But they are the questions that pertain to
the subject of the mystery of incarnation.
So, when we consider these questions together, you'll
have a framework of what it is that
we're going to be considering in this final
week.
You can begin to probe and examine yourself.
Instead of printing it out, I felt to
just rehearse them with you.
You can write them and make your own
list.
So, this is just the basic first examination
on the great subject of incarnation.
So, Lord, your blessing again, we pray.
It's a holy subject and it's sort of
the consummation of the atonement.
We're saved from sin, but saved unto something.
And it's that unto that we want to
consider, my God, for which creation is groaning,
waiting for the manifestation of the sons of
God.
So, bless us, my God, from the first
day of this final week, because you know
how we look to you as the great
Alpha and Omega.
You begin and you conclude.
So, give us a beginning for the conclusion
and all that you want to invest in
us and set into our thought and into
our consideration that we will take from this
place and walk out of the places from
which we've come and where you're yet to
bring us.
So, we thank you, Lord, for a holy
subject, still a controversy in many sectors of
the church.
Come and give us, my God, your illumination,
your perception.
We thank you and give you praise for
the privilege of even considering this so great
subject together.
In Jesus' name, amen.
So, first question.
What are the implications for us as Christians
today of the incarnation of Christ, God in
the flesh?
What are the implications for us as Christians
today of the incarnation of Christ, God in
the flesh?
Of necessity, God had to be in the
flesh, or there could not have been an
atonement.
It required a man who would suffer and
die, but who had also to be more
than man, because a man, however virtuous and
estimable, can never satisfy the requirement of God's
justice for sin.
Only God himself.
So, God is faced with the difficulty of
providing a sacrifice that his own justice demands,
that is greater than calves and bulls, that
no man himself could ever provide, and yet
must be experienced by a man for a
man.
And that man is Christ Jesus.
So, we have of necessity for the atonement,
God in the flesh.
And the New Testament writers speak about those
days as the days of his flesh.
And this is unprecedented in the history of
faith, that God would invest himself in man,
that there would be some strange union between
deity and humanity that is totally unprecedented.
And the theologians have been breaking their heads
over it from the earliest centuries of church
history because it gave rise to such speculation
as would bring about deception and heresy threatening
the church itself.
Because one school could not believe that God
could be crucified.
And therefore, their tendency was to depreciate the
divinity part.
Another school called Ebionites could not believe that
man could be united with deity and sought
to find a way to depreciate Jesus as
a man.
And so, these were heresies that threatened the
faith.
And the church had to summon the ability
to meet these dangerous threats by church councils.
So, in the 4th and 5th century, you
have six church councils.
One of them is the Council of Nicaea.
They take their name from their location.
About the deity, the issue of deity and
humanity.
And it brought some resolution, but it raised
new questions.
So, then there was a subsequent, the Council
of Chalcedon.
You don't have to know all this, though
it's interesting in itself as church history.
And they wrestled with the great questions.
And out of that second council came a
statement.
I'll be able to read it to you
somewhere here.
That Jesus is both man and God.
Two persons of the same substance.
And there's a Greek word for substance, and
even the word persons was something that the
Greek mind in that generation was able to
conceive as answering the issue.
But how there could be a union between
the two persons could only be answered that
they were the same substance, they were deity,
they were God.
So, that has more or less been the
prevailing theological foundation for understanding the mystery of
God in the flesh.
Two persons united, but of equal substance with
God.
And that's why Jesus could be acknowledged as
Lord, because his own testimony and the witness
of the early church recognized his Lordship.
And if he's Lord, he's also therefore God.
So, how God himself could be manifest in
flesh with man seems to be itself heretical.
And of course, Jews to this day have
been offended by that premise.
How could a holy God be joined with
man?
It seems to be an apparent contradiction, but
it's a mystery.
So, I'm raising the question, what are the
implications?
Yes, it has served the purpose of providing
atonement that required the death of a man
who's also God.
But what, beside rendering that service, what's the
implication for us of the issue of deity
and humanity somehow united together?
Is there an implication for us?
Are we a continuation of that mystery?
Is God in us, in our flesh?
Why do we say, Christ in us, the
hope of glory?
