“Are You The One?”
Matthew 11:1-18; Matthew
9:16-38
Jim Davis
This
question is for those who are married: When did you know that the
person you married was “the one”? What tipped it off?
The next
question is for those who aren’t yet married: What will be the sign
that you look for in those you date that will tell you “this is the one”?
The third
question is for those who are looking for a church: “What is it that
you are looking for in a congregation that will tell you “this is the one”?
What is it about a church that would authenticate it as a congregation you
would want to attend?
Authenticating whatever it is that you are looking for can be tricky
business. It is tricky because you already have your mind made up as
to what you are looking for. This mindset rules out anything or anyone who
does not fit into the pattern you have formulated in your mind.
John the
Baptist was heralding the good news about the Lamb of God that would take
away the sins of the world. But amazingly he asks the one he heralded as the
Lamb of God, “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone
else?”
Matthew 11:1-19
11:1 After Jesus had finished instructing
his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in the towns
of Galilee.
2 When John heard in prison what Christ was
doing, he sent his disciples 3 to ask him, "Are you the one who was to come,
or should we expect someone else?"
4 Jesus replied, "Go back and report to John
what you hear and see: 5 The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who
have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good
news is preached to the poor. 6 Blessed is the man who does not fall away on
account of me."
7 As John's disciples were leaving, Jesus
began to speak to the crowd about John: "What did you go out into the desert
to see? A reed swayed by the wind? 8 If not, what did you go out to see? A
man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear fine clothes are in kings'
palaces. 9 Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and
more than a prophet. 10 This is the one about whom it is written:
"'I will send my messenger ahead of you, who
will prepare your way before you.'
11 I tell you the truth: Among those born of
women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who
is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. 12 From the days of
John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully
advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it. 13 For all the Prophets and the
Law prophesied until John. 14 And if you are willing to accept it, he is the
Elijah who was to come. 15 He who has ears, let him hear.
16 "To what can I compare this generation?
They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to
others:
17 "'We played the flute for you, and you
did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.'
18 For John came neither eating nor
drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon.' 19 The Son of Man came eating and
drinking, and they say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax
collectors and "sinners." ' But wisdom is proved right by her actions” (NIV)
“What did you go out . . . to
see?”
John
asks, “Are you the one?” Partly out of disillusionment, and partly because
Jesus wasn’t the type of Messiah he was expecting. Jesus simply
reminded John of what he should be looking for.
Matthew11:4-6
4 Jesus replied, "Go back and report to John
what you hear and see: 5 The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who
have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good
news is preached to the poor. 6 Blessed is the man who does not fall away on
account of me." NIV
I think
this was all John needed in his disillusionment. He knew the signs
of a prophet—healing, giving sight to the blind, lame walking, leprosy
cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, good news preached to the poor.
No doubt once John sat down and thought about Jesus reply, his doubt was
removed.
Jesus
asks the crowd the question, “What did you go out . . . to see?”
What you go out to see is the more important than asking, “Are you the one?”
This is especially true if you are looking for the wrong thing.
This is true if
you want to see the Messiah. Are you looking for Jesus, or are you looking
for a church or congregation that lives up to your ideas of what it ought to
be. It may surprise many of us in this audience how few are really looking
for Jesus today.
What was it
that kept the people from seeing that John the Baptist was the Elijah like
prophet heralding the way for Jesus? What was it that made the people think
that John had a demon, and Jesus was a drunkard? It was the same thing that
makes it hard for the masses to see Jesus today. Jesus wasn’t what they went
out to see.
Have you
ever noticed the pictures of Jesus hanging on walls today? Do you
believe that’s what Jesus really looked like? Those portraits of Jesus leave
the impression that he had been emasculated. He looks so effeminate that you
wonder how he could ever have grown a beard. You would think that he walked
around with limp wrists. Is it not any wonder why many men are turned off by
modern day “Christianity”? That’s not what men want to see when they seek to
see Jesus. Most men want to be men. They need to see Jesus as a real man. I
think it is just as important for women to see Jesus as a real man. This is
especially true if you want your man to be like Jesus.
Are you looking
for a church or Jesus? If we are simply looking for a church we may end up
like children in the marketplaces—or should we say the children looking for
toys in Toys R Us who can never really make up their mind about what they
really want.
I took my three
year old grand daughter, Skylar and her nine year old brother Dakota, to
Toys R Us the other day. My grand daughter went in the store and I directed
her to the girl’s toys. She marched up and down every aisle like a little
grown up. She was just looking at the toys. I thought before I went that I
would be there all day as she played with the toys trying to make up her
mind about what she wanted. But it didn’t happen. She didn’t want to play
with the toys. I thought she was sick or something, it was strange. She
walked up and down several aisles. I was thinking how strange she isn’t even
seeing anything that interests her. That was even stranger. I was thinking
this is really weird. I looked over at my nine year old grandson, and he was
playing with the action men as he tried to figure out which one—or ones he
wanted me to buy. Then all of a sudden as Skylar was walking down an aisle
she grabs a box and hugged it real tight. She held on for dear life. It was
a Barbie doll head. I thought how weird, she definitely wants it. No fuss.
