Wednesday 5 March 2014

Read: Philippians 2:5-11, 1 John 4:1-3
Jesus is Man

I hope you're sitting down for this next study. If you have access to a seatbelt I would recommend restraining yourself. The next thing that we learn about God the Son is simply incredible, shocking even. So shocking that despite hearing it hundreds of times, the incredible truth of it might not have truly sunk in yet. You'd better watch out, because today it might just blow you away. What is this incredible thing we learn about God the Son?

God the Son became a man. That's right. God the Son became a MAN.

Think about that for a moment. The God of the Universe, the creator, ruler and sustainer of all things became a human being. The one who has existed in eternity past has chosen to limit Himself and become a human being. He traded incomprehensible heavenly glory and wealth for the life of a poor, homeless Jewish teacher. He traded the rightful worship and service of all of the universe to come as a humble servant to serve and love His creation. He took on all the limitations of human existence: sickness, suffering, tiredness, the need to eat and drink, poverty and even death for the sake of others. God the Son became a man.

There have been many false teachings about this in history. Some, rightly shocked at this incredible concept, have wrongly sought to downplay Jesus' humanity. The early church fathers publicly fought against gnosticism, the heretical teaching that Jesus came only as a spirit in the illusion of a man and teaching that all physical creation was inferior and sinful. John writes incredibly strongly against these types of heresies in 1 John 4: "Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus, is not from God."

The Bible is clear, God the Son became a man and took the name Jesus Christ. Jesus was fully human in every single way. He was not an illusion, a spirit or only partially human. He was fully human. But, equally as important, Jesus was fully divine. He did not surrender His divine nature at all. He remained and will forever remain fully God. He chose to willingly surrender some of His power for a time in order to serve humanity. Jesus is 100% human and 100% God. Jesus is God the Son become a man.

Paul writes about the wonder of this in Philippians 2:6-8. Talking about Jesus he writes: "Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross!"

God the Son chose to be born as a human baby, to become Jesus Christ, to take on the nature of a servant. More than that, He humbled Himself and became obedient even to the point of His own death, even death on a cross. The God of the universe who is worthy of all honour and praise and glory willingly went to die in the most shameful, painful and terrible manner of death that the ancient world had to offer. Hands that created the world and scattered the stars in the heavens were pierced by cruel nails. The feet that deserve to rest on the Earth for their footstool (Isaiah 66:1, Acts 7:49) are nailed to a piece of wood and painfully used to push up the body of God the Son. The one who spoke the entire universe into being now cries out in pain "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me!?" The one who is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end pays the price for our sin and cries out "it is finished!"

This ought to totally blow us away. Too quickly we can become desensitised to the wonder of what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. God the Son willingly humbled Himself to live and to die for our sake. We should need to sit down to think about this. We should need a seatbelt to stop us from being blown away. God's love is truly incredible. Take a moment to praise God for His incredible love and to wonder at the fact that God the Son would become a man to save you from your sin.

Walk Moment
How should it change our lives that Jesus willingly became a man? Paul makes one application clear in Philippians 2, we are to have the same humble, obedient attitude that Christ had. How do you think remembering that Jesus became a man would change your attitude? What could you do to remind yourself of this every day?

Discussion Questions For Families and Groups

1. Why do you think it is important that Jesus came as a physical human being and not merely some kind of spirit? What other beliefs would this affect?
2. Imagine that you are talking with someone who denies Jesus' humanity. What passages could you point to show them that Jesus was truly human?

Prayer:
Write down your prayer points in the space provided. Use today’s reading to help you get ideas.

Adoration:

Confession:

Thanks:

Supplication:

• Thank God the son that He came as a human being. Thank Him that He humbled Himself to become a man and to be born as a human being for our sake. Praise Him for His grace and love towards us that He would do that willingly. Pray that He would help you to be humble and to serve others.
• Pray for Playpals at ChristLife today. Pray that the mums would grow in relationship with one another and in relationship with their children. Pray that the friendships that are made in this group would bear fruit and would result in opportunities to share the gospel. Pray that those mums who don't know Christ would have soft hearts.