Examine the Man

Music Well, good morning to all of you. I especially want to send greetings to Vero Beach and also to Fort Lauderdale Brethren, who this was a surprise this morning or even yesterday as we're finding out what their positivity rate was. And Andy will touch on that a little bit more, but hopefully we're going to be able to get together and move this thing through.

And also, I'll be looking forward to going to the Caribbean where we don't have these. Hopefully it'll come through you, too, so we don't have these issues. And we get back to doing what God wants us to do and be able to enjoy church services. I talk about this this morning because the title is Examine the Man.

Examine the Man. I thought of this as I was going through a YouTube video not long ago, and they were showing TV commercials that were big 20-30 years ago. And as I saw one that talked about Be Like Mike, it was a Gatorade commercial, many of you might remember it, about Michael Jordan and showed playing basketball and so forth. And they were making the point of everyone to be like Mike. Be like Mike and be able to play basketball like Mike, being able to do this stuff. And that then took me to my childhood years, and my sister used to have these Barbie dolls.

And then she would have different Barbie dolls, and they would be playing, and she would actually bribe me with something sweet to eat if I would play Barbie dolls with her. So that's not something I'd want to get out to everybody, but I guess it is now anyway. So my sister would get a kick out of it, she knew. But I remember seeing Barbie and looking at her, and this was a motto for young girls as young girls all played with Barbies.

And it's like, but that's not how real women look. That's not how. And I even went back yesterday because I was thinking about having seen a Barbie doll in 40 years. And I went back, and so they were wanting to take them out of commission a few years ago because they gave a bad self-image for girls that couldn't look like that or match that. Well, in reality, some people took and said, well, what would this Barbie doll look like?

And so they took her measurements there and found out she would be five foot nine inches tall and 110 pounds, which means she'd be anorexic. But then they had her measurements at 39, 18, and 33 that I think if anybody saw a real woman like that, it would freak them out looking at that. So, so not a real model for that of reality in our time today or even in the past.

But I want to look at examining today a man, or the man, that we are to model ourselves after. And that man, of course, was Jesus the Christ. So I want to look and have actually four areas here in this split sermon that I'd like you to consider. As we look at these scriptures, we can think about, well, wait a minute, he was God, God in the flesh, but he was flesh.

He was flesh, and that in itself gives us a reason as he walked on this earth. He felt pain. He felt what it was like to be cold, what it was like to be hot. The scripture, the Bible even tells us that we do not have a high priest that cannot sympathize with us. So being, I'm not God yet, far from it, just ask my wife, and you'll find that I can look at the man that walked, the only perfect man who ever walked on this planet, and I can find areas that I need to follow that example, but it takes a little examination to do that.

So let's go to the first scripture. Let's go to the first set of scriptures as we go to Philippians. Philippians 2. Philippians 2, and we'll start in verse 5. It says, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.

That's a hard thing, but it tells that we need to have that mind. We need to have that mind that he had when he was walking on earth in here. It's going down to verse 6. Who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God.

He was, then, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bond servant and coming in the likeness of men, which means people saw him. They saw when he might have been sick, when he had pain. If he was a carpenter and if anybody knows anything about carpentry, guess what?

There's splinters, there's cuts, there's all kinds of things that can happen. They saw that he was a man. It was evident to all those around him. Let's go to verse 8. And being found in appearance as a man, that I just talked about, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. He was willing to do that for us, and it took a certain mindset to be able to do what he did. It takes an incredible mind that we need to have, and that's why we need help doing it. To have the mind of Christ, we need the Spirit of God helping us with that mind, that mindset. It used to be a TV commercial many years ago, said that a mind is a terrible thing to waste, and I think we can all agree to that.

So, one of the first things about examining the man that walked on this earth is that incredible mind. Because it said, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.

That is one of the first things we need to do, and to do that we have to study the man, see how he acted, see how he reacted, and see if we can do the same thing. If we can control ourselves with our minds the way he controlled himself. Is it a challenge? Oh, you bet. But it's been given to us. God has gifted us with this incredible mind, this incredible brain, and that brain then can allow us to, with the Holy Spirit, to have the mind of Christ. So, that's the first thing I wanted to look at, the first scriptures, as we examine the man and compare ourselves to that model that was given to us almost 2,000 years ago. Do we want it? Do we want that mind?

I know in my case I have to pray for that mind. I have to pray for the mind of Christ.

