Introduction: My family often enjoyed visits to the boyhood home of George Washington Carver, just 15 minutes outside of Joplin in Diamond, MO. There’s a beautiful national memorial park there, and Carrie and I had gone there one late afternoon for a visit. As it turned out, there was a special event happening that evening. We sat down on a bench, disappointed that we wouldn’t be able to go inside the visitors center that day. A nicely-dressed gentleman came over and spoke to us. We told him how we had often come to the park, but that tonight we’d be unable to go in because of the event going on. Only members were allowed in. The man said, “How would you like to attend?” “We aren’t dressed up.” “Don’t worry about it. You’ll be my guests. Come with me.” On the way in, he told the people at the door, “They’re with me.” We went in, had some refreshments, and had a seat. A few people spoke about the park, but the main speaker of the evening was a historian and professor who had written about Carver and who was going to speak about him. Up stepped our host, the man who had brought us inside. That night we went from being uninformed nobodies who were shut out to special guests of the main speaker! We didn’t get in because of what we knew or what we had done. It was because of who we knew!
All we needed was someone as our go-between. That’s the 4th baby picture of Jesus that we’re looking into today – the view of Jesus as a Go-between, a mediator – we might call such a person the arbitrator, or umpire, or the middleman. We’ve considered the picture of Him as a snake handler, the rock, and the Lion and Lamb. Today, we’re looking at Jesus the go-between. He meets our need for a mediator with God.
The carpet outlet store tells me to buy direct from them – they’ll eliminate the middleman and save me money. Buy direct! Who needs a middle man?
That’s fine when it comes to buying carpet, or a car, or dog food, but what about when it comes to my relationship with God? Do I need a go-between or not? Well, it turns out…
We Need a Mediator with God
How many of you have ever met in-person someone famous?
If you want to get an autograph from one members of the Chicago Cubs, you have to know someone.
If you want to get backstage at a Wynton Marsallis concert, you have to know someone.
If you want to get in to see the President of the United States, you have to know someone.
Why? Because they’re out of our reach. They’re too important. They’re too famous.
So when I talk about approaching God, it’s not too wild to think I might need some help? We need a mediator…
1. Because God is beyond us
If God seems far off, it’s because He is!! And He’s not just far off, He’s also very close up, and He’s more than we can take, or understand.
Israel got a taste of this once God began to speak with them directly…
Deuteronomy 5:24-27
"The LORD our God has shown us his glory and his majesty, and we have heard his voice from the fire. Today we have seen that a man can live even if God speaks with him. But now, why should we die? This great fire will consume us, and we will die if we hear the voice of the LORD our God any longer. For what mortal man has ever heard the voice of the living God speaking out of fire, as we have, and survived? Go near and listen to all that the LORD our God says. Then tell us whatever the LORD our God tells you. We will listen and obey."
“Go on, Moses, you talk with God and then talk to us. We think it would be good if someone could go between, kind of soften the blow of dealing directly with God.”
The word we’re looking for here is…
Transcendence – “to climb over, to go beyond”
God is “transcendent,” beyond creation. He’s completely holy and powerful in a way that is far beyond us. It’s the reason Paul describes Him as the One “Who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light.” It’s the reason that Isaiah falls down before Him and says, “I am undone!” It’s the reason that in Revelation the creatures around His throne in Heaven cry out “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty!”
I’m pretty sure God realizes all this about Himself. He’s the One Who’s told us about it!
Isaiah 66:1-2
Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be? Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?"
How do you relate to a God like that? – you can’t have Him over for dinner or a sleepover!
How do you speak to a God like that? – You don’t just call Him up! What’s His phone #? His Email address? Have you tried to friend Him on Facebook?
How do you tell someone else about the great Being One Who always was, but Whose greatness extends into a dimension that we can’t even understand or explain?
Here’s a way to try to visualize where we’re at in this…
Ill – Imagine you’re a fish in a fishbowl. You know the other fish in the bowl. You’re familiar with your surroundings. You understand a lot about them. You’re also aware that there’s a world outside of your world. You see it, though it’s fuzzy. You can’t go there, because you wouldn’t be able to breath. You once experienced just how different it felt when you accidentally jumped out and had to be picked up off the floor. You know there’s another who is different from you. You know that he has something to do with the food that you eat. You fear him, because you know him to be much bigger and more powerful than you are. You know that he’s mobile and he controls your whole environment.
How do you, the fish in the bowl, get close to someone so distinct from your kind and your world?
