FROM VICTORY TO VICTORY

As the 72 disciples returned from their mission to spread the good news about the Kingdom of God to various towns and villages, they could barely catch their breath as they shared their excitement about their victories on the trip. And then Jesus shares with them a vision of a bigger picture, a greater battle, and an even more important victory--one that has repercussions for you today.

FROM VICTORY TO VICTORY

As the 72 disciples returned from their mission to spread the good news about the Kingdom of God to various towns and villages, they could barely catch their breath as they shared their excitement about their victories on the trip. And then Jesus shares with them a vision of a bigger picture, a greater battle, and an even more important victory--one that has repercussions for you today.

THIS IS YOUR MISSION, SHOULD YOU CHOOSE TO ACCEPT IT...

[cue the Mission Impossible theme]

The air was thick with a sense of urgency and excitement as Jesus gave instructions to 72 disciples--newly minted missionaries to villages that lie between them and Jerusalem. This second mission trip would go better than the first, but these last minute details showed they would also need to be even more focused. This morning, we will look at what Jesus said to them, and see how there are important principles that affect our own mission today as God's Great Commission people.

THIS IS YOUR MISSION, SHOULD YOU CHOOSE TO ACCEPT IT...

[cue the Mission Impossible theme]

The air was thick with a sense of urgency and excitement as Jesus gave instructions to 72 disciples--newly minted missionaries to villages that lie between them and Jerusalem. This second mission trip would go better than the first, but these last minute details showed they would also need to be even more focused. This morning, we will look at what Jesus said to them, and see how there are important principles that affect our own mission today as God's Great Commission people.

A SERIES OF CHALLENGING EVENTS

Luke 9 has been absolutely packed with important events and teaching in the life of Christ, and this last section ups the volume. Jesus is increasingly intense and open about the coming crucifixion, but the disciples are missing the point(s). In today's passage, we will find them--and by extension us--pushed by Jesus to cast the sideshows and temptations aside and follow him.

A SERIES OF CHALLENGING EVENTS

Luke 9 has been absolutely packed with important events and teaching in the life of Christ, and this last section ups the volume. Jesus is increasingly intense and open about the coming crucifixion, but the disciples are missing the point(s). In today's passage, we will find them--and by extension us--pushed by Jesus to cast the sideshows and temptations aside and follow him.

As Jesus, Peter, James, and John came back from what was both figuratively and literally a mountain top experience, they found a healing gone wrong and frustrated crowd. It was enough to make Jesus ask question how long even his patience could last. You know those moments. It's like coming back from a much needed vacation only to find that everyone has slacked off in every way, and made all the customers and clients mad, too. Boom. The muscles tense, regret builds, and in frustration you sort out a complicated mess that should have never have existed. Yep, Jesus has been there, too.

As Jesus, Peter, James, and John came back from what was both figuratively and literally a mountain top experience, they found a healing gone wrong and frustrated crowd. It was enough to make Jesus ask question how long even his patience could last. You know those moments. It's like coming back from a much needed vacation only to find that everyone has slacked off in every way, and made all the customers and clients mad, too. Boom. The muscles tense, regret builds, and in frustration you sort out a complicated mess that should have never have existed. Yep, Jesus has been there, too.

WHO IS THIS MAN, JESUS?

This is still the central question Luke's constantly bringing us to. Who is Jesus? In Luke 9:18-20, Jesus asks Peter who he thinks he is. Peter's reply: "God’s Messiah."

Many in our time see Jesus as merely a great moral teacher. He had some wonderful things to say, but he is a "god". But this brings us to a problem that I will let C. S. Lewis, author of Mere Christianity explain:

"I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. ... Now it seems to me obvious that He was neither a lunatic nor a fiend: and consequently, however strange or terrifying or unlikely it may seem, I have to accept the view that He was and is God."*

Lewis brings us to the same intersection Jesus brought Peter. We must decide who we believe Jesus to be.

* Lewis, C. S., Mere Christianity, London: Collins, 1952, pp. 54–56. (In all editions, this is Bk. II, Ch. 3, "The Shocking Alternative.")

WHO IS THIS MAN, JESUS?

This is still the central question Luke's constantly bringing us to. Who is Jesus? In Luke 9:18-20, Jesus asks Peter who he thinks he is. Peter's reply: "God’s Messiah."

Many in our time see Jesus as merely a great moral teacher. He had some wonderful things to say, but he is a "god". But this brings us to a problem that I will let C. S. Lewis, author of Mere Christianity explain:

"I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. ... Now it seems to me obvious that He was neither a lunatic nor a fiend: and consequently, however strange or terrifying or unlikely it may seem, I have to accept the view that He was and is God."*

Lewis brings us to the same intersection Jesus brought Peter. We must decide who we believe Jesus to be.

* Lewis, C. S., Mere Christianity, London: Collins, 1952, pp. 54–56. (In all editions, this is Bk. II, Ch. 3, "The Shocking Alternative.")