Author: Wes White

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The Marvelous Works of Jesus, Part 8: The Marvels to Come (Luke 9:10–43)

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When you think about it, Jesus and His followers had almost no political power or influence. The ruling elites of the world had no interest or even knowledge of Him. What hope would they have had to see the kingdom of Jesus change the world?

One reason might have been the marvelous works that Jesus did. They represented a power far above that of the world, a power over all sickness, all evil, all demons, and all diseases. This would have given them hope.

But what about people who only read about Jesus’ marvelous works? People can read about the power of Jesus in the past and see that these things are marvelous works worthy of admiration. But, we might ask, does that have anything to do with today? Is there power available today for provision, for justice, for healing, for restoration, for deliverance? That’s what the first readers of the book of Luke might have asked, and that’s what we might ask as well.

And that’s what this passage is all about. Jesus was telling His disciples in these stories that they would experience His power not only on the day of the miracle but also in the future. This account can also give us hope that the power of Jesus is present now and will continue to be present in the future to heal, to deliver, and to save. We will consider this by looking at the following sections:

The Coming Provision (Luke 9:10–17)
The Coming Trial (Luke 9:18–27)
The Coming Glory (Luke 9:28–36)
The Coming Victory (Luke 9:37–43)

The Coming Provision (Luke 9:10–17)
Jesus had just sent the disciples out to preach and teach. He was preparing them for their future role. When they returned, they told Jesus all that they had done. To review what they had done and give them some rest, Jesus took them to a quiet area near a town called Bethsaida.

The plan for rest was quickly short-circuited. The crowds followed Jesus. Even though He had other things on His agenda, we read, “He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing” (Luke 9:11). Even though Jesus had other things on His mind, He gave a face of welcome to the people God brought on His way. Luke points out that Jesus often had an agenda of rest and retreat, but the Father had an agenda of outreach. Jesus trusted the Father’s leading and was willing to trust that the Father would provide what He needed for Him to do the work.

Then, the Twelve disciples got nervous. They realized that it was getting late, and the people needed to eat and needed lodging. Jesus responded with a surprising statement, “You give them something to eat.” Why would Jesus say this? Sometimes Jesus does not immediately relieve our crises when we go to Him. Instead, He sometimes aggravates them. Why? To cause us to look to our real resource in Him.

The disciples responded, “We have only five loaves of bread and two fish—unless we go and buy food for all this crowd” (Luke 9:13). They were really unsure of what to do. The text tells us that there were about 5,000 people there! Continue reading “The Marvelous Works of Jesus, Part 8: The Marvels to Come (Luke 9:10–43)”

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The Marvelous Works of Jesus, Part 7: Hope for Healing (Luke 8:40–56)

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After a long string of defeats, it’s easy to give up hope. You feel like you can’t win or experience anything good. You may have battled something within yourself, and you feel like you can never defeat it. You keep going back to the same sin and the same old pattern. You feel like you’ve tried everything, and you can’t move forward. You also can experience this in regards to others. You feel stuck in a relationship. You feel like nothing can change. You’ve tried everything, and nothing seems to work. So, you wait but without much hope.

In this passage, we have two examples of people who were tempted to give up hope. Then, they saw the power of Jesus. This gave them hope when others gave up hope, and they saw Jesus do an amazing work.

There are two histories intertwined here. The account begins and ends with the account of Jairus, a synagogue leader, and in the middle is the account of a woman with an issue of blood. We will deal with the woman first and then we will consider what happened when Jesus went to Jairus’ house.

The Woman with an Issue of Blood
Jesus triumphed over the demon army on the other side of the Sea of Galilee. The people, though, did not want him to stay, and so he returned to the Jewish side. There is a big contrast in this passage between the crowds who asked Jesus to leave in the previous story and the crowds on the other side of the Lake. “Now when Jesus returned, a crowd welcomed him, for they were all expecting him” (Luke 8:41).

In the midst of those crowds was a man named Jairus, a leader in the synagogues. This man came to Jesus and fell at his feet begging Jesus to come to his house. Have you ever experienced something that drove you to Jesus’ feet like that? What this man experienced is the sort of thing that would drive you to your knees. This man had one child, a daughter of 12 years old, and she was dying. Everyone expects that their children will outlive them, so the death of a child is always the hardest.

