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Following Jesus – Knowing the Great I AM! (Sermon Audio)

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This is the audio from the July 6, 2025 sermon, “Following Jesus: Knowing the Great I AM!”, shared by Tom Lemler at the Deer Run Church of Christ.

Text: Matthew 22

 

“Then he said to them, ‘Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.’  When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.”
Matthew 22:21-22 (NIV)

As one called by Jesus to “Come, follow me”, Matthew gives us great teaching on what it looks like to live a life which follows Jesus.  As we look at the teaching, instruction, and life of Jesus we come to know Him as the great . . .

  • Invitation:  Matthew 22:1-14

    • Jesus tells several parable which compare the kingdom of heaven to a banquet of some variety.  In Matthew 22, He talks about a wedding feast in which the invited guests have no interest in attending.  When the invited guests not only refuse the invitation to the wedding of the King’s son, but they also mistreat and kill those extending the invitation, the King sends servants out to invite everyone they could find . . . both good and bad.  While the invitation is extended to all, not everyone comes dressed for the wedding and the king deals with that.  When we know Jesus as the Great I AM, we both experience and extend His great invitation for all who are weary to find rest, for all who are thirsty to be satisfied, for all who are hungry to be filled.  It is through our obedient response to the great invitation that we are clothed with Christ and found ready for the great wedding feast of the Lamb. 

 

  • Authority:  Matthew 22:15-33

    • As we read the gospels, we find Jesus constantly being tested by the various groups of religious leaders . . . sometimes they seem to be working together and sometimes they appear to be taking turns.  In today’s text, both the Pharisees and Sadducees come up with their own tests in attempts to trap Jesus.  The Pharisees raise a question about paying taxes and the Sadducees raise a question about the nature of the resurrection of people from the dead.  The answers Jesus gives each of them avoid falling into their traps and give Jesus the opportunity to declare authority and understanding of scripture which exceeds that of the religious leaders.  When Jesus tells the Pharisees to “give to Caesar that which is Caesar’s, and to God that which is God’s”, He subtly reminds those who are the teachers of the Law that mankind was created in the image of God and thus we must give to Him that which bears His image.  When we know Jesus as the Great I AM, we discover Him to be the great authority over life and death.  We belong to Him now, and we belong to Him throughout eternity.

  • Mandate:  Matthew 22:34-46

    • When the first two traps of Matthew 22 didn’t work, the Pharisees thought they would give it another chance by asking Jesus about what commandment was greatest.  In doing so, Jesus defines the mandate by which we must live in order to please Him.  This mandate is a command to love like Jesus loves.  While on the surface, the command to love does not appear to be new, Jesus makes it new by defining the love we must have for Him and for one another to be expressed in the way that He loves us.  When we know Jesus as the Great I AM, we find a great mandate to love God and love people.  In so doing, we discover a way of life which fulfills all the commands God has for us.

Today, how will you know the Great I AM?