"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to." Matthew 23:13
Last night we drove down to Jacksonville to see the Petra Reunion concert. For those who have never heard of Petra, they were one of the first, if not the first, contemporary Christian rock bands, coming out in 1972 and staying together until 2005. Not having a contemporary Christian station in our area, I first heard of Petra when I was in college, but they were a little too hard rock for my taste.
However, since we have become acquainted with a member of the band and since my wife is a long-time Petra fan, we made the drive down with some friends last night to see the concert at a church there in the area. We arrived at the same time as the band, and stood there with them as they unloaded their van and brought their instruments and other equipment into the church.
While we were standing there at the door, a young boy walked up to us and said, "You can't come in. The doors open at 6:00 pm." When our friend said, "We're with the band," he shrugged and walked back to the adults sitting at the ticket table.
After the band got their stuff into the church and began setting up, we all followed them in, where we were promptly stopped by the ticket lady. "You can't come in," she said. Our friend said that we were with her, and the ticket lady asked, "Is their name on the comp list?" "No, they're going to pay for their own tickets." "Then they can't come in." This went on for a while until tempers began to flare and our friend from the band had to come out and speak to the ticket lady.
We finally got permission to enter into the lobby and wait until the doors opened (which was a relief since the temperature outside had reached 100 degrees!). As we were standing there, a lot of people wandered by our group of 9 standing there in the lobby, presumably from the church. No one greeted us and no one spoke, so I wandered over and spoke to an elderly man who was guarding the door to the sanctuary. I asked him about the church, how many people went there, and their services. As he was telling me about this expansive sanctuary they had just built three years earlier, he said, "We've got to be pretty careful to keep this place looking nice. The members do a good job of not bringing in food and drink into the sanctuary. Our problem is visitors. They keep wanting to bring coffee from the lobby into the sanctuary, so we have to stop them."
Based on my experience at the concert last night, I was reminded of Matthew 23:13. In this verse, Jesus takes the Pharisees to task because they had put so many burdens and so many laws on the people, that they were actually keeping people from coming to God. And, to make things worse, not only were they keeping people from God, but they weren't entering the kingdom of God either.
I don't know anything about this church that we visited except for what we experienced last night. They may be a loving church. They may really be doing great things for God. They are very large (3,500 members), and are evidently growing, so I assume that the people are getting fed and are growing in grace, but I got the distinct impression that visitors were not really welcome, and that they were doing everything they could to keep others from entering. I just didn't experience the love of Christ from the host church last night, but thankfully, I did feel the grace of God through the concert and the message of Petra.
Other than the blessing we received from Petra, I left the concert last night with a warning ringing in my ears, "Don't be like the Pharisees! The Kingdom of God is for all, and you should always err on the side of grace instead of the law. So what if coffee spills on the carpet? So what is your church isn't a showroom? What is the purpose of the church anyway? To look pretty for a world going to hell or to invite those who are perishing to come to Christ?" I pray that our little church never reaches the point where the building becomes more important than the people or where rules take precedence over grace.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
SERMON: RUMORS OF REVIVAL
17 April 2011 (Palm Sunday)
I. Introduction
-- turn in your Bibles to John 12:12-19
12 The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. 13 They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,
“Hosanna!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Blessed is the king of Israel!”
14 Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written:
15 “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion;
see, your king is coming,
seated on a donkey’s colt.”
16 At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him.
17 Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. 18 Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign, went out to meet him. 19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!”
-- today is, of course, Palm Sunday -- it marks the start of Holy Week -- the holiest and most important week of worship in the Christian church
-- it starts with Palm Sunday -- goes through Maundy Thursday -- Good Friday -- and finally ends on Easter Sunday -- as we gather together to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus
-- one Palm Sunday, little 5-year-old Johnny had a sore throat and really didn’t feel like going to church -- so his family let him stay home with a babysitter -- when they got back to the house, they were carrying several palm branches -- just to let you know, on Palm Sunday a lot of the larger churches actually pass out little palm fronds and let the people wave them during the service as a reminder of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem almost 2000 years ago -- and evidently that’s what Johnny’s church had done
-- well, when Johnny saw his family come walking in with those palm branches, he wasn’t happy -- Johnny said, "Where did you get the palm branches? What are they for?” -- Johnny's older brother said, "People held them over Jesus' head as He walked by" -- Johnny looked disgusted and said, "That's just great -- The one Sunday I don't go to church and Jesus shows up!"
