Church of the Nazarene East Rock

Questions Jesus Asked
Why do you call me Lord, Lord and not do what i say?

Today we continue in our 4-part teaching series “Questions Jesus Asked”

Often, we are quite content to ask questions of Jesus. Who are you? Where are you? Do you hear me? How could you let that happen? What do you want me to do?

We often ask questions of Jesus, but do we pause to hear the questions he asks of us?

Today we hear Jesus ask “Why Do You Call Me ‘Lord Lord’ and Not Do What I Say?”

‭‭Luke‬ ‭6:46-49‬‬
“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”

The Christian life is essentially composed of two fundamental responses – proclaiming and acting.
Part 1 is about our declaration – proclaiming Jesus rightly.
Part 2 is about our resulting action – obedience.

Both are required in a life of faith.

Imagine Jesus sitting down beside you this morning and asking you a question like this:

Why do you call me Lord, then lash out in anger at those who have crossed you or those who voted differently than you?

Why do you call me Lord here in this place, but you don’t ever call me Lord out there- at work or at school? Why?

Why do you call me Lord, but yet you continue to choose sin? Why?

Why do you call me Lord of our life, but you yet we always do what you want, and never what I say, or what I desire?

Why do you call me Lord, but don’t do what I say? Am I really Lord of your life?

How would you answer him?

Would that encounter make you nervous today? Does a knot come in your stomach at the thought of it?

Perhaps today Jesus is calling you to live differently, to live obediently to his word.

Within this story we can see two key perspectives on the necessity of obedience.

Jesus shows within this parable that obedience to his teaching is the only sure foundation that we can build our lives on.

He also shows that it is obedience to His word that will withstand God’s final judgement.

How will you respond to Jesus’ question today?

Independence- a decision to continue to do things our way
OR
Dependance on Grace- a decision to obey and follow Christ.

http://bible.com/events/48885553

Church of the Nazarene – Harrisonburg

Questions Jesus Asked: Who Do You Say That I Am?
Knowing Jesus is at the heart of true faith. And true life.

Today we begin our new 4 part teaching series “Questions Jesus Asked”

We just came through the most important season in the church, focusing on the death and resurrection of Jesus – what He DID.
For this series we will focus on what He SAID.

Together we will explore Jesus’ tendency to ask questions at pivotal times – one question from each of the four Gospels – and seek to understand what He meant by asking them and how the answers can help us live lives of faith today.

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭16:13-20‬‬
When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

Who do you say that I am?

Jesus asks this question because this is THE central question
Your life hinges on how you answer this question.
It doesn’t just impact what you believe, but your present and future.

Jesus was real

Jesus was fully God and fully man

Jesus’ mission was to die for the sin of all humanity

Jesus made a way for us to be in relationship with God

Jesus is alive

Bottom Line:
Knowing Jesus is at the heart of true faith. And true life.

Verses for further study/reflection:
John 8:58
John 14:6
Romans 9:5
Romans 10:9
1 Corinthians 15

Questions Jesus Asked: Part 1
Who do you say I am?

Today we begin our new 4 part teaching series “Questions Jesus Asked”

Often, we are quite content to ask questions of Jesus. Who are you? Where are you? Do you hear me? How could you let that happen? What do you want me to do?

We often ask questions of Jesus, but do we pause to hear the questions he asks of us?

Throughout this series we will explore Jesus’ tendency to ask questions at pivotal times – one question from each of the four Gospels – and seek to understand what He meant by asking them and how the answers can help us live lives of faith today.

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭16:13-20‬‬
When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

C.S. Lewis once said
“You must make your choice: either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.

We begin our series here with this simple question of Jesus identity.

A true understanding of who Jesus is lies at the very heart of our relationship with Him and our eternal destiny.

What do people in your circles say about Jesus? At school or at work?
Maybe Jesus is just a swear word, a name brought into the damning or swearing of everyday conversation.

Perhaps a nice person, or good teacher, a moral example even. Maybe they would say Jesus is a hoax, a ancient manipulation tool for the weak at heart. (A growing number of people hold this view today). Jesus is dangerous, a tool of oppression of free thinking and expression.

