Sermons

From the Stable to the Table.

December 3, 2021 Preacher: Gareth Franks Series: Christmas Season

Topic: Foundations Scripture: Matthew 1:18–23

The Lord’s table is the designated time that we are to celebrate and remember our Lord’s incarnation and His substitutionary death.

J.I. Packer in his classic book, Knowing God, says that “The Christmas message rests on the staggering fact that the child in the manger was—God” (57). And not just God, but God made man, born to die."

Had Jesus not been born none of us would be here this morning. Without the birth (incarnation) of Christ, there would be no death and resurrection to celebrate. We celebrate the Lord’s Supper today, at the beginning of Christmas because we must not separate Jesus’ birth from Jesus’ death.

OUTLINE:

 1. The Importance of the Incarnation                                                                       2. The Incarnation and Communion                                                                         3. The Incarnation Applied

As you celebrate Christmas this year, I challenge you to find your joy by focusing on the incarnation, that great and foundational event which made the saving work of our Lord possible.

At the heart of our Christmas, must be this wonderful truth we have looked at today, that God himself didn’t isolate himself or socially distance himself from us…he came near. Isaiah prophesied that we would “call his name Immanuel,” meaning God with us —the greatest breach of social distancing of all time, when God himself came face to face with us.

In that first century, it was bizarre, almost foolish to believe that the baby in the manger was the son of God and today for some, it is just as strange to believe that he will return to make all things new. Yet this is where followers of Jesus find their joy. Not a superficial, temporary happiness, but a deep seated and fixed anchor for the soul.

The incarnation means that God is for us. Jesus left the godhead and all of His privileges to die. He lived a humiliating and self-denying life to bring us to God, where there are pleasures forevermore. He veiled his awful and fearful holiness so that we could touch him, see him, know him and love him. No longer does he say, “No man can see my face and live.” Today, he says, “See my face and be satisfied” (Psalm 17:15).

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/the-shocking-implications-of-incarnation/

More in Christmas Season

December 25, 2022

The Birth of our Lord

December 18, 2022

Steadfast Joy in Christ our Saviour.

December 11, 2022

Steadfast Trust.