What did Jesus Accomplish by Becoming Man? (10/22/17 The Book of John #6)

ATTN: I sometimes fantasize about silly things. I’m 6’8”, 250 lbs and a super athlete! I can throw a baseball 115 mph and hit it 500 ft! I also play in NFL as a wide receiver since I can run 40 yards under 4 seconds! And since I have 60 inch vertical leap, I also play in the NBA averaging 50 points a game! And I’m pretty sure I’m not alone with such fantasies. If you are a male, then you have imagined something mucho like that. After all, isn’t that what superhero movies are all about? They spend millions of dollars producing what we fantasize about. And if you are female, I am told that you often fantasize about being the most beautiful woman in the world that adorns the cover of every magazine and the lead in every movie. Why do we do that?

Why such silly fantasies? Because we have this innate desire for perfection. We want someone so glorious and so extraordinary, if we are not him, then we at least want to be with Him. That’s why stadiums and concert venues are filled with tens of thousands of people screaming and clamoring for those on stage because they represent who they want to be. But if such a man or a woman ever existed, what would he be like? Well, we have an answer to that one. Jesus Christ.

He was not a superhuman. He was much more.  He was God-man. And He was not like any other. He changed the course of not just human history, but the universe when He came to earth 2000 years ago. Listen, even if WWIII happened and the earth got destroyed, it won’t be the most significant event in history. Galaxies collide and entire galaxies of stars get destroyed all the time in the universe. The scientists have observed that that just happened this past week. So, a tiny tiny little sandgrain called the earth being destroyed is no big deal in overall scheme of things. But God who holds the universe in his hand, has become a man on earth and entered this life, is and will be forever the most significant event ever. Nothing will ever top it.

TRANS: John 1:14 says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father,” So, today, as we look at the text, I want to share with you what Jesus is accomplishing through His incarnation: 1) Jesus displays God’s glory. 2) Jesus gives out of fullness. 3) Jesus makes known God’s nature.

1. Jesus displays God’s glory
2. 14, “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.”

The glory of God – the beauty and perfection and fame of God – are all displayed perfectly in Jesus, His Son. Westminster Catechism says “chief end of men is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.” You and I are created to glorify God and to enjoy Him. That is our ultimate purpose. But why should we glorify God? What’s so great about Him? God’s greatest glory was displayed through His Son, Jesus Christ, who came as a man. “But, Pastor, we weren’t there when Jesus was here. We missed seeing His glory!” Not really. 2 Cor. 3:18, “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” The Apostle Paul was writing this to the Corinthians, none of whom saw Jesus physically. Yet, he is telling them to grow as Christians by looking at the glory of Christ, and this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

And John tells us more specific aspects of glory that Jesus shows to us – grace and truth. He was full of grace and truth.

– Grace: The sweetest word in all the world! It means unmerited favor. It is God giving us His best in His Son even though we did nothing to deserve Him. All we’ve done is to be selfish and sinful, and yet while we were still rebellious, God sent His most precious priceless gift in His Son to win us over. Imagine if Trump contacted Kim Jong Un and offered him vice-presidency of the United States if he will just drop his hostility, and he will make him heir to the Trump Tower and all that is his! Will never happen in a million year. But that is what God has done for you and me through His Son, Jesus. Full of grace. Romans 8:32, “32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” All things will be yours, As One. Do not fret over not owning a house. Don’t fret over retirement. The earth will be yours and much more.

– Truth: Jesus displayed the glory of God, being full of truth. What is truth. Truth is that which corresponds to reality. I find it fascinating that John said Jesus was full of grace and not love, but truth. Love would seem more fitting and yet he used the word “truth” to describe Jesus. By this I think he means that Jesus is the ultimate reality. Let man and all his philosophy and religion be a lie, but God is the truth. He is what corresponds with reality because He created reality – Col 1:16, “all things were created by Him For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.”

C.S. Lewis – “That which is made is different in kind from that which made it. That which is begotten is the same in kind as that which begot it.” Think about it. A thing cannot create itself. If material or physical thing was all there was, how did it create itself? No. Something other than material had to create it. And Co. 1:16 tells us that it was God in Jesus who created visible and invisible – material and spiritual things of the world. He is the truth itself. And that truth was embodied in Jesus Christ. How glorious!

The truth is a person. Grace is a person. They are not some ethereal concepts, but embodied in a person of Jesus Christ.

2. Jesus gives out of His fullness and not out of need.
3. 16, “For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” God gives us from His fullness rather than out of His need to give. He is not giving to us in order to receive something back from us. That would not be grace but a business transaction. God didn’t need us. He didn’t need us to keep his company because He is lonely without us. He didn’t need us like we need pets. He didn’t need servants to do things for Him. “I came to serve and not to be served.” He can just say the word and the universe comes into existence! So, it was from His fullness that He gives to us.

