storage.cloversites.comstorage.cloversites.com/christcommunitychurchmidtown/… · Web viewDerived from the Latin word meaning “coming” or ... He is the ultimate object of worship

Advent Week 1

Starting November 30th

Come, thou long expected Jesus,

born to set thy people free;

from our fears and sins release us,

let us find our rest in thee.

Israel's strength and consolation,

hope of all the earth thou art;

dear desire of every nation,

joy of every longing heart.

Born thy people to deliver,

born a child and yet a King,

born to reign in us forever,

now thy gracious kingdom bring.

By thine own eternal spirit

rule in all our hearts alone;

by thine all sufficient merit,

raise us to thy glorious throne.

- Charles Wesley, 1744

What is Advent? Derived from the Latin word meaning coming or arrival, Advent begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas. Its the season when we look back to Christs first coming, as a baby born in Bethlehem, and look forward to his second coming when he will return to renew and redeem every part of fallen creation. Jesus Christ has come and will come again. The advent season is therefore a time to reflect upon the promises of God and to anticipate the fulfillment of those promises. It is a time for remembering and rejoicing.

ADVENT READINGS WEEK 1

First Sunday in Advent

GENESIS 3:115 The fall of man. Despite the bleakness of the circumstances, God injects a strong note of hope in verse 15the first prediction of the coming of Jesus.

Monday

ISAIAH 9:27 Christs birth and kingdom are foretold by the prophet Isaiah. This coming King will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Meditate on the four terms used hereeach one is amazing.

Tuesday

ISAIAH 11:19 Another prediction of the coming Messiah King. Matthew 1:117 makes a point of showing us who Jesus family is because of the words of God in the book of Isaiah that spoke of Jesus as a shoot from the stump of Jesse.

Wednesday

MICAH 5:24 A prophecy which both pinpoints the exact location of the Messiahs birth, as well as telling us about his character and power.

Thursday

ISAIAH 53:112 The great theme of this section of Isaiahs prophecies is Jesus Christ in his sufferings. The kingly qualifications described in Isaiah are so matchless that only the coming of the Lord himself can fulfill them. The question is: How can any king be powerful enough to liberate us from slavery and bondage? The answer: Only one who is God himself.

Friday

MALACHI 4:16 This is a reference to the first and to the second coming of Christ. In both, Christ, the sun of righteousness, is a light to those who revere his name.

Saturday

ISAIAH 60:122 A prophecy and description of the New Jerusalemthe future glorious state that Christ will usher in when he comes again.

FOR GROUP OR PERSONAL STUDY

There are numerous Old Testament prophecies and promises about the coming of a Messiah.

The first comes in Genesis 3. In verse 15, God predicts that a descendant of Eve will someday come and battle the serpent who, of course, is Satan. What will the outcome be? Eves son will be wounded (you will strike his heel) but Satan will be defeated (he will crush your head.) Here is the first prediction of the coming of Jesus. Gods words indicate that Jesus coming will undo the work of the serpentof sin and all the wreckage it causesbut not without cost to Jesus.

Isaiah is full of prophecies of a coming Messiah King. Chapter 9, verse 6 reads: For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Jesus is the Wonderful Counselor. He is the true source of wisdom.He is Mighty God. The word mighty is the Hebrew word gibor, and it means hero, champion;

the one who faces overwhelming odds, is willing to give his life, and saves the people.

Everlasting Father means that Jesus brings you into an intimate family relationship with himthis champion is your dad.

Lastly, he is Prince of Peace, Prince of Shalom. Shalom is the Hebrew word which means absolute spiritual and physical flourishing. Jesus not only gives you a wonderful relationship with him and gives you peace. He is here to eventually create a new heaven and a new earth. He is here to bring peace and justice, and to ultimately rid the world of poverty, injustice, violence, war, disease, and death.

However, when we get to Isaiah chapter 53, this Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, who is supposed to end violence, is instead the victim of violence: Yet it was the Lords will to crush him and cause him to suffer (53:10); He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed (53:5).

Then come the prophecies in Isaiah 60 which seem to be predicting a future era in which Jerusalem and Judah have a great deal of economic and political power and prosperity (the riches of the nations.) If you look carefully, you will notice it is talking about something that not only has never happened but could never happen in human history as we know it. Verse 18 and followingtalk about a society where there is no violence, no war, no sorrow or sadness. There will no longer be a need for the sun or the moon (Isaiah 60:19). We are looking at the new heaven and new earth.

