From the PASTOR
The Person of Jesus – Jesus as Divine and Human.
True God.
What makes Jesus greater than a great teacher, a wonderful role model and inspiring spiritual leader? Jesus is true God. This is what makes Jesus unique. Jesus is the Son of God ‘from eternity’. There has never been a time when Jesus did not exist as God’s Son – Jesus is the ‘word made flesh’; Jesus is ‘God incarnate’ (or God in the flesh, read John 1). If we want to know what God is like, we look at Jesus – Jesus shows us the power, glory, wisdom and especially the love of God. It’s God in Jesus who is our saviour – he did not always use his divine qualities, like power and glory to save us. He gave up everything and became like us! So great was God’s love for sinful humans, that the Son of God experienced all the misery, pain and suffering of sinful human experience and even hell itself to save and rescue from sin and its consequence. As I mentioned last time, the person and work of Christ is so central, so critical that it matters where we spend eternity! The fact that Jesus rose from the dead, shows us that he truly is God and that God has accepted Jesus’ perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world; death can no longer hurt humans as the punishment for sin. No religion, belief, or system of faith, human wisdom or knowledge can lay claim, or come close to that.
A real human being.
Jesus is truly human. God become one of us to take our place – to live the perfect life we are supposed to live (but can’t) and to take our sins on to himself and pay the penalty we deserved – he lived in our place; he died our death and went through the hell of being forsaken by God. He certainly lived a human life. He was born, a babe who entered the world (but without sin), developed physically and mentally. He went through all the normal human experiences. He got tired. He was hungry and thirsty, happy and sad, pleased and angry. The one difference? His life was perfect – he obeyed his Father in every respect – fully and absolutely – even though he knew that this would mean sacrificing his innocent life to pay for the guilt of the whole human race.
Jesus’ suffering and death were real. He felt what any of us would feel. In Gethsemane, he was deeply distressed and said, “I feel as if I’m dying” (Mark 14:34). He felt the shame and of the soldiers’ mockery and pain from their violence. He felt the weight of the cross, the agony of crucifixion and the torture of being forsaken by his Father. Just as his innocent suffering death was real, so Jesus resurrection was real. The same body that suffered, died and was buried became alive again. More than 500 eyewitnesses said they saw the risen Jesus. In the forty days after Jesus’ resurrection his followers saw how his body was no longer restricted by physics; by-laws of time and space. Jesus’ self-humbled human state is replaced with his exalted state and fully uses his divine qualities of power and glory as GOD! Yet still today, Jesus is God in human flesh. A real human being. One of us. Jesus is forever at God’s right hand, as advocate who intercedes for us as the Lord who rules all things for our benefit. We can follow him through suffering, death and resurrection and to live with him forever with bodies that will be glorified like his. What a truly amazing and awesome God we have – why wouldn’t you get along to worship on a Sunday to celebrate? Why wouldn’t you give thanks and praise to God for this? Why wouldn’t you get together with your brothers and sister in Christ and receive God’s gift of forgiveness of sins and then go about helping people grow in a relationship with God in Jesus Christ and each other – that way we’re enabled to be servants and witnesses to God’s love.
True God.
What makes Jesus greater than a great teacher, a wonderful role model and inspiring spiritual leader? Jesus is true God. This is what makes Jesus unique. Jesus is the Son of God ‘from eternity’. There has never been a time when Jesus did not exist as God’s Son – Jesus is the ‘word made flesh’; Jesus is ‘God incarnate’ (or God in the flesh, read John 1). If we want to know what God is like, we look at Jesus – Jesus shows us the power, glory, wisdom and especially the love of God. It’s God in Jesus who is our saviour – he did not always use his divine qualities, like power and glory to save us. He gave up everything and became like us! So great was God’s love for sinful humans, that the Son of God experienced all the misery, pain and suffering of sinful human experience and even hell itself to save and rescue from sin and its consequence. As I mentioned last time, the person and work of Christ is so central, so critical that it matters where we spend eternity! The fact that Jesus rose from the dead, shows us that he truly is God and that God has accepted Jesus’ perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world; death can no longer hurt humans as the punishment for sin. No religion, belief, or system of faith, human wisdom or knowledge can lay claim, or come close to that.
A real human being.
Jesus is truly human. God become one of us to take our place – to live the perfect life we are supposed to live (but can’t) and to take our sins on to himself and pay the penalty we deserved – he lived in our place; he died our death and went through the hell of being forsaken by God. He certainly lived a human life. He was born, a babe who entered the world (but without sin), developed physically and mentally. He went through all the normal human experiences. He got tired. He was hungry and thirsty, happy and sad, pleased and angry. The one difference? His life was perfect – he obeyed his Father in every respect – fully and absolutely – even though he knew that this would mean sacrificing his innocent life to pay for the guilt of the whole human race.
Jesus’ suffering and death were real. He felt what any of us would feel. In Gethsemane, he was deeply distressed and said, “I feel as if I’m dying” (Mark 14:34). He felt the shame and of the soldiers’ mockery and pain from their violence. He felt the weight of the cross, the agony of crucifixion and the torture of being forsaken by his Father. Just as his innocent suffering death was real, so Jesus resurrection was real. The same body that suffered, died and was buried became alive again. More than 500 eyewitnesses said they saw the risen Jesus. In the forty days after Jesus’ resurrection his followers saw how his body was no longer restricted by physics; by-laws of time and space. Jesus’ self-humbled human state is replaced with his exalted state and fully uses his divine qualities of power and glory as GOD! Yet still today, Jesus is God in human flesh. A real human being. One of us. Jesus is forever at God’s right hand, as advocate who intercedes for us as the Lord who rules all things for our benefit. We can follow him through suffering, death and resurrection and to live with him forever with bodies that will be glorified like his. What a truly amazing and awesome God we have – why wouldn’t you get along to worship on a Sunday to celebrate? Why wouldn’t you give thanks and praise to God for this? Why wouldn’t you get together with your brothers and sister in Christ and receive God’s gift of forgiveness of sins and then go about helping people grow in a relationship with God in Jesus Christ and each other – that way we’re enabled to be servants and witnesses to God’s love.