Easter at Awakening: One of Us

Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast.

We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ.

Thanks for tuning in.

Okay, let's try that again.

I caught you off guard.

You weren't sure what day it was.

Happy Easter.

There we go.

There we go.

You know, down through the centuries, uh, Christians have had a call and response to one another, especially on Easter, but at other times as well, where one person would say, He's risen, and then the responders would say, He's oh, you've heard of it.

Wonderful.

Hey, why don't we go ahead and do that?

He is risen.

Absolutely.

What a joy to get to be with you today.

If you're new, my name's Ryan.

We're absolutely thrilled to have you join us today.

Uh 1995 was, I think, an especially good year for music.

I was a freshman in high school at that time.

Uh, number one on the top billboard charts was Gangster Paradise by Cool.

Um, yeah.

Followed by that was TLC's Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls.

Now, now I happen to be more in the rock grunge scene myself as a drummer.

Uh loved um, you know, like Nirvana and U2 and Weezer and Green Day and all those types of bands.

But there was one song that captured uh my attention that year, and it just kind of stuck with me.

It was this not pop and not rock, it was that singer-songwriter, you know, um genre.

It was eerie but beautiful, spiritual but irreligious at the same time.

It was Joan Osborne's one of us, and you're like, what one of who?

It was it was you'll know it.

What if God was one of us?

Just a slab like one of us, just a stranger one of us trying to make his way home.

Hey, we kind of had a little sing along there, too.

That was kind of fun.

The question.

Even though that's kind of a sad, sarcastic tone, but what if God was one of us?

Or better yet, maybe a better question, what if God became one of us?

And if God did become one of us, what does that mean for all of us?

You know what's fascinating and amazing about Christianity is at the center of Christianity isn't a philosophy.

It's not a uh a dogma to adhere to, it's not just simply a sacred text or uh some, you know, how these lists of rules to obey.

At the very core of Christianity is a person.

It's centered on a person to follow.

It's centered on Jesus.

You know, Jesus actually never asked us to believe in his teachings, he called us to believe in him.

In fact, one day he was driving this point home with his disciples.

They were on their way to Caesarea Philippi.

That's about 25 miles north of Galilee.

Uh, and so uh he was incredibly popular at the time.

Thousands upon thousands of people were coming to hear him teach, coming to be healed by him.

Uh, this irked the religious leaders in that day.

Uh they actually wanted to take him out, and so he's actually on a little bit of an impromptu staff retreat with his disciples, getting away from the epicenter Jerusalem of religious epicenter where the religious leaders are.

And on his way to Caesarea Philippi, he turns and asks him this question: Who do people say that I am?

You know, we have thousands and thousands of people every day following us wherever we go.

And they said, Well, some people think, you know, you're John the Baptist come back to life, something miraculous is happening.

Others say you're like one of the prophets of old, you know, like uh Elijah or Jeremiah.

And then he turns and he looks at them and he says, But who do you say that I am?

And then Peter, the unofficial spokesperson, steps up.

I imagine that he clears his throat, and what he's about to say he hasn't uttered out loud before.

And he looks at Jesus and says, You're the Christ, the Son of the Living God.

You're the Christ.

Now, by the way, Christ isn't Jesus' last name.

Uh, you know, we kind of think Jesus Christ, that's his last name.

No, no, no.

It's a title, it's like president or king.

You're the Christ, you're the anointed one, you're the Messiah, you are the king that we've been waiting for.

Son of the living God.

Hey, we we've been walking with you, we've watched you calm storms, we've seen blind receive sight, we've seen lame heel, we've even seen dead come back to life.

You are not just a person, you're the Christ.

At the center of Christianity is not a philosophy, but a person.

Who?

Who do you say Jesus is?

See, I believe actually, the most important question you will ever ask and answer in your lifetime is that question.

Who exactly is Jesus?

In fact, at Easter, isn't it true, we're confronted with that reality?

You just have to ask that question afresh.

Think about this.

I mean, this is insane.

Uh, roughly a third of the population around the world is gathering globally to celebrate this Jesus.

Billions of people are gathered around the globe to celebrate this carpenter-turned rabbi who lived in an obscure part of the Roman Empire, who was executed by Rome at the behest of his own people, and yet today we're still gathering singing his name.

