Fitting God into a Body (10/15/17 The Book of John #5: John 1:14-18)

ATTN: We human beings are different from animals. Animals are happy as long as their basic physical needs are met – food, water, and reproduction. But human beings need more than that. Food, clothes, and shelter are the 3 essentials of life, but to be human, we need more than that. We are created not only to run on the fuel of food, clothes and shelter, but also on the fuel called the word of God. Jesus said, “man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” And Jesus makes this fact explicit in various places in the Bible – referring to Himself as the “Springs of living water,” “Bread of life,” “light of men,” “a treasure hidden in the field,” “Eternal life,” etc. In other words, that emptiness we feel after we’ve achieved our dream – perhaps a college degree, our first home, our first child, a job we’ve always wanted, or a superbowl ring – is an indication that we were made for something more than the physical. And Jesus makes it very clear that it was for Him that you and I were created. Col 1:16, “For in him all things were created:things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. Do you know this? Do you know that you will never be satisfied or be truly happy if you don’t get what you were created for? A 4 year old child thinks she will be happy forever if she had unlimited candies to eat,  a 14 year old thinks only if that boy returned her love, a 24 year old – only if she was in a manager position, a 34 year old – only if a real man, with the looks, ambition, and money, would propose, a 44 year old – only if they owned their house out right, a 55 year old – only if my children would succeed and move out of the house, a 64 year old – only if I can just retire, a 74 year old – only if I were 24 again…

You will never be satisfied or be truly happy unless you get what you were created for – Jesus. And we’ve been trying to give you this Jesus because ultimately He is what we need more than anything else. God has wired me so that I’m always asking the ultimate purpose or usefulness of something. Long before my Calculus students asked me, “Mr. Hong. Are we ever going to use Calculus in life?” and my answer is “no.” and then expected follow-up question, “Then, why are we learning it?” I have written an entire page on why they should be learning it because I’m wired to ask the question – What is the point of this? How does this relate to the ultimate purpose of life? .

In a sense, I quit being an engineer because I asked the question, “How does making this circuit board going to help achieve the ultimate purpose in life, which is to know, love, and become and help others become like Christ?” In answering that question for myself, I just thought that given my talent and passions, I’d better serve as a pastor than an engineer. So, we will delve once again into this wonderful Book of John, who writes about the ultimate reason why we are here.

TRANS: What I want to do today is to give you 5 implications of God becoming a man in Jesus.  

1. 14, “And the word became flesh and dwelt among us…”

 

Implication 1: Jesus polarizes.

When God was in a pure spiritual form, people didn’t have to make decisions about Him right away because He wasn’t immediate. But when He came as a man, He entered into our world and we are forced to make a decision about Him. People of Jesus’ time only had two reactions to Jesus – either they bowed down to worship Him or they wanted to kill Him. There weren’t any “Oh, I think Jesus was a good man and a good teacher. So, I will learn as much as I can from him.” Why? Because of what He claimed Himself to be. He claimed Himself to be God, as we shall see in other places in this Book. So, since Jesus claimed to be God, you could not take a middle ground. If He is who He says He is, then He should be worshipped like God. But if He is not who He says He is, then He needs to be killed! That is a blaspheme in the highest degree. It would be as bad as going to the Dome of the Rock and saying, “Allah is not God. Jesus is God!”

Yes, Jesus was a great teacher and we need to learn from Him. But He was a great teacher because he was God. He is the one who created all things that all other teachers were teaching – whether philosophy, science, math, literature. He was more than a good teacher. He was God incarnate. And those who knew what Jesus was claiming, they were divided. Those who were convinced that Jesus was telling the truth, bent their knees and worshipped Him, like Thomas when Jesus appeared to Him, said, “My Lord and My God!” But those who didn’t agree with Him said, “crucify Him, crucify Him,” instead.

I think those of us who grew up in a Christian environment do not realize how utterly amazing and unthinkable this is – God becoming a man. We grew up hearing the Christmas story of God becoming a babe and being born in a manger to the virgin Mary. We take this for granted. But to the Jews, who had the utmost reverence for God, could not imagine that holy and mighty God, whose face even Moses could not look at, and if a high priest were to think any unclean thought while in the holy of holies, he would be struck dead in an instant, would become a dirty, rotten, sinful, despicable, man. They could not fathom it. So, when Jesus came, claiming that He was God, they rightly wanted to kill Him.

You know, for this reason, I’m glad that I didn’t live in the 1st century Israel when I could see Jesus with my eyes. When I was a young Christian, I thought, “How great it would’ve been if I lived during Jesus time and saw with my own eyes the miracles that Jesus did. Then, I’d know for sure that He was the Son of God and I’d dedicate my whole life to Him.” But I’m fairly certain that if I lived during Jesus time and saw Jesus do and say all the things He did, I’d probably side with the Pharisees, and would want to do away with Him because Him being a man, how can He claim equality with God? Blaspheme! Kill Him! Get rid of Him! “But He did all those miracles, Pastor. How can you not believe when He did all those miracles?” well, that’s a topic for another day. But I’m so glad that God let me see Jesus from a distance in space and time so that I can bow my knees and worship Him as God. And even today, if you present Jesus accurately to people – that He is God and Lord and therefore, receiving Him would be His taking charge of every part of their lives – you will have oppositions. But for the few people who will say, “I believe He is God. I will bow my knees and give my life to Him,” we present the gospel.

