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The episodes are the weekly sermons from 922 Ministries (St. Peter and The CORE) of Appleton, Wisconsin.
Jesus Unfiltered
Week 4 - The CORE
Pastor Michael Ewart
Welcome to our next message in this series called Jesus Unfiltered. As with all of these series, if you miss any of them, please feel free to go online. You can find them on our YouTube channel. This message in particular if it's very closely with the one you heard last week from Pastor Mike, he talked about the Good Shepherd, Jesus said that he is the Good Shepherd. Today we're looking at something from the same chapter of John chapter 10 where Jesus calls himself the door.
And we're going to unpack what that means in just a little bit. We are looking at Jesus Unfiltered and that means that we're trying to take a look at Jesus, the way he really is the way he reveals himself, and not the way we want him to be, or the way we would define him. That's what a filter does, right? It takes something that isn't the way we want it and turns it into something. The way we wanted a coffee filter takes out the grounds and leaves the fresh coffee there for us to drink or an oil filter takes out the impurities and gives us the clean oil that we want in our cars. Do we want a filtered Jesus? The one that is the way we want him to be, or do we want to hear about the real Jesus? The way he revealed himself and well, that's what we're talking about in this series. Who is the unfiltered Jesus.
And what we're finding is in this series, that when Jesus reveals himself, the way he really is, It can be a little bit offensive to people. It was in His own day. There were times when Jesus lost lots of disciples and followers when he revealed himself, for who he really was. People were offended and they no longer follow Jesus. And if that's the reason for the offense, that's okay. Because Jesus is who he was and we can take him for who he is, or we can leave him. But I have found that many times. There are other offenses that prevent people from hearing about the unfiltered Jesus and maybe, you know, people like that or maybe you are a person like that, maybe you're new to the CORE. Maybe this is your first time and you come and you're a little skeptical, maybe you got your arms crossed. That's okay. You're welcome. We're happy that you're here and we want you to evaluate what we say critically and think about it and process it. That's fine. That's good or maybe in your past, you were in a church but something drove you away. An offense, drove you away and whatever it is, whether you have these challenges or you know somebody that does, I would call these false offenses. They're not the real offense of the real Jesus but these false offenses, so to speak, would include, I mean they're real, but there they would include something like this.
Christians are all judgmental. Ever heard that before? Or maybe you think that you can't have a dialogue. They've already reached all their conclusions. They're not empathetic. They don't try to meet you where you're at. They just, they prejudge everything. Christians are judgmental. So the people who feel that way, don't want to listen to what the Christian faith is all about. “Christians discriminate, I've seen it,” is what some people see, have seen or have heard that they don't treat all people equally, they prefer this political party to that one. They favor the men but not the women. I remember my church growing up. The women are all second-class citizens. They discriminate or they like this race, but they're more against that race. Whatever the reason is, that's the people's view of the Christian Church. Therefore they will not consider or listen to the unfiltered Jesus. That may have been your experience as well in the past. Other people think that the church is all about controlling people, all the church wants is your money and they're going to manipulate you. They're going to try to tweak your emotions and tell these stories to try to get you to do something, to give money, or to change your behavior. The church is all about control and manipulation. So I will have nothing to do with the church because of that perception.
And that offends, people don't get to hear the unfiltered Jesus. What happens when you take control to an extreme, you get abuse? Yeah, I saw that news article. I saw that story on the news. I've heard about what those priests have done. I heard about what that Pastor, who was skimming off his congregation and stealing money. I've heard about that one. I heard about that church leader who was abusing children. That's what the church is about. They abuse people. I would never step foot in a church that fosters an environment like that. And because of that experience, I'm not saying it's not real. It has happened in the church. But because of that experience, people will not get in contact with the unfiltered Jesus. And if somehow you haven't heard or thought any of those, I know you've heard this one and “the church is just full of Hypocrites”. I wouldn't become a Christian because I've known too many of them. They say, they believe X Y or Z, but look at how they live, you know, see it in their lives. If their lives are no different than mine, why would I? Why would I even go to church? Because of that offense, so many people don't hear the unfiltered Jesus. Now, if any of those things I just talked about are part of your past or you've you feel that about the church or you've experienced that in a church, because I know it happens. I want to say I'm sorry, And on behalf of Jesus, I would like to say I'm sorry.
