Post-Advent Response: Adoration
Text: Hebrews 1:3 and Philippians 2:8–10 ESV
Note for those listening to the audio: Please see the note at the bottom of the page regarding the person of Jesus Christ (clarifying the 10:40–11:08 portion of the audio).
Introduction
Unless you’re like me and try to extend the life of your Christmas tree as long as possible, you know, to the point where you can barely touch it without flooding your floor with needles, your Christmas decorations will be put away pretty soon where they will collect dust until next year.
My wife was telling me about her grandpa growing up, how he would leave his Christmas lights up until July and then decide to take them down. She would always think, “Once you reach the half-way point in the year, is it really worth taking them down anymore?”
Whether you’re lamenting the departure of the holiday lights, music, and other festivities or you’re thinking, “Finally, I’m free,” this morning I want to call us all to not let the truths we have remembered over advent depart from our hearts and collect dust like our Christmas decorations. I pray that the Spirit of God will help us keep them at the forefront of our hearts for all of 2020.
This sermon has been named a “Post-advent adoration response.” In other words, the goal of this sermon is to look again, take a fresh look perhaps, at what we have just seen together over these past four weeks and adore him for what we have seen. Now hopefully we have been doing that over these four weeks, but I don’t know about you, sometimes I can fall into the habit of just feeling informed. I’m listening with my mind but not beholding him with my heart. I’m kind of nodding my head in agreement. “Yes…it’s true that the eternal God who made the universe showed up in space and time as a baby to save us from eternal destruction that we are helpless to save ourselves from…that sounds right.”
That really happened! The eternal God, who exists outside of space and time, who made the universe, stepped into that space and time as a baby to save us (because he loves us) from eternal destruction that we created and that we are helpless to save ourselves from! Hallelujah!
You know, sometimes I think because we’ve heard some of these truths or Christmas stories so many times, we might have a tendency to grow indifferent or lose some of our awe, and we need to be reminded to sort of lean forward in our seats, maybe close our eyes and use our imagination, not to make a fairytale come alive but to allow what’s really true about the man Christ Jesus (who he really is, what he really did for us, and what he is surely going to do) to affect our hearts and produce praise. Praise or adoration is the surest sign that we’re enjoying God like we should.
Really what I’m saying is, “Let’s ask the Spirit to open our eyes, ears, and heart that he might help us to see Christ rightly and to feel the joy that his coming to us ought to bring. Only he can do that.
Adoration: Who Jesus Is | What Jesus Did | What Jesus Will Do
Here’s a simple road map. We’re going to let our main Scripture texts from Hebrews 1 and Philippians 2 (and some others along the way) lead us into adoration of:
Who Jesus Is
What Jesus Did
What Jesus Will Do
1. Who Jesus Is: The Light of God
Open your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 1, verse 3. Hebrews is one of the last books of the Bible. It is after Philemon and before James. When you get to Hebrews you’ll see a big 1 on the first page and then some little numbers below it. Go to the little number 3. That’s where we are. Or you can follow on the screen.
During the advent season, we often hear a lot about light, and it is associated with great hope. One of the reasons for this is throughout the Bible one of the words often used to describe our hopeless situation is darkness. Darkness is often associated with wickedness, evil, death, distance from the presence of God. Darkness is the sad setting created by sinful people going their own way, running from God, and rebelling against God. Now
“God is light. In him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5 ESV),
so when people distance themselves from him, do not listen to him, and go their own way, they will only find darkness and blindness. And then as we sin, when we act in ways contrary to the God who is light, we are creators of darkness. So ever since the first sin committed in the garden of Eden, all humans have been both perpetrators and victims of evil or darkness. If you are a human in this room, you have spread darkness or evil, committed it yourself.
“For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God”– Romans 3:23 ESV
and you have been victims of the darkness or evil of others. We have a deep darkness problem in this world.
Ryan preached about this in week 1 from Isaiah 9 about a people who walked in darkness and dwelt in a land of deep darkness. It’s what they knew. You know when you’re in darkness long enough that overtime you start to see things around you more clearly, your eyes grow more accustomed to the dark? This was their situation. This is our situation today without Christ. Seeing more clearly in the dark, in a spiritual sense, is not a good thing. It means we have become comfortable in the darkness and have grown comfortable with our wicked ways and comfortable without God. We don’t think we need him and continue to walk far from him; but the darkness will eventually swallow us up. The Bible says that sin leads to death, eternal separation from God, eternal darkness (James 1:15; 2 Thessalonians 1:9).
