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00:01 Now just
00:10 from all other religions is it that we believe in one God but the
00:16 Jews and the Muslims also believe in one God isn't it? Or is it that we believe that God uh desires us to love others to
00:23 do good? The thing is almost every other religion says that too. Now the
00:29 difference between Christianity and all other religions is that we believe Jesus
00:36 is God. We believe Jesus is God come in the flesh. We believe he's fully God and
00:44 also fully man. And that's what makes us different. Now for the for the Jews and
00:51 the Muslims to say that is blasphemy. It's blasphemy of the highest kind to
00:56 make a man God. So see what a Jewish scholar wrote 800 years ago against the
01:03 Christians. He says the doctrine in which you believe and which is the foundation of
01:09 your faith cannot be accepted by the reason and nature affords no ground for
01:14 it. Nor have the prophets ever expressed it. Nor can even the miraculous stretch as far as this. The mind of a Jew or any
01:22 other person cannot tolerate this. And you speak your words entirely in vain. For this is the root of our controversy.
01:29 This is what sets us apart. And what does the Quran say?
01:35 Oh people of the book, commit no excesses in your religion, nor say of God ought but the truth. Christ Jesus,
01:42 the son of Mary, was no more than an apostle of God, and his word which he bestowed on Mary, and the spirit
01:49 proceeding from him. So believe in God and his apostles. Say not, Trinity,
01:54 desist. It will be better for you. For God is only one God. Glory be to him.
01:59 Far exalted is he above having a son. And it's not just the Jews and the
02:05 Muslims. The Jehovah's Witnesses believe that Jesus is created by God. Yes, he's
02:13 God's first and the most important creation, but he's not the creator. He is a creature. He's less than God.
02:23 Now, how important is it for us to hold on to the belief that Jesus is God?
02:29 Can we get rid of this belief and still retain our Christian Christianity?
02:36 Now, Christmas is a time when we come to celebrate the coming of God as men. When we reflect what this means for us, we
02:44 reflect on the incarnation. Now, what does incarnation mean? I hope you all understand that word. It simply
02:50 means God coming in the flesh. Khan is the Latin word for flesh. Just like when
02:57 you go to um uh I think one of those Mexican food places, you want chili con
03:03 that is chili with meat. So incarnation means in the flesh. God coming in the
03:10 flesh. Now you last week Dr. Peter told us about when God became man. And today
03:16 we're going to look at why God became man. Why did God have to become human in
03:22 order to save us? Why couldn't we be saved without Jesus coming as a man?
03:28 That is what we're going to look at today from the book of Hebrews. So, let's come to God in prayer now.
03:35 Our heavenly father, we are reminded in the video that we watch how precious
03:40 your word is to us, Lord. And we thank you today we have the opportunity to read your word, to have it in front of
03:46 us. We pray that you help us to truly understand it and truly know what its
03:53 implications are for us and that we may give our wholehearted obedience to you.
03:59 We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Now, today we're going to read from um Hebrews
04:05 chapter 2. But before Hebrews chapter 2, just a bit of background in on the book of Hebrews. In chapter one, the author
04:14 starts uh by describing who the sun is. Okay, I'll just read to you verse three.
04:22 The sun is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his
04:27 being sustaining all things by his powerful word. And after he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at
04:35 the right hand of the majesty in heaven. Today chapter 2 talks about Jesus as man. But before we can think of Jesus as
04:43 man. We need to understand Jesus is God. That's where we start off. Okay. He's
04:49 describing Jesus in the most exalted terms. We are left in no doubt. Jesus is
04:55 the son of God. He shines forth the full radiance of God's glory. He's not like
05:01 the moon that is reflecting the light of the sun. Only a reflection of God's glory. He is the son itself in all of
05:08 its glory. He is the exact representation of God's being. So
05:14 whatever God is, Jesus also is. Jesus said, "Whoever has seen me has seen the
05:20 father." So chapter one continues to argue Jesus is superior to the angels.
05:27 And now we come to chapter two. Chapter two. And the argument continues.