This is sometimes difficult understand for us because no human relationship works like this, and we are naturally cynical to those who give freely. In human relationship, there is give and take. We, in a way, need each other. Even if it is parent-infant relationship, the parent “needs” the love that she gets from the child. She decided to have the child because she herself wanted to be loved and accepted by her own offspring. And if we are honest, there is a part of us that thinks, “When you grow up and make something of yourself, take care of me in my old age. I might need you….”

But there is no such possibility of gain for God! He doesn’t need anything. He won’t ever grow poor. He won’t grow old where He will need our assistance. We literally cannot give Him anything that He doesn’t already have. So, when He gave us His Son, it was not out of a need but out of fullness that was within Him. Imagine a wealthy artist, I know it’s oxymoron, who paints out of love for painting. Imagine a songwriter who composes for his lover, praising her beauty and virtue, without any thoughts for recording labels and contracts. God the Father and the Son shared this mutual admiration and love and the result of that love is this world and you and me.

It truly is grace upon grace that we have received in Jesus, God’s Son.  

One implication: God doesn’t owe anything to us. Sometimes, we think to ourselves, “God, I’ve sacrificed much for you. I’ve lived a clean life, at least compare to my college roommate…. So, give me what I deserve!”  Sometimes it’s a parking spot. Sometimes, it’s getting out of a speeding ticket. Sometimes, it’s hitting the lottery….

None of this is valid because God doesn’t owe us anything. We cannot make God owe us anything because He never asked us to do anything for Him as if He needed anything from us. If God gives us something, then be thankful. If God takes away something, then it was never ours to begin with. Job said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” Job 1:21

 

3. Jesus makes God known much more intimately to us. (muslims do not know God. Jews don’t know God)
4. 18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known. This comes right after talking about Moses and the law. It must be referring to the event in Ex. 33:18, that took place between God and Moses when Moses went up the mountain of God the second time because the first tablets containing the 10 commandments, Moses broke after seeing the Israelites sin with the golden calf. While on the mountain, Moses asks God to show him God’s glory. And God tells him that he will die if he were to see His face because no one can see Him and live. But he will show him a glimpse of His glory by covering Moses’ eyes with His hands and then uncovering them as He passed by to show the back of His robe to Moses. And as He passed by, He proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,” After this happened, Moses’ face shone and he had to put a veil over it because the people would be scared to approach him….

So, even the greatest of prophets in the Old Testament have not seen the face of God. Seeing the back of God’s robe is as close as they got. But Jesus! Jesus IS God. He saw God face to face. He sat on His Father’s lap and saw God’s face! Jesus knows the Father and is the spitting image of the Father. He says to Philip, one of His disciples, “9 Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”

What an amazing and damnable statement if it weren’t true. And this Jesus, who is the exact representation of God, makes God known to us. Do you know what this means? It means that we can know God more intimately and more completely than Moses, Abraham, David, Solomon, Eljiah – all the Old Testament heroes that knew God and walked by faith, but Jesus, God’s Son, was not revealed to them like He is to us.

But how? How do we know this Jesus so that we can know God? It is primarily through His word. That is why Jesus is described as the word. John is making Jesus known to the readers who never saw Jesus physically. And how does he describe Him? “In the beginning was the word, the word was with and the word was God…. and the word became flesh and dwelt among us.”

APP: We strive to present this Jesus to you at our church week in and week out. You will hear more “practical” messages at other churches – how to improve your marriage, 5 steps to better behaved children, how to financially secure your future, or how to have greater self-esteem… entire series are dedicated to them at other churches… But we won’t make them front and center of our messages here. Why? I believe all those are simply treating the symptoms and not the disease. The disease is not being able to see and relate to God. All human problems trace their source to not being rightly related to God because of our sin. And what will overcome it? Jesus. It is seeing the beauty, magnificence, glory of Christ – the vision of a grand God – that will be the cure for what’s wrong with this world and us. Ever been in love? When things were falling apart around you, you thought as long as your love was with you, everything was okay? Well, everything wasn’t okay because your love had no power to change anything. But our God is different. No matter what circumstances we are in, if we can just see a glimpse of the greatness of God, then we can overcome it. That is what Stephen, the first martyr, rejoiced (!) as he was being stoned to death by the Jews and he exclaimed, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” (Acts 7:56) Even while dying, seeing the glory of God overwhelmed the fear of death. And I believe this is the same sentiment that Jesus had the night before He knew He would be killed, “For the joy that was set before him endured the cross.” (Heb 12:2). What was the source of this joy? It was being with God, His Father. And this is the same promise given to those who believe!

Listen, we are not insensitive to our needs. The fact that God became a man means identification on God’s part with us. He knows your finances. He was poor. He knows your loneliness. He was a single man into his 30’s. He knows your marital problems. He was betrayed by one of his best friends. He is not unaware. But we need is Him; not even what He gives, but Him! Would you seek hard after Him this week? Listen to biblical messages on the way to work. Sit down with your community group and share the word with each other. Come to the discipleship class where we delve further into the Bible.