Jesus – Brother ~ 20251214 ~ Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org
2025 12/14 Advent 3: Fix Your Eyes on Jesus - Jesus, Brother; [Hebrews 2]; Audio available at: http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20251214_jesus-brother.mp3
We’re taking instruction this Advent season from the book of Hebrews to ‘fix our eyes on Jesus’(12:2); looking at some of the titles of Jesus, looking at who he is, and what he came to do.
We’ve looked at Hebrews 3:1 which calls Jesus ‘the Apostle’, one sent out from his Father, sent from above, the only begotten sent to become one of us, sent to rescue and redeem, to set us free and show us his grace. We looked at Jesus our Great High Priest, our only mediator between God and man, the eternal sinless Son of God, who gave himself as a sacrifice for our sins once for all, who entered heaven itself and sat down at the right hand of his Father in glory.
Jesus Our Brother (Hebrews 2:11)
Hebrews 2 says this:
Hebrews 2:10 For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. 11 For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, 12 saying, “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.”
Hebrews 2 is talking about Jesus, and he says of us ‘he is not ashamed to call them his brothers’. Jesus claims us as his brothers! In what sense biblically is Jesus our brother? What does this even mean?
Mankind Given Dominion (Psalm 8; Genesis 1)
Hebrews is telling us that Jesus is greater. He is greater than Moses, than Aaron, than angels. Hebrews 2:5 says:
Hebrews 2:5 For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. 6 It has been testified somewhere, “What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him? 7 You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor, 8 putting everything in subjection under his feet.” ...
Hebrews quotes Psalm 8:4-6. In Psalm 8, David is looking with wonder at God’s creation. God’s glory is above the heavens; and the heavens are glorious; the work of God’s fingers, the stars he set in place. In light of all this, what is man?! Small, weak, finite, fickle, frail. What is man? And yet according to Genesis 1, God made man in his image and gave mankind dominion over all of his creation. God made man to rule under him over the rest of creation, crowned with glory and honor.
Hebrews 2 goes on:
Hebrews 2:8 ...Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. ...
That’s a staggering statement;
Psalm 8:6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet,
Everything leaves out nothing. But this is also realistic;
Hebrews 2:8 ...At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him.
Jesus the Ideal Man (John 1:1,14; Philippians 2:5-7)
Mankind has failed to rule God’s creation well. But this points us to something greater, someone greater; the one Hebrews is pointing to:
Hebrews 2:9 But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
This all points to Jesus; him who for a little while was made lower than the angels. Jesus’ favorite title for himself was ‘Son of Man’. Made lower indicates that he was originally higher. For a little while indicates that this lowering in rank or authority was not permanent. What is this talking about? John’s gospel clarifies:
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ... 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. ... 18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.
The Word, who existed before time in relationship with his Father, who in his nature was himself God, at a point in time became flesh and dwelt among us. This is Christmas!
Philippians 2 helps us:
Philippians 2:5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
Jesus, eternally existing the form of God did not cling to his equality with the Father, but lowered himself by taking the form of a servant, taking human form, being born as a man.
Here’s a theological phrase that helps guard us from error; ‘remaining what he was, he became what he was not’. This is what Christmas is all about! Continuing in very nature as God, he took an additional nature, a human nature. Remaining what he was; eternal God, he became what he was not; human.
Jesus Experienced Death For Me (Philippians 2:8-10; Heb.2:9)
Why? Philippians goes on:
Philippians 2:8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
In the words of Hebrews ‘Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.’ (2:9). Jesus the eternal Word became flesh, became human, in order that by God’s grace he could experience death in my place, for me. This is the why of Christmas. Why did eternal God, remaining what he was, become a baby in a manger? To display God’s grace. To take my sin, to pay my price. To die on a cross.
Everything Exists For God and Through God (Heb.2:10)
Hebrews 2 goes on:
Hebrews 2:10 For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.
Everything that exists, exists for God and through God. This is how Adam failed; he sought to live for himself and by himself. He made it all about himself. Jesus came to show us what true humanity was meant to be, lived for the glory of God, and through the strength that God supplies. Jesus showed us the perfection, the completion, the aim and end that humanity was meant for; Jesus the founder of our salvation lived for the glory of God and was obedient to his Father in all things, even in his suffering death for us. He showed us what we were meant to be in order to ‘bring many sons to glory’.
Jesus Suffered as a Human (Psalm 22, Isaiah 7:14; 9:2, 6)
Hebrews 2:11 For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, 12 saying, “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.” 13 And again, “I will put my trust in him.” And again, “Behold, I and the children God has given me.”
