The Gravity of Grace
Pastor: Jacob W. Jones
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7 But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
8 Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.”
9 (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth?
10 He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.)
Icarus
Icarus
In Greek mythology, Icarus and his father, Daedalus (Dead-A-Lus), were imprisoned on an island by King Minos. To escape, Daedalus – a master craftsman – created two sets of wings made of wax and feathers. He warned his son not to fly too close to the sun, as the wax would melt. He also cautioned Icarus not to fly too low, as the feathers could get wet in the sea. His warnings, however, went unheeded. Icarus was so intoxicated by the experience of flight that he went higher and higher. As the wax in his wings melted, he tumbled into the sea and drowned. The saying “don't fly too close to the sun” is a reference to Icarus’ recklessness and defiance of limitations.
Today, in many large organizations, the Icarus syndrome characterizes leaders who initiate overly ambitious projects that come to naught, causing harm to themselves and others in the process. Fueled by excitement, these leaders are unable to rein in their misguided enthusiasm before it is too late. Often, these leaders have let adulation go to their heads. They display symptoms such as:
Placing excessive confidence in their own judgment
Harboring feelings of omnipotence
Becoming reckless and restless
Displaying contempt for the advice and criticism of others
Ignoring the practicality, cost or damaging consequences of their various endeavours.
All of these character traits are taught against in the Bible.
Most of them can be boiled down to Pride.
And like Icarus fell, So too does the Prideful fall.
The Bible says, Pride comes before the fall.
Isaac Newton
Isaac Newton
In the year 1666, Sir Isaac Newton observed an apple fall from a tree in his garden.
Over the next two decades
He began to formulate the theory of Universal Gravitation
There is a legendary version of the story in which the apple hit him on the head
and he instantly discovered gravity
However, the truth is that he didn’t just discover gravity existed
he proved that the force extended well beyond the Earth
and actually held the moon in orbit.
His formula and theory is much more complex that most people give him credit for today
Most people simply remember him by the simple phrase:
What goes up, Must come down.
The Theory of Universal Gravitation is no longer a theory
Gravity is a Law of Physics.
You’ve heard it said that laws are made to be broken
But gravity is a law that doesn’t fit that adage
Gravity is an unbreakable law
Even if you wanted to,
You cannot break the law of Gravity
What goes up, MUST come down.
It doesn’t matter how high your ladder is
That ladder is still connected to the ground
Balloon
plane
rocket
any Man leaning on his own understanding
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.
When you try to go UP on your own
You always end up coming back down
and you come down hard
The Bible says that we came from the dust of the Earth
and we shall return to the dust.
Ashes to Ashes
Dust to Dust
That is the destiny of everyone under the sound of my voice
Go as high as you like Icarus
Soon, you will come down
That’s just the unbreakable law of Gravity
The ascension of Jesus
The ascension of Jesus
9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.
10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes,
11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
Now, you’ve just got to imagine this scene for a minute
11 men stood there watching there leader just float up into Heaven
This was something they knew was impossible
Even though Isaac Newton wouldn’t put it on paper
for another 1600 years
They were smart enough to know
that people just don’t float up to Heaven.
They knew that Jesus had flesh and blood like they did
And flesh goes back to the dust from which is came
Flesh doesn’t go up to Heaven
Flesh goes down to the dirt
6 feet under the earth
But not Jesus
Jesus just ascended UP to Heaven like it was no big deal
When Jesus went up
their jaws went down
They stood there gazing stedfastly toward heaven
Two angels had to come shake them out of their trance
Thomas was probably thinking
I just touched His nail scared hands
I know He has flesh
Mary was remembering holding that baby boy
Changing him
feeding him
rocking him to sleep
Lazarus probably recalled the tears on His face
when he walked out of a tomb
after Jesus called him out.
The disciples remember breaking bread with him
eating, drinking, sleeping, walking and doing human things
Jesus was a man
A man has flesh
And flesh is supposed to go down
not up
Anyone that tries to go up
always comes down.
We can’t leave this world
and go to the next one
We are prisoners of the dirt
held captive by the unbreakable law of gravity
Back to Text
Back to Text
So, how did Jesus defy the law of Gravity
and just float up to heaven
The secret lies in another law
I’ll call it the law of grace
I’m going to take some time explain this
because it is a little paradoxical
Gravity says
What goes up
Must come down
But Grace says
What goes down
Must come up
Point A to Point B
Our text says that Jesus first descended
The disciples watched him float up
but they probably forgot that he didn’t go UP
until he first came down.
I preached a message a couple of years ago called “Where God Sits”
We talked about how God was on his Throne and the Earth was his footstool
Then He came down to the mercy seat
Then He made himself a little lower than the angels the Bible says
and became a man.
You see, that baby boy that Mary rocked to sleep wasn’t just an ordinary baby boy
That was Emmanuel, which means God with us.
16 Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.
He started out going down
long before He went up into glory
Jesus revealed to us that the path to Heaven is not to go up
The path to Heaven is not:
To make my self better on my own
To lean on my own understanding and intellect
To impress those around me by building UP my reputation
To show off and show out
No, the path to Heaven is not UP
It isn’t a straight line from point A to B that will get you to Heaven
You’ve got to go down, if you want to go up.
