THE BUTTERFLY & THE CATERPILLAR
12-8-02
Luke 2:11, Hebrews 10:1-10 + Others
Christmas! It is…
Ÿ More than a baby in a manger;
Ÿ More than shepherds and angels;
Ÿ Even more than Wise men traveling 2 years bearing gifts.
Christmas is when… the living Son of God…
Ÿ Stepped out of his glory...
Ÿ Became one of us...
Ÿ Walked the mile in our moccasins...
Ÿ Took our sins upon himself...
Ÿ Poured out his righteousness upon us ... and
Graced us with ALL the heavenly blessings as he returned to the right hand of God the Father.
This is what we celebrate at this time of the year.
This is what we celebrate throughout the year.
We serve a living Savior ...
He’s in the world today.
I know that he is living ...
Whatever men may say.
I see his hand of mercy ...
I hear His voice of cheer.
And just the time I need him ...
He’s always near.
This is a season of miracles.
Ÿ The timing ... on the exact day ...
Ÿ The place ... exactly where God said it would be ...
Ÿ The transition ... a Holy God becoming a mere man.
Ÿ The purpose ... that no one should perish ...but have everlasting life.
This is what all the lights are about!
Jesus—the light of the world—has come among us.
REMEMBER: God’s ways are not man’s ways!
God used a heathen king to set the plan in motion.
When it happened... he announced it
Ÿ Not to the kings of the world...
Ÿ Not to the high and mighty among men...
Ÿ But to the lowly keepers of the sheep...
Ÿ To those at the bottom rung on the social ladder
Ÿ To those who had nothing to give ... but everything to gain.
Up at Callaway Gardens…in Georgia… IF you can get through the Christmas lights… you’ll find the real story of Christmas in the Butterfly House!
As a springboard into Christmas… do you remember when Elijah called down the fire from heaven ... and it
Ÿ Burned up the sacrifices ... the alter ... and the water which had been used to douse it, and
Ÿ Then the earth swallowed up the priests of Baal.
WHEN Jezebel sent for Elijah ... and he fled the country.
1Kings 19:11 And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake:
And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.
In the Greek: A VOICE ATOMIC!
That’s the way it is at Callaway ...
God is not in
Ÿ The multitude of lights ...
Ÿ The 12 days of Christmas ...
Ÿ The toy drums ... or
Ÿ Even in Santa Claus
But in the STILL SMALL VOICE of the lowly butterfly ... you can see the picture of Christmas ... as it really is:
In the Butterfly house there are thousands of butterflies of every description flitting about in a controlled environment.
I’m convinced there is no such thing as an ugly butterfly...
Colors that almost defy nature ... and
Surely that will drive a peacock to shame.
But that’s getting ahead of the story:
Christmas is not so much ...
Ÿ In the glory of the butterfly ...
Ÿ As it is in the lowly caterpillar from which he comes.
Science calls this process: METAMORPHISM ... the process of metamorphosis ...
WEBSTER defines this as: a change --- a radical change of form, structure or substance; an alteration in appearance, character or circumstances.
This is a picture of that first Christmas!
Jesus is the beautiful butterfly...
Ÿ With all the glory of Heaven ...
Ÿ His infinite majesty ... power ... and position ...
John would open his Gospel with this picture ... the majesty of Jesus the way he was—before Christmas—and the way he is now—seated at the right hand of God—rather than as a child of poverty in a cow stall in a lonely hillside of Judea:
In the beginning was the WORD ... the Word was with THE God ... The Word was God ...
LOGOS ... equal to God the Father is every way ...
Ÿ Yet ... someone to go between man and God ...
One capable of knowing THE unknowable God ...
Ÿ Yet capable of revealing that same God to us.
GOD is unknowable ... because he is INFINITE ... and we are FINITE.
We are limited in our understanding!
God ... his nature ... his essence ... has no limits!
We simply do not have the capacity to KNOW ... to CONTAIN all there is to know about God.
But Jesus said: If you have seen me ... you have seen the father!
This LOGOS was WITH the God ...
Ÿ The one and only God the Father ...
Ÿ There is no other ... in or out of the universe ...
This LOGOS was the GOD ... completely the same essence as God the Father ... but not the same PERSON!
Our finite minds have a problem wrestling with the concept of the TRINITY -- God in three persons ... yet ONE God!
But this WORD ... this Logos ... This Jesus ...
Ÿ Surrendering it all ... he emerged in Bethlehem ...
Ÿ In a stable ...
Ÿ In poverty ...
Ÿ Reduced to human form ...
Ÿ Totally dependent upon God the Father for everything..
The beautiful MONARCH of Heaven ...
is earth-bound like the lowly caterpillar.
God the SON ... has become MAN!
And it all happened exactly ...
Ÿ The way he said it would happen ... a virgin would conceive and give birth ...
Isaiah said it 700 years before.
Ÿ Exactly where he said it would happen ...
MICAH (5:2) said it 500 years before ...