05:33 So Jesus is superior to the angels. And then he says it is not to angels that he
05:38 has subjected the world to come about which we are speaking. See God did not
05:43 choose to give the rule and dominion of the future world to the angels.
05:48 So who did he choose to give it to? Well, you might be actually surprised at
05:54 the answer. Okay, he points us to an Old Testament passage, Psalm 8. And he quotes from Psalm 8. He says, "There is
06:01 a place where someone has testified. What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man, that you care for him?
06:08 You made him a little lower than the angels. You crowned him with glory and honor and put everything under his
06:14 feet." Now, I'll I'll show you the psalm because you might be familiar with it from a song that I used to sing. I don't
06:20 know whether you know the song. Oh Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in
06:26 all the earth. You have set your glory above the heavens. This psalm tells us of how great God is, how majestic he is,
06:34 and how he has made the whole universe wonderful, beautiful. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers,
06:41 the moon and the stars which you have set in place. When you look at the glory and majesty of God's creation, what is
06:49 man that you are mindful of him and the son of man that you care for him? You
06:54 made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him ruler over
07:01 the works of your hands. You put everything under his feet, all flocks and herds, all the beasts of the field,
07:07 the birds of the air and the fish of the sea, all which swim the paths of the seas. Oh Lord, our Lord, how majestic is
07:15 your name in all the earth. That is Psalm 8. So this psalm reflects on the place of
07:21 human beings in God's creation. David wrote this song. He says, "God is the great and glorious God. He made all
07:28 the galaxies in the universe." Now, when I lived in Australia, you could go camping at night and just lie down on
07:34 the grass and see a very clear sky. No clouds at all. Very bright stars glittering as though like, you know,
07:41 jewels in the sky and you could see the the Milky Way running across like a band. Now, you I find that you can't do
07:46 that in in Malaysia or at least in the Clang Valley, you can't hardly see the stars, okay? But you could do that in
07:51 Australia. Now I don't know whether you have ever lay on the grass just looking up into
07:57 the sky looking up at the stars you get a sense of how big how vast is this
08:02 universe you know all those billions of light years apart the earth is just like a tiny speck floating in this immense
08:10 space and we are so insignificant we human beings that's what David felt when
08:16 he wrote this psalm but surprisingly God doesn't think of
08:22 human beings beings as being insignificant flex floating around in space. You see, God says that human
08:28 beings are the crowning glory of his creation. They are far more important than all of the stars and the planets.
08:35 God made the human beings only a little lower than the angels who serve around
08:41 his throne. He crowned them with glory and honor, it says, and put everything
08:46 in subjection under our feet. So in answer to the question, who does God
08:52 subject the world to come? It's not to angels. It's actually to mankind, to
08:58 human beings. This is God's original intention for us when he first made us.
09:05 And this psalm reflects on an even earlier passage, the first chapter in the Bible. God said, "Let us make man in
09:12 our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock,
09:18 over all the earth, over all the creatures that move along the ground." See, God made mankind to rule over this
09:26 earth and all the creatures in it. So, back to Hebrews,
09:31 it says, "Yes, God has intended for man to rule
09:37 the world to come." How? And he says here in putting everything under him,
09:43 God left nothing that is not subject to him. In other words, if God says everything is meant to come after him,
09:48 that means everything with no exceptions. But there's a problem. There's a big problem.
09:54 That is yet at present we do not see everything subject to him. So when you
10:01 look around you, you look at the daily newspaper, you cannot miss the fact that human beings are not in control of this
10:08 world. We have made a mess of this world. We are not exercising godly rule
10:14 as God intended. Just look at the papers every day. You know, I read about people
10:19 uh deforesting the you know the treasures of the country for a bit of money. Okay, we do not see everything in
10:26 subjection to human beings. So then what does it mean? What does
10:31 Psalm 8 mean? Is it just a cruel joke? Well, the author here says verse 9, but
10:39 we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels now crowned with glory
10:45 and honor because he suffered death so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
10:51 So Jesus though he's God himself was made a little lower like the than the
10:56 angels just like us because he became a man. See he shares in our full human
11:04 condition. He fits the picture of Psalm 8. He is the only one so far to have
11:10 been crowned with glory and honor just like the psalm predicts that God would do. And he's the only one who can who
11:17 can fulfill this psalms. But that's not all. It says he did it so that he might
11:25 taste death for everyone. He did it for us. See, why did Jesus become a man? We
11:31 asked. He became a man so that he could suffer death.
