← Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life
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- [00:05]
Podcast Host
Welcome to Gospel and Life. Today, Tim Keller is looking at a passage from the opening chapter of the Gospel of John. John begins his account of Christ's birth not with shepherds or angels, but with the mystery of the Word becoming flesh. God himself entering the world as a person in Jesus Christ. Join us as Tim Keller explores the meaning of Jesus Bir.
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Narrator/Reader
Today's scripture is from the Gospel of John, chapter 1, verses 14 through 18. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son who came from the Father full of grace and truth. John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, this is the one I spoke about when I said, he who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me. Out of his fullness, we have all received grace in place of grace already given. For the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known the Word of the Lord.
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Tim Keller
Well, this verse, or these verses especially the very beginning, the Word became flesh. And he made his dwelling among us and we beheld his glory. The Word became flesh. That's probably the most profound, simplest concise summary of what Christmas is all about that there is anywhere that can be said or that's in the Bible. And when, when the original hearers of John's Gospel, Jews and Greeks, heard the term the Word became flesh, it was revolutionary. In fact, many people have said that John chapter one marked a complete revolution in the history of human thought. Jews, when they heard the Word of God, they knew it was the Word of God. That meant their God was not a remote, unknowable God. God speaks. God speaks through his word. He speaks through his prophets. He spoke through the burning bush. He spoke on Mount Sinai. So he's not just a remote, ineffable God, he's a God who we can know. So the word of God is crucial to Jews. But the Logos, because this was originally written in Greek, of course, the word Logos, it says, the Logos became flesh. The Logos was a term that was very, very momentous and significant to the Greeks and the Romans. They believed that the universe was not a chaos, but a cosmos. It was not a chaos, that there was an order behind it. And the word Logos, from which we get our word, logic and reason, was a term, a philosophical term that meant that the universe was not just a kind of chaotic thing, there was a kind of order behind it, some absolute principles behind it that we could discern through philosophical contemplation. And if we aligned our lives with it, then things would go well. So the Logos was sort of like the cosmic order at the heart of the universe. To the Greeks, to the Jews, it was the self revelation of a knowable God. And then suddenly John comes and says, yeah, but the word became flesh. And he dwelt among us and we beheld his glory. And what the Jews are realizing, John was saying, is that even if you study all the words of the law of God, the way now to know God is if the self revelation, if the word of God had become a human being, the way to know God is to know that human being. What a radical statement that is. But the Greeks and Romans realized what he was saying was if the way to connect to the very cosmic, cosmic center of the universe is to know this flesh and blood human being. It was incredible. The word became flesh. And by the way, the word flesh there is a kind of graphic word. It's a word that almost means what we might say, meat. And it was a way of saying the word became really physical, didn't just appear to be a human being, wasn't a hologram, wasn't a humanoid. The word became flesh. That the son of God, the creator God, the transcendent God, the cosmic center of the universe became a flesh and blood human being who could be known. Jesus Christ. Now that's Christmas. But. And you know what? Actually that's the whole sermon, but at least to say that's what the doctrine is, that's what the teaching is. But what I'd like to do is think about the fact that Christmas doesn't change our lives like it ought to. This is a life transforming truth in many ways. But what I'd like to do is draw out three ways in which this truth of its grasp should change our lives. Three extremely practical implications. If you really believe the doctrine of Christmas, then these three things are true and we should grasp them with both hands and make sure that we live them out. Here's the three things, three implications, three practical implications. Number one, if Christmas happened, and it did, we have infinite comfort in the face of suffering. We have infinite comfort in the face of suffering. Now, by the way, Christmas comforts us or strengthens us for suffering actually at two levels. First is just, frankly there's the understanding level, almost kind of like the intellectual level. See, when you see somebody suffering who's really a great person, a wonderful person, they're going through horrendous suffering. It's just natural to say, what kind of God would allow something like that? And it's typical, unfortunately, for religious people to speak like this. They say, well, you know, God works in mysterious ways and he has his good reasons, but it's too complicated for us, so you just have to have faith. Religious people talk like that all the time. And I have to say, it's kind