Worshiping God Incarnate

Well, turn with me in your Bibles to John chapter 1 and verse 14. John chapter 1, verse 14. And the word became flesh. and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Today is, of course, the day that we especially set aside to remember the incarnation of Jesus. And that word incarnation comes from this verse. The Word became flesh. That is, the Word was incarnated or enfleshed. And to many of us, this may seem like a familiar doctrine, a familiar verse, a familiar message. But I would suggest to you that actually the incarnation of Jesus is not nearly as familiar as we sometimes think. As we approach this truth, this passage of scripture, we need to realize that we are treading on holy ground. We are discussing the unfathomable. We are approaching the mysterious. This is something which we can know with certainty to be true. And yet something that we could never possibly adequately explain or understand. And that's exactly why this truth above everything else this morning should inspire us to worship. Should inspire worship. You see, you cannot truly worship what you do not know. And yet you never will truly worship that which you can fully understand. We cannot worship a God who is so infinitely ineffable and opaque as to be totally unknowable. All an adoration, true worship flow from knowledge. As Jesus told this woman from Samaria at the well, We know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews and God is seeking those who will worship him in spirit and truth. And yet we never would worship a God small enough to fit within the limits of our own comprehension. No one trembles before a God he can fully understand. A God who can be fully understood is a God who can be manipulated and controlled. Rather, we worship God precisely because we do know much about him, his character, his attributes, his perfections, his glories, and his power, and what we know inspires great awe and adoration. And yet, what we know about him reveals to us that he infinitely exceeds our ability to comprehend or to explain. We are left confessing, as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are his ways higher than our ways and his thoughts than our thoughts. Or as the Apostle Paul says, oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out. You see, God can be known truly, but he can never be known fully. And the hope of heaven, the essence of eternal life. Is to enjoy the unhindered pursuit of knowing this God more and more. Being everlastingly mesmerized and enraptured by his glory. But friends, that eternal life does not begin when we die. For those who are in Christ Jesus, that life begins now. And even now, as we come before this verse, we have the opportunity to gaze upon God, to behold his glory, that our hearts might be stirred to worship him. And so this morning, I would like to share with you three particular ways that we ought to be led to worship God because of the incarnation. And the first is this, we ought to worship God by marveling, by being astonished, being amazed, being awestruck, being captivated by this truth. John says, the Word became flesh. Now what does this mean? The Word is the figure introduced in the first five verses of this chapter. John says, in the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him nothing was made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. We see here that the Word is eternal. In the beginning, the Word was. The Word is the creator of all things, and that is stated both positively, all things were made through him, and negatively, without him nothing was made that was made. The Word is the one who has life in himself. That tells us that he is not only the creator of all things, but the sustainer of all life. And secondly, that he is not dependent on anyone else for his own life. He is independent and self-sufficient. We read also that the word was with God, that is literally face to face with God, on equal footing with God, in intimate relationship with God. And then also that the word was God. He is not like God. He is not almost God, but the word is fully God. And from this verse and several other passages in scripture, we understand that God himself is a trinity. That is a tri-unity, three in one and one in three. God is and has everlastingly been Father, Son, and Spirit. Not three gods, one God in three persons. And John tells us that this word, who is God the Son, became flesh. And this of course is referring to the conception and birth of Jesus Christ. Now flesh does not mean just a physical human body. Jesus was not God on the inside and man on the outside. Flesh means full human nature. Body and soul. Jesus had a human body, a human mind, human emotions, a human will. The word became flesh means that God, without ceasing to be God, became fully man. 100% God, 100% man. One person having two natures. Now, at this point, you may ask, well, if that's what John means by the Word becoming flesh, why didn't he just say God became man? And the reason I would give is that actually, if he had just said God became man, that would actually be less clear than what he said. Because if he said God, well, that could be misinterpreted as the Father. The Father did not become a man. The Son did. The Word became flesh. And if you use the word man instead of flesh, well, that could be misinterpreted as referring to the spiritual part of man only. Common at this time was the Gnostic heresy that physical matter was inherently bad or sinful. This is one of the reasons that in First John, John addresses those who were denying that Jesus had come in the flesh. And you see, it's much easier to imagine that Jesus just looked like a man or that he just had a human spirit. But by saying the word became flesh, John is making crystal clear that God became fully man. He became man not just according to the most noble and God-like aspects of human nature. But even according to the lowest and most creaturely aspects of human nature, the word became a real physical human being, flesh and all. Jesus was fully God and fully man, like us in every way, yet without sin. And friends, if there is any truth, in all of Scripture, if there is anything that ought to cause us to marvel, to be astonished, and to be amazed, this is it. You see, if this does not astonish you, your problem is probably that you think of God being a lot like yourself, just a whole lot bigger and a whole lot better. And if that's your view of God, you will probably be more impressed by any number of the