WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:10.000 Well, this evening I'd like us to continue the study that we've been doing which is called 00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:18.400 Flesh and Blood Jesus. And the aim of this series, as you know, has been to think through 00:00:18.400 --> 00:00:25.280 different ways in which Jesus's humanity is revealed to us in the New Testament. And 00:00:25.280 --> 00:00:30.960 as we do that, we're being reminded not only that Jesus is the Son of God, but also that 00:00:30.960 --> 00:00:40.640 He is the perfect human. In Jesus we see the glory of God being revealed, but we also see 00:00:40.640 --> 00:00:52.560 everything that humanity is meant to be. I want us to turn together in a little bit more detail 00:00:52.560 --> 00:01:00.560 to the passage that we read. And our title this evening is, He is Lord. 00:01:03.760 --> 00:01:10.800 Let's look again at verses 38 to 39, but we'll really be looking at the section 31 to 39. 00:01:11.520 --> 00:01:17.200 We can read these words again at the end though. But I'm sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, 00:01:17.200 --> 00:01:23.200 nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor power, nor height, nor depth, 00:01:23.200 --> 00:01:30.799 nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, 00:01:31.359 --> 00:01:39.359 our Lord. Throughout this series we've been thinking about some of the key emphasis that 00:01:40.079 --> 00:01:46.400 scripture highlights to teach us about Jesus's experience as a human. So we've looked at things 00:01:46.400 --> 00:01:53.440 like how He prayed, how He read His Bible, how He was tempted, how He got angry, and all of these 00:01:53.440 --> 00:02:00.719 combine to reveal the fullness of what Jesus experienced when He became a human. 00:02:02.880 --> 00:02:07.280 And all of these different things that we've been looking at are pointing to the fact that 00:02:07.280 --> 00:02:17.280 when Jesus became flesh and blood, He began a remarkable journey. And that word journey is, 00:02:17.280 --> 00:02:25.520 in many ways, a key term, thinking about Jesus and His humanity. And it's a word that we're going to 00:02:25.520 --> 00:02:34.479 use for our two headings tonight. And our headings, as you can see, are His journey and our journey. 00:02:34.479 --> 00:02:42.319 I want to just look at these together for a moment tonight. So first of all, His journey. 00:02:44.239 --> 00:02:50.560 The journey that Jesus took when He became flesh and blood is often described under two 00:02:50.560 --> 00:02:58.079 great headings. And you can see them there on the screen, humiliation and exaltation. These are the 00:02:58.079 --> 00:03:04.239 two big words that we use to describe Jesus's journey. Now when we say humiliation, we don't 00:03:04.240 --> 00:03:09.840 mean in the sense of being embatticed, like we'll often use that term. What we mean is in terms 00:03:09.840 --> 00:03:19.040 of being made low. And exaltation, therefore, is the opposite of that. It speaks of being lifted high. 00:03:19.040 --> 00:03:27.920 So in terms of Jesus's journey, you have a downward journey, which is humiliation. 00:03:27.919 --> 00:03:38.639 And then an upward journey, which is this exaltation. Just a wee reminder to mute yourself if you're not 00:03:40.799 --> 00:03:50.639 here. These two things, a downward journey and an upward journey, humiliation, exaltation. 00:03:50.639 --> 00:04:00.799 At the centre of that, of course, is the cross. The cross is the lowest point in Jesus's humiliation. 00:04:00.799 --> 00:04:06.559 In fact, it's the destination that he reached in that humiliation. But it's also the starting point. 00:04:08.639 --> 00:04:17.519 From the cross, Jesus ascends upwards on a journey of exaltation. And all of that is described 00:04:17.519 --> 00:04:23.199 magnificently in the verses that we read at the start as our call to worship. Paul says, 00:04:23.199 --> 00:04:30.719 have this mind amongst yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus. Though he was in the form of God, 00:04:30.719 --> 00:04:37.519 he did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself. There's the starting 00:04:37.519 --> 00:04:44.159 point of that downward humiliation, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, 00:04:44.160 --> 00:04:48.240 and being found in human form. He humbled himself. There's the language of humiliation 00:04:48.240 --> 00:04:55.920 by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. And then from that point, 00:04:55.920 --> 00:05:00.160 something new happens. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name 00:05:00.160 --> 00:05:05.280 that is above every name, so that in the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on 00:05:05.280 --> 00:05:11.040 earth and under the earth. And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory 00:05:11.040 --> 00:05:20.480 of God, the Father. And the key result of this whole journey is that Jesus is Lord. 00:05:22.160 --> 00:05:30.400 That means that he has authority. So that's really what the word Lord is speaking about. The word 00:05:30.399 --> 00:05:42.959 Lord means ruler or master. It also means that Jesus is sovereign. He now reigns as king and ruler 00:05:42.959 --> 00:05:52.239 over the whole universe. And it means that he is supreme. He is the name that is above every name. 00:05:52.240 --> 00:06:00.879 And at his name, every other knee is going to bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ 00:06:00.879 --> 00:06:11.439 is Lord. Jesus is utterly supreme. And that's the amazing journey that Jesus took. He did not hold 00:06:11.439 --> 00:06:19.439 onto the glory that he had here with the Father from all eternity, but he entered that journey 00:06:19.439 --> 00:06:30.160 of humiliation. He came down alongside us, born in poverty and obscurity, laid in a manger, growing 00:06:30.160 --> 00:06:37.360 up to experience all the struggles and difficulties of human life, going all the way to the agonizing 00:06:37.360 --> 00:06:46.079 depths of Gethsemane and the cross. But from there, he is now risen and ascended. And he is now at 00:06:46.079 --> 00:06:55.279 the right hand of God in a position of total supremacy. But the key point that I want us to 00:06:55.279 --> 00:07:05.519 highlight is that from here, all the way along this journey, at every point, Jesus takes his 00:07:05.519 --> 00:07:17.039 humanity with him. So he took the full reality of being a normal human. And in doing so, he came 00:07:17.039 --> 00:07:25.919 alongside us here as humans. But not only that, he took the responsibility of a failed humanity. 00:07:25.920 --> 00:07:35.840 And he went to the cross in our place and died instead of us. And he rose again in resurrected 00:07:35.840 --> 00:07:45.200 humanity. And in doing so, he brings life to us all. And now he is exalted at the right hand of God, 00:07:45.920 --> 00:07:53.680 but still in his humanity. He is at the right hand of God as exalted humanity. 00:07:53.680 --> 00:08:08.319 Jesus is Lord and the Lord is flesh and blood. In other words, the Lord of the universe is one of us. 00:08:10.240 --> 00:08:17.040 And that's the crucial point that Paul highlights in verse 34. It says in that verse, 00:08:17.040 --> 00:08:24.240 who's condemned? Christ Jesus is the one who died for us more than that who was raised. So there 00:08:24.240 --> 00:08:29.760 again, you have it, the language of humiliation, the language of exaltation. Now he is at the 00:08:29.760 --> 00:08:36.720 right hand of God. But what is he doing at the right hand of God? He is interceding for us. 00:08:36.720 --> 00:08:52.560 Now that's something that we must never forget. That Jesus's work for you does not end at the cross. 00:08:53.680 --> 00:09:01.200 It continues. In fact, it continues forever because he is interceding for us, for you 00:09:01.200 --> 00:09:09.920 at God's right hand. So that means that Jesus isn't just a high priest on the cross. He is a high priest 00:09:09.920 --> 00:09:20.080 forever. That means that if you are a Christian or if you become one, then today, tomorrow, and forever 00:09:20.080 --> 00:09:27.040 more, Jesus is standing at the right hand of God constantly declaring that his work on the cross 00:09:27.039 --> 00:09:36.480 is effective for you. Your debt has been paid. Your sins have been totally dealt with and no 00:09:36.480 --> 00:09:47.599 accusation whatsoever can threaten you