The Glory of the Incarnation

Jesus, Mission, and Glory: Advent-Veiled in Flesh PART III
Dr. Timothy Keller
11 December 2016

John 1: 14-18
14The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.  We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

15(John testified concerning him.  He cried out, saying, "This is the one I spoke about when I said, 'He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.'" 16Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given.  17For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.  18No one has ever seen God, but the only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

Word Became Flesh--The way to know God is to know this human being-Jesus.

INFINITE COMFORT IN THE FACE OF SUFFERING
--God suffered through his Son - intellectual understanding.
--Jesus felt alone, betrayed, and misunderstood - experiential suffering.
--Jesus has been to all the dark places that we experience.

INFINITE POWER OF CONVICTION TO GET INVOLVED
--Give to the point that you feel vulnerable in imitation of Jesus.
--Serve others.

HOPE
--Realistic and infallible
--Everything ends in death is the penalty for our sin.
--Jesus has brought the ideal to the real through the New Earth.

Be careful about domesticating and taming the doctrine of Jesus.

Born Again

Jesus, Mission and Glory: Advent PART 2
Rev. Abraham Cho
04 December 2016

John 1: 12-13
12Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God--13children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.

WHY WE NEED A NEW BIRTH
--We're all spiritually dead.
--The dead can't earn or achieve things.
--Religious morality and "achieving" salvation separates us from God.
--Our instinct is that we don't need God.

WHERE NEW BIRTH COMES FROM (v.13)
--Born of God; we didn't actually do anything on our "birthday."
--We received birth.
--Jesus's life is placed in all of us.

WHAT NEW BIRTH GIVES
--It gives us the right to become children of God.
--Permanent adoption and offer of unchanging love.
--What does the adoption entitle us to?--Full access to the Father.

We get it by receiving it and believing in His name.

The Word

Jesus, Mission, and Glory: Advent PART I
Dr. Timothy Keller
27 November 2017

John 1:1-11
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  2He was with God in the beginning.  3Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.  4In him was life, and the life was the light of all mankind.  5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

6There was a man sent from God whose name was John.  7He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe.  8He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.

9The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.  10He was in the world, and through him, the world did not recognize him.  11He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.

NEED FOR THE LIGHT (v.4-5)
--The world is a dark place and true "light" comes from outside the world.
--We are not capable of generating this light on our own.
--The Word is Jesus.
--Trinity has been there since the beginning--One was not created out of the other.
--God has always been dynamic and interpersonal love.
--There is no darkness in God.

HOW DO WE GET THE LIGHT (v.9-11)
--Jesus came to be rejected.
--Selfishness leads to the loss of love.
--Make Jesus the reason for our life.
--Being filled with His love for leads us to be more loving and selfish.

Jesus left heaven for US
Is he the reason for our lives...the reason we get up in the morning?