How Jesus' Birth Rescues Geeks From Christmas (In Search Of Truth)

We're taking a short break from our journey through the book of Ephesians to take a look at the core concept behind Christmas and how it has huge relevance for us both during this season and all year long.

What theologians call "The Incarnation" refers to the concept of God becoming fully human, but still being every bit God. He didn't "change from God into a human". He added full humanity to himself without removing anything of who he is.

The idea raises all kinds of questions. If everything is held together in Christ (Colossians 1:17) how did the universe not fall apart while Jesus was uncontrollably pooping his diapers? If Jesus was God throughout his childhood and ministry, how could he learn anything or have limited knowledge?(John 8:28, Mark 13:32) How could God die if he is life itself?(John 14:6)

In response to these questions, theologians present the idea that Jesus had two complete natures, so that "in his divinity" he remained all-knowing and all powerful, and yet "in his humanity" he was vulnerable with limited knowledge. (If you think theology is boring, stick with me. We're almost done with this part.)

We're heading into territory that likely depends on minds capable of higher than linear, 4-dimensional thought. So realize that metaphors will likely all fall short when picked part. That said, the "two natures" concept of Jesus suggests that in some sense Jesus, in his divine nature, willingly compartmentalized his divinity without losing it, to take on humanity in its fullness, with all its limitations. He was completely dependent on God the Father for both normal day to day life and for his miraculous deeds, which were only possible in his human nature because he submitted and united his will with the Father. (John 5:19-21)

All that to say, it's vitally important for us to realize that Jesus lived a painful, crappy life, and being God did not somehow make it all easy for him. As we saw in our look at the book of Hebrews:
...we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. (Hebrews 4:15, ESV)

Often when we are tempted, the duress of fighting our inclinations becomes too uncomfortable, so we give in and experience the fleeting pleasure or relief that giving in provides us. Jesus fought temptation, and never allowed himself that fleeting pleasure or relief of giving in.

Jesus also knew better than we do what it's like to be rejected by people and considered worthless. And it hurt him more than it hurts us because he loved people so much more deeply than we do, making the sting of their rejection far worse. (Matthew 23:17, Luke 19:41-44)

Jesus was also prophetically described as "a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief" (Isaiah 53:3) and was known to pray, not just with urgency, but crying out loudly amidst tears. (Hebrews 5:7)

We can think of God as a removed clockmaker who set things in motion and then walked away, but that's not the truth. For whatever reason, he created us to be significant, and sealed that significance by first making us a reflection of him on some level, and then making himself to be like us.

I haven't mentioned his death for us yet, because most of us will probably not have to die because of our obedience to God, but we can relate to being judged and rejected by others. And it's the common ground Jesus shares with us I want to emphasize as we all head into Christmas and New Year's Eve.
This is possibly the most social time of year for us geeks. We'll be willingly or unwillingly crammed in rooms with people we aren't used to spending lots of time with. Some of those people, either friends or family, will see the world very differently than we do, and that may passively or openly express itself in a way that feels judgmental or dismissive.

We need to know in those times that Jesus did not go into Spock mode and stop feeling. He was gracious in the moment (religious leaders being a possible exception at times), meeting people where they were at. Then later he would take time to be by himself and cry with God about it. That last part might sound weak or immature in our modern cultural context. So maybe that's an indicator that we should change our definition of spiritual maturity. Being real with God and bringing him our tears is what he wants us to do. And so is controlling our emotions so we can be composed and meet people where they are at.

If you're looking for a meaningful spiritual activity as you head into this season, I want to recommend sitting down and quietly reading the entire book of Philippians in one go. (Don't worry, it's a short one.) As we are going through the book of Ephesians right now in order to cast vision for the kind of community Christian Geek Central can be, Philippians is a great companion book to that, as Paul models long distance, text-based relationships for us, in addition to primarily presenting vision for our "in person" relationships.

In a key passage of Philippians, Paul brings out both the common ground Jesus shares with us because of his Incarnation, and the way we ought to share common ground with him in our relationships, whether online or in person, whether with family or friends. (Granted, Paul is teaching in the context of our relationships with other Christians, but most if not all of these principles apply to relationships with non-believers.)


(Philippians 2:1-8, ESV) So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.


Did you notice how real this gets? How internally transformative the intention is?  The language here isn't about modifying our behavior so we can all play nicely together. That actually doesn't work, because try as we might, our selfishness, defensiveness, insecurity... it can all only be hidden or contained through willpower for so long.

No, the Holy Spirit, through Paul, is calling us to change the way we think and feel about others. As geeks we love to nitpick and get passionate about our differing views. But the bulk of our interactions should be aiming for unity. We're called to have the same mindset whenever possible, have the same love for what's important, looking for every point of agreement and unity we can find. (v.2)

We're not called to cover our selfish motives but to find DIFFERENT motivations for what we do. We're not called to TREAT others as more significant than us, but to actually VIEW them as more significant. We shouldn't just hope that people take interest in us but should instead turn conversations toward an interest in others. (v. 3-4)


QUICK SIDE NOTE: Maybe you're asking yourself right now, "How do I do that? How do I change my motives, or the way I think and feel about things?" Well, you might notice that in verse 1 the origin (and what should serve as catalyst for the changes Paul is talking about) is a combination of encouragement in Christ, comfort from love, participation in the Spirit, affection and sympathy. In my life those things all develop because of my in-person relationships with believers who are further along in the faith than I am. So if you haven't been to a local church in awhile or if you're at a church where, maybe you're even deeply involved, but you just can't imagine being able to genuinely relate to the leaders of your church or the Christians there that are older and wiser than you, I want to encourage you to make January the time that you start checking out Bible teaching churches in your local community. Relationships with older and wiser Bible-focused Christians are so much more important than anything else you could be involved in a church for. Because those relationships will feed your growth which will in turn make any other ministry you do so much more useful and in line with God's will. And I'd be happy to help you sift through those church options if you want. E-mail me anytime if you want to talk about that some more.


Jesus was the ultimate model of the mindset we should increasingly develop. He didn't see his equal status with God as something to hold onto tightly. He became an obedient servant to the extent that it brought about a horrible death.

Again, you and I may never have to face that, but it can hyperbolically feel a little like dying when we choose to meet people where they are at and look for common ground and ways to support them, instead of steering attention toward our thoughts, accomplishments and dreams or walking into a room of people with a snappy comeback at the ready.

I haven't experienced the level of family difficulties that I know many of you have, but I also don't have a perfect extended family that sees eye to eye on everything, and I'll probably be reminded of that this Christmas. What I'm asking God to help me do this season is throw off my self-created burdens of self-justification or insecurity, get my brain off of myself and wait on the edge of my seat for every chance to encourage or invest in someone else, taking my pain to Jesus on my own if I need to.

He knows what it's like to be rejected by his own friends and family. And he knows the incredible potential of still choosing to love and have patience with  them in the midst of that. He's also near to us right now and ready to hear from us and share in both our difficulties and our exciting victories as we make ourselves available to be used by him.





Resources used to prepare this study include:
"Expositor's Bible Commentary", Frank E. Gaebelein General Editor (Zondervan Publishing House)
Thayer's Greek Lexicon
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance
Blueletterbible.org (primarily for search functionality)