Incarnation Sermon Audio

Just an extra, here is a blog I wrote a couple of years ago in college on the Incarnation of Christ:

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. (Luke 2:8-11)

Over Christmas I am hanging out in my hometown of Crane, a small town in west Texas with not much to do, so tonight I took a drive for about half an hour out of town. I drove out on a dark highway west of town then turned north on a county road toward the gas plant where my dad works, then onto Dump Ground Road which heads back toward town. I enjoy this part of the country because the roads go on forever with very little traffic. In fact, I didn't see anyone on tonight's short journey. It is nice to take a break from everything and just get out alone with time to think and pray. Tonight it was just me and Third Day's album, 'Christmas Offerings'. As I drove singing with the stereo I started thinking back to my 'Life of Christ' class this past semester. One class period the professor asked the question, "What was the first recorded miracle of Jesus?" Of course, the class consensus was that it was when He turned water into wine. As the professor continued his lecture my friend McCauley looked at me and (not surprisingly) informed me that he disagreed. Being the disagreeable type myself I listened as he told me that the first recorded miracle was not the water to wine at the party, but it was His Incarnation. With Christmas here, and Jesus' birth being the center of attention to all Christians, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on this miracle.

Dictionary.com defines Incarnation as "the doctrine that the second person of the Trinity assumed human form in the person of Jesus Christ and is completely both God and man." It is an astounding thought that has been captivating my imagination for some time now. On the way out to Crane from the Metroplex I was listening to David Crowder's CD, 'A Collision', and a song called 'Here is Our King' got me thinking about the subject again. It says,

Here is our King
Here is our love
Here is our God who's come
To bring us back to Him
He is the One
He is Jesus

God wanted to be in fellowship with His creation, but the creation had tossed Him aside to enjoy itself. The heartache that this must have caused Him. This perfect Father whose child runs away to play with imperfection. Now, something had to be done to make things right. The problem was that "all have sinned" and so when we are talking about redeeming mankind from sin and restoring them to their original image – that image of God; imago Dei – there was not a human alive that could do it. Through leaving the Garden of Eden and the inability to keep God's law it appeared that humanity was helpless. But imagine, our God, who had watched His creation do the one thing that He told them not to do, had a plan to fix the situation. He Himself would enter into His creation. He would leave eternity to come into time and space. He would leave His own characteristics of being all-powerful (omnipotent), all-knowing (omniscient), and everywhere-present (omnipresent), to take on human flesh and be born as a little baby. God would have to grow up. God would have to learn how to walk. Gow would have to learn how to talk. God would deal with puberty and the struggles in becoming a man. God became flesh and lived among mankind. John says, "and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of Grace and Truth." Imagine such compassion. Imagine the grace that God was showing on us that He would come down and live among men in order that a sinless man actually could exist. It couldn't happen any other way. Mankind is born into sin, therefore, the only way to get a sinless man is for God to become that man. This is the miracle of Christmas. This is the miracle of the Incarnation. This is our reason to celebrate.

Of course, this miracle was followed by many more miracles, including the turning of water into wine, healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, casting out demons, feeding thousands on a little child's lunch, and then of course taking our sins onto Himself, dying on the cross, being buried, but not being bound by death He came back to life three days later and ascended to Heaven where He is "at the right hand of God" and "intercedes on our behalf." (Romans 8:34)

It is an awesome thought that the grace that humanity has been shown in the life of Christ all started with a birth. A miraculous birth in which God got a body. As we celebrate Christmas and exchange gifts with friends and family let's remember the greatest gift of all time: when God gave us Himself as a Saviour.

"O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord."

Scott's Sermon Audio #8 - 1 Peter 5

Gabcast! Scott's Sermon Audio #8 - 1 Peter 5

Preached at Grace Baptist Church, December 7, 2008.