Begotten, Not Made | Sunday, June 22, 2025

Amen. Amen. Praise the Lord. Thank you, Christian and team. Thank you so much. You guys can be seated. It's good to be reminded that the battle belongs to the Lord. Less than 15 hours ago, let's just say that things got a little bit more interesting. We are certainly living in interesting times.

Before I talk about that, I do want to thank you for your prayers for my family. A portion of my family was in Paraguay for the last ten days. They came back—first, Ethan came back on Thursday, and then my wife, our daughter Evangelene, and my mom came back with the team on Friday. They're all doing very well. In fact, my wife is here this morning, so thank you for your prayers.

As I said, the news has been interesting. As a result of that, I've already had the question several times from some people in the last few hours: What in the world is going to happen? What do you think is going to happen? I have told you before, I'm a preacher, not a prophet. I don't have any sort of red phone to the big guy upstairs to tell us exactly what's going on. But we are living in interesting times.

I found it fascinating that last night, when the president addressed the nation, as is typical when any of our presidents address the nation in these kinds of circumstances, they always end by saying, "God bless the United States and our troops," and so forth. However, he said something that caught my attention. He said, "I just want to thank everybody, and in particular God. I want to say we love you, God, and we love our great military. Protect them. God bless the Middle East. God bless Israel. God bless America. Thank you very, very much."

The fact that he directly addressed God in what he said is pretty fascinating to me. Regardless of what you think about the president, I believe we should pray for our leaders and pray for our nation. We certainly will do that this morning.

At the same time, in all the things that are happening, I mentioned last week that we are living in chaotic and interesting times. As we seem to be so frequently reminded, we continue that trend. When we gather together as we do this morning, we will be looking at the Nicene Creed, which is the roadmap for our studies this summer. We are using this as the format for our series this summer because it is the 1700th anniversary of the Nicene Council and Creed. The whole of this text redirects our focus back to God, which I think is where our focus needs to be. Whenever things are chaotic in our lives—individually, in our nation, or in the world—we need to remind ourselves of that.

Ourselves that our God is on a throne and He reigns. While I don't know the future and you don't know the future, I trust that He knows the future and He's in control. I find great peace in that. Amen.

So, we're going to stand together, if you wouldn't mind doing so. We are going to read through the creed together, as we have the last few weeks, that the church has been affirming for 1,700 years. Here we read:

"We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen. We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one being with the Father. Through Him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation, He came down from heaven. By the power of the Holy Spirit, He became incarnate of the Virgin Mary and was made man. For our sake, He was crucified under Pontius Pilate. He suffered death and was buried. On the third day, He rose again in accordance with the Scriptures. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and His kingdom will have no end. We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son, He is worshiped and glorified. He has spoken through the prophets. We believe in one holy Catholic and apostolic church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen."

God, we do come before You, united together as Your people this morning. Lord, we're reminded here in this passage that You are seated on a throne in heaven, and You will rule and reign forever and ever. We look forward to the day when You will come here again, when You'll return and establish Your kingdom and Your reign. There will be no more war, and there will be no more sorrow or suffering or tears or pain or sickness. All of those things we look forward to. Because we look forward to those things, it stirs us to say with Christians throughout the centuries, "Lord, come quickly." We look.

Forward to the day when you will rule and reign. We rejoice in you today. Until you come, I pray, God, that you would help us to shine your light into a world that is in desperate need of your grace and your truth. We ask this in Jesus' name. And all those that agreed said, "Amen." Amen. You may be seated.

Life is filled with big questions. What do you think is going to happen? We often find ourselves confronted with big questions, such as Shakespeare's question in Hamlet: "To be or not to be, that is the question." Perhaps that is one of the big questions. Another significant question was posed by John F. Kennedy at his inaugural address in 1961: "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." This has been a question that people have thought about a lot.

However, there are much bigger philosophical questions—the deep, heavy questions of life. For instance, why is "abbreviation" such a long word? Why do we drive in the parkway and park in the driveway? These are the deep questions of life. Maybe for you this morning, your question is whether to have a maple old-fashioned or a jelly-filled doughnut after the service.

