The Way of Suffering: A World Without Jesus

MESSAGE TRANSCRIPTION: 

Today’s message is titled:

“A World Without Jesus.”

Now, I don’t know if you’ve thought about this, but what would it look like if we lived in a world where there was no Jesus? I mean literally right now we would have to have to ask the question: “What would our country look like? What would our world look like?” I mean, you understand it becomes problematic if Jesus didn’t live because I mean, literally we would have to ask the question: “What is today’s date?” Because you understand that when we write down the date, when we write down that today is March the 17th, 2024, we’re referencing what the birth of Jesus that happened 2024 years ago. It becomes problematic. What would be some other issues that would emerge if Jesus Christ did not come to this earth? The question would be is which hospital would you go to?

Would it be St. Mary’s? Would it be St. Luke’s? Would it be St. Joseph? What would be the hospital that you would go to? I mean, just think about what the world would look like. What would a disaster would happen and you make a donation to the Disaster Relief Fund, and we’ve all done that. Where does the money go to? There would be no Red Cross. There’d be no Baptist relief efforts. There’d be no Samaritan Purse. There’d be no World Vision. I mean, just think about how problematic life would be. What would the world look like if there’s no Jesus? Think about our education system. Think about the ivory lead schools, Harvard and Yale and Brown and all of those other ones. Where would your children go for education? Because you understand that all of those schools, they were started, established to do what? To train ministers to take the gospel to the world.

And over time they drifted from their mission and they’ve become something altogether differently. But the reason why I bring this up is because I think that the culture is saying to you and I that the world would be a better place without Jesus and without the church and without Christians. And there’s a certain part of me that believes that you believe that as well because aren’t many Christians silent when it comes to the things of Christ and the church? I mean, just think about it. I mean, there’s people who says that the world will be better without religion because religion is evil. Religion divides. If you think about it, what happened during the pandemic? There’s all kinds of division that took place. There’s people for this party. There’s people for this party. There’s people for this occasion for that. Vaccines are great. Vaccines are evil; is that you don’t care about people’s lives.

You don’t care about black people lives, they don’t matter. And then you go: “Well, you don’t care about the old or the young. You don’t care about any lives.” And we just became divisive. And we believe maybe at a certain level, maybe the world would be a better place without Christians in it, without churches, because that church made that mistake. That leader fell into that sin and that ministry leader got called into that sin and that minister did that, and that woman did that. And we hear all the horror stories. And lemme just say something to you before you buy into the thought pattern of the world, of this fantasy world that could maybe exist, this false utopia, if you will, you better be careful what you wish for. Because you see, where I see the world going without Christ, without Jesus, without the church, without Christians is a bunch of storage units and weed shops.

And what kind of world is that? It’s not a very appealing world and a lot of storage units and weed shops. What would life be without Jesus? Think about this. There’d be no Florence Nightingale. At the age of 17, decided from her own personal wealth to go and start volunteering at hospitals, serving doctors, serving patients. Can God call you to be a nurse? I sure hope so. And modern day nursing has been influenced by this woman who gave her life, who felt the call of God to go and to serve patients and families and doctors who at that time didn’t really have any help. And she led to the movement of chaplains who would come into the hospital and minister with the families. And so just think about a world without Florence Nightingale. Think about this. If you go back and read history before the Birth of Christ, is that the pagan world at that time, “Stanley Cup just got turned over.” But anyway, it always happens.

Pagan world, not saying Stanley’s pagan at all. Just the pagan world here. When you go back to the pagan world, you go back to the ancient days, there wasn’t a real huge emphasis on humanitarian work. I mean, most of the gods of that day and age was not known for their warm fuzzy feelings. They were not known for their compassion and their love. In fact, you never heard a pagan God that was for the down and out, for those who were at risk, for those who were afflicted, for those who were marginalized or for the stranger. And then Jesus Christ comes along. And when Jesus comes along, what happens? He’s preaching a message of what? Of love, of compassion, of healing, of being the great physician. And things begin to change because of Jesus Christ. And I don’t know if you know this or not, but you can go back and you can study this in history, is that in the Roman Empire?

Is that if you as a family, you gave birth to a son and you was proud of your son, you’d go: “Alright, great.” And then you had a daughter. You know what? If you didn’t want to have a girl, you know what you could do with her? Just toss her on the street. Back in that day and age, if you had a child and it was deformed in any form or fashion, you could just toss it on the street. And guess who would go out in the evening of each day and they would roam the streets looking for babies that’s been discarded before the wild animals begin to attack them. Guess who were the ones out there searching for the babies? It was Christians. And Christians underminded the Roman government from the inside out with our compassion and our kindness and our devotion to Jesus.

