Monday, 28 July 2008
Thursday, 17 July 2008
Dr Horrible's sing-along blog.
Joss Whedon does it again.
In response the the writers strike, Joss set to work on a web based, high quality and cheap production.
With a few faces we might recognise the end result is Dr Horribles Sing-along blog.
It is being done in three acts, the first act was released a couple days ago, the next tomorrow, the final in a few days. They will stay on the internet for a while after that and then be gone. Only USA and Canada iTunes stores can buy them, eventually a DVD will be releases with the strongest and bravest extras in the land.
Go there now you know you want to. (Unless it is too late then you shall now grind your teeth in frustration).
In response the the writers strike, Joss set to work on a web based, high quality and cheap production.
With a few faces we might recognise the end result is Dr Horribles Sing-along blog.
It is being done in three acts, the first act was released a couple days ago, the next tomorrow, the final in a few days. They will stay on the internet for a while after that and then be gone. Only USA and Canada iTunes stores can buy them, eventually a DVD will be releases with the strongest and bravest extras in the land.
Go there now you know you want to. (Unless it is too late then you shall now grind your teeth in frustration).
Sunday, 13 July 2008
Who do you say He is? Luke 9:18-27
Have a read of Luke 9: 18-27. In it Jesus asks his disciples Three questions. Who do the crowds say I am, who do you say I am and What good is it to gain the world and yet lose your soul? Those same questions can also be asked of us. “Who do the crowds today say Jesus is.” “Who do WE say Jesus is” and what good is it to us if we gain the world and yet lose our souls? Those questions as they are very important to us – not only as Christians but also as human beings.
Right… leading up to this discussion between Jesus and His disciples… Jesus had been doing some pretty amazing stuff. He had calmed the storm by telling it off, He had cast demons out of a man society had given up on, He had brought a dead girl back to life, and then just before this little chat Jesus in the height of His popularity was followed – chased by crowds of people who wanted to hear Him talk – or more likely to see some miracles. Which they actually did see Jesus do.
The mob however hadn’t brought food and started to go hungry. The disciple Andrew found a wee boy who had five bread loaves and two fish. Jesus said grace and started breaking the food up and everyone got fed. How many got fed? Well being a male-centric society back then they only counted the men and there were 5000 of them. So probably there was another 5000 woman and at a guess maybe 2500 children. All miraculously fed. Critics of the bible say that it was not Jesus the miracle worker that fed the crowd but Jesus the great psychologist. That people had brought lunches but no-one wanted to share with those who hadn’t – so when the little boy offered to share, everyone who had brought something was shamed into sharing themselves. Well if this is the case then those people must have brought a lot extra as all 12500 ate and were satisfied and there were 12 baskets left over!
But the main reason I see that this was a miracle not a psychological event is that it is written as a miracle. 12500 people were involved and in the years after when this event was talked about and written down and passed around. If it had happened as a psycho not miracle event then they would have talked up. Imagine this… Later this year in the NPC rugby competition, Canterbury plays Southland. In an amazing turn up for the books Southland wins… not only wins… but wins 74 points to nil. Now as much as it grates me to say this… in the normal course of events a win like that is not going to happen. It really would be a miracle…. Now imagine 5 years down the track a one-eyed cantabrian journalist places an article in the Press talking about the nail biting 2008 game where Canterbury just managed to win against southland 25 points to 23. All the people who were at the game, all the spectators families who were told about the game would all know that the journalist was talking through a hole in his head. “I am certain the jouranlist is wrong I was there” would be spoken by a large number southlanders and a quite a few honest cantabrians as well.
So if someone said that Jesus fed by miracles and it was actually psychology then 12500 people would be around to say. “Hey man no way I was there – stop telling lies” The bible tells the truth… a huge crowd was fed by Jesus.
And this leads us to our first question…
Jesus asked “Who do the crowds say I am.”
The disciples answered that some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah and some say a prophet has come back to life.
Why do you think they say that?
Well you see John the Baptist was a powerful preacher who preached just before Jesus started his ministry, he spoke of repentance, that God’s chosen one was coming and he spoke out against the religious hypocrites who were ruling the temple (The pharasees). He had been killed by King Herod after the daughter of his brother’s wife asked him to.
