Sermon
Christ's Claim to Deity (Part 2)
May 5-6, 2001
Pastor Donald Sheley

I'm going to ask you to take your notes, and if you don't have your notes if you'll raise your hand. I wrote them with a very specific purpose and I want you to make sure that you have them in your Bible because we're dealing with a subject that to me is extremely important in our Christian faith, and that is, the deity of Jesus Christ. As we noted last Sunday, as we began this series, we noted that this is the subject, this is the aspect of our Christian faith, this is the doctrine where the cults do their very, very best to whittle away at and diminish the deity of Christ. And thus, I feel it's exceedingly important that I as your pastor be as clear and as helpful in helping you formulate your own understanding of this great subject because sooner or later someone will come knocking at your door and the first thing they want to talk about is the person of Jesus Christ. So, to our notes today, and what I have done is this Sunday we have selected various portions of Scripture that I think absolutely substantiate in a very strong way, a very clear way, the deity of Christ. And I'm only going to read the very first verse that we've typed here because it leads us right into the subject and time is very precious.

So I want to read: Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath -- remember he had healed the man who had been lame for 38 years and he told him to take up his bed and walk. And all of the religious people said, you can't do that. You can't carry a burden on the Sabbath day, and so he's now, Christ is being accused of breaking the Sabbath. Also, He said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God. Now that's the phrase. What we want to do is go into the Scriptures today and find those portions wherein that claim is justified. Down at the bottom in the message I say: the accusation--He made Himself equal with God--and for this claim they killed Him. Now you might want to write out to the side of your notes, I'm going to give you a couple passages, because in Matthew 26:57-68, you remember Jesus is standing before the high priest and He's in His trial, and the high priest comes to Him and says, I adjure you by the living God: Our You Christ, the Son of God? Now that was a moment where if there was any equivocation Jesus would have made it known. What was His answer? It is as you said. I am. As clear as clear could be. Then He said something that really angered the high priest. He said, and the day will come when you will see the Son of Man coming in clouds of glory.

Now where did Jesus get that passage? Write down in your notes Daniel 7:13-14, because Daniel is recording a vision and in this vision. If you look in your pew Bible it's page 602. It's a tremendous portion of Scripture, page 602, and it's Daniel 7:13-14, and here it says: I was watching in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of man coming with clouds of heaven, he came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. Then to him was given dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away. His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed. Jesus had reached back into this declaration in the vision of Daniel, and that priest knew that He was claiming deity because they interpreted that ancient text accordingly. Now what did that high priest do? See you've heard Him. He's guilty of blasphemy. What shall we do? The decision--kill Him. And so, for the claim of being equal with God He died for us.

Now go with me to page 3 and I'm going to hurry along today. Page 3 in our notes. Let's take one passage that proves the deity of Christ. Let this mind, it's Philippians 2:5-11; Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bond-servant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Now if we were in church 2000 years ago, in the early church, they had taken this writing or these words of Paul and made them into a beautiful hymn, so I've referenced that here. This early hymn of the church celebrates Jesus as the One who, because of His willing submission to humiliation and death, has been elevated by God to a position of supremacy over the universe and invested with the title 'Lord'--'the name high over all'. Now this hymn opens with a statement that goes back before the time when Jesus' human life began. It says that He always existed in the form of God, and that He did not regard His equality with God as something to be exploited for His own advantage. Instead of that, He divested Himself of all that He had and took the form of a servant.

Now these words do not mean that He exchanged 'the form of God' for 'the form of a servant', but rather that He manifested the form of God in the form of a servant. In other words, he manifested God in human flesh. Jesus Christ did not become less than God when He took upon Himself human flesh. Now the word 'form' does not imply that He was an actor playing a variety of parts, now the part of God and now the part of a servant; it implies that He shared the true nature of God and He displayed that nature here on earth in the person of Christ. Paul is here declaring that Jesus, in coming to earth, only changed role and status, not essential attributes or nature. Now that I think is a key statement. Listen to it again: Paul is declaring that Jesus, in coming to earth, only changed role and status, but not essential attributes and nature.

Now let me explain why this is so tender to my heart. When I went to Bible college over 50 years ago I had a professor who was enamored with what was then known, and still known, and theological circles as the Kenosis Theory, and he somehow taught me to believe that. You say, what is that pastor? Let's go back to our notes. Between the years of 1860 and 1880, in Germany and in England, a group of theologians advocated a view of the incarnation, that is, God becoming flesh that had not been advocated before in the history of the church. In other words, this is the first time that history ever recorded such a theory. And this new view was called "the Kenosis Theory" and the overall position it represented held that Christ gave up some of His divine attributes while He was here on earth as a man. In other words, think with me just for a moment, the idea is for God to accommodate human flesh He had to become less than deity. He had to reduce deity to accommodate humanity. Now when you think that through it's devastating.

