Sermon Tone Analysis

How many of you know what I’m wearing on my face right now? Virtual Reality googles… Right.

Virtual Reality is really becoming a huge thing now.

You can watch movies, play games, and even watch a church service in virtual reality now.

It’s becoming a very big deal in our culture.

Ok… So you’ve heard of Virtual Reality… How many have heard of Augmented Reality?

And you know what Augmented Reality is? You’ve probably seen AR, you just didn’t really realize it.

Perhaps you have made a post on Instagram or Facebook with a “filter”.

This is me in my office on Friday giving myself Superman Laser Eyes.

This is a form of Augmented Reality.

You can change your entire appearance with those filters.

With that said… I’ve got a quick video to show you what our future might look like in the coming years.

*SHOW VIDEO*

Basically, where you are in a made up world with virtual reality, augmented reality is the real world… except… virtual images and information are overlayed on reality with the use of special glasses.

This is what’s coming in our future.

Here’s why I’m talking about this.

Many people all across the United States that are in churches this morning Have an Augmented Reality of Jesus.

They like the basic idea of who Jesus is… but they overlay other things on top of him.

For example… Many have a picture of Jesus that will make them happy and everything will go smoothly and everything will just be fine if I follow him.

Many read that God is love… and so anything that they perceive as unloving is wrong.

They just want a Jesus that is loving and sweet.

Many in the United States, especially within the last 5 years have a Republican Jesus… or a Democrat Jesus.

They somehow believe that Jesus is fully engaged with what’s going on in our political movements and so many have those ideas.

As we continue our series through the Gospel of Matthew… today we’re going to look at Matthew chapter 11.

If you have your Bible, and I hope that you do, turn with me to Matthew chapter 11.

Through this series we’ve been asking the question… Who are we supposed to be as a church based off the ministry of Jesus.

We’re basically saying… Our ministry should be based on the ministry of Jesus.

So what He did… we’re going to try and follow.

Today is a little different though.

Today… In Matthew chapter 11, Jesus is going to come straight out and tell us who we’re supposed to be.

Let’s read together.

Matthew chapter 11… Verse 1…

Now… That should be really surprising to us.

Remember who John the Baptist was?

He was the forerunner for Jesus.

He was the one preaching in the wilderness… Repent… For the Kingdom of God is at hand.

The wrath of God is coming!

He will clear His threshing floor… He will harvest His wheat… and the chaff will be burned in everlasting fire.

That was John the Baptist.

Why is he asking Jesus if they should expect someone else?

Here's what helps me understand the passage.

Imagine the scene.

Here’s John in prison… He’s in prison for preaching about the coming of the Messiah… the coming of Jesus… he’s in prison not having a very good time.

Right?

He’s in this dark, nasty jail… soon to be beheaded… because he gave his all to proclaim Jesus… and John hears about what Jesus is doing.

He did what?

He turned water into wine?

He did what?

He’s teaching people on a mountain top while little kids run up to sit on His lap? He’s eating with tax collectors and sinners?

I don’t know about you… but if I were John… I’d be thinking to myself… Why am I in prison for preaching about the Kingdom of God that was coming… and here Jesus is just out there living it up!

And so John has his followers go and ask Jesus… Are you the Messiah?

Or should we expect someone else?

There is a rising tide of disappointment in John resulting from Jesus’ ministry.

Jesus wasn’t the kind of Messiah he had expected.

We see this later in the other disciples as well.

They had the idea that the Messiah was going to come in… riding on a white horse… rallying the people by His side to overthrow the Roman Empire and establish Israel as the dominating power of the world.

Jesus wasn’t what they expected.

We can relate to John the Baptist here… Can’t we?

I wonder how many times God didn’t act the way you expected?

When did He not bring healing to someone when you thought He should have?

Has God answered a prayer differently than what you thought that He should have?

You see… Sometimes, like John, we have an augmented reality of who Jesus is.

We think He should do this… when in fact, He’s doing something beyond what we could imagine.

Let’s keep reading.

Jesus responds in verse 4…

Now… It’s not immediately clear what Jesus is saying in this moment.

John’s followers come and ask Jesus if He’s the Messiah… or should we expect someone else.

And Jesus responds by saying… Go tell John basically everything he already knows.

Remember… Verse 2 tells us that John has heard about the deeds of Jesus… he knows what Jesus has been doing.

Here’s why this is helpful.

Jesus is actually pointing to and quoting Isaiah chapter 35… and in doing this, Jesus is saying… John… I am the Messiah.

Jesus points to the Scriptures and says… I am the fulfillment of the Scripture.

And here’s why that’s important.

Because we tend to have these augmented realities about Jesus… when we think he should be a political Jesus… or a Jesus who makes our life happy and healthy and easy… how we recalibrate… how we get back to center is through the Scriptures.

The Word of God is how we know who the real Jesus is.

The church… We are to be a people that looks at the Word of God and sees Jesus for who He is… and not overlay our ideas and our augmented realities on top of Him.

No matter how important we believe our overlays are… We cannot mesh them in with Jesus.

We have to be a people that come to the Scriptures with a faithful and honest approach to see the real Jesus.

Instead… Most people go to the Scriptures bringing all their baggage with them… and they run everything through the filter of who they think… or perhaps… who they want Jesus to be.

Ever hear the old adage… One goldfish says to the other goldfish… how’s the water today?

And the other goldfish says… What water?

Because we’re immersed in it, we don’t even realize all the baggage we have… and we interpret the Scripture through that lens instead of coming to it honestly and faithfully.

You know… There are all kinds of ways that you can willy-nilly read and interpret the Bible.

You see it all the time.

That’s why you’ll see an athlete on TV who just won the Super Bowl quoting Philippians 4:13… I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength!

Or you’ll see a political preacher quote 2nd Chronicles 7:14… If my people who are called by my name, would humble themselves and pray… I will heal their land.

Listen… Philippians 4:13 is not a promise that you reach all your goals through the power of Christ… and 2nd Chronicles is not a promise that if the church prays hard enough, God will fix all that’s wrong in the United States!

We have to take great care in how we come to the Scriptures.

Otherwise… you can make the Bible say whatever you want it to say.

Many people have been led astray like that through the years.

We don’t have time to have a lesson on Biblical interpretation this morning… but I will leave you with this.

And listen… if you don’t learn anything else from me… EVER… I want you to learn this.

READ THE BIBLE IN IT’S CONTEXT.

Who, what, where, when, and why… read what comes before and what comes after.

Most erroneous Biblical interpretation would be solved if people just read the Bible in context.

Moving on.

Look at verse 6…

Jesus says… You’ll be blessed if you don’t stumble on account of me.

Do you remember the Biblical definition of blessed?

It’s the Spirit of God being with you.

I kind of imagine Jesus turning to the crowd at this point.