Jesus Who?
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Announcements – Building Project
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Jesus who?
Good morning… It is good to be in the house of the lord together today. It is good to be at Calvary Foursquare Church! I have titled my sermon this morning “Jesus Who?” and we will be starting our morning off with
Remember your leaders who have spoken God’s word to you. As you carefully observe the outcome of their lives, imitate their faith.
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
This verse is also on the back wall of our sanctuary - because it is the Foursquare Motto. In such a small verse, so there is so much to understand. We are going to take a look at those two verses, and more this morning.
Pray
Easter is just three weeks away. For us, in this Church, as part of the Body of Christ, it is a time of celebration.
On Easter, we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. On Christmas, we celebrate that he was born, and on Easter, we celebrate that He died and rose again. And that is significant – because that action, that process, that MIRACLE…. Is what provides for US – the ability to have everlasting life, as we have faith in Him. So we celebrate! We will sing in praise in worship – we will do fun things with the children – we will fellowship…
What is really cool about this season is that the world celebrates too. The schools will take an extended weekend or spring break, the stores will change their inventory to reflect the holiday – parents and grandparents will make up little baskets of goodies for children. Organizations will host egg hunts and give things away like bicycles. The world around us celebrates easter – even if they don’t understand the meaning behind it. And, some of them DO understand it. Some of them totally get it – because it is one of two times a year that they find themselves in a church. We call them CEO’s. Christmas and Easter – Onlys!
The good thing about all of that for us – is that sharing Jesus during this season is a whole lot easier. What other time of year do you see crosses litter the aisles at Walmart? It is too easy. All of a sudden, Hy-Vee and Aldi, are out there making it easier to bring up Salvation. So we have this incredible opportunity - to share Jesus. We always have this opportunity, but it stands to reason that it might be easier right now than it is at other times of the year - because people are celebrating OUR holiday. What are we going to tell them?
I want to share something with you.
Many of us, grew up in the church. Jesus was always a part of our lives. He was as factual as the president. We never see either of them, but they are always causing a fuss at family gatherings.
But that is not the truth for everyone. Many people today have never been to a church - many more have left the church. People are growing up with absolutely no understanding of who God is. They have no idea who Jesus is, or why people would want to follow him.
They have been trained - by us - that we are a bunch of hypocrites that just want to tell them how to live their lives. So they may go their whole lives, with an understanding
The thing is, we have to know what to say. What do we say? Well - the key to that, is in those two verses I shared a moment ago. Jesus Christ, Our God - Our Savior, our Lord - is the same as he was at the beginning of time.
The book of John starts by introducing Jesus as the Word of God, and states that He has been there since the beginning. We understand that Jesus played an important part in creation. In the new testament, we see Jesus walking the earth. We see Him baptized, tempted, and crucified. All of that happens. But from this scripture, we know that Jesus is the same.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
I am very glad that you can’t say the same about Adam Johnson. I am very glad that Adam Johnson is not the same, yesterday - today - and forever. I change, all the time.
The person that I was 5 years ago is not the same as the person I am now. Sure, I still have plenty of the same flaws I had then, but I know the work that God has done in me. The person He is causing me to become.
But that isn’t Jesus. The stories we have about our Lord - that help us to understand who HE is, are still incredibly relevant. Because He doesn’t change. He was walking this earth as a man - doing exactly what he meant to be doing all the time. Gandolf and Jesus had that in common. They arrive precisely when they mean to! “A wizard is never late, Frodo Baggins, Nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to”
Our belief - our faith - our identity - is based on a relationship with the Lord. We formed that relationship based on our understanding of who He is. This is just like any other relationship we form after kindergarten. Our relationship with our spouse - we had to get to know them before agreeing to spend our lives with them. Our friendships - we want to get to know who a person is before we share our lives with them. Getting to know Jesus is how we came to submit to Him as Lord.