We are told in Isaiah 55:12 that when God comes back to renew the world, You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the fields will clap their hands. This is the destiny of Gods people when Christ returns.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION OR DISCUSSION

1. Isaiah calls Jesus: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. How does knowing this about Jesus change the way we live on a daily basis?

2. Rooted in his desire for all of creation to experience his kingdom and shalom, God shows a special compassion and protection for the poor and marginalized throughout the Bible. In what practical ways can you and your community group show compassion? How can you (and your group) serve your neighborhood in ways that are uniquely helpful?

3. In what ways can we celebrate the joy and hope of Christmas and anticipate the joy and hope of Christs return?

PRAYER

Read aloud the hymn (or, if you can, sing it).

Thank God that Jesus is the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Ask God to help you to reflect on it, treasure it, and remember it.

Thank God that he is generous and the giver of all good things. Thank him that he has always had a plan for us and for the world that he revealed to the prophets and that finds its fulfillment in Jesus Christ.

Pray that God would use you and that you would willingly do all you can to help accomplish his great plan. Pray for help to live justly and generously and to walk humbly with God.

Pray for His Toy Store (Hope for New York's outreach to provide toys this Christmas to families in financial need and who have been affected by Hurricane Sandy). Pray for the 750 families who are invited to pick out toys this year, that they would experience God's grace, love, and care. Pray also for the host churches and pastors, who are ministering in some of the toughest neighborhoods in NYC, that God will fill them with his strength and love as they serve and care for their communities.

FOR FAMILY STUDY

Read Operation No More Tears! The Rescuer will come: prophecies from Isaiah 9, 11, 40, 50, 53, 55, 60 in The Jesus Storybook Bible, pages 144151 (or the equivalent story in your childrens Bible).

QUESTIONS

1. What was Isaiahs job? Isaiah was a prophet, so his job was to listen to God and tell the people what God said.

2. Some of the things God told Isaiah were about the future. Isaiah lived about 700 years before Jesus, but he knew a lot about Jesus. What are some of the things Isaiah knew about the future and Jesus? That Jesus will be the Rescuer King who will come to earth and do many great amazing things, but then he will suffer and die. But he wont stay dead; God will make him alive again, and he will rescue his people and one day make the world perfect again.

3. Isaiah calls Jesus by many different names. Four of those names are below but some of the vowels the A, E, I, O, and Usare missing. Fill in the missing vowels to get the names of Jesus.

W__ND__RF__L COUNSELOR M__GHTY G__D EVERLASTING F__TH__R PRINC__ OF PEAC__

Advent Week 2

Starting December 9th

O come, O come, Emmanuel

And ransom captive Israel

That mourns in lonely exile here

Until the Son of God appear

Rejoice! Rejoice!

Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free

Thine own from Satans tyranny

From depths of Hell Thy people save

And give them victory oer the grave

Rejoice! Rejoice!


O come, Thou Key of David, come,

And open wide our heavenly home;

Make safe the way that leads on high,

And close the path to misery.

Rejoice! Rejoice!


O come, O come, Thou Lord of might,

Who to Thy tribes, on Sinais height,

In ancient times didst give the Law,

In cloud, and majesty and awe.

Rejoice! Rejoice!


Latin hymn from the 12th Century,

translated into English by John Mason Neale, 1851

(Note: Emmanuel is derived from the Greek and Immanuel is derived from the Hebrew. Both spellings mean "God with us".)


Second Sunday in Advent

GENESIS 22:1-18 God promises that through faithful Abraham all nations on earth will be blessed. This is astonishing; God is going to save his people through Abrahams family.

Monday

EXODUS 20:1-17 The Ten Commandments. Note that God first rescues the people from Egypt, and then he gives them the Ten Commandments. Keeping the Ten Commandments is not what saved them; God had already done that. God did not first give the Law and then deliver the peoplefirst he delivered his people, and then he gave them the Law. Thus we are not saved by the Law, but saved for the Law. The Law is how we conduct our love relationship with God, not the way we merit the relationship. We are saved by faith in Christ alone.

Tuesday

ISAIAH 40:1-11 The prophecy cited in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and John announcing that John the Baptist would be sent by God to prepare the way for Jesus.