-- well, that’s exactly what this passage in John is all about -- it’s about Jesus showing up -- it’s about God coming to town
-- in order to really understand the significance of what is going on in this passage and what had been going on over the past 3-4 years in Israel, you need to understand some history
-- the Israelites were God’s chosen people -- out of all the people in the world, God had chosen the Israelites to be His special people -- God had called their ancestors -- Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob -- and promised to be their God and to bless them and all the world through them
-- He led the Israelites out of captivity in Egypt across the Red Sea -- He led them through the wilderness on their way to the Promised Land -- appearing as a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night to show them the path they should follow
-- God had spoken to them through Moses and Joshua and many, many prophets -- He had given them the law and they had written down and protected His word for thousands of years
-- the people had enjoyed their special relationship with God for a long time -- but one day, God quit talking -- it was a difficult time in the nation of Israel -- the people had once again turned from God to worship idols and to trust in their own strength -- in the past, God would send a prophet to them and warn them of their sins and would call them to come back to Him -- He would restore them to the land and restore His worship in the temple
-- but this time, instead of sending another prophet into the world to warn them and lead them back to Him, God just quit talking
-- God spoke through the prophet Malachi -- the last prophet in the Old Testament -- and warned the people to turn back to Him -- He told them to return and to worship Him again with all their hearts and souls and minds and strength because the end was coming -- the great Day of the Lord would soon be at hand when they would be judged for their sins -- and when Malachi wrote down all that God had told him to write and he proclaimed it to the nation of Israel, God stopped talking
-- for 460 years, the people of Israel had not heard a word from their God -- God had never left them before -- even in their sins, God would speak to them and would call them home -- but now, no one heard from God -- there had been no prophets for almost 500 years -- so the people did what they knew to do
-- they continued to go to church -- they continued to offer sacrifices -- they continued to go through the motions -- but there was no inspiration -- there was no word from God -- there was no indication that He was near
-- God was silent and the people suffered and wondered and hoped -- until one day, a man dressed in camel hair and wearing a leather belt appeared in the wilderness proclaiming the coming of the Lord and calling people to repent
-- and, as John baptized people in the Jordan River, the people wondered if this could be the messenger that Malachi told them about in the last book of the Old Testament --- the one who was going to be like the prophet Elijah and who would prepare the way for the return of the Lord
-- and then, there was Jesus -- as the Apostle John puts it -- a great light shining in the darkness -- a man who was more than a man -- a man who spoke with power and authority -- a man who touched the blind and the lame and the sick and they were healed -- a man who knew God and who spoke with God and who seemed to be God
-- and, so, the people flocked to Jesus -- they surrounded Him wherever He went -- some came for the healings -- some came for the bread from heaven -- some came to watch the show -- but others came seeking that which they had lost -- they came looking for God and hoping to hear His voice again
-- the people began to whisper that God was back -- they began to think that God had returned -- there were rumors of a revival going on in Israel through the ministry of Jesus
-- this is really what is going on in this passage in John about the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem -- or, as we usually call it -- Palm Sunday
-- let’s look again at this with fresh eyes to catch a glimpse of what it was that drove these people to surround Jesus on that day
-- look back at verse 12
12 The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem
-- the city of Jerusalem was crowded that day -- faithful believers from all over Israel and beyond had come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread -- we know it better as the Passover Feast
-- this feast celebrated the protection of Israel by God as the angel of death passed over Egypt and slew the first-born children in the land as the final plague on the Egyptian Pharaoh -- only those people who had sacrificed a lamb and placed its blood on the doorposts of their homes were protected and delivered from death on that night
-- as commanded in the Jewish law, every year people would come to Jerusalem to remember the Passover and to worship in the temple
-- so, as Palm Sunday began, Jerusalem was filled with people who had come to worship God -- it was literally busting at the seams with people -- and all of them had heard of Jesus and were wondering if He was coming or not
-- verse 13
. 13 They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,
“Hosanna!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Blessed is the king of Israel!”
14 Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written:
15 “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion;
see, your king is coming,
seated on a donkey’s colt.”
-- when the people heard that Jesus was coming, they ran out to meet Him -- John says here they took palm branches with them and waved them in the air in anticipation of His coming
-- palm fronds signified victory -- they were waved when a victorious army came back home after winning a battle -- and they were waved when the king returned back to his palace -- through their actions, the people were saying what they truly believed about Jesus -- although they might not have fully understood that Jesus was God -- they knew that God had returned and that He was speaking through Jesus -- and so the people flocked to the road to welcome the voice of God back to Jerusalem after He had been silent for nearly 500 years
-- one thing to note here is that our actions proclaim what we believe, too -- more so than our words, what we do and how we live our lives tells others what we truly believe about God and about Jesus -- do we go through our lives proclaiming Him for the world to see -- or do we act like we haven’t heard from Him in a long time?
-- the other three gospel writers tell us that the people also spread their cloaks on the road in front of Jesus as He passed -- this was symbolic of royalty -- it’s kind of like our red carpets that we put out today for celebrities and dignitaries
-- it was also a way for the people to show that they were offering themselves and their possessions to Jesus -- by placing these cloaks in front of Him, they were saying, “We trust you -- we believe in you -- take our lives and take all that we have -- be our King and restore Israel to its former glory”
-- as Jesus made His way down from the Mount of Olives into Jerusalem, the people shouted at Him and said, “Hosanna! Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”
-- “Hosanna” means “Save” -- it carries with it the idea of God delivering the people just as He had done during the Passover -- it is a cry to God for salvation and deliverance and healing
-- usually it was used just during worship as an expression of praise -- but here, the people are shouting it to Jesus, showing that they recognized Him as worthy of their praise -- as someone who was touched by God
-- verse 16
16 At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him.
-- isn’t this verse amazing? -- “the disciples did not understand all of this” -- isn’t that the way it always is?
-- the people closest to someone can’t see them for who they really are -- sometimes it takes distance and a new look in order to fully see and understand just how special someone is -- let me give you an example of what I’m talking about
-- right now there is a miniseries on television called, “The Kennedys,” about the Kennedy family and their political dynasty, focused primarily on the life of John F. Kennedy
-- any time I’ve looked at the life of John F. Kennedy, one thing that has always fascinated me is the picture of John F. Kennedy, Jr. in the oval office -- he’s peeking out of the modesty panel underneath the president’s desk while his father, the president of the United States, is working at his desk
-- and what has always struck me about that picture is that JFK, Jr. has no idea who his father is or how important he is because he’s so close to him -- he could only understand later, when he looked at his father’s political career from a distant viewpoint
-- well, that is what is going on here in this passage -- the disciples were Jesus’ closest friends -- they had come to know Him in a special way -- they had lived with Him for three years -- they had traveled together -- they had shared meals together -- they had seen Him do miracles
-- but, because they were so close to Him, they just couldn’t see Him for who He truly was -- it was only later -- after the resurrection -- after Jesus’ ascension -- that they finally started to understand who this Jesus was that they had been with for so long and started to see Him as more than just a prophet but God Himself
-- verse 17
17 Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. 18 Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign, went out to meet him. 19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!”
