March 3, 2013 Series: Christ-ology Sermon: Upside-Down Scripture: Hebrews 2:5-18 Purpose: To help us understand the “upside-down” nature of the gospel. Main Idea: When we understand the “upside-down” nature of grace, everything changes: the way we live life and the way we face our fears, even the fear of death.

Introduction: We may not all have a brother in our family (like Chris’s brother, Rob), but we all have a brother in Jesus as part of God’s family. In this series we’ve seen that Jesus is greater than we can possibly imagine. Now we will look at the “both/and” aspect of the gospel. The Son of God is both Lord and Creator of the universe and a normal human being -- exactly like us in every way. In fact, the Bible makes this so clear that he is called our brother – he’s like a big brother of a very large family.

I. Review and background of Hebrews The book of Hebrews is a sermon manuscript that was read to a group of Hebrew believers who lived in the city of Rome right before the great persecution by Nero. They had suffered persecution; many of them were in danger of walking away from Christianity. God wasn’t coming through for them. Christianity was not what they expected. They had one foot out the door. The book was written to people who had lost their confidence in Jesus and Christianity. Main Idea: The writer tells them that their perseverance in the Christian life will be in direct proportion to their clarity to see who Jesus is and what he has accomplished on their behalf. He does this in four ways:    

Jesus is greater than we ever imagined (1:5-14). Jesus is more humble than we can understand (2:10-18). Jesus brings us further than would normally be possible (5:1-7:28). Jesus is more compassionate than we dared to hope (8:3-10:18).

The writer gives an explanation (exposition) and then he gives them an exhortation (a “lesson for our lives”). He alternates back and forth with exposition and exhortation – over and over again.

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II. The Son is more humble than we can understand (Hebrews 2:5-18). Note the connection between Hebrews 2:5 and what precedes it:     

Hebrews 1:1-4. The author started the book by introducing the Son as being greater than we can imagine (heir, Creator, image of God, sustainer of all things, etc.). Hebrews 1:5-14. Then the writer used what the rabbis called a “string of pearls” and demonstrated that the Son is greater than angels. Hebrews 2:1-4. Then the writer drives home his application or “lesson for our lives.” We should pay attention to what we have heard from the Son – we should not drift away. Hebrews 2:5 again picks up the quote from Psalm 110 (see 1:13) and continues. Hebrews 2:8 quotes from Psalm 8:4-6: “What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet” (ESV).

Note to Leaders: Chris prefers the ESV translation, not the NIV 2011 version which translates “man” (meaning both mankind and Christ in ESV) as “them” (mankind only). The main point: From the beginning, Christ is the pre-eminent human being who is able to fulfill this psalm. 

In Hebrews 2:8 we see the “already/but not yet” aspect of the gospel. There is also a temporal aspect to his coming that is difficult to understand. This voluntary submission of the Son of God has led to a situation where for a while we do not see everything subject to Him. The world is in a real mess so if Christ is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, He’s not doing a very good job. These verses get into that. There seems to be a contradiction between who Christ is supposed to be now – his exaltation and the consummation of all things. We simply don’t see Christ’s power ruling things today. That is what vs. 2:8b clearly states: At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him (ESV). We live in the in-between time. Throughout the NT we see the idea that the Kingdom has been established and its effects have been set in motion, but its full realization is postponed until the second coming of Christ (cf. John 12.31).

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Hebrews 2:10 “The pioneer” of their salvation. In this section the writer of Hebrews uses for the first time the Greek word archēgos of Jesus (his other use of the word is in 12:2). The word suggests concepts such as “Leader,” “Originator,” and “Founder” and is equivalent in some respects to the word “Pioneer.” The familiar rendering “Captain” (KJV) seems a bit superior to “Author” (2:10). The writer will try to show that the Lord Jesus is the Captain of that loyal band of people whom God is preparing for glory.

There is a lot in this passage. It is a challenge to narrow it down. The author’s main point is to help the readers see that Jesus is not only greater than we can imagine but he is more humble than we can imagine. 2

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The humility of Christ: the upside-down nature of the Gospel

There is an upside-down aspect of the gospel. The Son is the highest imaginable and then he becomes a human being just like us (“for a little while made lower than the angels” 2:9). He loses everything and dies the death of a criminal with nothing. His own clothes were stripped from him; he died naked on a cross – the shameful death of a criminal. It is the epitome of humiliation. That’s the story of the gospel. Illustration: Imagine that the mayor left his position and became the poorest person in Madison who had nothing – no power at all. Now imagine the governor doing that, or the President, or the King of the universe. Now imagine God doing that. 

Hebrews 2:17. He becomes fully human in every way.

