Knowing Christ through scripture was our theme this past Sunday. We looked at two passages: Luke 24:36-48 and Acts 8:26-35.
Both of these passages introduce us to ways in which the scriptures give us access to knowing Christ more fully. Without the scriptures we are destined to an incomplete and embarrassingly small picture of who Jesus actually is. We have a default Jesus, if you will.
The disciple turned apostle Phillip had a default Jesus too. We looked at his story briefly in John’s gospel.
John 1:45…
“Philip found Nathanael and told him, ‘We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.’”
Phillip thought he knew who Jesus was and why he had come. He based this on his reading of the Law of Moses and the prophets.
John 6:5-7…
When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?" He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. Philip answered him, "Eight months' wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!"
Jesus tested Phillip. Phillip thought he knew Jesus. But his knowledge of Jesus didn’t include Christ as creator of all things.
John 14:7-9…
“If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him." Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us." Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?”
Phillip’s understanding of Jesus didn’t include him as Emmanuel. In John 1 Phillip knew just who Jesus was. By John 14 Jesus is asking “Don’t you know me, Phillip?”
In Luke 24 after Jesus’ resurrection we see Jesus “opening up the minds” of the disciples to understands the scriptures- the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms. Jesus shows them that it is all about him.
Christ would have us know him for who he is and not who we make him out to be. We will come to know Christ more fully only through the scriptures that he himself, through the Spirit, will open our minds to understand.
In Acts 8 the Spirit tells Phillip to go over to the chariot in which the Ethiopian eunuch was reading a passage from Isaiah 53. “Of whom is the prophet speaking?” the eunuch asks.
Up until Christ opened his mind to understand the scriptures, Phillip would have never seen that passage of the suffering servant in Isaiah as one about the messiah, his Lord, Jesus Christ. But on that day Phillip could tell the eunuch about Jesus.
Only through a life spent in the scriptures will the small Jesus we carry around in our minds give way to who Christ really is in all of his fullness.
Pastor Scott
Both of these passages introduce us to ways in which the scriptures give us access to knowing Christ more fully. Without the scriptures we are destined to an incomplete and embarrassingly small picture of who Jesus actually is. We have a default Jesus, if you will.
The disciple turned apostle Phillip had a default Jesus too. We looked at his story briefly in John’s gospel.
John 1:45…
“Philip found Nathanael and told him, ‘We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.’”
Phillip thought he knew who Jesus was and why he had come. He based this on his reading of the Law of Moses and the prophets.
John 6:5-7…
When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?" He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. Philip answered him, "Eight months' wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!"
Jesus tested Phillip. Phillip thought he knew Jesus. But his knowledge of Jesus didn’t include Christ as creator of all things.
John 14:7-9…
“If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him." Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us." Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?”
Phillip’s understanding of Jesus didn’t include him as Emmanuel. In John 1 Phillip knew just who Jesus was. By John 14 Jesus is asking “Don’t you know me, Phillip?”
In Luke 24 after Jesus’ resurrection we see Jesus “opening up the minds” of the disciples to understands the scriptures- the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms. Jesus shows them that it is all about him.
Christ would have us know him for who he is and not who we make him out to be. We will come to know Christ more fully only through the scriptures that he himself, through the Spirit, will open our minds to understand.
In Acts 8 the Spirit tells Phillip to go over to the chariot in which the Ethiopian eunuch was reading a passage from Isaiah 53. “Of whom is the prophet speaking?” the eunuch asks.
Up until Christ opened his mind to understand the scriptures, Phillip would have never seen that passage of the suffering servant in Isaiah as one about the messiah, his Lord, Jesus Christ. But on that day Phillip could tell the eunuch about Jesus.
Only through a life spent in the scriptures will the small Jesus we carry around in our minds give way to who Christ really is in all of his fullness.
Pastor Scott
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