How do you communicate to him? He certainly can’t get into the fishbowl with you.
What could you tell your fish friends about the Other One, except for some of your guesses about what He’s like?
Now, add to that a certain level of fear and uncertainty about the Other One, and I think we can begin to relate a just a bit to Job. (that’s where we’re looking today).
Job felt this distance. His struggle was even harder, because God had allowed Satan to hurt Job – to take away all his possessions, and to kill his children, and to ruin his health. It all seemed so senseless to him. He thought that God had caused those things to happen, one right after the other. He wanted an explanation – a hearing. So, who would plead his case before God?
Job 9:32-35
He is not a man like me that I might answer him, that we might confront each other in court. If only there were someone to arbitrate between us, to lay his hand upon us both, someone to remove God's rod from me, so that his terror would frighten me no more. Then I would speak up without fear of him, but as it now stands with me, I cannot.
Job realized the Creator just doesn’t fit in the same “fishbowl” with the creature. We need someone to connect us with God, just because God is transcendent.
Now, if you’ll look around you this week, you’ll see that many of your friends have figured out just this much about God, and then stopped. For them, He’s the “divine fishbowl owner” – you can’t really know Him, but we can all guess about Him, so one person’s guess is as good as another’s. Still, when it’s all said and done, He’ll be outside the fishbowl, outside our grasp, and we’ll always relate in this watery, distorted, unenlightened way. Occasionally, someone will come along who seems to have “the connection.” They’ll write a book or start a cult. Every now and then you’ll hear of a group of people who run off and sell all they have because they thought they found someone who could connect them with God.
They’re all real world reminders that God really is beyond us, and people do feel it. We really do need a mediator. But there’s another reason besides just a feeling that we need a go-between:
We also need a mediator…
2. Because there has been some kind of a rift
Mediators are called in to settle disputes. Usually there’s been some kind of disagreement or someone has been wronged, like in man’s relationship with God. There’s a rift, and we created it.
We created it when we choose to be friends with the world, because friendship with the world is hatred toward God. “Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.” James 4:4
We created it when we chose a sinful mind, because “the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so.” Romans 8:7
We created it when we chose evil behavior over good. “you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.” Colossians 1:21
Romans 5:10 says we were enemies of God
We created that rift. It wasn’t God. The earliest sad note in the Bible is when God comes walking to have fellowship with Adam and Eve and they’re hiding, and God calls out “Where are you?”
So Job feels distanced from God, even though he doesn’t understand why. His friends just tell him he’s hiding a secret sin, or else his life wouldn’t be so bad. Then, in Job 33, a younger man, Elihu, speaks up. I doubt he knew he was speaking about the role Jesus would take on our behalf…
Job 33:22-28
“[A man’s] soul draws near to the pit, and his life to the messengers of death. Yet if there is an angel on his side as a mediator, one out of a thousand, to tell a man what is right for him, to be gracious to him and say, 'Spare him from going down to the pit; I have found a ransom for him'-- then his flesh is renewed like a child's; it is restored as in the days of his youth. He prays to God and finds favor with him, he sees God's face and shouts for joy; he is restored by God to his righteous state. Then he comes to men and says, 'I sinned, and perverted what was right, but I did not get what I deserved. He redeemed my soul from going down to the pit, and I will live to enjoy the light.’”
That’s a great description of what Jesus does for us! We can see that clearly now, but do you notice that people long ago see the same need too? We need a mediator with God.
Look around you and you’ll see we’re in a generation of people today who feel this distance. Maybe there’s a lot they don’t understand about it, but they realize they need a go-between to make the connection with God.
How about you? Do you accept that?
This is the great message of Christmas! This is why you need to invite your neighbors to CCC this month! This is why Jesus came to earth. This is why God saw it was necessary to come to earth in the form of His Son and live among us. This is why He had to empty Himself and take on the form of man. If we don’t need a mediator, then someone should explain to God that He made a big mistake and really didn’t need to go through all the trouble!
We need a mediator. But we need more than a mediator. …
We Need the Right Mediator with God
We need to be sure we have this right! Not just anyone will do.
To believe this, just hire a lousy attorney when you really needed a good one, or a bad real estate agent, when you really needed a good one. Not just anyone will do!
(1. The world has tried to provide one)
The world has created substitutes and made attempts to connect us with God. They’re called religion. Religion is basically man’s attempt to please, appease or somehow win God’s favor.
They’re all failed attempts to access God or to undo the feeling of separation we have with Him.
There was a way that God provided, but it had major limitations. It was the OT priesthood.
