Spiritual Service: whose name?
John 13
I. Friend from High School – it’s just the right thing to do to serve (a selfish friend who put himself first in most of his relationships, and worked toward his own end). But when it came to serving he got a high: there’s something about serving.
a. Campuses across the country are expected to contribute over 17 million hours of community service this year. Most schools have community service requirements. Some companies mandate that you support a charity with your paycheck, and even give paid time away to perform community service. What’s so good about serving?
i. It feels good
ii. Good things happen
iii. People are made happy.
iv. We get respect: you never spit on the peace corp or Americorp. If someone is doing community service you pay attention.
II. Why Should we serve: Biblically
III. Read John 13:1-17
a. Set the scene: Jesus healed Lazarus, entered Jerusalem, and has been in hiding because the religious types are after Him
b. 2 Attitudes toward Service:
IV. Pharisees’ Attitudes
a. Read John 11:46-48
b. Service From Position
i. Ruling Council: it’s their professional duty to serve the people and lead and instruct in religious matters (Jesus was unschooled and unpaid, provided for by gifts, not pay).
ii. Positions can hold us accountable to serve but cannot control our attitudes in serving. In fact, they can become sources of grumbling: all of a sudden we find ourselves having to serve, or having to do something but not really wanting too. This can happen in ministry, in work (you no longer like your job or the reasons for doing it). Ministry is to be a place of joy and desire, not guilt and constraint.
1. The worst sort of serving is that out of guilt or fear. The Pharisees were afraid they would lose their people, and their positions.
c. Serving your Own Name:
i. The Pharisees were religious leaders: they took their income from Gifts to God in the temple – not much unlike how most churches pay a pastor or staff: You give (We’ll talk about giving soon, but not today) and then from the money the church pays its workers (the Bible says that a worker deserves their wages) as well as supporting the spread of the Gospel through mission, ministry, and church planting. Grace Harbor is blessed to not have much overhead and that frees us to use our resources for the spread of the Gospel. But the Pharisees weren’t trying to spread the Gospel. In fact, they were trying to stop it.
1. They were the ones in charge of religious instruction and missed the point, why? They served to serve themselves.
a. Yesterday’s paper: J&J materials; Providence Public Library – head librarian. People like themselves: you like you, I like me, and that can really mess things up.
ii. Don’t let a position define you. Jesus, the Bible tells us in the letter to the Philippians, did not regard His equality with God as something to be grasped, but humbled himself, taking the very nature of a servant. That’s our example. The position is not what is important. But what is important?
V. Serving His name (13:1-17)
a. The bible gives no mention that anyone washed anybody’s feet that night, so Jesus does it. The master serves. But in serving He paints a picture of the motivation and mentality to serve.
i. Motivation
b. Read v.6-10.
i. Jesus served to save: to call people to Himself. He is painting a picture of salvation: Justification and Salvation. You are justified: completely saved when you come to Christ, but daily we experience what is called sanctification: the process of becoming more like Christ. It is our everyday need for Jesus. Not tomorrow, not yesterday, but today I need Jesus. I am not like Him, I would rather serve myself and make my name great… I need Jesus. This picture of salvation is not the end of motivation: we often do acts of service, whether serving at the rescue mission, serving breakfast at Crossroads, handing out goodies at Kennedy, whatever and we can easily let the desire to see someone saved or come to Christ the motivating issue. But it’s not. Let’s back up and little and look at Jesus’ service over the past several weeks.
c. Just Raised Lazarus Read John 11:41-42. Our serving testifies to the Father that He has sent Jesus
d. John 12: 27: Jesus facing the end, Greeks are coming to him, the seed is planted to go throughout the world.
e. We serve for His Name: His Name is our motivation. Jesus is the one honored: he is honored in our serving, in our attitude, in our testimony. It’s not a desire to see people come to Christ (though that is awesome and we pray for it every time) but it is a desire to Honor, glorify, Jesus.
i. Mentality
f. Jesus also gives the Mentality to serve: 13:13-17
i. By mentality I mean the attitude: the motivation gives us the goal, the mentality keeps us focused. Jesus did not come to be served but to serve: Are you following His example. He did not demand His disciples to wash his feet, but He washed theirs (not too long, incidentally, that he told the disciples that the greatest among them would be servant of all – yet none of them leaped to wash feet). He did not demand His father save Him from the Cross, but served Him: But for this purpose I came to this hour, Father, glorify Your name he said in 12:27. Our master, the Lord of heaven and creator of all humbled himself and became a man that we might have life in Him, beginning now.
1. The mentality requires humility. We must sacrifice and put our name down and His name up. Now if you sacrifice, don’t go around boasting in it but go around boasting about Christ. It totally ruins it when someone tries to show off with all their trophies of service. We’ve won community service awards, big woop. How many did Jesus win? Who cares, what’s important about Jesus is that we serve Him. And with that motivation, and that humble mentality we have an awesome promise in John 11:28:
“If anyone serves Me; he must follow Me; and where I am there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.”
To serve Jesus, His Name, follow Him: that’s a moral, ethical, spiritual, lifestyle statement: do acts of good, live purely, and speak boldly for Him. If you follow Him you will be with Him. If you are asking, what is God’s will for me? The better question is probably: am I following Him? He’s given plenty in His word to guide us and wants you to follow. I’ll point you there, but, as Paul said, only follow me as I follow Christ. And if you serve Him, the Father will honor you.