Why does Paul keep talking about in him,
in him, in him, I live and move
and have my being.
For me to live is Christ.
As a man reiterating the mystery as it
pertains to himself.
So, it's not just that Jesus set something
forth, but set something forth in which the
church is to continue.
And if it required the union of deity
and humanity to serve the purposes of atonement,
what is required to serve the purposes of
God's glory?
And how does that work?
How did it work for him?
What of his decisions and his conduct issued
from his deity and what of his conduct
issued out of his humanity?
And is there any way really to tell?
Could it be that even his miracles did
not issue out of some omnipotence that he
brought with him as God, but out of
a faith and a union with the Father
by faith through prayer and devotion?
See, these are remarkable questions because if he
acted in power only out of his deity,
then we cannot hope to emulate him and
that we're not God.
But if he acted out of his humanity
by faith, then there are implications for us.
And maybe even the other way too.
In what degree is God in us as
the hope of glory?
And to what degree can that God in
us be appropriated and give an opportunity to
express himself through our flesh as he expressed
himself through the flesh of Jesus?
So this is what we're going to consider
in these great questions.
It's not just an abstract theological or doctrinal
consideration.
The implications are astonishing and the Church has
not rightly even begun to consider what this
mystery of incarnation means for us.
How can we ourselves continue in it or
be in the expression of it?
And if we're not conscious of that mystery
and ourselves in a privileged place to express
it, how shall we?
So what was demonstrated or affected by that
act the union of dignity and humanity beyond
the necessity of being a man to suffer
and die so as to obtain for us
atonement?
What's demonstrated by this Jesus who is man
of man supremely man and supremely God in
the necessity to provide the atonement but what
more is provided by that reality that needs
to be considered?
I'm just taking the first question and kind
of restating it.
What are the implications of the union of
dignity and humanity in Christ beyond the necessity
of being a man to suffer and die
for our atonement that we need to consider?
We need to read the prologue to John
whom our hands have handled and seen and
known the word of life that was from
the beginning that the word was with God
the word is God this is a remarkable
introduction to the fourth gospel which I'm assuming
that you know is different from the other
three the first three, Matthew, Mark, and Luke
are called synoptic because they all rehearse the
basic history and life and teachings of Jesus
but the gospel of John is separated from
the other three making a statement an altogether
more radical kind than the first three gospels
and beginning with the prologue itself that you
can stupefy and choke and splutter over in
the beginning was the word and the word
was made flesh and taught among us and
we beheld this word we handled the word
of life so that the creator is also
now a creature but he was from the
beginning and was with us and we saw
and handled these are staggering statements and at
the height of offense of course to the
Jew which is to say also the modern
world so we need to probe those statements
and their implication for us what was demonstrated
or affected by that act the union of
deity and humanity beyond the necessity of being
a man to suffer and die so as
to attain for us atonement what else was
demonstrated beyond that necessity that we need to
consider because if we just consider that this
was an expedient necessity for atonement and that
we ended there we missed the greater glory
it was great in itself there would be
no atonement except a man was crucified suffered
and died only a man can die and
yet the man had to be God or
the sacrifice would not have been sufficient you
see the conundrum that the father is faced
with that is answered by the sending of
his son I'm asking what more is revealed
or are we to consider beyond the necessity
for atonement that comes with God in man
God in the flesh what more is there
what did Christ exemplify or demonstrate in his
obedience to the father in the days of
his flesh that instructs us about sonship here
we have opportunity to see a son of
man in relationship to the father in the
school of obedience by faith who is impeccable
in his obedience and is considered the pattern
son so will we know anything about sonship
or what it is that God is wanting
us to attain to except that we review
in him what a son of God is
in the flesh in the earth in all
that is contrary to the flesh and opposed
that Jesus demonstrated in his own walk and
that we are also required to know and
to express what did Christ exemplify or demonstrate
in his obedience to the father in the
days of his flesh that instructs us about
sonship he was always the son the pre
-incarnate son but the issue of sonship is
demonstrated by his conduct and obedience in the
flesh which cost him and it will cost
us did he have the advantage of deity
omniscience and omnipotence did he have a being
God as well as man did he have
a power of God and a knowledge that
God has that gave him an advantage in
his days of flesh that is not available
to us how is it he could say
that he doesn't know the day that the
father has not told him does that indicate
that he himself does not function in the
faculty of deity that is omniscient and all
-knowing what does Philippians chapter 2 tell us
that he lay aside what did he lay
