Who Do You Say That I Am?

In John chapter 7 we see a lot of names given to Jesus-teacher, prophet, healer, deceiver, liar, demon-possessed, uneducated peasant. These were names given to him by a crowd. Some in that crowd put their faith in him that day, and yet there were still those in the crowd, who had never spoken with him that wanted him dead. In my mind, I think they wanted him dead just so that he could permanently go away. 
Those that wanted him dead consisted of Pharisees and Jewish leaders and teachers. How could all these 'religious people' want Jesus dead? I think it all came down to wisdom. These religious leaders did not want to admit that someone, especially someone 'uneducated', knew more about God and the Scriptures than they did. Jesus never looked at them and said, 'Neener, neener, neener, I know more than all you guys combined!' Nope-he just taught with authority. He taught of God's will, and to these teachers that meant arrogance and blasphemy. The scriptures tell us Jesus grew in wisdom from God the Father, not from any earthly teacher or rabbi.
A key point we talked about on Sunday was wisdom. It wasn't like these teachers were ignorant of the law and Scripture. It was just they had no love for God. Scripture says that knowledge puffs up. If you study all the time, but you don’t love God, you will just be arrogant and difficult and your relationship with God will be non-existent. It says that love builds up, that the goal of our studies shouldn't be about being smart nor being able to out-quote each other. The goal should be that we love God and love our neighbor. Now I'm not saying, 'We don’t need all that book learning, we just need to love Jesus.' I’m saying that if you do study the Bible in the right manner, you will end up loving Jesus and loving others in practical ways. They go together. 

Have they been going together in your life?? Maybe you've spent your days reading and studying the Bible so much, but have failed to experience it in your daily walk with Him.  

How has the Bible changed the way you live? And yes, if you read the Bible you should change the way you live. If you don't feel like you need to afterwards, you aren't really reading it. 

That goes for Christ followers and Pastors too! (Myself included).

I hope this message has spoken to you in some way. If you are reading this and have some questions, I'd love to speak with you. I'm really good at buying people coffee, and I love talking about God. 

-PC (Pastor Cory)

pastorcory@rescuesumner.org

www.rescuesumner.org