Main Point of the Sermon:

Jesus has the authority to bring about his kingdom in every sphere of life.

Intro

We have been preaching through the Gospel of Luke for a few months now that I want to remind us what Luke is trying to accomplish,

1 Many people have set out to write accounts about the events that have been fulfilled among us. 2 They used the eyewitness reports circulating among us from the early disciples. 3 Having carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I also have decided to write an accurate account for you, most honorable Theophilus, 4 so you can be certain of the truth of everything you were taught.

So this letter was a historical account written to help the readers have certainty about what they were taught and as we’ve gone carefully through this letter, we see that this letter is trying to show us if Jesus is really who he says he is.

At Jesus’ baptism, we see that he is the beloved son.

And at Jesus’ trials in the wilderness, we see that he is the one who will be faithful in all the ways that Israel was faithless. He will stand the test and will be worthy to be our representative and ultimately our sacrifice.

A few weeks ago, Pastor Daniel preached on Luke 4:18-19. I want to re-read it for its essential to understand our passage today,

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, 19 and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.”

Wow, isn’t that one of the most beautiful and hope-giving announcements you’ve ever heard?

And Jesus promised that this liberating kingdom would not just be for Jews but for all people so not matter your background, this good news is for you!

So the question that those in Israel were asking was,

“Can Jesus really deliver on this promise? Is he really the one who will bring this kingdom?”

The response of the Jews was that they didn’t believe he could be the one.

For they tried to throw him off a cliff.

Lots of politicians today have great plans for our country. A utopia. But most of us know that it’s all talk. They don’t have the power to enact these changes. But does Jesus?

We’re putting all of our hopes, dreams, and future in this guy from Nazareth. Is  Jesus really the Messiah?

Will he really bring an end to all the suffering in the world?

Will he truly set the captives free?

Will he win over Coronavirus?

What about cancer?

What about death?

Today, we are going to see Jesus bring these verses to life!

He is going to set free those that no one else can set free.

He’s going to bring healing for those who have no cure.

He’s going to give us a teaser of the kingdom to come when he reigns fully on the earth.

MAIN POINT

Jesus has the authority to bring about his kingdom in every sphere of life!

Here’s where we’re headed today,

Outline

a.   Authority at the Synagogue (31–37)

b.  Compassion at Simon’s House (38–41 )

c.   Other Cities (42–44 )

Scene One: Lk 4:31–37 Authority at the Synagogue

31 And he went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee. And he was teaching them on the Sabbath, 32 and they were astonished at his teaching, for his word possessed authority.

Note the word, authority. That is a key word in this section we will see again.

Three kinds of authority shown in this Text:

a.   Authority over truth

b.  Authority over demons

c.   Authority over sickness

And all this authority is exercised by just a word.

That’s another word you will see repeated that you can circle.

Note that each of these spheres  man does not have authority over (Truth, demons, and sickness) These are all areas that no man can tame or claim and Jesus will be shown supreme and authoritative over each one.

›    Let’s look at the first one: Authority over truth (and I’ll explain what that means)

32 and they were astonished at his teaching, for his word possessed authority.

1. Authority over truth

The teachers of the day, received their authority from the Torah or other well-known teachers of the Law. So the teachers would make a point and then cite all the respected leaders who affirm that thought. They needed outside authorities to verify their authority.

The elders helped me think of an example that would illustrate this more,

Do you know Joni Erickson-Tada?

She a well-known Christian author and speaker. She’s also a quadriplegic. She had a terrible accident when she was younger that paralyzed most of her whole body.

Imagine the difference between me sharing a moving story of suffering from her life versus her sitting on this stage, with her wheel chair, sharing with you.

It’s night and day, isn’ it?

That’s what’s going on here. The “authorities” of Jesus’ day, were like me, sharing a story from someone else’s life.

Unlike the teachers of the day who may have nice things to say or heady speculative philosophies, Jesus taught life-giving authoritative words.

The reason being was that he was the Word according to John 1.

He was not handing down second-hand info but the source.

That’s why I said, he has authority over truth instead of authority in his teaching. I have authority in my teaching but that’s because I am preaching God’s word, who is the ultimately authority. My authority is derivative. It’s borrowed. Just like me as a pastor. I have authority over my flock but I’m an undershepherd.

He didn’t need to appeal to outside authority, he IS the ultimate authority.

›    Let’s  see Jesus’ second kind of authority in this passage,

2. Authority over demons

When it comes to spiritual dark forces in the world, the Bible identifies Satan as the leader of darkness, with his followers called demons. The demons are angels who have rebelled against God.

Luke shows us over and over that demons can mess with people. For Christians, they can influence and mess with us under God’s sovereign guardrails.

For those who are not in Christ, they can steadily take over you. You can see the man here has lost control. The proper word would be demonized.

In the ancient world, demons were viewed with a sense of awe. They were otherworldly and people knew they did not have power over them.

Let’s look,

34 “Ha! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.”

US!? There seems to be multiple demons in this guy or perhaps he is speaking on behalf of demons everywhere.

His clash with the devil now takes a different tack. He no longer fires Scripture verses at the devil (4:3–12) but raids his outposts, routs his demonic legions, and sets free their captives. - David Garland 

We need to talk about the Demon’s recognition of Jesus’ identity.

First of all, this is a huge theme in Luke. That is, Jesus is steadily revealing his identity and confirming the Father’s affirmation of him at his baptism “You are my beloved son”.

What is the demon actually affirming?

There are three pieces I want to quickly highlight.

1.“What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?”

He identifies that Jesus is from Nazareth, which is important because its grounding Jesus as a man from a place, rather than them some mystical figure from nowhere. However, there is something even more significant we will get to at the end of the sermon.

2.“have you come to destroy us?”

Despite the power that demons actually have and how they can bother us, the demons know that their ultimately going to be defeated.

10 and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

Other passages would make clear that the demons will join the devil too.

I know demons can feel freaky and intimidating but they’re fighting a lost war. When Jesus died on the cross, he disarmed the rulers, We do not have to fear them.

3.“I Know who you are, the Holy one of God.”

The Holy one of God is a special title. It’s connected to the fact that Jesus is the divine son of God. He’s set apart. However, there is a deeper connection to the Old Testament we will get to later.

Please note, it is one thing for your family and friends to affirm you in your identity, it is another thing for your enemies to do the same.

Jesus has so much authority that even the demons are declaring his identity.

›    Let’s see how Jesus responds to this demon,

35 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him down in their midst, he came out of him, having done him no harm.

Does he have this long prayer and ritual?

If you look at ancient records of how people would attempt to cast out demons, they were complicated and not guaranteed.

He just commands him to go.

He doesn’t say, “In the name of so and so.”

He says basically, “In the name of ME!”

In the words of the famous hymn from Martin Luther, “One little word shall fell him.”

And he does it in a way that keeps the man safe, lest the demon wound him.

What does this teach us?

