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Stephen Ministry

We have come to the conclusion of our series on "The Lord is My Shepherd," using the word "shepherd" as an acronym for characteristics of Jesus Christ whose birth we celebrated three days ago. Throughout this series we have not only looked at characteristics of Jesus, but as followers of Jesus and bearing the church name "Shepherd of the Hills" we’ve also examined how we are to strive to bear these characteristics to the community around us—either by our actions (seeking holiness in our own lives, for example, and bringing the good news of holiness to a hurting, unholy community) or by our words (proclaiming those characteristics about Christ which we cannot claim for ourselves, today’s topic, "divinity," being a prime example). And so, we have considered these characteristics of Jesus—S-Shepherd, H-Holy, E-Equipper, P-Prophet, H-Healer, E-Everlasting, R-Redeemer—celebrating them as a part of who this baby born in Bethlehem is for us and for the world, and being challenged by them as "shepherds" of these hills that surround us to live these characteristics out in the communities in which we live.

Today, the final letter in "shepherd," the letter "D," standing for "Divine." This Jesus is divine, God himself present among humanity. And our Scripture reading for today is Colossians 2:6-10. {Read}

Of all the characteristics of Jesus we’ve cited—Equipper, Prophet, Redeemer, and the rest—or that we might cite as other choices for the letters of "Shepherd"—Provider, Deliverer, and the like—this one, Divine, is the most controversial. The stepping off point for many cults from Christian orthodoxy occurs here—at the proclamation of Jesus as fully God. It is where the rubber meets the road, if you will, in Christian faith. Or, put another way, it is what separates the Messiah from other extraordinary teachers. Jesus Christ is God Himself come to earth to dwell among His people, to teach them, and to bring them salvation. He is "Emmanuel," literally, "God with us," about whom we sing and celebrate at Christmas. "For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form," (Colossians 2:9). Jesus Christ, our Good Shepherd, is God Himself come to earth, God with us. He is Divine.

Now, it is understandable that such a view is controversial. It is a difficult concept to grasp. God in human flesh? Jesus Christ fully God…yet also fully human? We empathize with Mary in her question to the angel, Gabriel, "How can this be?" Yet, like Mary, we come to accept it on faith, on what we are taught, and upon our experience with this Jesus. It is a difficult concept to grasp, yet there are compelling reasons to come to this understanding that Jesus Christ is Divine, Jesus is the "Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing."

First, and foremost of all, it is what Jesus claims for Himself. Repeatedly throughout the Gospels, Jesus says or does things that claim a oneness with God, an absolute claim to divinity. John’s Gospel is primary in that, which we’ll look at in a moment, but Matthew, Mark, and Luke have their own examples as well. For example, in all three Gospels, so called "Synoptic Gospels" because of their similarities, Jesus claims absolute authority to forgive sins. It is what begins his fateful journey with the Pharisees for there is no confusion on their part as to what Jesus is claiming for Himself. They immediately accuse Him of blasphemy, of claiming something for Himself that is only the purview of Almighty God. Only God can forgive sins. We humans can offer someone forgiveness for something they’ve done, but only God can absolutely, totally take away the stain of sin, and Jesus claims this authority for Himself. It is a blatant claim to divinity, one that puts Him in jeopardy with the Pharisees, yet Jesus doesn’t back away from it.

Additionally, in all four Gospels, Jesus receives the worship and praise of the crowd as He enters into Jerusalem. This further deteriorates His relationship with the Pharisees for He refuses their admonishment to quiet the crowd for only God is worthy of such worship and praise.

But it is in John’s Gospel where Jesus makes His strongest claims to union with God. For it is in John’s Gospel that we find the famous "I am" statements of Jesus, "I am the Good Shepherd," for example (John 10:11). The "I am" statements are another clear claim to divinity by Jesus because of the connection to the name for God, from Exodus, chapter 3. In the midst of his conversation with God, manifested in a burning bush that is not consumed, Moses asks God who he should say has sent him to free the Jews from bondage in Egypt. Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?" God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’" The "I am" statements by Jesus (I am the bread of life {John 6:35}, I am the gate for the sheep {10:7}, I am the good shepherd {10:11}) are unmistakable claims to oneness with God. But the clearest example is found in John, chapter 8. In a discussion about the Jews’ connection to Abraham, Jesus begins to make claims for higher stature than Abraham. To this, the Jews respond, "Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?" And Jesus answers them, "If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me…Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad." To this the incredulous crowd exclaims, "You are not yet fifty years old and you have seen Abraham!" And Jesus responds with the clearest "I am" statement of them all, "Very truly I tell you, before Abraham was born, I am!" It’s so clear, in fact, that some in the crowd pick up stones to stone him for blasphemy, but Jesus slips away unharmed (see John 8:31-59). Without question, by claiming the sacred name "I AM" for Himself, Jesus was claiming oneness with God.