other miracles in the Bible. You know, perhaps you read the story about men being thrown into a fiery furnace and God preventing the flames from burning them or their clothing at all. Perhaps you'll be more impressed by the story of God making the sun stand still, or God parting the waters of the Red Sea, or God creating the world and the universe from nothing by his own word. But the more you actually understand the nature of God, His holiness, His otherness, those incommunicable attributes of God, those ways that He is so different, so not like us or like anything else in creation, the more all those other miracles seem rather trivial, light, and easy by comparison to the incarnation. Consider with me for a moment that God is infinite. I do not believe that there is anything infinite in creation. Our universe is very, very big. Every time I see one of those things where it zooms out from our earth to the solar system, to the galaxy, to the other galaxies, it is unfathomable how large our universe is. And most of it is empty space or dark matter or whatever they think it is. But even if you were to pack the entire universe with atoms as densely as possible, that would not be infinity. God is infinite. King Solomon understood this when he was building the temple, this place where God's glory would dwell, that would represent his inhabiting, his dwelling among his people. And yet, even he, when he dedicated this temple, he asked the question, but will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain you, how much less this temple which I have built. He understood that the infinite God cannot be contained in any building, even the universe itself is far too small to contain the fullness of God. And yet, in the incarnation, the infinite word became flesh. And Paul can write in the book of Colossians, and in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. In Christ dwells all the fullness of the infinite God bodily. Consider also that God is eternal and unchanging. The scriptures say God is the high and lofty one who inhabits eternity, whose very name is holy, who dwells in the high and the holy place. And I love this picture of inhabiting eternity. God inhabits the realm outside time and space. From his vantage point, he looks down not only on every nook and cranny of the entire universe in the present, but every nook and cranny of the entire universe in the past and every nook and cranny of the entire universe in the future. God is the one who holds time itself in his hands. He is the one who from everlasting to everlasting is God with whom one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. And He is the Eternal One, the One who is unaffected by time because He is above it. He says, I am the Lord, I do not change. And the psalmist writes, of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you will endure. Yes, they will all grow old like a garment, like a cloak. You will change them, and they will be changed. But you are the same. And your years will have no end. I mean, even the heavens themselves will be affected and worn out of the process of time. And yet God is the eternal one, the immutable one. And yet consider that in the incarnation, when the word became flesh. He who is infinite, who is eternal, and who is immutable stepped down into time and space and somehow united together in one person his divine nature with a human nature that is mutable, that is temporal, a human nature that was born. that would develop, that would learn and grow in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men. Friends, these are not things that we can explain, that we can understand, but these are things to be marveled at, to be astounded by. And we could go on, I mean, we could discuss God's independence and his self-sufficiency and the amazing paradox that the needy baby Jesus was at the same time upholding the very universe by the word of his power. We could consider God's immortality and the fact that somehow in the incarnation the immortal God could unite himself with mortal human flesh. Or we could consider God's simplicity and the fact that the God who is pure spirit without parts or passions who is totally indivisible can somehow be one with the complexity of human nature. But let me just give you one more reason why we should marvel at the incarnation. And it has to do with understanding God's blessedness and purity. You see, it is incredible enough to think that God could become a man without compromising his own divine nature. But it is perhaps even more incredible to think that God ever would become a man. I mean, what motivation is there for a being of infinite bliss and blessedness, of total self-sufficiency, who has never needed anything and who exists in perfect and eternal joy, to leave such glory to be born in a manger, to endure the filth of this world and even to suffer the agonies of hell on the cross. What kind of love could compel a God with such infinite delight in that which is pure and right, good and true, and who has such pure and righteous hatred for all that is evil and corrupt, to be willing to save even wicked men at such great cost to himself? You see, we simply cannot understand how that kind of a God could love this kind of a world like that. And you see, the more we have a high and exalted view of God, the more we see him as he really is and as the Bible presents him. That he is holy, that he is other, that he is transcendent and in many ways not like us. The more it confounds our reason to think that God could become a man, and the more it offends our sensibilities to think that he ever would become man. And yet the Bible plainly declares that he did become man. That what is impossible for us to do or even to conceive is possible for God. that he has loved us with a love that we cannot understand, but we can marvel at. And friends, this brings us to our second point, because the natural question after coming to terms with how astounding that statement, the word became flesh is, is the question, well, how do I know it's really true? I mean, this sounds impossible. What is the evidence for it? And so the second point is that we must worship God this morning by beholding him in the incarnation. John says, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the father, full of grace and truth. You see, this miracle of the Word becoming flesh did not occur in a vacuum. Nor did He appear in a flash and vanish. He became flesh and dwelt among us. That is, He tabernacled. He pitched His tent and lived