Wednesday LUKE 1:525

The birth of John the Baptist is foretold to Zechariah.

Thursday

LUKE 1:2656 The angel Gabriel tells Mary of the incarnation. Mary is the first person who hears the name Jesus. She is the first one who gets the message that salvation is coming into the world through a baby who is going to be born in Bethlehem, who is the Lord, and who is descending into time and space to save us.

Friday

MATTHEW 1:125 Matthew starts with the genealogywho is Jesus, what are his roots, who is his familyand then tells the story of the angel of the Lord coming to Joseph in a dream. Immanuel is the name given to Jesus in this annunciation text. It means: God with us. Consider what it means that Jesus Christ is God and is with us.

Saturday

LUKE 1:5780 The birth of John the Baptist. Zechariah, Johns father, sang about the Christ, Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them (Luke 1:68).


God makes promises to his people throughout the Old Testament. A rainbow appears as a promise that God will never again send a flood to destroy the world. God promises to make Abraham a great nation. God promises deliverance to the people of Israel during Passover. God makes and keeps his promises again and again. And among these promises there is an even greater promise God promises a Messiah, a deliverer, an anointed King.

When God calls Abraham in Genesis 12, God promises in verse 23: I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing...and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.

This incredible promisethat ultimately God is going to save his people through Abrahams family rests on another linchpin promise. In verse 7 God says that Abraham will have offspring. But Abrahams wife Sarah is barren. Genesis 11:30 says that Sarah was childless because she was not able to conceive. So, the redemption of the world hinges on the miraculous birth of a child to a barren woman. And yet we read in Genesis 21:13, Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him.

But, when God in Genesis 22 calls Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac, at first, it would appear, that God was abandoning his promises to Abraham.

This call to Abraham reminds us of the other calls, especially the first one in Genesis 12. On both occasions he was called to go, leaving all his security, comfort, and everything his heart rested in. He was called to make his hearts dearest objects into an offering to God. In Genesis 12, those sacrifices were more general. He was giving up his friends, most of his family, life in a civilized, safe place. These are major sacrifices. God was asking Abraham to trust in Gods promise as his security and significance, not these other things. That is what God is doing again, as Abraham is called to offer up Isaac, the dearest thing in his life.

In every case, God is saying, Dont look to anything but me. Make me your ultimate security, worth, and hope. Dont trust in anything but me. Dont rest your heart in anything more than me for your significance and security.

But the ultimate nature of this test is summed up in the term God deliberately uses with emphasis in Genesis 22:2: your son, your only son. It is not literally true that Isaac is Abrahams only son. But Isaac is Abrahams only son in that all his hopes are focused on Isaac: he is the promised son, the one through whom God promised to rescue his people.

Abrahams series of calls from God can be summed up like this:

Go out. Where? Ill tell you later. Just go.

You will have a son. When? Ill tell you later. Just trust.

Now offer up your son on the mount. Why? Ill tell you later. Just climb.

Did Abraham push himself up the mountain simply saying, I have to obey God perfectly! I can do it! I must do it! and so on? No, Genesis 22:8 shows that Abraham had decided to cling to the goodness and promises of God despite all appearances. He says, God himself will provide the lamb. Verse 5 also seems to be an indication of Abrahams hope, because he tells his servants that we will come back to you. We read in Hebrews 11:1719, By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned. Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.

We read in Counterfeit Gods, God saw Abrahams sacrifice and said, Now I know that you love me, because you did not withhold your only son from me. But how much more can we look at his sacrifice on the cross and say to God, Now we know that you love us. For you did not withhold your son, your only son, whom you love, from us.

It is hard not to notice that centuries later another angelic messenger comes to another incredulous woman to tell her about another miraculous birth, and he answers her doubts by saying: No word from God will ever fail (Luke 1:37). Unless Isaac was born, Gods people could not be blessed and saved, but in the end, he only points to the ultimate Isaac through whom all Gods promises are ultimately fulfilled.


1. Why was Abraham willing to give God his only son whom he loved?

2. What things have you trusted in instead of Jesus for your hope or happiness, significance or security? Where are you tempted to forget or distrust Gods promises?

3. How do you respond when God asks you to do something difficult or even, to your thinking, unfair?

4. What do we learn about God from the story of Abraham and Isaac, and how should this change the way we live?

5. Do you believe that all we own and are belongs to God or that our possessions, resources and gifts belong to us? How does this belief shape your actions and the way you use your home, money, time, and skills?

