Hope and the Scandal of Jesus' Identity
Scandalous Hope • Sermon • Submitted
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· 3 viewsWhat does it mean that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, took on human flesh? Is Jesus truly both God and man at the same time? How are we to understand who Jesus is as both God and man? And what difference does it make for our lives? Celebrating Christmas means understanding Jesus' identity, and realizing his identity was and still is a scandal for many today. And yet, Jesus' identity also gives us great hope. Join us as we reflect that Jesus is "Immanuel," God with us.
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Want to welcome you to tonight’s Christmas Eve service, and a special welcome to those who are new here.
My name is Pastor Rick Schwartz, Senior Pastor here at First Missionary
And I want you to think about this…how many of you have pets?
how did you decide on what to name your dog or cat or pet crocodile?
you probably took some time…because it is important--
the top 5 names for male dogs in 2022 included Max, Charlie, Cooper, Milo, and Buddy—which one is the top spot? Max…10 consecutive years as the most popular dog name. what’ interesting is that if you look at trending names for dogs it’s not top 5—but the name “yellowstone” for dogs is trending 485% up from previous years.
I wonder why.
the top 5 names for female dogs included: Luna, Bella (9 years in a row prior), Daisy, Lucy, and Lily, with most popular being…Luna!
(source: https://www.southernliving.com/most-popular-pet-names-rover-6829769)
what about children? most popular kid names of 2022...
For girls…top 5
5. Sophia
4. Ava
3. Amelia
2. Emma
Olivia
for boys…top 5
5. Mateo
4. Elijah
3. Oliver
2. Noah
Liam
Names are important—whether for people, pets, or even boats and cars (yes we do name those—in fact, top boat name of 2022—Aboat Time… “you’re welcome for that pun”)…they have significance…mean something (sometimes we just like the sound of them)
well in one of the passages we read— we see the name Jesus...
21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
Jesus—literally means “Yah saves” Yah short form of the name for God—Yahweh. Part of Jesus’ name is that He is God who saves...
and then in verse 23 — we see the name Immanuel
23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).
I will focus on the 2nd name...
what does it mean that Jesus is Immanuel--
btw—my talk tonight—2 books were so helpful—If you are looking to go deeper I recommend:
Knowing God by J.I. Packer—classic book - you can find it free if you google it in pdf form. (1973)
Hidden Christmas by Tim Keller—a more recent book.
What does it mean that Jesus is named Immanuel…3 points --
Jesus is God
this name Immanuel shows up 700 years prior to Matthew in the book of Isaiah—and one pastor notes that “for centuries Jewish religious leaders had known that prophecy, but had not thought it would be taken literally. they thought a great leader was coming—but only human—one whom God would work through.
But the Bible says that the baby born that we celebrate Christmas—though a baby—is actually the Lord of the Universe who has always existed, who created all things by His Word—who is the Word—through Him all things were made. when we see the baby Jesus—we should think supreme lord of the universe!
this is a SCANDAL! we are in a series called Scandalous Hope—and this idea that God took on flesh—is absolutely scandalous to the Jews. they really did not think that a human could be God—that was blasphemous—scandalous. to other cultures at the time and today—some believe God is more an impersonal force—kind of like Star Wars. if you know Greek and Roman mythology—you see many gods but not as powerful as the God of the bible.
and yet at Christmas, we are celebrating totally different to other worldviews--that the baby born, that we see in Nativity scenes—is actually the Lord of the Universe who always existed!
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,
we read the “I am” statements of Jesus—before Abraham was born, Jesus said, “I am!” He is God!
what does this mean for us practically--?
first it means you have to come to grips with this reality—it is STARTLING! IT SHOULD STILL SHOCK US—WHETHER YOU HAVE BEEN A Christian a long time or not. that the eternal Son of God added humanity to his already existing divinity without loss of deity (let me say that again!) makes my mind hurt! it would have deeply offended the Jews—and it should still shock us. it should cause us to be in awe of Jesus—behold him in worship!
second it means surrender — if Jesus is God, there is a crisis…if He truly is the Lord of the universe, then He can ask me anything. one of the things you will notice about reading about Jesus in the 4 Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—is how many extreme reactions you see—he is constantly, exciting people, falling down in worship or making people very angry and wanting to kill him, or terrifying people or (demons!). there seems to be no neutral or middle ground. if you have gotten comfortable with Jesus—then you are not really understanding Jesus. if you are not offended by Jesus, then you are not really understanding him. CS Lewis has a famous saying that Jesus is either a lunatic for what he claimed, a liar—deceiving us—or Lord. is He your Lord? have you truly surrender to this God—Jesus Christ—everything? We don’t come to him on our terms—but on His. we don’t set the terms—He does. that’s the scary truth of Christmas.
here is the 2nd truth about Immanuel:
Jesus is man
but not only is He god—He is man as we talked about.
and it’s not like he is 50% God and 50% man—he is 100% God and 100% Man. It’s one of those fantastic truths about Christianity that blow our minds—like the doctrine of the Trinity—one God yet persons. you can’t make this stuff up—which is why I believe it is true. Only God could. some theologians say this is the most astonishing miracle—the Incarnation.