 

2. God became killable.

God cannot die. The very nature of being God is being eternal. How can something eternal die? God cannot be killed. Frederick Nietche who said “God is dead” is dead, but God is not. But when God became a man, now, He became killable! And that was the whole point. God became a man SO that He would die. He was born to die!

Hebrew 10:5, “5Consequently, when Christa came into the world, he said,  “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; 6in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. 7Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God,

as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’”

And what was the will of God? It was to die for the sins of the world. John the Baptist pointed to Jesus and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” Why the Lamb? Because lamb is what was sacrificed to take away the sins of the people at the temple. Jesus was that lamb. Why was Abraham of Old Testament praised by God so much? Because he was willing to sacrifice his son, Isaac, to God. That wasn’t just an isolated incident. The Bible scholars believe that it was the very same hill that Jesus the Son of God, was sacrificed on a tree two thousand years later. Abraham’s event with his son, Isaac, was a type or a preview of what God would do with His Son, Jesus later for all mankind.

So, God becoming a man meant that He became vulnerable to death. Now he would experience what we would all experience – death. Only difference being that when we die, it’s because we sinned. But He died not because HE sinned but because WE sinned.

 

3. God became sinnable.

I know “sinnable” is not a word, but it rhymes with killable. In other words, God could now sin. This, I’m going on a limb to say, because it is a debated point – whether Jesus could’ve sinned or not – but I’m going to say that He was able to sin. He couldn’t sin as God. God cannot sin. James 1:13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.” The very definition of sin is falling short of the glory of God. How can God fall short of His own glory? That doesn’t make sense. But when he became man, now He can sin. Where do I get that from? God couldn’t die. But when He became a man, he could die. And He did die. So, with sin. As God, He couldn’t sin, but as man, He could. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Heb 4:15

I think this is what endears our hearts to Jesus. He became weak like us. He became one of us. Have you ever known a person who seemed so perfect and yet distant and intimidating, and thus unapproachable? Maybe like your professor or even your boss or someone you admire from a distance, but can’t really relate because he is so much higher than you? Well, God certainly would qualify as that figure. But when He became a man, especially a helpless babe who depended totally on two teenagers for survival, we can identify with Him. We can share our temptations with Him. We can share our griefs with Him when we fail. He was weak like us although He never gave into sin. I realize that that is potentially discouraging to some of us. If we take Jesus only as our example to follow, then it will be discouraging. We could never live up to His standard. How many times have we sinned just this week? Some of us sinned right at the church parking lot when someone else parked at your usual spot! But Jesus never sinned. How can we ever follow that act? But before Jesus is our example and aspiration – and He is that – He is our substitute. He died the death we should’ve lived and he also lived the perfect life we always wanted to live and given us the credit for it.

 

4. Our body can contain the fullness of God.  

We are fearfully and wonderfully made. So much so that the God of the universe can operate within this body that He has made. John 1:14, And zthe Word abecame flesh and bdwelt among us, cand we haveseen his glory, glory as of the only Son4 from the Father, full of dgrace andetruth. You see, just because God was in a human body, we are not told that we are getting half of God’s fullness or glory. But all of God’s glory could be contained in a human body! Granted, because of sin, and its effects, it became perishable, but it deserves our respect. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. (1 cor 6:19)

Jesus did not discard His body after He was resurrected. His body was transformed to be a spiritual body, but it was still a body. It could be touched. It could digest fish. It could speak, sing, and see beauty and smell gourmet meals. And now that He is sitting at the right hand of God the Father, He is doing so in His resurrected body which is the renewed and transformed version of the old body. This body is such a marvelous and wonderful thing. It is God’s gift to us to contain the spirit within it.

It is with this body we sin. With this tongue we curse someone and bless someone. We ought to use it in line with the truth of the gospel. Gal 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Don’t worship your body. Don’t spend all your time beautifying, dieting, exercising your body. We will get a new one. But rather, worship God WITH your body. That means giving it enough rest so that it can be alert to read the Word of God in the morning. Feed it, clothe it, exercise it properly so that it can last a long time to be of maximum use to God. Don’t make your body or someone else body the object of your worship, but a means to a better worship.

 

CONC: If you are a child of God today – that you know Him, received Him, trust Him and striving to become like Him – know that you have a God who became like you – killable, sinnable, weak, with all the temptations of the world – so that your love and trust would be in Him and not in yourself. Remind yourselves of this – what Christ has become and done for you every morning and evening as you start the day and end the day.