CHRISTMAS The Cost: The Son - A good deal??

I remember one time, while working in a prison ministry, a man said to me that he thought that the deal Jesus had was not so bad. To die, even though he admitted it was a terrible death, then to stay in the grave for only three days, but then to come back to life and be King of all creation forever…was not a bad deal. I agreed with him…if that had been him or me. Then I asked him  - “if you were a billionaire, had all the fame and power in the world…and I offered you a deal…to be tortured to death, dead for three days and then when you came back to life I would make you a billionaire and give you all the fame and power in the world…would you do it?” He said, “why would I, I already have everything you are offering!” Then I could see the light go off in his head – he understood, Jesus already owned everything, so what was His gain? We will look at that after we finish what it cost Him.

We have already seen that that first Christmas cost Jesus:

·      [1]          Cost the Right to home

·      [2]         Cost the Right of perfect Fellowship with the Father.

·      [3]          Cost the Right of Eternity

Here are two others:

·      [4]          Right of Omnipresence

The Son as God had no limit on His presence. How does that work – only one person understands that…God. When Jesus gave up His rights of deity, and became incarnate, He now was limited to being in one place at one time. Having never been able to experience this we do not know what a sacrifice it was. Still, after working in a prison for two years, I did understand the tremendous power and privilege I must have seem to have compared to the inmates. I can come and go as I please, they on the other hand were forced to remain in the prison and many times even in their small cells.    

·      [5]         Right of Omnipotence

Before incarnation Jesus never needed anything or endured the limitations of the human body. That first Christmas changed all that. As God incarnate He experienced things that God never would have.

o   Growth

Luke 2:52 And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.

o   The grief of a friend dying

           

John 11:30–35 Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha met Him. Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and consoling her, when they saw that Mary got up quickly and went out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there.  Therefore, when Mary came where Jesus was, she saw Him, and fell at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled, and said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept.

o   Hunger

Matthew 4:2 And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry.

o   Fatigue and Thirst

John 4:5–7 So He came to a city of Samaria called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph; and Jacob’s well was there. So Jesus, being wearied from His journey, was sitting thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.”

Compare your Christmas to His. Allow what He did to encourage you not to allow any disappointment with this season to rob you of the real joy that Christmas can bring.

One last thought: Did Jesus gain anything from His sacrifice that He did not have prior to becoming flesh? Yes! Not in power, or abilities, but in possessions. He fulfilled His Father’s desire to give fallen humans a path to redemption, and for that He received the pleasure of His Father. Secondly, if any human being will see their condition as a sinner, and the penalty that awaits all of us, but decides to place their trust in the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, they become children of God! Consider that, the next time you think about what Jesus did…He left all so that He could gain us! Amazing love! How can it be that thou, my God, shouldst die for me?