Are We Taking Jesus Seriously?

1. Herod's Last Chance

Herod Antipas was the son of Herod the Great. He was allowed to rule over Galilee and Perea as tetrarch, not fully a king.  (Luke 3:1-2)

When Pilate sent Jesus to Herod, Herod was greatly pleased. Actually, according to the Greek, he was exceedingly glad, overjoyed because for a long time he wanted to see Jesus. Herod of course had heard about Jesus. We read about this in Matt. 14:1-2; Mark 6:14-16; Luke 9:7-9.

 In Galilee Jesus went around teaching from village to village, healing people and driving out demons. Matt. 9:35, “Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.”

Jesus also sent out the twelve and gave them authority to heal people and drive out demons. They went out, proclaimed the kingdom of God and preached repentance. (Mk 6:6-13; Mt 10:1; Lk 9:1-2)

Herod knew this. He heard the reports and Jesus’ name had become well known. 

The people wondered who this man was. Some were saying that he was Elijah. Others claimed that he was a prophet like one of the prophets of along ago. And still others said, he is John the Baptist raised from the dead. 

When Herod heard this he was perplexed. On the one hand he talked with the people and said with them, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised from the dead. That is why miraculous powers are at work in him.” On the other hand he could not believe this, and said, “I beheaded John. Who then, is this I hear such things about?” And he tried to see him (Lk 9:9).

And now here was Jesus before him. What an opportunity? Before Herod stood the Son of God, the Messiah. This was Herod’s last chance to take Jesus seriously. 

He was overjoyed but for the wrong reasons. He was hoping to see Jesus perform a miracle. He wanted Jesus to entertain him. He was not interested in who Jesus really was. 

Perhaps I am too hard on Herod. So, let’s give him some grace. Perhaps he was seriously looking for answers. Perhaps he was one of those people who would only believe if they see signs, miracles performed. But Jesus had already done that. He already confirmed his authority and identity as the Son of God and Messiah. He performed many miracles. The reports are there. The miracles are walking around — Jairus’ daughter; the blind men who could see, the lame who could walk, the demon-possessed were now demon-free; even Joanna the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod’s household was one of the women healed by Jesus. 

Jesus already taught and did everything necessary for Herod to believe. No, Herod is not seeking understanding, just self-gratification. He is not taking Jesus seriously. Jesus is just entertainment. He asked him many questions, interrogated him for a long time, in-depth. This was just another way of having fun with Jesus. 

Jesus remained silent. He already responded to the Jewish leaders and Pilate. Pilate found him innocent. He had nothing more to say.

Jesus knew Herod was not taking him seriously, and nothing he said will change Herod’s heart. His heart is hardened. His conscience dulled, deadened. He cared only about himself. 

Jesus knew what must happen. He had a mission to fulfill. Nothing he could do or say was going to change that. Jesus was not looking out for himself but for the world he came to safe.

His silence confirmed his identity as Messiah and fulfilled the prophecy, “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.” ( Is 53:7)

Jesus taught everything, did all the miracles to prove his authority and identity, the Son of God, the Messiah, the Lord and Savior of the world. Herod heard it all. He knew about the miracles. Now this man is before him.  All he had to do was believe, to take Jesus seriously. 

When Jesus did not provide Herod with the entertainment he hoped for, he decided to have fun with Jesus. He devised his own entertainment with Jesus. He dressed Jesus in an elegant or brilliant robe, and then he and his soldiers ridiculed him, treated him with contempt as someone worthless. They mocked him, made fun of him.

Herod had one last chance at redemption. “He stood face to face with God the Son who is absolute righteousness and absolute goodness and saw nothing in him.” (Hughes 1998, 365-366) And he blew it because he did not take Jesus seriously. Even worse he held God in contempt.

2. Are we taking Jesus seriously?

The question for us today is, are we taking Jesus seriously?

If you do not belief in Jesus you are not taking him seriously. You are indifferent to him like the soldiers, and ignore him. Or you make fun of Jesus like Herod. Or perhaps you are waiting for some sign before you believe. Jesus has already proven himself. He is the Lord and Savior of the world. He is alive. Take him seriously. Turn to him. This may be your last chance.  

However, we as believers must examine our thoughts, words, our actions, our lives, and our hearts with brutal honesty. We may discover that we are not taking Jesus seriously for who he is.

