Focus on Jesus

We arein the last week of our sermon series “Focus.” We have been focusing on the ways that God desires for us to interact with him and with those around us. You can find all of the previous sermons on our You Tube channel. This weekwe see the impact that focusing on Jesus can have on us and those around us.

Our scripture comes from Matthew 21:23-32. The words will be on the screen.

23 And when he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” 24 Jesus answered them, “I also will ask you one question, and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things. 25 The baptism of John, from where did it come? From heaven or from man?” And they discussed it among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 26 But if we say, ‘From man,’ we are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold that John was a prophet.” 27 So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.

28 “What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ 29 And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went. 30 And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go. 31 Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him.

Please pray with me…

Jesus spent his time on earth interacting with everyone from the religious elite to the leper. From the Rabbi to the widow. Jesus didn’t care who you were. He didn’t care how society viewed you. Jesus was going to speak with you and try to lead you into a greater understanding of God.

The religious elite were the ones that struggled the most with his message. They seemed to believe that he didn’t meet the credentials of someone who should be able to speak as he spoke and to influence his fellow Jews. They saw him as a troublemaker instead of as the Messiah.

Just before today’s text Jesus didn’t help their opinion of him. We have him going into the temple and driving out those that were buying and selling there. He followed that up by stating that the Temple had become “a house for thieves.”

This iswhat leads the chief priests and the elders to ask why he was doing what he was doing. They wanted answers on whose authority were these actions being taken. This was not normal behavior for someone who professed to be a Rabbi.

This can lead us to ask ourselves the question who is our authority? Who are we focusing on listening to in our lives? We always have a choice. Am I going to follow the ways of the world or the ways of God.

It is very easy for each of us to get wrapped up in what is happening in the world around us and for us to choose to join in and allow the world to take over the direction that we are choosing to live.

It can become difficult for us to not answer the critiques and the complaints that people make towards us or towards those we consider friends or family. We can get so wrapped up in listening to the voices around us that we can end up missing the voice of God.

Jesus didnot have that issue. Jesus allowed the Holy Spirit to lead and direct him in such a way that he was able to be in constant contact with his Father and be able to know the correct ways to act and the correct thingsto say.

We canalso choose to rely on the Holy Spirit. When we focus on Jesus, we can receive a glimpse at how the Holy Spirit can assist us in living a life that will be more pleasing to God and allow us to show those around us how God desires to be in a relationship with all people.

The Holy Spirit can direct us towards making the right decisions. Some will call this intuition but if we have the Holy Spirit within us and if the message we are receiving seems to be within the desires of God, we should choose to follow the direction the Holy Spirit desires.

Jesus chooses to not answer the question he was asked. He instead asked those questioning him a question that seemed to be outside of the context of their question. He wanted to know their opinion of who we call John the Baptist.

This leads to a dilemma for the religious authorities. They believed that John also didn’t have the authority to speak the way he spoke. They didn’t believe his message that they should repent because the kingdom of God was near.

But thescripture tells us that they were afraid of how the people might react if they offer the opinion that the baptism from John comes from man and not from God. They are afraid it will lead the people to react towards them in a negative way.

This should remind us that our focus should not be on how the world will view our actions. Our focus should be on how God will view our actions. Our focus should be on how we believe Jesus would act and react in the situations that we find ourselves in.

This iseasier said than done. We have spoken earlier in this sermon series that it is our focus that impacts our actions. It is our focus on God that can cause us to focus on not what is best for us but what will often be best for those around us.

The religious leaders should be the ones most connected to God, but we can see that they are letting the world dictate their opinions. We can find ourselves choosing not to bring up God because of the reaction that we believe we will receive.

But whatif God is the one who placed this person or group before us for a reason. What if God has set up a situation where what we say about him may impact their understanding of God and may lead that person or group to investigate what it means to follow God or make the decision at that moment to follow God.

We arecommitting a disservice to those that we are around when we believe we are led to speak but we allow our fear factor to become greater than our faith factor. We can prevent God from allowing his grace to reach those before during that moment when we are quiet.

This is somewhat what Jesus is referring to within our parable for today’s text. He tells the story of two sons. The father asks his two sons to do some work for him one tells him “no he won’t” and the other son says “he will.”

But whenit comes time to do the work the one who said “no” changed his mind and went to work for his dad while the son who said “yes” chose not to follow through with his promise. Jesus asked the question which one of these two “did the will of the father?”

Last weekwe spoke of how Jesus is our “Lord.” The Lord is someone that when we are asked to do something we make the decision to go and follow through with what the Lord tells us to do. Jesus is pointing out to the religious leaders that you are not listening and responding to God. You are missing out on the message given to you by God through John the Baptist.

Jesus continues by pointing out who did get it. Who were the ones who believed John the Baptist. He comes up with a list of people that the religious leaders would believe were not righteous enough to have received the message.

Our focus on Jesus can allow us to believe that even the most unexpected thing is possible because with God anything is possible. It wasthe tax collectors and sinners who were able to believe that the Messiah could come.

It wasthe “normal” everyday people that seemed to have an easier time believing that the Savior had come. They had seen Jesus’ actions and heard his words. These both seemed to lead them believe that Jesus was the Messiah.

The religious leaders were fearful of the reaction of the people instead of recognizing the question that Jesus was really asking. Do youbelieve who John said I am. Do you believe that I am the Messiah?

It really didn’t matter what they said because their actions spoke louder than their words. This can be another reminder for us. We should have both our words and actions match. Jesus did this. He said love even your enemy and then through his actions showed that he meant it.

We need to do our best to make sure that our message and actions match what the Holy Spirit wants us to do. It can be easy to say one thing and do something else like the one son. Instead let us show the world what it means to be a follower of Jesus by saying we love all people and then having that sentiment expressed through our actions.

Spending timereading scripture allows us to see what that looks like. Spending timehearing the words of God that are focusing on Jesus allows us to see that when our words and actions match people will respond.

We should focus on the words of Jesus. Jesus did all that he could to get his mainly Jewish audience to understand that following the law does not work. The law may seem helpful to your faith journey, but we will always fail when our focus is on the law.

This is why we needed grace. Grace given to us by God that became possible for us to receive through the actions of Jesus on the cross. It is when we focus on the words and actions of Jesus that we receive an understanding of what he was saying to his audience and why he came to live on the earth.

Our first reading uses a big word, propitiation, to explain what Jesus did for us. The blood of Jesus was the sacrifice that the world needed to allow for us to no longer have to be under the power of sin. Jesus took our place before his father and died so that we could live.

Jesus allowed for us to be right with God. He gave us the ability to no longer have to have guilt and shame for the failures that we have had in the past. We are able and will be forgiven if we are willing to ask.

His actof being willing to do not what he wanted but to follow the will of God gave us freedom from the power of sin. Today is World Communion Sunday. It is the day that churches all around the world meet and celebrate that meal that is to remind us of what Jesus did for us.

Jesus firstperformed this act during the meal to remember how God freed the Jewish people from the oppression of the Egyptians. He was remembering what God did for his chosen people just as we are to remember what he did for us.

Focusing onJesus allows us to live lives pleasing to the God who lives with us. We discover through focusing on him how we should serve those around us. How we should be willing to follow the will of God by listening and following the Holy Spirit.

We have a God that does what is best for us and for those around us. Let us choose to focus on Jesus to allow us to live lives that are pleasing to God.

Please pray with me…