11:36 Just think about that for a minute. God became a man so that he could die.
11:44 Now, how great is God's love for people that he should do such a thing? You
11:49 know, the the great God who made the whole universe stoops down to become one
11:55 of us and to die for us.
11:60 Now I don't know whether you um so Jesus came as our substitute to taste death
12:06 for us. That is the first point I want to make. Don't know whether you watch this movie saving private private Ryan
12:14 uh quite a while ago now. Now in this movie there's a problem. the general uh in the
12:21 in his office in America. This is during the um I think during the second world war and uh the general gets a letter
12:29 saying that a mother is grieving because three of her sons have died in the last
12:34 few days in the war fighting for America and the last son, the fourth son has
12:40 gone missing somewhere in enemy territory. So the general sends a band of uh seven men, highly trained men to
12:48 look for Private Ryan in very dangerous conditions in enemy territory. And of course in the story, I think only
12:54 three of them survived in the end and they managed to get him. But my point is now what if the general himself went to
13:02 get this man instead of sending other people? That would be unheard of, right?
13:07 Or what if the president of the United States went himself to get this man?
13:13 That would be absurd. But think about it. God came down from
13:18 heaven to rescue us. Jesus tasted death. It says for
13:24 everyone. He did it as our substitute. He did it as our replacement, our
13:30 representative. And because he died, he says he takes death for us. for us,
13:36 meaning that we do not have to do it. He does it on our behalf, in our place.
13:42 In 2 Corinthians, it says, "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that
13:50 in him we might become the righteousness of God." You see how we swap places with
13:56 Jesus here? You see, he takes on our sin. We take on his righteousness.
14:05 Now, this couple has been in the news a bit lately. Okay. Now, imagine if Kate Middleton
14:12 before she got married, uh, wasn't very well off. She owed a lot of money. Uh, I'm not this just making it up. Okay.
14:19 Uh, so let's say she owed a ton of money for her university student loan and she she couldn't pay it off. Now the the
14:26 moment she got married to Prince Charming here, okay, he would take on all her student debt and settle it for
14:33 her and she would have all the riches of being a royal princess. And the reason
14:38 for that is because she is united in marriage to Prince William.
14:44 Now we too are united to Jesus. And when we have this union with him, Jesus takes
14:51 on all of our sin and we take on all of his riches in God. And because he lived
14:58 a perfect life on earth, God sees us also as sinless. And because Jesus is
15:04 crowned with glory and honor, we also will share his glory and we will rule
15:10 the world with him. That is how God is going to fulfill Psalm 8. His vision for
15:15 humanity. Those who are saved in Jesus will have dominion over this world in
15:20 the world to come because they are in Christ.
15:26 Now the next part in verses 10 to 15 Jesus came as our trailblazer to free us
15:33 from death. So God became our substitute to die for us and God has come to blaze
15:40 the trail for us. Verse 10. In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that
15:46 God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect
15:53 through suffering. Now, I'm not a very outdoors kind of person, but uh imagine if I was to go
15:60 hiking, okay? And you you go hiking in the in the jungle and you choose to okay, why don't we try off the beaten
16:06 track? We'll go somewhere off. There's no track. So, what do you have to do? The person who is in front has to hack
16:12 through the undergrowth, hack through the jungle and clear a path for everybody following behind. Now those
16:18 who come behind don't have to do anything. Just follow the leader. But the person in front has to work like crazy to slash through the jungle.
16:26 Now Jesus is our trailblazer. See the word that is translated here as author
16:32 of our salvation. author. It can mean leader, forerunner, pioneer, somebody
16:39 who goes ahead of the way to make way, somebody who leads from the front, who blazes a trail.