aside and forsake and give up how did
he empty himself and take upon himself the
form of man and even that of a
servant even unto death the death of the
cross this is the nub of the controversy
if you want to know the Greek word
it's kenosis k-e-n-o-s-i
-s means emptying and there's a school of
theologians that subscribe to a complete kenosis that
the genius of Jesus is the emptying of
himself therefore all that he performed spoke and
did was not out of the power of
deity that's exactly what he lay aside what
he did issued out of his humanity on
the same basis by which we're called to
walk namely by faith and in relationship with
the father that he had no advantage by
virtue of deity than what is available to
us this is exactly what he lay aside
others say who are not friendly to this
view and I'll be reading to you from
different theologians God cannot separate himself from God
impossible he might forsake certain advantages but he
could never God cannot divorce himself from God
so that Jesus and the flesh cannot be
understood except you factor in also that there's
a resident deity in his life and ministry
I'm going to read to you from P
.T. Forsyth that is a recent discovery who
says it took the power of God for
Jesus to empty himself of deity it's a
remarkable statement that mere man could not have
vacated this remarkable reality it took the power
of God to forsake God and that Jesus
was willing and exercised that in order to
walk as man so what does he reveal
that will instruct us now what sonship means
did he have the advantage of deity omnipotence,
omniscience as an enablement not available to us
how then is he to be considered the
patterned son if he had advantages not available
to us how is he the pattern he's
only one that we can admire but not
one that we can emulate what can we
hope to become other than a pale reflection
of what Jesus himself exemplified and performed in
his earthly life in what way is it
possible to us to perpetuate let alone fulfill
the mystery of incarnation if he had advantages
not available to us how can we be
called to fulfill the same mystery in the
church Christ in us the hope of glory
how does Paul the apostolic man exemplify this
mystery because that last quotation is Paul's Christ
in us the hope of glory it's Paul
who says that in him he lives and
moves and has his being for him to
live is Christ if any man seems to
have laid hold of this mystery of incarnation
and expressed it consistently it's Paul so Paul
needs to be examined how does Paul show
forth this kind of reality how is he
the man of incarnation is he just talking
out of his hat is it just a
play on words Christ in me the hope
of glory for me to live is Christ
or is it the most awesome statement of
his apostolic life and if it is that
how did he attain it and if it
was available for his attainment is it available
also for ours Paul is the continuation as
it were of Christ Christ is incarnated in
Paul so what we have in the epistles
and Paul's apostolic role to the gentile church
the book of Romans Ephesians all of the
great statements is all that Christ himself would
have spoken and performed but is now given
over to another in whom Christ is living
and having his being as the incarnate God
in Paul now is that just a freaky
thing like once and for all available only
to a foundational apostle or is it a
mode of being and a distinctive and foundational
way of life that God intends for all
the church that is to be called apostolic
and our failure to appropriate that deity and
that life and live from it is to
the degree to which we ourselves are not
apostolic can we say with equal faith and
confidence for me to live is Christ in
him I live and move and have my
being and if we can't say it why
can't we say it what hinders us from
the same appropriation of the deity of Christ
that Paul was able to obtain and here
is deity that has passed in his human
life in the earth through suffering, crucifixion, death
burial, resurrection and ascension and that life now
that has passed through all of that reality
is poured out from the throne of heaven
and becomes the baptism in the Holy Spirit
that the church experiences at Pentecost so that
when we see Peter after Pentecost is a
very different Peter than before in fact it
would be very invaluable to compare a post
Pentecost Peter with Paul if they both have
now the life of the risen and ascended
son how is it that they don't sound
the same how are they uniquely different and
yet both are empowered and enabled by the
same life follow me and isn't that a
blessing should the life be so uniform that
everyone who lives by that life is punched
off the same assembly line they're little Jesuses,
little resurrected Jesuses who sound and look and
act the same or does God invest himself
in the uniqueness of their humanity and the
expression through the human filter is uniquely different
for each one Peter is uniquely different than
Paul and yet I would not give up
first and second Peter because what is spoken
there is so unbelievably precious that Paul never
quite touches those things that the Holy Spirit
reserves for Peter to express and the uniqueness
that is Peter so this is not just
interesting it's important for us because what then
is God waiting for in the uniqueness of
our vessels that can only be expressed through
us who formed us in our mothers wombs
and birthed us in point of time in
the history of redemption to bring a singular
expression that is fitted and unique only to
us that can only be operated by and
enabled by the same life by which Paul
and Peter themselves served God as apostles got
that?
