A Community of Faith - part 4
God, the Saving Son
This week we continue our look at the Baptist Faith & Message, specifically at II.B God the Son. This particular point is probably the most controversial of our series. Most people do not have a problem, per se, about the supremacy of scripture. They either agree or disagree, but rarely do we find someone aggressively opposed to the idea. With the nature of God the Father, again, most people do not have a problem with the idea, whether they agree or disagree. Some militant/aggressive religious groups exist that would combat our description of God, but for the most part, it isn’t that big of a deal within the wider secular world. It is when we start talking about Jesus that many people will get worked up. And, I believe, it’s quite simply because there is no doctrine so important, and one that conjures demonic backlash so much, as the answer to the question, “Who is Jesus Christ?”
Before we even get started, I want us to read a passage from the Gospel of Matthew.
Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 16:13-17
It’s an interesting question Jesus asks His disciples, “Who do people say I am?” Today, I’d like you to think about this question. How would we answer it today? Who do people say Jesus is?
Is He a good teacher?
Is He a symbol for doing good in the world?
Is He a light-bringer, an illuminated being, as the Eastern religions would call it?
Is He just some guy who made people happy?
Is He even real?
Simon Peter said Jesus was “the Christ, the Son of the living God,” and that, my friends, is the difference of eternity. Let’s look today at the statement in the Baptist Faith and Message and see how Peter’s confession still holds true today, and how it makes an eternal difference for us.
B. God the Son
Before we read it, I also want to add that we will read the statement in its entirety, but then I’d like us to break it down into its parts as we examine the truths found in Scripture.
Christ is the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation as Jesus Christ He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. Jesus perfectly revealed and did the will of God, taking upon Himself human nature with its demands and necessities and identifying Himself completely with mankind yet without sin. He honored the divine law by His personal obedience, and in His substitutionary death on the cross He made provision for the redemption of men from sin. He was raised from the dead with a glorified body and appeared to His disciples as the person who was with them before His crucifixion. He ascended into heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God where He is the One Mediator, fully God, fully man, in whose Person is effected the reconciliation between God and man. He will return in power and glory to judge the world and to consummate His redemptive mission. He now dwells in all believers as the living and ever present Lord.
First, we read:
Christ is the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation as Jesus Christ He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.
There are seven “I AM” statements in the book of John, and each of these statements point us to the truth that Jesus is God Incarnate. There are two doctrines about Christ that go hand-in-hand, though sometimes we tend to keep them separated.
One, Jesus existed before He was born. I don’t mean that in the sense that souls exist before they go into a body, which by the way is nowhere found in Scripture. I mean that Jesus eternally existed as God the Son, just as God the Father has always existed, and God the Holy Spirit has always existed. The Trinity has always been because God, who exists in Trinity, has always been. When we speak of God’s Son coming to us, we mean just that. God the Son, who has always existed within the Trinity stepped off His throne in order to come save His Creation.
Two, Jesus was born of a virgin. The reason this doctrine goes with Jesus’ pre-existence is because the virgin birth how we can say with certainty Jesus was truly Divine. Babies don’t just pop up out of nowhere. Mary conceived by the miraculous intervention of the Holy Spirit.
Turn with me to Matthew 2.
Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
Matthew 2:18-21
Should we ever doubt the virgin birth, just think back to these verses and ask yourself, “If Joseph knew the baby wasn’t his, why would he still marry Mary?” The answer is simply because he was told who the baby was. He had every right to end the engagement with Mary, and in fact, staying with Mary caused him just as much controversy as Mary would endure becoming pregnant before the marriage was finalized. But they would endure the social pressures because they knew Jesus was born of the Holy Spirit, and “He will save his people from their sins.”
The divinity of Jesus is foundation to his ability to save and transform His people.
How He would do this is found in the next lines:
Jesus perfectly revealed and did the will of God, taking upon Himself human nature with its demands and necessities and identifying Himself completely with mankind yet without sin.
First, Jesus was fully Divine, but also fully human. The Son took on flesh and endured all the trappings and frailties of humanity. He identified Himself with humanity in order to achieve what humanity could not on its own.
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Philippians 2:5-8
Paul is telling the Philippians (and us by extension) to remain humble in the same way Jesus was humble. True humility is not about relinquishing all power and ability, but rather, it is using that power and ability to serve. Jesus “was in the form of God,” or as the NIV says, “being in very nature God.” He was God within human flesh, but He did not count Himself equal to God—a notion that has plagued theology over the centuries. He could have easily established Himself an earthly kingdom as God, but that would not have achieved the Divine Mission. Instead, He “emptied himself”—a phrase which has also garnered attention in theology. It has to do with depriving something of its power or substance. It could mean literally something emptying out, like pouring out water from a jug, or it could be figurative meaning depriving something of its force or rendering something to null effect.
