Jesus The Rabbi | Preston Morrison | Gateway Church

[Music] [Music] good morning good morning how is everybody looking good today hope you're all in a great mood welcome everybody at our tempe campus good morning to all of you i want to welcome everybody joining us online if you've got a bible i want you to turn to luke chapter six we'll get there about halfway through the message this weekend we're going to continue our series entitled the real jesus and i kind of want to give you a heads up on how this message is going to go the first two points are going to be a little more teachy teach and the last point's going to be more preachy preach and let me just say the there's a decent chance that there's a measure of conviction that comes with this message okay and just remember okay i feel like i have to say this as a disclaimer i'm not mad i'm not out to get anybody i'm i'm just supposed to deliver the mail he's not mad i but i definitely sense preparing for this message a call for more and you're going to see with the closing scripture it's probably going to be pretty hard to argue uh and you're it's not an argument with me it just seems like there's something god is saying to his church not just to ours but to his church right now and i think there is a scripture that really bears it out so uh i before we jump in the message i do want to submit something to you for prayer i do this every once in a while i before i say it i just want to say i'm not saying thus saith the lord i'm just telling you that i feel it's possible that we're nearing the time for something and so i'm going to submit it to you by asking you to pray about it okay i haven't even formally taken this to the elders yet and the way i would describe it is if if my wife and i were going to buy a home i would talk to my wife about it before i would go to the bank to get a loan right okay so what i'm doing i'm bringing it to my family and saying let's pray about this if it's god i want us to do it if it's not i don't want to touch it i think it might be time for us to consider buying a multi-family unit for single moms and uh i i have holly and i have a growing concern in this part of uh the country where real estate is skyrocketing as is the cost of living i understand that on paper from an investment standpoint it's never the best time to buy it would seem i'll say it would seem that it's never the best time to purchase an asset in an explosive market you always wait until a down market to pick up an asset typically hopefully it's distressed and you get it for 60 70 cents of the dollar worst case so i understand that from a business standpoint but i would also say at the very same time as the cost of living here is getting more expensive um we have some people that come through our church that are in difficult situations from time to time and we have a responsibility and i feel it may be time for us number one i feel like our church needs a project we we're we've been on a very good run quote unquote uh but i don't ever want things to be better in this house than they are out on the street and we need a project we definitely need a new project but not just any project whatever the lord wants us to tackle so i just i'm asking you will you pray about this and i've already been asked after sharing this thursday night how do you want me to pray pray for god's timing god's clarity god's location and god's people the people that he wants us to minister to for us to begin connecting with them so can you pray about this over the next couple of weeks i really kind of want to ask you over the next 30 days just to pray between now and the next elders meeting would you just pray about it you don't need to spend an hour every day just as you think about it maybe even before a meal will you do that okay great thank you okay to the task at hand the title of this message is jesus the rabbi jesus the rabbi in this series if this is your first time here with us or joining us online we've been talking about in part the jewishness of jesus god's heart for israel the hebrew roots of our faith and in doing that we have to cover the fact that jesus wasn't as a rabbi that there it and for those of you who who get weirded out when you hear words like that that you don't use in the english language all the time just relax i'm going to give you a couple of points that put you at ease i'm not teaching anything that's weird this is the bible okay so three very simple points title the messages jesus the rabbi here's point number one jesus was a rabbi jesus was a rabbi the word rabbi in hebrew means teacher or master it's rav teacher or master that's not a weird word jesus wasn't is a teacher did you know that in the gospels jesus is directly referred to or spoken to over 90 times did you know that 60 of those times it's as teacher because you might be thinking why did why does it even matter to me that jesus is a teacher it's a really big deal if you're taking notes write this one liner down if you don't see jesus as the teacher you'll be more inclined to be the follower of another if you don't see jesus as the teacher here's an example you'll see me as a teacher i am one who teaches but i'm not the teacher let's play this out a little bit further using social media as a as an example i think what social media has done is genius in this way they figured out that there's this word that's very important in relationship and it's the word follower so you are a follower of everyone you choose to follow on social media but here's what you have to remember they didn't come up with that jesus had billions of followers before they ever stole the word but i do need to remind you that anyone you are following you are always