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    God in a Word: Five Meditations on the Incarnation of Christ
    God in a Word: Five Meditations on the Incarnation of Christ
    God in a Word: Five Meditations on the Incarnation of Christ
    Ebook86 pages1 hour

    God in a Word: Five Meditations on the Incarnation of Christ

    By Joe Godwin, Paul Pyle and Joey Turner

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    About this ebook

    Can you sum up Christianity in a single word?

    This is something only God could do—and he did so in the first century through the writings of his apostles. "God in a Word: Five Meditations on the Incarnation of Christ" cracks the first verses of the Gospel of John wide open, spilling light on a mystery of the faith that has both challenged church fathers and strengthened the faith of common believers for two thousand years.

    How can it be that God became man? That the God whose face was too radiant and holy for Moses to behold would walk and talk among men? That the Creator who made men would stoop to wash their feet, and allow the hands of his enemies to drive nails through his own hands and feet?

    The incarnation of the eternal, invisible, almighty God in a first-century Palestinian Jew is a mystery—but not one left to our imaginations. "God in a Word" leads followers—and seekers—of the one true God on a glorious path through Scripture toward appreciating the most foundational truths about the Christian faith.

    Pastors Joe Godwin, Paul Pyle, and Joey Turner unpack the apostle John's meaning when he says "In the beginning was the Logos." Then they illuminate the apostle Paul's famous recitation of an ancient hymn on the emptying of Christ, building to a grand conclusion: Christ is first because he was first.

    All of this searching culminates in two critical questions for readers: Who is Jesus Christ to you? Is that who the Bible says he is?

    The chapters of "God in a Word" began as sermons preached to the authors' local congregation at Patterson Park Church in Beavercreek, Ohio.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBookBaby
    Release dateDec 10, 2020
    ISBN9781098354299
    God in a Word: Five Meditations on the Incarnation of Christ

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      Book preview

      God in a Word - Joe Godwin

      Copyright © 2020 by Patterson Park Church and Good Comma Editing. All rights reserved.

      ISBN: 9781098354299

      Initial versions of the chapters of this book were preached as sermons in December 2018 at Patterson Park Church, 3655 E. Patterson Road, Beavercreek, Ohio 45430.

      For publisher information, visit GoodCommaEditing.com or mail to Good Comma Editing, 169 Park Drive, Xenia, Ohio 45385.

      ESV Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. May not copy or download more than 500 consecutive verses of the ESV Bible or more than one half of any book of the ESV Bible.

      For Patterson Park Church

      And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

      —John 1:14 ESV

      Contents

      Preface

      1 | God in a Word

      2 | God Became Flesh

      3 | What It Meant for God to Become Man

      4 | Who Is Jesus to You?

      5 | Understanding Christ: Preeminent Lord

      About the Authors and Patterson Park Church

      Preface

      To Patterson Park Church:

      To bless you throughout the year, and especially during the weeks of Advent, we have written down our teaching of five passages of Scripture that focus on the Lord Jesus Christ. We call them the great Christological passages of the New Testament, because in them their biblical authors, guided by the Holy Spirit, interpret the person and work of Jesus Christ.

      This is God’s word to us. We pray God will implant his word in your hearts even though—and in fact because—his ways are far greater than our ways and his thoughts far higher than ours. We pray you will grow in your understanding of and love for Jesus by reading this book. May our hearts thirst together to know him better and to grasp the reality of who he is and all he has done for us—from creation to cross, resurrection to Revelation’s final prophecy. This we pray for you in the name that is above every other name, Jesus Christ. Amen.

      Grace and peace,

      Pastor Joe Godwin

      Pastor Paul Pyle

      Pastor Joey Turner

      Christmas 2020

      1

      God in a Word

      Joe Godwin

      In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

      — John 1:1–5

      If someone were to ask you to define Christianity in as short a statement as possible, how would you answer?

      You might say, Believing that Jesus is God.

      Or maybe, The belief that Jesus died for my sins and rose again.

      Now imagine the same person asking you, How would you define Christianity in a word? Would you know what to say? Is it even possible? Whether you’re young in the Lord or a seasoned believer in Jesus, certain keywords would probably come to mind: Jesus, crucifixion, and resurrection, for starters. Perhaps even atonement or forgiveness. But as important as these words are to the central truths of Christianity, none of them tells enough of the story to adequately define the gospel according to the Bible.

      Fortunately, Christians don’t have to reinvent the wheel when it comes to anything about Christianity—especially when it comes to defining Christianity. We couldn’t if we tried, and people who do try inevitably minimize truths God does not want minimized, putting the whole truth about Jesus at risk and potentially leading others astray.

      This is what makes the first statements in the Gospel of John so impressive. It is fair to say the apostle John, inspired by the Holy Spirit, defined Christianity in literally one word. What word did he use?

      Logos. And what does this Greek word translate to in English? Word.

      In this word Word, John defined Christianity. He defined God himself. And he defined everything in creation in relation to these—which means he defined our relation to God. How does this work?

      Christmas Remix?

      John’s opener tells the whole story of creation in brief, and in terms different yet complementary to Genesis 1. In the beginning was the Logos [lit., Word], and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. Who is John talking about when he writes He? (Pretend for a moment that you don’t know the answer, which you probably do from having spent years in the church. In fact, pretend you’re new to this Christianity thing, as every member of John’s immediate audience was.)

      John reveals who the He is—the He who was with God in the beginning; the He who is himself the Logos, or Word—in verse 14. He unpacks and defines this clearly for us, writing, And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

      In other words, Jesus is that Word—the He who was with God in the beginning. He alone is the Word of which the Gospel of John writes to us. That’s a claim most of us today are used to—but it must have shocked some of John’s audience two thousand years ago, when Christians were a fiercely persecuted minority and the idea of a crucified man being God was repugnant to both pagan Greeks and Romans—and to practitioners of Judaism.

      And there’s something else here for us. With a pen stroke, John turns his Gospel’s creation story into a Christmas story.

      Following John’s lead, I want to tell you a Christmas story, and I’m going to resist loading its title with classic

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