The Story - Chapter 25

I hear myself loud. Chapter 8 of the book of John I want to read in just a few moments for you to find that in your Bibles. You know from reading the Bible and reading the story that Jesus was a very controversial figure. He was controversial not because he did anything wicked or evil, but there were two things in his life that caused him to be very controversial. He came saying, I'm the Messiah, but when he started doing the things that he said God wanted him to do, his own role was quite different than what they expected. If you've been reading the story, you know that they expected a king who would come and rally an army and become a great leader in a military force and drive out the enemies of Rome and there establish this rule of Jews over their own nation. But Jesus was not interested in politics and he was not interested in military. He was just interested in the kingdom of God, not the kingdoms of this earth. And whenever they saw this, they were confused about Jesus and it made great controversy among them. Why is this man claiming to be something that we really don't see any evidence that he really is the Messiah we've been looking for? And the second thing that happened to Jesus was he came into the earth, into this world and into his ministry and he didn't do the things that they thought a Jewish person ought to do. They all had confidence in the Old Testament, but they interpreted the Old Testament in ways that made specific concrete rules. They expected that if a person kept these rules, they were really keeping the Old Testament. They couldn't differentiate between the interpretation of the rules and the rules themselves. So when Jesus was keeping the Old Testament rules, they were looking at their interpretation of those rules and he didn't fit. So he wasn't living the way they thought he should and his role as a Messiah was not what they thought he should have. And so Jesus stirred controversy from the very beginning. You read in a story this week something about one of the points of controversy that Jesus had in John chapter 8. A couple of you have referenced this passage to me already this morning about reading it and seeing an unusual thing that kind of jumped out at you about Jesus' ministry. What happened, Jesus was teaching the people in Matthew and John chapter 8 verse 48. That's where I want to start reading. Jesus had been talking to them and they were convinced that because of these differences in Jesus that he could not be living in obedience to God. That he had to be a man led by the devil himself. They accused Jesus of being demonic. Jesus answered them in verse 48, aren't we right in saying that you are, Jesus answered him, aren't we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and a demon and demon possessed? Two things the Jews said about Jesus that were the worst they could say. The first was a religious prejudice that he was a Samaritan, that is a pagan, a person who didn't believe in the real God. The second thing that they said about him was a spiritual conviction. He is possessed of the devil himself. Jesus replied, I'm not possessed by a demon, Jesus said, but I honor my father and you dishonor me. I'm not seeking glory for myself but there is one who seeks it and he is the judge. I tell you the truth, if a man keeps my word he will never see death. At this the Jews exclaimed, now we know you are demon possessed. Abraham died and so did the prophets, yet you say that if a man keeps your word he will never taste death. Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are? That question jumped out at me when I was reading this passage. Who do you think you are? We use that whenever you're acting like you're smarter than you should be or when you're acting like you're braver than you should be or when you're talking as if you know more than you should know. They say under their breath or to you, who do you think you are? But it's an important question really because it's the fundamental thing in your life that drives you to do and be the things you do and the person you are. What you think of yourself is critical to shape your life. They were asking this as sort of an insult to Jesus. Do you think that you know more than God? Jesus never thought that but he did think that he knew God in a way that none of them really did. You see this part of Jesus' life is really important for us because it helps us understand something about Jesus that's not clearly defined in the scripture. We hear what Jesus says. We hear what people say to him. We hear what people think of him but never anywhere in the scriptures does Jesus sit down and say here's what I think about myself. Here's what I think about God. Here are the experiences inside of myself. Jesus left us sort of in the dark about what went on in his mind. In Bible studies this is called the messianic consciousness. At what place and what time did Jesus become aware that he was really the Messiah? What did this thought in Jesus' mind do to shape his life? We have no idea about that. But we have certain ideas about what Jesus thought of himself. They wanted to say you think you're more important than you really are. You think you know more than you really do. But when you look at Jesus' life you can tell what he thought about himself by the things that went on in his life. Right after this story Jesus was confronted with a circumstance that he had to respond to. That is one of his best friends died. John chapter 14 Jesus is talking about himself and the father and the relationship that they have and how he interacted with his