Humility

Humility Hebrews 2:5-9 Emmanuel Christian Church 2.23.25 INTRODUCTION: Humility- it’s one of my favorite subjects! Now, before you judge me as arrogant, let me ask you “Can you define humility?” Is it an understanding? Is it an attitude? Is it a set of actions? Are you confident that you can identify its presence or absence when only God can see into the human heart? Good questions! PROPOSITION: Fortunately for us, God has given us a practical example of humility in Jesus. And in our text for today, He supplies us with two pictures that I think will help us figure it out. The first picture is of us, and it comes by way of asking and answering the simple question: “What is man?” The second picture is introduced by the simple phrase “We see Jesus”. Based on what we are about to discover, this is my simple definition of humility: “Humility is knowing who you are, knowing who God is and understanding the difference!” Let’s take a look at the two pictures in our text for today: Hebrews 2:5 It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking. 6 But there is a place where someone has testified: “What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? 7 You made him a little lower than the angels; you crowned him with glory and honor 8 and put everything under his feet.” In putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him. 9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. “What is man?”

“lower the the angels” (In body, mind and soul)
Body
Fearfully and wonderfully made! (83 Amazing Human Body Facts- Karin Lenhardt)
The largest bone in the human body is the femur. It can support 30 times the weight of a person's body. Ounce for ounce, that's stronger than steel.
If a human being’s DNA were uncoiled, it would stretch 10 billion miles, from Earth to Pluto and back.
The brain contains 86 billion nerve cells joined by 100 trillion connections. This is more than the number of stars in the Milky Way.
In an adult human, blood circulates about 12,000 miles (19,000 km) a day. This is equivalent to more than two round trips from coast to coast!
A human eye can distinguish between approximately 10 million different colors.
The human body contains over 35 trillion cells. Earth has about 8 billion people, which means that there are greater than 4,000 times more cells in one body than there are people on the planet!
AMAZING! On the other hand, chemically speaking, the human body was formed by God out…
Of dust. The average sized teenager is comprised of…
10 gallons of water,
24 pounds of carbon
7 pounds of lime, 1.25 pounds of phosphorous,
One half teaspoon of sugar,
4 and one half teaspoonfuls of salt,
Some oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, enough iron for 1 large nail. Such is the make-up of our material selves. But, we must also consider those parts that are immaterial…
Mind
The intellectual center of man- our consciousness.
It is creatively synthetic. With it we can come up with “new” ideas.
It is willful- that is, self directing.
Soul
It is the sum total of our personhood.
It is our eternal, God-breathed component that has been transmitted from our ancient parents Adam and Eve. Our material selves (BODY) our immaterial selves (MIND & SOUL), but what about our position in God’s Creation? Paul defines it by saying, we are, by God…
“crowned with glory and honor”
GLORY “In God’s image” (δόξα)
HONOR “value” (τιμή) The cherishing love (respect) a husband has for his wife (1 Peter 3:7)
DOMINION “everything under his feet”
Paul’s case for the dominion of man is grounded in Psalms 8: Psalms 8:4what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? 5 You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: 7 all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, 8 the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.
The Psalms 8 case for the dominion of man is grounded in Genesis 1:Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
In 1 Corinthians, Paul goes on to expand the dominion of man beyond this place and time by making the remarkable statement… 1 Corinthians 6:3 Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life! APPLICATION: “What is man?” Pretty amazing, according to what we’ve just heard! HOWEVER, that’s only half the story… The other half isn’t so pretty or amazing. In regard to our physical bodies, Scripture says they are corrupted and perishing: 1 Corinthians 15:50 I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. As to our minds- they are in dire need of transformation and renewal: Romans 12:2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And then, there is the condition of our soul…Romans 3:23 “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…”Ezekiel 18:20 The soul who sins is the one who will die. The corruption of our bodies, the confusion of our minds and the condemnation of our souls is all the result of the Fall when our ancient parents, Adam and Eve rebelled against God, and we (their offspring) followed in their fallen footsteps! “What is man?” Unique among all of Creation. Created in God’s own image and animated by His own Spirit. Yet, BROKEN by his own sin. Foolishly demented, suffering from a delusion of superiority, ignorant of the Truth and desperately in need of a complete restoration of body, mind and soul. “We see Jesus…”
“Made a little lower than the angels”
NOT at all like us, “created” beings- Jesus is the eternally existent Creator God.
How then, was He “made a little lower”?
He put on the flesh of His Creation, setting aside His power and glory! The Creator became part of His Creation! John 1:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.
In so doing, He humbled Himself (lowering Himself) for our sake:Philippians 2:5 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 grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross! APPLICATION: Paul makes the point very clear that real humility is an understanding that leads to an attitude that expresses itself in action. Jesus did all three, ALL FOR US!
“Now crowned with glory and honor”
WHY? “because he suffered death” How is it that the Eternal Creator God could experience death!?
Death is NOT a cessation of life!
Death is a separation from the Giver of Life!
This separation is what Jesus suffered on the Cross when He bore the combined punishment of our sin. Matthew 27:46 About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” — which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Jesus’ separation from the Father was only TEMPORARY however. Four times throughout the book of Hebrews: Hebrews 1:3 “…After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. Hebrews 8:1 “…We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven…” Hebrews 10:12 But when this priest (Jesus) had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. Hebrews 12:2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Humility is knowing who you are, knowing who God is and understanding the difference! We were created, materially and immaterially “a little lower than the angels”. Jesus, who is the Creator, lowered himself beneath the angels to come and be our Savior. We were “crowned with glory and honor”, having been made in the image of God; but our sin spoiled our image, glory and honor. Jesus was “crowned with glory and honor” for having mounted His successful rescue mission of humanity through His death on the Cross for our sins, and His resurrection from the dead that we might be restored by God’s grace to our original place of glory and honor- unspoiled by sin. We are God’s redeemed Creation. That’s who we are in Christ. Jesus is our Creator and our Redeemer! Understanding that we are the redeemed and that Jesus is our Redeemer will lead us to be gracious toward one another, grateful to God and genuinely humble in heart!