Jesus tried to leave, but the crowds were pressing in around Him and nearly crushed Him. There, in the midst of the crowd was a woman who had a gynecological condition. She had continued to bleed for twelve years. She had tried everything, and no one could heal her. This was a very difficult disease, but the situation was even worse. Women who experienced an issue of blood were considered ceremonially unclean. They had to remain separate from others so as not to make them unclean, and they could not enter the temple.

That’s what makes what happens even more striking. She came up behind Jesus and touched his cloak. Immediately, she was healed. She didn’t make Jesus unclean. Jesus made her clean. Jesus healed her.

Then, Jesus asked a very strange question. “Who touched me?” He was in the midst of a crowd, and people were pressing in all around Him. Jesus then clarified, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me” (Luke 8:46). Continue reading “The Marvelous Works of Jesus, Part 7: Hope for Healing (Luke 8:40–56)”

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The Marvelous Works of Jesus, Part 6: The Lord of the Storm (Luke 8:22–39)

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When the Bible speaks of the world, it often uses the metaphor of a surging sea. The world is like a sea of rough, choppy water. Trying to sail in the world can be a very scary thing. For example, the world order that we have enjoyed since the fall of communism may be falling apart with the rise of an aggressive Russia and China. Things may become very difficult and challenging for our nation. How are we to deal with it?

The problems of the world are so big and so out of our control that it is easy to let anxiety control us or just to bury our head in the sand like the ostrich does and not want to deal with it. How do we maintain our sanity in the midst of it and still move forward in service? The passage that we are looking at provides an answer. It is faith in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the Triune God, as Lord over all things.

We will see this as we look at the two stories. The first is of the storm. The second is of the demon army.

The Storm
Much of Jesus’ ministry takes place around the Sea of Galilee. The Sea of Galilee is a beautiful lake in the northern part of Israel. It is a source of life and blessing to the surrounding region. Several of Jesus’ disciples had made their livelihood from this sea in the form of fishing. They had access to boats and knew how to navigate the lake.

As they were on the sea, there was a great storm. These storms are common there. The Sea of Galilee is like the bottom of a bowl, and the storms sweep down from the surrounding hills. Our text tells us, “A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger” (Luke 8:23). These experienced fishermen were afraid.

We need to remember that Jesus is great, and He also took upon Himself the weaknesses of humanity. In this story, He went to sleep in the boat as they went across. As a side note, this is the only time the Gospels ever mention that Jesus slept! The disciples were in a panic as the storm came on, and they saw that Jesus was still sleeping. “Master, Master, we are going to drown!” (Luke 8:24). They said.

At this point, Jesus “got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm” (Luke 8:24). Then, He rebuked them. “Where is your faith?” He asked them.

Now, this is an interesting question. We might wonder why Jesus would bring up faith here. After all, were they promised deliverance from the storm? How did they know that they would survive it? Continue reading “The Marvelous Works of Jesus, Part 6: The Lord of the Storm (Luke 8:22–39)”

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The Marvelous Works of Jesus, Part 5: Greater Than We Thought

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There are few things that can grip our hearts more than threats to the ones we love. We yearn for them. We worry about them. We weep for them. We are concerned about them.

In the amazing grace of God, He has given us a group of people around us who care for us and love us and to whom we can also give love and care. These people are the sources of some of our greatest joys on earth and also some of our greatest sorrows. What can hurt us more than the loss of a child? What is rougher than the loss of someone close such as a wife or a friend who has been with us for many years?

Into this great challenge, Jesus enters in and shows His love and care for those whom we love the most. He demonstrates His care in two stories where someone experiences sorrow over someone they love dearly. Even in this difficult area of our life, Jesus shows us that He is greater than we often think and able to care for those whom we love. In this story, we have two instances of the marvelous works of Jesus that were greater than any recorded thus far. This shows us how great Jesus is and with how much confidence we can put our loved ones in His hands. These are the stories of a centurion and a widow who experienced the marvelous works of Jesus.

The Centurion
A centurion was an army officer of the Roman Empire. This centurion or army officer lived in Capernaum, since the Roman Empire had soldiers stationed everywhere. This centurion had a servant whom he loved, and this servant was sick and about to die. Here was someone dear to this man, and he was on the point of death. It seemed like there was no hope. Then, he heard about Jesus. Jesus had been healing all sorts of people, and so he believed that there was hope.

