The Greater Work of Christ’s Humanity

INTRODUCTION

Dismiss 1st—5th Graders

Turn to Hebrews 2

Hebrews Devotion Guides

This morning, as we continue in the letter to the Hebrews, we’ve just received the first warning from the author—do not drift away from the gospel.

Now, beginning in verse 5…

>>READ SCRIPTURE<<

>>PRAY<<

On July 20, 1969, an elder at the Webster Presbyterian Church in Houston, TX, prepared the elements and scripture to administer the Lord’s Supper. He carefully poured the Communion wine into a silver chalice, took out the bread, and invited everyone listening over the radio signal to participate with him. You see, this was no ordinary Lord’s Supper. This was astronaut Buzz Aldrin sitting in his lunar module celebrating the very first Lord’s Supper conducted on the moon.

The two passages that Buzz Aldrin chose to read from were John 15 and Psalm 8. Think about this—he is sitting on the moon and looking out, he can see planet earth. He was captivated by the grandeur of God’s creation and, in a moment when he—and probably every one of us—would have been tempted to think that he was small and insignificant—he was, rather, reminded of how near God was to him and how significant he really was in the heart of God.

(Source: https://premierchristian.news/en/news/article/the-bible-verse-read-on-the-moon-as-buzz aldrin-took-communion)

In Hebrews 2:5-9, the author of Hebrews is continuing to argue the superiority and greatness of Jesus…and, here, he quotes Psalm 8 to show us how we, as mankind, fit into the picture of the supremacy of Christ.

Psalm 8 is a worship song. It was intended to be sung as a song of adoration and praise to God’s majestic name and his work of creation—specifically his creation of mankind and the PURPOSE God gave them.

So, why is the author of Hebrews quoting the eighth Psalm?

He is continuing to argue for Jesus’s supremacy over all things—even angels. He’s saying that this Jesus is superior to angels in that he has accomplished the GREATER WORK of God—to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves—to lift us up from the fall and rescue us.

Main Idea

By taking on humanity, Christ restores God's design for humanity.

God's original design for humanity (vs. 5-8a).

Psalm 8 asks a powerful question that I think is more relevant today than it’s ever been in human history—“What is man…?”

One of the core questions of a worldview— “who am I?” and the question that lies under the surface of just about every societal issue we’re facing today. What does it mean to be human?

You may be struggling—thinking that your life is insignificant…thinking that you don’t have a purpose…thinking that your life doesn’t have much value—or that you’ve been abandoned/forgotten by God.

You may also be here and you’ve swallowed the lie of our culture hook, line, and sinker—that the two most important things of what it means to be human is self-discovery and self-love.

The Bible as a whole, and this text, specifically, pushes back against this worldview.

The Bible answers the question, “What is man?”—mankind is created in God’s image with infinite value and worth, created to be loved and known by God, and for a purpose.

Genesis 1:26–28 (ESV)

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

So God created man in his own image,

in the image of God he created him;

male and female he created them.

And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

We were made for a relationship with our Creator.

(vs. 6) “you are mindful of him”

“you care for him”

Intimately known by our creator. God’s original design for mankind (Adam & Eve)

We have value given to us by our Creator.

(vs. 7)

God set humanity apart from the rest of creation // “Blessed”

We have purpose given to us by our Creator.

(vs. 8a)

God’s intended purpose— have dominion…rule and reign over all of creation—even angels, themselves.

A failure to have a biblical view of humanity—made for a relationship (loved), value given to us by our Creator (image), and a purpose—humanity is just insignificant.

And, sadly, this is what the reality of this world seems to be…I mean, we look around and it doesn’t look like humanity is living with dignity…glory and honor. We don’t seem to have dominion over creation. It looks like creation/nature has dominion over US!

And this is the problem the author addresses in verse 8.

Sin's corruption of God's design (vs. 8b).

At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him.

We do not yet see paradise. We don’t see a world, yet, that is under subjection to the children of God. We see a world that is under a curse.

I was talking with Will Moore—one of our church members—and it’s mind boggling to me that 3-4 weeks ago his house was miraculously spared from a tornado and then this past week he got, like, 5 inches of snow.

We do not yet see paradise. We do not yet see a world without sin and evil.

