Tag Archives: The Word became flesh

JESUS, THE GOD-MAN – 10

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THE GOD-MAN – HIS MOTIVE AND MESSAGE

Why has God done all this for us? Why has the God-man endured so much for us?

John 1:14 NIV
[14] “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

He came to reveal grace and truth.

Grace! What is grace? A word difficult to define but packed full of meaning!

Some define grace by an acrostic…great riches at Christ’s expense. Others say that grace is God’s unmerited favour. These definitions may be true but they are completely inadequate to express anything like God’s grace.

Let’s try to explain rather than define grace. Grace is all of God’s divine attributes…goodness, kindness, mercy, truth, righteousness, justice, wisdom, power, sovereignty…woven together, encased in “chesed”, His covenant love, to form His divine DNA, the blueprint of His being.

Whatever God is, says, and does is because of grace and expresses itself in grace, His action towards us.

He saved us from our sin because of grace.

Ephesians 2:8 NIV
[8] “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God…”

Grace brought Jesus to earth to rescue us from sin and death…

Romans 5:15 NIV
[15] But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!

Through Jesus’ death, we have a new position…a standing in grace… the very foundation of our relationship with God as sons and daughters.

Romans 5:1-2 NIV
[1] “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, [2] through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.”

…and so we can go on. Everything we now are and receive is through and by God’s grace.

Grace is God in action, appearing on every page of Scripture, lighting up His interaction with humans with the glory of who He is. The God of…love, peace, righteousness, truth…and much more, are who He is. Grace stands tall as both the motive and the power behind and through which all His goodness comes to us.

1 Peter 5:10 NIV
[10] “And THE GOD OF ALL GRACE, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.”

Grace underpins everything God says and does for us. Grace energises every promise He has made to save, restore, and renew humankind.

Let’s examine just a few of the myriad things grace does because He is the God of all grace.

John 1:16 – 17 NIV
[16] “Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. [17] For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”

Jesus is the embodiment of God’s grace, the fullness of His revelation as the God-man. He is the messenger and the message of grace.

2 Corinthians 8:9 NIV
[9] “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.”

His gave us His riches and took our poverty!

The story of grace, at its most revealing and glorious, is the story of the God-man, stepping out of His supreme place in heaven beside the Father and the Spirit, down…a human baby, down…a servant, down…a condemned criminal, down…a dead body, for us. That’s grace…not just an idea, a philosophy, a teaching or even a title. Grace is motive and action. Grace drives the action and grace is the action that saved and saves us from or in every situation sin and our sinfulness has dumped on us.

Grace is woven into the story of God and humans. Grace is the power to rescue and to change impossible situations.

I have one such situation in mind that epitomises the awesome truth of grace.

The Apostle Paul was called, among all the facets of his ministry, to suffer…and suffer he did. The worst of his suffering was not physical. It was the pain inflicted on him when his own people rejected him, just as they had rejected his Master. They had murder on their minds. They hounded him from city to city, country to country, always looking for an opportunity to cancel him and his message.

In desperation, Paul cried out to the Lord for deliverance Perhaps his natural response was for God to cancel his enemies like they cancelled him, just as David had often prayed centuries before.

“They are a thorn in my side, Lord. Please remove them.”

God said, “No! I have a better plan.” Grace! You see, thorns are there to prick. Why? Pricking deflates the hot air bubble of pride…”I don’t need you, God.”

Grace changes hearts, not circumstances. Paul needed a new attitude, not “Take the thorn away, so that I can carry on with my life,” but, “Thank you for the thorn that constantly reminds me how weak I am and how much I need your grace.”

2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV
[9] “But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” THEREFORE, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”

That’s what grace is and that’s what grace does.

So, the God-man came to us in our plight… cut off from God and doomed to eternal death. He came, fully equipped (Greek – “pleres” – complete or fully occupied) with grace and truth, to transform a hopeless situation into the hope of transformed lives and destiny… today, tomorrow, and forever.

Grace provides the motive and the means for the God-man to intervene for us, to become and to apply the message that God is for us not against us. God did something we can never do. He took away our sin and reconciled us to Himself. He reinstated us as sons and daughters of the Most High God. He transforms us into the image of His own Son, He puts muscle to His message…all because of grace and by grace.

This grace is all-sufficient. Grace can do anything and be anything we need for Him to complete His plan. All grace requires to come to our aid is a humble spirit, faith in His promises and “AMEN” in our need.

James 4:6 NIV
[6] “But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”

More grace? More than what? More than anything that stands in the way of our becoming who we are, submissive and obedient sons and daughters of God.

