I Am - A Child of God | Crossroads Students

Hey, I'm Jason, and I believe in love at first sight. I'm in love, I'm in love, and I don't care who knows it. Do you? I know there's some of you out there. And maybe you didn't even believe in love at first sight, but you saw that girl walk around the corner at school, and your heart leapt out of its chest. No, there's some people out there that believe in love at first sight. I believe in love at first sight, but not the way that you probably do. You see, I asked my wife out when I was in middle school. And she said, no. She actually said, God doesn't want us to date at the time. How terrible is that? That is the most hurtful thing that a girl could say to a guy. It was awful. And yet I ended up marrying her, not because of love at first sight, but I actually believe in love at first sight because I'm a dad. I have three kids, actually. And when my son was born, there was a moment where I started to believe in love at first sight. You see, I love kids. I love hanging out with students all the time. Like, I've always been around young people. I have 10 younger brothers and sisters. I've been around kids all the time, so I love kids. But there was a moment where my wife was giving labor, and my son was born. In that moment, I can remember the weight I felt when he was put in my hands. I can feel him still in my hands right now. And in that moment, my heart broke. In that moment, I couldn't help but believe in love at first sight because in that moment, when I first saw my kid, he was ugly.

He had stuff all over him. He was like, you know what I'm saying? He was like... But in that moment, I loved him. He hadn't done anything for me. He hadn't made my life easier at all yet. He had never said one positive thing to me, and yet I loved him. Even, man, you think about the next year of my life. The amount of work, the sleepless nights, the changing diapers, all of that caused me so much work, so much pain, so much frustration, and yet I loved him from the moment that I saw him. I believe in love at first sight. And the reason we're talking about that today is because I want you in this whole series of I Am, I want you to wrestle with this idea of love and God's love with you and who Jesus says that he is. Let me say it this way. I had a dad in my life for a while, and I've had a very absent dad for most of my life. And so when I say that story, I know that there's some people in the room and you're like, dude, I wish I had a dad that loved me at first sight. I wish I had somebody who was looking out for me and would care for me and would fight for me. All the things that I want to be for my son, I know that there's many people in our rooms that don't have that. And still, I want to say it because here's my heart for you. I know that there's something deep inside of you that doesn't even just say that you want that, that you deserved it and you were loved enough somehow in this world to have been promised that in your life. And so even if you didn't have it in your life, I know that there's an empty spot in your heart that knew that you were supposed to have that. And today, I can't solve that problem for you. But what I can tell you is, even though I've had an absent father, I believe that that hole in my heart has been filled by a relationship with God. And that relationship with God comes through understanding the I am statements of who Jesus declares that he is. Is if you and I want access to God, you and I have got to decide what we believe about who Jesus is. There's a theologian, and the theologian's name is C.S. Lewis. And he started his life an atheist, which means he didn't believe in God at all.

In fact, he made it kind of his mission, his hobby to disprove Christianity. Like his job, he would like go into places and convince people to not be Christians. And then he started. studying Christianity, trying to figure out, like, how can I, like, do this more? And then he ended up believing because he learned the story of who Jesus claimed that he was. And if you and I can think critically, think critically about who Jesus is, I think you're going to get closer and closer to understanding who God could be for you. And actually, let me pray for that right now. Dear Heavenly Father, I want that for us. Jesus, I want to know who you declared that you are and how it can change my life 2,000 years later. Will you help us with that? In your name we pray. Amen. Jesus tells us who he is all throughout the Bible. You can read who Jesus declared that he is. The one that we're going to read right now actually is John 8. In John 8, Jesus says this, I tell you the truth before Abraham, which, by the way, was a guy who lived 4,000 years ago for us, 2,000 years ago for Jesus, before Abraham was even born, I am. What you have to understand about the Bible is the first time that God introduced himself to his people, he said, you can call me I am. The name that God gave himself to his people is I am. And so what Jesus was doing in that moment,

he wasn't just declaring that he has existed for eternity. He was declaring that he is God. And your entire belief system, the whole reason maybe you're in church is trying to figure out if you believe that Jesus is who he says he is. And so we're going to dig into that a little bit today, because if you're honest, and I mean like critically honest, like you're actually thinking, not feeling, not being manipulated, if you're actually critically thinking about who Jesus is, you're probably going to land on four different spots. Number one, I would say is probably just a good teacher. If you think that Jesus was a good moral teacher, you are not alone. In fact, all of the Islamic faith, Muslims believe that Jesus was a good teacher. They believe that. They believe Jesus was a good and moral teacher. Not only that, but the Buddhists, like people who are Buddhists in this world, they believe that Jesus was a good and moral teacher. Atheists, people that don't believe that God existed, look at the life of Jesus, look at the words of Jesus and say, this guy was a good and moral teacher. They look at things like that Jesus said, like do unto others as you would have them do to you. And they're like, that's a good moral teacher.

