Who is Jesus?

Introduction

This is week three of our catechism sermon series, and today we are introducing the person of Jesus Christ.

Just to get it out of the way, because I know that people (Bob) are wondering:

Christ is not Jesus’ last name.

Christ is the Greek form of the word savior.

We have heard of Jesus our entire Christian life. We sang “Jesus Loves Me” as children.

We know a LOT about Jesus.

But I want to confess something to you.

As little as two years ago I knew that Jesus was important, I knew he was the Son of God, I knew that he died for me and rose again.

But I didn’t really know WHY he was so important.

I mean, why is Jesus the BIGGEST deal in all of Christianity?

Since that time, I have learned a lot more about Jesus, and I hope to be able to relate some of that information to you in the next two weeks.

Today we will be answering the question, Who is Jesus?

We will look to the scriptures as always to answer this question.

Jesus is the Son of God

The first thing we know about Jesus is that he is the Son of God.

Matthew 3:16–17 NIV

16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

God acknowledges Jesus as his son at his baptism.

Jesus makes up one “third” of the Triune God.

You will see later that we cannot really divide the trinity up into percentages like that.

But for now, Jesus is one part of the Triune God.

So, how can God have a son?

Well, the short answer is, he was begotten.

There is no mention of a Mrs. God in scripture, as if God needed another “God” entity to make a son.

Jesus was not made by God.

Now bear with me here, we are getting into some pretty deep theology.

To be made means to be created from nothing, or from something that already exists - but the most important part is that you have a creator.

Jesus was begotten from the Father, which means he shares the same divine essence of God, but that he is not a created being.

Made can be thought of as a chair that is made by a carpenter. The chair is not a carpenter.

Begotten can be thought of as a human giving birth to a human - they are both human.

Why does this matter?

It is critical for the gospel message:

If Jesus was created, he would not be God. He would be like us, a creature made by God.

If he were created, he would have no power to save us from sin.

If he were created, then Jesus would just be a resurrected human like Lazarus. He would not be able to raise us from the dead into eternal life if he were a created being.

If we worshipped Jesus as a created being, we would be committing idolatry.

As it is, we worship Jesus as God

Hebrews gives us more information about who Jesus is as the son of God:

Hebrews 1:1–3 NIV

1 In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

The passage saying that Jesus is the “exact representation of his (God’s) being, is the perfect transition to our next answer to Who is Jesus: Jesus is Fully God.

Jesus is Fully God

Colossians 2:9 NIV

9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,

Paul tells us that all the fullness of God dwells in the person of Christ Jesus.

Jesus is exactly God in his representation and he has all of the characteristics of God.

John 10:30 NIV

30 I and the Father are one.”

Jesus is speaking in the temple courts during the Festival of Dedication in Jerusalem.

When he spoke these words, the next verse tells us that his opponents picked up stones to stone him.

They wanted to stone him because he claimed to be God!

All his opponents saw was a human who had the power to heal and preach. They did not recognize him as God.

They thought he was blaspheming by claiming to be God!

But it’s not blasphemy if it is the truth!

John 1:1–2 NIV

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

We know that John is talking about Jesus in this opening passage of his gospel.

John tells us that Jesus existed before the creation of the world.

It makes sense that this is true if Jesus was begotten, because if he was created by God, he would have been made at the time of Creation.

This truth brings us to our next point about Jesus, that he is creator.

Jesus is Creator

Colossians 1:15–20 NIV

15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

Jesus existed before all things, before anything was created.

The Greek words used here mean, “to found,” or “to create” when he is talking about in him all things were created.

Paul here is asserting that Jesus was not only there during the creation, but he was the one doing the creating!

The ESV spells it out for us by saying that “For by him all things were created…”

So Jesus can also be counted as creator in the complete sense that we think of God as our creator.

Hebrews 1:2–3 NIV

2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

We don’t know how God made the universe through Christ, but we can know that Jesus was there and was an active participant.

Verse 3 tells us that Jesus sustains all things by his powerful word.

In Colossians, it tells us that in Jesus, all things hold together. That somehow Jesus causes all the world to exist and function and live.

So In Jesus, all things hold together - the entire universe.

Angels, demons, humanity, plants, animals, all of creation is held together and sustained by the person of Jesus Christ.

This is a mystery to us, but we can see that the Son of God is much more than a man who died on a cross for our sins, that God raised from the dead.

Jesus is those things, yes - but he is so much more.

He is the one, the true God from true God and he gives us our very life and breath.

Wow. What a savior indeed.

Jesus is Fully Human

Not only is Jesus our creator and sustainer, he is fully human.

Matthew 1:20–23 NIV

20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).

Jesus was fully God from the very beginning.

Then, in God’s great plan of salvation, the son became human to come and walk among us.

Jesus is not now 50% God and 50% human. He is 100% God and 100% human.

He took on flesh, wrapped himself in skin and a body like ours, subject to death, all in obedience to his father.

Jesus’ mother had to be a virgin, she had to be pure if he was to be the perfect human.

His father is not Joseph, but is actually God through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Hebrews 2:14–18 NIV

14 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. 16 For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants. 17 For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. 18 Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

Why did Jesus need to become human?

Well, first of all because he is human he understands what we go through as humans. He is able to help us in our weaknesses.

Second, he came to deliver the message of God’s kingdom here on earth, to teach us how to live in this kingdom, and he came to teach his disciples.

But the most important reason Jesus came to earth was to save us from our sins.

That leads us to the last answer to our question, “who is Jesus?”

Jesus is our Salvation & Sacrifice

We will get into this idea more next week, but for now, let’s look at it from a high level:

We are born into sin. Because we are by nature sinful and commit sinful acts, we cannot be in the presence of God.

We are separated from God.

But, God was not satisfied with this state of things!

The wages of sin is death, and so instead of losing humanity to death, God sent Jesus to die for us.

But the sacrifice had to be perfect. No other entity would be able to fulfill the requirements except the Son of God.

John 3:17 “17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

Acts 4:12 “12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.””

If we are to experience relationship with God, and the righteousness that is required for that relationship, then we MUST acknowledge the work and victory Jesus has won for us!

Romans 10:9 “9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Jesus’ great mission was to die on the cross for our sins, and to be raised from the dead so then we also have the hope of resurrection from the dead.

Jesus is the perfect sacrifice and he has won our salvation from sin and death.

Conclusion

The God and person of Jesus Christ is so much more than a Jewish carpenter’s son who did miracles and died on a cross.

Jesus is the creator, he is the sustainer of all creation, he is fully God and fully human, he is the perfect sacrifice, our great high priest, our intercessor, and he will reign over all things once he returns to earth in triumphant glory!

But we will discuss some of those things next week.

Until then, let us pray to know Jesus in deeper ways and to learn more about who he is. Amen.