I would imagine that some of the crowds had never seen John and here was Jesus preaching very similar messages –except Jesus said that the chosen one was not on the way – He was here… I’d also think perhaps there was some denial in Johns followers– and with Jesus’s miracles some of those who had their hopes pinned on John transferred that to Jesus that somehow maybe Jesus was John. Of course unlike Clark Kent and Superman Jesus and John were seen in the same room at the same room. John baptised Jesus – so even with some supernatural involvement we can be sure this is not the case
Elijah was another powerful preacher. He had spoken against the corrupt kings, he had stood up and with miracles shown God’s displeasure at the Israelites following “other gods” The prophets of Baal is one of my favourite stories. In challenge that Vin Diesel would shy away from. Elijah the one prophet of God left alive versus the 850 prophets of Baal. Elijah challenged to the prophets – in full view of everyone. To set up an alter with wood, place your sacrifice on it and Elijah would do they same – then they would call out to Baal and the Lord and whoever was the real God would accept the sacrifice by sending fire to burn it all up. So the Baal prophets, danced and pranced, but nothing happened . and then
1KI 18:27 At noon Elijah began to taunt them. "Shout louder!" he said. "Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened." 28 So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. 29 Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.
So then it was Elijahs turn. He got his alter ready with the wood and stones and dug a trench around it too then he got people to pour water over the wood until even the trench was full.
1KI 18:36 At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: "O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. 37 Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again."
1KI 18:38 Then the fire of the LORD fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.
So what did Elijah do after that- he had the prophets put to death, he then ended a three year drought and then bested a chariot in a 17 mile race. He was pretty much the Old Testaments Terminator. But he was weak too. Queen Jezebel threatened him and he ran and hid. Despite all the absolute proof and great deeds and God’s vengeance and love he showed – he did not bring about much spiritual change in the country.
Flash forward a few hundred years
The Jews in Jesus day were looking for their terminator. They had hypocritical religious leaders, they had been invaded by Rome and the Romans law and soldiers ruled their country. Unfortunately Asterix and Obelix were fiction so they had only one hope at expelling Rome, fixing their religion and living free again. God would provide. They prayed all day and every day for a saviour. They wanted Elijah or in fact any of the old prophets from long ago, back again to kick some butt.
And Jesus was living up to this. He had spoken out against the Pharasees – called them 7 kinds of Hypocrites. White painted tombs full of dead mens bones was one description he gave of them. He did the miracles – people came back to life.
But Jesus was not Elijah and nor was he some great prophet either – as we will soon see.
So that is what the crowds were saying then about Jesus. Today… what do the crowds today say today about Jesus?
Well there is the standard swear word use of his name – which says something in itself about Him and the crowds – I mean how often to you hear someone dropping a hammer on their foot and screaming “oh Budda!” or “Oh random conglomeration of particles brought together through the laws of phsyics and evolution” It’s always swearing against God and Jesus.
The crowds ignore Jesus – don’t speak about him, just go through life turning their back on anything they hear about Him or see or encounter. I used to be like that. If ever Jesus was mentioned I would not seek to learn more about it just mock what ever was said.…until the day about 16 years ago I was confronted with the Truth about Jesus – and there was nothing I could say or think of to counter it. 1 ½ years later of listening, and looking I gave my life to Him and accepted His love and forgiveness.
Some say Jesus is a myth. They say he did not exist – after all we weren’t there how can we say for sure he existed and even if he did how can we prove that he did any of the things talked about in the Bible. Well the truth of the matter is there non-biblical evidence for the existence of Jesus and that the bible has proven time and time again to be historically accurate. Yes I will be the first to admit the writers were a bit biased when it was written but nothing written has been shown to be false. Now if you would like to know more about this then our church library is sure to have a book or 2 on the subject and if not I’m we will find some for you.
I have heard Jesus called a wise teacher. A teacher of love, a teacher of morals, a teacher of peace and a teacher of personal fulfilment. –just like John Lennon or Ghandi and indeed Jesus was. He did tell us love one another. That self sacrificing love to God and to others was the fulfilment of all the moral laws from the old Testament. But if you say he was just a teacher then you are missing the whole point of his entire life. Which I will talk about later.