of infuriating. It feels shallow, it feels callous. And you want to say, why should I trust this God? And how do you know he's got good reasons? You can say, oh, he's got good reasons. How do you know he's got good reasons for allowing his suffering? Here's how Christmas actually. See, I've never gotten over the fact that Albert Camus, Albert Camus of all you know, the French existentialist philosopher and novelist, wrote this about Jesus. At one point he says, Christ the God man, suffered evil and death can no longer be entirely imputed to him, since he suffers and dies. For in the shadow of Calvary, the divinity ostensibly abandoned its traditional privilege and lived through to the end, despair included the agony of death. Jesus, the God man, abandoned his traditional privilege and lived through to the end, despair included the agony of death. So we can't completely blame him. And what Camus is saying is, I think it's just simply this. His argument is, if God came to earth and involved himself in our life of pain and suffered enormously, suffered infinitely, suffered horrendously, then if you ask, well, why is God allowing evil and suffering to continue? We still don't know what the reason he is doing that is. We still don't know what the reason is, but now we know what the reason isn't. It isn't that he doesn't care. It isn't that he's remote. It isn't that he doesn't love us. See? And what Camus is saying is still don't know why, but the fact that he suffered. See, other religions have God up there impervious to suffering. And if you say, why does that God allow evil and suffering? And well, he's got his reasons. Well, I don't know. How do I know he's got good reasons? But this God, the God who comes to earth and suffers, then whatever his reasons are, it's not that he doesn't care. It's not that he doesn't know what we're going through. And so, see, even at a kind of understanding level, as Camus says, it's a suffering God, you don't shake your fist at that God in the same way you still don't know, you still wrestle at the same time you say, I know he loves us. And it's not just at the understanding level. The doctrine of Christmas actually helps us at the actual experience level when you're actually going through it, when you really are in darkness and despair. Hebrews chapter 2 says, Because Jesus himself suffered, he is able to help those who are being tried and tested. Because Jesus suffered, he can help you. If you're going through something really hard and some well meaning person who's never experienced what you've experienced, some well meaning person comes along and says, oh, you know, buck up, you know, you can do it, you can get through it. Maybe we shouldn't, maybe we shouldn't. But there's something in us that wants to say. And sometimes we say it out loud. You have no idea what I'm going through. You know, save your breath. And somebody who hasn't gone through what we've gone through and we're sinking, we just. Save your breath. You know, you don't know. But if you meet somebody who's not only been through every single thing you've been through, but 10 times worse, 10 times worse, you listen to that person, don't you? And when that person says, do this and do this and you can do it, see, when that person strengthens you, you feel strengthened. Well, look at Jesus. Here's the only God he knows. Look. Are you feeling lonely? Of all the religions in the world, this is the only one who says God has been in every darkness you've been in and more you feel alone and misunderstood. So is He. Are you betrayed? So was He. Are you destitute? Are you facing death? So was He. Are you saying, but I feel God has abandoned me. Think about it. So was He. Well, I prayed and God hasn't answered my prayer. Go to the garden of Gethsemane Passage. So he was turned down too. Every place you could ever go, he's been there. Every darkness you could ever be in, he's been there in war. He can strengthen you. That's what it says. He will strengthen you. Go to him. There's that great, you know, poem called Jesus of the Scars. And the last stanza goes like this. I think I can remember it. The poet is contrasting the different gods of the different religions. And he's looking at Jesus and he says, the other gods did ride. Thou didst stumble to thy throne, to our wounds only God's wounds can speak. And no God has wounds. But thou alone to our wounds only God's wounds can speak and no other God has wounds but thou alone. So, first of all, the doctrine of Christmas gives you infinite comfort in suffering. Are you taking it? Look, everybody, all of you out there who are human beings, okay, the rest of you can just not listen for a minute. But all human beings, you either have suffered or you are suffering, or soon you will be suffering something. So do you have this? Okay, Number one. Number two, second thing Christmas does, besides giving us infinite comfort in suffering, is a powerful incentive to serve. An incredibly powerful incentive to serve. See, when God came down, you know, at the Incarnation, he got involved. I'm old enough, and some of you look like you might be old enough. I remember not only the headlines, but even some of the commentary. Cause I was in. I was just getting into high school at the time. Around a young woman named Kitty Genovese, who lived in Queens and was stabbed to death within. Right near her apartment building. She was outside of her apartment building, but she was stabbed to death. She was assaulted and stabbed, and