Worship is something that is regardless of culture and circumstances. Paul and Silas in the book of Acts worshipped in Prison, and we complain that we don’t like the music or the preaching or whatever. Paul and Silas had their motivation and mentality right: they were serving, and the Father honored them. If you seek power, lay it down. If you seek Honor lay it down to Jesus. If you seek life, lay it down to Jesus. In doing that you’ll find a richer reward: The Father’s honor. If you know these things, Jesus said in John 13:17, you are blessed if you do them. Church rise up and do the good things: do these things. You know them, now do them. There’s a world that is waiting on it and wants to see it and will be rocked when it is seen! Let’s go and do!
Pray.
9.23.2006
9.15.2006
Prayer & Spiritual living
Prayer
Spiritual Life (disciplines)
Scripture and Worship compose the 1st two habits of the spiritual life. The third is prayer.
Prayer is getting your life onto God’s agenda. Unfortunately, prayer usually is us asking God to get onto our agenda. The difference is evident, but the fact that something can be plainly seen is not always enough to call us to join God’s agenda, rather than ask Him to join ours.
I googled “prayer” this week, just to see what would happen. There are places live on the net that you can go to pray for your finances, your marriage, your life. You can go to sites to “learn how to pray.” I didn’t spend much time on it so I don’t want you to think its all legit – because its not. The one site I went to had videos on how best to achieve what you want in prayer. When I was a kid I wouldn’t hesitate to pray for things I wanted. Not that it is all bad to do that – as we’ll see we need to be honest with God and we should be honest about what we want. But not to the point that we start trying to bribe God or make commitments we can’t keep. The classic scenario is that we offer God something:
God, if you just give me a friend, then I’ll follow you with all my life. Or if you land me this job, I’ll honor you in it. That all sounds like huge piestic goals: I’ll honor you, I’ll follow you, but come on. What are we really asking: we’re asking for the thing, not God. We’re trying to use God. How dishonorable. Prayer is not a cheap trick. It is not to be cannibalized and prostituted for our ends. We’re not to claim the promises of the Bible, “Jesus, you said whatever I asked for in your name you would do for me” like credit that gets us anything we want.
Scripturally, Biblically, prayer is evident in the lives of believers: it is prayer that is based in the will of God, not in the will of man.
That’s not to say people don’t ask God for good things, or for their own desires, but consistently the type of prayer that God honors is the prayer that is according to His will.
I. Pray God’s Will: Matt. 26:36-46
Consider Jesus. When he was waiting for a lynch mob to come and carry him to a mock trial resulting in His crucifixion, Jesus knew the weight of the moment. The Gospel of Luke tells us that Jesus was in such agony at that moment in time that his sweat became like drops of blood on the ground. That’s intense.
I’ve never sweat blood. Last week Maria shared about the boy at her camp that told her that his soul was laid out, bleeding because he was trying so hard to get to God. There is a time in life of intense struggle, and Jesus was on the cusp of history and the redemption of everyone who would believe. This was an intense time, and Jesus, fully God and fully man, was struggling.
Read Matthew 26:38-39.
A. Be honest in prayer: Jesus was honest in his prayer to God, he basically said Father, I don’t want this. Jesus was torn up inside. He knew from the time of the fall, when Adam and Eve chose independence over God, that this time, this hour would come. He knows that man will only be saved one way: His perfect sacrifice. But the flesh, the human in him cries out that it is painful.
a. Honestly let God know where you are. The Father was not surprised to hear His son say “take this cup from me.” This cup, by the way, can mean a lot of things, but it is the cup of the new covenant, salvation through the blood of Jesus. Already Jesus is sweating blood, knowing that more will be painfully spilt. Even more, he knows that he will become the sin of the world, taking in Himself all of God’s wrath for all the wrong done.
i. Imagine that right now, everything you’ve ever done wrong in your life is called in and you’re going to have to pay for it: either in prison, through work, or maybe even through having to leave the life and people you love. Most of us, at least in our hearts, have done or thought enough evil that we deserve at least that bad. Actually, in ultimate terms, we deserve death: we have grieved God to the point that we cannot be in fellowship with Him. We’re studying spiritual life but we deserve spiritual death. Now imagine that you are held responsible for Hitler’s evil, and bin Laden’s evil. What do you deserve?
B. Jesus took it all upon him in those coming hours. Yet he cried out for mercy. He was honest with God – take this from me. And He was submissive to God: “yet not as I will, but as You will.”
a. Prayer gets truncated when we aren’t submissive to God and what he wants. I’m not a big fan of hearing voices. Jesus is the living word, and the Bible is the written word that reveals Jesus. You can always trust the Bible. Why am I saying this? I don’t want us to think that prayer is about hearing things or hearing voices. Prayer is about getting onto God’s agenda, which is revealed in the Bible, and being submissive to it. It is a revolution: from me to Him. From what I want to what He wants. The step taken in faith honors Him, but the step taken in doubt is not worship. So, when you sense God’s leading search out the scriptures and follow by faith, biblically informed faith, and in submission to His will. The voices that we hear should be viewed in light of the Written Word, the Bible.
C. Read 26:40-41. All this agony and yet his friends are sleeping. If my friend is sweating blood and crying out in agony and wants me to keep watch, I’m going to try my best; but for some reason these guys were just out of it. Jesus gets on them – the spirit is willing but the flesh is week.
a. The 3 with Him are Peter, James, and John. The same three that just weeks earlier climbed a mountain with Jesus and saw him talking with Moses and Elijah. Not knowing at all what to say, Peter, the brash one, said Jesus, do you want us to build 3 shelters – one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah?” Great going Peter, good reality check. And then a cloud comes on the mountain and says: This is my son whom I love: Listen to Him. A couple of weeks have passed, and already they’re not listening. How quick we are to stop being submissive. Following God is not a series of checklist – I listened, check. I obeyed, check. I gave money, check. I loved my neighbor, check. That’s legalism and an enslaved way to live. You are free to love and listen and give and serve, you don’t have to be bound by restrictions but are free to do. I wonder if these three men felt content that they had listened? Maybe not, they were good friends of Jesus’ and did love him, but they’re flesh was tired, and they felt they had no strength.