6. Abraham did not withhold his son; God did not withhold his Son but gave him for us. How does this shape or affect your relationship with God and the way you live on a daily basis?

PRAYER

Read aloud the hymn (or, if you can, sing it).Thank God that he sent his Son, his only Son, to live and die for us.

Pray that you would learn to trust God and to love him more than anything else.

Acknowledging that all we have and all we are belongs to God, pray that he would help us to release our hold on all that he has given us.

Pray, praising God for all he has generously provided to Redeemer in the past year and that God would graciously continue to sustain Redeemers work and ministry.

FOR FAMILY STUDY

Read The Present: The story of Abraham and Isaac, from Genesis 22 in The Jesus Storybook Bible, pages 6269 (or the equivalent story in your childrens Bible).

QUESTIONS

Fill in the missing letters.

1. Abraham was willing to give God his only son whom he loved. Why?

ABRAHAM TRUSTED GOD AND _ _ V _ D GOD MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE.

2. God asked Abraham to sacrifice his only son, whom he loved. God also sacrificed someone he loved. It was the same sacrifice as Abraham. Who was it?

GOD SACRIFICED HIS ONLY SON, J_ _ _ _.

3. We read in the story that: like Isaac ...another Son [that is Jesus] would climb another hill, carrying wood on his back. What was the wood this time?

IT WAS THE C_ _ _ _.

4. Abraham is asked to give up something he loves. Because Abraham loves God more than anything else he is willing to do it. Is that true for you? What do you find yourself wanting more than Jesus?

5. How can you learn to love God and trust God more than anything else?

PRAYER

Help your children to pray that they would love Jesus more than anything else.

Pray with them for Redeemer and for all that God has generously provided in the past year and that God would graciously continue to sustain Redeemers work and ministry.

Advent Week 3

Starting December 14th

Thou who wast rich beyond all splendour,

All for love's sake becamest poor;

Thrones for a manger didst surrender,

Sapphire-paved courts for stable floor.

Thou who wast rich beyond all splendour,

All for love's sake becamest poor.

Thou who art God beyond all praising,

All for love's sake becamest man;

Stooping so low, but sinners raising

Heavenwards by thine eternal plan.

Thou who art God beyond all praising,

All for love's sake becamest man.

Thou who art love beyond all telling,

Saviour and King, we worship thee.

Emmanuel, within us dwelling,

Make us what thou wouldst have us be.

Thou who art love beyond all telling,

Saviour and King, we worship thee.

-Frank Houghton, 1934


Third Sunday in Advent

REVELATION 21:127 Johns description of the new heaven and the new earthour future homewhere there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain.

Monday

MICAH 4:17 Micah describes the New Jerusalem. The Messiah will be there. He will rule and all nations shall find peace.

Tuesday PSALM 98

The Lord will come again to the earth but this time as judge and King.

Wednesday

PHILIPPIANS 2:511 In this amazing description of Christ and his mission on earth we learn that one day all will declare that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Thursday

TITUS 2:113:7 In the future, Gods glory will appear when Jesus returns to this world in splendid power. We know that it will certainly happen, so we wait for the blessed hopethe appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Friday MATTHEW 25:146

Three parables about the kingdom of heaven, when the Son of Man comes in his glory.

Saturday

REVELATION 5:114 John reveals the glory of the completed work of Christthe exalted Lamb of God. The elder uses two special names to describe Jesus: the Lion of the tribe of Judah and the Root of David.


In Revelation 21 and 22, when God describes and depicts the end result, the climax, the apex of his redemption, he shows us a citythe New Jerusalem.

When we look at the New Jerusalem, we discover something very strange. In the midst of the city is a crystal river, and on each side of the river is the tree of life, bearing fruit and leaves which heal the nations of all their wounds and the effects of the divine covenant curse (Revelation 22:23). This city is the fulfillment of the purposes of the Garden of Eden. We began life in a garden, but will end it in a city.

