You are listening to a message from Southwood Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama.
Our passion is to experience and express grace. Join us.
Amen. If you missed it Thursday night, we had the Behold the Lamb concert here.
If you missed it, that was every bit as good.
Aren't they awesome?
Thank you guys.
It was a wonderful night.
I got to have a lot of people from our community here.
There were several good things.
One of them is that we have delayed our plans for installing the fog machines for use on Sunday mornings.
If you weren't here, we had a fire alarm.
So that won't be happening anytime soon.
I think that's a plus.
But more importantly, it's this beautiful story that is sung.
It's the same one that we talk about and read about in God's Word.
And one of the sweet things about hearing it sung, it engages our hearts in a different way, doesn't it?
To hear the music, the poetry, the stories told that way.
I want to encourage you as we come to God's Word, our hearts need to be engaged.
This is not going to be an exercise in giving you new information largely this morning.
And I know that's not unusual.
But you know the Christmas story.
We're praying and asking that God would use it in our hearts.
That He would change us in the deepest parts of who we are.
That we would love Him more.
That's our prayer as we come to His Word.
We've been focusing on this same story they were just singing about.
The King who's coming.
The incarnation.
The Word made flesh.
The definition we've been using for the incarnation this Christmas season.
The intentional entrance of the divine Son of God into our fallen world in human flesh
to secure our redemption at the cost of His life because of His great love.
That's the Word become flesh.
In John's Gospel where he talks about this, he started by highlighting our need for the incarnation.
The darkness of our hearts and of this world that required the light to break into it.
And then we saw last week the sacrifice of the incarnation.
What Jesus left.
What He set aside in order to become man.
This week we're actually going to talk about the other side of that coin.
Not so much what Jesus left, but what He entered into.
The pain of the incarnation.
The Christmas story is a beautiful one for sure.
But it's not just about carols and candy and angels and a really sweet little baby.
Although those things are true.
When the Word became flesh, He was entering into pain.
John shows us some of that.
We're going to look at some other passages that will highlight that reality
as we consider the price Jesus paid.
The pain that He endured for us.
Let's start by reading the beginning of John 1.
We're going to focus on verses 9 through 11 this morning.
But let's read beginning at verse 1.
God's holy word.
In the beginning was the Word.
And the Word was with God.
And the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
All things were made through Him.
And without Him was not anything made that was made.
In Him was life.
And the life was the light of men.
The light shines in the darkness.
And the darkness has not overcome it.
There was a man sent from God whose name was John.
He came as a witness to bear witness about that light
that all might believe through Him.
He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
He was in the world.
And the world was made through Him, yet the world did not know Him.
He came to His own.
And His own people did not receive Him.
It gets better.
And we'll talk more about that next Sunday.
But let's pray and ask for God's help as we look to His Word.
Father, we thank You for Your Spirit.
We call Him our teacher at times like this.
But Father, we need more than a teacher.
We need one who will grab our hearts and transform us from the inside out.
And so we pray that You would speak, that You would even sing into our hearts
the truth of Christmas, that it might not just be something we can celebrate
at a particular time of year, but that it might be life-changing.
So would You do that by Your Spirit?
We know You can and we know You love to.
So we ask for it in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Even 16 years later now, most of us remember where we were on 9-11, when all of a sudden
destruction hit.
We remember watching those horrific events unfold, seeing scenes of devastation around the
Twin Towers, flames billowing out of the building, smoke, debris all over the place.
Both skyscrapers crashing down just in the matter of a couple of hours, perhaps some
of the most traumatic events most of us have ever witnessed.
And perhaps as we saw those images that morning, the most heartbreaking may be the crowds of people
fleeing away from, in every direction they could, away from that death and destruction that
was going on, running as fast as they could covered in the debris.
But even in the beginning, and certainly we heard a lot more stories come out in the weeks
later, there were those who we saw running in the other direction.
First responders, firefighters, NYPD officers, others who were there, emergency personnel, who
were running in the opposite direction of the crowds.
They were running toward the pain, towards that devastation and destruction that was happening.
They dove into the rubble.
They came out covered in dust and blood and sweat.
Time and again, they went back in to rescue anyone they could, right?
You know that many of those first responders died that day in their efforts to save others.
Of the nearly 3,000 people who died there that day, over 400 were rescue workers who had run
towards the towers from their place of safety.