And so it makes sense that when Isaiah brought them a message of hope both for the mess they created for themselves from going their own way and the evil oppression committed against them, he talked about light.
“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness on them has light shone” (Isaiah 9:2 ESV). Isaiah prophesied that the light that would come to rescue them would come in the form of a person who will have the name “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6 ESV)
Okay so now look to Hebrews 1:3, which is speaking about Jesus, the Son of God:
“He [Jesus] is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature” (Hebrews 1:3 ESV).
How fitting that the one who would address our deep darkness problem would be called this. He is the radiance, the bright shining light, of the glory of God.
What does this mean? It means that the infinite worth of who God Almighty is, all his perfections that make him who he is, that make him holy, that put him in a class by himself, are on brilliant display or are shining forth in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Jesus radiates the nature of the unseen God in all that he is and does. That’s amazing! He does this in unique ways as the divine Son in the heavens, and when he adds a human nature to come be among us and address our darkness problem, he radiates God’s nature as the human Son of God.
Do you think about the man Christ Jesus this way? When you see him in the pages of Scripture and you hear the words coming from his mouth and read about the way that he acts, the way he treats different kinds of people, do you remember that when he is doing all of those things he is radiating the nature of the unseen God perfectly? Everything we see in him and from him is what God is like. He is perfect in all his ways.
Jesus is not just another prophet coming to speak on behalf of God or about him, like Isaiah did when he told them to take heart that the light was coming. The writer of Hebrews is going out of his way to tell us this. Verses 1–2:
“Long ago, in many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets (like Isaiah), but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom he also created the world” (Hebrews 1:1–2 ESV).
No big deal. He is basically saying, “this guy who was walking among you, speaking to you, who was born as a baby like you and me, grew up like you and me, looks and talks like you and me, oh he’s different though. He created the world. This guy, unlike others, is the radiance of the glory of God.” What’s more, back to verse 3,
“He is the exact imprint of God’s nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power” (Hebrews 1:3 ESV)
Jesus was not there to say again that light is coming. He was there to say, “The light is here. I am the light, the Light of the World, the radiance of the glory of God. Hope for those in darkness is now here in me.”
So that’s who Jesus is in Hebrews 1:3. He is not just another prophet speaking of hope and light to come. He is the hope and light of the world. He is God himself in the flesh.
2. What Jesus Did: Became a Man to Die for Sin and Make Peace
We’ll look at the end of Hebrews 1:3 in a bit, but let’s hop over to Philippians 2. Philippians is about 20 pages backward in your Bibles from Hebrews. Big number 2, little number 6. So we just looked a little bit at our darkness problem. I’ll summarize it again a different way. God made us. He made us to be with him and share in the love that was already being shared between the Father, Son and Spirit. He made our hearts to only be fully satisfied in him. But we traded that opportunity to share in that perfect fellowship for worthless things. Thinking ourselves wise, we became fools and worshipped created things rather than the Creator. We broke our fellowship with him. Our sin is rightly offensive to him and deserving of death.
“For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23 ESV)
Why? Because he is so good. He is so good and so perfect and so just that the evil we commit cannot go unpunished.
So we can’t be in that perfect fellowship with a holy God when we are covered in sin. We couldn’t come before him in that condition. And no amount of good works can remove the stain of our sin (Ephesians 2:8–9). That is what “walking in darkness” is. On our own, we are stumbling around, unable to see, with no hope to get ourselves out of our mess (Ephesians 2:12) and back to where we were created to be, back to where all of our deepest longings can be satisfied.
But though we couldn’t approach him in our mess, because of his great love for us, what did Jesus do? He came to us.
“Though he was in the form of God, he did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” (Philippians 2:6–7 ESV)
The radiant Son of God, clothed in splendor, through whom all things were created, the upholder of the universe, he suspended the rights to his power and majesty and moved from being far above us to not only making himself like us, but putting himself beneath us in order to lift us up from our trouble.