Who exactly is Jesus?

What if God really did become one of us, and what does it mean for all of us?

You know, the ancient church had a song.

It probably could be titled One of Us as well.

Not so eerie as Joan Osborne's version of it, but it was precisely about who Jesus is and what he came to do and why it matters for all of us.

And the Apostle Paul, when he's talking to the church in Philippi, he he quotes this song and he's setting it up.

Listen to how he sets up this song of what this means for us.

He says it this way.

He says, in your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.

Okay, so so he's about to share this song, but he's saying, what does this mean for all of us?

That the the very person of how you answer who Jesus is should shape every single relationship you have.

Have the same mindset, have the same attitude, have the same perspective of Jesus, that we are to take on his posture.

Well, what is this?

And he begins the song.

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage.

And so, right from the get-go, who exactly is Jesus?

Paul is letting us know the same answer that Peter had.

Jesus is not an ordinary person, he is fully God.

Who, in very nature God, Jesus was not just a person, a great person, not just a godly person, not just a good teacher.

He wasn't even God like, or just merely sent from God.

He was God in flesh.

In fact, that Greek word morphée for um in very nature is like this emphatic, the essential form that never alters.

Who is Jesus?

Fully God, the essential God that never changes.

And what does it mean for the rest of us?

Here's what's incredible.

In Jesus, we get to see exactly what God is like.

Have you ever wondered what God is like?

In the person of Jesus, you get to see what breaks God's heart.

You get to see what God responds to and how he responds to people.

You get to see the God who, when a woman who's caught in adultery thrust before him, doesn't stand over condemning, but bends low to take the shame off of her who's stuck in the front of condemning men.

You get to see a God who who touches the untouchable, who moves with mercy and grace.

You get to see a God who's very angry or upset at hypocritical religion, and those who are self-righteous.

See, in the person of Jesus, we get a perfect picture of exactly what God is like, what he cares about, how he'd respond.

And what's amazing is people who were nothing like Jesus, nothing like God, actually liked Jesus and were wanted to be around him.

And here's what's incredible: what is God's posture?

It says he didn't consider equality with God, something to use to his own advantage.

That Jesus willingly disadvantaged himself for your advantage, willingly leverage all of his power for those of us who are powerless on our behalf.

The song continues.

How did Jesus disadvantage himself?

Well, rather, he made himself nothing, taking on the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

How did he disadvantage himself?

Well, he made himself nothing.

Who exactly is Jesus?

He's fully God, and then he's also at the same time fully man.

He became one of us.

The creator stepped into his creation.

And Paul here uses the most vivid image that he can come up with to express this reality.

Circle that word nothing in your notes there.

It literally means this idea of pouring something out until there's nothing left.

Now, this isn't saying that he somehow became less God.

No, he's a hundred percent God, a hundred percent man, but the act of becoming human was the act of God pouring himself out on our behalf.

Taking the very nature of a servant, taking the very nature, being found in human likeness.

The way the Apostle Paul would say it in 2 Corinthians 8, he'd say it this way, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that through his poverty you might become rich.

He leveraged all that he had for your good and your gain.

And remember, the Apostle Paul's talking about this and telling us as followers of Jesus, our mindset, our attitude, our response is to be the same in every relationship.

Well, what does this mean for the rest of us?

This is amazing.

In Jesus, we have a God who understands us.

You have a God who literally has walked in your shoes.

He doesn't just intellectually understand things and go, I could see why that would be hard.

You ever talk to somebody and you're like sharing your struggle, and they go, I could see how that could be hard for you.

And you're you did not feel heard, right?

You're like, thank you very much.

I want to, I want to I want to talk to someone who can empathize and sympathize with me.

Well, the author of Hebrews writes this.

He says, For we do not have a high priest who's unable to empathize with our weakness, but we have one who's been tempted in every way.

He's been tempted in every way possible.

And it's even more than anything you've ever experienced because he's never sinned, so he's felt the full weight of it.

Yet did not sin.

Let us then, I love this, approach God's throne of grace with confidence.

God's throne, a place of ruling and reigning.

Think about this.

When the author wants to define the throne, it's grace.