-- now here’s what I really want you to see in this passage -- word had spread about Jesus and what He had been doing -- especially after He raised Lazarus from the dead
-- so, when news that Jesus was coming to town spread, the entire town gathered on the street to praise His name and to wave palm branches and put their cloaks in the road
-- they had heard the stories of the miracles -- they had heard of the miraculous healings and the bread from heaven -- they had heard of the teachings and all that Jesus did -- and the people came to see for themselves if Jesus was the Messiah
-- this is always the pattern of God’s work in our world -- when God begins to move, people respond -- when they hear rumors of revival, people flock to be with God and to hear His voice and feel His presence
-- on February 3rd 1970, the students at Asbury College in Wilmore, Kentucky, were having their regular morning chapel service -- instead of preaching, the leader that morning gave his testimony and encouraged the students to come forward and talk about their own Christian experiences
-- one student came -- and then another and another -- the entire altar filled up -- and students began to confess their sins and offer forgiveness to others for wrongs that had been done and offer their lives back to God
-- this wasn’t a normal chapel service -- everyone could sense that -- everyone knew that God was truly there
-- the service was supposed to last 50 minutes -- instead, it went on non-stop for 185 hours -- 24 hours a day -- as students and faculty poured into the chapel and turned back to God with their whole hearts
-- just like on Palm Sunday, word began to spread about what God was doing -- and the revival grew and grew and grew -- people started flocking to tiny Wilmore, Kentucky -- seeking God and His presence in their lives
-- they knew God was there -- they knew He was doing something special -- and they wanted to be a part of it
-- by that summer, the revival had spread to more than 130 other colleges and seminaries and scores of churches -- there were reports of revivals occurring from New York to California and even as far away as South America
-- John tells us here about a revival that took place about 2000 years ago -- a revival that started a fire that has still not been extinguished
-- the Pharisees, who had been hoping to capture Jesus in secret, looked at the crowd and listened to their voices of praise and said, “The whole world has gone after Him.”
-- isn’t that the way it is supposed to be? -- why should Palm Sunday just be one day on the Christian calendar? -- why aren’t we expecting our churches and our streets to be filled with people looking for Jesus every Sunday? -- why should this be something that we just read about and not something that we are experiencing?
-- the message here is that revival begins with us -- if we have truly experienced the presence of God, then we should be spreading the word about Jesus just as the disciples did in His day
-- and we should expect the world to respond and to come seeking the God who saves and delivers and heals
-- so let’s pray that God would come into our hearts and into our lives just as He did that day in Jerusalem and that our churches and our streets would be filled with people running to meet Him
-- let us pray
I. Introduction
-- turn in your Bibles to John 12:12-19
12 The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. 13 They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,
“Hosanna!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Blessed is the king of Israel!”
14 Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written:
15 “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion;
see, your king is coming,
seated on a donkey’s colt.”
16 At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him.
17 Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. 18 Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign, went out to meet him. 19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!”
-- today is, of course, Palm Sunday -- it marks the start of Holy Week -- the holiest and most important week of worship in the Christian church
-- it starts with Palm Sunday -- goes through Maundy Thursday -- Good Friday -- and finally ends on Easter Sunday -- as we gather together to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus
-- one Palm Sunday, little 5-year-old Johnny had a sore throat and really didn’t feel like going to church -- so his family let him stay home with a babysitter -- when they got back to the house, they were carrying several palm branches -- just to let you know, on Palm Sunday a lot of the larger churches actually pass out little palm fronds and let the people wave them during the service as a reminder of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem almost 2000 years ago -- and evidently that’s what Johnny’s church had done
-- well, when Johnny saw his family come walking in with those palm branches, he wasn’t happy -- Johnny said, "Where did you get the palm branches? What are they for?” -- Johnny's older brother said, "People held them over Jesus' head as He walked by" -- Johnny looked disgusted and said, "That's just great -- The one Sunday I don't go to church and Jesus shows up!"
-- well, that’s exactly what this passage in John is all about -- it’s about Jesus showing up -- it’s about God coming to town
-- in order to really understand the significance of what is going on in this passage and what had been going on over the past 3-4 years in Israel, you need to understand some history
-- the Israelites were God’s chosen people -- out of all the people in the world, God had chosen the Israelites to be His special people -- God had called their ancestors -- Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob -- and promised to be their God and to bless them and all the world through them
-- He led the Israelites out of captivity in Egypt across the Red Sea -- He led them through the wilderness on their way to the Promised Land -- appearing as a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night to show them the path they should follow
-- God had spoken to them through Moses and Joshua and many, many prophets -- He had given them the law and they had written down and protected His word for thousands of years
-- the people had enjoyed their special relationship with God for a long time -- but one day, God quit talking -- it was a difficult time in the nation of Israel -- the people had once again turned from God to worship idols and to trust in their own strength -- in the past, God would send a prophet to them and warn them of their sins and would call them to come back to Him -- He would restore them to the land and restore His worship in the temple
-- but this time, instead of sending another prophet into the world to warn them and lead them back to Him, God just quit talking
-- God spoke through the prophet Malachi -- the last prophet in the Old Testament -- and warned the people to turn back to Him -- He told them to return and to worship Him again with all their hearts and souls and minds and strength because the end was coming -- the great Day of the Lord would soon be at hand when they would be judged for their sins -- and when Malachi wrote down all that God had told him to write and he proclaimed it to the nation of Israel, God stopped talking
-- for 460 years, the people of Israel had not heard a word from their God -- God had never left them before -- even in their sins, God would speak to them and would call them home -- but now, no one heard from God -- there had been no prophets for almost 500 years -- so the people did what they knew to do
-- they continued to go to church -- they continued to offer sacrifices -- they continued to go through the motions -- but there was no inspiration -- there was no word from God -- there was no indication that He was near
-- God was silent and the people suffered and wondered and hoped -- until one day, a man dressed in camel hair and wearing a leather belt appeared in the wilderness proclaiming the coming of the Lord and calling people to repent
-- and, as John baptized people in the Jordan River, the people wondered if this could be the messenger that Malachi told them about in the last book of the Old Testament --- the one who was going to be like the prophet Elijah and who would prepare the way for the return of the Lord
-- and then, there was Jesus -- as the Apostle John puts it -- a great light shining in the darkness -- a man who was more than a man -- a man who spoke with power and authority -- a man who touched the blind and the lame and the sick and they were healed -- a man who knew God and who spoke with God and who seemed to be God
-- and, so, the people flocked to Jesus -- they surrounded Him wherever He went -- some came for the healings -- some came for the bread from heaven -- some came to watch the show -- but others came seeking that which they had lost -- they came looking for God and hoping to hear His voice again
-- the people began to whisper that God was back -- they began to think that God had returned -- there were rumors of a revival going on in Israel through the ministry of Jesus
-- this is really what is going on in this passage in John about the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem -- or, as we usually call it -- Palm Sunday
-- let’s look again at this with fresh eyes to catch a glimpse of what it was that drove these people to surround Jesus on that day
-- look back at verse 12
12 The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem
-- the city of Jerusalem was crowded that day -- faithful believers from all over Israel and beyond had come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread -- we know it better as the Passover Feast
-- this feast celebrated the protection of Israel by God as the angel of death passed over Egypt and slew the first-born children in the land as the final plague on the Egyptian Pharaoh -- only those people who had sacrificed a lamb and placed its blood on the doorposts of their homes were protected and delivered from death on that night
-- as commanded in the Jewish law, every year people would come to Jerusalem to remember the Passover and to worship in the temple
-- so, as Palm Sunday began, Jerusalem was filled with people who had come to worship God -- it was literally busting at the seams with people -- and all of them had heard of Jesus and were wondering if He was coming or not
-- verse 13
. 13 They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,
“Hosanna!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Blessed is the king of Israel!”