They'd run into danger to help.
There were many more than that who had their lives turned upside down, never the same having
walked through that, even though they survived.
And we hail these people as heroes, don't we?
We talk about them often.
We remember them and what they've done.
Because what was heroic?
It was that it was so easy and obvious to see where the danger was.
The danger, the pain, the devastation, it was clearly there.
And rather than running in the other direction, as many understandably were doing,
they chose to run into the pain.
They purposefully ran toward pain to help others, even if they were hurt themselves.
That's just one picture of what Jesus is doing in the incarnation.
When he becomes flesh, fully aware of the danger and destruction that are before him,
Jesus runs toward the pain.
I think that's an interesting reality for us to contemplate because I tend, by nature and
by choice, to avoid pain and suffering at all costs.
It's not just because I'm a wimp to the point that I don't even like getting flu shots, which
is true.
But I also design my whole life around avoiding pain and suffering.
I want to be comfortable and predictable.
I want to be away from all the mess and the chaos around me.
I want life to go the way it's supposed to, which is the way that I plan it.
Don't we design our schedules, our neighborhoods, our finances, even our parenting around avoiding
pain and suffering?
Maybe like me, you only take on projects you're good at so that you can avoid the pain of failure.
I used to avoid roller skating rinks as a kid because I was terrible.
And now as an adult, I avoid house projects for the same reason.
I'm not good at it.
I don't want to fail.
So let's stay away.
Maybe that's why I only let my kids do the same thing.
Only the places you're going to succeed.
Maybe you only enter into relationships or situations that seem controllable or predictable.
So you can avoid the pain of just mess, of draining conversations and time-consuming people that you just don't want to get involved with.
Maybe you try to make enough money to avoid any pain that does come along by buying the best treatment to take care of it.
There are lots of ways to avoid pain and suffering.
Many of us tend to do it by activity, by getting so busy with things we think we can control or have success in,
that we'll just busy ourselves so we don't have to acknowledge the difficulty.
You can also do it by inactivity, can't you?
Just checking out on Netflix or on the computer and ignoring the difficult conversation across the room or across town.
I'm just going to check out.
I don't want to deal with the pain, the suffering of the world around me.
I hold on so tightly to comfort and plan to steer clear of any pain every chance I get.
See, when John tells us that the Word became flesh,
it's not merely that Jesus sacrificed the glories and the riches and the status of heaven,
although what an incredible sacrifice that he gave those things up.
But even more, he left those comforts to run into enemy territory, as it were,
knowing that there would be great cost, great pain on a number of levels.
We're going to do this the same way we did last week as we considered his sacrifice.
First, considering how Jesus did this in his incarnation.
Then we'll ask what that means for us.
And finally, return to the uniqueness of his incarnation that wins our hearts.
So what was the pain that Jesus ran toward in the incarnation?
Can we define it a little bit?
First, John tells us that Jesus enters the world.
A world, in fact, that he was in, but the world did not know him.
Verse 10.
Yes, it's the world that he made, but now it's not that perfect world anymore.
It's not the way he originally made it.
It's a fallen world that doesn't even recognize its creator anymore.
It's broken in many ways.
Suffering is everywhere around us.
When John uses the word world, it often has a negative connotation.
It's broken and in rebellion against the creator king.
It's a place that didn't know him, that didn't love him.
That's the world into which Jesus comes.
And that in itself is part of the pain, the humiliation, the lowering of Jesus from creator of all to tiny baby.
But as a result of the world's rebellion, this baby is entering a world now full of suffering.
Isaiah 53 is a great prophecy of the coming Christ where he's depicted as a suffering servant.
Verse 3 says it this way.
He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, familiar with suffering.
Some versions translate.
A man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, familiar with suffering, weeping, thirsting, hungering, hurting.
These things were not a part of his existence in heaven.
But they become everyday realities for the son of man who has no place to lay his head.
He will experience all sorts of things.
Unjust leaders.
Betrayal by friends.
The death of loved ones.
Things that were not meant to be a part of his good creation.
And Jesus sees that billowing cloud of smoke and he runs toward the pain of humiliation and suffering that he knows is there.
But there's another pain.
Jesus knows he's running into.
The pain of rejection.
Look at John 1.11.
He came to his own and his own people did not receive him.
Yes, the world hated him.
