The Only One Who Was At Once Completely Human & Divine | Max Lucado| The Only One | Oak Hills Church

44:07 All I can say is that, thank you, I was in a real hurry to get here because I've got such good news. We are midway through a 12-lesson series entitled The Only One, in which we are highlighting the unique factors of the life of Jesus, what can only be said about Jesus and cannot be said about anyone else. Thus far, we have pointed out he's the only one to live before time. He's the only one to create a universe. He's the only one to appear on earth before his birth and have his entire life described before his birth. That was this week. Today, we turn a page. All of these happened prior to the birth of Christ. But today, as we consider what happened in the birth of Christ, let's entitle it with this, The Only One to Leave Heaven and Become Human.

45:09 I know it's October, but this is a Christmas message, so Merry Christmas, everyone. Lord, have mercy upon us now as we open our hearts and open your word. Would you please forgive the sins of our speaker? you know there are many, and help us to see Christ, just Christ. Through Christ we pray. And all God's people said. I'm not sure what part of the memory is more amazing that the governor came to our town or that he took time to greet me. John Connolly would eventually become famous because of an assassin's bullet in the adjacency of Connolly's seat to that of President John F. Kennedy. The Texas governor would, as you probably recall, go on to run for president, eventually serve as secretary of the treasury.

46:12 His was a very distinguished career. but before he became a national headline, he came to our little town in West Texas. Granted, our dusty town was part of his gubernatorial domain, yet the population is so sparse out there. The number of potential votes, well, there were about as many trees as there were votes, not too many. We wondered if his time wouldn't have been better spent in Houston or Dallas or San Antonio, but still he came. Consequently, we went, my mother, and a third grade version of yours truly. We gathered on the courthouse lawn. We listened to a choir sing, to a mayor speak and the governor say what he came to say, I have no recall what he said. But what he did, I do recall in vivid detail. Mom had handed me a notepad and told me to stand at the base of the platform steps and request his autograph upon his dissension. Now, modern security would never allow for such proximity.

47:39 But this was 1963. Things were different. So I did, as Mom instructed. I held out the notepad. I politely asked John Connolly for his autograph. The contrast was sharp. He in a suit and tie. And I remember he was wearing a Stetson cowboy hat. My dad told me those were the best. I was wearing jeans and tennis shoes, and I had a flat top. He was an elected member of government, and I was a reticent, shy member of a third-grade class. He would, that day, board a plane back to the governor's mansion. I would soon climb in the back of Mom's Oldsmobile and ride back to Alamosa Street.

48:33 So the dichotomy was well defined, and that's really what makes his response worth remembering and retelling. When the important governor saw the insignificant kid, he stopped. he looked down at me. He took the notepad. He signed his name, and he spoke. What did he say to me? I knew you would ask, but I do not remember. I'd like to say, he said, young man, I see in you the potential for greatness.

49:24 Or whatever you do, don't get into politics. But I don't know. I don't recall the words. I do recall the deed. That he, if not physically, at least emotionally, descended. He stopped. He condescended. He lowered himself to my level. I never forgot. I kept that autograph thumbtacked to a bulletin board in my bedroom until I left home to go to college. Even at the age of 18, when people would ask, what do you want to do? I would say, I want to be governor of Texas. and now over 60 years later, I recall that event.

50:20 It was special, and you understand why. You know what it feels like to be talked down to, right? To be condescended to, to be made to feel small or marginalized or disregarded. You've been there, and hopefully you've felt the opposite, that someone has, a significant one, has spoken kindly to you, maybe a boss or a coach or a teacher, a superior, and they've looked you in your eyes and they've spoken your language. You know that experience. If so, then you know the first stanza of the Christian gospel. It goes like this.

51:23 And when you see words in bold, read them out loud with me. Christ had the same nature as God. He was completely equal with God. But he did not try to keep hold of that. Instead, he chose to leave heaven. He took for himself the nature of a slave, and he became like a human. Philippians chapter 2. Jesus chose to leave heaven. He's the only one to leave heaven and become human. There was an intentional decision, an exit, a choice to relinquish divine status and embody humanity. He lowered himself to our level.