“… Full of grace and truth…” Grace and truth…God’s complete arsenal of weapons to defeat the enemy of our souls, to protect us from the rsvages of our sin nature, and to transform us into the likeness of the God-man, Jesus.

So, Peter cousels us… against the backdrop of the lies and deception from the systems of this world that assault and lure us to go it alone, be our own God, do our own thing…

2 Peter 3:17-18 NIV
[17] “Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. [18] But GROW IN THE GRACE AND KNOWLEDGE of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.”

FURIOUS GRACE, AGGRESSIVE FAITH

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This furious grace that obliterates sin, sweeps aside guilt and shame, flings open the door to fellowship with God the three in One, and envelops us in a blanket of love and favour, demands only one kind of response…aggressive faith!

What do I mean by “aggressive” faith? I mean the kind of faith that tolerates nothing in its path to receive God’s goodness. Aggressive faith does not take “no” for an answer.

Now, we must not confuse aggressive faith with demanding and expecting everything we want, nor does it mean manipulating God’s Word for its own ends. There is a kind of “faith”, illegitimate and ungodly, that proposes that we can “name it and claim it”! Run from this teaching. You will not find it in the Word.

The Bible is full of examples of aggressive faith. Jesus told the story of a widow who appealed to the judge for vindication. Her pleas fell in deaf ears until the judge responded, not to help her but to get her off his back.

Jesus told the story to illustrate the contrast between the judge’s reluctance and the Father’s willingness to answer our cries for help.

Luke 18:1, 7-8 NIV
[1] “Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up….
[7] And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? [8] I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

Jesus ended His story with a puzzling comment…until we understand its meaning in context. When we connects verse 1 with verse 8, we recognise that aggressive faith is the key to answered prayer.

Aggressive faith is based on the character of God.

The widow appealed to the judge for help because, in his office as judge, he was obliged to respond to her plea. How much more, as a loving Father, will God answer the cries of His children because we are His childten? However, He sometimes delays His answers to fit in with His bigger picture.

It takes aggressive faith in the promises and character of God to persist until we receive an answer. Aggressive faith does not tolerate doubt, unbelief, or insecurity.

James 1:6-8 NIV
[6] “But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. [7] That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. [8] Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.”

Aggressive faith has a solid foundation, God’s Word. If He said it, He will do it. His character is the guarantee since He is faithful. His promises are His guarantee that He will answer us.

Numbers 23:19 NIV
[19]”God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?”

Aggressive faith understands authority.

Matthew 8:8-9 NIV
[8] “The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But JUST SAY THE WORD, and my servant will be healed. [9] For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

To Jesus, God gave all authority based on His perfect obedience.

Philippians 2:8-11 NIV
[8] “And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! [9] Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, [10] that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, [11] and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Matthew 28:18 NIV
[18] “Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”

Jesus underwrites all God’s promises since He is the Word of God in person.

John 1:1-2, 14 NIV
[1]” In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. [2] He was with God in the beginning.”…
[14] “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

2 Corinthians 1:20 NIV
[20] “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.”

Aggressive faith understands the place of God’s will in answered prayer.

1 John 5:14-15 NIV
[14] “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. [15] And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.”

Is it God’s will to support us with His furious grace? A resounding “Yes! ” Will He graciously intervene in response to our aggressive faith? Again, a resounding”Yes! “

Our cries to the Father will never go unheard because, unlike any human champion who is subject to his own whims, God is God. He is utterly committed to His own nature. He loves His sons and daughters with an everlasting love. He gave His own Son to rescue us from our plight. He hears the “cheep” of a fallen sparrow. He is dedicated to reclaim and restore what was broken by the Fall.

Romans 8:32 NIV
[32] “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”

THE WORD BECAME FLESH

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THE WORD BECAME FLESH

“The word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14 (NIV)

What a power-packed statement! Not a baby-in-a-manger, once-a-year-at-Christmas-time story but something that really happened and something that changed history and the destinies of millions who believe in Him. Jesus came from the other side, stepped down from His position in glory with the Father, put on a human body and ‘tabernacled’ for a while right among His own people. John adds his own testimony, ‘We have seen His glory…full of grace and truth,’ perfect and complete. Not many people saw His glory. Oh! They saw Him alright, but they didn’t recognise or acknowledge that He was the Son of God or that He came here to display Father’s glory.

The real Jesus, the second Person of the Godhead, the one who was constantly working with His people for thousands of years, the one who spoke with both mercy and severity, came Himself, disguised as a human being, living in the tent of a human body for a little while, like His own people in the wilderness, to show and tell the whole story of redeeming love.

