The Cost of Greatness

Luke 9:46-62 

Welcome! We have been going through the Book of Luke, line by line, chapter by chapter, and we are presently in the middle of what I might call the rebuking section of Luke. Last week, John Bullard spoke from Luke 9:28-45, including the account of the transfiguration of Christ, and also an account of a healing of a boy with an evil spirit. The rebuking section of Luke actually begins in the latter part of last week’s passage, and I want to highlight just one part of this passage before we go forward with today’s passage.

A man in the crowd called out, "Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child. A spirit seizes him and he suddenly screams; it throws him into convulsions so that he foams at the mouth. It scarcely ever leaves him and is destroying him. I begged your disciples to drive it out, but they could not." "O unbelieving and perverse generation," Jesus replied, "how long shall I stay with you and put up with you? Bring your son here." – Luke 9:38-41

The Christ of God

Luke 9:10-27

Last week you all heard an excellent message from Luke 9:1-9! The passage we looked at involved Jesus sending out the 12 disciples to go out and tell people about the kingdom of God. Jesus had given them supernatural power to drive out demons and cure people of diseases just as He had. For this period of time, Jesus had in effect turned loose twelve “Jesuses” – people doing what He had done. This caused quite a stir among the towns where they went. Rumors flew. People wondered who all these people could be. What did it all mean? Had John the Baptist risen from the dead? Had Elijah reappeared? Even King Herod became concerned and confused by all the reports, and it says that Herod tried to see Jesus. One result of the 12 going out and doing this is that Jesus became even more famous than He had already been. And so we pick up the story today at the point that the 12 disciples finish their preaching and healing journey.

When the apostles returned, they reported to Jesus what they had done. Then He took them with Him and they withdrew by themselves to a town called Bethsaida, but the crowds learned about it and followed Him. He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing. – Luke 9:10-11

Take Nothing With You

Luke 9:1-9

As I shared last week, this week it is you who will share on our passage today in Luke – this will be the content of our expanded sharing time. Actually, I thought we could break our sharing time into three parts. The first portion will focus on this particular passage in Luke, the second portion will be a bit more general – feel free to share anything the Lord has been teaching you recently. And the third portion will focus on prayer requests. Following this, we will spend time in prayer and then we will take communion, remembering our Lord with the bread and the cup.

Why do we do sharing times? Because God gifts each one of us to be a blessing to one another, and because God wants us to use our gifts. If you gave someone a wonderful gift, such as a new car, how would you feel if that person just left the gift parked in their driveway and never drove it? Imagine that you went to talk to the person. “Don’t you like the car I gave you?” “Oh, yes! I love it! It is so pretty to look at!” “Look at? I think you don’t understand. I didn’t give you the car to look at it; I gave it so you could drive places.” And just as our imaginary car would be given to drive, in the same way God’s gifts are given to be used.

The Apostle Paul, in the book of Romans, reminded people to let others use their gifts.

Resurrection

Luke 8:40-56

I want to start today by talking about time. We in our culture are very aware of time; perhaps only Japan is more obsessed with time than we are. One way you can see how different cultures reflect on time is by seeing what they mean by “officially” or “offensively” late when it comes to coming to a meeting or gathering. For many parts of the world, a few hours late can be acceptable. In America, I think it is more like 10-15 minutes when it comes to business meetings, perhaps even less.

Speaking of being late, perhaps some of you have had an experience similar to mine when traveling by airplane. Your travel requires two or more separate flights, and your schedule shows a one-hour layover at the connecting airport. You check at the airport, and it shows that your first flight shows an on-time arrival. So far, so good. But as you get to within a few minutes of when your flight is to take off, you notice the plane isn’t at the gate yet. Of course, they don’t update the information on the TV screens at the gate. It turns out that the flight arrives right when you were to take off. They announce that they will try to get everyone on the plane as quickly as they can and don’t expect any significant delays. “Good,” you think. But by the time they close the flight door, you are already 20 minutes late. Your flight seems somewhat slow in leaving the gate, but you aren’t really paying attention. But you do start paying attention when it seems like you have been waiting in line behind other planes for a very long time. 

Legion

Luke 8:26-39

We continue our study through the Book of Luke, continuing this week in the middle of the 8th chapter. What happened last week? We learned about the incredible storm that suddenly swept across the lake of Galilee and fiercely attacked the disciples in their puny, flat-bottomed sailboat and capsized it, sending them to their deaths. Well, not quite. But that is what the disciples thought was about to happen! Recall that while they were panicking, Jesus was sleeping soundly. The disciples woke him and basically accused Him of not caring about them. With basically no effort, Jesus suddenly and completely stilled the storm, asked them how they could have so little faith (as to think He didn’t care about them, after all they had gone through together and seen of Him), and they sat there, still not getting it, amazed that He could stop a storm like that.