52:18 He became a freckled-sized embryo in the womb of a nondescript girl in a know-nothing village called Nazareth. So, as we list the unique to Jesus accomplishments, let's be sure and include the word incarnation. Incarnation. Jesus incarnated himself. He entered flesh. Let's start there. Let's start with the descent of deity. The apostle John opened his gospel by describing this in two unadorned sentences. The first sentence is this. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God. John will soon help us to see that any time he uses the word, Word, capitalized, he's talking about deity.

53:17 He's talking about Jesus. So he's saying that in the beginning, Jesus was God. Jesus was with God. If the passage stopped there, it'd be extraordinary because we would have an insight into the makeup of the deity, of the Godhead. But in a sense, it would be an old covenant message that God up there is telling us about himself and he's speaking to those of us down here. But then came this game-changing phrase, the Word, who is Jesus, the Word, say it with me, please, the Word became flesh. The Word became flesh. The Word, the ever-existing, never-created, uncontainable, unstoppable creator who, with the Word, spoke into existence, A billion stars, microbes, and minnows became, transformed himself, morphed himself, adapted, altered, and changed himself to be flesh, an embryo, a pre-born being.

54:39 Not an angel, not a spirit, not a force, but a fetus. he became one. Not just with us, but really one of us. His tiny heart began to beat. His minuscule fingers flexed. Those feet capable of striding across galaxies limited themselves to tiny extensions just floating about in amniotic fluid. He pierced our time bubble and he entered in. Who saw this coming?

55:18 Daniel prophesied civilizations. Moses saw a finger of God on the tablets. Isaiah spoke of a suffering servant to come who would bear our sins and take our wounds. But he said nothing about entering a womb, sliding through a birth canal, Well, God in a body, and bodies get sleepy and weary and sweaty. Our maker got sleepy and hungry and weary and sweaty. The governor speaking to a kid, folks, that's small potatoes, compared to a creator entering into and becoming one with his creation. So John described it in brief, just one verse, John chapter 1 and verse 1. Matthew, however, described it in, dare I say, dull detail.

56:22 He launched his narrative, his Jesus narrative, with genealogy. Matthew chapter 1 invites us to consider the lesson of the lineage. Matthew chapter 1 contains 42 names. 42 names. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, Sam and Boaz, Obed, Zerubbabel, Ebiad, Eliakim. And then finally the conclusion, Mathan. Then Jacob, the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ. Read Matthew chapter 1 and try not to yawn. A bit tedious on your part, right, Matthew? To which Matthew says, a bit oblivious on your part, Max.

57:19 Read carefully. The tax collector turned apostle. purges, and you'll see a lesson. There's a lesson in this lineage. Jesus's ancestry matters. It matters because he traces his ancestry back to Adam, the first human. It includes Abraham, the first Jew. It involves David, the most famous king. Do these details matter? Well, they tell us that Jesus was human like Adam, that he was the fulfillment of a covenant that God made to Abraham, and he was the prophesied descendant of David who would inherit the throne of the king. Check, check, check.

58:13 Jesus checked three important boxes, but there's more. study this family tree and you'll see that the family tree of God on earth suffers from blight first there was Judah a Jew who solicited sex from his impregnated daughter-in-law thinking that she was a streetwalker there's a story of Tamar a Gentile who bore two sons out of incest. There's a story of Rahab. Remember her?

58:54 The Canaanite lady of the night? And Ruth, an exiled foreigner who flirted her way into the heart of a Jew. David makes the list, infamous for a power grab of an innocent woman, the murder of a loyal friend, in a year-long cover-up, Bathsheba makes the list. She was the woman of David's adultery. These are the kin of our king.

59:29 Jesus, in other words, comes from sordid stuff. We tend to hide our embarrassing past. I know a girl who did so. She was a college classmate who seemed secretive about her last name. She limited her introductions to first name only. And as if by prior arrangement, teachers, when they called role in class, never used her last name. Turns out her uncle was a criminal. She didn't do anything, but her uncle did. Serving time for a well-publicized headlining case of money laundering. And her name was very distinctive, very unusual, recognizable. So she understandably went to great lengths to distance herself from the family scandal.

1:00:23 Not so with Jesus. Jesus. In fact, Jesus and the people he makes holy all belong to the same family. That is why he isn't ashamed to call them his brothers and sisters, Hebrews chapter 2. His embarrassing genealogy is really reassuring theology of the totality of the incarnation. He became one of us. Don't miss the lesson in the lineage. And don't miss this, the message of the manger. Could a more humble birth occur? Think about it.

