The Handshake of Faith (Corbin Weiss, 02/25/23)

Dear Lord, thank you for this day, this Sabbath.

Thank you that you want to spend a day with us and that you set a day out of every seven

that we should be with you.

Ask that you will be with me as I speak with the congregation.

So listen and send your Holy Spirit on each one of us to apply this message to our lives.

Amen.

So this week I did some thinking about handshakes because through COVID I kind of had this difficulty

where I would go for a handshake with someone and kind of get left hanging, right?

Or I stick out my hand and they kind of give me an elbow and it's like, do I shake their

elbow or like, you know?

And it got me thinking about what a handshake means, right?

When you look someone in the eye and you shake their hand and you say, it's good to see you,

or you shake their hand, you grab their arm and you say, you know, good morning, such

an excellent thing to know you.

It's more than just a physical connection, it's about a relationship.

And I want to present the idea today that Jesus offers a handshake with us every morning.

And the way he does it is through impressions, through our prayer, through our Bible study.

He's coming every morning with his hand outstretched saying, good morning, it's good to see you.

And sometimes I find that I leave him hanging because I know that when he offers a handshake

to me, it's more than just a handshake, right?

He wants to shake my hand and then say, let's go for a walk, right?

His handshake is more than just a few moments in the morning.

It's an invitation to redirect my life, redirect my day.

And so at times I honestly don't take the handshake because I know I'm pretty busy that

day.

I have a bunch of school, some prior commitments.

And so I just, you know, he holds out his hand and then I kind of wave.

I'm like, good morning, I'll catch you later.

But I think there's more to this idea of a handshake than first meets the eye.

So let's go to scripture Matthew 14, verse 28 through 33.

Matthew 14:28–33

You can come down here so I can read it.

So this is after Jesus fed the 5,000 and he sees that the disciples and the people are

going to try to make him king.

And so he sends the disciples across the lake and they encounter this storm and they see

him coming to them, walking on the water.

We know this story, right?

So Peter says, Lord, if it is you command me to come to you on the water.

Jesus says, come.

So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus.

But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and beginning to sink, he cried out, Lord, save

me.

Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him saying to him, Oh, you of

little faith, why did you doubt?

And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.

So right here, this is kind of the classic example of a handshake in scripture, right?

Peter's sinking.

He reaches out his hand.

Jesus takes it and pulls him up out of the water and then they walk hand in hand to the

boat, as I just said.

So here we see this this really cool truth that Jesus well on earth with was physically

extending his hand to save Peter.

And I think for us, he's, you know, spiritually extending his hand to save us.

And sometimes we have to grasp it from beneath the waves, right?

But he's it's always there to save us.

So let's let's keep going with this idea of a handshake.

How does this apply practically?

Because it's you know, it's nice if Jesus were like physically here on earth, we could

say shake hands.

But I mean, he's not you can't.

I'm I'm just holding my hand in the air right now.

Right.

So there's a spiritual meaning to this, which Jesus explains well in John 625 on the yeah.

So this is after Jesus and the disciples have landed in Capernaum after crossing the lake.

And the people who Jesus fed, the the 5000 men, probably 20,000 people are following

him still trying to make him king.

And so when they found him on the other side of the sea in Capernaum, they said to him,

Rabbi, when did you come here?

Jesus answered them, truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me not because you saw

signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves do not work for the food that perishes,

but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you.

So right here, it doesn't look like a handshake, but we'll we'll we'll get to this because

there's a there's a cool a cool truth to what the what this interaction has.

The Jews had some expectations of Jesus as the Messiah, they expected a Messiah to be

a military leader to give them the robes and the palaces of their conquerors.

And so when they when they come to him, they're they're looking for some like material temporal

good.

That's the food which perishes.

Jesus is offering them the eternal spiritual food, right, of a life with him.

He's offering them a handshake, which doesn't meet which doesn't meet their expectations,

but which is actually far greater than what they're expecting.

