Jesus, the Radical

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Transcript:

We’re going to be in Matthew chapter 5 this morning. Matthew chapter 5. Over the past several weeks, we’ve been looking at the question of who Jesus is, who Jesus claimed to be, and really the question for us, is Jesus who he claimed to be, or is he not?

I mean, really, you can’t have it both ways. He’s either who he claimed to be, or he’s not. And who he claimed to be, just to summarize all the claims in one word, who he claimed to be was God.

If you have any question about that, there are some bookmarks out there on the table that I made a few weeks ago when I started this series with just a list of some of the claims that I found in the Gospels going through there, the things that he claimed to be and where he claimed to be that thing. He claimed to be God. And so a man who claims to be God is either God, he really is God, or he’s crazy because he thinks he’s God when he’s not, or he’s a liar because he knows he’s not God when he claimed to be, or there’s the option that, well, he never really made that claim.

Jesus made these claims. The one about saying he never made these claims is easy to dispute because they’re all through the Gospels. We have copies of the Gospels written within a generation of Jesus’ lifetime. We have thousands and thousands and thousands of manuscript copies going back from the Middle Ages all the way back to the first and second century that show us that the Gospels have not been changed.

There might be a comma out of place here or there, but they have not been changed. They say the same thing now that they said 2,000 years ago. So Jesus made these claims and we’re left to assess, is he who he claimed to be or not?

Do we believe Jesus or do we believe people today with what they say Jesus is? And it’s understandable, it’s understandable if you’ve been sitting here during this series thinking, why are we even talking about this? Everybody knows who Jesus is.

It’s understandable. We sort of live in a Bible Belt bubble a little bit, although it’s not quite what it used to be. We spend a lot of time, many of us, at church and around church people.

It’s understandable if we think, oh, everybody knows who Jesus is. No, they don’t. How many people just in Seminole are not in church this morning, and you could go ask them who’s Jesus, and you’re going to get some wacky answers.

This was brought back to my mind, reinforced, I should say, in my mind this week, listening to the news. There’s a well-known television celebrity who was interviewed on the news, and the question came up. And the question was even referenced, just like Jesus said to his apostles, just like he asked them, who do you say that I am?

The question was asked of this television celebrity who claims to be a Christian. Who do you say Jesus is? And oh my goodness, I wouldn’t even begin to try to quote for you what the response was because it was a rambling non-answer.

And, you know, honestly, I hope this doesn’t sound too unloving. I’m just being honest with you. I’m not going to tell you who it was, but this is somebody who when they speak, I cringe anyway.

I love them. I’d cry if they, I mean, I love them as a Christian. I’d cry if they died, but I don’t want to go on vacation with them.

That sort of feeling towards somebody.

I cringe anyway when they speak but when they gave this answer about who Jesus was and it really never even attempted an answer at who Jesus was I cringed and I thought as much as this person drives me crazy I’m embarrassed for them and I’m sad for them and maybe instead of being so irritated every time they open their mouth maybe I need to pray for them more and really now that I think about it there’s no maybe I need to pray for them more it was sad it was sad that somebody who claims to be a Christian would give an answer that really was a non-answer there are some things that folks if you call yourself a Christian you should be able to at least take a stab at answering and I’m not saying that and you may be sitting there this morning saying I’m not sure I could give a satisfactory answer I’m not talking about an answer that would be a PhD paper in a seminary I’m just saying who is Jesus if you answer he’s Lord if you answer he’s my Savior if you answer he’s the Son of God those are all correct answers but if you’re going to get on national television and claim to be a Christian there are some things that you need to be able to answer it reminded me of several years ago when Larry King asked Joel Osteen who is a preacher yeah okay who pastors a church, is Jesus Christ the only way to heaven?

And I’ve still got a copy of the transcript on my computer. And basically the short answer is, no, there are probably other ways. I’m sorry.

You shouldn’t even be able to graduate Sunday school, let alone pastor a church, if you can’t answer that question.

you know there are some things that if you’re going to speak on our behalf you need to know and who Jesus is is one of those things and really I promise even though it started out this way I’m not here to beat anybody up if they can’t answer the question who is Jesus but I bring it up to show you no if you’re sitting there thinking this morning why are we talking about this everybody knows who Jesus is no they don’t not just non-church goers but there are people who claim to be christians who get on national television who don’t know who jesus is and so we’ve looked at some of these ideas that people have about who jesus is we talked about the good man that that some people think he was just he was just a man he never claimed to be god he was just a good man he gave us a good example and and that’s all he was no jesus claimed to be god and you’ve got to take that claim seriously whether you accept it or reject it.