Jesus is in a battle with Satan and his demons, but it’s not an even a match.

He doesn’t  wrestle with the demon and it’s a close match going back and forth, uncertain who’s going to win. “Come on Jesus, you can do it!”

Dualism is an idea that darkness and light have locked horns and they are in an epic battle. While there is a battle, it’s not like that. It’s very much one-sided.

Ever heard the saying, “Never bring a knife to a gun-fight?”

Jesus is bringing a tank and the demons have water guns.

›    Let’s see the people’s response to Jesus casting this demon out,

36 And they were all amazed and said to one another, “What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!” 37 And reports about him went out into every place in the surrounding region.

There’s that word again, “Authority.” And also, “Word.”

And notice, “What is this word?”

Remember,

32 and they were astonished at his teaching, for his word possessed authority.

He doesn’t just have authority in his teaching but his word has authority over demons.

This was unheard of and so the report spreads about this man who exercises authority with just a word.

›    As we move to scene two: We will see the last type of authority of Jesu highlighted, his healing authority. But we will also see his compassion highlighted as he exercises his authority.

Scene Two: Lk 4:38–41 Compassion at Simon’s House

3. Authority over sickness

Healing of Peter’s Mother-in-law (38–39)

38 And he arose and left the synagogue and entered Simon’s house. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was ill with a high fever, and they appealed to him on her behalf. 39 And he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her, and immediately she rose and began to serve them.

Marvel at the power of Jesus. He doesn’t ask for the sickness to go. He commands it. He rebukes it. Just like he rebuked the demon, he rebukes the fever. With just his words.

The Text gives us a sense that this fever is very bad. But remember, a fever is just a symptom of something deeper going on. Whatever virus is afflicting her body and causing the fever bows to the authority of Jesus and flees. Every virus is under the authority of Jesus.

Notice that there was no process. The Text doesn’t read, “And then she started to slowly feel better and after a few days, she was well.” There was an instantaneous complete healing of her body where she was well enough to serve. This is a true miracle.

With just a word, her body is made whole. This is some authority.

Jesus has authority to heal and he doesn’t appeal to another authority. He IS the authority. He is the creator of the universe and can command every molecule in her body to do what he wills.

But perhaps if you are a skeptic, Jesus’ got lucky. Maybe there was some physiological, placebo effect that brought healing to Simon’s mother-in-law?

›    The next verses removes all doubt.

40 Now when the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to him, and he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them. 41 And demons also came out of many, crying, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ.

Imagine a long day of teaching and serving people and as you settle down to rest, a large hoard of desperate and needy people gather around your home begging for help. Don’t imagine, orderly lines, but desperate people.

Notice, “Various diseases” and “Every one of them and healed them.”

We’re talking the crippled are walking, those with uncureable skin diseases, all kinds of viruses.

Look at the power here. Not just some. Or headaches. Various kinds and every one of them were healed!

Jesus is lord over every disease and problem.

There is no disease that is bigger to him.

No cancer that scares him.

Coronavirus

got

nothing

on

him!

This should increase our faith in the power of Christ.

In this age that is still under the curse of the Fall, God sometimes decides it would be best for us and his kingdom for us to experience that kind of healing power now.

So this means that whether it is a headache, a mental illness, or stage 4 cancer, it’s the same degree of difficulty to God.

But sometimes, he decides its best for us to not receive immediate healing.

We don’t always understand the wisdom of why and when he heals but we can trust him. We can trust in his plans and his heart.

His plans:

We covered this earlier in the section on demons, but because God is sovereign and Jesus’s work on the cross we know he will one-day heal every disease known to man in the new heavens and earth.

Because of the age to come, we know that nothing we suffer in this age will compare to the glory and the longevity of the age to come.

Jesus’s life of miracles foreshadows the character of his kingdom and the coming age of freedom.

And he know that he is the faithful one that can bring about this cosmic restoration.

His Heart:

We can also trust his heart and be comforted that he knows what its like to suffer.

Jesus played by the same rules as us, in fact, the rules were rigged against him. He suffered unjustly for wrongs he never committed.

He doesn’t watch us passively and unmoved while we suffer but can commiserate with us as one who suffered like us.

Gospel Invitation

That’s the beauty and insanity of the gospel.

Jesus suffered on the cross like all he ever did was wrong through he only did what was right.

He did this because he loved us and someone needed to pay the penalty for all of our sins.

So as a result of Jesus death, we who put our trust in Jesus’ life and death can have peace with God.

And we will have joyous access to his presence and a world without any suffering one day.

›    Let’s look again at v. 42. Although this scene further illustrates the absolute authority of Jesus, it also shows us his compassion.

42 And when it was day, he departed and went into a desolate place. And the people sought him and came to him, and would have kept him from leaving them,

Did you hear that?

According to Mark’s parallel account he did get some sleep but if you look at both texts, it suggest he was up very very late.

He was up most of the night healing people! What love and compassion.

›    What does Jesus do after all that ministry? Let’s look at the last scene.

Scene Three: Preaching at other Cities (43–44)

42 And when it was day, he departed and went into a desolate place. And the people sought him and came to him, and would have kept him from leaving them,

But what did he do at the end of it all that ministry?

He didn’t go to bed.

He went to be alone with the Father and pray.

I say this because every time he does this, it’s to pray and be with his father, even though this text doesn’t explicitly say that. It’s strong assumed.

16 But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.

Wow, I wouldn’t do that! Would you?

How often do we neglect prayer and being alone when things are crazy?

We have the most reasonable justification. We need to rest!

And yet, although other instances in Jesus’ life demonstrate that he does affirm and celebrate the limitations of the human body and the need for rest, Jesus knows he needs to be with the Father MORE!

It’s amazing, Jesus is God and yet, he needs to be alone with his Father.

What was the result of his time alone?

›    He received clarity about his mission as he got away from the chaos of the crowds which leads us to vv. 43–44.

43 but he said to them, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.” 44 And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea.

You would think he would stay because there is need and they’re asking him to stay.

In our age of busyness, this is an important lesson for all of us that there are a lot of good things for us to do but that does not mean its always the most essential thing to do. We need to hear from our Father and sit with him to receive clarity through the Word and Prayer what he has for us.

›    Let’s look at the purpose he highlights,

Jesus’ first ministry was one of primarily preaching the gospel before his death and resurrection.

His miracles, gave a glimpse of his future reign and gave confirmation of his Words. But the miracles were not his mission.

If his mission was merely to address the social ills of his day, he would just do healing tours and focus on mentoring the next generation of politicians.

Our Purpose

To bring this home for us, we too are to dismantle the works of satan in this world like Jesus did. However, it’s different for us. We’re not dying for anyone’s sins. Jesus did that for us.

How do we partner with Jesus’ work to dismantle the works of Satan?

We will destroy his works by giving the world a glimpse of the new heavens and earth, like Jesus did. That means Christians WILL and MUST care about the whole of a person and society.

We must care about healthy families.