The new heaven and the new earth mean that this world will be restored, purified, and beautified. It is a new material creation, where everything sad that has ever happened will come untrue. It will be the utter defeat of evil, because all the evil and suffering you have ever experienced, and that the world has ever experienced, will only make the eventual glory and joy greater. It is not just that we are going to be consoled for it or compensated for it. In some way it is going to be brought into that glory and made even greater for it having happened. That is the reason why C. S. Lewis says in The Great Divorce: They say of some temporal suffering, No future bliss can make up for it, not knowing that heaven, once attained, will work backwards and turn even that agony into a glory.

We read in Revelation 21:4: There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.

Jonathan Edwards in his sermon Heaven, a World of Love puts it like this: The most stately cities on earth, however magnificent their buildings, yet have their foundations in the dust, and their streets dirty and defiled, and made to be trodden under foot; but the very streets of this heavenly city are of pure gold, like unto transparent glass, and its foundations are of precious stones, and its gates are pearls.... There are many principles contrary to love, that make this world like a tempestuous sea. Selfishness, and envy, and revenge, and jealousy, and kindred passions keep life on earth in a constant tumult....

But oh! what rest is there in that world which the God of peace and love fills with his own gracious presence, and in which the Lamb of God lives and reigns, filling it with the brightest and sweetest beams of his love; where there is nothing to disturb or offend, and no being or object to be seen that is not surrounded with perfect amiableness and sweetness...where there is no enemy and no enmity; but perfect love in every heart and to every being; where there is perfect harmony among all the inhabitants, no one envying another, but everyone rejoicing in the happiness of every other...where love is always mutual and reciprocated to the full; where there is no hypocrisy or dissembling, but perfect simplicity and sincerity; where there is no treachery, or unfaithfulness, or inconstancy, or jealousy in any form...where there is no division through different opinions or interests, but where all in that glorious and loving society shall be most nearly and divinely related, and each shall belong to every other, and all shall enjoy each other in perfect prosperity and riches, and honor, without any sickness, or grief, or persecution, or sorrow, or any enemy to molest them, or any busybody to create jealousy or misunderstanding, or mar the perfect, and holy, and blessed peace that reigns in heaven!!

That is our future. That is our living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.


1. In the biblical passages for this week God is described in a variety of ways and given a variety of titlesamong them are the following: the Lord God Almighty, the Lamb, he who was seated on the throne, the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the God of Jacob, the Lord our God, The LORD, the King, God the Father, our great God and Savior. What do we learn about God from these titles and what does it mean for our relationship with him?

2. According to the description in Revelation the future city will be full of peace and righteousness. There will be no violence or ruin or destruction. The sun and moon will not be necessary because Gods presence in the city is all the light needed. In what situations might we draw on this description of heaven? What other descriptions of eternity have you drawn on in the past and why?

3. How can the knowledge that there will be no violence or destruction in the future kingdom help us, and those we come into contact with, to cope with the violence and destruction we experience around us?

4. How does your life reflect your belief in the promised return of Jesus? Is it something you think about and long for? What can and should you be doing more of to prepare for Jesus return?

5. The community described in the future city is one of perfectly restored shalom. What are some tangible ways that we and the church can be a better foretaste of that community?

(Examples include compassion and justice ministries, radical commitment to reconciliation with one another, forgiveness, unity, sharing of wealth and power, fighting disease and hunger and providing help for the sick and physically afflicted, doing our jobs with excellence, with integrity, with love, and with an eye to helping others around us, etc.)

PRAYER

Read aloud the hymn (or, if you can, sing it).Thank God for the amazing future he has promised and planned for us. Pray that God would help us to set our minds on things above.

Pray that we would be generous to those in need this Advent season and for opportunities to welcome the broken, and to practice reconciliation and forgiveness because God has reconciled and forgiven us.

Pray for all those who are still suffering and who have lost loved ones and homes as a result of Hurricane Sandy. Pray for those for whom Christmas is a difficult season due to loss, grief, or loneliness. Pray that they would know the loving provision of God.

FOR FAMILY STUDY

Read A Dream of Heaven: John sees into the future, from Revelation 1, 5, 21, 22 in The Jesus Storybook Bible, pages 342 350 (or the equivalent story in your childrens Bible).

QUESTIONS .