Jesus, because of his great love for us, because he was looking to the interests of us who were stuck in our sin, left the glories of heaven, to become the servant of man. And not only this but look at verse 8:
“And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross“ (Philippians 2:8 ESV).
Jesus, the perfect King of the Universe, took on himself the death we deserved! And not just an ordinary death. He took on one of the most shameful deaths known to man at his time. He died like he was the sinner, like he was the criminal. Do you know that this is a scandal? Jesus didn’t deserve this. He came and lived a perfect, sinless life. He didn’t deserve to die like a sinner or a criminal. But that was just the point. Jesus, the Son, came to live a perfect life so that he could hold it up before the Father and say, “Father, give them my perfect life. I’ll take their death. Pour out the good and just wrath they deserve on me so they don’t need to take it and they can be set free from the death their lives deserve. Bring them back into fellowship.” Jesus the king lived a perfect life and died like a criminal so that we who lived criminal lives could live forever like we’re perfect (Galatians 3:13–14). That is a scandal. But it’s the best news in all the world. The scandal of divine humility and grace for a proud, sinful human race.
And the good news continues! Though Jesus came to die to bring us back into fellowship with God, he was not ultimately on a suicide mission. We did not lose our great Savior to the darkness. He triumphed over it in the end, completing his saving work by overcoming the grave, by rising again (Hebrews 12:2; Colossians 2:12–15).
“Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:55 ESV).
Christ has conquered all!
C.S Lewis said it this way:
“One has the picture of a strong man stooping lower and lower to get himself underneath some great complicated burden. He must stoop in order to lift, he must almost disappear under the load before he incredibly straightens his back and marches off with the whole mass swaying on his shoulders.“ (C.S. Lewis, Miracles, 148.)
Victory.
And in poetic form from a Rap artist called Beautiful Eulogy:
“The love of our God
Gracious and kind
God became a man and suffered for mankind
The punishment for our sin was worn out on Him
So we could be forgiven and forever live
Saved by grace, the cost was not cheap
We can't add to it
His work is complete
The greatest gift we can ever receive
is the Gospel, salvation, for all who believe”
Beautiful Eulogy Lyrics | Youtube video
Amen. Do you see Christ Jesus and his work as the greatest gift you could ever receive? (Ephesians 2:8; Romans 6:23) Are you regularly experiencing that joy in your heart? Have you reflected on that as you or those around received gifts this Christmas?
3. What Jesus Will Do: Come and Get Us
Is this still an advent sermon? Yes! The parts of the gospel we just remembered together are some of the most massive reasons why on a cold night, two thousand years ago, Jesus was crying in a manger (Luke 2:7). The angels were trumpeting around that this birth was such good news (Luke 2:10–14) because they knew who Jesus was and what he would do to save (Matthew 1:21).
What I want to do with this last point is remind us one more time before we head into a new year of who and what we’re waiting for. So we’ll conclude that way.
Hebrews 1:3 ends by saying,
“After he made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 1:3 ESV)
Philippians 2:8–11 ends by saying,
“Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9–11 ESV)
Both these texts remind us that after our Suffering Servant endured the shame of the cross and humbly became obedient to the point of death, God our Father raised him up and exalted him to the highest place and now the God-man, Jesus our King, is reigning in heaven over all things alongside God the Father. And now we, saved by his grace, joyfully surrender to him and worship him with our whole hearts and lives. He is worthy of all our praise!
But wait. Didn’t Jesus die to bring us to God? (1 Peter 3:18). Yes. And he’s done that already in the sense that for those who put their trust in him, he’s removed the hostility we had between us (Ephesians 2:13–14) and now, through the Holy Spirit inside us, we have fellowship with him even now (2 Corinthians 13:14). In a real way, we can rest and have peace now (John 14:27) knowing that once we were lost in darkness, but Jesus, the radiance of God’s glory, has found us and saved us (John 8:12).
But theologian James K.A Smith reminds us of something very important. He says, “We find rest because we are found. We make it home, because someone comes to get us.” (James. K.A. Smith, On the Road with St. Augustine.)
Jesus is coming to get us! He has ascended to his rightful place in the heavens as ruler over the earth (1 Peter 3:22; Acts 1:9–11), but what else is he doing? In John 14, Jesus tells us. He says,
“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself that where I am you may be also” (John 14:1–3).
