Jesus-Does He Understand Us?

2/21/10 | Richard Van Dyke | Colossians 1:15-20 | Listen
Series: Back to Basics

A minister delivering the children's sermon in church asked, "Boys and girls, what lives in a tree, eats nuts and has a long bushy tail?" One little boy responded, "Preacher, I know the answer is Jesus, but it sure sounds like a squirrel to me." (Paul Powell)

Jesus. The very name stirs up a variety of emotions and reactions. For some the very name is confrontational. In some places you cannot even use his name. You can pray to God but you better not use Jesus' name! Other people love to use Jesus' name but not in a respectful sense.

When you ask people what they think about Jesus you will get a variety of reactions and perspectives. For some, he was a good man. Others, he was prophet like Moses and Elijah. Many more say that Jesus was a religious figure sort of like Buddha and Ghandi.

You can't read the New Testament and come up with those conclusions. Those answers may be true to a point (Jesus was indeed good) but there is so much more to the person of Jesus Christ. Even if one does not believe in Christ, if you read His word you will find some distinctiveness not found in any other religious figure.

During Jesus' day there was confusion about who Christ was. Years following Jesus' ascension into heaven other kinds of confusion surfaced in the churches. The early church did not have a Bible. They didn't have volumes of theological information about Christ. So, God used Paul to address some of the issues that began to surface in individual churches to set their Christology straight. Certain heresies came up in churches and Paul confronted them. The church has always had heresy and if we want to keep away from heresy in the church today we better have a proper view/understanding of Christ.

So Paul confronted these churches. In the book of Colossians he is addressing some heresy that has come up in that church that was robbing Christ of his central role in the Christian faith. It was causing people to think less of and even deny the uniqueness of Christ. This morning as we take an in-depth look at Jesus, it would be helpful if we started with what we say we believe at PBC as stated in our doctrinal statement:

“We believe that Jesus Christ is the only begotten, virgin-born Son of God (Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:23, Luke 1:35, John 3:16). He is eternally one of the Godhead (Matthew 16:16, John 10:30, Matthew 17:5, John 1:1-3, John 1:14, John 14:9, Philippians 2:6). He became man and was the only sinless one among men, without ceasing to be God (Hebrews 4:15, II Corinthians 5:21). He came to seek and to save the lost and to call out a people for Himself (Luke 19:10, Titus 2:14). We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished our redemption through His death on the cross as a representative, vicarious, substitutionary sacrifice; and that our justification is made sure by His literal, physical resurrection from the dead (Romans 3:24-25, I Peter 2:24, Ephesians 1:7). We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ ascended to heaven, and is now exalted at the right hand of God, where as our High Priest, He is interceding for us. He fulfills the ministry of Representative, Intercessor, and Advocate (Acts 1:9-10, Hebrews 7:25, I John 2:1-2, Hebrews 9:24, Romans 8:34). We believe in the literal, personal, imminent, pre-tribulation, and pre-millennial return of the Lord Jesus Christ with His redeemed ones; and His return to the earth, with His saints to establish His Millennial Kingdom (I Thessalonians 4:13-18, Revelation 3:10, Revelation 19:11-16, Revelation 20:1-6).”

This morning as we continue our Back to Basics series, we want to answer two questions:“ Who is Jesus?” and "Does He Understand Us?" In order to do that, we need to grasp all that's involved in the concept of Jesus being the "God/man."

First, we believe that Jesus is totally, 100% God (Colossians 1:15-20) and because he is, he understand us completely (Psalms 139:1, 13-16). The cults have an interesting take on Jesus:

1. Jehovah's Witnesses say he was the first son that God brought forth. Michael, the archangel is no other than the only begotten son, now Jesus Christ.

2. Mormons say he was one of the spirit children of God. By obedience he attained to the pinnacle of intelligence which ranked him a god.

3. Muslims say he was a prophet like Adam or Moses--no more than a messenger from God. Not the Son of God since they deny the Trinity. He was not crucified either--the likeness of Jesus was put over another man and he was crucified but not Jesus.

(1) But the Bible says Jesus is God and as God he has always existed (John 1:1; 8:57-58; 17:5; Micah 5:2). If he isn't eternal, then he was created and he is not deity. If he's not deity, then that invalidates the doctrine of the trinity, and you remove his ability to die for the sins of the world and be raised again. But Jesus is God and certain things prove that.

(2) Jesus did the works that only God could do.

(a) he created everything-John 1:3

(b) he preserves everything-Hebrews 1:3

(d) he forgives sin-Matthew 9:2-7

(3) Jesus has the attributes of God

(a) omnipresent-Psalms 139:7-10

(b) omniscient- John 16:30

(d) immutable-Hebrews 13:8

(e) sovereign- Matthew 28:18

(4) Jesus even has the names of God

(a) Immanuel-Matthew 1:23

(b) Mighty God-Everlasting Father-Isaiah 9:6

(d) Son of God-John 10:36

(e) Only Begotten-John 1:14 & 3:16-unique

As the creator God who made us and knows every detail of our being, He understands us better than anyone ever could.