(2. The Old Testament priesthood somewhat provided one)
Here was a way from God – a chance for His people to “connect” with Him. Only it was limited to just Israel, and only the tribe of Levi could serve as priests, and only Aaron’s sons could serve as high priests. And in the middle of all the ceremony and sacrifices and ritual, there was still this thick veil that closed off the most holy place in the temple so that no one could even look in to God’s presence, let alone go in, except for one particular priest, on one day of the year. That’s as close as you got to God.
And the whole thing depended on imperfect men to come before God on everyone’s behalf. Yes, God kept contact with His people. Yes, they could know about Him. But it still was lacking for getting close to the Father.
Hebrews 7:19 (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God.
We need more than just “a mediator.”
Any Mediator that’s man-made, even one that’s God-selected but that still depends on man, is going to fall short when it comes to connecting with God.
Remember being a fish in the fishbowl? What if one of your fellow fish volunteered to become the connection for you? That sounds good, but it can’t work! He still has the same limitations you have! How can someone who’s very much like you, with all your limitations, have a better connection with the One you’re trying to reach?
We need the right Mediator, not just some mediator. We need the One who will be able to connect us with God. That brings us to the good part…
There is One Mediator With God
This baby picture of Jesus in Job really is more of a blank space in the baby book. The OT doesn’t show us the Mediator as much as it opens our eyes to this vacuum – this great need - and then points to the One Who’s coming to do just that.
1 Timothy 2:5
For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
Isn’t that good news? Jesus is the One Who meets our need for a go-between!
Now, in a secular setting, a mediator is someone who represents both parties, and who basically gets in the middle and tries to work out an agreement – that’s a dangerous place to be if it’s between the Hatfields and McCoys.
Jesus is like a human mediator in these ways, but His work is so much greater! He’s not just a mediator. He’s the “Great Mediator” Who meets our great need!
Here’s what that means…
1. Doesn’t just work in the middle, but gets between us and God’s wrath
Really, the argument is already settled. We’ve deliberately sinned, we deserve to be punished, and here it comes. But now our Mediator isn’t just a go-between to work out an agreement. He steps between us and the punishment that’s coming and takes the hit Himself. He’s like the secret serviceman who throws himself in front of a bullet so the President won’t be shot.
2. Doesn’t remain neutral, but rather works with us as our advocate, our intercessor, our lawyer; He does the work of getting us off the hook and then of continually helping us live better too– all to make us acceptable to the Father. Jesus said,
John 16:26-27
In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.
3. Has a closeness with the Father – has entered His presence ahead of us, on our behalf
Hebrews 6:19-20
We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever,
Hebrews 9:24b
… he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God's presence.
We wouldn’t just barge into the Oval Office. But if we knew someone on the inside, and if that someone was there already and told us to meet Him there, we’d probably go on in with confidence.
Conclusion:
There is a way to picture this work of Jesus. Many of you are familiar with it. It’s called The Bridge. What’s neat about it is that it’s a quick and easy way to share with most anyone what Jesus has done. So, you might want to copy this down just as a great way to share with anyone what Christmas is really all about.
It starts with the fact that God is transcendent, and most everyone realizes they want to be close to Him. But we have created a rift – a chasm that separates us from Him by our sin.
And the Bible says the result of that sin will be death…spiritual death. Man has tried to find ways to cross the chasm – but none of them are enough. We need something to bridge the gap. That’s what Jesus did on the cross. He put Himself in between and made it possible for us to get close to God, and to life that will last forever.
Now, what remains is for you to walk on over. We’ll ask you who haven’t made that choice yet to do that in a short time. Because, until you decide to move, you’re still where you were before.
(Lord’s Supper Transition)
This work of mediating for people who don’t deserve it is filled with pain and hazards. That’s how an instrument of death and torture became a sign of victory for the Church. We are those who have learned that the cross is our only way to God. For us, the cross is the bridge that takes us from death to life. It’s a reminder of great love and victory. And it’s an empty cross, because while Jesus most certainly died, He didn’t remain dead.
The bread and cup of the Lord’s Supper are also filled with meaning for us. Jesus gave us this time to remember Him and to strengthen our personal commitment to Him. Please share this special reminder with us if you love Jesus and wish to join us to honor Him.
Fix your mind’s eye on a hill called Calvary this morning. There are 3 crosses there. 3 men are dying there, paying for crimes. 2 of them are receiving the just punishment for what they did.
The one paying for any crime but His own is Jesus. He’s the man in the middle.
