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Salt + Light Community is a SOMA church plant in the heart of Fort Worth, TX. Here you’ll find teaching and discussions from our gatherings on Sundays.
It's been a joy to serve, uh,
you guys and it's really a joy.
And an honor to be standing here,
um, teaching today to friends and
family and friends that I call family.
Um, but um, yeah, one more, one more thing
about me, um, is that I love leftovers.
Like Thanksgiving was, is my favorite
holiday because of the leftovers.
I, I just find a lot of joy in going
into the fridge and just cleaning house.
I don't know if it's like
a satisfaction thing.
I don't know if it's for my childhood.
My mom was really proud of me when I
did that 'cause food didn't go to waste.
I don't know if other moms are like that.
Yes, TTA agrees, uh, but I
think more than just leftovers
by themselves, what I enjoy.
Most is taking leftovers and, and
maybe some other obscure ingredients
in the fridge and creating some really
extravagant meal, like something that
you normally wouldn't put together.
And IRE can attest that about 80%
of the time it goes well, 20%.
It's really weird, but
80% it goes really well.
And it's kind of like this
creative outlet for me.
Um, that I, that I really find
a lot of satisfaction in, but
it's not just food that I like
to do this creative thing with.
Back in college, I, uh, got to
follow around a real estate developer
who took an abandoned building.
He acquired this old abandoned warehouse.
This warehouse had a ceiling that had
completely fallen through, and part
of the building still had the ceiling
intact, so he bought the warehouse.
And in the part of the building where the
ceiling was still intact, he made his home
and in the backside of the warehouse where
the ceiling had fallen through, he put a
fountain and painted murals on the walls.
There was greenery that started growing
up the walls, and it became a venue
and this venue that was placed in
this neighborhood that was condemned.
And the town is Abilene.
That's where I went to school.
And so it's south downtown and back then
south downtown was pretty, um, poverty
stricken and nobody really went there.
North downtown is where people went
when they went to hit the town.
But south downtown started to
revitalize because of this one property.
Retail popped up, a brewery popped
up, cocktail bar popped up a bigger
green space, and there was live music
and it became walkable and it's now.
Soda district south of downtown Abilene.
Um, and it was a really
cool thing to watch.
So this whole idea of taking things
that are broken or may not nor
normally go together, this whole
idea of creative restoration is
something that I really, really love.
And luckily Ben, uh, allowed me
to teach on Today is the, the
topic is creation is restored.
We're gonna see how that is the
case through the incarnation.
So let's just pray together
as I transition into teaching.
Lord,
we invite you into this space and
ask that through your word, you would
reveal something about yourself and
what that means for us as your people.
We pray these things in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Amen.
So.
You might completely disagree with
me on the whole leftovers thing.
Like you might hate leftovers,
re don't like leftovers.
Um, you may prefer like a new build of
a house instead of the re restoration.
Maybe you prefer a white
blank page, a white canvas.
And I'm actually thinking
about our elementary kids.
Who don't color in the coloring
sheet that I designed for 'em, they
prefer the printer paper instead.
It's actually why I told them to design
this month's coloring sheet instead of me.
I said, you, you do it and, and it,
you know, it, it went really well.
So, um, maybe you, you prefer that white
blank page, but regardless where you find
yourself on this spectrum, to an extent,
as humans, we are all recreative beings.
Recreating out of what
God has already created.
He is really the only one that can
create ex nilo or out of nothing.
So we use things to
recreate things like words.
Even our language is recreate.
I can use words to describe.
Pedestal here.
It's black.
It's standing right in front of me, but
whenever I speak these words, I'm not
actually, it's not the actual pedestal.
This is the pedestal.
My words are creative.
Inherently.
Same thing goes for how we talk about God.
Whenever we say God is our Father,
he is not our father in the
way that Todd Za is my father.
He is absolutely our father, but
he is our father in a way that
we don't fully understand yet.
He is our father in a way
that we can't comprehend.
We see through a glass dimly.
There will be a day that we will
know as we have been known, and
we will see as we have been seen.
But until that day.
We use creativity in words
and language to relate to God.
Chief among them being scripture.
Scripture is a beautiful way that
God has disclosed himself to us.
He gives us ways to relate to him.
The Apostle John in our text that Ben read
today uses the word logos to describe God.
He calls him the word.
He says the word that was in the
beginning, and when he says in
the beginning, he immediately
takes us back to Genesis one.
In the beginning was the word John
says, Genesis says In the beginning,
God created the heavens and the earth,
and there was darkness over the water.
But the spirit of God translated
breath hovered over the water.
And then God said, so we
have the word that was in the
beginning, the breath of God.
Then God spoke.
Let there be like he spoke,
let there be an expanse.
He spoke, let there be swimming
things and flying things and he spoke.
Let us make man.
In our image.
Then he spoke.
It is very good.
Flash forward to the New Testament.
Paul says in him and through him
and to him are all things he says.
