Essentials Of The Faith / Sunday Morning Sermon Series / Statement Of Faith

Jesus Part 1

Intro: Who is this man Jesus? Is a question asked by many in our day. People have heard so much about Jesus that they have a natural curiosity about him. And this curiosity leads them in many different directions. And they arrive at many, diverse understandings of who Jesus really is.

     One such understanding was reported in the news concerning a fire in a Catholic church. There was much chaos and frantic running around as the priests and nuns were trying to save as many artifacts as possible from the burning church building. The reporter paid special attention to one nun, running from the burning building, shouting and praising God with all her might. When she came into ear range she was heard screaming. Don't worry, I have Jesus, He is safe. I have Jesus, He is safe. As she came within sight of the reporter, he saw that the nun was carrying the communion elements of bead and wine.

     Who is Jesus, to this catholic nun? Jesus IS the communion elements.

     The Atlantic Monthly in it's Dec. 1996 magazine included an article titled: 'The Search for a No-Frill Jesus' by Charlotte Allen. The author reviewed a search for a non-Christian Jesus that was hidden inside the Christian Gospels. She was looking for a solely historical Jesus who was just a man and who would not have liked what the modern day church has claimed him to be.

     Who is Jesus in this article? Jesus is not a Christian and wouldn't be happy being labeled one.

     Then there is Ken Schei, another who has a different understanding of who Jesus is. Mr Schei is founder and president of 'Atheists for Jesus'. He is a man who believes and teaches that the idea or reality of a deity of any kind is not possible. He also teaches that he has not converted to Christianity, nor does he believe that Jesus is God. But he says that he has a great respect for the teachings of Jesus. His respect for Jesus is not based, he says on the cross, but on the mount where Jesus gave his greatest sermon.

     Who is Jesus to this 'Atheist for Jesus'? Jesus IS just a good preacher and teacher.

EXP: Everyone has an opinion about who Jesus is, most are wrong. Why? Because most look at Jesus from their own perspectives, from their own needs and wants. Most are subjective in their understanding of who Jesus is. However, there are some who know who Jesus is. Not based on subjective ideas, wants or desires....but on objective truth. They know who Jesus is because they know and understand what the Word of God has said about Him and because of the work of the Holy Spirit in their hearts.

     What are some of these objective truths that will reveal  the true identity of Jesus? We have assembled some of them in our church statement of faith.

Statement of Faith
 'Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God, who, in His incarnation, was born to a virgin. He lived a sinless life, performed many miracles. His shed blood on the cross of Calvary is of infinite value and although it is sufficient for all; it is effective for those who believe; the elect. Jesus Christ died on the cross as their substitute. By this He satisfied divine justice and accomplished salvation for them. His body was resurrected from the grave and He ascended into heaven where He now continues His high priestly work. His personal and visible return to earth could happen at any moment. Jesus Christ remains forever undiminished deity which he has had from eternity past; He also possesses true, sinless humanity in one person.'

     This week and next,  we will examine who Jesus is and we will use the Word of God found in John 6:22-69 as our standard of objective truth. It is important, no, it is imperative that we have a true, objective understanding of who Jesus is. Because w/o this truth, we can not have a right relationship with the Father through Jesus...we will not be Christians, and we will not have eternal life.

     Am I overstating  the importance of this? No, Jesus 4 times in this passage says Verily, verily, or truly, truly I say to you. This shows that Jesus placed the utmost importance on what He was saying. We would do well to listen to the words of our Lord.

Trans: Turn to John 6:22. Follow along with me as I go through  this vital text as we discover who this mans Jesus really is.

John 6:22-26: Background
Read: John 6:22-26

     John is setting the stage for us here. It is important that whenever we examine a passage of Scripture, especially a narrative, that we look to see the context. The context here is not what happened this day but what happened on the preceding day. From John 6:1-14 we see that Jesus with only 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish, had miraculously fed 5000 men, perhaps a total of about 15-20,000 people when you consider women and children. These were people who had come from the surrounding area, to hear Jesus speak and to be healed of their infirmities.

    For many, the importance of the feeding of the 5000 stops with the collection of the 12 baskets of left overs. But the story doesn't stop in vs 13, it continues and is picked up the day after the miracle happened. I believe that when Jesus fed these people, He didn't do it only because it was late and they were hungry. He fed them because He wanted to teach them an important truth, a spiritual lesson about who He is.

     So, we pick the story up the morning after the feeding of the 5000. The people awake and the crowd gathers, looking for Jesus. But there seems, according to the text, to be some confusion among those gathered.  Here is what they knew for fact.

1. Jesus had fed them all by what seemed to be a miracle.
2. Jesus would make a great King if he could do this all the time.
3. The night before they saw  Jesus' 12 disciples take a boat and travel to the other side of the Sea of Galilee.
4. They knew that Jesus didn't go with them.
5. When they woke up, Jesus was nowhere to be found.
6. They knew that Jesus had used Capernaum as a base of operations.
7. They knew that Jesus wouldn't leave His disciples alone for very long, so they assumed He must be w/ them in Capernaum.
8. It was well past breakfast and there was noting in the area to eat. They were hungry.

