Different Challenges in Every Age
"Don't let the world squeeze you into its mould" is a wonderful translation of words from Romans 12:12. The unchanging truth of God is challenged at different points in each age and we must not allow the world to squeeze us into its mould.
If you are a social-media junkie, you will need to watch your anthropology (the study of anthropos, or man), because what the world presently teaches about mankind is radically opposed to Scripture: that there are no inherent differences between the roles of men and women, that gender and sexuality are fluid. These lies - for that is what we must plainly call them - are believed by millions.
Way back in the first century a different lie about human beings went around. It said that the invisible soul was everything and the body was worth nothing.
This false first century anthropology was in danger of leading the church astray. Some were saying that Jesus could not be a real human being with a real human body, for flesh was worthless.
All of this is important setting for our short devotional today. Making our way through The First Christian Hymn we've arrrived at the line, "And being found in appearance as a man.."
"Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7 rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death –
even death on a cross!
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father."
You will notice that twice in a row, Paul insists that Jesus was a man: "Being made in human likeness" is followed by today's "And being found in appearance as a man."
Jesus came this low
Paul wants us to know that Jesus was a real human being, just like us. Now, of course Jesus did not have a fallen human nature - he was preserved from sin by his supernatural conception. But in another place Paul says that Jesus came "In the likeness of sinful flesh" (Romans 8:3) which means that Jesus was as much like us as it is possible to be - without sin.
He suffered temptation like we do. He had terrible wicked and evil suggestions placed into his mind by the evil one - just as we do. His human nature did not want to die we learn in the Garden of Gethsemane, just as we don't want to die.
In fact he was tested in all the ways we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:5). And those temptations were difficult and painful, just like ours. Temptations are part of the suffering we must endure in this passing world.
The reason Paul presses the true humanity of Jesus home is because he wants to show how low Jesus was prepared to come. Jesus did not become an Adam in a sin-free garden of Eden, he became a man in daily and violent conflict with the world and Satan, just like us.
Pressing our Queen analogy a little further, the Queen has not only left Buckingham Palace and is living in cramped one-room flat, she has noisy neighbours, real money problems like all the other neighbours in her street. Lots of hassle, lots of problems, a difficult life.
Summing it All Up
Sometimes this truth, that Jesus was a real human being like you and I, is used in Scripture to comfort us - in heaven we have a sympathetic High Priest who understands all our daily trials. And today that may be just what you may need to hear. But the true humanity of Jesus is mentioned in this hymn to chart the downward curve of Jesus's journey of love. In our next devotional we will discover there is more lowliness to come, but for today, let's marvel at how the glorious Son of God was prepared to come down all the way into humanity in a fallen world, because he loved us and wanted to save us.
And so - here's the meaning - there should be no depths we should be unprepared to plumb in order to love someone.
Is there someone you need to reach out to but you say you can't? For one reason or other, you say its too difficult, too painful or too hard. If Jesus was willing to descend - and how painful that must have been for him - let us ask the Lord for grace to reach out to that person, for love's sake.
A SONG FOR THE DAY
A worship song to Jesus Christ is our hymn for the day.
Crown him with many crowns,
the Lamb upon his throne.
Hark! how the heavenly anthem drowns
all music but its own.
Awake, my soul, and sing
of him who died for thee,
and hail him as thy matchless king
through all eternity.
Crown him the Lord of life,
who triumphed o'er the grave,
and rose victorious in the strife
for those he came to save;
his glories now we sing
who died and rose on high,
who died eternal life to bring,
and lives that death may die.
Crown him the Lord of love;
behold his hands and side,
rich wounds, yet visible above,
in beauty glorified;
no angels in the sky
can fully bear that sight,
but downward bends their burning eye
at mysteries so bright.
Crown him the Lord of years,
the potentate of time,
creator of the rolling spheres,
ineffably sublime.
All hail, Redeemer, hail!
for thou hast died for me;
thy praise shall never, never fail
throughout eternity.
Matthew Bridges and Godfrey Thring
A PRAYER FOR THE DAY
Our merciful Father in heaven,
We truly marvel at your Son's condescension. We thank you that he became a real human being living in a real fallen world, suffering real temptations. Father, you did not preserve him from the grime and dirt of our world, but freely sent him, knowing all that would happen to him.
So we thank you for your love and for his love, the one divine self-sacrificing love of God.
In the name of Jesus,
Amen
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