And the Word Became Flesh

I'm preparing to speak to a group of high school students tomorrow morning, and what I want to share with them is the centrality of the incarnation to the Christian message. The text I've chosen is John 1:14: And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory, the glory of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. (KJV)

The incarnation is one of the great mysteries of the faith. It's difficult to grasp that God the Son, the pre-existent, eternal Christ, would leave the splendor of heaven and the adoration of the angels to come to earth as one of us, be born in the most humble of circumstances, deal with all the temptations and frustrations of human existence, yet never sin, and ultimately die in our place, taking on himself the death penalty we all deserved.

One of the best illustrations I have found gives this picture:

Long ago, there ruled in Persia a wise and good king. He loved his people. He wanted to know how they lived. He wanted to know about their hardships. Often he dressed in the clothes of a working man or a beggar, and went to the homes of the poor. No one whom he visited thought that he was their ruler. One time he visited a very poor man who lived in a cellar. He ate the coarse food the poor man ate. He spoke cheerful, kind words to him. Then he left. Later he visited the poor man again and disclosed his identity by saying, “I am your king!” The king thought the man would surely ask for some gift or favor, but he didn’t. Instead he said, “You left your palace and your glory to visit me in this dark, dreary place. You ate the course food I ate. You brought gladness to my heart! To others you have given your rich gifts. To me you have given yourself!”

The King of glory, the Lord Jesus Christ, gave himself to you and me. The Bible calls Him, “the unspeakable gift!” (bible.org)

The Last Word

During my days of pastoral ministry I often heard husbands jokingly say, "I always get the last word. And it's 'Yes, Dear.'"

In researching Romans 3 for our Tuesday Bible study I came across this item of interest from the Bible.org website.

“Charles Darwin died in April 1882. He wished to be buried in his beloved village, but the sentiment of educated men demanded a place in Westminster Abbey beside Isaac Newton. As his coffin entered the vast building, the choir sang an anthem composed for the occasion. It’s text, from the book of Proverbs, may stand as the most fitting testimony to Darwin’s greatness: ‘Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and getteth understanding. She is more precious than rubies, and all the things that thou canst desire are not to be compared to her.’”

So wrote Stephen Jay Gould, the eminent Harvard paleontologist, professor of geology, and ardent evolutionist in Discover magazine in 1982.

Darwin was not buried in Westminster Abbey because he was a staunch defender of the faith. While he was not a friend of the church, neither was he an atheist. Continues Gould, “He probably retained a belief in some kind of personal God—but he did not grant his deity a directly and continuously intervening role in the evolutionary process.”

Darwin was, however, buried at Westminster because of the profound contribution he made to science. Again, quoting Gould, “Educated men demanded” he be laid there.
All this is not to name Darwin as the lone culprit responsible for the crisis of faith precipitated by evolutionary science. It is merely an illustration full of ironies and one grand truth. It is ironic that his final tribute was a scriptural anthem. Likewise ironic is that his final wishes were not honored and he was buried within the church. Even the choice of Scripture in the anthem is ironic: Proverbs, and the pursuit of wisdom.

The Grand Truth, however, is that Scripture and God have the last word. Darwin’s burial inadvertently acknowledges that faith has the last say over men and their ideas.”

This is perhaps the central truth of Romans 3:1-8: “Let God be proven true!” Let God have the last word! (www.bible.org)

My nickel's worth: God will have the last word. All of us will face Him after this life. To some He will say, "Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into your rest." Others will hear the words, "Depart from me. I never knew you." What you hear Him say is up to you.

The ones who are righteous by faith

We've recently begun a new Tuesday evening study of Paul's letter to the Christians in Rome. A verse that I keep returning to is 1:17, which we have traditionally translated "The righteous will live by faith."

Now this is true. When we turn to Christ and receive his grace and forgiveness, we enter into a faith relationship wherein we follow him with utmost trust.

But this other way of looking at the verse has captured my attention. The truths imbedded therein deserve a look.