Let's go to the theory. According to the theory Christ emptied Himself of some of His divine attributes, such as omniscience (that's all knowledge), omnipresence (that's He could be present every place), thirdly omnipotence. Now this was viewed as a voluntary self-limitation on Christ's part, which He carried out in order to fulfill His work of redemption. Now if it were true that such a momentous event as this happened, that the eternal Son of God ceased for a time to have all the attributes of God, ceased for a time, to be omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent, for example--then we would expect that such an incredible event would be taught clearly and repeatedly in the New Testament, not found in a very doubtful interpretation of one word in one epistle. You see this theory is based upon the translation of one word found in verse 7 of Philippians 2, and it's the word KENOO. The King James translates the word..."made Himself of no reputation, the NIV translates the word..."made Himself nothing." The Greek word generally means, "to empty." And thus the reason why the theory is called the Kenosis Theory is because it's taken from the words..."to empty."

You say, Pastor, make it just a little clearer. You see that theory says that when God became man, in order to accommodate his humanity, He had to reduce his deity. Ladies and gentlemen, if He was ever less than totally God we don't have a Savior. And, you know, I went through a few years in my early ministry having that idea of a diminished deity in order to accommodate humanity. And that's why early in my ministry 45 years ago I began to study this whole idea of Christology, and that's why so many of my books are on Christ. Because when you understand that here's total God and total man in one person, neither diminished to accommodate the incarnation, it is mind blowing. You say, well Pastor, can you illustrate that? Yes, and I've done it on occasions. Watch how perfect humanity and perfect deity side-by-side, here's the incarnation; Jesus in John 11 goes to the tomb and Lazarus His friend has died. What does He do? He joins the mourners and He sits there and weeps with them. Can you see Jesus weeping? John 11:35 the shortest verse in the Bible, He wept. I always remember that because when mother told me to go to my room and read a Scripture verse before going to school I always read John 11:35. (Congregation chuckles) Jesus wept. I don't know how long He wept. Then He walked over to the tomb and said, Lazarus, come forth. Here's the human side feeling the pain and the anguish of loss and the tears, that's human, but having the authority to walk up to that tomb and say, Lazarus, come forth. That perfect blending.

Remember when He was in the ship, tired out, the waves are beating. He's down on the pillow sound asleep. That's the human side. He got tired just like us. And those disciples come and wake Him and say, Jesus, we're going to sink. Can you imagine a boat going down with Jesus in it? (Congregation chuckles) And what does He do? He wakes from His sleep and says, waves be calm. Sleeping? Resting, but the authority to say to those storm driven waves stop. So you have this beautiful blending in the person of Jesus -- total God, total man, one person, the incarnation. Fantastic.

Let's go to the next portion. So if someone says, does the Bible teach the deity of Christ? Go to Philippians 2:5-11. You've got one verse. Now let's go to the next passage. Colossians 1:13-19. This is a fabulous, fabulous text. It says: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son: In whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. And that's where the cults put their hooks in, but I'm going to explain it to you in just a minute. It says, by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him: And He is before all things, and by Him all things cohere, consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things He might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell. That's powerful.

Now if we had another translation of that last verse - it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell - you might want to write it in your notes. Here's a beautiful translation; In Him it was decreed that the fullness of God should take up residence. Did you get it? In Him, that's in Christ, it was decreed that the fullness of God would take residence in Him. Now over on page 5, let's break this passage down just a little bit. In this passage from Colossians, Paul says that Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God. Now he uses this in another location, and the writer to the Hebrews uses it also in Hebrews 1:1-3. Now here he uses a word and a picture which would awaken all kinds of memories in the minds of those who heard it. The word eikon, and image is its correct translation. An image can be two things which merge into each other. Now this is technical, but follow very close. It can be a representation, but when the representation is so perfect it becomes the manifestation. Look at, when Paul uses this word, he lays it down that Jesus is the perfect manifestation of God. To see what God is like, we must look at Jesus.

Look at what it says in John 14, Philip saith unto Him, Lord, show us the Father, and we'll be happy, or it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip? He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father. Philip, you've missed God. When you look at Me you see the Father. And how sayest thou then, show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of Myself: but the Father that dwelleth in Me. Philip, everything I say are the words of God, and when you look at me you're seeing God.