because Jesus is interceding for you forever. And that 00:09:47.600 --> 00:09:58.800 of course is why if you want assurance for your salvation, you don't need to look back and think 00:09:59.440 --> 00:10:05.920 oh, I had an amazing experience a few years ago, or I had an amazing conversion that way back then, 00:10:06.879 --> 00:10:11.759 and I can hold on to that, or I've had some amazing experiences in my Christian life 00:10:11.759 --> 00:10:19.039 that I can hold on to because that shows me that I'm secure. It's so incredibly easy 00:10:19.840 --> 00:10:24.319 to think like that in terms of a Christian experience. If you think of this as you as a 00:10:24.319 --> 00:10:31.279 Christian, we kind of think if you look back over time, that's your past there, we think oh, 00:10:31.279 --> 00:10:34.960 there was this great moment then when I was converted, or there was this great moment a few 00:10:34.960 --> 00:10:39.279 years after that when something incredible happened, and we think oh, if we can just hold on to the way 00:10:39.279 --> 00:10:46.559 we felt then, then you know, I know I'll be safe and I'll know I'll be secure, but you know you 00:10:46.559 --> 00:10:53.439 don't need big moments like that to hold on to, and most Christians don't have them, 00:10:55.199 --> 00:11:03.919 and you don't need them because if you want assurance, you just need to remember that right 00:11:03.919 --> 00:11:14.159 now you have a high priest, a great high priest interceding for you at the right hand of God. 00:11:15.519 --> 00:11:23.839 He is standing for you. He is advocating for you. He is guaranteeing that you are his, 00:11:23.840 --> 00:11:34.800 and he is doing that at every single second that the clock takes. So behind me there's a 00:11:34.800 --> 00:11:38.720 clock, I don't know if you can see it very well, but that is actually a clock, that silver thing, 00:11:38.720 --> 00:11:44.399 every single click of that clock, if you're a Christian, Jesus is interceding for you, 00:11:44.399 --> 00:11:53.679 and he will never stop. The exalted flesh and blood Jesus is interceding for you, 00:11:54.399 --> 00:12:00.399 and at one level we think of that and we think oh you know that's amazing, because we think of Jesus 00:12:00.399 --> 00:12:07.439 as exalted, and we think you know isn't it amazing that we can think of the exalted Jesus and say 00:12:07.440 --> 00:12:15.840 he is one of us? That is amazing, but the really amazing thing is that if you are a Christian 00:12:15.840 --> 00:12:22.960 or if you become one, the flesh and blood Jesus who is exalted at the right hand of God 00:12:23.680 --> 00:12:28.000 is looking at you and is saying she is one of nine. 00:12:28.000 --> 00:12:37.360 When Jesus became flesh and blood he went on a journey. The climax of that journey is that 00:12:37.919 --> 00:12:44.080 now and forever more flesh and blood Jesus is Lord. 00:12:44.080 --> 00:12:57.759 But what about our journey? How does this relate to your flesh and blood day to day life? 00:12:58.639 --> 00:13:05.520 Well there's lots of things that we could say about that, but I want us to focus on the fact 00:13:05.520 --> 00:13:11.520 that at the end of Romans 8, the passage that you'll read for us, Paul speaks about many of the 00:13:11.519 --> 00:13:20.240 things that threaten our flesh and blood and there's two elements to this. The first group 00:13:20.240 --> 00:13:28.480 if you like is in verse 35 and here Paul talks about what we could call day to day threats 00:13:29.360 --> 00:13:34.960 to our flesh and blood. He says who shall save us from the love of Christ, shall tribulation or 00:13:34.960 --> 00:13:42.720 distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword. Now there's a list of day to day 00:13:42.720 --> 00:13:49.440 threats to our flesh and blood. Now for us reading it today we can think well yeah that's 00:13:49.440 --> 00:13:55.680 probably not as relevant to us as it would have been in the days of Paul writing to the Romans 00:13:56.560 --> 00:14:01.200 and at first reading I can understand why you would maybe feel like that or we could think to 00:14:01.200 --> 00:14:05.520 ourselves well yeah that would be more relevant to some part of the church that's being you know 00:14:06.720 --> 00:14:14.879 much more persecuted than we are and at what level that is true because in our country we, 00:14:15.440 --> 00:14:21.759 it is the case that we enjoy many blessings and privileges and protections that make life a lot 00:14:21.759 --> 00:14:28.720 easier for us as Christians, but if we look at these words a little bit more closely I hope we 00:14:28.720 --> 00:14:36.160 can see that it's actually these words are actually a lot more relevant than we might think. 