05.09.2021 - Who is the Christ?

Scripture 1 John 5:1-6

1 John 5:1–6 NLT

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ* has become a child of God. And everyone who loves the Father loves his children, too. We know we love God’s children if we love God and obey his commandments. Loving God means keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome. For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith. And who can win this battle against the world? Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God. And Jesus Christ was revealed as God’s Son by his baptism in water and by shedding his blood on the cross*—not by water only, but by water and blood. And the Spirit, who is truth, confirms it with his testimony.

Who is the Christ?

Last week I shared that the proof of our faith comes in how we love others. If we take a step back though, how do we know that our faith is in the right place? How do we know that Jesus is the Christ and what does it mean when we say Jesus is the Christ?

Christ, Messiah, and Son of God

For the Jews and Greeks: Moses and Caesar

The Question: How close can you get to God?

Authority - having the authority of God

Example - demonstrating the example of God

Proof - proving that you really are from God in the previous categories

Revelation: Lamb of God - both worthy and able to open the scroll and inherit the world.

Thesis: The Christ, the Son of God, is the one who points us faithfully to God.

Love the Father, Love His Children

Following Commands:

Love God

Love your neighbor as yourself

Love your brothers and sisters like Jesus loves us

Not just knowing what the commands are. Doing them.

Sharing the gospel is not like passing on the answers to a multiple choice test in school. It is helping others to do the work well enough to figure out those answers for themselves.

Sharing the gospel is moving people from stranger, to neighbor, to brother and sister, just the way Jesus did that with us.

Proving our parentage

Mr. Buehler, High School science teacher.

I got in trouble for acting up in class and got called out by my Dad’s name.

Not a case of mistaken identity, but of identity that has been passed down.

What if our lives are not choose-your-own-identity stories?

What if every one of us was created by God intentionally?

What if there is a place that we were designed to grow to fit in the Body of Christ?

How do we know how to find that place?

Believing Jesus Christ as the one who comes on behalf of God

Jesus claimed to be the Way to God. In fact, He claimed to be the only way.

Many people think that those claims are ridiculous. They don’t like His commands. They want to follow someone else, or they don’t want to follow anyone at all. Some are led astray.

Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ?

If you do, what made you decide that He was the closest thing to God that the world will ever see? Did you believe because someone you trusted told you? Did you sift through the evidence to make a decision for yourself?

How does Jesus prove Himself to you?

The Water and the Blood

Why does John talk about the water and the blood as proof that Jesus is the Christ?

Go back to the Lamb of God

John 1:29 NLT

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

Revelation 5:6 NLT

Then I saw a Lamb that looked as if it had been slaughtered, but it was now standing between the throne and the four living beings and among the twenty-four elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which represent the sevenfold Spirit* of God that is sent out into every part of the earth.

Baptism and Suffering

Jesus constantly pointed to God, and there were some key moments where God, the Father, pointed out Jesus as His Son.

The first of these moments remembered in all of the Gospels was the baptism of Jesus. Unlike many of you who were baptized, Jesus did not get baptized because He needed sin washed away. The baptism of Jesus was a profound moment when God revealed to the world, that He was the beloved Son of God, or the Christ. It was a revelation in the literal sense of the world the same way the doctors and nurses used to announce to expecting families in the waiting room whether the baby was a boy or girl. This baptism was God naming and claiming Jesus as His own publicly.

In John’s Gospel, it is just before this moment that John calls Jesus the Lamb of God

John 1:29 NLT

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

However, the Christ, the Messiah has to be more than just announced. Just as the Jews questioned Moses in the wilderness, so God’s people questioned the Christ. “How do we know that you are the one we have waited for?” they asked. We ask that question with them.

In Revelation, the Lamb of God is introduced again, but not merely as an announcement. He comes as one who has proven Himself worthy of the responsibility of inheriting all of creation.

Revelation 5:6–8 NLT

Then I saw a Lamb that looked as if it had been slaughtered, but it was now standing between the throne and the four living beings and among the twenty-four elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which represent the sevenfold Spirit* of God that is sent out into every part of the earth. He stepped forward and took the scroll from the right hand of the one sitting on the throne. And when he took the scroll, the four living beings and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp, and they held gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of God’s people.

Not just any lamb, but one that looked as if it had been slaughtered. John is intentionally comparing the crucifixion of Jesus to the slaughtering of the passover lamb. The biggest difference between Jesus and the lamb though, was that Jesus rose from the dead and bore the marks of His sacrifice.

Jesus proved He was a child of God with more than words. He proved it with his actions. He not only was named and claimed by God to be the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God - Jesus proved it by going to the cross willingly. Jesus proved His authority and power of us by the testimony of God the Father and by the proof of His love on the cross.

And it was more than even that. His sacrifice on the cross did not just come out of nowhere. He had lived a life of love and sacrifice, in direct obedience to God’s commands and calling on His life all the years before.

So, do you believe that Jesus is the Christ?

Defeating the world by the Water and the Blood.

If so, do you show it or only say it?

James, the half-brother of Jesus wrote in his letter:

James 2:19–20 NLT

You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God.* Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless?

The devil believes Jesus is the Christ too, but he isn’t willing to follow Jesus.

When we follow Jesus, god reveals Himself in us. That may happen in a baptism or a baptism moment because the water baptism need only happen once for us, while the baptism of the Holy Spirit we pray happens to us daily. Yet that is only the starting experience. If we don’t take what God gives us and share it with those around us in love, we are a noisy gong or clanging symbol that everyone wishes would just go away. We are not serving God that way.

We are called to suffer as well. Love shows itself to be true in sacrifice. Jesus Himself said:

John 15:13 NLT

There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

Some of you may know those who have laid down their lives to serve and protect their friends. Many of you know those who have lived out their lives as a sacrifice of love. It is right and fitting for us to remember today how our mothers (and fathers), whether they gave birth to us or adopted us in some form or fashion, showed us the love of Jesus. We can honor them for the way they, through their words and actions together, proved to us that Jesus was the Christ. And we should celebrate the way they have passed on that ability to love God and others, with that same mission of making strangers into sisters and brothers, to us today.

Chances are, it was not the big flashy, expensive, or public things your mom did that showed you Jesus. It was the love she showed you when you didn’t deserve it. It was the way she was excited for you growing and maturing, even if it meant you growing away from her. It was those times when you really needed her and she dropped everything to be there with you, not even to fix things, but to let you know you were not alone. It was those times she showed the love of Jesus to you.

Every act of love counts.

How do you live your life?

Do you follow Christ’s commands?

Do you follow Christ’s example?

Announcement of New Pastor Randy Jones - Jeff Smith

Pray for new pastor and family

Randy, Elizabeth, Nathan, and Lila