What Are We To Do With Jesus?

Introduction

((1999 Laramie Trials [Laramie, Wyoming] — 21 year old Matthew Shepard…))

Some trials are like that: we are all either forced to, or we choose to come up with our own verdict on.

Luke does that same thing in his Gospel. He lays out all the evidence and then challenges his readers to come to their own verdict on whether Jesus is Lord and Savior or not.

The title of this sermon is What Are We To Do With Jesus?

We will focus in on the trials of Jesus.

There’s going to be a lot of reading, and less commentary as normal. Partly because much of this section doesn’t call for a lot of commentary. It stands on its own.

But also because as we read it I want all of us to really consider not only our own verdict on Jesus, but also if our life’s actions and behaviors really express the verdict we claim is ours.

Turn to Luke 22:63-23:25

Body

What Are We To Do With Jesus: The Guards (22:63-65)

Their Answer: Abuse and Mistreat Him

Who knows what they really believed about Jesus, or if they knew anything at all. They just saw an opportunity to abuse someone and took it.

The depravity of mankind is most on display when we see how violently humans can treat other humans…

What Are We To Do With Jesus: The Sanhedrin (22:66-71)

Their Answer: Convict Him

Notice some key things here:

They had already made up their mind already…

Jesus answer is multi-layered…

Jesus answer was rightfully taken as an affirmative, which is clear from their response to Him…

Important Side Note: Why doesn’t Jesus just give straight answers?

The questions they are asking aren’t straight questions;

They are multi-layered questions that require answers those asking weren’t interested in hearing.

No one here is looking for a straight answer;

Jesus answers would not have changed the outcome;

The outcome was ultimately necessary.

What Are We To Do With Jesus: Pilate part 1 (23:1-7)

His Answer: Take No Responsibility for Him

Pilate was the prefect of Israel…like a governor of sorts...

He was a politician who was on thin ice with Rome...

His job was straightforward: maintain the Pax Romana, or face demotion...

Notice the religious leaders lie to Pilate about the reason they want Jesus convicted:

Misleading the nation (i.e. a threat to the Pax Romana); forbidding tribute (i.e. cheating the Romans); claiming to be a king (one not set by Caesar, therefore a potential rebel leader).

Jesus answer is again multi-layered, because He is the King of the Jews, but not in the way Pilate would define a king.

Pilate doesn’t want to deal with this, so he passes Jesus off to Herod Antipas, one of the sons of Herod the Great and the current ruler of the region of Galilee.

What Are We To Do With Jesus: Herod Antipas (23:8-12)

His Answer: Attempt to Get Him to Perform

His Next Answer: When He Doesn’t, Mock Him

What Are We To Do With Jesus: Pilate part 2 (23:13-16)

His Next Answer: Passively Defend Him

What Are We To Do With Jesus: The Religious Leaders and the Crowds (23:18-23)

Their Answer: Get Rid of Him

Don’t mess the ugly irony here:

They want to kill a “revolutionary” whose approach was to teach His followers to love God and love their neighbor as themselves, while they want to release another “revolutionary” whose approach was to start riots and kill people.

What Are We To Do With Jesus: Pilate part 3 (23:24-25)

His Final Answer: Give Up on Him

So What?

What Will You Do With Jesus?

Look at the similarities from then and today:

Some today abuse and mistreat the name of Christ and His church.

The anti-Christian people in our society and world today seem to get louder and more powerful…(this is especially true of celebrities and some people in the media)

They say things about Christ and His church that even twenty years ago would never be uttered publicly and certainly wouldn’t have been considered acceptable.

Some today look to convict Him of being nothing more than a historical character surrounded by myth; a religious well-meaning, yet misguided, and ultimately usurped leader; or a nice man that shared some moral teachings.

These are often those who believe they are too educated or too sophisticated to believe in such religious matters…

Some today take no responsibility for Him.

Those who either don’t know, or don’t want to bother with it right now.

Some today want Him to do stuff for them, but then when it doesn’t work out the way they want, they lose confidence, and even sometimes faith. Some even go so far as to turn away from Him.

Too many within the church today…

Some today passively defend Him and passively serve Him, when it is convenient or there is something in it for us.

Church members who are more focused on themselves than on God’s kingdom and our responsibility in His mission…

Some today would like to just get rid of Him and His followers.

Enemies of Christ and His church who believe that the best way to deal with Christians is to kill them…

But, today, in America this is still more subtle…

Some today give up on Jesus for a multitude of reasons.

This is especially true of young people who grow up in the church.

Now, compare these views of and responses to Jesus with that which Luke has testified to throughout his Gospel, but especially in these verses:

Jesus is the prophesied Son of Man, who, as it says in Daniel, was “given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom on that shall not be destroyed.”

Jesus is seated at the right hand of God, the position of power.

Jesus is the Son of God; unique in His relationship to God the Father as the only God the Son.

Jesus is the rightful King of the Jews…but not just the Jews! He is rightfully the King of all!

Jesus was innocent of all the charges against Him, yet He was still condemned to death.

This is vitally important to us, because Jesus righteousness becomes our own when we receive Him as Savior!

So, what Luke has done is given the readers a clear choice. Either Jesus is:

To be mistreated, rejected, avoided, used for our own benefit, accepted in a lukewarm fashion at best, or to be done away with.

Or, Jesus is to be followed as the unique Son of Man and Son of God, enthroned in Heaven and as King and Lord our life, and the innocent bearer of the sins of the guilty.

Simply put: He’s either a fraud who deserves to be rejected and/or ignored, or He is the rightful Lord and Savior who we must receive and follow.

Reading this, we become the jury.

If your verdict is that He is a fraud, then nothing I say to you will matter.

However, my encouragement is this: you’d better be sure!

If your verdict is that He is the rightful Lord and Savior, then:

Receive Him

Follow Him

Share Him

Glorify Him