Stood in rebellion against him.
But now he comes to the people who are supposed to be God's friends.
Who have been praying and longing for his coming.
And by and large they reject him too.
Isaiah says it as well.
He was despised.
Rejected by men.
He was despised.
And we esteemed him not.
despised.
Rejected.
I think we all know the pain of those things, don't we?
We've experienced those in different ways.
But add to that the disappointment.
That these were the ones who should have welcomed him and celebrated him.
His own people.
It's one thing not to get picked.
Not to get invited to something.
It's another thing altogether for your supposed friends to be the ones running you off.
Jesus should have been invited to a party.
To celebrate the long awaited king is here.
But one leader after another is looking to kill him.
He was rejected.
Despised.
We esteemed him not.
Certainly the rejection that hurt the worst.
It's the one Jesus must have dreaded from an early age.
The one that caused him to sweat drops of blood.
It was the rejection of his father.
His father turning his face away from Jesus.
As Jesus became sin for us,
he experienced the wrath and rejection of a holy God towards sin and rebellion.
And he cries out what?
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
So as we've been considering this morning,
Jesus was born not merely to live,
but quite purposefully to die.
The pain of death itself as a result of the rejection of the people
was certainly daunting.
It wasn't for Jesus merely a possibility when he entered the world,
as it would have been for those first responders who were risking their lives
to go in after others.
For Jesus, it was an absolute certainty.
He came to die.
We've seen him in Luke as we've been studying over the last few months.
Set his face to Jerusalem and a cross and tell his disciples,
I must go there.
This is why I've come.
He's not unclear, is he?
He came to live, but he's headed to a cross because he came to die.
Let's read more of Isaiah 53.
Isaiah describes this king is coming for a reason that we just heard James sing about.
He comes to be pierced for our transgressions.
He was crushed for our iniquities.
Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray.
We have turned everyone to his own way,
and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth.
Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.
By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
And as for his generation,
who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people,
and they made his grave with the wicked,
and with a rich man in his death.
Jesus knew this prophecy.
It may not sound like a Christmas one to you,
but there are words here that can note physical agony,
the painful death of the cross.
There are words here that remind us again of the emotional agony
we were just talking about,
the cursed death of the cross,
receiving the curse of his father.
And Jesus, just imagine him as he's sitting in heaven
with the glories of heaven around him,
in this perfect, intimate relationship with his father,
the riches of all the world at his fingertips,
and he reads this prophecy.
He's told,
this is what the Messiah will endure.
And he says,
I'll go.
I'll rescue them.
I'll walk into that.
And Jesus runs toward our pain,
fully aware of what it would cost.
If we look back at our definition for the incarnation,
we see that he intentionally chooses to take human flesh,
to enter into this world that he knows is fallen.
He chooses even to pay the price of his own life.
Why?
In order to redeem us,
to rescue us,
to do us good.
Now I'm going to say for the third week in a row,
that the incarnation of Jesus is unique,
and we can't replicate it.
We're already human.
We're already living in a fallen world,
so we can't become human or enter a fallen world.
That's where we are.
That's who we are.
It's not something that we can do as he has done,
but also the primary purpose of the incarnation is to redeem,
which is not our job, ultimately.
That's the primary purpose,
not merely to exemplify,
but here again,
we're going to see in some of these passages,
God has called us to similar paths
as what Jesus walked in his incarnation.
We are, after all,
to follow in the footsteps of our Savior, right?
And while my footsteps often set a course away from pain and suffering,
Christmas reminds us
that's not the path that our Savior chose.
He didn't head that direction.
The footprints of the incarnation
travel a long way toward pain and suffering.
If we are to love others as Jesus has loved us,
and we are.
If we are called to follow in his footsteps,
and we are,
then our footsteps will carry us toward pain,
toward brokenness,
toward suffering,
because we're following his.
We've already said this is unnatural
and difficult.
So let's just make sure
that God's Word tells us this,
not will.
That's a very, very important thing.
Does God's Word tell us this?
Of course, the Bible talks in many places
about our enduring suffering,
and trials,
and tribulations as followers of Christ.
It even says that we will fill up
his sufferings for the sake of his church.
But look at John 17 specifically.
It's a passage where Jesus,
before his death,
is praying for us,
for his followers,
those who will believe in him.
