Sermon Tone Analysis

I believe that Albert Pujols would hit more home runs than Jesus in a home run derby… and I believe Adam Wainwright could probably out-pitch Jesus.

I believe that Michael Jordan could beat Jesus in a 1 on 1 basketball game.

I have no reason to believe that if Jesus were to enter America’s Got Talent, he would win the competition with an amazing singing voice.

The Christmas season is coming up on us quickly… and soon you’ll begin to hear Christmas Carols.

But look… As much as I love Away in a Manger, I disagree with one verse of that song.

I believe that baby Jesus cried and cried loudly in that manger… and that Joseph and Mary had to comfort little baby Jesus.

And, in case you think that I’m being sarcastic when I say these things… I’m not.

I truly believe all these things… AND… I think that it’s important that you believe them also.

It’s just very important that we have this understanding of Jesus.

Two weeks ago, we walked through the Christ Hymn found in Colossians chapter 1.

And the Christ Hymn told us that God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in Jesus.

Last week, we saw Jesus lay hands on a woman and miraculously heal her from an 18-year infirmity.

I wrote those sermons to communicate to you something that is essential about Jesus… That Jesus Christ is thoroughly and completely God.

Everything that God is, Jesus is.

Jesus has always existed and there was never a time when he was not.

Jesus is fully and completely God.

This leads to some interesting questions though.

If Jesus is God, then surely, he could hit more homers in a homerun derby than Albert Pujols.

I mean… doesn’t God have all power?

Can’t God do anything that he wants to do? Isn’t he perfect?

Today, I want us to interact with these kinds of questions in order to fill out our idea of who Jesus is.

So, if you have your Bible, and I hope that you do… Turn with me to Hebrews chapter 2. We’re going to kind of jump into the middle of an argument that the author of Hebrews is making… but I think the point will become clear for us as we read and talk about it.

So, look at it with me… Hebrews chapter 2, beginning with verse 14…

The big idea in our Scripture this morning is that Jesus Christ is FULLY and THOROUGHLY and COMPLETELY human.

We don’t really know much about the childhood of Jesus, but we do have one story that’s found in Luke chapter 2. A twelve-year-old Jesus is in Jerusalem with his family.

As the family begins to make their way back home to Nazareth from Jerusalem, Jesus takes off and goes to the temple in Jerusalem.

For 3 days Jesus was at the temple… listening to the teaching… asking questions… and for 3 days, his family searched for him.

Luke concludes that story by saying this…

Jesus GREW in wisdom and stature.

Luke paints the picture for us that Jesus, just like every other human being that was ever born, had to learn and grow.

As Jesus begins his ministry, one of the first things that we’re told is that Jesus is driven out to the wilderness… and he fasts as he’s tempted by Satan.

And he goes this long period without food… and he’s hungry.

As Jesus continues his ministry… he travels the countryside and he encounters all sorts of people that are having really difficult times… whether it be from a physical disability, or they’re disenfranchised… outcast from their community for one reason or another.

And as Jesus interacts with these people, he’s moved with compassion… it hurts Jesus to see them hurting.

When Jesus’ friend Lazarus dies, and Jesus goes to see his sisters… their grief moves him to tears.

He enters their grief and weeps with them and experiences the pain of losing someone he loves to death.

Then of course, at the end of Jesus’ ministry… as Jesus is arrested… the Roman soldiers begin to mercilessly beat him… whip him… scorn him.

The picture that the Bible paints is that he is beaten so badly, that when they finally hang him on the cross, he is so disfigured that he barely looks human.

As nails pierce his hands and his feet… and as a spear is stabbed into his side, very real, red blood flowed out of his body.

Crucifixion was technically death by asphyxiation.

It positioned your body in such a way that as you would hang by your arms, your diaphragm was unable to function… and so you would run out of air.

You would then have to push up with your feet just to be able to breathe.

But after a while, the pain from all your weight being put on the bones in your foot against a nail became so unbearable, that you had to transfer your weight back to hanging by your hands… making you unable to breathe again.

This is the death that Jesus experienced.

I hope you’re getting the drift of all of what I’m saying.

Whether we’re talking about going through puberty growing up, having to mentally learn things, the biological mechanisms of hunger, compassion, experiencing grief, pain, suffering, needing oxygen to breathe… Jesus experienced all of these things just like you and I would.

