From Advent to Incarnation.

We were praying for you before the service and Ashley actually had us read Mary's prayer, which is based on Hannah's prayer. If you look way back in the Old Testament, you'll see a lot of the same words, almost verbatim, with a little bit of change. Hannah to Mary. She's making it new in her generation. It's a wonderful thing.

That's what we do with the story of Advent, the story of Christmas. We make it new in our generation. Some of you have been watching all the claymation versions of the Christmas story. Anybody like claymation? They've always been my favorite. They were all made when I was a kid, you know, most of them. So I grew up watching these and I'd watch the TV guide carefully to know what time and day it was on. Otherwise you missed it and you never saw it again. So we'd get there early to the TV and I'd get the front seat because I was the youngest of five. We'd watch these claymation Christmas stories and I believed every single one of them. I mean, I didn't care if there were three different versions of Santa. I just was like, that's true. That's true. That's true. Yep, it's all true about him. He's just amazing.

I thought he was real. If anybody here has little kids, well, I thought it was real up until, because I was the youngest, my father and my mother's brothers, my uncles, would really make a big deal of making it real to us kids. We're upstairs and my aunt is playing Beatles music really loud for us up in her room and my dad is stomping on the roof on Christmas Eve. He's got sleigh bells. They climb up on the roof over our head.

There would be no presents before we went upstairs. When we came back downstairs, it would be loaded with presents. So I was fully convinced that Santa had come and that he had brought all the presents under the tree. It was amazing. I'd never see him though, because my grandma would say, quick, you can see him before he leaves. They'd keep us up in the room until Santa had delivered all the presents. Then we get to go downstairs. This was real. This was what we would call theologically incarnated. Santa was above my head. He was in my ears. I was convinced that this was real.

Later on, I found out that there is a truth about this as well. There's something on campus here, on South Hall. There is a plaque, and it was given by the class of 1955 right up on Bascom Hill. If you walk up Bascom Hill and on the left side as you're going up, you'll see it on the last building going up there. It was given by the class that was graduating when my parents both came as Badgers to UW. My parents met here. There'd be no Sean if there was no UW. My parents met here. The class of 1955 gave us this gift. We're going to put a cornerstone on the university. It's going to be Jesus' words. It's going to say, "You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free."

So some of those claymation clips, all of those things that I was believing, I was conforming into the message that I was brought up with. I say, don't conform to clips. Build with Jesus scripts. That's our little reminder from the truth will set you free.

Your trajectory of freedom in your life is directly linked to the truth that you receive, that you live out, not that you just mentally know or systematically know, but that you walk with Jesus. That's knowing the truth. Knowing the truth goes beyond your mind saying yes to an idea. That's just Gnosticism, and that'll get you nowhere except for in your mind. But the Holy Spirit is promised to us as one who will be the Spirit of truth, and he will indwell in us.

So we're going to go today from the incarnation of Jesus to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, and we're going to remember that with the communion.

Truth and the Holy Spirit

All right, we're going to start with Peter. Speaking of clever tales, he says this.

The morning star rises in your hearts. Above all, you must understand this. No prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation of things. For prophecy never had its origin in the human will. But prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

2 Peter 1:19-21

Even in Peter's day, they had the same struggles we have. People were saying the Greek scholars were saying, "Oh, these are cleverly devised tales that these apostles are bringing to us." As a matter of fact, during the whole Old Testament period, this was also the same thing that they were struggling with. "Oh, this is a cleverly devised tale or a cleverly devised law that Moses is bringing to us."

It goes all the way back to the garden because it's the same source that goes after the truth of God that will set you free. It's the enemy. It's the serpent in the garden. His main question is what? "Did God really say?" Did he really do this? Did he really not only say, but did he really live? Did he really incarnate? Is he true God that way in our midst? Emmanuel, God with us?

They were carried along by the Holy Spirit. By the way, see that morning star dawning? I've got good news for you. As of right now, the solstice is over and it's all light from here on. So the morning star has risen in our hearts and it's shining brightly today. If you take any good news from this, maybe that'll be your encouragement today. It's all bright from here.

Paul also talks about this in 2 Timothy 3:12.

Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. While evildoers and imposters go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of because you know those from whom you learned it and how from infancy you have known the holy scriptures. They are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

2 Timothy 3:12-17

We're going into something today that is God-breathed. He has spoken it through his prophets, and he has incarnated it in his life.

From Advent to Christmas

All right, so our "so what" today is this. What is the shift from Advent to Christmas? We're right on the precipice. We've been in a season of Advent. We've got the four candles lit here.

