Monthly Archive for January 2014
Podcast – Sermon 12/22/2013
The Incarnation, The Christmas Story Jimmy Petty
J.I. Packer “Knowing God” P.14-15
“You couldn’t be more cruel to yourself than to try to live in this world without knowing the God who made the world, who runs it, who will conclude it. The world becomes a strange, confusing, mad, and painful place, and life in it a disappointing and unpleasant business, for those who do not know God.”
“Disregard the study of God, and you sentence yourself to stumble and blunder through life blindfolded, as it were, with no sense of direction and no understanding of what surrounds you. This way you can waste your life and lose your soul.”
Intro:
These are absolutely true statements but it seems that once you grasp, just a little, of the greatness and power of God you may feel overwhelmed to consider; how does one relate to God?
** READ (Understanding the trinity / Michael Bronson)
“We are trying to look at an infinite being through finite eyes. Do we really think we can comprehend the magnitude of a being who has created a universe with more than a million billion galaxies; where each galaxy has hundreds of billions of stars? Are we naïve enough to think we can understand the complexity of a being who created a universe where every ounce of material has more than a hundred million trillion highly organized atoms?”
I think this complexity of God is part of the reason we find the trinity so difficult to understand.
I Cor. 8:2-3
“ If anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know; but if anyone loves God, he is known by Him.”
Galatians 4:9a
“But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be
known by Him,,,”
** READ J.B. Phillips “Your God is too small” P. 41-42
The key to understand is that He knows me.
** READ J.B Phillips “Your God Is too Small” P. 63
“We shall never want to serve God in our real and secret hearts if He looms in our sub-conscience mind as an arbitrary Dictator or a spoil-sport. Or as one who takes advantage of His position to make us poor mortals feel guilty and afraid. We have not only to be impressed by the size and unlimited power of God, we have to be moved to genuine admiration, respect, and affection, if we are ever to worship Him.”
Is it what He wants? Does He want to be near to us?
Sometimes we may feel He wants to be a “hands-off” directing manager, really not wanting to get close to us.
Let us think about how this would have to work if He did want to know us:
Share: What famous person, past or present, would you have liked to be friends with and really get to know?
Share: Now, if that were possible, who would take the initiative into how far the relationship would go; you or them?
POINT:
This is exactly what God has done in Christ. This is the Christmas Story. The story of the Incarnation ;God becoming a man, yet still fully God, to save us and to get close to us.
The concept we know by the name, “Incarnation.”
A Latin word that means:
in= in
carnis= flesh i.e. “in the flesh”
The Bible uses the word “manifest” to reveal the nature of Christ.
The invisible God made visible through Christ.
READ I John 1:1-4
Matthew 1:23 (from Isaiah 7:14) “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel, which translated means, “God with us.”
Even we as believers, sometimes think, unwittingly, that there is a limit to how close we can walk with God.
Question: What happens if you really seek to understand who God is? What might be the first revelation of that knowledge?
Answer: You see your sin in bold relief.
A natural response would be to run!
But that is not the end of the encounter
Question: What kind of people do you feel comfortable hanging around?
Answer: Those similar to you. God is dissimilar to us, so how do we deal with this dilemma?
God,,,,, the ultimate threat,,,God,,,,, the only hope !
Example: Luke 5:1-11 READ
We see the great threat and exposure that Peter felt! I hope you see the great comfort and relief he felt from that point on! This comfort is what we seem to miss.
Our “distant” prayers reflect that we are not sure how to relate to God.
Example: Beth Midler, “God is watching us, from a distance.” Totally false song for a Christian!
** HE UNDERSTANDS! **
READ Hebrews 2: 9-11, 14-18
READ Hebrews 4: 12- 16
To know God; that is the real Christmas message. To know Him personally is made possible through the incarnation;
God made man.
“As much God as if he were not man, and as much man as if he were not God”
** His Work **
Philippians 2:1-11 Jesus is Lord ! Kurious (Jehovah)
We Can Know Him Personally
John 17:1-3 “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent”
“Eternal Life” is not just a change in geography or it would soon be a beautiful hell! The “heart’ of each person in heaven must have been changed supernaturally before arriving! Not just outward behavior!
Revelation 3:20 “ Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with me.”
John 14:23 “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode (home) with him.”