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Los Lunas Cornerstone

Church of the Nazarene

Who He Is, What He's Done (Matthew 16:13-15; John 13:1-15)

    “What you think about God is the most important thing about you.” A.W. Tozer said this. Think about this for a moment. What you think about God is the most important thing about you.
    If a person doesn’t believe in God, their whole life will be built upon the presumption that God doesn’t exist. Everything they do and say, all of their life, whether they realize it or not, is affected by their belief that God isn’t real.
    If a person believes that God exists but that He just created everything and walked away, once again, their whole life will be built upon that belief. The things they choose for their life will look slightly different than the person who doesn’t believe that God exists at all.
    This can be said for every belief that there could possibly be about who God is or isn’t. What we believe about God shapes our entire world view and perspective. Our world views shape our actions and our words. What we create our lives to be comes from what we believe.
    The same is true about Jesus. A person who believes he was just a man will build a different life than someone who believes that Jesus is the Son of God and seeks to follow Him. For Christians, this is why it is so important for us to have a clear grasp of who Jesus is, because what we believe about Him does affect our lives everyday, whether we realize it or not.
    For example, if I believe that Jesus gives me the power through the Holy Spirit to live a life where I can say no to sin, my life will look differently than someone who believes that it is impossible to live a life free of sin.
    If I believe that Jesus calls us to lay down everything for the sake of following Him, I will choose different actions in life than someone who believes that Jesus just wants us to live happy, comfortable lives.
    The same is true about what we believe Jesus has done. A person who believes that Jesus sacrificed Himself to atone for our sins will live differently than someone who believes He just lived a good life. Two things should be clear in the Christian’s mind: who Jesus is, and what He’s done.
    Join me in Matthew 16:13-15 as we look at the first of two questions that Jesus asked His disciples. “When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” (NIV)
    Tomorrow will start our church-wide Most/Best Challenge. It’s a challenge to give Jesus more of ourselves every day, to give Him the best of our day, so that we are intentionally growing our relationship with Him. The challenge will be to spend one hour with Him every day. If you’re not in the habit of spending that much time with Him every day, don’t panic. At first, it may feel like a stretch to carve out an hour or fill an hour, but I guarantee, as you do it more and more, you’ll find that you get to a point where an hour isn’t enough.
    How can that be? Well, we were created for a relationship with Him. So when we’re spending time with Him, we’re doing the thing we were created for. That’s why we walk away from time spent with Him feeling indestructible and filled up and encouraged and full of passion for Him!
    The good news is that there are a lot of things we can do to spend time with Him. It isn’t all just praying for our long grocery list of prayers. It isn’t all just sitting in silence and listening for Him. It’s worship, it’s praise, it’s thanksgiving, it’s prayer yes, and silence, and it’s spending time in His word, and it’s journaling thoughts about His word, and thanking Him for insights that He gave you, it’s confession and repentance. Just like a conversation with a friend is rarely ever the same, the same words in the same place, with the same cup of coffee. Time spend with Jesus is never the same as it was the day before.
    This question that Jesus asked His disciples in Matthew 16:15 is a great way to start off a quiet time with Him. Just like I did during our time of worship this morning, I just told Jesus who He is to me. He is faithful to me. I praised Him because He is faithful, and I thanked Him for His unfailing faithfulness in all areas of my life.
    If you look on in Matthew 16, you see Peter answer this question and he told Jesus, “You are the Messiah!” Did you know there are 198(ish) names or titles for Jesus in the Bible? It’s true! And in your challenge materials for this week, one of your papers has a list of about 65 names or titles for Jesus found in the Bible. There are so many! Why are there so many? Well, each name or title given tells us something different about who He is.
    Here’s one we find in the book of Hebrews, that Jesus is our mediator. So instead of just reading it and going, “yeah, Jesus is my mediator,” and moving on with the reading, I stop and think about what that means. What does it mean to me that Jesus is my mediator? Why is that title important to me? What difference has Jesus as mediator made in my life? Do you see the difference here?
    We’re personalizing the question, “Who do you say I am?” We’re using the question to reflect on who Jesus is to us individually and what that means personally, how that name or title of Jesus has changed your life! And then, and here’s the cool part about it, we’re telling Him who He is and why that Has been life-changing for us.
    Just like Peter did, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” I look at Jesus and I say to Him, because He is here with me in this conversation and I say, “Jesus, you are my fortress. Life has beat me up so much lately and you are the only one I can go to where I don’t feel like I’m constantly being attacked.” See how personal that is? I even go so far as to try to actually see, to imagine Him here in front of me so I can talk to Him.
    Just like I also touched on during our worship time, who He is encompasses His attributes. 1 John 4:8 tells us that God is love, so logic tells us that Jesus is LOVE as well. He is the very picture of what love looks like. He is merciful, but He is also MERCY itself. He is just. He is righteous. He is holy. See how that works? We not only have almost 200 names and titles to praise Jesus for, but we also have all these attributes that describe who He is! In short, it should be rather easy for us to pick just 1 and use that as a way to simply come before Him and praise Him for who He is during our time with Him.