1:01:16 No proper bed, no hygienic room, no respectable shelter, no doting grandparents, no clean clothing, no trained staff. It is safe to say that every person hearing these words, including the one speaking them, had a more respectable entry into the world than did the Son of God. Right? Would you agree or disagree? You say, well, Max, my birth was pretty humble. I was born in a kitchen or a taxi or a bus.

1:01:55 Well, with all respect though, you are you. In Jesus, he was God. Yet, for your sake, he became poor so that you through his poverty might become rich. 2 Corinthians chapter 8. You'd think Jesus would receive a parade, a royal celebration. What did he receive? How about a donkey ride? A crowded town, a feed trough for a bassinet. He was born in a barn, for crying out loud. And we know what animals draw up onto stable floors. and to think that the first fragrance that welcomed the Son of God is one we do our best to avoid.

1:02:48 yet isn't the mess of the manger the message of the manger? Isn't the stable itself the story? And the womb of Mary, doesn't her placenta have a place in the gospel? You see, if he was willing to go this far, to become this poor, to surrender so much? Do you think there's any person, any place, any problem that is off limits to him? does the way he came on that day not prove that he is willing to come your way on this day to show you his way home?

1:03:41 home. He could have been born in a Greek villa, a Roman palace, but he chose a feed trough. He chose Bethlehem, which takes us to our last point. Why Bethlehem? Was it a random choice? Not at all. I want you to take note, please, of the significance of the sheep. from the get-go Bethlehem has been associated with sheep the earliest references connect Bethlehem with flocks young David before he became a giant killer and a king was a shepherd and where did he live Bethlehem he tended flocks on the hillsides near Bethlehem Now, we would assume, logically assume, that the reason for these sheep, that the purpose of these sheep was wool, the production of wool.

1:04:55 That assumption, however, is mistaken. The Mishnah, the Mishnah is a foundational text of Hebrew law. And the Mishnah forbade the raising of common sheep anywhere except in the wilderness. Bethlehem was not in the wilderness. How do we explain the presence of flocks on Bethlehem hillsides? It wasn't in the wilderness, but it was only two miles from Jerusalem. and Jerusalem was home to the temple and the temple was a place for sacrifice.

1:05:44 Every day, two lambs were required for temple offerings. Every day of the year, that's 730 lambs each year. In addition, thousands of lambs were needed by the Jews who traveled to Jerusalem for the Passover.

1:06:04 And a lamb was required by each family to atone as a sacrifice for the sins of that family. Now, some of those families likely brought a lamb, but most would find it impossible to bring a lamb. So, where would they find one? Well, most were bought on site from livestock dealers who sold lambs near the temple courts. Where do you think the livestock dealers bought their lambs? In Bethlehem. The Arabic translation of Bethlehem is house of meat. the flocks raised near Bethlehem were raised with one purpose and that is to serve as sacrifices sacrifices for the sins of people yeah, Bethlehem that quaint little postcard town about which we write poems and sing O little town of Bethlehem Bethlehem was actually a slaughterhouse.

1:07:23 Once a year on the Sunday before the Passover, a procession of thousands of Bethlehem-born lambs were herded into Jerusalem, each one destined to die. On one particular Sunday, a day that we call Palm Sunday, a singular lamb who had also been born in Bethlehem, voluntarily walked a road on the back of a donkey into Jerusalem, also destined to serve as a sacrifice. He had been called the Lamb of God who takes away John chapter 1. Jesus died on a cross at the ninth hour, which is 3 p.m., the very hour that Passover lambs were sacrificed in the temple.

1:08:32 Jewish priests concluded their animal sacrifices with the announcement in Hebrew, Kalah, translated, it is finished. When our priest offered himself, did he not say the same? What began in a Bethlehem cradle was accomplished once and for all on a Jerusalem cross. One more detail about the Bethlehem flocks. The temple required that the sacrificed lambs be perfect, no blemish, no broken bones. And toward this goal, the shepherd would wrap the newborn lamb in a blanket called swaddling cloths and place it in a feed trough until it could be inspected and deemed worthy of temple offering.

