He Came!
A
Different Christmas Letter
1.
It
was Christmas time, 1942, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote a letter to friends and
former students in which he returned to the themes he favored in his sermons at
that time of year:
The joy of God goes through the poverty of the manger and the agony
of the cross; that is why it is invincible, irrefutable. It does not deny the
anguish, when it is there, but finds God in the midst of it, in fact precisely
there; it does not deny grave sin but finds forgiveness precisely in this way;
it looks death straight in the eye, but it finds life precisely within it.[1]
2.
One
year later, in December 1943, Bonhoeffer expressed that idea more strongly: “A
prison cell,” he wrote, “is a good analogy for Advent; one waits, hopes, does
this or that — ultimately negligible things — the door is locked and can only
be opened from the outside”
(George). He wrote from Berlin’s
Tegel military prison where he awaited trial, having been arrested by the Nazis
the previous April.
3.
In
the year Jesus was born, many in Israel probably had feelings similar to
Bonhoeffer’s. Their people had been waiting centuries for the marvelous
prophetic promises to be realized. How much longer would they have to be
insulted by the rule of the pagans from the West? Endure the often vicious
whims of Herod? Deliverance, salvation, could not come too soon!
4.
Unlike
Bonhoeffer, they would not have connected that deliverance to a cross. But not
many do. That’s why many who love the story of the sweet baby Jesus treat
lightly, resist, or reject the teachings and way of the adult Christ.
5.
Are
we among them? That depends on how completely we keep in mind all of the story
of Jesus’ coming. Paul reminds us in just four verses.
He
Came — and Remains — For Our Rescue
I.
He
Came (Gal. 4:4).
A.
The
specific burden for which Paul sought freedom for the Galatians (see Gal. 5:1)
was but one of many; God's solution is the answer to all burdens.
B. God came here, in his Son, into
the messiness of human history: “. . . his Son [was] born of woman, born under
the law” (v. 4).
1. As John put it, he “became flesh
and dwelt among us” (Jn. 1:14); NET translates it, “took up residence among
us.”
2.
Luke
put it in more concrete terms: Jesus was born — like you and me (Lk. 2:6); his
first bed was a feeding trough (2:7), which was where the shepherds who heard
the glorious angel chorus found him (2:16).
C. Paul reminds us that the teaching
is that God intervened. He wrote, “God sent forth his Son . . .” (Gal. 4:4),
not “God sent Jesus to become his Son.”[2]
1. How remarkable is that? Hear John
again: the one who took up residence among us
was “with God,” “was God,” and “was in the beginning with God” (Jn.
1:1-2).
2.
It’s as hands-on as could be: God came here!
II.
A
Rescue Operation (Gal. 4:5).
A. Like all the early Christians,
Paul knew that the real story is not the story of a little baby.
1. Being a baby was just the first
step in his complete identification with even the lowliest of us (Phil. 2:5-8;
Heb. 4:15).
2.
In
his Son, God became vulnerable; the baby would be taken to Egypt for his
protection, and then taken back to Israel and eventually to Nazareth
(Mt. 2:13-14, 21).
B. That vulnerability was necessary
to accomplish his purpose.
1. He came “[in order] to (ἵνα, hina)
redeem those who were under the law” (Gal. 4:5).
a) “Redeem” is ἐξαγοράζω, exagorazō;
buy back, secure deliverance, liberate.[3]
2. That was what Israel had been
longing to hear (see Lk. 1:51-55, 68-74).
3.
The
prophets expected it for all (Lk. 2:29-32; 4:18-19; see Isa. 42:6-7; 49:6-8;
52:10; 58:6; 61:1-2).
C. Redemption is not all of the
story.
1. “. . . so that we might receive
adoption as sons” (Gal. 4:5).
a) “So that” (ἵνα, hina)
expresses the purpose or intended result of the redeeming (Fung, 182).
2. Paul wrote to both Jews and
non-Jews; he was saying that because of Jesus, all can be granted the
full rights and status as God’s sons!
a) Even without the problem of sin,
that would be amazing! Created beings described with the same word that was
used of the one who was with God in the beginning.
b)
With
the problem of sin it boggles the mind (Rom. 3:23; 5:6-8; see Isa. 59:1-2)!
D.
Surely,
we can see how that surpasses the Christmas story as typically told!
III.
He
Remains with Us (Gal. 4:6-7).
A. Dependent as we are on the Son
for our new status, how do we handle things now that he has returned to the Father?
(See Jn. 14:2-5; 16:7, 10; Acts 1:9-11.)
1. As promised, “God has sent the
Spirit of the Son into our hearts (Gal. 4:6; Jn. 14:16, 26; 16:12-15) .
2. What does he do? Verse 6 is
fascinating: the Son’s Spirit cries “Abba! Father!”
a) That is the Son’s prayer (Mk.
14:36)!
b) It is the prayer Paul says
believers now pray (Rom. 8:15)!
c)
The
sense of Galatians 4:6 is that the Spirit is so entwined into our hearts that
he is inseparable from us as we cry out (see Rom. 8:26-27) (see Fung, 185).
B.
Verse
7 adds more: we have completely left behind the status and life of a slave and
are so firmly established as sons that Paul can say we are heirs through God.
C.
Verses
6-7 remind us that God’s grace doesn’t stop giving at our baptism (see Jn.
14:18).
God
Seeks to Open the Door
1.
We return to Bonhoeffer: “A prison cell . . . is a good analogy for
Advent. One waits, hopes, . . . [but] the door is locked and can only be opened
from the outside.”
2.
Those
words confuse people who have been told that “it’s the most wonderful time of the
year” and want to think only of laughter, gifts, extra kindness, newness, and
birth.
3.
But,
they make perfect sense to those who in this time of year find deep sadness,
depression, and, in some tragic cases, even suicide.
4.
Those
people remind us that we all need something more than the respite of a
“wonderful time.” Something only the God of the manger and the cross can
give. As Bonhoeffer saw clearly: the door must be opened from the outside.
5.
Revelation
3:6 tells us that we must welcome Jesus’ help. “Behold, I stand at the door and
knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and
eat with him, and he with me.” Will you let him in?
