I heard a conversation between two people. The first person asked the second if he believed in Jesus. The second responded that he believed that Jesus existed. The first person said, “Then you believe in Jesus.” The second person responded again that he believed that Jesus had existed. The first person went away seemingly satisfied.
We throw that phrase, “Do you believe in Jesus?” around a lot. What are we really asking?
Many people believe that:
Jesus existed
Jesus was a great man
Jesus was a great teacher
Jesus was a prophet
Jesus does not really leave any of those options open to us.
In John 12:44-50 Jesus shares five things about Himself that move Him out of the category of “merely existed” or “being a great man” or “a great teacher” or “a prophet“. What Jesus shares puts Him in a higher category than an any human.
John 12:44-50
Then Jesus cried out, “When a man believes in Me, he does not believe in Me only, but in the One who sent Me. When he looks at Me, he sees the One who sent Me. I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in Me should stay in darkness. As for the person who hears My words but does not keep them, I do not judge them, For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it. There is a judge for the one who rejects Me and does not accept My words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day. For I did not speak of My own accord, but the Father who sent Me commanded Me what to say and how to say it. I know that His commands lead to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told Me to say.”
Jesus says that He is God.
Jesus says that believing Him is the same as believing God.
Jesus says that seeing Him is the same as seeing God.
If I said that believing in me is the same as believing in God or that seeing me is the same as seeing God, I would either be lying or crazy.
I have never healed anyone.
I have never calmed a storm.
I have never kicked a demon out of anyone’s life.
I have never miraculously fed thousands of people with a small amount of food.
I have never raised anyone from the dead.
Jesus did all these things and He did them more than once.
Jesus’ life backed up His claim to be God.
Oh, yeah. He rose from the dead!
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is knowing and following Jesus as God.
Jesus is light.
Jesus makes the claim that He is the very essence of light and that if we believe in Him as God we will never walk in darkness.
In Psalm 4:6 David prays, “Many are asking, ’Who can show us any good?’ Let the light of your face shine upon us, O Lord.”
Jesus is telling us that He is the light of God’s face.
If I or any mere human were to claim that we were the light of God’s face, then again, we would be lying or crazy.
Jesus as recorded in Matthew 17 shone with a light that was so overpowering that Peter, James, and John could not look upon Him. It says that Jesus’ face shone like the sun and that His clothes became as white as the light.
Jesus didn’t just claim to be light, He demonstrated the very essence of light.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is walking in Jesus as the Light.
Jesus is the Savior of the world.
Jesus says that He didn’t come into the world to judge the world, but to save the world.
In Luke 19:10 Jesus says, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
Jesus hung out with sinners.
In Matthew 9:11 Jesus’ disciples are asked by the Pharisees, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
Jesus ate with sinners because He came to be the Savior of the world.
We as the church need to really keep in mind that Jesus didn’t come into the world to judge or condemn people, but to save people. Many people see the church not as people who are in the world to help and serve out of love, but see us as being here to judge and point out all the bad things they do.
We need to become much more like Jesus in this area.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is surrendering your life to Jesus as your one and only Savior.
Jesus hears directly from God.
Jesus says that He does not speak on His own but what the Father commands Him to say.
Jesus claims to have direct communication from God and that He speaks only the word that is given to Him.
This is not just knowing God’s Word.
This is not just an impression.
This is not just a strong feeling.
This is a direct revelation from God.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is seeing Jesus and hearing His words as a direct revelation from God.
Jesus is eternal life.
Jesus says that the words He speaks are eternal life.
We have made eternal life something God gives us. Jesus says that eternal is Him and the words He speaks.
Jesus doesn’t give us eternal life, He is eternal life.
Jesus raised three people from the dead:
Jarius’ Daughter
Widow of Nain’s Son
Lazarus
Jesus didn’t do these with medicines or medical procedures or by enlisting any other people to help. Jesus by simply speaking restored life to these three dead people.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living based on the truth that Jesus is eternal life.
In Acts 17:17 Luke writes that the early church turned the world upside down by proclaiming Jesus as King.
Jesus is the Lord of lords and King of kings. We as followers of Jesus need to proclaim Jesus not as a good man, a great teacher or a prophet. We need to proclaim to the world who Jesus says He is - Lord and Savior of all creation.
With Jesus as King Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls
Joe
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