Jesus – just a man? (John 1:1-14; Mark 14:60-64; Hebrews 1:1-14)
Billy Milton - May 7, 2006
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Over the 40 Days of Community we spent a lot of time looking at what it means to belong to the community of God’s people. Over the next few months we are going to look at what that very same community believes. It’s important when you join a group, any group, that you know what they believe. It might feel good – and that’s important, but what exactly are you signing up to when you get involved in a church like ours? Often the church beliefs are referred to as ‘doctrine’ but I prefer to call it ‘the building blocks of the Christian faith’ simply because when I say the word ‘doctrine’ a look of panic passes across people’s faces and grown men begin to whimper! However, I hope that as we progress through this series that you’ll be thrilled as you learn, maybe for the very first time, what we as Christians really believe. We might well be better together but ultimately what is it that draws us together?
We are going to be looking at such diverse subjects as the resurrection, the Trinity, grace, heaven, hell, creation vs evolution, the Bible, suffering and a whole lot more. If you are a young Christian this series will put meat on your bones; if you’ve been a Christian for a lot longer then this series will just make sure the meat on your bones is prime fillet steak!
Today and next week we are going to look at the person of Jesus Christ. If he is not who he said he was then we have nothing left to commend to you, except the feel-good factor I mentioned earlier. If he is who he says he is, and he did what he said he did, then we need to pay careful attention. He claimed to be God and he claimed to be man. Can we today take these claims seriously?
I recently heard from a friend who told me that another, mutual friend, had been in touch with him to tell him that she was no longer going to go to a Christian church but was instead going to investigate Islam. One of the primary reasons for this rather drastic decision was that she had decided that Jesus was not God but rather he was just a good man and maybe even a prophet… but not God. Her lack of understanding of the importance of Jesus’ claim to be God is resulting in her rejecting her Christian faith.
I felt so sad when I heard that, in fact I felt almost physical pain. Mike Plowman reminded me last week why I felt that pain. He read to us 1 Cor 11 – Paul’s testimony – verse 28-29 says, “Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?” You see, as a Pastor, I’ve discovered that when someone in the church displays weakness – I hurt; when someone falls into sin – I feel a burning pain. It is one of the downsides of being a Pastor that maybe God has made me sensitive to that type of thing and I really hurt when people lose their spiritual vitality and fall by the wayside. Doctrine can help people avoid that tragedy …..and stop me feeling pained so often! Hence this series! Whatever your belief about Jesus it is self-evident that he is not going away and cannot be ignored… even today in a desperately secular society.
Napoleon Bonaparte said this, “Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and myself founded mighty empires; but upon what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ alone founded his empire upon love, and at this hours millions of men would die for him.”
What is it about Jesus that has such enduring appeal? There’s a famous poem which ends like this, “All the armies that ever marched, and all the navies that were ever built, and all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as has this one solitary life.” How true is that? History has right at its very centre the person of Jesus. I suppose that Caesar was more talked about in his day and Plato taught more people than Jesus did and Shakespeare wrote much more than Jesus. But, when was the last time anyone ever fell out with anyone else over their support for Caesar? And who are the Platonists and anti-Platonists today? They don’t exist. And yet, still people will kill others for believing in Jesus. It still matters and the fury of so many against him today, as Giovanni Papini said, is a proof that he is not dead. Jesus is still inciting strong reactions even today. Let’s watch this short extract from a video about people’s perception of Jesus, just to set the scene. WATCH – ‘SO WHO IS THIS JESUS?’
In Matthew 16 Jesus asked his disciples the question, “Who do people say that I am?” They gave a variety of answers but then Jesus asked another more difficult question, “But what about you? Who do you say I am?” We’ve seen on the video what a variety of ordinary people think about Jesus but I want to ask you this morning, “Who do you say Jesus is?” Is he a mythical figure? Is he a great teacher? Is he a revolutionary type? Or is he, as he claimed, equal with God? I believe it will be the question God will ask every one of us one day – “Tell me what you thought of Jesus.” Your answer to that question is absolutely crucial because it will determine where you will spend eternity.
A.W. Tozer that Pete also quoted from a couple of weeks ago, said, “Christ is God acting like God in the lowly clothing of human flesh.” Today I want to examine the first part of that statement – ‘Christ is God’ and next week we’ll look at the second part.
But first of all, before we go much further, let me dispel any doubts you might have that Jesus didn’t actually exist, that he was just a mythical figure like Santa Claus. Recently a supposed historian was imprisoned in Austria for claiming that the Holocaust never happened. When he was asked to recant of that belief or go to prison, he chose prison. Most of us shake our heads in utter disbelief at such ignorance or indeed such arrogance. One reason is that it is still fresh in the minds of many who actually suffered through the Holocaust itself. The other reason is that there is very strong and credible written and photographic evidence that it happened. Much of it written by non-Jews, which lends it even more credibility.
