Week 1: Seeker

Introduction

Welcome to week 1 of our new series Discipler.

Last week we did a little introduction to show that Jesus is Greater!

Jesus is GREATER than the Angels (Hebrews Chap. 1)

Jesus is GREATER than Moses (Hebrews Chap 3)

Jesus’ sacrifice was the greatest sacrifice! (Hebrews Chap 9 -10)

This week we are going to start learning about being a disciple of Christ and eventually how to disciple others to Christ.

Throughout this series we are going to be talking about different phases.

Like we have different phases in life like childhood, teen years (adolescence), and our adult years we have different phases in our walk with Christ.

To help us demonstrate this we are going to use some imagery and for this series we are going to use chairs which I will show you in a second.

Just like in life we all start as babies in our walk with Christ we all start as our first chair which is the Seeker chair.

What is a Seeker?

A Seeker is someone who is looking for Jesus. This is the start of our Christian walk.

At this point we are looking for Christ and trying to figure out who he is.

Which brings us to our first point

Who is Jesus: Mad Man or Messiah

Now hopefully everyone in here can agree that Jesus is the Messiah however not everyone always believed or does today.

Some people see Jesus and his followers (Christians) as mad people believing in what they call a fairytale.

We as followers know the truth because God has given us the truth through what we call the Bible which is his inspired word.

But to follow Christ we need to know who he is which is what we find in the seeker phase.

We start in this phase and before we can move to the next phase which we will discuss next week we need to know who Jesus is.

We need to be able to answer that question we asked a minute ago.

Who is Jesus? Mad Man or Messiah?

To do this lets look in our Bibles at what the Who the New Testament writer and characters thought Jesus was.

First lets look at who John the Baptist thought Jesus was.

Lets open our Bibles or our Bible App to

John 1:29–34 “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I told you about: ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me, because he existed before me.’

I didn’t know him, but I came baptizing with water so that he might be revealed to Israel.” And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and he rested on him. I didn’t know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The one you see the Spirit descending and resting on—he is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’

I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.””

There are two descriptions John uses to describe Jesus.

This is your next point John the Baptist knew Jesus was The Lamb of God and the Son of God.

Lets break this down:

John said Jesus was “ the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” in verse 29

What does that mean.

John knew that Jesus was the one God sent to take away the sins of the world.

Back in that day the Jews would sacrifice lambs or the best of animals to God for the payment of their sins.

When saying Jesus is the Lamb of God John is saying that Jesus is the sacrifice that God sent for our sins which we know will come later.

Jesus will die the death we deserve on the cross as a sacrificial death for us to pay our sins much like priests would sacrifice the lambs in that day.

John also says Jesus is the Son of God in verse 34.

Now this does not take much explanation as he literally means Jesus is the Son of God.

We have seen what John said Jesus was but what about his disciples.

Lets continue reading

John 1:35–38 “The next day, John was standing with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him say this and followed Jesus.

When Jesus turned and noticed them following him, he asked them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?””

John’s disciples saw Jesus as a great teacher.

In that day the Jews referred to their spiritual teachers as Rabbis which means teacher.

Jesus is the greatest teacher as he literally knows everything since he is the one who created it all.

Imagine having a teacher that you could literally ask anything and they could answer it.

We have seen what John the Baptist and his disciples thought of Jesus but what about Paul?

Paul wrote a lot of the new testament so lets see who he said Jesus was.

Lets open our Bibles to

Colossians 1:15–16 “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For everything was created by him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities— all things have been created through him and for him.”

In these verses

Paul describes Jesus as the Image of the invisible God and as the Creator,

What does that mean.

Jesus is God in flesh. This means that God came down into this creation and took on our form.

Jesus is the image of God meaning he is God as creation.

This is a chance for people to see God, as we know from other scriptures that God in his normal form is too much for humans to be able to bear.

We see that when God has talked to others in the past he has had to use bushes and other things as his glory is too much.

When he did talk to them we even see that faces would glow for days as just the tiniest bit of his glory produces that much light as he is light.

In the created form of the Son Jesus, God is able to dwell with his creation.

Paul also says Jesus is the creator, he says

That everything in both heaven and Earth were all created through Jesus. he even takes it a step further by saying all things are created by him for him.

Jesus is God in the form of the Son. Jesus was there during creation and he was the one that did what God said.

We see through other scripture that Jesus is the word. When God spoke everything into existence the Son was the one making it happen you could say doing the heavy lifting.

Before we move on I want to look at one other New Testament write and what he said Jesus was.

Lets take a look at Peter who was one of Jesus’ disciples. We are actually going to be looking in the book of Luke. Please turn your bibles to:

Luke 9:18–20 “While he was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” They answered, “John the Baptist; others, Elijah; still others, that one of the ancient prophets has come back.”

“But you,” he asked them, “who do you say that I am?” Peter answered, “God’s Messiah.””

Peter called Jesus God’s Messiah.

We saw that John the Baptist said Jesus was the Lamb of God.

We saw that he was saying he was the one sent to save the world.

Peter is saying almost the exact same thing here.

Messiah translated means Savior. Peter here is trying to make much the same point as John the Baptist that Jesus is the Messiah sent by God to save all of us!

In the Old Testament we see that God promises Isreal a savior.

He promises that he will send someone to save them from their sins.

Paul and John the Baptists new something we should all know which is that Jesus is that promised savior and by his death and resurrection on the cross he has saved us all from our sins.