Some will paint Jesus as political / religious reformer like Martin Luther or Nelson Mandalla. Calling to those in power to act for the benefit of all the people and not just themselves and the ones they like. To end corruption. Jesus’s teaching did stir up the crowds – but only because they saw the oppression and hypocrisy and He spoke the truth about God and the world and I’m sure they wanted things to be his way. And so those in power feared what sort of rebellion he may cause – inadvertently or on purpose.
moving on.
The next question Jesus asked his followers– LK 9:20 "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" Peter answered, "The Christ of God.".
Jesus then got personal with Peter – just as He asks the same question of us here today and in fact everyone who lives today, has lived and ever will live. “But what about you – who do you say I am.”
No chance to escape or deflect the question. No chance to beat around the bush – right to the point. “Who do you say I am?”
Well I ask you the question – “Who do you say Jesus is?” – as we will see later on this is the most important question you will ever be asked in all of eternity.
Peter gave the right answer – though he did not understand the full implications. Peter said, “You are the Christ of God.” To the first century Jews – if Elijah was the terminator then The Christ was Neo from The Matrix movies. He was the hero to end all heroes – no other is needed. While others can use and bend their environment – Neo controls and changes it. The Christ is “The One” that all creation was waiting for. Numerous prophesies had been given about this One – the Christ – the people, not only thought he would fulfill those prophesies but that The Christ was also going to rid them of the Romans, rid them of the religious hypocrisy, he was going to free them from their sins, he was going to make Israel a - if not the - mighty political power. The Christ will set up god’s own kingdom and will bring the Lord God himself into the day to day personal lives of believers.
ISA 9:6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
ISA 9:7 Of the increase of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David's throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty
will accomplish this.
And indeed Jesus was the Christ but he was not as they expected. For what they were expecting to be political Jesus Christ set up Spiritual. In fact scholars suspect that Judas’s motivation for betraying Jesus was that Judas wanted to force Jesus’s hand to come out in God’s glory and overthrow the evil, and oppression and other trash. Judas wanted the political Kingdom of God to begin right there and then. And this is why I see Jesus next command to the Disciples was to not tell anyone what they believed.
After all if just one person could betray Jesus what would 12500 people do?
Jesus had a specific mission to do and if thousands of people were pushing their Christ assumptions onto him then no doubt riots and chaos would result.
And what was his specific mission?
22 And he said, "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life."
Here is Jesus predicting his death and his resurrection. I always wonder – just how dense were the disciples? Here is a total blunt statement – Jesus (as he called himself the Son of man) will suffer, be rejected and die. And it would be the chief priests, teachers of the law and elders who would be at the heart of it. But not only die. Jesus said He would be raised to life after three days. Yet the disciples just didn’t get it or believe or something. Jesus death was the core of his mission on earth. And then His resurrection validates that what Jesus achieved on the cross has been accomplished.
It was Christ death that was the final deed that brought about the forgiveness of our sins. The old practice of giving to God a sacrifice of your food, income or livelihood to show how contrite and sorry you were was over. The consequence of our sins is our death and a death separated from God. Jesus did no sins – he did not have to die. But die he did and it was his death that atones – pays for – our sins. His death for our sins…. The death of one man is not enough to pay the price for the world though – and that is Ok because Jesus was not just one man – He was God. At all times fully 100% man and yet fully 100% God - the wonder of the incarnate deity – God with us. Jesus was born of a human woman but his father was God. Therefore Jesus is the only one ever able to mediate between God and us. Dale gave a god example in his sermon this morning. On the off chance you were not here or paying attention let me repeat it. Imagine that two people have had an argument and cannot find any common ground and have come to a stand still at reconciliation – not an unlikely scenario... What these two people need is a mediator and a mediator who can see both points of view – someone who can sympathise who both people but not be biased to one over the other and therefore argument can be settled. Well with Jesus as God in mans form – from birth – through his life and into his death and resurrection the price is paid and bridge between God and humanity with Jesus has the mediator has been formed and forgiveness is given to us. And now we can accept that forgiveness and God’s love and live for eternity. Amen.
