JESUS: WHY?!
March 19, 2016
Colossians 1:15-20
Have you ever asked yourself this question . . . . If I had the chance to tell someone about Jesus — someone who had never heard about Jesus and who didn't know anything about Jesus — what would I tell them?
What would I want them to know about this God / man. How would I describe Jesus? For the past 30+ years I’ve followed Jesus. Sometimes, not very well, at other times, better. Way back then, I had to choose between my family and Jesus. I chose Jesus! I’ve been in ministry for over 25 years, so what would I tell someone about Jesus? What would you tell someone about Him?
I also wondered, and it’s kind of funny or ironic or maybe even sad - - but what would I tell the people who are already at church? What would I tell the people who already believe in Jesus? What would people need to know about Jesus in order to follow Him more faithfully? Or even just have a better understanding of who Jesus is, so He makes more sense!
Most people who’ve been to church know at least a little bit about Jesus' life and ministry, but the problem is — we tend to view Jesus through such a modern filter that, if we were to come face-to-face with Jesus — we might not recognize Him.
We see Jesus through the filter of who we are, fitting Him into our mold and being one of us. Jesus has been presented as a business leader in books such as Jesus CEO or The Management Methods of Jesus or Leadership Lessons of Jesus.
Some see Him as a true blooded red, white and blue American. For some, Jesus is the Ultimate Republican. Others see Him as the Ultimate Democrat. And even others, like Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, see Him as the Ultimate Socialist.
Some portray Jesus as a first century Mr. Rogers; others portray Him as a first century Chuck Norris or Rambo.
And, of course, all churches portray Jesus as one who would be recognized and right at home in their congregation, and would be an enthusiastic supporter of everything they do.
We’ve seen Jesus through the filter of ourselves for so long that at times we run the risk of missing a very important point. It's not for us to conform Jesus into our likeness. It's for us to conform and be transformed into His likeness.
In order to do this, we need to know who Jesus is as He’s revealed to us in Scripture. The good news is that Scripture paints a very detailed picture of who Jesus is and what He’s like.
What we discover, is that many times, Jesus is not at all what we expect Him to be. He's full of surprises. But if you spend time with Him in the gospels, you’ll get to know Him very well.
For this reason we'll spend the next few weeks — examining the person of Jesus Christ. I want to go deeper than some of the stories we’ve learned, so we not only know about Jesus — but more importantly, we can truly know Jesus, intimately know Him.
And as we learn about who He was and who He is, we'll also have the chance to think about who we need to become . . . how we can become more faithful followers of our Lord.
Today, I want to talk about who is this Jesus, that we should follow Him? What makes Him different than any other religious leader? And why does He deserve our devotion?
Understand this - - - - Jesus is God.
He is God in the flesh. The Eternal God. Not an angel. Not a pre-existent supernatural being. Not merely a god. He is The God. The Eternal God. Jesus has always existed and will always exist - - and that is vitally important for us to know.
John 1:1 says ~ 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. – John 1:1
Jesus and God the Father, as well as the Holy Spirit, are One. One God. Each uniquely identifiable, yet One in nature. This is what we're referring to when we say we believe in the trinity — God in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
This passage gives us an important truth - - - Jesus is and always was! John refers to Jesus as THE WORD! He was there in the beginning and He was with God, and in fact He is God!
Now you may say, ‘well, of course that’s true!’ But know that there are so many people who do not believe this. That’s true today, and true 100's of years ago. There was a popular belief in the 4th century called Arianism, which believed Jesus and the Holy Spirit were created by the Father, and as a result they were inferior to the Father. They didn’t have the same standing - - which means Jesus’ power to save us diminishes.
Then there was Docetism, which was the belief that Jesus only seemed to be human, and that His human form was an illusion. This goes all the way back to the late 2nd century. This was especially true of Jesus on the cross. It was believed by many that Jesus was not really on the cross, simply because God could not suffer and die, so it had to be an imposter or stand in.
Then there’s another popular belief called pelagianism and semi-pelagianism. These form the beliefs we can come to God on our own. We have the freedom and choice to decide if we want to believe in God or not. It works off the premise that sin does not affect us and we have the freedom on our own to choose God or not to choose God.
So, understand when we talk to people today, these beliefs still hold true. Many people do not believe in Jesus. Or they do not believe He existed, or He was created, or He did not have power to heal, nor did He rise from the dead. That sin doesn’t matter and we can choose anytime we want to say yes or no to Jesus.
As a result, those people, and I must add, too many Christ followers have very little reverence or what we would call a healthy fear of God.
WHY? Because very simply, we don’t have that high of a view of God. Imagine if we did? Imagine what the church could and would do if we looked at Jesus as the real King of kings and Lord of lords.
Imagine if we viewed Christ as someone who really died for you and I? If we held onto the view that someone was brutalized so I would not have to be brutalized? Imagine if we viewed God as God and not as a genie?
Imagine what we may be like? Not because we live out of fear. But we have an immense love for Jesus. We live out of a deep abiding love, grace, mercy, power and strength which fills us and which cannot be defeated. This is the church God calls us to be.
Yet, understand - - - defining and describing God is beyond our ability. If we could break down and decipher God like a mechanic understands a vehicle, then He would be a very small, very limited God.
But God is not small. Not at all. Our God is great — and far beyond our ability to comprehend, and He always will be.
