Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life - The Glory of the Incarnation

Episode Date: December 22, 2025

When the original hearers of John’s gospel—the Jews and the Greeks—heard the term, “the Word became flesh,” it was revolutionary. Many scholars have said it marked a complete revolution in the history of human thought.  But I’d like us to think about the fact that Christmas doesn’t change our lives like it ought to. John says the Word of God became a flesh and blood human being. This is a life-transforming truth.  Let’s look at three ways this truth should change our lives. If Christmas happened, and it did, 1) we have infinite comfort in the face of suffering, 2) we have infinite powerful conviction and incentive to serve, and 3) we have a hope that is both realistic and infallible. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on December 11, 2016. Series: Jesus, Mission, and Glory: Advent. Scripture: John 1:14-18. Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Welcome to Gospel in Life. Today, Tim Keller is looking at a passage from the opening chapter of the Gospel of John. John begins his account of Christ's birth not with shepherds or angels, but with the mystery of the word becoming flesh. God himself entering the world as a person in Jesus Christ. Join us as Tim Keller explores the meaning of Jesus' birth. Today's scripture is from the Gospel of John, chapter 1, verse 14 through 18. The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only son, who came from the father, full of grace and truth.

John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, the one I spoke about when I said he who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me. Out of his fullness, we have all received grace in place of grace already

given. For the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but the one and only son, who is himself God, and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made

him known. The Word of the Lord. well this verse or these verses especially the very beginning the word became flesh and he made his dwelling among us and we beheld his glory the word became flesh that's probably the most profound simplest concise summary of what christmas is all about that there is anywhere that can be said or that's in the bible and when the original hearers of John's gospel, Jews and Greeks, heard the term, the word became flesh, it was revolutionary. In fact, many people have said that John chapter 1 marked a complete revolution in the history of human thought.

Jews, when they heard of the word of God, they knew it was the word of God that meant their God was not a remote, unknowable God. God speaks God speaks through his word He speaks through his prophets He spoke through the burning bush He spoke on Mount Sinai So he's not just a remote, ineffable God He's a God who we can know

So the word of God is crucial to Jews But the Logos Because this was originally written in Greek, of course The word Logos, it says The Logos became flesh The Logos was a term That was a very, very momentous And significant to the Greeks and the Romans

they believe that the universe was not a chaos but a cosmos it was not a chaos that there was a an order behind it and the word logos from which we get our word logic and reason it was a philosophical turn that meant that the universe was not just a kind of chaotic thing it there was a kind of order behind it some absolute principles behind it that we could discern through philosophical contemplation and if we aligned our lives with it then things would go well so the logos was sort of like the cosmic order at the heart of the universe to the Greeks to the Jews it was it was the self-revelation of a knowable God and then suddenly John comes and says yeah but the word became flesh and he dwelt among us and we beheld his glory

and what the Jews are realizing John was saying is that even if you study all the words of law of God the way now to know God is if the self-revelation if the word of God had become a human being the way to know God is to know that human being what a radical statement that is but the Greeks and Romans realized what he was saying was if if the way to connect to the very cosmic center of the universe is to know this flesh and blood human being it was incredible the word became flesh And by the way, the word flesh there is a kind of graphic word. It's a word that almost means what we might say, meat. And it was a way of saying the word became really physical.

It didn't just appear to be a human being. It wasn't a hologram. It wasn't a humanoid. The word became flesh. The Son of God, the Creator God, the transcendent God, the cosmic center of the universe, became a flesh and blood human being who could be known, Jesus Christ. now that's christmas but and you know actually that's the whole sermon but at least to say that's what the doctrine is that's what the teaching is but what i like to do is think about the fact that christmas

doesn't change our lives like it ought to this is a life transforming truth in many ways but what i like to do is draw out three ways in which this truth of its grasp should change our lives three extremely practical implications. If you really believe the doctrine of Christmas, then these three things are true, and we should grasp them with both hands and make sure that we live them out. Here's the three things, three implications, three practical implications. Number one, if Christmas happened, and it did, we have infinite comfort in the face of suffering. We have infinite comfort in the face of suffering. Now, by the way, Christmas comforts us or strengthens us for suffering. And actually at two levels. First is just frankly there's the understanding level, almost kind of

like the intellectual level. See, when you see somebody suffering who's really a great person, a wonderful person, they're going through horrendous suffering. It's just natural to say, what kind of God would allow something like that? And it's typical, unfortunately, for religious people to speak like this. They say, well, you know, God works in mysterious ways, and he has his good reasons, but it's too complicated for us, so you just have to have faith. Religious people talk like that all the time.

