"Doctrine Matters: Jesus Christ"
November 18, 2007
Pastor Phil Stevenson
Sermon Title: Doctrine Matters: The Unique Person of Jesus Christ
Text: Luke 2:22-35
Whidbey Island Evangelical Free Church, 874 Plantation Drive, Greenbank, WA 98253, 360-678-4612, office, Pastor Phil Stevenson
Introduction:
We truly do have so much to be thankful for this week. “In everything give thanks for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.” One thing I didn’t hear in our prayers this morning though was a prayer of thanks for Doctrine. Well at least it wasn’t expressed in that way, with that term. What you did was you expressed your doctrine in your prayers and that’s probably even more important than just being thankful for your good doctrine. But I hope you’re coming to appreciate the importance and the significance of good solid biblical doctrine. And this morning in our study of Doctrine we come to the person of Jesus Christ. As I was thinking of a title for this message I tried to think of a word that would best describe and summarize what our doctrinal statement says about the person of Jesus Christ.
Here’s what our statement says, “We believe that Jesus Christ is God incarnate, fully God and fully man, one Person in two natures. Jesus—Israel's promised Messiah—was conceived through the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He lived a sinless life, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, arose bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father as our High Priest and Advocate.”
Now, there are many words that could have been chosen to best summarize this statement about the Person of Jesus Christ. What word comes to your mind? The one that came to my mind first was unique. Jesus Christ is absolutely unique in his personhood.
The dictionary I have on my desk (Webster’s New College Dictionary) defines unique as, being the only one of its kind, being without equal or rival. Being unique escalates value. One of the reasons that the hope diamond is so valuable is because it is one of a kind in size and shape. It is without equal or rival. Being unique establishes authority and importance. Certain people are asked to appear before Congress to give testimony to certain topics because they are uniquely qualified. They’re experts on terrorism or Middle East politics and because of that their words have greater authority or import. Being unique can also create mystery or mystique. Everyone of us is unique. When compared with each other there is much we have in common but it is the fact that there is something uniquely different about every person that makes each person a bit of a mystery.
The word unique is totally appropriate to summarize the person of Jesus Christ because Jesus is without rival in value, in authority, and in importance. The uniqueness of Jesus is especially critical for us to understand in a world that is abandoning absolutes. Isn’t it ironic that in a culture that celebrates consumerism, individualism, and relativism, where everyone is searching for the one thing that will fill the void of emptiness and dissatisfaction, where so many products and so many styles and so many options promise that unique solution to bring peace in a person’s life, that everything and everyone turns out looking and acting so much alike. In our humanistic attempts to become so unique everything seems to become so similar. Those who want to rebel against the norm end up all looking the same. Whether it’s styles in clothes or styles in cars or styles in spirituality the trends and fads seem to offer uniqueness but so often deliver only conformity and monotony and one more disposable attempt at fulfillment. Where can a person go to find true lasting peace?
Well this is where the doctrine of the unique person of Jesus Christ can matter so much. Let me draw your attention to a man named Simeon who found his peace in the unique person of Jesus Christ. I know many of you are familiar with this character of Christmas. The only exposure we have of him is found in Luke 2:22-35. We are given the impression from Luke that Simeon is an elderly man who has been waiting expectantly and patiently for the arrival of God’s Messiah. Righteously and devoutly he has been clinging to the promises of God’s Spirit that before he died he would see the one who would bring comfort and peace to the people of Israel. Here’s how all this took place. Let’s start at verse 21. (Read 2:21-29.) But what does Simeon see in this newborn baby boy that allows him to die in peace? Somehow in this moment the words of O Little Town of Bethlehem are becoming a reality for Simeon. “The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.” The next verses reveal what Simeon saw and what it was, was the uniqueness of this infant Jesus. With prophetic vision Simeon speaks. (Read 2:30-35.)
This morning I want you to see the uniqueness of Jesus Christ. He is like no other person that has ever walked the face of this earth. And for this reason He can be our satisfaction. He can be our peace. He can be our hope.
The first thing that Simeon saw is the first thing we should see in Jesus. It is the uniqueness of His birth.
1. Jesus is Unique in His Birth.
By Friday of this week our whole culture is going to shift its eyes and its wallets to the season of Christmas. You won’t be able to turn your radio on without hearing in a matter of minutes a song or an advertisement related to Christmas. Once again the god of materialism and consumerism is going to beckon you to buy its version of peace, a new TV, jewelry for that special someone, car with a bow on it. But the truth is that it will never do what only Jesus can do. And as we enter the Christmas season I want to encourage you contemplate the uniqueness of Jesus’ birth. When Simeon held the baby Jesus in his arms the Holy Spirit inspired him to see so much more than what the world sees at Christmas. Verse 30 tells us what he saw.
