Not Just Jesus

Here We Go Again

I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of Heaven and earth, And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord. Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit; born of the Virgin Mary; suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead and buried. He descended into Hell; The third day he Rose again from the dead; He ascended into Heaven and sitteth on the right had of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit; the Holy Christian Church, the Communion of Saint’s; The Forgiveness of sins; the Resurrection of the Body; and life everlasting. Amen.

As we continue our study on the Apostles Creed we are going to drill down on the next full sentence and unpack what it means.

Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit; born of the Virgin Mary; suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead and buried. He descended into Hell; The third day he Rose again from the dead; He ascended into Heaven and sitteth on the right had of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.

Born

Last week we learned about God the Father and we touched base on Jesus the fact that he was there in the beginning, that he created, that he was fully God. That is an fact that has to be kept in mind as we dig into this next bit because there’s some pretty fantastic stuff written in this second sentence, because somehow Jesus was Fully God, and Fully Man at the same time.

Isaiah 7:14 CSB

Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign: See, the virgin will conceive, have a son, and name him Immanuel.

IMMANUEL (עִמָּנוּאֵל, immanu'el; Ἐμμανουήλ, Emmanouēl). Means “God is with us.

We will of course be digging deeper into the story of the Incarnation next month, however, today I want us to realize exactly what was happenig. Isaiah again talks bout Jesus being born and makes sure to explain that Jesus will be born of a Virgin. This matters because of something Paul says.

Romans 5:12 CSB

Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all people, because all sinned.

The immaculate conception is an amazing mysterious thing. It happened for a reason. Jesus was fully man he was born but he was fully God not born from another man but placed there by God. Jesus stepped out of Heaven.

Philippians 2:5–7 (CSB)

Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus,

who, existing in the form of God,

did not consider equality with God

as something to be exploited.

Instead he emptied himself

by assuming the form of a servant,

taking on the likeness of humanity.

Expound a bit here drill down on the Human aspect of Jesus

Lived

We know that Jesus was born in Bethlehem We know he was a refugee in Egyypt for a while, we know he was known as the son of a Carpenter from a little town called Nazareth. He broke onto the scene at a wedding in Canna of Galiille…He spent 3.5 years walking around what we call the holy land with a bunch of people. Yes there were more than 12 disciples. We find proof of that here.

Luke 10:1–2 CSB

After this, the Lord appointed seventy-two others, and he sent them ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself was about to go. He told them, “The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.

He hung out with what was known as “the 12” These are the apostles that we know about.

We know Jesus lived a life that called out Religious leaders for their hypocrisy we know he was a friend of sinners that he ate with the wrong people.

We know he got angry he cleared the temple of the people selling tossing over tables and using a whip of cords to drive them out. He cursed a fig tree when he was hungry and there were no figs even though it wasn’t time for there to be figs. He cried when his friend died and was in the tomb. He did things that made the 12 scratch their heads falling asleep in the bottom of a boat durring a storm, walking on water scaring them, telling them to feed thousands of people when there were only a few loavs and fish, that one he did twice. Paying his and Peter’s taxes with money from the mouth of a fish. Jesus was a human and did human things.

We know that one of the 12 betrayed Jesus and yet Jesus never once held it against him, we find evidence of that in that Jesus washed his feet when he washed the others, not even thinking about it.

Died

Philippians 2:7–8 (CSB)

And when he had come as a man,

he humbled himself by becoming obedient

to the point of death—

even to death on a cross.

We know that Jesus died. This matters just as the way he died matters.

Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin (drill down)

The sacrifice that Jesus is making is the one that abolishes the need for annual animal sacrifices. His death opened wide the way to God for All people, there was no longer a need for that one special chosen person to enter into God’s presence. The curtain being torn from top to bottom showed that we all have access to God.

All of that happened because Jesus died he was THE sacrifice.

The Risen Ruler

Philippians 2:9–11 CSB

For this reason God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow— in heaven and on earth and under the earth— and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Expound a bit hitting on the ponts of Jesus triumph over death, his ressurection proving he was who he said. etc.

This Week’s Challenge

A Jesus With Skin Moment.

Take time this week to find three ways to meet a tangible need of someone that is hurting, lost, alone, hungry etc.