{"id":1682,"date":"2009-12-20T22:22:14","date_gmt":"2009-12-20T22:22:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/?p=1682"},"modified":"2021-01-03T10:43:17","modified_gmt":"2021-01-03T15:43:17","slug":"word-becomes-flesh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/word-becomes-flesh\/","title":{"rendered":"Word Becomes Flesh"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Listen to the recording of this sermon:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Wordbecomesflesh.m4a\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-background has-gray-background-color has-gray-color is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><a class=\"bibleserver extern\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bibleserver.com\/ESV\/Luke1%3A39-55\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Luke 1:39-55<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>December 20, 2009<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church in San Francisco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019m 60. I can say that I have lived more years than the years that I may still have left. I\u2019m not completely \u201cover the hill\u201d but I\u2019m well on my way. I actually like being 60. I\u2019ve got 60 years of experience and with experience come some degree of wisdom and respect. My children are grown and on their own, most of the time. That\u2019s satisfying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I can also take some degree of pleasure in my accomplishments. I haven\u2019t done everything I\u2019d like to do, but I\u2019ve done much of what I wanted to do. One of the most fulfilling things that I have the opportunity in doing is to serve as your pastor for the past 10 years. I think I am getting more respect! There are some joys at finding myself at this advanced age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The main thing wrong with being 60 is my body. Somewhere I read that many women experience aging as a change of appearance; men experience aging as the loss of physical power. Maybe that\u2019s true. I\u2019ve got a growing list of things that I once could do like carrying retaining wall stones or moving large pieces of furniture but can no longer do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>First it was eyeglasses, the thin ones just to give me a little help with my driving. By 40, I was in thick bifocals or I couldn\u2019t read the small type in the Bible to write a sermon. I now have these newest optical technologies that help me to see both far and near without getting thicker lenses. Thanks to Dr. Lim!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Joy often complains that I turn on our home theatre system too loudly. I figure that a hearing aid may be in the future. Recently, I\u2019ve taken an interest in cutting out coupons for hearing aid batteries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Psalmist says, \u201cAll flesh is grass\u201d (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bibleserver.com\/ESV\/Psalm90\" class=\"bibleserver extern\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ps. 90<\/a>). I\u2019m proving that in my own body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So are you. We are not created to be angels. We are finite, mortal, limited, or as the Bible says it, short-lived, terminal flesh. No matter what your age is, your body is heading toward where I am now. For some of you, my body is heading toward where you are now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Have you noticed that when older people get together, they talk of nothing else but their bodies\u2014aches and pains, latest physical troubles, our new meds and how they work. In this past week, I\u2019ve attended a few church fellowship Christmas parties and all we talked about was what is ailing us right now. I talked about my frozen shoulder that has since thawed but now I have this bursitis on my left foot that causes me to wear insoles and so the conversation goes on for the whole evening. We may sing a few Christmas songs but once we have finished what we ought to be doing that whole evening, we drill Dr. Louie about his opinion on the drugs we are taking. We may want to wish each other a merry, little Christmas but my foot really hurts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We praise our \u201chigher nature\u201d but when my left foot begins to hurt, the lower nature takes over. We\u2019re all left foot and no brain, all flesh and no spirit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Our Flesh<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Down through the ages, the main agenda of most philosophy and religion has been \u201cWhat\u2019s to be done about our flesh?\u201d Plato gave birth to the philosophy that you could think your way out of the flesh. With philosophy, you could rise above your lower nature. We think of ourselves as thinking, willing, rational creatures. I think, therefore I am. What is ideal is beyond our material world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a similar way, what is driving our generation\u2019s infatuation with \u201cspirituality\u201d is this conflict we think we have with these two natures. One is physical, the flesh. The other is the higher, nobler nature\u2014spiritual. Through certain spiritual disciplines or higher thoughts, or uplifting sentiments, you can climb out of the muck and mire of the earthly material, the physical and the fleshy and rise up to a higher, more spiritual realm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is a major reason why people come to church. We want to be less connected to the physical and more in tuned with the spiritual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Greek philosophers spoke about our bodies as prisons. Our higher souls were trapped in these degrading, deteriorating, ever-getting older cages. Through contemplation, philosophical debates, and spirituality pursuits, we might escape, at least for a time. We might rise up and out of our enslavement to the physical and be set free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Elizabeth and Mary<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s what we thought until Jesus came. The Word\u2014the eternal, divine, world-creating Word\u2014became flesh and moved in among us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Today\u2019s Gospel, as we stand on the threshold of the nativity, features two pregnant women, \u201cgreat with child\u201d as the Bible puts it. When you think about it, it\u2019s too much of a physical way to begin a spiritual text that serves as the beginning of our religious faith. Here are two women sharing obstetrical details with one another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Elizabeth, an older woman, a \u201cpillar of the church,\u201d married to a priest, never had children. Today, we know that there could be any number of reasons for her barrenness, but in those days failure to bear children was entirely the woman\u2019s fault. Barrenness was a disgrace for women whose primary role was mothering. Though, she had the status of being Zechariah\u2019s wife, Elizabeth would not have shared in the community\u2019s favor or high regard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mary in her teenage years, who is promised to Joseph but not officially married, is pregnant. Probably confused and troubled by what has happened to her, she travels on her own to visit her much older cousin to seek advice and counsel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When Mary entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth, the fetus in Elizabeth leaped in her womb. Elizabeth was then filled by the Holy Spirit and cried out, \u201cBlessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.\u201d Elizabeth and Mary were not talking about philosophies or religious thoughts or practicing spirituality. They were two pregnant women talking about morning sickness, how their bodies have changed, whether they have the nursery set up yet, and the joys and fears of being first-time mothers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Word became flesh. Into a world of pregnant women, of wars and rumors of war, of the ordinary, human stresses of life in this world, God comes. Incarnation means that God \u201ctakes on flesh.\u201d God does something about our humanity or finitude and our mortality by becoming human.