Man or Myth | Pastor Chris Kouba

Let me ask you the question.

Who do you say Jesus is?

It's a question that has been debated.

It's a question that theologians and philosophers have all had their opinions on.

It's a the actual cover of the magazine, Life Magazine, is the question, who is Jesus?

Let me invite you to turn in your Bibles to John chapter 1.

John 1 · chapter mention

John chapter 1 is where we're going to begin.

John 1 · chapter mention

Although I'm just giving you a heads up, we're going to be all over the place today.

Like we're literally going to be all over the scriptures.

I want to encourage you, one, just to be prepared to be turning to all of these various places.

Let me encourage you to perhaps grab your phones and take pictures of the verses that we're going to look at.

These would be great verses for you to spend some time over the course of the Christmas holidays just thinking about, reading, beginning to have in your mind.

We're going to just be all over the place because our attempt today is to try to answer that question: who do you say Jesus is?

We're in a sermon series called More Than.

And we're looking and seeing how Jesus is more than just holiday.

Jesus is more than just the thing that we celebrate for a birthday party.

It's more than the lights, it's more than the festivities, it's more than all the things that go along with this Christmas season.

A couple of weeks ago, Dave Kinney launched the series by telling us how Jesus is more than a prophet.

Last week we looked at how Jesus is more than a priest, and today I want us to consider this idea that Jesus is more than a man.

Let's begin reading in John chapter 1, beginning in verse 1.

John 1 · chapter mention

It says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

He was in the beginning with God.

All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.

In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Skip down to verse nine.

He says, The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.

He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.

He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

And the word became flesh and dwelt among us.

It's the story of Christmas in verse 14.

And we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

The miracle and the story of Christmas is that God became flesh and dwelt among us.

There are many messages we've given many here at United City that emphasize the fact that Jesus was fully man, and because Jesus was fully man, he can relate to us and we can connect with him, and all of those things are true, and all of those things are right.

Today, though, what I want us to focus on is the fact that Jesus was more than just a man, that Jesus was 100% fully God.

There are four things that I want to point out from this kind of survey of the gospels that we're gonna look at today, four attributes, four ideas that speak to us about who Jesus was and how he was more than a man.

And I want to show you how each of these attributes can be things that you can lean upon, you can draw near and close to, and you can find help as a result during this time of Christmas.

I want to look at John chapter 2 to show you the first attribute, one chapter over from John 1.

John 2 · chapter mention

This is the beginning of Jesus' earthly ministry.

He was born, John chapter 1, he has 30 years of anonymity, and then he begins to come onto the scene, and we see his very first miracle.

John 1 · chapter mention

John chapter 2, beginning in verse 1.

John 2 · chapter mention

On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.

Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples.

When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, They have no wine.

And Jesus said to her, Woman, what does this have to do with me?

My hour has not yet come.

His mother said to his servants, Do whatever he tells you.

The story goes on that Jesus then begins to go and get many of the jugs that used to be filled with wine, and he began to order the servants to fill them with water.

They went and filled those jugs with water, and then the water turned into wine.

That was a miracle in and of itself, but the Bible tells us that it wasn't just wine like you kind of finish off the party with.

Excuse me, verse 11.

This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory, and his disciples believed in him.

This was the first time that Jesus showed he wasn't like everybody else.

He performed a miracle, and this miracle led to it manifesting his glory.

What I want to show you today is that Jesus is more than a man, and here is how we know this to be the case, because Jesus is all powerful.

Jesus is all powerful.

This is the theological idea called omni omnipotence, which means that he has unlimited and unending power.

He has power over nature, he has power over creation, he has power over the earth.

Jesus showed that he could do signs and wonders, and that is great in and of itself, but it shows here in verse 11 that Jesus manifested his glory.

Everyone up to this point had been born for the sole purpose of giving glory to the one who made them, that is the Father.

But now we see that Jesus comes onto the scene.

He begins to go to this wedding, he performs this miracle that makes everybody pretty happy because the party's gonna continue.

And what it says there is that he manifests his glory.

He shows that he is not only one who is more powerful than all the external factors that are out there, but he is one because of that power who deserves glory upon himself.

Another example comes from Matthew chapter 8 in verse 23.

Matthew 8 · chapter mention

Look at what it says.

And when he, Jesus, got into the boat, his disciples followed him.

And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves, but he was asleep.

