He's Only Human (4-5-2020)

“He’s only human…” Devotional for Sunday April 5, 2020 Opening Scripture: Excerpts from Colossians 2:12-15 (NIV) having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. …God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, …triumphing over them by the cross. This week we commemorate the final days of Jesus on earth and we remember his death. But what is the significance or meaning of his death? It might be beneficial to consider that this morning. Only Human I think it is interesting this sentence: “He’s only human.” Usually we say that when somebody has made a mistake or has demonstrated their limitations, right? There is no question that humans are capable of great and selfless acts. We see that with the dedication of medical professionals during the coronavirus crisis. Every day doctors, nurses, technicians and other staff people are infected with the virus because they chose to care for victims of the virus. Yes, humans are capable of creative and magnificent artistic, scientific and architectural achievements. Michelangelo’s great painting of the Creation of Adam, One World Trade Center in New York City, the creation of antibiotics, the discovery of DNA, the Psalms, just to mention a few. “He’s only human.” On the other hand there is abundant evidence of the limitations, mistakes, and degradation humans are also capable of: the holocaust, racism, environmental pollution, not to mention the millions of sins committed worldwide every minute of every hour. Is human nature good? For most of my life I thought that human nature is basically good and beautiful. But let’s face it. Our species has an inherent tendency toward self-centeredness. Our species, like all others, wants to survive. From the first moment of birth the infant cries for attention. Babies crying can be seen as an instinctual mechanism of survival. The survival instinct is not bad in itself, in fact, it is essential. And yet it seems to me that the natural tendencies toward selfcenteredness and survival - left unchecked - can lead to great wickedness and evil. For example, recently we are seeing huge increases in fraud and various scams being perpetrated on the population who feel vulnerable to the coronavirus. I suppose you could say that even fraudsters are just trying to survive. The problem is, they are doing it by victimizing others. So, these natural tendencies must be curbed. If you are a parent you know that you must teach the growing child to love others, to put off gratification for a greater long-term good. These seem like almost self-evident truths. However, they point to the human need for redemption. To put it another way, we need to be saved from our own sinful nature. That is why God created and sent Jesus among us more than 2020 years ago. Humanity needed someone to show us the way to get beyond our natural human tendencies. I think it is interesting that the early followers of Jesus were called “The Way” before they were called Christians, because they lived differently due to their encounters with the Lord. The fact that Jesus was the incarnation of God changed them and by those changes and their faith they began showing others The Way. Are we only human? Genesis 1:26 teaches that every human being possesses the image of God. Ecclesiastes 3:11 declares that God has “set eternity in the hearts of men.” In Luke 17:21, Jesus proclaims, “The kingdom of God is within you.” The Bible teaches that every human being possesses an immaterial soul-spirit, and it is this part of us that connects with God (Hebrews 4:12). It also means that we are NOT totally controlled by any ego, selfishness, and darkness within us. You might say that we are bound for eternity due to grace and faith, we have Jesus’ blood circulating within us. By nature we are built to need God. And to be fully human we must fulfill that need. We are not enough just depending on our own genius, strength, natural ability, and industriousness. We need more. We need grace. Therefore, we need God, the giver of grace, and because we ARE human we need God come in human form, Jesus Christ. Although I was redeemed by Christ through my acceptance of and surrender to him as my Lord and savior and by my pledge to follow him to the best of my ability for the rest of my life, every day I must make the decision to turn that key, to let in God’s grace and in so doing I can enter his Kingdom. I can certainly turn off the flow of his grace into me by my own sins and moral mistakes, therefore I must continually open the door to Christ by studying the Bible, coming to church and by loving and serving others. The Blood of Jesus Many Christians speak of the importance of the blood of Jesus. The way I look at it, before Jesus, human blood and the human heart that circulates it needed a kind of transfusion. It needed to be infused with Godblood. I suppose it can be said that this is the reason Jesus shed his blood on the cross. If Jesus were to stay alive as a human being he needed blood within him. But first he had to die to his human self by shedding his blood. Only then could he be resurrected in a transformed glorious Christ. We too need to die to self so that we can be transformed. Would it not be appropriate to say that we needed a transfusion of grace through Jesus Christ – God on Earth? The Decision But before this transfusion can happen fully, we have to make a conscious decision of our own free will, to open ourselves to that grace. That is, we need to make a decision by accepting Christ as our personal savior. Then we are reborn into the new creation that Christ came on Earth to make. I think it is accurate to say that we have a key to the Kingdom. We can open the gate or the door into the Kingdom of God by inserting the key and turning it. I think this is what is meant when we say “I got saved or she got saved.” It happens at the moment we say yes to Jesus Christ and surrender our lives to him. That surrender amounts to a great moment of our dying to self. It is at that moment that we have a special transfusion of that Godblood into us. Today is what many Christians call Palm Sunday. It was a moment when Jesus was recognized as king. But it was also the beginning of the end of Jesus’ human life on Earth. Soon after the palms and adulation, that evil aspect of human nature reared its ugly head and the people who were eaten up with their own egos and desire for power, recognition and status, turned against him because they felt threatened by his radical message of love in the face of power. They were afraid that this new way that Jesus was teaching and showing would upset the way they had been acting for centuries. Yet again we see what fear can do to human beings. As our Sunday School lesson says (p. 37) “The death of Jesus Christ was not a tragic turn of events. It was a triumph (Colossians 2:12-15) It was no accident. It was planned by God all along. The people who abused and killed Jesus were wrong to do so. But God allowed them to, sovereignly managing human freedom and responsibility in the death of his Son to bring salvation to a universe under the curse of sin. That God grants men a free will and still has ability to orchestrate His own purposes actually strengthens one’s view of God’s sovereignty. God is not threatened by letting people do what they want to.” Questions and Challenges 1. What will you do this week to remind yourself of the importance of Jesus’ passion, death, and Resurrection? 2. How can you mark the coming of our Lord into the world and into your life? 3. What are the evidences of God’s grace (the Godblood circulating within you) in your life? Prayer Father, thank you for sending us your Son to show us The Way, to redeem us from our sinful human nature. Please continue to guide us in our understanding and awareness of your place in our lives. We belong to you. You love us. That’s who we are - we are loved by you. Please send your comforting grace into the lives of the suffering victims of the coronavirus and into the hearts and minds of the medical professionals and loved ones who minister to them. Comfort the family of Larry Scott as they grieve his loss.