father. Chapter 14 of John beginning with verse 9. Jesus answered don't you know me Philip even after I have been among you for such a long time. Everyone who has seen me has seen the father. How can you say show us the father. Don't you believe that I am in the father and the father is in me. That's what Jesus thought about himself. I am in the father and the father is in me. The words I say to you are not just my own. Jesus is telling us what he thinks about himself. My thoughts and my words are directed by the father. Yet it is rather it is the father living in me who is doing his work. He thought of himself as a person through whom God was actively at work doing what he wanted to do. Believe me when I say that I am in the father and the father is in me. Or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. If you want to see what I think about myself you look at what takes place in my life. And you will see that I have absolutely confident that in every circumstances of my life the father is there telling me what to say. Telling me what to do. And I have no discomfort in following him. Immediately following this story something happened. Jesus' very best friend died, Lazarus. Now in your human nature what you want to do when your friend is sick and you want to be with him, especially if you think you can help him, you want to go. And I am sure when Jesus heard that Lazarus was very sick and near death his first impulse of a human nature was to say we have got to get over there as quick as we can immediately. But he tells us something about himself. He didn't ever make those decisions based on his own thinking and on his own passion and his own desires. He stopped with the father and talked about what he needed to do and the father told him not to go. So this period of waiting caused his friend to die without Jesus being there. Often times if you do something that God wants you to do and something apparently tragic happens your first reaction is I made a mistake. And you begin to second guess yourself. Jesus never seemed to do that. He had such confidence that what the father wanted him to do was really what he should do. In fact he said to his disciples all of this has taken place for the glory of God. This tells us something else he thought about himself. My primary concern in this world is to bring people to the awareness of the greatness of God. When he got there the sisters of Lazarus both chastised Jesus if he had been here he would have been still alive. They were saying to him you caused his death. Well that's hard when you think you've obeyed God and people blame you for the death of someone. But Jesus went out to where Lazarus was. Now remember he said I talked to the father and what the father says that's what I do and what the father tells me to say that's what I say. He didn't go out there on his own and say well what can I do now. Maybe I can pull a trick a miracle of some sort. The father was guiding his life at every step. I am in the father father's in me. He goes out there under the father's direction. Lazarus come out of the tomb. Lazarus comes out. How courageous would you need to be to go out to a funeral with someone in the casket. Even if you thought the Lord told you to do it. You can say my friend get up out of that casket. Jesus had such confidence in the father. You know what was inside of him. Inside of Jesus was the awareness that the father had told him something and the absolute certain trust that regardless of how impossible it seemed if the father told him to do it it would happen. Who do you think you are? I and the father are one and whatever he tells me is going to happen. And the next story that comes up in this passage with John and he's ministering and a man comes up who's a very good religious man and he says what can I do to have eternal life and Jesus didn't have a memorized witnessing program. We rely on that often times because it gives us confidence that we're going to say the right things when we get to someone. Jesus told us what he did. I say what the father tells me to say. He had such confidence it didn't matter who people were that came to him he just believed that in that circumstance the father would tell him what he needed to say. So he starts off saying well you keep the law and say well I've done all that and I don't know what was going through Jesus mind but if you think if I'm telling him he's not keeping the law and he's not keeping it and I tell him well you surrender your life to the Lord and live in obedience to him you'll be okay. It's an old testament evangelism. I've kept that since I was a small child but Jesus said there's one thing I can see that's wrong with you. Now how did he know this? Father knows all things. Holy Spirit knows everything about us. He said you tell this man sell everything he has and give it away to the poor and you'll see why he can't follow me. Jesus did. The man left sadly. Witnessing is not always a success when people accept Christ. Witnessing is always a success when you tell the truth to people as best you know God wants you to tell it. The results and consequences are always in God's hands. Who did Jesus think he was? He was a man obedient to the Father regardless of what happened. He was willing to tell the tough hard things to people because they were true. Even if it meant that people turned their back and walked away. He was a man that trusted God so much that he would say anything and everything that God wanted him to say. Who did Jesus think he was? He thought he was the most faithful person to the Father that he could possibly