On the last page, if you want to just go there real quick, John 10:30, I mean this really says it clearly. Right in the middle of our text, I and the Father are one. You can't get any clearer, can you? Back to page 5. So Jesus Christ perfectly represents God to men in a form which they can see and know and understand. Now in the Colossian passage, Paul said something else very interest about Christ. He said that He was the firstborn of all creation. And here's where the cults hang on, and here's what you'll hear them say. Jesus Christ was a created being. They reduce His eternity. They say He was something created. No, Paul said, everything that was created He created it. Now so we must be very careful to attach the right meaning to this phrase. As it stands in English, it might well mean the Son was the first person to be created, but in Hebrew and Greek thought the word firstborn has only very indirectly a time significance. That is, it's time sequential, that's not the important thing. The firstborn is a very common title for honor throughout the Bible. Israel, for instance, as a nation is the firstborn son of God. So the meaning is that the nation of Israel is the most favored. That's why we say Israel is God's favorite people. They are God's favorite nation. He chose them. And you'll find that when you go into the Old Testament on occasions the Father will name either the third or fourth son as his firstborn negating the fact that he wasn't the firstborn in time sequence, but because he wants to honor that son above everyone else in the family. So the word firstborn is a title of honor not suggesting time sequence of birth.

Secondly, we must note that firstborn is a title of the Messiah. In Psalm 89:27, as the Jews themselves interpreted it, the promise regarding the Messiah is "I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth. So now you see it's an Old Testament title for the Messiah. And thus, firstborn is not used in a time sense at all or a sequence of birth, but in a sense of special honor. That's interesting, isn't it?

Page 6: So when Paul says of the Son that he's the firstborn of all creation, he means that the highest honor which creation holds belongs to Him. He is head and shoulders and eternity over any other person in all the world. He is creation's highest honored. That's what he said. So it was for the Son that all things were created. The Son is not only the agent of creation; he's also the goal of creation. That is to say, creation was created to be His and that in its worship and its love He might find His honor and His joy. He's not only the Creator but the creation was created for His enjoyment I don't know how he gets that one, but sometimes, I just live, you know, a block away and I leave my car at home and I'll walk, and when I start tuning in I hear the birds. Isn't it interesting? You've got to try to listen because you have to learn how to listen. But when I start hearing those birds sing, I mean, they have a melody folks and I think my wonderful Christ He listens to the birds sing every morning. All of creation was created for His joy. Isn't that something? That's why we were created, to bring Him joy. We lifted Him up as we sang today, and our words and our hearts are filled with adoration towards Him.

Paul uses another interesting phrase in this passage. He says: "In Him all things hold together." Now that is a fascinating statement. This means that not only is the Son the agent of creation in the beginning and the goal of creation in the end, but between the beginning and the end, during time as we know it, it's He who holds the worlds together. You say, what does that mean pastor? Well, I think of this verse every time I drive down 280 and down there where Stanford built that accelerator. You know that atomic (what do they call that?). Three miles long and you remember they take and shoot and atom three miles at a high-speed in order to break that atom. You know what they're trying to break? The divine cohesive that holds the molecular structure of our universe together, and that's Jesus. Isn't that amazing? Paul said not only is He the exact representation so perfect that He is the manifestation, not only that, but that as the result of who He is, He holds the whole molecular structure of the world together. If that divine adhesive, glue, lets go, our structure we'd just be a bunch of molecules. It's Him that holds the reality of the world together.

Now I don't know how one can reject the deity of Christ when the Bible makes its so clear. He is the first of all. He holds all together. And then Paul went on to say in his other passage -- the day will come when every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that He's Lord. Now try to grasp that in your mind. Can you imagine the billions of people that have lived over time and that moment when all the billions prostrate themselves in His divine presence and say He is Lord? Isn't that...I can't grasp that, but the joy of being able to even now acknowledge Him as our Lord and our God. Now there's more and I suggest you read it over your lunch today. There are so many verses so put these in your mind: Philippians 2:5-11, Colossians 1:13-19, Hebrews 1:1-3. And in those three portions you have a sufficient evidence to make anyone who disagrees depart, because God's word declares Jesus Christ is God in human form. Amen?

Let's pray. Father, it's a joy to study Your Word and see how clear and how precise Your Word is. It leaves us no room to question. We believe with all of our hearts, we acknowledge from the very depth of our being, Lord Jesus, that You are the Lord of the universe, that You are the God of creation, that You hold all things together, that You died on that cross to take our place. You are perfect God and perfect man, and thus, our perfect Savior. Awesome thought, wondrous thought, and we want to, in the closing moment of this service, just bow our hearts in reverence. We acknowledge You as Lord, and on that eternal day we'll blend our voice with the billions of people who will make heaven ring with the acknowledgment of Your Lordship. What a wondrous day. We worship You dear Jesus, and everybody said, amen. God bless you folks.