Let’s talk about the second incarnation.
NOVEMBER 25, 2020
Steve Brown:
Let’s talk about the second incarnation. I’ll explain on Key Life.
Matthew Porter:
This is Key Life here to let Christians know that God isn’t mad at them. Keep listening and you’ll hear that because of what Jesus has done, you’re welcomed home into the family of God because of his radical grace free from the penalties of sin and never alone in your suffering.
Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. We’re looking at the third chapter of Galatians and we’re looking at verses 25 through 29. And we’re talking about the kingdom of God and some of the marks of the kingdom of God. We’re talking about how important it is for citizens of the kingdom to understand what the kingdom is all about. And Paul does that, he does it here and he does it in a lot of other places. And I’ve said this list isn’t exhaustive, but it is definitive. And it’s very helpful when we look at it. Now, if you were listening yesterday, we talked about how the kingdom of God is moral. It has standard to it, a standard that says this is right, this is wrong. This is what God says you ought to do. And this is what God says you ought not do. This will hurt you. This will help you. This is good. This is bad. And at the very heart of the kingdom is that standard. But the citizen of the kingdom knows that everything has changed. That the, that the law Paul says was a custodian. And we’ve looked into the etymology of that word, that it is a school master for the citizens of the kingdom. Now what is the primary purpose of the school master? It’s to point us to grace, it’s to point us to Jesus. When the law has done that, the law has done its purpose for the citizens of the kingdom. The law says, do what I tell you to do, and you will live. And faith says, I give you eternal life and no one will take you out of my hands. And out of that, we are drawn to wanting to please the God who loved us that much. That’s the source of Christian morality. I have a friend who is a writer who said something profound the other day. She said, they keep yelling at us about doing the right thing, about living a moral life, about sin. What they don’t know is that if they would be quiet about that and point us to Jesus, we would want to do that anyway. Good point that. Now that doesn’t mean that you’re perfect, I am of course, I’m ordained. And you just can’t claim that for yourself, if you believe that you’ll believe anything, but we are loved no matter, acceptable no matter, because of the imputation of Christ. We know what’s right. And we know what’s wrong and that’s a part of our witness, but our witness to the world is always, I don’t do it right sometimes, but I know what’s right. And the witness of the world to us. I have no idea what right is, and so there’s a moral standard at the very heart of the kingdom of God and the citizens of the kingdom need to recognize this. Now, let me show you something else. Secondly, you ought to note that the kingdom is not only moral, it’s also incarnational, Galatians 3:26-27.
For in Christ Jesus you are all sons, parenthetically daughters through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Let me tell you something that I bet you didn’t know, the incarnation has taken place twice. And you say, no it didn’t. Yeah it did. First, the incarnation of God in Christ. And secondly, the incarnation of Christ in you. It’s this second incarnation to which Galatians 3:26-27 refers. And it’s also this second incarnation that Jesus talks about, for instance, and I could go to so many places, but let me give you one. In John 13:22-23.
The glory
Jesus says,
which thou has given me I have given to them, that they may be one, even as we are one, I in them and thou in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that thou has sent me and has loved them even as though has loved me.
I think I said John 13, that’s probably John 17, but I’m not sure, but I know that Jesus said it and I’m not a navigator and I’m doing the best I can, but it’s a wonderful thought. The incarnation took place amazing, astounding, unbelievable that the God of the universe, the creator, sustainer and ruler of everything that is, entered time and space in Jesus Christ. And walked among us, the most astounding statement ever made in scriptures in the first chapter of John.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
That’s astounding, but something else is astounding too. Maybe more astounding, at least crazy or crazier than the first incarnation. The Word has become flesh in me and in you, that is a mark of the kingdom. You think about that. Amen.
Matthew Porter:
Of course, that was Steve Brown, continuing his guided tour of the book of Galatians. Today touching on the idea of the second incarnation, specifically we were exploring today Galatians 3, and we did take a little side road to check out John 17:22 & 23. Well recently on our other show, Steve Brown Etc, we spoke with author Sharon Hersh about her new book called Belonging: Finding the Way Back to One Another. Sharon is a friend of the show and speaks the truth in such a winsome and engaging way. But don’t take my word for it. Instead, take a listen to this excerpt. Then I’ll be back to tell you about our special free gift.
Steve Brown:
You know, I just went to church last week. Really, and didn’t do it online that among a thousand other things have shown me that I really do need people. If you check out social media, if you read what politicians say of other politicians and Christians say of other Christians. I mean we’re a divided, angry, hostile culture, and it’s scary and it’s doing bad things to us, emotionally and spiritually. Tell us Sharon, what was the thing that got you thinking about this particular book?
Sharon Hersh:
Steve, I wish I could tell you that I wrote this book, because I knew we would be in this season of distance and division and disconnection, but this book actually began four years ago and was more a process in my own life, which maybe this pandemic is making some of us confront ourselves. And revealing some cracks that were already there, for me personally, I had division within my own family. I was disconnected out of some woundedness and hurts I’d experienced and was experiencing this epidemic of inner emptiness that we’re all in now. So, I’m grateful for the timing. I do think it is a book for this time, but maybe it’s a book that we’ve always experienced some of the realities of, they just are more evident right now, because as you said, we’re not gathering together. We’re not feeling the fitting in that sometimes happens with those gatherings, which can be mistaken for belonging. We are experiencing loneliness and it’s eating away at us. The first draft of the book was done two years ago. And my publisher who I’ve known for 20 years reached out to me and said, Sharon, I don’t think you’re ready for this book. I think there are some things in your own life, you need to deal with. He knew I was going through incredible heartache with my own daughter. He knew that some of my insides did not match what I was presenting on the outside. So it’s a blessing to have friends like that and also is really painful, because it challenged me to really dig deep and discover what I believe about what is primary, which is trying to love other people the way Jesus loved us. And that is so hard.
Steve Brown:
You got to go through a lot of pain, don’t you?
Sharon Hersh:
Yes. I think if you have a heart, it will break. And,
Steve Brown:
Oh, that’s encouraging.
Sharon Hersh:
well, I think that I couldn’t get away with the gap that was growing between my public life and my inner life. And there’s actually peace found when those come together. And so I do tell a significant story about my adult daughter, but really the stories that were hardest to tell were about me. I do tell a story about getting a DUI that I’ve not talked about publicly until the last couple of years. And that’s a hard story to tell, because it is a story that reveals the ugliness of addiction and the selfishness, that is involved in those processes, but the harder stories, honestly were the stories to tell about my own spiteful, mean, sometimes embarrassed, self-centered, egotistic, narcissistic heart, that show up in every day examples, like standing in the line at Einstein Brother’s Bagels or talking in a small group after church at Starbucks, where we sometimes show how divided we really are, not only from one another, but from our true selves, which God I think intended to be filled with compassion and curiosity, not necessarily the debating and self-serving conversation.
Matthew Porter:
You are going to love Sharon and this conversation. Get the whole thing on CD for free right now by calling 1-800-KEY-LIFE. That’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also email [email protected] and ask for the CD. If you’re mailing us, send your request to
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