What about you today- Imagine Jesus looking right into your eyes and asking you-“Who do you say I am?”

The apostle John said things like
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

The Apostle Paul wrote in Colossians 1
The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.

But, who do you say that I am?

What would it look like for you today, no matter how you answered that question, what would it look like for you to know him more? To know him intimately, with a sure conviction like Peter?

If the question of who Jesus is not only affects our life now, but our eternal life forever, we MUST know him more.

http://bible.com/events/48881966

All Things New: The New Hope
In Christ you don’t strive for hope, you rest in it.

This series is based on the idea that we desperately need “new” and that new is available to us through Jesus.

‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭1:3-9‬‬
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Living Hope Is Purchased
-“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,” (verses 3-4)
-There is a direct and indelible tie between the resurrection of Jesus and the availability of hope. No resurrection, no hope.
-This hope is purchased by Jesus and his work on the cross. And it is alive – it cannot die!

Living Hope Is Present & Future
-“and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.” (verses 4-5)
-Peter is saying there is hope now because of what Christ has done and hope in an inheritance you have that will never fade away.

Living Hope Is Powerful
-“In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” (verses 6-9)
-This living hope does something in us: we can have joy even in our suffering, it strengthens and grows our faith, we are refined.
-Living Hope gives us vision for our future, for the ultimate salvation that will be revealed.

The bottom line:
In Christ you don’t strive for hope, you rest in it.

There are two kinds of people:
1. Those who desperately need new hope. Hope that is alive right now.
2. Those who need to bring hope to others. They never want someone to experience life without hope.

Which one are you today?

Verses for further study/reflection:
Romans 5:1-5
Zechariah 9:11-12
Isaiah 43:16-19
This is what the Lord says—
he who made a way through the sea,
a path through the mighty waters,
17 who drew out the chariots and horses,
the army and reinforcements together,
and they lay there, never to rise again,
extinguished, snuffed out like a wick:
18 “Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
19 Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.

Colossians 3:1-4
1 Corinthians 15:12-28
John 3:3
John 3:5
Romans 10:9
2 Corinthians 5:17
Lamentations 3:23

All Things New: New Hope
The resurrection doesn’t just give birth to new life but to hope as well.

This Easter series “All Things New” is based on the idea that we not only like new, but we also desperately need “new” and that new that we need is available to us through literal new life in Christ – the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus touches the deep longing within our hearts for things to be different than what we see around us.

The longing for hope. The need for joy and peace.

As we conclude our series, we will see that the resurrection of Jesus doesn’t just give birth to new life but to new hope as well. A living hope that is strong and sure – that will never disappoint us.

That’s the new we need. That’s the new life we find in Christ.

‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭1:3-5‬‬
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

We see that Hope is a real thing, given to us by Jesus through our new birth. The Hope of Jesus isn’t an abstract concept that simply produces positive feelings within us.

It is living because it is eternal and placed in Christ and his unchanging character.

That the difference in living and dead hope.
Hope placed in circumstantial things, things of this world, even good things, are dead because they aren’t eternal, they aren’t secure in Christ.
iii.Our hope as Christians is placed in the person of Jesus and his word about the future.

It’s alive, because HE is alive.

‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭1:6-9‬‬
In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

It is within the light of eternity, the promise we have of God’s ultimate renewal that we should frame all of our present sufferings.

Using the imagery of Gold being refined by fire to remove the impurities, he says that the trials we face, through faith in Christ, can serve a redemptive purpose in refining and strengthening us.

How would this New Hope change your perspective on things in your life now? How would new hope change your mission within the world?

in Christ, we are a people rich in Hope and we are called to share that hope with others!

“We are transformed by God to bring Hope to others through Christ.”

Verses for further study/reflection:
Romans 5:1-5
James 1:2-4
Colossians 3:1-4
1 Corinthians 15:12-28
John 3:3
John 3:5
Romans 10:9
2 Corinthians 5:17
Lamentations 3:23