WHEN IN GENNESARET...
PERCEPTIONS OF JESUS NO. 5 • Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 8 viewsNotes
Transcript
Handout
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Gennesaret is an area that is located within the boundary of the tribe of Naphtali. It is located on the north-western coast of the Sea of Galilee, just a little west of Capernaum. In the Book of Joshua it is called Chinneroth. In later times, after the Greek conquest of the Holy Land, the name was changed to Genezar and then eventually to Gennesaret. The plain of Gennesaret has been called “the Paradise of Galilee” because of its lush, fertile beauty.
This morning we return to our series called PERCEPTIONS OF JESUS. And our text is . Those of you who sit under my teaching on a regular basis will be skeptical of my ability to cover that much territory in one message. Quite frankly, as I begin writing this message, I am as well. However, as much as possible I do try to organize my message from the Gospels around a single pericope or event, and it appears to me from this text that this extensive section is one long event.
Throughout this series we have looked at various ways in which Jesus was being perceived by the people of Israel. The people of his hometown, Nazareth, perceived Him to be a scandalous figure. Herod superstitiously perceive him as being John the Baptist returned from the dead. The five thousand who were fed by Jesus just prior to the events we will look at this morning perceived Jesus as both a divine healer and provider — even as the prophet who was to come. And the apostles perceived Him as the Son of God who was worthy of their worship; especially after they saw Him walk on the water, calm the storm, and instantly take their boat from the middle of the sea to the Land at Gennesaret.
In our passage for this morning I believe that there are three distinct groups with three distinct perceptions of Jesus. There were those who perceived Him as a healer, those who perceived Him as a non-traditionalist, and those who perceived Him as being the authoritative interpreter of the Word of God. And our goal is to look at each in turn.
In the midst of all of this Jesus deals with the topic of vain or empty worship. And that may very well be the overarching reason that the Holy Spirit moved the biblical authors to write about this event.
Let’s read this passage together.
Let’s look first at how Jesus was perceived as a healer.
PERCEIVED AS A HEALER ()
PERCEIVED AS A HEALER ()
Hopefully you can see the map that I have put on the screen for you. This map shows the various places of Jesus’ Galilean ministry.
This is one of Matthews transitional summaries. He does not mention the specific types of illness that were healed, or even individuals. Another thing that is not mentioned is the people’s faith in Jesus as Messiah. It would seem that there faith was somewhat limited to Jesus’ ability to heal.
If this passage corresponds to the chronology of , which some believe it does, then it may have been at this point that Jesus delivered His discourse on being the bread of life. And it is possible that it was at this time that many stopped following Him because of the difficulty of His teaching.
In our present culture there is an aversion to the teaching of doctrine. Of course the term “doctrine” simply means “teaching.” Paul prophesied that this would happen.
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires,
and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.
PERCEIVED AS NON-TRADITIONAL ()
PERCEIVED AS NON-TRADITIONAL ()
Jesus Confronted by the Delegation
Look at .
The Delegation from Jerusalem
The Disciples Charged as Transgressors of Tradition
It is interesting to note that the attack from the Pharisaic delegation was pointed at Jesus’ disciples and not at Jesus Himself. But since His disciples represented Him, it certainly reflected on Him as well. It is very similar to the question brought to Jesus from John the Baptists’ disciples in regarding fasting. “Why don’t your disciples fast? Why don’t they properly wash their hands?”
The ceremonial washing that Jews of Jesus’ day practiced had nothing to do with hygiene. It was about ceremonial righteousness. What the rabbinical Pharisees had done over the years was to take a law that was given to the priests and make it mandatory for everyone.
when they enter the tent of meeting, they shall wash with water, so that they will not die; or when they approach the altar to minister, by offering up in smoke a fire sacrifice to the Lord.
So they shall wash their hands and their feet, so that they will not die; and it shall be a perpetual statute for them, for Aaron and his descendants throughout their generations.”
The Delegation Confronted by Jesus
Look at .
Jesus confronted the delegation regarding transgressing the commandment of God
What is worse, breaking man-made rules or God’s commands? Writing to the Colossians, Paul warned about being led astray by man-made rules, philosophy, or even logic. , ,
See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.
See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.
Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day—
things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.
If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as,
“Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!”
(which all refer to things destined to perish with use)—in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men?
These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.
What are some traditions that have come to be seen as essential to godly living?
Charged as Hypocrites
Look at verses 7-9 for a moment.
What do we learn about worship from this scathing rebuke?
We learn that mere lip service is not the same as true worship
We learn that a person’s heart must be actively engaged when worshiping
We learn that if we are only going through the motions our attempt at worship is in vain
We learn that true worship revolves around teaching the doctrines of God, and not that of man
The Truth about Defilement
In , and Jesus told the truth about defilement.
