Hebrews chapter 2.
I want to spend the next two Sunday mornings
!
The writer to the Hebrews is quoting the Old Testament, Psalm 8,
and he asks the question, doesn't he,
what is man?
What is man?
What is woman?
And then in verse 9, he really gives us the answer to that in a very profound way,
where he tells us we see Jesus.
That's really the answer to the question in verse 5.
What is man?
See Jesus.
Jesus.
If you hear this, isn't it?
I hid it in a supermarket not long ago.
I love the human race.
All of my family belong to it.
And some of my husband's family too.
And I don't know if you realize you're part of the human race.
There is only one race.
I think we've got to keep saying that.
There's one race.
And that's the human race.
The Apostle Paul, when he's speaking at the Areopagus in Athens,
he's debating there with the intelligentsia of the day.
And he told them and he tells us that from one man, God has created every nation to inhabit the whole earth.
So that means there is only one race.
It's the human race.
We're part of the same race.
This morning, it doesn't matter where you come from.
It doesn't matter what the color of your skin is.
It doesn't matter what language you speak.
There's one race, one human race, and we are human beings.
And so the question, I think that Psalm 8 is asking and verse 5 is asking,
what does it mean to belong to the human race?
What does it mean to be a human being?
There's a lovely story told about the 19th century philosopher Schopenhauer.
Schopenhauer, as you can tell, I've not done much reading of him.
But Schopenhauer was like many, many academics,
and he wasn't very interested in his personal appearance.
He wasn't too worried what he looked like.
He was sitting on a park bench in a park,
apparently looking more like a tramp than a professor.
He was very disheveled.
And he was approached by a policeman who said,
Jim, who do you think you are?
And he said, I wish to God I knew.
What does it mean for you?
What does it mean to be a human being?
To belong to the human race?
And the answer to that question is found in the incarnation of Jesus.
The God who became man.
And that is why it could be argued that Christianity is properly understood,
actually really is true humanism.
As opposed to the mysticism and other worldliness of other religions.
So someone has said, I would rather be found in Christ than lost in God.
I'd rather be found in Christ than lost in God.
And so don't think that Christianity is losing yourself in God.
That's mysticism.
Christianity is being found in Jesus Christ.
Christianity is, as you come and put yourself under the rule of King Jesus,
you discover who you really are.
Who you were created to be.
You find your true identity as a human being in Christ.
And so there's two huge ideas in this passage and I want to draw it out.
Let me put it like this.
There is the man who would be God.
That's you.
That's me.
That's Adam, the first man.
The man who would be God.
And then there is the God who became man.
So those two things.
The man who would be God, verses 6 to 8.
He's quoting from Psalm 8.
And the question that Psalm raises is, what is man?
There's many answers to that question.
What is a human being?
Some of them are profound.
Some of them are ridiculous, aren't they?
Plato once defined man as a featherless bipod.
One day one of his students brought a plucked chicken into the lecture hall.
Much to his embarrassment said, is this all we are?
Is that all a human being is?
A plucked chicken?
A naked ape?
Is that what we are?
Someone with far too much time on their hands has worked out that the average human being,
that's you, has got enough fat for seven bars of soap.
Iron enough for one medium-sized nail.
Phosphorous enough to tip 2,200 matches.
Potash enough to explode a toy crane.
Sulfur enough to rid one dog of fleas.
That's what you are, chemically.
Is that all you are as a human being?
It's interesting, isn't it?
Even the most convinced atheist faced with the choice of having to run over a child or a dog
would choose the child.
Even the most hardened atheist you know, if they were faced with that dilemma,
what's the difference between a dog and a child?
What is a human being?
Isn't it surely just a highly developed animal?
Is he an undeveloped child, as Darwin thought?
Freud taught.
Is a human being a cog in a machine?
An economic unit, like Marx believed?
There's loads of different answers, aren't there, to this question.
Mark Twain apologized for man by saying that God made man at the end of a very busy week.
Because he was tired.
What is man?
Well, the answer is, if you look at these verses in verses 6 to 8,
and he's quoting from the Old Testament,
and he's telling us the Bible's answer to this question.
