Sunday School at 9 am | worship at 10 am

The Word Became Flesh

About this time last year, a young man wandered into the church building, looking for a place to get warm. A tire on his car had gone flat, and he didn’t have a spare. We managed to get his car to a local tire store which happened to have a tire to fit the man’s car. The price was right, so I authorized the technician to install the tire. While standing there in the lobby with this troubled young man, I explained that while I was providing a tire for him at no cost, I would need him to listen to something else he could have without cost—eternal life through Jesus Christ.
Since it was Christmas time, I thought I would start with the birth of Jesus, and explain the significance of the story that was so familiar, yet so underappreciated. I began with the familiar line—“And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus….” I didn’t have to go much further before I realized that something was not right. The blank stare in my new friend’s eyes told me he was not familiar with “the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.” “So,” I wondered aloud, “You’ve never heard this story before?” “No,” came his bewildered response. “What story is this?” he wanted to know. “It’s the Christmas story,” I explained. “The story of how God became one of us so that he could save us from our sins.” The old, old story of the baby Jesus lying in a manger was brand new to this young man.
Something dawned on me that day, too. We must never assume that everyone is familiar with the narrative of the Christmas story, much less the significance of how God became one of us so that He could save us from our sins. So, this week we’ll focus on the significance of the Eternal Word becoming flesh.
In Bethlehem, the second person of the Trinity changed his mode of being. He took upon himself our humanity, thus changing the relationships within the Godhead. God became what God was not. By taking on the likeness of human form, God changed the form of his existence forever. He became like us so that we might become like him.
As someone has said, “The Word did not become a philosophy to be discussed, a theory to be debated, or a concept to be pondered. The Word became a Person to be followed, enjoyed, and loved.”