The Incarnation

Lets imagine for a moment that we have never heard of Christmas.  We've never seen Linus explain the Christmas story to Charlie Brown. We've never opened a gift or talked to Santa. For the moment, pretend that December 25 is just another day on the calendar.

Now that you have, for the moment, let go of everything you think about Christmas consider these passages of scripture.

Isaiah 7:14 - "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel."

God Himself will show mankind a sign that he is present. A Virgin will give birth to a son and he will be called "God with Us."

In case you have become jaded and lost your grip on the fantastic, this claim is absolutely amazing. The Prophet Isaiah is saying that God himself is going to break the laws of nature, step out of Heaven and come to us as a child by birth. Do not lose sight of how amazing and far-fetched this claim is. It has never, NEVER happened in the history of mankind before this and will NEVER happen again. This is why God points us to it in such a direct way. What better proof could there be that God, the creator of the natural and supernatural was involved than for the impossible to happen one time.

Now consider these verses in Matthew 1:18-25

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:  “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus. (ESV)

Here, a 1st century writer noticed that something amazing was taking place in his day and connected the dots to a prophesy made centuries earlier. (Again, pretend you haven't heard all of this.) He writes about one man's peculiar birth and makes the claim that he was indeed born from a virgin mother and even feels the need to explain that the man who was to be her husband found the story of a miraculous "spiritual" pregnancy was just too fantastic to believe until God himself spoke to him in a dream. 

Now, you read these two accounts and decide to do some research and you find that yes, there was a man named Jesus who lived in the first century and that yes, his birth did in fact match not only the Isaiah prophesy, but many, many more. You start to realize that something amazing, mind-blowing, and wonderful had occurred. God had come to visit earth exactly the way he said he would. 

 Matthew and Luke give you the historical versions in their respective Gospel accounts. But John gives us the supernatural account. Read what he says in John 1

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (Verses 1-5)



The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. 
And 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. (Verses 9-14)

As you read these verses you realize that God visited His creation for a purpose. He brought something with Him: The Right to become Children of God. His visit wasn't just to show he could do it, but that he came for those who are trapped in darkness. Some received Him. Some rejected Him. 

For those who received Him, this would be the greatest story ever told. It would be the centerpoint of all of History. It would define entire groups of people and separate Humanity into two groups: those who receive Him and those who reject Him. 

For those who reject Him, the story may be too fantastic. How could a virgin give birth to a child? Why would God come to earth? How could people not recognize him? 

Christmas, the birth of Jesus, becomes the starting point for what will be an eternal separation of people. Some will believe and become Children of God. Some will reject Him and miss the greatest gift ever given. 

This, my friends, would be all the information you needed to celebrate the greatest and most wonderful gift that has ever been given to mankind: God Himself.

And it is still all that you need to celebrate Christmas. Let us join together in singing one of the great Christmas hymns:

O come, O come, Emmanuel,

And ransom captive Israel,

That mourns in lonely exile here

Until the Son of God appear.

Rejoice! Rejoice!

Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

God came to Earth, born of a virgin to give the gift of life to all who believe in Him. Merry Christmas indeed! For this is Above Reality.

Indoctrination vs. Discipleship

Indoctrination: to teach (a person or group of people) systematically to accept doctrines uncritically. It is an accusation that is commonly placed on religious practices.




Often times, rightly so.




The process of indoctrination is thousands of years old and has been used countless times over. Indoctrination forces a set of principles, values, or thoughts onto a person, demands uncritical, unquestioning acceptance of everything taught, frowns on individual expression and condemns creativity as dangerous.




The church has been at its worst when it has resorted to indoctrination in order to try to spread the message of Jesus Christ.




Why?




Because that is not what Jesus did, taught, stood for, or why He died on the cross. Lets get this straight right now. Jesus never indoctrinated a single person. He fought constantly with the Pharisees, who, consequently, were all about indoctrination.




Jesus was into discipleship, not indoctrination. Whereas those who are interested in indoctrination are concerned with conformity, Jesus is interested in the person as a whole. Mind, body, and spirit are all part of Jesus' teaching and it never involves blind conformity. Indoctrination discourages and condemns questions and free thought in the interest of "maintaining doctrinal purity."




Jesus, however, encouraged his disciples to ask questions. Why? Because questions are the beginning of faith. Jesus said "Seek and you will find" not "listen and repeat after me." This is the greatness of discipleship. It involves you as you are. Your being. Your soul. Your likes and dislikes. Its like Jesus comes along side you and says "I am going to fully invest myself in your life. I'm going to get to know you inside and out. I am going to know what makes you tick. I'm going to love your for WHO YOU ARE, and in the process, I'm going to teach you how to live. I'm going to teach you truth and how to recognize truth. I'm going to show you great and hidden things you do not know. Don't worry, I am going to be with you through this whole journey. Don't be afraid to ask questions and don't quit when it gets hard. I promise to be with you."




Discipleship is personal. Discipleship is relational, intellectual, emotional, social, and on-going. Indoctrination is interested in people saying the right things, looking the part, and in producing quantity over quality. Indoctrination is a one time process where someone is told what to think and then moved along. Discipleship is personal investment that encourages questions, seeking, and personal growth.




This is the problem with much of our so called "Bible-study" today. Much of it is incorrectly based on the principles of indoctrination. It gives people the "answers" for life in a bullet point format, tells people what God wants them to think and to be and then moves on to the next approved lesson.




This isn't how Jesus taught.




If God had wanted us to learn from bullet points, scripture would be laid out differently.




You see, indoctrination is a cheap and ineffective substitute for discipleship. It tries to skip the discipleship process by giving people the "answers" ahead of time. Unfortunately, getting the answer is not how we learn and grow. The discipleship process is how we learn and grow. The answer isn't effective if we lose the process. So, instead of trying to skip to the end, we need to get back to true discipleship.




Think about this. Jesus, the pre-existent Logos/Word of God in flesh, took three years to train his disciples. If anyone could have skipped to the end and taken the short version it would have been Jesus. Yet, here he was, teaching, walking with, loving, valuing and investing himself in the lives of His disciples for 3 years. And in those three years we hardly see Jesus asking his disciples for quick, indoctrinated answers. Even when they came to Jesus looking for those answers Jesus redirected them.




So, this raises the question for you and your church. Are you making disciples or simply trying to indoctrinate people? If you are indoctrinating people you will get a lot of people who can say all the right things but not live them. You will get Pharisees.




And Pharisees are hypocrites.




You also must ask: "Have I been indoctrinated or discipled?" You may be surprised at the answer. Do you grow in your faith by asking questions and seeking or by wanting a quick black or white answer to something that really doesn't affect your life one way or the other?




Jesus commanded us to make DISCIPLES of all nations. It is time to let go of the easy but ineffective model of indoctrination and rise Above Reality by embracing discipleship.