Christ, the Man
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When I was in college, one of my classmates my freshman year was guy who was a bit misguided in his approach to the things of the Lord, the Scriptures, and to his fellow classmates. He was a bit of a jokester, which often provided needed levity in a long semester with deadlines and the like, but sometimes his jokes would stray into territory that can probably be best classified as sacrilegious.
One of his favorite movies was Telladega Nights, and he would literally (albeit jokingly) model his prayers after the main character’s prayer. “Dear sweet baby Jesus, please do this or do that”
And that is how my classmate prayed. Again. As a joke, to be funny, but it’s what he did.
Now, I have to say that I have not seen that movie and so I by no means want this to serve as an endorsement for the film. I have seen the clip of the prayer on YouTube, and the main character, Rickey Bobby, is challenged on the point of praying to baby Jesus, since he did in fact grow up to be a man. Rickey’s response? You can pray to any version of Jesus you want. Baby Jesus, teenage Jesus, bearded Jesus, whoever you want. “I like Christmas Jesus the best.”
As the scene unfolds the rest of the characters begin chiming in about how they picture Jesus. One character named Cal pictures him in a tuxedo t-shirt, because that communicates some level of formality, but that he also likes to party, and since Cal likes to party, he pictures Jesus doing the same.
Ricky’s son likes to picture Jesus as a ninja fighting evil Samurai, and so on it goes.
Eventually the main character resumes his prayer to, and I quote, “8lb 6oz newborn infant Jesus.”
What were each of those character doing?
They were making Jesus in their own image.
They were ignoring what God has said about Jesus the Christ in His Word and were instead crafting their own version of Jesus to suit themselves and fit whatever their current lifestyle or preference is.
You might say but Pastor Kenn, its just a movie. They aren’t real.
And I agree. But what was played off for laughs in the movie reveals something significant about how we tend to operate in ourselves. We all tend to craft an image of Jesus in our minds and let that shape how we view him and interact with him, rather than allow the revealed Word inform us about the incarnate Word.
How many of you have ever taken a Meyers Briggs personality test or something similar to it?
These tests ask you questions about yourself and based on your answer it gives you your personality type. Are you introverted or extroverted, are you more
I came across an interesting experiment where a group of individuals was given the personality test.
But instead of instructing them to fill it our for themselves, they were to fill it out based on how they believed Jesus would answer the questions.
The results for that group were all over the place.
Again. This reveals the dangers of seeking to craft an image of Christ in our own minds and projecting that out. This is one the fundamental dangers of things like the TV show, the Chosen, aside from the fact that it has close LDS connections and is influenced by the book of Mormon. They are creating an image of Jesus and storylines around his life that are projections of human imagination, and not what God was pleased to reveal.
There is inherent danger in this.
Does this mean what we cannot know anything about what Jesus was actually like?
Of course it doesn’t. God’s word gives us so much about Jesus, as we have seen walking through the book the Mark!
The reality is that Jesus Christ really did come in the flesh!
He had a childhood! He live and grew!
And all of that is important both theologically and practically for our lives.
As silly as it is to think of praying to little baby Jesus, the fact that Jesus was once a little baby is unimaginably significant.
Though we must be on guard against making Jesus to be in our own image, we can and we should revel in the fact that Jesus really was a real human being who walked on the face of the earth, and he is knowable!
Today’s sermon is a little different from our usual exposition walk through a passage. I’m going to bouncing around a bit today.
Today I want us to consider the importance of the humanity of Christ. We affirm the deity of Christ and all the weight of what that means, but today the focus is on the humanity.
Of course, from a theological standpoint, we all should be able to agree with the statement that Jesus Christ is true divine, and truly human. Both these natures are present in the Lord Jesus Christ.
But what does that mean for us? Why does that matter?
In today’s age, we don’t really face opposition to the concept of the humanity of Christ. Most heretical groups in today’s world would question the deity of Christ rather than his humanity. Even most pagans and atheists are willing to acknowledge the historical reality that a person named Jesus walked the face of the earth 2000 years ago. But they would abjectly deny His deity.