00:14:36.879 --> 00:14:41.360 So let's just go through them one by one quite briefly so the first one we have here is tribulation. 00:14:41.920 --> 00:14:48.800 Now that can maybe seem a little bit of a strange word for our day to day lives just now. 00:14:49.680 --> 00:14:56.720 If I was to ask you you know were you under tribulation last week then I think you would 00:14:56.720 --> 00:15:09.600 probably say no but that word literally means pressure and if I was to ask you 00:15:12.080 --> 00:15:18.720 did you feel under pressure last week I think the answer is probably very likely to be yes. 00:15:20.080 --> 00:15:25.680 Pressure is a huge issue for all of us and it can come from so many points from work 00:15:25.679 --> 00:15:36.719 from homeschooling from our peer group from money from studies that we're doing deadlines that we 00:15:36.719 --> 00:15:42.799 have to meet even from decisions that we have to make all these things can so often leave us 00:15:42.799 --> 00:15:54.240 feeling under huge pressure and our bodies our flesh and blood bodies our health can so easily 00:15:54.240 --> 00:16:04.720 buckle under that pressure. Next word is distress and now that word literally means 00:16:04.720 --> 00:16:13.840 naronesse and so it's kind of like we might describe that in terms of like feeling trapped 00:16:15.360 --> 00:16:23.200 or feeling forced into a corner and so often life does that to us and we can be forced into 00:16:23.200 --> 00:16:30.320 having to deal with a really difficult situation at work or we might be forced to to face a bad 00:16:30.320 --> 00:16:38.720 diagnosis and or we might be trapped in circumstances or habits that can hurt us 00:16:39.920 --> 00:16:49.040 that kind of distress that naronesse can be a threat to us. Then we've got persecution now 00:16:49.039 --> 00:16:53.919 obviously for many Christians in the world and that's exactly what it means it's been oppressed 00:16:53.919 --> 00:16:59.199 by enemies of Christianity and as we said we are so blessed that in so many ways it's not like that 00:16:59.199 --> 00:17:06.720 for us that we have freedoms and privileges and that protect us but the word persecution literally 00:17:06.720 --> 00:17:17.119 means to be pursued or we might maybe say to be harassed and that is definitely something 00:17:17.119 --> 00:17:21.679 that we can often feel. It might not be directly because of our faith but it might be because of 00:17:21.679 --> 00:17:27.519 a difficult colleague that we've got to work with or maybe someone at school who's giving us a hard 00:17:27.519 --> 00:17:39.199 time or maybe even an abusive family member for some people day to day life can feel like you're 00:17:39.199 --> 00:17:46.559 being hounded. Then we have famine again we find ourselves thinking well you know that's maybe not 00:17:46.559 --> 00:17:53.839 so relevant to us and again that's true but at the same time we still know that we would be totally 00:17:53.839 --> 00:17:59.679 vulnerable if the food supply was interrupted or if the economy collapsed and things never got that 00:17:59.679 --> 00:18:05.200 bad during the lockdown but when people were going bananas at Tesco's and grabbing everything for 00:18:05.200 --> 00:18:14.079 themselves it did kind of make you think what would happen if this supply chain was to stop 00:18:14.079 --> 00:18:21.279 and and it's probably the case that even in Scotland there are far more people than we realise 00:18:21.279 --> 00:18:31.439 who are worrying about how to put food on the table. Next word is nakedness that again might seem 00:18:31.439 --> 00:18:35.919 a wee bit strange for us today which is that well that's not a problem any of us have but of course 00:18:35.919 --> 00:18:41.919 the key thing is that that