Here, Paul is reminding us that as God the Son, Jesus could very well have acted like God, or how we would expect a god to act, but instead, He chose to be a servant. The King of Kings became powerless like a servant.
Think of it this way. Jesus could have been born anywhere and to anyone in this world. He chose Mary who lived in the backwoods town of Bethlehem and in a stable. This past week I heard someone describe it this way:
Bethlehem is literally translated “House of Bread.” He was born in a manger, which is essentially a barn. And, Jesus worked under his earthly father, Joseph, as a carpenter, who would have been making tools for farmers and working other construction projects. In other words, you could say, “Jesus was born in a barn in a town called ‘Grain Elevator’ and worked at John Deere.”
Jesus did not do and accomplish what people thought He should do, He did what God needed Him to do.
The reason Jesus chose to present himself as fully human is because salvation required a human to make it happen. The Lord provided the Jewish sacrificial system as a means toward the sacrifice that would be required. Animals could only act as means to demonstrate faith, but true sacrifice for humans required a human. Unfortunately, no one was up to the task. As Paul reminds us in Romans:
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans 3:23
Jesus fulfilled the requirement of perfect obedience. Keep reading with me in Romans 3.
And are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one how has faith in Jesus.
Romans 3:24-26
The word “propitiation” is a ten dollar word that simply means “substitute.” The reason we do not put ourselves to literal death for our sins, and the reason the believer has no fear in death, is because Christ has already made himself our sacrifice.
We are not forgiven on the basis of our righteousness, but rather on the righteousness of Christ.
Because Jesus lived a sinless life, only Jesus is worthy to lay His life down for humanity. He is the “unblemished Lamb” required by God’s Law. As we read in the BFM:
He honored the divine law by His personal obedience, and in His substitutionary death on the cross He made provision for the redemption of men from sin.
The next statements in the BFM are just as crucial to answering the question of who Jesus is. The next line reads:
He was raised from the dead with a glorified body and appeared to His disciples as the person who was with them before His crucifixion.
The resurrection is paramount to the Christian faith. As Paul wrote,
Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
1 Corinthians 15:18-20
If Christ had only died, then he would have been just like every other religious leader this world has seen. But because He has risen from the dead, then we know He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Returning to Philippians 2, Paul writes:
Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so 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.
Philippians 2:9-11
Because Jesus accomplished the task of living a sinless life, going to the cross as our sacrifice, and rising again, He has been exalted above every name. This exaltation is for the benefit of humanity. As the BFM states:
He ascended into heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God where He is the One Mediator, fully God, fully man, in whose Person is effected the reconciliation between God and man.
The work of salvation begins and ends with the work of Jesus. He now sits at the right hand of God acting as Mediator between God and man.
We can be reconciled to God because Jesus has accomplished the work of reconciliation.
This mediation begins when we put our faith in Christ, but it continues on throughout our life. Turn with me to 1 John 2.
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.
1 John 2:1-6
John sandwiches this point with the call towards obedience, but even if fail to obey, we have an advocate with the Father. Jesus Christ mediates between us and the Father, and He can do this because of his sacrifice and resurrection.
Last, the BFM states:
He will return in power and glory to judge the world and to consummate His redemptive mission. He now dwells in all believers as the living and ever present Lord.
The work of Jesus is ongoing. He did not ascend to heaven to leave us be. He ascended to be our mediator, and he sends us His Holy Spirit in order to be present with us. We will return to the Holy Spirit next week, but for this week, turn with me to Matthew 28.
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Matthew 28:18-20
Jesus gives His disciples this commission that is passed down to each of us who call Him Lord. Notice how the Great Commission begins with the assertion of Jesus’ authority. Because of who He is and what He has accomplished, we are given this task. We are to go and make disciples, baptizing and teaching them, and we do this with the power of Christ Himself. He promises that He is with us, always, to the end of the age.
When Christ returns we will see Him face to face, but even before that moment, we still have Christ with us. He is in heaven mediating on our behalf, and His spirit indwells us and empowers us here on earth.
We can do the work God calls us to because Jesus is always with us and empowers us.
Today, if you have not called on Jesus as Lord, do it today. You can receive forgiveness of sin and eternal life because Jesus has accomplished victory over sin and death. He has done the work. There is no need to question whether or not you will be in heaven. You can know that you know because Jesus can save you.