Sermon Tone Analysis

INTRODUCTION

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How many of you read the newspaper daily?

Weekly?

I like reading the paper to get caught up on the local news/sports, do the crossword puzzle, and believe it or not I like to look at the add inserts that highlight what’s on sale at different stores.

Typically I’ll look through the Target insert and the the Dunham’s sports insert.

Perhaps you’ll glance through the Menard’s or Walmart insert?

If we opened up the add inserts during a specific month in the summer you’ll likely see an ad that says “Christmas in July!”

The store is trying to convince you there are “Christmas” prices in the heat of summer.

I don’t know if anyone feels very “Christmasy” in July so I’m not sure if these adds are effective.

When you see a “Christmas in July” sale do you go shopping?

Well, there you go!

I discovered that this phrase goes beyond shopping for there are several countries in the southern hemisphere that celebrate Christmas in July because that’s their winter season (Australia, New Zealand, South Africa)

Today we’re having “Christmas in January!” Don’t get too excited, we’re not exchanging gifts or decorating the tree, but we’re going to open up God’s Word to consider “Why Jesus Became a Man” which is what the celebration of Christmas is all about.

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Jesus’ incarnation is one of the foundational doctrines of the Christian faith—that the eternal Son of God left the heavens and “put on flesh” by being born of a virgin—and we believe that Jesus is fully/truly God and fully/truly human.

Do you understand the purpose of Christ’s incarnation?

Do you know why Jesus became a man?

Was this necessary?

If someone asked you “why” Jesus became a man, what would you say? (Share) We all know the Sunday School answer…He was born to be the Savior of the world…and that’s true but have you grasped a deeper understanding of the purpose for Jesus incarnation.

Jesus’ incarnation is an essential part of God’s eternal plan of salvation!

Today we are going to answer the question “Why Jesus Became a Man” and the answer will move beyond the surface to a deeper understanding of His great act of humiliation.

If you have your Bible, and I hope you do, turn to .

Hebrews Chapter 2. Today we return to our series in HEBREWS: “Encountering the Greatness of Jesus.”

The letter to the Hebrews was written to Jewish Christians who were being tempted to return to Judaism due to pressure and persecution.

The penman writes to encourage them to persevere because Jesus is greater than the Old Covenant.

Up to this point we’ve discovered that Jesus is greater than the prophets and greater than the angels—and as a result we must pay more careful attention to the gospel so that we won’t drift away—but one might ask “how can Jesus be greater than the angels if He was human?

The penman builds upon his argument that Jesus is greater than the angels despite being human.

We’re going to discover “why” Jesus became a man—to do what angels could not do—and to declare His superiority over the angels as despite his humanity.

Preview

Today we pick up where we left in Chapter 2. .

.. It’s here where we find the penman’s final proof that Jesus is indeed far greater than the angels.

highlights life-changing impact of Jesus’ incarnation.

It’s here we discover five reasons why Jesus became a man.

(Read )

I) WHY JESUS BECAME A MAN

Wow!

There is a lot of depth to this text and I don’t want us to get lost in the details. is the concluding argument that Jesus is greater than the angels.

We learn a great deal about Jesus’ humanity.

The argument will address an important question that would have been on the minds of the Jewish Christians—“How can Jesus be greater than the angels if He became a man?”—and so this section reveals that He is greater because of His authority and His nature.

takes us back to Christmas—the celebration of Jesus’ incarnation—when the eternal son of God put on flesh to bring salvation to sinful humanity.

In we find five compelling & life-changing reasons for Jesus’ incarnation.

Let’s take a look at each one and how they impact our lives today!

1) Jesus became a man to fulfill our divine destiny (2:5-9)

Number One: Jesus became man to fulfill our God-given assignment.

Jesus became a man to fulfill our God-given assignment.

The penman declared that God had given mankind the authority to rule this earth, but humanity failed to fulfill this divine role, but Jesus’ incarnation made it possible to fulfill what we failed to do.

Jesus’ fulfillment of humanity’s failure is highlighted in .

(Read) The penman once again cites an OT text as the foundation of his argument, a quotation from that outlines humanity’s God-given task of ruling over the earth, and then explained that since Jesus became a man He has fulfilled mankind’s task of ruling over the earth.

We can’t get into all the details of this section but hopefully we’ll grasp the main flow of the argument.

