The Life: Fully Human In Every Way

What does it mean to be human?  These days our culture tells us that to be human is to be flawed, to be far from perfect? So when we mess up we say,  “Oh I’m only human.”  Another way of describing someone as being “human,” is saying she’s “down to earth.” When we say that we are saying that she is someone you can relate with.  So humans are relational beings.  But we are so much more than that, aren’t we? After all what sets us apart from all other creatures is our ability to create, to think abstractly, to show compassion, to be sympathetic, to offer generosity, and yes to love.  I mean when you begin to dissect what it means to be human, it’s a long list.  We are complex beings – for we do love, but we also hate.  We do create, but we also destroy.  We can be extremely generous, but we can also steal.  We can be incredibly inclusive at our best, and extremely racist at our worst.

We have this unique dignity about us that sets us apart from animals, but sometimes we act worse than animals.  One of those things that brings out our worst is our FEARS – our fear of death, our fear of judgment, our fear of failure, to name a few.  Those fears cause us to do some pretty crazy stuff.  Those who fear deathtry to postpone the inevitable through strenuous workouts, plastic surgery and crazy diets.  Those who fear judgmentoften become moralistic Pharisees, or they go overboard in doing good works in hoping in some way to appease God.  Those who fear failureoften keep people at arms length, or drive themselves crazy trying to control everything in their lives.  And the result of letting these fears control us, is that we end up falling far short of the life God want us to enjoy.

That’s one of the reasons God sent His Son Jesus to us: to help us live a life without those fears that cripple us.  So if you’ve ever struggled with the fear of death, the fear of judgment or fear of failure, then I’d like to invite you to open your Bible to Hebrews 2:14-18.  For its in this passage that we’re going to see that when Jesus lived among us, he was fully human in every way.  He shared the same flesh and blood as us, experienced the same mortality as us, and faced the same struggles and temptations as us.  But we’re also going to see that by being fully human in every way, Jesus is now able to help you overcome your fears. So this passage lays out three reasons why Jesus shared in our humanity. And the first reason is this:

So He might be your bondage breaker So that he might help you overcome the fear of death. Look at verses 14 and 15 with me: Since the children have flesh and blood, he 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 free those who all theirlives were held in slavery by their fear of death. Hebrews 2:14-15

The first reason Jesus shared in our humanity, why he lived a fully human life was to free us from the power of the evil one. This is a pretty dramatic truth. According to this passage, we are told that apart from Jesus, people live all their lives enslaved by the fear of death.  God’s Word tells us that prior to the coming of Jesus, the devil held the power of death – that power was the fear of death.  You see, it was Satan’s activity that introduced sin into the world.  With sin came the resulting consequence of death: both physical death and spiritual death.

God’s Word gives us a great picture of this with the first sin in the garden.  God gave the man this instruction and command: “You are free to eatfrom any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”  Genesis 2:16-17 In the very next chapter, the evil one came in the form of a serpent, and said to the woman:“Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

² The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,³ but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

⁴ “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. ⁵ “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

⁶ When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. ⁷ Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

⁸ Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. ⁹ But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”

¹⁰ He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”¹¹ And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

¹² The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”¹³ Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”  Genesis 2:1-12

Did you see it?  With the first sin, came fear.  Fear was not present until the evil one got Adam and Eve to go their own way and no longer trust God’s Word.  With sin came separation.  The man and the woman hid from God.   They were now afraid of God.  They were now captive by their fear.  Their fear now called the shots.  Their fear made them hide from God.  And now any person who has ever been born, is enslaved by this same fear.  And our fear causes us to hide from God because our sin makes us fear death. That’s why God sent Jesus to us – to break the bondage of this fear.

Think about the affects of fear.  This is how Ray Steadman puts it: “Since death is the absence of life, spiritual death is already present in human affairs, appearing as depression, fear, boredom, despair, waste, limitation and defeat. The devil’s lie is to convince many that they can avoid such experiences by amassing wealth, maintaining their youth at all costs, searching for adventure, falling in and out of love, gaining the marks of success, indulging in widespread travel, satisfying their every whim.  “It is this fear of death which creates the frantic restlessness found in so many.”

