has been given
AND – His amazing grace has been unleashed in the world…
Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. – 1 Corinthians 15:55-58
YES - because of Jesus the man… WE – are free!
Free from sin
Free from guilt
Free from shame
Free from condemnation
Free from the fear of dying
Free from the fear of living
Free from a life of wishful thinking
Our hope is not wishful thinking, instead it is an confidently expected outcome.
Jesus the man destroyed death and the devil..
E) Jesus The Man, Understands Everything That You Will Ever Experience …
QUESTION – have you ever felt like no really understood what you were going through?
I MEAN – you have a problem, you’re being tempted, you’re in a struggle, you’re facing a crisis…
AND – you feel like you’re all alone…
SURE – you try to talk to people…
BUT – most of the time all you get back is blank stares… EITHER – people don’t get it…
OR – they can’t do anything about it!
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are–yet was without sin.
Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. – Hebrews 4:14-16
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are–yet was without sin.
ABOUT – sixty years ago C. S. Lewis imagined someone objecting here:
“Hey, if Jesus never sinned, then he doesn't know what temptation is like. He lived a sheltered life and is out of touch with how strong temptation can be."
Here is what Lewis wrote in response to that objection:
“A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. . . .
A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense know very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. . . .
Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means.”
UNDERSTAND - if Jesus had not become a man, we would not have a God who really, fully and experientially understood us.
YOU SEE - although God, would have knowledge of human life (because he created it), we might still be able to hurl the accusation,
“God you just don’t understand what it’s like to be me. You can’t possibly understand the temptations I struggle with.
AND – besides that I am handicapped by all kinds of weaknesses, problems and pain that you’ve never faced, because you’re all-powerful.
AND GOD - if you can’t understand me you can’t really help me. AND - you certainly have no right to judge me.”
BUT - the fact is that “the Word became flesh and lived among us.” AND THEREFORE - no matter what we face, whether it’s temptation, weaknesses, or suffering Jesus can and does say “Been there… Dealt with that…I can help! ”
YES - TO THOSE…
• Who feel alone
• Who had a friend betray them
• Who are tempted by (lust, money, popularity, power)
• Who are weeping over the death of a loved one
• Who had best intentions misunderstood and twisted
• Who are stressed by the demands of life
• Who are angry at the way the weak and powerless are treated
• Who experience disappointments and setbacks or had everyone walk away when they needed them the most
• Who are in physical pain
• Who have had family members think they are crazy
• Who have had their name and reputation slander by other people
• Whose lives seemed to be filled with sorrow and grief
• Who don’t have a lot of money or material things
• Who find it so hard to do the right thing and to follow God’s will
Jesus the man says; “Been there… Dealt with that…I can help! ”
Therefore, since do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses… Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. – Hebrews 4:14-16
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning… The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. - John 1:1,14 (NIV)
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