The Zondervan 2018 Pastor's Annual by T. T. Crabtree

Author:T. T. Crabtree [Crabtree, T. T.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Zondervan
Published: 2017-05-02T00:00:00+00:00

SUNDAY EVENING, JULY 15

Title: A Giant Step for God

Text: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14 NIV).

Scripture Reading: John 1:1–14

Introduction

On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong was the first man to set foot on the moon. His first statement was, “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” To be sure, this was a gigantic step in the progress of science.

Another giant step for humanity occurred nearly two thousand years earlier in the obscure Middle-Eastern village of Bethlehem. It was a giant step for both humanity and God when Jesus came to earth. One of the most fascinating studies we can make is to learn more of Jesus in his visit to earth and his ministry to humanity. Let us notice three important facets of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ.

I. His incarnation.

One of the greatest facets of Jesus Christ is that he is the God-man. He is fully God and fully man. God came to earth and lived in human flesh. This has to be the greatest step in recorded history.

A. The incarnation implies that God knows man. Since God became man in Jesus Christ, we know that God knows humankind. During World War II, Lawrence of Arabia sought to cast his lot with the Allied army. They said to him, “If you would lead us, you must eat the same food we eat, find shelter in the same tents in which we dwell, accept the same risks that we accept, meet the same difficulties that we meet, live the same life we live, and live it better than we do.” Jesus Christ identified completely with humankind. He walked, talked, and lived in Palestine as a human being.

Because God became flesh, he knows our problems. Jesus experienced physical and mental needs. The author of the letter to the Hebrews stated Jesus’s identity beautifully: “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (4:15). Jesus knew what it was like to be human.

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