What the Incarnation Means for us Today!
This advent we are examining The Incarnation not as something that happened over 2000 years ago or as a doctrine of the Church. We are looking at The Incarnation as something that has an impact on our daily lives today. Last week we looked at The Incarnation in terms of hope. Too often when people use the word hope they're really expressing far more doubt than hope. For example, when someone says I am hoping for the best, they are not expressing any certainty in outcome but rather more their doubt that the actual outcome likely won’t be what they would like it to be. The Incarnation puts hope in an entirely different light. Namely, the God who comes in our midst, claims us now and for all of eternity. Therefore, our future is absolutely and eternally guaranteed. There is no circumstance or situation, no matter how terrible or painful, that can prevent God's intended will for us from coming true. Please let that reality sink into every fiber of your being. Another way of saying this is, the worst word is never the last word. The last word is always one of triumph and perfect love. This is what we mean by hope. This hope is not rooted in our situation or power but rooted in and guaranteed by God's grace. This hope is incredibly powerful and life changing.
Tomorrow we look at The Incarnation in terms of the gift of Salvation. Perhaps there is no more misunderstood or often off-putting question than, “Are you saved?”. The problem with this question is not that it is being asked, but in the underlying assumption that being saved is something in the past tense. I suspect many who ask this question are really speaking about a conversion experience, which was indeed powerful for them. This of course is legitimate, but we always need to remember that a conversion experience does not mark the end of the journey but the only the beginning. No matter how powerful the experience might be, we are called upon and expected to grow into an ever deeper and richer relationship with Jesus Christ.
The reality is being saved is something each of us needs on a moment by moment, day by day basis. It can never be viewed as a past accomplishment of ours. You and I need to be saved all the time. Perhaps a better way to ask the question is, “Are you being saved?”. When all is said and done Salvation is not a single event but an ongoing transformational process where God in Jesus Christ is molding us and making us into the very people we were created and intended to be. Salvation and sanctification are the theological words used to describe this continuous process.
In tomorrow's sermon I'm going to be examining some of the things in our regular everyday lives that we need to be saved from as well as what we need to be saved to. In the process of being saved we can experience the gift of peace. Biblically, peace always means more than the absence of conflict – it means the presence of well-being and fulfilment.
I am looking forward to our virtual service tomorrow and I hope you are as well.
Grace and Peace, John