We must care about the poor.

We care about the unborn.

We care about injustice and prejudice.

We care about mental health.

We bring healing through spiritual and physical means to the brokenness we see.

However, we ESPECIALLY dismantle the works of Satan by preaching the gospel and making disciples.

When you do this, you get to the core problem of it all.

You can give a person bread and they’re fed for a meal. However, we must also address their greatest need and that’s being reconciled with God and given a Spirit to help them live a transformed life.

›    I want to conclude our time with going back,

Jesus Conclusion

I want to go back to the confession of the demon about Jesus’ identity.

Luke Scholar, James Edwards makes a fascinating point about it,

34 “Ha! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.”

There is only one other person in the Bible who is called the Holy one of God.

Who would you guess?

Samson!

17 And he told her all his heart, and said to her, “A razor has never come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If my head is shaved, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak and be like any other man.”

It’s harder to see this in the Hebrew but the word, Nazirite means holy or consecrated.

In the Greek translation of the OT called the Septuagint, it says, “Holy of God” or “Holy one of God.”

Why is this significant?

Well, perhaps you know the story of Samson. He was empowered by the Spirit to bring liberty to his people with supernatural strength. The Phillistines ruled and had his people in bondage. Throughout his life, Samson wrecked armies and beat back the enemy armies. He was able to literally snap off ropes when he would be tied up.

However, you probably also remember that he was deeply broken and had an uncontrollable problem with lust. He ultimately could not liberate his people physically or spiritually.

Similarly, Jesus has declared liberty in the land and is now wrecking the strongholds of Satan.

He has the authority to bring about his kingdom reign. Every area that no one else can tame.

But unlike Samson, Jesus is not broken and does not have a problem with lust. He is sinless as we saw in his testing in the desert with Satan and he’s the only faithful, holy one of God to set captives free!

He sets us spiritually free now, if you’re trusting in Jesus,  he will set us physically free when he returns.

All of God’s people will be healed in every way. Everything that ails our body. Inside and out. Every trauma. Every heartbreak. He will rid the world of all evil and suffering will be no more. He has the authority and compassion to make all things new!

Reflection Time

Repent of  areas in your life that Jesus doesn’t have authority.

Maybe you a more impressed with sickness than Jesus.

Ask him for greater faith in his power.

Ask if there are any demonic forces afflicting you.

Benediction and Commission

18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Queen shares how her Missional Communities evangelism efforts have helped so many that they've encountered and her personal growth and trust in the Gospel of Jesus Christ as well.

Ross Tenneson

Jesus Came And... Offended Many

Ross Tenneson / General

The Gospel of Luke / Forgiveness; Gentiles / Luke 4:22–30

Exposition of this passage

Summary

Exegetical Main Point: Jesus teaches that God is not under obligation to work among the people of Israel but can compassionately save surprising people.

Sticky:  God will show compassion to whomever he wants to, not to those whom we think he should.

Connection (me)

I love how welcoming our worship gatherings feel and how welcoming other churches I’ve attended in the past feel. And churches should be the most welcoming places on earth because the gospel is the most welcoming message there ever was.

Yet, I confess that in my heart, I have not always had that kind of welcome toward everyone I’ve worshipped with. There are people I have worshipped with that I struggled with liking very much. I even have from time to time not been happy that a person is at the same worship gathering as me. This betrays that I have a sense of bias in my heart where I prefer certain people to be God’s children and not others and it is a favoritism toward myself that I somehow deserve to be there more than they do.

Tension (we)

Now, may never think these things (or admit we do), yet I want to ask you:

Do you sometimes find yourself wishing that God would have saved this person instead of that person?

Do you sometimes struggle to rejoice over someone’s salvation (maybe in your community)?

Is there someone (maybe someone who wronged you) whom you wouldn’t want God to show mercy to?

In our text this evening, Jesus is going to uncover and answer these questions that we all have in our hearts at some level even if they are not at the level of awareness. Pastor Daniel made a good point to me when I was preparing this sermon: since we are all prideful people, there is something offensive to each one of us about God’s grace and mercy. Hopefully Jesus can expose that in our hearts this evening so that he can also heal us. 

Revelation (God)

We get to pick up in this passage where Daniel left off two weeks ago. Jesus, while in his hometown of Nazareth, had finished reading from the scroll of Isaiah about an era of God’s favor that God would bring on his people. Then he makes the astonishing claim that this prophecy was about him. Now, in the rest of this passage, we get to witness how the people in Jesus’s hometown respond to Jesus making these claims. It will be a roller coaster that starts with celebration and ends with attempted murder.

Now, our outline this evening will include two simple steps[1]:

(1) First, Jesus will share two sayings that describe the situation and hearts of the people of Nazareth (vv. 22-24). [Two Sayings]

(2) Second, Jesus will illustrate his point by comparing himself with two prophets from the Old Testament (vv. 25-30) [Two Prophets]

Two Sayings (vv. 22-24)

Let’s begin then in verse 22,

22 And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. And they said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?”

Jesus’s fellow Nazarites first respond with favor to the things that he said.[2] Perhaps there was a sense of pride that one of their own would speak with such favor to them from God’s word. Yet, that very same fact (that Jesus is one of their own) appears to also produce an alternative response in Jesus’s listeners.[3] Luke captures this reaction in the question they ask:

“Is not this Joseph’s son?”

While there was joy in Jesus’s claim that the prophecy in Isaiah 61, that the era of God’s favor had arrived, there was skepticism, rejection, and soon to be hostility to the idea that such an extraordinary reality could come from one who seemed so ordinary to them. They may have thought,

We will see more and more as we walk through this passage that people’s expectations play a huge role of how they respond to Jesus and his message. For one, since they were familiar with Jesus’s ordinary upbringing, they did not expect him to be a man whom the Lord used mightily and thus rejected him.

Jesus was aware of the skeptical objections in their minds and responds to them publically in verse 23,[4]    

23 And he said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘ “Physician, heal yourself.” What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’ ”

(A) Now Jesus quotes the first of the two sayings he will refer to in this passage: “Physician, heal yourself.”

What does Jesus mean by saying his fellow townspeople will quote to him this saying?

Evidently, the residents of Nazareth had heard of great works that Jesus had done in Capernaum of freeing a man from a demon (vv. 31-37). The thought this proverb expresses is that Jesus is under obligation to perform his works among them (in his hometown where he was raised) before he performs them for others.[5] So, in the saying, “Physician, heal yourself,” by “yourself” they actually mean “your hometown.”[6] In other words, Jesus you should do your works here, among we who raised you, before you go and do them elsewhere. There seems to be two things that are going on in their hearts here:

(1) Seeing him perform his works among them would give them the proof their skeptical hearts demand.[7]

(2) As Jesus’s kin, they saw themselves as more worthy and deserving of his benefits than others and were expressing jealousy of what the other town had experienced.[8] After all, they had probably helped to raise him.

