This series is going to be a broad overview of Jesus. There is so much I could cover, but for the next few weeks, we are going to focus on the Life, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus. Why? That is a good question. Why did Jesus come and live His life on earth? Let’s go back to the beginning.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. —Genesis 1:1
We see God create everything that you and I know. We go through the order of creation, and we get to this key verse.
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” —Genesis 1:26
We see the plurality of God introduced all the way back at the beginning. We see God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit here. We know Jesus existed before He was born in Bethlehem. If there were any doubts let’s look at John.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. —John 1:1-5
We see Word capitalized, what does that mean church? We aren’t talking about the Bible, we are talking about Jesus here. This speaks of the divinity of Jesus for those who have challenged this, but Jesus was both man and God. But why did He come? What is this darkness mentioned here?
We see in Genesis 3 the fall of man. We were made very good, and Adam and Eve sinned, this created a barrier between us and our good, Holy, loving God. There was nothing we could do, but we tried, and we try today to fill in the gap to cross the pit of sin and death, but we can’t. We couldn’t and we see in the OT some of our attempts, but for the sake of time, but that is for another day. Why did Jesus come to live on earth? Because there was only 1 way for man to be redeemed. God’s creation, His unfaithful bride was in need of a savior, and that is why Jesus came and lived. He would be the savior we needed, the savior we still need today.
What an epic tale. How does this warrior appear? How does the hero of the story get introduced? Is it riding in on a stallion fully decked in armor armed with sword and shield ready to slay the beast? Does calmly walk into the room with an aura of confidence and control that others notice as his spurs clink with each step that the whole room silences itself to see who this stranger is? Does He silently glide down and pounce on the bank robber who is in the act of stealing money from a bank, and knock him out to then grab a gizmo from his belt to tie the bad guy up and hang him upside to for the cops to come and collect the would be robber, as this cowled crusader disappears without a trace? No, our hero comes in one of the most precious and amazing ways. Far more epic, and far more incredible than these other ways. He comes born in a manger as a baby.
And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. —Luke 2:7
Jesus came for us, was born, and there was no place for Him. Jesus comes in the most humble way for you and me. He leaves heaven and its perfection and enters this broken, flawed, misable, fallen world. He comes as a baby in all of a baby’s frailty and experienced life as a human for you and for me.
Jesus will grow and live as a child on earth and as a man. How will He live His life? He will serve, He will love, and He will obey. He will sacrifice His entire life for us, His creation.
Jesus lived to serve
Jesus came to serve. We see this in Matthew.
even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” —Matthew 20:28
We see Jesus came as our Lord and savior, but He demonstrated for us how to live our life. The greatest our lands always has people serve them, but Jesus being the greatest served those around Him.
Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. —John 13:3-5
Jesus humbled Himself in all that He did. He was good and faithful, and He served. Who are you serving in your life?
Jesus lived to love
We see that Jesus came to serve, and He was a perfect example, but part of that is we are called to serve with love. He loved us today, and He loved the people alive then. Think of all the miracles He did, about the times He was tired, overwhelmed, challenged, He showed love in every way to all.
But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Jesus demonstrates to us perfect love. He lived His life for love and with love. As we know love is complicated and difficult, but He perfectly demonstrated every aspect of love. In His life, we see the example, and we are better prepared to love as well. —Romans 5:8
We love because he first loved us. —1 John 4:19
You and I love, because He first loved us. You and I couldn’t know love or experience love without God. He is love, and through Jesus we get to see how that lives out. Are you living a life of love? Do the people around you know you love them?
Jesus lived to obey
Jesus lived a perfect life, and to do so meant He was completely obedient to God. The best example we have is Jesus in the garden saying take this cup from me if it is possible, but not my will, but Yours.
For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. —Romans 5:19
We as man could never fix our brokenness, our mistakes, our sin, but Jesus came to restore our broken relationship with God. Remember Jesus said I did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. He lived His life perfectly, and to do that He had to obey God’s way.
And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. —Philippians 2:8
Jesus died a horrible, painful, humiliating way, not because He deserved it, not because it was fair, not because of any other reason, than because this was the only way for you and my transgressions to be forgiven. We will pick up next week here on this topic.
Today, in closing, we have heard that Jesus lived to serve, lived for love, and lived in obedience. How are you doing in those areas? Where can you improve, because I know I can improve in some way in everyone of those concepts. I know I will try to grow, and humble myself into His image, I will try and follow Christ’s example, and I will try to allow more of Christ in me, because He is perfect, He loves at all times, He is our God, our Savior, our Lord.