What we believe about Jesus really matters because Jesus is God in a bod who came to earth to explain God to us and to explain to us what it means to be truly human...

This week we have been looking at the fourth statement that comprises our doctrinal statement as a church. This fourth statement addresses what we believe as a church about Jesus. This statement summarizes the answer to the question “Who is Jesus?”

So far, we have discovered that when we say that Jesus Christ is God incarnate, what we are saying is that Jesus Christ is God-in-a bod. We are saying that Jesus Christ is God who came to earth and became a man without ceasing to be God. In Jesus Christ, we see visibly the nature and character of the invisible God. Jesus has a special status and position in relationship to all creation in that He existed before creation.

In addition, as the hands of creation, all things were created through Him and for Him. Everything was created through Jesus and everything was created for Jesus. Jesus is holding all things together. He holds the earth in its orbit; He holds the laws of gravity in place; He gives us every breath that we take.

And although Jesus existed from all eternity as God, He did not consider and regard His high position as God as something that needed to be held onto or asserted in order to achieve personal advantage or prestige. While Jesus could have kept a firm grasp on His Divine status and privilege, Jesus chose to let go of that status and instead chose to enter humanity to grasp and embrace the form of a condemned slave. Jesus purposefully laid aside His Divine status and the divine prerogatives so as to be able to die.

And because Jesus willingly chose to let go of His divine status and prerogatives and instead chose to enter humanity to grasp and embrace the form of a condemned slave, God responded by raising Him to the highest of heights. At the title that God gave Jesus, every being and power will submit to His prestige and preeminence; whether the beings and powers reside in the Heavenly places, whether the beings and powers reside on earth, or whether the beings or powers reside under the earth. There is no place in existence that will not submit to the title that God gives His Son Jesus as our High Priest and as our Advocate.

Now today we are going to look at the sentence in our doctrinal statement that states “Jesus-Israel’s promised Messiah-was conceived through the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.” You see, as humanity selfishly rebelled against God, God made a promise to the Jewish people. And that promise was that God would send a rescuer, a deliverer, a Messiah, who would bring the Jewish people back to God and back to prominence in the world.

We see God reveal His promise of a Messiah in a section of a letter in the Old Testament of the Bible called the book of Isaiah. At the time that this section of the book of Isaiah was written, which was between 736 and 734 B.C., the Jewish people were a nation that was divided into two kingdoms, the northern kingdom, which was referred to as Israel and the southern kingdom, which was referred to as Judah. Judah was led by  a man named King Ahaz.

Now King Ahaz was one of the most wicked kings that ever led the Jewish people. King Ahaz embraced the idolatry that had previously consumed the northern kingdom of Israel. As part of his idolatrous worship, King Ahaz even burned his sons in fire. During this time in history, the northern kingdom, Israel made an alliance with the nation of Aram, which was located in modern day Syria, to attack Judah.

And as the united armies of Israel and Aram marched toward Jerusalem, King Ahaz and Judah had a choice; who were they going to trust? Would they trust in the Lord? Or would they place their trust in the nation of Assyria, which were the Jewish people’s hated enemy. However, to trust the nation of Assyria would require entering into a covenant that involved recognition of the Assyrian gods and an admission of their lordship. King Ahaz would have to redesign the temple altar in order that sacrifices to their gods could be made.

It is in this context that the prophet Isaiah approaches king Ahaz as the king is making preparations for the defense of Jerusalem to deliver a message from the Lord. And the Lord’s message to the king was this: “Do not fear this army, because this plan will not occur. And do not place your trust in the Assyrians, place your trust in me. But if you do not trust me, if you trust the Assyrians, understand this; you surely will not last”.

The prophet then put the king to the test by inviting King Ahaz to test God. King Ahaz, however, refused to test God, because Ahaz had already made up his mind. The king had already decided that he would place his confident trust in Assyria instead of the Lord. And it was in this context that Isaiah proclaimed the following beginning in Isaiah 7:13:

Then he said, "Listen now, O house of David! Is it too slight a thing for you to try the patience of men, that you will try the patience of my God as well? Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.

Then some 700 years after this original promise that was given to King Ahaz was fulfilled, another messenger from the Lord, this time the Angel Gabriel, delivered a message from the Lord to a teenage Junior High girl who lived in a small rural town in Israel. A message that Luke records for us in an account of Jesus life in the Bible called the gospel of Luke in Luke 1:26:

Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth,  to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.  And coming in, he said to her, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you." But she was very perplexed at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was.The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. "And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end."

