Sermon Central
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Jesus The Man Series
Contributed by E. True Neilson on Dec 16, 2014 (message contributor)
Summary: The book of Hebrews is all about Jesus!
SIMPLY JESUS
Jesus the Man
Hebrews 2:5-18; 4:14-16
-How many of U pretended to be superheroes when U were a kid?
-At one time or another most of us have daydreamed of being that man or woman who has awesome super powers.
-When I was a kid there was a cartoon called “Super Friends”
-There was a really pretty girl in our neighborhood who was always Wonder Woman. Invisible jet. Magic lasso. Bullet proof and bracelets.
-My friend Pedro was always Batman. Cool gadgets tough fighter.
-Another kid got to be Superman, fly, laser beam eyes, breath that could freeze stuff, and bullet proof. Man of Steel.
-No one wanted to be Aqua Man, because Aqua Man was lame.
-And because I have a twin sister, we always got stuck being the Wonder Twins. Really not so wonderful.
-The girl in the wonder twins could turn into barnyard animals, and the boy could turn into things made of ice.
-So the wonder twins were basically useless.
-Kids love day dreaming about being superhuman and having amazing abilities.
-We love to speculate on what it’d be like to have godlike power!
-But have you ever considered what it might be like, for God to consider having limited power?
-Have you ever wondered what it was like for Jesus to leave the throne of heaven and take the lower form of a man?
-Why would someone who had ultimate power, even consider coming to earth in human form? What would that be like?
-No one is looking for an opportunity to have less power, but that’s exactly what Jesus did. Jesus became a man.
-That’s the topic that today’s passage will cover. (Heb 2:5-18)
Verse 5-9:
5 And furthermore, it is not angels who will control the future world we are talking about. 6 For in one place the Scriptures say,
“What are mere mortals that you should think about them, or a son of man that you should care for him? 7 Yet you made them only a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. 8 You gave them authority over all things.” Now when it says “all things,” it means nothing is left out. But we have not yet seen all things put under their authority.
-The author is building on a theme from chapter 1 where a comparison between Jesus and the angels was made.
-I won’t spend a lot of time here but you’ll notice he’s speaking about status and rank. Quoting psalm 8.
-MORTALS: FOR NOW WE ARE LOWER THAN ANGELS BUT WILL ONE DAY BE ELEVATED TO A HIGHER STATUS. Above the angels.
-He says this to make a contrast about Jesus. Look at vs 9:
9 What we do see is Jesus, who was given a position “a little lower than the angels”; and because he suffered death for us, he is now “crowned with glory and honor.”
-The end of chapter 1 is a whole section saying that Jesus is superior to the angels in every way.
-But this passage says Jesus willingly took a status that was below the angels. Who has a lower status than angels? Humans!
-LOWER THAN ANGELS: JESUS BECAME A HUMAN BEING (FOR AT TIME) BUT NOW HE HAS RETURNED TO A PLACE OF GLORY/HONOR.
-Have you ever watched that CBS show called Undercover boss?
-They get some CEO who drives a nice car, lives in fancy house, makes big bucks, and sits around in the boardroom.
-They disguise them to look like someone else, and then give that CEO one of the worst jobs in their company.
-They get to see what it’s like to be the little guy in their company.
-And at the end the bosses always use their power and influence to help the little guys get ahead.
-That’s kind of what Jesus did for us!
-Except Jesus didn’t leave the boardroom, he left the throne room in heaven. It’s the place where the angels worship him.
-It’s the place where he rules over the entire universe.
-He left that place where he rules the angels and everything else, to take on a status that’s lower than the lowliest angel.
-There is no way for us to appreciate what it must have been like for Jesus the CEO of heaven to come to earth in human form.
-The smells must have been overwhelming to him.
-Imagine the God of the universe having to go through potty training, school, and puberty!
-Imagine the first time he scraped his knee and bled.
-Imagine the first time that a neighborhood kid tried to push him around and Jesus said, “My dad really can beat up your dad.”
-Imagine the first time he saw a Roman soldier exploiting some powerless Jewish man or woman. Seeing that injustice.