1:09:32 Did the same not happen with our perfect lamb? Swaddled by Mary, placed in a feed trough. Cared for by his father, and three decades later found worthy of serving as a sacrifice for your sins and mine. Or as one rabbi would later write, he was tempted in every way that we are, but did not sin. Hebrews chapter 4. I wonder if you would contemplate, consider the one who left heaven to become human.

1:10:18 That's the big news. Would you reconsider the descent of deity, the lesson of the lineage, the message of the manger? the significance of the sheep. As you look at these circumstances and these symbols, you will find a message about Him. Equally important, you will find a message about you. that the distance of the journey he took is a demonstration of his love. for you.

1:11:15 Dean Alon and I began our ministry in the 1980s by moving to Brazil, to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. And many of you who have ever moved overseas, you know that's a big deal. It takes a lot of preparation. Back in those days, prospective missionaries were required by the Brazilian government to have a degree in Bible. I didn't have one, so I had to get one.

1:11:46 The Immigration Department of Brazil had reams and reams of red tape, but we filled it all out. We had to say goodbye to parents and family, and we did. We had to load up belongings, and we did. Most of all, we had to learn a new language. Can I just say, I don't like grammar.

1:12:10 I just don't. I don't like algebra, and I don't like grammar. And learning a language was an upriver swim for me. It was easy for Dinalyn. Her Portuguese was impeccable. She was often mistaken for Brazilian. Not her husband. The moment I opened my mouth, people knew I was the greenest of gringos. especially a language that has masculine and feminine nouns who came up with that and these verb tenses that I still don't get to this day and butcher anyway so we dedicated pretty much the first year to language lessons about a year into our time in brazil a family that attended our young church the gentleman the father approached me and he told me about his brother a brother who was interested but skeptical about jesus and and what i go to his brother's house and have a Bible study.

1:13:28 Well, I'd never done that alone. I had done that with more seasoned and experienced missionaries tagging along, but I'd never gone solo. But it was time. The guy's name was Sebastian. He and I were about the same age in our mid-20s. He was single, and he lived in the basement of his older brother's house in a favela, it's called, or a slum in northern Rio. He welcomed me into that simple house, which was basically a single garage. I remember there was a twin bed on one side. there was a wood table in the center, two chairs, and there was a light bulb, a single light descending on a cord from the ceiling. That's it. Very simple.

1:14:33 And so we sat at the table and we began to chat. And I began to wonder if he really wanted a Bible study. He seemed fascinated with the fact that I had come all the way from another country. And he asked me all these questions. How long does it take? Did you bring furniture?

1:14:58 Had you been here before? He peppered me with questions. And finally, he just said, why? Why? Why did you come to Brazil? And of course I can't recall exactly what I said, but it was something like, well, we love Brazil, love Brazilians, and we love Jesus and we want Brazilians to meet Jesus in heaven. and he gave me a real serious look, and then he said, okay, as if that was the cue to have the Bible study, and so I did open the Bible, and I had a few verses prepared, and I shared those verses with him about God's love, about God's promise, about God's plan, and about heaven, and within a matter of minutes, I mean, not very long, he said yes, He said yes.

1:15:58 And soon thereafter, he was baptized. I reflected a lot on, yeah, I don't know if he's already gone to heaven or not. I guess I'll find out someday. But I reflected a lot on that conversation, why he was so interested in the journey.

1:16:21 My best hunch is this. he wanted to know if I could be taken seriously And once he knew of the effort to which we went to get there. he decided that he would listen to what we had to say. The length of the journey earned credibility.

1:16:51 Hasn't the length of the journey of Jesus earned ours? He became one with us so that we can become one with Him. As Keith said earlier, He left His heavenly home and entered our earthly home so that we someday will exit this earthly home and enter His heavenly. Has he earned your trust? let's pray together gracious Lord speak to our hearts now please thank you for this big news this big news nothing else matters thank you that you came so far through Christ we pray Amen.

1:17:55 We're going to offer a prayer of salvation. Maybe today is the equivalent of your spiritual birth. Do you want to say yes to Christ? This prayer is a prayer of salvation. I invite everybody in the church to say it with me, please. Just repeat it. And at the end of the prayer, if today's your day of saying yes to Christ, I'll ask you to stand up. not to embarrass you at all just the opposite applaud your decision let's pray together jesus i'm not perfect for i have sinned but i believe in you save me change me forgive me in jesus name