No whimpering. Not even a word. That’s all she wanted, I couldn’t even get
her to glance at the other toys. Her mind was made up.
I wasn’t about
to take it away from her, after all it was only $8.95. I could only think,
“I will never get out of Toys R Us this cheap again as long as I live with
any of my other grandchildren. I surely want get out this cheap with
Dakota,” and I didn’t—he was shopping for his birthday present.
When I got home
I told my daughter how grown up Skylar acted as she was looking for a toy.
She informed me that Skylar knew what she wanted before she asked me to take
her to the toy store. I didn’t know that Skylar’s friend, Rachel, had a
Barbie doll head and Skylar wanted one just like it. The mystery was solved.
She knew what she went out to see, but what she never realized was that she
settled for much less than what I was willing to spend on her. I thought,
“Well it won’t make much difference, because I know she will make up for her
loss the next time she gets me in Toys R Us.” So I enjoyed every moment of
it.
When it
comes to looking for Jesus—we may be like Skylar looking for toys—we may
settle for much less than what he really wants to offer because we only find
what we are searching for. How many are there who celebrate Christ’s
birth that never see beyond the nativity scene, they never see beyond the
Christ child, they never really see Jesus because they only find what they
are looking for in the season of Christmas—gifts and cheer—they really never
see the real Jesus. They settle for far less than what Jesus really has to
offer.
How many
are there who only find the kind of church they are looking for, but they
never see Jesus. They want see him because they will be satisfied if
they simply find the church they are looking for—the church of their choice.
It makes me
wonder, “How many in this congregation have only found what they are looking
for, but it isn’t Jesus?” Maybe you need to ask yourself, “What is it that I
really need to be looking for?” I see many come and go in the church that
really don’t know what they are looking for. They are like the children in
the market place. They don’t know if they want to dance or mourn—they are
never satisfied with either.
“Then what should we go out to
see?”
Jesus
asks, “Then what did you go out to see?” I would like to rephrase
this question a little different, but in essence it is the same question.
“What are we looking for in Jesus?” The danger is that we will probably only
find what we are looking for, while overlooking what Jesus is all about.
Are we
looking for a church or are we looking for Jesus? Should we go out
looking for a great cathedral to worship in? Should we look for a church
that seems to be enjoying health, wealth and prosperity? Should we look for
a church that is swayed to practice the accepted immoral practices of the
culture in which it is found. Or do we really know what we should be looking
for? Should we even be looking for a church, or should we just look for
Jesus.
John’s
disciples came to Jesus asking, "How is it that we and the Pharisees fast,
but your disciples do not fast?" (Matthew 9:14 NIV). They simply
were not seeing what they went out to see. It is often harder for religious
people to see Jesus than it is for those who aren’t religious at all. Why?
Religious people only see what they go out to see. It is more difficult to
teach a person whose mind is made up as to how things ought to be than it is
to teach someone who knows nothing. Jesus puts it this way:
Matthew 9:16-17
16 "No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on
an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the
tear worse. 17 Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do,
the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be
ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved."
I
remember a particular hand made quilt that we had growing up in our
childhood home. Someone had put a lot of work into it, but they had
used a single piece of unshrunk wool right in the center of the quilt. When
it was washed this single piece of wool shrunk and distorted the entire
quilt. This is what happens when we try to fit Jesus into what we may think
we know about him. He warps our perception. The danger is that we will
reject him because we didn’t see what we went out to see.
The
fermentation of freshly squeezed grape juice releases gases that expand.
The ancient people didn’t put this fresh squeezed grape juice in old wine
skins for they were dry and brittle. The fermentation gases would expand
bursting the skins losing everything in the process. Likewise, Jesus
explodes our thinking of what we think God ought to be. When he explodes our
ideas about God—we often reject him.
What Tips Us off that Jesus Is
The Messiah
Those
outside the mainstream religious circles of the first century seemed to have
much less difficulty seeing the real Jesus. What was it that tipped
them off that he was the Messiah.
The first
miracle Matthew’s gospel mentions Jesus doing was the healing of a leper.
Matthew 8:1-4
8:1 When he came down from the mountainside,
large crowds followed him. 2 A man with leprosy came and knelt before him
and said, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean."
