Do You Believe What You Believe?

INTRO

Do you believe what you believe? I know that sounds like an unusual question, b/c why would you not believe something you claim to believe. The reason I ask this question is b/c I believe there are many people in our world, and even in the church, that do not truly believe what they say they believe. What leads me to this conclusion?

Last year, in a poll of over 2k people conducted by Harris Poll, they found that of U.S. adults:

74% believe in God

68% believe Jesus is God or God’s Son

So according to this poll and many other recent polls, around 70% of Americans believe in God and Jesus as His Son. We can all agree that b/c someone says they believe in Jesus, doesn’t actually mean they believe the right things about Jesus.

KEY QUESTION

That leads us ultimately to this question: Does it even matter if what we believe about Jesus is true?

Though our quick answer is yes, it does matter, the lifestyles of the vast majority of Americans would suggest otherwise – that as long as we believe something about Jesus, we’ll be okay. Sadly, I believe there are many people in the church who either do not truly believe what they say they believe about Jesus or currently believe the wrong things about Jesus. My goal this morning is to help us all determine two things: 1st: Is our current view of Jesus accurate and complete? 2nd: Do we truly believe what we say we believe about Jesus? I hope to accomplish this by asking three straightforward questions.

QUESTION 1: WHAT DO I BELIEVE ABOUT JESUS?

The fact is this – everyone has an opinion about Jesus. Some believe He’s God’s Son, some don’t. Some believe He was just a good man, others believe he’s a myth. We all have our opinions about Jesus, and in order for us to discover what those opinions are, I want you to take some time right now to determine exactly what you believe about Jesus. I’m going to give you about 30 seconds to either write down or run through your mind what you believe about Jesus. Chances are in a room this size we have many different thoughts and ideas about who Jesus is. And though there are many truths about Jesus, not all are correct. So now that we have an idea of what we believe about Jesus, let’s move on to the next question.

QUESTION 2: DOES WHAT I CURRENTLY BELIEVE ABOUT JESUS MATCH WHAT SCRIPTURE SAYS ABOUT JESUS?

Now the reason this question is so important is b/c our very souls hang in the balance.

Jesus says in John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by Me.”

What Jesus was saying is that the only way for us to have a relationship with God, to be saved from our sin, and one day enter into eternal life is through Him. There is no other way. So if what we believe about Jesus is wrong or incomplete, we have no hope of being saved. So over the next few minutes I want us to walk through Colossians 1:15-22, which is possibly one of the greatest passages in the Bible that describe who Jesus is, in order to determine in our hearts whether or not what we read in these verses matches what we claim to believe in our hearts about Jesus. In Colossians 1:15-22 we will focus on 5 important truths about who Jesus is.

TRUTH #1: JESUS IS GOD

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

Whereas we, as humans, are created “in” the image of God, meaning, though we created in God’s image, we still have our flaws that prevent us from perfectly reflecting that image. Jesus “is” the image of God, meaning when we look at Jesus, we are seeing a perfect reflection of who God is. The reason that’s so is b/c Jesus is God in flesh.

John 1:18 - No one has ever seen God. The One and Only Son, the One who is at the Father’s side, He has revealed Him.

John 14:7-9 - 7 Jesus said, “If you know Me, you will also know My Father. From now on you know Him and have seen Him.” 8 Philip then said, “Lord, show us the Father.” 9 Jesus replied to Philip, “The one who has seen Me has seen the Father.”

What Jesus was saying to his disciples is that when they looked into His eyes, they were looking into the very eyes of God. Jesus’ existence did not begin in a lowly manger, b/c He has always existed.

John 1:1-2, 14

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning.