The Words of Jesus Christ
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*Riddles before bed
What type of field has 1000s of ears?
What type of house grows?
You all have probably seen this before...
SLIDE: Eat Timmy
And so - like this - riddles are meant to distract, and confuse
RIDDLES require us to - think - Deeply about what’s being said...
AND no one epitomized this more than Jesus Christ.
When He spoke - people scratched their heads!
And we’re going to dive into this truth today…
And so let’s get started...
60 When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?”
61 But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this?
62 Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?
63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
64 But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.)
65 And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”
This section of scripture begins with these words… “When many of his disciples heard IT, they said, “THIS is a hard saying, who can listen to it?”
This section begins by POINTING back to something that Jesus had said prior...
And if you remember from last week - that HARD saying was uttered by Jesus Himself...
Let’s look at it...
56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.
Sounds like a 21st century HORROR film...
Imagine what it sounded like back then!
See people didn’t know how to handle Jesus!
Here you have a guy that was....part...
Choir boy…part
Fire breathing dragon!
On the one hand He performed crazy miracles...
Did GOOD things...
RAISED the dead
healed the LAME...
People were DRAWN to Him - wanted to hear Him speak - whether for malice or for blessing...
BUT THEN...
He would say things like this!
EAT MY FLESH!
DRINK MY BLOOD!
But even these types of sayings were common place when it came to Christ!
We’ve talked about it before, but He was constantly saying things that made people scratch their heads...
We’ve gone through most of these before - but it behooves us to look again!
- the Jews MISSED their Messiah
They were expecting PHYSICAL freedom
They were expecting a PHYSICAL kingdom to be set up
They were hung up on - THE PHYSICAL
They didn’t UNDERSTAND that IN Christ DYING - He brought Spiritual FREEDOM!
When Jesus spoke to the woman at the well...
He said to her - Will you give me a drink?
And she says - you’re a Jew and I’m a Samaritan...
Jesus says - If you knew who I was, you would have asked Me for a drink, and I would have given you LIVING WATER.
Her reply?
Well sir, you don’t have a bucket to draw up the water with, and this well is very deep...
…Where is this living water?
Did she get it?
No - Jesus spoke using PHYSICAL language, yet was speaking - Spiritually
When Jesus spoke with Nicodemus, the most Religious man of the time...
Jesus said to him - You must be born again if you want to see the Kingdom of God.
What did Nicodemus reply?
“Uhhhhh, How can a man be born when he is old?
how am I supposed to RE-ENTER my mothers womb?”
Did he get it?
No - Jesus spoke using PHYSICAL language, yet was speaking - Spiritually
When Jesus was washing the apostles feet...
Jesus is about to wash Peter’s feet...
And Peter says - “Jesus, you will NEVER wash my feet”
Jesus says to him - “If i don’t WASH YOU, then you have no share with Me”...
Did Peter get it?
NO - he was hung up on the physical - and what Jesus did had a Spiritual meaning!
When Jesus told the apostles of His coming Death....
Peter took Jesus over in the corner and said - “Nope - this will NEVER happen to you!”
Jesus replied - “Get behind me satan”
What was Peter’s problem…? Jesus tells us....
“Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
Peter didn’t get it...
NO - he was hung up on the physical - and couldn’t GRASP the Spiritual side of it...
When Jesus said…Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life...
How did the people respond?
“How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
Did they get it?
No - Jesus spoke using PHYSICAL language, yet was speaking - Spiritually
When Jesus said - Whoever comes to Me shall never hunger, whoever believes in Me shall never thirst...
Did the people get it?
No - Jesus spoke using PHYSICAL language, yet was speaking - Spiritually
Jesus tells his disciples - Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees!...
How did the disciples understand Him?
“Hey, we didn’t bring any bread!” - “Did you bring any bread?”
Jesus says: You are the SALT of the earth. You are the light of the world.
“We’re salt?…We’re light?” Huh?
Jesus tells mankind - I will make you FISH for MEN!
“What?”
214 verses speaking of 356 commands of Christ to His disciples...
and ALL of them - with an UNDERLYING Spiritual truth that is NECESSARY for the command itself to be obeyed.
See - here’s the thing...
SLIDE: The Words of Jesus: Spirit
The Words of Jesus
The Words of Jesus
The words of Jesus are - Spirit.
63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
And here’s the implication of this truth for ALL that Christ COMMANDED us...
Let’s look at a popular verse...
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Now let’s look at this phrase here - “teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you”
SO Jesus says - “Go and make disciples…TEACHING them to observe ALL that I have commanded you”
So MAKING a disciple entails - teaching them to observe ALL that Christ commanded...
Question: SLIDE:
What does it mean to “observe” all that Christ has commanded?
I think the quick answer is - TO OBEY!
And this isn’t a stretch - this is what it means...
5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations,
The OBEDIENCE of FAITH is why we have been ADOPTED by God by His grace…for His glory!
To OBSERVE all that Christ has commanded is to OBEY all that Christ has commanded.
OK - i think we get that!
NOW - what does it mean to - OBEY a command of Jesus?
the quick answer is this - DO WHAT HE SAYS!
Is that right?
It’s RIGHT
It’s RIGHT - and it’s NOT COMPLETELY RIGHT!
Merely - DOING what Jesus says - does NOT equate to - OBEYING Jesus!
Let’s look at this…and let’s look at Matt 4:19
19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
The command here from Christ is - FOLLOW ME...
