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First Sunday of Christmas
Light of Christ Anglican Church
The Rev. Mike Moffitt, December 31, 2017


Love Divine, All Loves Excelling


Text: John 1:1–18

One of my favorite hymns was written by the prolific hymn writer, Charles Wesley. It’s entitled, Love Divine, All Loves Excelling. Listen to the first stanza:

Love divine, all loves excelling,
      Joy of heaven to earth come down;
Fix in us thy humble dwelling;
      All thy faithful mercies crown!
Jesus, Thou art all compassion,
      Pure unbounded love Thou art;
Visit us with Thy salvation;
      Enter every trembling heart.

Today I want us to focus on how the incarnation of Christ teaches us just how amazing that love really is and how we should respond to it.

Last week at our Christmas Eve service we considered the story of the birth of Jesus from the perspective of the Gospel of Luke. I pointed out that Luke was unique amongst the other gospel writers, Matthew, Mark and John, in that he told the story from the perspective of the humanity of Jesus, from the ground up if you will. His story enables the reader to see how Jesus came to us in the same way that we entered life, through the womb of our mothers. Luke wonderfully pointed out that the Christ child was born in humility to a teenage mother and an elderly father. He was the promised King of Israel, but his first throne room was a stable and his throne a feeding trough for animals.

We read how an angel of the Lord came to the shepherds announcing the birth of the Christ child and the Heavenly hosts showed up singing praises to God because of what was happening. Listen again to Luke 2:9–14,

And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

What were the heavenly hosts, the armies of God so excited about? The word “host” in the Greek actually means army or more specifically, a band of soldiers. This heavenly army announced peace, but peace only comes after enemies are destroyed. That God’s army announced peace implies that the peace being referred to be the end of hostility between God and man. In addition, the restoration of the Kingdom of God under Jesus would include inner peace and peace between men. How could the angels know this and why were they so excited and joyful? The answer is that they knew who the child was and what it would mean for all creation.

In addition we might want to consider that when there is a restoration of creation, a return to peace with God, a vanquishing of the enemies of God, then the angels will also be at peace and return to being God’s messengers and the servants of man. To get a fuller understanding of what they knew and why we should join them in singing praises to God for the birth of the Christ child, let’s turn to our gospel reading this morning from John 1 and let’s read again verses 1–5:

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 anything 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.

Whereas Luke started his gospel by focusing on the humanity of Jesus, John begins by focusing on the divinity of Christ. The first thing that we notice is that the “Word” was in the beginning with God and was God. There is so much depth in this one section of scripture, but today I want us to consider the main point that the gospel is stressing.

The beginning that John is referring to is not the beginning of the creation of the heavens and the earth that we read about in Genesis 1. The beginning that John refers to is eternity—a concept that we cannot comprehend. With us all things have a beginning and an end and are contained in time and space, but that is not true of God who is eternal and not limited by anything. So, the first thing that John shows us is that the Word was the eternally existing one and he was in the beginning with God. In other words, the Word has eternally co-existed together with God. This is one of the most profound verses on the Trinity in the Bible in that it makes a distinction of persons in the essential unity of the Godhead. The Word was not only with God, but was God as well and it was through this Word that all things were created. Since creation itself is to be seen as a function and activity of God, the Word is to be understood as God.

Because of who he is, it needed to be perfectly clear that In him was life, and the life was the light of men which is further evidence of the divine nature of the Word. John 5:26 says,

For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.

Life as we know it emanates from the Word who is the creator but he also is the light of men which points back to creation where the light dispels the darkness in Genesis 1:2–4. Clearly, John is pointing his reader to the evidence that Jesus Christ is the living Word who as creator brought all things into existence, and as the light of the world had come to remove the darkness that blinded the minds and hearts of all men. In verses 14–18 John clears up any misunderstanding as to the identity of the Word,

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.

This is a very different emphasis than the one chosen by Luke in his gospel, but both are essential to understand the identity of Jesus Christ, the Word who became flesh.

To some of the ancients, gods were thought to visit at times in human likeness but to others the spiritual and divine were totally opposed to matter and flesh, which was considered inferior. Now John was proclaiming that the one true and living God had actually become flesh and had chosen to dwell in the midst of his creation, as a created one.

This offended many who could not accept as truth that God would demean himself by living in the midst of humans, as a human, and certainly God would not allow himself to become self-limiting by his humanity. By choosing to take on flesh Jesus would by necessity have to deal with the problems and limitations of the flesh. In Luke 4:9 Satan tempts Jesus to jump off of the temple because Psalm 91:11–12 said that the angels would not allow the anointed one to even strike his foot upon a stone. Even Satan knew that Jesus, in his humanity could not merely jump off of the temple and fly. He would also be dependent on the protection of his heavenly Father.

No one saw this coming and no one interpreted the prophets to foretell such a thing. Who would want a God who looked like us and lived among us. Most people were more comfortable with the idea that God was up there somewhere looking down on us, not here living among us, and caring for us from afar. One of the most compelling aspects of this is that the Jewish followers of Jesus believed that he was both God and man. Judaism taught that there is only one God and that no human is divine. Yet, they had encountered the God/Man and lived with him, seeing the miracles but feeling the power of his love and presence, so there was no other way to understand his life and teaching.