D. Prayer stops when we stop listening, listening and submission are keys to prayer. Jesus checked on Peter, James, and John 3 times, and every time, even though he asked them to stay awake and be vigilante for the coming hour, they slept. Flesh can interrupt the spirit pretty quick. 41: “Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
a. These men were coming off a mountaintop experience where they saw Jesus transfigured; Jesus’ glory was evident to them, they saw, in reality the Kingdom of God. And here they are sleeping. Our flesh must be disciplined to be spiritually sensitive. They were there, late at night, in the cool of the garden, having celebrated Passover with a good meal. And they were tired. The flesh was creeping up on them.
b. It’s amazing how tired I get when I want to pray. Sometimes, and you maybe can identify with this, it’s almost like I set the time to pray and all of a sudden my body feels like it hasn’t rested in weeks. My eyes get heavy, and I want to be like Peter and James and John.
c. Jesus had the same meal, was awake at the same hour, and was in terrible agony. If anyone needed a break, a nap, he did. He would need his strength for what would come. Yet he laid His eyes on the walk of faith, and returned to pray.
E. Read 42.
a. Jesus gave himself fully to God. At that moment, the flesh of Christ submitted to the power of Christ. The human submitted to the divine. The flesh would be destroyed, but life flows from the spirit.
b. How terrifying and freeing all at once. That is the nature of prayer. It is standing on the shores of the stream of God and jumping in and saying – take me where you will. We may not envision or like the outcome. But we have prayed, we have given ourselves to the will of God, and like Christ, there is victory. Because of His victory there is peace. Because of His death, there is life.
c. I visited the Naval Academy when I was looking at colleges. At the academy there is an indoor diving pool with a platform 100s of feet high. Every midshipman has to take the plunge from that tower. I hate heights: flying and heights are my fleshly fears. Seeing that towering diving board really helped to make up my mind about what I wanted to do with my life. It was a terrifying prospect.
i. Jesus faced such prospects head on: Your will be done. He put fear in its place and submitted. Christianity is a radical faith. Grace Harbor is a harbor of radical people who submit to Christ. Jesus could have prayed – if you take this death from me I will preach to more people. He could have tried to bargain and deal with God the father. But He didn’t. He worshiped. He gave His life.
d. What about His friends?
II. Praying for my will
a. Read v.43-46. They were still sleeping. They’re prayer probably went something like this: Father, help Jesus, bless the earth, give us sleep… a…me..nnnn.
b. The tide caught them. When they awoke Judas and the mob were there and Jesus would be going away. Our slumber in prayer can lead to stark awakenings. The prayerful person is expectant of God’s working, the slumbering person is surprised. And not always understanding. Peter, waking up would grab his sword and go for a slave, cutting off his ear. Waking up from His slumber he reacted. Certainly he had lots of reasons, the main being His friend Jesus about to be punished. But what did Peter do? He added to the sin that Jesus must bear.
c. Prayer lays a plan.
i. It starts with submission to God
ii. It is informed with the Word
iii. It encourages us to jump into God’s river of life and leave the shores we know to be carried by His current into the places and people and lives He wants for us.
I remember the bike I wanted so bad when I was young. I made all kinds of bargains for it, I saw the stream of God but I wanted to ride my bike on the shore. Thankfully, I got bored on the shore and started wanting more, and discovered God. Your spiritual life may just be beginning or maybe its time to do what you know God wants you to do, or just time to ask God what he wants. Prayer is that communication with God that puts you on His agenda.
Scripture, Worship, Prayer work together to place you in God’s stream of life, His action.
Pray.
Commitment Cards.
Spiritual Life (disciplines)
Scripture and Worship compose the 1st two habits of the spiritual life. The third is prayer.
Prayer is getting your life onto God’s agenda. Unfortunately, prayer usually is us asking God to get onto our agenda. The difference is evident, but the fact that something can be plainly seen is not always enough to call us to join God’s agenda, rather than ask Him to join ours.
I googled “prayer” this week, just to see what would happen. There are places live on the net that you can go to pray for your finances, your marriage, your life. You can go to sites to “learn how to pray.” I didn’t spend much time on it so I don’t want you to think its all legit – because its not. The one site I went to had videos on how best to achieve what you want in prayer. When I was a kid I wouldn’t hesitate to pray for things I wanted. Not that it is all bad to do that – as we’ll see we need to be honest with God and we should be honest about what we want. But not to the point that we start trying to bribe God or make commitments we can’t keep. The classic scenario is that we offer God something:
God, if you just give me a friend, then I’ll follow you with all my life. Or if you land me this job, I’ll honor you in it. That all sounds like huge piestic goals: I’ll honor you, I’ll follow you, but come on. What are we really asking: we’re asking for the thing, not God. We’re trying to use God. How dishonorable. Prayer is not a cheap trick. It is not to be cannibalized and prostituted for our ends. We’re not to claim the promises of the Bible, “Jesus, you said whatever I asked for in your name you would do for me” like credit that gets us anything we want.
Scripturally, Biblically, prayer is evident in the lives of believers: it is prayer that is based in the will of God, not in the will of man.
That’s not to say people don’t ask God for good things, or for their own desires, but consistently the type of prayer that God honors is the prayer that is according to His will.
