Why visit us? - Christmas 2020
“WHY VISIT US?” 2020
“THE GREAT CONDESCENSION”
IF YOU THINK ABOUT IT, ALL THE ELEMENTS OF A CHRISTIAN WORLDVIEW ARE IN THE CHRISTMAS STORY. BECAUSE THE COMING OF CHRIST CHANGED HISTORY—LITERALLY, FROM B.C. TO A.D.—WE AREN’T STRAINING THINGS TO SAY, “EVERYTHING IS DIFFERENT NOW THAT CHRIST HAS COME TO THE WORLD.” THIS ISN’T A SENTIMENTAL THOUGHT—LIKE “THE LITTLE DRUMMER BOY” OR “I’LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS.” THE COMING OF CHRIST ESTABLISHES THE TRUTH OF ALL THAT WE BELIEVE. SEEN IN ITS PROPER CONTEXT, CHRIST’S BIRTH SPEAKS WITH INCREDIBLE RELEVANCE TO 21ST-CENTURY PEOPLE WHO WRITE OFF CHRISTMAS AS NOTHING MORE THAN EGGNOG AND CANDY CANES.
WHY WOULD GOD VISIT US?
HEB. 2: 6 But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man that thou visitest him?
7 Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands:
8 Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him.
9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.
10 For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
“WHY US?”
PS. 8: 3 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;
4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
5 For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.
6 Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:
7 All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;
8 The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.
9 O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!
God made us for greatness and we made a total mess of things. We blew our one shot at immortality—and now the graveyards are filling up. But God is not finished with us yet. Psalm 8:4 “What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?”
As if to say, why bother with people like us? We ruined Eden, you gave us another chance, and we fouled up so badly that you sent a flood to wipe out the human race except for one family. Why not just hit the delete button on the human race? Why not just admit that this was an experiment that didn’t work out? No one could blame God if he decided to get rid of us all and start over again.
DAVID’S QUESTION COMES TO THE VERY HEART OF CHRISTMAS—WHAT IS MAN THAT GOD SHOULD PAY ATTENTION TO US? WHAT IS MAN THAT GOD SHOULD CARE ABOUT US AFTER WE’VE FAILED SO MISERABLY? WHY SHOULD GOD CARE ABOUT US AT ALL? THE NEW KING JAMES VERSION RENDERS VERSE 4 THIS WAY: “WHAT IS MAN THAT YOU ARE MINDFUL OF HIM, AND THE SON OF MAN THAT YOU VISIT HIM?” WHY WOULD GOD CARE ENOUGH TO VISIT PEOPLE LIKE US? It is right at this point that we see the glory and wonder and mystery of the gospel. When the writer of Hebrews was trying to impress on his readers the greatness of our salvation, he actually quoted these verses from Psalm 8—and he applied them to Jesus!
There’s a lot here that we should think about. Let’s focus on three statements:
JESUS HAD TO BECOME LIKE US IN HIS NATURE. THAT’S THE INCARNATION. That’s Bethlehem. That’s Christmas. He came into this world as a tiny baby, born in a stable, in an obscure village, born in poverty, unwanted by the world. He was just another face in the crowd. No one SEEMED TO care that he had arrived. Note what I said—Jesus “had” to do this. IN ORDER TO TRULY “VISIT” US, HE HAD TO BECOME LIKE US.
John 1:14-18 (KJV)
14 And the Word was made 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.
15 John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me.
16 And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.
17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
18 No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
John 1:14-18 (NLT)
14 So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.
15 John testified about him when he shouted to the crowds, “This is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘Someone is coming after me who is far greater than I am, for he existed long before me.’”
16 From his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another.
17 For the law was given through Moses, but God’s unfailing love and faithfulness came through Jesus Christ.
18 No one has ever seen God. But the one and only Son is himself God and is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us.
IN JOHNS GOSPEL, THE LAST FIVE VERSES OF CHAPTER ONE - VERSES 14 THROUGH 18 - ARE LIKE THE MIGHTY FINALE OF A MUSICAL COMPOSITION PLAYED BY SOME GREAT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA. WE HEAR THE ROLLING OF DRUMS, THE CRASHING OF CYMBALS - THE ENTIRE PERCUSSION SECTION OF THE ORCHESTRA COMES ALIVE. THE FINGERS OF THE HARPIST FLY ACROSS THE STRINGS AND THE TRUMPETS BLAST.
In these five verses three arresting facts surface regarding the incarnation of our Lord - the mystery by which God became man. First of all, let's note:
I. THE GREAT CONDESCENSION
VS 14 “The Word became flesh and took up residence among us.”