14 Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written:
15 “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion;
see, your king is coming,
seated on a donkey’s colt.”
-- when the people heard that Jesus was coming, they ran out to meet Him -- John says here they took palm branches with them and waved them in the air in anticipation of His coming
-- palm fronds signified victory -- they were waved when a victorious army came back home after winning a battle -- and they were waved when the king returned back to his palace -- through their actions, the people were saying what they truly believed about Jesus -- although they might not have fully understood that Jesus was God -- they knew that God had returned and that He was speaking through Jesus -- and so the people flocked to the road to welcome the voice of God back to Jerusalem after He had been silent for nearly 500 years
-- one thing to note here is that our actions proclaim what we believe, too -- more so than our words, what we do and how we live our lives tells others what we truly believe about God and about Jesus -- do we go through our lives proclaiming Him for the world to see -- or do we act like we haven’t heard from Him in a long time?
-- the other three gospel writers tell us that the people also spread their cloaks on the road in front of Jesus as He passed -- this was symbolic of royalty -- it’s kind of like our red carpets that we put out today for celebrities and dignitaries
-- it was also a way for the people to show that they were offering themselves and their possessions to Jesus -- by placing these cloaks in front of Him, they were saying, “We trust you -- we believe in you -- take our lives and take all that we have -- be our King and restore Israel to its former glory”
-- as Jesus made His way down from the Mount of Olives into Jerusalem, the people shouted at Him and said, “Hosanna! Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”
-- “Hosanna” means “Save” -- it carries with it the idea of God delivering the people just as He had done during the Passover -- it is a cry to God for salvation and deliverance and healing
-- usually it was used just during worship as an expression of praise -- but here, the people are shouting it to Jesus, showing that they recognized Him as worthy of their praise -- as someone who was touched by God
-- verse 16
16 At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him.
-- isn’t this verse amazing? -- “the disciples did not understand all of this” -- isn’t that the way it always is?
-- the people closest to someone can’t see them for who they really are -- sometimes it takes distance and a new look in order to fully see and understand just how special someone is -- let me give you an example of what I’m talking about
-- right now there is a miniseries on television called, “The Kennedys,” about the Kennedy family and their political dynasty, focused primarily on the life of John F. Kennedy
-- any time I’ve looked at the life of John F. Kennedy, one thing that has always fascinated me is the picture of John F. Kennedy, Jr. in the oval office -- he’s peeking out of the modesty panel underneath the president’s desk while his father, the president of the United States, is working at his desk
-- and what has always struck me about that picture is that JFK, Jr. has no idea who his father is or how important he is because he’s so close to him -- he could only understand later, when he looked at his father’s political career from a distant viewpoint
-- well, that is what is going on here in this passage -- the disciples were Jesus’ closest friends -- they had come to know Him in a special way -- they had lived with Him for three years -- they had traveled together -- they had shared meals together -- they had seen Him do miracles
-- but, because they were so close to Him, they just couldn’t see Him for who He truly was -- it was only later -- after the resurrection -- after Jesus’ ascension -- that they finally started to understand who this Jesus was that they had been with for so long and started to see Him as more than just a prophet but God Himself
-- verse 17
17 Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. 18 Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign, went out to meet him. 19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!”
-- now here’s what I really want you to see in this passage -- word had spread about Jesus and what He had been doing -- especially after He raised Lazarus from the dead
-- so, when news that Jesus was coming to town spread, the entire town gathered on the street to praise His name and to wave palm branches and put their cloaks in the road
-- they had heard the stories of the miracles -- they had heard of the miraculous healings and the bread from heaven -- they had heard of the teachings and all that Jesus did -- and the people came to see for themselves if Jesus was the Messiah
-- this is always the pattern of God’s work in our world -- when God begins to move, people respond -- when they hear rumors of revival, people flock to be with God and to hear His voice and feel His presence
-- on February 3rd 1970, the students at Asbury College in Wilmore, Kentucky, were having their regular morning chapel service -- instead of preaching, the leader that morning gave his testimony and encouraged the students to come forward and talk about their own Christian experiences
-- one student came -- and then another and another -- the entire altar filled up -- and students began to confess their sins and offer forgiveness to others for wrongs that had been done and offer their lives back to God
-- this wasn’t a normal chapel service -- everyone could sense that -- everyone knew that God was truly there
-- the service was supposed to last 50 minutes -- instead, it went on non-stop for 185 hours -- 24 hours a day -- as students and faculty poured into the chapel and turned back to God with their whole hearts
-- just like on Palm Sunday, word began to spread about what God was doing -- and the revival grew and grew and grew -- people started flocking to tiny Wilmore, Kentucky -- seeking God and His presence in their lives
-- they knew God was there -- they knew He was doing something special -- and they wanted to be a part of it
-- by that summer, the revival had spread to more than 130 other colleges and seminaries and scores of churches -- there were reports of revivals occurring from New York to California and even as far away as South America
-- John tells us here about a revival that took place about 2000 years ago -- a revival that started a fire that has still not been extinguished
-- the Pharisees, who had been hoping to capture Jesus in secret, looked at the crowd and listened to their voices of praise and said, “The whole world has gone after Him.”