And they went and woke him, saying, Save us, Lord, we are perishing.

And he said to them, Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?

Then he arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.

And the men marveled, saying, What sort of man is this that even winds and sea obey him?

Jesus showed he was more powerful than the wind, and more powerful than the waves, and all of nature by just speaking to the storm, and it ceased.

You see, all other humans must bend their will to the outside forces that are around them, but Jesus is one who is more powerful than all of those forces.

Let me give you another example that comes from when the crowds were following after Jesus.

They began to get a big, huge crowd, and then all of a sudden the disciples were like, We got a problem on our hands, we got a lot of hungry people and we don't know what to do.

Matthew chapter 14 tells us the story in verse 15.

Matthew 14 · chapter mention

It says, Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him, Jesus, and said, This is a desolate place and the day is now over.

Send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.

Basically, Jesus, we're in charge here.

We're trying to make sure everything's going good.

These people are about to get really, really hangry and mad.

They're about to get hungry and they're mad.

This is not going to go well.

So go and tell them to get something to eat.

Jesus said, They need not go away, you give them something to eat.

They said to him, We only have five loaves here and two fish.

And he said, Bring them here to me.

Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said, A blessing.

Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds, and they all ate and were satisfied.

And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over, and those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

What this shows is that Jesus can take what is clearly not enough, and he can make it enough.

What does all of this mean?

If Jesus is all powerful, then he has the power to deal with whatever you've got this Christmas.

Whatever struggles that you may be dealing with, whatever challenges that you may be facing, whatever things that are pressing in on your soul and feels like it is crushing you, I want you to know this.

Jesus is more powerful than that.

Maybe you've got a financial need.

And maybe you're sitting there and you're praying and you're asking God for Him to come and to meet that financial need.

That financial need feels like it is growing, that financial need feels like it is overwhelming, and you are wondering and you're wondering how you're going to overcome it.

And I want you to know this Jesus can meet your financial need, but I want you to also notice this he wants you to bring your five loaves and your two fish first.

You see, some of you are asking Jesus to come and to meet your needs, but you're holding back what you've got.

And what he instead says is he wants you to give everything that you got because what Jesus does is takes what you've got and he makes it more.

He multiplies and he meets your needs.

Maybe some of you are dealing with financial, or excuse me, you're dealing with medical situations.

Maybe you've received a diagnosis, maybe you've got something that's been a lingering thing that's just kind of always ongoing.

Maybe you are going into this Christmas and you're honestly not sure whether you're going to be around next Christmas.

And those find those those medical needs can feel like storms, which kind of just get louder and get louder and louder.

And while everybody else seems to be asleep all around you, you're the one wondering, does anybody care about the storm?

And I would simply tell you this: Jesus just speaks to the storm and it ceases.

He's not bound by the same things that you are bound by.

He is not held to the same external forces that seem to be all around you.

Instead, Jesus is greater and more powerful than all of those forces.

For some of you, you may be experiencing relational struggles in your marriage.

Maybe with a child, maybe a boyfriend or girlfriend drama that seems to just kind of be a big deal in your life.

And you're really not sure what you're gonna do, you're really not sure how you're gonna turn, you're really not sure whether you should stay in this relationship, you're really not sure how you're gonna overcome the challenges that you're facing in your marriage.

And I would simply tell you this: Jesus can take water and he can turn it into wine.

I've seen him do it over and over and over again.

Where something that looks totally dead and not able to have any type of life, Jesus begins to do a resurrection.

Because he is all powerful, he is omnipotent in your life.

Turn with me to John chapter 6.

John 6 · chapter mention

I want to show you another attribute of Jesus that we can see.

John chapter 6 and verse 60.

John 6 · chapter mention

It says, when many of his disciples heard it, they said, This is a hard saying.

Who can listen to it?

But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, Do you take offense at this?

Then what if you were to see the Son of Man descending to where he was before?

It is the Spirit who gives life.

The flesh is no help at all.

The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.

But there are some of you who do not believe.

For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe and who it was who had betrayed him.

And he said, This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted to him by the Father.

Second attribute that I want you to see.

Jesus is more than a man because he is number one, all powerful.

Number two, Jesus is all knowing.

Jesus is all knowing.

This is the theological idea of omniscience, which means that Jesus knows everything.

There's nothing beyond his ability to know or to comprehend or to see.