But that's the first examination that I wanted to look at. The second one, the second one I'd like for you to look at is Matthew. Matthew 4. Matthew 4, verse 5. Matthew 4 and verse 5.

I set this up because in the fourth chapter of Matthew it tells us that the Spirit led Christ up, and I'll turn there myself, in Matthew 4 and verse 5. It led Him, as it said, by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Now, we know the story, most of us do, but I want to examine starting in verse 5. But we know that when He first made Christ there, it was in a place called Mount Quarantania. Mount Quarantania. It was in the wilderness, and this area here that we see behind me, they believe this was the area in which He was led, which is two miles from Jericho. So it was in the wilderness, as you can see, not that greater place to hang out. It didn't look like Him if He wanted food and water, which He didn't.

There wasn't much to try to find there, as we can imagine what it looked like 2,000 years ago. The locals now call it the Mount Temptation, or the Mount of Temptation, as they believe this is where, at this mountain, that Satan then did his best to throw our Savior off His path. So I want to look in verse 5, as we go back now, to the second temptation. He already had one about bread, and He said, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the Mount of God. So He gives us a hint here, and then He follows through with that statement in verse 5. Said, then the devil took him up into the holy city, set him on the pinnacle of the temple. So took him to the temple, and took him to the very top of the temple. And it's interesting there that scholars argue how tall was that temple. Some said it was a hundred feet, some says a hundred and fifty feet high. So wherever it was, whether it was a hundred, whether it was a hundred and twenty, whether it was a hundred and fifty, it was a high place. And this is what Satan wanted him to do. And he said to him, if, if you are the Son of God, throw yourself down for His written. He shall give His angels charge over you, and in their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against the stone, as we know he is quoting from Psalm 91. And so he's saying, go ahead, prove, show us, show me, because a human falling from a hundred to a hundred and fifty foot would not survive.

So he's saying, let's, let's, let's test this, this theory you have that you are the Son of God.

Verse 7, and Jesus said to him, is it now, or is it written again? You shall not tempt the Lord your God.

Isn't that amazing that Satan wanted to use that?

And so here he is testing, he is testing Christ to see if he was very much human, like the Jews of his day, because you remember the history of, of the Jews. He knew that the Jews were weak. They had shown that in the wilderness. They'd shown that for the last few thousands of years before Christ came. And so he's saying, well, I've got one here.

And he's human. And he's a, he's of Jewish blood. And so I know for one thing, they always had a problem with food as they did in the wilderness, that he tempted with him the very first temptation. Now the second temptation, he is saying, well, do you really trust God? Because we can read from the Old Testament that the nation of Judah really didn't trust in their God. And so he is really working with him. But every time he does this, what does Christ do? What is that motto for us? It's go to the Word of God. And we, just like Jesus Christ, we're tempted. We're tempted. We're tested daily by the prince of the power of the air. Do we follow that example, that model that Christ gives us? Do as we examine this man now, we're finding that, okay, he's got this incredible mind, but also what does he do? He has a Word of God. He uses the Word of God to defend the way he lives and the way he thinks. Let's go down to the third temptation in verse 8.

In verse 8, he said, again, the devil took him up to an exceedingly high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their glory. And he said to him, all these things I will give to you if you will fall down and worship me. Then Jesus said to him, away, away with you, Satan, for it is written, you shall not worship the Lord your God, and him only you shall serve. What a powerful statement. So not only was he testing not only the humanity of the food, the mind where he was testing him about whether he would tempt the Lord your God, but now, now one of the issues and problems that stood in that human body, that human bloodline that he was looking to go back on, was one of the main problems they went into captivity was idolatry. And so here, Lucifer is tempting him and trying to find the weakness of the world. Well, brethren, just like Satan examined him, we need to examine the man that was Christ, the man who was God, the man who walked on this earth. We need to examine and see if we can follow that model and use the word of God every day in our life, not only to defend what we believe, but just exactly who we are. That's incredible. So here we've looked at the mind, we've looked at Christ using the word of God, but there's something else. And I'd like to go there because the Garden of Gethsemane, as we know, was the last night, the place of the last night that Jesus as a human spent on earth. And he went to the Garden of Gethsemane, and he went to pray. As we can read in chapter 17 of John, it's the high priestly prayer. We have a picture of it in the back here, as it is today, and they still grow olives there. It's still a garden. But at Christ's time, it was where Christ went to have solace, but also to pray, to pray to God, because he knew what he was about to go through. And so as we examine this man, I want to look at what he actually said that last night. So I'd like if you would go with me as he was in the Garden of Gethsemane. Go to John chapter 17. I'd like to look at a few scriptures first, as Jesus is speaking to his father. And in verse 1, he says, Father, time has come. Glorify your son, that your son may also glorify you. And then he said, as you have given him authority, as you have given him authority over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as you have given him.