16:45 And this word author can also mean the author, the originator, the the one who
16:51 founded it, the one who started it, somebody who is the reason for our salvation. Jesus is all of that. Jesus
16:58 is our trailblazer and he's the reason for our salvation.
17:03 God sent Jesus to clear the path for us to get to glory, to bring us to glory,
17:10 so that one day we will rule the world with Christ. But in order for Jesus to be qualified to do this, it says he
17:17 needs to be made perfect through suffering. Now, what does that mean?
17:22 Wasn't Jesus already perfect? Why does he needs to be made perfect through suffering?
17:28 Well, that doesn't mean that Jesus was imperfect and then he was later made perfect only after he suffered. Because
17:34 the perfect here is not talking about a moral perfection, an ethical perfection.
17:39 It's a task oriented perfection, okay? A vocational perfection. It means that
17:45 Jesus was made perfect or fully equipped for the job that God gave him. That is
17:51 to be our savior. And Jesus had to be made perfect for this job of saving us
17:58 by suffering. Now why why must Jesus suffer so that he
18:03 could be our savior? Why couldn't he save us without having to become a human being and suffering death on the cross?
18:12 Now let me tell you the story of this Avatar. Have you watched this show Avatar? Okay. Now in this show, okay, I
18:19 won't go through it. It's very long and uh complicated. But anyway, there's these kind of tall blue people in the
18:24 show who live on a distant planet. I think they're called Na'vi or something like that. And uh these uh the human
18:30 beings have invaded their planet and are starting to destroy their planet and mine for some kind of precious mineral.
18:36 And one of the human beings, the one on the left, decides to in the end side with them and save them. But in order to
18:43 do that, he has to become one of them and leave his human past behind.
18:50 Now Jesus Christ came to be one of us so that he could save us.
18:58 Who is it that sinned against God and deserves God's punishment? Well, it is us human beings. So who is
19:05 it who must die to pay the penalty for God's wrath? It also has to be a human
19:12 being. Only a human being can die to free us from death.
19:18 And that's why it says in Hebrews in verse 11, both the one who makes men
19:25 holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed
19:32 to call them brothers. See, if Jesus is to make us holy, he
19:37 must be of the same family as us. He must be one of us. Now there's a famous Christian leader in
19:44 uh in the 4th century actually who called Ethanasius and he said this that which he has not assumed he has not
19:51 healed. What does that mean? It means if God did not assume humanity if God did
19:57 not if God did not come as a man he could not heal humanity. If God did not
20:03 come as a man he could not save mankind. In order to save us, it is absolutely
20:09 necessary for God to come as a man. And therefore, Jesus is not ashamed to call
20:15 us his brothers. And that includes of course sisters as well. So here we have
20:21 three Old Testament quotations in verses 12 onwards to prove the point. First one
20:26 is verse 11 uh verse 12. He says, "I will declare your name to my brothers in the presence of the congregation. I will
20:33 sing your praises." The key word here is brothers. You see this is from Psalm 22
20:38 which is Jesus speaking and the in this psalm Jesus calls those who are faithful to God his brothers. He's our brother.
20:47 And the next verse says again I will put my trust in him. Now this is a quotation
20:53 from Isaiah. You see what is a common thing for human beings? We all have to go through dark
20:58 and uncertain times and human beings have to trust in God in those times.
21:04 See, in the original passage in Isaiah, it is Isaiah facing persecution and being shut down by the authorities who
21:10 said, "I will put my trust in him." Now, Jesus has the same human experience of
21:17 having to trust God. See, Jesus knows what it is like to have nothing to eat.
21:24 See, he did that in the wilderness for 40 days during his temptations. He knows
21:29 what it is like to be apprehensive of the future. He did that in Gethsemane the night
21:36 before he was crucified. But each time he put his trust completely in God. See,
21:42 Jesus completely understands what it means for us to be human, to be
21:47 helpless, to have nothing but God to lean on. Jesus knows. He can identify
21:54 with us because he is one of us. And again, he says, "Here am I and the
22:00 children God has given me." Again, another quote from Isaiah. In the original passage, Isaiah talks about his
22:06 own children as the faithful minority people of God who stand against those
22:12 who reject God's word. And in the same way, Jesus is like a father to us. He's
22:18 like the leader of God's faithful people and the head of God's family. He
22:23 identifies himself with us. He shares completely in our humanity. He knows our
22:30 weaknesses and our needs.
