Clergy/Leaders’ Mail-list No. 2-041 (Expository Sermon)

THE GOD WHO DIED FOR YOU (Hebrews 2:5-9)

by Rod Benson

There is something within each of us that aspires to the ideal, to the best, to the excellent. We aspire to find and marry the ideal partner in life; we’d all like to work for the ideal boss, or to be blessed with a team of ideal employees.

Churches search (in vain) for the ideal pastor, one who has all the qualities of Abraham, Moses, Solomon, Jesus and Paul!

Ideals are hard to find, and even harder to attain. Back at creation, God sought the ideal companion and friend when he created the first human person:

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground” (Genesis 1:26-28).

There, in flesh and blood, was the crowning glory of God’s creative activity: humanity – innocent, untainted by sin, in perfect fellowship with his Creator, but with an independent will.

And it was the exercise of that will in opposition to God’s command that dimmed the glory of humanity, that shattered the image of God reflected in human flesh, that broke the fellowship between creature and Creator, and that opened the door to the awful darkness and destructive power of sin and death.

Psalm 8, quoted in Hebrews 2:6-8, reflects on the paradox of humankind’s insignificance yet greatness: “What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?”

The psalmist asks, “What is there about us that the great God should stoop to help us?” As for the term “son of man,” it is a mistake to link this with the term “Son of Man” Jesus used of himself in the Gospels. Here the term refers to the quality of being human, in parallel with the earlier term “man.”

Then he restates the teaching of Genesis 1:

You made him a little lower than the angels; you crowned him with glory and honour and put everything under his feet (verses 7-8a).

And the author of Hebrews adds, “In putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him” (verse 8b).

God’s intention for his human creation was awesome. As Raymond Brown puts it, humankind was made in God’s image, a creature of supreme favour, with special privilege, unique dignity and unrivalled dominion.

That was the ideal, realised for only the briefest of moments before Adam disobeyed God, and now ruined by thousands of years of sin and death.

Then reality sets in for the author of Hebrews, and he adds, with classic understatement, “Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him” (verse 8c).

There is so much in our world that we do not master, so much that is beyond our individual and collective ability: the weather, the economy, environmental degradation, our health, our inner desires, our unmet needs, the perennial human longing for fulfilment . . . the list goes on.

God’s original intention for humanity has certainly remained unrealised.

Then comes one of the great “Buts” of Hebrews, and one of the most profound verses in the letter: “But we see Jesus . . . ” (verse 9). H. d’A. Champney recalls the identity and mission of this central figure of history in hymnody:

Verily God, yet become truly human – Lower than angels to die in our stead; How hast thou, long promised seed of the woman Trod on the serpent and bruised his head!

If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us an educator.

If your greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist.

If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist.

If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent us an entertainer. But our greatest need was forgiveness, so God sent us a Saviour.

Jesus was the last hope for humanity expressed the way God intended: in intimate fellowship with God, in perfect obedience to God, higher than any angel, with universal authority over the created order.

Through his incarnation, humiliation and exaltation, Jesus fulfilled God’s master plan, solved the sin problem, tore down death’s barrier, and opened the door on the path that leads to our spiritual potential and heavenly destiny.

Thus Jesus not only demonstrates what it means to live according to God’s original purpose, but what you and I, and every person, can become!

As we approach the [next] Easter celebration, let us reflect on two grand biblical themes: the grace of God that made salvation possible; and the love of Christ that made it real.

D.M. Stearns was preaching in Philadelphia. At the close of the service a stranger came up to him and said, “I don’t like the way you spoke about the cross. I think that instead of emphasising the death of Christ, it would be far better to preach Jesus, the teacher and example.”

Stearns replied, “If I presented Christ in that way, would you be willing to follow Him?” “I certainly would,” said the stranger without hesitation. “All right then,” said the preacher, “let’s take the first step. He did no sin. Can you claim that for yourself?”

The man looked confused and somewhat surprised. “Why, no,” he said. “I acknowledge that I do sin.” Stearns replied, “Then your greatest need is to have a Saviour, not an example!”

You and I need a Saviour. We cannot do it on our own. That is why Jesus humbled himself and assumed human form, and became obedient to death, even death on a cross (cf Philippians 2:8). As a result, 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 (Philippians 2:9-11).

But it does not end there! Take a look at Hebrews 2:5 – crucial to the author’s argument. In chapter one he shows, with persuasive Old Testament quotes, the superiority of Jesus over angels. In chapter 2 he reinforces this superiority despite the fact that Jesus became a human person and encountered the unthinkable – death.

To prove Jesus’ credentials of unparalleled worth, the author reminds us that the administration of the world to come has not been given to angels but to Jesus Christ.

As followers of Jesus, our heritage lies not in this world of shadows and pain but in a new creation designed by God in grace, and inaugurated by the resurrection and enthronement and exaltation of his Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ. To him be glory forever!

——————–

E073 Copyright (c) 2002 Rod Benson. Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible: New International Version (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1980).

You can contact Rev Rod Benson by e-mail at <>. To subscribe direct to his weekly sermons, e-mail him with “subscribe” in the subject.