First, we are righteous by faith. There is no other way to have a relationship with God other than through faith in Christ. And once we take that first step of faith, we are declared righteous by the Father. Our attempts to please God with our own righteousness are insufficient. Isaiah 64:6 declares that our righteousness is as filthy rags. Only one is righteous - that being Jesus Christ, the One and Only Son of God. When we receive him we receive his imputed righteousness.

Secondly, because we are righteous, we live - abundantly in this life and eternally in the life to come in heaven. Jesus states in John 10:10, "I have come that they might have life (zoe, from which we get words like zest) and have it in abundance." The life imparted in Christ is both qualitative (zestful) and quantitative (eternal).

Thirdly, being declared righteous is not a license to live as we please. The one who truly knows Christ as his life desires more than anything to live a life that honors the one who gave his life as a ransom.

Come on, saints. We've got a lot of living to do.

Gimme some feedback.

The scattered scattering.....

It's planting season. My wife and I enjoy this time of year, planting flowers and tending a large backyard garden. There's something spiritual about gardening. It's like taking care of the beauty of God's earth - being His gardener, if you will.

The account in Acts 11 of the scattered disciples calls this to mind. Remember that, following the persecution that sprang up in Jerusalem, the Hellenistic Christians were scattered, leaving Jerusalem and heading back to their towns of origin.

The story in Acts 11:19-21 tells how some of these young converts scattered the seeds of the gospel in places like Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch. And what resulted from their faithful sowing resulted in a church "planted" in Antioch that later would serve as the greatest mission launching station in all of Christendom. This congregation would later send missionaries such as Paul and Silas to carry the gospel far and wide.

It's amazing what God can do with a little seed - and some faithful followers.

No favorites

Acts 10 offers some insight into the heart of God and how he works to break down barriers.

In this passage a Roman centurion named Cornelius, who is a "god-fearer" (Gentile who practices Judaism but hasn't been through ritual circumcision) is told by an angel to send for Simon Peter, who is staying nearby on the coast. He immediately dispatches three men to bring Peter to his house. You've gotta admire such obedience and faith.

Meanwhile, Peter is sunning (actually praying, but he may have multitasked) on the roof of his friend's house by the sea, and he has a vision. In this vision he sees all kinds of food that is verboten to a Jew - like pork, shellfish, and the like. A voice tells him to "pig out." (loosely translated)

Peter answers, "No way!"

Again, the voice says, "Eat."

Peter resists.

Finally, he hears, "Don't call anything unclean that the Lord calls clean."

As he scratches his head, wondering what all this means, the men arrive to invite Peter to Cornelius' house. Meanwhile, Peter is told, again in a vision, to expect company.

The men take Peter to Cornelius' house, where Peter shares the story of Jesus with the entire household. And, to his wonderment, the Holy Spirit shows up in power, and the entire gathering responds to the message by placing their faith in Christ.

Peter is blown away, and exclaims, "Wow! The gospel is for everyone. God has no favorites. Anyone can come to him in faith." (or words to that effect)

The same is true today. God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

I saw the Lord!

In the 80's Larnelle Harris and Sandi Patti recorded a duet entitled "I Saw the Lord." It relates the testimony of persons who were witnesses to Jesus' appearances after his resurrection. The gospels and Acts tell of Jesus walking, talking, eating, and "hanging out" with his followers after the resurrection. In 1Corinthians 15, Paul writes that he, too, saw the Risen Lord, even though he had not been a follower of his during his earthly ministry.

The story of how the Lord appeared to Paul is recorded in Acts 9. It is a remarkable account of the dramatic conversion of one who had been vehemently opposed to this new movement. In fact, Paul was on his way to Damascus with orders to persecute Christ's followers when Jesus appeared to him in a vision. The Lord stopped him in his tracks and spoke to him about who he was and what he wanted Paul to do.

From that point Paul was forever changed. He devoted the rest of his life to telling the story of the Risen Lord to anyone who would listen. An encounter with Christ does that to a person.

If someone were to ask you, "What difference does Jesus make?" how would you answer?

Gossiping the gospel

My friend, Justin, reminded me today that I hadn't posted in awhile. Come to think of it, it's been weeks. New career, investment courses and exams, yadayadayada....... We're all busy, I know.