Our passage today picks up right where this left off. Still reeling from this episode, the disciples and Jesus continued to sail…

They sailed to the region of the Gerasenes, which is across the lake from Galilee. When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs. – Luke 8:26-27

Nothing Stays Hidden

Luke 8:16-25

Today our passage, I believe, is a direct continuation of the parable of the soil discussed last week. In order to better understand our passage, I want to go back to Luke 8:5.

While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town after town, he told this parable: "A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. Some fell on rock, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown." – Luke 8:5-8

The disciples, as was often the case, had no idea what He was talking about, so Jesus explained it to them. He first explained that the seed represented the word of God. Picking up with Luke 8:12,

Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life's worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. – Luke 8:12-14

Anointed

Luke 7:36-7:50

He is risen! He is risen indeed! Happy resurrection Sunday!

Today I am going to look at the last part of Luke 7, but I am also going to talk about the reason for this holiday, the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Our passage from Luke is really all about love. I want you to imagine a modern wedding. Suppose the wedding includes a place where the future bride and groom tell each other how they feel about each other. The groom goes first, and says, “I am so glad that you are marrying me. You are perfect for me. You don’t have any of the weaknesses that I find so annoying in most people, and you help make me look good. You are one of the most interesting people I have ever met, and I love how you enjoy hearing me talk. I love how you agree with me all the time, and I love how I never have to give in to you. We look beautiful together, and once you marry me, the world will admire us and be envious.”

Compare this with another wedding, and another speech. This time the groom says, “I love you. You are so wonderful, so patient, so loving, so caring. I don’t deserve you. The fact that you love me is amazing, because you love me as I am, despite my imperfections, my failings, my sins. You are the most forgiving person I have ever met. One thing that is wondrous to me is that your unconditional love has this way of pulling me along to grow to become more than I currently am. If you will marry me, I will strive to serve you, to put to death the parts of me that are selfish and prideful. You are beautiful, on the inside and out, and if the world is envious of me, it will only be because you are my wife.”

The One to Come

Luke 7:11-7:35

Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and His disciples and a large crowd went along with Him. As He approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out—the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her. When the Lord saw her, His heart went out to her and He said, "Don't cry." – Luke 7:11-13

As we have seen in the past few weeks, as we have been going through Luke, Jesus has been healing people and drawing quite a large following. Now we see that a large crowd is following Him even as He goes from town to town. Can you picture the situation? You have Jesus and His disciples, but you also have a large group of people so curious about Jesus that they are just going with Him, trying to hear every word He says, watching Him, studying Him… Frankly, I would find this creepy! Wouldn’t you feel uncomfortable? I think we all would because we all know that we are undeserving of such attention. But Jesus was deserving of this attention. And although, as we see in other places in the gospels, the disciples may have felt uncomfortable, Jesus felt at home with this because He loved people.

And so as the crowd with Jesus enters the town of Nain, they come before another crowd – this one, a crowd of mourners. They had come face to face with a funeral procession.

Faith Healing?

Luke 6:39-7:10

Have you ever had the experience when you are talking to someone, maybe to get information about a purchase, when you realize that you know more than they do? How does it feel at that moment you make this realization? For me, there inside my head the exclamation “Oh…” which is short for “How do I get out of this conversation as quickly as possible without looking rude? Where else can I go to find someone who is actually knowledgeable?”

About a month ago someone left a message on my answering machine at work explaining that he wanted me to do some research for him. So far, it sounded good. Then he went on to explain that it involved the working out of the last details of a perpetual motion machine. “Oh…” The more he talked the more the voice inside my head said “Oh…” until by the end I wondered if I was safe or maybe needed to call the guys in white coats.

To one degree or another, we all have had experiences like this. But what if we are following the advice of someone like this but don’t realize that this is an “Oh…” person? How messed up can we get by allowing ourselves to be informed by those who don’t have a clue? What happens if we listen to such advice for weeks, months, or years? It’s not a comforting thought.

Love vs. Judgement

Luke 6:27-6:38
Dedicated to Larry Norman

Beginning last week, we have been exploring Jesus’ “Sermon on the Plain,” as one commentator calls it. Jesus’ began his teaching with a series of blessings and woes. They were almost the complete opposite of what the world teaches. Blessed are the rich? No, blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of God. Woe to the rich, for they have already received their comfort. Blessed are those who can eat anything they want? No, blessed are the hungry, for they will be satisfied. Woe to those who are well-fed now, for they will go hungry. Blessed are those who laugh? No, blessed are those who weep, for they will laugh. Woe to those who laugh, for they will weep. Blessed are those whom others speak well of? No, blessed are those who are hated, excluded, and insulted because of their faith in Jesus, for that is how they treated the prophets. Woe to those who are well-liked, because that is how they treated the false prophets.

And following these general sayings that turn the world’s wisdom upside down comes this:

"But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. – Luke 6:27-28

How does this square with the wisdom of the world? Upside down! You don’t love your enemies, you destroy them! Who are you supposed to love? Your family and friends! Love those who love you. Treat them right so you keep their love.