You either accept Jesus for who he claimed to be or you reject him entirely. Because if somebody thinks he’s God and he’s not, he’s crazy and I don’t want to listen to his ethical teachings either. Last week I talked to you about the misunderstood teacher that there were some that there are some people today who still believe, well Jesus taught us how he taught and showed by example how we could get closer to God.

You know, how we should live, how we should do right and get closer to God and earn God’s acceptance. And it turns out that was the opposite of what Jesus came and taught. Jesus came and he told the Pharisees and he told his disciples both there is no way you can be good enough for God’s acceptance.

And yet the world has taken that and flipped it on its head and said oh Jesus just came to show us the right way to live so we could earn God’s acceptance. No, no, no. That’s the opposite of what he came and did. There’s a quote that I can’t remember who said it that I’ve repeated many times throughout my ministry.

That in the beginning, God created man in his own image, and ever since then, man has been returning the favor. Meaning, we like to worship something that looks like us. As human beings, we like to worship something that looks like us.

Something that lives the way we do, something that has our views, that has our opinions. You know, we can talk about the Jesus of the American dream, the Jesus who, you know, doesn’t want to put any demands on you. The world likes to take Jesus and say, well, he’s on our side.

He believes the things we believe. Treat Jesus like a blank slate that we can just pour whatever beliefs and ideology into him that we want. It doesn’t work that way.

Jesus was a real person with real teachings, with real claims. He’s not the God, honestly, of any political ideology. Full disclosure, I’m very conservative. You may have picked up on that at some point.

And that’s not to say that I dislike you if you’re not. That’s just to say I am. And sometimes it’s tempting to think, well, God’s on my side.

No, no, I better make sure I’m on God’s side because God is not about right and left. God is about right and wrong. And it’s a danger sometimes to think, well, God’s on our side.

Jesus is on our side. He looks like we do. He thinks like we do.

Nowadays, there’s a view, and it’s not just about politics. I don’t think this is about politics either. It’s about culture that says Jesus is like we are.

Jesus thinks the same way we do. Jesus is made in our own image.

Many people today see Jesus as a radical. many people today see Jesus as a radical I hear this folks don’t ever read that I say this all the time don’t ever read the comments section on YouTube and if you can stay away from Facebook there’s not a whole lot of wisdom on either one of them but I read and I hear things that people say and they think Jesus is just this radical there’s a popular view that has attached itself to our culture that Jesus is a rebel Jesus came to be a rebel he came to be a new age guru he came to be a socialist crusader he came to be this guy who just turns the entire system on its ear and overthrows everything to hear some people talk you would think Jesus was a cross between James Dean and Che Guevara and he’s not that’s not to say that Jesus didn’t challenge the system of his day that’s not to say that Jesus didn’t make some changes that’s not to say that Jesus didn’t teach some things that were pretty far out there for the religious people of his day but to look at Jesus and say oh he’s with us because we’re rebels we hate the system we hate authority we hate all this and so he must be with us is a mistake it’s just as much a mistake as for me to look at all my political ideology and say well Jesus must agree with everything down the line you know Jesus was real big on on school choice no I mean I could probably go to the Bible and make a case for one or the other but I don’t remember Jesus talking about school choice I don’t remember Jesus talking about property taxes we can’t go and pour our view into Jesus and cram our view into Jesus and say he looks like me and the world today wants to make Jesus out to be some kind of radical who wanted to overthrow everything but we look at Matthew chapter 5 and we see somebody who’s very different stay with me if you’re thinking oh he’s just attacking my politics this is not about politics just stay with me bear with me Matthew chapter 5 starting in verse 14 starting in verse 13 he says you’re the salt of the earth but if the salt have lost its savor his savor wherewith shall it be salted It is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and to be trodden under foot of men.

He did teach his followers that they were supposed to make positive change in the world. Being salt of the, to be the salt of the earth. Salt has a purifying effect.

They used to, we can use it to clean. It has a preservative effect. They used to salt food years ago when before there was refrigeration.

They still do. Salt has an irritating effect too. You get it in a wound and it just doesn’t feel good.

Salt does all of those things. And all of those things that salt does, we are supposed to do to the world that we live in as believers. We are supposed to purify.

We’re supposed to cleanse. We’re supposed to preserve. We’re supposed to irritate a little bit.

