Why Christmas Makes Sense
Hebrews 2:5-18
December 25, 2011
It is always a unique joy of mine to be able to gather here on Christmas morning with God’s people and celebrate the true meaning of Christmas.
I am grateful you have chosen to come.
Earlier we watched the video: “How Many Kings?”
The singer asked:
“How many kings stepped down from their thrones? How many lords have abandoned their homes? How many greats have become the least for me? How many gods have poured out their hearts to romance a world that is torn all apart? How many fathers gave up their sons for me?”
And when you ask the questions like that it highlights what could easily be called “The Absurdity of Christmas”
Philippians 2:6-8 “who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
And again that statement just almost sounds absurd
That Holy God would become Lowly Man.
2 Corinthians 8:9 “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.”
Again, an absurd statement, that someone would give up all their riches
In order to trade places with those who are the most poor.
2 Corinthians 5:21 “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
Romans 8:3 “For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,”
Galatians 4:4-5 “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”
And when you read statements like that we must admit that
They sound a little bizarre, if not fully unbelievable.
In fact, the notion that the God of all creation would belittle Himself
To the point of becoming the poorest of men
And would submit Himself to the most shameful of deaths,
Just so those who killed Him could have some of His glory….
That’s really hard to handle.
We might actually find it easier to believe a fat man in a red suit rides reindeer from house to house and drops through chimney’s in order to bring a child’s most desired gift if they have been good all year.
I mean, when you think about it that story isn’t much harder to believe.
In fact, the story of Christmas seemed so absurd
That it was in fact the reason the Jews so often failed to believe.
Remember John 6?
• The crowd that had just been fed at the feeding of the 5,000…
• Fully enamored with Jesus…
• Wanting more bread…
And then Jesus hit them with this bombshell:
John 6:35-38 “Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. “But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe. “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.”
And when Jesus said He came from heaven,
Instantly the crowd lost their enthusiasm.
John 6:41-42 “Therefore the Jews were grumbling about Him, because He said, “I am the bread that came down out of heaven.” They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, ‘I have come down out of heaven’?”
John 6:60 “Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this said, “This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?”
And even later:
John 6:66 “As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore.”
• You see, the notion of a king stepping down from His throne…
• The notion of a lord abandoning His home…
• The notion of the great becoming the least…
• The notion of a god pouring out His heart…
• The notion of a father giving up His Son…
That was just too absurd to be true.
And this is why the Jews so quickly rejected Him.
And if for just a moment, we forgot that we have been taught this from childhood, and put ourselves in the Jew’s shoes
We can see how they thought this was a little too far-fetched to be true.
It just sounds absurd.
BUT: There is a perfectly good explanation for why Christmas happened.
And it is the explanation that the writer of Hebrews gives this morning.
You are familiar that the book of Hebrews wasn’t a letter that was written, but was a sermon that was preached.
And the preacher is addressing a Jewish congregation.
• Some are skeptics – thinking it all a little too much to believe.
• Some are cowards – knowing it is true, but afraid of the scorn of admitting it.
• Some are weary – having confessed, but considering denying due to hardship.
And the preacher hits all three at various points.
The sermon actually opens (and the portion we will see)
Dealing with those skeptics.
And in chapter 1, the writer gives his first argument, and that is that
Jesus is greater than the angels.
That seems like a no-brainer to us,
But it was actually a big deal to the Jews.
Angels were with God on Sinai…
Angels mediated the Law…
Angels were lofty messengers…
But more than that, angels were certainly higher than humans.
And they definitely believed Jesus was human.
And so they believed that Jesus was lower than the angels.
The writer first sets out to prove that isn’t so.
HEBREWS 1:5-14 (And we won’t comment on this fully, but notice the argument)
And because Jesus is higher than the angels, the writer gives a little encouragement then that we had better listen to what He says.
HEBREWS 2:1-4
So even though Jesus was human, He is higher than the angels,
As God’s Old Testament clearly reveals, and we had better listen.
That is really the scope of the entire sermon,
But the preacher knows it isn’t that easy.
For there is another question about to arise.
WHY?
You are asserting that Jesus is in fact higher than the angels.
THEN WHY DID HE BECOME HUMAN?
• Why didn’t He remain as God?
• Why didn’t He become like the angels?
• Why did He become human?
And the answer begins in verse 5,
Where the preacher says it all makes perfect sense.
Three things I want to show you this morning.
#1 THE REASON
Hebrews 2:5-9
And right off the bat the preacher gives the reason
That Jesus became man and not an angel.
“For He did not subject to angels the world to come, concerning which we are speaking.”
The reason He didn’t become and angel
Is because it wasn’t the angels who were in danger.
It wasn’t the angels who needed saving.
It was men.
WHAT DO YOU MEAN?
(6-8) “But one has testified somewhere, saying, “WHAT IS MAN, THAT YOU REMEMBER HIM? OR THE SON OF MAN, THAT YOU ARE CONCERNED ABOUT HIM? “YOU HAVE MADE HIM FOR A LITTLE WHILE LOWER THAN THE ANGELS; YOU HAVE CROWNED HIM WITH GLORY AND HONOR, AND HAVE APPOINTED HIM OVER THE WORKS OF YOUR HANDS; YOU HAVE PUT ALL THINGS IN SUBJECTION UNDER HIS FEET.” For in subjecting all things to him, He left nothing that is not subject to him. But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him.”