be. Jesus was faced with all kinds of trials in his life. In every circumstance the same thing happened. He was getting ready to go into Jerusalem and the Father told him here's what I want you to do. I want you to get you a little donkey and ride on that donkey and walk into town. He always did what the Father told him to do. Jesus was not a man to exalt himself. To draw attention to himself. I imagine riding in on that donkey with people saying all those things about him is a little bit embarrassing for him. It's hard to do things that embarrass you. But whenever you know that God's told you to do something you do it. Because in this event the Father was saying I promised you years ago that your Messiah would come on a donkey into the town and now I'm keeping my promise. Jesus I want you to do this regardless of how difficult it is because I want you to announce that God keeps his promise. And Jesus did. He rode into town on a donkey and everyone said great things about him. Jesus knew in his mind that it would be misunderstood. For the scripture says that some of the people wanted to make him the king right then which wasn't what Jesus wanted. But he did it because the Father told him to do it. Who did he think he was? He was a man devoted to be obedient to the Father in spite of everything. In all the circumstances of his life. Jesus lived this extraordinary life of devotion in front of all the people who were around him. In the Garden of Eden, in the Garden of Gethsemane, excuse me, he came before the Father. He knew what was ahead of him. He didn't want to die, suffer as painful death as we've seen pictured in movies. He didn't want to hurt. Like any human being he wanted a life that was a little bit better than what was planned for him. He asked for the Father to relieve him if it was possible. And the Father said no, you have to do this. And he ended his prayer struggle with God saying your will be done. He knew who he was. He was a man committed to do the will of God at all cost. His enemies raised the question, who do you think you are? And Jesus didn't answer them with his words, but his life answered them. He was a man submitted to the authority of God without question, willing to do whatever God told him regardless of the consequences, willing to do it in spite of himself and willing to do it even at his death. Of all the people who've ever lived in this world, Jesus was more surrendered to the authority and power of God than anyone in the world. Now why does this make a difference to us? It's an example for us. What Jesus thought shaped his life. It made him who he was. It's a really important question for you to ask yourself, who do you think you are? What about sin? Do you think of yourself as a terrible sinner, disobedient and rebellious to God? You meet a lot of people who do think that. And because of that their lives are so held and bound that they do not think they can ever stand before God free of the grip and the history of sin. And when a person thinks of themselves as a wretched sinner beyond the redeeming grace of God, and I've met many people who think that, you tell them about God and what he can do for them and they say, I don't think God can ever change my life. I've met believers who think that God can't change their habits and their patterns and their addictions and their temper. And they think they're forever caught by the power of sin to hold them and control them. And once you think that way, it always is the truth. But what the Bible tells us is something far different about what God really thinks. If you look in Isaiah chapter 1 verse 8, you'll find in Isaiah the promise that he makes. The promise that he says that I will forgive your sins and though they be red as scarlet, I will wash you white as snow. Red scarlet to white as snow. God has the power to take the most wretched, sinful life in the world and transform it. And if you believe that you are stained with sin beyond redemption, you've missed it desperately. What God promised to not only the person who starts in their life of faith with him, but in 1 John, he was talking to all of us when he was talking about the promise of forgiveness that God gives to us. In 1 John verse 8, he said, If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives. Two things that we ought to think about ourselves all the time. One is that we're sinners redeemed by the grace of God. Never think of ourselves as if the sin power is not there. Now I want to warn you about that, but I think Christians sort of push it aside. And I think that because every time you see some person who's a prominent believer, pastor, lay person or singer, and they've drifted off in sin, church people always act so shocked. I'll tell you the simple truth. Every one of you here, including me, has sinned this week. On the scale of 1 to 10, it doesn't matter. Sin is rebellion. We have to accept the reality that sin is an ongoing part of our life, but it doesn't have to control us. For as many as confess your sins, he is faithful and just to forgive your sins and cleanse you of all unrighteousness. There has to be in the life of a believer a conviction. I am a sinner forgiven by the grace of God. And every day God forgives me of my sin. It gives us an awareness of our weakness, and yet it does not allow the weaknesses that we have to control our future. So that we can say, I can't do these things because I've sinned. They're not a hindrance to us. For God, when we confess it, simply forgives us, removes that sin, changes our lives, changes the direction in which we go. When Jesus was talking to his