If we jump forward from the Jews to our time, I find that I often follow Jesus with some

expectations of what he'll do for me.

You know, you've got a John 10, any number of awesome verses and promises.

You know, Jesus says, I came that my you know, those who follow me may have a rich and satisfying

life.

And so I'm like, well, a rich and satisfying life will probably look like, you know, good

career, great family, plenty of money, maybe some some fame and fortune by which I can

spread the gospel.

Maybe I can be doing mission work full time charitable, you know, this this sort of awesome

life which Jesus obviously has planned for me because he says, I want to give you a rich

and satisfying life.

All the all the things that come to mind when I'm following Jesus are are things on earth,

right?

All the things I listed a big house, a nice car are are things that really won't last.

And so when I when I see this interaction with the Jews and Jesus, I see myself in the

place of the Jews and I see Jesus telling me, I'm not offering you those things which

you're seeking so much.

I'm offering you something greater, which you can't see yet.

He's offering a handshake that starts a relationship.

So I find myself falling into the trap of saying, if God really loved me, then fill

in the blank.

Right.

You can you can fill it in with whatever you want.

If God really loved me, then I would have a better grade on this last test.

If God really loved me, then I would have I would be friends with this person.

I really want to get to know if God really loved me, then I would have this job I'm looking

for.

I would have I would have health.

If God really loved me, then this loved one wouldn't have died.

I'd be able to travel, be able to send my kids to a better school.

I would be living in the mountains in Colorado.

If God really loved me, I wouldn't be facing this tragedy or this temptation.

Right.

We all have this tendency to measure God's love by the temporal things which he does

for us.

But I have news for you.

God does love you.

Right.

He gave an infinite sacrifice to get to know you.

So God God really cannot love you more.

He doesn't love you more if your life is going well.

Right.

He doesn't love you more if he gives you the things that you're praying for.

Right.

He doesn't love you less if you're facing some uncertainty and trials that don't make

any sense.

God's love is is always at max capacity, whether we see it or not.

So it takes kind of a radical trust in who God is saying, first of all, God loves me.

And then second, how do I how do I understand his love in the context of where I am?

Right.

So we see our expectations of God do not match what he's offering.

So let's let's really dive in a little closer into what Jesus is offering.

He says, Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life,

which the Son of Man will give to you.

Then they said to him, What must be do that we may be doing the works of God?

Jesus answered them, This is the work of God that you believe in him whom he has sent.

So this is this is this is a really cool thing.

You see the words I italicized there that's not original.

The Jews are looking for some work to do, and he says, Take the food which the Son of

Man will give to you.

They're looking for something to do to work the works of God.

And Jesus says, You must believe this.

This right here is is the gospel.

This is what Jesus is offering and how he's offering it.

The Jews jumping back to the Jews time.

There were a lot of rabbis around who would come to town and offer some new thing you

can do to earn heaven.

They're used to the traveling rabbi saying, You know, if you pray one more time, if you

memorize this part of scripture, then you'll be one step closer to heaven.

They were used to earning what they got and getting what they earned.

And so they this was kind of the standard procedure when this new rabbi comes.

They're asking, OK, what do we do to get this that you're offering?

And he's saying you need to believe, which is something totally new.

Let's jump into the meaning of doing versus believing.

And I think this has an application for us now, as well as for them.

When I have another thing to do, it's it just goes on my list, right?

I get assignments all the time from professors and it takes me two, three hours, maybe.

But when I'm done, I can go on with my life, right?

I can hang out with the same people, think the same thoughts, go on pursuing the same

the same career goals and life goals.

Another thing to do is is just like a little sliver of time on my calendar.

But belief has to do with the heart, right?

So when Jesus is saying you must believe, he's offering something which redirects the

whole life.

It's not it's not another item on the calendar.

It's like a change of heart.

And so it's it's a stronger it's a it's a stronger commitment.

It's a higher cost for us.

But it's really the the only thing which can give us the relationship he's offering is

it is a change of heart because a relationship with God is about the heart and the whole

life.

