The Word became Flesh

Scripture:

John 1:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Observation:

"The Word became human." By doing so, Christ became (1) the perfect teacher-in Jesus' life we see how God thinks and therefore how we should think (Phil 2:5-11); (2) the perfect example-as a model of what we are to become, he shows us how to live and gives us the power to live that way (1 Peter 2:21); (3) the perfect sacrifice-Jesus came as a sacrifice for all sins, and his death satisfied God's requirements for the removal of sin (Col 1:15-23).

"The Father's one and only Son" means Jesus is God's only and unique Son. The emphasis is on unique. Jesus is one of a kind and enjoys a relationship with God. He is unlike all believers, who are called "children of God."

When Jesus was conceived, God became a man. He was not part man and part God; he was completely human and completely divine (Col 2:9). Before Christ came, people could know God partially. After Christ came, people could know God fully because he became visible and tangible in Christ. Christ is the perfect expression of God in human form. The two most common errors people make about Jesus are to minimize his humanity or to minimize his divinity. Jesus is both God and man. "The Word became flesh!"

Application:

There was a man who didn't wan to go to Christmas Eve services with his wife. He had decided not to go because he couldn't believe the whole jest of the gospel story. It just didn't make much sense to him. As he settled into his comfortable chair, and picked up the evening newspaper, he noticed that it was beginning to snow. Later as he glanced over the top of the paper, he noticed that the wind had picked up and the snow was coming down even harder. He went back to his reading, when he was suddenly brought back to reality by a large noise at the large front picture window. The noise happened again and again, so he decided he better check it out. When he got to the window, he noticed a couple of small sparrow had flown into the glass pane and were fluttering in the snow drift below. He could see through the snow, a larger group of birds perched in the bushes and shivering. He thought about their plight, so he slowly went to the hall closet, put on his overcoat, and boots and went out the front door.

He had decided to open the barn door so the birds could roost in the shelter for the night. He picked up the wounded sparrows and brought them to the barn hoping that the other birds would hear their chirping and follow.

But they didn't. So he thought of using the Hansel and Gretel trick of placing bread crumbs on the path to the barn. Certainly, he thought, the hungry little birds would follow. But they didn't. The man didn't know what to do next, so decided to get a broom and chase the birds into the bar. But this proved futile also, for the waving of the broom just scared the birds even more.

Finally in a state of exhaustion he sat down n on the barn step and and thought: If only I could talk to them. Let them know I wanted to help them and save them from the cold winter storm. But I can't unless I could become one of them... become one of them." Then the church bells began to ring and the man knelt in the deep show and said, " Thank you God for becoming man".

Prayer:

"Lord, I am so thankful that you became one of us. You saw us in our helplessness and you became our help. You saw us in our despair and you became our hope. You saw us in our sickness and you became our healing. You saw us in our sin and you became our redemption. I praise You Lord that you left the splendors of heaven and became flesh so you can not only pay for our sins, but leave us an example to follow. Thank you for paving the path back to our Heavenly Father. In Jesus' name, amen!"