Think about Martin Luther, John Calvin, and other reformists who brought about this movement for universal education, where taxes would pay for your education so that men and women could somehow or another read and be liberated. Think about Martin Luther King Jr, who changed the world through his message of peace. Even though he was an imperfect man, he still helped to change the world. Think about the world without John 3:16. Think about the world without Billy Graham or Mother Teresa. Think about the world without the Tim Tebow Foundation who puts on a global prom for the special needs to say to them: “You are valued. You are loved. We see you, we celebrate you.” Think about a life without Jesus and think about the bill that the United States government would have to pick up as a result of The Church not being in existence. I don’t know if you understand this or not, but it’s almost a 3 trillion impact of funds that goes through the local church in America, to the other nonprofits in the world to feed the hungry, to help those with utility bills and rent.

It’s a 3 trillion dollar industry that would have to be taken up by the government if it wasn’t for the local church. And 50 of the largest relief efforts, organizations that provide care, out of the 50, 20 of them are Christian organizations. And why do I bring all this up? Is because we’re going to read today of a story about three individuals who wanted Jesus eradicated, wanted Jesus to be gone, and they thought that the world would be a better place if Jesus didn’t exist. And so we’re going to look at these three different people from the gospel of Luke. Jesus has given his discourse. He spoke to his disciples that had the last supper. Judas has betrayed him, his disciples have all abandoned him. We pick up in Luke 22:63, and if you’re there, just say Amen.

“The men who are guarding Jesus begin mocking and beating Jesus. They blindfolded him and demanded, ‘Prophesy! Who hit you?’ And they said many other insulting things to Jesus. And at daybreak the council of the Als of the people, both the chief priests and the teachers of the law, met together, and Jesus was led before them. ‘If you are the Messiah,’ they said, ‘tell us.’ Jesus answered, ‘If I tell you, you’ll not believe me, and if I ask you, you will not answer. But from now on, the son of man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God.’ And they all ask, ‘Are you then the son of God? ‘And he replied,’You say that I am.’ Then they said, ‘Why do we need any more testimony? We’ve heard it from his own lips.’ Then the whole assembly rose and led him off the Pilate. And they begin to accuse him, saying, ‘We have found this man subverting or nation. He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be the Messiah, a king.’ So Pilate asked Jesus, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ And Jesus replied and said, ‘You have said so.'”

Luke 22:63

The first of the three who think that the world will be a better place without Jesus if he was dead, is the Jewish Sanhedrin. And the reason they wanted Jesus gone is because they were threatened by Jesus. You have to understand that the Sanhedrin council was made up of 71 individuals. It was modeled after the Governship that Moses had established back with the nation of Israel. When they had come out of captivity, and was going into the promised land, and the 71st vote was always given to the high priest.

And the reason why it’s given to the high priest is because there’d be no tie, and someone would have to make the decision: Which way that we were going to go. And the high priest was the one who would cast the final vote that would decide the tiebreaker. And the other 70 positions were given because they had “clout”, because they had money, they had bought their way onto the council, but really the only vote that really mattered was the high priest in his vote. And the high priest thought that he was in charge of all of Jerusalem. But what he failed to understand is that the Roman government always had puppet individuals in place who thought that they were in control because the Roman government, they understood that we would let them think that they’re in control. If they think they’re in control, then we can set back and make sure everything goes in the direction that we want it to go.

And so this is what they did. And so as a result, these 71 men are all together and they’re wanting to get rid of Jesus. And the reason why they’re wanting to get rid of Jesus is because this beef, this confrontation with Jesus, has been brewing for some time. It was something that’s been coming for a long time, and it comes because of a man named Annas. Everybody say Annas. Now, Annas was the high priest at one time, then he stepped aside, then his sons became high priests at different times and after his sons had become high priests, then his son-in-law became the high priest. And it was customary in that day and age that whenever they would bring a criminal in the Jewish Council, they would take it to the high priests home. Now on this particular occasion, they didn’t go to Caiaphas, who was Annas’ son-in-law.

They didn’t take Jesus to Caiaphas’ house. They took Jesus to Annas’ house. Now, why did they take Jesus to Annas’ house? Because say it with me. He was The Godfather. Say it with me, The Godfather. He was the power broker. He was the one that was ultimately in charge and he had “beef” with Jesus. Now you’re saying: “Well, how did he have “beef” with Jesus?” Well, it’s really simple. Remember the chronological story of Jesus? Jesus gets baptized. Remember the Father says: “This is my beloved son and whom I’m…” What? Well please remember then Jesus goes out into the wilderness and he’s there for 40 days and 40 nights, he comes back, and the first thing that he does, he goes to the temple. And when he goes to the temple, what does he do? He starts doing what?