I. Pray God’s Will: Matt. 26:36-46
Consider Jesus. When he was waiting for a lynch mob to come and carry him to a mock trial resulting in His crucifixion, Jesus knew the weight of the moment. The Gospel of Luke tells us that Jesus was in such agony at that moment in time that his sweat became like drops of blood on the ground. That’s intense.
I’ve never sweat blood. Last week Maria shared about the boy at her camp that told her that his soul was laid out, bleeding because he was trying so hard to get to God. There is a time in life of intense struggle, and Jesus was on the cusp of history and the redemption of everyone who would believe. This was an intense time, and Jesus, fully God and fully man, was struggling.
Read Matthew 26:38-39.
A. Be honest in prayer: Jesus was honest in his prayer to God, he basically said Father, I don’t want this. Jesus was torn up inside. He knew from the time of the fall, when Adam and Eve chose independence over God, that this time, this hour would come. He knows that man will only be saved one way: His perfect sacrifice. But the flesh, the human in him cries out that it is painful.
a. Honestly let God know where you are. The Father was not surprised to hear His son say “take this cup from me.” This cup, by the way, can mean a lot of things, but it is the cup of the new covenant, salvation through the blood of Jesus. Already Jesus is sweating blood, knowing that more will be painfully spilt. Even more, he knows that he will become the sin of the world, taking in Himself all of God’s wrath for all the wrong done.
i. Imagine that right now, everything you’ve ever done wrong in your life is called in and you’re going to have to pay for it: either in prison, through work, or maybe even through having to leave the life and people you love. Most of us, at least in our hearts, have done or thought enough evil that we deserve at least that bad. Actually, in ultimate terms, we deserve death: we have grieved God to the point that we cannot be in fellowship with Him. We’re studying spiritual life but we deserve spiritual death. Now imagine that you are held responsible for Hitler’s evil, and bin Laden’s evil. What do you deserve?
B. Jesus took it all upon him in those coming hours. Yet he cried out for mercy. He was honest with God – take this from me. And He was submissive to God: “yet not as I will, but as You will.”
a. Prayer gets truncated when we aren’t submissive to God and what he wants. I’m not a big fan of hearing voices. Jesus is the living word, and the Bible is the written word that reveals Jesus. You can always trust the Bible. Why am I saying this? I don’t want us to think that prayer is about hearing things or hearing voices. Prayer is about getting onto God’s agenda, which is revealed in the Bible, and being submissive to it. It is a revolution: from me to Him. From what I want to what He wants. The step taken in faith honors Him, but the step taken in doubt is not worship. So, when you sense God’s leading search out the scriptures and follow by faith, biblically informed faith, and in submission to His will. The voices that we hear should be viewed in light of the Written Word, the Bible.
C. Read 26:40-41. All this agony and yet his friends are sleeping. If my friend is sweating blood and crying out in agony and wants me to keep watch, I’m going to try my best; but for some reason these guys were just out of it. Jesus gets on them – the spirit is willing but the flesh is week.
a. The 3 with Him are Peter, James, and John. The same three that just weeks earlier climbed a mountain with Jesus and saw him talking with Moses and Elijah. Not knowing at all what to say, Peter, the brash one, said Jesus, do you want us to build 3 shelters – one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah?” Great going Peter, good reality check. And then a cloud comes on the mountain and says: This is my son whom I love: Listen to Him. A couple of weeks have passed, and already they’re not listening. How quick we are to stop being submissive. Following God is not a series of checklist – I listened, check. I obeyed, check. I gave money, check. I loved my neighbor, check. That’s legalism and an enslaved way to live. You are free to love and listen and give and serve, you don’t have to be bound by restrictions but are free to do. I wonder if these three men felt content that they had listened? Maybe not, they were good friends of Jesus’ and did love him, but they’re flesh was tired, and they felt they had no strength.
D. Prayer stops when we stop listening, listening and submission are keys to prayer. Jesus checked on Peter, James, and John 3 times, and every time, even though he asked them to stay awake and be vigilante for the coming hour, they slept. Flesh can interrupt the spirit pretty quick. 41: “Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
a. These men were coming off a mountaintop experience where they saw Jesus transfigured; Jesus’ glory was evident to them, they saw, in reality the Kingdom of God. And here they are sleeping. Our flesh must be disciplined to be spiritually sensitive. They were there, late at night, in the cool of the garden, having celebrated Passover with a good meal. And they were tired. The flesh was creeping up on them.
b. It’s amazing how tired I get when I want to pray. Sometimes, and you maybe can identify with this, it’s almost like I set the time to pray and all of a sudden my body feels like it hasn’t rested in weeks. My eyes get heavy, and I want to be like Peter and James and John.
c. Jesus had the same meal, was awake at the same hour, and was in terrible agony. If anyone needed a break, a nap, he did. He would need his strength for what would come. Yet he laid His eyes on the walk of faith, and returned to pray.
E. Read 42.
a. Jesus gave himself fully to God. At that moment, the flesh of Christ submitted to the power of Christ. The human submitted to the divine. The flesh would be destroyed, but life flows from the spirit.
b. How terrifying and freeing all at once. That is the nature of prayer. It is standing on the shores of the stream of God and jumping in and saying – take me where you will. We may not envision or like the outcome. But we have prayed, we have given ourselves to the will of God, and like Christ, there is victory. Because of His victory there is peace. Because of His death, there is life.
c. I visited the Naval Academy when I was looking at colleges. At the academy there is an indoor diving pool with a platform 100s of feet high. Every midshipman has to take the plunge from that tower. I hate heights: flying and heights are my fleshly fears. Seeing that towering diving board really helped to make up my mind about what I wanted to do with my life. It was a terrifying prospect.
i. Jesus faced such prospects head on: Your will be done. He put fear in its place and submitted. Christianity is a radical faith. Grace Harbor is a harbor of radical people who submit to Christ. Jesus could have prayed – if you take this death from me I will preach to more people. He could have tried to bargain and deal with God the father. But He didn’t. He worshiped. He gave His life.
d. What about His friends?