Consequently, we often must fight to demonstrate Christ’s deity rather than His humanity, and yet in the history of the Church there were many historical battles fought to demonstrate and defend His true humanity.
I won’t bore you with all the details of the names of these ancient heresies, and many of these errors sprung up from men who were wrestling with how it could be that God could take on human flesh and trying to reconcile that truth with their existing worldview.
Some believed the the physical world is inherently evil, so God could not, would not, take on a genuine physical body because that would be take on evil.
Some were afraid that emphasizing the humanity of Christ too much might lead us to discount the divinity of Christ, so in order to protect his divinity, they proposed that Jesus’ human nature was absorbed by the divine nature, and thus even though Jesus really was born as a human, that nature eventually takes a complete back seat to the divine. They sought to protect Christ’s divinity.
But in the process, they were surrendering one of the most important truths about who Jesus Christ really is! In order to protect the divinity of Christ they inadvertently surrender something that is so core to the Gospel that it could be argued they were surrendering the Gospel itself!
Why is the humanity of Jesus so important?
It really comes down to this: If Christ was not truly human, you are still in your sins.
But first, let’s consider the reality of the humanity of Christ. What is the evidence that Jesus Christ really did come in the flesh? How do we know he was truly human?
The Reality of the Humanity
The Reality of the Humanity
First, he was physically born. That is, of course, what we remember and celebrate with the Christmas season, and rightfully so! Jesus Christ was born!
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
The first part of the apostles creed as it speaks of Jesus Christ, his only son, our Lord, He conceived of the holy spirit, born of the virgin Mary.
We could read of the birth narrative in Matthew and in Luke. His conception was unique in that he was conceived of the Holy Spirit, but He had a normal gestational period. He was physically born, and had a childhood, adolescent, and young adult life stages.
Further evidence of his humanity is seen in that he experienced many of the same things that we experience. We see him grow tired and have a need for sleep. We see him get hungry and thirsty and thus seek out food and drink.
We see him experience pain as he goes to the cross. And he physically dies.
All this and more, is evidence of the true humanity of Christ.
Later NT authors also accepted Jesus as being truly human. For example, Paul wrote to the Romans,
Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,
which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures,
concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh
These are all details that we may take for granted. I want to appeal to you today not to take them for granted, but to see the significance of them.
The apostle John wrote this in his first epistle:
By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,
and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.
The context John is calling the church to be discerning. Not everyone who says he is from God actually is! Not every teaching that claims to be biblical actually is. You all have a responsibility to check what any teacher is saying and make sure it is from the Word, and that includes me!
One test that you can give someone who claims to be speaking for God is to find out what they believe about Jesus Christ, and if someone denies the reality of humanity of Christ, that is, that Christ has come in the flesh, they are not of God! This is the spirit of the antichrist!
John reiterates this point in his next letter
For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist.
Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.
John places salvific weight on this doctrine. It cannot be over stated.
Why? Why is it so important?
Theological Necessity of the Humanity
Theological Necessity of the Humanity
From a theological standpoint, the reality of Christ’ humanity is not just a fact of history, but it is a theological necessity.
First, consider that the one who was to die for us, must have been like us.
consider this...
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,
to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
Christ had to be true humanity so that it could be rightly said of Him that he was born under the law, just as we were born under the law.
Only a human being can be under the Law, because it was to humanity that God gave the Law, and Paul says in Romans that all are under the Law, even those who are not Jews, because God has given them consciences.
It could not be that a Being who was never subject to the law of God could redeem a humanity under the law.
Here’s why. We need a perfect sacrifice. We need someone who has been subject to the same law, and yet without sin.
It would make no sense to speak of someone from another country as innocent of breaking our laws. It might be true enough, but its somewhat meaningless because they were never subject to our laws. They couldn’t keep our laws because they were not under our laws.
Jesus was born under the law so that he might live that perfect life under the law and thus be our perfect substitute.
It was necessary for him to be human so that he could fulfill the law as a human.
It was necessary for him to be human so that he could be a genuine substitute.
Why is it that we are not sacrificing animals all the time?
We can rightly respond, well, Jesus is our substitute.
But why couldn’t it just be animals? Why did Jesus have to become human and die?
Can you imagine if a crime was committed and the guilty man was sentenced to 5 years in jail, and someone else stood up and said “Judge, I want you to let this many go, because I have arranged for someone else to sit in the jail cell on his behalf. That alone would be surprising, but then the man brings in a goat. Here. This animal shall serve in the place of the guilty man in jail.
This is absurd, is it not??
That goat didn’t commit the crime. It may be “innocent” enough, but that is because that goat cannot even act volitionally, but is merely a creature of instinct.
The sacrificial system of the OT was never intended to be genuine sin-removal ritual. It was intended to picture something. It was intended to remind the people of their own sinfulness. It was intended to point them forward to the hope of the Messiah who would one day redeem them.
Consider Hebrews 10.
For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near.
Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins?
But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.
A bull or a goat or a ram can never take away our sin because it is an imperfect substitute. They aren’t human.
We need a perfect human, born under the law, to be our substitute to take away our sins.
Without the humanity of Christ, there would be no substitution sacrifice, there would be not forgiveness of sins, there would be not redemption! We would still be in our sins.
But as it is, Jesus is truly human and thus he was our pefect sacrifice.
But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God,
waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet.
For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
I hope this is not just theological dribble for you. I hope you see and glory in the significance of this. It is good and right to celebrate the incarnation of Christ because without it, there is no hope.
Not only do we get the theological benefit of Christ’s humanity, but there are many practical benefits as well.
Practical Benefits of the Humanity
Practical Benefits of the Humanity
First and foremost is our very salvation. We have talked through that already.
But there is more!
Consider the intercessory and mediatorial work of Christ.
Going back to Heb 2, we find these words
But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
Skipping down to verse 14
Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil,
and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.
For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham.
Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.
For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
Do you understand what that means?
Jesus had to be human so that he could be our perfect high priest.
What does a priest do? He is the go-between God and the people. He brings the prayers, requests, and worship of the people to the Lord, and likewise distributes God’s blessing to the people.
Jesus does that for us and he can only do so because of his humanity.
This is something Paul emphasized in 1 Tim 2:5
For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
Think about what this means for you!
When you are tempted by sin and your flesh to rebel against the Lord and you cry out to him to for strength to do what is right, you can have confidence that that prayer has been heard because Jesus Christ came as a human being!
When you lift up your voice to the Lord and make a request to Him to give you aid for whatever trial or tribulation you are experiencing, you can have confidence that your prayer has been heard because of this blessed truth that Jesus is both truly human and truly divine!
This is the application that the writer of Hebrews draws in chapter 4:
Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Jesus knows what you are going through! He know what it is like to be tempted and tried. He knows what it’s like to find his strength from the Spirit and the Father.
All of that is true because of the true humanity of Christ!
The author of Hebrews takes great delight in the high preistly work of Christ. He returns to the theme at various points throughout the book, and we don’t have time to visit them all.
One final passage, and I’ll take us back to chapter 10.
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus,
by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh,
and since we have a great priest over the house of God,
let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
Your access to the Father is dependent upon the high priestly work of Christ. The high priestly work of Christ is possible because of this blessed truth that He was truly human.
Jesus said. I am the way, truth, and the life. No one comes to the father but through me.
Christmas is only one week and s day away. As you go about your lives this holiday season, next time you see a nativity scene and think of sweet baby Jesus, pray and thank the Lord for the incarnation.
Thank Him for the perfect substitute. Thank him for his high priestly work.
Thank him, and do so knowing that you can only do so with confidence that he hears because Jesus was truly human.
Let’s pray.