learning from this should cause you to step back in regards to who you're following on social media whether you realize it or not you are learning from the people you follow so here be my question what are those you are following teaching you on social media are they teaching you how to always be argumentative are they teaching you how to disrespect your spouse publicly are they teaching you how to be more political than spiritual whether you realize it or not if you're following someone you are learning from that someone jesus was a teacher this is why he had followers and we're gonna get more into that in point number two but here's two things that we all need to kind of understand that are true of jesus and really every rabbi that help us understand jesus was in fact a rabbi here's the first one rabbis are recognized as rabbis don't you love how deep this message is so far rabbis are recognized as rabbis especially there's kind of a an implication here especially by other rabbis let me try and illustrate uh if you and i played chess and you just crushed me and we happened to be at a party at my house where a couple other friends brought their chess boards and and we were all playing and and you played me first and you destroyed me and one of our mutual friends comes over and says so are you guys really good at chess here's what i would say she's awesome at chess he's awesome at chess like they are a great chess player i'm horrible okay here's what you need to remember just because someone who's horrible says you're awesome at something doesn't actually make you awesome at it here's how you would know you are actually a great chess player if you went to the world championship and you played great chess players and they said of you you're a great chess player do you see what i'm saying to really for it to be understood and welcomed as true you can't be the only one saying it and those who are horrible at whatever you're good at can't be the only one saying it you have to have some peer recognition from others who are respected let me show you in scripture jesus had this very thing the pharisees saw jesus as a rabbi now i know some of you are thinking okay hold on just a second preston this is pre-rabbinic period and yes it is it's couple decades before the rabbinic period and so the term rabbi was was possibly not as formal as it is today but it does not mean it had any less power or authority let me show you jesus was recognized as a rabbi by the pharisees luke 19 verse 39 but some of the pharisees among the crowds said teacher rebuke your followers for saying things like that okay some of the pharisees recognize jesus as a rabbi how about nicodemus let me show you in john 3 verse 2 after dark one evening nicodemus came to speak with jesus rabbi he said we all know that god has sent you to teach us your miraculous signs are evidence that god is with you now a couple verses later jesus refers to nicodemus as quote teacher of the jews so this is a game respecting game when nicodemus calls jesus rabbi and jesus refers to nicodemus teacher of the jews okay jesus was recognized as being a teacher a successful teacher among the people but let me show you one more recognition of jesus being a rabbi it's probably my favorite john 13 verse 13 jesus himself said you call me teacher you call me teacher and lord and you are right because that's what i am i love it when he talks like that jesus said hey hey listen everybody else is recognizing me as a rabbi i just want you to understand i also recognize myself as the rabbi the teacher you call me teacher you were right to do that because that's what i am here's the second thing rep rabbis are recognized as having authority to be a rabbi or recognized as a rabbi you had to have what's called shemika authority in other words you couldn't just love the text you had to have some authority teaching the text and let me just show you that this is something jesus most certainly was widely recognized as having there's one instance in matthew chapter 7 verse 28 after the sermon on the mount look what happens among the people when jesus had finished saying these things the crowds were amazed or blown away by his teaching for he taught with real authority quite unlike their teachers of religious law here's another way to say that jesus was recognized as having more authority than any of the other teachers of his day he had an authority nobody else had so when he cracked open the scripture and we all kind of know the secret why did he have more authority than everybody else because he wrote the thing it's easy to have more authority than the ones quoting the thing when you're the one who wrote the thing jesus had more authority than any of the other teachers of his day and was recognized as such now one of my favorite things about matthew as a gospel writer compared to the other gospel writers is matthew seems to key in on christ's authority as much or more than the other gospel writers matthew 7 he talks about the authority of his teaching matthew 8 he talks about the authority to heal the sick matthew 9 he talks about the authority to forgive sins matthew 10 he talks about the authority over demons and over satan okay authority is a very big deal not just for the son of god but for any teacher the people called rabbi you had to have authority this this word they were amazed i don't like the way that translation translate that it literally means to blow one's mind to literally overwhelm the people i just sat through the most amazing and important sermon that would ever be preached in the history of humanity and their minds were blown they were completely overwhelmed they weren't just impressed because of the authority jesus had