she cried out and screamed, and people heard the screams. But not only did no one come down to try to help her, but nobody called it in to the police. And afterwards, of course, there was all this. There was a lot of talk about what's happened to our society, you know. But one of the more famous, a reporter got one person anonymously, who was in the building and who had heard the screams, who hadn't done anything to say, why didn't you come down? Or why didn't you call? And the person said, I'm not sure if it was a male or female. The person said, I didn't want to get involved. That's probably the most famous quote that comes out of that whole incident in 1964. I didn't want to get involved. And of course, think about it. If you come, you hear somebody screaming outside. If you come down, you might get killed yourself. Or even if you call it in, you know, you suddenly are involved with the police and they want to take statements, and maybe they want to ask you what you were doing at the time. Maybe you don't want to talk about what you were doing at the time. Or maybe even if after you give evidence that the perpetrator's friends will come and get you and you'll die. In other words, I don't want to get involved. Why? Because being involved makes you vulnerable. The first place we get this image in the Bible is near the beginning where Cain kills Abel and God comes to Cain and says, what have you done? The Blood of your brother Abel cries out to me from the ground. And there's a number of places in the Bible where we're told that shed blood of the innocent, the evils and the injustice that are perpetrated here on earth cry out to God. What does the doctrine of Christmas teach? Here's what the doctrine of Christmas teaches. That God heard those cries and he did come down. He came down, he got involved, and he knew he would be killed.
- [14:59]
Podcast Host
At Christmas, we are animated by the gifts we give and receive. But the greatest gift of all is that Christ was born into this world as a gift to us. We've recorded a special Christmas message to highlight the gift of hope, joy and peace we can have and share because of Christ's birth. In this special video, you'll hear how the ultimate gift, salvation, is ours because Jesus loved us so much that he entered into our world to save. You can watch this Christmas message@gospelandlife.com Christmas that's gospelandlife.com Christmas from the Keller family and everyone at Gospel and Life. We send our thanks for you and we pray that you and your family will experience joy and peace this Christmas because you have the gift of God's son. Now here's Dr. Keller with the rest of today's message.
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Tim Keller
Now here's what's so scary. Do you know in Philippians 2, there's a place in Philippians 2 where it says, have this mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus. In other words, have the same motivation or the same mindset of Jesus Christ, who, though he was God, didn't count equality with God, something to be grasped, but he emptied himself and he laid aside his glory and he came down and he became a human being obedient to the cross. So Philippians 2 says, when you see Jesus Christ coming down, getting involved to the point of vulnerability, to the point of being just drained of life, now you go do that too. That's what it says. That's your model. What are we going to do about that? Notice I didn't call this infinite comfort like I did the first point. The first point was infinite comfort in suffering. The second point is infinite powerful conviction that we ought to be getting involved. I mean, let me just give you. Listen, this applies in a lot of different ways. They're not all life threatening. But for example, we were talking about giving. You know, you can give to the point it's comfortable. You can look at your. You can say, I want to give this amount away. And the amount you're giving away has absolutely Nothing has no impact on the way you live your life. It's not really cutting into your savings, not cutting into investments. It's not cutting into your lifestyle. You're able to do the things you want to do. This is money that's almost literally disposable. Okay? That's not getting involved. Give to the point where you feel vulnerable. Give to the point where you say, I can't do things I would like to do. Give to the point where you're not quite as financially secure as you would have been if you hadn't. Give and give and give it till what? Till you're starting to act like Jesus? Till you're starting to imitate the Incarnation. Give. Give to the point of vulnerability. Or just think about this. A lot of people come to church, but they never join. They come to receive, but they don't want to join. They don't want the accountability. They don't want the responsibility. They don't want, you know, they want to keep their options open all the time. But see, in other words, you don't want to. You don't want to get involved. You're not too involved, not to involve to the point where it's actually cramping you. But my goodness, imitate the Incarnation or generally. Listen, there are people around you that you, if you. You might know who they are, but you may actually have been a little afraid to even look because you don't want to get involved. There are neighbors, there are colleagues, there are brothers and sisters. There are people around you who are hurting. They've got needs. And you know that if you show much interest