All things were created through him and
for him, and he is before all things.
And in him all things hold.
Together.
Flash forward even further.
In 2023, there was a study by Pew
Research that said 80% of Americans
believe in some higher power.
80% of Americans believe in
some higher power, be it God.
The universe cosmic consciousness.
What John says is the word that was in
the beginning is largely experienced,
but John doesn't leave it there.
He takes it a step further and he says,
the word became flesh and dwelt among us.
And we have seen him.
We have seen the word.
We have touched the word, and
he was full of grace and truth.
How is that possible?
The universe, cosmic consciousness,
this creative force that established
the universe became flesh?
How is it possible?
I think the answer to that question is the
most important thing that we can answer.
How is that possible?
How is the incarnation possible
when it comes to God becoming man?
There is a particular passage in
scripture that comes to mind for me.
You may know it.
It's Philippians two
verses six through seven.
This is Paul speaking of Jesus.
He says, though he was in the form of God.
He 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.
Jesus the word, though he was in the
form of God, did not count equality with
God a thing to be grasped but emptied
himself whenever we hear emptied himself.
What do you think of
the NIV says Jesus making himself nothing.
The KJV says, made
himself of no reputation.
So when you hear those words,
do you by chance think about
a lessening or a dilution?
It is very logical to think about
things this way when we think about
how big God is and how limited we are.
But for thousands of years, Christian
tradition has upheld that God is
one and there is no division in him.
The Athe Nation Creed, that gentleman
that Ben introduced earlier.
It says that we worship one God
in the Trinity and Trinity in
unity neither confounding the
persons nor dividing the substance.
So in other words, Jesus did
not say to the Father and to the
Holy Spirit, Hey guys, I, I have
this thing to do real quick and.
I, I'm gonna go down there.
I'm gonna become, man, you're gonna hold
part of my divinity just for a little bit.
You're gonna have a little extra divinity.
I'm gonna have a little less divinity,
and then when I get back, we'll settle up.
Jesus as a man was not any less God
than he was before the incarnation.
That is really important to
understand as we continue, okay?
Jesus did not divide himself.
In any way.
Chris Green, a theologian
puts it this way.
Christ's kenosis or the incarnation
should not be understood as an emptying
out or a jettisoning of his divinity.
It is instead a filling up of our
humanity, which he takes as his own.
Not a negation of anything, a fulfilling.
So as we journey toward what this
means for us as creation, this tells
us at least three things about God.
For one, it tells us that
God is involved in creation.
God is involved in creation.
He isn't a clock master that
created the world, wound up,
sat back and watched it tick.
One of God's defining attributes
is that he associates himself
with the weak and the lost.
James Cone said, God's love for the weak
and the lost is not an afterthought, but
it's the very meaning of his divine being.
God goes the opposite direction
and says, I will take on
the entire human experience.
That is the opposite of
being an uninvolved God.
Second, it shows that God honors
creation, God honors creation.
You may have heard of this thing called
gnosticism, and from what I understand
about gnosticism, it basically says
Spirit is good, material is bad.
It was a heretical, uh, movement
against the early church and what God
said in the beginning that it is good.
Speaking of creation was acted
out by him becoming incarnate.
By becoming incarnate.
God.
Dignifies creation by becoming a human.
God dignifies what it means to
be a human by becoming a servant.
God dignifies what it
means to be a servant.
Third, it shows that
God restores creation.
Saint Athanasius has a pretty
lengthy quote that I will read.
See if you can follow.
He Jesus assumed a body capable of
death and in order that it through
belonging to the word who is above
all might become in dying a sufficient
exchange for all and itself remaining
incorruptible through this union of the
immortal son of God with our human nature.
All men were clothed within corruption
in the promise of the resurrection
for the solidarity of mankind is
such that by virtue of the words
in dwelling in a single human body,
the corruption with that goes with
death has lost its power overall.
So Paul in Philippians says that
being found in human form, he
humbled himself by becoming obedient.
To the point of death, even death
on the cross, what Athanasius is
saying is God, the word that was in
the beginning, becoming flesh and
dying actually means that he reversed
what it means to die by God dying.
Death didn't happen to God.
God happened to death.
Death didn't happen to God.
God happened to death.
Reversing the curse of sin, reversing
the curse of death, the law of corruption
to which all things are destined.
God turned that on his head and John says.
In our passage today that we are invited
into that to become children of God.
In one sentence,
Athanasius sums it all up.
He says He became what we are,
that he might make us what he is.
He became what we are, that
he might make us what he is.
John in our text says, but to all
who did receive him, who believed in
his name, he gave the right to become
children of God who were born not of
blood, nor of the will of the flesh,
nor of the will of man, but of God.
Not of the flesh, not of the blood,
nor of the will of man, but of God.
So not, not of blood is where we'll start.
Jesus early in his ministry,
encounters the Pharisees.
And from what I understand
about the Pharisees, they really
care about their bloodline.