and to what degree are we living beneath
that?
what a shame, what a scandal that we
would think to continue the apostolic inheritance or
bring it to its consummation on a basis
other than that by which it began the
incarnate life of God and the apostles and
the apostolic church and we're continuing what?
out of our own humanity?
well-meaning and intelligent and gifted but less
and other than incarnation why is that?
is the life not as available to us
as it was to them?
why then can we not say the same?
for me to live as Christ why are
we living out of our humanity?
when there's another source available with the resurrection
with the ascension that is evidently lacking in
the church today and it shows that well
-meaning intention and the best sincerity is a
miserable what's the word?
failure and scandal next to the apostolic standard
that was the church at the first is
it that the church needed that at the
first because of the hostility against the new
faith and we are in another time when
that kind of power and enablement and authority
is not as necessary or would you say
it's equally as necessary in every generation and
especially at the end to conclude the age
it must require the same kinds of enablement
by which it began because the church is
called to glory unto him be glory in
the church through Christ Jesus catch that world
without end throughout all ages that's the end
of Ephesians chapter 3 I believe unto him
be glory in the church by or through
Christ Jesus the resurrected and ascended one world
without end throughout all ages so why have
we failed to appropriate the remarkable enablement of
the life of God that incarnation the reality,
the principle, the mystery can be continued in
our flesh what will it require are we
willing to vacate are we willing to lay
aside are we willing to be emptied getting
the picture here he's the pattern son, he
emptied himself are we willing to empty ourselves
not of deity but of our virtue, of
our humanity of our talent, of our gifts
or are we insistent that we're going to
succeed on that basis no emptying, no filling
kenosis is emptying I think it's pleurosis is
filling and maybe that's the problem right there
we're unwilling to be emptied our egos require
that we succeed on the basis of our
own natural life and ability we're unwilling to
forsake Jesus was willing we're unwilling and the
church therefore is operating humanly and religiously so
in what way is it possible to us
to perpetuate or fulfill the mystery of incarnation
and how important is it that we should
is this just an option for those who
have this desire or what is at stake
here if we do not enter into this
realm of incarnation and it's mystery and it's
expression what is lost how critical is this
appropriation is it just for those individuals who
have the faith and desire for it who
have been shown the futility of their own
best efforts or is this God's normative intention
for all the church that is the church
why have we fallen short of it how
are we to be encouraged to it it's
going to take sons of the resurrection to
demonstrate before the church the reality and call
the church to the reality by their own
example and by the power of what they
speak out of that life where are these
sons so is Paul just what's the word
probably vainly boasting when he says for me
to live as Christ is that exaggerated is
that vain is he talking out of his
hat or is he speaking the most authentic
statement of truth about his uniqueness as an
apostolic man can he be an apostle outside
of that reality can anyone and what is
the threat to the church today is men
presuming to be apostles and prophets outside of
that reality they are human, all too human
clever, but they lack the distinctive authority which
is God and so to compare Peter with
Paul eventuated by the same newness of life
and yet radically different and since the day
of Pentecost because what happened at Pentecost what
was it that came down according to the
promise to the fathers from the throne of
heaven some innocuous and abstract energy called the
spirit or the ruach hakodesh the spirit of
holiness or the spirit of a lord which
is the sum and essence of the life
of the lord and of God came into
men as flame flames of fire upon their
heads and they spoke instantly and strangely in
languages that they had not learned and then
we see almost in the next chapters a
remarkable change in these men Peter and John
who were vying and competitive and rivaling one
another are now together at gate beautiful and
the man who was born lame fixing his
eyes on them what did he see in
them this is a cogent phrase that Peter
recognized that he had faith to believe and
say silver and gold have we none not
speaking have we none but that which we
have we give unto you that there is
a new kind of union there is a
new kind of fraternity a new kind of
heavenly fellowship by men who had previously been
rivals and in competition with one another vying
for a foremost place with the lord who
have now become a we in fact the
message at Pentecost itself these men are not
drunk as you suppose seeing it's only the
ninth hour by Peter it says Peter rising
with the eleven opened his mouth and said
these men are not drunk as you suppose
and when they heard that message what was
it three thousand were swept into the kingdom
with one speaking is this already the greater
works than I have done you will do
but is the greatness of that work critically
connected to the fact that Peter rose with
the eleven what does that mean did they
all stand up at the same time were