to teach they were literally overwhelmed emotionally mentally spiritually they were blown away matthew 28 verse 18 and jesus came and said to them all authority this is jesus recognizing the authority he had all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me okay jesus recognized his mantle to teach he recognized his authority but remember so did everybody else around there were many who saw that jesus had a measure of authority as a teacher that nobody else in his day had point number one jesus was a rabbi point number two rabbis have disciples rabbis have disciples if you're in luke 6 let's read this together i want to give you a quick progression and then talk through this word because i think too many believers disqualify themselves unnecessarily from being a disciple of jesus christ and i'm going to show you why luke chapter 6 verse 12. one day soon afterward jesus went up on a high mountain to pray and he prayed to god all night at daybreak he called together all of his disciples and chose 12 of them to be apostles okay now why am i referring to the 12 in this point on rabbis have disciples why am i using luke 6 instead of some of the other passages where jesus ran into a couple people on a beach and said come follow me and they became his disciples here's why many look at the 12 as the original disciples those are the disciples few others can be disciples here's what we have to remember the the original 12 were chosen to be apostles now remember this all apostles are disciples but not every disciple is an apostle so the original 12 had a mantle of authority others other disciples didn't have okay some of us look at the original 12 and go i could never be like that i didn't have proximity to jesus i i just can't be a disciple therefore i'm going to be a follower of jesus christ now don't get me wrong being a follower of jesus christ is important but i believe there's a difference between being a follower of christ and a disciple of christ the crowds following jesus were filled with followers but they weren't all operating as disciples luke chapter 10 i want to show you the progression so luke 6 now if you're in luke 6 flip over to luke 10. there's a progression that i want to show you so that hopefully today if you have for any reason disqualified yourself from being a disciple of jesus and in your mind relegated yourself to merely being a follower of jesus i want to show you a progression luke 10 verse 1 the lord now chose 72 other disciples and sent them ahead in pairs to all the towns and places he planned to visit these were his instructions to them the harvest is great but the workers are few so pray to the lord who's in charge of the harvest ask him to send more workers laborers into his fields this word workers or laborers helps us understand the difference between followers and disciples followers know some things but don't necessarily do what they know disciples do followers know what god says disciples do what god says followers go to church 1.5 times every month disciples build the church every week of their lives and i don't just mean the local church i mean the capital c church they build the church followers are content to follow jesus disciples are not content unless they are a part of building his father's kingdom disciples follow rabbis jesus is a rabbi rabbis have disciples good teachers have lots of followers matthew 28 verse 18. this is an even wider part of the spectrum as it relates to disciples matthew 28 18 jesus came and told his disciples i've been given all authority in heaven and on earth therefore go and make disciples of all the nations okay do you see the progression 12 then 72 now matthew 28 jesus is saying go to the ends of the earth and make disciples in other words the plan from the beginning was not 12. the plan from the beginning was not 84. the plan from the beginning was a world filled with disciples not just followers jesus says here's what i want you to do with the authority that i've been giving given that i am giving to you go and make disciples don't settle for believers don't settle for followers go and make disciples that brings us to point number three and this is where the rubber meets the road are you a disciple jesus was a rabbi scripture proves that out rabbis have disciples but point number three the question isn't was jesus a rabbi the question is are you a disciple just because you call jesus teacher doesn't necessarily mean he calls you disciple this is where things might get a little touchy and i want to be very sweet and sensitive okay i'm submitting this to you i'm not trying to slap you with it because this is just as much for me as it is for you let me give you three things because you might be thinking of course i'm a disciple that that may just be true to you because to you there's no difference between a follower and a disciple and yet we see time and time again scripture even says jesus always spoke in parables with the crowds filled with followers but then he would get away and explain everything to whom his disciples there was something different even with jesus between followers and disciples so if you're just kind of sitting there right now thinking okay well how do i know if i'm a disciple let me give you a couple of things this is like always not an exhaustive list but here are three things that i think will help you really know whether or not you're living in this season of your life as a disciple or a follower here's the first thing disciples have an intimate relationship with their teacher one of the ways you know you're a disciple is you have an intimate relationship with your teacher this was obviously important to jesus john 14 verse 9 jesus replied have i been