What is man?
That you're mindful of him.
You are mindful of him.
Or the son of man that you care for him.
You made him a little lower,
a little while lower than the angels.
You've crowned him with glory and honor.
You see, God created human beings.
And he made us a little lower than the angels.
And when he created this world in which we live,
he gave us this world to cultivate and care for.
To nurture it.
And that means it's our responsibility to seek peace,
to work and act justly,
to care for the environment that God has put us in.
That's how God created us, to rule over his world.
But at present, look what it says.
You've made man a little lower than the angels.
You've crowned him with glory and with honor.
And then verse 8,
you've put everything in subjection under his feet.
That's problematic, isn't it?
Because not everything is under human beings' feet.
The world is not under our feet.
The world is not under our control.
Everybody wants to rule the world,
according to Tears for Fears.
Frank Sinatra's favorite song was,
If I Rule the World.
I'm really up to date, aren't I?
You'll have a George Formby illustration in a minute.
But we want to thank God.
We don't rule the world, don't we?
Thank God I don't rule the world.
I can't even organize my diary.
Imagine everything was under my control.
It would be a disaster.
And it's not just me, is it?
When you look around us at human beings,
what do we see?
We don't see everything in control, in its place.
That's not how the world is, is it?
Martin Luther King famously said,
we have guided missiles and unguided men.
So we've got the technology, haven't we,
in your pockets to do astonishing things.
Man can walk on the moon,
but we can't live together.
We've got the scientific know-how
to feed the world millions,
many times over,
but still a quarter of the world's population
are starving.
And the long history of the human race
shows that human beings,
men and women,
often behave more like slaves
than sovereigns.
What is man?
God made man a little lower
than the angels to rule,
to put everything under his feet,
and we're meant to be sovereigns,
ruling under the authority of God,
the world that he's given us.
A world that is perfectly suited
to our needs,
but we can't live like that.
So back in the Old Testament,
one of the great observers of life,
Solomon,
in Ecclesiastes chapter 10, verse 7,
he says this,
I've seen slaves on horseback
while princes go on foot like slaves.
If he was talking nowadays,
he'd talk about chauffeur-driven limousines
or something like that.
But who is in the driving seat?
He says,
as I look around the world,
I've seen slaves on horseback
while princes go on foot.
Paul talks in Philippians 3
about those who are the enemies
of the cross of Christ
and their God is their belly.
What does that mean?
It's exactly the same point he's making,
that the appetites and the desires
that God has created us for,
you know, things like
the enjoyment of food
and the ability to form relationships,
the gift of sex,
the context of marriage,
all those things which are good gifts
from God's hand.
They are good servants in this life
and yet they become masters
which dominate us.
Things that control us.
And so the servants are on horseback
and we are coming along behind
sort of cap in hand to our own lusts.
And instead of being in control,
we find ourselves out of control
in so many levels.
Do you see,
this is man,
man who would be God,
this is the man who would be
the captain of his own fate
and the master of his own destiny,
but we're not.
So what is the answer to that?
Here is man made by God
to be ruler over everything,
himself and this world
for the good and blessing of others,
but it's not the way things are.
And so here's where the great message
of Christmas is,
comes in.
He says,
what is man?
See Jesus.
Not the man who would be God,
but God who actually became a man.
We see him
who was made a little lower
than the angels.
That's what the incarnation is.
It is God become flesh,
the creator entering into his creation.
The king of the angels,
the one who was seated
below the cherubim,
the one whom the angels worshipped,
the king of the angels,
now made a little bit lower
than the angels.
He takes on frail flesh.
And there's three things here.
We see him as our brother
and as our captain
and as our king.
He's the king who is crowned.
He's the king who is crowned,
verse 7,
with glory and honor.
Can you see that in verse 9?
We see Jesus made a little lower
than the angels,
namely Jesus crowned
with glory and honor.
He's not the man who would be God,
but he is the God who became man.
It's not robbery,
Paul says,
for him in Philippians chapter 2.
It's not robbery for him
to claim to be equal with God.
