Incarnation, pt1
Leadership in Context with Keith Tucci
Episode 066
We are going to start a 2-part series on the critical importance of the incarnation of Jesus Christ and why His virgin birth and coming in the flesh is so important in the Scriptures.
1 John 2:27 As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.
In the first century of the Church, there were two doctrinal issues that kept coming up.
1. Jesus was not God: He was a unique creature of God and He was a man, but He wasn’t God.
2. Jesus was not a man: He came, He looked like a man, but He wasn’t really a man. He was kind of a spirit being.
Both of these are in error because they don’t understand that Jesus was both fully man and fully God.
1 John 2:22-23 Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also.
This teaches us that Jesus is indeed God, that the Father and the Son cannot be separated, and to deny one, or any part of Christ, is to deny the Father. This is critical to our understanding. Jesus coming in the flesh was not just an act of benevolence from God; it was a divine act for our redemptionwhen Jesus clothes Himself in the form of humanity.
1 John 2:26-27 These things I have written to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you. As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.
Let me rephrase this: They are trying to deceive you into believing that Jesus was real, but He was just a mystical figure, a spirit being—but not God clothed in the flesh. You do not need to hear from these false teachers. You have no need for anyone to give you any other doctrine but that Jesus was fully man and fully God. You do not need another revelation of Jesus.
Philippians 2:7 …but [Jesus]emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.
Jesus was fully man. He was sinless—born of a virgin to escape the sin nature that comes through the male seed. This was a very scientific thing that the Holy Spirit did to have Mary conceive as a virgin.
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Jesus was in the beginning WITH God. Jesus was not a created being. It wasn’t that there was just the Father, and then the Father created the Son. They are the triune God—they always were, they always are, they always will be. They can never be anything less than that.
Isaiah 53—Jesus was touched by our infirmities. He bore our sorrows. He knew our grief.
How could He do that as God if He did not set aside His deity and clothe Himself in the form of humanity?
Immanuel, God with us, is critical to the redemptive plan of God. We celebrate this wonderful truth. You cannot be a believer in the savior of Jesus Christ and NOT believe that He was fully man and fully God. He preexisted as God, yet He set that aside, spent 9 months in His mother’s womb, was raised as a child, grew into manhood, and was perfect and without sin—Jesus was incarnate.
· That is why His death on the cross was different from anyone else’s death.
· That is why He was able to nail all of the accusations against us on the cross.
· That is why He, who knew no sin, could become sin for us. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
· That is how He became our unrighteousness so we could become the righteousness of God and have standing with God.
God did not send an idea. God did not send a plan. God did not send a strategy. God clothed Himself in humanity. Through this, we can understand how God describes and uses the Church. Jesus is the head, and we are His body. And He uses the body of Christ so that He might demonstrate Himself to the world. It is in this way that we are to propagate the message of redemption that Jesus has provided. Thank God for what the incarnation of Christ has done for us. Thank God that Christmas is really real.
Join us next week as Keith Tucci continues to put leadership truth in the context of the local church. And as always, please like, share, rate/review, and invite others to listen. See you next week!