and if you show much sympathy, you're going to kind of get sucked in. It'll be emotionally draining. It'll be difficult. And get involved. You know that if you publicly identify as a Christian in certain circles, there might be some flak you'll take. Get involved to the point of vulnerability. Okay. B.B. warfield was a. Taught at Princeton. He was a theologian, not a preacher. And he wrote a sermon, I guess preached a sermon called Imitating the Incarnation. That's a little bit Victorian, a little bit, little florid, but it's, it's still quite powerful. He's looking at the Incarnation. It was a sermon on Philippians 2 that I already mentioned. And here's what he said talking about Jesus. He says Jesus was led to forget himself in the needs of others. Self sacrifice brought Jesus Christ into the world. And self sacrifice will lead his followers not away from, but into the midst of human society. Wherever people suffer, there Will we be to comfort wherever they strive, There will we be to help wherever they fall, There will we be to uplift. Self sacrifice means not indifference to our times and our fellows. It means absorption in them. It means forgetfulness of self in others. It means entering into every person's hopes and fears, longings and despairs. It means many sidedness of spirit, multiform activity, multiple multiplicity of sympathies. It means not that we should live one life, but a thousand lives, binding ourselves to a thousand souls by the filaments of so loving a sympathy that their lives become ours. So first, practical implication, infinite comfort in the face of suffering. Second, practical implication, powerful conviction to serve others to the point of vulnerability, to get involved, to come down. But lastly, Christmas gives us a hope that's both realistic, realistic at the same time, infallible. Look at this, the rest of the passage. I mean, I've just spent the whole time just on the word became flesh, but it says and made his dwelling among us. Now, some of you may have heard before that there's a kind of odd Greek word used there where it. And some literal translations will put it there. What John actually says is the word became flesh and pitched his tent among us or pitched his tabernacle among us. Now maybe that was just a vivid way for John to say pitched his tent, you know, and a lot of people lived in tents. Well, actually that's not true. Back then a lot of people did not live in tents. So why in the world would it say the word became flesh and tabernacled among us? Well, it tells you right away. And we beheld his glory. And then later on it talks about for the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. What is this talking about? Here's what it's talking about. The tabernacle was the place where the Shekinah glory of God dwelled, but back behind the holy of holies. It was both the tabernacle, then later the temple. There was this veil between sinful people and the glory of God. And nobody could actually go back there except the high priest once a year. But people could draw near as long as there was blood sacrifices made to atone for sin. Now what is all that about? What was all that about? Well, here's what it was about. It was about what happened in the very beginning of the Bible. The Garden of Eden. Here's Adam and Eve and they are in paradise. Let's call that the ideal world. The ideal world and everything's perfect. But then they sin, they turn Away from God. They want to be their own masters, their own saviors and lords, and they're cast out into what? The real world and the real world. And by the way, we're all in the real world. Let me just tell you two things about the real world. Everybody loses everyone they love. Everybody loses everyone they love eventually. And all life ends in death. So they were cast out of the real world, ideal world, where none of those things are true, into the real world. And between them and the real world, between the real and the ideal world, was a flaming sword. You can go see this back in Genesis 3. A flaming sword that turned every way. What is that? It's the penalty for our sin. If you're a fugitive or you're in exile, you run away. If you want to come back home, you're going to have to face justice. And so what the Bible is actually trying to say is there's a barrier between the real and the ideal. And the barrier between the real and the ideal is the barrier between God and sinful human beings. And there's a barrier there, and no one can pass it without paying the penalty, which is death for the wages of sin. Now, think about this. What is Christmas about, huh? The word became flesh. Okay, that's just a magic trick. A big one, of course, but a magic trick. But, no. In order to dwell among us so that we could see his glory. What does that mean? It means, first of all, the ideal came into the real Jesus Christ. The ideal actually came into the real, into the real world. Here he is. But that wasn't all. At the end of his life, he died. He became a human being so that he could die. He became a human being. He became vulnerable, as we said. He became killable. And when he went to the cross, he went under the sword. He took the penalty. And when he did that, some of you remember the book of Matthew says that the veil between us and God, between the real and the ideal, was torn from top to bottom. And what that means is simply this. Jesus Christ, our great captain, has opened a cleft in the pitiless walls of the world. He's punched a hole between the ideal