back to index2020-12-20 Jesus, The Power and Wisdom of God
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Welcome to Breen Community Church, those of you who are here and those of you who are 00:00:11.760 |
Again, today is our special Christmas service and obviously that normally we have children 00:00:16.760 |
who perform, you know, they prepare and perform up here on the stage and obviously this year 00:00:22.480 |
It's been a very strange year this year, 2020. 00:00:27.720 |
But again, we believe that God is sovereign, that even in the midst of all of this, that 00:00:33.700 |
If you can turn your Bibles with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 1, I'm going to be reading from verse 00:00:39.440 |
Okay, 1 Corinthians chapter 1, 22 through 25. 00:00:47.000 |
For in these Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified. 00:00:52.900 |
To Jews a stumbling block and to the Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, 00:00:58.520 |
both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God, because the foolishness 00:01:03.520 |
of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 00:01:11.120 |
Heavenly Father, we thank you and praise you for the privilege that we have to be able 00:01:17.560 |
to come and worship you, especially now, Lord God, as we've gathered together to celebrate 00:01:26.520 |
Help us, Lord God, to open our ears, our eyes, soften our hearts as you are the potter and 00:01:32.480 |
we are the clay, that you would mold us according to your purpose and will. 00:01:37.440 |
So we pray, Father God, that your Holy Spirit would take the words that are taught and it 00:01:42.480 |
would illuminate us that we may understand and apply it in our lives. 00:01:51.920 |
As soon as I say his name, in our generation, you get different emotions, right? 00:01:58.080 |
So the people, depending on where you stand on your politics, when you say Donald Trump, 00:02:02.940 |
he is either Hitler or the best president the United States has ever had in history, 00:02:09.400 |
maybe next to Lincoln or better than Lincoln. 00:02:12.020 |
And obviously you have people who have opinions kind of on either side, variation. 00:02:18.140 |
Whatever your politics is, we have to admit that this political year probably has been 00:02:24.020 |
the most polarizing of anything that I can remember. 00:02:28.460 |
And sad to say, churches and even some family members, there's so heated debates on either 00:02:35.500 |
But whatever the case, Donald Trump was not going to save the world. 00:02:42.060 |
Our political system is made in such a way there's checks and balances, so that no matter 00:02:48.580 |
what president is in there, they have other branches that kind of he needs to get permission 00:02:52.740 |
and make sure that he doesn't have all power. 00:02:54.900 |
And no matter who gets elected, every four years they have to do it again. 00:02:58.580 |
And so someone else might come in and then whoever gets elected there, another person 00:03:02.940 |
He is not going to affect the eternity of mankind. 00:03:06.620 |
But there is an individual that you and I are here to celebrate that was equally even 00:03:14.500 |
He came and claimed to be the son of God and then fooled all these people. 00:03:19.860 |
Now 2,000 years later, millions of people have been fooled by this man and have wasted 00:03:26.060 |
countless amount of money, lives, telling and proclaiming the things that he said that 00:03:33.900 |
Or he actually was the son of God who came to save mankind. 00:03:38.780 |
C.S. Lewis says it like this about Jesus, "A man who was merely a man and said the sort 00:03:44.340 |
of things that Jesus said and would not be a great moral teacher. 00:03:48.220 |
He would either be a lunatic on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg or else 00:03:57.680 |
Either this man was and is the son of God or else a madman or something worse. 00:04:05.040 |
You can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord 00:04:11.760 |
But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. 00:04:21.640 |
Where we stand on who Jesus is will either affect our eternity, we praise him as our 00:04:29.600 |
Lord and Savior and so we believe that when we die that we have eternity with him for 00:04:39.480 |
You cannot come and say, "Well, there's a lot of good things to learn from a man who 00:04:44.760 |
There's no good thing to glean from a person who said that he died and resurrected from 00:04:51.520 |
Either he really is what he says he is or he's a crazy man to be forgotten. 00:04:56.800 |
2,000 years later, Jesus' name is proclaimed more today than it was 2,000 years ago. 00:05:04.020 |
The effects that Jesus had on humanity, whether you believe or don't believe, we all agree, 00:05:10.960 |
had probably the greatest impact in human history. 00:05:16.560 |
So today we want to look at in the early church when Christ was being proclaimed, the text 00:05:22.360 |
says as Apostle Paul was going to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, he says, "Some asked 00:05:28.920 |
