C, Christmas Day - The Birth of our Lord - Isaiah 9:2-7 "The Paradox of God"
A paradox is a contradiction that is true. A paradox may seem absurd or silly but
beneath the contradiction of terms, a paradox is real and very functional. Because of the inconsistency, a paradox is
cloaked in mystery and it either captures one’s intrigue or it is outrightly
rejected as nonsense.
Biblical examples of paradox are —
FINDING and LOSING –
Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake
will find it. (Matthew 10:39 ESV)
LIVING and DYING – Truly,
truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it
remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. (John 12:24 ESV)
GAINING and LOSING –
But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of
the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all
things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ…
(Philippians 3:7–8 ESV)
FREEDOM and SLAVERY – …and,
having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. (Romans 6:18 ESV)
RECEIVING and GIVING – …remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more
blessed to give than to receive.’ ”(Acts 20:35b ESV)
STRENGTH and WEAKNESS
– For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults,
hardships, persecutions, and calamities.
For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:10 ESV)
EXALTATION and HUMILITY – Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. (James 4:10 ESV)
On the other hand, our generation is teaching the next generation
three things that seem good and wholesome but are actually very damaging to our
ability to cope and survive in the world.
First, instead of being taught, “whatever doesn’t kill you
makes you stronger”. What is being
taught is, “damage is permanent, and it
doesn’t make one stronger”. By
wrapping ourselves and those we love in cotton wool, we are becoming less
resilient and durable, mentally, physically, and socially.
The cliché, “if you don’t use it, you lose it” is
especially true of our bones and muscles, and if your immune system is not
bashed around and tested it becomes less protected. That is why getting sick or being immunised
against sickness with a safely treated dose of the sickness are two ways of
becoming immune against the sickness.
The second damaging truth we are taught is to trust our feelings. When we do this, we end up trusting our
perception of the world and not the reality of the world. This happens on two levels. Either, humanly, as a psychological reality,
or spiritually, as God sees the world and us.
The more humanity trusts its feelings the more depressed it
becomes! The doctrine to trust one’s
feelings is damaging us, and mental health illnesses are skyrocketing, for
Christians and non-Christians alike!
The third thing we are taught as truth that isn’t, is there are good people and bad people. Psychologists, and Christians living under
the theology of the cross, agree this is wrong, but for different reasons. Unbelieving psychologists say we evolved as
tribal people to compete for survival, and in a positive way we are drawn to
competition in things like sport and fun activities, but negatively humanity
seeks to dominate and exterminate those they deem inferior, or unevolved and
sub-human.
Unfortunately, the church has been very damaging on
furthering “the good people, bad people” myth too. Either we are indoctrinated with the absurdity
that I am good, and they are bad. Or, I
am bad, and they are good. Or even a
third unreality that we are all good.
The problem here is, “who decides on what the benchmark is
for what is good and what is bad?” The
reality of God is he created humanity for holiness, but we all have chosen evil
instead. At the heart of the matter,
this evil occurs when we dictate what is good and what is bad, instead of God!
Jesus was born into our “good people, bad people, strength
and feelings obsessed” so-called reality!
He gave up his divinity and became enfleshed in the mess of human confusion
and chaos. Jesus Christ is the Paradox of
God sent to show what humanity trusts, what you and I trust, to be far from healthy. He is the goodness and holiness of God born
to mop up the mess of our badness and evil that causes death.
Jesus was sent by God to be the way, the truth, and the
life for humanity. For Jesus’ birth and
life to make any sense in our lives, his life must be held together with his
death, so we can have hope, peace, joy, and to know and receive love, in our
life and death. The paradox of God takes death and through Jesus’ death gives
believers life.
The church and those who hold onto the teaching of the
cross, hold onto the Paradox of God.
The weakness of the manger used to hold a baby who is God
Almighty and the prince of peace.
The Author of Life is born as the written Word of God in
flesh.
In the darkness of night and before the impossibility of
the Shepherds to have an audience with God, God’s heavenly choir sings glory to
God in the highest on earth peace amongst those with whom he is please. And the Shepherds witness the Lamb of God,
who would take away the sin of the world, and rise to be the Shepherd of
Humanity.
Jesus is the Paradox of God! And he is the paradoxical God who was born
for you! He was born for those whose way
has been twisted by the ways of the world.
His truth is the only truth that’s victorious over the reality of
death. And his life of perfection, is
the life of holiness in which you are called to clothe yourself, to cover your
sinful nature and the sinful things you do.
In Isaiah chapter nine we hear, “For the yoke of his burden, and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of
his oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian.” (Isaiah 9:4 ESV) And yet the yoke of burden was broken by him
bearing the yoke of the cross. Our yoke
of burden was broken by him taking our yoke upon himself.
Even the reference to Midian is a reference to
paradox. Gideon who saw himself as weak
but through the Lord was a great judge of Israel. He was a man of doubt testing God not just
once but twice through putting out a fleece for God to cover with due when
there was not due on the ground and then the next evening to keep it dry when
the night air was thick with due. And Gideon
was the Judge who overcame Midian, when God reduced the power of his army to
three hundred men who overcame them with trumpets and smashing clay jars.
The throne of David has long ended, the temple in
Jerusalem was torn down in 70 AD. But in
this child God is with us, the whole divinity of God dwells and temples in
us. God wins through the Christ
child!
Hear Isaiah’s “victory of God” prophecy, in this child who
is Mighty God, “For to us a child is
born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and
his name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father,
Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his
government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over
his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with
righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.” (Isaiah 9:6–7 ESV)
Let Jesus Christ, of the manger and the cross, continue
winning for you, making you his holy saints, confessing sinners, forgiven
humans, being covered with the robes of Jesus righteousness, in his eternal
winning kingdom forevermore.
Let the zeal of God do this for you! Amen.
