Weekly Words With Brandon Moore: God knows what it is like
Last week we celebrated Christmas at Shiloh with A Very Shiloh Christmas. I was honored to speak at the event again. I shared this last year as well but every year my wife and I sit down sometime during Christmas break and talk about the part of the Christmas story that's standing out to us most in that particular year.
Last year I remember being enamored by the idea that Jesus was the Light of the World. This year is a little different. There’s a specific phrase that keeps coming to mind and I want to share it with you. It’s this:
God knows what it’s like.
John 1 says this:
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God.
And you may think, well, who is the Word?
Verse 14 in John 1 says this:
14And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
Eugene Peterson puts it this way:
The Word…became flesh and blood…
and moved into the neighborhood.
It’s pretty clear, John is talking about Jesus. Jesus is God putting on flesh and living among his creation.
When we think about the Christmas story, we need to move beyond hearing this whole thing as some sentimental, feel-good story, about something that happened in the past and move into this reality.
It’s really, actually, true, what Colossians 1 says. Jesus is the image of the invisible God.
In the Christmas story we literally see God putting on human flesh and living among His creation.
So, quite simply, God knows what it’s like to be human. This is good news for us for a couple of reasons.
First, God knows what it’s like to live your life.
God knows what it’s like to be busy. He knows what it’s like to have bills to pay. He knows what it’s like to have homework that’s due at a certain time.
God knows what it’s like to be a teenager. He knows what it’s like to be an adult. He knows what it’s like to be a business man. He was a teacher. He was a carpenter. He knows what it’s like to deal with business partners. He lived in a small town. We know from scripture He knows what it’s like to have rumors spread around town about him.
Quite simply, God knows what it’s like. Which means in any and all circumstances you and I can approach Him and ask Him for help.
The second thing is this, God knows what it’s like, which means your life can change.
Hebrews 2:17 says this:
Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
We don’t have a God who is distant and disinterested in the world or in you. He moved into the neighborhood. He was made like us in every respect so that he could make propitiation for our sins. That’s a big word but that word propitiation means simply this: That you and I, because of our sinfulness, are deserving of the wrath of God, yet Christ took on the wrath of God and died in our place on the cross.
Now, because of his resurrection, anyone who comes to Him in faith can be rescued from sin and death and be given a new life. A life fully that’s pleasing to God only because of Christ’s work on the Cross.
The reality of Christmas is this: God knows what it’s like.
God has put on flesh and he’s lived among us.
I’ll leave you with this. A kids book we’ve been reading to our daughters says it this way:
Does God have a body?
God’s Son, Jesus, does!
His body is brilliant!
It’s like mine because–
He had to become
Just like me and like you
To rescue and save us
and make us brand new.
When we make Christmas more about sentimentality and a feel-good story than God taking on human flesh we miss out on this crucial reality: That God came to rescue and save us and make us brand new.
God loves you and He put on human flesh to prove it.
Have a great Christmas.
–Brandon Moore