And I have to say it's kind of infuriating. It feels shallow, it feels callous, and you want to say, why should I trust this God? How do you know he's got good reasons? You can say, oh, he's got good reasons. How do you know he's got good reasons for allowing his suffering?

Here's how. Christmas, actually. see i've never i've never gotten over the fact that albert camus of all you know the french existentialist philosopher and uh novelist wrote this about jesus at one point he says christ the godman suffered evil and death can no longer be entirely imputed to him since he suffers and dies for in the shadow of calvary the divinity ostensibly abandoned its traditional privilege and live through to the end, despair included the agony of death. Jesus, the God man, abandoned his traditional privilege

and live through to the end, despair included the agony of death. So we can't completely blame him. And what Camus is saying is, I think it's just simply this. His argument is, if God came to earth and involved himself in our life of pain, and suffered enormously, suffered infinitely, suffered horrendously. Then if you ask,

well, why is God allowing evil and suffering to continue? We still don't know what the reason he is doing that is. We still don't know what the reason is. But now we know what the reason isn't. It isn't that he doesn't care.

It isn't that he's remote. It isn't that he doesn't love us. See? And what Camus is saying is, still don't know why but the fact that he suffers see other religions have god up there impervious to suffering and if you say why does that god allow evil in suffering and well he's got his reasons well i don't know how do i know he's got good reasons but this god the god who comes to earth and suffers then whatever his reasons are it's not that he doesn't look care it's not that he doesn't know

what we're going through and so see even at a kind of understanding level as camus says it's a suffering God, you don't shake your fist at that God in the same way. You still don't know. You still wrestle. At the same time, you say, I know He loves us. And it's not just at the understanding level. The doctor of Christmas actually helps us at the actual experience level when you're actually going through it, when you really are in darkness and despair. Hebrews chapter 2 says because Jesus himself suffered he is able to help those who are being tried and tested because Jesus suffered he can help you if you're going through something really hard and some well-meaning person who's never experienced what you've experienced

some well-meaning person comes along and says oh you know buck up you know you can do it you can get through it maybe we shouldn't maybe we shouldn't but there's something in us that wants to say and sometimes we say it out loud uh you have no idea what i'm going through you know save your breath and somebody who hasn't gone through what we've gone through and we're we're sinking we just save your breath you know you don't know but if you meet somebody who's not only been through every single thing you've been through but 10 times worse 10 times worse you listen to that person don't you? And when that person says, do this and do this

and you can do it. See, when that person strengthens you, you feel strengthened. Well, look at Jesus. Here's the only God. He knows, look, are you feeling lonely? Of all the religions in the world, this is the only one who says, God has been in every

darkness you've been in and more. Do you feel alone and misunderstood? So is he. are you betrayed so was he are you destitute are you facing death so was he are you saying but i feel god has abandoned me think about it so was he well i prayed and god hasn't answered my prayer go to the garden of gasemini passage so he was turned down too every place you could ever go he's been there every darkness you could ever be in he's been there in war is he can strengthen you that's what it says he will strengthen you go to him

there's that great you know poem called jesus of the scars and the last stanza goes like this i think i can remember it the poet is contrasting the different gods of the different religions and he's looking at Jesus, and he says, the other gods did ride. Thou did stumble to thy throne. To our wounds, only God's wounds can speak, and no God has wounds but thou alone. To our wounds, only God's wounds can speak, and no other God has wounds, but thou alone. So first of all, the Doctor of Christmas gives you infinite comfort and suffering. Are you taking it? Look, everybody, all of you out there who are human beings, okay?

The rest of you can just not listen for a minute, but all human beings, you either have suffered or you are suffering or soon you will be suffering, something. So do you have this? Okay, number one. Number two, second thing Christmas does besides giving us infinite comfort in suffering, is a powerful incentive to serve, an incredibly powerful incentive to serve. See, when God came down, you know, at the incarnation, he got involved. I'm old enough, and some of you look like you might be old enough.