JI Packer in Knowing God says: “The Word became flesh” (Jn 1:14); God became man, the divine Son became a Jew; the Almighty appeared on earth as a helpless human baby, unable to do more than he and stare and wriggle and make noises, needing to be fed and changed and taught to talk like any other child. And there was no illusion or deception in this: the babyhood of the Son of God was a reality. The more you think about it, the more staggering it gets. Nothing in fiction is so fantastic as is this truth of the Incarnation.” (81-82)
what does this mean? if Jesus is not only God but also man....
first it means, that God gets us....
whenever you are going through a hard time, it can feel so isolating and lonely. it feels like “nobody understands.” “Nobody can truly relate.” “Nobody truly cares.” but the fact that the eternal Son of God, Jesus Christ would become man, means he understands us.
he lived a life of difficulty—living in a poor, impoverished family. he was homeless. he was a refugee like we talked about last Sunday. never had much riches
constantly misunderstood—he was abandoned by those closest to him, denied by his #1 apostle. betrayed by one closed to him. Jesus gets all that.
and he was mistreated—by the government and religious system of his day. oppressed.
he was beaten—if you have been abused, Jesus knows both physical, verbal, violent abuse. (bullied at school—Jesus knows) (gossiped about—Jesus knows)
and he suffered immensely on the cross for us—dying in our place for our sins—that’s why he came. on the cross—God the Father abandoned him—Jesus gets it (it was part of the plan)
if nobody else gets you—Immanuel does—and He can take care of everything.
this helps with the surrender part...
second, Immanuel means he is calling us to a life of humility.
5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!
the eternal Son of God, all powerful, all knowing, laid aside his glory and dignity, dying a shameful death on the cross for you and me. he did not lessen his divinity or deity—no, but laid aside his divine prerogatives
if you truly surrender to him, truly trust in Jesus to save you from your sins…it will radically humble you. nothing will be beneath you. where would be if Jesus had that attitude towards us? but as you reflect on His radical humbling, you will serve in the most difficult places…because that’s what Jesus did for you. “I will never do that...”
there are no snobs in the Christian life b/c of Immanuel.
Jesus is God, Jesus is man...
and third
Jesus is God dwelling with us
you see since Jesus is fully God and fully man—he can represent both God and represent man, to heal the sin and restore the relationship between us. if he were only God, he couldn’t represent sinful humanity in his life, death, and resurrection, and if he were only man, his life and death would not have accomplished the salvation for those who believe in Jesus
but since He is both FULLY—he is our perfect mediator...
immanuel means God with us.
with us...
the purpose of Immanuel, the purpose of the Incarnation-the thing we celebrate most is God with us. God coming to dwell with us—wanting to have a relationship with you and me. normal people.
one writer says “This does not stun us as much as it should.” (Tim Keller, Hidden Christmas, pg. 53).
if you read your Bible carefully—in the OT—when God showed up, it could be overwhelming and terrifying. he would show up in fire. he would strike people dead who touched the ark of the covenant in the OT, God’s symbol of his presence. He could be downright terrifying b/c He is perfectly holy, cannot tolerate sin.
when the character Moses asked to see God—God said “no one can see my face and live.” but God allowed Moses to see his back as he passed by.
when Moses would come down the mountain from meeting with God, his face would be glowing, and people were terrified. seeing God was terrifying!
and yet at Christmas time, in the NT, Christmas means that that same terrifying God came near, as a baby—so when we see the face of Jesus—we see God. can you imagine if some of those OT saints could be here and talk to us—and say “do you realize what you have!” you have God in the flesh! you can know him personally and have a relationship with him!
and the fact that he came as a baby...
babies are like people magnets—I noticed that with our kids—when they were babies—everyone body approached, everybody wanted to touch them and snuggle them, and cuddle them, grown men are making all smiling and dancing in front of babies to get them laughing and talking in baby talk—a baby means intimacy. that’s how our God came!
Ann Voskamp says this: “So God throws open the door of this world—and enters as a baby. As the most vulnerable imaginable. Because He wants unimaginable intimacy with you. What religions ever had a god that wanted such intimacy with us that He came with such vulnerability to us? What God ever came so tender we could touch Him? So fragile that we could break Him? So vulnerable that His bare, beating heart could be hurt? Only the One who loves you to death.”
do you have a relationship with Immanuel—God, Man, with us.
have you surrendered to him who humbled himself for you and loves. do you know him and enjoy Immanuel.
Let’s pray.
couple responses---if you don’t, and are being drawn. here’s how you can begin, you can pray something like this (not a fancy prayer)
pray for those struggling...
...Father, I confess my need for you. I believe your Son is God, He is man, He is with us, and he came to die for us. I confess I mess up as a sinner. Please forgive me. and I believe that Jesus died for my sin. I surrender to you today. (I have some literature for you if you need it)
and if you are already a believer, would you repeat after me: “Father, I confess that who you are and your Son Jesus is, can become stale and familiar. I pray that I would be shocked in wonder—who you are. Help me to surrender to you daily. Help me to remember you get me. Help me to cultivate daily a personal relationship with you—b/c Christmas reminds me of that. In Jesus’ name amen.