The question 10-04-08  

            I was planning on talking about forgiveness today, which is a great topic which we need to revisit on a regular basis and I was going to focus on another neglected aspect, that being self forgiving, but I couldn’t get this other verse out of my head. I woke up dreaming about this verse. I think the Lord had something different in mind, so today we are going to talk about the big question. And I don’t mean paper of plastic. For those of you who have trouble with that question at the grocery store, this question is going to blow your mind. The question I’m talking about is the question Pilate asked the crowd right before he ordered the execution of Jesus.  The most important question of all time is this. What shall I do then with Jesus who is called the Christ? That question Pilate asked almost 2000 years ago is still a relevant question for today. It’s a question we all need to answer. Because one day every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, and how we respond to this question will determine our eternal destiny.  What then shall we do with Jesus who is called the Christ? It is a question that must be answered. We just can’t ignore this one and hope it goes away. Pilate tried to, but he couldn’t and neither can we.  

Let me set the stage real quick. The last week Jesus walked the earth as a man started off so good. He has ridden into town on a donkey the fans are going nuts they are waving branches and throwing their coats in the road to welcome Jesus back to Jerusalem. He drives the merchants out of the temple area and is teaching in the courtyard. The priests know they have a problem. This guy is not one of them, the religious establishment, and he is gaining a large following. Something has to be done or they will lose their prestige and position and by a common carpenter from Nazareth. This goes on for several days until Judas, powered by greed and prompted by Satan goes to the priests and offers to show them where Jesus spends the night so they can come and arrest Him, because if they tried to do it during the daytime the crowd might riot because Jesus was quite a celebrity at this point. Jesus celebrates a beautiful Passover meal with His disciples, where He gives us the model which we still use for communion; he washes their feet as an example of how we are to serve others, and then goes to the Mount of Olives to camp for the night just like he has done all week but He knows what is coming and He prays. He prays with such intensity that the small blood vessels in his face break and the blood mixes with the sweat leaving bloody streaks down his face. Father let this cup pass from me, but not my will but yours be done. The guards come and arrest Him and all of these loyal followers scatter like a covey of quail.  At the home of the chief priest they come up with some charge against Him, and because they have no authority to execute a person they send him on to the Roman governor, Pilate.  Pilate finds no fault in Jesus so he sends him on to another higher Roman official who also sees no reason to have him killed so he send him back to Pilate.  Pilate doesn’t want to kill Jesus; there may be as many as a million people in Jerusalem during Passover and maybe only a thousand Roman soldiers to keep the peace. There over numbered, and a thousand to one. So if a riot breaks out they are in serious trouble in an addition Pilate’s wife has just sent word to him that she had been warned in a dream to have nothing to do with killing an innocent man. So Pilate is wanting to let Jesus off, so he tries to use an old custom of releasing a prisoner at the time of Passover, so he has Barabbas brought out. Barabbas was most likely a very scary dude, probably the worst prisoner in custody at the time, someone you wouldn’t want moving in next door. Pilate was asking the crowd would you like me to release this rapist serial killer back out to you, somebody like Jack the Ripper, or would you like me to release Jesus. And these people asked to have Barabbas released, and then Pilate asks, “What shall I do with Jesus who is called the Christ?” And they shout to crucify Him.  There are a lot of people today who would be in that crowd shouting crucify him.  Jesus makes people uncomfortable. And there are a lot of people who, are like Pilate, who don’t want to make a choice because they might have to change. But Jesus demands a response; he is not going to let us off the hook. We can’t ignore him. We must fall down at his feet and acknowledge Him as the Christ the son of the living God or shout away with Him. We can’t be neutral when it comes to the question of who is Jesus. He is either the Christ, or He was a lunatic.  There can be no middle ground. He can’t be just a good moral man and a great teacher. Because he said he was God in the flesh, you’ve seen me you’ve seen the Father, and I and the Father are one. John  10:30, 14:9. So Jesus is either a liar or a fraud, or he is who he claimed to be, the Christ the Son of God.  So the question remains, what do we do with Jesus who is called the Christ?   

            Jesus came to wreck our world. I realize this is not a very good selling point and if you are just exploring what it means to be a Christian I don’t want to scare you off, but Jesus didn’t come and suffer and die so we could sit comfortably in church on Sunday morning thinking we did our part.  He called us for something way more than this. The first century Christians knew this and they were accused of turning the world upside down. Jesus expects no less of us. What do we do with this Jesus who is called the Christ? Well first we must fall down and recognize Him as Lord, but it doesn’t stop there. Mathew 7:21 tells us this. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not Prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles. Then Jesus says, I will tell them plainly depart from me for I never knew you.  These guys were doing some awesome stuff in the name of Christ, and Jesus tells them depart from me for I never knew you.  