Anybody remember what all four of these are? Tell us. Hope, peace, joy, love. And the center one would be who? The baby. Jesus, the man, the son of man. There he is. So we're all lit up today. We're ready. We're ready to celebrate. To go from Advent into what's called the feast of Christmas.

Let's say this together. One, two, three. The Word became flesh. There it is. That's what we're going for. Incarnation of the Word.

So here's how John puts it.

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 came into being through him, and apart from him, nothing came into being that has come into being. In him was life and the life was the light of men, of all people.

John 1:1-4

This is the shift into the incarnation. We had hope. We had expectation. Now we're seeing heaven meet earth. The line has been crossed from between heaven and earth. It's all going to become one in the incarnation.

So I have a "so who" after our "so what" today. Because in homeschool, we didn't just say "so what." I homeschooled my four kids up until middle school and then I let them pray and choose where they went after that. They all chose different things and really grew. It was awesome because God told me originally for my kids, "You're not all they need. They're on loan to you from me." I said, "Yes sir." So we did who, what, when, where, how, why, and how much. We had a little rap. Who, what, when, where, how, why, and how much.

So we're going to do this. We don't just have a "so what." We have a "who." Think of Jesus now in the incarnation. Think of it as the feast of Christmas today. We're on it.

He was in the world and the world was made through him and the world did not know him. He came to his own and those who were his own did not receive him. But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in his name. They were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of a man but of God.

John 1:10-13

Have you received him today? Has he become incarnated in your heart? Have you made room for him? It's not of our will. It's of God.

So how? If you're into engineering or mechanics, this is going to be a little bit maybe down your road here.

The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw his glory, glory as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 1:14

The same way that in Genesis 1, there's a voice that says, "Let there be," and there is. Which I can't do. I don't think any of you can do today. We can try. I can say, okay, I'm not God. I can't say tree, and a tree appears. But the Word becomes flesh, and it dwells among us.

For the law was given through Moses, grace and truth are realized through Jesus Christ. The same Word that spoke, "Let there be light," and that started creation, is saying, "Let there be," and then in Mary's womb, a body is prepared. I won't get into the technical details, but I was baptized Catholic as a baby. I do not believe that Mary had to be immaculately conceived for the incarnation to happen. I'm not of that faith. I believe that it's a grace work of God in her life.

I believe a body was prepared. There's a prophecy in Psalm 40 that says a body was prepared for Jesus. God implants his zygote, his body. The Word becomes flesh and she provides the nurture.

Full of grace and truth realized through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten who is in the bosom of the Father, he has explained him.

John 1:14-18

Jesus has explained God to us. That's the how. Mary said yes.

John the Baptist points the way

Here's John the Baptist. He's preparing the way. We've just been through his message in Advent, and he says this towards the end of his life.

I'm baptizing you in water, but among you, right now, stands someone who you do not know. It is he who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I'm unworthy to untie.

John 1:26-27

Where? These things took place in Bethany beyond the Jordan where John was baptizing. The next day he saw Jesus coming and he said.

Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

John 1:29

That's the when and the where.

And John also testifies.

Upon him you see the Holy Spirit descending, a dove comes on Jesus, and in the form the Holy Spirit has an incarnated form. The Holy Spirit remains on him. This is the one who baptizes you in the Holy Spirit. I, John the Baptist, have seen and I've testified that this is the Son of God.

John 1:32-34

Now I'm skipping to John 3, and if there's any one verse about the incarnation of Christ at this season that we're in, the in-between Advent and Christmas, here it is.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him. He who believes in him, Jesus, is not judged. He who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. This is the judgment. Light has come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light for their deeds are evil.

John 3:16-19

The same problem that caused the first judgment, the worldwide judgment was what? The first worldwide judgment was by water. Now we're baptized in water to come out of that into the righteousness of Christ.

The second judgment is going to be what element? Fire. Everything will be consumed by fire. God's going to create a new heaven and a new earth. Peter says, what lives should you live knowing that everything's going to be consumed by fire? We're baptized in water. But he says, there's one coming after you who's going to baptize you in the Holy Spirit and with what? Fire. You have both of those happening in your heart, in your life, and you are living out this truth and it's setting you free. Setting you free to love him, to love others, and to walk out "for God so loved the world that he gave."

Light has come into the world. Men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. There's an impending judgment coming that we're warning of. Everything is not okay. But God sent his son in love so that we could know him, so that we could live forever in the new heavens and the new earth. That's the Advent that's coming.