“My eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples.” What Simeon sees as he holds this baby boy in his arms is what the angels have announced to Mary and to Joseph and to the Shepherds. “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.” He will save his people from their sins. What a gift of peace! “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” (Read through 1:35.) And the angel said to [the shepherds], “Fear not…he is pleased” (Read 2:10-11). Notice that in each of these pronouncements the angel begins with do not fear. Why? Because Jesus the one who will replace all fear with peace is invading your world. He’s coming to save you from your greatest enemies.
The uniqueness of Jesus is that He was born to be the savior. His name is Jesus because it means Savior. He is the savior because He was conceived through the Holy Spirit. Jesus is uniquely different from any other human being because he is simply not just human but he is also divine. This is the doctrine of the incarnation. God has become man and He has done so in the person of Jesus Christ. And this is what Simeon saw with his eyes of faith. “My eyes have seen your salvation.”
Wayne Grudem in his Systematic Theology writes this about the significance of the virgin birth of Jesus. “[The virgin birth] shows that salvation ultimately must come from the Lord…. [It] is an unmistakable reminder that salvation can never come through human effort, but must be the work of God himself. Our salvation only comes about through the supernatural work of God, and that was evident at the very beginning of Jesus’ life when ‘God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons’” (Gal. 4:4-5).” It is because of this miraculous birth that Jesus can be both fully human and fully divine and yet not inherit the sin nature. It could have been possible for God to send His Son to the earth in other ways. I’m sure God could have given him a human body in heaven and sent him to earth already as an adult but then it would have been very difficult for us to see how He was fully human like us. Or perhaps He could have had to human parents and then the divine nature bestowed upon him at some point in his life, but then we would have had a much greater difficulty understanding how he could have been fully divine if he was like us in our birth in every way. (Grudem, p. 530)
I actually find the supernatural virgin birth to be the most plausible explanation and makes the most sense of Jesus’ supernatural claims to be both the Son of God and the Son of Man. Jesus’ birth uniquely qualifies him to be the savior that His name declares Him to be. “My eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,…”
This unique virgin birth, this incarnational invasion of God becoming man and living on this earth was for the purpose of bringing peace to this world. “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased.”
Jesus being the product of both a human and divine conception also makes it possible for Jesus to display his uniqueness in his life.
2. Jesus is Unique in His Life.
What Simeon sees in his arms is (verse 32) “a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.” John captured these concepts of light and glory in John chapter 1. “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it…. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world….And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (Jn.1:4-5,9,14).
Jesus is unique in His life in that throughout His life He displays this true light that overcomes the darkness of sin. What is this light? What Jesus demonstrates throughout his life is complete obedience and submission to the leading of the Holy Spirit as He reveals the Father’s will. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set a liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing.” The fullness of God’s grace and truth were exemplified in the works and words of Jesus as He lived a perfect life. Being both God and man Jesus is able to uniquely live his life so that He is without sin. This complete submission to will of the Father and the anointing of the Spirit enabled Jesus to be both an exact representation of God the Father as Hebrews says and the perfect expression of what God intended man to be as made in the image of God. No other person can make such a claim and back it up with so much evidence.
John was an eyewitness to one account when the Jews wanted to stone Jesus. “Jesus said to them, ‘I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you gong to stone me?’ The Jews answered him, ‘It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.’” The Jews could not condemn Jesus for anything He did and what they did have against him proved to be true. Pilate, in the same way, when he was asked to condemn Jesus to death could find no fault in Him. (John 18:38) The verse that we will be adding to our memory verses from Hebrews 4 next week says this: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” (Heb. 4:15)
This is what Simeon saw as he held the baby in his arms. He saw a light for Gentiles and the glory of God for Israel. Jesus himself said “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12) The light of life is the peace that comes when we live in trust and obedience, following Jesus and all that He offers in himself. No longer do we need to pursue all of the world’s options to find our peace and to truly find ourselves as God created us to be.
This is where the Christian faith displays one of the great geniuses of its uniqueness. Because Christian doctrine draws from supernatural objectivity rather than humanistic subjectivity, the reality is the more a person becomes like Jesus Christ in obedience to the Father’s will and submissive to the Holy Spirit’s leading, the more he or she will display their unique expression of God’s image through his or her life. In other words, because Jesus is supernaturally unique, the more a person becomes like Jesus the more that person will become uniquely themselves. This is one of the great keys to experiencing peace in our lives.
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
The way in which He has overcome the world is seen in the next category of Jesus’ uniqueness.