Would you give us another chance? Those are real offenses. It's shameful that things like that have happened in Christian churches, and I know that they have, I would suggest that it's not representative of the majority of churches. But would you give Jesus a chance? Would you listen critically once again to the unfiltered Jesus? And what you will hear what you will find is that there is an offense to Jesus. We're going to hear about it today, where Jesus says, I am the door, there's an offense there. My Hope and my prayer is that you can set aside all those other ones where Christians were not acting like Jesus. And that offense drove you away from the church. I'm sorry that that happened. Okay. So what we're going to hear today, as we unpack, John chapter 10, a few verses from there. 10 verses we're going to hear that Jesus actually agrees with you if you found that offensive. Jesus is going to show us that this type of behavior in the church is not what he's all about. And he's every bit as everybody against it as you are and as offended by it, as you are as well. So we're going to take a look at John chapter 10, go get the first 10 verses, but before we get to them, o give you some essential background. So I've studied the Bible for many years. And what I discovered is that what came before John chapter 10, and what happens there is John chapter 9 and took lots of years at the seminary to figure that out, but how I shared that with you for free? So as you read through John chapter 9 it says Central context for understanding what Jesus is saying. In John chapter 10, John chapter 9 is a fascinating chapter of the Bible and if you haven't read in a while or you've never read it, can I ask you to go back and read it this week. It's one of my favorite parts to this story line. The way it unfolds, it's all just fascinating. I'll let me give you the short version. Those that we can understand what's happening in the verses were going to focus on today. So there was this man who was born blind never seen in his life. Blind, never had seen anything from birth blind and he was well known in this community, he was begging almost every day. It's the only way that he could make ends meet because he couldn't work. Work and people would support him with their offerings of their donations. And Jesus comes along one day, and this man who was born blind on a Sabbath day. Jesus sees him.
And Jesus does something unusual. That's something strange. He pauses by the man. He spits in the dirt. Bends down.
Turned that dirt with spit into mud. You know. It sounds a little gross. Takes some of that mud puts in on the Man's eyes and says, go and wash that off in the pool, which I'm sure the man was happy to do. He's got mud in his eyes now. He goes and washes in that pool and we just read it, right from the way John releases it. So the man went and washed and came home seeing Thanks John reported that like a man, didn't he? No emotion. No, just the facts. Cold hard facts. He did what Jesus had said, washed it off, came home seeing. But it is, you keep reading people, notice this man that we have seen for years, begging here, is now he's now seeing he can walk around, he doesn't need his Cane or somebody else leading them around by the arm, he can see. And it's so amazing. That people who saw him started whispering to each other. Is that the blind guy that's always begging and People say I know him come on, he was born blind. Obviously that's not him. He's got a twin brother and he's got a doppelganger. Somebody that looks like him, can't be that guy. So people start asking him, what happened? Well, what's the story goes, tells him the story? I was sitting here begging like usual, the guy spit on some dirt and put mud on my eyes. I washed it off and I could see. And there's people are just amazed so that the rumors go throughout the town. And soon, the Pharisees were, the Jewish religious leaders, the church people, they hear the story. They invite the man in and say, hey, what happened? He repeats the story yet again, they say aw, come on. Really, tell us the truth. What actually happened? He tells them a story again. They call him a liar. So is that gonna be the truth, somebody get his parents in here. Go, go, get his parents. Say they go find his parents. They bring his parents in. Is this your son? Yes, sir. That's our son. Was he blind from birth? And now he can see. Are we done here? Can we go now because they were genuinely afraid, they were intimidated. They didn't want to answer any more questions because they were afraid of this. And they questioned the man. Again, drill them even harder. Tell us again. How did this all happen? Why do you want to hear the story again? He says do you want to follow this man as well? And that makes them Furious. Who are you to preach to us? You were steeped in Sin from birth. That's why you were born blind. Like we are dead. They just, they're outraged by this. And man says what I can't tell you if this man is from God or not. I can just tell you this. I was blind and now I can see that sounds like a man of God to me. And so they are so Furious in the end, they kick him out of the synagogue and they don't let him come back in again. Story continues. Jesus finds the man and tells him. I'm the one that healed you. The man comes to Faith in Jesus. It's a beautiful story, go read all of it but as I outlined what the Pharisees did and how they treated this man and his parents. What did you hear? Weren't they judgmental. They didn't they already had decided what they thought was right and what was wrong. And this man was obviously a liar and wasn't telling the truth. They were judgmental. And did you notice that they discriminated against a man with a disability and just presumed, “He's a man born in sin.” Did you hear how they were trying to control him and his parents and the whole situation and the narrative? And even to the level of abuse, that they kicked the man out, and that his parents were afraid because they intimidated them. And of course they were Hypocrites, weren't they? They preached one thing, but they lived a very different thing.