But we can at least, begin to understand some aspects of his nature and character. What has been revealed to us is that Jesus Christ is the Eternal God. He has always existed and will always exist.
Later in the gospel of John, when Jesus was debating with some religious leaders, He made the comment that Abraham rejoiced to see Him come into the world.
Listen to this conversation ~ Jesus said ~ ~
56 Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.”
57 They said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and you have seen Abraham!”
58 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, before Abraham was born, I am!”
They immediately understood what He was saying. This phrase, "I am" goes back to the book of Exodus. In chapter 3, it was the name by which God calls Himself when He's talking to Moses on Mount Sinai.
So, when Jesus said, "Before Abraham was born, I am," in effect, He was saying, "I have always existed. I am eternal. I am God."
What was the response of the Jewish religious leaders?
59 At this, they picked up stones to stone Him, but Jesus hid Himself, slipping away from the temple grounds. – John 8:56-59
Why react that way? Because Jesus said He was God. And in their hardened hearts, He couldn’t be, it was blasphemy.
And that's why I want to remind you, we really don't have the option of saying Jesus was just a good man or a good teacher. Jesus never claimed to be those persons. He claimed to be God. And a person who claims to be God, as C.S. Lewis said - - - is either a liar, a lunatic . . . or he’s legit. He really is who he says he is. It has to be one of the three, it can't be a little bit of the three.
Jesus claimed to be God. As we come to know Him, we need to know Jesus on His terms, based on who He claims to be, and who the Bible claims He is.
In the book of Colossians, Paul wrote...
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
16 For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities — all things were created through Him and for Him.
17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
18 And He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything He might be preeminent.
19 For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,
20 and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross. – Colossians 1:15-20
What a great statement from Paul! Consider what Paul’s telling us about Jesus. And this is so important because this helps give us just the basics about who Jesus is. If we miss out on this, we end up with a moral, good teacher, who is our example, and who becomes one of many ways to find salvation.
Paul tells us - - Jesus is the physical image of the invisible God! This fact alone, leads us to believe that God, the Father sent His Son into the world so we could see God, we could know God, and we could believe and trust God has experienced what we experience.
Think of it this way . . . if people know your parents, even though nobody sees them, you represent them. The way you live your life speaks for who your parents are. Especially young people, you really do represent your parents!
Now, take this a step further, you are also a child of God. He died for you, saved you, and now calls you His child. He is your heavenly Father! So, all you do also represents who God is in your life. It’s an awesome responsibility! You are Jesus with skin on! When your character flaws come out, as well as when you do good! These all represent God! That tells people about your relationship with God, which is why we need to better know who Jesus is, and how to live our lives.
Now, go back to Jesus . . . He is God and He is the physical representation of God. The fact that He didn’t sin, the fact He didn’t fight and lash out and yell and scream, He didn’t shy away from touching the sick, the lepers, the blind, the dead; His compassion, His sacrifice, it all speaks volumes to who He is and to who the Father is. So, all Jesus did, represented the Father.
The Bible tells us Jesus is the creator of the universe. This goes back to what Jesus said in John 8. Before Abraham was, I was! I was there in the beginning. I am not a creation. I was not born on some specific date. I was always here. There was never a time when I was not here.
Jesus did not come into existence when He was born. He was the author of creation. Jesus cannot be the first thing created, as (Arianism claimed) - - - since “all things” without exception were created by Him.
Jesus is not only the agent of creation but is also the goal of creation, for everything was created by Him and for Him. In other words, everything was created for His honor and glory and praise! Since Jesus is in this sense the goal of creation, He is fully God. And Jesus is the one who is constantly holding creation together. Making sure we have the exactly correct levels of the air we breathe. He is the One who continually sustains His creation, preventing it from falling into chaos or disintegrating.
Ultimately, and this is not even where I wanted to go today, but you cannot leave off verse 20 ~
20 and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross. – Colossians 1:15-20
We end at the cross and the death of Jesus, when He died in our place. In his book, Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis wrote, “We are told that Christ was killed for us, that His death has washed out our sins, and that by dying He disabled death itself. That is the formula.”
And it goes beyond that . . . Jesus died so we could be reconciled to the Father. So our sinfulness would be taken upon Jesus, so we would have what’s called imputed righteousness, where God now views us as righteous, not because of anything we’ve ever done, but because of all that Christ did for us on the cross.
We read this in 2 powerful verses from 1 Peter ~
24 He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. – 1 Pet. 2:24
18 For Christ also died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God. – 1 Pet. 3:18
As I bring us to the end of today’s message, please take this to heart, hold onto these truths in your spirit, understand what all of this means, then live your life with all of your passion and strength - - - -
Jesus is God! Yet, He gave up His divinity for as time and came as a man, in what He called Himself the Son of Man, He came for you and I. He has never changed, just as the writer of Hebrews tells us,
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. – Hebrews 13:8
God has shown us the way to salvation, to eternal life, but also to eternity starting here - - right now, while you’re still alive. Friends, grab ahold of the power of Jesus, draw near to Him, gain His strength and power! Live life like you were meant to live!
You know I always say go into the world and make a difference, and it occurred to me, it’s really amazing what I learn when I’m writing . . . . you can only make a difference for Christ, if Christ has made a difference in your life.