In John chapter 6, Jesus, it says there knows who would be the one who would betray him and who would be the ones who follow him.

John 6 · chapter mention

He sees, he knows beyond just the surface.

John chapter 1.

John 1 · chapter mention

Go back to John chapter 1, and it tells the story of Jesus calling the disciples.

John 1 · chapter mention

He brought him to Jesus.

Jesus looked at him and said, You are Simon, the son of John, you shall be called Cephas, which means Peter.

The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee.

He found Philip and he said to him, Follow me.

Now Philip was from Bethesda, the city of Andrew and Peter.

Philip found Nathaniel and said to him, We have found him of whom Moses and the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.

Nathanael said to him, How can anything good come out of Nazareth?

Philip said to him, Come and see.

Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, Behold, an Israelite indeed in whom there is no deceit.

Nathanael said to him, How do you know me?

Jesus answered, Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.

Nathaniel answered him, Rabbi, you are the Son of God.

You are the King of Israel.

There is something that is pretty powerful when somebody knows you.

They know beyond just the surface stuff.

Someone who actually really knows you.

It says there that Nathaniel is trying to check out Jesus to see if he's somebody that he wants to follow.

And Jesus makes a statement to him that makes it super obvious: oh, I've known you for a long time, even before you tried to look for me.

Like I saw you when you were sitting under the tree and no one else was seeing you.

I not only saw you, but I knew exactly what you were thinking.

I know you.

2016 was a pretty difficult year for me.

I actually uh experienced a pretty significant burn accident, kitchen grease fire that left me uh burned on my stomach as well as on my legs.

And uh I've been told repeatedly that a burn is the most difficult, uh excruciating pain that a human can experience.

I don't know of anything that is more, but I certainly don't want to test that theory and see if it is true because I know uh how painful and how difficult uh that year was.

It was painful and difficult on multiple different levels.

I had surgeries, multiple surgeries to help to deal with it, multiple hospital stays uh along the way.

And what I experienced in 2016 as I think through it wasn't just the physical pain that pretty much marked every day of my life that year, but it was also the mental torment of kind of waking up and thinking, when is it gonna hurt today?

Like, when am I gonna experience the excruciating pain that I'm gonna have to excuse myself and I'm gonna have to go somewhere and just kind of get through it?

Uh and I had people along the way, particularly that year, uh, who knew about the accident and who were trying to be empathetic and trying to be gracious, and and I appreciated what they were trying to do, but uh it wasn't that I was super visible, the burns, and so therefore, in light of that, not everybody knew.

And so what happened was is that people would they like they experienced some kind of like, you know, they they burn themselves on a candle or or they or they have that they'd have like in the kitchen and they they get on the stove and they they they burn their the side of their hands, and it was a significant thing, and yes, there was some blistering and that kind of thing.

And so they they kind of come up to me and they'd say, Man, I've I was thinking about you last week or last night or whatever it was.

Man, I I burned my hand or I burned something, and man, it just hurt so bad, and all I could do was think about you, and I just want you to know, man, I'm I'm here for you.

If there's anything I could ever do for you, you just let me know.

And every single time I would hear that, I I would I would be gracious for it, I would be thankful for it, but I would also have this thought you have absolutely no idea, you have no clue.

What you experience is significant, but we who experience isn't the same.

I had a mentor of mine though who happened to be kind of a leadership business mentor for me, and he was a guy that helped me in so many different ways, just happened to be in my life, who in God's providence also had been burned in a burn accident prior in his life.

And so I would call Mark.

And a particular day, whenever I was dealing with it, was just tough, it was just excruciatingly painful.

And I would call Mark and I'd say, hey man, you got a second?

And he goes, Is it one of those days?

And then we just of anything that he said.

It wasn't because of anything that he did.

The person that's sitting next to you who loves you and longs for you to experience relief from whatever it is that you're wrestling through and experience, they want nothing more than for you to be better.

They may not know.

Jesus knows.

We got this service this afternoon at 12:30.

It's designed for people who, again, Rachel mentioned, that are walking through difficulties, and maybe you're going into the holidays and it's just kind of heavy because there's gonna be a family member who's not gonna be there.

Can I just simply tell you this?

We're gonna try to be the hands and feet of Jesus as a staff team to you and to love you, but I want you to know we may not know, but Jesus knows.

He knows.