with you all this time philip and yet you still don't know who i am interesting that jesus used the word no there in the old testament the word no was used to to point to physical intimacy jesus isn't talking about physical intimacy with philip he's talking about emotional intimacy due to relational proximity jesus is saying hold on just a second we've been close all this time and you still don't know at the deepest level who i am jesus is i believe helping us understand listen when you're close to me you're gonna know me you're gonna deeply in the deepest part of your being you're gonna know me why because disciples have intimate fellowship with their teacher john 15 15 jesus says i no longer call you slaves because a master okay think about this remember one of the meanings for the hebrew word rav is master so we read it in the greek but to them the word was there before we read it in the greek text there were times they were saying rav could have been meaning teacher could have been meeting master jesus says listen i know there are times you call me master but i need you to understand something i no longer see you as slaves i no longer see you like that and it goes on because a master doesn't confide in his slaves now you are my friends that's a word meaning intimate fellowship you are my friends since i have told you everything the father told me okay if you're taking notes write this one liner down disciples literally attach themselves to their teacher disciples literally attach themselves to their teacher i'll personalize this one of my uh greatest mentors pastor robert this this was a principle that i i lived by early on when he hired me offered me the job i was 21 when i came on staff i was 22. the church was small and from time to time for years i'd get asked in dallas how did you get to be the one that pastor robert kind of mentored from the beginning and here's my answer all the time i snuck my way in i literally when back in the day he would be in the green room there there were seasons where he'd preach six live messages a weekend and i would sneak into the green room and act like i'd been invited unapologetically like i uh other people famous people will come in and be like tiptoe i would just walk in go into the fridge and grab something and sit down like i was supposed to be there and i just figured if he doesn't want me here he'll kick me out i literally attached myself to him why this is what disciples do they unapologetically grab on to the teacher and say i love you so much i'm not letting go i want to know everything about you and i want to know everything you know but it's not just from an intellectual place it's from a place of intimate fellowship that leads us to the second way you know that you are a disciple disciples imitate their teacher dallas willard says it like this and if you don't know dallas willard you should just get online he went to be with the lord several years ago but you you should just do yourself a favor and the people you love and you should just you should watch a few it's it's heavy uh but you should just slowly work your way through uh divine conspiracy that there's some phenomenal resources out there that dr willard authored but he says it like this in regards to discipleship he says one of the main responsibilities of a disciple is to be with the teacher in order to be like the teacher to be with jesus in order to be like jesus this is part of the teacher disciple relationship imitation paul clearly understood this first corinthians chapter 11 verse 1 he said and you should imitate me he's talking to those who were following him those who were being discipled by him you should follow me you should imitate me just as i imitate christ this is what disciples do maybe you've heard the saying imitation is the greatest form of flattery anybody ever heard that before okay totally disagree with it totally disagree imitation is not the highest form of flattery it's the highest form of discipleship i i was not trying to flatter robert morris by imitating him from time to time because i was being discipled just naturally there were times i started to look more like him it's the same with jesus just think about this for a sec let's go back to social media for a minute if one of the highest goals of every disciple is to be with jesus in order to be more like jesus what percentage of the time do you think our followers on social media think we look just like jesus when we post you know what's funny about the devil he takes good and godly things and cheapens them for example remember the old bracelet wwjd matt talked about it in kind of the form of a joke a couple weeks ago but the principle is profound isn't that how disciples should all think if jesus were me what would he do in this moment a disciple fully devoted to their teacher processes what would the teacher do in this moment what would my teacher do in this situation what would the teachers say in this situation okay here's another way just for accountability to kind of just do a little grading and testing in our own lives let's go back to social media is that how jesus would have said it is that how jesus would have corrected that person is that how jesus would have made that point see here's one of the dangerous things about not seeing jesus as a teacher if you go that way for too long you'll start to convince yourself you're the teacher and one of the things i think that's going wrong with the church right now in regards to social media is we see a lot of teachers and not very many disciples everybody's talking like the expert and yet we're all supposed to be submitted to the real expert disciples imitate their teachers jesus was fully aware of this john 