BIAY Week 49

In this week’s message, we explore why Jesus cannot simply be placed alongside history’s other great moral teachers. His teachings are simple yet radically challenging—calling us to love, forgive, serve, and see every person through the eyes of grace—and His resurrection confirms the authority behind those words, inviting us not merely to admire Jesus but to become His disciples and point others toward Him.  


Bible Verses Referenced

  •  Matthew 7:28–29 — Alluded to when Pastor Scott says that people were amazed at Jesus’ teaching because He taught “as one who had authority.”
  •  Mark 6:1–6 — Jesus returns to His hometown of Nazareth and teaches in the synagogue. The people are amazed at His wisdom and miracles but ask, “Isn’t this the carpenter?” and ultimately take offense at Him.
  •  Luke 4:16–30 — Closely connected to the preceding discussion: the people of Nazareth become enraged with Jesus, take Him to the brow of a hill intending to throw Him down, but He passes through the crowd and leaves.
  •  John 4:1–42 — Jesus and the woman at the well, used as an example of Jesus recognizing the worth of people whom society marginalized.
  •  Matthew 11:28 — Alluded to with Jesus’ invitation to those who are weary and burdened to come to Him for rest.
  •  Galatians 3:28 — “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female,” used to illustrate the radical equality of people in Christ.
  •  Matthew 5:44 — Jesus’ command to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.
  •  Matthew 6:14–15 / Luke 6:27–37 — Jesus’ teaching about forgiving others and our enemies, a major example of how difficult His teachings can be to put into practice.
  •  John 1:29 — Alluded to through the image of John the Baptist pointing toward Jesus, which becomes Pastor Scott’s model for Christian discipleship: our job is not to save the world but to point people toward the One who has.
  •  The crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus are repeatedly referenced. The resurrection is especially important to the sermon because Pastor Scott argues that Christ’s victory over death confirms the truth and authority of His radical teachings.

There are two significant books/authors referenced:

  •  C. S. Lewis — Mere Christianity — Pastor Scott quotes Lewis’s famous argument that Jesus cannot logically be accepted merely as a “great moral teacher.” Lewis argues that given Jesus’ claims about Himself, we must ultimately decide who He really is. This quotation provides an important framework for the entire sermon.
  •  Tom Holland — Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World — Pastor Scott quotes from the book’s preface to illustrate Holland’s argument that Christianity so thoroughly transformed Western culture that even many people who reject Christian religious claims continue to think in categories profoundly shaped by Christianity