To the gathered crowd after calling them to Himself and stressing the importance of what He was about to say by emphatically stating: “Hear and understand.” He stated in verse 11 that “it is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man.”
Apparently to the disciples, at Peter’s prompting, Jesus gave a further explanation of what He was saying in verses 15-20. But we will look at this in a few moments.
The Blind Leading the Blind
The Pharisees were scandalized by Jesus’ teaching
Jesus implied that these scandalized religious leaders did not belong to His flock
The Pharisees considered themselves to be guides to those who were blind — but Jesus said they were blind guides
It is important that we understand that not everyone who calls himself a Christian is truly a Christian. Those who do not place their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ do not belong to Him. Just as with the parable of the tares among the wheat, so also it is here. There are those, possibly even among, who seem to be saved and yet are not. Salvation does not come from saying a magic formula as some seem to present it. It comes from God’s grace through the channel of the believer’s faith in the message of the Gospel.
Towards the end of the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said:
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.
Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’
And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’
PERCEIVED AS INTERPRETER ()
PERCEIVED AS INTERPRETER ()
So far this morning we have seen two distinct perceptions of Jesus: He was perceived as a healer by the masses who came to Him for healing in Gennesaret; and He was perceived as a non-traditionalist by the scribes and Pharisees. Now let’s look at the third perception of Jesus as I see it in this event, Jesus, the authoritative interpreter of God’s word!
Let’s look once again at verses 15-20, which is the second part of Jesus’ teaching on the truth about defilement.
Peter, as noted before, often represents the entire group of apostles. And for some reason he and or they did not fully understand what Jesus had said about the source of defilement. And so he asked for Jesus to explain the parable to them.
Jesus rebuked Peter and associates for their lack of understanding
Then Jesus gave a lesson from anatomy that any science teacher would be proud of
Food does not bring defilement
And He said to them, “Are you so lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him,
because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and is eliminated?” (Thus He declared all foods clean.)
because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and is eliminated?” (Thus He declared all foods clean.)
Defilement is ultimately a matter of the heart
The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.
Jesus went on to list the things that defile in verse 19. It should be noted that these line up pretty well with the second table of the law — the fifth through tenth commandments (those which fall under “love your neighbor as yourself).
John MacArthur wrote: “The central moral thrust of the Sermon on the Mount is that the basis of all sin is the inner thought, not the outward act.”
Evil thoughts
“The central moral thrust of the Sermon on the Mount is that the basis of all sin is the inner thought, not the outward act.”
As we close today I want you to consider that you are with the crowds in Gennesaret. You have heard about the many miracles that Jesus has done, and you are in need of a miracle of your own. After you have been healed from your infirmity you decide to hang around and see what happens next. You see some proud men from Jerusalem approach Jesus, decked out in their finest attire. You think that this is going to be interesting, so you get as close to the action as you possibly can. Then you hear these religious Jews charge Jesus with breaking the traditions that have been handed down to us from our fathers. Then you hear Jesus respond by calling these men hypocrites.
When Jesus calls the crowds to Himself you join them. Then your hear Him say that your religious leaders have it all wrong. They have duped you all into believing a lie. You have to make a choice. Are you going to continue to embrace the teaching of the Pharisees which is all you have ever known? Or are you going to embrace this teaching that comes from Jesus?
You have three basic choices that you can make:
You can reject the teaching of Jesus in favor of tradition
You can reject the man-made traditions in favor of the teaching of Jesus
You can continue to ponder which way to choose, and put off your choice off until another day
The writer of Hebrew understood that the vast majority of his audience chose the third choice, to continue to ponder and put off your choice until a later time. Warning them about continuing thus, he wrote:
For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it.
For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty,
how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard,
God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.
Back to present day: I want you next to consider your worship of God. Can it be said that your worship is in vain because you are not really worshiping from the heart? Are you just going through the motions? If so, i invite you to repent of such offerings of worship. Understand that on occasions it happens to the best of us.
Sometimes we play so hard on Saturday that we have a hard time staying awake through the message on Sunday. I know this because it has happened to me (when listening to a message, not when preaching one!). Sometimes the preacher is so boring that he puts you to sleep — I know!
Other times we are so consumed with a trial that we are going through that we can’t focus on anything else. But we dare not let doubts and fears control our lives.
Sometimes we are only here to make a parent or spouse, or someone else happy. But, it is the Lord that we should be seeking to please.
Next weekend, I encourage you to not play so hard on Saturday that you have nothing left for Sunday. I encourage you to get up on Sunday morning a little earlier than normal and spend some extra-special time with the Lord before coming to church. Perhaps that will help enable you to worship the Lord in spirit and in truth.
Know that if you are going through a particular trial, I would be thrilled to help you carry your burden. You do not have to carry your burden alone!
Let’s pray.
Closing Song: No. 234 — Now Unto Him
Closing Song: No. 234 — Now Unto Him