Turning tables over. And he says: “You’ve turned my house into a den of thieves when it should be a house of prayer.” Remember that? Now, here’s the thing that you need to understand. And some of you’re saying: “I knew the church shouldn’t be selling anything at church.” That’s not what this is talking about. That’s not the elephant in the room, and it’s perfectly okay. Jesus is upset because in the temple court where he turned over the tables where the money exchange was taking place, the animal exchange was taking place. That part of the temple of the court had a nickname. And I want you to say the nickname with me out loud. “Annas’ Bazaar,” right? Here’s what happened. In this particular part of the court of the temple, there was this innocent bazaar, and here’s what would happen. So you and your family, you’re living far away.

You’re coming to Jerusalem, you’re coming to the temple, and you’re going to offer a sacrifice. So you didn’t want to bring a lamb the whole way there, right? Because if you brought a lamb, it’d be a lot of work. You’d pack extra food. And so what you would do, you’d get to the temple, you get to the court of the temple and you’d go into Annas’ Bazaar, and you would do what? You’d reach into your pocket and you would buy a lamb that you would sacrifice. All of a sudden, Annas and his crew begin to say: “We can charge whatever we want to. We can literally print money.” And they’re taking advantage of God’s people when it came to worshiping and making the sacrifice. So it made Jesus in furious. And this is the reason why he turns the table over. But it gets better than that.

Remember that when you came from a different part of the providence, you would be dealing in Roman currency. Now you couldn’t take Roman currency and offer it up as a temple offering because why? Whose image was on the Roman currency? Caesar, remember what Jesus said? They was asking him about paying taxes. He said: “Hey, give me a coin.” He goes: “Whose image is this?” And what did they say? “Caesar.” And what did Jesus say? “Give to what belongs to Caesar and give to God what belongs to God.” Remember that? I mean, you just could never trap Jesus, but that’s another story. And so then you would come with your Roman currency. You could offer it up because there’s no graven image allowed in the temple. And so you’d go to the currency exchange, you’d give them your Roman government money and you’d trade it in for temple currency.

And during the trade, guess what happened? They made money off of the trade of the currency. And Annas is the one who developed all this. But it gets better than that. Just say, Josh, that you and Jaren, you really had a really nice lamb that you wanted to sacrifice at the temple so you decide to bring it with you, right? So you bring it on the journey, you feed it, you pamper it. I mean, ever since the animal has been born, this is an Unblemish animal that you’re going to sacrifice one day. You get to the temple, and guess what? Annas and his guys, they had an “inspection station” to make sure that the animal that you was going to sacrifice had no blemish on it. And guess what took place? Every single time that someone would present a lamb to be sacrificed, guess what the inspectors would say?

“Josh, you and Jaren, you’re going to offer up this blemish lamb. You’re wanting to die and go to hell, right? You don’t want to do that. So what we want to do, we want to trade you and give you a lamb that has no blemish on it.” And you would go: “Okay, we would do that.” And in order to make the trade, guess what you would have to do? Put some money toward it. And guess what happened to that blemish lamb that you had? That blemished lamb went into the pen that was known as “Unblemished lambs.” You see how this worked? And so Annas was upset with Jesus because Jesus threatened his entire enterprise. He was threatened by the fact that Jesus was going to take it all. And so Jesus must go. And so they accused Jesus of being guilty of blaspheming. And then all of a sudden as they’re whisking Jesus away to Pilate, they’re saying to Pilate that he’s undermining the Roman government is not willing to pay taxes. So we get to Luke chapter 23:4 now, and we pick up the story. So Annas’ Bazaar; Annas’ wanting to get rid of Jesus, he’s in threat to the whole enterprise. We come to verse 23:4.

“Then Pilate announced to the chief priests and to the crowd, ‘I find no basis for a charge against this man.'” I mean, he’s smelling the stink in the entire whole thing, but they insisted, “H’e stir up the people all over Judea by his teaching, he started in Galileo and has come all the way here.’ On hearing this, Pilate asked if the man was a Galilean. And when he learned that Jesus was under Herod’s jurisdiction…'” He goes: “Oh, I know the perfect man that consented Jesus to death.” And so what does Paul do? “He sends Jesus to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at the time. And when Herod saw Jesus. He was greatly pleased because for a long time he’d been wanting to see Jesus. From what he had heard about him, he hoped to see him perform a sign of some sort. He plied him with many questions, but Jesus gave him no answer. The chief priests and the teachers of the laws, they were standing there and they was vehemently accusing Jesus then inherit and his soldiers ridiculed and mocked him. Dressing him in an elegant robe, they sent him back to Pilate.”