That's what the church people were doing. Kind of sounds like, what some people? What some church people do today as well. Now, the key is, what does Jesus say about that? That's what happens in John. Chapter 10. Let's read.
Very truly, I tell you Pharisees, the Pharisees who had just done this to that man in his parents, I tell you anyone who does not enter the Sheepfold by the gate. But climbs in, by some other way, is a thief and a robber. The one who enters by the gate is The Shepherd of the sheep. Let me just pause there, because Jesus was telling a story that was familiar to these people. It was part of their culture. It's not a part of ours, but back then they had these sheep pens at it.
In the day, the Sheep would be out in the pasture, they'd be by streams of water. They were well provided for, they were getting their nourishment, but at night, it was dangerous. They brought the sheep in and often there's even more than one flock that were brought into these big sheep pens. Sometimes they were permanent with high stone walls. Sometimes they were kind of fashioned together with maybe a stone cave wall on one side and some briars. To in the end, make an entryway, a safe area with only one door, never multiple doors, a single door. That would beat into that safe area. So this is the cultural setting that Jesus is reminding them of as he's trying to teach them an important truth which we hear in the next verses. The gatekeeper. Okay. So there is always a person at the gate. In fact, sometimes the person was the gate that during the night. They would sleep across that one entrance. So that only the real Shepherds could get in, the thieves and robbers, could not. And if there was somebody in there that didn't belong, it's not because they went through the gate, it's because they jump up the fence on the outside so the gatekeeper opens the gate for him, the shepherd and the Sheep, listen to his voice. He calls his own Sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all of his own, he goes on ahead of them and his sheep follow him because they know his voice
But they will never follow a stranger's voice. In fact, it will run away from him because they do not recognize the strangers voice. Jesus used this figure of speech but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them. So Jesus is already starting to confront them and instead of just saying, hey, you guys are not loving or teaching like you should. Instead he tells a story to try to do an end around their defenses, to try to get through to them about how Wicked they were being. And so he's telling the story. Now last week, we heard about Jesus, the Good Shepherd. Jesus is going to use a second metaphor. Now, he starts with the shepherd, one switches to a different one. Goes back to the shepherd one. Unpack that all last week so make sure you listen to last week's sermon. But going on. Here's what Jesus says, they hadn't gotten his first analogy. So he tries again therefore Jesus said again, very truly. I tell you, I am the gate for the Sheep. The word for gate is door. I am the gate, the door, for the Sheep. All who have come before me and here, he's kind of telling, talking to them and others before them are thieves and robbers. But the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate whoever enters through me, he will be saved. They will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill, and destroy. I have come that they may have life and have it to the full. So instead of here calling himself, the shepherd, Jesus calls himself, the gate that he is the one way, and the Sheep passed through that one gate. They pass through as they go out into the world, they go out into the pastors and the streams they are provided for in nourishment, they come in through the same gate. They were, there's protection and safety and they know the shepherd's voice.
But Jesus, identifies others, who are thieves and robbers, who hurt and kill and destroy in the Sheep. Don't know them, they are imposters. So Jesus is teaching us an important truth here. If you're taking notes, maybe you can jot this down as your first big takeaway and it's this: “dangerous doors”. I put that in quotes because the Pharisees, church people who aren't speaking for God or acting according to the love of God. These other doors, they're dangerous even though they're not real doors. They're dangerous because they distract and destroy. These other doors distract and they destroy. They distract. Jesus is the one way, he is the one door. Yet these other teachers, these other people who claim to be leaders sent from God are speaking for God, they distract people from the door, Jesus. We were warned about that in Colossians chapter 2 verses 2 to verse 8 we read this be careful not to let anyone rob you of this Faith through a shallow and misleading philosophy. Such a person follows human traditions and the world's way of doing things rather than following Christ,
Okay, so the same morning is there isn't it? That watch out because there are people who will teach things that are not from God. There are people who will teach that there are multiple ways or another way, aside from Jesus, they will distract you from Christ, the only way. It's common in our day for people to think this way, maybe you've seen the bumper sticker, I see it all the time. It says “Coexist” to be seen that one and the letters of coexist are made up of all of the symbols of the world's major religions. And the message is clear, just get along with everybody. Every religion is equal. Every religion offers the path to a path to God and who's to say that one is better than another, just deal with it. There are many ways. There are many paths. And Jesus says no, there isn't. There's only one way. And Jesus, is that door to have access to the father.