Back to the conversation with Jesus and his disciples. Jesus told them if anyone would come after me then they must take up their cross daily and follow him.
So if we are to follow Jesus because we believe Him to be the Christ. If we today are to accept his forgiveness and love and be His then we are to take up our cross daily.
The cross in Jesus time was a horrible instrument of torture, it was an ignominious humiliating way to die and to the Jews if anyone died upon the cross then they were cursed by God. Each follower of Jesus will have his own type cross to bear – and it may be a different style each day. Sometimes it will be to be ridiculed as a Jesus Freak, other times there will be work to do that we will not like to do and for some it may even to die as martyrs. The short answer is that following Jesus costs us – we are His servants he is our Lord and so our lives are His. Fortunately He is not an evil master. As we read in romans “all things work out for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose”
Whoever wants to save his life will loose it but who ever loses his life for me will save it. Jesus is the Saviour of our eternal lives – without Him all is lost.
And here we go with our last question.
“What good is it for a man to gain the world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?”
So what if you end up the richest person on Earth, so what if you are the most famous. When it comes to the end what is it worth? Nothing. It is all just chasing after wind. Without Jesus our eternity is lost with Jesus we are found.
It all comes down to the answer to the second question above and what we do with it.
Who do we say Jesus is? Do we reject or do we accept Jesus? And what is the result and our responsibility if we do.
Verse 26 “26 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.”
When we have the facts and we say “No Jesus you are not the Christ” then Jesus who is the judge of where our eternities are to be He says no to us. If we say Yes to Christ then He says yes back to us.
Jesus said in John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” He didn’t say Whoever doesn’t do bad stuff, he didn’t say whoever does more good deeds than sins, he didn’t say whoever lives a happy and good life” He said Believes in me. Later Jesus said JN 14:6 "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” he didn’t say except through ignoring me, or finding your own spiritual path that suits you. He said through me.
And later Paul wrote RM10:9 That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” There is no question about it.
When Paul wrote Jesus is Lord it would cause a stir amongst the readers – to us lord is the boss – but because the name of God was considered to holy to say or write they used called him The Lord. So when we call Jesus The Lord we are stating that we believe Jesus to be God, born as a human and the one who brings us back into a relationship with God the Father.
Through history Christians and churches have strayed from this point and today we see those who hardly ever mention Jesus and just try to be as loving as they can be. Which is good – but still missing the point. Some churches keep mentioning Jesus but only as some sort of Divine Santa Claus – who will give them money and whatever blessing they ask for in his name. Loving themselves rather than others.
We are Christians – followers of Jesus Christ. And if we are not doing so – even though we claim his name – what does that make us? Hypocrites – those same white painted tombs full of dead mens bones – like the pharasees that Jesus accused 200 years ago… Looks good on the outside but inside is wretched foulness
So tonight – As a Church and as individuals “Who do you say Jesus is?” – and what are you doing about it?
The answer is critical.
Right… leading up to this discussion between Jesus and His disciples… Jesus had been doing some pretty amazing stuff. He had calmed the storm by telling it off, He had cast demons out of a man society had given up on, He had brought a dead girl back to life, and then just before this little chat Jesus in the height of His popularity was followed – chased by crowds of people who wanted to hear Him talk – or more likely to see some miracles. Which they actually did see Jesus do.
The mob however hadn’t brought food and started to go hungry. The disciple Andrew found a wee boy who had five bread loaves and two fish. Jesus said grace and started breaking the food up and everyone got fed. How many got fed? Well being a male-centric society back then they only counted the men and there were 5000 of them. So probably there was another 5000 woman and at a guess maybe 2500 children. All miraculously fed. Critics of the bible say that it was not Jesus the miracle worker that fed the crowd but Jesus the great psychologist. That people had brought lunches but no-one wanted to share with those who hadn’t – so when the little boy offered to share, everyone who had brought something was shamed into sharing themselves. Well if this is the case then those people must have brought a lot extra as all 12500 ate and were satisfied and there were 12 baskets left over!