The Jews asked for signs and the Greeks looked for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified." 00:05:34.760 |
He said, "Christ crucified was a stumbling block to the Jews and it is foolishness to 00:05:40.720 |
those who are looking for wisdom, but to those who are being saved it is the power of God 00:05:47.480 |
So let's look at first of all, why were the Jews asking for signs? 00:05:51.720 |
I mean, you may have thought at least at one point in your life thinking that if Jesus 00:05:56.800 |
would only just physically appear, right, if he just split the heavens open and says, 00:06:02.600 |
"I am," right, and say, "Oh, that would affect my walk." 00:06:07.120 |
Why were the Jews constantly asking for signs? 00:06:12.040 |
In fact, the Bible repeats it over and over that he kept on performing miracles to prove 00:06:26.960 |
And then he even actually raised people from the dead. 00:06:30.840 |
He's all of this to show who he said he was was true. 00:06:36.520 |
And yet the Bible keeps saying that they wanted more signs. 00:06:39.880 |
In John 2, 18, when he was at the temple and cleansed them, the leaders came to him and 00:06:46.220 |
Show us as your authority for doing these things." 00:06:49.840 |
Now you have to remember that Jesus performed these miracles not all over the land. 00:06:56.200 |
Majority of his miracles happened in these three cities, basically the size of Orange 00:07:01.480 |
And for two years, everything that he did, so majority of the people there either heard 00:07:09.480 |
In fact, the leaders of Israel in Jerusalem, which was kind of a distance between here 00:07:14.880 |
and San Francisco, heard of Jesus' fame and all that he was doing, and they said, "Could 00:07:22.080 |
So they all came up to Galilee in order to check this out because that's how clear he 00:07:31.420 |
He wanted to publicly show everybody who he was. 00:07:34.120 |
And yet they continue to come and said, "We need signs." 00:07:38.740 |
In John 6, verse 2, that's a passage where after two years of performing miracles, thousands 00:07:44.320 |
of people are now coming to him, thousands, because they're starting to be convinced he 00:07:53.900 |
So they packed up their bags and he went up to the hillside and they all went up with 00:07:57.880 |
So that's 5,000 men, including women and children, possibly up to 20,000 people followed him 00:08:04.480 |
This is before he performs the miracle of the bread and the fish. 00:08:10.460 |
John 6, 2, "A large crowd followed him because they saw the signs which he was performing 00:08:22.540 |
John chapter 6, 14, after he feeds the 5,000, they say, "Therefore, when the people saw 00:08:27.060 |
the sign which he had performed, they said, 'This truly is the prophet who is to come 00:08:33.360 |
So before the miracle of multiplying the bread and the fish, they said, "We came because 00:08:42.480 |
After they ate the miraculous bread and fish, they said, "Clearly, if there was any doubt, 00:08:49.860 |
So they want to forcefully make him king because of the sign. 00:09:00.020 |
They pack up their bags and then they go look for him. 00:09:02.140 |
And then when they encounter Jesus, Jesus sees right through what they were doing. 00:09:07.060 |
And Jesus says in 626, "Jesus answered them and said, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, you 00:09:11.460 |
seek me not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.'" 00:09:16.820 |
In other words, you're coming to me even though you're saying that you clearly see the sign 00:09:22.140 |
and we want you to be our king because we see the sign. 00:09:25.020 |
Jesus says, "You're not coming to me because you saw the sign. 00:09:27.700 |
You're coming to me because you ate bread and you want more." 00:09:32.500 |
And the response in John 6 30, "So they said to him, 'Well, if what you are saying is true, 00:09:37.100 |
if you are truly the bread, what sign do you do?'" 00:09:44.160 |
He's performing sign after sign after sign after sign. 00:09:49.200 |
They wanted him to be king because they saw the sign. 00:09:52.700 |
And yet at the end, he said, "Well, prove yourself. 00:09:55.940 |
In fact, Apostle Peter, when he is preaching in front of the same people who yelled out, 00:10:02.420 |
"Crucify Jesus," in Acts chapter 2 22, he says, "Men of Israel, listen to these words. 00:10:08.140 |
Jesus of Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles, wonders, and signs, which 00:10:14.620 |
God performed through him in your midst, just as you yourselves know." 00:10:17.940 |
Peter, just in case anybody missed it, he said it was clear what he was doing. 00:10:25.900 |
Everything that he did and he performed proved who he said he was. 00:10:29.700 |
And yet as Apostle Paul was preaching the gospel, he said, "They kept on asking for 00:10:38.260 |
By their own admission, they said they saw the signs. 00:10:41.460 |
They came into Jerusalem after Lazarus was raised because they wanted to see the signs. 00:10:47.260 |
In fact, the signs were so clear, even the people who wanted to crucify Jesus could not 00:10:54.340 |
And yet as he was preaching the gospel, he says, "Well, we're not going to believe until 00:11:04.140 |
