We Believe: The God Man

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We exist to awaken this generation to new life in Christ.

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Well, I'm here in downtown San Jose for part three of We Believe.

Um in the fall of 1995, I was a freshman in high school, and it was a particularly good year for music.

Uh Gangster Paradise was number one in the charts.

TLC's Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls was number two.

I was more of a grunge and a rock guy.

I loved like Nirvana and Red Hot Chili Peppers and Weezer and Green Day and U2 and No Down.

And yet, my freshman year of high school, the song that that just captivated me wasn't any of those.

It was this song that was eerie and beautiful.

It was spiritual but irreligious.

And it spoke to the ache of the human soul and the hurt and the depravity that we live in.

And I'm sure maybe you're familiar with it.

It's called One of Us by Joan Osborne.

And in it says, What if God was one of us?

Just a slob like one of us.

Just a stranger on a bus trying to make his way home.

Just sad.

But ask the question: what if God was one of us?

Maybe a better question is what if God became one of us?

And if God really did become one of us, what would it mean for all of us?

You know, Jesus, he was traveling with his disciples to Caesarea Philippi.

It's about 25 miles north of Galilee.

And ministry was going great.

I mean, he was just blowing up.

He was big time.

Thousands of people were flocking to hear him speak and see the miracles he was doing.

And this was problematic.

The religious leaders really didn't like it.

In fact, they were uh they wanted to take him out.

And so he decided to do a little staff retreat with the disciples.

He decided to head on up out of the religious center of Jerusalem and out even out of Galilee, on up to the Gentile city of Caesarea Philippi.

And on the way, he sees this as a moment to develop and to teach his disciples.

And he asked them this question who do people say that I am?

And as the disciples were kicking it around, they said, you know, some think you're John the Baptist who had been killed, and we think they think he's come back to life.

Others think you're a prophet of old, like Elijah or Jeremiah.

And then Jesus turns and looks at him, and maybe there was this pause, and he just says, But you, who do you say that I am?

And Peter, the unofficial spokesperson for the disciples, speaks up.

And he's about to utter words that he's never spoken out loud.

He's only had hunches inside.

But these hunches have come from walking with Jesus, learning from him, of watching Jesus give sight to those that are blind, watch watching Jesus speak and the wind and the waves obey him, watching Jesus raise a dead girl back to life.

And so he begins to utter this.

And I don't know if he just didn't, you know, just kind of clear his throat, and he says, You are the Messiah or the Christ, the anointed one, the son of the living God.

You are not just sent from God, is what he's saying.

You're the son of God, you're God himself.

You see, at the center of Christianity is not a philosophy, it's not teaching or rules to live by.

At the center of Christianity is a person, at the center of Christianity is the person of Jesus.

And you know, Jesus never said, believe in my teachings, or I'm actually going to point the way to God.

He said something radically different.

He said, believe in me.

Put your faith and your hope and your trust in me.

And I'm not showing the way the God.

I am the way to God.

I am the truth.

I am the life.

And so the most important question you'll ever ask is who do you say Jesus is?

Answering that, who exactly is Jesus?

I mean, what do Christians believe about Jesus?

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

Well, it's in the creed that spent the apostles' creed that spends the most time uh unpacking exactly who Jesus is.

And and it actually has five affirmations about who this Jesus is, and you can sum them up in in just five words deity, humanity, history, victory, and sovereignty.

Like if you want to know who Jesus is, deity, humanity, history, victory, and sovereignty.

Who exactly is Jesus?

Well, the apostles' creed begins this way I believe, I put my hope, my trust in Jesus Christ.

Now that's not his last name, that's his title.

He is the anointed one of God or Messiah.

He is the only Son, our Lord.

He is God's Son, our Lord.

And who exactly is Jesus?

First, Jesus is deity.

He is fully God.

Jesus isn't just a godly man, he isn't just a good man, a good teacher.

Jesus is a hundred percent God.

Yeah, no, when we think about Jesus and his deity, we actually need to actually talk about the Trinity.

And as Christians, we believe uh in the Trinity, meaning there is one God revealed in three distinct persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

That they are co-eternal, they are co-equal, they're uncreated, neither blending their personalities nor dividing their essence, that Jesus is in very nature God.

One, the Nicene Creed would say that he is begotten of the Father.

He is not created or made, one in being with the Father.

And we see this from Genesis all the way back to Revelation, and we see the unity of God, the oneness, and yet the Trinity at play.

