Becoming Us

Good morning! Welcome to the Vineyard. If this is your first time, my name is Kevin and I’m the pastor here. Our vision at the Vineyard is simple - we want to embody Jesus to our neighbors. This happens by growing in three ways, through what we call our pillars.

First, is Presence. We want everyone to experience the presence of God. This is what transforms us to love him and others. God’s presence is where we become fully alive. We want you to know the Father.

Then, Formation. God doesn’t just love us; he is forming us to be his people who can carry his life and love to those around us. Formation is where we learn to embody the Jesus way of life. We want you to imitate the Son.

Finally, Mission. Being on mission is how we join God in the work he is doing to bring his reconciliation, justice, and mercy to earth. This is how he is bringing healing and renewal to the world. We want you to partner with the Spirit.

Presence. Formation. Mission. Be thinking about your next step. Where is God calling you to go deeper with him?

Pray...

Intro

During the Super Bowl a group led by Hobby Lobby CEO purchased two spots for their ad campaign “He gets us”. Did you see them? What did you think? IDK if this was a good use of money, but at least they didn’t make me cringe.

The point of the ads are to show that Jesus in understanding. That he “gets us”. I do think they are onto an important message, because unfortunately many people have been led to believe that God is some distant, angry deity that is unpleaseable and unapproachable. That because of our inherent “badness” he keeps his distance from us.

The big question before us on this first Sunday of Lent is, “Just how close will God get to us?”

He gets us. But I think there is much more to it. This morning the our title is Becoming Us, and the good news we need to hear is that In Christ God doesn’t merely get us, he becomes us.

Read Romans 5:12-19.

The spread of death

Paul begins with a reference to Genesis 3, the story of how literally everything went wrong. Satan, preying on our first parents gullibility, convince them to reach out and take self-rule for themselves. To be the ones, and not God, to decide what is right and wrong.

And the results were disastrous, not just for Adam and Eve, but for the whole human race. The Bible shows us that Adam was in a sense the representative head of humanity. We are connected to him, and therefore his sin becomes ours. A good analogy would be to think about human genetics. Parents pass on their genes to their children - both good and bad. Adam passed on his sin nature.

And the real problem is not just that we inherit a sin nature like that of our father Adam, but the result of sin, which is death. I’ve harped on this so much, but I’ll say it again - sin carries it’s own death consequence. To partner with sin is to partner with death. But let me tell you that you were not made for death. You were made for life with God. And as we’re going to see, God’s response to our sin is not to shrink back from us as if we are now loathsome to him. Instead, he does something radically different.

The free gift

Paul talks about a “free gift”. This is his shorthand way of referring to the eternal life that has been purchased for us by Jesus. It is all Jesus has done to rescue us from this death penalty of sin. At the cross we see Jesus take the full death consequence for the sin of all people so that we may be free. Those who put their trust in Jesus no longer live under this consequence of sin and death.

But it is “how” Jesus does all this that I want to focus on. Jesus the eternal Son of God has achieved all of this, not by distancing from us, but by joining himself to us in the closest possible way. He became one of us. As the apostle John wrote, John 1:14 “And the Word [his word for Jesus] became flesh and lived among us.” The remedy to our problem of death is not something God pursued at a distance. He eternally joined himself with humanity, remaining fully God but also becoming fully man.

Becoming man, Christ has fully entered in to our broken condition. The gospel passage for today, which we don’t have time to read, is the temptation of Christ. Here the devil tempts him with power, with pleasure, and to act independently of God - just like our first parents. The point of the temptation narrative is to show us that Jesus has been tempted in all the ways that are common to us, though he never gave in. And like us, he has faced hate, rejection, discrimination, abandonment, and others lying about him. He will identify with us all the way - even to experiencing a death like ours.

A tale of two Adams

Any Star Wars nerds among us? The first two trilogies of the series could be described as the tale of two Skywalkers. The first, Anakin, born to the privilege and the power of the Jedi, turns to the dark side and galactic suffering and death ensues. But the effects of the first Skywalker is redeemed by the deeds of the second Skywalker, Luke. Unlike his father, Luke remains faithful to the Force, and as a result he defeats the enemies of the dark side and restores order and life to the galaxy.

In a limited way, this is how Paul describes the work of Jesus. The first Adam listened to Satan, and brought sin and death to all people; the second Adam, Jesus, resisted Satan and by his victory at the cross restored life and light. What does this mean for us?

In becoming us he has redeemed every part of us. Jesus isn’t only saving our souls, he is saving our body, our mind, our emotions. He is redeeming our past and our future. He takes all of us into himself so that he may save all of us. The 4th century church father, Athanasius, wrote, "He became what we are that we might become what he is".

In becoming us we become who were were always meant to be. We are just saved from something, but we are saved to the destiny God has in mind for us from the very beginning - life with him as his representative rulers of creation. In Jesus we are restored to our original vocation. We are restored to each other. And we are restored to ourselves. In Jesus we find who we are meant to be.  Through him becoming us is how we become ourselves again.

I’d like to invite you this morning to enter into a relationship with God through Jesus if you never have. While just saying the words to a prayer won’t save you, they can help you articulate the desire and faith in your heart. I’d like to read a prayer to you that Julie sent me that expresses this desire to have life with God.

Our Father in heaven, I want to know you. I want to live an awakened life. I confess I have sinned. I have failed myself, others, and you in so many ways. I know you made me for a purpose and I want to fulfill that purpose with my one life. I want to follow Jesus Christ. Jesus, thank you for the gift of your life and death and resurrection and ascension on my behalf. I want to walk in relationship with you as Savior and Lord. Would you lead me into the fullness and newness of life I was made for? I am ready to follow you. Come, Holy Spirit, and fill me with the love, power, and purposes of God. I pray these things by faith in the name of Jesus, amen.

If you prayed that today I’d like you to take the next step and let us know. You can see me after the service, or go to the link on the screen (next steps slide).

In becoming us we see God come near. He is not an aloof, unpleasable deity. He is not “out there” separate and distant. He is not a God who distances himself from our sin, but pursues us, putting himself in our path over and over out of his great love for us, out of his desire to be reconciled to us. So how near will God get to us? Close enough to touch. Amen.