The blood that Jesus bled was very real… and the enormous amount of pain that he experienced on the cross was very real.

He felt all those things… just as you or I would feel them.

In Matthew chapter 13, after a long stretch of teaching in Galilee, Jesus goes back to his hometown of Nazareth… and he begins to teach in the synagogue in Nazareth.

These are people that watched Jesus grow up… they maybe babysat for Jesus to allow Mary to go to Market… These are people that knew Jesus growing up.

Look at what they say about him…

You see… to them… Jesus was just another ordinary guy.

Who did he think he was teaching like this in the synagogue?

And we want to step into the narrative and say… y’all don’t get it!

You’ve missed the point!

Jesus is God!

But in our passion about proclaiming that Jesus is God… and rightfully so… to say that Jesus is God is absolutely, 100 percent correct and 100 percent essential… but I think… in our passion of proclaiming that, we tend to overlook that he was also 100 percent, completely and totally human.

We make Jesus out to be a superman where nothing could hurt him… and he could run faster than a speeding bullet if he wanted to…

But the Bible doesn’t present Jesus as a superman at all.

In fact, if we think Jesus as a superhuman with superhero powers, we’ve missed something about Jesus that is foundational and essential.

Look at Hebrews chapter 2, verse 14 again…

*ALL THE WAY TO SHARED IN HUMANITY*

Skip down to verse 17…

*ALL THE WAY TO FULLY HUMAN IN EVERY WAY*

The point is… Jesus is FULLY and COMPLETLEY human.

He is just like you, and he is just like me in every way.

The Bible only gives one exception to this.

There’s only one key difference between our humanity and Jesus’ humanity.

We see that in Hebrews chapter 4… so flip over a page or two with me… and look at Hebrews chapter 4, verse 14…

The one exception about Jesus’ humanity is that he never gave in to temptation… it never got the best of him.

But in every other way, Jesus was just like us.

That’s why Albert Pujols could beat him in a homerun derby.

Why?

Because it’s not a sin to not be able to hit home runs.

That’s why Michael Jordan could beat Jesus in one-on-one basketball.

Why?

Because it’s not a sin to not be good at basketball.

And that’s why Jesus would’ve cried as a baby… because it’s not a sin for a tiny little baby that was just born, to cry.

So, as I’ve taught the last couple of weeks… Jesus is fully and completely God.

Now, Hebrews 2 teaches us that Jesus is fully and completely human… yes, without sin… but he’s fully and completely human.

So, we must hold both of those truths up… together… equally… and we cannot give in on either of them.

Now, in the back of your mind, you might be wondering… How could he be both 100 percent God and 100 percent human… how in the world does that happen?

The Bible doesn’t really tell us… and so, I can’t really answer that question.

But the question that the Bible does answer is… Why.

Why is it important?

Why is it essential that we see Jesus Christ as being fully and completely human?

The answer is back in Hebrews 2… and we’re going to look at it again… but the cliff notes answer is this… Jesus must be fully and completely human for him to have solidarity with the human race.

As we re-read the passage, I want you to pay attention to the purpose clauses in the passage.

You know what a purpose clause is? It’s when a statement is given… and then you’ll see the words “SO THAT” or “IN ORDER THAT” … sometimes it’ll just be the word “THAT” … and then, the purpose… or the reason for that truth is given.

Statement… So That… Reason.

So, let’s see why it’s important we believe Jesus is fully human.

Chapter 2, Verse 14…

Our first purpose clause tells us that Jesus came to defeat the power of death.

And Jesus’ humanity allows him to enter the death that all of us are destined to.

Jesus came to defeat death, and he defeats death by entering death.

He defeats death by experiencing death himself… and then, becoming victorious over that death.

Look at verse 17…

In the Old Testament, it was the job of the High Priest to remain pure and holy… and then, once a year, on the tenth day of the seventh month, to enter the Most Holy Place behind the veil… to stand before God.

And when in the Holy of Holies, he would sprinkle blood from a perfect sacrifice on the Mercy Seat to make atonement for all the sins of all the people of Israel.

Jesus’ humanity allowed him to be tempted as we are tempted… yet, overcome that temptation… being completely holy so that his death on the cross, and the shedding of his blood would fully atone for our sin.