WALKING LIKE JESUS WALKED 2 – THE REAL JESUS
Text: Luke 19:28-44
Introduction
1. Have you heard of the controversial exhibit at the Detroit Institute of art?
2. It is the Rembrandt and the Face of Christ exhibit.
3. Rembrandt’s depictions of Jesus were even more controversial in the 17 century.
4. His familiarity with the Jewish community in his native Netherlands moved him to paint Jesus with a Jewish appearance.
5. People were shocked!
6. Jesus looking Jewish?
7. They saw Jesus in the art of the time portrayed as Caucasian.
8. It’s amazing how in every age, people misunderstood Christ.
9. Instead of struggling to be transformed into the image of Christ, they worked to transform Christ into an image of themselves.
10. Graphically it is most evident when we look at the historical depictions of Jesus.
11. Artists have traditionally painted Jesus as similar to the people around the artist at the time or around popular theological conceptions of Jesus.
12. At the height of the Black Power movement there were those who portrayed Jesus as a black revolutionary raising a rebellious fist in defiance of the political powers of his time.
13. In the 60’s when the hippy revolution arose, unwashed, robed and be-sandaled drop out, non-conformists portrayed Jesus as just like them.
14. After all Jesus wore sandals and a robe and had long hair. That was certainly was non-conformist.
15. Non-Conformist? Everyone wore sandals robes. And no one knows how long his hair was.
16. So, what did Jesus look like?
17. No one knows there are only three possible references to his looks.
Isaiah 53:2 (NIV) He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
Luke 2:52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.
John 18:4-5 4 Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, “Whom do you seek?” 5 They answered him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I am he.” Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them.
We shouldn’t be surprised at this. Even while Jesus was on the Earth, people misunderstood him and tried to pour him into their own mold.
18. It is apparent from these passages he was of ordinary appearance to the first century Jews.
19. Question – Why doesn’t the Bible tell us what Jesus looked Like?
20. Because it shouldn’t matter to us.
Deuteronomy 29:29 “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
2 Peter 1:3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,
21. God doesn’t care what we look like. He cares that we think speak and act like Jesus.
1 John 2:6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.
John 13:15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.
1 Peter 2:21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.
Jesus has shown us that what matters is our hearts our words and our deeds.
Matthew 15:15-20 15 But Peter said to him, “Explain the parable to us.” 16 And he said, “Are you also still without understanding? 17 Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? 18 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. 20 These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”
22. Our text today is an example of this.
23. Many misunderstand Jesus.
I. We find some examples of people misunderstanding Jesus on the day of the Triumphal Entry.
A. Jesus was misunderstood as King (19:28-36).
B. It was believed Jesus would use His power and might to restore Israel as an independent nation.
C. Look at the display of power and authority in this passage:
Luke 19:30 saying, “Go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it and bring it here.
1. Have you ever tried or have you seen someone who tried to ride a colt that has never been ridden before?
2. Look at what happens with Jesus,
“They brought it (the colt) to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it.”
D. Authority – When they were untying the colt they were asked what they were doing and when they said that the Lord needed it, nothing more was said.
E. As Jesus traveled along the road the people waved palm branches and spread palm branches and their cloaks on the road.
F. They set out the red carpet like they might have for King David.
G. They were expecting an earthly king.
H. They believed He was a king sent by God –
Luke 19:38 saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
I. They thought Jesus would resurrect the throne of David in Jerusalem.
J. They had the wrong resurrection in mind.
K. Their vision was not big enough because Jesus was the King of kings who came to deliver all men from a life of sin, not to deliver Israel from the Romans.
L. Is your vision of Christ big enough?
M. Jesus was misunderstood in regards to praise
Luke 19:37-40 37 As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives— the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, 38 saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” 39 And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” 40 He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”
N. They praised Him for what He had done, but failed to believe who He was.
O. We should thank Him for what He does and praise Him for who He is.
P. Some who saw jesus believed that Jesus should not be praised – “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” (39)
Q. If we do not praise, the stones will cry out.
R. There are many examples of praise in the Bible:
Psalms 146:1-2 1 Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul! 2 I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.
Psalms 145:1-2 1 I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever. 2 Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever.
Psalms 49:1 Hear this, all peoples! Give ear, all inhabitants of the world,
Revelation 4:8 And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”
Revelation 4:11 “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”
Revelation 15:3-4 3 And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations! 4 Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.”
S. Jesus’ mission was misunderstood (41-44)
Luke 19:41-44 41 And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, 42 saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43 For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side 44 and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”
T. They missed his heart for those who failed to believe in Him – “As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it.”
Luke 19:10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
John 3:17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
U. Today’s church has missed this point.
V. They thought Jesus came to bring peace – freedom form the rule of another nation.
Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
Matthew 10:34-36 34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36 And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household.
Matthew 1:21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
W. Jesus came to make a way for man to be at peace with God.
X. True peace was within reach, but they misunderstood.
II. Today’s caricature of Jesus
A. Jesus came to do the Father’s will
Hebrews 10:4-7 4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. 5 Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; 6 in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. 7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’ ”
John 4:34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.
John 9:4 We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work.
B. Jesus said you shouldn’t be straining at gnats.
Matthew 23:23-24 23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. 24 You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!
C. Jesus said judge not.
D. Jesus said Preaching about hell is not chrsitlike.
Matthew 5:22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.
Conclusion
1. Jesus Christ came to do the Father’s will
2. Because of this he died was raised by the power of God and received to eternal glory joy and honor.
3. Some day you will die and be raised. The question is will God receive you to glory joy and honor?
4. Only if you have walked like Jesus who came to do the father’s will.
5. What is his will for you?
6. If you are not a Christian.
