Why Jesus? Easter Sunday
Notes
Transcript
Jesus meet people where they where at.
Jesus meet people where they where at.
He is risen! We look today to the resurrection of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ and all that means for our lives. On Friday we remembered Jesus death and what that means for our lives. Death needed to happen to cover our sin, and Jesus is the one that paid the price. But the beautiful thing is He didn't stay dead, death could not hold him, the grave could not keep him. He rose again according to prophecy to defeat death and gave his followers a mandate to follow.
18 Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
He gave them this mandate that we call the great commission. Go, or as you are going, as you are living your life for Me, you have a job to do, you have a way to live, there is something you need to be doing while I give you life on this earth. Because of what Jesus has done for us as His children you need to spend the rest of your life telling people of the gift I gave you.
I want to go back a bit first, I want to go back to how this all started, How Jesus met these people where they where at, He loved them and called them out of there sin. But first He met them where they where at in their lives.
start with the disciples, the one most people already know.
18 As he was walking along the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter), and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. 19 “Follow me,” he told them, “and I will make you fish for people.” 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 21 Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They were in a boat with Zebedee their father, preparing their nets, and he called them. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
Luke tells a bit more of the story then Matthew does. In Lukes Narrative, we find that they where fishing all night and had caught nothing and where packing it in. Jesus was nearby teaching and told them to put out to deep water and try gain. I am sure they scoffed at this Rabbi telling fisherman how to Fish. They must have heard of Jesus before. They did as they where told and there nets where full to bursting.
Jesus met these lowly fisherman where they where at, He loved them, and when they responded to His teaching He called them to Himself. He said to them, come follow me and I will make you fish for people. The crazy thing is they dropped everything, they dropped their livelihood, all they had ever known and started to follow Jesus.
Jesus met them where they where at, He loved them as they where but called them to drop everything to follow Him.
Look at the story of Zaccheus Luke 19:1-7
1 He entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 There was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. 3 He was trying to see who Jesus was, but he was not able because of the crowd, since he was a short man. 4 So running ahead, he climbed up a sycamore tree to see Jesus, since he was about to pass that way. 5 When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down because today it is necessary for me to stay at your house.” 6 So he quickly came down and welcomed him joyfully. 7 All who saw it began to complain, “He’s gone to stay with a sinful man.”
I have always loved this story. The Israelite's where generally short to begin with, it doesn't say how short Zaccheus was but The historic record also resolved the issue of Jesus’s height. From an analysis of skeletal remains, archaeologists had firmly established that the average build of a Semite male at the time of Jesus was 5 ft. 1 in., with an average weight of about 110 pounds. This is from a article about scientists trying to remake what Jesus would have looked like, or more like based on skeletons and historical and archaeological records what the average Jewish Male would have looked like.
Zaccheus was not liked, He wanted to see Jesus and when Jesus asked him to come out of the tree he likely would have been shocked. He was a sinful man, the crowds where shocked this holy man would eat with a sinner like that.
There are other stories that also describe How Jesus met people where they where at and loved them a they where. Jesus told people that He did not come for the healthy but for the sick and downtrodden. He came to seek and to save the Lost. Today we celebrate the fact that Jesus is risen, He died for our sin so we could have freedom. and what we understand is that no matter what we have done Jesus meets us where we are at and calls us to Himself. His love for us is in spite of what we have done.
As we celebrate Easter today, we celebrate the message that Jesus died and rose again so we could have freedom I wanted to go to the message that Jesus gave us as well. Love others with the same sacrificial love that was shown to us. We have a job to do, to share the life of Jesus, what He taught, the way that He lived with those around us and it doesn't stop with just loving them.
Take up your cross.
Take up your cross.
Look to love and what it means. we read these passages of what loving others and how Jesus loved others and yes he did do that. What the resurrection teaches us though we read at the beginning in the great commission. As you are going, as you are living your life, do as I have taught you to do, go and make disciples and teach them to do what I have done. It is not quite as simple as just meeting people where they where at and loving them there is more we are called to do.
In light of the resurrection of Jesus This is what we are called to. 1 John tells us what the love we are to show Jesus looks like.
9 God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his one and only Son into the world so that we might live through him. 10 Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
God’s love was revealed in His sending His son to die for us. The love we are to show to others is seen in How Jesus gave His life for us so that we may follow Him. all these sinners that Jesus met with, all the people He met where they where at when they came to Him to follow Him He had a message for them as to what that looks like.
The same is true for us as well. This same love. As we are building relationships with people and sharing with them the same love Jesus showed us when they come and ask what it takes to follow Jesus we follow the example of Jesus as well. Yes Jesus loved people and met them where they where at, but if we are to follow the mandate of Jesus as he gave to us at the end of Matthew we must look to how he handled these questions as well. first we can go back to Matthew 4:19
19 “Follow me,” he told them, “and I will make you fish for people.”