It is not difficult for us to begin to expect and believe we deserve certain benefits from God, is it?

Likely, we wouldn’t think that way, but our emotions often give us away. I think one of the biggest evidences of this is how easy it is for us to emotionally go off the rails when something does not work out the way we expect or think that it should or the envy we feel towards others when they get what we want.

(B) Next, Jesus introduces a second saying to further reveal what is happening in this sequence of events. He says in verse 24,

24 And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown.

When Jesus says “truly” in the beginning of verse 24, he is indicating that what he is about to say demands our attention.[9]

What does Jesus mean by “no prophet is acceptable in his hometown?”

He means that their familiarity with him, especially in his developmental years, is a stumbling block for them.[10] I think we all get this point:

Who here finds that some of the hardest people for you to witness to are family members and friends that you grew up with?

Jesus experienced that as well and understands. Anyone who has seen us in a period or season of weakness is prone to use that as an excuse to dismiss us as messengers and avoid the message that we proclaim. For Jesus, it was not a sinful season of weakness they saw, but the ordinary process of growing up and learning new things. Since they were familiar with him as a youth , they were content to continue to think of him that way and dismiss the call to receive him as the one bringing God’s favor. Therefore, Jesus would not do the works he did in Capernaum in his hometown. 

Now, did you catch what Jesus referred to himself as in this verse?

He calls himself a “prophet.” And by referring to himself as a prophet, he characterizes himself as one, who like the prophets before him, experienced rejection from the Hebrew people.[11] Now that we have walked through the two sayings Jesus referred to, now we will take a look at the two prophets he compares himself to. These comparisons will cause the crowd to boil over in their rage and attack Jesus.

Two Prophets (vv. 25-30)

In order to explain why Jesus won’t do works in his hometown, he compares himself to two Old Testament prophets: Elijah and Elisha. This explanation will almost get Jesus killed.

Now, what would Jesus have to say to almost get himself killed by a town of Jewish people he grew up with?

Alright, let’s take a look at the first of two prophets to whom Jesus compares his ministry: Elijah. Jesus says in verses 25 and 26,

25 But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, 26 and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.

This story refers back to the story of the prophet Elijah in 1 Kings 17. At that time, Ahab, king of Israel, had abandoned worshipping God and instead worshipped the false God Baal. Sadly, much of the rest of the nation follows suit. As a result, God inflicted the land with a drought for a period of about three years. And during that drought, God did not send Elijah to work among the people of Israel. Instead, he shockingly send him to a widow in the city of Zarephath, which was a pagan city outside of Israel.[12] She lived in a place that in the Old Testament was geographically far from God. God used Elijah to give this widow a miraculous source of food.

Jesus makes a piercing point here: “Although there were many widows in Israel, God sent Elijah to none of them but only to Zarephath.” No Jewish person would have expected God to do this— to favor someone in an unbelieving nation rather than the Jewish nation. It would have, in fact, been offensive to them that a gentile would receive mercy before they would. Worse than that, Jesus is comparing them to the faithless Israelites in Elijah’s day whom God passed over.[13] 

What important truth does this reveal to us about God?

God does not act according to our expectations of what we think he should do. I have seen God save a handful of people in my life, and guess what? He never asked me beforehand if I thought it was a good idea.[14] We have to get used to the idea that God shows mercy to whomever he wants to and some people we think should believe won’t and some people we think shouldn’t believe will. This passage is a warning against limiting God’s mercy and ever assuming there is a kind of person God wouldn’t save.

Later in Luke, Jesus shares a story about a son who leaves his Father and his household and squanders his inheritance in reckless living. After running out of money, he returns home in shame. He expects his father to take him back, not as a son, but as a hired worker: that would fit with what he deserves. Yet, as his Father sees him approaching from afar, he runs to embrace him. He puts a robe and a ring on him and throws him a feast to welcome him back as a son. When God shows someone mercy, which he does everyday, it is this kind of over-the-top, scandalous event. How does his older brother respond? He gets upset and jealous that his little brother who squandered his inheritance would come back and get another share. He is offended at his father’s mercy toward his brother. This is how the people of Nazareth were responding, and this passage is warning to us not to respond this way.

Here is one way I was convicted while preparing:

Do you like me tend to think that there are certain people (or kinds of people) that God won’t save or even that you don’t necessarily want him to save?

I have a younger brother whom probably none of you have met yet and who seems to have no interest in the things of the Lord. A lot of days, I have a small expectation that God will save him because he seems so far from God. And I noticed that when I have a small expectation God will save someone, they tend to drop out of my prayer life.

Is there someone you have stopped praying for because you have a small expectation that God will save them?

If we pause and think about that, it is actually us subtly assuming that God will work according to the way we expect him to work.

Also, is there a person or a kind of person whom intellectually you would say you want them to know Jesus and belong here, but emotionally you are not there?

This text is calling us  to repent of that and to pray for and love those we just don’t tend to like. God is not going to withhold new life from someone because you or I don’t like that person. We must not be like the people of Nazareth and oppose God working in someone else’s life (and just to be clear, indifference and disengagement when God has put someone in our path is opposition, when you are sensing a burden or seeing a clear opportunity to witness to someone and you won’t). Again, I believe that when we shy away from praying for a particular person, it is an indication our hearts are in this place.

Then, Luke brings up another example of God’s work through another prophet, Elijah’s student, Elisha:

27 And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”

Leprosy is a disease that destroys your skin and having that disease would make you unclean and unable to enter the temple in the Old Testament. Again, the same sequence of events unfolds: God passes over his rebellious people and he shows mercy to a foreigner. Yet, he is not just any foreigner. He was the general of the Syrian army—  a historic enemy of Israel’s.

Syria was not only a different culture from Israel, it was a hostile one. This text is also a call to cultural humility for all of us (God will not only save particular people we don’t expect, but kinds of people we don’t expect). This text anticipates the reality that the gospel spread outside the mono-cultural Israel to the multi-cultural nations.[15] It’s a miracle that I am standing here preaching Christ to you today considering my ancestral roots. I know I have a Scandinavian Lutheran background of nice church people, but if you go back far enough, I descend from warring, pillaging idolaters.

There is no people group or cultural group in the Twin Cities we should not expect to be apart of All Peoples Church one day. And we need to pray, fast, and evangelize until this is the case. We must not prefer or welcome people from one culture over another because we think that one culture is more likely to respond to the gospel than another. To have that perspective is to subtly adopt the viewpoint of the people of Nazareth.

Our response to others whom we perceive as far from God can reveal if we think we are more deserving or proper for God to save. Shying away from certain people or kinds of people reveals a sense of favoritism towards ourselves. Truly believing that we have no worthiness of our own and that our only claim to God’s favor is the blood of Christ will overflow in us going to difficult people.

After Jesus had said these things and exposed their sinful hearts, the people of Nazareth had had enough. Verse 28 describes how they respond,

28 When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. 29 And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff.