22:35 And so since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity
22:41 so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death that is
22:47 the devil and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear
22:53 of death. Now can God die? God cannot die. But when God became a
23:00 man, he could die like all of us. And by his death,
23:06 Jesus destroyed the power of the devil. And he has destroyed the power of death
23:11 over us. You see, all of us human beings are naturally afraid of death. Okay? If
23:17 you if somebody says, "I'm not afraid of death," I think they're probably lying or they're probably don't really know
23:22 themselves well enough. See, fear of death can hold us in his power for our
23:28 whole lives. I once used to know a man who uh went to see a Chinese medium when
23:34 he was young. And the Chinese medium predicted a lot of things about his life. Okay? And then the last one was
23:41 you're going to die before the age of 70. Okay? And one by one those things started to
23:47 come true. So he was getting worried and all his life he lived in fear of death.
23:54 He was a slave to the fear of death. But in his older years he came to know
23:59 Christ and he was finally freed from his fear of death. It didn't matter anymore
24:04 when he would die. And by the way he lived beyond 70. But the point is that
24:10 you see for the Christian death holds no terrors for us who are Christians
24:17 because Jesus has already been there and done that. He's been there and he's blazed the trail for us. And his
24:24 resurrection means that we too will be resurrected after death. We follow in
24:29 his footsteps. So for the Christian, death is only like a like a like a transit lounge for us to
24:37 get to eternal life. For the Christian, death in the Bible is just like going to
24:43 sleep because we will wake up to a glorious new hope forever.
24:49 Death holds no fear for the Christian. Now I don't know whether you have ever read CS Lewis Nania stories. I love uh I
24:56 love his Nani stories and I love the way that he ended this last book in the series, the last battle. Okay, this is
25:03 uh in in this book it starts off with uh I hope some of you are familiar with the book. Okay, so it starts with this uh
25:08 kids these three kids who are going to this magical world NA but they're back in England at the beginning of the book
25:14 and they were in this kind of horrible train crash. Okay, and then they suddenly appeared in Na. But anyway,
25:20 after a long story, Nana also was destroyed and then they came into this uh beautiful country that reminded them
25:26 of both uh England and also of Nania. So, where are we? What is this place?
25:31 And so, uh I won't read the whole thing. Okay. But uh uh but Alan at the end
25:37 says, "Yes, you were in a real train accident. Actually, you are dead." Okay? You're all dead. But you you just don't
25:43 you're not you just don't know that you're dead. Now, see, the dream is ended. This is the morning. And as he
25:49 spoke, he no longer looked to them like a lion, but the things that began to happen after were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us,
25:56 this is the end of all the stories. And we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them,
26:02 it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Na had only been
26:10 the cover and the title page. Now at last they were beginning chapter one of
26:15 the great story which no one on earth has read which goes on forever in which
26:20 every chapter is better than the one before. What a beautiful portrayal of
26:26 eternal life. And so it is for the Christian. You see, God came as a man to
26:32 be one of us so that we could be freed from the fear of death, from death
26:37 itself and lead a glor and lead us to a glorious future in which every chapter
26:44 is better than the one before. Now, thirdly, in verses 16 to 18, Jesus
26:51 came as our high priest to stand before God on our behalf. Verse 16. For surely
27:00 it is not angels that he helps, but Abraham's descendants. For this reason,
27:06 he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in
27:15 service to God and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.
27:21 So in the Old Testament, the priest, the high priest had to offer sacrifices to God to atone for the sins of the people.
27:29 He stood on the side of the people and represented them before God.