Well, you have to remember what the Israels were looking for. 00:11:09.060 |
They were God's covenant people and they thought that if they remained faithful to God, that 00:11:14.340 |
they were going to be the superpower, that they were going to be Egypt, they were going 00:11:18.520 |
to be Rome, they were going to be the Babylonians, but that never happened. 00:11:24.260 |
They experienced a brief period of success during King David and possibly Solomon, but 00:11:29.820 |
rest of their history, if you've ever read the Old Testament, the rest of the history 00:11:33.140 |
is Israel constantly falling into sin over and over again. 00:11:36.740 |
And eventually they get conquered by the Assyrians and then the Babylonians and then the Persians 00:11:44.760 |
So by the time Jesus comes, they had generation after generation after generation of being 00:11:54.580 |
So they thought if the Messiah comes, he's going to take vengeance upon their enemies, 00:12:00.660 |
that he's going to overthrow the Roman government and they're going to be the superpower and 00:12:08.180 |
And that's why even the disciples, as Jesus was going to the cross, he kept on telling 00:12:13.500 |
them, "I'm going to be beaten, crucified and be raised." 00:12:19.740 |
Well, who's going to be the Secretary of State? 00:12:24.340 |
Who are you going to appoint to the left or to the right? 00:12:26.580 |
And even as Jesus was saying, "I'm coming to die for this world." 00:12:31.100 |
And they said, "Well, when the Romans are taken over and we are the superpower, what's 00:12:38.220 |
So you could see the hope that they had when they saw the signs that he was performing. 00:12:47.940 |
And yet the problem that they had with Jesus was not what he was doing, but what he was 00:12:55.120 |
The Sermon of the Mount in Matthew 5, 38-44, "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye 00:13:04.800 |
But I say to you, do not resist an evil person, but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, 00:13:16.780 |
It sounds beautiful to sing about and tell other people that Jesus told us to turn the 00:13:29.900 |
Again, it sounds great at church, but how many of you, when somebody wrongs you, your 00:13:41.300 |
If somebody comes to you when you are wronged, let's say you're at a supermarket and somebody 00:13:45.140 |
cuts in line, you know, it's a 30-minute line and they're tired of it and they cut right 00:13:49.300 |
in front of you, do you say, "Well, thank you." 00:13:57.280 |
We're going to bump them with the cart, go in front of them, because it's wrong. 00:14:03.540 |
When you're wronged, our natural reaction isn't to turn the other cheek. 00:14:07.180 |
So imagine the Romans or the Jews had generations of this frustration, and they were waiting 00:14:16.180 |
for the Messiah to come to galvanize the Israelites to prepare them to go into Jerusalem and conquer 00:14:28.420 |
This is the first time in generation after generation after generation, they have somebody 00:14:33.520 |
who can literally just say to the storm, "Stop," and it stops. 00:14:38.740 |
That even if somebody dies, he says, "Be raised," and they are raised. 00:14:42.540 |
If there was any hope in their history, this was the first time. 00:14:48.020 |
First time Jesus walking into Jerusalem and say, "He's going to fulfill what we've been 00:14:53.740 |
And yet, what he was doing and what he was saying didn't fit. 00:15:01.220 |
How can a man be so powerful just tell us to turn the other cheek? 00:15:08.720 |
If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat. 00:15:14.460 |
You have to remember, this is not a period when people had a wardrobe. 00:15:18.460 |
An average person usually had one inner clothing and one outer clothing. 00:15:22.740 |
So basically he's saying if somebody asks for it, just give them all your clothes and 00:15:29.020 |
He's basically saying don't resist them, give it to them. 00:15:31.420 |
Sounds beautiful at church, but it's impossible to practice, especially with somebody who's 00:15:42.540 |
Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him to two. 00:15:46.180 |
You know why he says that, go one mile, go two? 00:15:50.740 |
By law, if the soldiers came into town and they had heavy armory and he get tired, he 00:15:58.520 |
So if they happen to be in Jerusalem walking around and here's this pregnant lady with 00:16:01.620 |
two children, but he's tired, you take my sword, take my shield, and you walk with me 00:16:10.700 |
So can you imagine the resentment that they had toward the Roman soldiers? 00:16:14.940 |
Instead of saying, just give us some time, we're organizing. 00:16:19.940 |
The zealots are going to organize, we're sharpening our knives, we're going to pretend like we're 00:16:23.980 |
submitting, but when the time is right, we're going to get at them. 00:16:29.420 |
Instead, he says, if he tells you to go one mile, go the extra mile. 00:16:36.740 |
Give to him who asks you and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you. 00:16:42.180 |
You have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. 00:16:46.480 |
