When we are confronted by Jesus, we cannot remain neutral. And when we consider His words and His works, we must determine how we will explain them. Throughout Jesus’s ministry, people tried to remain neutral. In Matthew 11 Jesus warned the crowds that if they weren’t for Him, they were against Him. At the end of Matthew 13 the Nazarenes tried to identify Jesus as a mere man. Because they had seen Him grow up, they knew His parents and His siblings. In Matthew 14 Herod interprets Jesus as the resurrected John the Baptist. But none of these explanations adequately answer the question who Jesus is or how He is doing what He is doing. At least Herod’s answer indicates that he understood the miracles Jesus performed. But the Nazarenes’ answer that He was a mere man fails to account for the incredible stories of His life. Jesus must be more, and His disciples understood it as they will later proclaim in Matthew 14 that He truly is the Son of God. What is your assessment of Jesus? How do you process the history, His claims, and His Word? Ultimately, however we take Jesus will be obvious to everyone, because it will impact the way we live. To dismiss Him as a mere man or as the ghost of a prophet is to deny something of His authority and will produce a self-centered life lived for the moment. But to see Him as the Son of God demands submission, obedience, and endurance as people treat us just like they treated Him. May the reality of Jesus be something that moves beyond our heads and changes our hearts. – Pastor Rory
Sunday at Liberty
- BTH: Pastor Rory–Exodus–Moses’s Workload & Jethro’s Wisdom (Ex 18:1-27)
- AM: Pastor Rory–Matthew 13:53-14:12–The Messiah’s Rejected Ministry (sermon notes)
- PM: New Member Service; fellowship to follow
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