The Word Became Flesh Series

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…