disciples about what he wanted them to do, in John 14, I stopped just a little bit short of what he wanted to say. There are a lot of believers who think they're followers of Christ, and they believe in spiritual gifts, and they believe that God does things to help us, but they see the life of Jesus as quite different than their own. And Jesus, when he was talking about himself, and he said what the Father and he were one, and all joined together, we sort of look at that and we see that's so different than all the rest of the things we think. Chapter 14, verse 12, and he just finished saying in 11, believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith, now who do you think that means? Someone that has faith and trust in God, part of them, few of them, some of them, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. See, a lot of believers think of themselves as powerless. Well, Jesus did all that stuff, but I don't have that power in me. That's not true. Jesus said you have the same power in you that I have. I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. That's why people sometimes when you ask them to do a job, teach a Sunday school class, say I can't do that. When you ask them to do some ministry in the church, they say well I can't do that. What they're saying is if I get to the place in my own human skill and ability, I'll certainly be glad to do it. Jesus never waited for that. When the Father told him I want you to go out there and tell this guy to get up out of the grave, I'll just go do it. Jesus could say well you know I've never done that before after a guy's been dead three days. Well, I didn't ask you if you had. I just said go out there and say that and I'll make sure that he comes to life. See, that's the secret. You do the work and God empowers you both to do it and to find the consequences that are successful. Jesus said something that we just read over. Anyone who has faith in me will do what I've been doing. He will do even greater things than these. What Jesus expected of anyone who has faith in him is that we would do more powerful things than even he did. Why? Why does it not happen? Well for the same reason if the Father said I want you to go over to Lazarus' tomb and say come out of there and he didn't do it, there wouldn't have been any miracle. Miracles are not in your life and the power is not in your life because you don't think of yourself as having the power of God inside of you. And that when God gives you an opportunity to do something that's impossible in your skill and training and you say okay God I'll do exactly what you tell me, you will see the power of God at work in your life doing things that you never ever thought you could do. And so you may ask me for anything in my name and I will do it. Anything that has to do with the kingdom of God and my assignments to you, that's what we mean by my name. Anything that I've asked you to do, you may ask and I will give you the power to do it. How many times have you turned down something because you looked inside of yourself and you saw weakness, you saw lack of skill, and you saw that you'd never been able to do that before and said no. How do you think of yourself? I think of myself as the kind of person that if I have talent and skill I'll be glad to do the things I have talent, skill, and time to do. Or do you think of yourself as the kind of person that says God anything you ask of me I will close my eyes, grit my teeth, and do it. In all of our lives, myself included, God has miracles that he cannot perform because we see ourselves as powerless. When Jesus finished his ministry in the last part of Matthew, chapter 28, which is familiar to all of you, Jesus gathered his disciples around and said, and then the eleven disciples went to Galilee to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go, chapter 28, verse 16. And when they saw him they worshipped him and some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I've commanded you. And surely I will be with you always to the very end of the age. What Jesus meant when he said be with you to the end of the ages is governed by this first part where he said, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Butch, would you come here a minute? What Jesus said was, I want you to believe that you can do whatever I ask you to do. I want you to stand there by the mic. Would you make this one alive so he could talk in it? Butch was talking to me the other day about his own ministry. How do you witness to people around you? Well, I look for a microphone so that I can... There's usually some kind of key word that they say or some way in that happens and it is a trigger and I know that at that point I need to say something. And so when I say something, I always look at the person and I can read people real well. Like if I'm talking too long, I know that, or something like that. Butch thinks that's a skill of his. It's a gift of God. You think he has that kind of skill on his own? Right. Anyway, so they receive, they start listening to what you're saying and that's how I know. And almost every time I go out, like on a service call or whatever, there's always some little trigger word. Be something about God, something about their life, something about a need that they have that causes you to say, God's helped me with that or I've learned something about that. Right. And I'll say what I say and then I'll stop. I'll just back off because now it's been there and there's no reason to keep pushing it on them or whatever. It's just and then you always know it's good if they say, well, but