"The Pain of the Incarnation"

You are listening to a message from Southwood Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama.

Our passion is to experience and express grace. Join us.

Amen. If you missed it Thursday night, we had the Behold the Lamb concert here.

If you missed it, that was every bit as good.

Aren't they awesome?

Thank you guys.

It was a wonderful night.

I got to have a lot of people from our community here.

There were several good things.

One of them is that we have delayed our plans for installing the fog machines for use on Sunday mornings.

If you weren't here, we had a fire alarm.

So that won't be happening anytime soon.

I think that's a plus.

But more importantly, it's this beautiful story that is sung.

It's the same one that we talk about and read about in God's Word.

And one of the sweet things about hearing it sung, it engages our hearts in a different way, doesn't it?

To hear the music, the poetry, the stories told that way.

I want to encourage you as we come to God's Word, our hearts need to be engaged.

This is not going to be an exercise in giving you new information largely this morning.

And I know that's not unusual.

But you know the Christmas story.

We're praying and asking that God would use it in our hearts.

That He would change us in the deepest parts of who we are.

That we would love Him more.

That's our prayer as we come to His Word.

We've been focusing on this same story they were just singing about.

The King who's coming.

The incarnation.

The Word made flesh.

The definition we've been using for the incarnation this Christmas season.

The intentional entrance of the divine Son of God into our fallen world in human flesh

to secure our redemption at the cost of His life because of His great love.

That's the Word become flesh.

In John's Gospel where he talks about this, he started by highlighting our need for the incarnation.

The darkness of our hearts and of this world that required the light to break into it.

And then we saw last week the sacrifice of the incarnation.

What Jesus left.

What He set aside in order to become man.

This week we're actually going to talk about the other side of that coin.

Not so much what Jesus left, but what He entered into.

The pain of the incarnation.

The Christmas story is a beautiful one for sure.

But it's not just about carols and candy and angels and a really sweet little baby.

Although those things are true.

When the Word became flesh, He was entering into pain.

John shows us some of that.

We're going to look at some other passages that will highlight that reality

as we consider the price Jesus paid.

The pain that He endured for us.

Let's start by reading the beginning of John 1.

We're going to focus on verses 9 through 11 this morning.

But let's read beginning at verse 1.

God's holy word.

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 were made through Him.

And without Him was not anything made that was made.

In Him was life.

And the life was the light of men.

The light shines in the darkness.

And the darkness has not overcome it.

There was a man sent from God whose name was John.

He came as a witness to bear witness about that light

that all might believe through Him.

He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.

The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

He was in the world.

And the world was made through Him, yet the world did not know Him.

He came to His own.

And His own people did not receive Him.

It gets better.

And we'll talk more about that next Sunday.

But let's pray and ask for God's help as we look to His Word.

Father, we thank You for Your Spirit.

We call Him our teacher at times like this.

But Father, we need more than a teacher.

We need one who will grab our hearts and transform us from the inside out.

And so we pray that You would speak, that You would even sing into our hearts

the truth of Christmas, that it might not just be something we can celebrate

at a particular time of year, but that it might be life-changing.

So would You do that by Your Spirit?

We know You can and we know You love to.

So we ask for it in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Even 16 years later now, most of us remember where we were on 9-11, when all of a sudden

destruction hit.

We remember watching those horrific events unfold, seeing scenes of devastation around the

Twin Towers, flames billowing out of the building, smoke, debris all over the place.

Both skyscrapers crashing down just in the matter of a couple of hours, perhaps some

of the most traumatic events most of us have ever witnessed.

And perhaps as we saw those images that morning, the most heartbreaking may be the crowds of people

fleeing away from, in every direction they could, away from that death and destruction that

was going on, running as fast as they could covered in the debris.

But even in the beginning, and certainly we heard a lot more stories come out in the weeks

later, there were those who we saw running in the other direction.

First responders, firefighters, NYPD officers, others who were there, emergency personnel, who

were running in the opposite direction of the crowds.

They were running toward the pain, towards that devastation and destruction that was happening.

They dove into the rubble.

They came out covered in dust and blood and sweat.

Time and again, they went back in to rescue anyone they could, right?

You know that many of those first responders died that day in their efforts to save others.

Of the nearly 3,000 people who died there that day, over 400 were rescue workers who had run

towards the towers from their place of safety.

They'd run into danger to help.

