PREVIOUS SERMON  (sorted accordingly,starting from recent )

For a further day we meditate on the reason why the divine Word had to become flesh and dwell among us. Suppose God had decided against an incarnation and instead had given us a book similar to the Bible as His highest revelation –what would be the result? We humans in our usual way would attempt to read into those words our own wrong highest interpretation but nevertheless we would be greatly limited; just as we are currently in spite of the fact that we have all both God in His Holy Spirit, and His Word. Take, for example, the word ‘purity’, if I read into that word my highest experience of purity, which, because of sin and human failure, must still be partial and incomplete. I would still emerge with an impoverished understanding of the word. But what if I can see that word exemplified in a divine illustration? Now the word ‘purity’ is elucidated [make (something) clear, explain] by a Person who shares my temptations, minus my failures, and so the word takes on a new and precise meaning. This is exactly what God in our Lord Jesus did for us, God came to show or teach us how life should be lived on earth! That is why He said ‘Follow Me! In other words follow my life examples to live yours. The same would happen with other words. Take the word ‘God’. Were it not for the incarnation I would interpret the word in the light of my imagination, but now, because Christ has come, I look up through Lord Jesus, the Son of God, and I know without any shadow of doubt what God is like. The apostle Paul reminds us that Lord Jesus ‘is the [a]exact likeness of the unseen God [the visible representation of the invisible]; He is the Firstborn of all creation’ as seen in Col. 1:15. ‘Lord Jesus’, said a little boy, ‘is the best photograph of Himself God ever took,’ He is! A lecturer in the Bible College used to say something which startled me every time I heard it, until I pondered it and came to see that it was true. He said, ‘If God isn’t like Lord Jesus I am not interested in Him.’ But we need not worry –God is like Lord Jesus. Our Savior has confirmed it when He said: ‘Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father,’ He assures us in John 14:9.

We are meditating on the significance of the Word becoming Flesh. Last week we saw how Dr E. Stanley Jones, when confronted by Eastern religions, came to the conclusion that the Christian faith is unique because it has at its heart the incarnation principle. On the other hand, in other religions it is always a matter of the word becoming word which is mere human–philosophy; but in the case of Lord Jesus the Word became flesh–a fact, a real being, which is God manifesting in the flesh, coming to live in the midst of man in order to teach man earth life. In this case, Christianity and thus the life incarnate of Lord Jesus Christ becomes the touchstone by which all other religions should be evaluated. In some of the liberal theological seminaries, during the study of comparative religions, students are shown the various parallels between the Christian faith and other faiths. Although the Christian faith is acknowledged to be a little higher than other religions, and possibly more of good moral, yet the Christian faith is not presented as being unique just as it is being presented here. The result is that those who leave such places the other faiths enter the Christian ministry with few or no convictions and nothing unique to preach or believe. Thus many (not all) are just ending up in just merely preaching the Word become word mere–moralism without the real divine spiritual ingredients that makes the Christian faith unique –hence the barrenness or carnalize attributes being manifested in so many Churches today. The Christian faith is not just better than every other faith merely in being–a little more moral, a little loftier in its concepts –it is completely different and not comparable. For instance all other religions tell of man’s search for God: Christianity tells of God’s search for man –of the One Who ‘came to seek, serve and save what was lost’ (Man) as seen in Luke 19:10. This is why though there are many religions on earth today but there is only one Gospel—which is the teaching or revelation of Christ, the life of Christ, the word of God, the good news, the Christian doctrine, the New Testament, the record of Christ’s life and teaching in the first four books of the New Testament. The world’s religions tell of the word become word; the gospel is the Word become flesh. In the face of all rivals our gospel quietly affirms, ‘And the Word (Christ) became flesh (human, incarnate) and tabernacled (fixed His tent of flesh, lived awhile) among us; and we [actually] saw His glory (His honor, His majesty), such glory as an only begotten son receives from his father, full of grace (favor, loving-kindness) and truth.’ as seen in the book of John 1:14.