It's not just another thing on the calendar.

I I'd like to do Bible study every morning.

I'll spend an hour maybe.

And it's so easy to just finish the hour of Bible study and then go on my merry way and

do all my classes.

Right.

But if I really want to accept Jesus handshake in that first hour of the morning, it's going

to redirect my whole day and my whole life.

So let's let's keep going here into the next slide, which is this John six fifty three

fifty seven.

So this this is this is where Jesus starts kind of pushing the bounds of the Jews and

understanding because he's been talking about the you know, he says I am the bread of life.

They say we received manna in the wilderness.

And so they're kind of on these two different planes.

Right.

The Jews are at the temporal earthly bread, the the their national pride, their victory

over the Romans.

Jesus is on this whole another plane of like relationship with God and eternal life.

And so Jesus says to them, truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat of the Son of Man

and drink his blood, you have no life in you.

This would have sounded really wrong for the Jews.

I mean, it sounds wrong today, but then they would like they would not touch any animal

flesh which had blood in it, like they don't eat blood and certainly not like human flesh

and blood.

This is this is just wrong.

So he says, whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will

raise him up on the last day.

It just keeps getting worse for my flesh is true food and my blood is to drink.

Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I and him as the living father

sent me and I live because of the father.

So whoever feeds on me, he will also live because of me.

This really doesn't make much sense in it on on face value.

Like if this verse here is how you get the ideas of like transubstantiation, where people

believe that, you know, when you take communion, the bread becomes the body of Jesus somehow

miraculously.

So I'm going to I'm going to call in some help to understand what this means.

If you go to the next one.

Yeah, this is from Desire of Ages.

As our physical life is sustained by food, so our spiritual life is sustained by the

word of God.

Right here, we're getting we're getting another layer deeper in understanding what it means

to take that handshake that Jesus is offering to eat the bread.

The word of God.

Right.

That's this is a big deal here.

Every soul that is to receive life from God's every soul is to receive life from God's word

for himself as we must eat for ourselves in order to receive nourishment.

So we must receive the word for ourselves.

So I don't know.

I'm a college student.

I probably eat like five times a day.

So this is this is a big commitment here.

We are not to obtain it merely through another's mind.

And keep going.

We should carefully study the Bible asking God for the aid of the Holy Spirit that we

may understand his word.

We should take one verse and concentrate the mind on the task of ascertaining the thought

which God has put in that verse for us.

We should dwell upon the thought until it becomes our own and we know what says Lord.

This is what Jesus is talking about when he says eat of my flesh and drink my blood.

He came as the word of God.

You know John John one the the word was God and yeah you know I'm saying so Jesus is the

word and he's saying you need to consume that word.

And this this is how we do it.

Studying the Bible asking for God's presence and then surrendering to its directions.

You know if if I read something and it's it's telling me to do something I need to I need

to do it right.

The handshake which Jesus offers is going to redirect my life.

So let's go back to you don't have to go back to the side.

It's OK.

I'm going going back to the idea of the of the Jews with their expectations of Jesus.

Right.

They expected a rabbi to give them another thing to do.

Right.

We likewise have people who are giving us something else to do.

You go on social media you go on any I know any public figure tends to give you recommendations

for things to improve your life.

Right.

They'll say quit smoking quit drinking quit staying up late quit getting up early.

Sometimes they'll they'll say stuff like you need to meditate you need to be thankful you

need to be powerful you need to you need to accept who you are.

And what Jesus is saying in in his message to the Jews and also subsequently in his message

to us when he's offering this handshake he's saying the the things that the world is offering

you really won't satisfy you.

It's life with me a relationship with me which will satisfy.

So let's let's go to the last last one here.

This is really cool.

The truth here when I when I first saw them I was like man this is awesome.

So Christ became one flesh with us in order that we might become one spirit with him.

It is by virtue of this union that we are to come forth from the grave not merely as

a manifestation of the power of Christ but because through faith his life has become

ours.