Luke 23:4

Notice this, my friends… “That day, Herod and Pilate became…” What does it say? “They became friends.” And at one time they were what? enemies. Can I tell you something? I’ve seen this time and time again in the church, is that there’s people who don’t like each other that are enemies that will come together to become friends, to destroy the pastor, the church and the leadership. Let me tell you something, I would be very careful to get in bed with an enemy who wants to hurt the local church of Jesus Christ.

It’s a dangerous place to be, but Herod makes this realization that Jesus needs to go. And the reason that Jesus needs to go is because Jesus is unwilling to entertain him. Now, I don’t know if you know this about Herod, but Herod just wanted a little bit of religion but not enough to change him. You have to understand that there’s people in this room right now, they want a little bit of Jesus. They want to check the box. As Amanda said: “I went to church this morning, ‘but they don’t want to be changed. They don’t want to be transformed. They don’t want their life to intersect with God’s life.’ I just love that song. It just gives me these goosebumps when we sing it. I just love it. It’s just so wonderful.” But their lives never changed. And this is Herod. Herod wanted a little bit of Jesus.

He was like the ideal of being entertained. He’s like: “I’m obsessed with Jesus.” And when he gets the note from Pilate that Jesus is coming his way, he goes, ecstatic. He’s going: “Woo-hoo! Jesus is coming my way.” He puts down his Turkey leg, he wipes his mouth, the God that’s feeding him grapes. He says: “Hey, go over there and sit down, be quiet.” And he goes, and he sets on his throne and he goes: “How many of you wants to see Jesus? I want to see him. I want to see Jesus perform. I want to see Jesus do a miracle. I want to see Jesus to entertain me. Anybody else is in?” It was like the latest fad in the world. It’s like oatmilk latte that you have from Starbucks. It’s the latest fixation. It’s like Lululemon’s pants who makes your butt look good and nice and square or whatever. I mean, it’s like all of those things that you go for, it’s the latest fad. And for Herod, the latest fad was Jesus. And here’s the reality that you need to understand, is that Jesus Christ does not do birthday parties.

Jesus Christ is not into entertaining anyone. Jesus doesn’t do birthday parties. You know why he doesn’t do birthday parties? You remember that Herod had a man in his custody named John the Baptist? You remember what happened to John the Baptist? He was at a birthday party. If you remember, the birthday party was for Herod. He got excited, he got wild, he got drunk. He says: “Just give me some entertainment.” And then his daughter, or stepdaughter, came out and performed for him. Remember the story? And he goes: “I give you up to half of my kingdom. Just announce, just ask whatever you want.” And remember what his stepdaughter said? “Give me the head of John the Baptist on a platter.” See folks, Jesus doesn’t do birthday parties. And lemme just say something to you. Many of you are here today and you’re like Herod. You want Jesus in your life for what Jesus can do for you and not for who he is. And if you want Jesus for who and what he can do for you, you’re just like Herod. Because the real all in follower of Jesus follows Jesus for who he is and not for what he can do for you.

Look with me at Mark 6:20. Again, Herod is just wanting a little bit of religion. It says this:

“Herod feared John and protected him. Knowing him….” You should just read the whole chapter of Mark chapter six, “…him to be a righteous and holy man. And when Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled; yet he liked to listen to him.” He said, folks, he just wanted what Jesus could do for him and not for who Jesus is. And so our hot potato, Jesus is now being passed back to Pilate once again. Pilate receives Jesus. Now, folks, lemme tell you something. Pilate did not want Jesus at all. Pilate didn’t want to have anything to do with Jesus. Can I tell you something? Pilate looked at the Jewish leaders. He winked at them. He goes: “Just stone Jesus, just go ahead and do your thing because it’s your preferred method of assassinating someone and stoning them to death. You go ahead and do that. And if you do that, I’ll turn the other way. I won’t even say anything.”

Mark 6:20

Because here’s the thing, Pilate didn’t want to be in Jerusalem. No one wanted to be the ruler over the Jewish people. They were difficult. They were hard. They had all their religious laws and rules. You know what Pilate wanted to do? He wanted to be at Caesarea. He wanted be at his home next to the beach. He wanted to have a better job. He was climbing the corporate ladder. He thought buyers would give him a better place and a better place to rule. And so he’s just like: “Y’all, just go ahead and do whatever you want to do, but just leave me alone.” And the Jewish leaders goes: “Oh no, we’re not going to stone Jesus, because you know why? The people, they love Jesus. And if we stone him, guess what? They’re going to turn on us. So we’re going to put his blood on your hands.”

