The First Christmas Carol: Exploring 1 Timothy 3:16

Welcome to the Valley Baptist Church sermon podcast.

We're so glad you're here, and we hope this message inspires you, builds your faith, and moves you toward a deep relationship with God.

Today, you'll find great insight into the Bible and learn how you can apply it straight to your life.

So welcome and enjoy the message.

If you have your Bible, please open it with me to 1 Timothy chapter 3.

1 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

1 Timothy 3.

1 Timothy 3, verse number 16 is a verse that is not very well known,

but I have fallen in love with it.

It's actually an early Christian hymn.

And because the first line of the song refers to the incarnation of Jesus,

I'm taking a little liberty today in calling the message the first Christmas carol.

Now, it's certainly possible there were Christmas carols before this one.

So this might not be the first, but it certainly was one of the first.

So let's read it together to begin.

It says,

God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory.

First Timothy is a letter from the Apostle Paul to a young pastor by the name of Timothy.

And in chapter three of the letter, Paul has just been sharing with Timothy about how church leaders must be godly.

And then right here in verse number 16, he says, here's the mystery of godliness, the secret of godliness that's now been revealed.

It's Jesus.

You see, godliness isn't earned.

It's given.

And then it's received.

Godliness is the mystery of Christ that is revealed to mankind.

Now, there are six short lines in this magnificent Christmas carol.

And each line tells us something more about Jesus and what Jesus is.

has done for us. So first of all, the line, the first line says God was manifested

in the flesh. So here's our principle. Jesus revealed God in human flesh.

hundreds of years before Christ was born in Bethlehem,

Isaiah the prophet prophesied that the coming Messiah

would be called Emmanuel, which means God with us.

And really, that's what Christmas is all about.

Oh, we get caught up in the glitz

and the glamor of the holidays,

but Christmas is really about the fact

that the eternal Son of God stooped down from heaven

and came to the earth and became a man,

manifesting or revealing the true nature of God.

Now, it's important to understand that the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem

wasn't the beginning of Christ's existence.

Now, that's hard for us to grasp sometimes

because none of us existed before we were conceived.

I mean...

Before we were in our mother's womb, we were not.

We didn't exist, but it's different with Jesus.

John chapter 1 says, in the beginning was the Word, a name for Jesus, and the Word was

John 1 · chapter mention

with God, and the Word was God.

The Son of God has existed for eternity past as God.

And Christmas is all about how the Son of God became the Son of Man.

Now, it's not that Jesus just looked like a man.

He was a man in every sense of the word.

Many throughout the years have denied the humanity of Jesus, saying that, well, it just looked like he had a body, but his body was actually more like a phantom body.

That if the disciples had been watching very carefully as Jesus walked along the Sea of Galilee, they would have noticed that he left no footprints behind because God can't have a body.

Well, that's not at all what the scriptures teach.

It says here that God was manifested in the flesh.

Jesus was born of the seed of the woman.

He took on the flesh of Mary, and at that moment, he forever became known as the God-man.

Colossians 2, verse 9, it says,

Colossians 2:9

For in him, that's Jesus, dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.

bodily. The angel told Mary that the Holy Spirit's going to come upon you, and the Holy One that's

going to be born of you shall be called the Son of God. It's the Holy Spirit of God who fashioned

a body for our Lord Jesus within the womb of Mary. The eternal Son of God became a baby having flesh

and bones, assuming what is ours so that we may inherit what is His.

Charles Spurgeon, I think, said it well when he said,

Man is royal now that Christ is human.

Man is exalted since Christ is humiliated.

Man may go up to God now that God has come down to man.

Now, the second line of this great hymn says that he was justified in the spirit.

Now, justified means to be declared righteous.

And when we think of sinners like ourselves being declared righteous, that has to do with them being made righteous, which means a change of status, right?

But with Jesus, this word doesn't mean a change of status.

It means a confirmation of status.

Now, people have long argued over whether this little phrase refers to the Holy Spirit

or the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of Jesus.

And we don't really know for sure.