Now God’s message to Mary, if it was communicated in the language that we use in our culture today, would have sounded something like this: “Mary, do not be afraid because God is with you and is going to extend grace to you. God is going to reveal His transformational intervention and activity in your life in a miraculous way. You see, Mary you are going to have a child; and this child is not just any child. You are going to have a son and you are to name him Jesus, or Yahweh saves. And the reason that you are to name Him Jesus is because He is God in a bod. God is coming to the earth through you as the Lord God is sending His Son Jesus, who is God, to take on flesh and fulfill the promise that He had made to bring the Jewish people back to Him. The son that you will give birth to will rule and reign as He reveals and establishes the kingdom of Heaven for all eternity".

Now imagine yourself as Mary. Out of the blue, an angel of the Lord shows up to tell you that you are going to become pregnant and give birth to God: What would you be thinking? What would you be feeling at that point? How would you respond? Probably just like Mary did in verse 34:

Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?"

In other words, Mary is asking “how is this possible?” Now this was not a question of doubt or a lack of faith. Instead, this is a question that flowed from a desire to understand. Mary is asking “How am I going to get pregnant and have a child if I have never had sex before? I mean, usually you have to have sex before you get pregnant. I have not had sex and I am not married, so how am I going to become pregnant with God?” We see the angel Gabriel’s response in verse 35:

 The angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.

To understand the angel Gabriel’s response, we first need to define some terms. When the Angel Gabriel says "The Holy Spirit will come upon you”, this phrase literally means that the Holy Spirit will come and move upon you. The phrase “the power of the Most High will overshadow you” literally means that the power of God would cover you.

In other words, Mary would become pregnant as a result of the supernatural power of God as displayed through the Holy Spirit, who would creatively and supernaturally bring about the physical conception of Jesus. In church mumbo jumbo talk, this is referred to as the Immaculate Conception and the virgin birth.

Mary did not become pregnant because God had sex with Mary. God moved in a supernatural and unique way, displaying His power through the Holy Spirit, to bring the second member of the Trinity into humanity as the only begotten son of God. That is why the Angel Gabriel stated that the holy Child shall be called the son of God.

The phrase “Son of God”  in the Bible is not a term that is used to simply describe one’s place in a family tree. The phrase “Son of God” is a title that is used to describe Jesus association with God as the second member of the Trinity. As the Holy Child, as God in a bod, Jesus would be set apart as distinct and different from any other human child. Jesus was fully God and fully man.

And Jesus was set apart and sent to earth with a specific mission, which was to give His life to provide humanity an opportunity to be rescued from the selfishness and rebellion that separated humanity from God so that they could receive forgiveness and experience the relationship with God that they were created for.

Now, after unpacking all of that information that is contained within this statement of our doctrinal statement, we still have to answer the question: “Dave does what we believe about Jesus really matter?” And the answer to that question leads us to a timeless truth about why it really matters. And that timeless truth is this: What we believe about Jesus really matters because Jesus is God in a bod who came to earth to explain God to us and to explain to us what it means to be truly human.

What we really believe about Jesus really matters because Jesus is like none other. Jesus is like none other because Jesus is God-in-a-bod. Jesus is God who came to earth and became a man without ceasing to be God. Jesus is like none other because Jesus is 100% God and 100% man. What we really believe about Jesus really matters because Jesus came to humanity to explain God to humanity.

God the Father sent Jesus into humanity to explain Himself to humanity. So, when we wonder what God is like, all we have to do is to look at the life of Jesus. When we wonder how God feels about a certain issue, all we have to do is look at the life of Jesus and see how He responded or answered that issue.

And what we really believe about Jesus really matters because Jesus came to humanity to explain to humanity what it means to be truly human. God the Father sent Jesus into humanity to explain to humanity what a relationship with God was designed to be. Jesus entered into humanity to live the life in relationship with God that we were created and to live, but refused to live. Jesus entered into humanity to live the life in relationship with humanity in community with one another that we were created and to live, but refused to live.

And what we really believe about Jesus really matters because Jesus came to humanity to do something for humanity that humanity was unwilling and unable to do, which was to allow Himself to be treated as though He lived our selfish and sinful lives so God the Father could treat us as though we lived Jesus perfect life.