And it is this restlessness that is the symptom of our enslavement to fear. People today are continually searching for something that will overcome this fear.  We try everything, but nothing satisfies.  We go all in for whatever offers us pleasure or fun, but rare do we find joy or contentment.  We chase after one experience after another.  It is a lifelong bondage that never ends till life itself ends.  And there is perhaps no better example of this futile search than Howard Hughes. His quest for more money, more fame, more sensual pleasure, more thrills, more power… concludes, in the end with this epitaph: “he died a billionaire junkie, insane by all reasonable standard.”

That’s why God sent Jesus to share in our humanity: Jesus came to FREE ALL who are held in slavery by their fear of death. How did he do it?Jesus broke the power of fear by breaking the power of death with His own death on the cross.  For when Jesus died on that cross, he paid the penalty for our sins completely.  At that moment, the very grounds of death and Satan’s accusations were removed, once and for all.  Now, if you’ve placed your trust in Jesus, Satan can no longer slander you, accuse you before the Father, he’s got nothing on you.  There is no longer any penalty awaiting you because of your sin, because Jesus paid it all.  Jesus’s death destroyed death’s power.

So, If Jesus breaks the power of death…the good news is this: you no longer have to fear death; for once you belong to Jesus, once you’ve trusted in Him as Your Savior, death has been defeated.  You will never taste death.  For now death is just a pathway into the presence of Jesus.  This is the certain hope of every Christian.

But if you are here today, and you are still afraid of death… the Bible tells us that this fear is not from God.  In fact, the Bible says “God’s perfect love drives out fear.” That’s why God sent Jesus.  He came to rescue you from the dominion of darkness and bring you into the kingdom of the Son.  And all you need to be delivered from the power of death is to trust in Jesus.  You will never know freedom of fear until you do. Jesus shared in your humanity so that by His death, he might break the power of Him who holds the power of death. Are you ready to be set free from this fear?  Then trust in Jesus.

That’s why Jesus was fully human in every way: to set you free from the fear of death. That’s the first reason Jesus was fully human in every way, now the second:   Jesus was fully human in every way So He might be your atonement maker So he might set you free from the fear of judgment.   Look now at verses 16-18, For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants.  For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful andfaithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.  Hebrews 2:16-18

Now, to understand all this, to understand how Jesus becomes our High Priest – it’s important for us to have a basic understanding of the Old Testament High Priest role.   What did the High Priest do?The high priest’s duty was to offer a sin offering not only for the sins of God’s people, but also for himself.  All of these instructions are outlined in the book of Leviticus.  But his most important duty was to conduct that service on the Day of Atonement, the tenth day of the seventh month of every year. On that day, only the High Priest was allowed to enter the Most Holy Place behind the veil to stand before God. Having made a sacrifice for himself and for the people, he then brought the blood of that sacrifice into the Holy of Holies and sprinkled it on the mercy seat, God’s “throne.” He did this to make atonement for himself and for the people for all their sins committed during the year just ended.  So the High Priest’s job was never done.   He continually had to make sacrifices to atone for his sin and the sins of the people.

But when Jesus became fully human in every way, Jesus was not only able to become our merciful and faithful high priest, but because Jesus lived a SINLESS human life, He was able to offer himself as the perfect sacrifice and therefore make atonement for the sins of all people, once and for all time.  That is why, at the very moment Jesus died on the cross, the veil in the temple was torn in two.  For at that moment, Jesus shed blood open the way to God’s presence. At the moment God’s wrath for our sin was satisfied.  And at that moment, the Jewish sacrificial system was no longer necessary, because God accepted Jesus sacrifice for our sins once and for all.

That’s what atonement means.  Atonement means that Jesus’ sacrifice satisfied the wrath of God that stood opposed to your sin.   Now, we don’t like to think of a God of wrath. Having a God who holds our sin against us, who is angry with us because of our sin is not a popular concept.  But when we begin to understand the true nature of God’s wrath, that it is the settled opposition of his holy nature against that which is evil.  In that sense, we can understand His wrath.  For in the Old Testament we see God’s wrath against adultery, against those who shed blood, against those who afflicted widows or orphans.  God hates it when someone destroys a marriage by their infidelity.  God hates it when someone takes the life of a child He created.   God hates it when a widow or orphan is taken advantage of. Think of it this way.  If someone came into your home and violently raped your child, you wouldn’t say, “Oh, that’s ok, I can over look the damage done to my child.”  No, you’d be appalled at their evil.  You’d be sickened by the damage done.  You’d be grieved at the loss of innocence.  And you’d want justice to be done.  You’d want them to pay for what they did.  That’s the idea behind God’s wrath toward our sin.

