Lord, Liar, or Lunatic?

The following is from Highland View Baptist Church's AM worship service on April 18, 2010.

We are going to have a little experiment this morning. For our young people that have profiles on MySpace or Facebook, many of you have participated in on of those surveys that bid you give your first reaction when you see a word. We are going to try that as a congregation this morning. So I would invite you to not be quiet in church this morning for a few moments. As I give you a word, please respond with the first thing that comes to mind.
Let’s give it a try. Grass [green?]. Sky [blue?]. Deer [yummy?]. Homework [ughh?]. Job [not bad?]. Bills [too many?]. Church [fun-sometimes?]. Let’s try a few people. Adam Sandler [hilarious?]. Bill Gaither [big hair?]. Richard Nixon [who?]. What about rock music [loud?]. Ex’s [not funny!]. Government [irresponsible?]. Temperature [cold?]. Hero [Pop?]. September 11 [war?]. And let me ask you one more. Jesus [My friend]?
There is any number of responses that we could have shared about Jesus Christ. My hope is that your initial response was a personal possessive. It is my hope that your very first thought was one of personal involvement and relationship. Hopefully, it was something like, “My Savior,” or “My God.” Maybe it was one of His many titles through Scripture that came to mind. Or perhaps you thought of the word hope or friend.
The reality is that we were required at some point to make a definitive decision in our mind about each of these things at some point. And there are options for each one of these things. For grass, you may have responded, “green.” For sky, you may have responded, “blue.” But the reality is that the grass is not always green. Sometimes it is yellow or blue or even brown. Sometimes it’s long, or maybe it’s short. It may even be dead.
With the sky, it is a similar situation. While most people say “blue,” the reality is that it can be dark or bright, cloudy or clear, pink, yellow, purple, black, or any number of colors. It can be clear or stormy.
You see, in life, we tend to reach a point where we decide what we are going to think about certain items, people and situations. We make associations.
The one I want to focus on this morning is the last name that I mentioned. Jesus. What is it that we have decided about Him?
We are going to take a few moments this morning and look at the possible responses that we could have for My Savior. And while the options are as endless as each of the other topics we discussed, I believe they all come back to one of three primary responses.
In short, we have to make a decision about the Son of God and our three options are as CS Lewis suggested: Lord, liar, or lunatic.
When we look at the claims of Christ, who He said He was, what He promised to do, and the future that He foretold, we are forced to make a decision.
We are going to look at a Biblical account of a time when Jesus requested that one of His disciples make a decision about who He was. And in the process of that examination, we are going to discuss the options that he had.

Read text. (Mark 8:27-29a)

You may recognize our text as the confession of Peter. It is that point when Peter made it well known that he knew that Jesus was the promised Messiah, the Son of God.
While it is clear the decision that Peter made, we are actually going to consider the other options first. We are going to look at the two decisions that Peter could have reached as alternatives to his proclamation of the identity of Jesus Christ.
The first decision he could have reached was one of disbelief. He could have determined that Jesus was a…

1.) Liar
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and My Father are one.’ Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him. Jesus answered them, ‘Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone me?’ The Jews answered Him saying, ‘For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God.’” John 10:27-33
We know through the text, and through Peter’s service that this was not the decision that he made. He knew Jesus wasn’t a liar. However, it would not have been difficult to support the notion that Jesus was just an elaborate, accomplished liar and a fraud.
Really, that was the opinion of the majority of the religious elite. The passage that we just read in the book of John gives evidence of the opinion of many of the people of the time. They believed wholeheartedly that He was simply a liar and a fraud. And the average Jew, if not convinced, would have been strongly pressured by the Pharisees and Sanhedrin to reject this man. We see that they seek to kill Him for blasphemy- literally, lying.
Now, from a realist’s point of view, it seems that the claims that Jesus made were over the top. I mean, if there was a man that walked into the church today and began to make the kind of claims that Jesus made, we would throw him into the street because of our conviction that he was a conman and liar.
Just think for a moment about the things that Jesus claimed and promised. In the passage in John’s gospel, He claims that He and His Father are one. He claims equality with God, and in the process reveals that He is the Messiah. He promises eternal life to those that believe and follow after Him. There is no other man in history that could claim these things and actually fulfill them.
In addition, to someone that does not understand the identity of Jesus Christ He may seem to be an extravagant glory hound. It may seem that He was just a man looking for attention and admiration. It could seem that He desired to mislead the masses through His popularity to gain political prominence.
The first option granted to that person that has to make a decision about Christ is they can believe that He is merely a liar. And there are many people today, like the Pharisees that have taken this route.
Most people that earnestly seek after God, and have an encounter and relationship with Jesus Christ understand that He is anything but a liar. However, in our antagonistic, questioning society, there are those that believe that logic would demand that they call Him just that.
I probably shouldn’t point fingers and call names, but I am going there. The entire atheistic community has made this decision. It is the only “logical” conclusion that they can make since they believe there is no God.
In all reality, while some acknowledge Jesus as a mere man that lived on earth, by refusing to accept him as Lord, they all call him a liar.
Our first option when presented with the person and hope of the message of Jesus Christ is to simply claim that He was a sensationalist. We can make the call that while all looks good, there is no way that He can be that good and powerful, and so He has to be a liar, right?
The first possible picture of Jesus is of a liar. The second possibility was that He was a…