And there are others who claim to be church people who claim to speak for God, and teach for God. And yet their behavior does not line up with the love of God. By their behavior. You recognize that they are false teachers. They are judgmental. They are hypocrites. They do. Abuse. Jesus said, don't follow them. Don't listen to them. They are not the way either.
Because if you listen to them, if you looked at these other ways, these other ways of salvation, It destroys.
Alright, Jesus said it destroys, it kills and they robbed. So Jesus has, God has, this flock of True Believers, those that he wants to call his own? And Jesus is the way, but the false teachers, distract from him by their behavior, they distract from him. And as a result, they destroy the faith of many. They do real damage, they robbed people from the flock of God, they destroy Pete, the faith of people who are in the flock of God. So Jesus gives us what to watch out for.
And then, he tells us this, “Watch out for those dangerous doors. But know this. The true door delivers.”
The true door, Jesus, delivers. He saves, he rescues.
Did you hear those beautiful words that were describing Jesus in that reading? The Sheep, listen. They recognize his voice. He calls his Sheep by name, you're not a number to God. You're not one of a billion. You are known personally by the almighty God. And by his son, Jesus, he leads them and they follow, he doesn't drive them to control them or abuse them. He leads them, he goes out in front of them and they follow him because they trust him. They know his voice, Jesus says, “I am the gate. And whoever enters through me, he will be saved.” You'll be in a safe place. You will be right with God and you will find pasture. You will find provision for all that your heart needs and desires. Jesus provides. It's all about Jesus and only Jesus and that is the offense. Okay, the world will say “oh, there's lots of right ways, all paths lead to God. Pick one, follow it. Don't judge people who don't have your way, that's okay. And He just says unfiltered, “No, I am the gate.” And the reason is that Jesus is the only way. He is the only door because he is the unique and only son of God in human flesh. He is the only one who was perfect? I challenge you to read through the four gospels, the four accounts of Jesus' life. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John in the Bible, the New Testament, read through it and see how many instances you can find where Jesus was judgmental, made a snap decision. And was not did not have a dialogue and was not empathetic.
I would challenge you to find a place where Jesus discriminated. He was actually extremely countercultural. He treated men and women equally, people that they didn't, but Jesus did. He went out of his way to seek non-jewish. People like a woman in Samaria, and leave them to himself. When regular Jewish people would never associate with those people of other cultures, those Gentile heathens. But Jesus did. Read about Jesus, tell me if you ever find a place where you felt like he was controlling people or he was driving them where he was terrifying them or reports of he was manipulating them or he was abusing them. Tell me if you find a place where you can find, where Jesus was a hypocrite, he said and taught this. But look at how he lived. No, he won't find a place. He was never a hypocrite. Jesus is the perfect Son of God. Who never did any of these things that sometimes church people are blamed for. But Jesus was not that way and he rebuked the people that were Jesus is your perfect savior. Then Jesus did something extraordinary. The perfect Son of God went there to across for the times when we were judgmental. For the times when we were hypocritical for the times, when we were controlling of other people for the times, we didn't represent him very well, which unfortunately are too many times. Jesus is your perfect substitute and Savior. Jesus is the door and through him. You are saved. The Bible speaks about this in so many places but there's one beautiful book of the Bible. I don't know when the last time you read it was, but can I challenge you this week in the next day or two to read through, Paul's letter to the Colossians, the New Testament book Colossians? It'll take you about 13 minutes. If you ever read it, read at an average pace, and this whole book of the Bible is about the supremacy of Christ. The awesomeness of Christ, that uniqueness of Christ and it will reinforce in your mind how Jesus is that one unique door that gives us access to the father? Other to whet your appetite a little bit for what you're about to read in Colossians. Can I just share a few verses with you from Colossians chapter 1 starting at verse 13 and this is from a translation of the Bible called “God's Word”. That's the name of the translation, “God's word”. If you've never looked at that translation, I recommend it. It's short sentences, easy to understand. You can just read through it a few times and see if you like it yourself. But here's what it says about. Jesus in Colossians chapter 1, starting at verse 13. God has rescued us from the power of darkness and has brought us into the kingdom of his son. Whom he loves. His son paid the price to free us, which means that our sins are forgiven. He Jesus is the image of the invisible. God, the firstborn of all creation. He created all things in heaven and on Earth, visible and invisible, whether there are Kings or Lords rulers or Powers, everything has been created through him. And for him, He existed before everything and he holds everything together. He is also the head of the church, which is his body. He is the beginning, the first to come back to life, but not the last so that he would have first place in everything. God was pleased to have all of himself live in Christ. Christ is true. God God was also pleased to bring everything on Earth and in heaven, back to himself through Christ. The one way, the one door he did this by making peace through, Christ's blood sacrificed on the cross.”