But the main reason I see that this was a miracle not a psychological event is that it is written as a miracle. 12500 people were involved and in the years after when this event was talked about and written down and passed around. If it had happened as a psycho not miracle event then they would have talked up. Imagine this… Later this year in the NPC rugby competition, Canterbury plays Southland. In an amazing turn up for the books Southland wins… not only wins… but wins 74 points to nil. Now as much as it grates me to say this… in the normal course of events a win like that is not going to happen. It really would be a miracle…. Now imagine 5 years down the track a one-eyed cantabrian journalist places an article in the Press talking about the nail biting 2008 game where Canterbury just managed to win against southland 25 points to 23. All the people who were at the game, all the spectators families who were told about the game would all know that the journalist was talking through a hole in his head. “I am certain the jouranlist is wrong I was there” would be spoken by a large number southlanders and a quite a few honest cantabrians as well.
So if someone said that Jesus fed by miracles and it was actually psychology then 12500 people would be around to say. “Hey man no way I was there – stop telling lies” The bible tells the truth… a huge crowd was fed by Jesus.
And this leads us to our first question…
Jesus asked “Who do the crowds say I am.”
The disciples answered that some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah and some say a prophet has come back to life.
Why do you think they say that?
Well you see John the Baptist was a powerful preacher who preached just before Jesus started his ministry, he spoke of repentance, that God’s chosen one was coming and he spoke out against the religious hypocrites who were ruling the temple (The pharasees). He had been killed by King Herod after the daughter of his brother’s wife asked him to.
I would imagine that some of the crowds had never seen John and here was Jesus preaching very similar messages –except Jesus said that the chosen one was not on the way – He was here… I’d also think perhaps there was some denial in Johns followers– and with Jesus’s miracles some of those who had their hopes pinned on John transferred that to Jesus that somehow maybe Jesus was John. Of course unlike Clark Kent and Superman Jesus and John were seen in the same room at the same room. John baptised Jesus – so even with some supernatural involvement we can be sure this is not the case
Elijah was another powerful preacher. He had spoken against the corrupt kings, he had stood up and with miracles shown God’s displeasure at the Israelites following “other gods” The prophets of Baal is one of my favourite stories. In challenge that Vin Diesel would shy away from. Elijah the one prophet of God left alive versus the 850 prophets of Baal. Elijah challenged to the prophets – in full view of everyone. To set up an alter with wood, place your sacrifice on it and Elijah would do they same – then they would call out to Baal and the Lord and whoever was the real God would accept the sacrifice by sending fire to burn it all up. So the Baal prophets, danced and pranced, but nothing happened . and then
1KI 18:27 At noon Elijah began to taunt them. "Shout louder!" he said. "Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened." 28 So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. 29 Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.
So then it was Elijahs turn. He got his alter ready with the wood and stones and dug a trench around it too then he got people to pour water over the wood until even the trench was full.
1KI 18:36 At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: "O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. 37 Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again."
1KI 18:38 Then the fire of the LORD fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.
So what did Elijah do after that- he had the prophets put to death, he then ended a three year drought and then bested a chariot in a 17 mile race. He was pretty much the Old Testaments Terminator. But he was weak too. Queen Jezebel threatened him and he ran and hid. Despite all the absolute proof and great deeds and God’s vengeance and love he showed – he did not bring about much spiritual change in the country.
Flash forward a few hundred years
The Jews in Jesus day were looking for their terminator. They had hypocritical religious leaders, they had been invaded by Rome and the Romans law and soldiers ruled their country. Unfortunately Asterix and Obelix were fiction so they had only one hope at expelling Rome, fixing their religion and living free again. God would provide. They prayed all day and every day for a saviour. They wanted Elijah or in fact any of the old prophets from long ago, back again to kick some butt.
And Jesus was living up to this. He had spoken out against the Pharasees – called them 7 kinds of Hypocrites. White painted tombs full of dead mens bones was one description he gave of them. He did the miracles – people came back to life.
But Jesus was not Elijah and nor was he some great prophet either – as we will soon see.
So that is what the crowds were saying then about Jesus. Today… what do the crowds today say today about Jesus?
Well there is the standard swear word use of his name – which says something in itself about Him and the crowds – I mean how often to you hear someone dropping a hammer on their foot and screaming “oh Budda!” or “Oh random conglomeration of particles brought together through the laws of phsyics and evolution” It’s always swearing against God and Jesus.