on this earth for 33 years. And during that time, John can say, and we beheld His glory. Not a passing backward glance, not a dream or a vision, but a prolonged gaze. John had intimate knowledge of the one he is testifying about. He writes in his epistle of 1 John of Christ, he is that which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and our hands have handled. And John is testifying that when you study the life, the character, the words, and the works of Christ, his life shines with such glory, such radiant beauty, such captivating majesty, such profound and impressive significance that you cannot but come to the conclusion that this glory is that of the only begotten Son of God. In other words, that we cannot explain that we cannot explain or fully understand how the word became flesh. We dare not deny that he did become flesh because the glory of Jesus Christ is self attesting to his deity. I mean, if you want to see the glory of divine power. Behold, Christ. See Him rebuking wind and waves, walking on water, multiplying loaves, healing the sick, raising the dead, casting out demons with a word. Ask yourself, like Jesus' disciples, who then can this be that even the wind and the waves obey Him? If you want to see the glory of divine character, behold Christ. See his compassion and his kindness as he ministers to people's needs. See his patience as he bears with his own disciples' unbelief and hardness of heart. See his perfect righteousness in the fact that he perfectly practices what he preached and in the fact that even his enemies and judges could find a fault. See his perfect piety in continuing all night in prayer or fasting for 40 days and resisting every temptation of the devil. See his zeal for the truth combined with perfect gentleness and sympathy. As on one hand, he rebukes the Pharisees. He flips the tables of the money changers, driving them out with whips. And yet he welcomes tax collectors and sinners and the outcasts of society. He was no respecter of persons. And see perfect justice and mercy held together as he handles the situation with the woman caught in adultery. As he bids all men everywhere to repent, to turn from sin and receive a life. And if you want to see the glory of divine wisdom. Behold, Christ. Read his parables and his teachings and like the crowds be amazed at the gracious words you hear coming out of his mouth. See him escape every plot to trap him in his words and leaving his enemies not daring to question him anymore. Or one of my favorites, consider the story when the Pharisees sent officers to go and arrest him. And the officers come back empty handed and the Pharisees say, where is he? And they respond, no one ever spoke like this man. They had never seen or heard such wisdom. But above all, if you want to see the glory of divine love, behold Christ. See him dying on the cross for his people. See him sweating great drops of blood as he prepared to drink the cup of God's wrath. and see him even praying for his murderers, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do. But friends, this is glory. Glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Friends, this is how we know that the word became flesh, because we can behold his glory. We can say with Peter, you are the Christ. the son of the living God. And yet, as we behold him, don't miss this, we do not merely behold Christ in order to know that he is God and therefore marvel that God could do something as amazing as the incarnation. But we behold Christ to know more of God himself. You see, Jesus' life is not only self-attesting to his deity, It is the greatest possible way that we can know who God is and what He is like. I want you to consider with me for a moment what knowing God is like apart from the incarnation. Remember in the Old Testament with Moses and the Israelites at Mount Sinai when God descended to give them the Ten Commandments. And God comes down upon the mountain in fire, surrounded by smoke and darkness and thunderings. And the mountain itself is quaking. And God tells Moses, warn the people not to break through and try to gaze or behold or look at me. For they will perish. And then God speaks to the people, declaring the Ten Commandments. And it says after this, now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountains smoking. And when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off. Then they said to Moses, you speak with us and we will hear. But let not God speak with us, lest we die. That's the picture. Smoke, distance, darkness, and fear. Now you might think, well, that's because of sin. And certainly that's a big part of it. But consider also the seraphs, those mighty angels who minister perpetually in the presence of God, who day and night do not cease crying out, holy, holy, holy Lord God almighty, the whole earth is full of his glory. Their very name seraph means burning one. These are perhaps the most powerful creatures in existence. These are beings who are sinless, who have never disobeyed the command of God, who are as pure as a creature can be. And yet, remember what they do in the presence of God. They have six wings. With two, they cover their feet. With two, they fly. And with two wings, they cover their faces. because even they cannot gaze upon the glory of God. As Paul says in 1 Timothy chapter 6, God dwells in unapproachable light whom no one has ever seen or can see. And the point I'm making is that we are not only separated from God due to our sin. We are very limited in our capacity to know or approach him because we are finite creatures. And he is the infinitely glorious creator. And so even if we could somehow go back to being like Adam in the garden, God would not suddenly become totally relatable and approachable. He would still be the Holy One. And that's part of the reason for the second of the Ten Commandments, where God said, you shall not make for yourself a carved image of anything in the sky, anything on earth, or anything in the sea. Because nothing in all creation can visibly represent God. There is no image suited for Him. I mean, remember Moses at the burning bush. When God is speaking to him and Moses says, what's your name? What do you like? God did not respond saying, well, I'm the God of fire or I'm the God of bulls or I'm the God of lions or I am like this or I'm like that. God said, I am who I am. Because there is no one and there is nothing in all of creation that is like God. There is nothing he can point to to say, I am like that. That is until the