In Matthew 11 - John the Baptist, who baptized Jesus, and was His natural born cousin, questioned who Jesus really was. He sent his own disciples to ask of Jesus -
and asked him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”
Jesus replied to them, “Go and report to John what you hear and see:
The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, those with leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor are told the good news,
and blessed is the one who isn’t offended by me.”
So when we are face to face with our opportunity, when the person in front of us - needs to know about Jesus - We have to tell them about Him.
Jesus didn’t care about social norms.
The woman at the well.
When Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard he was making and baptizing more disciples than John
(though Jesus himself was not baptizing, but his disciples were),
he left Judea and went again to Galilee.
He had to travel through Samaria;
so he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar near the property that Jacob had given his son Joseph.
Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, worn out from his journey, sat down at the well. It was about noon.
A woman of Samaria came to draw water. “Give me a drink,” Jesus said to her,
because his disciples had gone into town to buy food.
“How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” she asked him. For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.
Jesus answered, “If you knew the gift of God, and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would ask him, and he would give you living water.”
We are living in a time that seems more racially divided than it was 30 years ago, and yet Jesus, a Jew - taught us not to let those kind of things dictate our lives. Jesus did what would have made everyone else feel uncomfortable, he approached a woman he wasn’t socially supposed to be talking to, and shared hope with her.
Quick story - tells a lot about our Jesus. You might have an opportunity to share that story. You should know it, know where it is in scripture, and be able to tell it - like the stories we tell of our friends.
Jesus ate with sinners.
Jesus went out again beside the sea. The whole crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them.
Then, passing by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office, and he said to him, “Follow me,” and he got up and followed him.
While he was reclining at the table in Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who were following him.
When the scribes who were Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
When Jesus heard this, he told them, “It is not those who are well who need a doctor, but those who are sick. I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
You might here someone complain about overly religious people. They might say that we always think we are better than everyone else. And you might share this story… and say hey, that may be your experience so far, but it isn’t supposed to be that way… in fact - Jesus made a point to eat with sinners and tax collectors. People that were self righteous - he didn’t have time for them. They already had it all figured out.
We should know that story, and know where it is in scripture Being able to share that story, in a caring and compassionate way - is sharing who Jesus really is.
Jesus loved people - served people.
Jesus washed the feet of his disciples.. he told his disciples that the kingdom of God was going to flip the script - if you wanted to be important, you need to be a servant.
Then a dispute also arose among them about who should be considered the greatest.
But he said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who have authority over them have themselves called ‘Benefactors.’
It is not to be like that among you. On the contrary, whoever is greatest among you should become like the youngest, and whoever leads, like the one serving.
For who is greater, the one at the table or the one serving? Isn’t it the one at the table? But I am among you as the one who serves.
Jesus flipped tables and chased people with a whip.
Jesus went into the temple and threw out all those buying and selling. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves.
He said to them, “It is written, my house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of thieves!”
The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them.
I shared with the youth last week the story of Jesus walking on water and calling Peter out to join him.
These are some of my favorite stories about Jesus. These are the stories that helped me to know who he is. These stories help us to understand who Jesus IS. What HE cares about.
Be thinking about some of your favorites.
Sometimes - probably more often than we would be proud of - what we are passionate about, is not what God cares about.
It is better to share His passions. His desires. His instruction.
Those are the things that matter most.
To do that, we have to know who Jesus is ourselves - which means studying the word.
That is the only way. Read the Gospels. Know who Jesus is
Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and encourage with great patience and teaching.
Our desire as a church is to Glorify God, equip the saints, and to share the gospel. That is my job as pastor - that is our focus as a council, that is our primary concern of budgeting, scheduling, programming.
To Glorify God, and equip the saints.
This is part of your equipping ; We have to learn to answer the question, who is Jesus. Jesus, who?
Once we know ourselves, we can share that answer for others.
And that is sharing the gospel.
Because Jesus is contrary to culture, Jesus is hope, Jesus is living water, Jesus is comfort and peace. And the world needs it. We need it.