    The other passage we’re going to look at is John 13:1-15. This passage took place during the Passover meal, or rather just before the Passover meal. Jesus prepared Himself to wash the disciples feet and Peter asked if this was what Jesus was going to do. Jesus told Peter that Peter didn’t yet understand what He was doing, but would later. Peter told Jesus that He would never wash his feet. Jesus said, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” And so then Peter said, “Okay, then not just my feet but my hands and head as well!” Let’s look specifically at verse 12, “When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them.”
    This is another great question to use to spend quality time with Jesus. Reflect on what He has done for you personally, and use it as fuel for your praise. The washing of feet showed the disciples three things, and these are things that we look for when we reflect on what He has done for us.
    First, the washing of their feet showed them an act of humble love. That the Messiah, the Anointed Son of God would humble Himself to wash the feet of even those who would betray Him, that is love. When we look at this, we remember His FAVOR toward us. He shows us love, humility, kindness, gentleness, patience, faithfulness, and so many other things that we simply don’t deserve. When we come before Him in our quiet times, we can look for moments in our daily lives where He has shown His favor toward us, and let this remembrance become thanks. Let it bring us closer to Him as we start to see more and more that He is always working in our lives.
    The washing of their feet was also a symbol of the inward cleansing needed. The cleansing of their sins by Him was necessary, but what they didn’t understand at the time was that the outer washing that they were used to as part of Jewish rituals was not what Jesus was talking about. Their hearts needed to be cleansed. When we look at this, we remember His WORK in us. We look for those moments when we clearly see His forgiveness. We respond to a situation and see how He has changed the way we respond from the way we might have in the past. We see how He has softened our hearts to things that we once turned an eye to. Again, we look on those things and we give Him thanks and let it bring us closer to Him.
    The washing of their feet was also an example of how our attitude toward others ought to be. In verse 15 He told them, “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.” Just as He humbled Himself before us, our attitude toward others should be the same. We must have an attitude of service toward others. When we look at this example, we remember His LOVE through us. We look for moments in our day when He used us to extend His grace and mercy to someone. We look for times when He was working in us to bring comfort or encouragement to someone. We look for those moments when He uses us to teach someone some truth about Him. We look on those things and we give Him thanks and let it bring us closer to Him.
    Let’s talk about the Most/Best Challenge more. As I said before, it’s a church-wide challenge that we’ll be doing. Does that mean you have to do it? No, of course not. That is entirely up to you. Here’s why I’ll be doing it though: 1. I can never have enough time with Him. Though I walk away from my quiet times with Him feeling full of His presence, the world is very dark and it doesn’t take long for the darkness of the world to take its toll on my peace. 2. I don’t know His word as well as I’d like. Even the most adept Biblical scholar will say that they don’t know all the nuances that God’s Word holds. I need to know more, which only comes with more deliberate study. 3. I don’t always hear His voice very well, which means I must practice. Knowing His voice better means sitting in quiet more and listening so I know what His voice sounds like better. 4. I’m not yet the person I should be. I’m rough around some edges. I don’t always respond in love, mercy, kindness, or patience. I need more of His fruit in my life. That comes only from time spent with Him. This is why I’m taking up the challenge to spend at least 1 hour with Him every day. I hope you’ll join me, for these reasons, or maybe your own reasons that you have for needing more of Him, and less of you.
    Here’s some things that will help you. I’m handing out instructions for the challenge to each of you, that way you can decide to do it or not in the privacy of your own home. What you’ll need is a Bible, a journal, and maybe a devotional book. However, you don’t need a devotional book. The goal is to not spend time with someone else’s words about Jesus, but to spend time with Him through His word.
    The commitment is to these 3 things: spend an hour with Him every day, so go ahead and write down the time and place you’re going to do this and don’t change it! Write that time and place in your journal. The commitment also includes an accountability partner. Someone that you will check in with every day. Iron sharpens iron, right? And finally, the commitment is to talk about Jesus to someone. Talk about what He shows you in your daily time with Him. Share what He’s doing in your heart, no one can dispute that. I know, if you make this commitment with me, you will not be the same in 30 days. You will not be the same.
    In the materials I’ve given you, you’ll find more detailed instructions for your devotional times, and you’ll find detailed instructions for your time with your accountability partner. You’ll also find a review of the two questions we looked at today, use those questions to talk to Jesus about who He is in your life and what He has done that you are thankful for. Be specific when you talk to Him, it will help you see His work in your life more clearly and consistently. Finally, you’ll find a suggested daily reading for the first week, as well as songs that might help you worship freely. To make this really easy to use, I put all these songs for the first week in a playlist. You can find it by going to our website, llcnaz.com. Click on the Most/Best tab and there you’l find the website for the woman who put all this together, as well as a PDF file for the whole challenge in case you miss one Sunday. On the right you’ll see a place to click to go to the worship playlist. You just find the one for each week, and click “play all”. That’s it! Let’s commit to grow our time with the Lord and grow together.

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