Even in the Genesis account of how the world began, in Genesis 1, it says it this way: In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the spirit of God was hovering over the waters, that there was one God, and yet the Spirit of God active.

And when God was making humanity goes on to say, then God, singular, said, Let us make mankind in our image plural, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the sky.

That God is eternal, unity in perfect relationship.

See, it is the Trinity that we are created in the image of needing relationship, and that God has always and forever been sufficient and in perfect unity and relationship.

And so John, the gospel writer, picks it up this way: the apostle taking back the same language of the Genesis count in speaking of Jesus and says, In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.

He was with God in the beginning.

Through him, all things were made.

Without him, nothing that uh was made that has been made.

That Jesus is God and very God, that he was the creator and sustainer and maker of all that we see.

And so when we think of Jesus, it's not just a godly man, he is God.

In fact, uh Colossians would say it this way: that the Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

For in him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities, all things have been created through him and for him.

He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

And so, who exactly is Jesus?

The first thing is he's deity.

He is Jesus, is fully God.

Secondly, he's humanity.

He's not just fully God.

Jesus is then fully man.

The creed goes on to say, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit.

Remember that spirit hovering over the waters, the Creator Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, humanity.

And as we think of Jesus, we think of the incarnation, that Jesus is both fully God and fully man.

He's not just like part God and part man or some sort of new being.

He is 100% God and 100% man all at the same time, without confusion, without change, without division.

John would say it again this way a little bit later on in the chapter verse 14, he said, The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.

We've seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

That Jesus was a hundred percent man at the same time.

And the author of Hebrews would say it this way: Since the children have flesh and blood, he, speaking of Jesus, too shared in their humanity, so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death, that is the devil, and freed those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death.

For this reason, he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.

Now think about this.

Jesus fully God, fully divine, and then fully man, and what this means is he was hungry.

He's been hurt, he's experienced pain, he's been betrayed.

Later on, the author of Hebrews would say it this way: that Jesus was tempted in every way and yet was without sin.

Jesus lived the life we could never live.

And so who exactly is this Jesus?

This is God with us.

Jesus, fully God, fully man, deity, humanity, and then history.

Jesus died by a Roman crucifixion.

The creed continues, says he suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, and died, and was buried.

All four Gospels speak to the literal historical death of Jesus.

The early writings of the uh New Testament writers, the Apostle Paul, we have all the writings within the same lifetime of those who witnessed these events.

In fact, extra biblical sources, Josephus talks about Jesus of Nazareth.

Tacitus actually confirms that it was Pontius Pilate who indeed oversaw the execution of Jesus.

Even Pliny speaks of Jesus.

And see, it's history.

Jesus isn't a legend or a myth or a fairy tale or one of these, you know, things that like you just have to throw your brain out to somehow believe.

It's rooted and anchored in history.

In fact, I like how H.

G.

Wells, famous historian, author, said it.

Said, I'm a historian, I'm not a believer, but I must confess, as a historian, that this penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the center of history.

Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant figure in all of history.

In fact, we actually divide time.

We're in the year 2020.

And we divide all of time by his life.

You know, the year 2020 AD or ano domini, the year of our Lord, is what it means in Latin.

Now we changed it.

It's B C E before Common Era and C E Common Era, but it used to be B C before Christ and A D Ano Domini.

And so he is deity.

Jesus is Lord God.

He is humanity.

He's fully human, fully God, rooted in history.

He died by Roman crucifixion, but the story does not end there.

Who exactly is Jesus?

He's our victory.

Jesus defeated the grave and is alive.

Goes on and says that he descended into hell or into the realm of the dead.

On the third day, he rose again from the dead.

Jesus experienced death as humans experienced death, and his body lay in a grave, and his spirit went to the realm of the dead.

In fact, 1 Corinthians 15, the Apostle Paul says, and if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless, and so is your faith.

If he died and he didn't come back to life, it doesn't matter what he said, it doesn't matter what he claimed, it's useless and empty.

But then he goes, but if Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep, for since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man.

And then later on he'd go, This death has been swallowed up in victory.

I love that.

Where, O death, is your victory, where O death is your sting?

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

But thanks be to God.

He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus defeated the grave and is presently alive.

We worship a risen, victorious Savior who is alive, Jesus, fully man, fully God for all eternity, who defeated the greatest foe, the greatest fear, death itself, that we might have life with him forever.

And so as believers, we don't somehow try to hope or work to gain victory.

We we live from victory.

We don't fight for victory, we fight from victory.

We have the God who is victorious, who's gone ahead of us.

