Sermon Outline, Fourth Advent

Peter J. Leithart, December 15, 2004

INTRODUCTION
Jesus came to reveal the Father, and claims that He is capable of revealing the Father because �I am in the Father and the Father is in Me�E(John 14:6-9). This notion of �mutual indwelling�E(the technical term in theology is �perichoresis�E is an important concern for John�s gospel, and it is one of the key realities manifested in the incarnation.

TEXT
�Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: �Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. . . .�E(John 17:1-26).

TYPES OF INDWELLING
Historically, theologians first used the word �perichoresis�Ein Christological discussion as a way of describing the relationship between the divine and human natures in Jesus. The divine nature �dwelt in�Ethe human nature, and the human nature �dwelt in�Ethe divine nature.

The types that John uses to describe the incarnation imply this idea of �mutual indwelling.�EIn John 1:14, John says that the �Word became flesh and tabernacled among us,�Eshowing that the incarnation is the fulfillment of what was pictured in the tabernacle. In the Mosaic tabernacle, the glory of Yahweh �dwelt among�EIsrael, and in Jesus the Lord dwells among men in an even more intimate way �Eby taking on flesh.

John also quotes Jesus�Estatement that His body is the temple (2:19-22). The temple, like the tabernacle, was the dwelling place of God, an architectural �incarnation�Eof Yahweh. Jesus�Ebody �Eboth His physical human body and His corporate body of disciples �Eare destroyed in His death and rebuilt in His resurrection. Throughout Jesus�Elife, the Lord dwelt in Jesus�Ebody as the Lord earlier had dwelt in the temple; and even now, the Lord dwells in His body, the church, as the new temple of God. So, the notion that God �indwells�Ethe creation and His people in particular is nothing new in the NT. It is typified and pictured in the OT, though it comes to infinitely deeper expression in the NT.

THAT THEY MAY BE IN US
The Word�s dwelling in human flesh is a manifestation of an eternal indwelling of the Father and the Son. Jesus speaks of this in response to Philip�s request to see the Father, and He speaks of it again in His prayer in John 17. The unity of Father and Son is a unity of mutual indwelling: �Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee�E(v. 21). The Father is the Son�s eternal home, His eternal temple; and the Son is the Father�s eternal temple. The Son has eternally �tabernacled�Ein the Father through the Spirit, and the Father as eternally tabernacled in the Son through the same Spirit.

The wonder of the incarnation is that this eternal mutual indwelling of the Father and the Son is now open to humanity. The Son who dwells in the Father, the Son in whom the Father dwells, has now taken up residence in this world, in human flesh. The Father and Son thus dwell in human flesh, so that whoever sees the Son sees the Father. And human flesh has taken up residence in the Son, and therefore in the Father. Jesus makes it clear that believers are brought into this intimate communion. He asks on behalf of those who believe �that they may be in Us�E(v. 21). Jesus became incarnate, the Son dwelt in human flesh, so that we can �pitch our tent�Ein the Father and the Son, so that the Father and Son can become our home. As John says in Revelation 21, God Almighty and the Lamb will become the temple for His people(v. 22).

THAT THEY MAY BE ONE
The visible mark of this dwelling in God is unity among the brothers. Jesus makes a comparison between the mutual dwelling of Father and Son and the unity of the disciples with one another: �that they may be one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us�E(v. 21); �that they may be one, just as We are one�E(v. 22). The unity of believers with one another is a �perichoretic�Eunity, a unity in which each of us indwells the other.

Our unity with one another is not only a picture of the unity of Father and Son. Our unity is dependent upon the unity of Father and Son. We are one with one another because we are brought into the union and fellowship of Father and Son with each other. The divine unity and love is manifested among those who by faith in Jesus dwell in the Father and Son through the Spirit.

CONCLUSION
God has opened Himself to us, and made Himself available as our home, our dwelling place. And God has called us to manifested His love and unity in the world. This means that we are called to open up ourselves to one another, to make room for others within our lives.

This has myriad implications. Husbands and wives �indwell�Eone another in a unique way. Husbands and wives are called to open up their lives and bodies to one another. Yet, too often husbands and wives (husbands especially) do not live up to this calling. Husbands instead want to reserve a private place where their wives cannot come �Ea private place to indulge their own sins, a private place to be at peace, and leave their wives dwelling in the suburbs of their lives. But husbands and wives are called to manifest the perichoretic unity of Father and Son.

One of the key reasons why we fail to manifest this unity is that other peoples�Elives are a mess. Not that our lives are tidy. But we are plenty comfortable with the clutter and junk in our own lives. Getting tangled up in someone else�s junk and clutter is distasteful. That is not a valid excuse for avoiding �mutual indwelling�Ewith Christian brothers and sisters. Jesus came to dwell in flesh, to dwell among our junk and clutter; He indwells humanity in order to save it. And we are called not only to manifest Jesus�Elove, but the mutual love of Father and Son. Keeping outside each other�s lives is simply not an option.