In Him Only: Why God Became Flesh

Sermon October 10, 2021

Why Did God Become Flesh and Live Among Us?

Part Two

(You can watch the video here: You can watch the 30-minute message here:

Over the last three weeks we looked at the Bible’s unequivocal teaching related to the co-equality and co-eternity of Jesus with the Father and the Holy Spirit. In other words, Jehovah God took on flesh and blood and lived awhile among us as a human being – 100% human and at the same time, 100% God. We also looked at the Bible’s unambiguous that belief in the incarnation of Jehovah God as the man Jesus necessary for our salvation.

Scripture also teaches us that all religions, faith groups and people who do not believe in the incarnation are not saved. It doesn’t matter how good a person might be. They will all die with their sins because they never let God in Christ take those sins to the cross.

Last week we examined some of the reasons Scripture tells us WHY Jehovah God become incarnate in Jesus to live – and die – among us.

Today we continue our examination of the reasons God became incarnate in Jesus and dwelt among us. As you might expect, many of the reasons overlap each other.

First, Jesus came to do the Father’s will. “Then I said, “Behold, I have come; It is written of me in the scroll of the book. I delight to do Your will . . .” (Hebrews 10:7) And now in John 6:38: “For I have come down from heaven not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.” We could look at another dozen passages in the gospels that attest to this purpose, but let these suffice for now, because the point begs the question: “What is the fathers will?” It is to THAT question we now turn because the answer affects each of us on this planet.

About 50 years before Jesus was born, an unknown Jewish writer penned these words in what is called the Book of Wisdom: “For God created us to be immortal and formed us in the image of his own nature. But as a result of the devil’s envy, death entered the world, and those who follow him experience it.” (Wisdom 2:23-24)

God’s primary goal and desire for humanity is that no one perish and spend an eternity in the Lake of Fire, the eternal dwelling prepare specifically for Satan and his demons. You find that reference in Matthew 25:41.

God created Adam and Eve, and all – ALL – their progeny to spend eternity with Him. We only need to look at the passage nearly universally known among everyone who owns a Bible: “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in Him would not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

We can also look at St. Peter’s second epistle: “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not willing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9-10); And in his letter to Timothy, Paul reminds anyone who cares to listen, God “wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy 2:4)

And because sin ETERNALLY separates us from God, Jesus, in coming to do the will of the Father, proclaimed to all who had ears to hear and hearts willing to be changed: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17)

Why does God appeal to us so often to repent? Because He knows what sin does to us in this life – and where sin brings us in the next. Who does not know the heartache and the unthinkable horror and tragedies sin has wrought on humanity? How has sin scarred and altered your own life? It certainly has scarred and altered mine.

Think about it. How would your life be different today if you had not committed that sin – those sins – that ultimately worked to change your life for the worse? Or what would your childhood have been like if sin had not been entrenched in your family? Drunkenness, abuse, anger, sexual immorality . . . the list goes on and the scars remain. All because of sin.

Here is how St. James speaks of it in his epistle: “What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is the source not your pleasures that wage war in your body’s parts? You lust and do not have, so you commit murder. And you are envious and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with the wrong motives, so that you may spend what you request on your pleasures. You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” (James 4:1-4)

St. Paul certainly knew from experience how Jesus can set us free. The murderous first century religious terrorist originally made it his aim in life to decimate the Christian church and execute as many followers of Christ as he could find. But it was this same man who wrote to Timothy: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.” (1 Timothy 1:15)

I said it last week, and it deserves repetition, sin has so corrupted our minds, our conscience, and our ability to discern right from wrong, that unless we maintain a DAILY intimate walk with Christ, we don’t know we’re walking in darkness when we are walking in darkness. The Lord Jesus was not joking when He told His disciples: “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.” (Luke 9:23)

The Christians in the churches at Sardis and at Laodicea didn’t take our Lord’s words seriously – and in neglecting His commandments, they lived in a kind of self-deception about their relationship with Christ. Those at Sardis thought they were alive. They didn’t know Jesus considered them to be dead (Revelation 3:1). The Laodiceans thought they were rich. They didn’t know Christ considered them wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked (Revelation 3:17).

And self-deception will be the cause of horrified shock at the Judgment Seat of Christ when those who thought they were walking with Christ – attending worship services, teaching Bible classes, preaching sermons, singing songs, tithing their income, doing all the right religious things – when they hear the King tell them: “Depart from Me, you who worked iniquity. Depart into the eternal lake of fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” You will find those sober warnings in Matthew 7, Matthew 25, and Luke 13.

