 In this section you will find links to various documents created for internal use by Legacy Youth Congregation. Other documents will be added to this page as they become available. The respective authors retain copyright of these documents, but you may freely use anything here, as long as you do not re-publish it any way and give appropriate credit to the original author. Scripture on these pages is taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of International Bible Society. |
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Knowing Jesus - Pete Hillman The story goes that somehow a rumour spread across America that the famous novelist Mark Twain had died. News of this reached the ears of the press and sure enough an obituary was printed describing Twain's career and describing his great works of literature such as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Upon reading his own obituary in the newspaper Twain remarked; “Rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated.!” If you had died and an obituary was written what things would you want the writer to say about you, what aspects of your character or things you did would you want to be remembered for? But let's think of another situation. Instead of a crafted piece of writing which will inevitably only communicate some facts perhaps more insight would come from your friends stories about you. Recollections of adventures you had together, kindnesses done by you towards them, gifts you had give, jokes you had shared. These are much more like the gospel accounts we have of Jesus. That's not to say they are not stories chosen for a particular audience, of course. Let's say for example I had died and you were sharing stories about things we had done together. I would hope that the stories you chose to talk to my mum about would be different ones that you shared together in private! So you see, what we get in the gospels are stories of a Jesus who was friends with those who wrote about him and for these friends each would have a slightly different slant. But today we will look at a couple of stories that give us a glimpse of the kind of person he was. Compassionate I once heard a preacher say “If you call Jesus good he'll be good to you, if you call him Lord he'll be a Lord to you, but if you call him compassion he'll know that you know.” What this man was saying in his preachers rhetoric was, you can call him good and you can call him Lord and he is both those things, but if you call him compassion he will know that you really understand what he was about. He wasn't just a good man, he wasn't even just Lord of life. What really drove him, what was his real motivation was his compassion that led him to live and die for us and with us. Mark leaps straight in in chapter one of his gospel. He tells us: Mark 1:40-42 'A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured. ' Luke too tell us a story where Jesus is deeply moved: Luke 7 11:14 'Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out–the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her. When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, “Don't cry.” Then he went up and touched the coffin, and those carrying it stood still. He said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.' Mark again, emphasising how completely knackered they all are, how tired and hungry, says: Mark 6:30-34 'The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.' The word the writers use here is splachnitzomai which literally means “his guts were wrenched”. He was moved deep down, his stomach turned over producing that tingle in the throat you get when something moves you almost to tears. These writers, these men who hung around with Jesus almost constantly wrote this of their friend and my question to you is “HOW DID THEY KNOW???!!!!” How do you know how someone feels? How can you accurately describe someone's state of mind unless you know them so well that you know the signs? How can some of you tell if I am feel tired or a bit run down? Because you know me, because we've spent so much time with me that you can see the signs. Jesus disciples know him so well they could describe how he felt, they knew him so well that they could interpret his motivation. And the most incredible thing is that you and I are invited into this same relationship with him 2000 years later. Wearing the bracelet WWJD (what would Jesus do) doesn't help you one bit if you don't know the answer to that question! And how do we get to know? We get to know by hanging out with him. By reading the book, by praying, by doing the stuff he is doing. Is Jesus here tonight by His Spirit? Well thankfully he is. But if you ask me where you will find his presence most fully it's out there with the people who need him most of all. Jesus said, it's the sick who need a doctor, not the healthy. That's why he spent so much time with the ones the world called “sinners”. The outcasts the downtrodden. Where is Jesus wanting to hang out tonight? With the drunks, with the druggies, with the sex addicts whose only sense of self worth comes when they can get a shag. With the kids who are so abused at home they join a gang to feel special and beat up old ladies to get some prestige in the eyes of the gang. Jesus longs to be be with those people, as well as all the ordinary people like us too because he is so deeply moved with compassion at our plight that he can only just keep his dinner down!!! Passionate  But it is not just his death that reveals his passion. Have you ever wondered why the religious leaders of his day hated Jesus so much? Listen to what he says about them and the passion of his speech: Matthew 23:1-15 'Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. “Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honour at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them ‘Rabbi.’ “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called ‘teacher,’ for you have one Teacher, the Christ. The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are!" ' And it isn't just what he said that revealed his passion. His passion for the holiness of his Father's temple leads to this set of events: John 2:13-19 'When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father's house into a market!” His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.” Then the Jews demanded of him, “What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” ' And if I haven't shattered your illusion of “Gentle Jesus, meek and mild” lying in a manger yet then how about this one: Mark 3:1-6 'Another time he went into the synagogue, and a man with a shrivelled hand was there. Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. Jesus said to the man with the shrivelled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.” Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent. He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus. ' What's the purpose of telling you these stories about my friend Jesus tonight? Well mainly because I want you to know what he's really like. Not some Hollywood version of him where he has flowing blond hair, piercing blue eyes and a shiny white robe with a bit so that you eyes go a bit out of focus when you look at him. In so many ways he's an ordinary man which is what makes him so extraordinary. And if you want to become like him, to be transformed into his image, it's important you understand what that means. Jesus was like you and me. He did ordinary things, did you know that Jesus went to the toilet?! Of course, I have no scriptural basis for this, but trust me on this one! But his passion for his Father and his compassion for the lost and broken made him extraordinary too and it is these things that I would like us to reflect on tonight. John writes at the end of his gospel “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.” and of course I could have chosen lots of other things to say about him tonight all of which can be found in the book. But the point is that unless you read the book, and spend time with him, include him in your life, share your life with him (even and especially the boring bits) you will never experience the thrill of being with him as he wants to be with you. |