And he prays to his Father,
I have given them your word,
and the world has hated them,
because they are not of the world,
just as I am not of the world.
I do not ask that you take them out of the world,
but that you keep them from the evil one.
They are not of the world,
just as I am not of the world.
Sanctify them in the truth.
Your word is truth.
As you sent me into the world,
so I have sent them into the world.
They'll be hated by all for my name's sake,
Jesus will say elsewhere.
If we are following Jesus,
we can expect to encounter
the rejection that he received
from the world.
He knows it.
He prays,
Father, they're going to be hated
as they go into the world,
and yet he does what?
Sends them
into the world.
And he prays for us
as we go
into the world.
Certainly, though,
we're only going to have to face
the suffering
and the rejection part, right?
The dying,
that's not really for us.
That was just for Jesus.
I mean, there is that one place
where he says,
husbands are to love their wives
as Christ loved the church
and gave himself up for them.
So, I mean, that could be,
oh, but then even the women
aren't off the hook
because John chapter 15,
the same guy,
the same John,
writes in John chapter 15,
this is my commandment,
that you love one another
as I have loved you.
Greater love has no one
than this,
that someone lay down his life
for his friends.
And he says it again
in 1 John,
by this we know love,
that Jesus laid down
his life for us
and we ought
to lay down our lives
for the brothers.
all the way
to the point
of laying down
our lives
parallel to what Jesus did.
We're called to follow Jesus
into the pain
like a firefighter
rushing into a burning building
while others are rushing
to get out.
Jesus calls us
to enter into the mess
of others' lives
even at potentially
great cost
to ourselves.
So let's ask the question
this morning,
what could following
in our Savior's footsteps
look like for us?
Maybe start with
the suffering part,
especially if you're like me
and running toward pain
and suffering
would require
a course correction
for you.
Just consider Jesus
who became familiar
with suffering.
A man of sorrows
familiar with suffering.
Ask yourself,
whose suffering
are you familiar with?
Whom are you walking
with long enough
to understand
and even feel
their pain?
We have mission partners
around the world
running toward
all sorts of pain.
One that we're praying
for together
this month
in our prayer guide
is Ursula Spooner
in Vienna, Austria
working with
trafficked women.
And you can read here
requests for a
Chinese girl,
a Nigerian woman,
a Romanian woman
that she's working with.
People who know
deep pain.
Aren't you glad?
Someone with the heart
of Jesus
is there
for them
in their pain?
Isn't that where
the church must be?
In those places
with people hurting
like that?
What about you here?
You know you don't have
to go around the world
to find pain
and suffering.
What about us?
Are we willing
to enter into it
here in Huntsville?
Whose suffering
are you familiar with?
Some of you here
have jumped into
the pain of children
who need parents
to love them
and care for them.
And you've begun
fostering
and adopting
and showing
the love of God
there.
Entering into
that pain
as I've watched
several of you.
Long term pain.
even when you
can't fix it
and it grieves
your heart.
You've entered
in there.
And there are
mothers
and parents
of those dear ones
who need to know
that love
as well.
Many of you
have helped run
toward the pain
of joblessness
and generational
poverty
through our
Jobs for Life
ministry.
Developing
relationships
where the light
of Jesus
can shine
in to both
of us.
It could be
the pain
of homelessness
of racism
the effects
of predatory
payday lending
and all these
places
where we can
enter in
to feel
the pain
first with them
and then to fight
to help those
who are hurting.
God calls us
to be familiar
with their sufferings.
Too often
we're not.
maybe you're
uniquely familiar
already with
the sufferings
of the guy
next door to you
or in the office
next door to you.
Maybe parenting
anxiety.
The long hours
at the office
straining
your marriage.
The emptiness
of chasing
after fulfillment
in the things
of this world
and longing
to be fulfilled
and not
finding it.
Run toward
those relationships.
They don't have
to be around
the world.
They may be
next door
and they may
be just as
frightening to you.
Perhaps
following in our
Savior's footsteps
will look like
having hard
conversations
with a brother
or sister
in Christ
about their
relationships.
When you
encourage a brother
or sister
to forgive,
in their
marriage
or in their
friendship,
you may expect
to be received
and yet find
your counsel
and even your
friendship
to be rejected.