Jesus was fully human. For 33 years he felt everything that we feel. If he missed a nail with his hammer, it hurt. He got tired, hungry and sick. He was so human that his own brothers thought he was crazy to say what he was saying and wanted to turn him in to the authorities (John 7:5). It is not comfortable for us to think in this way. It feels awkward, irreverent. But we must be careful to not take the humanity out of the incarnation. Jesus was fully human in every way but without sin, as the writer will say in 4:15. He can look at us and call us brothers and sisters. It is important to have a fully human Jesus because it will help us see the full extent to which God went to win our redemption. There are two natures in the one person of Christ who is fully God and fully man. Illustration: a triangle and circle. “The characteristic properties of both natures and substances are kept intact and come together in one person, lowliness is taken on by majesty, weakness by power, mortality by eternity, and the nature which cannot be harmed is united to the nature which suffers, in order that the debt which our condition involves may be discharged. In this way, as our salvation requires, one and the same mediator between God and human beings, the human being who is Jesus Christ, can at one and the same time die in virtue of the one nature and , in virtue of the other, be incapable of death. That is why true God was born in the integral and complete nature of a true human being, entire in what belongs to him and entire in what belongs to us.” --Pope Leo I, quoted by Mark A. Noll in Turning Points, p. 78

IV. Why did the Son of God become Man (incarnate – with human flesh)? So that he might “taste death for everyone, bringing many sons and daughters to glory” (2:9-10). 3

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By his death he broke the power of him who holds the power of death, the devil (2:14). o This goes back to the “fall” of humans and the original curse. o A reversal took place in the beginning. Man took the place of God. Humans thought they had a better idea than God did. This reversal is the root of sin. Death – separation from God – enters at that point. o This leads to a promise that the woman will have an offspring and he will crush the head of the serpent (Gen. 3.15). o By his death on the cross he absorbed all the sins of all people for all time and thus “tastes death for everyone.” He died and conquered death. He wins by losing. This frees us from the fear of death (2:15). o Illustration: Donald Grey Barnhouse comforted his children immediately after the death of their mother by saying, “What would you rather have happen to you: to be hit by a truck or by the shadow of a truck?” They said, “By the shadow.” Then he said, “2000 years ago the truck of death hit Jesus Christ, so that we might just be hit by the shadow. Your mom died, but only the shadow hit her. She is still alive and with God right now; we’ll see her soon. He also becomes for us a high priest so that he might represent us before God and make atonement for us. (The writer will talk about this in 4:15-10.)

How do we apply this to our lives? V.

Grace changes everything.

All of this is because of grace, as it says in vs. 2:9. Then, in verse 10: “it was fitting that God…” This is the way God works. Because God is a God of grace, he works in these ways. It is the upside down nature of grace. Theologically speaking, this message deals with what some call the “upside-down” aspect of the gospel. The movement of Christ was highest (King of Kings, God in heaven), then low (incarnation, suffering, then death on a cross), then back to highest (resurrection, exaltation, serving now as a faithful high priest to God). Jesus was far superior to the angels and yet he was made lower than the angels so that by the grace of God he might die for all people. This is the pattern of Christ’s salvation that he offers to us. Though he was a king, he suffered. Though he was the greatest of all time (God), he shared in the pain and suffering of humanity, so that he might break the power of death (a power that the devil holds over people) and free us from death and the devil. He triumphed not by taking up power but by serving sacrificially and dying. He won by losing. This is a complete reversal of the way the world works and the way the world thinks. The world values power, recognition, wealth, and status. Jesus gave all of that up. The gospel then should create a new kind of community, with people who live out an entirely new way of being human.

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Illustration: The grace of Jesus is like a manager who took the blame for one of his employees – thus “reenacting” the incarnation. He took the blame. He suffered in place of the worker. He was living out the upside-down nature of the gospel. VI.

Conclusion

When we understand the upside-down nature of the gospel, it should change us now, not just when we are on our deathbeds and we don’t have to be afraid of death. That is good news. But it should change the way we live today, not just that I’m going to go to glory to be with him. He’s my big brother. He’s my pioneer, my captain. I should follow him. I should reenact the gospel in the way I live. I should be about upside down things. I should live out grace in my life. I don’t have to always win. I don’t have to be at the top. These are the kinds of things that Jesus voluntarily gave up for others. I should be like that too. I don’t have to be controlled by my fear of death. My fears don’t have to rule in my life. When I get the upside down nature of the gospel, my fears are just blown up.

Going Deeper

“So, what is going on when, in our immediate situations, Christ does not seem to be in control? The answer to our dilemma lies in our perception of reality and, specifically, the nature of the Christian faith. In Western Christianity especially, we have become committed to relieving pain behind our problems rather than using our pain to wrestle more passionately with the character and purpose of God. Feeling better has become more important than finding God. And worse, we assume that people who find God always feel better. To focus on our situations, our problems, or our pains as primary (rather than the purposes of God) is to move away from important aspects of following Christ.” --George Guthrie, Hebrews, p. 104 “The central miracle asserted by Christians is the Incarnation -- God became Man. Every other miracle prepares for this, or exhibits this, or results from this . . . . it was the central event in the history of the Earth–the very thing the whole story has been about.” --C.S. Lewis, Grand Miracle

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