they all speaking at the same time it
would have been a jangle of words one
man was the mouthpiece but the unity and
agreement of men who had been bonded by
receiving the same principle of life was now
expressed in a message out of that life
with such power that those who came out
of curiosity thinking that these men were drunk
are swept into the kingdom of God the
church has it's inception by that message and
that power but it came out of a
unity silver and gold have we none but
that which we do have we take up
your bed and walk and if this is
the statement of life that has come down
from heaven and is received by those who
are in the upper room and brings a
radical change in such expression of power and
authority where is it today not only where
is it today where is it in Pentecostal
churches where is it in the charismatic movement
where is it in those places that purport
to have received the same gift and the
same life has it changed we have received
something other than what they received at Pentecost
or have we received so it raises a
remarkable question why don't we see the same
result the same outworking the same authority the
same power the same sacrificial lifestyle the same
fraternal communal lifestyle no man thought that the
thing which he had was his own they
gave liberally those that had houses and lands
sold them and laid the proceeds at the
feet of the apostles who made distribution there
was not one among them that had want
a kingdom had come a new economy a
mode of living and being that was radically
different from what we know Jews to be
and to desire they were changed by one
infusion that had economic expression of a radical
kind that has not again been emulated except
in small places in the history of the
church and it had to do with the
infusion of a life if we don't raise
those questions we will continue to remain in
the lamentable condition that we presently are either
we need a fresh baptism of that spirit
and be willing for the outworking of it
where we don't hold things as our own
but have all things common or something needs
to be explained all of these questions are
related to the issue of incarnation I don't
believe we are going to come to the
appropriation except that we raise these questions have
you the faith to believe for it the
divine life in you deity in you and
expressing himself through your humanity in your accent
in your particular human form that's what glorifies
God it's not that there should echo from
us thus sayeth the Lord we all sound
like an echo chamber but through you your
particular accent your personality the way that you
were fashioned and formed but the life and
the content is not out from you it's
out from God can you see that as
a principle of life in which you can
live continually it would not be remarkable and
that is this the rest that God has
promised the people of God and is this
the basis out of which the great last
days works will take place not out of
our vexation and striving but out of our
rest and confidence of Christ in us the
hope of glory who can answer to any
situation because it is the wisdom of God
the righteousness of God can we trust for
that and believe for that can we believe
it out of our own mouths and in
fact if we can't who is it that's
going to address the dry bones of Israel
in Ezekiel 37 that unless they hear such
a word not from God but from the
son of man they'll remain in their death
that the whole mystery of the consummation of
the age and Israel's resurrection waits on a
word that will not come to it directly
from God but only something called the son
of man not an individual but a corporate
expression brought to a place that can be
commanded to speak to those bones and not
just out of an obligatory speaking but a
willing speaking a desire to see those bones
raised and a great nation emerge despite the
fact that they don't deserve that consideration and
that everyone desires that they be left to
die leave them in what they deserve by
their own apostasy so you have to be
an uncommon man to be commanded to address
those bones and to see them come to
life because once they do you have a
new competitor now God has a restored resurrected
nation that will be the object of his
attention and his love and where do you
come off you may be pouting like the
older brother who is not happy to see
the prodigal son return because he wanted to
bask in the exclusive attention of his father
don't think I'm just touching some small thing
here this is a greater issue than you
know and unless the church rises above that
issue it will not address those bones it
will not desire to see them raised and
it will shut its mouth and be obstinate
as in fact many of us are now
something has got to happen in our humanity
by which we welcome the return of the
profligate and prodigal brother who does not deserve
to be raised even though we know that
we will have a new competitor for the
attention and love of God but our confidence
is so great in his love and its
infinite supply that we're not at all threatened
that it will diminish anything of the father's
affection for us and therefore we can well
afford to see this son returned because the
issue of the son's return is in fact
the glory of God the father because the
issue is the issue of Israel's restoration, the
consummation of the age, the coming of the
kingdom reserved exclusively for them, the Davidic kingdom
though it pertains to much more than to
the nation, it's universal but it has its
issue with them as a raised nation but
raised by whom?