What did John and his fellow-disciples see? They saw in Jesus the perfect balance of grace and truth in action. He Himself was the fulfilment of everything the tabernacle – the ‘mishkan’ – represented. He is the way to the Father; He is the truth about God and He is the life that God gives us when we believe in Him. He takes us to the Father through the blood He spilt on the cross. We are allowed into the Holy of Holies to fellowship with God because Jesus came to earth as a human child.

Through the revelation of grace and truth that He brings in Himself, those who believe in Him are made both clean and holy through the offering up of His own blood which was sprinkled on the mercy seat to make atonement for the sin of the world.

Grace and truth are the whole picture, God acting out of the fullness and perfection of who He is; grace shows us how great His love is, and truth shows us His justice. Because God is both true to Himself and gracious to us, Jesus paid the debt for our sin Himself by becoming God’s sacrificial lamb so that He can cleanse us of sin and accept us into His holy presence.

But every human being must make his own choice. Jesus came, presented Himself to the world and delivered His message by being the message. Everyone who sees and hears the message can either accept or reject what he sees and hears and take full responsibility for his choice. But for John the issue was clear, and he saw and believed.

It isn’t the birth of Jesus we should celebrate. We should remember every day that He came from the other side to be with us and to die for us.

DID YOU KNOW (7)…THAT GOD ALWAYS WORKS THROUGH HIS WORD

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DID YOU KNOW (7)

…THAT GOD ALWAYS WORKS THROUGH HIS WORD

According to Hebrew thought, God’s Word is a manifestation of Himself in another form. God and His Word are inseparable. He reveals Himself to us through what He has said and what He did and does. However, we cannot know or understands His works unless He reveals their meaning to us through His Word. There is ample evidence in Scripture that God’s Word is the vehicle of revelation and that He accomplishes His will through His Word. When He speaks, it is done.

When Jeremiah was still a child, God called him to be a prophet to the nations. Jeremiah was appalled at the prospect and remonstrated with Him until God explained to him that He selected him for the job while he was still in his mother’s womb. Jeremiah could not fail because God had spoken and He would ensure that His Word would come to pass.

“Ah, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.” 

But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’” …Then the Lord reached out His hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I have appointed you over the nations and kingdoms…I am watching to see that my word is fulfilled.” (Jer. 1:1-12).

God called the universe into being through His word and reconstituted it as He wanted it after the chaos the devil caused on the earth by his presence.

David recognised the purpose and value of God’s Word. Although he did not have the complete Bible as we have it today, he had enough to know that God had spoken; through the recorded history of his people, and he already understood the ways of God. He longed to know more and prayed a simple, yet profound prayer that God would teach him His way.

Teach me you way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart that I may fear your name (Psa. 86:11).

The anonymous psalmist of Psalm 119 expressed his love for and confidence in God’s word to be the all-round guide, instructor and protector of his life as long as he adhered to and obeyed what it said. Like a lamp that shone on the path and a light that lit up the way ahead, God’s Word was all he needed to keep him heading in the right direction to find his way home.

The Apostle John took up the theme and shone the full light of revelation on Jesus whom he recognised as God’s Word, clothed in flesh, filled with the glory of God’s truth, who came to live among us that we might fully understand God’s message to the world.

The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son who came from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).

Jesus was not only God’s Word expressed in human form; He was also the speaking Word of God. Everything He did was the expression of God’s Word and will and everything He said was an echo of the Father’s words.

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 For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it. I know that His command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say (John 12:49-50).

God’s Word has the power to accomplish many things:

  1. God’s Word always accomplishes what He sent it to do – Isaiah 55:10-11.
  2. God’s Word heals – Psalm 107:20.
  3. God’s Word exposes the thoughts and intentions of the heart – Hebrews 4:12.
  4. God’s Word produces fruit when it falls into good soil – Mark 4:20.
  5. God’s Word lights our path – Psalm 119:105
  6. God’s Word is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness – 2 Tim. 3:16.
  7. God’s Word is a powerful weapon against the devil’s lies – Ephesians 6:17.
  8. God’s Word protects us from sin – Psalm 119:11.
  9. God’s Word keeps us pure – Psalm 119:9.
  10. God’s Word produces faith – Romans 10:17…

…and many more.

When we fill our minds and hearts with God’s Word, we have all the equipment we need for living godly lives, pleasing the Father and enjoying all the benefits of eternal life.

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.