Sermons on Luke (Page 2)
Jesus knew when, where, and how we was going to die. Which meant that Jesus would have been intentional with the time He spent on this Earth. And you have to think that the closer that He came to this week, he’d really be intentional with who He spent with and what He said and did. Today we are going to explore the time he spent Zacchaeus, as well as, His actions on Palm Sunday.
This month, we have focused on the themes of Advent—hope, peace, joy—and today we will be looking at love. It is difficult for us to understand the love that God has for us… the love that He demonstrated through the gift of His Son, but God’s love is a theme we find throughout Scripture. As we’ve considered these themes of Advent, we have focused on the writings of the Prophet Isaiah. These prophecies of the promised Messiah were written over 700 years before their fulfillment. We will look again to the prophet’s writings in a few minutes, but first I want us to focus on the writings of another of the Old Testament books of prophecy—the Book of Lamentations.
As we enter into this third week of our Advent studies, let’s pause for a moment to remember that advent refers to the coming of or arrival of the Messiah. While looking at the prophecies that foretold of His coming, we have seen several, overarching themes that have arisen. The first week, we talked about hope, and that hope is to be found in nothing other than Jesus Christ. The second week, we considered the concept of peace, and determined that only Jesus is able to provide us with real lasting peace. Today, we are going to focus our attention on the concept of joy.
Just as Paul challenges believers to love with authenticity in verses nine through thirteen, he is now challenging believers to overcome evil with good in verses fourteen through twenty-one. These two phrases—let love be genuine and overcome evil with good—serve as bookends to this section dealing with the characteristics of true believers. Starting in today’s study and continuing to the end of this series, we will be considering specific steps that we must take in order to overcome evil with good.
In today’s text, we find an interesting mixture of events that highlight the limitations and failings of Jesus’ disciples. This segment begins with the disciples being unable to cast a demon out of a young boy; then they are unable to grasp Jesus’ teaching about His impending betrayal and crucifixion. Just after that, the disciples argue over which one of them is the greatest; and then John is rebuked for His elitist attitude toward others. As we consider these events and the dysfunction of the disciples at that time, I hope that we can ultimately see Jesus’ purpose in everything that was happening and use that as a warning sign to us as we walk through our lives.
Throughout this section of our study through the Gospel of Luke, Jesus’ power and authority has been on display. In our study last week, Jesus confirmed the testimony of Peter proclaiming Him as the Christ, the chosen one of God. In today’s passage, we will witness additional confirmation that Jesus is the Christ, but we’ll also be given a glimpse into some of the struggles that we have when we attempt to worship Him and what we need to do differently when we come before Him in worship.
We are continuing in our study through the Gospel of Luke today and the passage that we will be studying is the heart of all we’ve been looking at these past few months. Week after week, we have considered the question, “Who is Jesus?” In today’s passage, we receive a definitive answer to this question and several more. So, let’s get right to it today and look at these four questions regarding the “Cost of Following Christ.”
Luke 9:1-2 Jesus, “…called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.” This is the first time his disciples have been sent out on their own to proclaim the message of the Kingdom. Upon their return, Jesus gives a dramatic display of provision that is meant to convey to them (and to us) that Christ will not only supply the power and authority needed to minister effectively, but He is able to provide for every single need we will ever face in life and ministry.
In our message today, we’ll consider four things that Jesus did to (or did for) the apostles to be able to carry out the work of the ministry. It is important to consider this question first: What is the work of the ministry? In his commentary on this passage, Darrell Bock suggests, “The two fundamental [aspects] of ministry evident in this passage cross the temporal boundaries between our era and that of the text. Preaching God’s Word and performing deeds of compassionate service complement each other. To teach that God loves sinners means evidencing that compassion in the ability to meet human needs.” So, as we look at this passage in Luke 9 today, I want us to keep in mind not only what Jesus is calling them to do, but why He is calling them to do it.
There is a passage toward the end of the Gospel of Luke that I believe gives us great insight into the character and disposition of our Lord Jesus. It is a passage that always challenges me. It challenges the motivation of my heart and it challenges the way I look at people and situations on a daily basis. The passage in Luke 19 gives us a glimpse into the love that Jesus had for His people. Luke 19:41-42 says, “And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.” This people that had rejected Him and His teaching… this people who would one day soon unjustly punish Him with death on a cross… this people caused Him to weep as He considered their eternal destiny. Paul summed it up beautifully in his letter to the Romans when he said, “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (NASB). In spite of their hatred of Him, Jesus loved them! That love is continually demonstrated throughout these gospel accounts of His life and ministry. We see it in the events that we’ll be considering today in Luke 8.