Those are the questions that people actually consider, but the bigger questions—the philosophical questions—are what people sometimes find themselves deeply thinking about. They may not necessarily talk about them with others, but throughout life, we wrestle with things having to do with meaning. What is the meaning of life? Many people are wrestling with that question in our culture right now. It has been articulated or identified by a whole bunch of different psychological researchers in the last decade and a half that we are living through what some have categorized as a meaning crisis.

A lot of people are asking, "What is the meaning of life?" Another really big question has to do with origin: "Where did I come from?" Then there is the question of identity: "Who am I?" Unfortunately, many people in our culture are struggling with questions of identity.

We also encounter questions of purpose: "Why am I here?" This is very connected to the idea of meaning. What is my purpose in life? Finally, there are questions of destiny: "What happens after I die?" Especially as we approach the older years of life or confront the loss of a loved one, we really do grapple with these questions.

We find ourselves wrestling with the questions of what is going to happen after this. These questions make up the study of philosophy. Philosophy deals with the big contemplations of reality, how we live in this reality, and how we ought to live morally in the world we inhabit. If you've ever thought about these questions in some small way, you are kind of existing as a philosopher, contemplating the deeper aspects of life. All of us come to these questions from time to time and wrestle with them.

For some of you this morning, these are the questions that weigh heavily on your mind. Sometimes, they may keep you up at night or weigh upon your heart and soul. For others, you may have given up on these questions because you feel there are no good answers. The answers may seem elusive or too subjective. It is true that some of you came here today, or began attending church in the first place, hoping to find an answer that satisfies your soul's longing for understanding.

The creed we recited together a few minutes ago originated from a question. Fundamentally, it is the same question that Jesus posed to his disciples 300 years before the council that formulated this creed. The council convened in 325 AD, 1,700 years ago this year. However, about 300 years before that council gathered, Jesus presented this question to his disciples in Matthew chapter 16.

If you have a Bible this morning, you can open it to about the middle and turn to the right until you find the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. In Matthew chapter 16, Jesus is with his disciples in the northernmost part of the nation of Israel, in the hills where the River Jordan originates. You can visit this place, identified in the passage as Caesarea Philippi. I have been to the ruins of that location, where there is a beautiful red rock cliff, and from underneath the cliff comes a huge spring of water that begins some of the headwaters of the Jordan.

The Jordan River, at that time and in that place 2,000 years ago, was surrounded by a pagan pantheon of gods worshiped by the Gentiles in that area. Jesus went to this place with His disciples and engaged them in a conversation where He asked a very important question. We find it in Matthew 16:13: "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?"

That is the question. Who is Jesus? For some people, the question rises more to what is Jesus? What is this person whom almost all of culture in 2025 looks back to as an important figure in human history? He reoriented or reordered human history from that point on. It is truly one of those questions that needs to be answered, and He put it to His disciples: "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?"

How did people answer that question 2,000 years ago when Jesus posed it to His disciples? Consider for a moment that this was around halfway or two-thirds of the way through Jesus's earthly ministry, possibly even later, because at this point, He begins to move in the direction of Jerusalem, where He will ultimately be crucified. By the time He asks this question, He has already been preaching and performing miracles, leading to a variety of opinions about Him.

He asks His closest followers, "Who do men say that I am?" How did they respond? In verse 14, we see their answers: "Some say that you're John the Baptist." By this time, John the Baptist had been beheaded because he spoke the truth and opposed immorality, particularly that of Herod, the leader of the nation. As a result, John was executed, and he was gone by this time.

So, when Jesus asks, "Who do people think that I am?" the disciples respond, "Some say that you're John the Baptist, in some way a reappearance of his spirit. You have the same spirit as John the Baptist." Others say, "Some say that you're Elijah." Elijah is one of the most important prophetic figures in Jewish history, yet we do not have any of his written words because his prophecies are not included in the Old Testament.

Jesus is one of the most important prophets. We find him in Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles. Some say that you're Elijah, others say that you're Jeremiah, one of the great prophets of Israel, or one of the other prophets. If you boil it down, what was it that people were saying about Jesus? He was a deeply spiritual man. They knew that much. They didn't know exactly who he was, but they knew enough to regard him as a deeply spiritual man. For them, that meant he must be a prophet. He must be like John the Baptist, like Elijah, or like Jeremiah, or one of the other prophets. These were the opinions of the people. They didn't know exactly who he was, but they recognized there was something different about him compared to the average person of the day.

