What Do We Need From God?

What do we really need from God? 

Many people seek Jesus, but for the wrong reason.  They seek him to fulfill needs such as:

1. Jesus fix my marriage
2. Jesus fix my business
3. Jesus fix my drug addiction
4. Jesus make me happy
5. See Jesus as a fix-it man.

While these are legitimate needs and God does care about them, this is not why we need Jesus.  This is not why Jesus died on the cross that first Easter morning.  In fact, these misconceptions are not unique to our time period.  People misunderstood why they needed Jesus 2000 years ago as well.

Today, I want to show you why we really need Jesus and what he did for us on that first Easter weekend.  First, we are going to look how the Jews and the disciples misunderstood why Jesus had come to earth at first, then we will look at the real reason why we need Jesus.

What Did Israel Think It Needed?

 Israel thought they needed a king (to over throw the Roman oppression). (John 6:1-15; Matthew 21:1-11; Daniel 7:13-14).  That's what we see in John 6:14.  Jesus is doing miracles and astonding the people.  After all of this, they think his is the king and prophet they are waiting for!

¹⁴ After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” ¹⁵ Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.

Why? Why did they act this way toward Jesus?  Because they thought Jesus was the long awaited king that would throw off the Roman oppression.  They knew that in Daniel 7:13-14 that God would be setting up His kingdom on earth.  They thought Jesus was the long awaited Messiah who would be a king here on earth.      

But Jesus says, "No that is not what you need.  You don’t need a king to overthrow the Roman government.  You have something that is much more serious than an oppressive government.  Jesus says, I’m here to give you something you really need."


What Did the Disciples Think They Needed?

 Disciples thought they needed a kingdom. (Matthew 16:21-23; Matthew 20:17-21.)  

 John and James send their mom to ask if they can be in the two highest positions in the kingdom to come.  Mother probably asked because see was the matriarch of the family.  Jesus says, you don’t know what you are asking for.  That’s not what you need.  But if you think James and John had it wrong, look at Peter also.

Peter, after professing that Jesus is the Messiah, tells Jesus he can’t die.  He won’t let him.  Jesus gives one of the sternest rebukes in the bible.  I don’t know about you, but no one has called me Satan and to get out of the way.

Why were the disciples acting this way?  Because they wanted the kingdom of God to come (Daniel 2:44).  Is this wrong that they wanted this? NO, but that’s not what they needed.


What do we really need from God?

 What they needed and what we need is a Savior. (Luke 24:36-49)

Why did Jesus die on the cross?  Because we need a Savior.  Read Luke 24:44-47.  Jesus died to give us righteousness. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

  You see, many people come to Jesus with different needs.  The Jews needed a king.  The disciples needed to see the kingdom of God come.  People want Jesus to fix their marriages, to help them be successful, to help them overcome drug addictions, to help them feel happy.  And while those are good things and some of them will happen one day, that is not what we really need from Jesus. 

What they needed and what we need is a Savior.  This is what Easter is all about.  It is about God giving us what we need so that we can be forgiven and have an everlasting relationship with Him.