In the process of hearing Jesus saying these things, Jesus’s relatives and neighbors become so enraged they attempt to kill him.

What was it about what Jesus said that drove them to this point?

Let’s try to put together all of the pieces to make this clear. Jesus says to those with whom he grew up among that they have rejected him. He goes further and identifies himself as a prophet who, like the other prophets in Israel’s history, faces rejection. He then characterizes the situation as similar to the era of Elijah and Elisha in that the people of Nazareth were unbelievers in God like the Israelites of that day. And because of their unbelief, Jesus was going to go elsewhere to work miracles and preach the good news.[16] And those whom they thought to be inferior to themselves would receive the blessings they thought Jesus was obligated to share with them. The weight of this truth and conviction should have humbled them and brought them to repentance; instead, they lost control and tried to kill Jesus. The point in all of this is that God will show compassion to whomever he wants to, not to those whom we think he should.[17]

Therefore, our lives, our affections, and our mission should show no sort of favoritism to certain people or kinds of people. In fact, we should look for opportunities to connect with and share Jesus with the people who seem least likely on the surface to respond to Jesus— stories like these show that these are the kinds of people Jesus delights to save. That’s why our mission statement says we want to help others follow Jesus, especially those far from God.

Application (us)

What does this story have to say to you if you are not yet a follower of Jesus?

Perhaps you are here today and you can identify with the widow of Zarephath. She was lonely (she had no husband) and overwhelmed (she had the burden of raising her kids). More than that, she was hungry. Yet, perhaps your hunger is not as much of a hunger for bread as a spiritual hunger. You know there is something missing, you know you long for more than what this world has offered you. Just like God used Elijah to give her an everlasting supply of bread and oil, Jesus will give you everlasting satisfaction for your deepest needs if you will come to him.

Do you feel like you have done too much wrong for him to welcome you?

Elijah’s going to this widow from an unbelieving city, a city in which the residents were far from God, shows that there is no one too far from him to receive his mercy. He will have you just as you are. The only remaining question is: will you have him?

On the other hand, maybe you are more like Naaman the Syrian general. He came to the land of Israel and the prophet Elisha to seek healing for his skin disease of leprosy. He didn’t fully understand Elisha’s instructions to be healed of his leprosy. He almost refused with agner to do what the prophet had said. But in the end, his servant convinced him to do it anyway. And guess what? He was healed.

Maybe you do not consider yourself religious or don’t have a religious background. Maybe Jesus sounds nice, but following him just doesn’t make much sense to you: this is not what you are used to. God didn’t heal Naaman because he fully grasped God’s plan or it was familiar to him. He saved Namaan because he followed God’s plan anyway.

And what is God’s plan for you?

That you would believe in the Lord Jesus and receive his sacrifice for you on the cross. That just as God used the Jordan to cleanse Naaman’s skin of leprosy, he would use the blood of Jesus to heal your sin and forgive you completely.

How is it possible for God to heal and forgive all these different kinds of people? Widows from Zarephath, generals from Syria, and every sinner who sits here today?

Verse 30 says,

30 But passing through their midst, he went away.

While in this instance Jesus avoided dying at the hands of sinful men and women, this event foreshadows a future event.[18] Three short years later, a mob would lay hands on the Lord Jesus again. Instead of passing through their midst, he would allow himself to suffer death by crucifixion.

What is his reason?

To pay for the sins of any who would come to him. To pay for the sins of even those who are far from God and whom we least of all expect to join us here praising Jesus. To pay for the sins of our Somali neighbors who would believe, our lbgt neighbors who would believe, of our poor and drug addicted neighbors who would believe, and of those in our lives who are especially hard to be patient with and to be around.

Perhaps you are here today and have not yet followed Jesus. I invite you before you leave this room with: repent and believe and become his child. Please speak with me or any of our member to learn how you can do this.

Imagination (We)

How would our community grow if we believed these things?

I believe there will be a chain reaction if we have a gospel message as radical as the one Jesus presents in this text. If we believe God will save those who are far from him, we must pray for those who are far from him. If we pray from those who are far from him, we will feel an inclination to take steps towards those who are far from him, if we take steps towards those who are far from God, some will hear the gospel through us and believe. Then, our community will become more and more a group of surprising  people to be together in one family. All of this starts with believing that Jesus radically saves unexpected people.

Glorification (Jesus)

Verse 30 ends by saying Jesus “went away.” That word that verb comes from will appear a handful of times in Luke. It is framing Jesus as on a journey toward Jerusalem where he will solve the greatest problem facing humanity: our broken relationship with God. Here we have taken the first few steps of that journey with Jesus and already we have seen that he is a great and glorious savior. He is a savior we did not anticipate or expect who save those we don’t anticipate or expect him to save. He shocks and amazes in the ways how he redeems. And we will have to keep walking through this gospel together with Jesus to see him rescue and save all these different kinds of people.

[1] Green, J. B. (1997). The Gospel of Luke (p. 216). Grand

Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

[2][2] Green, J. B. (1997). The Gospel of Luke (p. 216). Grand

Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

[3]  Marshall, I. H. (1978). The Gospel of Luke: a commentary on the Greek text (p. 186). Exeter: Paternoster Press.

[4] John Calvin, Harmony of Matthew, Mark, Luke, trans. David W. Rev. William Pringle, vol. 1, Calvin’s Commentaries 23 Volume Set (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 2009), 231.

[5] John Calvin, Harmony of Matthew, Mark, Luke, trans. David W. Rev. William Pringle, vol. 1, Calvin’s Commentaries 23 Volume Set (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 2009), 232.

[6] Marshall, I. H. (1978). The Gospel of Luke: a commentary on the Greek text (p. 187). Exeter: Paternoster Press.

[7] Cf.  Bock, D. L. (1996). Luke (pp. 137–138). Grand Rapids, MI:

Zondervan Publishing House.

[8] Marshall, I. H. (1978). The Gospel of Luke: a commentary on the Greek text (p. 187). Exeter: Paternoster Press.

[9]  Marshall, I. H. (1978). The Gospel of Luke: a commentary on the Greek text (p. 187). Exeter: Paternoster Press.

[10]  Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Vol. 2, p. 103). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

[11] Bock, D. L. (1996). Luke (p. 138). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.

[12] Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole

Bible (Vol. 2, p. 103). Oak Harbor, WA:

Logos Research Systems, Inc.

[13] Bock, D. L. (1996). Luke (p. 138). Grand Rapids, MI:

Zondervan Publishing House.

[14] John Calvin, Harmony of Matthew, Mark, Luke, trans. David W. Rev. William Pringle, vol. 1, Calvin’s Commentaries 23 Volume Set (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 2009), 234.

[15]  Schreiner, T. R. (2013). The King in His Beauty: A Biblical Theology of the

Old and New Testaments (p. 494). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker

Academic.

[16] John Calvin, Harmony of Matthew, Mark, Luke, trans. David W. Rev. William Pringle, vol. 1, Calvin’s Commentaries 23 Volume Set (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 2009), 234.