I don't know what you think of when you think of God, how you think God thinks of you, but he says, when you come to the king, we come to the king eternal, he sits on a throne which is fundamentally called grace.

His undeserved favor poured out to all of humanity.

It's not the throne of judgment.

There is that later on in life, uh, at the end of all days, but it's not like I'm the throne of condemning, it's the throne of grace.

His eager attitudes towards every single person is to extend his grace that we might receive mercy and grace to help us in our time of need.

In Jesus, we had a God who truly understands us.

This holy week, we're reminded he had people sing his praises, and then we he had people shout, crucify him.

He's been betrayed, he's lost loved ones, he's gone through excruciating physical pain, rejection, humiliation.

He's been falsely accused, stabbed in the back.

Jesus, fully God.

We get to see what God's like.

Jesus, fully man.

We have a God who understands us.

And the song continues in how he disadvantaged himself for our advantage.

And being found in the appearance as a man, he humbled himself.

God humbled himself.

And becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross in Jesus.

Who is he?

Well, Jesus died by Roman crucifixion.

And you're like, Ryan, that is the oddest thing that you just said.

It had this kind of flow to it.

You know what I mean?

You're kind of fully man, fully God.

Why were you so specific?

Come on, couldn't you just say he died?

You know, isn't it amazing?

Just think about this.

The crucifixion has become so central.

Many of you are wearing crosses right now as jewelry, right?

Or earrings, necklaces.

And we have this instrument, and because of that, it's an instrument of death, but because it's been so central and now it's jewelry and it looks now beautiful.

It's the most grotesque picture.

We fail to miss the scandal, the shame of the crucifixion.

Did you know that the Romans didn't come up with uh crucifixion?

That's been around for thousands, at least a thousand years.

They perfected it, however.

It was an incredibly painful, torturous, and in a culture uh that is a shame-honor culture, it was the most shameful way to die.

In fact, no Roman citizen was even allowed to be executed this way.

It was reserved only for rebels and slaves.

And to be hung on a cross was to be considered cursed.

You weren't even allowed to be given a grave.

You had to get special permission.

You were thrown in a heap afterwards.

People would ridicule you publicly.

And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself to death, even death on a cross.

You know, if we were singing this song today, the word cross would be one of the words that would be bleeped out in the ancient day.

Because it was, it was that kind of stigma.

You wouldn't even mention it in polite company.

It would be, you know, becoming obedient to death.

And if it was on, you know, pop radio right now, it'd be even death on a, it'd just be blanked out.

Because it was the unmentionable shame that you didn't ever want anyone to experience that was close to you, and you certainly thought whoever got it deserved it.

And what does this mean for us?

And Jesus.

He took on our greatest problem.

He took on our greatest problem.

He took on death itself.

The very thing that we cannot control, the very thing we cannot escape, it's the great equalizer because we're all gonna experience it.

He took on our greatest problem.

I like how Charles Spurgeon said it.

He said, Without the death of Jesus, nothing remains for us but death.

He took on our greatest problem.

The way the Apostle Paul would say it in Romans chapter 5, verse 6, he says, You see, at just the right time, when we're still powerless, and we are, friends, powerless to do anything to effect change over our certain destiny.

Romans 5:6

We're all gonna die.

You're like, it's Easter Sunday.

Well, welcome to church.

Christ died for the ungodly.

Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person, someone might possibly dare to die.

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this.

While we're still sinners, while we're still enemies of God, Christ died for us.

You know, it wasn't the nails that kept Jesus on the cross.

You know this.

He's God.

At any point, he could have gotten up.

It was love that kept him on the cross.

It was love for you and for me.

See, in Jesus, he took on our greatest problem, the problem that we were powerless to do anything about, the sin that is a cancer of our soul that brings death to relationships, the things in our lives that that bring so much brokenness and ultimately devastation.

He says, I came for all of that.

Now we hate the idea of being powerless, don't we?

That's not a very American idea.

Powerless.

That's kind of offensive, even.

I'm powerless?

Yeah.

There's actually things that you can do that you cannot undo.

That you have no power to change.

There are things for us that we've done that no matter how good we've been afterwards, we can't kind of somehow recoup or repay what's been done.

