The Resume of Jesus

INTRODUCTION

OPENING STORY:

“A little boy wanted a bicycle but he did not know best how to pray for one. So as he was watching a church television program, a very traditional service, he saw how the minister prayed. And so, at the end of the day the lad got on his knees and said: "Lord, if it is in Your Sovereign will and in Your Eternal plan that I can get myself a bicycle - in Your time and according to Your will - would you please get me a bicycle In Jesus name I pray. Amen."

        Two days later, there was still no bicycle; so he began to think he needed a different prayer. So, he turned on the television again to watch another type of ministry in operation. And at the end of the day, he got on his knees and said: "Lord, I declare my need for a bicycle! And I declare that it will be a nice blue-colored bicycle and delivered to my home within 24 hours. I lay claim to it, Amen!"         After several days and still not having received a bicycle.  As he was passing through the hall he saw a statue of the Virgin Mary there on one of the shelves.  He took the statue off of the shelf and disappeared somewhere. Later that night as he got ready for bed, the little boy got down on his knees and said, "Dear Jesus, if you ever want to see your mother again..." 

POINT: THIS LITTLE BOY HAD A POOR VIEW OF JESUS, DIDN’T HE?

CREATING THE NEED:

IT’S NOT JUST CHILDREN WHO CAN HAVE MISINFORMED VIEWS OF JESUS, SO CAN ADULTS. IN FACT, MOST OF THE ADULTS IN THE WORLD HAVE MESSED UP VIEWS OF JESUS CHRIST. THE FICTIONAL VIEW. THE TWEETABLE JESUS VIEW. THE ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT VIEW. THE FIRE INSURANCE VIEW WHERE WE SEE JESUS AS SAVIOR BUT NOT LORD. HOW DO YOU VIEW JESUS?

THE GREAT QUESTION OF HUMAN HISTORY AND OF LIFE IS THE QUESTION OF JESUS. WHAT DO WE DO WITH THIS MAN WHO CLAIMED TO BE GOD?

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. 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.”

WHO WAS JESUS? , THE RESUME OF JESUS. RESUME ILLUSTRATION. ALL DONE FOR THE PURPOSE OF GETTING INTO A RELATIONSHIP WITH THE EMPLOYER. TRANSITION: I WANT TO LAY OUT FOR YOU THE RESUME OF JESUS AND SHOW YOU EXACTLY HOW HIS RESUME WILL REVOLUTIONIZE OUR LIVES IF WE WILL BUT EMBRACE AND RECEIVE HIM!

JESUS’ UNIQUE PERSON- HE IS GOD, VERSES 1-2

EXPLANATION: HE IS CALLED THE WORD…A REFERENCE TO JESUS BECAUSE THE WORD BECAME FLESH. WHY CALL HIM WORD? JESUS IS THE SPEECH OF GOD. ANALOGY OF THE INTIMATE TIE BETWEEN SPEECH AND HEART. IF YOU WANT TO GET TO KNOW A PERSON’S HEART LISTEN TO THEIR SPEECH. LIKEWISE, JOHN IS SAYING THAT JESUS IS THE SPEECH OF GOD. WHAT SPEECH IS TO HEART, JESUS IS TO GOD. YOU CANNOT TRULY KNOW GOD WITHOUT KNOWING JESUS. FLIES IN THE FACE OF OUR CULTURE. JESUS IS THE STRONGEST PROOF FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD.

POINT: JESUS IS GOD. LIKE GOD JESUS IS ETERNAL (IN THE BEGINNING). HE IS EQUAL TO GOD (JESUS WAS WITH GOD). HE IS THE ESSENCE OF GOD (THE WORD WAS GOD). FURTHERMORE, JESUS SAW HIMSELF AS GOD. . HE DID WHAT ONLY GOD COULD DO, LIKE FORGIVE SINS. THE PARALYTIC. DROVE THE RELIGIOUS NUTS. HE SAID BEFORE ABRAHAM WAS I AM IN . WHAT IS HIS UNIQUE PERSON? HE IS GOD. WHICH MEANS THE BIBLE MAKES NO ROOM FOR A PERSON ACCEPTING GOD AND REJECTING JESUS. GOD AND JESUS ARE A PACKAGED DEAL.

ILLUSTRATION: GROWING UP I LOVED HAPPY MEALS AND CRACKER JACKS. BOTH CAME WITH TWO THINGS- FOOD AND A PRIZE. WITH HAPPY MEALS YOU COULD CUSTOMIZE IT REQUESTING TO LEAVE THE TOY OUT. WITH CRACKER JACKS YOU COULDN’T. THEY WERE SEALED TOGETHER, A PACKAGED DEAL.