word nakedness is really just speaking of being vulnerable or 00:18:41.920 --> 00:18:49.200 being unprepared or being exposed. Now maybe in Paul's time there was danger of being exposed 00:18:49.200 --> 00:18:54.640 and to the cold in winter particularly if you are traveling. Today we've got plenty clothes for a 00:18:54.640 --> 00:19:02.160 winter's day but it's definitely the case that we all feel hugely vulnerable to the threat of infection 00:19:02.160 --> 00:19:12.560 particularly in light of COVID and of course our naked faces are being covered all the time just now 00:19:13.200 --> 00:19:25.759 to protect our flesh and blood from a very real threat and then we have danger which just conveys 00:19:25.759 --> 00:19:38.879 the idea of being at risk of something. Again it's for us we're not in danger from maybe from 00:19:38.879 --> 00:19:44.879 enemies or from wild animals that people might have been in earlier periods of history and other 00:19:44.879 --> 00:19:50.640 parts of the world but at the same time we all have aspects of our lives that put us at risk 00:19:50.640 --> 00:19:58.240 that might be our diet, it might be our stress levels, it might be our habits, it might be our 00:19:58.240 --> 00:20:03.600 dependence on a medication or something like that and the fact that our workplaces are kind of 00:20:03.600 --> 00:20:12.480 overflowing with risk assessments is because risk and danger is still very real. And then last of 00:20:12.480 --> 00:20:19.600 all we've got sword which of course is in many ways serving as a metaphor for violence and although 00:20:19.599 --> 00:20:25.519 we do live in a society that's full that's got a good level of law and order at the same time 00:20:25.519 --> 00:20:33.759 violent crime still happens and if you were to walk through the streets of Edinburgh at two in 00:20:33.759 --> 00:20:42.879 the morning on your own would you feel totally safe? All these things, tribulation, distress, 00:20:42.880 --> 00:20:50.880 persecution, famine, nakedness, danger and sword they're all threats to our flesh and blood and 00:20:50.880 --> 00:20:59.760 as we said these are kind of day-to-day threats. Then though in verse 35 and 36, oh sorry rather 00:21:00.320 --> 00:21:09.760 38 to 39, we have what we could maybe call cosmic threats. Paul talks about other things 00:21:09.759 --> 00:21:20.960 and so he talks about life and death, angels, rulers, things present, things to come, powers, 00:21:20.960 --> 00:21:28.879 height, depth and here he's really talking about big big things so whether it's in the physical realm 00:21:28.879 --> 00:21:36.400 of space and time and geography or the spiritual realm of principalities and powers there are many 00:21:36.400 --> 00:21:42.880 many cosmic forces that can threaten us and so that means that on our journey, our day-to-day 00:21:42.880 --> 00:21:47.840 flesh and blood on our flesh and blood journey both at a day-to-day level and at a cosmic level 00:21:47.840 --> 00:21:55.360 we are all facing threats. That might be physical challenges, it might be mental distress, 00:21:55.360 --> 00:22:02.000 it might be spiritual conflict, it's probably going to be a combination of them all and over all of 00:22:02.000 --> 00:22:14.240 that we all face the the brutal reality of death and in the face of that our flesh and blood 00:22:15.519 --> 00:22:22.559 is very vulnerable and Paul captures that really powerfully in an image he uses in verse 36 where 00:22:22.559 --> 00:22:28.640 he says um for your sake we've been killed all the day long we're regarded as sheep to be slaughtered 00:22:28.640 --> 00:22:34.400 and if we think of um all the chaos in the world we think of the pressures that we face around us 00:22:34.400 --> 00:22:40.000 if we think of the struggles that are within us it's so easy to feel as vulnerable and as exposed 00:22:40.640 --> 00:22:44.400 as a sheep waiting to be slaughtered. 