Almost
Series: “face to Face”
Sunday sermon / July 8th 2007
Intro: Not every person who came face to Face with Jesus was beautifully transformed. Some of their stories are tragedies rather than “Happily-ever-afters.” The man we will look at today did come face to Face with Jesus and the best we can say about him is that “He was almost transformed.”
This morning we will be studying Pilate.
My new favorite show: Bear Gryll’s show “Man Vs. Wild.” Bear is constantly dropping himself into life and death scenarios in order to show you how to survive in the harshest environments. He strands himself in popular wilderness destinations where tourists often find themselves lost or in danger and he tells the number of people who died in previous years in the same predicament he is about to enter. In every episode he will do something that will make you shutter. (Like, scraping maggots from a rotten carcass and eating them) But his actions are necessary if he is to survive the experience. The first thing: realize the severity of the situation and how to survive.
Pilate’s appearance in Scripture is there to teach us how to survive.
But, unlike the other people we are studying in “face to Face” Pilate is a study of what NOT to do.
Each of the Gospels contains the story of Jesus before Pilate (Or should we say, Pilate before Jesus.) We’ll use the John as the main text and we’ll pull bits and pieces from each of the others.
Text:
John 18:28-19:22 (English Standard Version)
28Then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the governor’s headquarters. It was early morning. They themselves did not enter the governor’s headquarters, so that they would not be defiled, but could eat the Passover. 29So Pilate went outside to them and said, "What accusation do you bring against this man?" 30They answered him, "If this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you." 31Pilate said to them, "Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law." The Jews said to him, "It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death." 32This was to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken to show by what kind of death he was going to die.
33So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" 34Jesus answered, "Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?" 35Pilate answered, "Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?" 36Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world." 37Then Pilate said to him, "So you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world--to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice." 38Pilate said to him, "What is truth?"
After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, "I find no guilt in him. 39But you have a custom that I should release one man for you at the Passover. So do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?" 40They cried out again, "Not this man, but Barabbas!" Now Barabbas was a robber.
John 19:1 Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. 2And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. 3They came up to him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!" and struck him with their hands. 4Pilate went out again and said to them, "See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him." 5So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, "Behold the man!" 6When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, "Crucify him, crucify him!" Pilate said to them, "Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him." 7The Jews answered him, "We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God." 8When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid. 9He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, "Where are you from?" But Jesus gave him no answer. 10So Pilate said to him, "You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?" 11Jesus answered him, "You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin."
12From then on Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, "If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar." 13So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Stone Pavement, and in Aramaic Gabbatha. 14Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, "Behold your King!" 15They cried out, "Away with him, away with him, crucify him!" Pilate said to them, "Shall I crucify your King?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar." 16So he delivered him over to them to be crucified.
Take comfort: You will never have to face any situation as demanding as Pilate’s.
We all face tough issues in life.
I. What NOT to do about tough issues:
a. Dodge the Issue
i. It’s not for me to decide, it’s your problem
ii. Even before Pilate considered Jesus, he was trying to get out of it.
John 18:31 Pilate said to them, "Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law."
iii. Pilate didn’t think it involved him.
John 18:33 "Are you the King of the Jews?" 34Jesus answered, "Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?" 35Pilate answered, "Am I a Jew?...”
b. Pass the Buck
i. Let’s see if Herod will make the decision for me.
Luke 23:7 “7And when he learned that he belonged to Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him over to Herod, who was himself in Jerusalem at that time.”
ii. Herod passed Jesus back like a hot potato.
c. Drag it out:
i. Pilate tried to not make a decision / He kept stalling
ii. Hoping for an easy way out.
iii. When you have to make a choice and don’t make it, that is in itself a choice.
d. Create a diversion
i. Pilate pulls Barabbas out, “Maybe they’ll choose to release Jesus over Barabbas.”
ii. Respond with arguments
iii. Respond with emotion (Anger, crying etc.)
iv. I’m too busy.
No matter what he tried he had to face the issue.
- Everyone will face the question, “What will you do about Jesus?”
- The center of his deception was that he was not responsible; it was someone else’s fault; he was pushed into it.