Jesus came a suffered and died so that we could have a relationship with Him, but if we are ever to hear those words we all long to hear, well done my good and faithful servant, we need to do more than just sit in church on Sunday morning. Don’t get me wrong I love to have you here, I spend all week getting ready for you to come, but Jesus has called us to do more. Here is where we get encouraged and challenged to take on the world, here is where we get support and love from our brothers and sisters.  But if we are really going to please Jesus we need to become passionate about the things which Jesus was passionate about. He came to seek and to save the lost, and he passed this mission right on to us, he came to serve, and he expects no less from us. He came and showed us how to live a self sacrificial life and He wants us to do the same.  He came to give us a different set of values. Don’t layup treasure on earth where dot. Com bubbles burst, and housing markets crumble and stock markets crash moths and rust destroy and thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven.  Serve like Jesus did, love like He loved. When we worship let it be about Him who died for us, when we sing, let us sing like we are singing for an audience of one. Let us sing to Jesus. When we reach out to someone who is less fortunate let us do so in the name of Jesus Christ who died for us. When we give let’s do it as an act of worship because the things of God are important to us too. When we look at a homeless person instead of seeing them as blight on society, let’s remember that we will never look on anyone who is not dearly loved of God, and here is an opportunity to show the love of Jesus. When we are dealing with someone who is let’s say, a little challenging,  remember they are dearly loved of God too, and in danger of spending eternity in that place of torment if they don’t come to know the Lord. I could never wish that on anyone.  

             What do we do then with Jesus who is called Christ? Do we just love Him and leave him or do we love him and serve Him? Jesus came to seek and to save those who are lost, he came to serve, and he came to look out for the less fortunate who couldn’t defend themselves. And He has passed this mission right on to us.  When we hear statistics like, every 7 seconds a child under 5 dies of starvation it should prompt us to action, when over half the people in the world try to survive on less than $2 a day it should spur us to do something.  1 Billion People in the world don’t have access to clean water. When we were in Africa we saw little Massi kids dipping water out of ruts in the road muddy after it rained because that was the cleanest water available. We are the body of Christ, what will we do with Him? 

This week I read a story about this Methodist church that spent 250k on a stained glass window. I’m sure it was beautiful, but do you think that Jesus would be pleased with that use of money? Probably not.  I’m sure the founder of the Methodist wouldn’t be happy. John Wesley said, “If he died with 10 pounds in his pocket to consider him a fraud.” I bet he would be rolling over in his grave to hear of a church in the spend that much on a glass window. Jesus came to rock our world, to give us a new perspective, an eternal one.  

So what do we do with this Jesus who is called the Christ? We must recognize Him for who He is, God in the flesh, we must bow to Him in worship. We must love Him as Savior, and serve Him as Lord and King. All 4 of these components go into the making of a true disciple. Just knowing is not enough, even the demons know Jesus, and tremble. We are called to do more, we are called to actually share him with the world around us, be His hands and feet. If we ever hope to hear those blessed words, well done my good and faithful servant, we need to get on with this. 

            Jesus Christ is the foundation of a healthy church, not the Jesus Christ enshrined in marble statues or pictured in giant works of stained glass, but the Jesus Christ who is at work in the hearts and lives of the members. We are His body. 

So the question remains for each of us to answer, what will you do with Jesus who is the Christ? Will you put Him on a nice spot of honor on the mantel, to collect dust? Will you come visit Him in this building once a week? Or will you really seek to serve Him.   What is God prompting you to? There are as many ways to serve him as there are people on this planet, just do it. 

            If we accept Him, God will accept us. But if we reject Him, God will reject us. What we decide to do with Jesus has eternal consequences. Being a good person won’t cut it. You can be the nicest gut to walk the planet and if you have rejected Christ, God will reject you. One day every knee will bow before Christ. We bow now or we bow later. We bow now to worship and adore and serve, or we bow later in judgment. 

            There was a story about a spoiled son of a wealthy banker. The banker knew how to make money but he never took the time to train his son. This son grew up wild and free and joined the navy, to make it look good on his résumé. Well his disdain for rules and regulations landed him in the brig on several occasions. He had this open contempt for all authority and all rules, and said the navy was never going to break him. The Captain called him to the bridge one day and said, “Son I hear you are having trouble conforming to our rules and I just want you to know we can’t make you obey…….But we can make you so very sorry you don’t.” One day every knee will bow. We get to now, or we have to latter. Don’t be in the group who is sorry they never did it in this life; eternity is a long time to be sorry. 

            If you’ve never made a public confession of faith, communion Sunday is a good time to start over, to commit your life to Jesus, acknowledge Him, worship Him, Love him, serve Him, and live, really live. Maybe you are in the group who knows who Jesus is but you have never let Him have control of your life, you still are not living for Him. Give Him control today, let Him guide and direct you. Let Jesus have all of you not just the Sunday 11-12 you. Let him have your talents and abilities, let him have it all. 

            Let’s pray, Lord I just thank you for the privilege of being your servant. Lord  guide us and direct us, and if there is anyone here who has never made that commitment to follow you please draw them to you Lord that they may know the power of the resurrection and the joy of fellowship with you dear Lord, and have that tremendous relief of knowing our sins are all gone. Thank you Lord for loving us, in your precious name we pray. Amen.  

We are going to have a closing hymn and then we will move right into communion.  

If I could have the deacons come to the front. We practice an open communion meaning any who have placed their faith in Christ are invited to join. Let’s recite the apostle’s creed together as a confession of faith before we begin. This is found inside the front cover of your hymnals. I believe in God the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ his only son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified dead and buried. He descended into hades, the third day He rose again from the dead, He ascended into heaven and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty, from then He shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting, Amen.