Both are theologically accurate.

If it's the Spirit of Jesus, it's referring to the sinless life that Jesus lived, which

the principle would then be that Jesus lived a perfect life that was without sin.

And we certainly know that to be true, but if it's a reference to the Holy Spirit, it

It's referencing the confirming witness of the Holy Spirit upon the life of Jesus concerning his righteousness.

I tend to think that's what it's referring to.

So here's our principle.

Jesus was declared to be God by the Holy Spirit.

Now, the Holy Spirit declared who Jesus was all throughout his life.

And guess what? He's still doing it today.

It started when he was just a baby born in Bethlehem, when he was conceived.

Even before that, when he was conceived by a virgin.

And Matthew said that Mary would be found with child of the Holy Spirit.

It continued as Jesus grew up.

That confirmation of the Spirit, he was then baptized.

And the triune God was on display in one moment of time.

And bless the Son.

The Father spoke.

The Son was baptized and the Holy Spirit descended upon him like a dove,

declaring Jesus to be the Son of God.

The Holy Spirit declared who Jesus was also through the resurrection.

We know that from Romans chapter 1, verse number 4.

Romans 1 · chapter mention

It says, and declared, talking about Jesus, to be the Son of God with power,

according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.

And then some 50 days later, on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit blew himself upon the disciples with a mighty rushing wind.

And the tongues of fire fell upon the disciples and they spoke other languages.

A sign miracle or a declaration miracle from the Spirit of God of who Jesus really is.

Still today, the Holy Spirit is confirming and declaring who Christ is as he breathes new life into those of us who trust in Christ and were born again.

And our lives are radically changed, confirming the person and work of Jesus in our lives.

He was justified, he says, by or in the Spirit.

But then it says that he was seen by angels.

Jesus was seen by angels.

Now, I want to camp out on this point for a while.

Since it's Christmastime and the angels are very active on our mind,

they're very active within the Christmas story,

that led me this week to ponder this one little phrase a whole lot more than I ponder one little phrase normally.

When we think about the Christmas story, most of the time we think about it from the perspective of Mary and Joseph,

or maybe the shepherd's perspective, or maybe the wise men's perspective.

But how often do we think about Christmas from the angel's perspective?

Think about all that the angels saw in the life of Jesus.

Now, it actually started long before he was ever born in Bethlehem,

when they beheld the glory of the Son of God in heaven, in all of his glory.

Now, we know that angels, just like human beings, are created creatures.

They're not eternal like God is.

We know that from...

Partly, Colossians chapter 1, verse 16.

Colossians 1:16

It says, for by him, that's Jesus, all things were created that are in heaven and they're on the earth.

Visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.

All things were created through him and for him.

We see here that just like you and I and everything else, the angels were also created by Jesus and for Jesus.

I just imagine that in the very first moments of their created consciousness, as they opened their eyes for the first time and were aware for the first time of their own existence,

they also became aware of the presence and the glory of Almighty God, the Son of God who made them.

And we know from Isaiah chapter 6.

Isaiah 6 · chapter mention

We've got this glorious vision of the throne room of God.

I actually think it's a vision of the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ.

And Isaiah sees the Lord sitting on a throne, high and exalted.

The train of his robe is filling the temple.

And there's these seraphim.

These are these powerful, angelic creatures who stood.

And with two wings, they covered their eyes.

And with two wings, they covered their feet.

And they flew, singing, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.

The whole world is full of his glory.

You see, the angels, they saw the Son of God.

They saw Christ before he ever became a man.

And then God, one day, instructed some of them.

to go down to earth and announce to Zacharias, to Mary and to Joseph

that the glorious son of God would be born of Mary, a peasant girl.

Now, at that point, did they realize that the plan of God

was for Jesus to be born in order to die?

I don't know if they fully understood all the details, but they certainly knew

that the son of God was coming on a rescue mission to save the world.

And then in Luke chapter 2, when Jesus was finally born on that evening,

Luke 2 · chapter mention

an angel appeared to the shepherds announcing his birth.