TO CONDESCEND MEANS TO LOWER ONESELF TO A LEVEL NOT NORMALLY OCCUPIED - PHYSICALLY, MENTALLY, OR SOCIALLY.
IT MEANS TO DESCEND VOLUNTARILY TO THE LEVEL OF ANOTHER PERSON.
And with human beings, this is not always done with kindness. Sometimes there is an air of contempt, snobbery, and haughtiness in human condescension.
But there is another side to the use of this word. IT ALSO MEANS TO BE GRACIOUSLY WILLING TO DO SOMETHING REGARDED AS BENEATH ONE'S DIGNITY.
This is what God did when He became flesh. With a mysterious mixture of Divine grace and love,
He performed the greatest act of condescension of all time and eternity.
THE WORD THAT JOHN PERSONIFIED IS THE VERY EXPRESSION AND MANIFESTATION OF GOD. THE CREATIVE POWER OF GOD WAS IN THE WORD. WITH SUCH LIMITLESS POWER, THE WORD OF GOD CONDESCENDED TO BE COMPRESSED INTO HUMAN FLESH.
John purposely used the crude, blunt word, "flesh." The sophisticated Greeks recoiled from the word flesh in regard to Deity.
Flesh, to them, was corruptible, temporary, and doomed to be destroyed and cast aside. No God would deal with anything as degrading as human flesh. Yet that is exactly what God did. He entered human flesh, which stands for the whole person.
IN BECOMING FLESH, GOD ACCEPTED THE LIMITATIONS OF HUMANITY. HE BECAME VULNERABLE TO THOSE NATURAL HUMAN WEAKNESSES THAT ACCOMPANY OUR FLESH - HUNGER, THIRST, PHYSICAL WEARINESS, AND PAIN. HE EXPERIENCED THE EMOTIONAL TRAUMAS WE EXPERIENCE - DISAPPOINTMENT, SORROW, HURT, LONELINESS, AND REJECTION. Because Jesus had no sin nature, He did this without the taint of sin.
While Jesus committed no sin while He was on earth, He experienced sin in a way that was far more overwhelming than committing sin. Why did He cry out in Gethsemane in horror? What caused Him to sweat "great drops of blood," and to plead with His Heavenly Father, "Abba, Father! All things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me" (Mark 14:36)?
Jesus was not about to succumb to some temptation to sin. It was worse than that. He was about to "drink the cup" containing all the sordid sins of mankind compressed together. He became sin for us. JOHN SAID THAT JESUS "LIVED FOR A WHILE AMONG US." LITERALLY, THAT MEANS HE "PITCHED HIS TENT" OR "CAST HIS LOT" WITH US. HE MOVED IN WITH US.
2) JESUS TASTED DEATH BECAUSE THAT IS OUR COMMON DESTINY. Life is short. It is appointed unto man once to die. JESUS COULD NOT HAVE TRULY “VISITED” US IF HE HAD HELD HIMSELF BACK FROM “THE LAST ENEMY” THAT CONFRONTS US—DEATH. IN ORDER TO BE FULLY HUMAN, HE HAD TO TASTE DEATH. Jesus suffered and died because that was the only way he could save us. Only by dying could he give us life.
3) JESUS CAME TO RESTORE ALL THAT WE HAD LOST IN EDEN. The Bible calls Jesus “the last Adam.” He came to reverse the curse that we brought upon ourselves. Now in heaven he is crowned with glory and honor. One day all those who believe in Jesus will share that glory with him.
But that day has not yet come. That’s why the writer said, HEBREW 2:8 “AT PRESENT WE DO NOT SEE EVERYTHING SUBJECT TO HIM”. Better days are coming but they aren’t here yet. Today we still weep for little children who die too soon, we wonder about all the suffering and pain and heartache and sickness and death that we see all around us. “Whatever else is or is not true, this one thing is certain—man is not what he was meant to be.”
FADED GLORY
It is precisely at this point that Christmas speaks so clearly to us. We were made for glory, but our glory faded a long time ago. First we disobeyed, then we died on the inside, then we started dying on the outside, then we turned to our own devices, then we said, “God, we don’t need you at all. Leave us alone.” And we wonder why the world is the way it is. Look in the mirror. “WE HAVE MET THE ENEMY, AND HE IS US.”
AND GOD SAID, “I WILL NOT LEAVE YOU ALONE. I WILL NOT LET YOU DESTROY ALL YOURSELF, EACH OTHER, AND THE WORLD I HAVE MADE. I LOVE YOU TOO MUCH TO LET YOU ALONE.”