Their bloodline is that of Abrahamic
descent, God's chosen people.
John the Baptist has some choice
words for the Pharisees and their
affinity with their bloodline.
He says, do not think that you can say to
yourselves, we have Abraham as our father.
I tell you that out of these stones,
God can raise up children for Abraham.
Jesus takes that and says, I tell
you, many will come from the east
and from the west, and recline at
the table with Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.
Paul continues this line of thought.
He sums it all up.
He says, there is neither Jew nor Greek.
There is neither slave nor free.
There is no male and female for you
are all one in Christ, not by blood,
not by flesh either.
Jesus encounters a very
particular Pharisee early in
his ministry named Nicodemus.
Nicodemus is a curious Pharisee.
He has a lot of questions for Jesus.
He meets up with him in
the middle of the night.
And Jesus tells him, Nicodemus, in
order for you to see the kingdom of
Heaven, you have to be born again.
Nicodemus says, how's that possible?
Do you expect me to enter into my
mother's womb and be born again?
And Jesus says, no, no,
you must be born of water.
And of spirit.
John says, born of God.
Jesus says, born of water and
spirit, but it's not by flesh, not
by blood, nor by the will of man.
As the way of Jesus spread throughout
the Mediterranean, there were some
early Christians that began to
revert back to the will of man.
Jesus.
Paul writes to these Galatians
or writes to these Christians
and says, foolish Galatians.
Foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?
It's probably one of my
favorite Paul moments.
He's really railing on these, this
young church for reverting back to.
The will of man, and that
looked like circumcision.
It looked like eating kosher.
And Paul says that if any of
you accept circumcision, Christ
will be of no advantage to you.
I testify again to every man who
accepts circumcision, that he is
obligated to keep the whole law.
Strong words, but it's not by the
flesh, it's not by the will of man.
But it's of God.
So we see these examples in scripture
of people reverting back to these three
categories, but I'd also like to ask you
where you feel like you revert back to.
Is it blood?
Maybe it's not a genealogy, but maybe
it's a social group, maybe it's a, thank
goodness I'm not like these people.
Who's out of bounds for you?
Or is it like Nicodemus the flesh.
This is where I find myself quite often.
I love the material.
I love the things I can
touch and see and understand.
I have this idol of being
able to understand things.
It shows up in a lot of ways.
I, or is it like the Galatians?
Is that the will of man,
telling yourself that I'm
satisfied whenever I'm in control.
Whenever I do the right things,
whenever people behave like I want
them to, whenever I behave like I
think I should, or I ought to behave
at that point I'm approved of.
At that point, I'm satisfied.
Whichever one of these categories
you may find yourself in order to
be born again, it is born of God.
Not by blood, not by
flesh, not by the will
that God is this God
we've been talking about.
This is the word, and the word is Jesus.
Jesus, who we have seen and Jesus
who is full of grace and truth.
That is the God through which we are born.
And as we talk about being born,
we find ourselves in a very, um,
applicable season, setting our
minds on a very particular birth.
Matthew one says, the birth of
Jesus took place in this way.
When his mother, Mary, had been betrothed
to Joseph before they came together, she
was found to be with child from the Holy
Spirit and her husband, Joseph being
a just man and unwilling to put her to
shame, resolved to divorce her quietly,
but as he considered these things, behold
an angel of the Lord appeared to him in
a dream saying, Joseph, son of David,
do not fear to take Mary as your wife.
For that which is conceived in
her is from the Holy Spirit.
She will bear a son and you shall
call his name Jesus, for he will
save his people from their sins.
Fleming Rutledge says that Advent begins
in the dark and moves toward the light.
So we too begin in the dark and
we journey with Mary and Joseph
with something that is born in us.
It is conceived of the Holy Spirit of God.
If you're on this journey and
you find yourself lacking.
Maybe stuck in one of those three
categories, which I often do, or maybe
just still stuck in the dark, not
really knowing what what's going on.
I would like for you to
hear that you're not alone,
though.
We all begin in the dark.
Advent reminds us that God
will lead us to the light.
Advent reminds us that God
will lead us to the light.
He will lead us, and he
has not left us alone.
He has come and he has become
flesh, and he has dwelt among us.
He has given us everything.
His body, his blood, he became what we
are so that he can make us what he is.
So this is the point in our service
where we take communion and if you
are in Christ, we invite you to
take the bread, the cracker, and.
The juice or the wine and be
reminded of the extent that Christ
went to, to tell us and to show us
that creation is restored in him.
So feel free to stand up and, um,
yeah, let's stand up and get communion.
Jesus, we thank you
for not being far off,
for not being uninvolved.
But for coming and living, showing
us how to live for dying and
happening to death so that we too
may join you in everlasting life.
This is the body of Christ broken for you.
Take a knee.
Stay standing and we will, we'll,
uh, continue worshiping, uh,
we'll scene together, uh, respond.