Now we have learned what some of the people of the New Testament believed Jesus was but if we want to get the best answer we have to go directly to the source.

Now lets look at who Jesus said he was.

Jesus shows who he his in multiple ways throughout the Gospels but lets look at two big ones.

The first way is through the use of what we call “I AM” statements. These are statement that Jesus makes that claim his Divinity or his place as God.

There are seven “I AM” statement that we are going to look at.

The 7 “I AM” Statements

The first we find in John 8:58 “Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.””

Jesus says “before Abraham was, I AM.”

We need some background to truly understand this “I AM” statement.

If we look back in Exodus 3:14 “God replied to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you.””

Here Jesus is using the name that God uses for himself to Moses.

Jesus says before Abraham was, I am. Jesus is saying that he is God in the same way that God says he was God to Moses.

Next we look at John 6:35 ““I am the bread of life,” Jesus told them. “No one who comes to me will ever be hungry, and no one who believes in me will ever be thirsty again.”

Jesus says he is the “bread of life”

What does this mean?

Much like we need bread to survive, more specifically we need food we need Jesus to survive.

Now Jesus isn’t saying he is literal water and food but he is spiritual water and food.

It makes me think of Josiah Queens new song Sunday. In it he talks about how if you only ate on Sundays you would starve.

Jesus is our spiritual food and if we are going to follow him we need to “eat” every day we should be interacting and spending time with Jesus through reading the Bible and Praying every day.

The third “I AM” statement we find in:

John 8:12 “Jesus spoke to them again: “I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows me will never walk in the darkness but will have the light of life.””

Jesus says he is the “Light of the World.”

Jesus is the light of the world meaning he is everything that is good and true.

We tend to use light to refer to all that is good and darkness to refer to bad.

We know that God is the source of light and the source of all things that are good.

The fourth “I AM” statement we are going to look at is found in:

John 10:11 ““I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”

Jesus says he is the “Good Shepherd.”

Jesus refers to himself as the good shepherd.

Shepherds took care of animals. They would stay with them at all times even sleeping near them.

They would protect their animals from all threats such as wolves and bears.

They would also guid the animals. For example sheep are not very bright creatures.

In fact they will wander off just about anywhere, however the shepherd would guide the sheep to where they needed to go and to where they would be safe.

Jesus protects us and guides us through the Holy Spirit to where they need to go.

The fifth “I AM” statement is found in

John 11:25 “Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live.”

Jesus says I am the “resurrection and the life.”

Through Jesus’ resurrection on the cross we have Eternal Life with him and the Father in Heaven.

He is also the sustainer and creator of life.

The sixth “I AM” statement is found in

John 15:1 ““I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.”

Jesus says “I am the true vine.”

Jesus is the vine and we are the branches.

What does this mean?

Jesus is the vine that all spiritual health, knowledge, and well-being come from.

Jesus is our life source in every way.

The final but certainly not the least “I AM” statement that we are looking at is found in

John 14:6 “Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Jesus says “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”

Jesus is the only way to Heaven and most importantly to God!

There are many people and unfortunately some Christians that believe the lie that all religions are a way to God.

Jesus makes it clear through this statement that he is the only way to God the Father!

Now that we have looked at the 7 “I AM” statement that Jesus uses to show us who he is lets look at how he states his Relationship to the Father and his Authority!

3 Relationship to the Father and Authority Statements.

First lets look at John 10:30 “I and the Father are one.””

Jesus says “I and the Father are one”

Jesus is saying that him and Father are one meaning they are the same.

Jesus makes it clear here that he is God.

Later on in John he says this:

John 14:9 “Jesus said to him, “Have I been among you all this time and you do not know me, Philip? The one who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?”

Jesus says “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”

Here Jesus is talking to Philipp and he is telling him that anyone who has seen Jesus has already seen the Father.

He is reiterating again how him and the Father are one, are the same.

The third and final thing we are going to look at is actually in Matthew.

Matthew 9:6 “But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—then he told the paralytic, “Get up, take your stretcher, and go home.””

Jesus says “The Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.”

Here Jesus says that he (The Son of Man) has authority to forgive sins.

On the one hand he is saying that he has this authority but on the other hand Jesus is saying again that he is God.

You may wonder how is that?

By Jesus saying that he can forgive sins he is saying he is God as we know from earlier scriptures that God is the only one with the authority to forgive sins as it is his law.

Now we have covered a lot today.

Like we said at the beginning their are phases on our Christian Walk just like our human life.

The first phase is seeker represented by this old rusty chair behind me.

During this phase we need to answer the question:

Who is Jesus to me?

This is the most important question for us to ask ourselves and we cannot move out of this first Seeker phase without answering this question.

As we dismiss to small groups it is important that you ask your self this question and be prepared to answer and truly think about this.

If you don’t get anything else from tonight please get this question and truly answer it.

Small Group Questions

Who does Jesus say he is?

Think of one of the New Testament writers we talked about (Ex: Paul, Luke, John) Who did they say Jesus was?

Why did some of the New Testament writers call Jesus different things?

What different titles have you heard Jesus called before? What do those titles mean?

Who do you see Jesus as? Why do you think that is the first thing that comes to Mind?

Are you currently in the seeking phase? How can we work to help you move out of this phase?

If you have moved past the seeking phase; what can you do this week to help someone learn who Jesus is?