He is equal with God
and yet he humbled himself
and made himself of no reputation
and took upon himself
the form of a servant,
a slave,
and he was obedient unto death,
even death on a cross.
He did not reach out
to grasp something
that belonged to him.
He didn't covet.
That's what Adam did,
isn't it?
Which is why we're in the mess.
We're in.
Adam coveted him.
He reached out for what was not his.
He humbled himself
and Jesus is not a
Greco-Roman God
who lives on Mount Olympus,
drinking wine
surrounded by festal virgins,
who occasionally
looks down
when he's bored.
He's the God
who actually came down.
Tim Caller,
in one of his books,
retells the gruesome story
of a murder
that took place
in 1964
in New York.
I was a 28-year-old
by the name of
Catherine Genovese.
She was brutally murdered
in a place called
Kew Gardens,
but in New York.
It was a grisly killing
and what particularly
hit the headlines
was not so much
the killing,
because that happens
in all big cities,
doesn't it,
all the time.
It was the response
of the neighbors
as she screamed for help.
38 witnesses
did nothing to help.
People opened their windows.
They looked out,
but nobody bothered
to call the police.
One witness later
explained himself
with a phrase
that passed in infamy,
I didn't want
to get involved.
According to the reports,
the people opened
their windows
and looked down.
Some called down
and the murderer
went away,
but came back
to finish her off.
Jesus,
Jesus didn't open
the window
and look down.
Jesus heard
our screams
and came down.
He's not some
Greek or Roman God
who lives in his own world
and is not really
interested in us.
Jesus,
here's the one
who appeared
to Moses
in the burning bush.
The angel of the Lord
who appeared
in the burning bush
and he says,
I've seen the misery
of my people,
I've heard their cries
and I'm concerned
about their suffering.
and I've come down
to deliver
and this is the one
who appeared
in that manger
in Bethlehem.
There's a great little
picture of a manger
and the caption
in the cartoon
above the manger
says,
king-sized bed.
It's great,
isn't it?
That's what happened
to the king,
the king of the angels,
the Lord of lords
didn't just look down,
he didn't just hear
our screams,
he's come down
to do something about it,
to deliver us
and we look around
the world
and we don't see
the world as it was
meant to be
and our lives are not
as they were meant to be
but we see Jesus
this Christmas
and we want our friends
and our neighbours
to see Jesus
because Jesus is
the hope of the world.
We see Jesus
in that manger
and it is a king-sized bed
because the king
has come down
to do something
about the mess
we've got ourselves into.
He's our king,
he's the captain
of our salvation.
Look at verse 10
with me.
It says,
for it was fitting
that he
for whom
and by whom
all things exist
in bringing
many sons
to glory
should make
the founder
of their salvation,
the captain
of their salvation
perfect through suffering.
And so verse 10
is saying
he's not the one
who's appeared
in the burning bush
as an angel
of the Lord.
He is that one
who appeared
in the burning bush.
He is the one
who appeared
to Joshua
at Jericho
as the captain
of the Lord's army.
He is the captain
of our salvation
and now he comes
to champion
our cause.
The burning bush
in Joshua
it's just an appearance,
it's fleeting,
it's temporary.
It's foreshadowing
something,
it's pointing you
to something,
it's a tantalizing
glimpse.
But now
here is the reality
the writer
of the Hebrews says.
Here is
the founder,
here is the captain,
here is the champion
of our salvation
who's actually come.
And you notice
in verse 10
do you see
what he brings?
He's bringing
many sons
to glory.
Many sons
to glory.
Literally
he's the arch leader.
Literally
he's the founder,
he's the trailblazer,
he's the pioneer.
And it was fitting
that
God should make him
perfect.
In other words,
Jesus is perfectly
suited to this job
of saving.
Perfectly
suited
to this job
of saving
through suffering.
suffering.
So it's not
enough for him
to come
and for him
to appear.
He has to
become one
of us.
He has to
take frail
human flesh
in order to
bleed and die.
It was
fitting
that God
should make
the captain
of our salvation
perfectly
suited
through suffering.
