Today Kent gets in our faces and challenges us with whether we’ve settled for being a Casual Acquaintance of Jesus, or having an intimate relationship with Him. Jump in with us in Sections 32 of the Gospel Harmonies @ https://www.harmonychurch.cc/tracking-jesus-timeline/. IT’S EASY TO GIVE at Harmony, text any amount to (859) 459-0316 to get started (or give online @ my.harmonychurch.cc/give ).
OPENING ILLUSTRATION:
Oh my gosh, the other day, I was SO scatterbrained – so much going on that we were going somewhere and the GPS kept being like, “turn right now” and I’d be past the turn. I’d flip onto another street and the GPS was like, “turn here” and again, I’d already be past the turn. It got to the point where google maps started insulting me, “turn around dummy… You keep going past the turns. Why don’t you listen to me” lol, it should have – they should have an “insensitive setting”
I do think Jenni was like, “do you need me to drive?” Lol
Even though I had the map right in front of me, I just kept missing my destination.
b
Oofta! If that doesn’t describe so many of our spiritual experiences, I don’t know what does…
We all know what it’s like to have the map in front of us and miss the destination
We are jumping back into the life of Jesus with some people who just absolutely miss Jesus…
You ever do this, you’re back in your hometown and you’re seeing guys you played ball with in High school, or an old boyfriend, or the lady who watched you growing up. Jesus is there in Nazareth, it’s Saturday and He is going to Synagogue for worship.
Lk 4:16-21
16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read,17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”[a]
20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him.21 He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
This passage is a passage about the Messiah coming from 700 years before Jesus
b
This is a mic-drop moment
Everyone is hushed – I would have loved to have been there in that moment to hear the whispers coming out of everyone’s mouths – because they are all kind of speaking nice things about Him, but it’s out of the side of their mouth…
He tells them, “y’all are gonna wish I’d do the things I’m doing in other places here, but it’s not gonna happen.”
b
Matthew 13:58 will tell us Jesus could hardly do any miracles in Nazareth because of their unbelief
They get so furious with Him that they grab Him and take Him outside of the city to a hill we call, “Mount Precipice” Tradition is this is the hill they took Him to try and throw Him off the cliff…
You need to imagine this as a violent action…
This is a pretty good walk outside of the city
This is Jesus likely being pushed and shoved…
Can I show you Mount Precipice?
I happened to hike up it a bit while I was in Israel
I need you to know, this is terrible terrain, I never understood until being there how this could be true that Mark tells us
[they] took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff.30 But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.
b
Jesus just walks right through them
I think he’s able to do this because the terrain is so terrible and there’s a crowd, He just walks off…
Can I take this bad boy in for a landing with you?
I know so many people who have a casual acquaintance with Jesus
-in general, they know the story & they have some ideas about salvation
You will know someone who has a casual acquaintance because their focus will be on religious rule-keeping.
-don’t cuss or drink around the pastor, go to church and pretend like there’s nothing wrong with you, say the right things, do the right things
Matthew 7:21-23
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
b
Jesus will walk right through this crowd of people…
b
Why? Because they didn’t know Him…
Listen, we’ve all been given the directions – shoot, every week I’m saying to you, “turn now!”
But so many keep going in the same direction because they are convinced they already know Jesus because of their casual acquaintance with Him
b
I think casual acquaintance is almost more dangerous than complete ignorance.
did you hear me, your casual acquaintance with Jesus is more dangerous than not knowing anything about Him,
Why? Because the casual acquaintance thinks they already know enough about who Jesus is.
Can I just tell you to “TURN NOW?” one more time?
I’ve told you my heart is for you to become a disciple of Jesus’ – that’s my heart because it’s Jesus’ heart – His great commission in Matthew 28 was
“Go and Make Disciples…”
b
Being a disciple doesn’t happen by casual acquaintance. It happens by an intentional process.
b
3 Turns you Can make NOW to move towards discipleship
b
- Die to yourself. You can’t take your old life into your new life with Jesus and think it’s going to work – you need a completely new life. This means actively looking at the parts of you that come into conflict with who Jesus is and dying to them.
- Live by faith. This is not froo froo pie in the sky, “I just believe” this is you taking your moment by moment to Jesus. “Jesus, I’m struggling with my kids right now, I need your guidance and patience” “Jesus, I’m so overwhelmed right now, I commit my energy to you and ask for your peace” It’s actually living your life out of a posture of Faith as though you believe God is so real you can live by His activity in your life.
- Learn the Heart of Jesus.You start to devour the scripture because you are looking for the heart of Jesus. How did He handle disagreements, how does He care for children, who is He. He wants a relationship with you desperately.
CLOSING ILLUSTRATION:
When I was in High school, my senior trip, we went to this lake called “Scott Lake”. All the football team started throwing kids into the lake. I knew they’d come for me at some point, so when I saw them coming, I took off my glasses and got ready for a fight. They were all trying to grab me and get me in the water and I was fighting them off, but at one point, I realized, they were going to get me…
In that moment, I had a stroke of brilliance. I stopped and yelled, “my glasses!” and acted like I was looking for my glasses. They were all so shocked they all stopped and started looking too. And while they were all looking for my glasses, I ran off!
ha, listen to me. God is a little like that in my experience. If you are after Him just to get what you ant out of Him, He’s slippery. But if you seek Him with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, He’s sticky – like a best friend. Maybe the problem for you, is you’ve been after Him like a casual acquaintance, not a best friend. Change that approach and it will change everything!
