Knowing God – Week 6:
Chapter 5: God Incarnate
REVIEW
2nd Commandment
Heidelberg Catechism
Q 96. What does God require in the second commandment?
A. That we in no way represent God by images, nor worship him in any other way than he has commanded in his word.
WCF
Q 52. What are the reasons annexed to the 2nd commandment?
A. God’s sovereignty over us, his propriety in us, and the zeal he has to his own worship
Packer
“Recognize that God the Creator is transcendent, mysterious and inscrutable…humble ourselves, to listen and learn of him, and let him teach us what he is like and how we should think of him.”
Obedience
Dave Barker
“You can be restored by obedience to His Word, for only those who choose to obey him are the ones who truly love him.”
“When you defend and rationalize your motives by asking the question “What is wrong with it?” instead of the question “What is right about it?” Idolatry begins when you do not care what God thinks when you are only concerned with what you want.
John 1
The Word (John 1: 1-5, 14)
? What is His relation to God; to the world; to men?
mystery of incarnation
Skepticism
Kelly James Clark – An Ancient ET Story
Facts: 3,000 years ago – Albert Einstein – Obscure African town
Evidence: sacred text, alleged exemplary life, apparently fulfilled prophecies, claims of witnesses
“Christianity asserts that two thousand years ago in an obscure Palestinian village we were visited not by aliens, but by God. God, veiled in human flesh, came to save us from our sins, redeem the world, and offer eternal bliss to all who would believe him.”
John Stott, “Basic Christianity”
Evidence: claims he made, the character he displayed and his resurrection from the dead
“Was he then a deliberate imposter? Did he assume a divine authority he did not posses? Had he a fixed delusion about himself?”
? How or why can believing in the incarnation dissolve other difficulties in Christian doctrine?
Mystery
Packer (page 53)
“The really staggering Christian claim is that Jesus of Nazareth was God made man…he took humanity without loss of deity, so that [he] was as truly and fully divine as he was human.
Here are two mysteries for the price of one – the plurality of persons within the unity of God, and the union of Godhead and manhood in the person of Jesus.”Kierkegaard
“At God’s initiative [through the] incarnation established a relationship with men, [making] the absurd, the absolute paradox [possible with] the eternal entering time.”
? What is the Incomprehensibility of God?
Packer (page 58)
“What we see in the manger is in Charles Wesley’s words, ‘Our God contracted to a span; incomprehensibly made man.’ We shall be wise to remember this, to shun speculation and contentedly to adore.”
THE COMPASSION OF CHRIST
? Why should the incarnation move us to praise God for his humility?
The Real Kenosis
Packer (pg 58-59)
“The crucial significance of the cradle at Bethlehem lies in its place in the sequence of steps down that led the Son of God to the cross of Calvary, and we do not understand it till we see it in this context…not simply as a marvel of nature, but rather as a wonder of grace.”
Compassion of Christ
Becoming poor like us by being born into a fallen world to sympathize with our weakness yet remain perfect so that he could relieve our suffering and reveal the fullness of his love for us by being a true servant
Packer (page 63)
“There is hope for a ruined humanity – hope of pardon, hope of peace with God, hope of glory – because at the Father’s will Jesus Christ became poor and was born in a stable so that thirty years later he might hang on a cross. It is the most wonderful message that the world has ever heart, or will hear.”
Pouring Yourself Out
Packer (page 63)
“The Christmas spirit itself ought to be the mark of every Christian all year round. [Instead; our] ambition in life seems limited to building a nice middle-class Christian home, and making nice middle-class Christian friends, and bringing up their children in nice middle-class Christian ways, and who leave the submiddle-class sections of the community, Christian and non-Christian, to get on by themselves.”
open discussion
John 13
REJOICE! Washing away of Sin
John 13: 1-2, 4-5
Matthew Henry
“See then what ought to be the daily care of those who through grace are in a justified state, and that is, to wash their feet; to cleanse themselves from daily guilt, and to watch against everything defiling. This should make us the more cautious. From yesterday's pardon, we should be strengthened against this day's temptation.”
Valley of vision
Christ is All
Isaiah 59: 20-21,
Declares the Lord:
“20 "The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their sins,”
"As for me, this is my covenant with them,"
"My Spirit, who is on you, and my words that I have put in your mouth will not [ever] depart from you.”
No comments:
Post a Comment