Dakota Community Church
October 17, 2010
Jesus on Scripture - 2
Revelation 19:11-16
11I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. 12His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. 13He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. 14The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. 15Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. "He will rule them with an iron scepter." He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. 16On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written:
KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS
We may have many teachers whom we respect and would love to meet and question – but we worship and submit to Jesus.
Last week we saw what Jesus had to say about scripture
Today we will cover Jesus’ use of scripture in three areas:
1. Personal duty
What did the Lord require of Him?
What would set the standards in His life?
What would be the value that would govern His life and where would they come from?
Matthew 4:1-10
1Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. 2After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread."
4Jesus answered, "It is written: ’Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’"
5Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6"If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written:
"’He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’"
7Jesus answered him, "It is also written: ’Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’"
8Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9"All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me."
10Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ’Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’"
Tempted to disobey, doubt, and desert God; Jesus replies, resists, and refutes with scripture.
Jesus does not change His position based on difficult circumstance.
He is near death from starvation after 40 days, what’s the big deal? Make bread and live to fight another day.
The scripture says otherwise.
How often do we want to change our values or lower our standards based on need, opportunity, practicality or even something as miniscule as shifting cultural norms – Jesus demonstrates that the scriptures do not change and we serve them – not the other way around.
In that same passage we also see the second example in the area of:
2. Official ministry
How and when did Jesus come to know who He was and what He had come to do?
In the passage above the devil throws this question at Him – “If you are the Son of God…”
It is not the only time this ministry of redemption would be called into question.
Matthew 16:21-23
21From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
22Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. "Never, Lord!" he said. "This shall never happen to you!"
23Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."
Matthew 26:50-54
Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus and arrested him. 51With that, one of Jesus’ companions reached for his sword, drew it out and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear.
52"Put your sword back in its place," Jesus said to him, "for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. 53Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? 54But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?"
This "must" has only one explanation. It was a necessity laid upon him by Scripture. Scripture revealed to him his messianic role. And he was determined voluntarily to fulfill it, because, as far as he was concerned, what Scripture said God said.
Can we really trust the scriptures?
Should the Bible be a directing force in our lives? Is it really the “Word of God?”
Jesus followed the scriptures all the way to the cross!
3. Public controversy
As we read the Gospels we can’t help but notice how many public debates they include.
People came to Jesus as a wise Rabbi with their questions.
Sometimes were genuine others sought to trap Him or expose Him as a fraud.
Luke 10:25-28
25On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
26"What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?"
27He answered: " ’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ’Love your neighbor as yourself.’"
28"You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."
Jesus was also drawn into disagreement with the Pharisees and the Sadducees.
The Pharisees complained that Jesus did not require his followers to observe their traditions.
Mark 7:1-13
1The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus and 2saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were "unclean," that is, unwashed. 3(The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. 4When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.)
5So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, "Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with ’unclean’ hands?"
6He replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:
“‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
7They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.’ 8You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men."
9And he said to them: "You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! 10For Moses said, ’Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ’Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’ 11But you say that if a man says to his father or mother: ’Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is Corban’ (that is, a gift devoted to God), 12then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother. 13Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that."
Jesus in His rebuke shows the correct use of scripture when it contradicts religious tradition – obey the Word.
The Sadducees did not believe in life after death or in a resurrection.
They ridiculed the scripture based on their imagined intellectual superiority.
These old prophets and ancient people were not as enlightened as we are – or so they thought.
Mark 12:18-27
18Then the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. 19"Teacher," they said, "Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and have children for his brother. 20Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died without leaving any children. 21The second one married the widow, but he also died, leaving no child. It was the same with the third. 22In fact, none of the seven left any children. Last of all, the woman died too. 23At the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?"
24Jesus replied, "Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? 25When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. 26Now about the dead rising—have you not read in the book of Moses, in the account of the bush, how God said to him, ’I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? 27He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!"
How perfectly does Jesus’ response answer the Sadducees of our time who claim there is no fall, no need of a substitutionary atonement, no judgement or punishment required of sin, and need for only one path to salvation.
Are they not in error because they do not know the scriptures or the power of God?
Jesus’ rebuke of both groups concerned their disrespecting of the Word of God.
The Pharisees added their tradition to Scripture.
The Sadducees subtracted the supernatural from Scripture.
Neither of them gave it the respect it deserved as God’s written Word.
In both cases he refuted their teaching with Scripture. He made Scripture the judge.
In each of the three cases above Jesus turned to Scripture to answer the question, to solve the problem, and to settle the dispute.
When the devil tempted him, he resisted the temptation with "It stands written."
When the apostles rejected the idea of his suffering he insisted the Scriptures must be fulfilled. When the Jewish leaders criticized his teaching, he criticized their treatment of Scripture.
Jesus endorsed the Old Testament as the Word of God.
In his view and use of Scripture he was entirely submissive to its authority as God’s own Word.
The disciple is not above his teacher.
How then can we, the disciples of Jesus, possibly have a lower view of Scripture than our teacher himself had?
If we do there are only two possibilities:
Jesus did not know what He was talking about
Jesus knew scriptures were inaccurate yet went along with them for the sake of peace
These make Jesus either a deceiver or a victim of deceit.
The scriptures again make it plain that neither of these is the case!
John 3:11-13
I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.
John 18:37
37"You are a king, then!" said Pilate.
Jesus answered, "You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me."
PowerPoint available (Free of charge) on request dcormie@mts.net