by a people who will speak for God
as God in his authority try it sometime
and see if you can get away with
it if you're not in that place of
incarnation, you'll fall as flat as the proverbial
pancake because whoever that son of man will
be in the last days, he'll not be
made of any better or different or other
stuff than what is in this room right
now how do we come to that appropriation
and that reality is the issue of Israel's
redemption and the glorification of God forever, that's
why Paul ends in Romans 11, all the
depth of the riches both of the wisdom
and the knowledge of God who has been
his counselor for of him and through him
and to him are all things to whom
be glory forever that's remarkable that the glory
of God forever rests not on the unique
and expression of God as God directly, but
God as God through flesh through man exactly
the same principle by which he was glorified
in the son to the establishment of the
church is exactly the same principle by which
his glory is consummated through the church Christ
in us, the deity in man and through
man is the remarkable mystery that has its
consummation at the end of the age with
Israel because if it's only just our well
meaning intention and we want to agree with
God yes Israel should be raised and we'll
speak a word it'll go right to the
ground with a thud no authority, no resurrection
power, just a religious human word that is
void it has got to be as much
and equal to as God's own speaking God's
own speaking but not directly from God, but
through you so we had better lay hold
of this incarnation and I'll tell you what
it's not going to come to us in
a moment when it's called for, if we
have not been consistently growing into this reality
long before we'll not find it at the
last moment if we have not found it
before and consistently have walked in it that's
why these questions are so imperative that this
has got to be frequent and consistent and
requires faith to believe for it staggering we
can believe for Jesus' expression and maybe one
or two modern time spokesmen but can we
believe for ourselves through our humanity son of
man can these bones live?
it's like the Lord rubbing the humanity the
condition of the humanity into the prophet himself,
you son of man you sweating palpitating thing
given to indecisive apprehensions and doubts and all
can these bones live?
this will stagger you, this is beyond even
your faith to believe and yet if it
doesn't come through the son of man it
does not come God insists that the final
mystery be the fulfillment through the mystery of
incarnation or it will not be fulfilled at
all the nations are opposed to God today
and want to be autonomous that's why Psalm
2 says, why do the heathen rage?
what are the heathen?
the Goyim the Gentiles, the nations and take
thought against the Lord and against his anointed
to break their bands asunder they don't want
to obey God they want to crucify him
and remove his rule so we're yet waiting
for that consummation and of course if they're
going to be submitted to the rule of
God at the end of the age millenially
and eternally they'll have to bow and acknowledge
the people whom he has raised up who
are the locus of that rule, namely Zion
and of course what is more alien to
the Gentile heart than that they should bow
and acknowledge Shem that they should come into
that tent and be required to come to
that Zion in the feast of tabernacles and
yet God says if you'll not come you'll
suffer a curse I'll be my reign why
does he even have to make the threat?
because the inveterate hostility of the nations to
God and to his chosen people remains even
after his coming in fact a thousand years
later when Satan is unchained, what does he
do?
