IN THE FLESH
Text: John 1:1-14
Less than one year before his death Bill Bixby had lost his six year old son to a throat infection. His ex-wife Brenda Benet who was also a celebrity (an actress) took her own life. In the spring of 1991, this man had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. He had gotten married again only 48 days before he died on Nov. 20, 1993. In the late 1970’s Bixby played the part of Dr. David Banister in the TV show “The Incredible Hulk”. It was my favorite TV show when I was in the eighth grade. His alter ego, body builder Lou Ferrigno said that Bixby was not the kind of person who wanted sympathy for anyone. (Newspaper: Anderson Independent Mail. Lyn Elber. “Hulk Star Bill Bixby Dies At 59”. Anderson, SC: 23 November 1993, pp. 1 & 4).
All of us want sympathy at one time or another. It seems that Bixby was saying that what he did not want was pity. When Jesus Christ came and lived among us, He was God in the flesh. Other world religions worship some dead guy. As God’s people, we worship the living God. When we see Jesus in the Bible, we are looking at God. We see how much God sympathizes with us in the person of Jesus Christ.
SERVANT MESSIAH
In His own words Jesus said that He came to serve and not to be served (Matthew 20:28).
1) Unyielding Savior: Jesus was unyielding in His service. Jesus stooped to serve those He came to save.
2) Self-denying Savior: Jesus confounded the expectations of many when He taught that worthiness came from taking up the cross and following Him (Mark 8:34).
Several years ago Leith Anderson “…was visiting Manila [where he] was taken, of all places, to the Manila garbage dump. Tens of thousands of people make their homes on that dump site. They have constructed shacks out of the things other people have thrown away. And they send their children out early every morning to scavenge for food in other people’s garbage so they can have family meals.
People have been born and raised on the garbage dump. They have had their families and died there without ever going anywhere else, even in the city of Manila. It is an astonishing thing.
But Americans also live on that garbage dump. They are missionaries who have chosen to leave their own country to communicate the love of Jesus Christ to people who otherwise would never hear it. That is amazing, but not as amazing as the journey our Savior made from heaven to earth. The Son of God knew what he was doing. He knew where he was going. He knew what the sacrifice would be. He journeyed from heaven to earth on a mission to save the human race.” (Craig Brian Larson and Phyllis Ten Elshof. Gen. eds. 1001 Illustrations That Connect. [Source: — Leith Anderson, “A God’s-Eye View of Christmas,” Preaching Today Audio, no. 208]. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008, p. 76). How well do we stoop to help those on the margins of the world we live in? Do we accept our mission field or cling to our comfort zones?
Jesus was a servant in the form of a suffering Messiah.
1) Present: Jesus is God’s present who came to be present among us as our Immanuel. He suffered all of the same things that we ourselves are have suffered from being tempted to being persecuted for the Gospel.
2) Rejected: Part of His suffering was our rejection! John 1:10-11 points out that the world came into being through Him but did not recognize Him and therefore rejected Him. Jesus came to His own people and they rejected Him. They rejected their creator and redeemer.
THE INCARNATE ACT OF SYMPATHY
Jesus is our Immanuel.
1) Immanuel: Immanuel means “God with us” (Matthew 1:21). Our God is an awesome God because He is with us. Jesus is God incarnate.
2) God in human flesh: Jesus is “… made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:7-8 NKJV). The Gospel of John says “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).
Jesus sympathizes with us. I read the story about a little girl who was scared of the dark. “Long after going to bed, the three year old was whining and crying. Deciding that she would not give up and go to sleep, her father went in to ask what was wrong. "I'm scared of the dark," she sobbed.
"But you know that there is nothing there that will hurt you here in your room. And besides God is right here with you to protect you," her father replied.
"But God doesn't have any skin on!" she retorted. Christ was God with skin on. Through our connection with Christ, God empowers us to become skin on to other people". (Herb Miller. Actions Speak Louder Than Verbs. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1989, p. 67). Psalms 119:105 tells us that God’s word [the Bible] is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. Again, The Gospel of John says “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).
THE WAY OF SALVATION
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6 NKJV).
1) Pioneer Savior: Jesus shows us the way, teaches us the truth and shows how we are to live life after His example. How well are we doing? How often do we choose to leave our comfort zones to serve in the “garbage dump” areas? How can we grow God’s kingdom if we avoid the “garbage dump” areas”.
2) Grace Recipients: The Apostle Paul reminds us us “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8 NKJV). Salvation is a gift that only comes through Jesus. What do we do with the grace God has shown to us? Do we reach out to others or echo the world in saying “every man for himself?”
The Bible says “But as many as have received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12 NKJV).
1) Belief “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12 NIV). Jesus tells us in John 15:5 that apart from Him we can do nothing.
2) Strength: It is Jesus who saves us and strengthens us. It is Jesus who gives us perfect strength. “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness” (II Corinthians 12:9). We must capture the spirit of the motto that John the Baptist lived by: Jesus “… must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30 NKJV).
3) Our Witness without: Two well known hymns reminds us what we must do. We must “Walk with the Lord in the light of His Word. …. For when we do His good will, He abides with us still”. O what a Friend we have in Jesus all our sins and griefs to bear”.
4) Our Growth within: We must grow up into the likeness of Jesus. We can only do that by taking up our crosses and follow Jesus, who is the way, the truth and the life because it is only by following Him that we will get to the Father in heaven. Jesus came in the flesh that He might serve us and teach us how to serve. Jesus came and identified with us and served us to give us the gift of salvation.
