Honestly you can make three lessons/sermons from the information in yesterday’s post. Let us explore how to know the information and get some help on how to teach/preach it.
Post Two of this series (Christology: Talking About Jesus) begins with asking serious questions about Jesus as He is present in Scripture. The question from yesterday is, do we believe Jesus is merely human, only divine or a mixture fo the two. Those who follow a Low Christology find it easier to dismiss Jesus as a great teacher with influence to this day but certainly less than the Son of God who comes to seek and save that which is lost. I did reveal my bias toward High Christology, wherein I see Jesus as the divine Son of God, able and intent to redeem fallen humanity.
You decide for you. Choose wisely.
If (since) Jesus is the divine Son of God, Second Person of the Trinity, His sacrifice for us is explicable as that we see in the Advent (what we call Christmas) as Jesus surrenders the independent exercise of His divinity. He who is eternal enters the temporal. He who is omnipotent limits His ability to overcome human willfullness. Jesus demonstrates the love of God for the very persons who offend God as He (Jesus) allows Himself to be totally vulnerable in the Advent and in the Crucifixion.
How to teach/preach this knowledge about Jesus:
Ask the serious question. Is Jesus human or divine or a mixture? The Scripture it seems to me presents Jesus as fully human and fully divine. If Jesus is divine He is able to redeem and restore, not just inform.
Give a serious (informed) answer. Yes, there is a passage in Mark indicating He could not do anything great in one place at one time, causing some to see Him as less than omnipotent and so less than divine. The anamoly of Mark 6:4-13 is about His vulnerability and, so His willingness to limit Himself. Jesus does not depend on our faith to be God. He does allow our willfulness to require His presence in a manger and on a Cross.
Make a salvation application. Jesus, the Divine Son of God, is real and not imagined He is able to redeem us from sin and restore us to real kinship with God. He allows Himself to be vulnerable to a race proven to be unsafe. Jesus is more courageous than Washington, more capable than Jefferson, even more caring than Lincoln, as we approach President’s Day.
Tomorrow: A brief look at the Trinity.