Can I Ask That? – Part Twelve – Why Did God Become Man in Jesus Christ?
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%205%3A12-21&version=NIV
In this message, we are talking about the most central teaching of Christianity, the Incarnation. Incarnation means to become flesh, to become a physical presence. An that is the central teaching of Christianity, without which, there is no Christianity. God, the Author of the Story, inserts himself into the story as the central Character. He does so in order to pull humanity up from the abyss of sin and death.
Head/Mind
C.S. Lewis once said, “What will remain of the Creed after all our critical explanations and reinterpretations will still be something quite unambiguously supernatural, miraculous and shocking.” None of the teachings of Christianity is more shocking than its central dogma, the Incarnation, the belief that the Author of the story wrote himself into the story, becoming it central character.
CS Lewis goes on to say, “One is very often asked at the present whether we could not have a Christianity stripped, or, as people who ask it say, ‘freed’ from its miraculous elements, a Christianity with the miraculous elements suppressed. Now, it seems to me that precisely the one religion in the world, or, at least, the only one I know, with which you could not do that is Christianity. In a religion like Buddhism, if you took away the miracles attributed to Gautama Buddha in some very late sources, there would be no loss. In fact, the religion would get on very much better without them because in that case the miracles largely contradict the teaching. Or even in the cast of Islam, nothing essential would be altered if you took away the miracles. You could have a great prophet preaching his dogmas without bringing in any miracles; But you cannot do that with Christianity, because it is precisely the story of one grand miracle, the Christian assertion being that what is beyond all space and time, what is uncreated and eternal, came into nature. He descended into his own creation, and rose again, brining nature up with him. It is precisely one great miracle. If you take that away there is nothing specifically Christian left.”
The Central miracle of Christianity is that the Author has entered into the story as the Central Character, so that they story can be redeemed from the inside out. God joins our story and invites us to participate in his story.
Heart – the Personal Connection
Paul tells us that first human, the one who was supposed to be vanguard for us all, lost something eternal worth, his very self. Sin plunged humanity into the cold, dark, murky waves of sin, with no hope of seeing the light of day ever again. Sinking under the weight of sin, humanity, unable to get a breath of life giving air, would struggle to survive on meager oxygen he was able to swallow before going under the waves.
What was needed was a another Adam. In Jesus, God became that second Adam. He takes a deep dive into creation, becoming a zygote, a fetus, a human baby, a grown man, and then a corpse. But when all hope seemed to have been swallowed up in death, the brave diver rises to the surface, carrying within his arms the human race.
St. Athanasius once said that God cannot save that which he will not embrace. In other words, God could not have saved earth from a distance, or without getting his hands dirty.
God enters the story so that he could redeem it from the inside out.
Hands – The Practical Application
Just as it was true that God could not redeem the world from a distance, so too, the church cannot do her work from a distance or without considerable risk, discomfort, and inconvenience to herself. Paul calls on us to imitate our Lord. In Philippians 2 he writes:
Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose.
Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.
You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
Though he was God,
he did not think of equality with God
as something to cling to.
Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;
he took the humble position of a slave
and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form,
he humbled himself in obedience to God
and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor
and gave him the name above all other names,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Where is God calling us to serve? What risks is asking us to take.