1) God’s appointment of mankind to rule the world (2:5-8a)

In this opening section the penman’s quotation of highlights God’s original appointment of mankind to rule over the earth.

The penman reminded his readers of God’s original intent was not for angels to have dominion over the world—"It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking—Angels are great celestial beings and they were created to minister to mankind (1:14) but they were ot created to rule over “the world to come.”

The “world to come” has been described as “the future world” or the “age to come” (Millennial kingdom).

The Greek word οἰκουμένην used here denotes “the inhabited world” or the “inhabited dwelling place of mankind (earth).”

And yet “the world to come” takes us back to when the penman quoted to speak of day when the One exalted at the right hand of God would rule over all things in heaven and earth.

The angels were never given the task of ruling over the inhabited world in the past, present, or future.

The penman’s opening statement is followed by a quotation of which reveals that God intended mankind to rule over the earth.

The penman quotes to prove his point—"But there is a place where someone has testified: “What is mankind (man) that you are mindful of them, a son of man that you care for him?

You made them (him) a little lower than the angels; you crowned them (him) with glory and honor and put everything under their feet.”—this

quotation from a section of is used to validate that God designed mankind to rule over the inhabited world and not angels.

Most translations have “him” but the NIV says “them” to speak of humanity as a whole.

The opening disclaimer seems odd, but he hasn’t forgot “who” uttered this testimony, the penman simply wanted the focus to be on “what was said” as opposed to “who said it.”

The quote is taken from which testifies to God’s appointment of mankind to rule over the inhabited world.

was not traditionally interpreted to be a Messianic psalm about Jesus. is about God’s creation of mankind and His position as ruler over the inhabited world.

depicts King David meditating on the story of creation.

As he reflects on the creation of Adam/mankind, he pondered the immensity of the universe and the frailty of man, and man’s exalted place in God’s plan.

reveals that God was mindful of humanity and His care for mankind.

King David pondered that God thinks about mankind and has the continuous responsibility of looking after (take care of) humanity.

The Psalm speaks of Adam (mankind) as being “made a litter lower than the angels” and yet God “crowned them with glory and honor and put everything under their feet” (2:7-8).

Mankind was positioned below the angels and yet is adorned with glory, honor, and authority to rule over the inhabited world.

It might seem as though Adam (humanity) would be inferior to angels in status, he/they are actually superior to angels in status as God’s appointed agents to rule over the earth.

God created mankind to have dominion over the world.

We see this from the very beginning (Genesis).

- "Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.

Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

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In the beginning, God created man in His image to subdue the earth and rule over the earth.

Adam and Eve were given the original charge and humanity after them was given this God-given authority to rule over the earth.

Mankind, not the angels, were given the task of ruling over the earth.

2) Mankind’s failure (2:8b)

And yet the penman of Hebrews reveals mankind’s failure.

God appointed humanity to rule over the earth but they failed to fulfill this task—" In putting everything under them, God left nothing that is not subject to them.

Yet at present we do not see everything subject to them”—God had given them authority to rule over all things and yet this wasn’t seen as a present reality.

The penman declares “Yet at present we do not see everything subject to them”—the penman reveals man’s inability to serve as God’s appointed ruler perfectly.

God subjected all things to Adam (mankind) and yet as a result of sin mankind was unable to fulfill their divine destiny to rule the inhabited world.

Mankind was given the authority to rule but failed due to sin which has infected all humanity.

Man lost that dominion to Satan in the fall so he became the “ruler of this world” (, , , , , , and )

Ray Stedman – “There is the whole story of human history in a nutshell.”

Mankind has failed to fulfill its divine destiny due to sin.

We don’t “see” all things subject to mankind due to the fall.

Mankind was unable to fully fulfill this God-given assignment as the God-ordained ruler over the earth because of sin.

Mankind fell into sin, thwarting the fulfillment of everything in creation being subject to him.

3) Jesus’ fulfillment of mankind’s destiny (2:9)

What sinful humanity failed to do, Jesus the perfect Man came to accomplish.

Jesus became a man to fulfill this God-given task as the Second Adam.

Man’s failure to fulfill their position as ruler of the earth is ultimately fulfilled (fully realized) through Jesus.

What sinful humanity failed to do perfect humanity came to do!

We can’t miss the contrast between mankind’s failure and Jesus’ fulfillment—" but we see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by God’s grace he would experience death on behalf of everyone.”—a