We’re supposed to do all those things. So he did talk to them about being a positive influence on the world they lived in. verse 14 you’re the light of the world a city that is set on a hill cannot be hid not only does he say that you’re supposed to bring light into this dark world you’re supposed to to bring positive change into the world but he said you’re supposed to do it in such a way that there’s no mistaking it that it cannot be hidden a city that’s set on a hill cannot be hid and and for him to put that right there with the idea of light he’s talking about let your candle shine don’t hide it neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel but on a candlestick and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.

He says then, let your light so shine before men. So there meaning just like that. Let your light shine just like that before all men that they may see your good works.

They may see the way you live. They may see the things you do and they may glorify your Father which is in heaven. If you’re wondering, well, you said he didn’t come to tell them to change the world and overthrow things.

He didn’t. He’s talking about living in a righteous way and following the Father and being a force for good in the sense of pointing men to God. He said, hear this verse 17.

Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets. I am not come to destroy but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, until heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, until all be fulfilled.

He said, I haven’t come to destroy the law. I haven’t come to overturn anything. He said, I have come to fulfill the demands of the law.

Where the law expects certain things of you. Where the law says you must do this, and you must do that, and you must not do that, and you’re incapable, by the way. That was Jesus’ whole message, that we were incapable of following the law.

Where the law demanded this and we were unable to give this, Jesus said, I have come to fulfill the law. I’m not overthrowing the law. I’m fulfilling its demands for you.

He says, because, hear me on this, not one dotted I, not one cross T of the law will pass away as long as heaven and earth stand. until all be fulfilled. Whosoever, therefore, shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so.

He shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. He then turns and focuses on the kingdom of heaven. He focuses on one day standing before God and giving an account and being in God’s presence.

And he says, whosoever breaks one of these least commandments, whatever the smallest commandment you think of it. I mean, we know what the big ones are, the top ten list. We don’t murder. We don’t steal. we don’t, but what about the little ones that we’d look at and say, that’s not such a big deal. Jesus said, if God said not to do it, or God said to do it, and you disobey what God said, even in the littlest thing, and teach others to do it also, he shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven.

But whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. He came and said, you need to be following to the best of your ability what God has said to do. For I say unto you, that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

And last week, I told you, his message was not, be good and God will accept you. And then today I come to you and say his message is, be good, do the right thing. Well, yeah, we should always do the right thing, but he says in verse 20, that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

I talked about this a little bit last week, even though this wasn’t the passage we looked at. The Pharisees and scribes, it’s like they woke up every morning thinking, how can I be perfect today? Do you know those people that just seem to have everything together and they never seem to do anything wrong and nothing ever seems to go wrong for them.

Those people are irritating. I mess up on a daily basis. And not only that, things go wrong in my world.

There’s not a hole in the ceiling, but there are wires sticking out where yesterday there was a fan as I tried to install a new ceiling fan and it didn’t work. okay and last night trying to do that in the dark see my life is not perfect things just don’t work out for me sometimes and thank god I’ve got an electrician brother-in-law who can look at these wires for me it’s like nothing ever went wrong for the pharisees their lives were were perfect they kept everything in their perfect little box with their white picket fence and their manicured lawn and they got up every morning and thought how can I be better than everybody else and they were irritating. And average people like us would look at the Pharisees and the scribes and say there’s no way I can be as good as those guys.

They’re like robots. They have no lives. They have no thoughts outside of how can I be better than everybody else.

And here Jesus is saying unless you are better than the Pharisees and scribes you’re not getting into heaven. And the common people are looking at it thinking, well, they’re not getting in. I’ve got no shot.

The Pharisees and scribes are listening and thinking, wait a minute. You’ve got to be better than. .

. Who’s better than us? We’re doing all this and you mean to tell me you think we’re not getting into heaven?

He shook them up. He shook up their beliefs. But not in a radical way.

Not in a way to overthrow everything, but in a way to overthrow the things that needed to be overthrown and draw everybody back to a relationship with God. He came and he focused on things that were not normal for people to focus on in that time. They were looking, ladies and gentlemen, for a Messiah who was going to come and build an earthly kingdom.

They were looking for a Messiah who was going to come kick the Romans out and who was going to overthrow the Roman state and set up a monarchy and rule over them and Israel would be independent and that’s what they were looking for.

and that’s for a while what some of the people thought Jesus was coming to do but he said we need to be focused I’m here to turn your focus to God forget about the Romans forget about this new Jewish government you want to set up forget about these things we need to turn our focus to God and being God’s people forget about this earthly kingdom what about the kingdom of heaven and so there’s this view in the world today that again Jesus was a radical and some of the things included in that that I’ve already mentioned was that Jesus was this rebellious person who hated authority and just wanted to overthrow authority and do his own thing or that Jesus was some kind of socialist crusader or that Jesus was some kind of new age guru and I look at all these things I hear the ideas that people have about Jesus and all I can think of is, oh good, it’s the Jesus of the 60s.

