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"For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it, it will certainly come and will not delay."
-Habakkuk 2:3 |
Sermon Archive
Who is Jesus
Forty plus years ago I in a bunker in Vietnam I answered life's most important question. At that moment I said that Jesus is my Savior & Lord. I gave my life to him. That was the defining moment of my life. But throughout the last forty plus years I've had to answer that question again & again, not in the ultimate sense, but in very practical ways as I face the challenges & opportunities of each day. Let me ask you a few questions:
The Question Each Person Must Answer: Who is Jesus?"
Luke 9:18-27
The key question - - who is Jesus & how important is he in your life?
I. The Question: Who Jesus is? Luke 9:18-19 -
Jesus wanted to know what the word on the street was so he asked the disciples: “Who do the crowds say I am?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; & still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life.” (18) They simply reported what they had heard.
The person on the street today would not mention John or Elijah, but some use the word prophet.
Prophet. Those who follow Islam believe Jesus was a prophet, the greatest of the many prophets, but definitely NOT God.
Fictional Person: Some believe that Jesus is a product of wishful thinking or wild imagination. He was someone like Sherlock Holmes or Super man.
Moral teacher. This could be the most popular opinion that Jesus was a good man & a great moral teacher. C.S Lewis, author of Chronicles of Narnia” wrote this: “A man who was merely a man & said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – on the level with the man who says that he is a poached egg – or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, & is, the Son of God or else a madman. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him & kill him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet & call Him Lord & God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about being a great human teacher. He has not left that option open to us.”
After Jesus asked the disciples what other people thought he now asks them what they think: "But who do you say that I am?" This verse emphasizes the word "you." How would you answer the question: Who is Jesus & what are the implications to your answer?
Forty plus years ago I in a bunker in Vietnam I answered life's most important question. At that moment I said that Jesus is my Savior & Lord. I gave my life to him. That was the defining moment of my life. But throughout the last forty plus years I've had to answer that question again & again, not in the ultimate sense, but in very practical ways as I face the challenges & opportunities of each day. Let me ask you a few questions:
When you get up in the morning, who do you say Jesus is?
When you get to school, who do you say Jesus is?
When you're frustrated at work, who do you say Jesus is?
When you're dreaming about your future, who do you say Jesus is?
When you’re filling out your tax forms, who do you say Jesus is?
When you're working out your personal budget, who do you say Jesus is?
When you're at a party where everybody's getting drunk, who do you say Jesus is?
When your teenagers aren't living up to your expectations, who do you say Jesus is?
When you're marriage is stale & you feel attracted to a colleague at work, who do you
When you get to school, who do you say Jesus is?
When you're frustrated at work, who do you say Jesus is?
When you're dreaming about your future, who do you say Jesus is?
When you’re filling out your tax forms, who do you say Jesus is?
When you're working out your personal budget, who do you say Jesus is?
When you're at a party where everybody's getting drunk, who do you say Jesus is?
When your teenagers aren't living up to your expectations, who do you say Jesus is?
When you're marriage is stale & you feel attracted to a colleague at work, who do you
say Jesus is?
The question is: Who is Jesus?
II. The Answer: Jesus is the Christ Luke 9:20
Peter’s answer: “You are the Christ of God!" Which means, you are the Messiah, the one chosen by God to set us free. Peter thought that Jesus was the one who's going to lead the Jewish victory over the Romans. Jesus was the one who was going to lead the nation Israel & put it back as the most powerful nation in the world. Peter got the answer partially right, Jesus was the Messiah, but not the kind of Messiah he envisioned.
The question is important because, who Jesus is divides Christianity from every other religion of the world & from every non-Christian cult. Modern Jews say he was just another Rabbi. Muslims say that he was just one of a long list of prophets. Hindus & Buddhists think of him as a teacher.
To be a Christian is to believe that Jesus is the one & only savior of the world. By the way, that’s one of the reasons some people reject Jesus & Christianity - -it seems so exclusive & even arrogant.
To the contrary, it is not arrogant to believe something is true if it is true.
If a diabetic says that insulin is my only way to live instead of die, that is not arrogant. It is stupidity to think that aspirin, Tylenol, or Vitamin C are just as good for treating diabetes as long as you sincerely believe they will work.
The answer is: Jesus is the Messiah sent by God!
III. The Implication of the Answer Lk 9:21-27
Implication for Jesus = death & resurrection: After telling the disciples to keep quiet about his true identity, Jesus shares the implication of Peter’s answer. But, his answer makes absolutely no sense.
Peter has just proclaimed Jesus as the great savior of Israel, the mighty deliverer, when Jesus begins to speak apparent nonsense. Jesus said: "The Son of Man must suffer many things & be rejected by the elders, chief priests & teachers of the law, & he must be killed & on the third day be raised to life."
I’m sure the disciples were stunned at what Jesus just said. This is not what they wanted to hear. It's hard for us to grasp the radical & apparently ridiculous nature of what Jesus said. But let me try with a contemporary analogy.
As you know, we're in the middle of a hot & heavy presidential election. We have heard two candidates boast their worth while battering the failings of their opponent. That's what candidates do, & we all know it. But suppose, just suppose, that John McCain called together his closest associates. And suppose he said something like this: "Friends, we're going to run a very different kind of campaign from this point on. Instead of blasting away at Sen. Obama, we're going to praise him. We're going to highlight everything good about him. Moreover, we're going to admit all of my mistakes, without excuses. The best thing for the country is to do everything we can to help Sen. Barack Obama get elected." Don't you think at this point someone would take the McCain aside & say, “Have you gone nuts?”
Jesus knew what he had come to do. God had sent him to die on the cross to take the full suffering for all human sin & then to rise back to life again as proof of his victory over sin & death. Jesus implications were that he was to suffer & die & then rise again. But what are the implications for us?
The Implications for Jesus followers: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself & take up his cross daily & follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, & yet lose or forfeit his very self? If anyone is ashamed of me & my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory & in the glory of the Father & of the holy angels." (9:23-27)
Jesus shared that his followers: “... must deny himself & take up his cross daily & follow him.” Jesus is serious. Jesus wants our complete allegiance, are total commitment to him & his principles.
Jesus is not talking about doing away with TV or ice cream or shopping or golf. He’s saying that if you want to follow Him, you must recognize His right to rule your life & be willing to invest your life in service to others.
I know this not what today’s Christian culture believes! Self-focus is a well-established feature of Christianity today. Study’s & our experience show that increasing numbers of Christians care little about the glory of God & the supremacy of Christ. For many Christianity exists to enhance their lives, their marriages, their families, their careers & their retirement fund. To deny themselves, no thanks. To say no to self-focus, no thanks.
Jesus wants more from us than a correct confession of who he is. He wants us, not only to put our faith in him as Savior, but also to “follow him”, to imitate his servanthood, by serving others, on a daily basis.
You can see many examples of such servanthood in our church today. You see it in the way many of you invested your time & energy into the VBS ministry. You see it each Sunday morning when some make & serve refreshments to enhance fellowship after the service. You see it when some of you provide over a hundred Christmas boxes for needy kids. You see it when some of you go on mission trips. You see it again & again when people from this church reach out with love & care for others.
Conclusion:The traditional marriage vows promise total commitment: "for better for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness & in health, until death us do part." Is that a good deal or a bad deal? Is that a smart promise or a foolish promise? It all depends on whom you marry! If you marry a person who loves you & is committed to your best & you love him & are committed to his best interested - - - it’s a great promise.
That’s what Jesus offers to every Christian. He promises that he will love you always, that he will give you his very best, that he will never leave you or abandon you, through better & worse, richer & poorer, in sickness & in health, for ever & ever. And what does he ask in return? He asks that you put him first & serve others. He asks that you will faithfully follow him.
So who do YOU say that Jesus is? If you say that he is your savior & Lord, does you life show it? It’s eternally important to not only trust in Jesus as Savoir, but to follow Him in your everyday living.