WHO IS THIS JESUS?


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SERMON SERIES: JESUS UNFILTERED SERMON: WHO IS THIS JESUS? 11-4-18 Pastor Rhonda Howard OPENER: Luke 4:16-21 When he came to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home, he went as usual to the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read the Scriptures. 17 The scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where this was written: 18

“The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, 19 and that the time of the LORD’s favor has come.[f]” 20 He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. All eyes in the synagogue looked at him intently. 21 Then he began to speak to them. “The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!” In this series we are going to look at Christ in a fresh new way. No matter how long you have walked with Jesus I think you will draw closer to Jesus and grow in your revelation of who he is to you. If Christ is new for you and this walk with him is something you are new to, you probably have some questions about Jesus, about God and about faith. And that’s okay. Hopefully your questions will be answered in this series. ILLUSTRATION: (pass out 3D glasses) Everyone please put on your glasses. We all view God through filtered lenses. 1. Through our political views 2. Culture values filter how we view God 3. Family experiences 4. The actions of Christians who do not act very Christ like Side Note: If you have been hurt by the church in your life, I’m really sorry. We Christians aren’t perfect. If we read the New Testament we read that it presumes that Christians are going to mess up. Which is kind of strange that we think we have to be perfect, because the Bible is very clear that we are far from perfect. This Christian walk is all about being humbled by how imperfect you are and relying on

Jesus and growing in Jesus. So, if you have been wounded by someone who is still growing in Jesus, realize that has no bearing on who he is. I hope that during this series you look at Christ through fresh eyes – through unfiltered lenses because……….. WE HAVE THE ORIGINAL, UNEDITED, UNCROPPED VERSION OF JESUS AVAILABLE TO US. WHEN WE LOOK AT THE TRUE VERSION OF JESUS WE ARE GOING TO SEE THAT JESUS WAS A REAL MAN- SENT BY A REAL GOD- TO BRING REAL HOPE TO REAL PEOPLE LIKE YOU AND ME. I. JESUS’ MINISTRY LAUNCH We are going to start today with an incredible moment in history when Jesus stepped out of obscurity onto the stage of history. Did you know that Jesus had a launch for his ministry? SIDE NOTE: One more filter that you may need to drop is your view of the Bible. If your view of the Bible is like okay some guys got in a room 2,000 years ago and wrote a bunch of stuff and said “Hey, you should believe this.” That is so not what the Bible is. The Bible was written over centuries by many different authors of many different ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds in three different languages on 3 different continents. It is an incredibly diverse piece of literature. It’s kind of like a library. But what is amazing is that it is all cohesive and has one narrative from beginning to end. That is unique from any other religion that the Bible is that way. I say this, because we are going to be focusing on the four gospels in this series. These are historical records of Jesus’ ministry. These four accounts were written separately. They were written by people very close to Jesus. They were people in his inner circle. They were written very quickly after his life and during the lifetime of people who knew Jesus. So, there was a huge community of people who knew what Jesus said and did so there is a large amount of accountability. The gospels time and time again have been proven to be incredible historical accounts about what happened in history with this man Jesus. I don’t want you to think of Luke as just Oh that’s just one of those books in the Bible. Luke was a historian who wrote in the first century who meticulously gathered facts and wrote them down. In the introduction of the book of Luke he states that he went around and interviewed witnesses. Let’s read our scripture again… Luke 4:16-21 When he came to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home, he went as usual to the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read the Scriptures. 17 The scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where this was written: 18

“The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, 19 and that the time of the LORD’s favor has come.[f]” 20

He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. All eyes in the synagogue looked at him intently. 21 Then he began to speak to them. “The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!” Jesus went to his hometown. Nazareth was on the edge of the Roman empire at the time. A very unimportant place. Nobody was from here. Jesus was from a very small town. Nazareth was his hometown, so it meant that it was incredibly familiar to him. He knew every house, every street, every person. Every person knew him. He grew up there. PERSONAL ILLUSTRATION: Having grown up in this area , when I drive through town. I remember, that’s where I had my first….. When I go anywhere I always see someone I know. YOUR HOMETOWN IS SATURATED WITH FAMILIARITY. Jesus went to his hometown to launch his ministry. He went to the synagogue. Vs. 16 “as usual” Greek = “ethos” – “was in the habit of” Jesus was in the habit of going to the synagogue. So, nothing unusual has happened yet. Jesus goes to his hometown. It is Sabbath and he goes to the synagogue like he has always done. II.THE PROMISE OF A MESSIAH: Vs. 17 “the scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him” Isaiah was a very popular book among the Jews. It was written 700 years before Jesus. Declaring many scriptures about the coming Messiah. So it was a book of hope for the Jews. They lived in a time of political upheaval and oppression. They lived under the thumb of a dictator. It was a really bad time for the Jews. They were desperate for hope and Isaiah promised a deliverer. For seven centuries they had been praying that a Savior was going to come. So Isaiah was like a lifeline for these people. They loved the book of Isaiah! Jesus read…………. Vs. 18-19 “The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see,