00:22:47.600 --> 00:22:55.520 So if we try and bring all this together um in these verses Paul is giving us two great images 00:22:55.519 --> 00:23:07.119 uh on the one hand we have Jesus here risen and exalted as the supreme lord of all he is up here 00:23:07.839 --> 00:23:18.240 exalted at the right hand of god uh over uh over everything and then we have us and and we're down 00:23:18.240 --> 00:23:33.440 here like a little sheep and um i think i'm a wee bit of a blackface there we go and we're like a 00:23:33.440 --> 00:23:43.920 sheep down at the bottom exposed and vulnerable and we are facing all these threats uh danger 00:23:43.920 --> 00:23:55.840 and nakedness famine sword pressure distress and we're facing the dangers of of heights and 00:23:55.840 --> 00:24:03.120 depths and time and eternity and powers and forces and all sorts of things we have all these 00:24:03.120 --> 00:24:12.160 threats and pressing in on us and the result is that we can feel so exposed 00:24:12.160 --> 00:24:21.120 so threatened and so vulnerable and perhaps a good way of diagnosing whether that applies to 00:24:21.120 --> 00:24:29.759 you is to ask yourself the question do you worry about stuff because our worrying is a symptom of 00:24:29.759 --> 00:24:39.120 the fact that we feel exposed we're all too aware that there's threats around us so the result is 00:24:39.119 --> 00:24:46.959 that we've got jesus up here and we are down here and then we've got all these threats pushing in on 00:24:46.959 --> 00:25:00.239 us all around us but the absolutely amazing thing about these verses is that paul is seeing that 00:25:00.240 --> 00:25:10.880 nothing can separate you from him and that means that there is an impenetrable defense 00:25:13.440 --> 00:25:24.480 uniting you to jesus and protecting you from all these threats and whether these are day to day 00:25:24.480 --> 00:25:30.000 ones like what we have in verse 35 or whether they are cosmic ones as we have in verses 38 to 39 00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:39.440 they've all got one thing in common they are all powerless when it comes to separating you from jesus 00:25:40.799 --> 00:25:47.200 in fact the only thing that these threats can ever do the closer and closer they get and the 00:25:47.200 --> 00:25:52.400 harder and harder they push there's only one thing that they can do and you know what it is 00:25:52.400 --> 00:25:57.920 the only thing they can do is push you closer to jesus 00:26:00.960 --> 00:26:07.280 because ultimately the biggest thing that these threats can do to you is to take your life and 00:26:07.280 --> 00:26:16.880 they will ultimately but when they do they are just sending you straight into the arms of jesus 00:26:16.880 --> 00:26:30.400 and the reason that nothing can separate us from jesus as paul is saying here is because his journey 00:26:31.120 --> 00:26:40.400 reaches us right where we are and his journey takes us right to where he wants us to be 00:26:40.400 --> 00:26:48.400 if we go back to that diagram we've got jesus in his humiliation and in his exaltation at the 00:26:48.400 --> 00:26:58.080 center of it is the cross in his humiliation jesus reaches right down to where we are exactly where 00:26:58.080 --> 00:27:06.480 you are in all your brokenness and mistakes and regrets no matter how deep you feel you've gone 00:27:06.480 --> 00:27:16.160 jesus comes low enough he comes right down to reach you where you are but in his exaltation 00:27:17.920 --> 00:27:27.759 he takes you right where he wants you to be and that reaches the full reality of being brought 00:27:27.759 --> 00:27:37.920 into jesus's eternal kingdom where he reigns where death is crushed and where we have eternal life 00:27:37.920 --> 00:27:45.920 in him and so he reaches us right here and he takes us all the way up here to where he wants us to be 00:27:46.879 --> 00:27:54.559 and all of that is because by faith we are united to jesus on this journey 00:27:54.559 --> 00:28:04.879 we are united to him in his humiliation so that means that that he's come alongside us 00:28:05.519 --> 00:28:09.359 he's taken the same flesh and blood that we have but he didn't stop there he's taken 00:28:09.359 --> 00:28:16.879 his our sin onto his flesh and blood body he's died in our place his flesh was broken his blood 00:28:16.880 --> 00:28:25.600 was shed to make atonement for our sin and we are then also united to him in his exaltation so that 00:28:26.240 --> 00:28:35.200 he is raised to life so are we he is established in his kingdom we are part of it he is lord 00:28:35.200 --> 00:28:48.480 and we are his the flesh and blood jesus is exalted here and he is interceding on your behalf 00:28:49.680 --> 00:28:59.759 because you are united to him the flesh and blood jesus is interceding for his flesh and blood 00:28:59.759 --> 00:29:11.519 brothers and sisters he's doing it on behalf of you and that of course means that the the eternal 00:29:11.519 --> 00:29:22.799 life that jesus offers us and gives us is eternal flesh and blood life so that means that the great 00:29:22.799 --> 00:29:27.839 goal of christianity is not that we're going to be floating around in kind of spiritual a spiritual 00:29:27.839 --> 00:29:35.199 haze in heaven as kind of floaty spirits in heaven that's not the goal the goal of the gospel is 00:29:35.199 --> 00:29:43.039 that we will be walking tall and running free in our resurrected flesh and blood bodies in a new 00:29:43.039 --> 00:29:56.959 creation in a beautiful community in a beautiful new world but i think the most amazing thing 00:29:56.960 --> 00:30:05.120 of all is that we've got this great journey jesus humiliated you have the cross exaltation we are 00:30:05.120 --> 00:30:17.759 united to him in it all and at the heart of that union is love more than anything else the thing 00:30:17.759 --> 00:30:27.599 that you cannot be separated from is the love of god in christ jesus and that's because at the core 00:30:27.599 --> 00:30:35.759 of the christian gospel is the eternal immeasurable incredible love of god we look at jesus's journey 00:30:35.759 --> 00:30:44.319 we've got his journey on the screen there before you why why did he go on this journey why humiliation 00:30:44.319 --> 00:30:56.079 because he loves you why the cross because he loves you why exaltation because he loves you 00:30:56.079 --> 00:31:03.200 why intercession because he loves you why no separation because he loves you why did jesus 00:31:03.200 --> 00:31:20.160 become flesh and blood because he utterly utterly loves you so let me conclude and and as we conclude 00:31:20.160 --> 00:31:31.519 i just want to highlight four implications that i hope we can take away with us number one all of 00:31:31.519 --> 00:31:42.319 this should shape our perspective on jesus we must never forget that jesus is flesh and blood 00:31:43.440 --> 00:31:51.759 and we must never forget that jesus is the exalted lord and that means two crucial things 00:31:51.759 --> 00:32:00.879 it means that your view of jesus can never be too high jesus is the exalted king of kings and lord 00:32:00.880 --> 00:32:09.600 of lords he is utterly supreme your view of jesus can never ever ever be too high but at the same 00:32:09.600 --> 00:32:19.920 time your view of jesus can never be too near your view of jesus can never be too near to you 00:32:19.920 --> 00:32:31.600 because he is utterly with you he's utterly committed to you jesus is lord jesus is one of us 00:32:32.960 --> 00:32:41.120 and you are his so it should shape our perspective on jesus number two all of this should shape a 00:32:41.120 --> 00:32:49.039 perspective on rubbish things that happen in our lives if you're a christian um or if you become 00:32:49.039 --> 00:32:56.000 a christian when we face rubbish things in life we must never forget that jesus knows exactly how 00:32:56.000 --> 00:33:04.399 that feels but at the same time um when we face rubbish stuff in our lives we must never forget 00:33:04.399 --> 00:33:13.759 that ultimately all these threats are actually bringing you closer to jesus often um often when 00:33:13.759 --> 00:33:20.240 things are are tough in life and and when we're having a terrible week or we feel like just we 00:33:20.240 --> 00:33:26.240 feel so flat or we feel that everything is just going wrong and everything seems so confusing and 00:33:26.240 --> 00:33:32.319 when when we have a really rubbish week it's so easy to find ourselves asking the question where 00:33:32.319 --> 00:33:40.720 is jesus because sometimes it just feels like he's just miles away and and when things are hard and 00:33:40.720 --> 00:33:48.640 and if that's when jesus feels further away and follow all of us it's so easy to feel like that 00:33:49.920 --> 00:33:54.319 and you know if you do feel like that that you've had a tough