See, we've fallen into this idea that, you know, God kind of grades on a scale, uh, you know, and so if we can just be a generally good person, I'm not really sure what's gonna happen when I die, but if I'm generally a good person, then yeah, I'd be I'll be okay.

And the gospel says, no, you're you're not okay.

Good people don't go to heaven, forgiven people do.

He came to take care of what we could not take care of.

The the best illustration, I love to tell this story, and uh my son just left, so he uh I owe him a couple dollars anytime I tell a story of my kids.

When he was, he's now 12, he's the youngest, when he was about four, my wife was dropping off um my kids at school.

He wasn't yet in school, and she's out in the parking lot, and she's talking with some other moms, and they're just kind of hanging out.

And Miles, I mean, we call him Miles' smiles, he's the most fun, joy-filled kid.

He's looking around, doing what any boy would do, and he finds a big rock.

And he takes this big rock and he just hurls it up to the sky.

And what goes up must come down.

And oh, did it come down right in the center of a brand new Audi's hood?

Yeah.

My wife, the amazing woman that she is, she goes and writes a note and leaves a note.

I certainly hope I would do that.

Um, she put my phone number.

A little bit later, the guy calls me and he's so kind.

He was so sweet.

He's like, um, you know, Ryan, if it was my old car, it was so beat up it wouldn't matter, but I literally got it last week.

I'm like, no, I understand.

It's our fault, no worries, we'll pay for it.

And so he goes and gets the um the, you know, the whatever the price, the bill, the to the auto-body shop, and it's$722.42.

I remember it this all yes, all these years later,$722.42.

I remember asking Miles and going, Miles, this is not probably the best like parenting question, but I was like, what were you thinking?

And he's like, Dad, I was trying to hit the moon.

Well, you missed.

No.

Now just imagine with me, if you would.

He feels awful.

He did.

He wanted to repay me for the Audi.

He goes, Dad, at four years of age, I'll I'll clean my room every single day.

That's wonderful.

You probably should.

But it doesn't.

It doesn't pay for the Audi.

Hey, what if I wash your car?

What if I see at four years of age, he was able to do something, and what he did, he unfortunately is powerless to undo it and to pay for it.

He is has no capacity.

He can work and he can do good things, and those are good.

They just don't pay for deity.

And that is where we stand, and why Christ came and he took on our greatest problem.

Not because you're not doing good things.

That is wonderful and awesome.

And clean your room, please.

But we can't pay for the Audi.

We can wreck the Audi, but we just can't pay for it.

We need the Heavenly Father that'll write out a check and say, I'll cover the cost.

And the cross is God covering the cost on your behalf, and all who will receive him.

He says, I'll gladly pay.

I'll gladly cover it.

I'll take on your greatest problem.

You know, even Jesus said it uh in this way.

He said that he's the resurrection and the life.

That whoever believes in him experience life forevermore.

Oh, who is Jesus?

Fully God, fully man, died by Roman crucifixion to take on our greatest problem.

But thanks be to God, that is not the end of the story.

It's not the end of the song.

Therefore, God exalted.

God raised him up.

He is risen.

Let me hear it, church.

He is risen.

And God exalted him to the highest place.

Death could not hold the author of life.

He defeated the grave.

And he gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledged that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father, who is Jesus.

Jesus is alive.

You do not worship a dead crucified Savior.

You worship a risen alive Lord of all kings.

He's alive and he's reigning and he's present with us now.

The defining moment of Christianity is the resurrection, by the way.

If Jesus did not rise from the dead, then this is a waste of time.

Drop Christianity like a bad habit.

Seriously, because if he didn't rise from the dead, he made too many claims to just be a good moral teacher.

In fact, I believe every single person should examine the historicity of the resurrection.

Did you know that every major historian, whether theist or atheist, believes not only Jesus was a real person who lived in ancient Palestine, who was executed on a cross, was buried in a tomb, the tomb was empty?

How and why?

Well, you discern.

And that is followers genuinely believed that they saw the risen Savior to the point that they died for it.

A group that was scared and deserted him, now became bold and courageous.

That's incredible.

I like how C.S.

Lewis said it.

Christianity, if false, is of no importance.

If it's true, it's of infinite importance.

What it cannot be is of modest importance.

It cannot be of just simply this moderately important.

