An easy question? Who is Jesus? I mean, to you? Jesus has been viewed through many lenses over two millennia. Can we find an accurate one? Maybe it's yours.
We can develop what we think are complete understandings about people, only to find out how we were completely wrong. They turn out to be totally different from what we had imagined.
Before hitting the main question, we look at Isaiah 50, one of the so-called Suffering Servant passages. We learn about this prophet who has been called by God to bring God's word to God's people who are trying to endure under the thumb of the Babylonian Empire. He is rather subversive as far as the Empire goes, and undergoes abuse and punishment for his efforts. But the prophet knows who he is, and whose he is, and whose Kingdom he serves.
It is a good set-up for joining Jesus and his disciples in their travels. Jesus wants to know if the disciples really understand what Jesus is doing. So he asks them. They don't quite get it, so Jesus tries to explain who he is and what is going to happen to him. Peter rejects this, scolding Jesus for saying such things about suffering and being executed. Jesus verbally slams him back, and then goes on to explain that each disciples must be willing to take up their own cross and follow Jesus. Tough words. But we do find out how Jesus uniquely saw himself and his mission to advance the Kingdom of God.
See how well you fare by watching the sermon video by clicking here. There is also an MP3 file to download for audio listening.
We can develop what we think are complete understandings about people, only to find out how we were completely wrong. They turn out to be totally different from what we had imagined.
Before hitting the main question, we look at Isaiah 50, one of the so-called Suffering Servant passages. We learn about this prophet who has been called by God to bring God's word to God's people who are trying to endure under the thumb of the Babylonian Empire. He is rather subversive as far as the Empire goes, and undergoes abuse and punishment for his efforts. But the prophet knows who he is, and whose he is, and whose Kingdom he serves.
It is a good set-up for joining Jesus and his disciples in their travels. Jesus wants to know if the disciples really understand what Jesus is doing. So he asks them. They don't quite get it, so Jesus tries to explain who he is and what is going to happen to him. Peter rejects this, scolding Jesus for saying such things about suffering and being executed. Jesus verbally slams him back, and then goes on to explain that each disciples must be willing to take up their own cross and follow Jesus. Tough words. But we do find out how Jesus uniquely saw himself and his mission to advance the Kingdom of God.
See how well you fare by watching the sermon video by clicking here. There is also an MP3 file to download for audio listening.
| 09-16-18-who_is_he-to_you.mp3 |
| 09-16-18-ff-answers.pdf |
| 09-16-18-who_is_he-to_you.pdf |