But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. 00:16:52.240 |
Not only did Jesus say this, he actually practiced this. 00:16:57.120 |
When he went into Jerusalem, remember, Peter was ready to fight. 00:17:01.020 |
When the soldiers came to take Jesus, Peter took out his sword. 00:17:05.960 |
Even though he's not a swordsman, Jesus walks on water. 00:17:13.400 |
So if he's going to sit in Jesus' cabinet, when he comes into power, he better be courageous. 00:17:21.240 |
Jesus actually ends up rebuking him, puts the ear back on the guy that he cut. 00:17:28.380 |
Do you not know if I wanted to, I could send legions of angels to wipe these guys all out? 00:17:36.960 |
As he is standing before Pilate, Pilate says, clearly what they're asking to do to crucify 00:17:46.840 |
Do you not know that I have the power to release you and give you life? 00:17:52.280 |
But Jesus says to him in John 18, 36, my kingdom is not of this world. 00:17:57.420 |
If my kingdom were of this world, then my servants would be fighting so that I would 00:18:03.660 |
But as it is, my kingdom is not of this realm. 00:18:13.500 |
I think before they were scared, they were confused. 00:18:17.340 |
Why would this powerful Messiah not only tell them to give in, but not stand up for himself? 00:18:28.020 |
These Romans again are taking the only hope that they had, and they're going to kill him, 00:18:36.620 |
So as he is going to the cross, the disciples are following from a distance. 00:18:41.340 |
I don't think they were scared, they were confused. 00:18:45.580 |
Because Jesus clearly told them, and he gave them the signs. 00:18:50.820 |
They were blind because they were so fixated on what they wanted the Messiah to be. 00:19:05.740 |
And that's why even when Jesus was being resurrected, Jesus clearly says, on the third day I will 00:19:11.340 |
resurrect, on the third day I will resurrect. 00:19:13.260 |
But when Jesus resurrected, the disciples didn't even go to check. 00:19:17.620 |
Because what Jesus did by giving himself was so far from what they expected the Messiah 00:19:23.500 |
to do, they forgot about everything and went home. 00:19:28.280 |
And then when the women came back and said he's not in the tomb, they didn't even believe 00:19:36.940 |
What they were rejecting was not simply Jesus, they were rejecting his kingdom. 00:19:42.140 |
And that's why even though they saw all these signs, it didn't fit the Messiah that they 00:19:49.020 |
And that's why they kept on saying, so the sign that they want is not simply to turn 00:19:56.780 |
It wasn't simply for him to walk on the water, to do something with that. 00:20:00.940 |
If you have all that power, and if you're the Messiah, take vengeance upon Rome. 00:20:11.260 |
Think about how much what we do, and we miss Christ because he doesn't quite fit what we 00:20:21.820 |
So we either walk away from him, or we keep our distance and we admire him from a distance, 00:20:32.500 |
You have to understand the Greeks, wisdom basically was their religion. 00:20:37.580 |
They had more than 50 different schools of philosophies. 00:20:41.980 |
Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Stoics, Epicureans, Skeptics, Pythagoras, on and on and on. 00:20:51.140 |
So they would come into the villages and they would set up shop, and then the Platos and 00:20:56.380 |
the Stoics would sit there and they would debate each other. 00:20:58.820 |
And then people would basically come, and if you happen to have the greater argument, 00:21:05.100 |
And if you're a celebrity, you would make the money. 00:21:07.660 |
And so at that time, it was the philosophers who were the entertainers. 00:21:18.060 |
And so they're saying, if you want your religion to be better than ours, prove it. 00:21:24.100 |
Now, Apostle Paul could have easily, easily wiped them clean with his knowledge, because 00:21:31.060 |
in Acts 22 verse 3, he says he was a direct disciple of Gamaliel. 00:21:38.060 |
In fact, Gamaliel is very well known outside of the Christian circle because of his scholarship. 00:21:45.220 |
Some believe that he may have become a Christian, but that's not for sure. 00:21:47.940 |
But for sure, it says, Apostle Paul was very, very highly educated. 00:21:53.100 |
So if he wanted to, you know, he could come into any village and just wipe them clean 00:22:02.500 |
In fact, in Acts chapter 26 verse 24, as Apostle Paul is in prison, he's standing before each 00:22:11.180 |
Instead of defending himself, he starts preaching the gospel about Jesus Christ. 00:22:14.960 |
So Governor Festus, recognizing who Apostle Paul says this, he says both Jews and Greeks, 00:22:23.020 |
he says this in verse 24 of Acts 26, while Paul was saying this in his defense, Festus 00:22:28.620 |
said in a loud voice, "Paul, you are out of your mind. 00:22:35.060 |
So the governor of Jerusalem already knew about Paul, that he was very well educated. 00:22:42.940 |
But instead of using that knowledge to defend himself, he said, "You must have gone mad. 00:22:48.460 |
Apostle Paul, if he thought that the power was in knowledge, he could have wiped them 00:22:56.180 |