But God is not simply a God of wrath.  He is also a God of mercy who loves us even when our sin does damage. That’s why He sent Jesus.  That’s why Jesus became fully human in every way – so that Jesus could take upon himself the punishment we deserve – That’s what Jesus did for you when He made atonement for you.  Listen to how Isaiah described this.  First in Isaiah 53:5, But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.

And next in Isaiah 53:10, Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days,and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. When Jesus offered himself in your place, God accepted His offering, and turned His wrath away from you.

And if Jesus is made atonement for your sin, if you have trusted in Him, then God no longer holds anything against you.  That means you are free from ever having to face judgment for your sin.  That’s the mercy Jesus provided for you at the cross.  He was faithful in carrying out His mission, to live as one of us, and then die in our place.  And if you have put your faith in Jesus, then Jesus is your merciful and faithful High Priest.  As the Bible declares:  Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.(Romans 8:1)  That’s the good news found in Jesus Christ:  Jesus death in your place has turned God’s wrath away from you.  That’s why you can now be forgiven, accepted into His presence, and know Him as your friend and Father forever.

So let me ask you, do you know this Jesus who died for you?  Have you crossed the line of faith?  Have you put your trust in Jesus?  Because if you have not, then you are still in your sin,you are still under judgment – and one day you will have to stand before the throne of God and face the consequences of your sin alone.  God doesn’t want you to go there!  That’s why He sent you Jesus – so you can be free from His wrath, free from fear of judgment.  DO YOU WANT TO BE FREE FROM THE FEAR OF JUDGMENT?Then put your trust in the one who satisfied the demands of God’s holiness, and you will be free.  That’s the good news.  That’s why Jesus is the good news.  He is our atonement maker.  He took God’s wrath so you wouldn’t have to.

That’s what Jesus did for you by becoming fully human.  He came to set you free from the fear of death. He came to set you free from fear of judgment.  But there’s one more reason he became like one of us – to help you in the present. Jesus became fully human in every way so He might be your temptation helper  So he might set you free from your fear of failure. Look now at this final verse:  Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. Hebrews 2:18

Now, if anyone understands the human condition it is Jesus. Jesus became like us in every way so he can identify with anything we face.  He’s experienced what you’ve experiencing.  He knows what it’s like to be rejected, hurt, criticized, ignored, abused, abandoned, misunderstood and mocked. He’s experienced every emotion from sadness to delight, from anger to joy.  He’s suffered hunger and thirst, known anguish and trouble and cried over the death of a friend.  He’s been tempted to use his power to his own advantage.  He’s been tempted to take matters into his own hands. He’s been tempted to get angry, walk away and quit.  He’s even been tempted to do his own thing.  But he never did.  He always stayed in the will of the Father.  He always did what His Father commanded.  And he never sinned.  That’s why there is hope for us.

You see, if we try to handle life’s trials and temptations on our own, we might succeed on occasion, but most often we will fail. But because Jesus faced every temptation that we might face, he is now able to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.  He has the power, to keep you faithful when you feel like giving up.  He has the grace to keep you loving when it is too hard to love. He has the faith to keep you trusting, when everyone else is telling you to take matters into your own hands.

He is able to help you in your time of need, because He’s already done it.  All we need to do, is learn how to let Him do it.  And that takes faith.

So that’s what today’s message comes down to:  It all comes down to faith. It all comes down to trusting in Jesus rather than trusting yourself. My guess is that there are many of you here today that are tired of living by fear and are ready to live by faith.  And if that’s you, then I believe God’s Spirit is calling you to let go of your fears, and put your faith in Jesus.

Trust in Jesus to deliver you from your fear of death

Trust in Jesus to set you free from your fear of judgment

Trust in Jesus to let Him handle whatever you’re struggling with today.

It all comes down to letting Jesus do what He came to do for you.

And all you need to do is trust in Him.  Are you ready to do that today?