Old covenant wrestling to new covenant indwelling

I have a picture here. It's worth a thousand words. I've probably already said a thousand words. I thought this was very interesting. Have you ever heard of Jacob wrestling with God or the angel? Probably a shadow incarnation, an early Old Testament appearance of the Lord. He's wrestling with him. This is the picture all the way up until Christ came. Ever since Adam and Eve believed the serpent that said, "Did God really say?" this was a wrestling with God. It kind of was incarnated with Jacob. A real Jacob wrestled a real angel of God or representation of him. Flesh versus incarnated flesh type wrestling.

They're wrestling to the point where Jacob gets injured in his hip. He gets a hip injury from it, and he's got a limp ever after that. Then he says to God, to the representation there of God, he says, "Don't leave me without a blessing." He gets a blessing from the person he was wrestling with. Keep that in mind as we go forward here.

This is God's old covenant working up to this baptism of the Holy Spirit with fire. There's a promise because the wrestling is going to end. The filling is going to happen. There's going to be peace between God and humankind. "Peace on earth," the angel said when Jesus was born. "Goodwill toward men," right?

There's going to be a new covenant that has greater power, that has greater transformational change inside out. A new heart is going to be available to us. God's old covenant had this wrestling aspect back and forth as we thought it was clever stories that God was giving us.

But he says this in the law.

Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words which I'm commanding you today, put them on your heart. Teach them diligently to your sons and talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up.

Deuteronomy 6:4-7

That was God's desire. That was his design from the beginning. He wanted to walk with Adam. Adam ended up hiding.

In Jacob, you know, in the wrestling, these are some of the aspects of it right now. He was called Jacob, a heel grabber, a supplanter. He's grabbing Esau's heel to get the most out of the family. He's a deceiver. He tricked his dad into getting his blessing. There's a struggle going on between Israel and God. This is the old covenant. There's a stubborn people and the prophets are told, "God tells the prophets, I'm sending you to a stubborn people. I'm sending you to wrestlers. I'm sending you to those who will not listen to you."

Jesus says the same things to us, to those who are still living in that kind of old covenant mindset. There's a law and you have to follow that in order to please.

But here's the new covenant promise. This is Jeremiah and this is the assigned text for this Sunday for the Advent.

Behold, days are coming when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them. But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days. I will put my law within them and on their heart I will write it. I will be their God. They will be my people. They will not teach each other again, each man his neighbor and his brother, saying know the Lord. For they will all know me. Why? Because he'll indwell them. From the least of them to the greatest of them. For I will forgive their iniquity at the cross and their sin I will remember no more.

Jeremiah 31:31-34

What a great promise of the new covenant of God. Even in our church age, in our new covenant receiving times, we still fall into this sometimes. Even with receiving the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we're like the disciples. We're competing with each other. We're looking at each other and saying, "You know, this body did this, or our body is better than this body, or my walk is better than yours." We're looking at each other instead of looking to the Lord.

What happens from that? We start to redefine things. What does revival look like? Well, let's just redefine it to everybody gets along because Jesus saves everybody. That's revival. No, that's not it. You go from death to life by grace through faith. The whole unity of the whole world is not revival. That's Babylon building a tower saying we can do anything. Jesus didn't come to bring that. He said, "I'm coming to bring you the truth and the truth is going to set you free."

De-incarnating and re-incarnating the truth

What do we do? We de-incarnate the word. We say things like, "Well, the story of Jonah was just a myth to teach Israel something about God and about racism." No, it was a real Jonah. Jesus doesn't say, "As Jonah was in the heart of the fish, in the belly of the earth for three days, wink, wink. Remember that story? Wink, wink, right?" He doesn't do that. It's a real Jonah. It's a real fish. It's a real going down under and a resurrection out and a miraculous survival of a man inside the belly of a fish for three days.

This is real. This is incarnated. We're de-incarnating the truth. This is not new. This is something that the early church handled over and over and over again.

We're going to end with something called the Council of Nicaea, where Saint Nicholas actually slapped somebody. Have you heard that story? Saint Nick is at the Council of Nicaea in 325, and Arius has a heresy. This Arius guy says, "Jesus was made by the Father." That was getting traction everywhere in the church in the early 300s. They were saying, "Jesus is not fully God. He was made."

Saint Nicholas, the legend goes, was there, and he got so mad at him. He hauls off and he hits him. Problem is, it's not true. If you look at the records of the Council of Nicaea, he wasn't even there. But it's a good story, right? But we're treating the Word of God similarly. We're de-incarnating things. We can't do that to truth.

Because what God does, it's so beautiful. He creates Adam and then he gives him breath and life and the truth lives out. Same way. People live lives of faith. He takes what they're living out. He gives them words to tell us and prophetic words to tell us about the Messiah. But they're real people living it out and saying a real Messiah is going to come. He's not just going to be a spirit being that takes on all of the sin of the world in our spirit. Those are the heresies. Those are the things that happen.

