060311 - “What is man that God should care”?

“What is man that God should care”?


Hebrews chapter 2, Sunday 6 March 2011

Introduction…
V1. Following on further as regards, “Why it’s all about Jesus”, we are first of all challenged as regards what we already know and have acted upon as a Christian, to pay attention to what we already have heard. If we have attended church for ?? years, we must know something, in fact we must know a lot! It was already a problem anticipated in the early church, e.g. 2 Tim. 4:2-4. In addition we must ask the question: have we put it into practice?

Pay Attention…
The danger for the eternal pew-sitter is that one day they will get bored and drift away or go get their ears tickled! Here at Calvin we don’t want that to happen. That’s one reason why we had “ministry expo” last week, so you can be involved – for your own good as well as for that of the church.

Listen up…
V2. What did the angels say? See Mt 1:21, Lk2:10-11, 14 and in the OT. The angels as messengers were to be listened to, not ignored.

Note the use of very strong words…
Violation
Disobedience
Punishment
V3. But the greatest of these (sins) is ignoring salvation – the crystal-clear warning notice at the top of the cliff – “turn around” to the Grace of God in Jesus. Just as being passionately in love with your wife or husband will keep us from the sin of adultery, so will our passion for salvation in Jesus keep us from the sin of violation of God’s laws. Don’t ignore your spouse, don’t ignore your salvation by taking it for granted, by not growing into Christ.

The writer of Hebrews did not have first-hand contact with Jesus it seems, BUT he is prepared to accept what others have witnessed and experienced. Consider the power of a testimony. How open are we to take on board what others experience? Or are we skeptical?

V4. But now comes the heaviest and undeniable evidence for salvation direct from God:
Signs: not pointless displays, but signs for direction.
Wonders not explained by human reason – but outside our normal box.
Miracles: works that require superhuman power
Gifts of the HS: abilities that stretch our faith for Christian service.

Look Up…
Jesus enters our world. Jesus identifies with those who are lost.

V5: God is giving us the reason for salvation – He is building a future with His redeemed. And this is where mankind comes in – for who are we? Now in a world that teaches unceasingly that we are merely the highest form of the animal world, these verses are a shaft of bright light. Here is who mankind is – straight from the Manufacturer’s user guide and maintenance manual. Page 2, ch 2 v 6-8. (read)

1. made by God
2. instructed by God (mindful) guided, will- and purpose-driven.
3. maintained by God (in good times and bad).
4. positioned by God (lower than angels, higher than animals ref Gen. 1:24-31.
5. honoured by God (with gifts of intelligence etc) e.g. language learning.
6. responsible to God everything under Him.

YET – not yet! Because sin has cut across that plan of uninterrupted relationship between God and mankind. But what we do see is the fulfillment of that plan in Jesus. That’s why it is still – “all about Jesus”.

Look Out…
V9. “But we see Jesus…” hope of the world incarnate, made “a little lower” than the angels, so that “by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone”. The taste was being shut off from God His Father, of having that relationship of Father, Son and Holy Spirit interrupted by our sin. That is what it means, this for Jesus was the True horror of the Cross, not just the pain of physical death BUT the bitter agony of separation from God. NOW why don’t you and I and the world around us feel that too??? The pain of our spiritual paucity, our spiritual bankruptcy. This MUST be a pain that God Himself still feels.

V10: Jesus was made “perfect”, meaning the perfect, spotless and only acceptable sacrifice for sin through that terrible separation from God.

Remember Jesus’ cry from the cross? It wasn’t, “My God my God, these nails and thorns are hurting me” (physically). No, what was it? “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”: broken fellowship, severed relationship – that was the agony cry!

What do we feel when away from church, when we are away from Christian fellowship for a period? What do we feel when we miss our quiet time, our daily Bible reading, or our family devotions?

V11-13: This is the way, and the only way the God /man relationship can be restored. Again it is by Grace that Jesus is not ashamed to call us family, to call us His brothers and sisters.

Conclusion….
For the Christian it seems to me that God has gone out of His way to focus our attention on Jesus and the salvation He is offering to mankind, the ultimate of His creation. We owe it to God to listen up to all His messengers, angels, signs, wonders etc. He has bought us by the sacrifice of Christ on the cross and brought us into His family – the very thing He originally intended. We are therefore responsible to live and act accordingly as Christians.

Thinking of Christchurch again, and especially the amazing stories, great and small, that we are reading of dedicated rescuers, neighbour helping neighbour and a multitude of organizations pitching in to help, too many to name etc, we are witness to the glow of the essence of a Christian ethic that has under-girded this nation’s social fabric since its beginning. You and I have the responsibility to see that that remains, that this nation remains a nation under the grace of God in Jesus Christ, and that the Christian Faith lived out by you and me remains alive, strong and effective both at the heart of individual faith, and maintains that glow of the glory and honour that God has entrusted to us in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.