He was first manifest in the Flesh
God came down to Earth
Made himself a little lower than the angels
and then He went up.
Prepare a place
Prepare a place
1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.
2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
In this passage, Jesus says not to worry about his soon departure
He is going up
but He will come down again
And while He is gone
He is going to make a place for us
Here’s the problem though
We can’t go up
God came down
and God went up
But we have this thing called gravity to deal with
We can’t go up
How are we going to get to this place that Jesus has made for us?
The answer is simple.
Don’t try to go up.
You’ve got to go down
And this is the law of grace
Contrary to the law of gravity
Grace says
What goes down
Must come up.
Not maybe
Not might
but Must
Phil TWO
Phil TWO
1 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy,
2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.
3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.
4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,
10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
I want you to notice the downward path that Jesus took.
It would have been enough in my book
If God was just manifest in the flesh.
Being human hurts
I hurt myself just sleeping now.
If Jesus just simply lived a lifetime in a human body
That would have been enough for me
He could still say he felt the feelings of our infirmities.
But that wasn’t low enough.
They say the higher the giant the harder the fall.
The opposite is also true.
The lower the servant, the higher the rise.
And Jesus went as low as you can humanly go.
7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
It says he made himself of NO reputation, and took on the form of a servant.
He could have made himself a highly successful business man.
He could have made himself the leader of the San Hedrin
He could have made himself King Herod’s successor
He could have made himself Pilot’s leader
He could have made himself the Emperor of Rome
If He had to be a man
Why not be the most powerful, or the most rich, or the most famous.
But no. Not my Jesus
He made himself a servant with zero reputation.
We spend time trying to build our repuation UP
Being human was low enough for my book
but he also made himself a servant
a slave
the lowest level of society
at a time when His own nation was owned and occupied by Rome
We’d all be satisfied with that humility
but Jesus went lower.
8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Death would have been certainly low enough
that’s where all of us fall to eventually
but Jesus went lower.
It says, “EVEN the death of the cross”
The cross was no ordinary sentence
Roman citizens didn’t have to fear it
Most Jews didn’t have to fear it either.
The cross wasn’t the typical method of execution
it was reserved for the lowest class of citizens
Only slaves were ever crucified.
Sometimes they also crucified soldiers who deserted their post as a statement
but the cross was intended for slaves.
Jesus didn’t just suffer death
He suffered the death of a slave
The death of the cross
The Cross
The Cross
In the 53rd chapter of Isaiah
the old prophet saw a vision of the suffering servant
he didn’t know his name
but we know who he was.
He writes about the crucifixion of Jesus is such accurate detail.
there is no denying who it is about.
Some people don’t realize that the chapters were added later
and the vision really starts in chapter 52.
Let me read some of it to remind us how low Jesus went down for us.
13 Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted.
14 As many were astonished at you— his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—
He says the servant will be exalted very high
but first he is going to suffer.
Then in verse 14 Isaiah says if you looked at him you would be astonished
Why?
Because his visage or appearance was so marred which means destroyed
Not just destroyed
but destroyed MORE than ANY man.
You think about that for a second.
Isaiah saw him with his own eyes
and said, he is marred MORE than any MAN
You couldn’t even tell he was a man
The next chapter talks about his passion
1 Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.
He didn’t even make himself attractive
NO Beauty
No reputation
No Majesty
No Royalty
It goes on to say…
3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.
After his death, he went down further
He went into a grave for 3 dark days
But he didn’t stop there
The Bible says that he went down even lower
To the depths of Hell
and when he got as low as you can possibly go
He took the keys to death, hell, and the grave back from Satan.
All of this happened BEFORE Jesus went UP into Heaven.
He went DOWN to go UP.
The gravity of grace
My pride says
I need to go up
I need to be good
I need to be perfect
I need to ashamed when I mess up
I need to act good even when I’m not
I need put on a front to make other’s think I’m better than I am
But Grace says:
Jesus already went down for me
He already paid the ultimate price for my sin
He went down
before He went up
Now every knew should bow
and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord
Most people are okay with the tongue part
They don’t mind saying that Jesus is their personal Savior
The don’t mind giving Jesus lip service
But it is the knee that people have trouble with
The knee part is what makes him Lord
When we go DOWN on our knees
That’s when He goes UP to the position of our Lord
and When Jesus Goes UP
Here’s the secret sauce right here
32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
Jesus was talking about being lifted up on the cross
but the concept still applies to us today
If you go down on your knee
and lift Him up to be your Lord
Then He said
He will draw us unto Him
I don’t know if you caught that
Jesus is UP
and my flesh keeps me down
My sin keeps me down
my failure and my past keep me down
gravity keeps me tied to this Earth
but Jesus said, if you want to come up here with me
Then lift me up
and I’ll draw you up here
To go up
You’ve got to go down, and lift Jesus Up.
30 He must increase, but I must decrease.”
When they heard about what Jesus did on the cross in Acts chapter 2
They were pricked in their hearts
and they asked Peter, What shall we do
He said, you’ve got to go down
Down on your knees in repentance
down in the water of baptism
And then He will lift you UP with the Holy Spirit
That same Spirit is what will carry us up to meet him in the air
Which is coming soon
We’ve got to be ready for it…
Let’s all stand:
8 Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me.
Closing
Closing
