Christian Podcast Central
One of the first things we run into as we begin reading the New Testament is Jesus’ teachings. In fact, just five chapters into the first of the four Gospels, the Gospel according to Matthew, Jesus begins what is widely known as the greatest sermon ever taught: The Sermon on the Mount. (Matthew 5-7).
Now, it’s often said that Jesus was a great teacher… but not more than a great teacher. Every time I hear this, it makes me literally laugh out loud. When I was in the eighth grade, I knew a guy who was a great teacher named Steve Redden. He taught really cool things and ignited passion within his students. He was indeed a great teacher. Yet, I just don’t put Jesus Christ and Steve Redden on the same plane.
So, when people say that Jesus was a great teacher (and not more than that), it’s a way for them to bestow honor on Him without claiming that He is God.
But I challenge you if you think that He was just a great teacher. Read through His teachings in the Gospels and really think about the things that He taught.
In a broad scope that’s what we’re going to do in this podcast. We will look at the main categories of Jesus’ teachings, as well as some of the larger principles that He was always trying to communicate to us.
Jesus’ teachings were always authoritative. Whatever Jesus said, GOES for us Christians. There is nothing that Jesus said that does not apply to us in terms of us being obedient to it in our lives. If you consider yourself a Christ-follower, you must obey the things that Jesus says in the Gospels. Now, He didn’t mean everything in a literal sense, sometimes His words were symbolic and we’ll explore some of that later.
Jesus often talks about what it looks like when someone is following God, and we need to pay careful attention to these messages. For instance, when He said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit”, and “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled”, Jesus often paints a picture for us of what the righteous person who trusts in God looks like. On the other hand, Jesus doesn’t say “On Tuesdays, always do this… On Wednesdays do this…”, etc. Often times, we want very specific instruction from God in our life circumstances. Jesus doesn’t always teach like that. His teaching was for people all over the world for all time. Therefore, He backs up and gives us principles for us to apply in our lives. He often talks about what our lives look like as we come into conformity with God’s will.
Jesus understands our deep pull towards sin and accounts for that in His teachings. He understands how evil we are. He understands that we have motives that war against one another. In fact, in one of His stories, he was teaching about prayer and He said, “If you, being evil, know how to give good gifts, won’t your heavenly Father give good things to those who constantly ask for them?” Jesus recognizes that we’re not perfect.
One of the last things that Jesus does in a large way throughout the four Gospels is talk about the kingdom of God, or as Matthew calls it, the kingdom of Heaven. This is the most debated theological subject that Jesus ever talked about. We’ll talk more at length about this when we discuss Jesus’ parables.
Jesus didn’t just teach… Jesus acted. He was the perfect representative of someone who talked the talk AND walked the walk. So, He not only told us what it was like to be right in our relationship with God, but He also showed us by His own actions what it looks like to be right with God.
Jesus healed many people on many occasions. Now, if you grew up going to Sunday school as a child, I’m sure yo unheard even a little bit about Jesus healing people. In fact, most people who have never stepped foot in a church know about the miraculous hearings that Jesus performed. Throughout His ministry, Jesus healed people who were deaf, blind, lame and even raised some people from the dead. He also healed some people who were stricken with leprosy. These were real events that happened to real people. But, these events happened over 2,000 years ago, so people today wonder about their accuracy. Were they merely stories to try to convince us today that Jesus was God? Well, in one aspect, the answer is Yes. These stories do illustrated the power and authority that Jesus has over disease and death. Still, they were real events, used by the Gospel writers, to bring out principles in our lives that we can take to the bank, even today. For instance, it’s interesting that Jesus often healed people with leprosy. As He did this, the text of the story offers little details that may seem insignificant. However, in their full context, these details are huge. One time, a man with leprosy wanted to be healed by Jesus. He said to Jesus, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus replied, “I am willing.” and Jesus reached out and touched the man. As soon as he touched the man, he was made whole. We may read that story today and think, “Wow, it’s touching that Jesus touched the man and healed him.” But in those days, leprosy was the absolute worst kind of skin disease that someone could have. No one could be within 20 feet of someone stricken with the disease. But Jesus showed how willing he was to come into contact with sinners by actually physically touching the diseased and unclean man. Remember, this was an actual event. Jesus really did heal that man. But one way that we can apply this lesson to our lives today is knowing how Jesus was willing to touch somebody who in His culture was considered “untouchable”. He reached out to people who were far outside the norms of “positive society” of His day. Likewise, although we may never heal a leper, we should still go outsides society’s bounds and show the love of Jesus to those who our culture would consider “unclean” or “untouchable”.
Jesus death and resurrection constitute almost one-third of all the material in the four Gospels. As you read the Gospels, you get the impression that the recorded events are fairly brief, until you get tot he point where He rides into Jerusalem on a donkey, in what is known as the “Triumphant Entry”. From that point on, in all four Gospels, the narrative slows down tremendously. It’s almost as though the Gospels are most interested in that last week of Jesus’ life, leading up to the cross and then the resurrection. In fact, all of Matthew 21-28 are dedicated to it, as are Mark 11-16, Luke 19-24 and John 12-22.
Here’s the point: the Old Testament points forward to the cross of Christ. The New Testament points back. So, as we get to New Testament history, there is stuff that happens after Christ’s resurrection (the acts of the apostles, the mission of the Church to carry out Jesus’ themes, the epistles to the various congregations – some of which were written 25 years after Jesus’ ascension into heaven). And yet, all of those books of the New Testament focus on looking back upon the work that Jesus did for us.
So, just as in the Old Testament, the New Testament points to the cross as the center of the entire Bible as the center of our redemption through Jesus.
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