So, how do we protect ourselves from deceiving ourselves? That’s an easy question to answer: Repeatedly turn your eyes to Jesus. Day by day, repeatedly acknowledge to him that you need the Holy Spirit to change your heart, to change your life. You need His mercy and His forgiveness every day, and you WANT Him to tell you when you start to go astray.

Please hear me! If we are not doing that several times a week, if not several times a day, then we are in danger of slipping into darkness and not realizing that we have slipped until it’s too late.

That’s what happened to Demas, one of Paul’s missionary companions. He was doing well for a while, and then something changed his heart. We don’t know what it was, except Paul tells us that he turned back to the things of the world system. You will find that in 2 Timothy 4.

As the songwriter told it: “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it; Prone to leave the God I love: Take my heart, oh, take and seal it with Thy Spirit from above.
Rescued thus from sin and danger, purchased by the Savior’s blood,
May I walk on earth a stranger, as a son and heir of God.” (Come Thou Font of Every Blessing)

And so, God became flesh to do the will of the Father and to save us from ourselves. And why else did God become flesh and dwell among us? We look now at Luke 12:51-53 –

“Do you suppose that I came to grant peace on earth? I tell you, no, but rather division; for from now on five members in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.” (Luke 12:51-53)

I admit, this is a hard truth to accept when we are told repeatedly by false shepherds that God is love, love, love. These are the ones who sugar-coat the clear warnings of Scripture until their congregations can no longer discern the danger their lifestyles place them in. But what Jesus told us about bringing division in families is tragically proven to be true even in some of your own families.

Why do some families divide because of Jesus? Because those who do not like the light do not want to be with those who walk in it. Those who do not want to hear about sin do not want to be with those who try to keep themselves from sin. Those who want to live life their way do not want to be with those who want to follow the way of Jesus.

Listen! Make no mistake about it. Jesus came to FORCE a decision from us. Either He is our only Lord, King, and Master – or He is not. Either we follow Him wherever He leads us, or we do not follow Him.

Jesus said what He meant, and He meant what He said when He told His disciples: “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.” (Matthew 10:37-38)

Yes, God knows the heartache of family rejection. His own brothers and sisters did not at first believe in Him. His own nation to whom He came and for whom He died rejected Him.

So, where is our heart? Do we decide day by day to follow Jesus, even if none go with us? Those are our only choices – to follow – or not at all. Jesus will abide no partial obedience. Either He is Lord of all – or He is not Lord AT ALL.

Let us then move on to my final point for today -- Why else did Jesus come? He came to seek and save His lost sheep – you and me, our families and friends, our neighbors, and every stranger we meet.

Here’s what Jesus said to the ‘oh-so-religious’ leaders who loved their religious forms and the rituals, but they neglected God’s sheep. In their case, the prophecy of Ezekiel found a fulfillment: “Woe, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flock?. . . [Furthermore] Those who are sickly you have not strengthened, the diseased you have not healed, the broken you have not bound up, the scattered you have not brought back, nor have you sought for the lost; but with force and with severity you have dominated them. They were scattered for lack of a shepherd, and they became food for every beast of the field and were scattered. My flock wandered through all the mountains and on every high hill; My flock was scattered over all the surface of the earth, and there was no one to search or seek for them.” Ezekiel 34:2-6

And then along came Jesus who told them: “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. . . .I know My own and My own know Me . . .and I lay down My life for the sheep . . . This commandment I received from My Father.” (John 10:11-18)

God became flesh and lived among us to shepherd His lost sheep because the religionists of the first century did not want to do their jobs. And neither do many religionists in the 21st century. But listen to Jesus speak this truth to your heart:

“What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” (Luke 15:4-7)

Jesus came for you. And me. Our family. Our friends. Our neighbors. He came for those whom He loves enough to lay down His life.

And so, we come to the close of this message.

Last week we saw that Jehovah God became flesh and blood to call sinners to repentance, that He came to serve and not to be served. And He came to save the world, not to judge it.

Today we looked at three more reasons God became incarnate in Jesus: He came to do the Father’s will; He came to force from us a choice: either Him or our friends and family; and finally, for today, Jesus came to seek for lost sheep.

Next week we will conclude this series as we continue to examine the reasons why God came for time to dwell among us.