Getting the Right Idea about Jesus
Matthew 22:41-46
October 12, 2008
Me: One of the things I’ve noticed over the years, especially since giving my life to Christ in the fall of 1982, is that there are a lot of ideas about Jesus.
Who He was, what He did, what He said, whether He should have died, whether His death really did what it was supposed to do, whether He really rose again, all sorts of things.
People are quick to offer their thoughts about Jesus, ranging from worship to actual hatred for Jesus and everything He stands for.
We: I think that all we need to do is look around a bit to see the different ideas about Jesus.
Some say He was a vegetarian (although He ate fish…), some say He was a revolutionary, some say He was a pacifist, some say He was a weakling, others say He was the picture of strength under control.
The question I need to ask you is this: Are you getting the right ideas about Jesus and where are you getting those ideas?
Are you a person who’s not sure if they have the right idea about who Jesus is? If not, how do you get the right information so you can get the right idea?
Can I trust everything that comes across religious TV or radio?
The fact is, folks, that it is essential to have the right ideas about Jesus. Missing out on who Jesus really is means the possibility of putting your faith in something false, and that will literally effect where you spend eternity.
God: It this issue that Jesus decides to confront with the Pharisees, the religious leaders of His day.
Up to this point in this episode, the religious leaders had been asking Jesus questions, hoping to trip Him up or trap Him in His words. And it hasn’t worked.
Now Jesus turns the tables and asks them a question.
Matthew 22:41-46 (p. 669-700) –
41 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, 42 "What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?"
"The son of David," they replied.
43 He said to them, "How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ’Lord’? For he says,
44 "’The Lord said to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet."’
45 If then David calls him ’Lord,’ how can he be his son?" 46 No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.
The heart of this question lies in the fact that if these guys couldn’t rightly identify just who the Messiah was supposed to be, then they’d never recognize Him when He arrived. And this was why they didn’t recognize Jesus as the Messiah.
The Pharisees … erroneously thought he would be only a human ruler who would reign on King David’s throne, deliver the Jews from Gentile domination by establishing God’s rule on earth, and restore Israel’s greatness as in the days of David and Solomon.
They knew that the Messiah would be a descendant of David, but they did not understand that he would be more than a human descendant—he would be God in the flesh. (LACNT)
It was hard for them wrap their brains around that, and that’s understandable, since they had been told for generations to expect this great warrior like David was.
The Jews were expecting a political kingdom to be established, not a spiritual one.
And when Jesus shows them the flaw in their thinking, all they could do was shut up and go away, looking and waiting for that opportunity to finally get rid of this meddler.
So what does this mean for us today?
It’s critically important that we understand that the Messiah – whom Jesus claimed to be, was much more than a mere human. He was and is divine.
This is important because if you don’t get the right idea about Jesus, it has eternal consequences.
Folks, you can have all sorts of wrong ideas about all sorts of things. Just ask anybody who thought disco was good music and now lives to regret saying that back then…
You can be wrong about people, you can be wrong about science, you can be wrong about politics, you can be wrong about clothing, you can be wrong about sex, you can be wrong about whether guys should wear pink, you can be wrong about pizza toppings, you can even be wrong about which brand of tractor is best. Really you can.
But if you’re wrong about Jesus, you’ll pay for that error for eternity.
So let me just lay down very quickly what are some of the essentials that we need to believe regarding Jesus:
1. Jesus is the divine Son of God.
He is God in the flesh.
He is part of that wonderful mystery known as the Trinity – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. One God in three Persons.
Jesus is God in the flesh.
2. Jesus died as the perfect sacrifice.
He shed His blood on the cross. And because He was perfect – He never sinned – He was the only one qualified to bring forgiveness for our sins.
We’re going to commemorate His death as we take communion here in a bit, but communion would be meaningless if Jesus were just a man like you and me.
The sinless, perfect, Lamb of God laid down His life because we sinned.
Without the sacrifice of Jesus, we would have to die for our own sins. And there would be no hope of heaven for any of us.
3. Jesus rose again from the dead.
One of the proofs of Jesus’ divinity is the fact that He rose from the grave, just as He said He would.