II. Praying for my will
a. Read v.43-46. They were still sleeping. They’re prayer probably went something like this: Father, help Jesus, bless the earth, give us sleep… a…me..nnnn.
b. The tide caught them. When they awoke Judas and the mob were there and Jesus would be going away. Our slumber in prayer can lead to stark awakenings. The prayerful person is expectant of God’s working, the slumbering person is surprised. And not always understanding. Peter, waking up would grab his sword and go for a slave, cutting off his ear. Waking up from His slumber he reacted. Certainly he had lots of reasons, the main being His friend Jesus about to be punished. But what did Peter do? He added to the sin that Jesus must bear.
c. Prayer lays a plan.
i. It starts with submission to God
ii. It is informed with the Word
iii. It encourages us to jump into God’s river of life and leave the shores we know to be carried by His current into the places and people and lives He wants for us.
I remember the bike I wanted so bad when I was young. I made all kinds of bargains for it, I saw the stream of God but I wanted to ride my bike on the shore. Thankfully, I got bored on the shore and started wanting more, and discovered God. Your spiritual life may just be beginning or maybe its time to do what you know God wants you to do, or just time to ask God what he wants. Prayer is that communication with God that puts you on His agenda.
Scripture, Worship, Prayer work together to place you in God’s stream of life, His action.
Pray.
Commitment Cards.
9.01.2006
Jesus and Scripture
Jesus and Scripture
Spiritual Life Basics: the Word of God
Last week we began the study of basics for the spiritual life and discovered that true spirituality is abiding in Jesus. The “Remaining” two-step, we called it, is the Word and Obedience. Listening and obeying to the word. (Micah and the grill and grilling this week).
We want to unpack this foundation for spiritual living, The Word and Obedience, a little further today. We’re going to look at 3 events from Jesus’ life to see his attitude toward Scripture, and His application of Scripture.
I only picked 3 events, but it is important to note that Scripture is prevalent throughout Jesus’ ministry. He is teaching application of what we know as the Old Testament, giving new commands, quoting Scripture in debate with teachers of the law, and basically unpacking the Bible for the world to see its true meaning: which is Him. Jesus is the living word, and the Bible is the written word. As we look at these events, keep that distinction, remembering that the written word testifies to the living word.
1. Luke 2:41-52 Jesus and Tradition
Passover was an annual celebration for Jesus’ family. They would journey nearly 60 miles one way from Nazareth to Jerusalem every year to celebrate this commemorative milestone. It would take a couple days to make the trip South from Nazareth to Jerusalem, but up to Jerusalem because Jerusalem sat in the hilltops, and Nazareth a much lower elevation. Coming to the city, with relatives and neighbors, they would celebrate the Passover – which is a memory of what God did during the time of Moses to deliver His people, the nation of Israel, from Egypt. He commanded the people to sacrifice a lamb and put its blood on the top and sides of their door. When God’s angel of death passed through, the houses that were not marked by blood experienced the death of the firstborn that very night, while the houses with blood were “passed over.” This is a brief history, the much more compelling drama is in Exodus.
Incidentally, this time of year, Passover – is in the spring, the same time of year that Jesus was crucified on the cross. Here in this passage he is 12. At his death he was about 33. So in our memory this springtime event is Easter. But here in this passage Jesus, 12 years old, has separated from His family – who left town, and taken up residence in the Temple for a couple of days.
A. Tradition to Remind
a. Passover was a reminder of what God had done. Traditions can be powerful reminders of God’s working in History and in our lives. We celebrate Easter and Christmas remembering what God has done in history for our salvation. Jesus’ family was raising Him to know God, the God who though He may seem distant is real and impacts history. The Passover was nearly 1500 years past. Christmas is over 2000. God may seem distant, yet He impacts history and lives today.
B. Scripture for Today
a. Jesus spent these days away from Mom and Joseph in the temple learning from the Scribes – the “teachers” of the law. They were teachers of Scripture. At a young age, 12, Jesus wanted to learn Scripture. What an example for us – no matter the age, take in scripture. Read it, memorize it, live on its principles. Take it in.
b. Make it a priority. Jesus’ didn’t think twice about missing his family. They’ve left town for a 60-mile hike back to Nazareth. I realize that Jesus, thought 12 years old, is the Son of God, the Living Word, the Messiah. I know he didn’t get anxious like I do, and even at 12 that he wasn’t worried that His parents had left him. (Not that they were worried until well into their journey anyway). But Jesus saw a bigger priority in the word. He didn’t let life get in the way. He took the opportunity and spent time in the word and talking about the word.
i. The teachers, also translated scribes, were students of the Bible, the Scriptures. They would start, usually at age 14 (2 years older than Jesus) studying the Bible, copying it into script, learning its principles. They would be ordained at 40. IN other words it was a 26-year process, during which they were not paid but often worked other Jobs. Paul – who came up in the school was a tentmaker. Hillel, the namesake of Jewish clubs on campuses across America, was a laborer. After ordination they would be judges, Rabbi’s, leaders in the religious, civil, and cultural community of Jews.
ii. Jesus was 12, and he took them to town. “After 3 days his parents found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.” Not only did Jesus ask, he gave answers. The boy of 12 is the author of Scripture: Trinity: inspired by Holy Spirit, recorded by Human hands.
iii. The tradition said this boy could not know much. Jesus is above tradition. Don’t get me wrong, tradition serves its place, but only as it points to Jesus. But more on that later: point 3 scripture points to Jesus.
iv. Let’s rest now on the simple fact from this story that the word needs to be such a priority in our lives that it is a main thing. More important than business, than success, than grades: even, dare I say, than most family concerns. Micah will still want to play baseball after we read some bible. Baseball can wait. Do not make God wait.