There were many more than that who had their lives turned upside down, never the same having

walked through that, even though they survived.

And we hail these people as heroes, don't we?

We talk about them often.

We remember them and what they've done.

Because what was heroic?

It was that it was so easy and obvious to see where the danger was.

The danger, the pain, the devastation, it was clearly there.

And rather than running in the other direction, as many understandably were doing,

they chose to run into the pain.

They purposefully ran toward pain to help others, even if they were hurt themselves.

That's just one picture of what Jesus is doing in the incarnation.

When he becomes flesh, fully aware of the danger and destruction that are before him,

Jesus runs toward the pain.

I think that's an interesting reality for us to contemplate because I tend, by nature and

by choice, to avoid pain and suffering at all costs.

It's not just because I'm a wimp to the point that I don't even like getting flu shots, which

is true.

But I also design my whole life around avoiding pain and suffering.

I want to be comfortable and predictable.

I want to be away from all the mess and the chaos around me.

I want life to go the way it's supposed to, which is the way that I plan it.

Don't we design our schedules, our neighborhoods, our finances, even our parenting around avoiding

pain and suffering?

Maybe like me, you only take on projects you're good at so that you can avoid the pain of failure.

I used to avoid roller skating rinks as a kid because I was terrible.

And now as an adult, I avoid house projects for the same reason.

I'm not good at it.

I don't want to fail.

So let's stay away.

Maybe that's why I only let my kids do the same thing.

Only the places you're going to succeed.

Maybe you only enter into relationships or situations that seem controllable or predictable.

So you can avoid the pain of just mess, of draining conversations and time-consuming people that you just don't want to get involved with.

Maybe you try to make enough money to avoid any pain that does come along by buying the best treatment to take care of it.

There are lots of ways to avoid pain and suffering.

Many of us tend to do it by activity, by getting so busy with things we think we can control or have success in,

that we'll just busy ourselves so we don't have to acknowledge the difficulty.

You can also do it by inactivity, can't you?

Just checking out on Netflix or on the computer and ignoring the difficult conversation across the room or across town.

I'm just going to check out.

I don't want to deal with the pain, the suffering of the world around me.

I hold on so tightly to comfort and plan to steer clear of any pain every chance I get.

See, when John tells us that the Word became flesh,

it's not merely that Jesus sacrificed the glories and the riches and the status of heaven,

although what an incredible sacrifice that he gave those things up.

But even more, he left those comforts to run into enemy territory, as it were,

knowing that there would be great cost, great pain on a number of levels.

We're going to do this the same way we did last week as we considered his sacrifice.

First, considering how Jesus did this in his incarnation.

Then we'll ask what that means for us.

And finally, return to the uniqueness of his incarnation that wins our hearts.

So what was the pain that Jesus ran toward in the incarnation?

Can we define it a little bit?

First, John tells us that Jesus enters the world.

A world, in fact, that he was in, but the world did not know him.

Verse 10.

Yes, it's the world that he made, but now it's not that perfect world anymore.

It's not the way he originally made it.

It's a fallen world that doesn't even recognize its creator anymore.

It's broken in many ways.

Suffering is everywhere around us.

When John uses the word world, it often has a negative connotation.

It's broken and in rebellion against the creator king.

It's a place that didn't know him, that didn't love him.

That's the world into which Jesus comes.

And that in itself is part of the pain, the humiliation, the lowering of Jesus from creator of all to tiny baby.

But as a result of the world's rebellion, this baby is entering a world now full of suffering.

Isaiah 53 is a great prophecy of the coming Christ where he's depicted as a suffering servant.

Verse 3 says it this way.

He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, familiar with suffering.

Some versions translate.

A man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, familiar with suffering, weeping, thirsting, hungering, hurting.

These things were not a part of his existence in heaven.

But they become everyday realities for the son of man who has no place to lay his head.

He will experience all sorts of things.

Unjust leaders.

Betrayal by friends.

The death of loved ones.

Things that were not meant to be a part of his good creation.

And Jesus sees that billowing cloud of smoke and he runs toward the pain of humiliation and suffering that he knows is there.

But there's another pain.

Jesus knows he's running into.

The pain of rejection.

Look at John 1.11.

He came to his own and his own people did not receive him.

Yes, the world hated him.

Stood in rebellion against him.

But now he comes to the people who are supposed to be God's friends.

Who have been praying and longing for his coming.