That’s what He is in many people’s minds. Folks, there’s a lot that Jesus taught that doesn’t fit with our American dream. I’ll put it this way.

He’s not the Jesus of the 80s either. so there’s a lot about Jesus that doesn’t fit with our concept of the American dream he taught his followers to live lives of poverty to give to the poor he taught his followers to live poor so that they could travel light so that they could go where he sent them on a moment’s notice I mean Jesus really doesn’t fit with the white picket fence and the manicured lawn but he also doesn’t fit with this idea that we just need to overthrow authority that we need to overthrow society that we need to bring in these radical political ideas that we need to bring in these new age ideas we need to look at Hinduism and Buddhism and we need to bring in some of their spiritual ideas and these things are taught I heard a conversation earlier in the week with a pastor saying he’d talk to somebody who claimed to be a Christian Buddhist. What in the world is that?

It’s like a square circle. It doesn’t make sense. Christianity.

Do you believe Jesus is God? Yes. Buddhism.

Do you believe Jesus is God? No. they don’t meet up.

And yet the idea of the world is that Jesus has just opened all these new ideas and whatever, and it’s a very anti-God. It’s a very anti-God’s law. It’s very anti-righteousness.

It’s very anti the things that God set up and very anti the things that Jesus actually came to do. And again, this message is not about politics. This message is about what is becoming the dominant culture in the United States and most of the Western world.

Looking at Jesus and saying, we need to remake him to look like us. Church, little country Baptist church in Oklahoma, we can’t remake Jesus to look like us. We need to remake ourselves to look like Jesus.

But we can’t stand idly by and silently by while the world around us tries to remake Jesus to look like them either. Our job is to look more like Jesus. Our job is to help them look more like Jesus by pointing them to the salvation that he brings and by pointing them to the changed life that he brings as a result.

So three things that Jesus talks about in this passage that really blow this new age Jesus out of the water. Three things that we need to know and understand about who he is is that first of all, he taught obedience to God. He taught obedience to God.

Jesus didn’t come to overthrow the scriptures. He didn’t come to overthrow God’s law. He didn’t come to overthrow righteousness and say, hey, whatever you want to do, enjoy.

He taught obedience to God. Matthew 5, 14, 15, and 16. Really starting in verse 13.

It’s all about being the salt of the earth. It’s about being the light of the world. It’s about letting people see your good works and glorify your Father.

That they would see how we behave and not look at us and say, oh, what good people they are, but say what an amazing God they serve. That He can take sinners and turn them into something better. Not just lighting our candle, but setting it on a candlestick and giving light to everybody that’s around us.

It was all about obedience to God and it was all about bringing God glory. And so let me just say this as clearly as I possibly can. That any Jesus that people are worshiping that leads people to disobedience against God is not the Jesus of the Bible.

And we can’t pretend that it is. He taught all throughout the Scriptures, all throughout the Gospels. He taught obedience to God.

He himself was obedient to God the Father. He says that numerous times. I can do nothing except the Father send me.

That doesn’t mean that the Son was inferior to the Father. It just meant that he was being obedient in his human form. He was being obedient to God the Father.

If Jesus Christ came and was obedient to God the Father, obedient even unto death, as I believe it says in Philippians chapter 2, even the death of the cross, that if He Himself was that obedient, and He taught us to be obedient, and to glorify God in our big things, our big choices, and our little actions of everyday life, then He’s not a Jesus who came to overthrow God’s law, and came to overthrow righteousness, and tell you to do whatever you wanted to do. The Jesus of the Bible taught obedience to God. Second of all, Jesus reaffirmed and fulfilled God’s law.

That kind of goes hand in hand, except obedience is more of an attitude. And we have a society nowadays that hates authority. Do we not?

I mean, I get it. I don’t like being told what to do any more than anybody else. But I also understand that God put authority in our lives.

I’m trying to discuss that with my kids and ingrain that in them. not, you know, just do whatever anybody ever tells you to do, but God has put certain authorities in your life for your good. And God put authorities in our lives for our good.

My kids have their parents as an authority in their lives. I have this church as an authority in my life. That you’ve given me a job to do, and it’s my responsibility to do the job you’ve given me.