2. Luke 4:1-13 Jesus and Memorization
a. Jesus didn’t just listen and debate the word. Last week we talked about what is really false spiritual growth when we spend all our time learning but never doing. We talk about God and Jesus and the word but never acknowledge the Truth. Remember – people who do that worm their way into homes…
b. Jesus internalized the Scripture. Not only did He read it – He knew it, He memorized it. And then he used it.
c. Read Luke 4:1-13
d. Fast-forward about 18 years. Jesus is about 30. He’s just been baptized, in obedience to the word, and is ready to begin His public ministry. The Spirit leads him to the wilderness, where He is tempted, and hungry.
i. Just thinking out loud here, but if I’m alone, in the wilderness, hungry, tired… I’m thinking I’m pretty susceptible. I’d probably eat the first thing you offer me, no matter what it is, just get it in me. If you’ve ever watched survivor on TV, I love the scenes were after a couple of weeks they get a reward challenge and the team that wins gets to eat food. They eat like pigs, gluttons shoveling it in their mouths as quick as possible. There’s no hesitation.
e. Jesus is being tempted to deny His purpose and birthright: savior of the World and Son of God. Satan starts off with bread for a hungry man. Remember back 18 years ago, Jesus wasn’t concerned with His family because he so wanted the word. And now, today, he applies it. Jesus answers Satan with Deut. 8:3. “He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” Jesus is living out the exodus in His life. Humbled, hungry, and living on the Word of the Lord. Deut. 8:3, by the way, is not in an easy passage of Scripture to read. It, Deut., is the 2nd reading of the law. And 8:3 is in the 1st 3rd of, what I consider a very boring and hard to read portion of scripture that details most of life and how it should be lived. Yet Jesus says, you shall live by “every word.”
f. Satan tries trick two: to the Lord of the Universe he says the whole world can be yours. And Jesus again answers with Scripture: Deut. 6:13. Again, Deut. In these instances not only is the tempter meeting a Godward spirit in Jesus, he is meeting the power of the word of God, and has nowhere to go with it. So he tries a 3rd time.
g. Throw yourself down, Jesus, if you are really the Son of God. In other words, if you are who you say you are, commit suicide. Then Satan tries something that can be commonplace today: he twists Scripture and makes what isn’t meant to be seem as though it is. Satan quotes from Psalms 91:11, 12 Psalm 91 is a promise of God’s deliverance. Satan twists and tests the promise: God has said that you will not fall from here, so try. The promise of Psalm 91 is actually: Love me first and I will deliver you. It would be a falsity to assume the promise is what Satan tempts Jesus with: God loves you so do this. Jesus sees right through it.
i. Don’t put the Lord your God to the test. Whoa! Deut. Again and the trump card: don’t test my father or me. Satan left until an opportune time.
h. This is a great event and triumph of Christ and encouragement for us. But know this about Jesus’ view of Scripture: know it and use it. Turn the sword of the Spirit loose. Let it, which is sharper than a new Gillette sensor, than any double-edged sword, turn it loose and let it go. Memorize it, as Jesus did, so that you have it at the ready. Memorize it so that you may know God’s voice and His word. Memorize it that you may know Jesus.
3. Jesus and the Point of Scripture Luke 4:14-30
a. I said a little earlier that we would revisit Jesus and tradition. He is above tradition: it should point to Him. Jesus is also the point of Scripture. He is the central person in the Bible, and the cross is the central action. If you know very little or no Scripture: its message is that Jesus died on the Cross because of God’s great desire to glorify His name in bringing us to worship Him in spirit and truth. God loves you and wants you to be in on His glory. But your sin keeps you back. All those little lies, immoral thoughts, bitter jabs, murderous hate, are not worthy of God. We are slaves. And Jesus has freed us.
b. Read Luke 4:14-21
c. IT was customary that any male could read and offer some instruction/commentary on the Scripture in the synagogue. Jesus goes with the custom. He knows scripture, gets the scroll (no books in those days, it was all on scrolls. The Old Testament would fill a large room, bigger than this. Scrolls were about 30 feet long. I can find, over time and with the help of a concordance or google, pretty much anything in the bible. Jesus had neither concordance nor google, yet found exactly the passage of Scripture he wanted. Do you question if Jesus knew Scripture?
d. He did, and he read and sat. The Prophecy of Isaiah 450 years or so earlier is fulfilled today, right then. Scripture then, points to Jesus. All of it. The bible is about knowing Jesus. When we read the bible he speaks. It is His written word (He is the Living Word). It is not wrong, the Bible never fails – we call it fail safe in our covenant, exactly the word of God. It is valid because of who stands behind it: the living Lord. Jesus.
e. This event, reading a couple verse, sitting down, and saying it is fulfilled, must have been awesome.
i. My parents were here a couple of weeks ago. Being history buffs (them mainly) we toured the Adams national historical park in Boston, home of John and John Quincy = 2nd and 5th presidents. Being a national park geek buff with the passport, I was ready and willing to go and check it out and get my stamp. John Adams left his mark on America. He holds the record for some long speeches, including one that had a single sentence that was 750 words long. At 93, John was asked to give a speech for the 50th anniversary of the independence of America. The crowd was prepped and ready for him – this man who walked with Washington and set the course of a nation. He walked up and yelled: Independence Forever! And sat down. Speech over.
f. This is kind of the scene here: Jesus is famous, they want to hear, and He says: it is fulfilled. The Bible, its whole message is Jesus. Memorize it to know Jesus. Study it to know Jesus. Learn it that you may run to Jesus who gives freedom, good news, and releases the oppressed.