-- isn’t that the way it is supposed to be? -- why should Palm Sunday just be one day on the Christian calendar? -- why aren’t we expecting our churches and our streets to be filled with people looking for Jesus every Sunday? -- why should this be something that we just read about and not something that we are experiencing?
-- the message here is that revival begins with us -- if we have truly experienced the presence of God, then we should be spreading the word about Jesus just as the disciples did in His day
-- and we should expect the world to respond and to come seeking the God who saves and delivers and heals
-- so let’s pray that God would come into our hearts and into our lives just as He did that day in Jerusalem and that our churches and our streets would be filled with people running to meet Him
-- let us pray
SERMON: JESUS, NOT JUST FOR EASTER ANYMORE
3 April 2011
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to John 1:35-42
35 The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. 36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”
37 When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. 38 Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?”
They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”
39 “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.”
So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon.
40 Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. 41 The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). 42 And he brought him to Jesus.
Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter).
-- a groom and his new wife had just got married and had driven a long distance to get to their honeymoon location -- when they finally made it to the motel, they checked in and were escorted to the bridal suite in the wee hours of the morning -- they were both so tired from the long wedding and reception and from mingling with their guests and then the drive afterwards -- they were just looking forward to a few hours of sleep before they truly started to enjoy their new life together
-- so, you can imagine their disappointment when they finally got into their room and took a look around and couldn’t see a bed in sight -- there was a nice couch -- some chairs and a table -- but no bed -- what kind of bridal suite was this?
-- then they discovered that the couch was a hide-a-bed, complete with lumpy mattress and springs sagging to the floor -- so the newly married couple spent their honeymoon night on a hide-away-bed, waking up with sore backs and an even worse disposition
-- the next morning, the husband went to the hotel desk and gave the management a tongue-lashing for giving them such a terrible room, especially on their honeymoon
-- the manager asked, "Did you open the door in the room?" -- the manager carried the husband back up to the suite, and opened the door in back of the room -- and there, complete with fruit baskets and chocolates and wonderful decorations, was a beautiful bedroom -- the husband looked at his wife and then at the manager and said, "Oh, we thought it was a closet."
-- this illustration points to the way that many Christians are going through life today -- but it shouldn’t be like this
-- Jesus promised us in John 10:10 that He came to bring us life and life to the full -- the King James Version renders this as “abundant life” -- but if you look at most Christians, the lives that they are living could hardly be described as full or abundant lives
-- it’s almost like we’re missing the full gospel of Christ in our churches and in our lives -- think about the message of Jesus that is the focal point of most of our churches -- that is the focal point of most of our evangelistic efforts
-- we are told that Jesus is the way to heaven -- that He is the way and the truth and the life and that no one comes to the Father except through Him -- we tell people that they are dead in their sins and their trespasses, but that if they will receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior, then Jesus will come into their lives and forgive their sins and bring them into eternal life with Him
-- and all of this is true -- wonderfully true -- this is what Easter is all about -- this is what Lent is all about -- seeking the God who saves -- celebrating the truth that in Jesus, God became one of us and died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins so that we might receive forgiveness for our sins and eternal righteousness and life with Him
-- for 2000 years, the church has been really good at getting this message out -- at getting people to accept Jesus for their salvation -- at bringing them to the altar where they receive the justifying grace of God given to them at the cross of Calvary through the atoning death of Jesus
-- but, we’ve not done a very good job at helping people move past the altar to the wonders that await them in the next room -- we have failed to finish what Jesus called us to do when He told us in Matthew 28:18-20 to go and make disciples of all nations -- and, as a result, a lot of people have ended up getting stuck at the cross -- never maturing -- never growing -- never moving into the abundant life that Jesus promised
-- as A.W. Tozer put it almost 60 years ago, “Everything is made to center upon the initial act of ‘accepting’ Christ, and we are not expected thereafter to crave any further revelation of God to our souls.”
-- but, isn’t there more to this Christian life than just punching a ticket to heaven? -- isn’t there more to Jesus than just salvation?
-- I have been spending time over Lent rereading the gospels -- not straight through -- but as I have been led by the Spirit to various passages -- and I noticed that Jesus’ message wasn’t as simple as we have made it -- it wasn’t just “come to Me and be saved -- come to Me and get to go to Heaven” -- no, His message was, “come to Me and enter the Kingdom of God -- come to Me and have life -- come to Me and live -- not just after you die and enter heaven -- but live to your fullest right now”
II. Scripture Lesson (John 1:35-42)
-- I think that’s why I found this passage in John so interesting -- it’s set at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry -- in fact, these verses cover the calling of Jesus’ first disciples
-- as these verses open, we read that Jesus has already been baptized by John in the Jordan River -- as you remember, John had been called by the Spirit to prepare the way for Jesus by preaching a gospel of repentance and baptism -- the Bible tells us that many people had gone out from the cities to see John and he had quite a large following with many disciples
-- one day, as John is standing there with his disciples -- preaching to the people and baptizing in the river -- he sees Jesus passing by
-- look back with me now at verse 35 and let’s pick up the story there
35 The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. 36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”
37 When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.
-- John knew exactly who Jesus was -- not only was Jesus his cousin, but he knew that Jesus was the promised Messiah -- the Lamb of God who had come to take away the sins of the world
-- when John had baptized Jesus the day before in the Jordan River, the Holy Spirit had come upon Jesus as a dove and the heavens had opened up and God the Father had spoken Jesus as He rose from the waters -- “You are my Son, whom I love; with You I am well pleased”
-- John understood his role in the bigger picture -- he knew that his calling was to prepare the way for the Messiah, not to be the Messiah -- not to build a church -- not to gather disciples -- not to have a large following -- in John 3:30, when his disciples began to complain that everyone was going to Jesus and no one was coming out to see John anymore, John said, “He must become greater, I must become less”
-- John knew that there was more for Israel -- more for the world -- than the waters of the Jordan River -- than being called to the cross and being baptized in repentance of your sins
-- so, when Jesus walked by that day, John pointed Him out to the crowd and said, “There He goes -- there’s the One you have been looking for -- the Lamb of the World”
-- immediately, two of John’s disciples began to follow Jesus -- as I was reading that, I just tried to picture that in my head -- I could just see Jesus walking along the river and stopping to talk with someone and to shake someone’s hand -- to look at the wares that someone might have been selling in a booth out there
-- and there’s these two guys following Him -- when He stops, they stop -- when He moves, they move -- following Him but not really trying to make it obvious, you know? -- just kind of wandering around just to see what Jesus was doing -- at least, that’s how I pictured it since we don’t read that they ran up to Jesus and caught up to Him -- they didn’t stop Him and speak to Him -- no, they just followed Him
-- look with me at verse 38 -- and this really gets to the heart of what I want you to see
38 Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?”