Now, 300 years after Jesus asked his disciples that question, it surfaced again through a controversy triggered by the teaching of an Egyptian pastor named Arius. Arius taught that the Son, Jesus, was a created being, made by the Father, and not of the same substance as the Father. As a result of his teaching, a council was convened in 325 AD in what we know today as northern Turkey, in the town of Nicaea, to discuss this issue. The rest of the leaders of the church said that what Arius was teaching was outside of what we would call orthodoxy. They ultimately determined that it was heresy.

Arius was saying that Jesus was just a man, a created being, and not of the same substance as the Father. The words differ between the question that Jesus asks and the controversy that arose in 325 AD, but the sentiment is the same. The question has to do with Jesus and really the words of the Nicene Creed that we read together a few minutes ago. The whole point of the council and the creed was to identify what the church believes according to the Scriptures about Jesus. Who is he? Because that's the important issue.

Over the last 1,700 years since the Nicene Creed, many people have continued to put forward their ideas, thoughts, and opinions regarding the answer to the question, "Who is Jesus?" For Thomas Jefferson, Jesus was regarded as a wise and ethical teacher, but he did not believe in his miracles. He did not believe that Jesus was divine.

The great Enlightenment thinker and philosopher Immanuel Kant viewed Jesus as a perfect moral exemplar. He is the example one should imitate in living out a good or moral life. For the great Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy, Jesus was admired as a promoter of nonviolence and moral reform.

If you read Marxist revolutionaries, which I know is all in your summer reading this summer, you will find that they describe Jesus as the revolutionary of revolutionaries. He is seen as the liberator of the oppressed. Gnostics throughout history, going back to the early second century until today, have viewed Jesus as a cosmic emanation and a revealer of hidden truth. This perspective has not disappeared. If you've ever encountered New Age thinking, it is not new; it still holds the same idea that Jesus is some sort of cosmic emanation of power and the revealer of secret truth.

Many people have asked me about the book titled "The Secret." It is filled with Gnostic teachings about Jesus as the revealer of secret truth. If you grasp this secret truth from him, you are promised some sort of enlightenment.

There are all kinds of different views about who Jesus is. Some have regarded him as a spiritual guru, while others see him as an enlightened mystic. Some think of him as a pattern for love and sacrifice, a political reformer, a protester, or an apocalyptic prophet, which is one of the ways he is described in our modern day. Some people would label him a social justice warrior, someone to emulate, or a champion of the minoritized and marginalized.

There are numerous ideas about Jesus, and many of you know this because you've interacted with family members, co-workers, or friends who have their own perspectives on him. In fact, I would encourage you to conduct a little test. Just ask someone, "What do you think about Jesus?" You will hear some interesting responses. If you ask AI or Google, you will receive a long list of the different opinions people have about Jesus. AI has some opinions about him, but of course, they are just reflections of what people generally say.

Aras believed that God the Father created Jesus and regarded him as the most extraordinary human, but still just a human.

A creature, and this is no small thing. In fact, I would say that this is the whole deal. Point number one, if you're taking notes: Christianity rises and falls on the nature of Jesus. Now, that may seem like hyperbole. It's not. It might seem like an exaggeration, but it's truly not. Christianity rises and falls on the nature of Jesus.

Jesus is not whatever or whoever we want or decide him to be. We don't get to co-opt Jesus for our program or our purpose, though many people have tried. Unfortunately, there have been Christians in the name of the church who have attempted to use Jesus for their ends and purposes. We don't get to redefine or repurpose him for our program, even though people are always tempted to do that. We must accept him as he is revealed.

Jesus asked the question, "Who do men say that I am?" I would say that the more urgent question is, "Who does God say that Jesus is?" What do the Scriptures, which we believe are revealed by God, reveal about Jesus? That is what the Nicene Creed is seeking to answer. The Nicene Creed is a statement attempting to answer the question, "Who is Jesus?" The whole reason the council happened and the creed came forth was due to a controversy and a dispute over the nature of Jesus. This is the whole deal; this is why this thing came to be.