1. Make the word a main thing
2. Memorize it that you may know Jesus and use it
3. Study it and learn it to know Jesus.
There are some helpful questions in the bulletin if you want a place to start studying. As Jesus shows us: the word is more valuable than life; memorize it to live, and point people in the same direction: to Jesus.
Jesus got all over the religious leaders of his day for missing the point: Him! They would quote scripture and haggle with questions and debate viewpoints, all the while missing the Point. Nourish yourself and grow spiritually by learning the point, and seeking God in His word. To all who seek Him He will show Himself.
Pray.
Spiritual Life Basics: the Word of God
Last week we began the study of basics for the spiritual life and discovered that true spirituality is abiding in Jesus. The “Remaining” two-step, we called it, is the Word and Obedience. Listening and obeying to the word. (Micah and the grill and grilling this week).
We want to unpack this foundation for spiritual living, The Word and Obedience, a little further today. We’re going to look at 3 events from Jesus’ life to see his attitude toward Scripture, and His application of Scripture.
I only picked 3 events, but it is important to note that Scripture is prevalent throughout Jesus’ ministry. He is teaching application of what we know as the Old Testament, giving new commands, quoting Scripture in debate with teachers of the law, and basically unpacking the Bible for the world to see its true meaning: which is Him. Jesus is the living word, and the Bible is the written word. As we look at these events, keep that distinction, remembering that the written word testifies to the living word.
1. Luke 2:41-52 Jesus and Tradition
Passover was an annual celebration for Jesus’ family. They would journey nearly 60 miles one way from Nazareth to Jerusalem every year to celebrate this commemorative milestone. It would take a couple days to make the trip South from Nazareth to Jerusalem, but up to Jerusalem because Jerusalem sat in the hilltops, and Nazareth a much lower elevation. Coming to the city, with relatives and neighbors, they would celebrate the Passover – which is a memory of what God did during the time of Moses to deliver His people, the nation of Israel, from Egypt. He commanded the people to sacrifice a lamb and put its blood on the top and sides of their door. When God’s angel of death passed through, the houses that were not marked by blood experienced the death of the firstborn that very night, while the houses with blood were “passed over.” This is a brief history, the much more compelling drama is in Exodus.
Incidentally, this time of year, Passover – is in the spring, the same time of year that Jesus was crucified on the cross. Here in this passage he is 12. At his death he was about 33. So in our memory this springtime event is Easter. But here in this passage Jesus, 12 years old, has separated from His family – who left town, and taken up residence in the Temple for a couple of days.
A. Tradition to Remind
a. Passover was a reminder of what God had done. Traditions can be powerful reminders of God’s working in History and in our lives. We celebrate Easter and Christmas remembering what God has done in history for our salvation. Jesus’ family was raising Him to know God, the God who though He may seem distant is real and impacts history. The Passover was nearly 1500 years past. Christmas is over 2000. God may seem distant, yet He impacts history and lives today.
B. Scripture for Today
a. Jesus spent these days away from Mom and Joseph in the temple learning from the Scribes – the “teachers” of the law. They were teachers of Scripture. At a young age, 12, Jesus wanted to learn Scripture. What an example for us – no matter the age, take in scripture. Read it, memorize it, live on its principles. Take it in.
b. Make it a priority. Jesus’ didn’t think twice about missing his family. They’ve left town for a 60-mile hike back to Nazareth. I realize that Jesus, thought 12 years old, is the Son of God, the Living Word, the Messiah. I know he didn’t get anxious like I do, and even at 12 that he wasn’t worried that His parents had left him. (Not that they were worried until well into their journey anyway). But Jesus saw a bigger priority in the word. He didn’t let life get in the way. He took the opportunity and spent time in the word and talking about the word.
i. The teachers, also translated scribes, were students of the Bible, the Scriptures. They would start, usually at age 14 (2 years older than Jesus) studying the Bible, copying it into script, learning its principles. They would be ordained at 40. IN other words it was a 26-year process, during which they were not paid but often worked other Jobs. Paul – who came up in the school was a tentmaker. Hillel, the namesake of Jewish clubs on campuses across America, was a laborer. After ordination they would be judges, Rabbi’s, leaders in the religious, civil, and cultural community of Jews.
ii. Jesus was 12, and he took them to town. “After 3 days his parents found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.” Not only did Jesus ask, he gave answers. The boy of 12 is the author of Scripture: Trinity: inspired by Holy Spirit, recorded by Human hands.
iii. The tradition said this boy could not know much. Jesus is above tradition. Don’t get me wrong, tradition serves its place, but only as it points to Jesus. But more on that later: point 3 scripture points to Jesus.
iv. Let’s rest now on the simple fact from this story that the word needs to be such a priority in our lives that it is a main thing. More important than business, than success, than grades: even, dare I say, than most family concerns. Micah will still want to play baseball after we read some bible. Baseball can wait. Do not make God wait.