week and you think well where is jesus 00:33:54.960 --> 00:34:01.279 is that's how every pretty much every christian feels when they have a bad week but if you think 00:34:01.279 --> 00:34:08.159 about a really difficult rubbish thing happening into your life what is the theological answer 00:34:08.159 --> 00:34:14.719 to that question if you ask where is jesus what is the theological answer to that question the 00:34:14.719 --> 00:34:27.920 theological answer is that jesus is another step closer because all these pressures are just bringing 00:34:27.920 --> 00:34:39.360 you closer and closer to him. Number three this should shape a perspective on each other 00:34:40.960 --> 00:34:47.920 there's an awful lot of important words in roman's chapter eight it's one of the richest 00:34:47.920 --> 00:34:55.440 chapters in the whole bible and but one of the most important words of all in these 00:34:55.440 --> 00:35:03.280 verses that we've been looking at is the second last one the word hour 00:35:06.720 --> 00:35:16.079 the humiliated exalted lord jesus christ is hour lord and that's a great reminder of the fact that 00:35:16.079 --> 00:35:24.079 the hope and the security that we have in jesus are collective so yes they are personal they're 00:35:24.079 --> 00:35:29.519 so beautifully personal but they're never ever individualistic in other words the fact that 00:35:29.519 --> 00:35:35.519 it's impossible for us to be separated from jesus also means that as christians it's impossible 00:35:35.519 --> 00:35:41.840 for us to be separated from each other and that's a powerful sort of comfort when we think of people 00:35:41.840 --> 00:35:54.320 that we love but christians any separation that death brings is only ever brief and it's also a 00:35:54.320 --> 00:36:03.519 powerful source of healing when we think of people who let us down we still belong together as christians 00:36:04.480 --> 00:36:09.519 and that's why we always need to stick with each other even when we let each other down 00:36:09.519 --> 00:36:14.880 so we need to have a this needs to shape our perspective on jesus it needs to shape our 00:36:14.880 --> 00:36:20.159 perspective on rubbish things it needs to shape our perspective on one another and last of all 00:36:20.159 --> 00:36:31.280 it needs to shape our perspective on this week so i hope that the week ahead is going to be 00:36:31.280 --> 00:36:40.160 a good week for you but i'm pretty sure that for all of us and this week is going to bring 00:36:40.160 --> 00:36:48.000 pressures threats and things that are going to make us worry but if you're a christian 00:36:50.000 --> 00:36:55.680 is there a single moment this week in the week ahead when jesus isn't lord 00:36:55.679 --> 00:37:04.879 is there a single moment when you are not united to him is there a single moment when he is not 00:37:04.879 --> 00:37:11.119 interceding for you is there a single moment when you aren't his 00:37:14.079 --> 00:37:17.919 the answer to all those questions is never 00:37:17.920 --> 00:37:21.920 never 00:37:23.280 --> 00:37:29.599 if you are trusting in jesus or if you put your trust in jesus tonight your flesh and blood life 00:37:30.240 --> 00:37:41.200 has been totally eternally transformed by the humiliated exalted flesh and blood jesus 00:37:41.199 --> 00:37:46.399 amen let's pray 00:37:52.960 --> 00:38:01.519 father we thank you so so much that you sent your son and gave him to be our saviour and lord 00:38:01.519 --> 00:38:09.359 jesus we thank you for that journey that you undertook a journey of humiliation and exaltation 00:38:09.360 --> 00:38:17.360 all so that we might be saved and now we just rejoice and marvel in the fact that you are lord 00:38:19.280 --> 00:38:26.720 and we pray that that would shape the way that we think and the way that we go into the week ahead 00:38:28.000 --> 00:38:37.519 we thank you so much for your extraordinary unfailing love and for the hope and healing 00:38:37.519 --> 00:38:45.199 that you give us in the gospel we pray that these truths would be written on our hearts 00:38:46.239 --> 00:38:52.400 and that it would shape the way that we think and that it would shape all that we do in the week ahead 00:38:52.400 --> 00:39:06.880 in jesus name amen