They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”
-- you know that Jesus knew He was being followed -- you know that Jesus knew these two men were just following along at a distance and trying to watch Him and keep with Him -- so, finally, Jesus stops and turns around and asks the men, “What do you want?” -- the King James Version phrases it as, “What do you seek?”
-- in other words, Jesus wants to know, “Why are you following Me?”
-- how would you answer that question? -- if Jesus were to physically come in here this morning and walk up to you and look you in the eye and ask you, “Why are you here today? -- What do you want? -- Why are you following Me?” -- what would you say? -- why do you follow Jesus?
-- for many people, the answer is simple -- “because I want to go to heaven” -- “because I want to be saved” -- but, is that all we look to Jesus for -- an escape from the fires of Hell?
-- look at how John’s disciples respond to this question -- here they’ve been following Jesus around for some time and He finally turns around and confronts them, “What do you want? -- What do you seek?” -- and they respond by saying, “Where are you staying?”
-- it seems a shallow answer to such a profound question -- but, if you work through what they are really asking, they are proclaiming to Jesus, “O God, show us your glory -- “they want to taste, to touch with their hearts, to see with their inner eyes the wonder that is God.” [Source: A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God]
-- these disciples weren’t following Jesus because they wanted something from Him -- they didn’t follow Him that day because they wanted healing or bread from Heaven or financial gain -- they followed Jesus because He was who they were looking for -- He was the answer to all their questions -- He was the answer to life
-- this invitation of Jesus to these two disciples to come and go with Him to His home really gets to the heart of Christianity -- it gets to what’s missing in most of Christianity
-- let’s say that this was you in this story -- let’s say that when we leave here, we run across Jesus walking down the street -- and He turns to us and invites us to His house -- what are you going to say? -- what are you going to do?
-- would you say, “I’ve already got salvation -- I’ve already got my ticket to heaven -- I’ll see you when I die”
-- if we’re honest, that’s what most of us do -- that’s what most of us think -- we kind of treat Jesus like the spare tire in our cars -- we know He’s there in case of emergency, but we don’t pay any attention to Him except for when we need Him
-- He’s just something that we added to our lives as fire insurance -- and so we get stuck at the cross
-- we may be saved -- we may have received Jesus as our Lord and Savior and been washed in the blood of the Lamb, but we just go through life sleeping on a hide-away-bed rather than entering into the bridal suite
-- we have eternal life -- but not the abundant, full life that Jesus offers -- what are we missing by settling with just getting by at the cross and not entering into the full gospel that Jesus offers?
-- look at what happens in verse 39 -- when these disciples asked to see where Jesus was saying, Jesus told them to come and to go with Him to His home -- and we read that they spent the day with Him
-- can you imagine what it would be like to spend the day with Jesus?
-- I just finished a book yesterday by David Gregory called, “Dinner with a Perfect Stranger,” that was about this very subject -- it’s the story of a man who receives an invitation to have dinner with Jesus
-- can you imagine what it would be like to spend the day with Jesus or to share a meal with Him in a fine restaurant? -- to just sit in His presence and to listen as He talked? -- to be able to share with Him from your heart and know that He really cared about what you were saying -- about who you are?
-- if you could spend the day with Jesus like these two disciples, would you waste that time by just asking for things? -- would you spend all that time complaining about your day and about your life and about what could be better?
-- no, of course not -- we would simply sit there and enjoy the moment -- we would sit there and rejoice that we were in the presence of our God and Savior
-- our focus wouldn’t be on eternity -- it wouldn’t be on fire escapes or getting out of Hell free -- our focus would be on Jesus and Jesus alone
-- look at what happened to these disciples -- verse 40
39 “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.”
So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon.
40 Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. 41 The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). 42 And he brought him to Jesus.
Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter).
-- after spending a day with Jesus, these disciples went home changed -- after spending a day with Jesus, these disciples went home knowing that they had seen God -- knowing that they had been with the Messiah
-- so, the first they do is tell others about Jesus -- notice what Andrew told Simon -- he didn’t tell him, “I have found the path to God” -- he didn’t tell him, “I know what we have to do to get to heaven -- we have to go to the altar and pray the sinner’s prayer and get baptized and go to church”
-- no, Andrew told Simon, “We have found the Messiah -- we have found God” -- not a plan -- not a program -- a Person
-- you see, that’s what we have lost in our religion -- that’s what we have lost in most of our churches -- it’s not about what Jesus can do for us -- it’s not about us at all -- it’s about Jesus
-- Jesus died on the cross -- not only to save us for heaven -- but to invite us home
-- He died not just so that we could escape the flames of Hell -- but to restore our relationship with Him so we could enjoy His presence once again
-- Jesus didn’t just come to give us life -- He came to be our life
-- Why do we follow Jesus?
-- is it because of what can get -- or because of who He is?
-- the answer to that question is the difference between just living life or living an abundant life with Christ
III. Closing
-- as I close this morning, I want to invite you -- right now -- to just take a moment and think about your relationship with God
-- I pray that all of you have already entered into a relationship with Jesus -- that you have been to the cross and you’ve put your faith and trust in a God who saves and who forgives us of our sins -- if you haven’t, then I want to you invite you to do so right now and to ask Jesus to be your Savior
-- for those of you who have been to the cross -- who know that you are saved -- ask yourself this question, “How am I following Jesus now?” -- think about your life and think about the importance of Jesus in your life
-- is He just there to give you things or to be available in times of need -- or do you seek His presence and follow Him because you love Him and want to spend time with Him?