13 verse 14. jesus says and since i your lord and teacher you're going to be able to figure out what he has just done in this moment have washed your feet you ought to wash each other's feet listen to verse 15. i have given you an example to follow do as i have done to you that is so loaded right there jesus says guys do you see what i just did i wasn't just doing that for you i was doing that as an example for you it's both and so that you would have a pattern to follow with everyone else why because disciples imitate their teacher you want some scary homework this week go to five people that you trust in your life who are close enough don't go to people who are far enough and are just gonna say something sweet without much fact to back it up go to five people who are close to you who have enough interaction with you on a weekly basis to kind of be able to answer this question not just give you perspective ask them this question what percentage of the time do you think i look like jesus take the average from the five and see what your grade is let me just remind you 50 percent at least in the school my children go to is called an f in major league baseball it's called the greatest career of all time but in school it's called an f let me just sweetly submit this to you if your average is a 50 the same baseball this is school disciples aren't hitting balls disciples are taking tests don't just you be the one to answer the question are you a disciple get the perspective of others get outside eyes if i'm not imitating jesus it's difficult to make the case that i am living as one of his disciples disciples learn by imitating their teachers lifestyle not just by listening to their teacher i remember one day one of the infamous lunches between pastor robert and myself he took me to lunch and i'll never forget he said i've been listening to some of your messages and i have a problem and i said okay what is it he said you're supposed to be one of my spiritual sons right that's kind of what everybody says that's the way i feel that's the way you feel right i said yeah he said but when i listen to your sermons i don't see any me now at the time i was an arrogant ignorant middle 20 something and i remember what i thought i was sitting there thinking i've told him this so there's not a surprise if he watches this in my heart i went hugh arrogant teacher i mean that is arrogant he's still talking and i'm thinking these thoughts and he goes on and he says but you know what's worse than that is when i watch you preach i don't see any of you i see you trying to be all these other people imitating their style okay here's what good teachers do they they don't just help you learn how to be like them they help you figure out how god made you is what jesus was so amazing at it wasn't just about imitating him he wasn't a created one the one through whom everything was created was walking the face of the earth connecting with people not just saying hey be more like me it was also let me help you understand some things about you peter okay disciples have an infatuation not with finding who they are and that's really big right now the goal is not to find who you are to become your best self that can get new agey really fast the goal for us as disciples is to not become the real me it's to become more like him so here's another test what percentage of the time are you looking to find how to be more of the real you quote unquote and what percentage of the time are you trying to be more like jesus i think life would get a lot easier to understand not more simple to walk out but easier to understand if we just made it about imitating jesus instead of trying to find the real me here's the third thing disciples obey their teacher disciples obey their teacher obedience to god is the test of true faith in christ believers know what god says followers know what god says disciples do what god says if you're in luke chapter six let's read this passage together this is a very important text a very important passage of scripture i believe in this day and time let's read it together luke 6 verse 46 and we'll be done jesus says so why do you keep calling me lord lord when you don't do what i say why do you call me master when you never do what i ask you to do like you have the language down but you don't have the response down you have the language of righteousness figured out but you don't have the real response of righteousness obedience why do you keep think about this he's literally saying i don't care that you call me that because you don't actually live like you believe that why do you keep calling me lord lord as though i'm supreme in your life when you never do what i ask verse 47 i'll show you what it's like when someone comes to me listens to my teaching and then follows it it's like a person building a house who digs deep and lays the foundation on solid rock when the flood waters rise and break against that house it stands firm because it is well built but anyone who hears and doesn't obey is like a person who builds a house right on the ground without any foundation when the floods sweep down against that house it will collapse into a heap of ruins now for many years i've heard this passage taught as though the subject of the passage is jesus in other words the foundation is jesus that our lives were meant to be built upon jesus that's not the subject it's not incorrect but that's not the subject of this story jesus is telling the subject of the story is obedience to christ jesus says hey listen let me help you understand what it's like when someone hears my teaching and then follows it obedience here's what i say and does it and then he goes on to paint this picture it's like