Sermon Tone Analysis
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Introduction
Greetings…
Theme: The Life of Christ.
Goal: Today, to see Jesus’ “leave no doubt” that he is God.
Several years ago there was a word that became popular with teenagers but then spread to many others as well.
It is still used today by many though not as much but it is used to say, “It doesn’t matter enough to talk about it any further.”
What is that word, the word is “whatever.”
A parent says to a child, “you should do this” and the child responds “whatever.”
A teenager encourages their friend to “do the right thing” and then hears “whatever.”
Two adults arguing about politics until one has enough and says, “whatever.”
Typically speaking what the person who uses this phrase usually means is that “truth doesn’t matter.”
It stands for “you have your opinion and I have mine, we can agree to disagree.”
In our text of John 8:12-59 Jesus challenged the spirit of “whatever.”
Jesus message is bold, his claims cannot be ignored and in the end, everyone must respond “yes” or a defiant “no” but they won’t be able to say, “whatever.”
So what is that phrase, it’s…
The "I Am” Phrase
What Does It Mean?
In our text Jesus declared, “I am the light of the world.”
And although we often focus on the latter aspects of the declaration I want us to focus on the most significant part of that sentence, the two little words, “I am.”
At small phrase has a rich Old Testament background and to Jesus’ first-century Jewish audience it was the most controversial statement he had ever made.
To them he was saying “I am God.”
And the reality is, Jesus was certainly using it that way.
“I am” is how God spoke of himself throughout the Old Testament.
When Moses met God at the burning bush and Moses asked for the name of God we find this in Exodus 3:14.
Exodus 3:14 (ESV)
14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.”
And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ”
Later, we read, before the Israelites were going to possess the promised land we find this in the “Song of Moses”…
Deuteronomy 32:39 (ESV)
39 “ ‘See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.
Centuries later the great prophet Isaiah would write…
Isaiah 43:10 (ESV)
10 “You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he.
Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me.
Six other times in this book alone, God uses the phrase “I am he” to describe himself.
Summary
Because of this usage over and over, naturally the I am phrase became holy language to the Jews and to use it would be implying you were God and thus blasphemy.
So for anyone to declare such was a powerful thing and…
Jesus Says “I Am”
John 8 Records So Many Usages.
In our text we find Jesus use the sacred “I am” several times.
John 8:12 (ESV)
12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world.
Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
John 8:18 (ESV)
18 I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.”
John 8:23 (ESV)
23 He said to them, “You are from below; I am from above.
You are of this world; I am not of this world.
Each and every time Jesus would have used this phrase the Jewish people listening would have “winced.”
Without saying he was divine specifically, Jesus was using divine language.
Now if Jesus had never said anything more, we would be left to wonder what he meant by his usage but thankfully he left us with no doubt at all.
In fact, upon the Jews hearing Jesus say, “before Abraham was, I am” they picked up stones to stone Jesus for blasphemy according to the Law, from Leviticus 24:16.
It was more than they could bear and these were the one’s that had believed in Jesus.
John 8:31 (ESV)
31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him…
Summary
Everyone there was abundantly clear what this Jesus from Nazareth was saying.
He was boldly proclaiming he was God, divine.
That was then, so what about…
Jesus’ Claims Today
What Are People To Think Today?
Most of humanity today is willing to admit that Jesus lived and that he was a good man.
However, they are not willing to accept that he is, indeed, God the Son.
Yet, Jesus made such a view absurd.
Jesus did not claim to be “just a good man.”
Jesus claimed to be the “I AM.”
Jesus did not present himself as a great philosopher; he presented himself as the only way to the Father.
Jesus’ bold claims force people to make a choice to believe or reject his true identity.
In other words, no one can hear or read the words of Jesus and say “whatever.”
“Whatever” is simply not an option.
Summary
I’m reminded of what C.S. Lewis once wrote…
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: “I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.”
That is the one thing we must not say.
A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher.
He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell.
You must make your choice.
Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse.
You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God.
But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher.
He has not left that open to us.
He did not intend to.” 1
Conclusion
Perhaps Homer Hailey best summarized this when he wrote…
“Unless He was who He claimed to be, He was an imposter, a blasphemer, a hypocrite, a deceiver, and a liar.” 2
Invitation
Endnotes
C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York: Macmillan Co., 1943), 55–56.
Homer Hailey, That You May Believe (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House, 1973), 25.
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