Jesus wasn’t teaching them that there are multiple gods but there was a divine Trinity—Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Son had come that we might know the Father through him and be filled with the Spirit, like him. No one saw that coming either. The gospel of John is a great source of teaching on the triune God who in his oneness manifest himself in three separate and distinct persons. In John 14 Jesus declares that he is the only way to the Father and that he will send back the Holy Spirit to comfort and empower those who followed him. We affirm this teaching every week as we say the Nicene Creed. The Scriptures emphasize the general distinctions among the works of the three persons; the Father initiating, the Son complying and the Holy Spirit executing the joint will of all three. We must pay equal attention to and give equal honor to, all three persons, while always remembering that we worship only one God in these three persons.

In all of John’s gospel his primary focus is on the divinity of Jesus and the unity of the Godhead but there is one part that I want to focus on this morning in the time we have left. That can be found in John 1:11–13,

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.

This portion is the part that I have had the most trouble dealing with once I came to understand the implications. The one thing that was the characteristic of Jesus’ ministry was the rejection of those to whom he came initially. It wasn’t the ones who considered themselves righteous that were drawn to Jesus but those who knew that they weren’t. John points out that human beings are not children of God by nature.

This is often a misunderstanding by many. Even though we are all made in God’s image, and everyone still reflects that image to some degree, this does not make God their Father, it makes him their creator. It would be those who received Jesus as the only hope for salvation, and as Savior and Lord who would be given the right to become children of God. John points out that it is not because of human birth (flesh and blood) but because of the sovereign and gracious action of God - without denying the human response in believing and receiving. What is being offered to those who will surrender is extremely intimate and personal. I think we can become so used to the verbiage of “giving our lives to Christ” that we miss the actual invitation of God given to us, and by extension we miss the deepest meaning. Often, when we think of committing our lives to Jesus Christ we see that as eternal security (fire insurance) and as a guaranteed ticket to Heaven and a place in the New Heavens and the New Earth but that is a very shallow concept of what God has offered to us in Jesus Christ. What he has given those who receive him and believe on his name is the right to become children of God.

Is that sinking in for you? Do you see the promise and the invitation there? In our epistle reading this morning the Apostle Paul clarifies what our position in Christ becomes is for those who have come to him by faith. He began by talking about those who lived before faith came, as being captive under the law as their guardian. He wrote in Galatians 3:25–29,

But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.

Here is the same type of language that John used in John 1:12–13, the promise that we are all sons and daughters of God but it’s the next part that drives home the point and opened up my eyes to what Jesus was really offering. Let’s read Galatians 4:4–7,

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

Do you see it yet? God sent his Son, to become one of us, to be born under the curse of the law that he might make a way for us, (who had broken the law repeatedly and were therefore under the righteous judgment of God) to be redeemed. Jesus would pay the price of our disobedience building a bridge for us leading back to God. Then comes the crescendo: God sends the Holy Spirit into our hearts to seal the relationship which gives us same right as Jesus to cry, “Abba Father!” Abba is the Aramaic term translated as an intimate term for Father (Daddy). Why? Because those who by faith and repentance have turned and followed Jesus Christ have been adopted into the family of God, and have become sons or daughters of God, full heirs of all that the Father has.

As amazing and wonderful as that sounds there is still one more point that made me stop in my tracks. I realized that I had been invited and accepted into the family of God, to become a family member with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and I marveled at that. Why would they want me in their family? I don’t think I will ever fully understand a love “so divine and so excelling” but I do have the opportunity to respond to that love with devotion and obedience.

One of my cousins was adopted at birth and my uncle and aunt lavished her with love and devotion. She never had to want for anything and she was the apple of their eye. In her late teens and young adulthood, she put them through many years of anguish as she pursued a lifestyle that broke their hearts. It cost them a great deal financially and emotionally but even in the midst of this their love never diminished. Eventually she returned home a mess and there was rebuilding to do but she always knew of their forgiveness and love. She has a family of her own now and my uncle and aunt are old and in declining health. Now they live with her and her family and she take’s care of them faithfully. She sees this as an opportunity to respond to their love and kindness with her devotion to them. She has been an example of the proper response to love and adoption.

It is very easy to become so used to theological terms and religious sayings that they lose the impact that they should have on our lives. The story of the incarnation should penetrate our hearts when we finally see why Jesus came to us in the flesh. It wasn’t to merely pay the price for our sins, it was to make a way for us to come back into the family of God. The place of love, warmth, joy, celebration, and peace. I can’t adequately describe how much I want that for myself and for us.

As we say goodbye to 2017 and look with anticipation to the coming year let’s focus on how we should respond to the invitation of the Trinity. This morning if you have responded to the call of God and have put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, I encourage you to ask God to build a deeper passion in your heart that will lead to a willingness to go follow wherever he leads. Ask Jesus to give you a fresh revelation of glory of the incarnation.

If you have not yet surrendered your life to Jesus Christ in repentance and faith, I invite to do that this morning. The Bible is clear that without Jesus you are not of the family of God but instead have chosen to be his enemy. He invites you into the blessing of family and so do we. I would love to speak with you about that at the end of the service.

I would like to finish by reading to you the last stanza of “Love divine, all love excelling.”

Finish, then, thy new creation;
      pure and spotless let us be.
Let us see thy great salvation
      perfectly restored in thee;
changed from glory into glory,
      till in heaven we take our place,
till we cast our crowns before thee,
    lost in wonder, love, and praise.

Let us pray.

 

©2017 Rev. Mike Moffitt

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