======================================================================== JESUS by David Valderrama ======================================================================== Summary: This sermon emphasizes the importance of focusing on Jesus rather than just doctrine, highlighting the need for Jesus to live His life through us and for us to represent Him with meekness and love. It warns against being overly focused on correcting doctrine at the expense of embodying Jesus' character, urging believers to prioritize Jesus in all aspects of their lives and interactions. Topics: "Focus on Jesus", "Embodying Christ's Character" Scripture References: Matthew 11:29, Luke 15:1, Colossians 3:17, 1 Peter 2:21, John 13:15 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This sermon emphasizes the importance of focusing on Jesus rather than just doctrine, highlighting the need for Jesus to live His life through us and for us to represent Him with meekness and love. It warns against being overly focused on correcting doctrine at the expense of embodying Jesus' character, urging believers to prioritize Jesus in all aspects of their lives and interactions. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jesus is not a system. He's not a formula. Jesus is the Word of God. Jesus is God himself. He's not a system and he's not a formula. Many people, because they're not focusing on Jesus, they're focusing more on doctrine. Doctrine is a part of focusing on Jesus. If you focus on Jesus, you will focus on doctrine at times. But to really focus on Jesus, to really, like the goal, it's all about Jesus. It's all about Jesus. Jesus living his life through us. Jesus continuing all that he began both to do and to teach through us. It's him living his life through his church, his body through us. And what happens is that many people, they focus a lot on doctrine. They just focus on divorce and remarriage. They focus on non-resistance. They focus on the nature of God or the Godhead. They focus on eschatology. They focus on whatever they consider to be a heretical doctrine. And this is what they focus on. But because they don't focus on Jesus, they're not representing him as he ought to be represented. Because they're not focusing on Jesus, they're not humble. They're not willing to yield. They're not easy to be entreated. They are full of pride, high-minded, justifying themselves. They justify their behavior that doesn't look anything like Jesus. They justify it with little bitty pieces that we see in the lives of the prophets or the apostles or somebody in the scriptures that would appear to be very intense, very confrontational. But when you look at Jesus, Jesus was approachable. Even though they were sinners in Luke chapter 15, it says that the sinners and the tax collectors drew near to listen to Jesus. They drew near to hear him talk. Why? There was something about Jesus that drew them in. There was something about Jesus that was approachable. There was something about Jesus where they felt invited. And the one thing that Jesus said about himself, about his character, he said, I am meek. I am lowly of heart. I am meek and I am lowly of heart. This you see in his dialogue with the Pharisees, you see in his interactions before the priest, before his enemies, before his betrayer, before so many people that abandoned him and forsook him. You see his meekness shining through on the cross. If we focus on Jesus, we will be what we need to be. Many people, they're just focusing on doctrine and they stumble others by their character or lack of character. They have a lot of sound doctrine, a lot of right doctrine, but they don't deliver it as Jesus would deliver it. Here's a good way to measure if you're representing Jesus right with sound doctrine. Because there's nobody that had more sound doctrine than Jesus. There was nobody more holy, more perfect, or who hated sin more than Jesus. Here's a good way to measure yourself. Do sinners, when you're preaching on the streets or wherever you're preaching, do they want to draw near to listen to you? Because they have a genuine desire to learn something or to hear something from you? I mean, there's a lot of street preachers, you know, they're very rude. They say a lot of things that just blow your mind. I can't believe he said that. Come on, hey, let's go check this guy out. Maybe he's at a university or maybe he's at some rally or something. And he's just like blurting out whatever comes to his mind, like the most offensive things to provoke a reaction to draw people. That's not what Jesus did in Luke 15. Jesus wasn't calling out all these different sins to provoke a reaction from sinners, so they would draw near to listen to him. No, when they drew near to hear him, it was the publicans and sinners that were there and the Pharisees. And he taught them about the parable of the lost sheep. He taught them about the parable of the lost coin. He taught them about the parable of the lost son. And in these parables, he conveyed the heart of God towards sinners, that there is a God who loves them, a God that is trying to pursue their heart and bring them back into his fold. Jesus. Are we representing Jesus with our doctrine, with our character, the way that we live? Because if we don't focus on Jesus and we just focus on doctrine, we're going to stumble people. We're going to offend people unnecessarily. We're going to hurt people. They're going to be injured. We may be the only Jesus they ever see. We may be the only Jesus they ever hear. And there's something about Jesus that was inviting, that he was approachable, that regardless of the sin in their lives, they drew near to hear him and he could teach them. And if we just focus too much on his character and we don't focus on the right doctrine, his commandments or whatever it is, then there's another ditch there. But we have to keep our eyes on Jesus. We have to look into Jesus on a daily basis. We can't get so caught up in doctrine, commandments, in confrontationalism, that we miss Jesus and that those that we're preaching to don't see Jesus. It's all about Jesus. Jesus living his life in us and through us. That's what Christianity is all about. Christianity is not when Jesus is added to your life. It is when he is your life. And this is what the world needs. This is what people need. This is what our family needs. Our neighbors need. The communities that we live in, it's what they need. They need Jesus. Jesus just wasn't doctrine. He was humble. He was a lowly. He was loving. He didn't compromise to please any man. He hated sin. Sure. He hated sin. But he died for sinners. The just for the unjust. Just think of it. You know, he taught some revolutionary doctrine in the Sermon on the Mount, things that many haven't heard about loving your enemies, about divorce and remarriage, about not laying up treasures on earth, not swearing oaths, about taking no thought for your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink or how you will be clothed. He taught some very serious, radical doctrine, some life transforming doctrine. And some, for some reason, they were able to listen to him. And the people that were offended the most, the people that were angry the most, were those that thought they had the right doctrine and that they had the right character. And that was the religious elite, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the lawyers, the scribes. But there was something about Jesus that we need. And it's his meekness, his lowliness. Anyways, I want to encourage everyone to focus on Jesus. So easy to get caught up in trying to correct all the bad doctrine around us. What if on the last day we're standing before Jesus Christ himself and we devoted our whole lives to correcting bad doctrine? And then on that last day, he corrects our behavior. What if he says, hey, I know out of the sincerity of your heart, you devoted your entire life to teaching these hard truths and commands and doctrines that had become corrupted and perverted over time. And you were trying to set things straight. And I know your intentions were good. You do not represent me. You did not do it as I would have done it. You weren't meek. You weren't lowly. People felt so condemned in your presence. Your self- righteous, smug attitude that exuded from your countenance and your snide remarks drove people away. It was oppressive to them. And I raised people up to warn you about it. You just stopped up your ears and justified yourself using what you thought were the prophets or even real examples of the prophets. But you're not called to follow them. You were called to follow me. You weren't called to focus on Elijah and other men of God. You were called to focus on me. They weren't to live their life through you. I was. I want to encourage you, friends. Focus on Jesus. It's all about Jesus. Walk with him. Live, move, and have your being in him and he in you. When you go out on the streets, when you go to your church, when you go to a fellowship or some house church or whatever you're doing, a rally, whatever it is, be sensitive to the spirit of Jesus on the inside of you. And conduct yourself as he would. Speak to others as he would. Communicate his heart. It's about representing him. It's about him being lifted up. The Lord bless you. ======================================================================== Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/AZQk3kDsJdE.mp4 Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/david-valderrama/jesus/ ========================================================================