2.) Lunatic
“And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and after three days rise again. He spoke this word openly. Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him.” – Mark 8:31-32
Once again, we know the decision that Peter made about the person of Jesus Christ, but this was another option. And I believe that Peter actually teetered on the edge with believing that Jesus had a streak of this in Him.
After Peter made his confession, he followed it with a rebuke of Jesus. He argued. He basically told Jesus that He was not in His right mind if He was talking that way.
Peter evidenced that there might be those that believed that Jesus had mental issues. Peter, the servant of this man had reached a point when He believed that he had a greater mental understanding of the person and mission of Christ than even Jesus.
There might have been, and might currently be those that believe that Jesus was a lunatic. They might believe that He had a mental disorder. And after all, this is the more gracious of the options, right?
Doesn’t it sound better if we say that Jesus couldn’t help His claims? For those that refuse to believe Him, doesn’t it seem more gracious to believe that there was a physical disability that lead to His outrageous claims?
I mean, surely if a man claimed that He was the virgin born Son of God sent to earth to provide eternal life, He had to have a mental issue. (plenty of sarcasm) Surely anyone that believed that they could speak and raise the dead, tear off pieces of bread from five loaves and feed five thousand, and claimed that they would come back from the dead, had to have a few screws loose.
There are those that, when confronted with the life of Christ, choose to believe that He was not a willful misleader of people, but rather a mentally ill victim of a non-traditional family. They would probably look at the time when Mary and Joseph couldn’t find Him because He was in the temple as an occasion of abandonment that lead to mental instability. They would argue that the mobs that tried to kill Him actually fed an unhealthy need for attention and encouraged Him to make more outrageous claims.
You know, looking back at trials of Christ before His crucifixion, the Pharisees are lucky that it happened almost two thousand years ago. In all reality, if Christ’s trial happened today, He would never be put to death. In fact, He wouldn’t even serve a day in prison. Instead, they would send Him to a posh Hollywood mental health rehabilitation center. It would not take a lawyer more than a few seconds and a few quotes to convince a judge that He wasn’t a liar, but a lunatic.
When presented with the person of Jesus, you could claim that He was a liar, or maybe a lunatic. But there is also a third option. If Jesus was not a liar, nor was He a lunatic, He must be…

3.) Lord
“He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered and said to Him, ‘You are the Christ.’” – Mark 8:29
You know there are a couple of problems with the assumption that Jesus was a liar or a lunatic. He could not have possibly been a liar, because everything He told us has come to pass. A man that only tells the truth makes a pretty pitiful liar. Just to prove the point, someone in this room name one thing that He promised that He has not fulfilled. Name one thing that He attempted that He didn’t succeed at. Frankly, He wasn’t a liar.
Additionally, He could not have been a lunatic. In fact, we are finding through advances in science that God understands the world and its mechanics, including Jesus’ as He is God’s Son, more than scholarly society. He wasn’t crazy. Instead He had a greater understanding of the world and what was going on than everyone else. And when considering His mental health, a mentally unstable person could not have endured the agony and torment with grace and determination like Christ.
If He wasn’t lying, and if He wasn’t crazy, then it should mean only one thing for you and I- and that is we must make Him Lord of our lives.
Jesus gave the promise that anyone that followed after Him would not die, but have eternal life. He promised that He would give life and life more abundantly. He promised security, both in this life, and in the one to come. He promised that we would never be alone. He promised that we would have an advocate before Father. He promised that this world would no longer hold its power over those that surrendered to Him.
A man that can claim all of these things, and actually deliver on them demands that we offer Him our lives and devotion.
We’ve said that there are only three options. We can call Him liar, lunatic, or Lord. And if we call Him Lord, that requires that we do more than simply admit that He is a good man or even God’s Son. Rather, it demands that we surrender our allegiance and commit our obedience.
I believe that the Bible is very clear and plain about the identity of Christ. He must be Lord. And if Jesus is going to be Lord, He must be allowed to be Lord of all.
The Bible demands that we all make a decision about Jesus. We can call Him liar, lunatic, or we can crown Him Lord.
If I were to ask you now to mention the first thing on your mind if I called the name Jesus, and you were given those three options, what would you call Him?
You might say, well, preacher, there are some gray areas. You know, I have allowed Jesus to be Lord over most areas of my life, but I’m still struggling with one or two. If that is the case, you cannot call Him Lord. Rather, your life is screaming “liar or lunatic.”
Jesus demands that you let Him be Lord of all of your life. He wants more than ninety-nine percent.
Just consider this: If your wife at your twenty-fifth anniversary was to tell you that she has been faithful to you for ninety-nine percent of your relationship, has she been faithful? No! Likewise, if you say that Jesus is Lord of ninety-nine percent of your life, He isn’t really Lord.
Anytime we are confronted with the person of Jesus Christ, it is demanded that we make a decision. Is Jesus a liar, a lunatic, or will He be Lord of your life?
As we have our invitation, it is your opportunity to boldly declare that decision. You can follow Peter’s example and call Jesus “Lord.” If you’ve never called Him Lord, make today that day. Maybe you are giving Him a good portion of your life, but you are still holding out on one little area, today is the day that you let Him assume the title of Lord in that area that you’ve withheld.
What will you do with this Jesus? Is He a liar, a lunatic, or are you ready to declare Him Lord?