Series : Christmas 07. Subject : Incarnation and the Believer’s Workplace
Preacher - Graham Hutchinson, 9th December 2007
Elim Pentecostal Church, York, UK. www.york-epc.org.uk
Sermon Galatians 4:4-7
But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, Abba, Father. So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.
Incarnation and the Believer’s Workplace
1) Christmas is a celebration of the incarnation
Once again I hear the familiar songs playing in the shops, “So this is Christmas…?”
What is Christmas? One thing it is, is a celebration of the incarnation. Incarnation = the doctrine that the second person of the Trinity assumed human form in the person of Jesus Christ and is completely both God and man.
Gal 4:4-7 is about the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ for us. Other scriptures point to the incarnation to others by us.
See:
Acts 1:1,2
In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen.
1 Cor 12:12
The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.
1 Cor 12:27
Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
1 Peter 2:9
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
1 Peter 2:12
Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
2) How to “declare the praises of him”
(a) Carry the Word
This is good news. With the pure seed of the word God can do wonders. See parable of the Sower in Matthew 13 (the seed is the word).
Bible printing in China:
The Chinese government are overseeing the printing of Bibles in amounts never before seen.
According to the Times, 8/12/2007, “Today the 50 millionth Bible will roll off the presses of China’s only authorised publisher, Amity Printing, amid public fanfare and celebration.”
At this time of meteoric economic growth in China, demand for the Bible is soaring.
Such is the demand in China for Bibles that Amity Printing can scarcely keep pace. Early next year it will move into a new, much larger factory on the edge of the eastern city of Nanjing to become the world’s single-biggest producer of Bibles.
One book a second glides off the production line at this joint venture between a Chinese Christian charity and the United Bible Societies. Amity has been printing Bibles since 1986. The new factory will have a capacity of one million Bibles a month, increasing the current output by one third.
Authorities at the officially approved Protestant and Catholic churches put the size of China’s Christian population at about 30 million. But that does not include the tens of millions more who worship in private at underground churches loyal to the Vatican or to various Protestant churches. The estimated population of Christians in China is 40m.
Of the 50 million Bibles Amity has printed, 41 million were for the faithful in Chinese and eight minority languages. The rest have been for export to Russia and Africa. Sales surged from 505,000 in 1988 to a high of 6.5 million in 2005. Output last year was 3.5 million and is expected to rise in 2007.
Restricted imports:
Yet the Chinese government has set restrictions on the importation of Bibles. Not on numbers imported, but by insisting that Bibles are kept pure, without any additional included material from a cult or sect.
This is good news. With the pure seed of the word God can do wonders. See parable of the Sower in Matthew 13 (the seed is the word).
The seed can be sown when you are asked questions. However, it should never be an excuse for not working!
1 Peter 3:15,16
But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behaviour in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.
(b) Work Well
Labour is good but don’t overwork.
See:
1 Thessalonians 4:11,12
Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.
Service for Jesus energises. See the previously hungry Jesus having spoken with the woman at the well in John 4:34, “My food, said Jesus, is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.”
Involving our faith in our labours, our employment, we defy that principle we see when we see a muddy track off the path, a short-cut over the corner of turf.
1 Peter 2:12
Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
Colossians 3:23
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.
If given to God, labour is worship which delights God. See Genesis 8:21, The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.
Next week we will continue with:
(c) Prayer
Praying for colleagues in the workplace:
(d) How to fail well
(e) Being different
Congratulations to Johnny, Aaron and Snow on their baptisms last Sunday! About 80 people attended the celebrations at Priory Street Baptist Church. Here’s some pics from when they took the plunge.
Hi there, hope you’re blessed by my sermon! - John
When you look at Alister’s McGrath’s performance here, the phrase “doesn’t give an inch” comes to mind. This interview, that was filmed for the documentary “The Root Of All Evil” starring Richard Dawkins, didn’t make the final cut. I wonder why? Perhaps for the same reason Alister’s books are not mentioned in the God Delusion.
See this very British, very civilised and very frank exchange of opinions here. It’s thrilling stuff!
Test 24
Test 16
