One of the most memorable things I ever experienced in school was life science. Growing up we would do a series of science experiments where we would have to put water in jar, then cover it with cellophane, put it in the sun and and see it condensate. Or we would have to get several handfuls of dirt and see what was in them. But by far my biggest wow moments came from watching a seed germinate on a paper towel. So I wanted to take a moment and just watch a time lapse video of a seed growing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w77zPAtVTuI
Just amazing isn’t it? It might be mundane, but when we see plants, animals, the people around us grow over time, we’re experiencing life happen. Its when you haven’t seen a kid in a while, and you’re amazed at their growth. Or when you go into a city you used to live in and see the new homes and business where once only fields rolled on. Growth is a part of life, change is a part of life.
And it’s the idea of life that brings us to our final week in our God in the Manger series, where we’re going to end with God’s attribute of life.
But before we get into this last attribute of God, let’s recap the last three weeks. In the last three weeks we’ve talked about three attributes of God. His infiniteness, his personableness, and his holiness. God’s attributes are the things he is, not what he does. They are things that he has always been and always will be. God is the Savior of the world, but that is a role that stems from his attributes. When he makes all things new, God will no longer need to act in a saving manner, because he would have completed his task of salvation.
So the first attribute we covered, God’s infiniteness, which incorporates his all-powerful, all-knowing, and eternal nature, is seen in the Christmas story with God the Word, Jesus, being wrapped in flesh. This wrapping of God’s infiniteness in finite material, leads us to God’s infinite forgiveness when Jesus sacrifices himself on the cross. An infinite payment for sin.
The second attribute, God’s personableness, shows in that he comes personally to humanity to reestablish relationship with people. God’s intention has always been to have personal relationships with humans on an individual bases. Jesus’ personal coming and the interactions he had with others, points to this. Jesus’ eventual sacrifice then opens the door for each of us to have that personal relationship with God.
Then last week’s attribute was God’s holiness. God’s goodness and justices are all connected to everything he does and his being perfect. God is holy, and he created the universe and all that is in it to be holy. God’s intention is for us to be good as he is good, so when we sin, and commit acts that are contrary to that good, he seeks to reestablish his holiness in our lives. When the Word becomes flesh, and walks among humanity as Jesus, that holiness continues. Jesus lives a holy life, he is presented temptations from the enemy and the world, yet choses to continue in holiness. When we accept Jesus’ infinite and personal sacrifice on our behalf, God’s Holy Spirit then indwells us, bringing his holiness into our lives. That work of the Spirit then brings us closer and closer into holiness, which we’ll experience in its wholeness, in eternity.
With God’s infiniteness, personableness, and his holiness in our minds, let’s look at God’s attribute of life.
The Scriptures presuppose that God is the source of all life. In the book of Job, we get this declaration, “The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life. (33:4)”
The Psalmist writes poetically, “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. (139:13-16)”
In the creation of the first man, we’re told in Genesis 2:7, “Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.”
In the very first words of the Bible we’re told, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1)”
When speaking to Moses at the burning bush, Moses asks God by what name should he tell the elders of Israel that he comes by. We read this reply, “I am who I am … Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ (Exodus 3:14)” This is known as the tetragrammaton, with the Hebrew consonants of YHWH, the first of these being sounded out as Yah, which means the creator or source of all life.
God is life, and from him all life comes and is sustained.
This life of God is contrasted with the non-life of other “gods” or idols. The prophet Jeremiah states, “Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field, and they cannot speak; they have to be carried, for they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good. 6 There is none like you, O Lord; you are great, and your name is great in might … They are both stupid and foolish; the instruction of idols is but wood! 9 Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz. They are the work of the craftsman and of the hands of the goldsmith; their clothing is violet and purple; they are all the work of skilled men. 10 But the Lord is the true God; he is the living God and the everlasting King. (Jeremiah 10:5-6, 8-10a)”
Speaking with the Greek philosophers in the book of Acts, chapter 17, Paul states, “For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.”
Because God is life, he doesn’t see life and death the same way as we do. In fact when he first calls Moses to the burning bush God introduces himself as, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. (Exodus 3:6b)”
Jesus would pick up on this when he was talking about the resurrection of the dead. In the Gospel of Matthew Jesus states, “And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God: 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living. (Matthew 22:31-32)”
Though this body may die, that is not real death. Real death is an eternal separation from God’s life. That’s why God is seeking to bring life to us.
The Christmas story is the life of God coming to bring life to humanity. At the beginning of John’s Gospel we read, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. (John 1:1-4)”
Jesus would then go on to say in that same Gospel, “For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. (John 5:26)”
Then, at the seemingly final death of a woman’s brother, Jesus gives this great statement as to where life is to be found. Jesus states, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this? (John 11:25-26)”
This is the true point of Christmas, it comes down to one question, “Do you believe this?” Do we accept that Jesus is the infinite God wrapped in finite flesh to bring infinite forgiveness? Do we realize that God desires a personal relationship with us? Do we accept that God is holy and our sins separate us from him, yet in his holiness he reaches out to us, lives holiness and then offers his holiness in place of our sin? And because of all this, Jesus offers his life to anyone who would accept it. His life begins now and last through eternity, and though we may die in this corrupted body and world, we will live eternally with him? Do you believe this, is the question.
In reference to this is the question of Christmas, do you believe? Jesus would go on to state, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6b)” This statement brings all things together. Only through the way of Jesus can we experience the truth of our separation and his forgiveness which brings about true life. All the questions of why, are answered in the person of Jesus. All the questions of what’s to come, are answered in the person of God made flesh who walked among us.
“Do I believe” is the question that we should be asking during this Christmas season. If I do, then I rejoice in the Savior’s birth as the focal point of the season and that rejoicing continues as I read his word, and learn to love him and love the people around me. If I answer no, then I must wrestle with his claims of being God in the flesh. I must struggle against who he is, not against what a pastor, theologian, philosopher, scholar, or joe-sh-mo on the street says. God is personally calling out to each of us to answer the question, do you believe this? Not does you friend, parent, or spouse believe, but you. Because God is personally calling, it’s a personal choice.
If you haven’t thought seriously about the call of Jesus to have your sins forgiven, or if you are just now searching for who God is, do not let this Christmas pass you by without diving head first into knowing Jesus as Savior. If you need to talk as you wrestle through this question of belief, my phone number is on the front of the bulletin and I am willing to meet with you as you wrestle through these questions.
My challenge for this week is, no matter if you believe Jesus is Savior or not, as you celebrate Christmas, contemplate these two verses of Scripture: John 1:4, “In him was life, and the life was the light of men.” And John 14:6, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Think on these two passages, and write down what the implications of that means for your life. If you accept Jesus as Savior what does that mean in light of these verses? And if you reject him as Savior what does that mean?
Jesus is calling each of us this Christmas season to a deeper understanding of who he is, and who he is, is true life of all mankind. Amen
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