JESUS CAME DOWN
IAN JOHNSON www.papelim.org.nz
“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.” – 2 Corinthians 8:9 (NIV)
What does that mean, “he became poor”? It means that he gave up his honor and glory, he let go of his position, he relinquished all of the riches of heaven, in order to become one of us, in order to save us from our sins. He gave up that glory in order to become a human baby. Not even an adult. That would be humility enough, to give up the glory of heaven to become a man. But instead he became a helpless little infant.
Teresa of Calcutta has been critised alot for some of things she said, one thing she said was “Every time I wash a dying person I feel I am washing Jesus, what a privilege”
She was just taking the words of Jesus to heart, “For that which you do for the least of these, you do for me”
I am overwhelmed when I think of some of the Orphanages I have visited, There is one on the top of Thomas mount in Chennai. I watched with great Joy the expressions on the face of the Children. I watched a 60 year old Nun dance with child like abandon with the kids, I watched them hold and cuddle the little ones, and I watched the smiles of response from much loved little ones. It was the touch of love that made the difference.
Illustration: Did you know that touch is the first of your senses to develop, and continues to function even after your sight and hearing have gone? In fact, it’s so important that babies fail to grow and thrive if they never experience the touch of another human being. This was dramatically demonstrated in Eastern Europe when many of the Orphanages were uncovered after Communism fell. The children were listless and unresponsive, hadn’t developed socially or mentally.
Psychiatrists, for example, have long known that patients respond positively to having their hand held far more quickly than they do with no form of contact. Scientists still aren’t sure why the effects of touch are so beneficial to our health and well-being, But God knows, and He knew that man needed to feel His touch, that’s why he sent Jesus!
PHILIPPIANS 2:5-11 5 Your attitude should be the same that Christ Jesus had. 6 Though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God. 7 He made himself nothing;* he took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form.* 8 And in human form he obediently humbled himself even further by dying a criminal’s death on a cross. 9 Because of this, God raised him up to the heights of heaven and gave him a name that is above every other name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
When I was 17, and had never heard the Gospel, I went into a youth meeting held at a local Church in a drunken state. They turned me away, because I wasn’t fit to be seen in a Church meeting! I had a genuine heart, but my condition didn’t match a religious expectation of how I should act. But within a year Christ had taken hold of my heart and I was a Christian!
The religious stand on their high hills, and proclaim judgement against all that is sinful, but Jesus comes down!
He came down to the gutter where I was, He sought me out and tracked me down, He wanted me to experience the touch of God, the touch that would ignite the lost Child in me to grow into a man of God!
God could have exercised all his rights according to the law where I was concerned! But he came down! He took a humble position and rescued me. How grateful I am to be in His kingdom. If it was left to the religious, I might still be drunk in need of help. But Jesus knew that if I felt the touch of God I would be awakened from sin and born into a new life in Christ.
The pictures we see of Jesus are always of a clean well manicured man with perfect hair and clean feet! But the Jesus I know went to places that allowed his hands and feet to get dirty, He went to where the sinners were, to touch them, to heal them, to restore them.
The most precious place before God is down low! Not on some high and lofty hill of righteous indignation. Remembering that Ïn while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”
The master walked in a place of humility, touched lepers and bowed down to embrace Children and the lost. Jesus came down to allow me to see him. To a lost and lonely boy who had nothing in his hand, How I praise him for his love and His blessings.
There are many who don’t know this kind of Jesus, because they are too high on their hill of righteousness and self importance, they have forgotten that Jesus came down to where they were and rescued them, from sin.
Is it any wonder that the world finds it hard to follow Jesus? Often The only Jesus they are ever presented is hard, harsh and unloving. We are Jesus to the world; our actions speak louder than fifty street preachers.
Its easy to criticize the Teresa’s of this world for not being spiritual enough.
But lets consider a couple of her sayings>
"I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world."
"I have found the paradox that if I love until it hurts, then there is no hurt, but only more love."
"Intense love does not measure; it just gives"
“By blood, I am Albanian. By citizenship, an Indian. By faith, I am a Christian As to my calling, I belong to the world. As to my heart, I belong entirely to Jesus”
On a high hill perhaps we miss the humility of being down low, and indeed we miss the face of Jesus. If our efforts to reach the lost are to count for eternity we must also come down!
A couple of nights ago a young Maori man, with long hair and rough cloths came to my door at midnight, He was distressed ~ He was trying to get home to a town 30km from where I live, he was walking a bare feet and he was cold. He had been turned away from four homes before he got to me, and one couple even called the Police. He was a broken and rejected man. All he wanted from me was for me to call a taxi. But we felt that I should drive him to his home. I said to him come on I’ll take you home. He said I wont be able to pay you, Which gave me an opening to share the gospel with him. No one can pay Jesus back for what he did for us! As we were driving and I shared the Gospel with him, he said how can I not accept Jesus! No one has ever come to my rescue like this! You see Jesus saw his need and saw his pain and Jesus came down and met him where he was! By sending him to my door. You see I believe that no one comes to my door unless there is a reason. Jesus came down!
History is full of examples of God coming down and rescuing man!
Lot was trapped in Sodom, The bible said that the city “Vexed” his Spirit! God reached down and rescued him
Moses and all the Children were trapped between the Egyptian army and the Red Sea God reached down
David was running for his life, hiding in caves and desert places, but God reached down and David became a King.
The same thing every time. “God reached down” The magnitude of his blessing for mankind has increased with every generation!
In the beginning God reached down and slew an animal, (Probably a lamb) and covered Adam & Eve with their skins after the original fall. In this instance God reached down and touched individuals
Then when the Children of Israel were in Egypt and Pharaoh refused to let them go, God instructed Moses to tell each household to slay a Lamb and paint the blood on the lintels and door posts, so that the Angel of death would pass over. God reached down and saved Households. When the Children of Israel were planted in the Land and the tabernacle was erected God instructed that a Lamb be killed on behalf of the entire nation of Israel. God reached down and saved a nation. Finally John the Baptist was standing in the Jordon river and Jesus came by. John siad “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the whole world” God reached down in Jesus and the whole world came into the frame.
COLOSSIANS 1:19-23 For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, 20 and by him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of his blood on the cross. 21 This includes you who were once so far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions, 22 yet now he has brought you back as his friends. He has done this through his death on the cross in his own human body. As a result, he has brought you into the very presence of God, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. 23 But you must continue to believe this truth and stand in it firmly. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News. The Good News has been preached all over the world, and I, Paul, have been appointed by God to proclaim it.
God reached down for us at Calvary
Christ Is Supreme 15 Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before God made anything at all and is supreme over all creation.* 16 Christ is the one through whom God created everything in heaven and earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see—kings, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities. Everything has been created through him and for him. 17 He existed before everything else began, and he holds all creation together.18 Christ is the head of the church, which is his body. He is the first of all who will rise from the dead,* so he is first in everything.
And in remembering that he came down and in reflection of these scripture, all we can do is worship!!!
Shalom!