So where is that incredible mind? Others. It's on others, those that he had worked with, those who he loved, and that he recognized, okay, now I have this authority, so it's just not about me.

Verse 6. I can go down to verse 6. Christ said, I have manifested your name to the men whom you have given me out of the world. They were yours, you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. They've kept your word. So this was something that Christ had worked with them, making sure that they followed his example, followed his life, followed his word, which was God's word.

But then he did something else, and I'd like to turn there in John 17 in verse 25. He says, oh, righteous father, the world has not known you, but I have known you, and these have known that you sent me. It was obvious, it was obvious to his disciples, obvious for anyone who really wanted to see that this was a man sent from God, and that he constantly pointed them to the Father. But then he says in verse 26, and I have declared to them your name, and will declare it that the love, that the love which you love me, with which you have loved me, may be in them, and I in them.

Where's his focus? That the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I will be in them.

This incredible high priestly prayer that Christ was praying here, it's centered around what? It's centered around one of the the purpose for him coming as John 3 16 said, for God so loved the world. This was a savior for the entire world, and it's about the love of God. So as you examine, as you read scripture, as you read the Gospels every day, you read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, you come to this time where it is teaching us about the love of God.

By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have what? Love, agape, one to another. These were his teachings. You examine this man's life, and you find that love, love is way up here. Love is one of the things that he models. He modeled it to the children. Why did the children come and want to crawl up on his lap and disciples get away? But he knows that he's but he knows, knows, the sinners came to him because they felt the love.

Brethren, can we model this love in our lives? Can we be like Christ? Well, people see that, oh yes, we do things a little different because that's what God's word is. It's a clear line of demarcation between how people want to live their own lives and how God asks us to live our lives.

But the body of that, the body of Christ was about love, and we need to, we need to model this love so that people see in us a love they don't see in the world. Brethren, I love being able to read all the words that are given to us about this man, Jesus Christ, who walked on earth, who set an example for us that we should try to walk in his shoes, and they're big shoes to fill. We never will totally do it, but it doesn't keep us from trying.

Do we want that? Do you want that?

Let's go to my to my fourth point now, and I want to go back to the book of Luke. Let's go back to the book of Luke. Now, as we know, Luke had this incredible job that I think all of us would like to have. He was sent as a detective, as a writer, as a researcher, to go back after quite a few, a decade or two, and find out the story of the Messiah. Find out the inside story, and gather it, and write it down. I think Andy Diemer told us a couple weeks ago that it's even thought he might have, because who else would have known, he might have even interviewed Mary, Jesus' mother, because there's some insight here that only she would have had.

Can you imagine if that was you interviewing the mother of Christ that raised him, gave him birth, had the immaculate conception, gave him birth, raised him from a toddler to a 12-year-old, and saw the incredible example that he would have set for even her. He didn't lie, he didn't cheat, he didn't, even at a young age, didn't sin. Had to be amazing. But Luke got to talk to her, in all probability, about this. And so I want to look at this story, and I want you to think about it from perhaps another perspective of a 12-year-old child. Because I know how I was at 12 years old.

It definitely wasn't something that people would be going, oh, what a child I've got!

They might have said the other one, but and even my parents wondered sometimes because of my activities, where I was coming from. But here was an example, even to the world. So let's go there. Luke chapter 2 and verse 41 said, his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover. Why did they do that? Because they had to. Why was Jesus born from the nation of Judah? Not only was it predicted, but he had to because Judah was the only nation keeping the Holy Days. And Christ, the child could not sin. And so he had to make sure. So he put him with his family. And said in verse 42, and when he was 12 years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast. And it's interesting that at 12, young men were already following then their father's footsteps, as his father was a carpenter, as believed, and that he would have already, this was a time he would have gone to work. And so here at 12 years old, they considered him like a man, because you went out and you worked. You went and you worked like a man at 12 years old.