I remember not only the headlines, but even some of the commentary, because I was just getting into high school at the time, around a young woman named Kitty Genevese, who lived in Queens and was stabbed to death right near her apartment building. She was outside of her apartment building, but she was stabbed to death. She was assaulted and she cried out and screamed, and people heard the screams. But not only did no one come down to try to help her, but nobody called it in to the police.

And afterwards, of course, there was all this, there was a lot of talk about what's happened to our society, you know. But one of the more famous, a reporter got one person anonymously who was in the building and who had heard the screams who had done anything to say, why didn't you come down or why didn't you call? And the person said, I'm not sure it was a male or female, the person said, I didn't want to get involved. That's probably the most famous quote that comes out of that whole incident in 1964. I did want to get involved. And, of course, think about it. If you come, you hear somebody screaming outside. If you come down, you might get killed yourself.

Or even if you call it in, you know, you suddenly are involved with the police and they want to take statements and maybe they want to ask you what you were doing at the time. Maybe you don't want to talk about what you were doing at the time. Or maybe even after you give evidence that the perpetrator's friends will come and get you and you'll die, In other words, I don't want to get involved. Why? Because being involved makes you vulnerable. The first place we get this image in the Bible is near the beginning where Cain kills Abel. And God comes to Cain and says, what have you done? The blood of your brother Abel cries out to me from the ground. And there's a number of places in the Bible where we're told,

that shed blood of the innocent, the evils and the injustice that are perpetrated here on earth, cry out to God. What does the doctrine of Christmas teach? Here's what the doctrine of Christmas teaches. That God heard those cries, and he did come down. He came down, he got involved, and he knew he would be killed. At Christmas, we are animated by the gifts we'd be killed.

give and receive. But the greatest gift of all is that Christ was born into this world as a gift to us. We've recorded a special Christmas message to highlight the gift of hope, joy, and peace we can have and share because of Christ's birth. In this special video, you'll hear how the ultimate gift, salvation, is ours because Jesus loved us so much that he entered into our world to save us. You can watch this Christmas message at gospelandlife.com slash Christmas. That's gospelonlife.com slash Christmas. From the Keller family and everyone at Gospel in Life, we send our thanks for you and we pray that you and your family will experience joy and peace this Christmas because you have the gift of God's son. Now, here's Dr. Keller with the rest of today's message.

Now, here's what's so scary. Do you know in Philippians 2? There's a place in Philippians 2 where it says, have this mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus. In other words, have the same motivation or the same mindset of Jesus Christ who though he was God didn't count equality with God something to be grasped but he emptied himself

and he laid aside his glory and he came down and he became a human being obedient to the cross. So Philippians 2 says when you see Jesus Christ coming down getting involved to the point of vulnerability to the point of being just drained of life

now you go do that too that's what it says that's your model what we're going to do about that I noticed I didn't call this infinite comfort like I did the first point the first point was infinite comfort in suffering the second point is infinite powerful conviction that we ought to be getting involved

I mean let me just give you listen this this applies in a lot of different ways they're not all life threatening but for example we were talking about giving. You know, you can give to the point it's comfortable. You can look at, you can say, I want to give this amount away. And the amount you're giving away has absolutely nothing, has no impact on the way you live your life. It's not really cutting into your savings, not cutting into your investments, it's not cutting into your lifestyle, you're able to do the

things you want to do. This is money that's almost literally disposable, okay? That's not getting involved. Give to the point where you feel vulnerable. Give to the point where you say, I can't can't do things I would like to do. Give to the point where you're not quite as financially secure as you would have been if you hadn't given, give it until what? Until you're starting to act like Jesus. Until you're starting to imitate the incarnation. Give. Give to the point of vulnerability.