The crowds ignore Jesus – don’t speak about him, just go through life turning their back on anything they hear about Him or see or encounter. I used to be like that. If ever Jesus was mentioned I would not seek to learn more about it just mock what ever was said.…until the day about 16 years ago I was confronted with the Truth about Jesus – and there was nothing I could say or think of to counter it. 1 ½ years later of listening, and looking I gave my life to Him and accepted His love and forgiveness.
Some say Jesus is a myth. They say he did not exist – after all we weren’t there how can we say for sure he existed and even if he did how can we prove that he did any of the things talked about in the Bible. Well the truth of the matter is there non-biblical evidence for the existence of Jesus and that the bible has proven time and time again to be historically accurate. Yes I will be the first to admit the writers were a bit biased when it was written but nothing written has been shown to be false. Now if you would like to know more about this then our church library is sure to have a book or 2 on the subject and if not I’m we will find some for you.
I have heard Jesus called a wise teacher. A teacher of love, a teacher of morals, a teacher of peace and a teacher of personal fulfilment. –just like John Lennon or Ghandi and indeed Jesus was. He did tell us love one another. That self sacrificing love to God and to others was the fulfilment of all the moral laws from the old Testament. But if you say he was just a teacher then you are missing the whole point of his entire life. Which I will talk about later.
Some will paint Jesus as political / religious reformer like Martin Luther or Nelson Mandalla. Calling to those in power to act for the benefit of all the people and not just themselves and the ones they like. To end corruption. Jesus’s teaching did stir up the crowds – but only because they saw the oppression and hypocrisy and He spoke the truth about God and the world and I’m sure they wanted things to be his way. And so those in power feared what sort of rebellion he may cause – inadvertently or on purpose.
moving on.
The next question Jesus asked his followers– LK 9:20 "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" Peter answered, "The Christ of God.".
Jesus then got personal with Peter – just as He asks the same question of us here today and in fact everyone who lives today, has lived and ever will live. “But what about you – who do you say I am.”
No chance to escape or deflect the question. No chance to beat around the bush – right to the point. “Who do you say I am?”
Well I ask you the question – “Who do you say Jesus is?” – as we will see later on this is the most important question you will ever be asked in all of eternity.
Peter gave the right answer – though he did not understand the full implications. Peter said, “You are the Christ of God.” To the first century Jews – if Elijah was the terminator then The Christ was Neo from The Matrix movies. He was the hero to end all heroes – no other is needed. While others can use and bend their environment – Neo controls and changes it. The Christ is “The One” that all creation was waiting for. Numerous prophesies had been given about this One – the Christ – the people, not only thought he would fulfill those prophesies but that The Christ was also going to rid them of the Romans, rid them of the religious hypocrisy, he was going to free them from their sins, he was going to make Israel a - if not the - mighty political power. The Christ will set up god’s own kingdom and will bring the Lord God himself into the day to day personal lives of believers.
ISA 9:6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
ISA 9:7 Of the increase of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David's throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty
will accomplish this.
And indeed Jesus was the Christ but he was not as they expected. For what they were expecting to be political Jesus Christ set up Spiritual. In fact scholars suspect that Judas’s motivation for betraying Jesus was that Judas wanted to force Jesus’s hand to come out in God’s glory and overthrow the evil, and oppression and other trash. Judas wanted the political Kingdom of God to begin right there and then. And this is why I see Jesus next command to the Disciples was to not tell anyone what they believed.
After all if just one person could betray Jesus what would 12500 people do?
Jesus had a specific mission to do and if thousands of people were pushing their Christ assumptions onto him then no doubt riots and chaos would result.
And what was his specific mission?
22 And he said, "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life."
Here is Jesus predicting his death and his resurrection. I always wonder – just how dense were the disciples? Here is a total blunt statement – Jesus (as he called himself the Son of man) will suffer, be rejected and die. And it would be the chief priests, teachers of the law and elders who would be at the heart of it. But not only die. Jesus said He would be raised to life after three days. Yet the disciples just didn’t get it or believe or something. Jesus death was the core of his mission on earth. And then His resurrection validates that what Jesus achieved on the cross has been accomplished.
