May 31, 2009
Morning Worship
Text: Matthew 16:13-20
Subject: Who Jesus Is.
Title: The Proof is in the Power
One of my favorite stories of all time tells of a small town like Palmyra that was right in the middle of a “dry” county. If you wanted to by an alcoholic beverage you had to go to the next county over. One day an out of town businessman decided that he really liked this small town and wanted to retire there. But he thought it would be nice to have a small business interest in the town to provide some income and to keep him busy-but not too busy. It just so happened that this businessman was the owner of several bars in a larger city just one county away. But since this was a dry county he knew that if he wanted to branch out he would have to go through the proper legal procedures to get things changed. And that is exactly what he did. He started a campaign with all the citizens of the county that he knew he had seen in his bars. He ran commercials on the TV about how these new enterprises would bring tax dollars to the local government. He even found the right county commissioner whom he persuaded to jump on the bandwagon. After less than one year he had succeeded in having the issue placed on the ballot and it passed by a comfortable margin.
The church leaders then decided to come together to see what they could do about it – after the fact. There were many different ideas but the one that seemed to be the most logical was that they just needed to pray. Now, some of the churches dropped out because they didn’t believe that God works that way anymore. Others didn’t think it was worth the effort and that it would alienate the community and make them unpopular. Finally a small coalition of bible - believing congregations came together and fasted and prayed that God would prevent the bar from opening.
The night before the grand opening was to occur a fire started in the storage building next to the bar where all the liquor was stored and before the fire department could get the fire out a freak storm arose and a tornado dropped out of the sky, right on top of the bar, and destroyed it and nothing else in the whole town.
The next week the bar owner filed a lawsuit against the churches to reclaim the money he had lost from what their prayer had caused. The churches then filed a defamation of character counter-suit against him saying that they didn’t have anything to do with the fire and storm.
As the judge looked over the charges and counter charges he said this, “Who is right and who is wrong I do not know, but this much I do know. The bar owner believes that prayer works and apparently the church does not.
I want to speak to you today about that very fact. What do you, the church, believe God wants to do in and through the church today?
Who do you say that Jesus is?
Lord open my eyes to see and my ears to hear what the spirit is saying to the church.
I. WHAT THE WORLD THINKS. 13When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” Jesus was talking about Himself. Son of Man was one of His favorite names for himself. If you asked people around the world who they thought Jesus was you would get some answers that might surprise you. The Muslims believe that Jesus was a prophet and that His teachings should be listened to. The Hindus believe that He is a holy man and perhaps one of many ways to heaven, but not the only way. George Barna of the Barna Research Institute says that over 90% of Americans believe that there is a God. Americans describe their personal faith in various ways. While more than eight out of ten (84%) view themselves as Christian, a lesser but significant majority label themselves as a "committed Christian" (60%). Of those people who call themselves Christians a large percentage believe that satan is not a real person and that the Holy Spirit is just a concept. So if satan is not real then there was no sin in the garden and the Holy Spirit cannot convict the world of sin because there is no sin, and if there is no sin then there is no need for a Savior and if that is the case then Jesus is just another man. Many people will respond t that by saying that Jesus is the Son of God, but they stop short of confessing His eternal nature and the fact that he was born of a virgin through the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit isn’t real. 14They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” In other words the people of that day just like the people of this day just don’t know who Jesus is. One thing that I do find interesting is that when people have needs they know who to turn to. They turn to Christians to ask them to pray.
II. WHAT THE CHURCH SAYS. 15“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” 16Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Turn over to Acts 3 and verse 11, While the beggar held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon’s Colonnade. (the world thought that Peter and John had done something in their own power). 12When Peter saw this, he said to them: “Men of Israel, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? 13The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. 14You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. 15You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. Who does Peter now claim Jesus is? 1) the servant of God, 2) the Holy and Righteous One, 3) the author of life… and God raised Him from the dead. Now notice what Peter says. Jesus didn’t come just as Savior. He came as healer also. 16By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see. So who does the church say that Jesus is? This church says that He is everything that the word of God says He is and He never changes. Hebrews 13:8, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. So how do we know that Jesus is who the bible says He is? Because He is still doing the same things in the church today that He did 2000 years ago. And when the world asks us to pray we pray!