And that's all fine and good. But that's not who I believe Jesus is. I believe Jesus is who he says he is, which is God. It's a good moral teacher is up there, but there's probably three other categories you could fall in. You could assume that Jesus is a liar. You could assume that Jesus is a lunatic or you could assume that Jesus is Lord. In fact, C.S. Lewis does this. He was a lifelong atheist. He kind of grew up around church and he was like, you know what, I don't believe in God, I'm out. And he tried to spend his free time convincing Christians to not be Christians and he wanted to be good at it. So he studied Jesus and then he converted and gave his life to Jesus. And he became one of the greatest theologians of all time, people that have wrestled with the idea of who God can be for you and for me. And this is what he says about that whole process. He says, a man who was merely a man would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a liar, a lunatic, or the Lord. And so if you put him in Jesus in one of those four categories, that's great. But let's get rid of great moral teacher because you cannot declare to be God and be truthful at the same time. Right. That's crazy.

So let's talk about being a liar. Was Jesus a liar? Jesus claimed to be God. Was he lying about it? Maybe. But then I look at the life of Jesus and I'm like, dude, he consistently over and over again helped people. And then right at the end, right before he was put to death, they basically asked him the question, are you God? And all Jesus had to say was no, and he wouldn't die. Like people will die for things that they believe in. Nobody is willing to die for something that they know is a lie. And Jesus could have easily have said, I'm not God and he wouldn't have been crucified. But he was God and he believed that he was God. He declared that he was God. And so they killed him for it. So I can't put Jesus in that liar category. You could say that Jesus was a lunatic. You could say he was nuts. Like and by the way, if you meet somebody and they say they're God, guess what? They're nuts. They're insane. Like you do not trust that person. That's terrified. Like why would you ever trust that person? Like that person is a lunatic

unless they come back from the dead. Unless they perform miracles. Unless they stay consistent with their teachings throughout their entire life. Like you look at Jesus's life and no one would follow the good moral teachings or think so highly of Jesus even if they didn't believe in him if he was a lunatic. No, he can't be crazy. Then you go back to what Jesus said. He said, I am. Before Abraham 2,000 years ago, I am. What is Jesus saying? Both by his example, his resurrection from the dead, and what he said with his mouth, Jesus declared himself to be God. And that's incredible for you and for me if we believe it. And the whole Christian walk, the whole following Jesus thing hinges upon how you're gonna answer that question. Who was Jesus? Was he just a good moral teacher who was wrong about being God? Was he a liar his whole life and he knew the whole thing was a sham? Was he performing magic tricks when people said that they were healed? Is he a lunatic? Is he just an absolute crazy person that for some reason people decided to follow and are still following 2,000 years after he died? Or do you believe that Jesus was Lord? He was who he claimed to be. That's what I believe. I believe that Jesus is who he says he is. And we're gonna unpack many statements of who Jesus declared to be because each one of those statements, those I am statements from Jesus, mean everything to you and to me who believe. And so that's what we're gonna unpack in this entire series. There's this moment though where it isn't just Jesus declaring to be God, but there's a moment where God speaks to everyone about who Jesus is. And I want to focus in on this moment right at the beginning of Jesus's ministry. It's kind of like my son. Jesus hadn't done any miracles yet. He hadn't really amassed a giant following yet. People really didn't even know who he was. He shows up to get baptized. Now Jesus got baptized, I think, because he wanted to be a perfect example of how you and I can live our lives. When we get baptized, we're following in the example of Jesus. And so he shows up to get baptized and the guy who's baptizing him is his cousin and he doesn't even want to do it. He's like, dude, Jesus, I believe you are who you say you are. I believe you are God and I'm not even worthy to

untie your sandals, much less, much less Jesus baptize you. And Jesus says, do it anyway. So this guy's like, all right, if Jesus tells me to do it, I'm gonna do it. So he jumps in the water and this guy baptizes Jesus. Boom, boom. When Jesus comes up out of the water, God speaks. There's this moment and I don't know what it would look like, but it's crazy. Basically it says that heaven tore open. I don't know how that would exist. That'd be awesome. Heaven tore open. Dove comes down and in that moment, a loud booming voice says, this is my beloved son in who I am well pleased. It was almost like in that moment when Jesus came up out of the baptism water, God said, I believe and love at first sight. There's my boy and I'm so proud of him. Jesus hadn't done miracles yet. He hadn't died on the cross yet. He hadn't done anything yet. But the father, God showed his love for the son in that moment. He loved him. And I wonder if in every single one of your delivery rooms when you were born, if when you were born, God is up in heaven staring down at earth saying, oh, that is my daughter. That is my son. I love him so much. The Bible is super clear. He knitted us together in our mother's wombs before you were even born. I am was in your life, shaping you, changing you, moving you. And in this moment, Jesus gets to hear from God about who he is. When you answer the question who Jesus is, it changes who you are. And in this series and maybe even today, you have an opportunity to decide who am I going to be based on who Jesus is. And actually, I want to pray for you as you're in this moment deciding who Jesus is to you. Jesus, thank you for your example. Thank you for your sacrifice. Thank you for coming to us. Thank you for being very, very clear and obvious who you are so that we would know through your example who we are. God, this is the most difficult question that we could wrestle with. Who is Jesus and who is Jesus to me? God, I pray that in this moment right now in the hearts of students in every single one of our rooms that you would nudge to them that you love them, you're pleased with them, you care about them, and you desire relationship with them. And through this series, God, through all the things that Jesus declared I am, will you help us to understand more your character through your son's character, Jesus?

In your mighty name we pray, amen.