God the Son

Advent 2019  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  47:19
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We Like to… Debate?

Last week, I started our time together by discussing how we, as human beings, are inquisitive. We like to know things. We like to know the answers to things.
We spend huge chunks of our lives seeking truth, and researchers spend literally billions of their supporters dollars seeking new discoveries. As I stated last week, there are some things we cannot answer, because they are mysteries of God. This is unacceptable to some, but truly it is part of life, especially that of a Christian. We cannot always know the mysteries of God, and much we won’t understand until we are with Christ in glory.
But another thing we as human beings enjoy, is a good debate.
We do some research and come to a conclusion, and someone else does similar research and concludes something else. Now it is human nature to want to argue our case with those who think differently than us.
The words I’ve used to describe this situation are pretty pleasant. I say we like to debate. In reality, most humans just like to argue. A debate requires you to listen to the other side, while, in an argument he or she who argues loudest and last feels triumphant, and listening is not a priority.
Unfortunately, Christians are not immune to this. In fact, there are few more bitter arguments I have personally witnessed than theological and religious arguments. It’s why it’s not just “no politics at the Christmas dinner”, but “no religion” as well.
For some of us, we want to staunchly defend the beliefs of our parents and the church we grew up in.
Some of us spend a lot of time thinking and studying and praying and developing our own conclusions, and we take offense when those conclusions are challenged. Or, maybe we think ourselves superior in our knowledge and to show others that they are wrong.
For all of us who are truly Christians, our beliefs are so significant to us because our faith is so important to us. Our understanding of salvation has eternal consequences. And so, we argue with each other.
Genesis - literal? Figurative? BUT WHAT MATTERS FROM THIS NARRATIVE?
There was nothing!
GOD CREATED EVERYTHING.
He did it in an orderly fashion - the universe is not chaos.
GOD RULES EVERYTHING.
GOD CREATED MAN FOR A PURPOSE, and gave him dominion over parts of creation, and also, gave him choice.
Argue all you want about the meaning of Hebrew word translated as day. Could be 24 hours, could be a thousand years, could be completely figurative, but don’t argue that which is essential. God is creator. God is Ruler. God is Sovereign.
Like creation… The nature of Christ is one of these arguments. Some sects that call themselves “Christian” will want to argue much about Jesus - about whether God the Son is eternal, about whether or not he is a “created” being. But the eternal Son of God coming to earth as a real human is essential part of what it is to be a Christian.
The New American Commentary: John 1–11 1. The Magnificent Prologue (1:1–18)

The confession of a genuine incarnation is one of the basic theological affirmations of Christianity.72 Although Christians may differ on a number of theological issues, the incarnation has been one of the few boundary doctrines that applies to all who are legitimately called by the name of Christ.

I think part of this is that it is hard for people to reconcile the idea of the Trinity.
Father, son and holy spirit?
Monotheism (The Lord our God is One)
One God in three persons
Not one god who acts in different ways at different times
Not one god who is split three ways like a pie
Not one god who started as God the Father Creating, then changed substance to become God the Son incarnate as Jesus, then changed substance again to be the Holy Spirit.
But rather, One God. Who at the same time is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit.
Three persons. One God. All of the same substance, all united, operating together yet independently.
One God, who at one moment in time - who at one very significant moment in the history of creation - existed as God the Father in Heaven, and God the Holy Spirit who had been filling Jesus since his baptism, and Jesus ans God the Son who was on his knees in the garden of Gethsemane pleading with God the Father. Are you confused yet?
Don’t be. Though today I won’t clear up for you the mystery of the Trinity for you, I do want to finish this Sunday morning with you having a clear understanding of the Deity of Jesus Christ. That Jesus existed as God the Son for eternity past, that he is God today, and will be God forever.

The Deity of Jesus / Jesus as God

The Son of God vs God the Son

The Son of God

Jesus is given two “son of titles”, that mean two very different things: Son of God, and Son of Man. Son of Man we will talk about next week, but today we are going to talk about Jesus as the “Son of God”.
I want to start of by telling you this is a complicated relationship. Not complicated like an earthly father-son relationship can be, but complicated in that there are several difficult things to process.
First, Jesus was literally born as the human son of the eternal God.
Though quite different in execution, Jesus is God’s son like Benjamin is my son. One of our inquisitive church members asked me last week while discussing this how the genetics work. Does Jesus’s Y chromosome someone contain God’s DNA. I won’t get into this, but those are the types of questions that entertain me. Does that have any eternal significance? No. But is it interesting to wonder how that all worked, considering that God himself is not human and thus does not have human DNA? Absolutely, that is interesting.
But, regardless of genetics, Jesus the boy - Jesus the man - is literally the earthly son of God.
We see this quite clearly in the Christmas story.

18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:

23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,

and they shall call his name Immanuel”

(which means, God with us).

“From the Holy Spirit” - the Trinity

God the Son

John 1:1-18

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.

9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’ ”) 16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

Almighty, eternal, and merciful God, whose Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path, open and illuminate our minds, that we may truly understand your Word and that our lives may be conformed to what we have rightly understood, that in all our ways we may be pleasing to you.
Behold, Lord, we are empty vessels that need to be filled. My Lord, fill us
We are weak in faith; strengthen us.
We are cold in love; warm us and make us fervent, that our love may go out to our neighbors.
We do not have a strong and firm faith; at times we doubt and are unable to trust you altogether.
O Lord, help us. Strengthen our faith and trust in you.
May we seal the treasures of all we have in you.
We are poor; you are rich, and you came to be merciful to the poor
We are sinners; you alone are true.
In us there is an abundance of sin; in you is the fullness of righteousness.
Therefore, weI will remain with you, from whom we can receive, but to whom we may not give.
Amen.
So today, let us discuss a bit of theology. I want us to come away from this knowing a clear thing:
Christ was God. Christ is God. And Christ reigns forever as God.

In the Beginning

I talked a little earlier about creation, and that was not unplanned.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God.

God the Son existed before creation.

And God Said

3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so.

20 And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” 21 So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm,

. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

14-18

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’ ”) 16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

1:14. The Word (Logos; cf. v. 1) became flesh. Christ, the eternal Logos, who is God, came to earth as man. Yet in doing so, He did not merely “appear” like a man; He became one (cf. Phil. 2:5–9). Humanity, in other words, was added to Christ’s deity. And yet Christ, in becoming “flesh,” did not change; so perhaps the word “became” (egeneto) should be understood as “took to Himself” or “arrived on the scene as.”

God the only Son is literally “the unique God” or “the only begotten God” (monogenēs theos; cf. monogenous, “the one and only” in v. 14). John was probably ending his prologue by returning to the truth stated in verse 1 that the Word is God. Verse 18 is another statement affirming Christ’s deity: He is unique, the one and only God. The Son is at the Father’s side, thus revealing the intimacy of the Father and the Son (cf. the Word was “with God,” vv. 1–2). Furthermore, the Son has made … known (exēgēsato, whence the Eng. “exegeted”) the Father. The Son is the “exegete” of the Father, and as a result of His work the nature of the invisible Father (cf. 4:24) is displayed in the Son

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