II. Choose the course and follow through
a. Listen to God
i. Pilate thought he was in authority over Jesus
John 18:37-38 Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world--to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice."
John 19:8 “When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid. 9He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, "Where are you from?" But Jesus gave him no answer. 10So Pilate said to him, "You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?" 11Jesus answered him, "You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above.”
ii. Pilate assumed he was in the place of judgment.
iii. We think that we are to sift through the evidence and make judgments as to Jesus’ importance in our lives. This is faulty assumption.
The wrong question to ask: “What do I want to do in this situation?”
A better question to ask: “What is the right thing for me to do in this situation?”
The best question to ask: “What decision has God already made here?”
Our responsibility is to discover and discern the will of God, not to decide what WE think is best.
b. Listen to your heart
i. In his heart, Pilate wanted to make the right choice
John 19:12 From then on Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out…”
ii. Pilate’s heart was saying, "Let Jesus Live!!"
If Pilate’s heart was saying, Let Jesus Live, his head was saying, Let Pilate Live!
iii. Pilate made the decision to try and save himself.
Matt 16:25-26 (NASB) "For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
iv. God’s Spirit convicts the world
John 16:8 “And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 9concerning sin, because they do not believe in me;…”
v. Pilate felt pressured into his decision
1. Pressured from the Crowd
Mark 15:15 “…Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd…delivered him to be crucified.”
2. Pressure from authority
- History tells us that Pilate came into his job through marriage.
- He had several “botched” attempts at governing the Jews.
- He had been reprimanded for his bloody dealings with the Jews already
- He was on a short leash; he couldn’t afford to botch another situation.
- He didn’t want to give up his power, paycheck or position.
3. Pressure from advisors (Wife and Herod, his peer)
Luke 23:12 “And Herod and Pilate became friends with each other that very day, for before this they had been at enmity with each other.”
Your friends’ bad decisions make it easier for you to follow suit.
Thinking, “I’m not so bad, I have peers. We’re in this together.”
Matthew 27:19 “…while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, "Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered much because of him today in a dream."
4. His state of mind: Cynical – in over his head, assigned an impossible task (Keeping peace in Jerusalem)
John 18:37-38 “…Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice." 38Pilate said to him, "What is truth?"
- “Oh, who cares…”
- “It doesn’t matter what I do…”
5. Pilate miscalculated what was at stake.
Matthew 10:28 “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”
- What was the worst thing that could happen?
- Loose career, friends and family, loose his life.
Matthew 19:29 “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.”
- Are any of these things equal to salvation?
Jesus forces you to choose his Lordship in your life. As someone has said,
“You think Jesus is going to say, “Choose between me or the devil,” but he never says that. That’s easy—there’s no choice to make there. What Jesus says is, “Choose me or your mother. Choose me or your friends. Choose me or your career. Choose me or your life. Choose me as king or you as king.” And that’s not easy, people.
Some resist Jesus because they don’t want to give up their vices.
• Is a case of beer worth it?
• Is sexual immorality worth throwing eternity away for?
• Is money really THAT important?
• Is there anything more important? Popularity, Pleasure, Pride?
c. Yield your WILL to God.
i. You ARE the sum of your decisions
Good choices in life pile up and lift you. Bad choices in life build up and create an avalanche that crushes you. Avalanches occur with little to no warning, travel up to 150 miles per/hour and crush everything in their paths.
ii. Am I being too dramatic? I don’t think so. If you can’t get the big questions right, how can you expect to solve the little issue in life?
iii. Of course it isn’t easy, but God will help you.
Hebrews 12:3 “Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. 4In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.”
iv. As a last ditch effort, Pilate tries to absolve himself once more:
Matthew 27:24 “24So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, "I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves."
Token gestures don’t amount to much, it’s how you finish that matters.
v. Even though he tried his best to hold onto his life, he lost it all in the end anyway. History tells us that after this, Pilate botched up again. He was “recalled” to Roman and is never heard of again. Tradition says he committed suicide.
Conclusion:
Although you don’t have to decide whether or not Jesus should be put to death.
But you do have the decision whether or not He will live in your heart.
You don’t have to decide if he is attempting to over throw Caesar and become King of the Jews.
But you must decide if he be King of your life?