Now - we think about all those in the Bible who FOLLOWED Jesus...
Great men...
Peter, James, John,
ANNDD?
Others did as well...
Judas Iscariot....
Judas - as we KNOW - betrayed Jesus!
NOW - Judas FOLLOWED Jesus around...
So as Judas was FOLLOWING Jesus - was he obeying Jesus?
NO - Judas - yes - DID follow Jesus...
BUT he lacked one major element of OBEDIENT FOLLOWING...
Love for Jesus!
He FOLLOWED Jesus - but didn’t LOVE Jesus!
See there’s a DEEPER element to OBEYING Jesus - than simply DOING what he says (acting out what He says)...
Make no mistake - THERE IS a connection between God’s COMMANDS and OBEDIENCE…of course..!
BUT - LOVE for God is the link between (God’s Commands) and (Obedience)
3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.
If Jesus says to you - FAST - that you might be drawn closer to me...
and you end up HANDLING your fasting like this...
11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.
12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’
Fasting to the GLORY of God is an OBEDIENT fasting!
Fasting for your own glory - is not Obedience…it’s SINFUL!
Jesus commands us to PRAY without ceasing...
17 pray without ceasing,
But we also saw 2 weeks ago something about PRAYING -
5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.
MERELY doing what Jesus says - “Pray without ceasing” - doesn’t MEAN obedience is taking place...
There is ALWAYS an underlying Spiritual TRUTH/Aspect to the COMMANDS of Jesus Christ.
Just quickly - think about the Sermon on the mount...
Jesus says - “You have heard it said - You shall not murder, BUT I SAY to you…if you have hatred in your heart for a brother, you’ve murdered them in your heart!”
“You’ve heard it said before - BUT I say to you - THERE’S a spiritual side to all of this!!
Jesus says - “My Words are Spirit”
But not just Spirit!
SLIDE: The Words of Jesus: Life
The Words of Jesus
The Words of Jesus
The words of Jesus are - LIFE
Now we might not fully understand the implications of this for us...
*Anyone ever try to teach calculus to a 5 year old?
*Ever try to explain something (math, ) to a young kid....and their brain just can’t process it?
And they respond by saying - I don’t get it.
You’re doing your best to keep it SUPER SIMPLE…but it doesn’t matter - Their brains cannot process it!??
That’s what it’s like for Spiritually DEAD people to discern Spiritual things… (and actually it’s worse than that because the Bible says it CANNOT happen).
The reason people SCRATCHED their heads when Jesus spoke is BECAUSE His words are: Spirit and Life
**Back to the kid analogy:
You ever find success in explaining something to a kid - where you found that success by USING SOMETHING in their world (at their level), and using that thing to help them understand??
Bat Speed - Throwing a Bat into a field!
This is what Jesus did:
He would USE things in our world to explain God and His love
He used:
BREAD: He knew that our understanding of bread is of this thing that we can eat and that will sustain us for a short time, and then we die.
But then He comes and says that He Himself is the bread of life!
SALT: Salt is a PRESERVATIVE...
And so Christ’s illustration shines light on our call to PERMEATE society with the truth of REDEMPTION!!
LIGHT: Light eliminates darkness!
And so His illustration makes clear our call to - SHINE in this world for Christ
These are JUST 3 examples - but WHENEVER Christ opened His mouth....He was using something in our world to ELEVATE the Spiritual Side of Life...
EVEN His miracles POINTED to the Spiritual Side of life...
Raising the dead
Healing the lame
Giving Sight to the Blind
ALL of these things - CRAZY miracles of the FLESH!!… BUT...
They ALL pointed to the Spiritual Healing we all need!
And THIS IS WHY His words are - LIFE
BECAUSE APART from Jesus Christ - ALL things lead to - DEATH!!
Love the Lord
Repent
Follow Me
Rejoice and be glad
Be reconciled
Love your enemies
Seek first the kingdom of God
Do not fear those who can kill the body
Deny yourself
ALL these words SPOKEN of by Christ - all of them - LIFE
Christ’s WORDS ALWAYS - elevated the Spiritual!
NEVER would Christ utter words with the intent to ELEVATE the FLESH!!
WHY?
63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
The Spirit gives LIFE...
11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
Jesus tells us that He is the WAY, the Truth, and the LIFE...
And so to PURSUE Jesus Christ - is to pursue LIFE itself!!
And yet SO MANY people want to ELEVATE the flesh!
They make THE FLESH - the goal of LIFE...
And here’s how this might play itself out -
The person who FAILS to see life through the lens of our text today (this verse)
63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
The person who fails to see life through this lens…will abuse the things in life that we all deal with...
Wealth/Money: The person who pursues THESE things, doesn’t understand the Spiritual Truth that lies at the bottom of wealth.
That it’s an occasion to display to the world that Jesus is our treasure, not our wealth!
Marriage: The people who don’t pursue Jesus in their marriage, will forget that marriage is mainly for displaying to the world the covenant-keeping love between Christ and His church.
Suffering: The people who don’t pursue Jesus in their suffering, will forget that suffering is an opportunity to display Christ’s LOVE toward us.
Truly grasping a hold of these truths today, will CHANGE how you read the Bible...
SUMMARY:
The Words of Jesus:
Spirit
Life
Knowing this will change how you read the Bible...
May we all pursue being changed!!
Let’s pray!