Sermon Tone Analysis

Who is Jesus?

What makes a good drummer?

It could be you!

If you will humor me for a moment this morning, I’d like to give you a quick drum lesson.

Step 1 - RH pat head.

LH rub belly

Step 2 - RH rub head.

LH pat belly

Step 3 - RH rub belly.

LH pat head

Step 4 - RH pat belly.

LH rubhead.

Now why did we just do that this morning?

You could do those exercises perfectly this morning, but never try to play the drums.

This is true of any skill we learn.

Do you realize that?

I can read about drum theory all day long.

- familiarize myself with techniques and patterns…

But if I never sit behind the drums and try to play them, I’m missing the entire reason I’ve been studying!

I don’t study for the knowledge, I study to enjoy the instrument!

Here’s where this matters for us this morning, Who do you think Jesus is?

You may have been to church all your life.

You may have heard hundreds of sermons about Jesus.

But what if you who you think He is is off?

What if my idea of Jesus or who I want Him to be isn’t who HE actually is.

How would that affect you and me?

I think that would be like studying an instrument your whole life, but never actually playing it.

And as we will find out this morning, that’s exactly how it went for the Pharisees.

TRANSITION:

1. Who do you think Jesus is?

Well let’s start with who we think other people are.

We treat people based on what we know about them?

Think about it…

We may ignore the homeless person near I-26 or walmart/dorman center because

We don’t know them.

We don’t trust them.

We may think if we give them money they will misuse it.

Because we don’t know them, we don’t trust them.

What you think about someone may determine how you treat or respond to that person.

What people thought of Jesus in the first century certainly resulted in how they treated Him.

2. Who did Jesus claim to be?

In luke 4, Jesus opens up the scroll of Isaiah and reads from Isaiah 61.

Luke 4:16-21 “16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up.

And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read.

17 And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him.

He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

20 And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down.

And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.

21 And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.””

3. Who did people think Jesus was and who was He really?

A. AT HOME

Luke 4:28-30 “28 When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath.

29 And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff.

30 But passing through their midst, he went away.”

Who did His hometown think Jesus was?

not God!

A liar. blasphemer.

one worthy of death.

Something you may not realize here is this reading in the synagogue is literally the beginning of Jesus’ ministry.

In the beginning of Luke 4, Jesus is tempted in the wilderness.

Then he is going into synagogues reading about the coming messiah.

Luke 4:15 “15 He was teaching in their synagogues, being praised by everyone.”

But at home…

His hometown didn’t believe He was God.

They tried to kill him!

Why?

They didn’t believe He was who he claimed to be.

In their culture, claiming to be God (and not being so) deserved death.

So what did they try to do? Kill Him!

The question I ask when I read this is why did Jesus keep going?

Why not close up shop, enact Noah’s flood part 2, and start over with us?

If his own hometown was rejecting Him, why continue?

Isaiah 53:3 “3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.”

What fools our intelligence in the present, is God’s divine plan being unveiled.

Though rejected at home, Jesus continues, gentle and lowly of heart to give rest to weary souls.

B. Outcasts

Mark 1:40-45 “40 And a leper came to him, imploring him, and kneeling said to him, “If you will, you can make me clean.”

41 Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, “I will; be clean.”

42 And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean.

43 And Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once, 44 and said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a proof to them.” 45 But he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places, and people were coming to him from every quarter.”

Who did the leper think Jesus was?

The healer!

Why did Jesus tell him not to tell others about him?

Because Jesus didn’t come to redeem the political climate of the day.

The reason Jesus sought anonymity early in his ministry was not because He was trying prevent the spread of the gospel.

It was to prevent a political uprising!

Rome was the prevailing power of the day.

many Jews believed that the predicted messiah would come to save the Jews from their oppression with Rome.

Much like God sent Moses to save Israel from Egypt, God would send a messiah to save Israel from Rome.

But this missed the mark.

Now maybe we can show the leper some grace here that He didn’t fully understand the consequences of his actions.

Yet at the same time, the healed didn’t follow the words of the healer.

He missed Jesus message to Him.

Jesus didn’t come to be elevated as a political leader.

But that’s exactly what they wanted to make Him…

C. The King!

John 6:14-15 “14 When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” 15 Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.”

In John 6, Jesus has just fed the 5000.

People were amazed and wanted to make Jesus a king!