Or, let me just think about this. A lot of people come to church, but they never join. They come to receive, but they don't want to join. They don't want the accountability. they don't want the responsibility they don't want you know they want to keep their options open all the time but see in other words you don't want to you don't want to get involved you're not too involved not to involve to the point where it's actually cramping you but my goodness imitate the incarnation or generally listen there are people around you that you if you you might know who they are

but you may actually have been a little afraid to even look because you don't want to get involved there are neighbors there are colleagues there are brothers and sisters there are people around you who are hurting they've got needs and you know that if you show much interest and if you show much sympathy you're going to kind of get sucked in it'll be emotionally draining it'll be difficult get involved you know that if you publicly identify as a Christian in certain circles there might be some flack you'll take get involved to the point of vulnerability. Okay. B.B. Warfield was a taught at Princeton. He was a theologian, not a preacher. And he wrote a sermon, I guess preached a sermon called imitating the incarnation. That's a little bit

Victorian, a little florid, but it's still quite powerful. He's looking at the incarnation. It was a sermon on Philippians 2 that I already mentioned. And here's what he said, talking about Jesus. He says, Jesus was led to forget himself in the needs of others. self-sacrifice brought jesus christ into the world and self-sacrifice will lead his followers not away from but into the midst of human society wherever people suffer there will we be to comfort wherever they strive there will we be to help wherever they fall there will we be to uplift self-sacrifice means not indifference to our times and our fellows it means absorption in them it means forgetfulness of self in others it means entering into every person's hopes and fears longings and despairs it means

many-sidedness of spirit multi-form activity multiplicity of sympathies it means not that we should live one life but a thousand lives binding ourselves to a thousand souls by the filaments of so loving a sympathy that their lives become ours so first practical implication infinite comfort in the face of suffering second practical implication powerful conviction to serve others to the point of vulnerability. To get involved, to come down. But lastly,

Christmas gives us a hope that it's both realistic, realistic, and at the same time, infallible. Look at this. The rest of the passage, I mean, I've just spent the whole time just on the word became flesh,

but it says, and made his dwelling among us. Now, some of you may have heard before that there's a kind of odd Greek word used there where it's and some literal translations will put it there what john actually says is the word became flesh and pitched his tent among us or pitched his tabernacle among us now maybe that was just a vivid way for john to say pitched his tent you know and a lot of people lived in tents well actually that's not true back then a lot of people did not live in tents so why in the world would it say the word

became flesh and tabernacled among us well it tells you right away and we beheld as glory and then later on it talks about for the law was given through moses grace and truth came through jesus christ what is this talking about here's what's talking about the tabernacle was the place where the chakana glory of god dwelt but back behind the holy of holies it was both the tabernacle then later the temple there was this veil between sinful people and the and the and the glory of god and the nobody could actually go back there, except the high priest once a year, but people could draw near as long as there was blood sacrifices made to atone for sin. Now, what is all that about? What was all that about?

Well, here's what it was about. It was about what happened in the very beginning of the Bible. The Garden of Eden. Here's Adam and Eve, and they are in paradise. Let's call that the ideal world. The ideal world. And everything's perfect. But then they sin? They turn away from God. They want to be their own masters, their own saviors and lords. And they're cast out into what? The real world. And the real world, and by the way, we're all in the real world.

Let me just tell you two things about the real world. Everybody loses everyone they love. Everybody loses everyone they love eventually. And all life ends in death. So they were cast out of the real world, ideal world, where none of those things are true into the real world. And between them and the real world, between the real and the ideal world, was a flaming sword. You can go see this back in Genesis 3, a flaming sword that turned every way.

What is that? It's the penalty for our sin. If you're a fugitive or you're in exile, you run away. If you want to come back home, you're going to have to face justice. And so what the Bible is actually trying to say is there's a barrier between the real and the ideal. and the barrier between the real and the ideal is the barrier between God and sinful human beings. And there's a barrier there.

And no one can pass it without paying the penalty, which is death for the wages of sin. Now think about this. What is Christmas about? Huh? The word became flesh. Okay, that's just a magic trick.

A big one, of course, but a magic trick. But no, in order to dwell among us so that we could see his glory. What does that mean? It means, first of all, the ideal came into the real. Jesus Christ, the ideal actually came into the real, into the real world. Here he is. But that wasn't all.