When it comes to the existence of Jesus there are many, many people who believe that he was just a fictional character invented by a bunch of 1st century misfits to give their particular group a focus. Yes, sure the Bible talks about him a lot but that’s only to be expected from the holy book of the group who were trying to perpetuate this myth of a God/man. However, there are a number of sources from outside the Bible that also talk, quite matter-of-factly, about Jesus. One of those sources is a Jewish historian of some reputation called Josephus.
Even today Josephus is recognised as being a meticulous recorder of history and in a number of passages he talks about Jesus and the trouble he caused and some of the things that people claimed regarding him. Now, Josephus was no Jesus-lover. In fact as a good Jew he probably regarded some of the claims by Jesus, and about Jesus, as being pretty extreme, and maybe even a bit potty, but nonetheless he simply reports the facts. Jesus existed, he said this, he did that and so on. In fact let me make it quite plain – for anyone with an open mind there is more evidence for the existence of Jesus than there is for the existence of Julius Caesar! If you want to read more about this and other related areas then buy this book by Lee Strobel called, ‘The Case for Christ’.
So, given that he existed, what are the claims made about Jesus and by him? John 1:1-14 makes it quite clear. John in the early verses refers to ‘the Word’ and I haven’t met anyone of any faith who disputes that this is Jesus he’s referring to. So here’s what he’s saying in this passage, “In the beginning was Jesus, and Jesus was with God, and Jesus was God. Jesus was with God in the beginning. Through Jesus all things were made; without Jesus nothing was made that has been made. In Jesus was life…” Then in verse 14 which we will spend more time looking at next week, it says, “Jesus became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” I think you might agree that John is stating quite unequivocally that Jesus is God.
But what about Jesus; what was his understanding? Is it possible that his disciples out of some sense of duty just pumped up the stories a bit and created a legend where there really was none? I remember when I was in my late 20’s I lived in Dumfries which is a smallish town in the borders of Scotland. Someone came to me once at a joint churches event and asked if I would pray for their sore back. Well, at that time I wasn’t very confident about all that sort of thing so I rather reluctantly agreed and to my enormous astonishment this guy professed to have been healed right away! He immediately began running around telling people that I had healed him and referred to me as a ‘healer’. Before I knew it I was being phoned up by complete strangers asking for me to come and heal them. It was all very embarrassing because I never claimed to be a healer and I felt very uncomfortable at this unsought-after title. Did the same thing happen with Jesus? Was he just a very talented, caring man who had grandeur thrust upon him? Well actually ..no!
In John 14:6 Jesus himself says, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me.” Now these are the exact words of Jesus. He is saying without me there is no direction; without me there is no knowing of the truth; without me life has no real purpose or meaning. These are pretty extravagant claims don’t you think? Can you imagine if I stood here today and said that? DO IT
What would you think? I suppose either that I’d gone crazy or, if my life backed up my claims, maybe it was true.
Listen to these words of Jesus from the pen of Luke this time. 4 men had brought their paralysed friend to Jesus to be healed. In Luke 5:20 Jesus address the paralysed man and says to him, “Friend your sins are forgiven.” The watching Pharisees meanwhile think to themselves that Jesus is speaking blasphemy because, “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Jesus somehow reads their minds and replies that it doesn’t really matter to him what words he uses, the fact is that God has given him the power to forgive sins. Now in actual fact the Pharisees are spot on with their question, “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Do you remember when David committed adultery with Bathsheba? When he was discovered he announces right away in repentance, “God, against you and you only have I sinned” David knew that all sin is ultimately against God and it was to God he had to come for forgiveness because only God can truly forgive. And yet here is this upstart Nazarene carpenter called Jesus claiming that he can forgive sins and the Pharisees see right away how major a claim that is. Jesus is claiming to be God!
Just in case we are left with any doubt Jesus says quite unequivocally in John 10:30, “I and my Father are one.” Now people such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses try to say here that what Jesus was saying is that he and his Father were one in purpose or of one mind but that’s certainly not what the Jews thought he was saying. In v 33 they make it quite clear why they are going to stone him – it’s for blasphemy because Jesus, “..a mere man, claim to be God.” Now if the Jews were wide of the mark Jesus could simply have replied, “No you’ve got that wrong.” But he didn’t and it was for that claim, to be God, that they finally hung him on the cross. Jesus died because he claimed to be God. Its that important!
Next week we are going to look at the human side of Jesus and examine why that also is so important to us as Christians. What about Jesus? Who do you say that he is? Why is it so crucial? See you next week.