Dr E. Stanley Jones, the famous missionary to whom I referred earlier, recounts in one of his books his first experiences when confronted by the religions of the East. He tells of reading the Sermon on the Mount to a Muslim who listened intently and then commented, ‘That is beautiful but we have something similar in the Qur’an.’ Later he met a Hindu and read to him Lord Jesus’ teaching about turning the other cheek and going the second mile as seen in Matthew 5:39 -41. The Hindu responded, ‘Our sacred books tell us that also. We are to be like the sandalwood tree which, when smitten by the axe, pours its perfume upon the axe that smites it.’ At this stage the missionary became somewhat nonplussed (so surprised and confused that one is unsure how to react) and wondered to himself, ‘How can I demonstrate the uniqueness of the Christian faith?’ The thought occurred to him that the Hindu would have nothing to compare in his religion with the story of the cross, so he read for him the account of the crucifixion. ‘This, too, is beautiful,’ said the Hindu. ‘Again our sacred books tell us that our gods did not hesitate to sacrifice themselves for others.’ Everything the missionary talked about had its parallel. Then it dawned upon him that all that had been said by the Muslim and the Hindu was simply a word become word. The story of the sandalwood tree was an illustration, not an exhibition. The other stories, too, were illustrations, not reality. The difference between the Christian faith and other religions is that other religions are a word become word, whereas the Christian faith is a Word become flesh. This makes the Christian faith not just a little better than other faiths: it sets it on a level where no comparisons are possible.

Today we ask ourselves: How can the truth, revealed by the prophet Ezekiel, that God is Jehovah Shammah –the Lord who is there –be related to our daily living? It is important to know that all belief must affect our character and our behavior, so what practical application can we make of this? We need to see clearly that being concerned about what may happen tomorrow will make us unable to rise and meet today with confidence and joy. So let us try to always be contented and concern about today and not worry about tomorrow so that we can have a full enjoyment of today! On one occasion a Christian said to me, ‘I can get through today all right but what I am afraid of is that I will not be able to get through tomorrow.’ All of us at one time or another feel like that. In my teens I was extremely apprehensive of the days that lay ahead. But then a man took me aside and gave me this advice: ‘Think of your life as an hour glass. There are thousands of grains of sand in the top of the glass and they all pass slowly and evenly through the narrow neck without impairing the glass in any way. Take life a grain at a time and let the grains pass the day slowly and evenly. If you do not take them one at a time then you will impair your own physical and mental structure (your body/life).’ That guidance had a profound effect upon me and completely changed my mind set about life and my life as a whole. And I have practiced that simple philosophy/principle ever since: ‘One grain of sand at a time.’ ‘One grain of life at a time/each day’! If you are fettered by fear of what will happen tomorrow and you are living on what someone termed ‘a diet of fingernails rather than a diet of faith’, then surrender tomorrow into the hands of Jehovah Shammah, the God who is there, and go out to live joyously, effectively, and abundantly today. And you will find that tomorrow will blossom with joy because you have lived –really lived –today, leaving the cares of tomorrow in God’s hands to take care of for you.

Since last week we have been thinking about Jehovah Tsidkenu –the Lord our Righteousness –and seeing that God’s righteousness is an essential part of His character. This means that morality is rooted not in the Will of God but in the very Nature and integral part of God. Many people think that God arbitrarily decides certain things to be right and certain things to be wrong, and issues commands accordingly as He likes. They argue that since God’s commands are based on His arbitrary Will they are not to be questioned but simply obeyed. These notions however, are not the Christian position. That is, this is not how Christians believe God to be. The above idea or notion about our God is capitally wrong and is not Scriptural! In giving the promise of One who would come whose righteousness would cover the nakedness of the human condition in terms of Sin, true divine knowledge and wisdom; it is vital to know that God first does or carry out everything that He commands us do. He even does it first as an exemplary to showcase for us to see and follow! God obeys His own laws of right and wrong. He commands us to obey them because He Himself does so –to obey them because they are inherently right as God Himself is Right. The Almighty God is not a cosmic signpost pointing the way; He is a Shepherd who goes before His sheep and leads them. He initiates nothing that He does not illustrate. Cosmic relates to the universe, especially as distinct from the earth. It is immeasurably extended in time and space; vast. When, in the winter of 1776, General Washington, the man for whom America is known, found that his troops at Trenton New Jersey had no shelter except cold tents, he made the decision to join his men and live in the same condition as his soldiers, as an example of what our Lord God did for humanity when He wore our Sinful flesh to demonstrate righteousness in a bid to teach man how life should be lived on earth. No wonder they loved and followed a man like that. You and I could not be followers of an immoral God. As I read Jeremiah’s promise, first given in Chapter 23:6 and repeated in our today’s text, of a Messiah Who will come and wear my flesh, measure its frailty and provide me with a righteousness that will satisfy the highest demands of a holy God, then I simply run of words to appreciate this unparallel Love! This kind of God has my wholehearted allegiance and gratitude and love forever. Can you now understand the Nakedness of Adam and Eve that was talked about in the Garden of Eden and how it relates to Righteousness, and our Lord Jesus came to demonstrate and showcase this righteousness for man to emulate which is why an Igbo song demanded that we should ‘wear righteous character like a dress’ yiri ezi omume dika uwe to cover your naked unrighteousness!