And so the Bible says that we can come to Him and find grace and mercy to help in time of need.

Not the help where people are like, Man, I had this experience and I just came and imagined what you went through.

And man, I just thought of you.

If you never need me, I'm here for you.

That is great and that is wonderful, but that's not the same as somebody who doesn't even have to say anything.

They can just sit there and they know.

Folks, what I want to encourage you with this Christmas is this is that the Jesus that we celebrate, the one who we not only celebrate his birth, but we celebrate his life.

He knows.

He knows.

Let me give you another attribute in Matthew chapter 18.

Matthew 18 · chapter mention

It says, Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven.

And whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Again, I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.

For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.

This speaks to the third attribute about the fact that Jesus was more than a man.

He is one, he is all powerful, he is all-knowing.

Number three, Jesus is all present.

He is all present.

This is the theological idea of omnipresence.

Jesus is everywhere.

He's not limited by time and space.

When the people are gathered, Jesus is there.

Even after Jesus had been resurrected from the dead, he's about to ascend into heaven.

He's going to be leaving his disciples physically.

He gives them what is known as the Great Commission in Matthew chapter 28, verse 18.

Matthew 28:18

Here's what it reads: it says, And Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Here's what you're supposed to do.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

Here's what I want you to see in verse 20.

And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.

One of my goals in 2025 is to grow.

In the discipline of silence and solitude.

What I'm realizing is this I'm really, really bad at it.

Like I can't stand for any type of moment to not be filled with something.

All right?

I'm guessing I'm not the only person that this is the case, but I have just come to the realization my life is one continuous distraction, okay?

It's just a matter of whether I've chosen to fill it with good distractions or whether I've chosen to fill it with bad distractions.

Either way, my life is just constantly trying to fill any type of void with noise, all right?

So therefore, if I'm in the car, I want to be listening to an audio book, or I want to be listening to a podcast, or I want to be listening to what the Schwarzstock Radio thinks about the Astros moves over the course of this past offseason, right?

I mean, I just I just kind of constantly see them.

Even in my time with the Lord, I'm constantly trying to fill out how to fill that space with something that feels productive.

And what I'm realizing is that if I come to the end of myself, my true reality, my real self, my unhurried state, I don't like it very much.

Now that can be either convicting or comforting.

Convicting because here's what this means.

This means that you can't post things that Jesus sees and then it goes away and never comes back.

You don't have the opportunity to be able to filter out that shot didn't look good.

And so let's go and do that picture all over again.

He sees all of the ones you post and all of the ones you delete.

What this means is this is that you can't scrub your internet history or you cannot scrub your internet logs, and somehow, just because it was just you by yourself and you looked at all of that stuff, but then you trace, you took away all the trace that it ever existed, then it acts like it never even happened.

Guess what?

Jesus saw all of it.

He saw all that you looked at.

It can be super convicting.

Folks can also tell you what it is, it's super comforting.

Because I can't tell you how many people that I've found that are in the midst of people all around them, in the midst of crowds, yet they feel all alone.

They're walking the halls of the school, and they go to a 5 or 6A high school that has literally thousands of people, but they feel like nobody sees them.

What I want you to know is this is that Jesus sees you in the crowd, and he also sees you in the midst of your hurting when no one else sees.

Jesus is in the quiet and he's in the crowd.

He is in the stillness and he is in the noise.

At all times, Jesus is there.

Finally, there's an incredible story in Mark chapter 2 I want to read for you that that actually talks about the fact that Jesus was teaching in this house, and it's like packed.

Mark 2 · chapter mention

I mean, like there's people everywhere.

Like people are outside the doors of the house, and and it says that there's these four guys who have their friend who's a paralytic.

He can't he can't walk, and they they they they think to themselves, you know, we we've got to figure out, we heard about this Jesus guy who can do some miracles.

We gotta figure out how to get our buddy to Jesus.

It says they go to the house where Jesus was, but they couldn't get in because the crowd was so big, and so they go up to the roof and they start taking off the roof to lower this man down in front of Jesus.

It says in Mark chapter 2, verses 5 through 7, and when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, Son, your sins are forgiven.

Mark 2:5–7

Now, some of the scribes were sitting there questioning in their hearts why does this man speak like that?

He is blaspheming.

Who can forgive sins but God alone?

Jesus does something that causes the religious leaders of the day to squirm.

