God and Us

The Sunday morning message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on January 1, 2023.  The Bible verses used are Hebrews 2:5-18.

            It’s New Year’s Day!  Time to put the past behind us and move forward!

            At least, that’s how a lot of people tend to think of it.  We make New Year’s Resolutions.  We talk about “new year, new you”.  We think of it as turning the page, making a fresh start.  

            And none of that’s wrong.  In fact, in can be a good thing.  Sometimes we need a fresh start.  The last year–in fact, the last few years–have been tough in some ways.  It’s nice to think about being able to just put it all behind us, wipe the slate clean, and start over again.

            But you know what’s odd about that?  During Advent, and on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, we talk all the time about how we need to keep the Christmas spirit with us all year round.  And yet, once we get to New Year’s Day, we tend to just drop the Christmas story completely.  We leave the baby Jesus in the manger with Mary and Joseph and the shepherds, and we move on to something else.

            And that’s not necessarily a good thing.  Think of it this way:  when we’re looking for a fresh start, we want that fresh start to be a good one, right?  We want to make sure it goes in a good direction.  In fact, we want to make sure it goes in God’s direction, the direction God wants us to go in.  And we’re not going to do that if we leave Jesus behind.  We’ll only go the way God wants us to go if we keep Jesus in the front of our minds.  And we can only keep Jesus in the front of our minds if we really stop and think about who Jesus is, what He did and does for us, and how incredible it is that we can have such an awesome relationship with him.

            Our reading from Hebrews tells us a lot about that relationship.  It starts by asking a question, a question we all should ask when thinking about our relationship with God.  It asks, “What is mankind that you are mindful of them, a son of man that you care for him?”

            That’s a really profound question, when you think about it.  So often, we take our relationship with God for granted.  We assume we can always talk to God.  We know we can ask God for anything, and so we do.  And sometimes we take it farther than that.  Sometimes we try to tell God what to do, and we get upset when God does not do what we want God to do.

            We need to remember who we are, and who God is.  God is holy.  God is righteous.  God is perfect.  God is all-powerful.  God is almighty.  God is all-seeing.  God is all-knowing.  And yet, God is also all-caring, all-loving, all-gracious, all-compassionate, and all-merciful.

You and I are–none of those things.  We are not anywhere close to any of those things.  We are so far removed for any of those things that we can barely see them.  

And when you think about that, our question from Hebrews is a really good question.  What are we human beings, that God should care about us?  What am I, that God should care about me?  What are you, that God should care about you?  Why does the almighty, all-powerful God care about mere human beings like you and me?

There’s no logical reason, at least not from a human perspective.  And the author of Hebrews does not try to give us one.  He just says that God does, and he marvels at it.  After asking his question, he says of us humans:  “you have made them a little lower than the angels; you crowned them with glory and honor and put everything under his feet.”

Think about that.  God does not just care about us.  God does not just love us.  That would be incredible enough, but God goes farther.  God trusts us.  God trusts us so much that God has put us–we mere human beings, people like you and me–God has put us in charge of His precious creation.

We take that for granted sometimes, too, but really, think about it.  God created the world.  And God created it with great care.  God created it to be beautiful.  And God loved what He had created–He said Himself how good it was.  And then, God took this beautiful world that He loved, and He entrusted it to us.  God made us just a little bit lower than the angels themselves, in giving us the honor and the glory of being in charge of His creation.

We’ve not always done a good job with that.  In fact, sometimes, we’ve made a mess of it.  I’m not talking about environmental concerns–that’s a separate issue.  I’m talking about sin.  Our sins showed that we were not worthy of the status God gave us.  We are not worthy of being “a little lower than the angels”.  We are not worthy of the glory and honor God gave us.

But God did not give up on us.  Instead, He sent Jesus to us.  Jesus came to earth, the divine Son of God.  Fully divine, and yet, while on earth, fully human, too.  And while he was on earth, Jesus had the same status that we have.  As the author of Hebrews says, Jesus “was made lower than the angels for a little while”.  And he was sent here to die.  Jesus was “crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.”

Jesus, because of his death, was crowned with glory and honor.  But that’s not all.  Because of Jesus’ death, you, and I, and everyone who believes in Jesus as the Savior, has the same glory and honor that Jesus does.

            Let me say that again.  You, and I, and everyone who believes in Jesus as the Savior, has the same glory and honor that Jesus does.  Do you truly believe that?  Does it even make sense to you?  Does it make any sense at all, to say that we would have the same glory and honor as the divine Son of God, Jesus Christ?

            It does not make sense to me.  And yet, I do believe it, because that’s what the Bible says.  Listen to it:  “Both the one who makes people holy”--Jesus–”and those who are made holy”--you and me–”are of the same family.  So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.”

            You are Jesus’ brothers and sisters.  And so am I.  Not because of anything we’ve done.  But because of what God did by sending the divine Son to earth.  And because of what the divine Son did by being obedient to God the Father.  “Obedient to death–even death on a cross”, as the Apostle Paul puts it in Philippians Chapter Two, Verse Eight.  

That death is the method God chose to give us the honor and glory that we do not deserve.  Let me quote Hebrews one more time:  “In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered.”  

            We could not have the honor and glory that God has given us if not for the obedient suffering and death of Jesus.  We could not have the honor of being Jesus’ brothers and sisters if not for the suffering and death of Jesus.  We could not have salvation and eternal life if not for the suffering and death of Jesus.

            Think of the incredible love for us that shows.  As the author of Hebrews points out, God did not do that for angels.  God did that for human beings.  That shows that, at least in some ways, you, and I, and all other human beings are more important to God even than the angels!  After all, the angels are not Jesus’ brothers and sisters.  The angels are not put on the same level as the divine Son of God.  You are!  And so am I!  And so is everyone else who believes in Jesus Christ as the Savior.

            God did not have to do that.  God could have any relationship with us that God chooses to have–that’s part of what being God is all about.  God could have just cut us off and had no relationship with us at all.  God could have treated us as slaves and required us to serve Him.  God could have treated us as a nuisance, people who were not worthy of His time.

            But instead, God chose to treat us as His children.  God chose to give us honor and glory.  God chose to treat us as brothers and sisters of the divine Son of God Himself.  That is such an awesome, incredible, amazing, astounding, unbelievable thing.  In fact, I don’t think we have words to describe what God does for us.  

            It’s a new year.  And it’s fine to want to make a fresh start.  But let’s make sure that fresh start is the right kind of fresh start.  Let’s make that fresh start a start that repents of our sins and asks for forgiveness.  Let’s make that fresh start a start that acknowledges and claims faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior.  Let’s make that fresh start a start that expresses gratitude and thankfulness for the glory and honor God gives us in making us His children.  Let’s thank God and praise God for the love God gives us.  And let’s make that thankfulness real, by showing God’s love to everyone we can.  Then can be a happy new year, not just for us, but for everyone!