3. Jesus is Unique in His Death and Resurrection.
All that Simeon saw was not without pain and suffering. The Holy Spirit obviously revealed to Simeon the opposition that Jesus would face in His life and eventually in His dying. This is what he refers to when he spoke to Mary. Look at verse 34. “Behold this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts will be revealed.” Simeon could see that Jesus’ life and death would become not only sorrowful for Mary but a critical turning point for every heart. To oppose Jesus is to oppose God. To embrace Jesus is to embrace the salvation that is offered in Jesus.
Because of His virgin birth and because of His sinless life, Jesus’ death became the perfect payment to satisfy the wrath of God and purchase the forgiveness of every person who puts their faith in Him. To use Jesus’ own words, he did not come to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many. (Mk. 10:45) But His death cannot be spoken of without speaking of His resurrection. The unique reality of Jesus’ death and resurrection become the unique message of the gospel. There is no other religion or philosophy or wisdom of man that can rival the unique message of the unique person of Jesus Christ. As you read the gospels you see that this is what Jesus foretells all the way to the cross. And then once He is resurrected it is this unique message with which the disciples are commissioned to teach to all nations. How each individual responds to this unique message is the watershed issue of life. It is the good news of peace for everyone who hears and believes this message.
Acts 4 tells of the occasion when Peter and John were before the Jewish Council defending their actions in healing the lame man. Their explanation was simply that it was because of the crucified and risen Jesus that they were able to exercise such a good deed. Read Acts 4:8-12.
For Paul, “the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” In 1 Cor. 15 he gives one of his best summaries of the gospel and at the heart of it is the uniqueness of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Read 1 Cor. 15:1-4. Later in the same chapter is where Paul declares that the resurrection of Jesus Christ has conquered our greatest enemy death itself. “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death where is your sting? O death where is your sting?” …thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
It is faith in the unique person of Jesus Christ that allows us to live at peace with God. “Therefore having been justified through faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Conclusion:
Perhaps you’re in a place in your life right now where you’re seeking some peace in your heart. My appeal to you is cast your eyes upon Jesus. Be enthralled by the uniqueness of Jesus Christ.
This week in my reading I came a cross an experience that typifies the kind of subtle confusion that many people all around us live with. The pastor who was writing told of an encounter he had in a home during one of his travels. He had been invited into the home because he was interested in purchasing a quilt for his wife from the lady of the house. She invited him into the living room and there in the room was her husband sitting before the TV half watching the televangelist and half reading a religious magazine. A quick scan of the room revealed piles of religious books, newsletters and articles from a number of religious organizations, and videotapes of all religious sorts. As the woman left to get some of her quilts, the pastor quickly initiated a conversations, “Are you a believer?” he asked.
“A believer in what?” The husband responded a bit startled that the pastor would ask.
“A believer in Christ, I’ve noticed your books. Are you a Christian?” was the pastor’s intention.
“Well, sure.” But as the man held up the magazine he was reading, the pastor recognized that it was a publication from a well-known cult. As the pastor looked more closely at the materials strewn about the room he could see the variety of sources that his man was drawing from in his search for truth. Among the assortment of good books and study aids sat The Watch Tower from the Jehovah’s Witnesses. There was a copy of Dianetics by L. Ron Hubbard, a Book of Mormon, Mary Baker Eddy’s Science and Health, an incredible array of every conceivable cult and ism.
“You read from quite an assortment of material. These all represent different beliefs. Do you accept any one of them?” was the pastor’ question.
Then the man exposed his confusion which he didn’t even know existed in his heart, and that’s the saddest element of this whole experience. “I find there’s good in all of it,” he said, “I read it all and just look for the good.”
At this point in the conversation the woman returned with her quilts ready to show them to the pastor. The first she showed was obviously her pride and joy. It was a patchwork of all different sizes, colors and prints of fabric scraps, obviously her own design. The pastor studied it trying to see some kind of pattern or design in it, but there was none. The color combinations even seemed to clash. The quilt itself was, to use the pastor’s term, Ugly.
Politely he told her what he was looking for and she had a quilt much better suited to his wife’s liking. As he left the house the pastor couldn’t help but reflect on the wife’s quilt and her husband’s religious experience. What a perfect metaphor for the husband’s beliefs. Taking bits and pieces from every conceivable source, he was putting together a patchwork faith, which clashed in so many ways. He thought his religion was a thing of beauty, but in the eyes of God it is simply chaotic and will lead only to inner turmoil and confusion.
(Adapted from The Truth War, John MacAruthur, p. 185-188)
This is not what Biblical doctrine will lead to. The Doctrine of Jesus Christ presents Jesus as completely unique. Jesus Christ stands above all the rest and faith in Him and Him alone will lead to peace. I pray that you can say with Simeon. Now I can depart in peace for my eyes have seen your salvation.
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Greenbank, Washington
That is 2 miles south of Greenbank
and 6 miles north of Freeland by MAP.