So imagine
someone is trapped
in a burning
building.
you don't
send someone
just in a pair
of Speedos
into that burning
building,
do you?
You don't do that
because that would
not be fitting.
But if somebody
was drowning
in the sea,
you wouldn't
send someone
in full
fireman's gear,
would you?
That wouldn't
be fitting either
because
the type
of rescue
defines
the kind
of rescuer
you need.
Can you see that?
And Jesus
is exactly
the kind
of rescuer
that you need.
There's an
old acronym.
Jesus,
you take
the letters,
Jesus
exactly
suits
us
sinners.
Jesus,
Jesus
exactly
suits
us
sinners.
He's the
God who
became man
in order to
suffer and
bleed and
die for
our sins.
He's put
on the
uniform of
our humanity,
if I can put
it like that.
He's become
an authentic
human being
in every sense
of the word,
psychologically,
emotionally,
spiritually.
He's become
one of us
in order to
rescue us.
Jesus
exactly
suits us
as sinners.
He's not only
the king
and the
captain,
but notice
also he's
our brother.
Verse 11
and 12.
For he
who
sanctifies
these,
he who
sets us
apart,
and those
who are
sanctified,
all of
one source,
that is
why he
is not
ashamed to
call them
brothers.
Saying,
I will
tell of
your name,
God,
to my
brothers,
and in
the midst
of the
congregation,
I will
sing your
praise.
And again,
I will
put my
trust in
him,
and again,
behold,
I,
look,
I and
the
children
God has
given
me.
That's
what
Christmas
means.
It means
that the
God who
created us
has now
actually come
amongst us
and has
brought us
into his
family.
And it
says,
doesn't it,
Jesus is
not ashamed
to call us
brothers.
Our
Western
individualistic
society is
quite different
to Jesus.
In the
world of the
New Testament,
family matters
much more
than it does
even in our
culture.
And so if
you go for a
job today,
you come up
with a CV
and you come
up with
references,
you list
your achievements
and your
accomplishments
and that is
what will
get you the
job.
But in the
ancient world,
in the New
Testament world,
it wasn't
like that
at all.
And in
lots of
cultures today,
maybe some
of the
cultures you
come from,
it's not
like that.
That you're
not so much
a product of
your own
choices and
your own
decisions,
you are
actually a
product of
your family.
And so
what they
want is,
if you are
going to
commend
yourself to
an employer
or someone
in the
ancient world,
what they
want is not
so much a
CV, a
list of
all your
accomplishments
and all your
achievements,
but what
they want
is your
family tree.
What family
are you from?
Can I
trust you?
And so
it's
interesting,
isn't it,
that the
Gospels,
what do they
begin with,
Matthew and
Luke?
They begin,
don't they,
with a
genealogy.
they begin
with a
family tree.
And Matthew
and Luke
are writing
the Gospels
to commend
Jesus to
the world
and he
starts not
with a
CV and
not with a
record of
achievement,
but with a
family tree.
And who
do you find
in that
family tree,
Matthew chapter
one?
There's all
sorts of
different names,
aren't there?
it's not an
exhaustive list
of kind of
every generation,
but there's
four or five
women in there
for a start,
which is
unheard of
in Jesus'
day.
Because the
status of
women is
something that
the Gospel
of Jesus
Christ actually
brought in.
In the
ancient world,
women had
no status,
and you
wouldn't put
them in
your CV,
but in
Jesus'
CV,
there are
four or
five women
in the
family tree.
There's
Tamar,
sordid
story of
incest.
Bathsheba,
and the
story of
her adultery
with David,
there's
Rahab,
the prostitute,
in the
genealogy of
Jesus,
and there's
Mary,
a single
mom,
an unmarried
mom.
And by
the moral
standards of
the day,
they would
be seen as
the black
sheep.
And if you
wanted to
commend
yourself and
put yourself
forward,
you wouldn't
put those
people in
your family
tree.
You'd put
the high
achievers
in the
family tree
and all
the famous
people.
You wouldn't
put the
black sheep
in at all.
