Who Is Jesus (part 2)?

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Title: Who Is Jesus Part II

Scripture: 1 Tim 2:5

Theme: Jesus Came fully man and fully God

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on December 3, 2023

FRIGHTENED SPARROWS
By: Paul Harvey

One raw winter night a man heard an irregular thumping sound against the kitchen storm door. He went to a window and watched as tiny, shivering sparrows, attracted to the evident warmth inside, beat in vain against the glass.

Touched, the farmer bundled up and trudged through fresh snow to open the barn for the struggling birds. He turned on the lights, tossed some hay in a corner, and sprinkled a trail of saline crackers to direct them to the barn. But the sparrows, which had been scattered in all directions when he emerged from the house, still hid in the darkness, afraid of him.

He tried various tactics; circling behind the birds to drive them toward the barn, tossing cracker crumbs in the air toward them, retreating into his house to see if they’d flutter into the barn on their own. Nothing worked. He, a huge alien creature, had terrified them; the birds could not understand that he actually desired to help.

He withdrew to his house and watched the doomed sparrows through a window. As he stared, a thought hit him like lightening from a clear blue sky: If only I could become a bird – one of them – just for a moment. Then I wouldn’t frighten them so. I could show them the way to warmth and safety. At the same moment, another thought dawned on him. He had grasped the whole principle of the Incarnation.

A man’s becoming a bird is nothing compared to God’s becoming a man. The concept of a sovereign being as big as the universe He created, confining Himself to a human body was- and is – too much for some people to believe.[1]

Today’s focus is Jesus being our mediator, Jesus being both God and man, and why that is important. I want to show you from Scripture that Jesus was fully human and fully God, and I want to show you the significance.

  1. Let’s begin this discussion with the idea of Jesus being fully human.
    1. Jesus was born just as any other baby is born. We will focus on this later in the month as Christmas comes closer.
    2. We see this in the traditional Christmas passages from Matthew 1:18-25 and Luke 2:1-7.
    3. I write that He was born just like any other baby, but His birth conception was different. He was conceived miraculously by the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35).
    4. One writes: Gabriel gives telltale clues about the metaphysics of the virgin birth, in that the Holy Spirit will “overshadow” (Greek episkiazō) Mary (Luke 1:35). This verb is used elsewhere for the glorious manifestation of God on earth (Matthew 17:5; Luke 9:34; Exodus 40:35), implying that God’s Spirit is the active agent of the special creation of the human body of Jesus in Mary’s womb.[2]
    5. John 1:14 (ESV)
    6. 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
    7. Eugene Peterson says, “Jesus came into our neighborhood.” Remember last week’s sermon about Jesus being pre-existent? Jesus was with God and came down and took on flesh. He became a human.
    8. 1 Timothy 2:5 (ESV)For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus…
    9. Jesus is our mediator to God, and in order to be that mediator, He must be both God and man.
    10. He came fully God and fully man.
    11. Luke 2:52 shows that He grew in knowledge and stature. He went through growing pains as we do. Luke 2:52: And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.
    12. Hebrews 5:8 shows He learned: Heb. 5:8: Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered.
    13. John 11:35 shows He had emotions: John 11:35: Jesus wept.
    14. John 4:6 shows Jesus was tired: John 4:6: Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
    15. John 19:28 shows Jesus was thirsty: John 19:28: Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.”
    16. Matthew 4:2 shows Jesus was hungry: Matthew 4:2: After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.
    17. John 8:46 again shows He was sinless: John 8:46: Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me?
    18. So, Jesus is fully man, fully human. There are many other Scriptures showing His humanity, one of which would be that He died.
    19. Jesus died and was resurrected.
  2. Jesus was and is also fully God.
    1. Someone has said: He was the God-Man. Not God indwelling a man. Of such there have been many. Not a man deified. Of such there have been none save in the myths of pagan systems of thought; but God and man, combining in one personality the two natures, a perpetual enigma and mystery, baffling the possibility of explanation.[3]
    2. Let’s look at a few Scriptures about this as well:
    3. In Rev. 22:13 we see Jesus speaking: Rev. 22:13: I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
    4. In Rev. 1:8 God the Father is speaking: Rev. 1:8: “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”
    5. In Matthew 8:26-27, His miracles prove His deity. This shows that Jesus is omnipotent, just as God is omnipotent. This means that Jesus is all powerful, just as God is all powerful (Ex. 15:11). Matt. 8:26-27: He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. 27The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”
    6. Mark 2:8 Jesus being all knowing shows that He is God. This means that Jesus is omniscient, just as God is omniscient (Psalm 139). See also John 6:64.
    7. In Matthew 18:20, we see Jesus is all present, omnipresent, just as God is omnipresent (present everywhere) (Job 26:6; Psalm 139).
    8. So, you can see from the verses that I have read that Jesus’ life shows that He is God. He showed through His life many of the attributes of the Godhead. Jesus was and still is fully human and fully God. This is a true part of the faith. The Scriptures show this. He didn’t come being fifty percent human and fifty percent God.[4]
  • Why does it matter?
    1. It was necessary for Him to be fully God. Only someone infinitely God could bear the burden of the entire human race’s sins. Also, Salvation is from the Lord (Jonah 2:9). Only God Himself could save man. Only someone truly and fully God could be the one mediator between God and man (1 Tim. 2:5). This is to bring us back to God and reveal God to us (John 14:9).
    2. If you consider the cults, they usually minimize one aspect of who Christ is.
    3. In Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis wrote: I am trying here to prevent anyone from saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: “I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.” That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would be either a lunatic—– on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg— or else He would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse.[6]

