Read:
Philippians 2:1-11

Reflect:
1. What is most striking to you about God's humility in the incarnation?

2. How have you seen the impact of humility in your own life?

3. Why is Jesus’s physical body so important for our redemption?

4. How could you profit this week from ‘pretending’ to be Christ?

5. In prayer, respond to God about the ways in which the humility of the incarnation invites you to know him better.

Pray:
Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us; and, because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen.

Special thanks to Alex Wenig, Director of Music at Oaks Parish, for her contribution of music to the podcast! From “Offering” © Alexandra Adkins, 2011: Sonata For 2 Violins In D Major, Op. 3, No. 6: III. Largo (Jean-Marie Leclair, 18th century).

Scripture Text: Philippians 2:1-11

Quotes for Reflection

N.T. Wright, Philippians for Everyone
The eternal son of God, the one who became human in and as Jesus of Nazareth, regarded his equality with God as committing him to the course he took: of becoming human, of becoming Israel’s anointed representative, of dying under the weight of the world’s evil. This is what it meant to be equal with God. As you look at the incarnate son of God dying on the cross the most powerful thought you should think is: this is the true meaning of who God is. He is the God of self-giving love.

Athanasius, On the Incarnation
The body of the Word, then, being a real human body, in spite of its having been uniquely formed from a virgin, was of itself mortal and, like other bodies, liable to death. But the indwelling of the Word loosed it from this natural liability, so that corruption could not touch it. Thus it happened that two opposite marvels took place at once: the death of all was consummated in the Lord’s body; yet, because the Word was in it, death and corruption were in the same act utterly abolished. Death there had to be, and death for all, so that the due of all might be paid. Wherefore, the Word, as I said, being Himself incapable of death, assumed a mortal body, that He might offer it as His own in place of all, and suffering for the sake of all through His union with it, “might bring to nought Him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might deliver them who all their lifetime were enslaved by the fear of death.”

C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
Now, the moment you realise ‘Here I am, dressing up as Christ,’ it is extremely likely that you will see at once some way in which at that very moment the pretence could be made less of a pretence and more of a reality. You will find several things going on in your mind which would not be going on there if you were really a son of God. Well, stop them. Or you may realise that, instead of saying your prayers, you ought to be downstairs writing a letter, or helping your wife to wash-up. Well, go and do it.

You see what is happening. The Christ himself, the Son of God who is man (just like you) and God (just like the Father) is actually at your side and is already at that moment beginning to turn your pretence into a reality.

Application Questions

1. How have you seen the impact of humility in your own life?

2. Why is Jesus’s physical body so important for our redemption?

3. How could you profit this week from ‘pretending’ to be Christ?

Read: John 1:1-14

Reflect:

1. What are you searching for in this season?

2. Why is John’s term “the Word” (logos) helpful to anyone searching for spiritual answers?

3. Where are you looking for God to show up?

4. Where do you need to yield to God?

5. John writes that we become the God’s children by his power. How does this reality help you meet a pressing concern right now and respond in a fresh way?

Pray:

Merciful God, who sent your messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation: Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Special thanks to Alex Wenig, Director of Music at Oaks Parish, for her contribution of music to the podcast! From “Offering” © Alexandra Adkins, 2011: Sonata For 2 Violins In D Major, Op. 3, No. 6: III. Largo (Jean-Marie Leclair, 18th century).

Scripture Text: John 1:1-21

Quotes for Reflection

N.T Wright, John for Everyone
Whatever else John is going to tell us, he wants us to see his book as the story of God and the world, not just the story of one character in one place and time. This book is about the creator God acting in a new way within his much-loved creation. It is about the way in which the long story which began in Genesis reached the climax the creator had always intended.

Gary Burge, John: The NIV Application Commentary
The prologue to John is not about a message that offers hope, but about The Message that is the only hope. It is not about an idea, but a person. The Word became flesh tells us that God is intent on communicating with us not about mere concepts; he is intent on communicating about himself. The Word became flesh tells us that The Message is accessible and not hidden away for mystics and scholars but was lived in the world and was touched and heard by many. The Word became flesh tells us that the man Jesus was no mere mortal. He was not an inspired carpenter or a model human. Jesus was God himself—taking on the clothing of humanity, embracing it fully and eternally, walking in it, speaking through it, and delivering the reality of God to the world in a manner never done before. This prologue tells us that something definitive has happened in time, something objective and absolute. A marker has been placed in human history, and all humanity is now being called to mark time and progress by that post.

Athanasius, On the Incarnation
What, then, was God to do? What else could He possibly do, being God, but renew His Image in mankind, so that through it men might once more come to know Him? And how could this be done save by the coming of the very Image Himself, our Saviour Jesus Christ? Men could not have done it, for they are only made after the Image; nor could angels have done it, for they are not the images of God. The Word of God came in His own Person, because it was He alone, the Image of the Father, Who could recreate man made after the Image. In order to effect this re-creation, however, He had first to do away with death and corruption. Therefore He assumed a human body, in order that in it death might once for all be destroyed, and that men might be renewed according to the Image. The Image of the Father only was sufficient for this need.

Application Questions

1. Why is John’s term “the Word” (logos) be helpful to anyone searching for spiritual answers?

2. Why does the incarnation of Jesus make so much sense?

3. John writes that we become the God’s children by his power. How does this reality help you meet a pressing concern right now and respond in a fresh way?

Read:
Isaiah 9:1-7

Reflect:
1. In what ways do you see a stark contrast between the government of Isaiah's child king and the kingdoms of this world?

