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.
-Imagine God crying for the first time.
-Jesus purposely, willingly, limited his own power, and took a status beneath the angels…but only for a time.
-Now he’s once again in his rightful place, enthroned in heaven!
-The part that really grabs me is the end of vs 9 which says:
Yes, by God’s grace, Jesus tasted death for everyone.
-It’s one thing to become a human for a while.
-It’s another thing to put some powers on the shelf for a while.
-But when Jesus entered the human race he tasted death.
-And He signed up for it. There is no death in heaven.
-God doesn’t know death personally, because death is a consequence of sin. And God has never sinned.
-When Jesus enlisted in the ranks of men, he made the choice to experience the worst of humanity’s troubles; he signed up 4 death
verses 10-14:
10 God, for whom and through whom everything was made, chose to bring many children into glory. And it was only right that he should make Jesus, through his suffering, a perfect leader, fit to bring them into their salvation.
-What’s the connection between Jesus being the perfect leader and suffering?
-Our author isn’t saying that Jesus is imperfect in any way.
-But he was somewhat imperfect in his experience.
-In his heavenly form, Jesus had never experienced human suffering. He knew suffering as a concept but not as a reality.
-And when he came to earth he had a whole new experience
-SUFFERING: HE WAS WILLING TO EXPERIENCE WHAT WE EXPERIENCE.
-His suffering made him the perfect savior for sufferings sinners like us. He came to earth and felt what we feel.
-God walked among us, allowed himself to have the full human experience. No holds barred.
-And the suffering he endured was even greater than what most people experience in this world.
-He suffered when his own family doubted him.
-He suffered when all of his friends abandoned him.
-He suffered being rejected by the people he came to save.
-He suffered when he was mocked, when he was framed in unjust and illegal trials.
-He was beaten, whipped, tortured, and crucified.
-He suffered horribly.
-He was put on display as an object of suffering for all to see.
-Why would Jesus sign up for that kind of pain and humiliation?
-Why would he come and limit himself, knowing what he’d face?
-Why would the creator allow his creation to kill him?
-Why did he even bother with the human experience?
-There is only explanation that makes any sense to me; love.
-He loves us so much, that he was willing to do anything.
-He was willing to suffer & endure pain, in order to save us.
-That’s amazing, but here’s the part that shocks me!
11 So now Jesus and the ones he makes holy have the same Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them his brothers and sisters. 12 For he said to God, (ps 22) “I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters. I will praise you among your assembled people.” 13 He also said,(Is 8) “I will put my trust in him,” that is, “I and the children God has given me.”
-When Jesus came to us as the Son of God,
IN HIS HUMAN FORM JESUS RELATED TO US IN A NEW WAY…BROTHERS AND SISTERS:
-Jesus calls us brothers/sisters. And not the black sheep bros…
-The one with all power, invites the powerless to become family.
-The King of the universe calls us brothers and sisters.
-What does that mean? “in what sense R we his brothers/sisters?”
-Jesus experienced life; we share life in common with him.
-Jesus experienced suffering we share suffering in common w/him
-Jesus came as a son and we are also God’s sons & daughters.
-But there is one thing above all else that allows him to call us B&S
14 Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood.
-Living a life in the flesh allowed him to call us family.
-There are certain things you can’t know unless you experience.
-Men will never understand what women experience in child birth
-Civilians will never understand the bond that exists between servicemen and women.
-You could never know what it’s like to lose a child, or go through divorce, or struggle with mental illness, unless you experience it.
-And when you try to comfort people and say “I know what you’re going through…they don’t believe U, unless you’ve gone thru it!”
-And Jesus has done exactly that.
-He has gone through being human; he’s had the full experience, because he came as a man.
-The one who created flesh and blood became flesh and blood.
-He became one of us. I want you to catch what this means.
-FLESH AND BLOOD: JESUS WAS 100% GOD AND 100% MAN.
-This is one of the great mysteries of the faith.
-Jesus was, at the same time, both God and man.
-There is no analogy that even comes close to explaining this.