-- Easter isn’t just one day on a calendar -- Easter is our wedding day -- and Jesus is calling you to enter the bridal suite with Him and to enjoy life with Him for who He is and not for what He does
-- don’t go through life sleeping on a hide-away-bed waiting for eternity -- but follow Jesus home now and spend your life with Him from this moment on
-- let us pray
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to John 1:35-42
35 The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. 36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”
37 When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. 38 Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?”
They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”
39 “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.”
So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon.
40 Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. 41 The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). 42 And he brought him to Jesus.
Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter).
-- a groom and his new wife had just got married and had driven a long distance to get to their honeymoon location -- when they finally made it to the motel, they checked in and were escorted to the bridal suite in the wee hours of the morning -- they were both so tired from the long wedding and reception and from mingling with their guests and then the drive afterwards -- they were just looking forward to a few hours of sleep before they truly started to enjoy their new life together
-- so, you can imagine their disappointment when they finally got into their room and took a look around and couldn’t see a bed in sight -- there was a nice couch -- some chairs and a table -- but no bed -- what kind of bridal suite was this?
-- then they discovered that the couch was a hide-a-bed, complete with lumpy mattress and springs sagging to the floor -- so the newly married couple spent their honeymoon night on a hide-away-bed, waking up with sore backs and an even worse disposition
-- the next morning, the husband went to the hotel desk and gave the management a tongue-lashing for giving them such a terrible room, especially on their honeymoon
-- the manager asked, "Did you open the door in the room?" -- the manager carried the husband back up to the suite, and opened the door in back of the room -- and there, complete with fruit baskets and chocolates and wonderful decorations, was a beautiful bedroom -- the husband looked at his wife and then at the manager and said, "Oh, we thought it was a closet."
-- this illustration points to the way that many Christians are going through life today -- but it shouldn’t be like this
-- Jesus promised us in John 10:10 that He came to bring us life and life to the full -- the King James Version renders this as “abundant life” -- but if you look at most Christians, the lives that they are living could hardly be described as full or abundant lives
-- it’s almost like we’re missing the full gospel of Christ in our churches and in our lives -- think about the message of Jesus that is the focal point of most of our churches -- that is the focal point of most of our evangelistic efforts
-- we are told that Jesus is the way to heaven -- that He is the way and the truth and the life and that no one comes to the Father except through Him -- we tell people that they are dead in their sins and their trespasses, but that if they will receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior, then Jesus will come into their lives and forgive their sins and bring them into eternal life with Him
-- and all of this is true -- wonderfully true -- this is what Easter is all about -- this is what Lent is all about -- seeking the God who saves -- celebrating the truth that in Jesus, God became one of us and died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins so that we might receive forgiveness for our sins and eternal righteousness and life with Him
-- for 2000 years, the church has been really good at getting this message out -- at getting people to accept Jesus for their salvation -- at bringing them to the altar where they receive the justifying grace of God given to them at the cross of Calvary through the atoning death of Jesus
-- but, we’ve not done a very good job at helping people move past the altar to the wonders that await them in the next room -- we have failed to finish what Jesus called us to do when He told us in Matthew 28:18-20 to go and make disciples of all nations -- and, as a result, a lot of people have ended up getting stuck at the cross -- never maturing -- never growing -- never moving into the abundant life that Jesus promised
-- as A.W. Tozer put it almost 60 years ago, “Everything is made to center upon the initial act of ‘accepting’ Christ, and we are not expected thereafter to crave any further revelation of God to our souls.”
-- but, isn’t there more to this Christian life than just punching a ticket to heaven? -- isn’t there more to Jesus than just salvation?
-- I have been spending time over Lent rereading the gospels -- not straight through -- but as I have been led by the Spirit to various passages -- and I noticed that Jesus’ message wasn’t as simple as we have made it -- it wasn’t just “come to Me and be saved -- come to Me and get to go to Heaven” -- no, His message was, “come to Me and enter the Kingdom of God -- come to Me and have life -- come to Me and live -- not just after you die and enter heaven -- but live to your fullest right now”
II. Scripture Lesson (John 1:35-42)
-- I think that’s why I found this passage in John so interesting -- it’s set at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry -- in fact, these verses cover the calling of Jesus’ first disciples
-- as these verses open, we read that Jesus has already been baptized by John in the Jordan River -- as you remember, John had been called by the Spirit to prepare the way for Jesus by preaching a gospel of repentance and baptism -- the Bible tells us that many people had gone out from the cities to see John and he had quite a large following with many disciples
-- one day, as John is standing there with his disciples -- preaching to the people and baptizing in the river -- he sees Jesus passing by
-- look back with me now at verse 35 and let’s pick up the story there
35 The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. 36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”
37 When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.
-- John knew exactly who Jesus was -- not only was Jesus his cousin, but he knew that Jesus was the promised Messiah -- the Lamb of God who had come to take away the sins of the world
-- when John had baptized Jesus the day before in the Jordan River, the Holy Spirit had come upon Jesus as a dove and the heavens had opened up and God the Father had spoken Jesus as He rose from the waters -- “You are my Son, whom I love; with You I am well pleased”
-- John understood his role in the bigger picture -- he knew that his calling was to prepare the way for the Messiah, not to be the Messiah -- not to build a church -- not to gather disciples -- not to have a large following -- in John 3:30, when his disciples began to complain that everyone was going to Jesus and no one was coming out to see John anymore, John said, “He must become greater, I must become less”
-- John knew that there was more for Israel -- more for the world -- than the waters of the Jordan River -- than being called to the cross and being baptized in repentance of your sins
-- so, when Jesus walked by that day, John pointed Him out to the crowd and said, “There He goes -- there’s the One you have been looking for -- the Lamb of the World”
-- immediately, two of John’s disciples began to follow Jesus -- as I was reading that, I just tried to picture that in my head -- I could just see Jesus walking along the river and stopping to talk with someone and to shake someone’s hand -- to look at the wares that someone might have been selling in a booth out there
-- and there’s these two guys following Him -- when He stops, they stop -- when He moves, they move -- following Him but not really trying to make it obvious, you know? -- just kind of wandering around just to see what Jesus was doing -- at least, that’s how I pictured it since we don’t read that they ran up to Jesus and caught up to Him -- they didn’t stop Him and speak to Him -- no, they just followed Him
-- look with me at verse 38 -- and this really gets to the heart of what I want you to see
38 Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?”
