Like all interesting people, Jesus has layers. If we are truly to see Jesus, we need to know all of him. How do we really know Jesus? In this sermon, we’ll look at three different layers to Jesus. When we know Jesus, that is ultimately how we know ourselves.
Level 1: The Miracle Worker
Jesus displays his power in many ways. Not only is Jesus turning water into wine: he is breaking fevers at a distance and reversing decades of infirmity. Jesus commands authority over all creation; He multiplies bread and fish; He walks upon the seas; and even time and space shift under His influence. Jesus is a miracle worker… but he is so much more than that.
Level 2: The Coming Prophet
The people who met Jesus realize that He is more than just of miracle worker. Here is a Prophet like Moses, supernaturally empowered by God, speaking the words of God from the Mountain, and providing bread for the children of Israel in the wilderness. And the disciples see these comparisons even more clearly, because Jesus also crosses the sea, and leads his followers to safety. Jesus is the true and greater Moses, the Prophet foretold who will finish the task Moses never got to complete; he will himself bring us into the Land of Promise. The people see Jesus for who He is, and they push for him to be King. But Jesus refuses, because there was another level to who Jesus is.
Level 3: The Throneless King
Why did Jesus refuse the throne? The answer lies in Jesus’ deepest identity and purpose. Jesus refused the throne because it would have short-circuited the cross, and the cross was the reason He came.
You see, we need more than a Miracle Worker. We need more than The Coming Prophet. We need The Throneless King.
Takeaway: at what level are you embracing Jesus?
John 6:1-21
Click here for the sermon Q&A.