what about this? Then you're like, perfect, because that means you backed off and now they're asking you to continue. So you were trained where now to do this? Nowhere. No, I'm here everywhere. Just all the little bits and pieces in my life that God has taken this here and that there and whatever. And you've done this at your job? Oh, yeah. You've done it with your friends? Yeah. You've even walked up and down the street sometime, met people and done that? Yeah. How many people do you think you've talked to about God and the importance that he has in their life? Including band gigs, maybe. Well, I mean, I've got the Internet thing, too, and there was 10,000 there, so maybe 15,000. OK, OK, thank you. I don't want to imply that anyone can do this just because it's Butch that said that, but I do want to say he's never been to seminary. I don't think he's ever had a witnessing course. I don't think he's ever had a witnessing course. What what makes you do that? You think it's your job and you're looking for the opportunity to do what this says, make disciples, believing that all power and authority will be given to you when you try. It is important how you think of yourself. Who do you think you are? Are you a child of God, guided every day by the Holy Spirit, empowered by the Spirit of God, forgiven of your sins, given the ability to minister and do the work of God with spiritual gifts, given a message that the whole world wants to hear and needs to hear, but doesn't know it? Who do you think you are? Who do you think you are? That will shape your life. If you think that this kind of making disciples is for preachers, deacons, Sunday school teachers, you're missing a big place in your life. If you think that you're so sinful that you can never be useful to God, you're missing everything God wants to give you. If you think that your whole spiritual life depends on your ability, you're missing it. You're not a person who's canceled because of your sin. You're not a person who's limited because of your own ability. You're not a person who's limited because you're not an outgoing person. Everything you need is given to you. Jesus had one thing. He listened to the Father, did what the Father told him, and wonderful, powerful things happened. Would you rather those things happen to you or you read about them with others? Would you bow your heads, please? Here's the deal. Do you know what God wants you to do? Have you said to him, okay, I'll do it? Or are you tossing him excuses, justifying your failure to obey? Sad because you think you can't. I'm asking you to take a great step of faith and say to God, if you will show me what you want me to do and who you want me to talk to, I will start out. Even though I'm terrified, I'll fail, and I'll do what you put in my mind and in my mouth. Jesus knew who he was. He was the Messiah sent by the Father into the world for a mission, and he was prepared to do it no matter what. And he comes to us and says, now, you come and you do just what I did. I'm calling you into the kingdom of God. I'm giving you a mission, and I want you to do it no matter what. So, I'm asking you to say to God, what is it that's standing in my way of being the person you want me to be? What comes to your mind may be old excuses or maybe new ones, or maybe new ones, but for Jesus, there was no reason to say no to God. I'm asking you to take a bold step in your life to risk obedience that you might experience the wonderful power of God in your life. I'm going to ask the pianist to play, and I'll be here at the front. Others will be here, too. And if you want to come and make a promise of commitment to Christ that he's been dealing with you, we will pray with you, encourage you, and help you to take those steps. Who are you, a follower of Christ or a resistor of Christ? So, would you stand, please, for a moment of prayer? Rusty, do you have an announcement to make? I ask, Rusty, if we have the... Who is it that makes these decisions? Stewardship committee chairperson, deacons, chair, and trustees that decide on whether or not we're having service. The trustees don't want to be sued, and the rest of them are just afraid. So, we let them make those choices. What are we going to do tonight? We discussed two to four more inches of snow. Of course, it's cold. If the wind starts blowing at night, you know, sometimes it's hard to see. So, we thought for everyone's best interest that we not have church tonight. So, that's what we got together and talked about. The good news is you can still pray at home, and you can still study chapter 13 of Romans. So, if you feel conflicted about that, you go right ahead. And I think, Jody, were you guys still going to have your 10-minute meeting about our youth? There was something in the bulletin. Where would you like to meet with them? So, if you're interested, the youth are, they volunteered to take some of the youth to Branson for a weekend for music and fellowship. They're going to have that meeting right here in the auditorium. Is stewardship committee meetings going to go on? Yes, sir. If you're going to be there, we're going to be there. Okay. We don't want to get that meeting out of line. Well, I suppose if they're going to not have church, we better not have choir practice either. But they, I really would have wanted to. They could all sing at home. Sing at home. If you don't have your CD, come see me. Yeah, they have their CDs. There's a CD. Sing along with it. I demand it. No, I'm just kidding. Okay, we're going to, in closing, we'll sing 218, which is one we already sang. That's why we praise him.