overnight he raises up a rebellion against God
and against his people and comes against Israel
to destroy it showing that there's yet a
latent disposition among men in the nations even
after a thousand years of godly rule to
be quickly stirred into a revolution a rebellion
against God through Satan who is loose for
a moment and then God brings his final
devastation of judgment on the mountains of Israel
so this is a remarkable climax of the
ages when all kingdoms will be submitted unto
him and then he will turn over to
the father all of the kingdoms of the
world that are now submitted and disposed to
the most high that God might be all
in all this is a great saga, this
is the cosmic overview of the whole thing
in which the church has its life, its
purpose and its meaning if we don't see
this why bother about incarnation the incarnation is
the great mystery of supply that we would
fulfill our destiny in this great cosmic design
of God in fact that he will not
come until this gospel of the kingdom is
proclaimed to all nations and until the fullness
of the gentiles become in the deliverer will
not come out of Zion there's a function
for us that has to do with the
consummation that waits upon us like Psalm 102,
the set time to favor Zion, when, when
my servants have compassion on the stones and
pity upon her dust the church is the
critical factor in the fulfillment of God's whole
great redemptive design for creation and for the
nations, but a church of what kind, a
church in what power, a church in what
authority, a church in what humility, that will
empty itself, that he might be all in
all and in so doing the father is
honoring his son the son initiated that mystery
for the first time in history out of
his own humanity and will again glorify the
father by being the deity in us by
which the age is concluded Christ in us
is deity fulfilling himself again through the human
form, through man because it takes it takes
a temple for the glory of God to
be revealed the glory of God is never
manifest in open space, it always required a
building, a temple a confinement, a body and
so also at the end, and we are
that thing not only individually but corporately so
however individually virtuoso we might be in the
faith if we are not united and corporate
as the Godhead itself the mystery will not
be revealed it's a corporate expression of incarnation
that brings the glory, it's the son of
man as a corporate entity not a stray
isolated individual who happens to be unique so
the mystery of corporateness is at the heart
of the whole fulfillment, but can you attain
to that except by the life of God
is this a little social experiment let's play
camp in the woods let's play community we
played other games, now we'll play this game,
well if it's only a game and a
social experiment it's a disaster and it's doomed
this is a holy enterprise and it requires
divine enablement, even to bear one another, let
alone to love one another and grow up
together with each other in the unfolding of
the uniqueness of God's intention for every expression
they had to have a Pentecost before they
could believe that what they had was not
their own that no man thought that what
he had was his own, they had all
things common something happened to them in their
brain box, in their categories in this view
of how life should be lived that was
altogether radical and transforming that's what happens when
the life of God comes in because the
life is not just an energy it's a
character it's a personality it has its own
disposition and wisdom like the Godhead, three persons
yet one not in competition deferring one to
another in a remarkable way that God wants
to see exemplified in the earth through the
church you can't do that humanly or religiously
as a social experiment it fails again and
again God's son pre-incarnate but also incarnate
in the days of his flesh how was
he the son and his own testimony is
remarkable I do nothing of myself the words
that I speak are not my words but
the words which my father has given me
he would not initiate a single thing out
of himself and such a dedication to the
father as the source of his life his
being, his ministry, his wisdom all so he's
the pattern of what sonship is in total
dependency upon the father messiah, lord king, coming
king all out of his obedience as a
son in his humanity and yet it says
that he wept and cried out in Hebrews
and that the father heard his cries that
Jesus would have to cry that he would
have to suffer and learn obedience by the
things which he suffered was that required for
his humanity and I'm going to be reading
you what I think is the most radical
and creative view of incarnation that I have
ever been privileged to consider that might be
the lord's last word on how we ought
to perceive this mystery and fulfill it in
the way that Jesus himself did by growing
into through obedience that which he already was
it sounds like a remarkable paradox religiosity presumption
of a seemingly acceptable kind can be as
great an obstruction to the receiving and the
living out of this life as just carnal
indifference maybe even more potent and more powerful
because it's religious and we have a vested
interest in succeeding on that basis so false
piety has to be identified and dealt with,
maybe this is part of that emptying because
tradition familiarity the way in which we have
been brought up denominationally, whatever it is is
the hardest thing to forsake but if Jesus
was able to forsake and empty himself of
his deity which he shared with the father
since time immemorial, he always was with the