27:35 If somebody sues you, for let's just imagine somebody sues you, you have to go to court. You have to get a lawyer, right, to represent you. But imagine if
27:42 your lawyer is a bad lawyer and he doesn't sympathize at all with your condition. Okay? He doesn't make any
27:48 attempt to understand your situation. He doesn't care whether you win or going to lose the case. Do you think that he can
27:56 defend you well? Do you think he can represent you well? I don't think so. Right
28:02 now, Jesus is our high priest and he's not a high priest who doesn't care about us. You see, it says he is a merciful
28:09 and faithful high priest in service to God. He's merciful towards us because he
28:15 truly understands us and our weakness, but he's also faithful towards God in
28:22 discharging his duties in the way that God requires. Jesus is the only God man.
28:29 He's the only one who is fully God and fully man. So, he can stand on man's side and be merciful and he can stand on
28:37 God's side and be faithful. And because as a man he can stand on our
28:44 side as a man he can make atonement for our sins. He's our high priest. He
28:50 offers himself as a sacrifice once for all to take away our sins. That's what
28:55 the book of Hebrews goes on to develop. So in chapter nine it says Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of
29:03 many people and he will appear a second time not to bear sin but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for
29:10 him. Jesus as our high priest offers himself as a sacrifice. But not only
29:17 that his role as the high priest doesn't finish with his death. It says later uh
29:22 also in Hebrews in chapter 7, therefore he's able to save completely those who
29:29 come to God through him because he always lives to intercede for them. See
29:35 Jesus as a high priest not just offered a sacrifice. He's actually praying for us. He's actually standing before the
29:41 father continually pleading our case, interceding for us. And as a man, he
29:48 knows our weakness. He knows our struggles and he speaks to God on our
29:53 behalf. Verse 18, back to Hebrews 2. Because he himself
29:60 suffered when he was tempted, he's able to help those who are tempted. Jesus
30:06 knows what it is like to go through temptation. Last week, we heard from Dr. Peter that,
30:12 you know, his temptation was worse than any that we could ever experience. Therefore, he's able to help us when we
30:20 face temptation. And just two chapters down, it says here, we do not have a
30:26 high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses. But we have one who
30:31 has been tempted in every way, just as we are, and yet was without sin.
30:38 Jesus was made like us in every way. He's familiar with every human experience except for sin.
30:47 So God had to become man. Why? So that he could exchange places with us as our substitute. So that he could open the
30:54 way for eternal life for us as our trailblazer. And so that he could stand in solidarity
31:01 with us before God as our high priest. So what are some of the practical
31:08 implications of this for us today? I think the first is that we must know
31:14 that Christ's incarnation is central to the gospel. Okay. Now,
31:19 we've seen ab how how absolutely essential it is for God to be man in order to save us. But the flip side of
31:25 the coin is also true. It's absolutely essential for Jesus to be God in order
31:32 to save us. See, a mere man, if Jesus was only a man and no more than a man,
31:37 he couldn't save us. If Jesus was only a man, he could never qualify as our savior because only God can save us from
31:45 sin. Only God has the power to save. And that is why we must hold fast to the
31:50 teaching of the incarnation that Jesus is both God and man. If not, we cannot
31:57 be saved. The incarnation of Jesus is not blasphemy, but it is the very basis
32:05 of our salvation. It is the very heart of the gospel. A theologian wrote this. His name is Torrance. He says, "The
32:11 whole gospel rests upon the fact that it is God who became incarnate and it was
32:18 God who in Christ has reconciled the world to himself. If the son was to redeem the whole
32:24 nature of man, he had to assume the whole nature of man. And if in the sun
32:30 man is to be gathered into the fellowship and life of God, it must be by one who is truly and completely God.
32:40 Christmas celebrates God coming to be with us in a man Jesus. If Jesus is not
32:46 God come in the flesh, then we are not celebrating Christmas Christ. We're cate
32:52 celebrating manmas. Isn't it? It's just about a man. just about Santa Claus,
32:57 just about snowman. It's nothing more than that. And if Jesus is not Emmanuel,
33:03 God with us, then Christmas is only about giving gifts to men. It's not
33:10 about receiving the greatest gift of all from God.