After asking Jesus's disciples, "Who do men say that I am?" he gives a general question. Then he gets very specific: "Who do you say that I am?" One guy spoke up; I'm sure you can guess who it was—the spokesman, Peter. Always the spokesman. He was really good at speaking up and, at times, putting his foot in his mouth. Some can identify; I can with Peter. In fact, almost immediately after he speaks up and says the right thing, he will speak up and say the wrong thing, putting his foot in his mouth. All the guys in the room can identify with this. We've said the right thing and then, within a nanosecond, we say the wrong thing. There are too many wives nodding their heads right now, but it's true. So we can identify with Peter.

So Jesus says, "Who do you say that I am?"

Peter, in Matthew 16:16, said, "You are the Christ, the son of the living God." Well, that's a statement. In fact, Jesus is going to go on to say that this statement is the foundation stone of the church. He says, "On this rock," and I don't think he's talking about Peter himself. I think he's talking about this statement. On this rock, I will build my church.

What foundation is it built upon? Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God. Where did Peter get this from? Well, Jesus tells us. Look at verse 17. Jesus answered and said to Peter, "Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven." Where did Peter get this from? Inspiration from God. God inspired Peter to say, "Jesus," when Jesus asked, "Who do you believe that I am?" He said, "You're the Christ, the son of the living God."

What do the Scriptures reveal about the nature of Jesus? Well, what did we read in the creed? We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only son of God. That's the statement. That's exactly what Peter said: "You're the Christ, the son of the living God." We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only son of God.

What does that mean? Those are big words, and we have some terms in here that are challenging for us because we have some relational familial terms: father and son. When we hear "father" and "son," we compute that as something where a father begets a son, and a son derives their life from the father. The son doesn't exist without the father.

So, we need to try to understand what is being said here because there's more to it than just relational terms. We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only son of God, eternally begotten. What does that even mean? It means he has always existed. There was never a time he didn't exist because he is eternally begotten of the Father.

What does that even mean? The creed says, "God from God, light from light, true God from true God." It's very poetic language, but it's trying to explain to us something powerful and significant. "God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten, not made." I, as a son of my father, was made, but not Jesus. He's begotten, but he's not made—not in the same sense as I, as a son of my father.

He is of one being with the Father, is what the text says. Now, as we reason through the Nicene Creed together this summer, it can be challenging because this is deep theology. In fact, if you ever take a true theology class, this is one of the statements you'll go through and really parse through the text of the Bible. What is being said here takes more than 20 minutes, which is all I have left. But there's a lot here.

I mentioned last week that as we're reasoning through the creed together this summer, I want you to keep in mind that there is a lot in the Bible that is not in the creed, but there is nothing in the creed that is not in the Bible. This is just 271 words. I think if I counted correctly, 271 words give a short summary to answer as simply and as clearly as possible the question: Who is Jesus? Who do we think that Jesus is according to the Scriptures? That's what this is trying to reveal and affirm.

Point number two: Jesus is the anointed and eternal Son, not a created being. That is what this statement is trying to put forward and make clear. He did not descend from, derive from, or be conceived by the Father. He always existed eternally in a relational connection with the Father. He is the anointed and eternal Son and not a created being.

Now, the wording of the text that I just read about Jesus from the Nicene Creed is not unclear. The words are relatively simple to understand. The problem is that there are few words that are more misunderstood than these. The reason they are misunderstood is because of the language that is used: Father, Son, and begotten. This word "begotten" is a real stumbling block for us. What does it mean? Where does it come from? Where is this idea that the creed is putting forward?

Probably the clearest passage that puts this forward, the most Christological passage in a single text of Scripture, is in John chapter 1. So, if you have your Bibles, move from Matthew to the right to the Gospel of John, chapter 1. We have it on the screen as well. In John chapter 1, we read this: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." He, the Word, is personified as a He. He was in the beginning with God, and all...

Things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was the Word, and the Word was the life, and the life was the light of men. The desire, the yearning of men, and the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

Now there was a man. We move from the Word to a man sent from God, whose name was John. This is John the Baptist. This man came to witness, to bear witness of the light. He is going to tell us about the Word and tell us about the light, that all through Him might believe. He was not that light; John is different from the light. He is just a messenger about the light. But he was sent to bear witness of the light, that it was the true light which gives light to every man coming into the world.