But God
calls us
graciously
and patiently
to follow
Jesus into
those painful
situations,
into those
hard conversations,
to carry
each other's
burdens
and call each
other to
follow Jesus.
whatever the
sin,
whatever the
struggle,
I'm here
with you
and Jesus
is worth it.
What's the
situation where
you can already
see on the
front end
it's really
going to cost
you to get
involved?
Who's the
neighbor,
co-worker,
the friend
whose chaos
could cost you
months,
even years
perhaps,
of peace,
of sanity
on some
days?
You won't
think you
have the
time that
you need
if you get
involved there.
I've got to
tell you again
this morning
what we said
last week.
When Jesus
leaves the
comforts of
heaven and
enters into
this world to
live and die
for us,
his great goal
is not our
temporal comfort
but rather
that we might
move into
uncomfortable
places with
uncomfortable
people to
share his
comfort there.
Jesus calls
us to enter
into the pain
of this world
even to the
point of laying
down our lives
if we must.
He certainly
did so.
He's not
calling us to
go anywhere we
can't already
see his
footprints.
The ones that
are running
toward the
pain we
see them.
But it's
also true
there's a
difference between
his death
and ours.
He said our
death is not
ultimately
redemptive.
We are to
sacrifice in
others lives
for their
good but
only his
death pays
for their
sins and
restores their
relationship with
their heavenly
father.
God
is doing
different work
the pain
that he
endures is
in many ways
of a different
order than
that which we
will face.
And this is
really good news.
This is good
news of gospel
hope for us
because no
matter how hard
we try we
can't avoid the
pain and the
suffering entirely
can we?
I cannot go to
the doctor for
years trying to
avoid it and
I'm still going
to get sick
eventually.
We can try to
ignore the
realities around
us but they
don't go away.
We can try to
pick really safe
relationships with
people who are
just like me and
then find out that
many of those
become really
messy and
difficult and
complicated too.
the true hope
is not that we
can avoid pain
but rather that
we have a
savior who
enters into
the pain to
rescue us.
So we don't
have to obsess
over keeping
ourselves and
our kids from
suffering anymore.
We can obsess
as it were over
the one who
enters into
suffering and
loves to
rescue those
who hurt.
Think of the
aspects of pain
Jesus endured
so we would
never have to.
Not only did
he suffer
humiliation in
this world so
that we might be
honored forever
but also he was
rejected by his
father that we
might be welcomed
by our father
forever.
Never knowing a
moment in this
life or the
life to come
where he turns
his face away
from us.
Our father
always turned
towards us in
love.
Not only did
Jesus die so
that we might
live forever
but also he
endured the
pains of hell
that we might
know the
glories of
heaven and we
never deserved
and know them
forever.
What an amazing
savior.
He is the
great hero of
this story.
He is our
rescuer.
The one who
has come to
save us.
God, I
want to leave
you with this
image in your
minds this
morning.
Imagine that
you've been
trapped under
tons of
rubble.
Death and
destruction all
around you and
your friend is
stuck there next
to you.
You're both
completely helpless.
You're buried so
deeply under this.
You're not able
to get free.
And a first
responder rushes
into the smoke
and pulls you
out and rushes
you out of the
building to
safety.
And then you
look around and
imagine following
his footprints
the way he just
walked to come
after you.
Imagine following
those footprints
right back into
the pain all the
way back to your
friend and
taking him by
the hand and
saying, hey, I'm
here.
I know how it
feels to be
stuck here.
It's awful.
It hurts.
And I'm here
with you.
And I'm not
strong enough to
pull you out.
but I've got
good news.
There's someone
who is.
There's a
rescuer who's
strong enough
to pull you
out and he's
coming for you.
I'm going to be
here with you.
I want you to
know him.
What a great
privilege that we
know the rescuer
who's strong
enough and
passionate enough
to relieve the
pain of everyone
around us who's
hurting.
who comes to
rescue them.
To bring him
to them.
What a great
joy.
Let's pray.
Jesus, we
worship you and
we thank you.
You are cast
off as an
enemy that we
might be welcomed
in as God's
friend.
you endured
torment.
We might know
eternal comfort
and peace.
You ran
toward the
pain so that
we could be
rescued from
it.
We could
never thank you
enough.
Overwhelm our
hearts
with what you
have done for
us.
May our feet
be eager to
follow after
yours.
We ask it in
your name.
Amen.
For more
information,
visit us online
at
southwood.org.
Thank you.