So here they went up there. And so this was different than the previous Passovers that he would have observed, because now he was a considered a responsible young man. And so in verse 43, verse 43, and when they had finished the days, that'd be the days of Unleavened Bread, as they returned, the boy Jesus lingered behind in Jerusalem, and Joseph and his mother did not know it. Why? Because everybody left the feast to come together. And so they would travel as a family, they would travel as groups, and so there might have been a, there was probably a mass exodus heading up out of the city at the time. And so here they didn't worry because Jesus, the child, was responsible. And so they weren't worried about where he was because it's safe, but then things took a turn. Verse 40. So when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem seeking him. So what happened? They were a day out. They were a day out, and they realized, where's, where's their son? And he wasn't there. So they would have had to turn around.

And so when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem seeking him. And in verse 46, says, So it was that after three days they found him in the temple sitting in the midst of teachers, most listening to them and asking them questions. So here they had gone a day out, which in all likelihood would have been probably 10 miles by foot. So here they, where they walked 10 miles, and then they didn't find him. So then they had to come another 10 miles or a full day back to try to find him. And so then they would have spent to take up the three days another day, finding him in the city of Jerusalem. And they found him in the temple sitting in the midst of teachers. And people were awed. Verse 47. And all who heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers. So even they would have had questions for him. They were amazed at what he knew, what he was talking about. Why? Because he wasn't talking about, oh wait, I get back home, I want to go fishing on the Sea of Galilee. No, there was something else. There was something else on his mind. And if you go back and you read John 2 and the story of Nicodemus when he first started his ministry, you must imagine that he started his ministry at 30 years old. So here he was 12. So 18 years later, he was back in Jerusalem starting his ministry. And the Pharisees came because they were amazed at him. And they sent their leader Nicodemus to try to recruit him. But you can imagine if you were a Pharisee, if you were a teacher, and you saw this 12-year-old young man, wasn't really a child, 12-year-old young man sitting there talking to you, asking you questions, answering things that how could a 12-year-old know? Wouldn't you remember that 18 years later?

Yes! So it would have been amazing that many of those same teachers or Pharisees or leaders would have said, wow, let's go get it. I remember when he was 12 years old because this didn't happen very often. Let's go down to verse 48. Verse 48. So when they saw him, they were amazed. Amazed? Why? Were they amazed that because they had finally found him? No. They were amazed. Here he was sitting with the leaders of the religions, the leaders of their nation at the time.

And his mother said to him, son, why have you done this to us? Look, your father and I sought you anxiously. She was concerned. Was she upset? I would say so.

But then these incredible words are left to us. And he said to them, why did you seek me? Did you not know that I must be about my father's business? About his father's business.

An incredible statement at 12 years old. His focus was about the business, the business of God, what he was given to do. My father's business. How about us? What a model for us. Are we daily about our father's business? Are we about being a representative of that business?

Look, it's an amazing thing because the dynamics of this shows us that God's business was not that complicated. That even a 12 year old could understand what God is requiring of us. What God asked us to do. A 12 year old could understand it. I hope we all understand that. I hope we can get our focus just like this 12 year old. We can follow that example, that model that he gave even at 12 years old. That his focus is on the spiritual, not just the physical. When I was 12 years old, all I thought about was playing ball and eating. There were things that a 12 year old did in Jesus' time, but his focus was on the things from above, not the things of this earth. That Christ is referenced to us today. So as I wrap this up, I'd like for you to consider these things because I need, I need I need, as I examine this man, as I examine the man, definite article, the, as I examine this man daily with my reading. That's why I really feel great about, I really feel empowered reading as I follow that example. But here, we have four things that we talked about today. I need the mind. I need the mind of Christ. I need, secondly, I need the Word of God. I need to be studying that word so that I can further pattern myself after this model. And one of the things that, if you read this and examine the man, you see that one of the main focus of his life was love. Love. Do I exhibit that love? Can I, can, can I be that shining light of love to others, not only my family, but others in the world, to I show that compassion? Do, can I follow that example? And finally, number four, number four, business. My father's business. Is that where my focus is? Is that where my focus needs to be? Only you can answer that question. Is something that we carry on? Well, yeah, you're a minister. Oh, no, I did this before I was ever a minister, and I'll do this after I'm no longer a minister, because that's been given to each and every one of us to be Christ-like.

So we must be about, also, our father's business. So, until we see each other next week, brethren, how about taking this week, examine the man, and see if he is a perfect model for you and me for the next six days.