Jesus Lives For Us

Introduction

Christmas is about God physically writing himself into our story to save us

Christmas was the invasion of light into enemy territory ruled by darkness and death

Everytime we see a manger scene we should feel awe at the necessity of it…and awe that God actually did it

We move on from it so fast that the physical reality of Jesus is missed if we notice it at all

This series is less about the Christmas narratives and more about the richly practical daily implications of the humanity ofJesus.

While the texts we are working through are deeply theological, the goal is to bring the humanity of Jesus into our daily life capitalizing on the Christmas season reminding ourselves not only of the incarnation but also of the life of Jesus as a human.

Does it matter today in my life, work, relationships, sin struggles and personal suffering that Jesus was in fact, human?

When we dive into the book of Hebrews we see it changes everything

How?

Hebrews 7:25 “Therefore, he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, since he always lives to intercede for them.”

Why does the humanity of Jesus matter in my everyday life?

It is because He has our humanity that Jesus is able to save completely, and he is able to save forever.

Consider the Humanity of the Son

Hebrews 12:1–3 “Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, so that you won’t grow weary and give up.”

1 John 4:2 “This is how you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,”

Notice he doesn’t say he came in the flesh…what does he say?

He has now come, implying he still is in the flesh…

It is because he came and is forever in our humanity that we can lay aside everything in the daily war for our allegience

“He is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him” (Hebrews 7:25). To the uttermost. 

How does the humanity of Jesus help me lay aside the what if’s and regrets and mistakes and that thing I said i would never do again but do?

How does the humanity of Jesus help me when some sin in my life is so tenacious and seems unbeatable?

Becuase the humanity of Jesus says he is more tenacious then the sin that haunts you

The humanity of Jesus shouts I will go to the uttermost to save you

Sin always hits a line it won’t cross to have you

But for the bodily king there was no depth to far for him to run to to save you

To the uttermost

Such a phrase silences the objections, calms the fears, and resurrects the hopes of Christ’s believing people. There is no height, nor depth, nor breadth, nor length beyond the reach of the uttermost — because there is no height, nor depth, nor breadth, nor length beyond the prayers of our ever-living, always-interceding Christ.

Look at the tenacity of the King

Look at the promises lion from Genesis 3:15 who was laying in wait stalking sin and death and cancer and funerals and sin that has broken us

So verse 1-

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 12

Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us

Run with tenacity after the calling of the Gospel on your life because the bodily Jesus has ran it for you and is running with you

How do we remain tenacious in our Christian life?

Hebrews 12:2 “keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

The language is amazing here

the word for keeping our eyes fixed or looking is a unique word in the greek

It means the action of a runner who is aware of rivals and has to deliberatly look away from other things

The Message of Hebrews 3. Where We Must Look (12:2–3)

This runner must keep his eyes ‘fixed on Jesus’ (NEB), not only at the first moment of the race, but constantly during the whole struggle, knowing that ‘Christ is always near and in sight’

Jesus is not just the source of your salvation …he is the Goal of it

One of the rivals you have to be aware of in the race is competing expectaions of what the christian life is supposed to be

That would have been true for this original audience

Written to jewish believers suffering persecution and death

You don’t think that they had moments in the suffering where they asked where are you god? What are you doing? Do you even love us?

What Jesus does is keep our eyes on the christian life in this broken world …what it really is and what the only goal that matters is

The humanity of Jesus says He has ran this race for us and showed us how to be tenacious in the true Chrstian life

The Epistle to the Hebrews 12:2. Jesus the Source and Goal of Faith

his perseverance in the face of crucifixion is the supreme example for believers

For what?

For the Joy that lays before Him

And it is the Joy that lays before us that should motivate us to keep our eyes on it

Your faithfulness isn’t based on your present circumstances

Because the coming circumstances for the Christian give you unshakable joy

How does Christain Joy give us tanacity and faithfulness?

One author said: when our joy is threatened by painful circumstances—when we’re shocked by sudden loss, paralyzed by gut-wrenching grief, or weakened by chronic disease—we fall back on hope. Hope is the fact-based conviction that no matter how bad things are now, they’ll get better.

Everything sad will come untrue

Because Jesus lives

The humanity of Jesus is our assurance that everything sad physically and tangibly will come untrue

He saves us to the uttermost because in His humanity He ran the race we never could

In His Humanity He is the Son Adam failed to be, Israel failed to be, and we fail to be

What It Means to Be a Son

Hebrews 12:4–11 “In struggling against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: My son, do not take the Lord’s discipline lightly or lose heart when you are reproved by him, for the Lord disciplines the one he loves and punishes every son he receives. Endure suffering as discipline: God is dealing with you as sons. For what son is there that a father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline—which all receive—then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had human fathers discipline us, and we respected them. Shouldn’t we submit even more to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time based on what seemed good to them, but he does it for our benefit, so that we can share his holiness. No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”

Verses 5-6 - to endure we must remember God’s word when we want to walk away

So does that mean I just have to memorize the bible in a half to miserable way?

No

What is the bible? What is God’s word?

it is the revelation of reality that we live

And most importantly it is the revelation of who God is

The word is His character

So in knowing the word it means know the character of God when your circumstances make it hard to believe

Verse 5 is quote of Proverbs 3

Remember the word so that you remember the character of the God who stopped at nothing to save you

Adam should have remembered God’s word in the garden but failed

We should remember his word and character when we fail

But one son was faithful to the word and trusted the Fathers character

Jesus in his temptation where he was faithful

What does it mean to be a son?