Additionally, in John, Jesus receives the worship and praise of Thomas, the famous Doubting Thomas story in chapter 20 where Jesus reveals the wounds in his hands and side to Thomas and Thomas falls to his knees in worship saying, "My Lord and my God! (John 20:24-18). Now, if Jesus wasn’t God He should rebuke Thomas for inappropriately worshiping Him and proclaiming Him "Lord" and "God." But Jesus does not rebuke Thomas. Rather, he receives Thomas’ worship and proclaims blessing on "those who have not seen and yet believe."

So, first and foremost, the title of Divine ascribed to Jesus comes from Jesus Himself.

Then, the early Church, as they reflected upon the words and actions of Jesus began to identify His divine nature as well. Words from the apostle Paul, for example, like those that are a part of our Scripture reading for today. "For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form," (Colossians 2:9). Or in Paul’s letter to the Philippians, "…have the same attitude of mind Christ Jesus had: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness," (Philippians 2:5b-7). Or, again from John’s Gospel, the famous opening where John uses the phrase, "the Word," as a term for Jesus, itself a term of connection to the essential being of God. John begins his Gospel by describing "the Word" this way: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (John 1:1). The clear testimony of the early Church, along with Jesus Himself, is that Jesus is God in human flesh. Jesus is Divine.

Yet, such a claim, as I said before, remains controversial and difficult for some to grasp. How can this be? Is it necessary to Christian faith? Why would God need to do that?

The answer to "How can this be?" is simply one of faith. God is God. God can do whatever God chooses to do. If we require all aspects of faith to be comprehendible to our finite minds then it is no longer faith. It becomes logic and rational…our minds becoming god rather than God Himself. How can this be? In the providence of God, the Creator of the universe, all things are possible.

Is it necessary to Christian faith? Only if there is to be any credibility to the character of Christ. C.S. Lewis, the brilliant English scholar and author, writes this in his book, Mere Christianity: "I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about [Christ]: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool; you can spit at him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to." If there is any integrity to the character of Christ at all, then He is who He says He is—the Son of God, one with God, the great I AM. He is either a liar—what He claims for Himself is not true and He knows it; a lunatic—what He claims for Himself is not true but He believes it is true; or what He claims for Himself is true and He is Lord. Lord, liar, or lunatic. Make your choice.

Accept Jesus’ claims for Himself and He is Almighty God come to earth in human flesh. But why would God do that? Why would God need, or want to come to earth in human form? What is His purpose in doing so?

First of all, in order to impart grace to His people, God would need to come to earth in human form and go to the cross for our sins. If Jesus were merely the greatest human being to ever live, there would be no such thing as grace. Grace is God’s unmerited favor. If Jesus, in human flesh only, was able to live a sinless life, then He alone would achieve and deserve the victory over death and sin. More than that, He would show that it was possible for a human to live such a life and the standard of sinlessness would still be in place for the rest of humanity. He could not stand in our place, fellow humans deserving of the penalty of sin. Only Jesus, in His humanity, would have earned such an achievement and that is not grace. However, through His Godliness, He is able to pay the penalty for our sin. That is grace, God’s unmerited favor. Throw out the divinity of Jesus Christ and you throw out grace as well.

So it is that Jesus, our Good Shepherd, is Divine, God with us. We cannot claim a similar divinity, but it is a part of the gospel proclamation we have to those around us. The Lord is our Shepherd—He is not only our Shepherd, but He is Holy and the source for our holiness. He equips us to live our life with meaning and purpose. He is our Prophet who brings understanding and meaning to the word of God. He is our Healer. He is Everlasting, the foundation of stability in a world that is constantly changing. He is our Redeemer, bringing redemption to all those who trust in Him and proclaim Him Savior and Lord. And He is Divine, the very presence of God among us.

In conclusion, a story from Louis Cassels’ Christian Primer to further help us understand the purpose in God’s Incarnation in the baby born in Bethlehem.

Cassels’ modern day parable begins with a man who doesn’t believe in the Incarnation. As a result, the man thinks Christmas is a lot of mush and sentimentality. His wife and children attend church, but he stays away. He’s not a bad man; he just doesn’t understand how or why God became a man. One Christmas Eve his wife and children are at church for the evening service while the man stays home, settling in a favorite chair to read by the fireplace. The temperature begins to drop outside, then it begins to snow. Soon, the man is startled from his reading by a thump against the living room window, followed by series of three or more thumps. Thinking someone is throwing snowballs at his window, he goes to investigate. He discovers the thumps were from a flock of birds that, in an attempt to find shelter from the snowstorm and attracted by the light of the fireplace, had flown into the window. Realizing his barn would provide shelter for the birds, the man bundles up and heads outside. First, he turns on a light in the barn and opens the door in hopes of attracting the birds. But the birds don’t seem to notice. Next, he tries to lead them to the barn by scattering a path of breadcrumbs to the open door, but the birds don’t respond to that either. He then tries to shoo them into the barn but the birds merely scatter away from him. Cassels’ story then continues: "They find me a strange and terrifying creature," he said to himself, "and I can’t seem to think of any way to let them know they can trust me. If only I could be a bird myself for a few minutes, perhaps I could lead them to safety."

"Now I do understand," he whispered. "Now I see why You had to do it." (Christian Primer, pp. 18-20)