SERMON

The Supremacy of Jesus

Most people believe that Jesus was the greatest religious teacher and prophet who brought to mankind a unique message that had the potential to make their lives more meaningful and to give them some type of hope for the future.   Most religions include Him somewhere in their faith.   Muslims recognize Him as a significant prophet and teacher, but they see their prophet Mohammed as a person who built upon His teaching and therefore to them he is the most respected prophet.   Jehovah’s Witnesses will recognize Jesus in their scheme of things, but put Him in second place to the God of the Old Testament, teaching that He was merely a good man with useful teachings.

There are even branches of the orthodox Christian church who put Jesus in second place to someone else.  Take the Roman Catholic Church for instance:  it believes that the church itself has the final authority, and the Pope speaks in behalf of Jesus.   Its members are not encouraged to seek Jesus personally for guidance, but are instructed to access Him through their local priest, who follows the policies of the Pope, who is reputed to be the only person on earth to have full communion with Christ.

The important thing for us to consider is:  who, or what do we worship?  Knowing this will shape our personal future and the future of our church (in our case, St Aidan’s).

In considering this question, we need to look at some selected examples from God’s Word, the Bible.

1. We need to hear about the revelation that the Apostle Peter received when asked by Jesus, “who do you think I am?” and what that means to us.
2. We need to example the experience of Abraham when told by the Lord to sacrifice his son Isaac, and that this may apply to our church at this important time in its history.
3. We also need to consider the calling of Gideon to fight an army which greatly outnumbered anything that he could muster, and how this would show what sort of battle we are able to fight for the Lord.
4. We also need to look at the failure of King Saul to be patient in waiting for the prophet Samuel to return before going ahead, contrary to instructions, and offering the sacrifice to the Lord prematurely.
5. We also need to see what it means to be true disciples, and to take up the cross and follow Jesus.

1. Peter’s revelation.  Peter was not an educated man.  He was a fisherman.  He was a practical man who knew his business in that he knew how to catch fish and to market them.   This was not to say that he was not intelligent.  When he got the call to follow Jesus, he did it without hesitation.   He knew in his heart that there was something about Jesus that filled the longing in his heart for reality and meaning for life.  This was enough for him to leave his business and livelihood behind and to follow Jesus wherever that led him.

There came a point where Jesus asked him straight out: “Who do you think I am?”   Peter answered without hesitation, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”   Jesus affirmed him by saying, “Blessed are you Simon, because flesh and blood has not revealed this to you.”

So the first point I want to make, this morning, is that the full realization that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, does not come through natural learning.  People can try and teach us about Christ until the cows come home, but we will not grasp the full truth of it until the Holy Spirit Himself reveals it to us.   True Christianity, as opposed to mere churchianity, comes to us by revelation.   This makes the difference between religious church-goers, who may be very devout in their way, and true Christians whom God recognizes as His children.

A person can be brought up in the church, but may never come to the full revelation of who Christ actually is, because they have trusted their parents’ faith, that of the minister,  their Sunday School teacher, or other mentors.  They can be loyal church members, knowing the Westminster Confession by heart, and their Bible from cover to cover; but that will not save them.  They can still be lost in their sins.

What saves a person is the full revelation that Jesus Christ is Lord, the Son of God, Who died on the cross for their sin.  This revelation can only come by the Holy Spirit.  The Bible says that no person can come to Christ except it were given of them of the Father, and no person can come to the Father except the Holy Spirit draw them.

God has no “grandchildren”.  Every person here must come before Christ individually, and receive their own personal revelation of exactly who Jesus is.  Peter, in his sermon, in response to the people asking him, “What must we do to be saved?”  he replied, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.”   Therefore, to become a true Christian, we must believe on Jesus, that is, put our whole trust in Him and live our lives having Him as Lord.

If Jesus is not Lord of all, He is not Lord at all.   This is God’s standard for us.

With regard to St Aidan’s, it is now clear that if our church is going to have a future, then Jesus has to be supreme, in our decision making, in the type of minister we call, the type of ministry and outreach efforts we engage in, and the way we behave toward each other.

So this is the first point that needs to be made.

My second point is (2) Abraham need to learn who was to be Lord in his life.

God worked a miracle in his and Sarah’s life by allowing them to have a son in their extreme old age.  This was Isaac.  God had made definite promises concerning Isaac, in that a whole nation was going to come from this boy.  This nation was going to be God’s chosen nation which was going to bring the knowledge of God to the whole world.  In fact, the whole future of what God was going to do in human history rested upon Isaac.

Yet one day, God told Abraham to go up to Mount Mariah and sacrifice the boy to Him there.   Abraham obeyed the Lord without question, and it was only when the Lord saw that Abraham was definitely going to follow through with his obedience that He stopped him.   The Lord knew then that Abraham as accepted the Lord as supreme and was prepared to be totally obedient to Him.

This has significant issues concerning our church at present.  Half of our membership have left.  We are without an organist.  Our previous minister has written a report to Presbytery recommending that our church building be sold.   There are voices amongst us saying that St Aidan’s no longer has a future.

But what is God saying?   Have we heard from the Holy Spirit?

What if the Lord is putting us in the same position as He did with Abraham?   What if He told the elders of the church to put the knife into St Aidan’s?  Would they do it in obedience to Him, or would they prefer to retain St Aidan’s even though God Himself was instruction something else?

Therefore, who are we worshiping?  The Lord Jesus Christ, or St Aidan’s?   Because if we are putting St Aidan’s before Christ, then we are worshiping an idol, and the Lord has said, “You shall have no other gods before Me.”   This would put us in the same position as Roman Catholics, who make the church predominant in their dealings with God.   If this is the case, then we would understand the Lord telling the elders to do away with St Aidan’s, if this was a means of getting us back on track with knowing and following Jesus as Lord.