When He called His disciples, he said come follow me and learn from me. Jesus says to everyone come as you are, come you week and down trodden come you sinner but He did not say stay as you are. Jesus loved them enough to call them to Himself. The Disciples where called to drop their livelihood, everything they had known and learn under Jesus. There is commitment involved in becoming a disciple of Jesus, but we sometimes are not always willing to face it.
19 A scribe approached him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” 20 Jesus told him, “Foxes have dens, and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”
We don't know who the scribe was but when he showed interest in following Jesus after all the miracles he had done, Jesus told him that it is not always fun. It is sometimes hard to live the kind of lifestyle He was called to. Sometimes Jesus calls us to give up all we have to follow Him.
21 “Lord,” another of his disciples said, “first let me go bury my father.” 22 But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”
This seems kind of harsh. Not one of His close disciples, the way this is worded is someone who had been following Jesus around. Not one of the 12. Like the scribe who asked Jesus a question. So this guy who was following Jesus asked for time to bury His father and then He would catch up. A western reading of this passage seems harsh. Jesus was showing love to these guys but when asked what it would take to follow Him He said I take priority.
A middle eastern reading of this passage takes a different approach. If the Father had just died, there would be no way the son would be out travelling. Burial happened soon after death and He would be dealing with that. Rather to Bury ones father is a common idiom for for fulfilling your duties as a son for the remainder of the fathers lifetime. Like taking an aged parent in when they are not doing so well so you can take care of them. This is more an indefinite request for the postponement of discipleship, likely for years rather then days.
More important then is the message Jesus was teaching, of the K of H and anyone outside of the Kingdom is dying and in need of the saving grace of God. Commitment to Jesus is without reservation. There is nothing else in life that comes close to the importance of following Jesus.
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will find it.
26 For what will it benefit someone if he gains the whole world yet loses his life? Or what will anyone give in exchange for his life? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will reward each according to what he has done. 28 Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
16 Just then someone came up and asked him, “Teacher, what good must I do to have eternal life?” 17 “Why do you ask me about what is good?” he said to him. “There is only one who is good. If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”
18 “Which ones?” he asked him. Jesus answered: Do not murder; do not commit adultery; do not steal; do not bear false witness; 19 honor your father and your mother; and love your neighbor as yourself. 20 “I have kept all these,” the young man told him. “What do I still lack?”
21 “If you want to be perfect,” Jesus said to him, “go, sell your belongings and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” 22 When the young man heard that, he went away grieving, because he had many possessions.
We have these two stories to end with. When a rich young ruler who had been going through all the right motions asked Jesus what it takes to follow Him, Jesus told Him sell everything you have. Give up your life and commit yourself to me.
It is the same thing that Jesus taught His disciples. If you want to follow Jesus you cant have your old life as well. You must give that up, you must deny yourself, drop everything and commit wholeheartedly to Jesus. To take up your cross means that it is going to be hard, we might in fact die for what we do. You may lose the world but what you gain is so much more.
So What?
So What?
Jesus meets us where we are at and loves us. We hear that Jesus left the 99 sheep to find the one lost one. I am here today to tell you He has already done that. Jesus came to seek and to save the lost.
No matter what you have done, Jesus died so you may be set free.
No matter what you have done, Jesus died so you may be set free.
Isn't that amazing! Jesus meets you where you are at and has said I loved you enough to die in your place. This is the message that we teach during Easter. Jesus has shown His love for you in this, that He gave His life so you may be set free from your sin. You do not have to be perfect the thief that was on the cross was not baptized, did not take part in communion, did not go to temple and pray, did not likely do much of anything right yet as he acknowledged Jesus as His messiah He in a sense then repented of His past life and He went to heaven. You can be with Jesus as well.
He loves us enough not to keep us where we are at.
He loves us enough not to keep us where we are at.
As Jesus loved others and met them where they where at He also called them to more when they approached Him about becoming a disciple. As followers of Jesus we are to do as Jesus has done as He commissioned us to do when He left earth. Making disciples is more then just telling people the salvation message.
We love others, we build relationships, we eventually tell them about Jesus and then when they see Jesus in us, and they hear this great message of Love and ask what it takes to follow Jesus they need to know that it takes everything. It is a commitment to give up your life and follow the Messiah. But we want to do it because of what He has done for us. As we come to Jesus in repentance for what we have done He changes us, makes us into a new creation. We are called to more then we used to be, we are called to be His disciples.
what we may lose is the world but what we have to gain is eternity. He is risen! do not wait to become His disciple, do it today.