I love that last part. We’re not the only ones feeling the distance between us and Jesus. Jesus is feeling it. He wants us to be where he is. Jesus is preparing a place for us so that where he is we may be also. This is the ultimate goal of all of his redemptive work next to bringing glory to the Father: that we would be with him. In case you think this is just an emotionless statement Jesus is making here to the disciples to get them to stop worrying so much, three chapters later, he’s praying to the Father before he’s about to be killed for our sake and he says,
“Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, would be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world” (John 17:24 ESV)
Yes. Oh to be loved by Jesus. We are not a charity case; we’re the bride he loves. He’s not going to leave us. Remember the verse,
“Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases?” (Psalm 115:3 ESV)
Well, being with us is one thing that pleases him, and he’s going to make it happen. And this is important for us to remember as we fight the good fight of faith because it can be hard. We can experience all sorts of things that tempt us to feel like God has abandoned us or is not coming back for us after all. That is a lie. But it feels like that sometimes.
Though our darkness has been pierced through by Christ’s light, the darkness has not fully lifted. Though our enemies have been defeated, and our greatest enemy the devil knows that he lost, he is still raging and perhaps all the more, prowling around like a roaring lion seeking to devour us (1 Pt 5:8).
We can relate with the way the Israelites that Isaiah was preaching to longed to be home in the promised land, rescued from their enemies. We can relate with being tired, distressed, and oppressed. We also long for our heavenly home as we continue to feel the devastating effects of sin—we’re tired of sinning, tired of sin being committed against us, tired of the curse of death and sickness that steals away family members and friends or brings a lifetime of physical suffering.
But even when we feel heartsick or hard-pressed on every side, we know that what Jesus accomplished for us when he came for us the first time gives us every reason to wait for his second coming with great hope. So we wait for the final surrender of all that destroys our peace when he returns to judge the world, and we wait for the wedding supper of the lamb when we who believe will go with him to glory as his bride and reign with him forever. Amen?
Speaking of the supper of the Lamb, let’s transition to communion. This is why we take communion, right? To remember his death until he comes. In Matthew 26, when Jesus was with his disciples, He said to them, “I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom” (Matthew 26:29 ESV). How’s that for a promise? His promise to them to not drink until they’re together in his Father’s kingdom assumes that they’re going to get there. He wants this vision in their head as they remember his death again and again until he comes. I think he wants us to look at each other and think, “we’re going to be together doing this in much greater fashion with him one day.” So remember two things as you take the bread and the cup this morning, and may they be etched on your hearts throughout this next year. For those who believe, as surely as you taste the bread in your mouth and the cup in your mouth, so sure is his body and blood poured out for you sufficient for the forgiveness of your sins and everlasting peace with God. Second, Jesus can hardly wait to eat this meal with you in person, and he’s going to come and bring you home.
Note for those listening to the audio:
The section of audio from 10:40–13:10 was not in my original manuscript (the original can be read above), and it included—between 10:40 and 11:08—what turned out to be an unfortunate choice of words that require clarification, since they have the potential to be seriously misleading. In an effort to include some more pointers to Christ as the radiance of the glory of God, I turned to the shining, transformed (Mark 9:2) face of Christ at the transfiguration and the glorified Christ in Revelation 1. When I was describing what it must have been like to see Jesus at the transfiguration, I mentioned that “some of his shimmer is a little bit faded underneath the clothing of his human skin” and that it is “almost like his human clothing gets pulled back a little bit and they see this bright, dazzling, flashing-like-lightning kind of look.” While I’m comforted that the rest of my sermon is clear about the full divinity and full humanity of Jesus, the language I used here is not clear at all and has the potential to lead some to conclude one of two well-known heresies (false beliefs about Christ): (1) Docetism – Jesus only appeared to be human but is really only a fully divine person disguised with a human-like covering, and 2) Nestorianism – Christ is actually two people (one human and one divine) in one body rather than one person with two natures (one human and one divine). Though it will not be argued here, we believe that Christ must be (and is) fully human and fully divine in order for us to be saved, and we believe that Christ added a human nature to himself and remained one person in doing so. The use of the simile was meant to describe something of the divine nature of Christ being seen in a way not normally seen by the disciples. They were eyewitnesses of his majesty (2 Peter 1:16–18).