They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”
-- you know that Jesus knew He was being followed -- you know that Jesus knew these two men were just following along at a distance and trying to watch Him and keep with Him -- so, finally, Jesus stops and turns around and asks the men, “What do you want?” -- the King James Version phrases it as, “What do you seek?”
-- in other words, Jesus wants to know, “Why are you following Me?”
-- how would you answer that question? -- if Jesus were to physically come in here this morning and walk up to you and look you in the eye and ask you, “Why are you here today? -- What do you want? -- Why are you following Me?” -- what would you say? -- why do you follow Jesus?
-- for many people, the answer is simple -- “because I want to go to heaven” -- “because I want to be saved” -- but, is that all we look to Jesus for -- an escape from the fires of Hell?
-- look at how John’s disciples respond to this question -- here they’ve been following Jesus around for some time and He finally turns around and confronts them, “What do you want? -- What do you seek?” -- and they respond by saying, “Where are you staying?”
-- it seems a shallow answer to such a profound question -- but, if you work through what they are really asking, they are proclaiming to Jesus, “O God, show us your glory -- “they want to taste, to touch with their hearts, to see with their inner eyes the wonder that is God.” [Source: A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God]
-- these disciples weren’t following Jesus because they wanted something from Him -- they didn’t follow Him that day because they wanted healing or bread from Heaven or financial gain -- they followed Jesus because He was who they were looking for -- He was the answer to all their questions -- He was the answer to life
-- this invitation of Jesus to these two disciples to come and go with Him to His home really gets to the heart of Christianity -- it gets to what’s missing in most of Christianity
-- let’s say that this was you in this story -- let’s say that when we leave here, we run across Jesus walking down the street -- and He turns to us and invites us to His house -- what are you going to say? -- what are you going to do?
-- would you say, “I’ve already got salvation -- I’ve already got my ticket to heaven -- I’ll see you when I die”
-- if we’re honest, that’s what most of us do -- that’s what most of us think -- we kind of treat Jesus like the spare tire in our cars -- we know He’s there in case of emergency, but we don’t pay any attention to Him except for when we need Him
-- He’s just something that we added to our lives as fire insurance -- and so we get stuck at the cross
-- we may be saved -- we may have received Jesus as our Lord and Savior and been washed in the blood of the Lamb, but we just go through life sleeping on a hide-away-bed rather than entering into the bridal suite
-- we have eternal life -- but not the abundant, full life that Jesus offers -- what are we missing by settling with just getting by at the cross and not entering into the full gospel that Jesus offers?
-- look at what happens in verse 39 -- when these disciples asked to see where Jesus was saying, Jesus told them to come and to go with Him to His home -- and we read that they spent the day with Him
-- can you imagine what it would be like to spend the day with Jesus?
-- I just finished a book yesterday by David Gregory called, “Dinner with a Perfect Stranger,” that was about this very subject -- it’s the story of a man who receives an invitation to have dinner with Jesus
-- can you imagine what it would be like to spend the day with Jesus or to share a meal with Him in a fine restaurant? -- to just sit in His presence and to listen as He talked? -- to be able to share with Him from your heart and know that He really cared about what you were saying -- about who you are?
-- if you could spend the day with Jesus like these two disciples, would you waste that time by just asking for things? -- would you spend all that time complaining about your day and about your life and about what could be better?
-- no, of course not -- we would simply sit there and enjoy the moment -- we would sit there and rejoice that we were in the presence of our God and Savior
-- our focus wouldn’t be on eternity -- it wouldn’t be on fire escapes or getting out of Hell free -- our focus would be on Jesus and Jesus alone
-- look at what happened to these disciples -- verse 40
39 “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.”
So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon.
40 Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. 41 The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). 42 And he brought him to Jesus.
Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter).
-- after spending a day with Jesus, these disciples went home changed -- after spending a day with Jesus, these disciples went home knowing that they had seen God -- knowing that they had been with the Messiah
-- so, the first they do is tell others about Jesus -- notice what Andrew told Simon -- he didn’t tell him, “I have found the path to God” -- he didn’t tell him, “I know what we have to do to get to heaven -- we have to go to the altar and pray the sinner’s prayer and get baptized and go to church”
-- no, Andrew told Simon, “We have found the Messiah -- we have found God” -- not a plan -- not a program -- a Person
-- you see, that’s what we have lost in our religion -- that’s what we have lost in most of our churches -- it’s not about what Jesus can do for us -- it’s not about us at all -- it’s about Jesus
-- Jesus died on the cross -- not only to save us for heaven -- but to invite us home
-- He died not just so that we could escape the flames of Hell -- but to restore our relationship with Him so we could enjoy His presence once again
-- Jesus didn’t just come to give us life -- He came to be our life
-- Why do we follow Jesus?
-- is it because of what can get -- or because of who He is?
-- the answer to that question is the difference between just living life or living an abundant life with Christ
III. Closing
-- as I close this morning, I want to invite you -- right now -- to just take a moment and think about your relationship with God
-- I pray that all of you have already entered into a relationship with Jesus -- that you have been to the cross and you’ve put your faith and trust in a God who saves and who forgives us of our sins -- if you haven’t, then I want to you invite you to do so right now and to ask Jesus to be your Savior
-- for those of you who have been to the cross -- who know that you are saved -- ask yourself this question, “How am I following Jesus now?” -- think about your life and think about the importance of Jesus in your life
-- is He just there to give you things or to be available in times of need -- or do you seek His presence and follow Him because you love Him and want to spend time with Him?
-- Easter isn’t just one day on a calendar -- Easter is our wedding day -- and Jesus is calling you to enter the bridal suite with Him and to enjoy life with Him for who He is and not for what He does
-- don’t go through life sleeping on a hide-away-bed waiting for eternity -- but follow Jesus home now and spend your life with Him from this moment on
-- let us pray
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