And then a whole host of angels joined with that shepherd,

and they declared, singing, glory to God in the highest and on earth,

peace, goodwill to men.

It's as if when the angels were singing that glorious song, they were doing their very best to share with the shepherds about the magnitude of what had just taken place in Bethlehem.

That the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the Lord of all creation who was and is and is to come, the infinite one became an infant.

The eternal one has confined himself to time and space.

The angels saw Jesus at his birth,

but we also know they saw Jesus as he grew up

and he was in the desert being tempted by the devil, right?

Now they didn't know him as the devil.

They knew him for a long, long time as Lucifer in heaven.

This most beautiful of all of God's angels

who in pride rebelled against God

and God cast him out of heaven.

They saw Lucifer, that cunning serpent.

They saw him attack Jesus with temptations over and over again,

much like he did with Adam and Eve in the garden.

But what Adam failed to do in the beautiful garden,

Jesus did in the deserted wilderness.

Jesus stood toe-to-toe with the enemy.

And the Bible says that after that temptation was over, that the angels came and ministered to our Lord.

Think about how exhausted he was, spiritually speaking, but also physically.

I mean, he'd gone for 40 days without food.

which led Pastor Phil to say that he thought how they ministered to him was a meal.

Leave that to Pastor Phil.

I think maybe that's how I'd want to be ministered to if I'd gone 40 days without food,

that maybe they made Jesus a meal.

I don't know, but they ministered to him.

Now, another important scene in Scripture where the angels saw Jesus, as they recorded for us, is in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Jesus, on the night before he was crucified, he gathered with his disciples in the upper room, and they broke bread.

And he turned that meal into what we now call communion or the Lord's Supper.

And then when they left the upper room that evening, they traveled through this community.

gates of Jerusalem, across the Kidron Valley,

to the little Garden of Gethsemane there,

right at the base of the Mount of Olives.

It's there in that garden that Jesus prayed all night

in great agony.

You see, Gethsemane literally means olive press.

And it was there that Jesus was pressed

by the overwhelming thought of what he was about

to go through on the cross the next day

to pay for the sins of the world.

And so he sat there under immense pressure,

The weight of the world literally upon his shoulders.

In fact, he was under so much pressure and so much agony that he began to sweat drops of blood.

And under all of that pressure, Jesus prays to the Father.

And he says, Father, if it's at all possible,

if this, let this cup of your judgment pass from me, nevertheless, not my will, but yours, O Lord, be done.

And Luke says that after he prayed that, that an angel appeared to him and strengthened him.

Now, surprisingly, we don't have record of any angels seeing Jesus on the cross, but I assume they did.

We do know that when the soldiers came to arrest Jesus, that Peter took out a sword and he swung that sword and he chopped off one of the soldier's ears.

So Jesus knelt down beside the soldier and he picks up the ear and he places it on the soldier's ear as he was breathing in pain and he heals the man's ear.

Then he said to Peter, he said, put away your sword.

Do you not know that I could pray to the Father

who would send 10 or 12,000 angels to me?

What Jesus was saying, he said,

just know I have this massive army of powerful angels.

They're just waiting on me to call

when I'm choosing not to.

You see, Jesus didn't go to the cross

because he lacked power.

Jesus went to the cross because he was overflowing

with love.

So I just imagine,

That as Jesus was crucified that day, that all of heaven, all the angels of heaven,

they watched in horror as the glorious Son of God that they had worshipped for all of their existence

was falsely accused and beaten and mocked and scourged and then crucified.

I think just maybe the angels...

Some of them, they got armed up.

They're ready to come down, chomping at the bit to rescue the Lord of glory from that terrible cross.

But they were held back, I think, by the will of God the Father and the will of God the Son.

So they watched as Jesus breathed his last and he died.

But then on the third day, God sent one of them down.

And we're told that when he came down,

there's actually an earthquake that took place in the stone.

He rolled the stone away from the tomb.

And the Bible says that after he rolled the stone away,

that he sat on the stone.

I love that little detail.

So I'm thinking.

Why did he sit down?