[17] Cf. Spurgeon, C. H. (1907). The Rule of Grace. In The Metropolitan

Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons (Vol. 53, p. 501). London: Passmore & Alabaster

[18] Bovon, F., & Koester, H. (2002). Luke

1: a commentary on the Gospel of Luke 1:1–9:50 (p. 156). Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press.

David Andrews

In order to help memorize Romans 8, David Andrews put verses 1-17 to a spoken word rap. 

Pastoral Team

Daniel Simmons

Exegetical Main Point:

Today is the day of salvation. Jesus, full of the Spirit, came not to condemn but to set captives free to serve him in the power of the Spirit. 

Main Point of the Sermon:Jesus fulfilled his mission in the power of the Spirit and empowers us to do the same.

Intro

Me: 

I grew up hearing stories from my parents about times of revival when God’s Spirit was so active in a room that people would grip the back of pews in conviction of their sin, they would sometimes run to the altar before the preacher could finish his message. Bars would be emptied, and churches filled with sinners seeking mercy from God in Christ. I heard the stories and with some hesitation wanted to see God move like that. I wanted to be used as a preacher of God’s Word like that, and yet I wondered if it were ever possible for me. When I looked at my life, my capacity, my track record with sin or faithfulness with the Word and prayer, let alone sharing the Good News with others, there seemed to be some disconnect with me and these powerful Christians who were seeing so much fruit.

The reality is the Spirit of God is still alive and active among us and around the world today. The Christian message is believed by over 2 billion people and literally millions more are coming to faith daily around the world – sometimes spreading most quickly in the most unlikely places like Iran, China, and North Korea. People are daily gripped with conviction over their sins as the living Christ continues to show up to people and call them by name through faithful witnesses. 

I believe this, and by God’s grace, in my short life I’ve gotten to see and be a part of God’s work to save the lost and heal the sick both here and abroad. But sometimes, still, I doubt God will use me, that he wants to work through me. 

Our Tension: 

Maybe you’re like me. You hear the stories, and you believe that God is at work, but you wonder… “could God ever use me… Could I ever be the kind of Christian that walks in the kind of boldness and power that the early disciples walked in?” 

Do any of you resonate with that? 

Some of you may even say outright, “That’s not me and will never be. I’m just not one of those radical Christians.”

Maybe like me you understand the mission of God, you like the idea of making disciples, but don’t quite understand the how behind what God promises to accomplish through his Church. 

I want to answer the question today how did Jesus accomplish his mission and how do we now accomplish the mission he has given us?

My prayer today is that every one of us would believe that we, every believer in this room, have access to God’s Spirit like Jesus, his apostles, and all the heroes of the faith for powerful, bold, and effective ministry. 

Let’s pray to that end. 

Here’s where we are going:

1) Jesus’s Mission 16-19

2) Jesus’s Power 14, 18

3) The Church’s Mission

4) The Church’s Power

Text: 

Scope:Before we dive in you need to know that my goal today will not be to track the narrative Luke is telling in this section which goes until verse 30, but to focus on the first section of this text where we see Jesus’s relationship with the Spirit of God for mission. Ross will pick up on this text next week and more closely follow the narrative of Jesus being rejected in his hometown. 

That being said, let’s look at the first point. 

Jesus’s Mission

Verses 14 and 15 record that after Jesus was baptized and tempted in the wilderness for 40 days by Satan he returned to Galilee, the region where he grew up and he was teaching in the local synagogues. Synagogues were Jewish places of worship and prayer, where groups that averaged around 20-30 locals would gather, primarily on Saturday – the Jewish Sabbath. They gathered to hear the Scriptures read and taught, and to sing Psalms and hymns to the Lord. 

After giving us a little snapshot of Jesus’s activity in his first days of ministry Luke records one instance of Jesus’s synagogue teaching ministry in verses 16 and following:

16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. 17 And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. 

Jesus returns to Nazareth his hometown, and we are told, Jesus stood up to read, and that day the scroll of the prophet Isaiah happened to be given to Jesus – this seems like no coincidence – and Jesus found the place where it is written… 

Let’s read verses 18-19 again:

18          “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, 

because he has anointed me 

to proclaimgood news to the poor. 

                        He has sent me to proclaimliberty to the captives 

and recovering of sight to the blind, 

to setat liberty those who are oppressed, 

            19          to proclaimthe year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19).

Jesus is reading from Isaiah 58:6 and 61:1-2. Luke says that after he read these passages, Jesus rolled up the scroll and sat down, and everyone’s eyes were fixed on him, waiting to see what he would say. Verse 21: 21 And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” 

Jesus “began” to say to them… this implies that Jesus taught other things along with this promise of fulfillment but Luke seems to sum up the point of the teaching in this phrase of Jesus. 

When you read this, you should be asking “how”, how are these Isaiah passages fulfilled in Jesus life? The people that day didn’t literally see Jesus setting captives free or giving sight to the blind before their eyes, so what was he saying? 

Jesus was making the claim that in him the kingdom of God had come. He was making the claim that he was the Servant of the Lord prophesied about in Isaiah 42-66 who would bring about the renewal of God’s kingdom on earth, like it once was in Eden. From the fall of man, God promised that he would make a way for man to dwell again with God like they did in Eden, but even better – without any form of evil!

So, from the first promise of salvation in Genesis 3:15 until this moment, people were waiting for the promised Seed who would crush the deceiving serpent, overcome death, and bring people back to Eden. This is what Israel was waiting for. This was their hope, and Jesus says that it was fulfilled that day. IN HIM. 

What a moment for this little Nazarene synagogue. The king of Israel didn’t announce his appearance and mission in the streets of Jerusalem, at the temple court, or in the palace of Herod, but at a small town rural church, as it were, with a simple sermon.

Not only does Jesus announce who he is, he announces what he came to do. These words from Isaiah capture his mission.  

When you read these words from Jesus, what would you think his mission was going to be? Is it good works or helping suffering people? If that’s your thought, that would be a good guess. 

I want you to notice the verbs (or more precisely, the infinitives, for you grammar nerds) in this passage. Jesus came “to proclaim” listed three times in these two verses and “to set” once. This is important for several reasons. Jesus’s mission is not first a charity mission, in which he comes to make the poor rich and healthy. It is first a reconciliation mission. 

Let me explain. The problem with mankind is not first our poverty or our death, but rather our sin, which leads to poverty and death. Sin separates from God who is the source of life. Thus the answer to our problems is reconciliation with God. But in order to be reconciled to God sin must be dealt with. 

We need to understand. The “poor” in Luke is a major theme, and while it does include economic status, the primary emphasis is on the heart posture of the poor. It is the poor “in spirit” (Mt. 5), those who recognize their need for God that will receive God’s powerful rescue. Isaiah, and now Jesus, expounds on this spiritual poverty with several other pictures: captivity, blindness, and oppression. These are the results of sin. 