He rose physically – with a body that bore the scars. He didn’t just rise “spiritually” like a ghost or just in the hearts and minds of His disciples. The grave was empty and there was no body.
His resurrection proved His power over death and the grave, giving you and me hope that when we die as believers in Jesus, we will be raised to be in heaven with Christ for all of eternity.
Because of Christ’s resurrection, life doesn’t end at the grave. It continues forever in the presence of God.
4. Jesus will return to judge all people.
The Bible says that Jesus will return, and when He does, two main things will happen:
He will gather His people to Himself, and He will judge those who have rejected Him.
And those who have refused Him on this earth will find out that their standards of what Jesus should judge them on don’t count.
What counts is what Jesus says the standard is. And that standard is faith in Him.
You: So what can we do about this?
Let me offer you a couple actions that you can take to help in this whole issue of getting the right idea about Jesus the Messiah.
First…
> Make sure your faith is in the Jesus of the Scriptures – the Son of God.
The Bible is the primary source of information about Jesus. The eyewitness testimony of His followers and those who knew them are the things we need to count on in finding out about Jesus.
I had a conversation years ago with a young lady who was from Europe. She wanted to know more about Jesus and I was telling her that the Bible was the best source to learn about Him.
She asked me why I thought that and so I said, “If I wanted to know more about you, should I talk to you, or should I talk to other people who can just tell me stuff about you?”
The answer, of course, is that I would get the best information from the best source: her.
And so, to get the right idea about Jesus, maybe we should ask Him. What do His words and His actions tell us?
In the Scriptures, we have, as I mentioned, eyewitness testimony. We have first-hand quotes from Jesus recorded by those who heard them, and we have the accounts of what Jesus did from the hands of those who saw them happen.
That holds a lot more weight to me than just hearing other people’s opinions. I have the facts recorded right here.
Don’t just take other people’s opinions of Jesus – including mine.
Be like the folks in Berea when Paul came to them with the message of Jesus.
Acts 17:11 –
Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
They didn’t just suck it all up from Paul. They checked it out.
Folks, most people are getting their ideas of Jesus from prime-time TV and the guests on “Oprah.”
And others are just taking a superficial look at the Scriptures and coming up with their own ideas about Jesus that are nice and convenient but don’t match with the reality of the Jesus of the Scriptures.
They see the “good teacher” Jesus but ignore most of what He taught. They like the “don’t judge lest you be judged” parts (and take them out of context) but ignore stuff like “all who don’t believe in Me are condemned.”
They like the “Golden Rule” Jesus but don’t like the “all who don’t believe in Me are condemned” Jesus.
They don’t get the fact that Jesus Himself will judge them, and He will judge them according to the words He gave us, recorded in the gospels.
But as I’ve been trying to say, we can’t take the Jesus of convenience. We need to take the Jesus of Scripture.
People are quick to say that Jesus was a good man or a moral teacher. But let me read to you the words of C.S. Lewis, in what is probably his most often-quoted statement, from his book, Mere Christianity:
I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ’I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic -- on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg -- or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.
> Proclaim the Jesus of the Scriptures.
Talk about the Jesus of the Bible, and defend Him against others’ misconceptions and wrong ideas about Him.
When you hear others talking about Jesus and getting it wrong, gently but firmly tell them what the Bible says about Jesus.
You don’t need to be rude, but truth needs to be proclaimed. It’s too important for people to walk away with an erroneous idea about Jesus. It could cost them their very soul.
Now isn’t that important enough for you to get out of your comfort zone a bit and talk to them?
We: Folks, in a world full of error, we need to be people who live in the truth and who share the truth with those around us.
It’s true that many people have no desire for God and no desire for what He has to offer.
But it’s also true that there are many people who are literally dying to hear that there is a God who cares and that He loves them so much that He made it possible for them to have a home in heaven.
Jesus said that we are the ones who are supposed to tell them about Jesus. It’s our job.
And we can’t do that if we’re not, ourselves, believing in and living for the Jesus that Scripture tells us about.
But if we can get this right, and we not only believe correctly, but we allow Jesus to really run the show in our lives, we can make a huge impact on those who are without hope for eternity.
Let’s be people who get the right ideas about Jesus. For our sake, and for the advancement of Christ’s kingdom on earth. Let’s pray.