that the oppressed will be set free, 19 and that the time of the LORD’s favor has come. The words here in Isaiah is saying that one day God is going to reverse the fortunes of the hopeless. They might feel hopeless now but it won’t last forever. God is going to reverse that through the “Anointed One”. Anointed = set apart by God for a special purpose. God is saying that this anointed one is going to have a special mission to deliver God’s people. “Christ” = “anointed one” Christ is not Jesus’ last name. It is a title. He is Jesus, the Messiah. Jesus - the Christ. Jesus - the anointed one. It says, Jesus is going to address 1. the poor, financial issues 2. prisoners, political issues 3. the blind, physical issues 4. the oppressed, social issues The Messiah, the Savior, the Anointed One is going to address all spheres of life. So, the passage that Jesus reads in Isaiah is about this figure of hope that the Jews have been expecting for centuries. III. JESUS DECLARES HIMSELF TO BE THE MESSIAH So, Jesus goes to his hometown, stands up in the synagogue and he picks a “greatest hit” passage. These people would have been like, “Yes, I’m so glad I came today.” They loved the book of Isaiah. It was a book of hope. And he reads the passage about the Savior. But then, look at what happens….. Vs. 20 He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. All eyes in the synagogue looked at him intently. 21 Then he began to speak to them. “The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!” Do you see what just happened? Everything up to this point has been very normal. It is the Sabbath, He went to the synagogue, he took his turn to read scripture. He has done this very thing many, many times before. But after he reads this popular passage, he says, “Today, right now, this scripture has been fulfilled!” That kid who grew up just down the street from you and you know his parents, he just said “Isaiah was talking about me.”

Now, there are certain places in the Bible that I wish I had been there and this is one of them. Can you imagine what that room must have been like? Actually we know. Just look at their reaction. IV.THEIR REACTION: Vs. 22 Everyone spoke well of him and was amazed by the gracious words that came from his lips. “How can this be?” they asked. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” You see two reactions here: 1. Amazement 2. Skepticism The amazement is not - “This is amazing the Savior is here!” It’s like they are astonished! They are shocked! “Woa! Did you hear what he just said?” Then there were people who said, “That’s Joseph’s son. He’s crazy!” Two reactions. Neither of them put their faith in him because if you read further, they actually ran him out of town. FOR SOME PEOPLE IN HIS HOMETOWN HE WAS TOO FAMILIAR TO THEM! FOR OTHERS, HE WAS TOO UNBELIEVABLE! THEIR FILTERS PREVENTED THEM FROM SEEING THE VERY SAVIOR THAT THEY HAD BEEN WAITING FOR.

V. THE REAL MISSION OF JESUS The Jews at that time were expecting a conquering political hero. A take –over- the- world type of person. A Mel Gibson-William Wallace type of guy! That was their filter. That’s what they wanted their Savior to be. So, they didn’t recognize him when he showed up. JESUS CAME TO DO MORE THAN DEFEAT CAESAR. HE CAME TO OVERTHROW THE RULE OF SIN IN OUR HEARTS. HE CAME TO BRIDGE THE CHASM THAT IS BETWEEN US AND GOD. This didn’t compute for most people. Jesus was born in obscurity, lived most of his life in poverty and died. That does not compute if your view of the Messiah is this conquering hero. It’s counterproductive when the Romans kill you and you are supposed to conquer the Romans. But then he came back to life and showed that something bigger was going on than anything they could have imagined. He was going to conquer: 1.Spiritual poverty 2.Spiritual captivity

3.Spiritual blindness 4.Spiritual oppression THEIR FILTERS THAT DAY PREVENTED THEM FROM SEEING JESUS FOR WHO HE REALLY IS. VI.THREE FILTERS(LENSES) THAT WE VIEW JESUS THROUGH: Our filters do the same thing to us today. 1. TOO FAMILIAR If you are from a church background Jesus might be too familiar to you. He might have become just a concept. ‘He is the guy I pray to so I can get into heaven.” And maybe that’s about where it ends. We are not moved by him. He doesn’t impact our hearts. We don’t think of him as a real person who loves us. Sometimes, our familiarity with Christ and our church experience can actually be a filter for who he is and the fullness of who he is. WHEN SOMETHING BECOMES TOO FAMILIAR WE TEND TO TAKE IT FOR GRANTED. ILLUSTRATION: We can take our spouse for granted. We can take our jobs for granted. We can take our families for granted. We can take our church for granted. ARE YOU TREATING JESUS THE SAME WAY? ARE YOU LOOKING THROUGH THE FILTER OF FAMILIARITY? ARE YOU GUILTY OF SAYING, “IT’S JUST JESUS.” Revelation 2:4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. We quickly forget how he saved us, rescued us, changed us!! 2. TOO UNBELIEVABLE Or you are like some of the other people in the synagogue too. The whole thing is just too unbelievable. You say, “I just can’t believe that this would actually happen. “ So maybe you buy in to kind of the hyper-skepticism of our day. OUR FILTERS PREVENT US FROM SEEING THE HOPE THAT STANDS RIGHT IN FRONT OF US. 3. NOT WHAT YOU EXPECTED Or are you like the other Jews of that day. Jesus is not what you expected. Sometimes we get on this Christian ride thinking that Jesus is going to straighten everything out. Our focus becomes on our finances, our health, our career, our success, etc. instead of on the inner man.

JESUS DOESN’T PROMISE TO FIX EVERY PROBLEM, BUT HE DOES PROMISE TO WALK WITH YOU THROUGH THEM. We live in a broken world. It needs repair. Sin rules over it. But Jesus promises He has overcome the world! The overcomer walks with us! WHEN YOUR FILTER OF JESUS IS FOCUSED ON EXTERNAL THINGS INSTEAD OF INTERNAL, YOU WILL BE DISILLUSIONED AND MISS THE TRY JOY THAT COMES FROM KNOWING HIM. CLOSING: (Look at those glasses) Are we going to see the hope that stands in front of us? Are we going to see the real Jesus? Or are we going to filter it out. Like the people in the synagogue are we going to stop in astonishment or if you are a skeptic are you going to stay in skepticism and have big questions but not really seek the answers. If you have never put your trust in Christ, if you have never put your faith in him and invited him into your life to change you and to save you and forgive you of your sins.