Monday, December 8, 2008, Part 2
Hebrews 11
IDEA: Faith didn't come easily to the early disciples.
PURPOSE: To help listeners realized that it's always hard to believe the gospel because it is counter-cultural.
When I was a boy, I remember a song we sang about Jesus that said, "I would like to have been with Him then." Then each verse picked up on some incident in Jesus' life that might have been wonderful to experience.
Do you think there was much that was valid in that hymn?
I. Do you think it might have been easier for people who were with Jesus while He was on earth to believe that Jesus was God?
When Jesus came to earth, He took everyone by surprise.
Aren't you a bit surprised about the conditions in which He was born?
If He was God, why did He choose to be born into the world as He was?
(Abraham Lincoln was born in a log cabin, but he didn't choose that and neither did his parents.)
He didn't look like God the way He lived. He moved into our neighborhood. He looked and acted like one of us. He was a peasant who worked as a carpenter for much of His life. He was God in overalls.
It would be hard for anyone to believe that this man from a third-rate little village in a second-rate little country was really the Savior of the world.
Even His brothers were not impressed that He was that much different from them.
It wasn't easy for the disciples to believe that Jesus was God.
What religion were the first disciples? They were Jews. They were not Gentiles or even "Christians."
What characterized the fundamental beliefs of Jews?
They were monotheists. What does that mean?
Was monotheism unusual in the ancient world?
Did Jews have any biblical reasons for believing there was only one God?
They worshiped God whom they could not touch or see.
II. The disciples had to wrestle with the reality of someone in their midst who claimed to be God and who did things only God could do, but He prayed to the Father. Was that easy for them?
Mark 4:35-41 tells us that the disciples were "terrified" when Jesus stilled the storm on the lake of Galilee.
It took the disciples a long time to "get it," Mark 8:22-25. Why?