Confronting the Human Jesus and "The great humiliation."

For the last couple of Sundays, we have been focusing our attention in the Sunday Worship teaching time on the human Jesus.  We have asserted that our understanding of Jesus's humanity is every bit as important as our perception of His deity.  For it was in God taking on human flesh that our redemption was accomplished.     All this sounds fine, until we come to see what is required to fully accept His humanity.  To comprehend that He suffered as we suffer, that physically He was weak as we are weak, that He experienced emotional, physical, and yes, even spiritual weakness, just as we do. The thing that looms so large, however, is the fact that He was tempted, according to the writer of Hebrews, in every way we are.  (Hebrews 4:15)  The implications of this assertion are huge.  For if we fully accept the truth of this proposition, then we are forced to abandon some of the accommodations we have made in order to maintain our comfort level with Jesus's identity.  If He was tempted "in all points" as are we, then we are forced to see the depth of His sacrifice in becoming human.  It is called, "The Great Humiliation,"  (Philippians 2:6-8)-- Creator God humbling Himself by becoming like the created, surrendering Heavenly glory, and subjecting Himself to every human weakness and inconsistency that we experience, even to the point of dying.  Amazing!   Last Sunday, we set forth the proposition that you cannot really know someone until you know his/her name.  The name of Jesus was foretold by angels.  But beyond the Christmas story, we discovered in the Book of Acts that the name of Jesus, when spoken in faith and for God's purposes, evokes great power, both to heal and to change lives.  We saw how significant a name was in Hebrew culture, and how very attached a person's name was to their origin and life purpose.   This Sunday, as we continue our year-long study entitled "Knowing God," I will be introducing our study of the Holy Spirit.  Who is He?  Why is He so mysterious?  Why is it so hard to grasp His identity?  Why have their been so many misconceptions as to who He is and how He works?  We will explore these and other questions as we begin this new phase of our series.  I hope you will determine not to miss any of these messages, either by being present or by listening to the podcast of the messages on iTunes.  If you need help subscribing, I hope you will contact Dave Stone at the church office.  He is our resident guru on all this, and can easily explain it to you.   Paul Kenley