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In the First world war there was an Anglican Army Chaplain who became known by his nickname as Woodbine Willie.  He was an extremely popular and respected  Chaplain who on many occasions, without thought for his own safety,  often put himself in positions of extreme danger in order to minister to the men up on the front line.  

He often told his men (and this is also quite clearly pointed out in the Bible) -  that when we get to the end of this life, -  there will be just two questions which God will ask us: - Firstly, What did you do with my Son Jesus? – and Secondly: “What did you do with the life I gave you? 

            I think of all the BIG questions we may have to face in life – ( Who will I marry; What will I do; where will I live; How can I save for my future etc. )  these TWO, more than any other, should command our most careful consideration.  What did you do with my Son Jesus?  And “What did you do with the life I gave you?    

In the next few weeks, as you will see from your pew sheet, we are going to be addressing the question of “What do we do with Jesus?”, and then, beginning in October , with the 40 Days of Purpose Journey, we will be considering the second question -  “What do we do with the Life God has given us.” 

SO, between now and the end of this year we are going to be facing, fair and square, the matter of God’s purpose and intention for our lives.  And in this time, I’m quite sure, God will challenge us to make up our minds, and make some decisions in what we are going to do with our lives, and how we are going to live them.

So this morning lets start thinking about this first question.   This question was actually first asked by Pilate, the Governor of Jerusalem, when Jesus was brought before him on trial.   Pilate asked  “What shall we do with Jesus, called the Messiah?” (Mtt.27:22)

For the past 2000 years people of every nation, tribe and tongue have been confronted with that same question. What shall we do about Jesus!   So what is our response to Him?  Who IS he? 

In order to answer this question intelligently, there are two things which we ought to do.

1/ We should read the scriptures, and especially the New Testament, for it is there that we will find out about who Jesus is, understand what he said about himself, and what he did.

2/ We ought to seek out answers to any questions or misgivings we may have. I.e. we ought to do our homework. Then we will be in an educatedposition to answer the Question for ourselves – “What shall we do with this man Jesus.”

C.S.Lewis, who himself was an agnostic but later became a Christian, said there are only three responses we can make.  We can dismiss him as mad; we can denounce him as bad, or we can devote ourselves to Him as God!   Sometimes people will come up with a fourth option – and try and say that Jesus was a good moral teacher, or spiritual leader – but just a man!  I do not believe that!. No good moral teacher or spirtual leader who is sane – ever claimed to be God, to forgive sins, to raise people to life on the last day, or who is One in Unity with the Father!  Jesus is NOT only  a good moral man – He is either Mad, or Bad, for what he said, – or else He is God!   We only have these three options we have when it comes to Jesus, - and each of us has to make our own assessment, and come to our own conclusion.  And we can only do that accurately when we base those decisions on what we read and learn of him in the scriptures.    The Crowds who were stirred up against Jesus shouted “Crucify Him” – they were inflamed to denounce him as Mad!   Some critics today would claim that Jesus was “un-hinged”, deluded!  – that he was mad! . No one in their right mind would say the things Jesus said about himself and be sane!  Yet  all the evidence in scripture points to Jesus being the most sanest, psychologically integrated, morally sound  person who ever lived. And alongside what he said about himself – we have to take into account what he did! No madman healed the sick, restored broken lives, pronounced forgiveness,  transformed peoples lives from being self-serving into serving-others, and who even showed compassion for his executioners!  Read the gospel records for yourself with an unbiased open mind!  Here is the sanest person who ever walked this earth!   So what do you think? Was Jesus mad?  You decide for yourself!    I don’t believe that the one who has inspired song writers and musicians, artists and intellectuals, tradesmen and housewives, missionaries and martyrs, educators and healers more than any other single figure in the history of the world to give themselves sacrificially for the benefit of others and to bring about the improvement of mankind – is mad!     It just doesn’t make sense!.

But then there is the second attitude towards Jesus. Some , like Caiaphas the High Priest, and the religious leaders of his day, claimed that he was BAD!   He was blaspheming!. He was a crook and an imposter.  He was in it for what he could get out of it. Well I think we would have to screw the plain words of scripture fairly tightly to try and find evidence of that.  But some try to do that, don’t they?  Those who find Jesus gets in the way of their own self-serving lifestyle will try the  hardest to make out that Jesus is bad, and to discredit him.  That’s what the Pharisees and the religious people did. They will condemn him and call for his blood. Western civilisation is trying ever harder to do that in order to free itself from having its conscience pricked by what Jesus said.   So, lets get rid of Him, and those who follow Him.  That’s why the church is persecuted throughout the world. So, is Jesus Bad?  You decide for yourself!  But I find no evidence whatsoever of any badness in the person of Jesus. Search the scriptures yourselves – you wont find it.

That leaves us with only the third option.- where,  like Thomas, we come to the point of conviction where we confess Jesus as Lord and God.  What he taught; claimed; did – all converge to the point of saying – He IS who he said he is. His Resurrections confirms it. Now faith reaches out and claims like Thomas – ‘My Lord and my God’.

‘What shall we do with this man Jesus?’ –  well, if He is Lord and God then our rightful response is to open wide the door of our hearts, of our life, and surrender ourselves – body, soul and spirit to him, and to offer to Him all our praise and worship!     He becomes the centre of our life, the One we live for, the One we serve, the One we seek to follow and obey! Some of you here this morning have already made that decision to accept and receive Jesus as Lord and God in your life. Others of you may have been thinking about it, or not sure. I don’t want to rush you in to making that decision  - for you need to be convinced in your own mind that Jesus is who he said he is. Read the Scriptures; seek out answers to any questions you have. But in the end , you have to make your own response to that question – “What shall we do with Jesus ,called the Messiah.”   Don’t leave it too late.