You know why that happened? Because you know what the Old Testament prophecy said? That Jesus would die from a death of piercing and not the death of stoning. And see folks, you just go back and read Psalm 22, Jesus must be lifted up. We love Psalm 23, but we don’t get to Psalm 23 until we get first of all to Psalm 22. See folks, some of you, you love resurrection Sunday. But can I tell you something? You never get to resurrection Sunday until first of all, you get to Black Friday, until you get to Good Friday, the death of Jesus. You never get to the empty tomb until you find Jesus in the tomb. Because without death there’s no need for a resurrection.

And so here we have Pilate. He ends up rejecting Jesus and he ends up rejecting Jesus because it’s going to cost him something. And the reason it’s going to cost him something is because he’s climbing the corporate ladder, my friends. And if he lets Jesus off, he knows Jesus is innocent. And how do we know that? Look with me at Luke 23:13-16.

“Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers…” 71 religious leaders. He calls them together and he said to them: “…’You brought me this man as one who’s inciting the people to rebellion. I have examined him…'” I’ve looked through your “BS”, is what he’s saying. “…And I’ve examined him in your presence and have found no basis for your charges against him. Neither has Herod, for he sent them back to us; and as you can see, he’s done nothing to deserve death. Therefore, I will punish him and release him.'” I mean, the authority has spoken, the gavel has slammed the one who’s in charge. He says, “I don’t find anything guilty in this man. Everything is done. This door is shut. This case is over. Go find someone else to harass.”

Luke 23:13-16

But we know that’s not how the story ends, right? How does the story end? The story ends with Jesus, going to the cross, and dying. Because why? Because it would cost Pilate his future if he set Jesus free.And we understand that Pilate is on the verge of setting Jesus free. He’s ready to let him go. And then at that very moment, his wife comes in. And what did she say to him? “Hey, Mr. Pilate, listen, I had a vision. I had a dream. There’s nothing that this man has done wrong. He should be set free.” And Pilate does look at his future, or does he give in and give the religious leaders Jesus? And what does he do? He gives them Jesus. He washes his hands and Jesus heads to the cross. Now, why did I bring all this up? It is not for you and I to sit here, my friends, thinking that we’re holier than thou. I didn’t bring this up for us to look at and go: “Well, the religious leaders, they’re dumb.” Herod is dumber, but Pilate, he’s the dumbest of all, right? We can sit here right now and we could be holier than thou. But you know what I’ve been praying for all this week? Where’s the Herod, the Pilate, and the religious leaders in me? I don’t know about you, but I have a tendency to drift to all three of them. Sometimes I feel threatened by Jesus. Sometimes if following Jesus will cost me something. I want Jesus to entertain me. I want Jesus to do something for me rather than just accept his beautiful plan for my life.

I just asked myself this question this past week. I want to ask it to you:

What is it that’s keeping me and keeping you from living the all-in life for Jesus?

Is it number one:

Is it costing you something like it would Pilate?

For many of you, you haven’t stepped into generosity because it’s going to cost you something. You haven’t stepped into serving or life group because it’s going to cost you a little bit extra time. You’re not going to go on a mission trip because you’re going to have to pay to go on the mission trip. You’re going to have to take off a week of vacation. There’s a cost. And many of you that’s in this room today, you haven’t taken your next spiritual step because in your eyes, the cost is too high. And when you say the cost is too high, then you’re throwing Jesus under the bus.

But number two:

Am I threatened by Jesus like the Jewish leaders?

Am I threatened that if I just give him more and more access to my life, that he would want more and more of my life? And here’s the thing, if you keep saying yes, he’ll keep asking. And if you keep saying no, he’ll keep asking. So it doesn’t matter. The third thing:

Is it the fact that I want God to entertain me and give me everything I want when I want it?

And for many in this room, we just see Jesus as a slot machine. We just want to pull the slot, pull the machine, and whatever we want, we want Jesus to give it to us. And then the moment that he doesn’t give us what we want, we go: “We knew that Jesus wasn’t real.” And the reality is, you have a different version of my Jesus than I have because my Jesus, he knows exactly what I need when I need it.

I just want to ask you, what’s keeping you from living all in life? Would you pray with me please? Father, thank you, that we don’t have to envision a world without Jesus. We’re grateful that the tomb is empty, that death, hell, sin, and death has been defeated once in all through the blood of Jesus Christ. And that Father, in two weeks from now, we get to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We get to invite people that we love to come and experience the resurrection power of Jesus with us. And Father, as we contemplate on who to invite, father, just help us to see that we’re only responsible for the invitation, and that you’ll do the rest. And Father, I just pray all these things in the name of Jesus. Amen.