The preacher there quotes Psalms 8 in which David recognizes
That God has given full dominion over all creation to man.
Genesis 1:28 “God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
So God had given full dominion to man.
In fact according to the preacher Psalm 8 is clear:
“He left nothing that is not subject to him.”
God put all things under the feet of man.
BUT THERE IS AN OBVIOUS PROBLEM
“But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him.”
Obviously man is not in control.
I’ve told you before, just watch animal planet.
“I shouldn’t be alive” – nature tries to kill man.
“Fatal Attractions” – animals try to kill man.
This world isn’t in subjection the way God intended it.
WHY?
Genesis 3:17-19 “Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life. “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field; By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.”
So God didn’t become an angel
Because angels weren’t the ones with the problem.
Man had the problem.
He was supposed to reign, but he didn’t, he had fallen.
This is why God became a man.
(9) “But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.”
You see, there is only one way for man to undo the curse.
Pay off the debt.
He sold his rights to the usurper in exchange for “the knowledge of good and evil” and in order to get his rights back, he must pay the debt.
WHAT IS THE DEBT?
Romans 6:23a “For the wages of sin is death…”
So, the only way to deliver man from his predicament
Is to become man and pay their debt.
That is exactly why God became man.
“so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.”
There is the reason.
BUT WAIT A MINUTE!!!
As we said earlier, THAT SOUNDS STRANGE.
If man disobeyed God and brought this misery on themselves, why wouldn’t God just leave it up to man to fix it?
Why would God belittle Himself so much so as to fix it for them?
It sounds absurd that God would do this.
#2 THE RATIONALE
Hebrews 2:10-16
Notice how the preacher starts:
“For it was fitting”
In other words, “This makes perfect sense”
“For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings.”
The preacher said it makes perfect sense for God
To let Jesus suffer as a human.
WHY?
(11) “For both He who sanctifies (Jesus) and those who are sanctified (men) are all from one Father; for which reason he is not ashamed to call them brethren,”
Why does it make sense for Jesus to become man?
BECAUSE WE ARE GOD’S CHILDREN TOO.
And the preacher quotes some more Old Testament passages
To reinforce this fact.
(12-13) “saying, “I WILL PROCLAIM YOUR NAME TO MY BRETHREN, IN THE MIDST OF THE CONGREGATION I WILL SING YOUR PRAISE.” And again, “I WILL PUT MY TRUST IN HIM.” And again, “BEHOLD, I AND THE CHILDREN WHOM GOD HAS GIVEN ME.”
The point there being that Jesus called humans “My brethren”
So we are God’s children too, and that is why it makes perfect sense for Jesus to become human.
God sent one Son to help the rest of them.
It all comes back to the love of God.
John 3:16 “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.”
The notion of Christmas does sound absurd,
Unless you understand the love of God,
And then it makes perfect sense.
In fact Christmas only sounds absurd to those who only love themselves.
But in God’s mind this “was fitting”
He sent one Son to rescue the rest.
And to rescue a human, you have to be human.
(14) “Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same”
WHY?
So He could die
“that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.”
He came to pay man’s debt and set them free.
And He had to become man to do that.
Make no mistake, the most fitting symbol of Christmas
Is not the manger, it is the cross.
HE CAME TO DIE
That is why He became man and not an angel.
“For assuredly He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the descendant of Abraham.”
It wasn’t about Him maintaining status,
It was about Him giving help to those who needed it.
The Reason, The Rationale
#3 THE REALITY
Hebrews 2:17-18
• If God loves humans…
• And if the only way to help them is to become human…
Then the rest is obvious:
“Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things”
It wasn’t just a decision, it was necessary.
It was the only way man could be delivered. “He had to” do it.
“so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.”
The point here is that if He hadn’t become human,
Then not only could He not have died and paid the penalty,
But He couldn’t even have been sympathetic to their dilemma.
Ever hear the statement, “Walk a mile in a man’s shoes…”?
That is what Jesus did, in fact He went 2.
Hebrews 5:8 “Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.”
No He didn’t learn to obey, He was already doing that.
He learned why obedience is so hard.
He learned how to sympathize with us.
He learned how to be merciful to us.
Perhaps if the older brother had fed the pigs with his prodigal younger brother, he would have been more sympathetic when he came home.
Well, Jesus is sympathetic because He became one of us,
And this had to happen.
(18) “For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.”
He endured compassion training.
And so
• It seems strange that God would become man.
• It seems strange that a king would leave his throne.
• It seems strange that a lord would leave his home.
• It seems strange that the greatest would become the least.
• It seems strange that a father would give up his son.
Unless you understand the love of God
And His desire to save man and sympathize with them.
And then it makes perfect sense.
And the point?
God really did become man, and He really did die in our place, and you can believe it.
Merry Christmas!