He, the light, was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become the children of God, to those who believe in His name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

And the Word that we were introduced to in John 1:1-3 became flesh and dwelt among us. We beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Now John the Baptist bore witness of Him, and he cried out, saying, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me is preferred before me, for he was before me.'" And of His fullness, we have all received grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom presence of the Father, He has declared Him.

If you ever find yourself in a true theology class, they will tell you this is the most Christological passage in the Bible. It reveals a lot about Jesus—not everything, but a lot. What does it teach us about Christ? Well, it teaches us His pre-existence, His eternality. It teaches us His divinity, that He is God. But it also teaches us a distinction. He is distinct from the Father, which is really hard for us to grasp because we said in the very beginning of the statement of the Nicene Creed, "For we believe in one Lord, one God, one Father." And now we see that there is a Father and there is a Son, but they are one. We really have a hard time with this.

Then we will be introduced to the Holy Spirit in a few weeks.

The concept of the Trinity is central to the Christian faith and encompasses the nature of God, forming the foundation of theology proper for Christians. This teaching is often misunderstood, particularly by Muslims, who may believe that Christians worship multiple gods. In reality, Christians believe in one God, expressed in three distinct persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

How do we comprehend this? In the passage we are examining, we find that Jesus is pre-existent, eternal, and divine, yet distinct from the Father. He was active in the agency of creation, and without Him, nothing exists. He is the source of light and life, as well as grace and truth. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, as stated in verse 14. This passage teaches us about the incarnation and reveals the unique relationship between Jesus and the Father. Their oneness, as Father and Son, is highlighted, along with Jesus' role as Redeemer and Savior. He is the revealer of the Father, declaring Him to us. We would not know God apart from Jesus, who is revealed in this passage as supreme over all things.

Additionally, the passage uses the term "begotten" twice, in verses 14 and 18. In the New King James Version, it is translated as "begotten," and the same is true for the King James Version. However, in several other English translations, it is rendered as "one and only Son." This distinction indicates that there is something unique about Jesus that sets Him apart from us. He is the only begotten of the Father, yet He is also referred to as Son and Father, which can be a stumbling block for many.

What does it mean that Jesus is the Son of God and that He is begotten? This is the question that the creed seeks to answer. The challenge lies in how the creed articulates this concept. While it is clear and poetic—"God from God, light from light, true God from true God"—it remains difficult for us to fully grasp. This difficulty arises because we are attempting to describe God, who is beyond our complete understanding.

Revealed in Scripture, He is infinite, and I am finite. My finite brain has a hard time comprehending the infinite. Even when I think deeply about these things, and if I really want to think deeply about them, I can give you volumes of thousand-page books that go into this. However, I have 13 minutes and six seconds to explain it all, which means you're going to leave here fully understanding all of it by the end of the day. It's going to be awesome. Let me try to say some of it simply.

Both the Bible and the creed teach that God the Son comes from God the Father to us, not from the Father into being. This is what the creed is trying to explain. It's hard for us to grasp, but God the Son comes from God the Father to us. He doesn't come into being from the Father. He is not the Father's Son because He was born of the Father, descended, or was conceived by the Father. He always existed in eternity in a united oneness relationship with the Father.

So why is He called Son? Notice in the Gospel of John, chapter 1, His title is not originally "Son." His title originally is "the Word of God." In the beginning was the Logos, the Word of God. When the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, when He was incarnate, then His title becomes "the Son of God." What is it saying to us? It’s saying that this man, who is the Son of Man, is recognized because Jesus asked His disciples in Matthew, chapter 16, "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?" Peter responds, "You’re the Christ, the Son of God."

The Son of Man, a human person, has the nature of a human. For example, I am the son of my father, who is a human man, and I, as his son, have the nature of a human man. So, Jesus is the Son of Man; He is a human man, but He is also the Son of God, meaning He is a man who has the nature of God completely. You all have seen that little emoji—that's the one. Clear as a bell. John gets it. You should ask.

He comes from God the Father to us, but not into being from the Father. The creed tries to explain this. How do we articulate it? It uses an analogy: Jesus comes from the Father to us like light from light.

We live in a beautiful, sunny area. I have a friend who pastors a church in southern Washington, and sometimes we FaceTime. Most of the time, where he is, it's gray. When he sees the blue sky and the sun, he says, "Oh, wow. The sun looks so nice." I respond, "Yeah, you should live in a better place than southern Washington." I get to live in paradise, and so do you.

