The Word Became Flesh

When Jesus came to earth, God came to earth. This reality of the incarnation is clear throughout all the Christmas narratives. Matthew highlights Isaiah’s prophecy that the virgin’s son would be called Emmanuel, God with us. Luke emphasizes the Holy Spirit’s conception in Mary and through the songs identifies the child as the Son of the Most High. However, it’s John’s gospel that takes the deity in the incarnation to new levels. He begins by connecting Jesus to the eternal because He was in/before the beginning. He also ties Him to creation as the source of light and life. He goes on to say that a relationship with Jesus is equivalent to being children of God. John brings this emphasis to a head by saying that Jesus showed us the glory of the Father and incarnated the Father’s grace and truth. All the way through this introduction to John’s gospel, He clarified that when one believes in Jesus or receives Jesus, they are believing and receiving Him as God. This is important because the world and liberal theology would love to diminish the deity of Christ. To them He didn’t announce His deity clearly enough Himself, so surely this was an invention of hopelessly optimistic disciples longing for relationships following their master’s death. However to accept these deconstructions of the gospel is to ignore the very point John is driving at and makes explicit in v1, that the Word, Jesus, is God. And this means our salvation rests in good hands, hands that took our penalty and were raised from the dead. Make no mistake, when we celebrate Christmas, we celebrate the birth of God in the flesh. Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift. —Pastor Rory 

Sunday at Liberty

10AM: Pastor Rory Martin–The Word Became Flesh–John 1:1-14 (sermon notes) 

No Evening Gathering