And by and large they reject him too.

Isaiah says it as well.

He was despised.

Rejected by men.

He was despised.

And we esteemed him not.

despised.

Rejected.

I think we all know the pain of those things, don't we?

We've experienced those in different ways.

But add to that the disappointment.

That these were the ones who should have welcomed him and celebrated him.

His own people.

It's one thing not to get picked.

Not to get invited to something.

It's another thing altogether for your supposed friends to be the ones running you off.

Jesus should have been invited to a party.

To celebrate the long awaited king is here.

But one leader after another is looking to kill him.

He was rejected.

Despised.

We esteemed him not.

Certainly the rejection that hurt the worst.

It's the one Jesus must have dreaded from an early age.

The one that caused him to sweat drops of blood.

It was the rejection of his father.

His father turning his face away from Jesus.

As Jesus became sin for us,

he experienced the wrath and rejection of a holy God towards sin and rebellion.

And he cries out what?

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

So as we've been considering this morning,

Jesus was born not merely to live,

but quite purposefully to die.

The pain of death itself as a result of the rejection of the people

was certainly daunting.

It wasn't for Jesus merely a possibility when he entered the world,

as it would have been for those first responders who were risking their lives

to go in after others.

For Jesus, it was an absolute certainty.

He came to die.

We've seen him in Luke as we've been studying over the last few months.

Set his face to Jerusalem and a cross and tell his disciples,

I must go there.

This is why I've come.

He's not unclear, is he?

He came to live, but he's headed to a cross because he came to die.

Let's read more of Isaiah 53.

Isaiah describes this king is coming for a reason that we just heard James sing about.

He comes to be pierced for our transgressions.

He was crushed for our iniquities.

Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,

and with his wounds we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray.

We have turned everyone to his own way,

and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed and he was afflicted,

yet he opened not his mouth.

Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,

and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,

so he opened not his mouth.

By oppression and judgment he was taken away.

And as for his generation,

who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living,

stricken for the transgression of my people,

and they made his grave with the wicked,

and with a rich man in his death.

Jesus knew this prophecy.

It may not sound like a Christmas one to you,

but there are words here that can note physical agony,

the painful death of the cross.

There are words here that remind us again of the emotional agony

we were just talking about,

the cursed death of the cross,

receiving the curse of his father.

And Jesus, just imagine him as he's sitting in heaven

with the glories of heaven around him,

in this perfect, intimate relationship with his father,

the riches of all the world at his fingertips,

and he reads this prophecy.

He's told,

this is what the Messiah will endure.

And he says,

I'll go.

I'll rescue them.

I'll walk into that.

And Jesus runs toward our pain,

fully aware of what it would cost.

If we look back at our definition for the incarnation,

we see that he intentionally chooses to take human flesh,

to enter into this world that he knows is fallen.

He chooses even to pay the price of his own life.

Why?

In order to redeem us,

to rescue us,

to do us good.

Now I'm going to say for the third week in a row,

that the incarnation of Jesus is unique,

and we can't replicate it.

We're already human.

We're already living in a fallen world,

so we can't become human or enter a fallen world.

That's where we are.

That's who we are.

It's not something that we can do as he has done,

but also the primary purpose of the incarnation is to redeem,

which is not our job, ultimately.

That's the primary purpose,

not merely to exemplify,

but here again,

we're going to see in some of these passages,

God has called us to similar paths

as what Jesus walked in his incarnation.

We are, after all,

to follow in the footsteps of our Savior, right?

And while my footsteps often set a course away from pain and suffering,

Christmas reminds us

that's not the path that our Savior chose.

He didn't head that direction.

The footprints of the incarnation

travel a long way toward pain and suffering.

If we are to love others as Jesus has loved us,

and we are.

If we are called to follow in his footsteps,

and we are,

then our footsteps will carry us toward pain,

toward brokenness,

toward suffering,

because we're following his.

We've already said this is unnatural

and difficult.

So let's just make sure

that God's Word tells us this,

not will.

That's a very, very important thing.

Does God's Word tell us this?

Of course, the Bible talks in many places

about our enduring suffering,

and trials,

and tribulations as followers of Christ.

It even says that we will fill up

his sufferings for the sake of his church.

But look at John 17 specifically.

It's a passage where Jesus,

before his death,

is praying for us,

for his followers,

those who will believe in him.

