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Our World Belongs to God 23

It was good to worship together and to share the Lord's Supper yesterday. Thank you to all of you who overcame the technical obstacles to join us by phone and by computer!

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He was despised and rejected by others;
    a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity;
Surely he has borne our infirmities
    and carried our diseases (Is. 53:3,4).

As we journey through "Our World Belongs to God: A Contemporary Testimony," this week the focus is on the purpose of Jesus' coming.  Today's theme connects back to last week's focus on God's reconciliation of the world to himself, by making five crucial comparisons about who Jesus is.

Paragraphs 1-6: Preamble (April 11-29)
Paragraphs 7-12: Creation (April 30-May 8)
Paragraphs 13-17: Fall (May 11-15)
Paragraphs 18-22: Redemption (May 18-22)
Paragraphs 23-27: Christ (May 25-29)

Paragraph 23 (Today)
Remembering the promise
to reconcile the world to himself,
God joined our humanity in Jesus Christ—
the eternal Word made flesh.
He is the long-awaited Messiah,
one with us and one with God,
fully human and fully divine,
conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.

[For Jesus as the incarnate Son of God, see Luke 1:31-35, John 1:1-14, and Hebrews 1:2-3.]

Yesterday on Ascension Day I preached from Hebrews 6:9-20, which is a reflection of how Jesus, fully divine, meets our present day need with his priestly work.  The book of Hebrews is very clear that the humanity of Jesus is equally important for Jesus to be our great High Priest: "For this reason he had to be made like (us), fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God" (Hebrews 2:17). 

Jesus entered a world beset with the pervasiveness of both viruses and sin. He got sick and was tempted. He served, face to face and hands on, the sick and sinful. And he actively, courageously confronted our enemy, death.  Jesus is our best example of how to live and act, compassionately and courageously, in the midst of this virus.

Of the many, many songs one might consider on this theme, I think Graham Kendrick's "Meekness and Majesty" is most appropriate. Bow down and worship!

The Nicene Creed words it this way. Pray it with me:

We believe in one God,
      the Father almighty,
      maker of heaven and earth,
      of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ,
      the only Son of God,
      begotten from the Father before all ages,
           God from God,
           Light from Light,
           true God from true God,
      begotten, not made;
      of the same essence as the Father.
      Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
       he came down from heaven;
       he became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary,
       and was made human.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit (Philippians 4:23).

Pastor Mark

PS - My online office hours Tuesday will be 11-noon and 1-2pm.  If you want to connect with me, just click this link to join my Zoom session.

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