Living The Truth Series

Introduction: This morning we began a series on “Becoming like the Master.” If we desire to become like Jesus, we need to know who he is and what he did and what he continues to do through those who follow Him. Again this chapter is the last time Jesus addresses a crowd of people – the public in a teaching situation.

Let’s read the last few verses of this important chapter and then let’s walk through it.

The word for “Cried Out” in vs. 44 is the Greek word “Krazo”. It is an emphatic word. It is used in Matt 27:50 – “Jesus shouted out in a loud voice and gave up his spirit.” There is great feeling and emotion in his voice. There is almost a sense of agony in his voice. Why? In order to understand that we need to look up a few verses before. Vs. 37-43.

That last line is very important for us as we consider the next few weeks. Are we going to follow Jesus and do what he says regardless of what those around us say or think? This is a huge question. Especially as we look at training ourselves for evangelism. One of the key things that keep many people from sharing their faith is fear of what others might say or think. We need to see that for us who serve God and follow Jesus, that is not something we should concern ourselves over. We certainly do not want to be obnoxious but we must tell others about Jesus.

What did Jesus say about confessing him before men? Look at Matthew 10:32-39. Now many times this is used as a way to encourage people to make their faith in Christ public. But what is the context of this statement by Jesus? Look at chapter 10:1. The context of that of witnessing! Look at vs. 26.

We need a healthy fear of Gods in our lives.

Fear of God – I Peter 1:17-19 Ps. 2:11; 119:120; 128:1 Luke 12:4-5

So with that as a backdrop let’s consider what Jesus did in His life here on earth and how we are to be about following his example.

1. Represent – Jesus represented God by action and word – vs. 44-45

We must emulate Jesus in how he represented God to the world: for we are ambassadors for Christ. How do we do that? It begins with our quiet times with the Lord – being one on one with Him through prayer and reading and meditating on his word. When a person serves a country as an Ambassador they are considered an expert on that countries behalf. How do they get that way? By applying themselves to learning everything they can about what they are representing and emulating the characteristics and traits of that country.

By the same token we must apply ourselves to studying God’s ways so that we can accurately represent Him to the world. I have said this before – the reason why the church has fallen out of touch with our culture and lost its place of importance is largely because we as God’s children are not very good representatives of who he is or what He stands for. Thus the world has a skewed opinion of God because of what they see in us! Jesus represented God in action and word – we need to do the same.

2. Reveal – he came as the light. He brought light to the darkness – vs. 46

He didn’t come to judge – the judgment will come basically by men bringing it upon themselves by denying to believe in his word and work on the cross. The perfection of who he is will judge. “The word was God.” “The Word became flesh…” He came to reveal God the Father – he told his disciples that if they had seen him they had seen the father.

So how does that relate to us? Well Jesus said that we are the light of the world. Because of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we have the ability to shine and reveal God to the world. That is why it is said that every person needs to do their part in serving because as we do, each of us reveals another part of God to one another. Therefore the Bible says we must shine before men so that they will see our good works and glorify God! This is a great work we have. Every day we have the opportunity to shine the light of God into a dark world. Just like I said this morning, it is not our job to condemn or judge people. Our job is to shine the light of God and his word into the hearts of people and help them see without Jesus they are condemned already!