So this is this is jumping back into the idea of consuming Christ through his word through

time with him service.

Right.

What what we're doing now.

Right.

Somehow we are we receive Christ spirit.

It's a crazy miracle it's a miracle of salvation.

Then by virtue of this union with him we are to come forth from the grave.

We all believe in the second coming of Christ and the resurrection.

Right.

And what this is saying is that the resurrection is not some miracle that God works when when

Jesus comes back to earth.

It's not a miracle that he works right then and there.

It's the natural outworking of a miracle which happens now.

If we if we actually receive Christ live in relationship with him there's some crazy miracle

where we get to be one with Jesus and God a part of the family of God.

Right.

And so when Jesus calls forth the righteous when he returns to earth he can call them

forth not because he has the power to call forth us but because the grave has no hold

on his life when we receive Christ's life we receive a life which the grave has no hold

on.

Right.

That's how Jesus raised from the dead.

His life was a perfect life and a perfect relationship with God.

And so the grave couldn't hold that.

In the same way when when we receive his life through studying the word through service

through prayer through seeking him through living in relationship with him then we receive

a life which the grave has no hold on which sin has no hold on which are which the sorrows

of this world have no hold on.

Right.

What Jesus is is talking about here in receiving receiving him living with him when he extends

his handshake and says let's let's walk together and kind of be a family.

He's offering eternal life starting now.

Right.

He says I am the resurrection and the life.

It's not I will be right.

I am.

And as we as we grasp his hand day by day we get to be a part of that.

I think the the lesson for me from these ideas is that too often I I seek I seek to know

God's will for me because I want to live a good life not not not necessarily a morally

good life but a life that's fulfilling and joyful.

And I know that God has the best plan for my life that will bring me the most joy.

And so I pray for God's guidance and I try to follow that because I want to enjoy my

life.

And what Jesus is offering is something different.

He's offering a relationship with him.

I think often I approach God as kind of a tool for having eternal life and a good life

now.

He's he's not right.

Like yes he wants to give us all these good things but he wants so much more to just be

with us and to have this awesome relationship.

Right.

It's it's kind of like if I don't know the way that sometimes we have a tendency to befriend

wealthy people right because we we expect some benefits from that.

I think that's it's too often that I do that with God that I'm befriending the king of

the universe expecting some benefit.

But really he he just wants to be with me as a family almost bringing me up to be an

equal in some ways.

Right.

When Jesus is extending his handshake it's it's not a it's not a transaction it's not

an invitation from from a wealthy landowner to say hey you know join me in this business

enterprise.

It's the handshake of a brother and a friend.

Right.

He just wants to be with us.

So it's not it's not possible on our own to be with Jesus.

I I can talk about it all I want.

But it's it's only it's only by his voice and his miraculous gift that we can be with

him.

And the good news is that with his with his word with his invitation to be with him to

you know eat of his flesh and drink of his blood right in in such close relationship

with that invitation comes the power to follow and to do it.

When Jesus said to Peter come that word gave Peter power to walk on the water.

Right.

When Jesus says to us come be with me walk with me through today that word gives us power.

It means it means the surrender of my own plans for my life my own ambitions.

But I mean is that really a surrender.

I mean is there is there any comparison between what I expect of God and what he's really

giving me.

Right.

He wants he wants to be with me eternally.

He wants to give me eternal life eternal relationship with him starting now.

So if you if you want to accept the handshake of Jesus that he's extending to each each

one of you I invite you to stand as we sing I come to the garden.

I'll have a prayer here real quick.

Lord Jesus we thank you for the for the gift of your presence and for the gift of your

of your infinite sacrifice that you want to be with us.

It's a it's a crazy thing that our creator and our king wants to know us and walk with

us day by day.

But we we know it's true from from scripture from experience and we ask that we will see

the value of knowing you and that we will come to you not not as a tool but as a friend.

And we want to each one of us individually accept that handshake offered and to say Jesus

I walk with you today.

Amen.