Ij

"Jesus Stepped Down so You Can Step Up"

John 1:1-18

by Clancy Nixon

December 30, 2007

Church of the Holy Spirit

Ashburn, Virginia

www.HolySpiritAnglican.org

Merry Christmas, one and all. My message today is called "Jesus Stepped Down

so You Can Step Up."

We're talking about God Himself here. He's a very big God, bigger than you can

ever imagine. He's the God who created of billions and billions of galaxies out of

nothing, and each galaxy contains billions and billions of stars. John chapter 1 is John's

retelling of the Creation story, reminiscent of the language in Genesis chapter 1, where it

says that God said, "Let there be light." And there was light. The Bible says that God

opened His mouth, and light streamed out, and the universe leapt into being. God is very

big. The Bible says He measures the universe in the span of his hand. The Bible tells us

that this very same God whose being is bigger than we can ever imagine, He left the

glory and power and honor of heaven behind, he left all the privileges of heaven and took

on human flesh. He became a single-celled, microscopic zygote in the belly of a teenager.

Then the God of the universe became recognizable as a little baby in Mary's womb, and

grew until his humble birth in Bethlehem that we celebrate this Christmas season. So this

is Christmas. When God left heaven to become a zygote and then a helpless, gurgling

baby, well, that was a step down for God. I think we can all agree on that.

Why would the infinite God become finite as a baby boy? Why would God step

down that far? In chapters 1 and 2 of his gospel, Luke tells us the story of What

happened at Christ's birth the story of the Virgin Mary, angels, shepherds, and manger.

In chapter 1 of his gospel, John tells us Why it happened. Along the way, he tells us

who God is, giving us a glimpse into the mind and being of God. When we get God

right, who Je is, then we can properly understand who we are, since our identity is

shaped by our relationship with Him. We are His creation. As we come this Christmas to

adore Christ once more, let's think more abstractly for a moment, to consider the

attributes and character of the God we worship. Let's start by looking at the Gospel of

John, Chapter 1, verse 1 in your blue pew Bibles, page 1049.

John 1:1 says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and

the Word was God." John is referring to Jesus when he says the "Word," in Greek the

"Logos." John 1:1 reminds me of Genesis 1:1, where we read, "In the beginning, God

created the heavens and the earth." The Hebrew text is curious in Genesis, because the

word for God (Elohim) is plural, but the Hebrew verb for "created" is singular a plural

subject and a singular verb, together. God is portrayed as both singular and plural in both

creation accounts, the one in Genesis, and the one in John. John makes it clear that God

is more than one in his inner being, that God is a plurality of persons. In Greek

philosophy, God is understood as pure spirit, pure reason, and pure thought. Under the

inspiration of the Holy Spirit, John identifies God the Son with the means by which God

the Father's thought is conveyed, through the Word, or the Logos. As thought and word

are inseparable, so are Father and Son. Before the Word of God was born as the God-

man Jesus Christ, the pre-incarnate Christ existed from before the beginning of time as

God the Son, in community with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Look at verse 3; John

says "Through Him all things were made." John is speaking here of the Christ, the Word,

the Logos of God.

I have a friend from Virginia Seminary, a classmate of mine, a pastor who leans

towards liberal theology. He no longer uses the ancient language of Father, Son and

Holy Spirit to speak of God. Instead, he uses "Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier,"

because he wants to speak of God in gender-neural terms. I question the entire prospect

of projecting our politically correct notions onto the being of God. Our text here in John

shows us just one of the many problems with that approach. Each person of the Trinity is

involved in every work of God. So here we see that Jesus, the Word of God, is involved

in creation. Creation was not a "one-man show" starring the Father alone! Neither was

the redemption of the world the work of the Son alone. We call God "Father" because

Jesus did. He is God, and he ought to know. He is the master, and we follow Him. So

when Christ tells us, in a variety of contexts in the Scriptures, that the scriptures

themselves are trustworthy, we believe they are trustworthy, precisely because our Lord

said so. As evangelicals committed to the authority of Scripture, we have decided in

advance to follow whatever can be demonstrated from the Scriptures. The Scriptures

teach the Trinity, not directly, but indirectly, as here.

God the Son left the glory of heaven, left the worship of the angels, left

perfection, left immeasurable power, and left all knowledge, to be born in a humble,

dusty stable, to be known as the illegitimate son of a peasant woman. He stepped down

farther than we ever could.

But why did God do that? Jesus Stepped Down so You Can Step Up. Look at

John 1, verses 11 and 12, there on page 1049. "He came to His own, but his own did not

receive Him. But to those who did receive him, he gave the right to become children of

God children ... born of God." Now look at verse 16 at the bottom of the page: "From

the fullness of his grace we have received one blessing after another." Don't miss this.

Christ became part of the human family, so that we could be adopted into the family of

God, with all the privileges of sons and daughters of the King. You and I have all the

rights and privileges of inheritance; and the good news is that we don't have to wait for

them. Unlike Prince Charles of England, we don't have to wait for the sovereign, in his

case Queen Elizabeth, to die in order that we can come into our Kingdom. Our King

Jesus has already died, but he lives on, and His Kingdom is within us right now! Like

Prince Charles, who is rich right now, so we have spiritual riches right now as sons and

daughters of the King. Jesus came because he wants to save us, yes, praise God, but not

just to save us: he came to adopt us, to empower us, to bless you and me. We are sinners

saved by grace, yes; I don't mean in any way to minimize that. But we are so much more!

Listen to Paul's Second letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 8, verse 9: "For you know the

grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes, he became

poor, so that through his poverty, you might become rich." Do you see it? Jesus Stepped

Down so You Can Step Up! Jesus draws you up into his own divine life, where he shares

the riches of his power, the riches of his love, the riches of his life with you!

Jesus stepped down from heaven, and He did it all for you. Jesus died once for

you, so you could live with him forever. God the Son became a man, so you could

become a son of God. He became a real baby, so that you could become a real man or

woman. God left behind his privileges in heaven, and took on the limitations of manhood,

so that you could slip the surly bonds of earth and receive all the privileges of heaven. He

gave up some of his power for a season, so that you could walk with the power of God

forever. The King came as a common carpenter, so that common folk like you and me

could be adopted as princes and princesses and rule with him.

So what does this mean for you and me on a day to day level? Remember John

1:16: "From the fullness of his grace we have received one blessing after another." So

receive another blessing! Here is a Christmas present for you from the Father. When you

step into a room, you do not step in alone. The way I see it, I am never alone. There is

always me, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Apostle Paul says we have got to

stop acting like "mere men." You are a child of God. Like the prodigal son, you wear the

royal ring. You have a pedigree, a royal history that is in this book, and you have royal

power that is at your fingertips by faith. Jesus said in Acts chapter 1, "You will receive

power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you." When you step into a room, you bring the

power of the Kingdom of Heaven with you. You even have a retinue. I think it's likely

that you have at least one angel from God that follows you around, to protect you, to help

you. When you step into a room, expect that God will show you opportunities to minister

his power.

This week, many of you are considering how your 2008 might be different than

your 2007. Consider this. How would your life be different if you acted like one with

Kingdom authority right now? What do you do when someone tells you that they are not

feeling well? If you step up with Jesus, then ask them if you can pray for them, right now.

I find that when I pray for sick ones, quite often they get better, right away. Friends, you

can do that. Step up with Jesus in 2008. Step up out of your shell of mere manhood or

mere womanhood, and step into your adoption as a son or daughter of God.

If you would like to receive a Christmas present of Kingdom power, then come

forward for prayer. Even if you are not sure how that might happen, just ask God, and

believe that the Kingdom is yours.

Let's pray.