Well, we don't know for sure why he sat down.

Maybe he wanted the best seat in the house

as the son of God was about to rise from the dead.

We don't know exactly, but he rolls the stone away

and he sits down on top of the stone.

And then the women, they come to the tomb

to see the body of Jesus.

And he says, why do you seek the living among the dead?

He's not here for he is risen.

The angels, they saw his resurrection, but we also know that lastly they saw Christ's ascension into heaven, into glory.

Psalm chapter 68, it tells us that when Jesus ascended back up into heaven, that thousands of angels escorted Jesus from earth to heaven.

Psalms 68 · chapter mention

So just as they saw the Son of God leave heaven to come to earth, now they have seen Jesus.

the Son of God returned back to heaven.

And can you imagine the reception that our Lord got in heaven?

The God-man, the one who had humbled himself

and paid the price for the sins of the world,

who provided salvation for mankind and whipped the devil in the process,

now he returns as a victorious king,

and he sits down at the right hand of the throne of God.

In the book of Revelation.

The very end of our Bible tells us the angels keep on singing.

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts and the redeemed of all the ages.

We shall join them someday, singing worthy is the lamb who was slain

to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory

and blessing.

So there's thousands of angels who welcome Jesus back in to glory.

But there were two angels

who we know from Acts chapter one,

who apparently missed the parade of heaven.

Because Acts one tells us that as soon as Jesus

was taking up into the clouds,

that the disciples, they stood looking up into heaven,

sort of like, what in the world has just happened?

Jesus has just left us.

And we pick up the story in verse number 10, it says,

and while they looked steadfastly towards heaven

as he went up,

behold, two men stood by them in white apparel,

who also said, men of Galilee,

why do you stand gazing up into heaven?

This same Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven

will so come in like manner as you saw him go.

Someday there's going to be a great shout that the whole world shall hear.

It's going to be the shout of an archangel.

And then the trumpet of God will sound and Jesus will return to the earth riding on the clouds.

And he tells us in Matthew that when he returns to judge the world rightly,

all the angels of heaven will accompany his return.

Paul says he was seen by the angels.

And then he says he was preached also among the Gentiles, that is, among the nations, all the peoples of the earth.

You see, the word Gentiles refers to anyone and everyone who's not a Jew.

You see, Jesus came not only to save the Jews, he came to save people from every tribe, every nation, and every tongue.

Now, the Jews had a hard time accepting that fact.

I mean, have you ever heard of a Jewish missionary trying to convert people to Judaism?

I haven't.

Why?

Because for the most part, they're okay keeping their heritage and their religion to themselves.

But Jesus isn't okay with that.

Jesus came for all people.

He was preached among the Gentiles just like he commanded us to do.

But then the fifth line says that Jesus was believed on in the world.

He was received by many in the world.

Now the Jews of Christ's day largely rejected him.

We see that from John chapter 1, verse number 11.

John 1 · chapter mention

It says, he, that's Jesus, came to his own, and his own did not receive him.

But as many as did receive him, to them he gave the right to become the children of God,

to those who believe in his name.

At Christmas time, we celebrate the fact that God gave the world the gift of his son.

But like any gift that is given, it's of no value to that person until it's received, right?

Jesus must be received.

And the way that any of us receive him is by believing him, trusting him, receiving his presence into our life.

And when we do that, the Bible says we are saved.

Saved, rescued.

Now to go back to the angels for just a moment.

Did you know that salvation is something that the angels can't quite get their minds around?

Now there's a lot of things they understand better than we do.

I mean, they've seen the very face of Jesus.

They know a little bit more about the glory of heaven and the details that are awaiting us there.

They know about those things, but there's one thing that we've got on them today.

As Christians, we know what it's like to be saved,

to be forgiven of our sins.

We've experienced the grace of God,

something the angels have not done.

So much that Peter says, speaking of our salvation,

that these are things that the angels desire to look into.

They long to look into this whole salvation thing.

In other words, they're mesmerized by the grace of God

because while they certainly,

have experienced all of God's love.