As beings made in the image of God, God’s design is that we “image” him // reflect him. And we don’t see that, do we? We murder. We hate. We lie. We slander. We lust. We commit adultery. We don’t image God well at all. It’s like a Image of God is marred—not destroyed—defaced.

And the greatest thing that we do not yet see in subjection to us is death.

And, so, we’re brought to this crossroads of what might look like a contradiction. We see the bible say that we are “crowned with glory and honor” and that God has “put everything under our feet” and, yet, on the other hand we see curse. We’re told there’s glory and subjection and dominion but what we see is curse and death. WE don’t yet see everything in subjection.

And that’s when the author of Hebrews lifts our eyes—he says, “here’s what we DO SEE—Jesus.” Gaze upon Jesus. Turn your eyes upon Jesus.

Jesus's restoration of God's design (vs. 9).

The incarnation—God stepped down and stepped into our broken humanity. He suffered the death of the curse.

John writes, in John 1, that…

English Standard Version Chapter 1

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God.

English Standard Version Chapter 1

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.

JESUS RESTORES OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD

The Son of God had to come, take humanity on himself, be our representative—living sinlessly and paying the penalty for our sin—DEATH—so that God’s wrath against sin would be satisfied and, through him, we could have access to a relationship with God again.

JESUS RESTORES OUR IMAGE OF GOD

Back to Hebrews 1:3

Hebrews 1:3 ESV

He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature…

A few weeks ago, in the first sermon from Hebrews, I quoted a theologian from early church history—Athanasius. Well, this morning, I want to come back to him.

Athanasius had a lovely image to help us get how Christ is the image of God and how He restored the image of God in humanity. He said, "Adam was like a beautiful portrait painting. On him, the image of God was drawn.” And what happened at the fall was that the portrait was utterly wrecked. Adam was no longer anything like God. He'd become vicious, selfish, horribly unholy. And so the image, the painting was ruined. So, how could this precious portrait be restored? And the problem was, there was nobody who knew what the portrait had once looked like. They couldn't restore it. To restore it, you had to know God. You had to know what He's like. Otherwise, you could never know what the image of God should look like. There was only one hope. The original subject of the portrait had to come and have His likeness redrawn on the canvas of humanity. Only the One whose likeness was originally drawn on Adam could restore and renew it. And so, the image of God Himself came. He took humanity to renew His image in it. He came and showed us the image of God in the flesh. And in Christ alone could humanity be restored from what Athanasius called all this "dehumanizing of mankind." Only He, the image of God Himself, could rehumanize us. Only in Him could we, as Paul puts it in Colossians 3:10, "put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its Creator." Friends, no wonder our society is crawling with identity issues. With the image of God ruined in Adam, sinners don't know what they're for. So, we seek to mend ourselves, but we don't know what “mended” looks like. Sensing our brokenness, we try to restore ourselves with morality or with authenticity, but we're fumbling in the dark, trying to redraw a portrait when we have no idea what it should even look like. All we can come up with are monstrous aberrations. Our only hope of wholeness is in Christ, the image of God. Humanity can be mended nowhere else. Source: https://www.ligonier.org/posts/only-christ-can-image-god-be-restored#:~:text=The%20original%20subject%20of%20the,new%20yearlong%20devotional%20in%20Romans.

JESUS RESTORES OUR PURPOSE FROM GOD

He tasted death and was victorious over it so that those who are recreated in his image may, too, not be touched by death.

There is a kingdom coming…Jesus is returning…We will rule and reign with Christ in the new kingdom.

By taking on humanity, Christ restores God's design for humanity.

APPLICATION

So, how does this fit within the overall message of Hebrews? What would the application have been for the original audience?

A) Security/Rest—not performance based…you are loved and accepted because of Jesus. God is mindful of you.

B) How are you imaging God?

Colossians 3:10 (ESV)

and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

C) Hope—there is an unchanging future planned for you by God.

Only ONE hope in this broken world—Jesus.

Perseverance — theme of Hebrews (don’t let go of Jesus…he’s not letting go of you). This future is worth waiting for…hoping for.

The better wine is still coming.

There is a lot that we’re looking at in the world—maybe brokenness in your own life—and you can’t see a whole lot of how God is piecing it together for his glory and your good…but fix your gaze on what you CAN see—Jesus.

PRAYER TEAM