Jesus may be just a dogma, a theological teaching, that we as Christians learn and teach in church. We believe with our minds, our heads. But outside of church for the rest of my life, Jesus has no impact, no influence, no relevance. Jesus is not living in my heart. 

Jesus is my insurance policy against hell and my guarantee for heaven. He is my Savior whom I will meet one day in heaven. But Jesus is not living in my heart. 

Or perhaps Jesus is my model for social action and working for justice. He did say that we should feed the poor and care for the widows and orphans. So I become very active in working for social justice, fighting against racism, abortion, feeding the poor, caring for the sick, visiting the prisoners. But in my own heart, in my own life there is very little love, justice, righteousness, grace and forgiveness for others. I am doing all this to make my own name. Jesus is only a front for all this activism which is very self-centered. Because Jesus is not living in my heart. 

Or Jesus is my problem-solver, my helper in crisis, my emergency fall-back, my 911-call. Jesus is the spare wheel of my life’s car. When I have a flat tyre, when my life hits a crisis, when I experience problems, I take Jesus out of, and use him on to help me through this crisis. But as soon as the flat tyre, the problem, is fixed, and everything is okay again, I put Jesus back in my car’s boot. Then I go on driving wherever I want and however I want. Jesus is not living in my heart. Jesus is not driving the car of my life. 

I think you get the picture. I am sure you can think of many more ways in which we are not taking Jesus seriously. We create a Jesus in our image to serve our needs, to fit our ideas and culture. We mold Jesus into what we want him to be, someone who entertain us. We try to control Jesus.

3.  How do we take Jesus seriously? 

To take Jesus seriously we must answer two questions clearly and honestly. Who is Jesus? Why are we doing what we are doing? Only then can we talk about how to take Jesus seriously.

“Who do you say I am?” Jesus asked his disciples (Mt 16:15; Mk 8:29; Lk 9:20), and us today. Who do we say Jesus is? What is our answer? Can we say … 

Lord Jesus, you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was from eternity and will be forever, who came into the world in the flesh, fully human, to be the Savior of the world, an atoning sacrifice for our sins. You are the living Lord, who died, was resurrected and ascended to heaven. You are the Lord of the universe who created the universe, who rules over all, and who will return to restore your kingdom and bring about a new heavens and earth. You are the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. You are the Lord God Almighty, Yahweh, the great I AM. [PAUSE]

Why are we doing what we are doing? Why do we come to church? Why are we involved in church activities? Why are you working? Why are you in school? Why are we doing anything we are doing?

We live, we work, we play, we do church ministries, we do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father. We do it all for the glory of God. We do it all out of reverence for Christ. (Col. 3:17; 1 Cor 10:31; Eph 5:21). We do it because he is our Lord, our King, our Savior, our Creator, our Sanctifier, our Healer, our Provider, our Life, our Everything. Worship him? [PAUSE]

Now that we confessed and accepted Jesus as our Lord, now that we are willing to deny ourselves, take up our crosses, give our lives as a living sacrifice to him and follow him, now we can talk about how to take Jesus seriously and live every moment with and for Jesus. 

We take Jesus seriously by abiding in him all the time. We must take his words in John 15 seriously.  

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:1-5)

This means to live every moment of your life with Christ. A branch cannot be in the vine only sometimes. It must be implanted, rooted in the vine all the time. Abide in Christ.

First, daily, personal devotional time—We cannot neglect his. Every day we need to have focused time with the Lord to help us fix our eyes on him, to take up our crosses daily, to die to self, to listen to and learn from him. If we don’t have this time, it will be very hard to abide in him for the rest of the day. This time prepares us to live in him the whole day, it flows over into the rest of the day.

Then, we must learn to practice his presence all the time. Spiritual discipline called the game of minutes. I want to invite you, challenge you to play this game with me, play it together as a church—help one another; every week ask how’s it going with your game? EXPLAIN GAME OF MINUTES

Take this game seriously. Practice it. Don’t give up. Play it for the Lord. Jesus promises us that we will see and experience change—we will bear fruit. 

Jesus our Lord is alive. He is in us. He is with us. Take his hand, hold unto his hand, keep our eyes fixed on him every moment. Abide in Christ every moment, take Jesus seriously every moment, in all areas of our lives, and we will experience revival, you will experience the unspeakable joy of living the new, eternal life already now. Take Jesus seriously.