If the power was just with the miracles, they could have went to each city and just performed 00:23:00.860 |
And I remember when the charismatic movement was sweeping the land, and I remember praying 00:23:05.700 |
that God would give me the gift of healing for the purpose of evangelism. 00:23:11.020 |
And I say, "If I had the gift of healing, I would go to Angel Stadium, and when people 00:23:16.060 |
come to get their peanuts and hot dogs, I would just slay people right there." 00:23:21.620 |
Instead of every week like slaving over to like, "What does this mean? 00:23:27.580 |
I just read a passage and just go out and just slay people. 00:23:30.460 |
And believe in Jesus, and if you don't, this is going to happen to you. 00:23:34.700 |
Go to Dodger Stadium or go to some parade and knock people out, you know? 00:23:40.060 |
If that's what was going to bring them to Christ, he said, "If that's what they needed, 00:23:55.540 |
He said it was a stumbling block to the Jews. 00:23:58.620 |
The word stumbling basically means in Greek is skandalon. 00:24:03.660 |
That Christ crucified caused the Jews to stumble because the very Messiah that they were hoping 00:24:08.660 |
and praying for, they themselves ended up rejecting. 00:24:13.580 |
And he was a chief cornerstone that they rejected, became the cornerstone that they absolutely 00:24:19.020 |
So they became, the gospel became a stumbling block, a skandalon to the Jews and foolishness 00:24:28.700 |
If you grew up in church, you probably may have forgotten or maybe if you don't, you 00:24:34.860 |
know, take your time and evangelize and talk to non-Christians, just how foolish the gospel 00:24:42.740 |
If you grew up in the church, you never really thought through. 00:24:45.580 |
You're just kind of like, "Oh yeah, Jesus loved me and died for me and I became a Christian 00:24:49.480 |
And one day when I die, I'm going to go to heaven." 00:24:51.020 |
So you know the basics of the Christian faith, but you never seriously asked. 00:24:58.700 |
If I told you that I have a million dollars, right, and you guys know me, right, and I 00:25:04.900 |
told you I have a million dollars and I'm just going to give it to you, the first person 00:25:07.580 |
who stands up right now, I'll give you a million dollars. 00:25:15.780 |
Because you know I don't have a million dollars. 00:25:18.460 |
You see in the car I drive, right, you know I don't have a million dollars, even though 00:25:24.740 |
Imagine going down to just random people on the street and say, "You know what? 00:25:29.860 |
If you come to my house, I'll give it to you." 00:25:32.100 |
How many people do you think will follow you because they believe you? 00:25:40.560 |
The message of the cross is mankind rebelled against God. 00:25:51.600 |
And instead of wiping us out, He has compassion. 00:25:55.500 |
And in order to save us from our own sin and our own rebellion, our own blasphemy, not 00:26:01.760 |
only does He not condemn us, He sends His only begotten Son. 00:26:10.840 |
Only begotten Son to take our place and the punishment that you and I deserve, that He 00:26:17.000 |
took it upon Himself that if we believe Him that He will cleanse us of our sins and that 00:26:23.740 |
Now you're in the church, so you've heard it so many times, it just sounds like, "Oh, 00:26:31.120 |
Listen as a non-Christian how ridiculous that sounds. 00:26:42.400 |
Now if I told you that God got angry with the world and He wants to wipe it out, that's 00:26:52.960 |
All-powerful God, people who are rebelling against Him, and He chose to wipe us out? 00:27:03.680 |
That God in the universe would give His most precious Son to die to redeem sinners? 00:27:10.280 |
And not only do you want us to believe that, you want us to put all our eggs in the same 00:27:26.920 |
It is foolishness to the world if you only know the surface of what happened. 00:27:32.840 |
And I think that's a big problem with a generation of Christians who are biblically illiterate 00:27:43.080 |
Because when you talk to non-Christians, you can't explain. 00:27:50.200 |
And when the world desires power, it's like, "Yeah, I wish God did this." 00:27:56.440 |
They said they asked for wisdom, the Jews asked for signs, but we preach Christ crucified. 00:28:13.160 |
Power is only useful if it is directed toward the problem. 00:28:15.960 |
Just like, I don't know if you've ever tried to remove a tree. 00:28:20.280 |
You know, no matter how big it is, you can cut it all down, but the tree trunk, it's 00:28:24.960 |
almost impossible to dig out by yourself, right? 00:28:27.280 |
Especially the larger the trunk, the harder it is to take out. 00:28:34.500 |
I don't know what the technical word is, but the tree trunk remover basically has a huge 00:28:38.140 |
drill and you put it on top of the stump, and then it starts to drill. 00:28:43.080 |
And what may have taken you a year to dig out by yourself and get all the roots, this 00:28:49.080 |
You just turn it on, you go, "puh, puh, puh, puh, puh, puh," and it comes and just wipes 00:28:53.440 |
everything out, and then a tree trunk comes in little bits and pieces and it's gone. 00:28:58.400 |