SO HE SENT PROPHETS. WE KILLED THEM. HE WROTE LETTERS. WE IGNORED THEM. HE TOLD US HOW TO LIVE—AND WE SAID, “WHO ARE YOU TO TELL US WHAT TO DO?” WE MOCKED THE GOD WHO MADE US, WE BROKE HIS LAWS, WE SAID WE DIDN’T NEED HIM, AND WE MADE UP OUR OWN GODS THAT WE LIKED MUCH BETTER BECAUSE THEY LOOKED SO MUCH LIKE US.
Oh, we made a mess of things. God had every reason to kill us all. But he didn’t. He said, “I love you too much to let you go.” And after we had trashed everything, God said, “I’m coming down there so you’ll know once and for all how much I love you.” We didn’t pay any attention; it didn’t even make sense to us. HOW COULD GOD VISIT US? (THIS IS CHRISTMAS) BUT HE DID—AND HE CAME TO THE WORLD IN A VERY STRANGE WAY. HE ENTERED A VIRGIN’S WOMB AND CAME OUT AS A BABY, BORN IN BETHLEHEM, A BABY NAMED JESUS, BORN TO SAVE US FROM OUR SINS. THIS IS CHRISTMAS!
So he came as a baby, and when he grew up, we killed him. Murdered him. Hung him on a cross. That’s the thanks we gave to God for visiting us. But we were wrong about everything. After we killed him, he came back from the dead—proving that he was right all along and we were really wrong—dead wrong about everything—and still God loved us and came from heaven to earth on the greatest rescue mission in history.
He came because we blew it so badly. He came and we killed him. He died and became our Savior.
No one but God could have done something like that. What a story! What a Christ! C.S. Lewis said, “The son of God became a man to enable men to become the sons of God.” God has done it all. That’s the good news of Christmas: God has done it all. The only thing left to you and me is to believe. God wrapped up his Son in swaddling clothes and said to the whole world, “This is my Christmas gift to you.”
Do you believe it? Will you receive it? George Will called Christmas “the happiest holiday,” and he’s right. But it will only be truly happy for those who truly believe in Jesus.
I close with these three words: “IMPORTANT IF TRUE.” I cannot prove to you that what I have said is true. You will have to decide that for yourself. But I can say without any reservation that I have staked my life on the truth that Jesus is the Christ, the incomparable Son of God.
CHRISTMAS MATTERS BECAUSE TRUTH MATTERS. AND THE HEART OF THE TRUTH IS THAT GOD DID NOT LEAVE US ALONE, BUT IN OUR MISERY HE CAME TO VISIT US ONE DARK NIGHT IN BETHLEHEM 2,000 YEARS AGO.
CHRISTMAS IS ALL ABOUT WHO WE ARE, AND WHO GOD IS, AND HOW FAR GOD WILL GO FOR US.
AT CHRISTMAS WE LEARN HOW MUCH GOD LOVES US, AND THERE’S NOTHING MORE IMPORTANT THAN THAT. AMEN.
THE MESSAGE; PSALM 8:1 GOD, BRILLIANT LORD, YOURS IS A HOUSEHOLD NAME. 2 NURSING INFANTS GURGLE CHORUSES ABOUT YOU; TODDLERS SHOUT THE SONGS THAT DROWN OUT ENEMY TALK, AND SILENCE ATHEIST BABBLE.
3-4 I LOOK UP AT YOUR MACRO-SKIES, DARK AND ENORMOUS, YOUR HANDMADE SKY-JEWELRY, MOON AND STARS MOUNTED IN THEIR SETTINGS. THEN I LOOK AT MY MICRO-SELF AND WONDER,
WHY DO YOU BOTHER WITH US? WHY TAKE A SECOND LOOK OUR WAY?
5-8 YET WE’VE SO NARROWLY MISSED BEING GODS, BRIGHT WITH EDEN’S DAWN LIGHT. YOU PUT US IN CHARGE OF YOUR HANDCRAFTED WORLD, REPEATED TO US YOUR GENESIS-CHARGE, (TAKE DOMINION OF THE EARTH)
MADE US LORDS OF SHEEP AND CATTLE, EVEN ANIMALS OUT IN THE WILD,
BIRDS FLYING AND FISH SWIMMING, WHALES SINGING IN THE OCEAN DEEPS.
9 GOD, BRILLIANT LORD, YOUR NAME ECHOES AROUND THE WORLD.