Before we look at the second aspect (Jesus is man) we need to understand two very significant truths that bring point the God/man concept together. In 451AD a church council met at Chalcedon to set straight once and for all who Jesus is. This is what they determined.

We confess and all teach with one accord and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, at once perfect in godhead and perfect in manhood, truly God and truly man...one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, only-begotten, proclaimed in two natures, without confusion, without change, without division, without separation; the differences of the natures being in no way destroyed on account of the union, but rather the peculiar property of each nature being preserved...not as though parted or divided in two persons, but one and the same Son and only-begotten God, the Logos, Lord, Jesus Christ.

While this may sound confusing, it really states four important points, two of them being that Jesus is totally God as we have seen and totally man as we’ll look at in a minute. The third truth that came out of that council is that Jesus had 2 distinct natures in one person. Jesus was not God just indwelling a man; he was not God appearing to be a man as Jesus did in the Old Testament as the angel of the Lord (Judges 6:11-22); he was not a man who became God; nor was he a man who was endowed with God like qualities. From the time of his conception two distinct natures resided and will always reside in Jesus.

Not only are there 2 distinct natures in one person but fourth, there is no overlap of the attributes of those two natures. God is distinctly God and man is distinctly man.

The second thing we believe that helps us know that Jesus understands us is that Jesus is totally man (100% man). We call that event when God became man the incarnation which means "in the flesh". It’s the event that we celebrate at Christmas. Certain things prove that indeed Jesus was totally man.

1. Jesus had human experiences

a. he had a human birth- Isaiah 7:14-16

b. he experience human growth-Luke 2:52

c. he experienced human emotions and needs:

was tired- John 4:6

was hungry-Matthew 4:2

was thirsty-John 19:28

grieved-John 11:35

was distressed-Mark 14:33

got angry-Mark 3:5

loved-John 13:1

was tempted-Matthew 4:1-11; Hebrews 4:15

died

2. We need to think about the God/man (the theanthropic person) in relationship to his death and resurrection. Why did he have to be fully God and fully man in these two events?

a. If he's not man, he couldn't have been an acceptable sacrifice for us (Hebrews 9:11-14, 23-28)

1. he had to experience physical death in my place-the separation of the

body and the soul. When God created Adam he made him with a body

and a soul

2. he had to experience spiritual death which is separation from God, the

Consequence for my sin that I should have experienced.

(Genesis 3:23 & 24; Revelation 20:6, 14).

b. If he's not God, he couldn't have died for the sins of the world but only for his

own sins.

c. If he's not God he would never have been resurrected with a new body (John 10:17 & 18; I Corinthians 15:20), the first fruit of the kind of body we'll have.

What does the resurrection mean for us?

1. It's a guarantee that my sins are forgiven (I Corinthians 15:12-19)

2. It provided a way out of death for us—it guaranteed us a new body (I Corinthians 15:35-44)

Jesus was God but became man through the virgin birth that he might be an acceptable sacrifice for our sins. He understands us as our creator/God and as our redeemer by becoming the God/man. But what is he doing now that shows he continues to understand us? Of many things three need our attention.

1. He is interceding for us (Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25) Luke 22:31 reminds us that

just as Jesus prayed for Simon, he continues to pray for us as well.

2. He advocates for us (I John 2:1; John 17:9, 11, 15). The devil is our accuser (Satan

means accuser Revelations 12:10) and Christ our advocate before the Father pleads

his blood for us-Romans 8:1, 33-34.

3. He's preparing a place for us (John 14:2 & 3)

Does Jesus understand us? Absolutely! As God he created us and knows us intimately-every physical problem, every concern, thought and fear. He wired us with our personalities and gave us our talents and gifts and passions. He laid out the experiences that would shape us.

As man he experienced the same needs and emotions and temptations as we do and even went so far as to die for us, rise again and go to heaven where he's still working on our behalf.

I'm sure many of us have heard the story about the little girl who was coloring a picture in her Sunday School Class. It was a pretty picture, but the teacher couldn't quite figure out what it was going to be. So she asked her. The little girl was so into her work of art that she didn't even look up from her paper. Without even looking up, she told the teacher, I'm coloring a picture of God. Well, the teacher didn't quite know what to do. She knew how involved the girl was in her artwork. But she knew she needed to correct her theology as well. So she told her-"sweetheart, you can't really draw a picture of God, because nobody really knows what He

looks like." The little girl still didn't look up from her paper when she said, "Well, they will when I get done." How many times do we do that? How many times do we paint a picture of God based on what we think He ought to look like rather than what He is really like? How many times do we make Jesus out to be something that He really isn't?

While there are many artists’ drawings of what we think Jesus looked like, we know for certain from the Bible who Jesus really is—the God/man who not only understands us but, knowing everything he does about us, loves us still.

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Jesus-Does He Understand Us?