In the Crib

John 1:1-5,10-14; Phil. 2:1-11; Rom. 8:3; 1 Tim. 3:16; I John 4:2

1. Have you ever heard of the word “Incarnation”? What does the word mean to you, if anything? If you don’t know, look it up in a dictionary. Read all of our Scriptures today with your definition firmly understood. What does each of these Scriptures tell you about the Incarnation? Where is the true value of God becoming flesh seen? (Rom. 8:3)
2. What did the Incarnation mean to Jesus? (Phil. 2:1-11) What did Jesus have to give up to come to earth? What does it mean that he did not consider equality with God something to be grasped? In what ways did Jesus limit himself by becoming a human being? What did he experience as a human during his time on earth? How did he experience the aches, pains, and needs that we as humans experience? Though he took the form of a human being, what kind of human being does the Scripture say that he took? Would you have come as a servant? What does that say about who God is? What does that say about our concern for status seeking? In what ways was Jesus subject to temptation? In what ways did He suffer?
3. What did the Incarnation mean to the disciples? 1. How did it mean that prophecy had been fulfilled? How many Scriptures can you think of that were fulfilled by Jesus? In the book of Matthew, Matthew recorded many of these fulfilled prophecies and pointed them out to his readers…find as many as you can. (Matt. 2:5, 15, 17; Is. 7:14)What are the odds of one person fulfilling all of these prophecies?? What did that say to the disciples? 2. What else did it mean to the disciples? (1 John 1:1-4) They were not dealing with theology or ideas, but what? What did it mean to them that this had really happened (“that which we have seen and heard”)? 3. How many times could this experience of Jesus be expected to occur? (Rom. 6:10) How historic must that have been? What did all of this say about God’s awareness of the needs of the human race?
4. What are the practical applications for us from the Incarnation? What does it have to say to us about the need to be in the midst of the people we hope to minister to? Did God remain isolated and insulated from us? What must we be to the world? (Matt. 5:13-16) What does the Incarnation say to us about our need to empty ourselves of any rank, social status, or anything that separates us from people? How does identifying with people, like Jesus did, enable us to carry God’s message with understanding? What does this have to say to us about taking action? Why did God not stand idly by and let the world go? Why must we not stand idly by? What will you do for the Kingdom of God in 2005??