The next example is (3) Gideon obeyed the Lord in spite of his personal weakness and the lack of resources to fight a major war.

The Lord called Gideon, who was up until that time, an insignificant farmer, to raise an army to fight the Midianites who were invading the land of Israel.   It took him quite a while to be convinced, and the famous story of the fleece is an example of how God was patient with him until he became convinced that this was actually the voice of God calling him to do this.

Then, once having raised an army, which would have had its work cut out for it winning a battle against a force that vastly outnumbered them and was, in its time, the most modern and well-equipped army in the world.  (We are not talking about a few swords and sandals here.  We are talking about a major invasion force which Israel had no hope of defending itself against.), God then told Gideon to reduce the numbers of his army until there was only 300 soldiers.

God had put the defending army in a position in which only a divine miracle would save the day, which was what actually happened.  The battle was not won by natural means, but as Gideon obeyed God and made Him Lord, the Lord was able to fight with him, and a mighty victory was won.

The battle we, at St Aidan’s, have to fight is not a natural one.  We will never win by natural means.  We need the Holy Spirit to work with us if we are to realize our vision of being an effective voice for the Lord in our community.   In the natural, the task is impossible;  but what is impossible for us, is quite possible with God.  All He requires is our obedience to wait on Him in order to hear His voice, and then to follow His instructions.

The next point I want to make is (4) Saul did not do as instructed but did the right thing at the wrong time.

King Saul was commissioned by Samuel to offer sacrifices before the Lord, but before he could do so, Samuel had to go elsewhere,  instructed him to wait until he returned before offering the sacrifices.  After a very long time, Samuel had not yet returned, and Saul, in his impatience, went ahead and offered them.   As a result of his disobedience, he lost his kingdom.

This a lesson for us:  we know that we need to do things in order to get our church back on track.  We need a new minister.  We need to set up programmes to get people in our community to come to our church.    There are those in our midst who are clamouring to get a new minister as soon as possible.  But there are dangers in rushing in and doing things before we have heard from the Lord.

The Lord knows what we have need of before we even ask Him, but He will hold back to see if we will have the patience to wait on Him until we hear His voice.   This is a test of our obedience.

The last time we needed a new minister, we rushed in and got someone and then had to suffer for three years under a ministry that did not preach the gospel.   Now, because of our unwillingness to wait for the voice of the God to instruct us, we are in a position where we have lost half of our membership and have the impending sale of our church property hanging over our heads.

I believe that if we continue rushing headlong into things that God has not told us to do, then we will lose everything we have.  Saul lost his whole kingdom, even after being anointed by Samuel himself to be king of Israel, and was replaced by David, a person who turned out to be someone who was willing to put God first and obey Him.

So, my fifth and last point is this:  To be true disciples of Christ, we must take up our cross and follow Jesus, wherever that may lead us.

Being in the will of God involves self denial.   At St Aidan’s, it might mean coming Sunday after Sunday and not getting much out of the services for ourselves, put putting into the services and the lives of others valuable things arising out of our talents.

When people decide to lay down the cross, and make decisions based on their desire for spiritual self gratification, and leave a church before hearing from the Lord, they are denying everyone here their talents which God has given them for the building up of this church.

If a person has heard from God, and they gave gone somewhere else because they believe that they are led of God to do so, there is no argument about that.  We have to bow to the wisdom and will of God in that.

But there have been people who have left St Aidan’s, or who have withdrawn their involvement and sometimes their presence because they have heard someone say that St Aidan’s is finished, and that there is no future for this church.  What voice told them that?

There are people who have given years of valuable services to this church, and when the previous minister left, they became discouraged and withdrew their involvement and started saying negative things about what was happening.  What voice told them that?

Does the Lord work that way?  Does the Lord inspire people to go around saying that St Aidan’s is finished, when He has not told the Session, the ruling body which He has ordained to lead this church?  The Session has heard no such thing from the Lord.  Then, I would boldly assert that the Lord has not being saying these things at all.

Be not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.  If the Lord is telling us to wait on Him, then we need to wait patiently.  Through faith and patience, we inherit the promises of God.

It would be better to have just ten people coming here whose hearts are fully grounded in the will of God and the supremacy of Jesus, because then God can do His work.  If every person here decided to put their trust in the Lord, make Jesus Lord of their lives and Lord of this church, then I believe this church would be completely full of good, solid, worshipping people sooner than we think.

But while there are those who are not prepared to put Jesus on the throne of their lives, and to wait for Him, then the Lord has to continue to hold back until He has a body of people here who are in absolute unity that He is Lord and that His will is to be done.

Perhaps, like Gideon’s army, our numbers need to be reduced until we have a solid group of people who are prepared to take up their cross, deny themselves, and make Jesus Lord of their lives and of this church.

Moses said to the rebellious Israelites,  “Who is on the Lord’s side?”   Those people were then divided into two groups:  those who made the Lord their Lord,  and those who were determined to continue in their own way.  One group perished, and the other group went on to do the Lord’s will in their lives, and in the development of the people of God.

The challenge for us is, “Who is on the Lord’s side this morning?”  Who is prepared to make Jesus their personal Lord, and the Lord of St Aidan’s?  The choice is yours, and your future will depend on the choice you make today.

I want to say to those who have never accepted Jesus as their Saviour.  You also have a choice.   Are you prepared to believe on Jesus – that He died on the cross for your sin?   Are you prepared to base your life on Him and what He instructs and leads you into for your future?

The choice is yours to make, and what will happen to you for the future of your life and in eternity will depend on what you decide today.