     There were some boats at the docks so they took them over to Capernaum to look for Jesus. Jesus was  known to spend a lot of time teaching in the local synagogues. So that was where they looked. When they came to the synagogue, they found Him. The crowd gathered around Jesus once more, to hear His teaching, perhaps be healed and most especially to be fed...remember they had missed breakfast and were hungry.When they found Him they were a bit surprised. They wondered how He could have gotten there before them since they never saw Him leave the other side of the Sea of Galilee.

     Of course, what they didn't know and what Jesus would not tell them is that He went to Capernaum the night before and He took a short cut....He walked on the water and caught up with the 12 in the boat.

    The crowd gathered around Jesus and asked Him when he had gotten there. What they really wanted to know,  was how. Jesus could have answered them by saying...'funny you should ask. Well, I decided to go with the disciples after all but they had already left so I just used my supernatural powers and walked  across the water till I came to the boat then I made it so that the boat was immediately at the shore on the other side. This is just another proof that I am the Messiah.' The truth was, they were curious but not really that interested. Besides they wouldn't have believed Him anyway. The truth of the matter was they were hungry and wanted Jesus to feed them.

     Isn't that just like many today? People don't want to know about doctrine, the Bible or the truth about who Jesus is. All they are interested in is that He meet their needs and do what they ask. Many today want a candy store Jesus, and they want Him to be like it was 30 yrs ago when there was penny candy. They don't want to have to pay a lot to get what they want from Him.

     If this is the Jesus you know, then you really don't know Jesus.

     In His response, Jesus exposes their real motives. He exposes who they really think He is. To them, Jesus is a free lunch, a Messianic meal maker. Jesus, emphasizing the importance of what He was about to say begins with 'Truly, Truly I say to you' He says, 'You seek me not because you saw signs but because you ate of the loves and were filled.' You came looking for a free lunch, a hand out. They didn't come seeking Jesus to learn more about Him but to satisfy their own selfish desires. Those that do this never find who Jesus really is.

Trans: The crowd came with a wrong view of who Jesus was. In vs 27-29 Jesus reveals who He really is.

John 6:27-29: The Son of Man
Read: Jn. 6:27-29

     Jesus made a clear profession of deity. He said the food that leads to eternal life is given by Him because God the Father has set His seal on Him.  This is perhaps not a great translation of the Greek text here. The Greek literally is translated 'For this One the Father has sealed, the God'.

     This certainly does mean that God has sealed the Son, perhaps by the OT Scriptures prophecy of His coming, the voice of God and the coming of the Spirit at Jesus baptism and other times when God the Father had authenticated the ministry of God the Son, Jesus.

     But, in it's literal sense, Jesus is saying that God the Father has sealed Jesus, as God or to be God. The seal authenticates the Son's claim to be God. Being only interested in the physical, having their minds on their stomachs, they bypass this statement..... for a while.

     Instead they latch on to something they can physically do...work. They asked for something they could do to please God and win a free pass to heaven. Tell us what we are to do. Give us a law and we will follow it, only give it soon because we are hungry.

     Remember, their thoughts were on the physical, not the spiritual.

     You see this was not the right question. Their question ought to have been like that of the Philippian jailer who asked 'What must I do to be saved?'

NOTE: Although the intention of their heart was motivated by selfishness and greed, their question still was technically correct. (Although they didn't understand the significance of what they asked.) They didn't ask 'What are the works of God that we may do them?' They actually asked Jesus 'What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?' The spiritual question behind what they actually meant  is 'What can we do so that we will be able to do the works of God?'

     Do you see it? Jesus answered the unasked spiritual question, instead of the physical intent. You see Jesus, in His omniscience, does know the intent of the voter...er, the individual in the crowd.

     His answer  'Believe on Him whom He has sent'. Faith in Jesus comes before doing good works for Jesus. In other words, Jesus was saying that to do the works of God, you must have faith in the one sent by God, the Son of Man! The Son of Man is a title designated for the Messiah, one who is divine and from God.

     This is what happened... The crowd asked Him the what question. What must I do? Instead of who are you, Jesus and how can I be saved. And this is the question many ask of Jesus today. What are you going to do for me? What am I going to get from this relationship with you Jesus? Instead of how can I a sinner be saved or Jesus, I have heard about you, but I need to know who you really are. Show yourself to me, please. But these weren't the questions asked by the crown that day in Capernaum.  Instead, after Jesus revealed Himself as God, they reacted quite differently.

     What did the crowd do next? You'll have to come back next week to find out. Before I finish, you need to understand the importance of the 6th chapter of John to the whole of the Gospel of  John and to all of Jesus' ministry.  Chapter 6 is the turning point in the Gospel. It is from this point on that Jesus is not as popular as He once was. His enemies are now determined to have Him killed. Why, because they are beginning to see what Jesus is implying with the revelation of who He is and they don't like it. They can't and won't believe it as we will see next week.

     This is also true when people we think are Believers or at least good church going people begin to hear the claims of Christ and His demands on them. They don't like it either and they usually begin to fade away from Christian activities.

     Our text plays an important role in setting the stage for Jesus to be arrested, tried and crucified. It is not because of what He has done...because of His works. No that is never the problem with people and Jesus. It is because of who He is. This is the great stumbling block.

So, who is this man Jesus...to you?