And he prays to his Father,

I have given them your word,

and the world has hated them,

because they are not of the world,

just as I am not of the world.

I do not ask that you take them out of the world,

but that you keep them from the evil one.

They are not of the world,

just as I am not of the world.

Sanctify them in the truth.

Your word is truth.

As you sent me into the world,

so I have sent them into the world.

They'll be hated by all for my name's sake,

Jesus will say elsewhere.

If we are following Jesus,

we can expect to encounter

the rejection that he received

from the world.

He knows it.

He prays,

Father, they're going to be hated

as they go into the world,

and yet he does what?

Sends them

into the world.

And he prays for us

as we go

into the world.

Certainly, though,

we're only going to have to face

the suffering

and the rejection part, right?

The dying,

that's not really for us.

That was just for Jesus.

I mean, there is that one place

where he says,

husbands are to love their wives

as Christ loved the church

and gave himself up for them.

So, I mean, that could be,

oh, but then even the women

aren't off the hook

because John chapter 15,

John 15 · chapter mention

the same guy,

the same John,

writes in John chapter 15,

John 15 · chapter mention

this is my commandment,

that you love one another

as I have loved you.

Greater love has no one

than this,

that someone lay down his life

for his friends.

And he says it again

in 1 John,

by this we know love,

that Jesus laid down

his life for us

and we ought

to lay down our lives

for the brothers.

all the way

to the point

of laying down

our lives

parallel to what Jesus did.

We're called to follow Jesus

into the pain

like a firefighter

rushing into a burning building

while others are rushing

to get out.

Jesus calls us

to enter into the mess

of others' lives

even at potentially

great cost

to ourselves.

So let's ask the question

this morning,

what could following

in our Savior's footsteps

look like for us?

Maybe start with

the suffering part,

especially if you're like me

and running toward pain

and suffering

would require

a course correction

for you.

Just consider Jesus

who became familiar

with suffering.

A man of sorrows

familiar with suffering.

Ask yourself,

whose suffering

are you familiar with?

Whom are you walking

with long enough

to understand

and even feel

their pain?

We have mission partners

around the world

running toward

all sorts of pain.

One that we're praying

for together

this month

in our prayer guide

is Ursula Spooner

in Vienna, Austria

working with

trafficked women.

And you can read here

requests for a

Chinese girl,

a Nigerian woman,

a Romanian woman

that she's working with.

People who know

deep pain.

Aren't you glad?

Someone with the heart

of Jesus

is there

for them

in their pain?

Isn't that where

the church must be?

In those places

with people hurting

like that?

What about you here?

You know you don't have

to go around the world

to find pain

and suffering.

What about us?

Are we willing

to enter into it

here in Huntsville?

Whose suffering

are you familiar with?

Some of you here

have jumped into

the pain of children

who need parents

to love them

and care for them.

And you've begun

fostering

and adopting

and showing

the love of God

there.

Entering into

that pain

as I've watched

several of you.

Long term pain.

even when you

can't fix it

and it grieves

your heart.

You've entered

in there.

And there are

mothers

and parents

of those dear ones

who need to know

that love

as well.

Many of you

have helped run

toward the pain

of joblessness

and generational

poverty

through our

Jobs for Life

ministry.

Developing

relationships

where the light

of Jesus

can shine

in to both

of us.

It could be

the pain

of homelessness

of racism

the effects

of predatory

payday lending

and all these

places

where we can

enter in

to feel

the pain

first with them

and then to fight

to help those

who are hurting.

God calls us

to be familiar

with their sufferings.

Too often

we're not.

maybe you're

uniquely familiar

already with

the sufferings

of the guy

next door to you

or in the office

next door to you.

Maybe parenting

anxiety.

The long hours

at the office

straining

your marriage.

The emptiness

of chasing

after fulfillment

in the things

of this world

and longing

to be fulfilled

and not

finding it.

Run toward

those relationships.

They don't have

to be around

the world.

They may be

next door

and they may

be just as

frightening to you.

Perhaps

following in our

Savior's footsteps

will look like

having hard

conversations

with a brother

or sister

in Christ

about their

relationships.

When you

encourage a brother

or sister

to forgive,

in their

marriage

or in their

friendship,

you may expect

to be received

and yet find

your counsel

and even your

friendship

to be rejected.