It was Christ death that was the final deed that brought about the forgiveness of our sins. The old practice of giving to God a sacrifice of your food, income or livelihood to show how contrite and sorry you were was over. The consequence of our sins is our death and a death separated from God. Jesus did no sins – he did not have to die. But die he did and it was his death that atones – pays for – our sins. His death for our sins…. The death of one man is not enough to pay the price for the world though – and that is Ok because Jesus was not just one man – He was God. At all times fully 100% man and yet fully 100% God - the wonder of the incarnate deity – God with us. Jesus was born of a human woman but his father was God. Therefore Jesus is the only one ever able to mediate between God and us. Dale gave a god example in his sermon this morning. On the off chance you were not here or paying attention let me repeat it. Imagine that two people have had an argument and cannot find any common ground and have come to a stand still at reconciliation – not an unlikely scenario... What these two people need is a mediator and a mediator who can see both points of view – someone who can sympathise who both people but not be biased to one over the other and therefore argument can be settled. Well with Jesus as God in mans form – from birth – through his life and into his death and resurrection the price is paid and bridge between God and humanity with Jesus has the mediator has been formed and forgiveness is given to us. And now we can accept that forgiveness and God’s love and live for eternity. Amen.
Back to the conversation with Jesus and his disciples. Jesus told them if anyone would come after me then they must take up their cross daily and follow him.
So if we are to follow Jesus because we believe Him to be the Christ. If we today are to accept his forgiveness and love and be His then we are to take up our cross daily.
The cross in Jesus time was a horrible instrument of torture, it was an ignominious humiliating way to die and to the Jews if anyone died upon the cross then they were cursed by God. Each follower of Jesus will have his own type cross to bear – and it may be a different style each day. Sometimes it will be to be ridiculed as a Jesus Freak, other times there will be work to do that we will not like to do and for some it may even to die as martyrs. The short answer is that following Jesus costs us – we are His servants he is our Lord and so our lives are His. Fortunately He is not an evil master. As we read in romans “all things work out for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose”
Whoever wants to save his life will loose it but who ever loses his life for me will save it. Jesus is the Saviour of our eternal lives – without Him all is lost.
And here we go with our last question.
“What good is it for a man to gain the world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?”
So what if you end up the richest person on Earth, so what if you are the most famous. When it comes to the end what is it worth? Nothing. It is all just chasing after wind. Without Jesus our eternity is lost with Jesus we are found.
It all comes down to the answer to the second question above and what we do with it.
Who do we say Jesus is? Do we reject or do we accept Jesus? And what is the result and our responsibility if we do.
Verse 26 “26 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.”
When we have the facts and we say “No Jesus you are not the Christ” then Jesus who is the judge of where our eternities are to be He says no to us. If we say Yes to Christ then He says yes back to us.
Jesus said in John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” He didn’t say Whoever doesn’t do bad stuff, he didn’t say whoever does more good deeds than sins, he didn’t say whoever lives a happy and good life” He said Believes in me. Later Jesus said JN 14:6 "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” he didn’t say except through ignoring me, or finding your own spiritual path that suits you. He said through me.
And later Paul wrote RM10:9 That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” There is no question about it.
When Paul wrote Jesus is Lord it would cause a stir amongst the readers – to us lord is the boss – but because the name of God was considered to holy to say or write they used called him The Lord. So when we call Jesus The Lord we are stating that we believe Jesus to be God, born as a human and the one who brings us back into a relationship with God the Father.
Through history Christians and churches have strayed from this point and today we see those who hardly ever mention Jesus and just try to be as loving as they can be. Which is good – but still missing the point. Some churches keep mentioning Jesus but only as some sort of Divine Santa Claus – who will give them money and whatever blessing they ask for in his name. Loving themselves rather than others.
We are Christians – followers of Jesus Christ. And if we are not doing so – even though we claim his name – what does that make us? Hypocrites – those same white painted tombs full of dead mens bones – like the pharasees that Jesus accused 200 years ago… Looks good on the outside but inside is wretched foulness
So tonight – As a Church and as individuals “Who do you say Jesus is?” – and what are you doing about it?
The answer is critical.
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