-He wasn’t part God and part man.
-He didn’t switch back and forth between god and man.
-It wasn’t the spirit of God resting on a man called Jesus.
-Jesus is God and he took on a human form.
-If you say Jesus was just a spirit you deny the incarnation.
-If you say Jesus was just a man you deny his Lordship.
-We have to get this one right; he was all God and all man.
-That’s what the Bible teacher about Jesus.
14b For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. 15 Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying.
-As Christians we understand that death results in victory for us.
-The author says three things about Christ’s death:
-broke the power of the devil…on the cross Jesus broke the strangle hold that Satan had on the human race.
-By his death he set us free from the power of death.
-For those without Jesus death is an enemy. It’s waiting out there, and they know that same day death will come for them.
-But for us, death is a defeated enemy.
-And he adds that, through his death, Jesus took away the fear of dying. I know Christians who still struggle with this, but we don’t need to. By his death he has set us free from the devil, from death’s grasp, and from the fear of dying.
-We believe that Jesus came as a man, but he was no ordinary man. And this is the part I’ve been dying to share w/you.
Verses 16-18:
16 We also know that the Son did not come to help angels; he came to help the descendants of Abraham. 17 Therefore, it was necessary for him to be made in every respect like us, his brothers and sisters, so that he could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God. Then he could offer a sacrifice that would take away the sins of the people. 18 Since he himself has gone through suffering and testing, he is able to help us when we are being tested.
-We will get into the high priest part later in Hebrews.
IN EVERY RESPECT LIKE US: IN BODY, IN SUFFERING, IN TESTING.
-Jesus laughed and cried. He mourned and rejoiced.
-He knew triumph & tragedy; saw the beautiful & ugly side of life.
-He sweat, he bled like us. He worked under the sun, and gazed at the star-filled nights. He tasted life and death.
-And because of all that….our text says that he…
ABLE TO HELP: Knowing that Jesus appeared as a man has great
implications for us.
-People sometimes say, “What can Jesus do for me?
-HE CAN HELP BECAUSE HE KNOWS WHAT WE’VE BEEN THROUGH!
Heb 4:14 So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. 15 This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. 16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.
-I left some blanks for you to write these into your notes.
JESUS UNDERSTANDS OUR WEAKNESSES. There are times when we are so ashamed to face Jesus, because of what we’ve done.
-In our moments of weakness we’re ashamed to set foot in the church, ashamed to read the Scripture, ashamed to pray.
-In our minds we are convinced that Jesus thinks we are pathetic and disgraceful and an embarrassment to his name.
-But our passage says Jesus understands our weaknesses.
-He’s lived down here; he knows what it’s like.
-And though he never gives us a green light for sin, he understands that we’re going to struggle with it.
-He is a high priest who can understand what the common folks deal with. Because he’s lived where we live.
-And perhaps the most surprising thing about Jesus is that he
JESUS FACED THE SAME TESTING. (all of them)
-Jesus knows every kind of temptation; he faced them all.
-We know Satan tempted Jesus with power and idolatry.
-There were surely moments when he was tempted to lash out with words, to strike out with blows…he was a man.
-I’m confident he was tempted with lust, anger, gossip, cursing, retaliation, adultery, bitterness, anxiety.
-He was tempted in every way. He was tempted to be ungrateful, and to be selfish. He was tempted with the desire to control.
-He was tempted in every way. But here is what makes Jesus like no other man or woman who ever lived. Vs 15 he never sinned.
JESUS WANTS TO HELP ME. It says we can boldly approach the throne
-We don’t have to grovel. We don’t have to avert our eyes.
-We can come before him with confidence, knowing that our God, has faced everything we faced…and he never blinked.
-He was strong enough to face temptation and never sin.
-He was strong enough to face death and not flee from it.
-And now is able to help us sin and death…and to triumph w/him!
Hebrews 2:10 God, for whom and through whom everything was made, chose to bring many children into glory. And it was only right that he should make Jesus, through his suffering, a perfect leader, fit to bring them into their salvation.
