What do members of the family do for the family?

This letter was written about thirty years after Jesus ascended into heaven to Christians who could trace their human ancestry back to Abraham. These Hebrew Christians were seriously considering going back to Judaism. They were being persecuted by their fellow Jews for being heretics. They were being persecuted by the Roman empire because Christianity was not a tolerated religion. Judaism was.

The theme of the letter is: Christianity is better. Don't give up Jesus the Savior. He is better than Judaism. Jesus is better than Moses. Rest for your souls is better than Sabbath rest. Jesus is a better high priest than the human ones in Judaism. Jesus' sacrifice of Himself is better than animal sacrifices.

In chapter one the theme is Jesus is better than the angels. The writer of the letter gives proof. God calls Jesus, not the angels, Son. God specifically commanded the angels to worship Jesus, the Son.

The writer reminds us that angels are very important servants of God. They serve us who inherit salvation. Knowing that the angels serve us gives us lots of comfort. Jesus, however, has been set in a position over the angels. He never changes. He is ruling over everything, including the angels.

It is right in the middle of this emphasis that Jesus is more important than and better than the angels that the writer of this letter brings to our attention the shocking act that Jesus was made lower than the angels. Angels are much like God. They are spiritual, not physical beings. They have many of the attributes of God although not in their completeness and perfection. Angels are as much like God as anything else in existence.

Human beings, although we are wonderful creatures of God, are not as high on the hierarchy of existence as angels, nor are we as close to being like God as the angels are. We have a spiritual side, but we are physical beings, not spiritual beings like God or the angels. We have slight reflections of many of God's capacities, but not anywhere near the perfection and capabilities of the Lord or the angels.

What did the Son of God add to Himself when He came into the world? He did not add angelic qualities. He added humanity. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He grew from newborn to baby to child to young adult to adult in the same way all humans do. Most of the time on this earth He limited Himself to the capacities which human beings have. The writer says in the words before us today "he became a human" with these words {9} made lower than the angels.

Why did He do that? The text says {9} "so he might taste death." God is eternal. He doesn't die. The angels are spiritual beings who had a beginning but don't die. Human beings die. If the Son of God was going to be able to die, He had to be a human being. If He was going to be able to die, He had to humble Himself, lower Himself, to be a real human being.

Why did He want to die? Because God loved human beings so much that He wanted God the Son to experience death as the Substitute for everyone. Human beings, we deserve to die because of our sins. God's love moved Him to make it possible for a Substitute to suffer the death that we deserve because of our sins. God the Son was the designated Substitute. The quote is: {9} "so that by God's grace he might taste death for everyone." He became human, was made lower than the angels, so He could carry out God's plan so we wouldn't have to experience the wages of sin, death as punishment for sin.

What kind of things does a family man do? The same things that Jesus was willing to do for the members of His family. The family man is willing to do anything, including giving up his life for the benefit of his family. Listen to St Paul. (Ephesians 5:25) "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her."

Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank You for being a perfect family man for me, giving up Your life to pay for my sins. Help me to strive to be a perfect family man by giving my life for the benefit of my family.

Jesus was made lower than the angels. He became fully human. What is being human like? How does this sound? Being human is pretty tough. It involves quite a bit of suffering and misery. There are millions of starving people who are suffering. There are millions of sick people who are suffering. There are millions of victims of wars and accidents who are suffering.

Why is being human like that? Because we are living in a world which is suffering the consequences of sin. God created a world in which there was no suffering, no starvation, no sickness, no wars and no accidents. When humans rebelled against God's will and decided they wanted to go their own way, the perfection was lost. Human life is filled with suffering because of sin.

What is being human like? How does this sound? Being human is pretty tough. There is a lot of destruction. Humans destroy each other if they think it is in their own best interest. Humans destroy the world around us if they think it is in their own best interest. Humans destroy themselves if they think it is in their own best interest.

The problem with humans' willingness to destroy is - it breaks God's law. It makes us deserve God's punishment. When we destroy others, things and ourselves, we deserve physical death and eternal separation from God. That is not something to look forward to. We need to be rescued from that.

God knows that better than we do. Our gracious Father-Son-Holy Spirit God, therefore, authored a plan. His plan was to have the God the Son come into our world, take our guilt, suffer our punishment, conquer death and the devil, and make forgiveness, holiness and eternal life available to humans.

In order to carry out that plan, God the Son, who was superior to the angels, lowered Himself, became a human being in order to suffer the punishment that we deserve because of our sins. Jesus of Nazareth did that. He took our guilt. He suffered physical death. He suffered hell. He lived as our Substitute and never sinned. He rose from the dead. On the basis of Jesus' work God's plan for rescuing us from sin and its punishment was complete.

The words before us today put it this way: {10} Certainly it was fitting for God (the one for whom and through whom everything exists), in leading many sons to glory, to bring the author of their salvation to his goal through sufferings. God the Son came into the world to accomplish salvation for the human race by living and dying. So, He reached His goal through suffering. He reached His goal when He carried out God's plan for our salvation.

As a result of Jesus' work, we are {11} "sanctified" = "Made holy in God's sight." Our sins are gone. Jesus took them. We are covered with holiness. Jesus lived it. That satisfied God's demands that we be holy. That means we are acceptable to God, part of His family.

As a result of Jesus' work, we are {10} "led to glory." All of us have memorized a passage about glory. "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Because we are sinners, we don't deserve praise from God. We fall short of it. But, Jesus our Savior because of His work makes us holy, brings us into God's family. Thus God looks at us in Christ and gives us glory, gives us praise. "Come, you who are blessed," He says to us.

We are brought to glory. Jesus says to us: "You are my brothers and sisters." {11} "So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers." People living in miserable circumstances, suffering the consequences of sin - Jesus is not ashamed to call us brothers. He is a perfect family man. Are we? Family members are not ashamed to acknowledge each other. Jesus is not ashamed to call us brothers and sisters. Are we ashamed to call Jesus our brother if the wrong people are listening?

Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank You for being a perfect family man for me, not being ashamed to call a sinner like me Your brother. Help me to have the courage to strive to be a perfect family man by being willing to call You my brother in every circumstance of my life.

Jesus is the Perfect Family Man

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