HUMBLE
Text: John 1:1-14 Speaker: Pastor Matthew Ude Festival: Christmas Passages: John 1:1-14
Full Service Video
John 1:1-14
The Word Became Flesh (Listen)
1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life,1 and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own,2 and his own people3 did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son4 from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Footnotes
[1] 1:4
[2] 1:11
[3] 1:11
[4] 1:14
(ESV)
“Space is big. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it’s a long way down the road to the chemist’s, but that’s just peanuts to space.”
― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
If the Milky Way were shrunk to the size of the Earth, our solar system would be about the size of a coin. If the observable universe were shrunk to the size of the earth, the milky way would be smaller than a grain of sand. In other words, creation is big, “hugely, mind-bogglingly big.”
If the universe which he created is that vast, what does that say about God? This God who is able to think and create in dimensions vast, beyond our ability to understand, this God became man and dwelt among us.
John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,
I do not think we really appreciate what is happening in that sentence. In a very real way, the entirety of the universe has shrunk down to the earth, and there is just no way that this should be possible and yet it is.
The same God who is vast beyond our imagining, is the same God who cares for you so much that he humbled to be born in a manger and died to save you from your sin. This is the thing that we call the incarnation.
To paraphrase Treebeard, “such a little word for something so big.”
The incarnation is a thing too big for us to understand or even imagine. This mystery is what we see today, the eternal God who humbled himself and was laid in a manger. The manger is the ultimate symbol of humility, and those who come to it must come in humility or not come at all. There is simply no room for any pride or any arrogance before the manger.
The manger is incompatible with any pride.
Many seeking to undermine Christianity have claimed that religion and specifically Christianity make people evil. It is not Christ and his cross and his word that make people evil. It is pride. And pride when it is mixed with the semblance of religion is very deadly and dangerous thing. Many people filled with pride have done unspeakable things in the name of Christ.
Mixing religion and pride is like drinking alcohol while on strong medication, the two things together create terrible things. When religion and pride are mixed it creates monsters. It creates people who think they have the right to do about anything because they are right with God. It creates the Spanish inquisition.
Jesus did not come with any attitude of what his “right” was. Jesus when he speaks to tax collectors and harlots, speaks with love, grace, forgiveness, and compassion. When he speaks to the Pharisees, those whose hearts are filled with pride in their own words and works, to them he speaks the law. He rebukes and warns them.
Micah 6:8 what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?
This is the same as what Paul says in:
Romans 3:27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith.
What can I possibly have to boast about if I am kneeling before the creator who humbled himself to become flesh?
If we were still under the law, if God had not been made flesh to die for our sins, then I could boast or at least try to boast. If God had not come down to us, I would have no other option. I would be compelled to lift myself up to attempt to reach God. I would never make it, but I would have to try.
But now God has become man and there is no room for any boast.
Humble Yourselves
If our Lord and Savior has done this, if he who is beyond time and space, has humbled himself to become a man and be laid in a feeding trough, then who is there among us that has any reason not to humble our hearts.
1 Peter 5:6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God,
Every day but especially on Christmas as we kneel before the manger, we ought to put away the pride that creates division and resentment, acknowledge our sin, rejoice in Christ’s forgiveness, and forgive as we have been forgiven.
Therefore, put away your pride. Put away the thoughts of “I deserve . . . ” Did Christ deserve a feeding trough, persecution and death on a cross? No but he willingly accepted for your sakes.
Put away the thoughts of “This is mine . . . ” All of creation was Christ’s yet he set aside eternity to be born on Christmas day.
Put away your attempts to prove “I’m right . . . ” Put away thoughts of “I did this . . .” Jesus did not come to save those who think they deserve it. He came to save sinners.
Humble your hearts in repentance before the manger and receive in the place of pride, forgiveness, love, joy, peace, and eternal life.
In the manger the eternal God has come down to you.
In the manger the eternal God has come down to live among sinners, to remove and forgive sins, even the sin of pride, because “he cares for you.”
People like Alex O’Conner and Neil De Grasse Tyson and many others will argue that the universe is too big. The universe is too big and too vast, not only in terms of width and length, but also in terms of time. It is just too big for a God who creates and sustains it to care about you.
But the manger proves them wrong. The manger shows that the eternal God has come to you. It shows that you are special not because of what you have done, but because of what God had done for you.
If Taylor Swift reached out and pulled you onto stage you would be special. You could be the most boring person in the world, but you would be special because Taylor chose you. IT is not Taylor that has chosen you but the eternal God.
The thing that makes man special is the choice that God made to send his son as a man. The Incarnation is the thing the brings the almighty God down to earth. It bridges the gap between a God who made the universe and a God who cares for you.
In the manger God has humbled himself for you. Humble your heart before him and receive from Him the eternal joy he came to bring.