The sun shines on us. Now, the sun that shines on you, the light rays that hit you and maybe burn your skin—where did they come from? They came from the sun. It took eight minutes for the light to travel from there to us. Is the sun that warms your skin and turns you red fundamentally different in nature from the source from which it came? No, it is not. It is the same as the source.

In the same way, Jesus is light from light, coming to us to bring the light that is not here in another realm, the Father, to us. He brings the presence of the light of the Father to us, joining us to the very presence of God. He is from God, not because he descended from Him in order of lineage, but because he brings the Father's presence to us.

That is why it says he is begotten but not made, of one being with the Father. The phrase "of one being" in the creed became a controversial term. It is "homoousios" in Greek, meaning of the same substance. He brings the presence of God to us.

Why is all of this important? Does it even matter? Well, it is important. It matters because of this point: Christ brings God's presence to us in order to bring us into God's presence. And here's the key. If Jesus...

Said is just a man; he can't do this. But if he is, in nature, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten not made, of one substance with the Father, then he can bring the Father's presence to us in order that he can bring us into God's presence, which is the whole point of salvation.

Why do we need this? Because you and I are separated from God by what? Sin. God made humanity to live in connection and relationship with Him. In Genesis chapter 3, the ideal humans in the ideal situation chose the non-ideal and rejected God. Through one man's sin entered the world, and death through sin. Death is separation, and therefore all of us are born separate from God. But God did not intend for us to be separate from Him. He didn't create us to be separate from Him.

So, Jesus, the very presence of God, comes to us to bring us back into connection with the presence of God once again, to restore us to right relationship. What is the point of salvation? The point of salvation is reunion, reunification, and reconnection with God.

Here's the interesting thing: there are three distinct and major groups of Christians. There was one group at the time of the Nicene Council, and we refer to them, and they love to refer to themselves, as Orthodox. We're the Orthodox Christians. You might know some Orthodox Christians; they're great people, but they sometimes look down on us Protestants. I understand part of the reason: they think we're the original church and you're the weird church. And yes, we are weird. I'll give that to you.

There are three flavors of Christianity: it's like chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry. We're strawberry; we're the weird ones. So, we're the Protestants. There's Orthodox, there's Catholic, and there's Protestant. The Orthodox and the Catholic split in the Great Schism of 1054, I think it was. Then we split from Catholics in really 1517 with the work of Martin Luther and others.

So, we are Protestants post-Reformation. There are these three different groups of Christians, and they all believe this, though they use different words to describe it. Why did Jesus come to save us? To reunite us with God. Now, if you're Orthodox...

Christian, you call this reunification theosis, where you become one with God again. If you're a Roman Catholic, you refer to it as the beatific vision, where we now see God fully and know Him as we are known. If you are a Protestant, as many Christians here today likely are, we call it glorification, where when we see Him, we are like Him, and we are made one with God again. This fulfills the prayer of Jesus.

What did Jesus pray on the night before He was crucified? He prayed in John 17. You can read it later because I don't have time to look at it now. He said, "Father, I pray that they may be one as we are one." What is His aim in salvation? He wants to make you one with God.

Now, this may sound strange for Protestants because we are 1,700 years removed from the Nicene Council and the Nicene Creed. However, there was a man at the council named Athanasius. That's a cool name if you're looking for a name for a child. Athanasius. Don't ask me to spell it. He was not a bishop, but he was a deacon in the church who attended the Council of Nicaea. He later wrote that the point of the incarnation is this: Jesus became man that we might be made God.

Wait, are you saying that we become gods? No, that's not what I said. He stated that He became man that we might be made God. Augustine said the exact same thing less than 100 years after Athanasius. Thomas Aquinas, the great doctor of the church in the 13th century, expressed the same idea: God was made man that man might be made God.

What is he saying? He is pointing back to this theosis, beatific vision, glorification. What is the end? What is the point of your salvation? When we see Him, we shall be like Him. He will transform our lowly body so that it will be conformed to His glorious body. We shall know Him even as we are known. These are all concepts from the Bible, and we are reunited once again in a oneness relationship with God, just as Jesus prayed for us.