The people
you're ashamed
of.
But Jesus
is not ashamed
of you.
He's not ashamed
of me.
to call us
his family.
He's not
ashamed to
call us
his brothers
and sisters.
So it
doesn't matter
what you've
done.
It doesn't
matter how
many skeletons
are in your
cupboard.
In his
incarnation,
in his
becoming a
man,
and by his
sacrifice for
our sins on
the cross,
Jesus is not
ashamed to
call his
people his
brothers and
sisters.
So does it
matter what
they think of
you in
school?
Does it?
Does it
matter what
they think of
you in
work?
Does it
matter what
people say
about you
when Jesus
is not ashamed
to call you
his brother?
He is our
king.
And he
is our
captain.
And he
is our
brother.
Let me
try and
apply this
to you.
What are
you afraid
of this
morning?
What are
you afraid
of?
Are you afraid
of the
future?
Lots of
people are
very afraid,
aren't they?
I was at a
party last
night where
people didn't
know what to
talk about,
so everybody
talked about
the cost of
living
crisis?
Are you
afraid of
the future?
Look what it
says in
verse 5,
can you see
that?
For it was
not to
angels that
God subjected
the world
to come.
That's the
future way to
talk about.
That is the
world as it
will be,
the world as
it should be,
and Jesus
has been
there.
And if
you belong
to the
Lord Jesus,
that is
your future.
You belong
to Jesus
in the
world to
come,
where
everything
is going
to be
in its
place,
a world
where
everything
sad has
become
untrue,
a world
where
everything
will be
as it
was meant
to be.
No
sickness,
no sadness,
no sorrow,
no death,
no difficult
Christmas.
And so
what hope
is there
of that
in the
world?
Is Rishi
Sunak
going to
bring that
in?
We know
he won't,
don't we?
But we
do see
Jesus.
And that's
why Christmas
matters so,
so much,
doesn't it?
The message
of the
incarnation
is so
relevant
to our
world.
We do
see Jesus,
the one
who will
rule the
world to
come,
and he
is the
man
who
Psalm 8
is all
about,
and through
him it
will be
true for
us.
So are
you afraid
of the
future?
your
captain
has secured
your future.
Everything
will be
under his
feet.
Are you afraid
of the
past?
Are there
things in
your life
that you
wouldn't be
able to
live down
if it all
came out?
skeletons.
We've all
got skeletons
in the
cupboard,
haven't we?
But some
are bigger
than others.
Some are
more scary
than others.
All of us
have got
a history.
We have
all got
things that
we are
terribly
ashamed
of,
and we
wouldn't
want anyone
else to
know.
We've all
got that,
haven't we?
But Jesus
does know
about that.
Jesus knows
about those
things,
and he is
not ashamed
to call you
his brothers.
There's an
old hymn,
how willing
was Jesus
to die
that we
fellow sinners
might live.
The life
they could
not take
away,
how willing
was Jesus
to give.
That we
fellow sinners
that Jesus
should be
made sin
for us,
that he
should be
made the
representative
sinner,
that he
should not
be ashamed
to identify
with the
likes of
you and
me.
With all the
skeletons in my
cupboard,
how willing
was Jesus
to die
that we
fellow sinners
might live?
not just
fellow sinners
with one
another,
but fellow
sinners with
him.
He was no
sinner,
but he who
knew no
sin,
the Bible
tells us,
he who knew
no sin
was made
sin,
that we
might be put
right with
God.
So maybe
this morning
it's all
the past
and it's
not the
future,
you are
really
struggling
with
temptation.
You're
really
struggling
with sin,
and it
kind of
seems like
it's trapped
you.
This morning
the Bible
tells you
you have
a captain
and you
have a
champion
and you
have a
brother.
you have
one who
will put
his arms
around you
and you
have a
king who
will deal
with that
problem in
your life.
Maybe you're
just struggling
with life
generally this
Christmas.
It's often a
time when life
unravels,
it's often a
time when
real problems
and real
difficulties
that people
have come
to the
surface.