2. Luke 4:1-13 Jesus and Memorization
a. Jesus didn’t just listen and debate the word. Last week we talked about what is really false spiritual growth when we spend all our time learning but never doing. We talk about God and Jesus and the word but never acknowledge the Truth. Remember – people who do that worm their way into homes…
b. Jesus internalized the Scripture. Not only did He read it – He knew it, He memorized it. And then he used it.
c. Read Luke 4:1-13
d. Fast-forward about 18 years. Jesus is about 30. He’s just been baptized, in obedience to the word, and is ready to begin His public ministry. The Spirit leads him to the wilderness, where He is tempted, and hungry.
i. Just thinking out loud here, but if I’m alone, in the wilderness, hungry, tired… I’m thinking I’m pretty susceptible. I’d probably eat the first thing you offer me, no matter what it is, just get it in me. If you’ve ever watched survivor on TV, I love the scenes were after a couple of weeks they get a reward challenge and the team that wins gets to eat food. They eat like pigs, gluttons shoveling it in their mouths as quick as possible. There’s no hesitation.
e. Jesus is being tempted to deny His purpose and birthright: savior of the World and Son of God. Satan starts off with bread for a hungry man. Remember back 18 years ago, Jesus wasn’t concerned with His family because he so wanted the word. And now, today, he applies it. Jesus answers Satan with Deut. 8:3. “He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” Jesus is living out the exodus in His life. Humbled, hungry, and living on the Word of the Lord. Deut. 8:3, by the way, is not in an easy passage of Scripture to read. It, Deut., is the 2nd reading of the law. And 8:3 is in the 1st 3rd of, what I consider a very boring and hard to read portion of scripture that details most of life and how it should be lived. Yet Jesus says, you shall live by “every word.”
f. Satan tries trick two: to the Lord of the Universe he says the whole world can be yours. And Jesus again answers with Scripture: Deut. 6:13. Again, Deut. In these instances not only is the tempter meeting a Godward spirit in Jesus, he is meeting the power of the word of God, and has nowhere to go with it. So he tries a 3rd time.
g. Throw yourself down, Jesus, if you are really the Son of God. In other words, if you are who you say you are, commit suicide. Then Satan tries something that can be commonplace today: he twists Scripture and makes what isn’t meant to be seem as though it is. Satan quotes from Psalms 91:11, 12 Psalm 91 is a promise of God’s deliverance. Satan twists and tests the promise: God has said that you will not fall from here, so try. The promise of Psalm 91 is actually: Love me first and I will deliver you. It would be a falsity to assume the promise is what Satan tempts Jesus with: God loves you so do this. Jesus sees right through it.
i. Don’t put the Lord your God to the test. Whoa! Deut. Again and the trump card: don’t test my father or me. Satan left until an opportune time.
h. This is a great event and triumph of Christ and encouragement for us. But know this about Jesus’ view of Scripture: know it and use it. Turn the sword of the Spirit loose. Let it, which is sharper than a new Gillette sensor, than any double-edged sword, turn it loose and let it go. Memorize it, as Jesus did, so that you have it at the ready. Memorize it so that you may know God’s voice and His word. Memorize it that you may know Jesus.
3. Jesus and the Point of Scripture Luke 4:14-30
a. I said a little earlier that we would revisit Jesus and tradition. He is above tradition: it should point to Him. Jesus is also the point of Scripture. He is the central person in the Bible, and the cross is the central action. If you know very little or no Scripture: its message is that Jesus died on the Cross because of God’s great desire to glorify His name in bringing us to worship Him in spirit and truth. God loves you and wants you to be in on His glory. But your sin keeps you back. All those little lies, immoral thoughts, bitter jabs, murderous hate, are not worthy of God. We are slaves. And Jesus has freed us.
b. Read Luke 4:14-21
c. IT was customary that any male could read and offer some instruction/commentary on the Scripture in the synagogue. Jesus goes with the custom. He knows scripture, gets the scroll (no books in those days, it was all on scrolls. The Old Testament would fill a large room, bigger than this. Scrolls were about 30 feet long. I can find, over time and with the help of a concordance or google, pretty much anything in the bible. Jesus had neither concordance nor google, yet found exactly the passage of Scripture he wanted. Do you question if Jesus knew Scripture?
d. He did, and he read and sat. The Prophecy of Isaiah 450 years or so earlier is fulfilled today, right then. Scripture then, points to Jesus. All of it. The bible is about knowing Jesus. When we read the bible he speaks. It is His written word (He is the Living Word). It is not wrong, the Bible never fails – we call it fail safe in our covenant, exactly the word of God. It is valid because of who stands behind it: the living Lord. Jesus.
e. This event, reading a couple verse, sitting down, and saying it is fulfilled, must have been awesome.
i. My parents were here a couple of weeks ago. Being history buffs (them mainly) we toured the Adams national historical park in Boston, home of John and John Quincy = 2nd and 5th presidents. Being a national park geek buff with the passport, I was ready and willing to go and check it out and get my stamp. John Adams left his mark on America. He holds the record for some long speeches, including one that had a single sentence that was 750 words long. At 93, John was asked to give a speech for the 50th anniversary of the independence of America. The crowd was prepped and ready for him – this man who walked with Washington and set the course of a nation. He walked up and yelled: Independence Forever! And sat down. Speech over.
f. This is kind of the scene here: Jesus is famous, they want to hear, and He says: it is fulfilled. The Bible, its whole message is Jesus. Memorize it to know Jesus. Study it to know Jesus. Learn it that you may run to Jesus who gives freedom, good news, and releases the oppressed.
1. Make the word a main thing
2. Memorize it that you may know Jesus and use it
3. Study it and learn it to know Jesus.
There are some helpful questions in the bulletin if you want a place to start studying. As Jesus shows us: the word is more valuable than life; memorize it to live, and point people in the same direction: to Jesus.
Jesus got all over the religious leaders of his day for missing the point: Him! They would quote scripture and haggle with questions and debate viewpoints, all the while missing the Point. Nourish yourself and grow spiritually by learning the point, and seeking God in His word. To all who seek Him He will show Himself.
Pray.
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