APPLICATION: OUR PROBLEM IS WE LIVE IN A HAPPY MEAL WORLD WHERE MOST PEOPLE WANT TO CUSTOMIZE RELIGION AND GOD. GIVE ME GOD, BUT LEAVE OUT THE PRIZE OF JESUS. JOHN SAYS THIS AIN’T NO HAPPY MEAL! GOD AND JESUS COME TOGETHER! THEY’RE A PACKAGED DEAL! JESUS IS THE SPEECH OF GOD.

JESUS’ UNIQUE EXPERIENCE- CREATOR OF ALL THINGS, VERSE 3

EXPLANATION: THE NEXT ITEM ON THE RESUME…JESUS IS THE CREATOR OF ALL THINGS…HE DIDN’T JUST SHOW UP IN THE NT. HE WASN’T IN THE UNEMPLOYMENT LINE. HE WAS CREATOR. ; ; . GIVE QUICK APP ON HEBREWS POINT…IF HE CAN HOLD UNIVERSE TOGETHER HE CAN HOLD ME TOGETHER IN THE MIDST OF THE DIVORCE, INFERTILITY, BETRAYAL...

WHY IS JOHN HAMMERING THIS POINT? GNOSTICISM SAID GOD WAS TOO HOLY TO GET INVOLVED WITH UNSPIRITUAL MATTER. MATTER IS EVIL AND A HOLY GOD COULD NEVER STOOP SO LOW AS TO TOUCH IT. JOHN SAYS, JESUS’ INVOLVEMENT IN CREATION AND HIM TAKING ON FLESH TO WALK AMONG US (VERSE 14) SHOWS THAT THERE IS NO MESS TO MESSY FOR HIM. THAT’S GOOD NEWS.

ILLUSTRATION:

In 1964, in Kew Gardens, a 28-year-old woman named Kitty Genovese was going home to her apartment, and she was assaulted on the street by an assailant. She cried out, “He’s stabbing me. Help me!” There’s still a lot of debate about what happened, but the one thing I can tell from reading everything is up in the apartments lights came on and people looked out. She was screaming. She was saying, “Help me! I’m being stabbed.”

In 1964, in Kew Gardens, a 28-year-old woman named Kitty Genovese was going home to her apartment, and she was assaulted on the street by an assailant. She cried out, “He’s stabbing me. Help me!” There’s still a lot of debate about what happened, but the one thing I can tell from reading everything is up in the apartments lights came on and people looked out. She was screaming. She was saying, “Help me! I’m being stabbed.”

All we know is this: Nobody came down to see, to help. Do you know why? Because you risk your life. You’re vulnerable if you come down. Nobody came down. When the lights first came on, the assailant ran, thinking somebody was going to come down. When nobody came down, he came back in about five minutes, and he killed her. It’s a pretty famous incident, as a lot of you might remember.

Do you know what Christmas is telling us? Christmas is telling us that when Jesus, the Lord of heaven, heard our cries, he came down. He made himself vulnerable. He didn’t just come down the way those people would have come down, at the risk of their lives. He didn’t come down at the risk of his life. When the Lord of the universe came down, he came down knowing it would cost him his life. But he came, because the Word became fleshy. The Word became vulnerable. The Word became killable. Wow! Christmas means that.

PRAISE GOD JESUS CAME DOWN. THAT’S GOOD NEWS BECAUSE I’M DIRTY AND FILTHY AND VILE AND MESSED UP, BUT THERE’S NO AMOUNT OF DIRT THAT’S TOO MUCH, THERE’S NO STAIN TOO DEEP THAT THE BLOOD OF JESUS CAN’T FIX! GIVE SOME REAL APPS HERE.

JESUS’ UNIQUE SKILLS- HE GIVES LIFE, VERSES 4-5, 9.

EXPLANATION: WHENEVER A PERSON DOES A RESUME IN THE HOPES OF ENTERING INTO A RELATIONSHIP WITH A NEW EMPLOYER THEY WILL ALWAYS INCLUDE THEIR UNIQUE SKILLS. IT’S A WAY OF SAYING HERE’S A PRACTICAL BENEFIT I BRING TO THE TABLE THAT WILL MEET THE NEEDS OF YOUR COMPANY. JOHN DOES THIS AS HE PRESENTS THE RESUME OF JESUS. HE GIVES US A PRACTICAL BENEFIT THAT MATCH THE GREAT NEED WE HAVE- LIFE . JESUS BRINGS LIFE.