But as powerful as that is, if you're trying to demolish a building, it's useless. 00:29:13.400 |
You can be a rocket scientist with several PhDs, but it's completely useless when you're 00:29:19.240 |
trying to communicate with your wife and with your husband. 00:29:24.480 |
So no amount of knowledge is going to help you with that. 00:29:27.080 |
In fact, I remember years ago we had a pediatrician at our church, and he went to medical school, 00:29:32.840 |
had extra fellowship, and he was an expert in that field. 00:29:37.720 |
But they didn't have children, so when the wife first got pregnant, she was so frustrated 00:29:42.040 |
because the doctor would never take any advice. 00:29:44.680 |
She's like, "You know, I do this for a living. 00:29:48.800 |
I'm the one who tell them about the birth cycle." 00:29:51.760 |
And then so she's like, "Oh," she's so frustrated because she's like, "Don't worry about it. 00:30:00.040 |
And then about two months into raising this infant, I remember the husband and wife came 00:30:05.560 |
to our home, and he sat there and his doctor was completely lost for words. 00:30:15.160 |
And at that time, we had four children in our home, and he looked at it and said, "How 00:30:21.800 |
All that learning, he had head knowledge, but it was completely different once he had 00:30:29.560 |
He had all the right things to say until he actually had a child in his home, and he realized 00:30:33.280 |
this was far different than what he imagined. 00:30:35.320 |
Obviously, that probably made him a better doctor, but all the knowledge in the world, 00:30:39.600 |
if it is not geared toward the problem that you need to solve, is useless. 00:30:46.400 |
It wasn't that Jesus was not performing signs. 00:30:48.920 |
It wasn't that there isn't knowledge and wisdom behind what he was doing, but the primary 00:30:57.500 |
The primary problem with mankind was not lack of knowledge. 00:31:02.000 |
The Bible says, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." 00:31:11.240 |
There's a lot of debate right now about socialism, about capitalism, about communism, but in 00:31:17.120 |
the end, it's not the system, because no matter what kind of system you bring in, if the people 00:31:23.240 |
in that system is corrupt, they're going to corrupt no matter what they do. 00:31:28.360 |
So if you believe that if you change the system, mankind is good, and if you change the system, 00:31:38.800 |
Communism basically is mankind in and of itself is good. 00:31:42.040 |
It's the system that's corrupt that causes certain people to be rich and certain people 00:31:48.140 |
So if you take out the system and let mankind opportunity to be good to other human beings, 00:31:55.320 |
They'll naturally share with one another, work hard so that the other people can benefit 00:32:08.640 |
Whatever your political view may be, I don't think any of you will disagree with me that 00:32:13.400 |
people work harder when they benefit personally. 00:32:18.920 |
I remember the first time I went to China in 1993, walking into a restaurant, and at 00:32:26.980 |
They got paid $5, $10 a month, no matter what they did, and I remember every time we walked 00:32:32.320 |
in, they would be upset because they'd have to work. 00:32:39.680 |
They would come in and slam the chopsticks on our table. 00:32:44.360 |
And then if we sat around talking a little bit longer than we should, they'd say, "Okay, 00:32:48.160 |
time to get out," and they'd shut the lights off. 00:32:52.880 |
Again, whatever your political ideology is, I hope there's no communists here, but whatever 00:32:59.000 |
political ideology is, I don't think anybody would disagree that we work harder when we 00:33:04.840 |
are more selfishly motivated, but in the end, it's not the system. 00:33:15.440 |
No matter what leader you put in there and no matter what system you put in, the corruption 00:33:25.120 |
Now, I remember years ago when Facebook first came out, there was a big issue about privacy, 00:33:33.600 |
And I was a little bit surprised that so many people were angry about the privacy setting 00:33:40.920 |
It's like, "Oh, you know, like, we don't own it. 00:33:44.920 |
They do whatever they want with their information," and I remember surprised because I said, "When 00:33:48.680 |
I posted things on Facebook, I was posting it on www, World Wide Web. 00:33:55.280 |
I never thought that that was going to be private." 00:34:00.240 |
Maybe that's a generational thing that you put it on the internet. 00:34:02.440 |
I just assume it's not mine, or else I wouldn't put it up there, but I realize the younger 00:34:11.600 |
But why are you so concerned about your privacy? 00:34:18.400 |
What if somebody had a million dollars that they just don't need, and they're looking 00:34:22.640 |
the internet to find, you know, worthy people who are in need, and they want to give you 00:34:28.000 |
some money, and you won't let them into your Facebook? 00:34:37.880 |
It's like, "Hey, I need $100," and what if somebody wants to give it to you, but because 00:34:43.960 |
of your privacy, Setti, you protect your identity, they can't come to ... Aren't you concerned 00:34:50.600 |