Do you believe in Jesus? Who is Jesus to you? I ask that you reflect on your view of Christ as we take communion. Reflect on your relationship with Christ. Are you right with God? Jesus might be speaking to you during this season, He might be saying, “follow me.” Have you made a commitment to Jesus before? Have you surrendered your life to Him? Now is the time. This Jesus who we have talked about today, He is the way the truth and the life. He is the only way to the Father, and we get to the Father by confessing our sins and accepting His free gift of salvation and committing to Jesus.

Someone once said: Like a jewel’s brilliance is displayed on a black cloth, Jesus’ love is displayed against the blackness of sin, and the filth of the flesh.[7]

How can you be encouraged today?

We see enough in Scripture to know that Jesus is God in the flesh. Jesus is Lord. I like what Charles R. Swindoll said: “The storm will come, and if you haven’t a rock to stand on, you will plunge. Jesus is that rock.”

Let Jesus be your rock this week. You can trust Him as your Savior and protector.

Helen Mallicoat made a real contribution to your life and mine when she wrote: I was regretting the past And fearing the future . . . Suddenly my Lord was speaking: “MY NAME IS I AM.” He paused. I waited. He continued, “WHEN YOU LIVE IN THE PAST, WITH ITS MISTAKES AND REGRETS, IT IS HARD. I AM NOT THERE. MY NAME IS NOT I WAS. “WHEN YOU LIVE IN THE FUTURE, WITH ITS PROBLEMS AND FEARS, IT IS HARD. I AM NOT THERE. MY NAME IS NOT I WILL BE. “WHEN YOU LIVE IN THIS MOMENT, IT IS NOT HARD. I AM HERE. MY NAME IS I AM.” 4″

Let Jesus be your Rock, He is with us now.

Prayer

[1]Swindoll, Charles R. Read in Swindoll’s Ultimate Book of Illustrations & Quotes. Thomas Nelson. Nashville, TN 1998. Page 294-295 quoted from Paul Harvey.

[2] https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/does-the-virgin-birth-really-matter?utm_campaign=Daily+Email&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=102976522&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8B6i-EoeTAR60_IsvW2JEK-EK_5gBu09_qv-osFdFNQozaYr1O2qItn0juk6EV3PEvE6ZPuDcnOYkNBxsLA-pH08JJ-Q&utm_content=102976522&utm_source=hs_email

[3] Swindoll, Charles R. Read in Swindoll’s Ultimate Book of Illustrations & Quotes. Thomas Nelson. Nashville, TN 1998. Page 315. (quoted from G. Campbell Morgan, The Crisis of the Christ)

[4] Grudem, Wayne. Bible Doctrine. 1999. Zondervan. Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530.

[5] Some information in this section from: Charles R. Swindoll and Roy B. Zuck, general editors. Understanding Christian Theology. Thomas Nelson Publishers. Nashville, TN. 2003. Pages 340-341. Other information from the ESV Study Bible supplemental information in the back.

[6] Swindoll, Charles R. Read in Swindoll’s Ultimate Book of Illustrations & Quotes. Thomas Nelson. Nashville, TN 1998. Page 315 (quoted from C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity.)

[7] Swindoll, Charles R. Read in Swindoll’s Ultimate Book of Illustrations & Quotes. Thomas Nelson. Nashville, TN 1998. Page 313.

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