They've never experienced it displayed through grace.

Think about it.

I mean, the angels in heaven, they've never sinned.

But the Lucifer and the fallen angels who did sin

and they rebelled against God,

they were not offered grace.

I mean, Jesus didn't take on angelic flesh.

He took on human flesh.

Those of us that were made in the very image of God,

we are the objects of his love, of his mercy, and of his grace.

The angels, they're in awe of what we get to experience with Christ.

Now, the last line says that Jesus was received up in glory.

Now, here's our last principle.

We already touched on it, but it's that Jesus ascended up into heaven,

and he was received in glory.

And right now, right now, he awaits word from the Father.

Something like, son, it's time.

It's time for you to return and to gather all of our people together to judge the world rightly and to establish your everlasting kingdom.

I've got three quick points of application in the form of questions for you to be able to reflect on your personal time with the Lord.

Here's the first question.

Will you join the angels in worshiping and ministering to Jesus?

Yes.

See, day and night, the angels never cease worshiping and ministering to the heart of our Lord.

I mean, every time we see the angels in the Gospels, they're ministering to Jesus.

They minister to him at his birth, at his temptation, in the Garden of Gethsemane, at his resurrection.

And then when he ascended up into glory and they worship him now and they worship him before that, after that, that's all they do.

They worship the Lord.

we would do well to mimic the angels.

You see, the angels are the pinnacle of God's heavenly creation.

You and I.

We're the pinnacle of God's earthly creation.

So humans and angels alike, we have this wonderful calling from God upon our life

that we were made by Jesus, but we were also made for Jesus

to worship and minister to the heart of our Lord.

Will you join the angels in worshiping and ministering to Jesus?

Now here's the second question.

Are you making the good news of Jesus known to everyone around you?

Or are you keeping it to yourself?

It's hard for me to imagine someone who's really, they really truly believe in the Christmas story.

They've had all of their sins forgiven.

They have a personal relationship with God.

It's hard for me to imagine them keeping Jesus all to themselves.

I suppose it happens, but what a shame.

What a shame.

Listen, as Christians, we are to share Jesus with the world, who he came to save.

See, our church has one aim.

It's to preach Christ and him crucified.

From the cradle to the cross, we declare Jesus.

That's what we do.

That's who we are.

Now, sometimes people will come to us as pastors and they'll ask us to preach a little bit more prophecy

and tie current events into prophetic scripture.

Or sometimes people will ask us to talk more about politics or social justice issues

or split hairs on particular doctrinal issues.

And while we may touch on all of those issues from time to time, as Scripture does,

we have one main aim.

And it's not politics or prophecy or Christian sectarianism.

It is to make known the name of Jesus.

That's why we exist.

That God sent, amen, God sent his eternal son to the earth.

He took on flesh and blood, our flesh and blood.

He lived a perfect life we've all failed to do.

And he died on the cross paying for the sins of the world.

And then he got up.

He rose from the dead.

That's the focus of our church.

So let me ask you, is that the focus of your life?

Is Jesus the focus of your life?

That's what Scripture says, that you were made by him,

but you were also made for him.

And do you love people enough to share with them

about how awesome Jesus is?

Last question, I think it's the most important.

Have you personally received Jesus?

as your Savior and as your Lord.

Have you?

See, Jesus came to seek and to save the lost.

That's what he said.

He said, I came to seek and to save the lost.

Those who, because of our sin, have been separated from God.

And some of you are still in that condition.

You're listening to this message and you're thinking, wow, I know about God, but I don't personally know him.

I know they say I can have my sins forgiven.

I've never felt my sins be forgiven.

I've never experienced the grace of God.

And you're contemplating those things.

You're listening to the word of God and the truth of God and how much he loves you.

Some of you have not yet received Jesus personally as your Savior and your Lord.

And it's my prayer and it's my belief that Jesus is coming for you.

He's after you right now.

His word is being declared.

His truth is being declared.

It's piercing your heart.

If you're honest, if you're open, you're being convicted of your sin.