33:15 So the incarnation is the very heart of Christianity. If you remove it, we have no more message
33:22 to tell. So the first part is to know that Christ's incarnation is central to the
33:27 gospel. Secondly, know that the incarnation is not an example for us to imitate. Now that is a bit strange. Let
33:34 me explain what I mean by this. Okay, Christians love um buzzwords, popular
33:40 buzzwords that make them seem very spiritual and very knowledgeable. And nowadays it's a really in thing to talk
33:46 about incarnational ministry. Incarnational ministry. Everybody wants to jump on the incarnational bandwagon.
33:53 You hear this term used in missions organizations. You hear it used among the youth ministers. The problem is what
33:59 does it mean and is it right? So some people who talk about doing
34:04 incarnational ministry mean just like God became a man and uh uh to to live
34:11 among us to reach out to us. So we also should immerse ourselves uh in the culture of those that we are trying to
34:17 reach. We should identify ourselves with that group of people in order to reach them. So for example, if you want to
34:24 reach those people living in the Ansana flats, you got to go and not try to bring them to church. You got to go
34:29 there yourself, be one of them, live with them, live like them, show them love, serve them in concrete ways.
34:35 That's what it means some people mean by incarnational ministry. And some other people mean by incarnational ministry
34:41 that we must not just talk talk, we must actually do it. Okay? I mean, there's nothing wrong with that, right? There's
34:47 nothing wrong with wanting to go to where the people are or wanting to do acts of love and service. But is it
34:53 right to use the word incarnational for that? Okay. Sometimes people who are uh
35:00 emphasize a lot on being incarnational is let them astray. So for example, if I
35:06 want to do ministry to drug addicts, should I go and get involved in the drug culture and be a drug addict so I can
35:12 reach them? If I want to reach the prostitute, should I go and be a prostitute? You know, so some people
35:18 have emphasized incarnation so much that they think just the fact I'm with them,
35:24 I'm among them is enough. You see, my presence with these people is already enough. Just by living among them and
35:30 sharing their lives, I have made Christ incarnate among them. That's what some people actually teach. So just the fact
35:36 I'm with them is the gospel. I don't need to tell them the gospel. I am the
35:41 gospel, so to speak. See the messenger has become the message. The focus is no longer on the message but on the
35:48 messenger for some not for all. Okay for some Christians. Now what happens if you
35:54 make only the incarnation as the only model for your ministry? Well then your
36:00 ministry will become primarily social work community engagement but not
36:07 preaching the gospel. See, that is not the biblical way. The think about it. Does the incarnation of
36:15 Jesus save? Well, the incarnation of Jesus by itself
36:22 does not save, isn't it? The incarnation is the prerequisite for the atonement,
36:29 for the death and resurrection of Jesus. That is what saves us. But Jesus cannot
36:35 die for us if he did not become incarnate. So in other words, Christmas
36:40 is necessary in order for Easter to take place. But Christmas by itself is not
36:48 enough. It does not benefit us if there is no Easter. Okay? Christian ministry is not about
36:55 trying to make Christ incarnate. That's a a nonsensical statement anyway. You can't do that. It's about presenting
37:03 accurately and faithfully the message of redemption and eternal life in the
37:08 incarnate Christ that he died and rose again to take away our sins.
37:15 God doesn't call us to become incarnate like Christ because incarnation is a
37:20 one-of-a-kind event, a unique event. We cannot become incarnate because we are
37:26 not God. And last week, Dr. Peter took us through Philippians chapter 2. And in that passage, we are not called to
37:33 imitate Christ's incarnation. We are called to imitate Christ's humility as shown in his incarnation.
37:42 That's different. Okay? So let us be humble. Let us consider others more
37:47 significant than ourselves and let us proclaim the good news of salvation in Christ to everyone.
37:55 My next point is trust in Jesus and you will be saved.
38:00 Now I don't know if there are any here who are not Christians. Perhaps you have not put your trust in Jesus.
38:07 Now listen, we are all sinners. The Bible teaches we all ignore God all the time even though he has every right and
38:15 every claim over us because he made us. And we insist on just going our own way
38:20 and doing our own thing. That's called sin. And the punishment for that is
38:26 death according to God. But God doesn't want it to end that way. He loves us so
38:31 much that he has sent his son to come to earth as a man to take our punishment on
38:38 himself to take our death when he died on the cross. Are you are you afraid of dying?
