Real Christians Have the Right Focus

Introduction

Who has the right focus in 7-10?

The comparison is between the Jews who were sent to Christ and the centurion.

The Jews thought it was on the basis of works that the centurion deserved to be healed.

The centurion knew that it he was not worthy but that Jesus had authority to heal His servant.

(ESV) — 24 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the man who was paralyzed—“I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home.”

If Christ can raise the dead, what should we be focused on?

Fearing God.

Glorifying Him.

A prophet has risen, His name is Christ,

God has visited His people.

Notice in Christ says that the dead (plural) are raised up.

How many dead people has He been raising?

The focus in on the fact that He can give us eternal life. Both physical death and spiritual dead.

Is Christ the one we should be focused on?

It is possible that John did not fully understand the nature of Jesus’ Messianic mission.

It’s more likely that either John had two disciples that doubted and they were going to have their faith strengthend and reasured.

Or, John the Baptist is in prison, and yet He actually is still fulfilling his mission.

What do I mean by that? Its the Law of Moses that a fact is established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.

John sent two witnesses, to establish the fact that Jesus is the Messiah.

And their question is merely investigative and Jesus answers in connection with the context:

To prove that Jesus is the Messiah, that He has authority to forgive sins and that it reassures Theophilus of the things that He has been taught by Jesus Christ.

The fact that this is still John the Baptist’s ministry is confirmed by the context, that after the messengers left,

Jesus teaches about who John the Baptist is, the one who paves the way for Jesus.

But then to prove that as Great as John is, the least in the kingdom are greater than John.

So that way as verse 29 says the wretches of society are reassured that they have a place in the kingdom.

And the Pharisees are rejected.

Which goes back to the point of this passage, Real Christians have the Right focus.

The Pharisees and lawyers rejected God because they didn’t believe they needed John’s Baptism of repentance.

Because they didn’t think they needed repentance.

They rejected John, even though and especially now, John has proven that Jesus is the Messiah both by baptizing Christ and proving that he’s the Messiah by two witnesses.

What’s the right perspective on the legalistic Jews of the 1st century?

They didn’t focus on the fact that Jesus is the Messiah.

And notice the fact that they rejected Jesus not because of who He is or who has been proven to be.

They rejected Jesus because of their misrepresentations of Him.

It’s impossible to reject Jesus Christ when He has been revealed to you as He actual is.

People are rejecting Christ on the basis of who they believe Him to be and it’s not who He actually is.

I’ll give you an example. I had an atheist refer to God to me as the old man in the sky with a grey beard and grey hair.

And I responded, “I don’t believe that God exists”. If that’s the Biblical definition of God then I am an atheist as well.

But that’s not the Biblical definition of God.

The fact that atheists see God in exaggerative terms like, “The Spagetti Monster in the Sky”

Or “The old man in the sky” isn’t just a hyperbolic argument it’s a revelation of their hearts, showing the fact that they don’t see God for who He actually is.