That we all have God as an authority in our lives. And so there’s got to be an attitude of obedience. And Jesus Christ taught an attitude of obedience.

But beyond the attitude, he also taught action. He fulfilled God’s law. He didn’t come and say, well, the scriptures are so outdated.

Nobody believes that anymore. Have you ever heard that? Oh, if Jesus was alive today, or, well, he is alive today.

There’s your first mistake. If Jesus was alive today, he is. Okay, let’s move on.

But if Jesus was here today, or they’ll sometimes say if Jesus was alive today, he wouldn’t be against this or that, or he wouldn’t be for this or that, where it’s stuff that God’s word clearly said, yeah, he’s for or against. Don’t think that you’re going to come in and say, oh, I know Jesus, and surely he would do X, Y, or Z. What we’re really saying is, I like X, Y, or Z, and I want to worship a Jesus who looks like me. You know what?

Sometimes the things that Jesus says do are not always convenient and they’re not always things that I like. I’ll be honest about that. It’s my human nature.

And we’re all the same way. But Jesus didn’t come and change the scriptures. Jesus didn’t come with a message about, oh, it’s outdated, it’s old, nobody believes that anymore.

He said, this will not pass away until everything is fulfilled. And he came and fulfilled the law. Jesus could have come to earth, I suppose, and said, you know, that whole idea about a penalty being due for sin, that’s so Old Testament.

That’s so outdated. I don’t have to die on the cross. Just talk to God and tell Him to get with the times and understand that this is what everybody’s doing.

Everybody’s sinning nowadays. He didn’t do that. He came and fulfilled the demands of the law.

The demands of the law on us were that we’d broken His law And a penalty was due. That penalty was death and separation from God. You know what?

Jesus Christ took that. Jesus Christ bore the full weight of our sins to the cross. And he died in our place.

As a once for all sacrifice. He didn’t come to get us to reject God’s ancient wisdom from scripture. He came to fulfill what God had said all along.

And third of all, finally this morning, Jesus came to build a kingdom that was not of this world. And here’s where we do get into politics, left or right. Jesus did not come.

Hear me on this. Jesus did not come to build socialism on earth. And to my disappointment, Jesus did not come to build a capitalist utopia on earth either.

It works both ways. Whether you’re right or left, it works both ways. Jesus didn’t come to fulfill my political agenda or yours.

He didn’t come to build a utopia. He didn’t come to build a perfect place where everybody could be nice to each other and everybody could do just exactly what the right thing is, whatever you think that might be, whatever people outside these walls think that might be. He didn’t come to build a perfect country or a perfect city or a perfect world.

Now, I think if we’ll follow his teachings and if we’ll do the right thing, I think things would be better. But there’s still a sin nature and there’s still a taint of sin in this world. Now, He didn’t come to perfect the world.

He came preaching a kingdom that was not of this world. And when you get right down to it, our beliefs, our ideologies, our things that are not based solely on the Bible are really secondary. As important as they might be in the here and now, that’s not what Jesus came for.

That’s not what He came about. My politics or your politics or our culture, your culture, their culture. He didn’t come to build or promote any of it.

He came to show men a way back to God. He came because we were separated from God because of our sins. He came because we fell very, very, very short of God’s holiness and very, very, very short of reaching the kingdom of heaven.

and he came and taught on the kingdom of heaven and he came and taught on the way that we would get there and he said we don’t get there through our own action we don’t get there through what we promote or support we don’t get there by what we do he said unless your righteousness exceeds goes beyond that of the Pharisees and scribes you’re not going to get in and there was nobody better than the Pharisees or scribes but even they were sinners even they were sinners in God’s eyes no matter how much good they’d done they were sinners and Jesus said you’ve got to do better than that and you can’t and so he came to do it for us and I’m not telling you that it doesn’t matter what you do or believe or say in this world but what I’m telling you is that it’s secondary that anything that is not about the kingdom of heaven is secondary anything that is not about Jesus Christ’s mission to bring lost and sinful men back to the God who created them and loved them and who would judge them.

Anything that is not about that mission and message is secondary no matter how important it is. It’s not what he came for. And we can’t treat it like it is.

And when we start saying Jesus was a socialist, Jesus was a capitalist, Jesus would have been a Republican, Jesus would vote for Mickey Mouse. When we start boiling Jesus down to these things, these political things that people on every conceivable side like to say, well, God’s obviously on our side. When we start making God on our side, we’re really making Jesus, we’re trying to make Jesus look like us.

And all those things are secondary. Our job is to live more like Jesus.