So let's pick back up where we left off. Last post we were looking at the stoning of Stephen and how Jesus appeared to him, standing at the right hand of God, as if to demonstrate love for Stephen in his martyrdom.

The next chapter, Acts 8, relates an interesting phenomenon. First, it tells about a great persecution that followed the stoning of Stephen. Zealous Jews were seeking to eradicate this young movement that had already turned Jerusalem upside down. It goes on to say that "those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the gospel."

Now it's normal to assume that the ones who preached were the leaders of the early church, when, in actuality, these first "missionaries" were rank and file church members whose lives had been dramatically changed through their encounter with the Risen Lord. They were so pumped up that they couldn't keep silent. As they traveled back to their homes in the outlying regions I can picture them seizing every opportunity to relate their experience of having their lives dramatically and eternally changed through their faith in Christ. I can imagine Joe and Sadie, as they headed back to Pamphylia, stopping at an interstate rest area or service station (donkey filling station - use your imagination), and striking up a conversation with anyone who would listen. Then, once they got back home, Joe couldn't help sharing his new faith with his coworkers. The same was true of Sadie, who went every day to the market and looked for opportunities to talk to someone about Jesus. And this happened in hundreds of lives, as these Greek-speaking Jewish converts returned to their homes and told of their encounter with Christ.

One writer, in commenting on this phenomenon, said that these early converts "gossiped the gospel." In a short time the entire region was abuzz with the Good News message.

The change that a relationship with Jesus Christ brings is something to buzz about. Who are the persons in your life with whom you're sharing your faith?

Jesus stands up

Acts 7 gives the account of Stephen, who was martyred for his stand for Christ. Stephen was a leader among the hellenistic jewish Christians in the early church, a servant who also had a unique prophetic gift.

In this narrative Luke tells how Stephen, who was called before the religious council because he had been preaching about Christ and working miracles in his name, ended up accusing the religious leaders of being "stiff-necked" and of murdering God's One and Only Son.

For this they took him out of the city, pushed him off a precipice, and stoned him to death.

As he lay dying, Stephen exclaimed that he saw the Risen Christ standing in heaven. Every other reference to Christ in heaven has him seated. Why did Christ stand in this moment? Was it to honor Stephen?

Servant leadership

I've gotten behind on the Acts Bible study notes, so I hope to post two new messages today.

Let's start with Acts 6. The scenario is this: In the early church in Jerusalem there were two distinct groups. One group was comprised of "Hebrew Christians," persons who had grown up in traditional Jewish fashion. These were persons from places such as Nazareth, Galilee, etc., who had come to know Christ through the testimony of the apostles during the weeks following Pentecost.

Also among the membership of the First Baptist Church of Jerusalem (just kidding about the Baptist part) were what have come to be known as "Hellenistic Christians," Jews from other regions beyond Judea (e.g. Antioch). Their primary language and culture was Greek.

As the church grew, it became increasingly difficult to minister to the needs of the entire body. And these Hellenistic believers felt they were getting the short end of the stick. They brought their case to the church leaders, who wisely directed them to find within their own ranks men "full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom" to make sure their needs were met. Many scholars see these servants as the forerunners of what came to be know as deacons. (The word deacon, from the Greek, diakonos, means servant.)

Apparently this took care of this issue. Later on we'll see how God intervened with another solution to this dilemma.

Most noteworthy in my mind is that these servants were not apostles, nor were they among those who had been eyewitnesses of Christ, and yet here they are being selected for major responsibilities within the body. Two in particular we learn about in the succeeding chapters. The first is Stephen, who, according to Luke's narrative, was "a man full of God's grace and power." (Acts 6:8, NIV) It says of him that he "did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people."

Here's the point, in my mind. God can do awesome things through any of his children, no matter our spiritual pedigree. Stephen was not an apostle or among those who were the charter members of First Church. Yet God used him mightily, as we'll see in the next chapter.

Do you think that God can/will do the same in our lives if we allow him to fill us with his grace and power?