2. Wonderful Counselor. Mighty God. Everlasting Father. Prince of Peace. As you reflect on the meaning of these four titles of the child-king, how is Jesus the specific answer to a darkness you are facing right now?

3. "His authority shall grow continually, and there shall be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom." What questions, feelings, or reflections do you have about the promise of a kingdom with no end? Share those with God in prayer.

4. How does “the zeal of the Lord” transform the way you face the darkness of this world?

5. How does the promise of the Incarnate Son of God impact the way you enter this season of Advent?

Pray:
Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer)

Special thanks to Alex Wenig, Director of Music at Oaks Parish, for her contribution of music to the podcast! From “Offering” © Alexandra Adkins, 2011: Sonata For 2 Violins In D Major, Op. 3, No. 6: III. Largo (Jean-Marie Leclair, 18th century).

Scripture Text: Isaiah 9:1-7

Quotes for Reflection

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, God in the Manger: Reflections on Advent and Christmas
Look up, you whose gaze is fixed on this earth, who are spellbound by the little events and changes on the face of the earth. Look up to these words, you who have turned away from heaven disappointed. Look up, you whose eyes are heavy with tears and who are heavy and who are crying over the fact that the earth has gracelessly torn us away. Look up, you who, burdened with guilt, cannot lift your eyes. Look up, your redemption is drawing near. something different from what you see daily will happen. Just be aware, be watchful, wait just another short moment. Wait and something quite new will break over you: God will come.

John Oswalt, Isaiah
Have we allowed the Child-King to take over the government of our lives? Only then can we know the benefits of God with us. We cannot have the light, the honor, the joy, the abundance, the integration that he offers in any other way.

Alec J. Moyer, The Prophecy of Isaiah
The eye of faith looks at all this but affirms that, real though it is, it is not the ‘real’ reality. As always, the people of God must decide what reading of their experiences they will live by. Are they to look at the darkness, the hopelessness, the dreams shattered and conclude that God has forgotten them? Or are they to recall his past mercies, to remember his present promises and to make great affirmations of faith? Isaiah insists here that hope is a present reality, part of the constitution of the ‘now’. The darkness is true but it is not the whole truth and certainly not the fundamental truth.

Application Questions

1. How do we see tangible evidence that the government of Isaiah’s child-king provides a stark contrast to the chaos of worldly kingdoms?

2. How does “the zeal of the Lord” transform the way we face the darkness of this world?

3. Reflect on the meaning of the four titles of the child-king in verse 6. How is Jesus the specific answer to a darkness you are facing right now?

Questions or comments about this podcast episode? Click here to email us!

Scripture Text: Luke 8:1-21

Quotes for Reflection

J. C. Ryle
The last caution contained in the parable of the sower, is to beware of being content with any religion which does not bear fruit in our lives. Our Lord tells us that the hearts of those who hear the Word aright, are like good ground. The seed of the gospel sinks down deeply into their wills, and produces practical results in their faith and practice. They not only hear with pleasure, but act with decision. They repent. They believe. They obey.

James 1:19-25
You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; for your anger does not produce God’s righteousness. Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like. But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act—they will be blessed in their doing.

N. T. Wright
Look out of the window at the people walking by. What sort of soil is the seed being sown in today? What can we do to plough up the rough ground, to remove the stones, to weed out the thorns? What can we do to sow the word more successfully? The answers will vary from place to place and time to time. But perhaps the first and most important answer is to ask ourselves how much mature growth, how much fruit, the word is producing in our own lives. If we have ears, we must learn to hear.

Application Questions

1. Which of the four soils represents your response to Jesus?

2. How is God calling you to “pay attention to how you listen”?

3. In what area of life does your doing need to catch up with your hearing?

Questions or comments about this podcast episode? Click here to email us!

*We apologize that a couple minutes are missing from the beginning of this replay, but jump right in for the majority of the sermon!

Scripture Text: Luke 7

Quotes for Reflection

C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
Now Faith, in the sense in which I am here using the word, is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods. For moods will change, whatever view your reason takes. I know that by experience. Now that I am a Christian I do have moods in which the whole thing looks very improbable: but when I was an atheist I had moods in which Christianity looked terribly probable. This rebellion of your moods against your real self is going to come anyway. That is why Faith is such a necessary virtue: unless you teach your moods ‘where they get off,’ you can never be either a sound Christian or even a sound atheist, but just a creature dithering to and fro, with its beliefs really dependent on the weather and the state of its digestion.

Joan Chittister and Rowan Williams, Uncommon Gratitude
Doubt, on the other hand, is the mother of conviction. Once we have pursued our doubts to the dust, we forge a stronger, not a weaker, belief system. These truths are true, we know, because they are now true for us rather than simply for someone else. To suppress doubt, then, to discourage thinking, to try to stop a person from questioning the unquestionable is simply to make them more and more susceptible to the cynical, more unaccepting of naive belief. It is that doubt is the beginning of real faith.

J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of Luke
All desire to see among Christians more good works, more self-denial, more practical obedience to Christ’s commands. But what will produce these things? Nothing – nothing but love. There never will be more done for Christ until there is more hearty love for Christ Himself. The fear of punishment, the desire of reward, the sense of duty are all useful arguments, in their way, to persuade men to holiness. But they are all weak and powerless until a man loves Christ. Once let that mighty principle get hold of a man and you will see his whole life changed.

Application Questions

1. How does Jesus’s interaction with the centurion and widow serve as an encouragement to our faith?

2. What doubts do you need to bring to Jesus this week?

3. Why is ‘faith alone’ such a precious reality for our relationship with God?