38:47 Maybe if you're not a Christian, you might be afraid of dying. You might avoid even thinking of dying. But you
38:54 know what? All of us will die. We'll die sooner or later. And Jesus came to set
38:60 us free from this fear of death. He came us he came to set us free from death and
39:06 give us eternal life. So for those of us who believe in Jesus, death no longer
39:13 has any sting and no longer has any victory over us.
39:18 God will save us from death, from sin and hell if we turn to him and believe
39:24 in Jesus. And if you want to do that today, come forward at the end of the
39:30 service. And there'll be somebody to talk to you, to pray with you. If you have any questions, come forward. I can
39:37 talk to me. You can talk to somebody in front here later or your friend who brought you.
39:44 And what about us Christians? What can we learn from today's passage? Lastly, trust in Jesus who helps us in
39:52 our troubles and our weakness. Now, are you going through a tough time?
39:57 I'm sure many of us might be going through a tough time. You might be suffering. You might be disheartened.
40:03 You might feel anxious, weak, tired, or just feel like giving up.
40:09 And you think to yourself, how could God possibly understand what I'm going through when he's sitting in his nice
40:15 heaven up there enjoying himself comfortably, but I have to struggle through this.
40:22 Jesus understands. That is the point of today's passage. Jesus understands. He
40:27 knows the depths of human suffering. He has been deeper into it than any of us
40:33 have ever experienced. Jesus was made perfect through his
40:39 suffering to save us. See, he shares in our flesh and blood. It says in Hebrews,
40:44 he was made like us in every way except for our sin. And he's not ashamed to
40:51 call us his brothers and his sisters. He is merciful to us as our high priest. He
40:57 can help us when we are tempted because he himself was tempted.
41:05 Are you worried about making ends meet in a difficult economic climate? Think
41:11 of Jesus who had nowhere to lay his head. Are you tired and overworked?
41:18 Think of Jesus who was so tired he fell asleep in a boat in the middle of a huge storm.
41:25 Are you grieved over a relationship? Think of Jesus who was hurt by his
41:31 closest friends who deserted him and betrayed him when he needed them most.
41:38 Are you anxious about your health? Think of Jesus who shed sweat drops like
41:45 blood the night before he died. Have you lost a loved one?
41:53 Think of Jesus who wept at Lazarus's tomb. See, whatever you struggle with,
42:00 Jesus understands because he has been there. Jesus knows what you're going through.
42:09 So it says in Hebrews 4, we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we
42:16 have one who has been tempted in every way just as we are and yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of
42:24 grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us
42:31 in our time of need. Come and rest in Jesus. Bring all your
42:37 anxieties and cares before him because he does care. come to God's throne of grace with great
42:44 confidence and receive God's mercy and grace in your time of need.
42:51 Let's pray.
42:58 Lord Jesus Christ, we cannot begin to comprehend how great
43:03 is your love. you would leave behind the glory of heaven and come to earth to be
43:10 a man. You did not come to live in a palace, but you were born in a smelly animal
43:16 stable. You had nowhere to lay your head. You were reviled and despised,
43:22 rejected by men, tortured and killed on a cruel Roman cross. And you did all
43:29 that for us. You shared our humanity so that you could taste death for us and
43:34 free us from slavery to death. You becameful
43:41 who offered sacrifice for now stands before the father to intercede
43:50 an amazing love for us. Thank you for being such a wonderful savior.
43:57 Forgive us for the many times in which we have not trusted you, not sought your
44:03 help, not believed in your goodness to us. We come before you now in full
44:10 confidence to ask for your grace and your mercy to help us in our time of
44:17 need. And we pray for those who do not yet know you that they will come to you
44:23 in repentance and faith to receive forgiveness of sins and life eternal
44:30 through Christ's name we pray. Amen. If you have any questions, please feel
44:36 free to come up later on after the service. Thanks.
