CLICK HERE (or right click, 'save as') for Sermon Audio for a message on 2 Samuel 7:1-17.In this sermon, I hope to give helpful answers to one question:
Why Jesus?
It’s a question we get regularly, here in NYC and everywhere: "I’m OK about God, but why does it always have to be about Jesus? Why can’t it just be about God?"
For spiritual people, religious types and theists, to say that Jesus is 'the Way, the Truth, and the Life' may seen very odd to them. We need as a church to acknowledge that for many, it feels discordant whenever that claim is made.
This question is not new. It happened in Jesus time: Jesus calls himself a ‘stumbling block’ to many. A 'Scandalon'. (Matthew 11:6); an offense; a stone -- in the way -- that people trip up on. People were attracted to Jesus, but only to a point. People in Jesus’ day wanted God and his Kingdom without Jesus and his Kingship. And he was killed for that very reason. In John 11:50-- the high priest basically says: “Lets save God and his nation … by getting rid of Jesus.”
It was a valid question in the early Church: Paul makes the point in 1 Corinthians that sophisticated people rarely receive Jesus. He just seems so foolish. So weak. So weird.
This, of course, puts them in stark conflict with the claims of the worldwide Christian church, which is 'Jesus this', and 'Jesus that'. and 'Jesus all day every day and twice on a Sunday'.
So in this sermon, I want to offer, especially from 2 Samuel 7: A reason for Jesus.
And the answer, ironically, is specifically and inextricable tied to Judaism.
For sermon, CLICK HERE.
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Pic on Flickr by Midiman.
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