And this affirmation of who do you say that I am?

Who exactly is Jesus?

The deity, the humanity, the history, the victory of Jesus.

And because he defeated the grave, then we see the sovereignty of Jesus.

That Jesus is Lord of all.

Not Lord of some, not Lord of parts, but Lord of all.

The creed continues on.

He says, He ascended into heaven and seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come to judge the living and the dead.

That he has all authority and all power and all dominion.

The way Jesus explained it to his disciples before he ascended to the right hand of the Father is what's known as the Great Commission.

And he says this in Matthew 28, verse 18 all authority has been given to me, all dominion, all power has been given to me.

Matthew 28:18

Therefore, then you go and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

And command teaching them to obey everything that I've commanded.

Why?

Because He's Lord.

In Colossians 2, verse 9, it says this way for in Christ all the fullness of deity lives in bodily form.

Colossians 2:9

And in Christ you have been brought to fullness.

And if you just flip back a couple pages into Philippians, speaking of Christ, it says, Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and 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 confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

Fooly God, fully man, suffered and died by Roman crucifixion.

Rose from the grave and is alive, and as a result, he is Lord of all.

You know, we talk about Lord, Jesus being Lord, but what does that really mean?

Well, it means that there is no other allegiance or loyalties other than him.

See what it means is if he indeed rose from the grave, if he indeed is not just a good man, he is the God man and is alive in all authority and power.

It means that all that he said is true, all that he did is to bring life and hope.

And so for us as a believer, as a follower of Jesus, it means following Jesus is the most important thing about me.

That I'm a Christian, I'm a Jesus follower.

And that informs everything, that informs my identity, that informs every reality.

See, it's Jesus ahead of your politics.

It's Jesus ahead of your sexuality or your gender.

It's Jesus and his way, and going, You're Lord, and you're my loyalty and my affection.

In Galatians 2.

20, the Apostle Paul would say it this way: I've been crucified with Christ.

And I no longer live.

It's Christ who lives in me.

And the life I live, I live by faith in the Son of God who gave his life for me.

And the question for you.

And the question for me is the same question that Jesus asked Peter.

Who do you say Jesus is?

You know, Peter in that moment, he spoke it out with such confidence.

And then you just gotta imagine when Jesus died, he wondered, and I wonder if I was wrong.

I wonder if you really were the Messiah, if you really were the Son of God.

And then he saw the risen Jesus.

See, he didn't go around proclaiming an idea, or hey, I had a dream, or I had a thought, or this is a nice idea.

There was over 500 eyewitnesses who saw Jesus and they proclaimed what they saw.

They were called witnesses because they saw Jesus and he just couldn't help it.

And he said, You are Lord, and I'm given my entire life for you, even to the point of dying by the cross in following after Jesus.

Now, I think for some, as we wrestle with that, what if God really became one of us?

Our response is just worship and remembering.

Because you at one point said, Yes, I believe in Jesus.

And in maybe the season and maybe the events, and maybe life has just knocked some things out of you, and once more you are shifting your attention, your affection, you're going, okay, you are fully God, fully man.

You came and died for me, you loved me.

Oh my God, I'm running back to you, I'm turning to you.

But there's others that maybe as you've thought about Jesus and you thought, who exactly is Jesus?

You said, He's probably a good man.

He has some good teachings.

And even as I was speaking, there was something stirring, and there was just a little bit of a tension in your soul, and you're just like, I'm being drawn, and I'm not exactly sure what's going on.

That's actually the spirit of God working inside of you.

And as I was explaining who Jesus is, you want in your heart to say yes, and in this moment you can say yes.

You know, John and uh a little bit later, a couple chapters on, John chapter three would say, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life, life now and forevermore.

And Jesus would say it this way: I came that you might have life and life to the very full.

And when you say yes to Jesus, when you say, I need you as my Savior and as my Lord, you're stepping into the fullest of humanity, the most joy complete that you will find freedom for the very first time.

It's called life.

And if that's what you want, if that's where you're at, would you just simply call upon Jesus right now in this moment?

And you can just pray after me.

Jesus, today I believe you are the Son of God.

I believe that you're fully God, fully man, that you came for me, that you died for me, that you took the penalty of everything I've done wrong called sin on the cross and paid for it.

I believe that you rose again from the grave, defeating sin and death and Satan, that I might have life forever.

And today I am placing my trust, my confidence, my hope in you.

Would you come into my life and give me new life?

I trust you as my Savior.

I trust you and make you Lord of my life.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.