and the real. He came through it, and now he's opened a way for us to get back in. Right now, the wall has not come down, but the Holy Spirit comes into us when we believe in Jesus Christ and changes begin. And someday the whole wall will come down and the real world will become the ideal world again. Kathy and I always liked the musical man of La Mancha, which is based on, you know, the novel by Cervantes, Don Quixote. And of course, the basic story is a man who hates the real world. And so he's going to live in the ideal world. He hates the real world. So he goes mad and he says, I'm a knight, I'm Don Quixote. And he starts to fight against giants, which are actually windmills and dragons. And he tries to rescue people, right? And you know, he's mad. At one point, somebody sits down, tries to talk to him and says, you know, there are no evil sorcerers, there are no dragons, there are no giants. You know that none of these things are true. He says, well, facts are the enemy of truth. And then the guy who's trying to argue with him says, this is madness. And then he says, I've seen life as it is, okay? I've seen life as it is. Maybe too much sanity is madness. And maddest of all, to see life as it is and not as it ought to be. Now, what you have there is a kind of, frankly, when this thing was written, it was the heyday of the existentialists of the 20th century. And we have a little existentialist sermon, sermon there. Here's what the guy is saying. The guy is saying, he says, you know, I'm not really crazy. I know there's a wall between the ideal and the real, right? Here's the life as it is, the real and as it ought to be, the ideal. And I'm just going to live as if it's the way life ought to be and not the way it is. That's all there is to it. I know that they will never come together. I know I'll go down to a never ending defeat. I know that. But see, there's a concrete slab between the real and the ideal. And I'm gonna live in the ideal. That's it. But you see, Christians are utterly different. There are two kinds of people, and then there's Christians. There's the realists. Say, hey, come on, this is the way life is. You know, don't be a boy scout, that kind of thing. Then there's the idealists. They're saying, I'm gonna go down to a never ending defeat, but I'm gonna live as if this is true and live as it's true. And so you have the idealist and the realist, and then you have Christians. And we know that Jesus Christ has brought the ideal into the real. And someday there'll be a new heavens and new earth, and you're going to have glorified bodies. And that means that even though we're realistic, we know there's a lot that's wrong with this world. And we don't expect it to happen until Jesus actually makes everything right, that all of it happens. But if you're a Christian, you'll never look at anything and say, that'll never change. You'll never look at any evil. You'll never look at anything wrong inside or outside. So that could never change. Because you know that even now, with the power of the Holy Spirit, it can change. And someday it will. And what realisticness. You see how realistic that is? Much more realistic than the person who's living in the ideal world, but far more idealistic and hopeful than the person who's living in the real world. You know, in that play, there's a woman named Aldonza who's a prostitute, and Don Quixote treats her as if she's a queen royalty. And at first she's angry about it, but then in the end, she's moved by it and she embraces it, even though she's not. She's going to live as if she's royalty even though she's not. But look, you might be literally an Aldonza. You might be here today, you know, and you might be a prostitute. And I want you to know if you believe in Jesus Christ, he embraces you. You can be literal royalty, real royalty. You know, when all the kings and queens of all the great royal lines in this on the earth are all forgotten, you will be ruling and reigning with him. Because, see, he's punched a hole between the real and the ideal. We have realistic and infallible hope. Christ the Savior is born. Let's pray. Thank you, Father, for giving us these. This great hope, this great comfort, and this great conviction and incentive. Lord, we have to admit that the problem of Christmas is that it's so familiar. We let Christmas just make us feel warm and toasty. We let Christmas just feel. Make us feel like it's a time to be inspired and to appreciate our families. And all that's true. But, Lord, the message is so much more radical than that. Forgive us for domesticating and taming the doctrine of Christmas. And let, Lord, it would glorify you and it would be our ultimate joy if the three things we talked about here were realized in our lives by the power of your Holy Spirit and faith in Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.
- [29:51]
Podcast Host
Thanks for joining us here on the Gospel in Life podcast. We hope that today's teaching encouraged you to go deeper into God's word. You can help others discover this podcast by rating and reviewing it. And to find more great gospel centered content by Tim Keller, visit gospelandlife.com Today's sermon was recorded in 2016. The sermons and talks you hear on the Gospel and Life podcast were recorded between 1989 and 2017 while Dr. Keller was senior pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church.
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Tim Keller
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