It was through his death as a human that Jesus sanctified us, cleansed us from all sin, made us perfectly holy. It is in his taking on our human nature that we all have one source; literally ‘we are all of one’. Jesus truly and genuinely became human, and in that he can call us ‘brothers’. This quote is from Psalm 22, the first line of which Jesus quoted from the cross;
Psalm 22:1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
The first half of Psalm 22 graphically describes the suffering of Jesus. As a man, Jesus took what I deserve. He suffered in my place. He bore the weight of the sin of humanity in his human body on the cross. Verse 22 is at the turning point of the Psalm, experiencing God’s salvation. Jesus displayed the name, the character of his Father to us as one of us. And alongside us he shows us what we were meant for; praise, worship, trust. The other two quotes are from Isaiah 8, the passage that talks about YHWH being our sanctuary, and a stone of offense and rock of stumbling; sandwiched between the promise of Isaiah 7:
Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
and Isaiah 9:
Isaiah 9:2 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. ...6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Made Like His Brothers in Every Respect (Heb.2:14-18)
Hebrews 2:14 makes it clear:
Hebrews 2:14 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. 16 For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. 17 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 18 For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
Because Jesus came to ‘bring many sons to glory’; to save ‘the children God has given me’ he had to be made human, flesh and blood, so as a man he could strip death of its power by dying.
The fact that he had to be ‘made like his brothers in every respect’ (v.17) indicates that he was inherently not like us. Jesus is eternal God. At the incarnation, remaining what he was, he became really and truly human. And now, as a man, he is not ashamed to call us his brothers.
Jesus, Only Son of His Father (John 5:18; 10:33)
In the Old Testament the picture of God as Father is sparse. There are only a handful of places where God is referred to as Father; Father in the sense that he is our Creator, the Potter, our Redeemer, and he is compared to a father giving instruction to his disobedient children.
This picture radically changes when we get to the New Testament. Jesus addresses God as ‘the Father’ or ‘my Father’ about 23 times in Matthew’s gospel alone. He repeatedly claims to be the one and only unique Son of God, and this incites the religious leaders to kill him, because ‘he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God’ (Jn.5:18). They considered it ‘blasphemy, because you being a man, make yourself God’ (Jn.10:33).
Adoption (John 1:10-12; Galatians 3:26; 4:4-7; Romans 8:14-17)
When we understand that Jesus is indeed who he claimed to be, what is even more shocking is that Jesus invites us to address God as Father. Some 20 times in Matthew alone, Jesus calls God ‘your Father’ and invites us to pray to ‘Our Father in heaven’ (Mt.6:9).
The beginning of John’s gospel, which begins with the fact that Jesus is eternally in relationship with his Father, and is himself God, who became flesh and lived among us, says this:
John 1:10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
Through faith, we can become something we were not.
Galatians tells us:
Galatians 3:26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.
Galatians 4:4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
Jesus is the only Son of God, sent from his Father to be born a human, to rescue us. That is amazing grace! But it doesn’t stop there. God adopts us into his family as sons. As if that weren’t enough, we are not only adopted in as sons, but we share in the inheritance.
Romans 8 tells us:
Romans 8:14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
This is grace upon grace! As Jesus cried out ‘Abba, Father’, we too are invited to use this most intimate term to address him. Not only adopted children, but heirs, not only heirs, but fellow heirs with Christ. Jesus is not ashamed to call us his brothers, and he is generously willing to share his own inheritance with us.
Prodigal (Luke 15)
In Luke 15, Jesus tells a story of a father with two sons. An older brother, and a younger selfish prodigal who takes the money and runs. He wastes his part of the inheritance on sinful indulgence, and ends up in the mud, unclean, defiled, and desperate. The Father is generous, gracious, eager to forgive, watching for the prodigal to return. What we find out through the course of the story, is that the older brother is just as selfish, not really caring about his relationship with his father or his brother, just seeking to earn good things from his father by his good works, so that he can enjoy those things with his friends. The story ends with the prodigal’s return to his father’s forgiving welcoming embrace, and the older brother outside, in pride, bitter, refusing to join the celebration.
Jesus is everything this older brother wasn’t. Rather that clinging to his rights and privileges as the only Son, he left glory, left his Father’s side to pursue those that rightly deserved only punishment, to go after the wayward, to lay down his own life to seek and to save the lost, to pick us up, to cleanse us, to bring us home, to reconcile us to his Father, to gladly share his own inheritance with us.
And we were not wayward sons, we were enemies, children of the devil, treasonous rebels. And while we were ungodly, enemies, sinners Christ died for us (Rom.5:6-10).
1 John 3:1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. ...
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2025.12.14 Sermon Notes
Fix Your Eyes on Jesus – Our Brother [Hebrews 2]
Mankind made in God’s image, given dominion
Psalm 8:4-6; Genesis 1:26, 28; Hebrews 2:5-8
Jesus the ideal man: “Remaining what he was, he became what he was not”
John 1:1, 14, 18; Philippians 2:5-7
Jesus experienced Death For me
Philippians 2:8-10; Hebrews 2:9
Everything exists for God and through God
Hebrews 2:10
Jesus suffered as a human
Psalm 22, Isaiah 7:14; 9:2, 6
Made like his brothers in every respect
Hebrews 2:14-18
Jesus the only Son of his Father
John 5:18; 10:33
Adoption
John 1:10-12; Galatians 3:26; 4:4-7; Romans 8:14-17
Prodigal
Luke 15:11-32
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Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org