A son remembers dads character when things are hard and we are tempted to doubt it

Charles Spurgeon once said "When you can't see God's hand, trust his heart”

that is the call to believers from Hebrews

The Humanity of Jesus is where He lived this with us and for us

And the reality is that in His life on the cross He was forsaken by His Father so that He will never forsake you

We remember His word in verses 5-6 and are called to remember His care for us in verses 7-9

The Message of Hebrews 2. Remember God’s Care (12:7–9)

In the earlier verses of this chapter these persecuted Christians are urged to recall the example of Christ. Here the author directs his readers’ attention to another highly important biblical doctrine which will fortify believers in time of severe testing: the fatherhood of God

This is huge for us to see maybe for the first time

The humanity of Jesus as the Son for us means everything it is who God has always been and that changes everything for us

When you think of God what do you think of?

Creator?

Ruler of everything?

Rule Maker?

If that is true then he simply created us to have something to boss around

If God is simply Ruler first then my problem is I have broken some rules and my relationship with Him will only be about as close as I would be to a traffic cop

But our God has revealed himself first and foremost as Father

Before He ever created, before He ever ruled…God was a loving Father to the Son

He is Father..all the way down so that means everything He does is as a father who loves his children

We are sons and daughters because Jesus came to give us back the relationship with Him sin stole

The Message of Hebrews 2. Remember God’s Care (12:7–9)

Fathers who love their children do not merely issue orders; they encourage our response by the quality of their love and do all within their power to help us

it is the character and quality of the fathers love shown to us in the son that should inspire faithfulness when the bullets of real life start to fly

We have been told to remember his word, remember His care, and now in verses 10-11 to remember what it is all for

To be made more and more into the image of the Son

That is the goal of being a christian

Paul says this in Romans 8:29 “For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.”

1 John 2:6 “The one who says he remains in him should walk just as he walked.”

So what does that mean

If we are honest thats not the goal we really want

But God knows it is what we long for

To be more like Jesus is to be more and more the kind of person who so delights in God that it is the joy set before us to make us whole when we are broken

The degree to which being like Jesus seems a lame consolation prize is the degree to which we truly understand what we have in Him

We are saved to become more and more like Jesus

It is easy to misunderstand, misapply, and under-believe if we are honest

But it is everything we long for

To give dead lives the ability to live again is why He took on a human body and hunted down sin and death

Jesus is not just the means to your salvation

Jesus is the Goal

this should do something to our resolve and tenacity in living the Christian life

What Poster Is On Your Wall

Hebrews 12:12–13 “Therefore, strengthen your tired hands and weakened knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated but healed instead.”

We all had posters on our walls as kids

Rock stars, athletes, movie characters

We all looked up to their life and thought it would be a dream come true to have their life

moral exemplars who inspire us to be the kind of people who happen to life not be weak people that life just happens too

Moral exemplars that have the wholeness we long for and know through the Gospel how to get it

He is referencing Proverbs 4:26 “Carefully consider the path for your feet, and all your ways will be established.”

What is incredible about this specific pull forward from Proverbs is that Proverbs 4:20-27 is a lesson from a Father to a Son

Remind you of any one this is about?

The incarnate Son we have been talking about

At it’s core this verse is the anatomy of discipleship

It is about the vigilence we have to keep over our lives everyday to know who it is we are listening to for how what we long for is found

It is really cool when you look at the Proverbs section Hebrews is refereing too

In the Hebrew there is no word for body so different body parts are used as metaphor

Even hebrews adds more here: hands, knees, feet, and proverbs has ears, eyes, mouth and heart

It is the anatomy of how to live the Christian life

And here is what is incredible…it never says mind

The core of the Christian life is not what do you know…it is what do you love the most

The Christian life is a life lived with the right loves motivating your life

Jesus lived with his greatest affection being the Father

What allowed him to endure the Cross back in verse 3 ?

For the Joy that lay before Him he endured the cross

End time joy fueled His tenacity in accomplishing the mission He came for

The right loves perfectly motivated Jesus in this life to do the unimaginable to save us

End time hope should make us tenacious in the Christian Life to make God’s purpose for you your greatest hobby

In Jewish literature the reference to drooping hands and weak knees conveyed a defeated hopeless despondent and despair posture toward life

Here is where the humanity of Jesus is our greatest weapon against despair

Joy

it was the joy set before Him in verse 3

And it was Joy that was announced at Christmas when He became a man

Luke 2:10 “But the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people:”

Good news of Great what?

You can learn alot about a word by learning it’s opposites

the opposite of Joy is not unhappiness

the opposite of joy is darkness and despair hopelessness and ache

The opposite of Joy is drooping hands and weak knees

But the humanity of Jesus shouts despair and darkness don’t get the last word

Verse 13 the humanity of Jesus is the announcement the worst we face in this life is nothing a the resurrection won’t fix

It is his place right now

In a physical human body but better

Before the throne praying for you and me to press on

Puritan Robert Murray M’Cheyne saidn :I f I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million enemies. Yet distance makes no difference. He is praying for me. “

And as the old hymn says : Because He Lives I can face tomorrow

Because of His humanity we have joy and can be healed to live tenacious Christian lives