You're in awe of his love and his grace.

You're thinking, man, this sounds too good to be true.

Could he really love me enough to forgive all that I have done?

Yes, he absolutely can, and he does.

You see, the gift of Jesus, I'm doing my very best to give it to you.

I'm wanting to give it to you.

God's wanting to give it to you.

But you've got to take it.

You've got to receive it by faith.

There's only one way.

The Bible says, whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

You must believe on him.

You must receive him personally as your Savior.

He'll transform your life.

So I just want to call upon you right now, if you don't know him, to receive him today.

Believe on him.

Rely completely on his grace.

You can't do it.

If you could have done it, you would have already done it.

You can't.

Jesus did it for you.

So just receive his mercy and his grace and his love.

Believe on Christ today.

Amen?

Let's bow together in an attitude of prayer.

This is a holy moment in the life of our church.

In just a moment after I pray,

we're going to stand up to our feet.

As a congregation, we're going to sing a song together.

And there's going to be pastors and other leaders all across the front here.

And we're just going to ask you to come as God leads.

The Bible says, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son,

that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.

Let me ask you, are you experiencing life today?

Jesus offers eternal life, but he also said he offers abundant life.

I want to invite you to experience it today.

Maybe you're a Christian and you have been forgiven.

The grace of God has come upon your life.

You have a relationship with him, but for whatever reason,

if you're honest with yourself today and you're honest with God today,

that relationship is not very sweet.

Maybe it feels broken and distant or cold.

Here's the truth and the facts of the matter.

If your relationship with God as a child of God is distant and cold, it's not God's fault.

God doesn't walk away from his children.

The truth is sometimes as God's children we can drift from him though.

But here's the good news.

That Jesus is a loving Savior.

God is a loving Father.

He's not going to ever give up on you.

He's pursuing you.

My guess is He's pursuing you right now.

You can be restored today.

You can have your relationship rekindled

in a moment of heartfelt prayer and confession and repentance.

You can be restored.

Now, there's a whole other group that's listening to this message that may never have ever experienced the grace of God in their life.

You've known about God, but you haven't personally known him.

You've known about Jesus, but you haven't personally trusted in him at a heart level.

I want to invite you to do that today.

There's nothing like it in all the world.

to be fully loved and fully accepted.

We're not accepted by God based on our goodness.

We're accepted based on Jesus' goodness.

I want to invite you to be accepted today by God who made you.

Just a moment when we stand.

These pastors are going to be lined up here at the front.

I'm just going to ask for you to step out and come and give your life to Christ.

You can walk down one of these aisles or one of these staircases

and take one of these leaders by the hand and say,

I want to trust Jesus as my Savior today.

They'll know exactly how to help you.

Maybe you say, I want to be baptized like many others today are doing and have done.

And we'd love to visit with you about that.

Help explain the meaning of baptism to you.

Set up a time for that.

Or maybe you want to join our church family.

Or maybe you just want to come and have someone pray for you.

I recognize that Christmas time is a really hard time for people.

It really is.

It's supposed to be a joyful time and a peaceful time and all of those things,

but man, the enemy is at work.

He's trying to distract us every which way, and there's stresses,

and there's bickering with family sometimes, and sometimes there's grief.

As we think about loved ones who are no longer around the tables,

and our heart can almost feel a sense of despair in those moments,

I want to invite you to be comforted by the great Comforter.

To experience truly his peace in the midst of this chaotic world

and his light in the midst of darkness.

Why don't you give your life to Christ today?

Let's pray.

Father, thank you for loving us so well.

Thank you for revealing yourself in human flesh so that we could identify with you,

so that you could be our perfect substitute.

Thank you for dying on the cross for our sins and being raised from the dead.

I pray, Lord, that Holy Spirit, that you would go beyond words that are written on a page,

that you would bring them to light and life in the hearts of people.

Please do something spiritual, miraculous today.

Please draw people to yourself.

Give them the courage that it's going to take to step out and come and give their lives to you.

Give them a nudge, Lord, to move forward as you lead.

We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

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