You think of a more beautiful simple section of scripture to support everything that we've been talking about today. Jesus is the door. So what does that mean for you? You recognize his voice, you follow him. What does that mean for you? When you walk through the door Jesus, well he said it himself, the end in verse 10. He said I have come that they may have life And have it. To the floor or another translation says, and have it abundantly.
So it's true. You ask most Christians, so you follow Jesus. What does that mean for you? I means I get to go to heaven one day. True. Praise God. You get to go to heaven, one day. But did you know that when you follow Jesus, when you recognize him as the one true door that when you follow Jesus, you have an abundant life right now. Now let me be clear. Jesus does not promise that when you follow him, you'll have an easy life. Now, he doesn't promise that all your troubles are pains or Sorrows or challenges are all going to go away if you just follow Jesus, that is not God's promise Jesus himself said, in this world you will have Trouble. But take heart, I have overcome the world. But he has promised that your life in this world will be abundant. You will have a full life. What does that look like? Well, it means that you're going to live in this world with zero guilt. Weighing you down because Jesus took it to the cross and you're forgiven and you're good with God, your shame. However anybody has treated you that made, you feel shameful or worthless? God says nope you're my child and you are valuable. That's a full life. You get to live your life in this world with complete peace. No matter how tumultuous the things of this world, the events in this world are, you can have peace. I know God's in control. I know Jesus is in charge and he, and I'm a part of his body. And so, whatever is happening. He's got it, I'm good, I've got peace, no matter what's happening? You can have peace, you can have joy even in sorrow, even in struggles, even when dealing with death or disease, you can have joy deep down in your heart because God is in control. This world isn't all there is Is and I've got a future with him forever in Paradise. Jesus guarantees it. You can have joy no matter what your circumstances.
It also means that you have meaning and purpose in your daily living, As a Jesus follower who has walked through the door, who recognizes his voice, that means that you are unique. You are known, you are loved by God. You are gifted by God, you have strengths from God, you have relationships, and situations and circumstances in your life that God has established and given, which means you wake up every morning with a smile on your face. And you say I'm a redeemed Child of God, I am his servant in this world. I have people to love. I things to do. That will give glory to his name as I love and benefit others. People does that sound like a good life, a meaningful life, a full life, you can mop the floor and say, praise the Lord for this place. I live. And for the people I'm mopping it for all to his glory and it'll give you so much satisfaction. It means that you can go to your work, but you don't know where I work, Pastor. I don't need to do any work. People pay you for helping somebody somewhere, otherwise they wouldn't pay you for it. You can go to your job, whatever it is with us. Smile on your face doing it. The best of your ability because you're not serving your boss or your company. You're serving God, and you're helping others, and that can give you meaning and fulfillment and purpose in your life. That's what Abundant Living looks like. And Jesus gives you that gift. So, my prayer, my hope is that is that the CORE, 922 Ministries would not be a place where People will not come here because they've heard this is a place that's judgmental. This is a place where they try to control people where they're discriminating, where they abuse, where they're Hypocrites. I pray that's not the case. That's not our reputation, not here. This is a place where we point people to Jesus, where we point people to the door. This is a place that's all about him. It's all about his glory and we live for him. It's a place where we love people. Well, Because we want to lead more and more and more people. To the one. The one person that restores us to the Father, the true door is Jesus.