someone who builds a house on a strong foundation and when the storms come the house stands strong but let me show you what it's like for someone who hears my teaching and does not obey it it's like someone who builds a house on the sand and when the storms come the house collapses okay i want to be really careful sensitive and sweet in handing you what i think the point of this passage is for us in this season of time on the earth if we're to look at the last 12 months of life on this earth in the midst of a worldwide pandemic is it fair to say we've gone through a storm for some of us this is the worst storm we've ever been through in our lifetime when we look at the last 12 months of the storm if we're to assess every life the way jesus assessed these houses what percentage of the houses collapsed what percentage of the houses stood strong like a rock see i think one of the things the enemy has done over the last years convinced a lot of believers that the reason their house collapsed during that storm was because they were weak but it's just like the devil to try and deflect get you distracted by something that isn't the actual point the point of the storm wasn't to show you whether you're weak or strong i believe the point of the storm was to show us what our homes were built upon see if we teach that text with jesus being the subject then we all walk away and just go oh yeah my life is built on jesus it's going to be hard sometimes not going to be perfect and it gets real ethereal real fast but when we teach that text the way jesus did that the subject of that story the whole point of the story was obedience to christ and if a house gets wobbly in a storm the only reason is it points to something is off in the disciples relationship with their teacher because this teacher is the cornerstone we sang about it today this is our teacher isn't the rock of gibraltar he is the cornerstone the question is not is jesus a rabbi we solve that in point number one the question i believe the holy spirit is asking every one of us today is definitely not is jesus the teacher it's are you one of his disciples i want you to buy your heads and close your eyes see some of us just thought we could never be disciples because we thought we had to have a seminary degree or to be hand-picked by jesus let me just remind you if you're still sitting there going yeah but jesus chose his disciples president you don't know my story jesus wouldn't choose me well here's your homework if that's what you're feeling in this moment go study ephesians chapter one if you're a follower of jesus christ if you've given your life to him made him lord over all you know what the bible says god chose you before the foundation of the earth the question isn't does he desire for you to be a disciple the question is are you living as one can you imagine what would happen in the church today if there were more disciples in the pews than there are followers not just a gathering of people who believe in jesus but a gathering of people who were completely devoted to the building of god's kingdom to the personal development in their own lives as a disciple of jesus christ as one who imitates jesus in all things can you imagine what would happen in your workplace if you look more like jesus than like you i get it it's been a rough year some of us are more tired than we've ever been but now is not the time for the church to vacation now is time for the church to take their place as the bride of christ filled with disciples of jesus christ and we're just going to take some time in this moment i want you just to listen to the spirit of god in this moment what is the holy spirit saying to you if the voice you're hearing is condemnation let me remind you that's not how god talks conviction yes condemnation no you're horrible you're bad what's wrong with you what's taken so long that's not how god talks start off the conversation if you dare to be so bold and courageous start off your conversation with the holy spirit with this question holy spirit am i living as a disciple of jesus right now let's just spend some time with him and let's see what he does in this [Music] moment [Music] okay [Music] i'm sorry [Music] [Music] another song take me back to [Music] [Music] wow when i've come with my agenda i'm sorry when i forgot that you're enough take me back to where we started i opened up my heart i'm sorry when i've just gone through the motions i'm sorry we're not just saying song take me back to where we started i open up my heart to you jesus [Music] [Music] when i forgot that you're in love take me back to where we start i open up my heart to you i'm caught up in your presence [Music] i just wanna sit here at your feet i'm caught up in this to leave oh i'm not here for blessings no i'm not here for blessings [Music] jesus you don't owe me anything and more than anything that you can do i just want you i just want you nothing else [Music] nothing else nothing else nothing else we'll do or i just want you and nothing else [Music] nothing else [Music] nothing else you

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Keywords: Preston, Morrison, gateway, church, gateway church, scottsdale, tempe, gateway church sermons, church online, arizona church, scottsdale churches, tempe churches, phoenix churches, gateway people, gateway life, Preston Morrison, Robert Morris, Pastor Robert Morris, Pastor Preston Morrison, Preston Morrison sermons, church sermons, Jewishness of Jesus, Real Jesus, Christianity and Jewish, jesus the teacher, Jesus the rabbi, rabbi, Jesus Rabbi, disciple of jesus, being a disciple

Id: UFH_rSodGGg

Length: 52min 19sec (3139 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 01 2021