3 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the
man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately he was cured of his
leprosy. 4 Then Jesus said to him, "See that you don't tell anyone. But go,
show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a
testimony to them." NIV
This
probably wasn’t the first miracle Jesus performed, but it is the first one
Matthew records. Matthew wanted his Jewish readers to understand not
only the miracle but the physical, social and religious ramifications of
Jesus’ work. This leper was a person the Jews could not physically touch
without becoming unclean themselves. He was not allowed to come to the
temple. Neither was he to enter a crowded place without announcing he was a
leper. The physical, social and religious ramifications of touching this man
were broken by Jesus. Jesus reached out and touched the leper before he
cleansed him of his leprosy. He hadn’t purposely been touched from the
moment he contracted leprosy. We can only imagine how Jesus’ touch felt to
this man.
The people in
Jesus’ time were tipped off that this was no ordinary person walking through
the streets rubbing shoulders with the unclean—this was their greatest tip
that Jesus was a man they needed to take a second look at. It wasn’t just
the miracles Jesus performed that tipped them off; it was his willingness to
cross the social and religious barriers to touch them that really tipped
them off. He was a man who came to salvage—he came to break down the
barriers to bring them into fellowship with God.
Jesus’
willingness to cross social and religious barriers created enormous faith in
those who were held back because of those barriers. His willingness
to cross those barriers was the very thing that blinded the religious folks
to his true identity. You see Jesus wasn’t the kind of Messiah they went out
to see.
Matthew 8:5-13
5 When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a
centurion came to him, asking for help. 6 "Lord," he said, "my servant lies
at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering."
7 Jesus said to him, "I will go and heal
him."
8 The centurion replied, "Lord, I do not
deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my
servant will be healed. 9 For I myself am a man under authority, with
soldiers under me. I tell this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and that one, 'Come,'
and he comes. I say to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."
10 When Jesus heard this, he was astonished
and said to those following him, "I tell you the truth, I have not found
anyone in Israel with such great faith. 11 I say to you that many will come
from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the subjects of
the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be
weeping and gnashing of teeth."
13 Then Jesus said to the centurion, "Go! It
will be done just as you believed it would." And his servant was healed at
that very hour. NIV
There was
much more to what Jesus was doing than simply crossing the social and
religious barriers. He challenged those who perpetuated barriers.
They thought the barriers existed because of God’s disapproval of those who
needed healing. Jesus challenged their beliefs to the very core. The message
Jesus conveyed as he crossed these barriers was the message of salvation—it
was the message that he was there to salvage their lives.
Matthew 9:16-38
16 "No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on
an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the
tear worse. 17 Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do,
the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be
ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved."
18 While he was saying this, a ruler
came and knelt before him and said, "My daughter has just died. But come and
put your hand on her, and she will live." 19 Jesus got up and went
with him, and so did his disciples.
20 Just then a woman who had been subject to
bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his
cloak. 21 She said to herself, "If I only touch his cloak, I will be
healed."
22 Jesus turned and saw her. "Take heart,
daughter," he said, "your faith has healed you." And the woman was healed
from that moment.
23 When Jesus entered the ruler's house and
saw the flute players and the noisy crowd, 24 he said, "Go away. The girl is
not dead but asleep." But they laughed at him. 25 After the crowd had been
put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up. 26
News of this spread through all that region.
27 As Jesus went on from there, two blind
men followed him, calling out, "Have mercy on us, Son of David!"
28 When he had gone indoors, the blind men
came to him, and he asked them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?"
"Yes, Lord," they replied.
29 Then he touched their eyes and said,
"According to your faith will it be done to you"; 30 and their sight was
restored. Jesus warned them sternly, "See that no one knows about this." 31
But they went out and spread the news about him all over that region.
32 While they were going out, a man
who was demon-possessed and could not talk was brought to Jesus. 33
And when the demon was driven out, the man who had been mute spoke. The
crowd was amazed and said, "Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel."
34 But the Pharisees said, "It is by the
prince of demons that he drives out demons."
35 Jesus went through all the towns and
villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the
kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds,
he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like
sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is
plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest,
therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." NIV
Those who
considered themselves unworthy, the blind and the demon possessed found the
Messiah they were looking for, but the Pharisees never saw Jesus because he
wasn’t what they went out to see.
Conclusion:
Christ
has always challenged the barriers men have erected. He came to remove the
barriers.
Ephesians 2:11-22
11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who
are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call
themselves "the circumcision" (that done in the body by the hands of men)-
12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from
citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise,
without hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you
who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made
the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility,
15 by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations.
His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making
peace, 16 and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the
cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached
peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For
through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
19 Consequently, you are no longer
foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of
God's household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole
building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.
22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which
God lives by his Spirit. NIV
Jesus
Christ died to remove the barriers that you believe keep you from God.
What have
you come here to see today? I hope you are looking for Jesus? Jesus
can salvage you life in spite of your circumstances.