Do you know that you are captive to the sin nature, blind to your need for God, and oppressed by Satan, the father of lies?

This is why Jesus came preaching. His primary mission was not healing, not multiplying bread, or raising the dead. He came preaching a message of Good News to the spiritually poor, blind, and captive, a message so powerful that it would raise the spiritually dead! One commentator notes that the word “freedom” (aphesin) always refers to the forgiveness of sins elsewhere in Luke-Acts.[1]Jesus is focusing on the sin problem. 

So then, what is the Good news of Jesus? “I will give you spiritual sight. I will set you free from your slavery to sin! I will deliver you from you Satan’s oppression and bring you to God through forgiveness of sins. I was sent to rescue you if…if you will believe in me, the King.”  

How is one set free? By believing on the one sent from God, Jesus (Jn 3:16). Jesus came preachingthis message and this same message is what will set you free today. Our main problem in this world is not poverty, hunger, or even justice issues, but rather, our sin, which has separated us from God.  

Let me show you a little bit more evidence from our text that Jesus’s primary mission is to overthrow sin. Notice where Jesus stops reading in Isaiah 61. What’s missing that Jesus’s didn’t quote in verse 2? “2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; 

Jesus stops reading before the comment about God’s vengeance on sinners (see Is 61:2b). Why? Jesus has been sent not first to condemn the world but that the world might be saved through him (John 3:17). Jesus’s first coming is not about wrath for sin, of destruction of Israel’s enemies, but about mercy for sinners who deserve wrath, even the Jews. If he came for final judgment and the removal of all sin and suffering in this world, every man would perish in sin. But Jesus didn’t come for vengeance. He came for salvation for all who would believe in him. He came “TO SET” at liberty those who are oppressed by sin and Satan. How?

By himself taking on the vengeance of God at the cross on behalf of those who would believe. Those who believe in him will not have to perish for sin like Jesus, but rather live eternally in God’s presence. 

But you also need to know that those who do not believe are already condemned. Implied here is the reality of God’s coming vengeance.

Jesus didn’t stay in the grave. He rose again, and is coming again. Jesus will in the end have victory over Satan, his angels, and all who are in accord with him. He will take vengeance in the future, but this is the age of grace, the day of salvation. There is still opportunity to enter into God’s rest as long as you are alive and Christ hasn’t come, but that window is closing quickly. When Jesus returns or if you pass into eternity today without knowing him, there will no longer be an opportunity to repent, and how terrible it will be to fall into the hands of the living God (Heb 10:31). 

If you don’t know Christ today, come to him. Please come to him. Escape the punishment that is coming on you. All he requires is a movement of trust towards him. You may feel utterly chained and imprisoned by sins and addictions, but all he calls you to do is lift up your weary head, look to him, and say I’m yours, Lord. If you want healing, if you want rest, find your peace in God through Jesus. Today is the day of salvation. 

So, I’ve said that Jesus mission was first to deal with sin. But this leaves us with an important question. If Jesus’s first mission is to deal with sin, does this mean that God doesn’t care about the suffering in the world? Should we ignore physical needs? 

No, you need to know that the Good News of Jesus is not only dealing with the sin of the heart, but also with the effects of sin. As humans we are made up of body and soul, we are not just spiritual or just physical, but we are physical and spiritual. If we focus only on the needs of the body our soul will perish without God. But if we focus only on the needs of the soul we neglect the beauty of God’s good design in the material world.  

God’s salvation plan to restore all things that sin destroyed on earth includes body and soul, physical and spiritual. 

But you have to know that without dealing with the root of all the evil we experience, the effects could never be dealt with. But if sin is overcome, the effects will be undone. God’s kingdom advances first in human hearts, but it will ultimately bear fruit unto everlasting life in new resurrection bodies in a new heavens and new earth where this is no more suffering, pain, or death. 

Jesus models this for us in his ministry. Though his primary work was to preach the message of forgiveness of sins, he healed, he cast out demons, and raised the dead in order to show us what the kingdom he was going to bring was like. 

But the question remains… how? How did Jesus fulfill his mission. This leads us to our second point. 

Jesus’s power

Luke emphasizes more than most authors of the New Testament, that Jesus’s power for completing his mission was the Holy Spirit. 

If we back up in our text to verse 14, we read these words, “And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee…”

Who is the Holy Spirit? Briefly, he is one of the three divine persons of the Godhead, who is biblically described as the empowering figure behind every prophet and teacher of the Word as well as the inspiration for the Word. The Spirit puts God’s will and word into action and completes it in creation, salvation, and recreation. The Spirit is one with God the Father and God the Son in such a way that he can do nothing but what the Father and Son are doing. 

What is Jesus’s relationship with the Spirit? Let’s review what Luke has shown us up to this point. It all began before Jesus was born, when the angel prophesied to Mary in Luke 1:35 that Jesus would be born of the Holy Spirit. In 2:40, we are told that Jesus as a boy was “filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him.” This was pointing to the Spirit’s presence in Jesus’s life. In 3:16, Jesus is prophesied to be one who would “baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire”, before he himself would be baptized and have the Spirit descend on him in bodily form. Then, after the baptism we are told in 4:1 that“Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness 2 for forty days, being tempted by the devil.” Now in verse 14, today’s text, we are told that Jesus returns in the power of the Spirit to teach, and that the Spirit of the Lord was upon him for the fulfillment of his mission as shown in Isaiah 61. 

Luke, who is also the author of Acts – which is a memoir of the living Christ by the Spirit working to build his church through the Apostles – is trying to show the church where power for mission comes from. How did Jesus overcome Satan in the wilderness? It was not only knowledge of the Word that helped him overcome, but the presence of the Spirit. How did Jesus know what to say and do? Luke shows us that Jesus “returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee.” His miracles, his teachings, his daily direction, even the effect of his work on the cross – offered by the Spirit (Heb 9:14).  – was ruled and empowered by the Holy Spirit.

This is why you see Jesus saying things like – “the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does” (John 5:19).

Jesus lived every moment in dependence on the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. 

Maybe this is confusing to you. Well, you’re in good company. The church has wrestled to understand these mysteries now for two millennia.

You might ask: Daniel, if Jesus is God, he is the essence of power. What other power could he need? In other words, how do we reconcile what we see Jesus doing as the divine son of God with his limitations and dependence on the Holy Spirit in all of life? 

The Scriptures teach that in the mystery of the incarnation, Jesus remained divine though he took on human flesh. He did not lose any of his divinity or even his divine attributes, but in this position and in his role as the Son of God he willingly limited himself in a human body, and submitted himself to the Father as the perfect son of God that Adam, Israel, and we were supposed to be, only utilizing his divine attributes according to the Father’s will. 

