ICHTHUS Part 2 - Fully Human

Here's more of the ICTHUS theme: T&T – Year 1 – Jesus Christ (IXTHUS series) Let’s do a little review. Last week we talked about a very old symbol that Christians used when it was dangerous to follow Jesus. (Draw the fish). The word “fish” in Greek is “Ichthus”, and remember that each letter of the word fish stood for something important that Christians believed. Let’s see if we can remember: I – Jesus CH – Christ TH – of God Huios – Son S – Savior This was kind of an easy way to understand who Jesus was. Last week we looked at two of these letter – the “th” and the “H” – Son of God. We looked at Jesus in two ways – things that were told about him in the Bible by angels or prophets or later by the apostle Paul. Then we looked at 3 things that Jesus did that marked him out as being God. Who remembers the things told about Jesus in the Bible: 1. Angel Gabriel in Luke 2 2. Isaiah 9:6 – Mighty God 3. Philippians 2 and Hebrews 1 – by very nature God, the exact representation of God Things only God could do that Jesus did: 1. Forgive sins 2. Power over creation 3. Received worship Tonight we’re going to look at the first letter – what we would write in English – Jesus . Now let me just ask a few of you – please tell me your full name (ask 2 or 3 kids). Write the names down on the whiteboard. Now write down Jesus Christ. Some people hear the name Jesus Christ and they think that Jesus was his first name, and Christ was his last name. But actually, the word Christ tells about who he is, the way we talk about: Queen Elizabeth, or President Bush Christ isn’t really a name. It’s a title, the way King, or Queen, or President is. So with these two words: Jesus And Christ We learn 2 more very important things about who Jesus is. We’ll learn more about “Christ” next week. Let’s look at the word “Jesus” tonight. When a mom and dad know they are having a baby, sometimes they spend lots of time thinking about what to name that baby. They think about someone in the family they’d like to honor by naming the baby after them. Or maybe they want to name the baby a name they have always liked. Do any of you know how you got your first name? Now Jesus didn’t get his name from someone in the family, or even from his mom because she liked the name Jesus. Look at Matthew 1:20-21 Jesus – means Yahweh is salvation (Take out apple). Now let’s imagine that we are brilliant scientists, and we are looking at this interesting object (put apple out on table for all to see). How do we figure out what this object is? (use our senses) Ask volunteer to come forward to touch, see, touch, smell & finally taste. What is our conclusion? We look at physical appearance, Responses (the fact that the apple doesn’t move tells us something about this apple!) Life cycle – if we could go back in time and see how this apple began and grew, and if we could watch it over the next few weeks as it would shrivel and finally go bad – we would also know with almost total certainty that this is a true apple So when we think about Jesus – as he is described in the Bible – and we’re asking the question – was Jesus really a human being? We can use some of these same techniques to learn about Jesus. Let’s look at some verses: • Luke 2:6-8 – what does this tell us – that Jesus was born • Luke 23:46 – Jesus died • Luke 2:52 – he grew up – sounds normal for a human being • Matthew 4:2 – he got hungry • Mark 4:38 – he slept • Luke 14:1 – he ate • John 2:1-2 – he went to parties • He got angry (drive sellers out of Temple area), cried (Lazarus’ death), tenderness (Luke 7:13 – widow of Nain) • He was tempted – Luke 4 Now we examined this apple, and we concluded that it was as best as we could tell truly an apple. Let’s look at what we’ve discovered about Jesus and whether it gives us a real sense if Jesus was a human being. Now maybe you think it’s kind of silly to ask this question. You may be thinking – of COURSE Jesus was human! But remember, if Jesus was truly God and truly human, this is something no one else ever had been or ever will be. So he’s utterly unique – a one of a kind. And so we need to ask these questions.