Key Verse
"Make your own attitude that of Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be used for His own advantage. Instead He emptied Himself by assuming the form of a slave, taking on the likeness of men. And when He had come as a man in His external form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death— even to death on a cross." (Philippians 2:5-8)
Lesson Objective
“Jesus Christ is the true God and the true man. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He died upon the cross, the Just for the unjust, as a substitutionary sacrifice, and all who believe in Him are justified on the ground of His shed blood.” C&MA statement of faith
Resources
Incarnation: God Comes (Sermon) (Mark Driscoll)The Messiah (The Bible Project)
Is C.S. Lewis's Liar-Lord-or-Lunatic Argument Unsound? (The Gospel Coalition)
Refuting 5 false theories about Jesus (The Gospel Coalition)
Take a Quiz on Christ (Tim Challies)
Incarnation
There are many views about who/what Jesus is. Describe a few
of these views, explain how people come to these views, and what may be
incorrect about these views:
- Just a good teacher?
- Just a man?
- Half-man, half-god?
The first two completely undersell who Jesus is. See C.S. Lewis’s trilemma – that Jesus was a
liar, a madman, or truly the Son of God.
As for the third – Jesus is fully God and fully human. In particular, Jesus is fully human in every
way like us, except that He did not sin.
How was Jesus’ coming foretold in the Old Testament? (Isaiah
7:14; Micah 5:2)
- That Jesus would be born of a virgin (the Immanuel prophecy);
- That Jesus would be born in Bethlehem.
Key passage: Philippians 2:5-8.
How does this passage describe what Jesus did?- He emptied Himself – from the form of God to the form of man.
- He humbled Himself – being obedient to God the Father, to the point of death on a cross. (See Matthew 26:36-44 and Luke 22:41-44 – Jesus was in great anguish, praying repeatedly for this to be taken away)
Key words:
Redemption (1 Peter 1:18-19): We were bought out of slavery
from sin, by Jesus’ blood.
Substitutionary sacrifice (Romans 5:8): Jesus died in our
place to remove all sins.
Justification (Romans 5:9): Those of us who believe in Jesus
are declared righteous before God.
Reconciliation (Romans 5:10): We are able to come before God
again.
With regards to our Redemption, why does He have to be fully
God? Why does He have to be fully man?
- Fully God (Hebrews 9:13-14):
- Only God is without sin and can be the perfect sacrifice to take away sin.
- Fully man (Hebrews 2:14-18):
- So he can perfectly obey God’s law, even where we fall short, and free us from the power of death.
- So he can sympathise with our weakness.
Crucifixion
Activity: put the following passages in order, and describe
what is happening in them.
Matthew 27:45-51 Mark
15:16-22 Luke 23:34;
39-43 John 19:25-27
Order
|
Passage
|
Event
|
1
|
Mark 15:16-22
|
Jesus was beaten, mocked, then led away to be crucified.
|
2
|
Luke 23:34; 39-43
|
Jesus forgave those who were crucifying Him.
Jesus was crucified along with criminals. One of them repented, the other did not.
|
3
|
John 19:25-27
|
Jesus arranged for John to take care of Mary.
|
4
|
Matthew 27:45-51
|
Jesus died.
The veil in the temple split in two from top to bottom.
|
What is the significance of each event?
- Jesus suffered greatly, before and while He was on the cross.
- Jesus was without sin, whereas we are rightfully condemned. If we believe in Jesus, we should repent of our sins.
- Jesus cared for those around Him, even in His suffering.
- Jesus’ death reconciled us to God.
Reflection questions
Why is the abuse of God’s grace to us (by continuing to
unrepentantly sin despite being saved by Jesus) such a horrible thing? (Hebrews
10:29)
- It is an insult to God and His Grace.
- If there was another way, Jesus would not have had to die.
- It is not sufficient. We are throwing away Jesus’ sacrifice for us.
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