It's the final thing that I want you to see that Jesus is more than a man because ultimately Jesus is an absolute control.

Jesus is an absolute control.

This is a theological idea of God's sovereignty at all times, in all situations, in all settings.

Jesus is an absolute control.

He can control the weather, he can control nature, and according to Mark chapter 2, he can control who receives the forgiveness of their sins.

Mark 2 · chapter mention

Even though we may not always understand it, at no point can we ever say Jesus is not or was not always in control.

Here's why that's important to remember.

Because we don't always have the full picture.

You see, from our perspective, so often what you see looks as though things are out of control.

From your perspective, it looks as though there's no ability for things to get better or for things to improve because it just feels and seems chaotic.

But if you look at it from God's perspective, it's a totally different way.

Just think about the Christmas story.

Jesus arrived onto the scene not with great fanfare, not with grand announcements, and not with great anticipation.

He came instead as a baby, born to a virgin in a manger, because there was no room for them in the end.

It looked as though the unconventional nature of his birth that he did not have control, but Jesus was in full control.

There was a decree put out by King Herod that all boys under the age of two should be killed, but God used this decree to be the very means by which he would relocate Jesus to the place where his ministry would ultimately begin.

They tried to kill him, but he was in absolute control.

During his earthly ministry, instead of being accepted by the religious leaders, he was rejected by them and ultimately sentenced to die a death for crimes that he didn't commit.

It looked on the surface like things were out of control, but Jesus was in control at all times.

At the moment when Jesus stood before Pilate and had a chance to defend himself, to kind of regain control of the situation, which very clearly had gotten out of hand.

Inevitably it was going to lead to his death by crucifixion.

Jesus didn't defend himself, which he was allowed to do, but he instead handed himself over to be beaten and ultimately killed because he was in complete control.

By dying on the cross, he offered himself as a sinless sacrifice on our behalf.

He rose from the dead, and when it looked like he was losing, he was actually accomplishing the greatest victory in all of human history.

What does this mean for us?

No matter how bad it looks, Jesus is still in control, accomplishing his good plan and his purpose.

And because of that, he can be trusted.

Let me close by asking you the question: who do you say Jesus is?

Would you bow your heads and would you close your eyes all across this room with me, please?

We started off this message by showing you a video of what other people say to that question about who Jesus is.

I've attempted to show you from a survey of the gospels what God's word says, what Jesus Himself says about who he is.

But who do you personally say that Jesus is?

What we celebrate at Christmas is more than a birth, it's more than a baby, it's more than a man.

What we celebrate at Christmas is Jesus, who is fully man and fully God, and is the savior of the world.

Question for you is he the savior of your life?

The one who is all powerful, who is all knowing, who is all present, who is always in control, he wants to save you from your sins and change your life.

I want you to know he isn't gonna beg, but he does graciously extend an invitation.

Will you receive him today?

Just pray this simple prayer of faith with me.

Dear God, I receive your son Jesus as my Lord, as my Savior.

I believe he died on the cross.

I believe that he rose from the dead, and right now I receive his gift of eternal life and ask him to come into my life.

It's in Jesus' name that I pray.

Amen.

If you just prayed that prayer with me, I want to ask you to come forward and I want to ask you to make your decision public today.

What's gonna happen is in just a moment, we're all gonna stand.

And when we stand, that's your cue.

And you're gonna come forward.

If you're in the balcony, I'm gonna ask you to come to the ones that are at the bottom of the steps.

If you're here on the sides, if you're here in the front, I'm gonna ask you just to make your way all the way up to the front.

Others of you need to come and join United City Church.

God is leading you to make this your church home.

This is the place that you want to identify with and say, This is home for me.

If that's you today, would you come and would you lead the way?

Others of you need to come and be baptized like these four that we saw.

And what a beautiful testimony of taking their next step.

You come today and let us schedule your baptism for a later day.

Others of you, you need prayer today.

Today I talked about some difficulties and some struggles and some challenges that you resonated with immediately.

And I want you to know this, you are not alone.

We want to come alongside and we want to pray with you.

We want to come alongside of you and we want to lift up the name of Jesus on your behalf.

We want to you to experience the healing power that comes through prayer.

So today, if you need prayer, we want you to respond.

Father, I pray you'd move in these moments we have left.

Father, you give people boldness and courage to respond to you as you are leading them.

It's in the name of Jesus that I pray.

Amen.