Gerald Hawthorne, a longtime Greek professor at Wheaton college wrote extensively on this subject in his book The Presence and the Power: the significance of the Holy Spirit in the life and ministry of Jesus. He writes, “[Jesus] faced life precisely like any other human being faces life—not as some colossus striding unfeelingly over the earth, but as a person limited physically and mentally, exposed to all kinds of diseases, subject to all sorts of temptations…” (p. 230). 

Why? 

Luke sprinkle these statements about the Spirit leading, resting upon, and empowering Jesus because Jesus was living as humanity’s representative and example! He was going before his people whom he would set free so that we also could live in the power of the Spirit on earth. 

Jesus’s life fulfilled the Law of God perfectly, as well as his mission presented in Isaiah 61, and the power for that fulfillment was the Holy Spirit. 

So here’s the million dollar question: What does this have to do with us today? To say it frankly, Everything!Here is the third point. 

the church’s mission:

Jesus’s mission will be fulfilled ultimately through the Church. 

Before Jesus went to the cross he said to his disciples, 

21“Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. (John 20:21-22). 

Before Jesus ascended he told his disciples that he was going to give them the Holy Spirit so that they would be his witnesses to the ends of the earth (Ac 1:8). 

And on the day of Pentecost, God’s Spirit was poured out on 120 believers who were gathered together praying. Guess what? It led to… 1) a proclamation of the Good News of the Kingdom in Jesus 2) and it lead to 3000 people being set freefrom sin and baptized into the church that day. 

That day the church was birthed and until now the message of the Kingdom coming in Christ’s life, death, and resurrection continues to be proclaimed and spread in the power of the Spirit by the Church of Jesus Christ. 

The Church’s mission is the same as Christ’s! In the power of the Spirit, through us, the living Christ wants to set captives free. How? Through a proclamation of the Good News of the Kingdom come in Christ. 

Church, you need to know that God didn’t set us free as an end in itself. Israel fell into the trap of believing that their deliverance was an end in itself, that they could go be whoever they wanted to be and however they would to be it. But no, he set them free so that they would be God’s priests on earth, reconciling the world to God. Now, similarly, he has set the church free and given us the Holy Spirit so that we could be priests of God in the Holy Spirit, reconciling the world to God as his ambassadors. 

When people encounter God’s people, it should feel like they are encountering God himself. They should be met with the powerful fruit of the Spirit of God, characteristic of God’s children, so that your words and your life as an ambassador of God would be calling them to be reconciled to God. 

This is Jesus alive in you by the Holy Spirit. 

So for my final point, let me ask you, what (or who) is the Church’s power? 

The Church’s power

I hope you know the answer to this question. THE HOLY SPIRIT. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, church. 

When you believed in Christ, you were empowered by the same Spirit that empowered Jesus (Eph 1:20). You have become the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:19). God dwells in me and in you! God’s presence was opened through the curtain of Christ’s own broken body on the cross so that we could dwell with God again in this intimate way, that we would become the temple of the Holy Spirit in Christ, and so that we could fulfill his mission on earth. 

Being united to Jesus, every Christian could claim Isaiah 61 as your own because of Jesus. In him, you have been anointed with the Spirit for setting captives free. 

But here is my question for you today. Is this practically, functionally true of you? Are you 1) aware of the Spirit’s empowering presence for mission in your life 2) are you living in the Spirit’s power for mission? 

Are you aware? I must first say if you are in Christ you already have the Holy Spirit. You have everything you need for holiness and powerful witnessing in Jesus name. However, I think many of us are ignorant to the Spirit’s role in our life for mission? We talk more often about the Spirit’s role in helping us walk in holiness, but not often about the Spirit’s empowering presence for evangelism, bold witness, and good works for the spread of the Kingdom beyond the walls of the church. It’s like we are living off the grid without the power of electricity even though it is available to every Christian. I forget this every day. The enemy wants us to live in fear, and he often fires darts of temptation that attack my identity as a spirit-filled son of God, equipped to do his will and work in the world. 

If you know this is true, are you living in His power for mission? This is the day of salvation and we have a small window to set captives free who are condemned to hell for rejecting the Kingdom of Christ. Maybe you want to step up in boldness in your spheres of influence in your life, but you simply haven’t known how. I believe the answer starts first with asking God for this gift by his Spirit. As we diligently seek to be equipped with God’s Word to effectively proclaim the Good News like Jesus modeled for us, we must never neglect the Spirit. We could know the Bible front and back, but if we do not rely on the Spirit for powerful witness than we are missing what was central to Christ’s power. 

If you know and believe that you have the Holy Spirit, let me ask you, have you ever asked God for a fresh filling of the Spirit for mission? 

As you read Acts, I hope you are following along with us in our daily Bible reading plan, you will see that the disciples, who had the Spirit of God just like we do are described many times over as receiving fresh fillings of the Spirit of God for particular mission. Here’s one example in Acts 4:31, which came after the first baptism of the Spirit. 31 “After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.”

The pastors at All Peoples Church believe that the Baptism in the Holy Spirit is received by every believer at conversion. But we also believe Scripture teaches that those who are actively submitting to God as his servants on mission will receive many additional fillings of the Spirit for effective mission (We covered this more robustly in our Midweek podcast a few weeks back).  

Wayne Grudem offers a helpful analogy with regards to asking for fresh fillings of the Spirit. Every Christian has the Spirit like a balloon which has air in it. But at times that balloon is fuller than other times. How? Through God’s grace, through greater surrender to him and hunger for him. But at times it is less full. We quench the Spirit by our failure to surrender areas of our lives to God. 

So, our prayer for you is that you would be aware of this great reality, and that you would seek God today for a greater measure of the Spirit’s power in your life through surrender to Christ.

I’ve tried to show you today that Jesus fulfilled his mission in the power of the Spirit and empowers us to do the same.

Response:

Here’s what we are going to do for the rest of our time. We are going to spend the next several moments to seek God’s Spirit for empowering for mission. 

Here’s what you need to realize as we go to prayer. The devil and his servants love to remind God’s children of their unworthiness before God and of their inadequacies for ministry. The truth is you are unworthy of more of the Spirit because of your many sins. BUT… praise God, he is not measuring your worthiness before him, but Christ’s! In him you are worthy as one of God’s children. He has already given you his Spirit in Christ, and he is eager to give more of the Spirit to those who ask him (Lk. 11:13). 

But for some of us getting more of the Holy Spirit means greater surrender to Jesus. What I mean is that some of us have areas of our lives that are not yet in accord with Jesus life and commands. If you want God to have more space in your life, then you have to let him clean house for you through surrender of those things to him. Is there any sin that you are coddling? Don’t you know that you are quenching the Spirit and opening the door to the enemy?! So for some of us tonight getting more of the Spirit will look like a greater spotlight on areas of our life that need repentance. But the goal of removing sin is getting more of God. So don’t let sin have a place in your life anymore and let’s ask God to have all of us for the sake of the dying world and for our great joy. 

[1]Stein, R. H. (1992). Luke(Vol. 24, p. 156). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.