And friends, can I just say something?

I think a lot of us who would call ourselves Jesus followers, we would say it's it's kind of moderately important in the grand scheme of things.

What does this mean for us?

It means in Jesus we find our one true king.

And I know we don't really like think about the whole idea of kingness.

I mean, maybe if we're in England, this would resonate.

This point would be like, yes, we have royalty, you know, but we're American, we rebelled from the crown.

But in Jesus we find our one true king.

That he is Lord over all.

He's not just, you know, kind of like Jesus is our buddy, and that's one of the things that we've kind of made him to be because Jesus was inaccessible and the time passed, and so he's my homeboy.

No, he's a sacred friend and he's the king eternal reigning.

We find our one true king.

You know, when the early followers said Jesus Christ is Lord, that phrase there in the song, that was actually an act of treason.

That word Lord kurias became known, uh, it literally meant master, and it moved from that.

It's what the uh Jewish scholars, when they're translating the Hebrew text into Greek, they use that word to for Yahweh, for Lord, Master God, his covenant name.

And then Caesar adopted this name for his own divinity and lordship.

And so, as a Roman citizen, what you would declare is Caesar is Lord, and what the early followers would say is no, no, no, Jesus Christ is Lord, he is the one true king.

You might be sitting on a throne in Rome, but Jesus Christ is Lord, and I will give him alone my allegiance.

We don't like the whole idea of king because we like autonomy, not autocracy, right?

We're this individualistic society.

It's all about me and my thing, and I want to be the king of my life.

But here's the interesting part: in your autonomy, you bow your knee to whatever you think will bring you life.

We've all come to bended knees to something.

Whatever's gonna bring you life, maybe it is success.

Maybe it's, you know, your career path, maybe it's your education, maybe it's the experiences, but we all begin to bow the knee and we begin to discern and figure out what kind of master we've bowed our knee to.

In Jesus, we find our one true king.

Think about the king who disadvantaged himself for your advantage, who leveraged all of his power when you were powerless, who sacrificed himself to give you life.

Isn't that a king you can bend the knee to and trust that his ways are good?

He's the author of life.

We've all been bending the knee, searching for life, and he's been here ever since, inviting us, calling us.

Who exactly is Jesus?

Well, Peter said, You're the Christ, the Messiah, the King, the Son of the living God.

At the center of Christianity is not a philosophy, it's a person.

So today, as we close, what if God is one of us?

What if he became one of us?

What does it mean for you and for me?

I think there's two kind of responses as we close out our time.

First, first is for those of us in this room who've never said yes to Jesus.

Maybe you've been around uh church, or maybe this is the first time ever coming to a church, and you realize you have a God who loves you, who came for you, who died for you, who didn't say work your way, clean your way up to me, but I'm coming towards you, and you say yes to him.

Jesus, would you be my savior?

He'll come into your life and give you brand new life.

I think the second response is Jesus as King.

There's a lot of followers of Jesus who want Jesus to save them.

But have you made him king of your life?

Or it's your way.

You're the Lord, you're the master.

I don't want to be the king.

I don't want to sit on my throne.

I've actually not been doing a very good job.

I'm gonna give that over to you.

Jesus, would you be king of my life?

Would you pray with me?

No, and invite those here that you've never said yes to Jesus, you've never started a relationship with him.

Would you invite him into your life to be your savior for the very first time?

You just simply pray with me.

It's just a conversation with God in your hearts.

Lord Jesus, I need you.

Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins.

I open the door of my life and receive you as Savior and as my King.

Thank you for forgiving my sins and giving me true life now and forevermore.

Take control of the throne of my life.

Make me the kind of person you want me to be.

And if you've never prayed that prayer, and if you've never stepped into a relationship with Jesus, would you just keep your everyone keep their heads bowed?

And just would you raise your hand just so I could see?

I'd love to know who stepped into a relationship.

Go ahead and raise them up high.

Amen.

Amen.

Go ahead.

Jesus, I thank you for those who stepped and said yes to you today.

It says heaven is celebrating.

Today we worship the risen Savior of the world, the King Eternal.

And today our heart's response is simply to say we're in all of you.

In Jesus' name, Amen.

We hope you are blessed by this message.

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