The Right Kind of Condescension

The Historic Truth of the Best Gift Ever

(1 John 1:1-2, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, December 27, 2015)

On Christmas Eve we read these words: “And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” (Luke 2:12) We also heard these words: “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) The eternal Son of God, the Almighty Word, became a human being. He was conceived in the womb of a virgin. This was an unfathomable act of condescension on the part of the great I-AM, to be gathered into the first century equivalent of diapers, a onesie, and a tightly wrapped blanket, and to find a temporary home lying in a feeding trough in a small peasant hovel very near a cow and/or a donkey that would have been brought inside for the night.

The word condescension is not generally used in a positive way in our age, but not all condescension needs to be annoying. Think of a very educated adult who has the gift and willingness to lower himself to the level of a toddler and to effectively relate to and commune with that little one. That is what God did for us. He came down to our level in order to show compassion upon us. Conception. Communion. Compassion. This is the love of the Lord, and it is a model for us of the mystery of the further coming of the kingdom of God.

It is this coming of the kingdom in the friendship and atoning life and death of Jesus that John and the rest of the disciples were able to witness to personally and then to proclaim to others who had not been with God in the flesh in the same very personal way.

(1a) Jesus was “from the beginning.”

[1:1]  That which was from the beginning,

Words fail us when we try to communicate the facts about Jesus. Like no one else in all of history, Jesus was “from the beginning.” As John wrote in the opening of his gospel, “without Him was not anything made that was made.” The “beginning” that John referred to in the first words of this ancient letter was not the beginning of the Lord's earthly ministry at the point when He was baptized by John the Baptist. It was not even the beginning of Jesus' birth. It was the great beginning of God's eternity past. The Son of God was co-eternal with the Father in His divine nature.

(1b) We have received the testimony of the apostles concerning Him.

which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— [2]  the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, ...

This great God really came in person. The apostles heard Jesus with their own ears. They saw Him with their eyes. They even touched Him with their hands. They were witnesses to His miracles, to His transfiguration, and even to His resurrection appearances. Listen to our Lord's invitation to them in Luke 24:39, “See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” They had come to believe that He was the divine Word of life.

The apostles did not keep this astounding truth to themselves. After they were filled with the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, they proclaimed what they had witnessed, calling it “the eternal life.” They understood that the Man they had heard, seen, and even touched was the anti-death man.

(2) The Divine Life of the Son of God was made manifest as the Son of Man.

[2]  the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—

What followed in the rest of 1 John was the truth. John did not make up the story of the resurrected Jesus. He saw Him, heard Him, and was even invited, along with all the other apostles, to touch Him. The Son of God who was with the Father was made manifest to them.

As those who have received this apostolic Word, like the original disciples, we do not follow cleverly devised myths, but the true testimony of eyewitnesses concerning the only credible Giver of eternal life. See 2 Peter 1:16. The God of such astounding condescending love was made manifest to a selected group of apostles, to a broader array of first century witnesses, and now through their preaching and writing, the message of the Man of eternal life has been made manifest to us.

Such a man is worthy of our study. He is the greatest of all gifts. Who is He? We should all be eager to know. He is our chief concern.

But there is a secondary matter that comes from this text that should also be of substantial importance to the church today. Is there something for us to imitate concerning His method? Is there a way for us to rightly follow Him in His condescension?

1. Conception is beginning. If we are to be witnesses of the kingdom of heaven, we must enter into the world in which they live. We need a beginning, however small it may be. An opening condescension where we relate to others on their terms.
2. Communion requires a continued accommodation to others and an availability so that they can experience the life of righteousness. We live in an age of ethical apostasy. This is not the way for the church to win others. But we do need to be near enough and humble enough so that friends can see, hear, and touch a real disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ.
3. Compassion will often be the window for someone to see what eternal life really is. In this world we have loss and death. Jesus and His disciples bring life. Don't miss the many opportunities God is bringing you to model a new world of grace to others who are only expecting small-minded self-righteousness, and will easily be surprised by real love.

Our Lord is the only answer to the deepest needs of fallen humanity. He came in person to a group of friends and followers. He showed the best condescension to a hurting world in great need of a Savior. His life is our message, and we are called to make that life manifest to others just as He has shown us the glory of the Father.

Old Testament Reading—Genesis 1:1-2:3 – The God of Life and the King of Rest

Gospel Reading—Luke 2:21-40 – Jesus presented at the temple