1. Who wrote the last book of the Bible which describes what things will be like when Jesus returns?

2. One day, when Jesus returns, there will be a new heaven and a new earth. Everything is going to be made new. This world will be our true, perfect home. Gods people will live with God forever. Nothing will ever separate us from God again. Look at the letters below and remove the letters Q, X, and Z, then write the other letters in order to get a description of what this will be like:

TEQARXXSSAQXDZZNEZSSXXDEZAQTH XLONQQELINEXSSZZZSIQCKNESQSPXX AIZNFEQXXARQSXINZZ

NO MORE ...__ __ __ __ ____ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ ____ __ __ ____ __ __ __

__ __ __

3. How does this vision of the future kingdom and our future with God forever help us live in the world today?

PRAYER

Help your children to pray, thanking God that one day there will be no more tears or loneliness or sickness or pain or death or sin and that we will one day live with God forever in the new heaven and the new earth.

Advent Week 4

Starting December 21st

Hark! the herald angels sing,

"Glory to the new born King,

peace on earth, and mercy mild,

God and sinners reconciled!"

Joyful, all ye nations rise,

join the triumph of the skies;

with th' angelic host proclaim,

"Christ is born in Bethlehem!"


"Glory to the new born King!"

Christ, by highest heaven adored;

Christ, the everlasting Lord;

late in time behold him come,

offspring of a virgin's womb.

Veiled in flesh the Godhead see;

hail th' incarnate Deity,

pleased with us in flesh to dwell,

Jesus, our Emmanuel.



Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace!

Hail the Sun of Righteousness!

Light and life to all he brings,

risen with healing in his wings.

Mild he lays his glory by,

born that we no more may die,

born to raise us from the earth,

born to give us second birth.



-Frank Houghton, 1934


Fourth Sunday in Advent

LUKE 2:121 Luke tells the story of Jesus birth. The first people to hear the good news about the birth of Gods Son were shepherds.

Monday

MATTHEW 2:123 The wise men (Magi) find the King they have been searching for, and they give Jesus gifts and worship him.

Tuesday JOHN 1:136

John describes the incarnationthe coming of the Lamb of God.


Augustine said this in a sermon about the incarnation: The Word of the Father, by whom all time was created, was made flesh and was born in time for us. He, without whose divine permission no day completes its course, wished to have one day for His human birth. In the bosom of His Father He existed before all the cycles of ages; born of an earthly mother.... The Maker of man became man that He...the Bread, might be hungry; that He, the Fountain, might thirst; that He, the Light, might sleep; that He, the Way, might be wearied by the journey; that He, the Truth, might be accused by false witnesses; that He, the Judge of the living and the dead, might be brought to trial by a mortal judge; that He, Justice, might be condemned by the unjust; that He, Discipline, might be scourged with whips; that He, the Foundation, might be suspended upon a cross; that Courage might be weakened; that Security might be wounded; that Life might die. To endure these and similar indignities for us, to free us, unworthy creatures, He who existed as the Son of God before all ages, without a beginning, deigned to become the Son of Man.... He did this although He who submitted to such great evils for our sake had done no evil and although we, who were the recipients of so much good at His hands, had done nothing to merit these benefits.

The incarnation is the great miracle. In many other religions the founder is a human being sent to show us what to do to be saved. But Jesus is God himself come to earth. His coming means he will not just tell us what we have to do to be saved, but will do for us all that we cannot do ourselves he will live the obedient life we should have lived but did not; he will die to pay the penalty for the disobedient life we shouldnt have lived but did. He came to accomplish our salvation for us.

The following are some of the wonderful implications of the fact that the Savior is not only truly God but truly human:

If God became truly human, we have a remarkable resource to face pain and suffering. Only the Christian God descended into the world, became vulnerable, and suffered and died himself.

Jesus knows what its like to experience hunger, danger, injustice, rejection, torture, suffering, and death. Moreover, because he is God with us (Matthew 1:23), he gives us his personal presence in our suffering.

If God became truly human, then we should not be too impressed with glitz, physical beauty, status, and power. The incarnation means that God was willing to empty himself of his glory and power and live humbly as a servant. In the incarnation God associated with undesirables. The first people to arrive at the stable were shepherds. Shepherds in Jesus day were at the bottom of the social ladder. They were marginal and disdained. Yet, God announces the birth of Jesus to them first and it is the shepherds through whom others learn about JesusLuke 2:17 says: When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child. The incarnation should mean the end of our snobbery.

