Author: Tara Smith

It’s Christmas!

At Christmas we celebrate the Incarnation: when God became human. As I mentioned in my sermon on Sunday, there is perhaps no greater mystery of our faith than God becoming one of us. On Sunday we explored the ways the New Testament describes Jesus as fully God and fully human. Here I wanted to dig a bit deeper into the theology of the Incarnation.

The early Church stressed the central importance of God becoming human. Simply put, if Jesus didn’t become one of us, then none of us will be saved. Jesus had to become one of us in every way (yet without sin). Heretical views wouldn’t cut it. Some heretics were teaching Jesus was not actually a human, but only appeared that way (like a hologram). Others claimed he was only a human who God later adopted as his son. Others believed Jesus was human on the outside and divine on the inside (like a human-divine Reese’s peanut butter cup). None of these answers will do. The Church has insisted that Jesus was completely human and completely God, “unconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably” (Definition of Chalcedon, AD 451). Jesus was not a human hologram, he was not merely adopted as God’s son, and he was not God in a human shell. No, Jesus had to be the true God-man to save humans. But why? Two theologians from the 4^th century (both named Gregory, incidentally!) give us the answer.

First, Jesus had to become human like us physically. Gregory Nazianzen wrote, “For that which he has not assumed he has not healed.” Gregory explains, “If only half Adam fell, then that which Christ assumes and saves may be half also; but if the whole of his nature fell, it must be united to the whole nature of him that was begotten, and so be saved as a whole” (“Epistle 101”). All of humanity has fallen, and so at Christmas we celebrate the messiah who redeemed our entire fallen human nature.

Second, Jesus had to experience life like we do. Gregory Nazianzen’s friend, Gregory of Nyssa, explains in his “Address on Religious Instruction” that Jesus united to every phase of human experience to redeem us. He offers the example of washing dirt off garments. A person laundering a garment does not remove only a few stains but tries to clean the whole garment from top to bottom to achieve uniform brightness and cleanliness. In the same way, human life is stained with sin from beginning to end: from birth to death. It would make no sense to cleanse one end while ignoring the other. Therefore, Christ had to assume flesh through birth and be obedient to death in order heal humanity. Jesus experienced an entire human life, and since the incarnate Christ was resurrected, humans who die with him can look forward to their own resurrection in the Last Day.

Hail the Incarnate Deity!

Merry Christmas,

Matt Easter

Interim Pastor

Many of our Christmas traditions center around children. The Christmas story itself revolves around the birth of the infant Jesus and his dependance upon his family: Mary and Joseph. In human terms, children are meant to grow from dependence to independence. But in our relationship with God, maturity means moving from independence to dependence on Him. Jesus illustrated our dependent ways when He taught His disciples and all of us who have come to believe in Him – to pray, “Give us today our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11). He was teaching a prayer of dependence. Jesus illustrates our dependence even more clearly in the metaphor of the vine and branches.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing,” (John 15:5).

It is impossible to forget that during December so many of our personal and church activities focus upon the birth of our Lord. That is as it should be. Likewise, in this time of transition and beginning of the pastor search process we need to pray for strong consistency and focus on all the present ministries of the church. Please pray that the Lord will grant great power to our interim pastors, Dr. Matt Easter and Derald Harris, as well as to our staff, leaders, and workers in all of our ministries and worship this month.

Our new Pastor Search Committee must be a continuing major focus for our prayers. As they organize and prepare themselves for the task before them, pray for deep spiritual cleansing and fullness of the Holy Spirit in each team member. Pray this for each member by name:

• Mia Baugher
• Ashley Bowman
• Betsy Brisch
• Don Jack
• Caitlin Knepper
• Brian Land
• David Pfeiffer
• James Wittig

As Jesus said in John 15:5, it is not our activity that produces fruit, it is our relationship with Him.

Merry Christmas and God Bless Fee Fee Baptist Church!

Larry Condra

Prayer Warrior