Perhaps it's
because you've
got more time
to think about
it or perhaps
you're thrust
into the
company of
others and
we're not
distracted by
work and
other things
and things
that we're
struggling with
and we're
afraid of
our troubles.
Advice is
often given
to young
ministers and
that is to
be with your
people in
their troubles
because they'll
remember that
long after
they've forgotten
your sermons.
It's good
advice, isn't
it?
To be with
your people
in their
troubles.
Jesus is
here with
us in
our
troubles.
What's
his name?
His name
is Emmanuel.
What does
that mean?
It means
God with
us.
It's not
God up
there looking
down,
not God
on the
sidelines
giving you
some advice
like some
coach,
but he is
the one
with us.
He is
God with
us.
In our
trials and
difficulties
and troubles,
in our
temptations,
and our
struggles with
sin.
Temptation is
powerful,
isn't it?
And sin
can ruin
lives.
Christianity
is not
simply a
matter of
believing in
Jesus or
believing Jesus.
We need
more than
that.
We need to
have Jesus
with us in
our struggles.
as we
face those
temptations,
those monsters,
and that is
exactly what
Jesus promises
to do.
He is
with us.
He says,
I've seen
the misery
of my
people.
I've heard
their screams.
I know
about their
suffering,
and I've
come down
to deliver
them.
Jesus,
your brother,
your captain,
your king.
Apparently,
it was said
of the Roman
emperor,
Trajan,
that he
was not
just a
king,
but a
captain and
a brother.
That not
only did he
lead his
soldiers into
battle and
fight alongside
them and
for them,
but apparently
he tore his
royal robes to
bind their
wounds.
Jesus has
done that for
us,
hasn't he,
and more.
Tonight,
we will come
to the Lord's
table where
Jesus will
say,
this is my
body broken
for you.
This is my
blood shed
for you.
Lord of the
Rings.
I hope you
watched the
Lord of the
Rings at
Christmas.
I heard of a
church last
year in
America,
but on
one day
after Christmas,
they showed
the three
Hobbit films
in church,
morning,
noon,
and night,
and then the
following day,
they showed
the three
Lord of the
Rings films.
Great,
wouldn't
it?
We'll watch
Lord of the
Rings at
Christmas.
I love it.
Anyway,
you know
the story
of the
Lord of
the Rings.
Boromir.
Boromir,
he was
destined,
he thought
that he
was going
to lead
the great
city of
Gondor,
but then
he runs
into Aragon.
Aragon is
the true heir
to the city.
He's the
real king,
and Boromir
really struggles
with that.
He struggles
because if
Aragon wasn't
around,
Boromir would
be the
true ruler
of Gondor.
But Aragon
is there.
Boromir really
struggles with
that,
and towards
the end
of the
movie,
he repents,
and he
looks up
at Aragon,
and he
says,
I would
have followed
you,
my brother,
my captain,
my king.
And then
he dies.
Is that
the challenge
of Christmas?
The challenge
of the
incarnation is
Jesus,
he is the
man of
Psalm 8.
Jesus is
the proper
man,
he is the
true,
authentic
human being,
he's the
man who's
crowned with
glory and
honor,
he is the
man to
him in
all belongs,
he is the
true heir to
the throne
of your
life and
the throne
of this
world.
And if
that is
true,
that is
who he
is,
well that
means you
cannot be
king.
And maybe
you don't
like that,
maybe you
struggle with
that.
You can't
rule,
you can't
run your
own life.
Because
Jesus is
Lord and
Jesus is
king.
And you
have to
renounce all
claims to
be the
captain of
your fate
and the
master of
your own
destiny.
And will
you say to
Jesus this
morning,
I will
follow you,
my brother,
my captain,
my king.
me.
Why wouldn't
you follow
it?
How is
it going
with you
as the
master of
your life?
Are you
making yourself
happy?
You're not.
Certainly not
making others
happy around
you.
Why wouldn't
you come under
his lordship
so that
you can be
the man
or the
woman,
the boy
or the
girl that
God created
you to be?
I will
follow you
anywhere,
my brother,
my captain,
my king.
Let's pray.