That you're going to miss out on the goodness of mankind? 00:34:59.640 |
No, we protect their privacy because we don't trust anybody. 00:35:04.160 |
Maybe there is one guy like that, but majority of the people, you're concerned that they're 00:35:07.480 |
going to take whatever information you have, and they're going to be up to no good. 00:35:12.000 |
Let me ask you, is it harder to make friends when you're older or easier? 00:35:25.160 |
It's much easier to make friends when you're younger. 00:35:26.960 |
When you have a child, and you take a kid, and you throw them into the playground, they 00:35:30.440 |
play with each other, and they're best friends next day. 00:35:45.400 |
Why is it harder to make friends when you're older? 00:35:52.160 |
It's years of being burned and being disappointed. 00:35:56.360 |
I don't know anybody, they're older, and they're more open and generous. 00:36:01.640 |
They become more grizzled and more careful and more skeptical of people because we've 00:36:06.380 |
all been burned because we've had enough time to experience mankind. 00:36:13.720 |
I mean, the technology that we have, I mean, the advancement of technology that made our 00:36:18.880 |
I was just thinking the other day, like, how did we ever get anywhere without GPS? 00:36:22.960 |
Remember, some of you guys, when we didn't have, we had to look up the map, and if you 00:36:27.920 |
didn't have that map, you had to go by memory. 00:36:31.440 |
And I remember one time I was coming home from somewhere, and I was probably about five 00:36:35.000 |
minutes away from home, and I didn't realize I was lost until 20 minutes later, it says, 00:36:40.320 |
And it's like, "Oh, my gosh, I've been going the wrong way for like 30 minutes." 00:36:45.320 |
And I had to turn the car back around, go back home. 00:36:50.720 |
I was daydreaming, and then I just wasn't paying attention. 00:36:53.320 |
I was like, "But how do we get anywhere without GPS?" 00:36:56.820 |
So all this advancement of mankind, and think about all the access that we have on the internet. 00:37:03.520 |
Any question that I have, I can say, "Google, when did Genghis Khan live? 00:37:12.800 |
Like, boom, right there, on the tip of your finger. 00:37:14.920 |
Well, all the advancement of technology and everything that we have, you know what the 00:37:31.720 |
So all the technology, the things that we do is dictated because the biggest funds generating, 00:37:43.260 |
More than Netflix, more than Hollywood, more than NBA and NFL, it's pornography. 00:37:51.740 |
So the root problem of mankind is mankind himself. 00:37:56.000 |
And no matter how much we fix, no matter how many laws that we pass to taper the racism, 00:38:02.760 |
in the end, racism is not a system in and of itself. 00:38:09.180 |
And that's what Jesus says that he came to deal with. 00:38:14.440 |
He can give everybody a PhD in knowledge, but the root cause of the problem of mankind 00:38:23.000 |
All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 00:38:26.080 |
See, God had intended you and I to be in the presence of his glory and to give him worship. 00:38:32.640 |
There's a reason why Governor Newsom made entertainment essential. 00:38:37.320 |
While he said, you know, religious gatherings are not essential, entertainment is essential. 00:38:41.200 |
Because entertainment is a form of worship to a non-Christian. 00:38:46.660 |
You and I were made for worship because in the period that you and I are in, in darkness, 00:38:51.540 |
people are depressed, they can't go to work, they're having financial problems. 00:38:55.040 |
But at least if you are entertained, you can forget for a period. 00:39:05.380 |
So it is a non-Christian's way of dealing with the problem of mankind to temporarily 00:39:12.840 |
And so they have declared it essential because they're not Christians. 00:39:17.480 |
But the very reason why you and I are here and all over the world celebrating the birth 00:39:21.960 |
of Christ is because Christ came to deal with the central problem of mankind, is our own 00:39:27.760 |
It's because we have fallen short of God's glory. 00:39:31.940 |
Until we are restored back to his glory, we will always be trapped. 00:39:38.680 |
We will always be trapped seeking temporary glory in something else. 00:39:44.760 |
That's how we get so hooked on making celebrities and idols and movies. 00:39:54.120 |
But mankind who does not recognize his primary problem will constantly go to temporary fixes 00:40:03.160 |
But Jesus said that he came to give life and give this life abundantly. 00:40:06.600 |
And until our eyes are open to the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ, we will always 00:40:18.080 |
We've fallen short of God's glory and mankind, because we do not see his glory, we cannot 00:40:28.920 |
That's why Christ came, because he wanted to restore us back to his glory. 00:40:33.440 |
Hebrews chapter 1, 3 says, "He is the radiance of the glory and the exact representation 00:40:39.160 |
So he came in human form representing God's glory. 00:40:42.520 |