But God

calls us

graciously

and patiently

to follow

Jesus into

those painful

situations,

into those

hard conversations,

to carry

each other's

burdens

and call each

other to

follow Jesus.

whatever the

sin,

whatever the

struggle,

I'm here

with you

and Jesus

is worth it.

What's the

situation where

you can already

see on the

front end

it's really

going to cost

you to get

involved?

Who's the

neighbor,

co-worker,

the friend

whose chaos

could cost you

months,

even years

perhaps,

of peace,

of sanity

on some

days?

You won't

think you

have the

time that

you need

if you get

involved there.

I've got to

tell you again

this morning

what we said

last week.

When Jesus

leaves the

comforts of

heaven and

enters into

this world to

live and die

for us,

his great goal

is not our

temporal comfort

but rather

that we might

move into

uncomfortable

places with

uncomfortable

people to

share his

comfort there.

Jesus calls

us to enter

into the pain

of this world

even to the

point of laying

down our lives

if we must.

He certainly

did so.

He's not

calling us to

go anywhere we

can't already

see his

footprints.

The ones that

are running

toward the

pain we

see them.

But it's

also true

there's a

difference between

his death

and ours.

He said our

death is not

ultimately

redemptive.

We are to

sacrifice in

others lives

for their

good but

only his

death pays

for their

sins and

restores their

relationship with

their heavenly

father.

God

is doing

different work

the pain

that he

endures is

in many ways

of a different

order than

that which we

will face.

And this is

really good news.

This is good

news of gospel

hope for us

because no

matter how hard

we try we

can't avoid the

pain and the

suffering entirely

can we?

I cannot go to

the doctor for

years trying to

avoid it and

I'm still going

to get sick

eventually.

We can try to

ignore the

realities around

us but they

don't go away.

We can try to

pick really safe

relationships with

people who are

just like me and

then find out that

many of those

become really

messy and

difficult and

complicated too.

the true hope

is not that we

can avoid pain

but rather that

we have a

savior who

enters into

the pain to

rescue us.

So we don't

have to obsess

over keeping

ourselves and

our kids from

suffering anymore.

We can obsess

as it were over

the one who

enters into

suffering and

loves to

rescue those

who hurt.

Think of the

aspects of pain

Jesus endured

so we would

never have to.

Not only did

he suffer

humiliation in

this world so

that we might be

honored forever

but also he was

rejected by his

father that we

might be welcomed

by our father

forever.

Never knowing a

moment in this

life or the

life to come

where he turns

his face away

from us.

Our father

always turned

towards us in

love.

Not only did

Jesus die so

that we might

live forever

but also he

endured the

pains of hell

that we might

know the

glories of

heaven and we

never deserved

and know them

forever.

What an amazing

savior.

He is the

great hero of

this story.

He is our

rescuer.

The one who

has come to

save us.

God, I

want to leave

you with this

image in your

minds this

morning.

Imagine that

you've been

trapped under

tons of

rubble.

Death and

destruction all

around you and

your friend is

stuck there next

to you.

You're both

completely helpless.

You're buried so

deeply under this.

You're not able

to get free.

And a first

responder rushes

into the smoke

and pulls you

out and rushes

you out of the

building to

safety.

And then you

look around and

imagine following

his footprints

the way he just

walked to come

after you.

Imagine following

those footprints

right back into

the pain all the

way back to your

friend and

taking him by

the hand and

saying, hey, I'm

here.

I know how it

feels to be

stuck here.

It's awful.

It hurts.

And I'm here

with you.

And I'm not

strong enough to

pull you out.

but I've got

good news.

There's someone

who is.

There's a

rescuer who's

strong enough

to pull you

out and he's

coming for you.

I'm going to be

here with you.

I want you to

know him.

What a great

privilege that we

know the rescuer

who's strong

enough and

passionate enough

to relieve the

pain of everyone

around us who's

hurting.

who comes to

rescue them.

To bring him

to them.

What a great

joy.

Let's pray.

Jesus, we

worship you and

we thank you.

You are cast

off as an

enemy that we

might be welcomed

in as God's

friend.

you endured

torment.

We might know

eternal comfort

and peace.

You ran

toward the

pain so that

we could be

rescued from

it.

We could

never thank you

enough.

Overwhelm our

hearts

with what you

have done for

us.

May our feet

be eager to

follow after

yours.

We ask it in

your name.

Amen.

Amen.

For more

information,

visit us online

at

southwood.org.

Thank you.

Thank you.