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In John\u2019s Gospel, we read that the Word became flesh. This is God\u2019s glory in Christ. We need something done about our flesh, our decaying, limited, and short-lived, terminal flesh that no philosophy or spirituality can address. So on a starlit night, God Almighty slipped in among us, assumed the very flesh that we would like to shed, and was born among us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Body of Christ<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Have you ever noticed that the Apostle Paul\u2019s favorite term for the church is the \u201cBody of Christ?\u201d We don\u2019t call the church an academy or a corporate office or a secret hideout. The church is the Body of Christ where the Word is made flesh again. It takes on flesh, our flesh. We, as the flesh of the Body of Christ become a living, breathing reality within this world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For this is the reason why we bring babies into the church to dedicate them to be part of the Body of Christ. Babies can be messy and crying and downright fleshy as we all know. But they are, as much as you and I are, part of this living, breathing Body that makes it a reality that Christ is in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some people find this incarnate, fleshy quality of the church to be ugly and difficult that they can\u2019t identify with it. They want a faith that is all \u201cspiritual.\u201d They don\u2019t like the fleshy form, the church that Christ has brought into the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But I believe this is the very reason why our church is thriving and growing today. We have not thought about faith as exclusively spiritual but we have seen it lived out in the streets of San Francisco Chinatown. I can just imagine how tempting it can be to go to church in some picturesque Thomas Kincaide setting and have no reminders of beggars, homeless and street people. But every time we come to church, we become this incarnate, fleshy quality of the church. We are never too far away from the world that Jesus Christ came among us to save. As the Body of Christ, we as the church may at times be ugly and difficult to live with but those are precisely the reasons why the Word became flesh and moved in among us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Word Became Flesh<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For those of us who believe in the truth of the incarnation, we believe that the fleshy quality of the church is part of our salvation, a way God gets to us in this world, in this life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Once upon a cold Christmas Eve, a man sat in reflective silence before the flames flickering in the fireplace, thinking about the meaning of Christmas. \u201cThere\u2019s no point to a God who became human,\u201d he mused. \u201cWhy would an all-powerful God want to share even one of his precious moments with the likes of us? And even if he did, why would God choose to be born in a stable? No way! The whole thing is absurd! I\u2019m sure that if God really wanted to come down to earth, he would have chosen some other way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Suddenly, the man was roused from his musings by a strange sound outside. He sprang to the window and leaned on the sash. Outside he saw a gaggle of snow geese frantically honking and wildly flapping their wings amid the deep snow and frigid cold. They seemed dazed and confused. Apparently, due to exhaustion, they had dropped out of a larger flock migrating to a warmer climate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Moved to compassion, the man bundled up and went outside. He tried to \u201cshoo\u201d the shivering geese into the warm garage, but the more he \u201cshooed,\u201d the more the geese panicked. \u201cIf they only realized that I\u2019m trying to save them,\u201d he thought to himself. \u201cHow can I make them understand my concern for their well-being?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then a thought came to him: \u201cIf for just a minute, I could become one of them, if I could become a snow goose and communicate with them in their own language, then they would know what I\u2019m trying to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a flash of inspiration, he remembered it was Christmas Eve. A warm smile crossed his face. The Christmas story, no longer seemed absurd. He visualized an ordinary-looking infant lying in a manger in a stable in Bethlehem. He understood the answer to his Christmas problem: God became one-like-us to tell us, in human terms, that we can understand, that he loves us, that he loves us right now, and that he is concerned with our well-being.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It was a peculiar, unexpected thing for God to do. After all, we think of God as anyone but fleshy. Godly is what we are when we are spiritual, when we rise above the decadence of this world and these bodies of ours float upward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>No, says Bethlehem and the manger and the real, natural birth. No, says the Word made flesh. As frail, enslaved, finite, and limited creatures, we cannot come up to God. Therefore God comes to us. Incarnation literally means \u201cenfleshment.\u201d This is what Christmas means.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you are going to meet this God, you\u2019ll need to do it here, now, in the flesh, because that\u2019s where God is. If you are going to worship this God made flesh, you\u2019ll need to do it here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s why you are here on Christmas Sunday. You came thinking that you want to be more spiritual, to sense the spirit of the season. You would like to get closer to God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And here at church in its wisdom says, \u201cHere. Have some bread. Drink some wine. This is as godly as we get.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Word came to us not to deliver us from our flesh and all that flesh demands, but to redeem us in our flesh, to ennoble our fleshy, frail, faulty existence by his presence. He makes our flesh a sacrament, a means of grace, an outward and visible sign of his inward and spiritual power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The baby in Mary\u2019s womb is the Mighty One who<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; shows strength with his arms to scatter the thoughts of their hearts,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; brings down the powerful from their thrones,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; lifts up the lowly,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; fills the hungry with good things,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; sends the rich away empty,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; is our salvation and<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>saves a 60-year old man like me. The Word becomes flesh for you and for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let us pray.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lord Jesus, in your incarnation you took on flesh, our flesh. Give us that grace whereby we might live our lives each day convinced of your indwelling with us, assured that you love our world enough to enter into it and to share this life with us, that you love us enough even to die for us so that we\u2014finite and mortal though we are\u2014might live for you. Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Listen to the recording of this sermon: Luke 1:39-55 December 20, 2009 Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church in San Francisco. I\u2019m 60. I<span class=\"more-button\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/word-becomes-flesh\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Word Becomes Flesh<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[102,11,18],"class_list":["post-1682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-donald-ng-sermons","tag-audio","tag-fcbc","tag-luke"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1682"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1682\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4143,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1682\/revisions\/4143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}