incarnation. That is until the word became flesh. When God the Father could look down and point to Jesus and say, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him. That is until the incarnation when the Apostle Paul can look to Jesus and say he is the visible image of the invisible God. You see, friends, the good news of the incarnation is now there is finally one into whose face we can look and behold the glory of God. As John says right here in this first chapter in verse 18, no one has seen God at any time. The only begotten son who is in the bosom of the father, he has made him known. So friends, let us worship God by both marveling. At him and by beholding him in Christ, because when we behold Christ, we are beholding God. And friends that God we read about in the Old Testament, who is so terrifying in his holiness and power, is also the very one we read about in the Gospels, who is so tender, gentle, meek and kind. And the Christ, who is so tender and gentle, is also the very one who upholds all things by the word of his power and before whom the seraphs themselves cover their faces in worship. You see, the humanity of Christ is perhaps something like a prism that enables us to behold God in a way that we never could otherwise. It is like a veil That veils his deity to those who do not have faith. And yet. It is like a window. That reveals the glory of God to those of us who behold him by faith. You see, Jesus's humanity in no way distorts or compromises his deity. Jesus is, according to the author of Hebrews, the brightness of God's glory and the exact imprint of his nature. And Jesus himself can say, he who has seen me has seen the Father also. So friends, this morning as we consider the incarnation, let us know that it is an invitation to come and see, to behold God. to see His glory in the face of Jesus Christ. And yet our worship does not stop there. We worship God this morning by marveling at the Incarnation, by beholding His glory in the face of Jesus Christ, and thirdly, we should worship God by rejoicing in Christ. You see, the Word became flesh not just to amaze us, not just to reveal God to us, but to save his people from their sins. And that is why the angel declared this message to the shepherds by saying, behold, I bring you glad tidings of great joy, which will be to all peoples. And this is why John says, the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the father, full of grace and truth. And friend, especially if you are here this morning and you are not a Christian. You have not experienced this salvation. You need to understand how desperately you need grace and truth. In verse five of this chapter, John describes Jesus coming into this world as being like a light shining in darkness. And friends, the reality is our world is dark. It is a world of lies and confusion, of death and destruction, of evil and wickedness. And being born into this world is like being lost in a cave. And John is saying that Jesus comes like a flaming torch. He is the light of life. He is the one who reveals the truth about God, the truth about ourselves, and the truth about the way of salvation. And so we should rejoice in his light. We should run to his light. But the problem Is that that darkness of this world is not just around us? It's within us. And though we want light and truth to a certain degree. We don't really want it fully. You see, we want the lives of others to be exposed, but not our own. Deep down, we know that we are all infected with selfishness, pride, envy, deceit, covetousness, lust, greed, hatred, anger. And we may to one degree or another suppress it, but we have all committed things of which we are ashamed, of which our consciences condemn us. And Jesus described this situation in the following way, he said, this is the condemnation. That the light has come into the world. And men loved darkness rather than light. Because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and will not come to the light lest his deed should be exposed. You see, it's perhaps a bit like a man with a terribly disfigured face, who is so ashamed, who is so afraid of what others will think or say, that he lives his life with a hood covering his face, who stays in the shadows, who is always hiding. And what we need to understand, what we need to see is that the glory of Jesus radiates with truth and grace. You see, it is a light that does not merely expose or shame. But a light that redeems and renews. Jesus said that the son did not come into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. And what it really comes down to is this, will you step into his light? Will you trust him enough to stop walking in darkness, to stop concealing your sin, but to come out of the shadows, to repent of your sins and believe in his name? And how sad it would be for that man with a disfigured face to be unwilling to come to the very doctor who could heal him for fear of being exposed. Friend, Jesus came to save. He was born to die. He paid the price for sins and his blood can wash them away. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And friend, know this, if you will not come to the light, you are delaying the inevitable. Because the day is coming when Jesus will return and every one of us will be exposed. The light of His truth will shine. But on that day it will shine without grace, but only with perfect justice. And you will mourn the fact that you extinguished the light you were given, that you rejected the grace that you were offered. But the hope of the gospel, John presents in verses 12 and 13, saying, but as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And friend, the good news of the gospel is that the word became flesh. and was born as man, so that we might be born again as the children of God. So that our sins might be washed away, so that eternal life might be ours. And friend, there is no greater reason to rejoice. So this morning, this Christmas morning, let us worship God by marveling at His incarnation, by beholding His glory in the incarnation, and by rejoicing in the certainty and the security of our salvation because of the incarnation. Amen, let's pray. Oh God, we marvel and we rejoice because the word has become flesh. We have beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Oh God, may glory be unto your name. May you be worshiped and praised. For you are so incredible. You are so full of love. You are so good and so kind, and we worship you this morning. And we pray these things in Jesus name. Amen.