Now, here's the thing: we here on earth don't fully understand this. Why? Because we are finite, and He is infinite. The idea of being absorbed into God's nature is hard for us to comprehend.

God gave us an illustration called marriage. Why did God create marriage? Was it to make children? No, He could have made babies all He wanted to, right? Did He need you and me to do that? No, He did not need us. He made the first humans out of dirt. He doesn't need that.

Why did He make marriage? In Genesis chapter 2, God said He made him male and female so that they might be joined. A man should leave his father and mother, be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. Why did He do that? Paul tells us in Ephesians chapter 5 that it is an illustration of the relationship that God desires to have with His church.

When you got married, how many married couples are here? Raise your hand. When you got married, you entered into a oneness relationship. You are joined body, soul, and spirit in a divine manner. God did something; you are joined together as one.

Now, are you two individual people? Yes. Are you one in marriage? Yes. How does that work? God's math is way different than new math. In God's math, one plus one in marriage equals one. What? Yeah. Try that with common core; it doesn't work. We are one.

Why did He do this? To illustrate what He desires we would have with Him. Christ brings God's presence to us in order to bring us into God's presence. God was made man that man might be made God.

All three flavors—chocolate, vanilla, strawberry—look forward to what? Call it theosis, call it the beatific vision, call it glorification. We are kind of, not entirely, saying a lot of the same things. Although we have many different agreements or disagreements, shall we say, on other things, we are kind of saying the same thing on this.

God's aim in salvation is to reunite us with the Father, and Jesus can only do that if He is God in nature. I get it; these are hard to understand.

Sometimes it takes volumes to try to explain this in human language. Why? Because we are finite and He is infinite. So I'll try to bring it full circle. Life is filled with big questions. They are the questions that echo in the human heart, weigh on the mind, or afflict our souls. Questions of meaning, origin, identity, purpose, and destiny. I'm convinced that we will never answer those questions rightly until we first answer the question, "Who is Jesus?"

Point number five, and I'll wrap it up. In Christ, we find the answer behind every question because in Him dwells all God's fullness in bodily form. If you do not answer the Jesus question right—who is Jesus?—if you don't start with that, you will not be able to answer the origin question correctly. But if you understand who Jesus is, then it reframes the answer to the question, "Where did I come from?" You were created purposefully and intentionally by God in His image for a purpose and with a purpose. That is your origin if you understand who Jesus is.

Then, what's my purpose? What's my meaning? What's my destiny? Your purpose is to know Him and make Him known. Who am I? You are a being made in His image to declare His glory in this world. That's who you are. If you understand the answer to the question, "Who is Jesus?" then you will know why you are here: to make Him known and to know Him. That's my purpose. That's the meaning of life.

Where am I going after this? After this, when you die, if you know this, you will be brought back into His presence and united with Him through Christ Jesus. It's only found in Him. Colossians 2:9 states, "For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in Him." You will never have a complete understanding of the answers to the questions of origin, purpose, identity, and destiny—none of that—until you discover your completeness in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.

So Jesus asked, "Who do men say that I am?" Every person you know has an opinion about Jesus. But the more personal question is, "Who do you say that Jesus is?" None of the other questions will make sense until you answer that one.

Until you answer it correctly, Jesus said, "On this rock, I will build my church." It's the only firm foundation in a world filled with total chaos. We don't know what will happen in the next 12 hours, but we know this: I know in whom I have believed, and He is able to keep that which I committed to Him until that final day. Amen.

Let's stand together. God, thank You for Your Word. Although sometimes it's very hard for us to wrap our brains around it, to comprehend it or understand it, yet, Lord, You condescend to us. This means You come down to try to speak to us in a way that we can comprehend and understand. Even though, in so many ways, Your nature and who You really are breaks the backs of words, there are no words that can fully articulate it in a substantial way. We try, and so often we fail.

But, Lord, You desire that we might know You. One day we will see You, and when we see You, we will be like You. We shall know even as we are known, and we look forward to that day. This is why the church has said for centuries, "Lord, come quickly."

Until You come, in the same way that You are light from light, would You cause Your light to shine on us so that it would reflect from us into a dark world that desperately needs You? We ask this today in Jesus' name. And all those that agreed said, Amen.