III. WHAT THE SPIRIT PROVES. Matthew 16:17-18, Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. 18And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. Peter had just received a glimpse of what Holy Ghost revelation is. It was the same kind of revelation that he would later receive and would lead him to stand in Jerusalem and prophesy to the Jews there. It is the same kind of revelation that Paul said in the natural we cannot receive but it comes in the spirit realm. 1 Corinthians 2:9-10, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived (all in the natural man) what God has prepared for those who love him” - 10but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. It is the work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believer that is proof that Jesus is God incarnate. It is Holy Spirit revelation that is the rock upon which Jesus will build the church. It is the “Rhema” – God speaking to His people through the Spirit. The Holy Spirit never gives new revelation but He reveals the word of God to us in a new way every day. The Holy Spirit speaks to our hearts whenever we take time to listen to instruct us and guide us and reveal His will for our lives. Jesus Himself told John to write letters to the seven churches of Asia, and in each letter He said, He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches… What the Spirit is saying to the churches today is that everything Jesus said we should be doing we aren’t. One of the great songs of our times says,
But if we are the Body
Why aren’t His arms reaching
Why aren’t His hands healing
Why aren’t His words teaching
And if we are the Body
Why aren’t His feet going
Why is His love not showing them there is a way
We have become the church Paul warned Timothy about that has a form of godliness but denies its power. But Jesus said, these signs will accompany those who believe…
IV. WHAT THE LORD EXPECTS. 19I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” There it is – the spiritual principal of binding and loosing. Jesus has given you the authority to use to bring glory to the Father. I want to go back to the idea of your worldly friends asking you to pray for them when there is a need. Why is it that the world asks us to pray like they expect something to happen and we pray half heartedly like we aren’t sure if anything will happen or not. Turn your bibles to Luke 13:10-16, 10On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, 11and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. 12When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” 13Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God. 14Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue ruler said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.” 15The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? 16Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?” The enemies of Jesus didn’t doubt that He could heal. As a mater of fact they expected Him to. Their problem was not that He healed people but that He was messing with their religion. He was messing with their lives. You see the ox and the donkey represented profit. For them to be concerned about their profit margins on the Sabbath was OK but to set a woman who had been bound by satan for eighteen years is wrong? Give me a break! But you see, here’s the problem. Why is it that the enemies of God believe that Jesus heals, that there is power in Jesus’ name? Why else would you think that there is such opposition to the name Jesus in the world today? But the church has lost its faith in the power of Jesus’ name. We have kind of become like the Pharisees of old. We don’t want Jesus to mess with what we’ve always been taught or we have come to believe. The tithing principal doesn’t apply to the church any more. God doesn’t pour out blessings like that any more. People just don’t get healed like that any more. If I’m sick it must be because God is trying to teach me a lesson. Come on – what is it that you are going to choose to believe – your own personal observations of religion or God’s word? … these signs will accompany those who believe… In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”
In closing I want you to turn to one more passage. Matthew 14:25, 25During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.
27But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
28“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”
29“Come,” he said.
Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”
31Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
Almost every sermon I have ever heard about Jesus walking on water focused on how Peter did OK until he looked at what was taking place around him and then he began to sink. Good point! But I think the real point that should be brought out here is that even when it didn’t make any sense Peter still stepped out of the boat. When he knew that in the natural scheme of things water would not support him, he trusted Jesus’ words and left the safety of the boat. He placed his safety in the hands of the One who had commanded him.
Who do you say Jesus is? Lord? Savior? Healer? Provider? Master? Deliverer? Teacher?
He is the head and you are the body. He has left you here to continue the work that He began. He has promised to baptize you in the Holy Ghost, and if He has then He expects you to do something with it. He expects you to lay hands on the sick and see them healed. He expects you to cast out demons. He expects you to preach the word in power and seek and save that which is lost. His power is more than just a goose bump rush you get when the Holy Spirit comes on you. It is experienced in what you do with it.
The proof is in the Power!!!!