Ÿ Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
Ÿ Exactly when he said it would happen ... Daniel ... 600 years before ... (9:25 ... Starting in 445 B.C) ... he sets a time-table that takes us up through
Ÿ The birth of Christ in 4 B.C. (today’s calendar)...
Ÿ The destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 and
Ÿ He anticipates 7 more years ... after the church age... the Tribulation period.
Daniel did not give the date for this one.
Luke 2:11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.
And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
Here we have ...
Ÿ The God who spoke all of the universe into existence ...
Ÿ The God who holds the universe together ...
Ÿ The God who walked in the cool of the evening with Adam and Eve ...
On this night in Bethlehem of Judea ... this same God ... lies helpless in a feed-trough of farm animals ... in a hillside cave.
This IS the metamorphosis:
HEBREWS 10:1 For the law possesses a shadow of the good things to come but not the reality itself, and is therefore completely unable, by the same sacrifices offered continually, year after year, to perfect those who come to worship.
So when he came into the world, he said,
“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me.
6“Whole burnt offerings and sin-offerings you took no delight in.
9 (then he says,) “Here I am: I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first to establish the second.
He takes away the letter of the law ... and
gives a living law ... a new life in quality ... and quantity.
10 By his will we have been made holy through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Here we have the same LOGOS ... this Son of God… by whom in
John 1:3... All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
And Colossians 1:16 ... For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
This is the same JESUS from the manger!
Philippians 2:8 he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
All of this was done to make possible a RADICAL CHANGE in us:
We need a radical change…WHY?
Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
So what!
6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
This death is eternal separation from God.
It is:
Ÿ Outer darkness;
Ÿ Where the worm never dies;
Ÿ A lake of fire; it is…
Ÿ Eternal torment!
Like the woolly worm ... we need a dimension that we were not born with… to satisfy God’s demand for sinless perfection.
It’ll take more than soap and water!
It’ll take a new life—a complete rebirth—to make us acceptable. Look at
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
Literally: none of the old goes into the making of the new.
When we accept Jesus as our Christ ...
When CHRISTMAS occurs within us ...
we are NOT ...
Ÿ Just refinished… polished up a little.
Ÿ It’s not cosmetic!
Ÿ An entirely new LIFE is crafted ...
Ÿ Not of the substance of ADAM ...
Ÿ Not like our first NATURE ...
But of the SUBSTANCE of JESUS our Lord!
Ÿ It’s a spiritual life ... a NEW life!
Ÿ It’s a spiritual existence!
Cor 5:18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself[How?] by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us [What?]the ministry of reconciliation;
I watched those little brown plastic-looking pouches ...pupa ... hanging from twigs ...they looked lifeless.
Once they were caterpillars ... crawling in the dirt and chewing on leaves ... NOW ... they just hang there.
But, soon ... there’s movement.
The pouch splits open!
Out wiggles something completely different than the worm that attached himself to that twig weeks before.
I am told ... once the pouch forms ... the caterpillar completely liquefies—undergoes a complete change—a RADICAL difference ... and what was a worm just days before ... now stands as a beautiful ... multi-colored butterfly.
No longer condemned to crawl in the dirt ... chewing on leaves ...
It now flits about from flower to flower sipping on nectar.
IF WE truly accept Jesus as our Christ ...
There will be a NOTICEABLE transformation in US as well ...
There will be changes in our appearance.
There will be changes in our appetites.
We will develop:
Ÿ A hunger for God ... and our place in His plan;
Ÿ A hunger and thirst for the Word… and ways of God;
Ÿ A desire to share this new life;
Ÿ A desire to explore all that we have inherited as joint heirs with Christ Jesus;
Ÿ A desire to fellowship with others who also are transformed.
How does this happen?
Probably not like you thought!
The worm didn’t work his way out of the dirt… and into the flowers.
The worm didn’t become a butterfly...
Ÿ Until it quit working ...
Ÿ Until it waited upon the Lord!
It happens the same way with us!
Romans 4:5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
You can’t work for what is freely given.
Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Not of works, lest any man should boast.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
John 3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
It’s the NEW life that puts your name in God’s book.
The righteousness of Christ, himself, is deposited to your account.
2 Corinthians 5:21 For he (God) hath made him(Jesus) to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
The REAL Christmas is that GOD who so loved the world ... that he gave his only begotten son ... that whosoever believes on him should not perish ... but have everlasting life.
Jesus said: I have come that you might have life ... and have it more abundantly (John 10:10)
Please ... if you haven’t already ... Don’t go home today
Ÿ Until you have experienced the complete metamorphosis ...
Ÿ Until you know Jesus as your Christ ...
Ÿ Until you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you have been born into that eternal life with God, himself.
Ÿ Until you have received the greatest gift of all gifts;
Ÿ The life of the Living God;
Ÿ The abundant life;
Ÿ Life everlasting;
Ÿ The life that God designed for us in the first place.
It’s the only life that is complete and acceptable to God:
Ÿ A life where circumstances cannot affect our joy.
Ÿ A life that has no limit to its quality ...
Ÿ nor to its quantity.
Ÿ This is the real Christmas!
Please, do yourself a favor… don’t leave for home without it!