father before creation and in fact commenced creation
and was able to empty himself what then
should we not be able to do by
a comfortable grace we're still on the wilderness
side too many of us and we cannot
get from there to the other except on
dry ground that comes by his power so
long as he stands in that place and
this is holding the ark until all Israel
passes through I've seen it too often, it's
painful the death that is in the church
today, and they don't even seem to be
aware of it they go on in their
repetitive ways and people are sitting like lumps
that are unmoved and untouched the kids are
cracking gum up in the balcony and poking
one another and waiting for the dreary thing
to be over the whole thing is mechanical
and lifeless, that one hour in the week
when reality should have its opportunity ironically what
is unreal is what permeates that hour in
most churches, in the land and perhaps in
the world, and I heard that cry, oh
my God I know it, I've seen it,
it's stultifying, it's deadly and the people seem
to sit there and do their duty and
they pass through the, then they can go
home again, turn on the TV set, go
to the golf course, but the condition of
the church especially in view of the climax
of the ages, the whole cosmic call how
do we go from where we presently are
to that is our concern, and that's why
we need the kind of prospect that might
be offered in a little place like this
in nowheresville over things that would not ordinarily
be brought to our consideration like incarnation so
in, wherever else in the world something like
this is being offered the Lord will meet
the need, he will answer, he will succeed,
he has already succeeded he will work out
the victory obtained at the cross, he will
be eternally glorified and in fact our confidence
and our hope is not something that we
can humanly sustain but it itself requires the
supernaturalness of God in us even to hope
for this realization in the face of everything
that is otherwise depressing and evidently hopeless he
is our hope, he is even our hope,
see how much we need God as God
in our humanity it's not just by taking
a deep breath and hoping against hope, he
is that hope or else we would be
defeated before we begin the issues are so
overwhelming the condition is so abysmal and yet
he will succeed as close as we are
to the end of the age, he'll do
a quick work and cut it short in
righteousness he's able and if he can't do
it with us where else shall we hope
so when I've been in places like Sicily
and I'm looking into the faces of women
who I know they're thinking about their pots
and pans and the pasta that's cooking and
when is this guy going to end or
it's going to boil over and I'm bringing
a message on the principalities and powers of
the air I'm ready to throw in the
towels and Lord this is hopeless, let the
floor open and swallow me and then I
say if God cannot succeed now with you
Italians you Sicilians is more occupied with the
issue of your pasta than the glory of
God forever, then where then shall we hope
for any success if he'll not succeed with
you, where will he succeed and that's the
glory of God the humility of God, the
foolishness of God, choosing the weak thing and
out of the mouths of babes and sucklings
his wisdom is perfected because he's in a
contest with another moral order that thinks itself
superior and their values their wisdom predicated on
power prestige, rivalry competition, force threat, seduction the
things that move the world so God has
got to defeat them on the basis of
his own wisdom humility, weakness foolishness but the
foolishness of God is greater than the wisdom
of men he's got to triumph in that
basis and he will, that's why we're chosen
we are the most foolish and weak and
unpromising prospects for the consummation of the age
that can be imagined and yet he will
triumph in it, so we need to thank
him, Lord what a calling what a calling
Lord my God, what faith you have and
we're commended to have the faith of the
son of God you can believe for your
triumph with us, and you're putting all your
eggs in that pitiful one basket with women
who are concerned about their pasta and they're
going to know about their principalities and powers
and be instrumental in their defeat, Lord who
is sufficient for these things Paul had to
cry that out and the answer is the
sufficiency that he had in Christ who has
made unto us wisdom sanctification, redemption and power
or else we are without hope and Lord,
we know these things technically, we know these
things positionally, but we don't know them actually,
we have not believed for these realities through
us, and we've been coasting and getting by
on our scant humanity because we have not
yet been tested so Lord if we have
asked for mercy and grace in the days
that have preceded this first day of the
last week, we're asking it now God forbid
Lord that I would humanly seek to bring
forth the mystery of incarnation when it takes
the incarnation to speak of the incarnation it
takes God to speak of God and so
Lord we empty ourselves of presumption of pride,
of human confidence and ask that you would
have the greater opportunity to manifest your life
through us teachers as students together Lord, to
come into some appropriation of this great mystery,
that we would take it with us, it
will be in us my God and thereafter
so we bless you Lord oh Lord, mercy
mercy, mercy Lord in this so great thing
we pray thank you for the privilege of
it Lord, in which only you can succeed,
to the eternal praise of your glory, as
we ask it in Yeshua's holy name and
God's people said Amen