LIFE: WELL, YOU MAY SAY, I DON’T NEED LIFE, BECAUSE THE FACT I’M SITTING HERE SHOES I HAVE IT…WORD STUDY…QUALITATIVE. USED SOME 36 TIMES…THE MOST…JESUS SAYS HE IS THE LIFE. A LIFE RICH WITH MEANING, VALUE AND SIGNIFICANCE. PASCHAL QUOTE…WITH APPLICATIONS- YOUR RESTLESSNESS WITH CAREER, MONEY, MARRIAGE SHOWS YOU’LL NEVER BE TRULY SATISFIED OR FIND LIFE IN THIS LIFE ON YOUR TERMS OUTSIDE OF JESUS.

IN 1969 SINGER PEGGY LEE RECORDED THE SONG, IS THAT ALL THERE IS? IN IT SHE SINGS OF BEING A 12 YEAR OLD AT A CIRCUS THAT WAS BILLED AS THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH, AND BEING SO EXCITED, BUT THEN DISAPPOINTED SET IN WHEN IT ENDED AND SHE SAYS, IS THAT ALL? LATER SHE FALLS IN LOVE WITH WHAT SHE CALLS THE MOST WONDERFUL BOY ON THE EARTH, ONLY TO BE ABANDONED BY HIM, TO WHICH SHE CROONS IS THAT ALL THERE IS TO LOVE? LIFE HAS NEVER PROVEN ENOUGH FOR HER. AND IN THE CHORUS SHE RETURNS TO, “IS TTHAT ALL THERE IS? IS THAT ALL THERE IS? IF THAT’S ALL THERE IS MY FRIENDS, THEN LET’S KEEP DANCING. LET’S BREAK OUT THE BOOZE AND HAVE A BALL, IF THAT’S ALL- THERE IS” TAKEN FROM KELLER, PAGE 81. JESUS SAYS THAT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE ALL. I WILL NEVER DISAPPOINT YOU AND IN ME YOU WILL HAVE ALL YOU’LL EVER NEED!

ILLUSTRATION: MEL BLANC, THE FAMOUS VOICE OF MANY LOONEY TOON’S CHARACTERS HAD THESE WORDS ETCHED ON HIS TOMBSTONE: THAT’S ALL FOLKS. CONTRAST WITH AUTHOR PHILIP YANCEY WHO WHEN HIS FRIENDS GRANDMOTHER DIED- A JESUS LOVING WOMAN- SHE REQUESTED THAT ONE WORD BE ETCHED ON HERS: WAITING! THIS LIFE WILL NEVER HAVE THE FINAL SAY- IN CHRIST, WHEN WE DIE, WE ARE WAITING. HE BRINGS LIFE!

GOSPEL CONCLUSION- RECEIVE HIM, VERSES 10-13

EXPLANATION: NOW YOU WOULD THINK AS AMAZING AS JESUS IS, HE WOULD BE RECEIVED AND ADORED. HE WAS NOT. JOHN TELLS HE WAS ACTUALLY FLAT OUT REJECTED. IN VERSE 10 JOHN SAYS THAT ONE OF THE MAIN REASONS WHY IS BECAUSE THE WORLD DID NOT RECOGNIZE HIM.

ILLUSTRATION: ON A COLD WINTERS DAY IN 2007 A MAN EMERGED FROM THE WASHINGTON TRAIN STATION AND POSITIONED HIMSELF AGAINST A WALL IN A HEAVILY TRAFFICKED AREA AND BEGAN PLAYING THE MOST BEAUTIFUL MUSIC ONE HAS EVER HEARD. HE WAS DRESSED IN JEANS, A T-SHIRT AND A BALL CAP. NO ONE REALLY NOTICED, OR EVEN SEEMED TO CARE. OF THE ALMOST 1100 PEOPLE WHO PASSED BY HIM OVER THE NEXT 43 MINUTES HARDLY ANYONE STOPPED, AND FEWER STILL GAVE HIM MONEY. HAD THEY REALIZED THIS WAS WORLD FAMOUS JOSHUA BELL, WHOSE VIOLIN HE WAS PLAYING COST HIM 3.5 MILLION DOLLARS AND WHO HAD JUST PERFORMED AT ONE OF THE MOST DESIRED PLACES IN THE WORLD A FEW NIGHTS BEFORE HUNDREDS WOULD HAVE STOPPED. BUT HE SIMPLY DIDN’T LOOK THE PART, AND BESIDES THEY WERE TOO MUCH IN A HURRY TO GET ON WITH THEIR LIVES.

APPLICATION- SAME IS TRUE OF JESUS. HE JUST DIDN’T LOOK THE PART AND THEY HAD NO IDEA.

INVITATION- JOHN SAYS YOU MUST RECEIVE HIM. WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH THIS JESUS?