2 Corinthians 4, 6, "For God who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' is the one who 00:40:47.280 |
has shown in his own heart to give the light of knowledge of the glory of God in the face 00:40:55.000 |
Because we were separated from God's glory, Christ came to reflect his glory and then 00:41:04.400 |
In John 17, 1, when Jesus was headed toward the cross, he says, "Father, the hour has 00:41:09.520 |
Glorify your Son, that the Son may glorify you." 00:41:14.540 |
So Christ crucified is to magnify the glory of God and to cover us with his blood so that 00:41:27.080 |
Because you and I, in our own sins, cannot stand before a holy God. 00:41:34.800 |
It's just like going to the nuclear bomb center. 00:41:39.520 |
But that pure energy, if we're not protected, will kill us. 00:41:44.720 |
A man in his sinful state cannot enter to see his glory. 00:41:48.960 |
And that's what's the dilemma of mankind, that you and I have been separated from the 00:41:53.200 |
ultimate object of worship, the very reason why you and I were created. 00:41:57.160 |
And that's why Christ came in his power, in his wisdom, that he offered himself to cover 00:42:03.360 |
us and to impute his righteousness on us so that we may enter his throne of grace with 00:42:13.880 |
And that's why the difference between a Christian and a non-Christian is described. 00:42:17.480 |
A non-Christian is somebody who the enemy has blinded so that they do not see the glory 00:42:25.080 |
But Christians are people who, covered by the blood of Christ, we are constantly gazing 00:42:34.760 |
Those of you who've never experienced true worship before God, if you're a sports fan, 00:42:39.600 |
I mean it's a crude analogy, but it's the closest thing that we can come to. 00:42:44.620 |
The euphoria that you experience when something beyond you is in your presence, you break 00:42:52.260 |
out into worship, something beyond you, that's something that causes you to be awed. 00:43:00.840 |
If you're a fan of Lakers or baseball and they win the championship and you see the 00:43:05.680 |
struggle and at the end when you are observing, you did nothing. 00:43:16.600 |
But you would spend hundreds, maybe even thousands of dollars buying their clothing, identifying 00:43:30.720 |
Fellowship with other people who feel the same. 00:43:35.800 |
Simply because you observed something magnificent before you. 00:43:40.360 |
There's a reason why people don't pay money to go see middle-aged men play basketball, 00:43:50.040 |
So we get that kind of joy from watching sports. 00:43:59.160 |
Imagine what He's trying to restore us back to when our eyes become open to the glory 00:44:08.600 |
Greatest truth, greatest power, greatest love that you and I could possibly imagine in Christ. 00:44:20.520 |
Christ came so that He can walk on earth, so that we can become a sympathetic high priest, 00:44:28.760 |
All who are weary and heavy laden, He says, "I will give you rest." 00:44:33.800 |
Those of you who are moving around, seeking to find purpose in life, wanting something 00:44:41.000 |
to give your life to, all of that may be because you've been separated from the author of life. 00:44:46.800 |
So, this Christmas, we celebrate not simply the miracle of God becoming man, but His sacrifice. 00:44:58.680 |
That He who knew no sin became sin, so that you and I may become the righteousness of 00:45:03.600 |
And that same invitation that He gave 2,000 years ago is the same invitation that continues 00:45:11.440 |
If you confess your sins, He is faithful and just to forgive of all your unrighteousness. 00:45:16.800 |
If you would simply come before Him, acknowledge that you are a sinner in need of the blood 00:45:21.600 |
of Christ to cover you, and He will open your eyes to what you have fallen from. 00:45:27.200 |
That He wants to restore you to worship Him in spirit and in truth. 00:45:32.280 |
So this morning, I encourage you that if any part of what's been said made any sense to 00:45:38.920 |
you, to just come before God honestly and say, "Lord, I've fallen from You. 00:45:52.800 |
I've been trying to fix my kids, but I recognize the greatest problem is me. 00:45:58.320 |
And the only power and the only wisdom that can change me is Christ crucified." 00:46:04.520 |
So if you would just come before God honestly and say, "Lord, forgive me of my sins," He 00:46:11.200 |
So I pray, again, after the service, we'll have a place back, you know, where our outreach 00:46:16.640 |
team will be there and some of the pastors will be there to answer some of your questions. 00:46:20.640 |
So invite some of you who are interested in that to go there right after service and they'll 00:46:28.640 |
But the message of Christmas is not just for, again, non-Christians, it's for Christians. 00:46:34.080 |
If you've been at church all your life and you've, you acknowledge the power, but that 00:46:44.120 |
You've gained so much knowledge, but your eyes have never truly been open to the wisdom 00:46:51.400 |
That maybe today, maybe this Christmas season, take a step back and ask yourself, "Do I know 00:47:03.880 |
So that this Christmas season will not just be a religious thing that we do and pass by,