The following are some of the wonderful implications of the fact that the baby born in Bethlehem is God himself:

If Jesus is God, he is not simply to be admired and respected but to be worshiped, adored, and delighted in. The purpose of our lives is to behold his glory and beauty (John 17:24). He is the ultimate object of worship. How can you come to grips with someone who gave himself utterly for you without you giving yourself utterly to him? We need to give ourselves wholly to him. That is the only reasonable thing to do for someone who gave himself wholly for us.

If Jesus is God, he is to be absolutely obeyed and given central priority in our lives. He must be Lord. Jesus is Godand therefore he should be the preeminent concern of our choices, the ultimate Lord over our wills.

If Jesus is God, his salvation is of infinite value. His blood was shed as a ransom (Mark 10:45) to pay for our sin. But his blood was the blood of God (Acts 20:28)! Imagine how valuable that is. No sin is too great to be forgiven; no brokenness is too great to be healed.

If Jesus is God, then there is endless hope for the world and for you. Jesus, the true King, has returned and has begun to put the world right with his power. Right now that healing is only partial, but some day all deformity, decay, sin, disease, and imperfection will be wiped away. Whatever problem we face, Gods power will eventually triumph over it.


1. How does the incarnation challenge todays reigning world- views?

(Examples include: The incarnation challenges the empiricist view that denies either that there is any eternal, supernatural world or at least it denies that the supernatural can ever break in and violate natural laws in the form of miracles. The incarnation, however, is the great miracle. On the other hand, the incarnation challenges the view that all depictions of reality are socially constructed to serve the purpose of the dominant group, that there is no such thing as Truth at all. The incarnation, however, teaches that there is an absolute Truth and it has become a human being. Finally, the incarnation challenges the modernized versions of religion which consist almost entirely of ethical behavior or which make God a very vague and generally impersonal being or mysterious life-force. But the incarnation tells us that we have a very real Godone who can be known, talked to, listened to, served, and loved. The incarnation gives us the most personal God in the face of modern efforts to de- personalize the deity.)

2. What practical difference does it make to you that your Savior is not only human but God? 3. What practical difference does it make to you that your Savior is not only God but man?

4. We read above, How can you come to grips with someone who gave himself utterly for you without you giving yourself utterly to him? Give yourself wholly to him. That is the only reasonable thing to do for someone who gave himself wholly for you. Think of some ways you give yourself wholly to God during this Advent season.

PRAYER

Read aloud the hymn (or, if you can, sing it).

Thank God for the marvelous gift we have in Christ. Thank him for the extravagant love that he has lavished upon us by sending his Son. Pray that the knowledge and experience of that love would motivate us to be generous with ourselves and our resources.

Pray that you would see Jesus as he truly isin all his glory, but also in the humanity around us.

Pray for opportunities to share the good news of Jesus birth in a meaningful way with friends and family this Christmas.

Pray for those who do not know Jesus, that many would attend Christmas Eve services and that God would open blind eyes so that people would see the glory of his Son.

FOR FAMILY STUDY

Read Hes Here!: The nativity, from Luke 12 in The Jesus Storybook Bible, pages 176 183 (or the equivalent story in your childrens Bible).

QUESTIONS .

1. Instead of being born in a palace or a castle, where was King Jesus born?2. What does the birth of Jesus show and teach us about God?3. Why is the birth of Jesus a wonderful gift?4. What does the name Immanuel mean? Unravel the letters to get the answer.

________ ____

IHTW SU

5. Why is Immanuel a good name for Jesus?

6. If something is important to us, we like telling others about it. Can you talk about something important to you for 20 seconds? It can be anything at all. You can talk about a sport for 20 seconds or about usyour familyor your pet or your favorite toy or anything you like for 20 seconds. But you have to talk about your subject nonstop for 20 seconds. (Allow each child a chance to play this game). Can you talk about Jesus for 20 seconds? Again you can say anything you know about Jesus but you need to talk nonstop for 20 seconds. (Allow each child a chance to do this). Since Jesus is important to us, we should like telling others about him. Who can you tell about Jesus?

PRAYER

Help your children to pray, thanking God for Jesus birth.

Pray with them for opportunities to share the good news of Jesus birth in a meaningful way with friends and family this Christmas.

This Advent study is a resource from Redeemer Presbyterian Church (www.redeemer.com).

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storage.cloversites.comstorage.cloversites.com/christcommunitychurchmidtown/… · Web viewDerived from the Latin word meaning “coming” or ... He is the ultimate object of worship