We appease because the truth is hard sometimes. We appease. That's one of the other wrestlings we do in our modern church. And sometimes we even let a bitter root come in where we're hurt by others or the church. We're just going to talk about that a lot and fellowship around our bitterness. No, we can't do that. We have to let him incarnate us by the Holy Spirit and let him heal us.

That's the lens. Don't de-incarnate.

Now what

This is our charge today before communion. Ask for his lens. We need each other. We need elders that understand the word of God. We need councils, church councils that have come together that give us the truth about that confirm the truth of Jesus to us so that the Arius heresy doesn't go on through all generations. So we don't de-incarnate the word. We receive his spirit. We allow him to indwell us.

That's our now what. One of the ways we do that is physically. We remember him and we say yes, Lord. We're receiving you today.

For God so loved the world. He who comes from heaven is above all. What he has seen and heard, of that he testifies. He who has received his testimony has set his seal to this. God is true. He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. He who believes in the Son has eternal life. But he who does not obey the Son will not see life. The wrath of God abides on him.

John 3:16, 31-36

We're going to be thankful to the Lord that he has taken on all of that and he has delivered us from the wrestling and the wrath and he has given us of himself in communion, in the Passover.

The Nicene Creed

I was mentioning the Nicene Creed. This was basically one of the first big councils. The early church lost a lot of people from persecution, how the Romans would feed them to the lions. The church was amazingly growing through that whole time. There were leaders that were raised up. By the time 300 came, there were some very godly leaders through that whole process of the church. That's why when this untruth came, they were like, "No, we can't go down this road. We've got to stay with what God has for us."

They got together and they said, "We're going to talk about Jesus and we're going to decide together how to say what we believe. We're going to send that to all of the churches around." That's what the council did. We have the words from 325 that they put together for us, and we can say them together as connected to them in worship in what Jesus came to give. It's such a gift.

It's called the Nicene Creed because it was out of the Nicene Council. I just put a little summary here. Yes, God said a living word. We're defining what is essential here. In unity, essentials. We're going to see it right here. We're testing the life and the fruit. If there is somebody who's taught us something else, we're going to say that elders are helping us. These people who got together in this council are helping us today. They're held accountable and they're honored.

So here it is. The Nicene Creed. Anybody grow up saying this? If you already know it by heart, good job. Excellent. This is designed to say together. I'm not going to require you to say it if you don't. If you're not a believer yet or if you're just not comfortable saying it out loud. But I'm going to invite you. If you want to, you can say this together with me.

We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is visible and invisible. We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, light from light, true God from true God begotten not made of one being with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven. Was incarnate from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and was made man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate. He suffered death and was buried. On the third day he rose again in accordance with the scriptures. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets. We believe in one holy Catholic, that's all faithful ones, an apostolic church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen.

The Nicene Creed, 325 AD

So we come back to here as we prepare our hearts for communion.

You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

So we're not going to conform to the claymation clips. We're going to build with Jesus scripts instead today. We're going to build on his words of life. Hopefully you've been able to glean something. There were a lot of scriptures today, but this simple act of worship together is his Supper.

Communion

Here at New Culture, you're welcome to participate if you're a believer in the Lord Jesus. We don't hold that these transform into actual body or blood, but we remember him in these elements together and we receive him in our hearts afresh.

Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any hurtful way in me and lead me in your everlasting way. Let him do that.

Let's confess our need for Jesus to save us. His name from the angel. You shall call his name Jesus, Yeshua, Yehoshua, for he will save his people from their sins.

We confess that we have sinned against you by what we have done and left undone. In our attitudes and actions, we have not loved you with all our heart. We've not loved our neighbor as ourselves. We repent and ask you to turn our hearts to you. Thank you for the mercy given at the cross and the cleansing of our hearts and minds by the blood you shed for us. Thank you for giving yourself as a sacrifice for ourselves.

Let's pray as Jesus taught us.

Our Father in heaven, holy is your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Thank you, Lord. Thank you for your forgiveness to us.

We just extend it now. Jesus said the one who's forgiven little loves little but the one who's forgiven much loves much. Thank you, Father, for the gift of forgiveness in your Son.

Keep us from temptation and deliver us from evil. Yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever. Amen.

When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles were sitting at the table. He said to them.

I've eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God. He took the bread and he gave thanks and he broke it and he said, This is my body given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way after supper he took the cup, lifted it up, and he said, This is the new covenant which is poured out for you.

Luke 22:14-20

This is love. Not that we love God, but that he loved us and gave his only Son for us as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

We're praising the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit for the finished work of forgiveness, freedom at the cross, and we're receiving God's blessing today.

Jesus, we love you.