At the end of his life, he died. He became a human being so that he could die. He became a human being. He became vulnerable, as we said. He became killable. And when he went to the cross, he went under the sword. He took the penalty. and when he did that,

tell me you remember the book of Matthew says that the veil between us and God between the real and the ideal was torn from top to bottom. And what that means is simply this. Jesus Christ, our great captain, has opened a cleft in the pitiless

walls of the world. He's punched a hole between the ideal and the real. He came through it. And now he's opened a way for us to get back in right now the wall has not come down but the holy spirit comes into us when we believe in jesus christ and changes begin and someday the whole wall will come down and the real world will become the ideal world again kathy and i always liked the uh the musical man of lamontia which is based

on you know the novel by cervantes don quixote and of course the basic story is a man who hates the real world. And so he's going to live in the ideal world. He hates the real world, so he goes mad, and he says, I'm a knight, I'm Don Cahote, and he starts to fight against giants, which are actually windmills, and dragons, and he tries to rescue people, right?

And, you know, he's mad. At one point, somebody sits down and tries to talk to him and says, you know, there are no evil sorcerers, there are no dragons, there are no giants, you know that none of these things are true. He says, well, facts are the enemy of truth. And then the guy who's trying to argue with him says, this is madness.

And then he says, I've seen life as it is. Okay? I've seen life as it is. Maybe too much sanity is madness. And maddest of all to see life as it is and not as it ought to be. Now, what you have there is a kind of, frankly, when this thing was written it was the heyday of the existentialist of the 20th century and we have a little we have a little existentialist sermon there here's what the guy is saying the guy is saying he says you know I'm not really crazy I know there's a wall between the ideal and the real right here's the life as it is the real and as it ought to be the ideal and I'm just going to live as if it's the way life ought to be and not the way it is that's all there is to it I know that they will never come together I know I'll go down to a never-ending defeat. I know that. But see, there's a concrete slab between the real

and the ideal, and I'm going to live in the ideal. That's it. But you see, Christians are utterly different. There are two kinds of people, and then there's Christians. There's the realists. Say, hey, come on. This is the way life is. You know, don't be a boy scout, that kind of thing. Then there's idealist. They're saying, I'm going to go down to a never-ending defeat, but I'm going to live as if this is true, live as this true, so that you have the idealist and the realist, then you have Christians. And we know that Jesus Christ has brought the ideal

into the real, and someday there'll be a new heavens and new earth, and you're going to have glorified bodies. And that means that even though we're realistic, we know there's a lot that's wrong with this world, and we don't expect it to happen until Jesus actually makes everything right, that all of it happens. But if you're a Christian, you'll never look at anything

and say that'll never change. you'll never look at any evil you never look at anything wrong inside or outside so that that could never change because you know that even now with the power of the holy spirit it can change and someday it will and what realisticness you see how realistic that is much more realistic than the person who's living in the ideal world but far more idealistic and hopeful than the person's living in the real world you know in that in that play there's a woman named Aldonza, who's a prostitute. And Don Quixote treats her as if she's a queen.

Royalty. And at first she's angry about it, but then in the end, she's moved by it and she embraces it, even though she's not. She's going to live as if she's a royalty, even though she's not. But look, you might be literally in Alonza. You might be here today, you know,

and you might be a prostitute. And I want you to know, if you believe in Jesus Christ, he embraces you, you can be literal royalty real royalty when all the kings and queens of all the great royal lines on the earth are all forgotten

you will be ruling and reigning with him because see he's punched a hole between the real and the ideal we have realistic and infallible hope Christ the Savior is born let's pray thank you father for giving us this great hope

this great comfort and this great conviction and incentive Lord, we have to admit that the problem of Christmas is that it's so familiar. We let Christmas just make us feel warm and toasty. We let Christmas just make us feel like it's a time to be inspired and to appreciate our families. And all that's true, but Lord, the message is so much more radical than that. Forgive us for domesticating and taming the doctrine of Christmas. And Lord, it would glorify you and it would be our ultimate joy.

if the three things we talked about here were realized in our lives by the power of your Holy Spirit and faith in Jesus Christ, in His name we pray. Amen. Thanks for joining us here on the Gospel and Life podcast. We hope that today's teaching encouraged you to go deeper into God's Word. You can help others discover this podcast by rating and reviewing it. And to find more great gospel-centered content by Tim Keller, visit God. gospel and life.com. Today's sermon was recorded in 2016. The sermons and talks you hear on

the gospel and life podcast were recorded between 1989 and 2017, while Dr. Keller was senior pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church.