Rev. David Holwick ZC The Quest for the Real Jesus, #2
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
September 14, 2008
Matthew 16:13-15
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I. Who is Jesus?
A. Generations have pondered this question.
1) Mosaics of fearsome Jesus in Hagia Sophia in Istanbul.
a) He gazes down as the Lord of the Universe.
2) Sentimentality of Protestant images of Jesus.
a) Jesus holding little kids. (hold up picture)
b) Jesus gazing into the air.
c) Jesus holding lambs and knocking at the door.
d) Jesus as my buddy.
B. Everybody seems to love Jesus.
An important figure in the 20th century was once asked
the extent to which he was influenced by Christianity.
He replied:
"As a child I received instruction both in the Bible and in
the Talmud.
I am a Jew, but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of
the Nazarene."
The interviewer then asked, "You accept the historical
existence of Jesus?"
He replied, "Unquestionably!
No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual
presence of Jesus.
His personality pulsates in every word.
No myth is filled with such life."
These words came from Albert Einstein in 1929.
#30336
C. But are we extolling the real Jesus, or one we have made up?
1) Thomas Jefferson, and countless others, say the Christian
Church has warped Jesus.
a) To them, the real Jesus was a humble teacher who taught
a beautiful morality.
b) Over the centuries, Christians have turned him into
an unapproachable God.
2) If you strip away the supernatural elements, what do you
get?
Ernest Renan, a French writer, said that Jesus was a
sentimental idealist.
Bruce Barton, an American businessman, said that Jesus was
the greatest salesman who ever lived.
William Hirsch, a Jewish writer, responded that Jesus
conformed to the clinical picture of paranoia.
A musical drama composed when I was in high school said
that Jesus was a Superstar.
Another musical drama from the same period portrayed him
as a clown.
#4733
II. Our sources of information on Jesus.
A. Secular sources.
1) A few ancient historians like Josephus and Tacitus mention
Jesus as a historical figure.
2) This may seem rather meager, but R. Scott Appleby, a
professor of church history at Notre Dame Univ., says:
"There is more evidence of the existence of Jesus of
Nazareth than there would be for many other
historical people who actually existed." #1337
3) However, these sources don't give much detail on his life.
B. Most of what we know about Jesus comes from the New Testament.
1) The gospels are the most important documents.
a) They give us events in his life and his teachings.
2) Have the gospels themselves been warped?
a) All of them were written by committed Christians.
b) Yet they present a consistent picture of the man.
C. It did not take long for Jesus to be exalted by men.
1) The New Testament outside the gospels consistently portray
him as the Lord of the Universe, the Son of God.
a) The book of Hebrews shows that Jesus is higher than the
angels and better than Moses.
b) Revelation shows him as a blood-soaked lamb who
conquers the earth.
2) The exalted image of Jesus in the New Testament arose
immediately.
a) All of the documents were written within 60 years of
his death.
D. What about the "secret gospels"?
1) Modern skeptics love the Gnostic gospels of Thomas and Judas.
a) However, these are not real gospels.
b) They contain some sayings of Jesus, but do not lay out
a timeline of his life.
2) The Gnostic gospels are written with a slant.
a) Most of them are from the second century and later.
b) They obviously reflect Gnostic teachings which are
absent, or limited, in the New Testament.
c) Many of the modern interpretations, especially of the
Gospel of Judas, have been proved to be incorrect.
III. The basic options about Jesus of Nazareth. [*]
A. Jesus was a good man.
1) He did good things.
a) Peter's sermon to non-Jews. Acts 10:38
"God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and
power, and how he went around doing good and healing
all who were under the power of the devil,
because God was with him.
b) Jesus healed people.
c) He multiplied food miraculously.
d) He blessed little kids.
2) Problems:
a) The Bible also reveals a hardness about Jesus.
1> He whipped people.
2> He cursed a fig tree.
3> He preached more on Hell than anyone else in Bible.
b) Jesus was too extreme to be "good."
1> He had radical ideas about God.
2> He had radical ideas about himself.
A> He made a distinction between himself and his
disciples.
1: My God and yours; not "ours." John 20:17
B> He claimed to be God, in words and actions.
1: John 10:30 - "I and the Father am one."
B. Jesus was a great religious teacher.
1) Even most Jews in Morris County would see Jesus as a
misunderstood reformer of first century Judaism.
a) Much in common with OT, especially prophetic tradition.
1> Some of his teaching is unique.
2> Golden Rule: do unto others. Actively love others.
A> (Ancient Jews had a negative version)
b) Other religions readily accept Jesus.
1> Hinduism - another guru.
2> Islam - a great prophet, only surpassed by Mohammed.
2) Problem:
a) Jesus saw himself as the only way to God.
b) He was not giving good advice, but absolute truth.
C. Jesus was a prophet.
1) A prophet is more than a teacher - they are in direct
contact with God.
2) Discouraged disciples on way to Emmaus. Luke 24:18-21
"He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God
and all the people.
The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be
sentenced to death, and they crucified him;
But we had hoped that he was the one who was going to
redeem Israel."
3) If he was a prophet, his messages contradict most other
religious systems today.
D. Jesus was insane.
1) Those closest to him believed this. Mark 3:20-21
2) So do some modern scholars.
a) Albert Schweitzer - Jesus was a deluded visionary.
He thought he was the Messiah, but was wrong.
b) Others: Resurrection stories are due to funny mushrooms
at the Last Supper.
3) Problems:
a) Could an insane person come up with these teachings?
1> They are otherworldly, yet have grabbed imaginations
of people for 2,000 years.
2> Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and Leo Tolstoy have all
drawn upon him for inspiration.
IV. How Jesus described himself.
A. Jesus presents himself as a son.
1) The "son of man".
a) It is what Jesus usually calls himself:
Matthew 8:20 -- "Jesus replied, 'Foxes have holes
and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of
Man has no place to lay his head.'"
Matthew 9:6 -- "'But so that you may know that the
Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins....'
Then he said to the paralytic, 'Get up, take your
mat and go home.'"
1> It is obvious he is referring to himself.
b) It's an ambiguous term, derived from the Old Testament.
1> In Ezekiel, it means something like "Bubba Jew."
2> In Daniel, it is used of the Messiah who comes
on the clouds to conquer the earth.
c) By using "son of man," Jesus could deflect pressure
to make him king too soon.
1> At his trial, he removed the ambiguity by
directly quoting from Daniel's prophecy.
Matthew 26:63-65 --
The high priest said to him, "I charge you under oath
by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ,
the Son of God."
"Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied. "But I say to
all of you:
In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at
the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the
clouds of heaven."
Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, "He
has spoken blasphemy!
Why do we need any more witnesses?
Look, now you have heard the blasphemy.
2) The son of the Father. Matt 21:33-45
a) His parable of the servants in the vineyard is a
powerful depiction of how Jesus saw himself.
b) Jesus obviously portrays himself as the son, and
his enemies as the tyrants who try to kill him.
1> (Even the enemies took it this way) Matt 21:45
B. Jesus presents himself as a Savior. Matt 20:28
1) "...the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to
serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
2) The cross is what makes Jesus unique.
The CROSS is what separates the Christ of Christianity
from every other Jesus.
In Judaism there is no precedent for a Messiah who dies,
much less dies as a criminal as Jesus did.
In Islam, the story of Jesus' death is rejected as an
affront to Allah himself.
The Koran has Jesus ascending straight to heaven.
Hindus can accept only a Jesus who passes into peaceful
Nirvana[**], a yogi who escapes the degradation of death.
The figure of a crucified Christ, says a leading
Buddhist, "is a very painful image to me.
It does not contain joy or peace, and this does not do
justice to Jesus."
Other religions do not have room for a Christ who
experiences the full burden of mortal existence.
Which Jesus do you see?
Is there room in your view for a crucified Jesus? #5446
V. What do you think of Jesus?
A. Jesus said Peter had the correct answer.
1) Peter said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
2) Martin Luther personalized this: "I care not whether he be
Christ, but that he be Christ for you." #4733
B. How real is Jesus to you?
1) Pastor James Boice once put it this way:
Is Jesus as real to you spiritually as something you can
taste or handle?
Is he as much a part of you as that which you can eat?
Do not think me blasphemous when I say that he must be real
and as useful to you as a hamburger and french fries.
I say this because, although he is obviously far more real
and useful than these, the unfortunate thing is that for
many people he is much less.
#22668
2) Our relationship with Jesus should be personal more than
intellectual.
A couple of years ago Rev. Martin Copenhaver, a liberal
pastor, went to a pastors' conference.
Michael Green from Britain, a scholar of the history of
evangelism, gave the pastors an interesting challenge.
"When is the last time you told your congregation what
Jesus means to YOU?"
Pastor Copenhaver noted, "As a pastor I talk a good deal
about Jesus, but do I say what Jesus means to me?"
He decided he would try to do just that.
In his next sermon he said, "As a pastor in the United
Church of Christ, our forebears in the faith worried that
they might be taken for heretics.
Today, we UCC people seem to be more worried about being
taken for fundamentalists."
So in personal, devotional terms Pastor Copenhaver tried
to tell his people what Jesus Christ meant to him.
Evidently the sermon was quite a personal testimony.
After the service Pastor Copenhaver noticed a dear lady
came past to shake his hand, but could not speak.
So she went around and came past again, to give herself
time to compose herself.
When she finally came the second time she simply said,
"Why didn't you tell us this before?"
#17988
3) What is your own relationship with Jesus?
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
[*] This section is adapted from my sermon "Who Is Jesus?" based on
Mark 8:27-29 and given on January 11, 1998.
[**] The original illustration says "samadhi" instead of "Nirvana," but
few would know what samadhi is. Nirvana has a similar meaning so I
substituted it here.
# 1337 "Who Will Reason?" by Jill Carattini, A Slice of Infinity: Ravi
Zacharias International Ministries; <link>,
January 30, 2006.
# 4733 "Personal Understanding of Jesus' Identity," by Rev. Brett Blair,
Blair's Illustrations by Email, www.sermonillustrations.com,
August 18, 1999.
# 5446 "Who Modern Jews Say Jesus Is," by Rev. Brett Blair, Blair's
Illustrations by Email, www.sermonillustrations.com,
April 4, 2000. Much of the illustration is derived from an
Article in Newsweek magazine (March 27, 2000) titled, "Visions
of Jesus: How Jews, Muslims and Buddhists View Him."
#17988 "Why Didn't You Tell Us This Before?" by Dr. Russell F. Metcalfe, Jr.,
Blair's Illustrations by Email, www.sermonillustrations.com,
August 25, 2002. The illustration is derived from the book
THE QUESTION OF QUESTIONS by Dr. Russell F. Metcalfe, Jr.
#22668 "You Want Fries With Your Order of Jesus?" by Dr. James Boice,
www.sermoncentral.com newsletter, August 11, 2003, by way of
the sermon "Food With an Attitude" by Paul Decker.
#30336 "Einstein On Jesus," by Max Jammer, <link>.
These and 30,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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