Out of this hope, he sought out Jesus. What is striking here is that this man did not go to Jesus himself. Instead, he sent some of the elders of the Jews to ask Jesus to heal his servant. When they came to Jesus, they not only asked him, “they pleaded earnestly with him.” Now, why would they do this for a Gentile, Roman army officer? They gave Jesus the reason, “This man deserves to have you do this, because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue” (7:5).

The Roman army officer was a man who cared about people. He loved his servant. He also loved the people where he lived. He showed this care for them by building them a synagogue.

The Roman army officer was a man who cared about God as well. He was probably pious and what the Jews of the time called “a God fearing man.” He showed his care for the people by building them a place for worship.

This centurion was just and pious. He represented the best of what Rome had to offer to the world. The Jews of Capernaum were so moved by his justice and his piety that they went to Jesus on his behalf.

The result was that Jesus went with them to heal the servant. However, when Jesus was not far from the house, the centurion sent out friends to say to him. “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you” (Luke 7:6b–7a). This is remarkable indeed. He saw his own unworthiness and the worthiness of Jesus. He saw Jesus as great. Continue reading “The Marvelous Works of Jesus, Part 5: Greater Than We Thought”

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The King Who Welcomes All (Luke 5:12-32)

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Do I belong here? It’s a question we all face at one time or another. Our constitution says that all are created equal. So, if someone is human, they can be a full citizen here. They don’t need to be a particular race or ethnic group.

However, in spite of the principle, for most of our country’s history, we deliberately set up legal barriers that kept people from really belonging here and being full citizens. Thanks be to God for the work of men like Martin Luther King, Junior, who called us to live consistently with our ideals even when most did not want to hear it. Because of him, our country made significant progress in removing those legal barriers that kept people from belonging.

While we have made progress, people still get left behind. Even where people are welcomed legally, this does not always equate to a change in people’s hearts to welcome all. It’s easy for us to forget the struggle that has occurred in the past to make this nation a place where anyone can belong. That’s why it’s good to have Martin Luther King, Junior Day. It calls us to remember triumph over past injustice and to continue to strive for a more perfect one.

This struggle of belonging is something we can see on a limited scale all around us. It’s easy for us to build our own world where we feel accepted and never try to enter new places. Why? Because breaking into new places is hard. It takes time and effort. When you feel like you are on the inside, it’s easy to forget what it’s like for new people seeking to enter. That’s why it’s good to put yourself into situations where you will be on the outside. It reminds us of what it is like to enter into a new place.

When it comes to the kingdom of God, what should it be like? What does it say to people who feel that they don’t belong? Today, we want to look at what the King did to show people that they belong in the kingdom. In the three passages we have before us, we have three people who felt like they didn’t belong. In the King’s response to them, we see something remarkable. The King welcomes all. So, let’s look at how Jesus treats a leper, a paralytic, and a tax collector to see how Jesus shows that all people are welcome and can belong in His kingdom.

The Leper
In the first account, there is a man who is “covered with leprosy.” Leprosy may refer to a variety of skin diseases. When there is something wrong with our skin, it’s easy to feel awkward about it. Imagine this man who was covered with it. But it’s worse than that. In those days, a person who was a leper had to go into isolation. He had to warn people as they came near of his condition. He could not join with the community. He could not go up to worship the Lord in the temple.

If there is one thing that 2020 taught me, it was the joy of a crowd of people. For a couple of months, most of us stayed isolated. We did not even meet for worship. I have a large family, but many people were alone. What a joy it was to come back. This was only for a couple of months. For the leper, he had no idea if or when it would end. Continue reading “The King Who Welcomes All (Luke 5:12-32)”

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The Marvelous Works of Jesus, Part 3: The King Builds His Kingdom (Luke 4:31-5:11)

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What is the message of Christianity all about? How would you summarize it in a few words? It’s a good thing to think about.

Here’s what Jesus says, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.” Jesus’ summary? The good news of the kingdom of God.

I don’t think that’s generally the first thing that comes to the mind of evangelical Christians when they think of Christianity. So, why doesn’t it come to our mind when it came so readily to Jesus’ lips? What does it mean? Why would Jesus summarize His message as the good news of the kingdom of God?

That’s what our passages teaches us. We will see this in three points. The teaching of the kingdom of God. The demonstration of the kingdom of God. The extension of the kingdom of God.

The Teaching of the Kingdom of God
Jesus said that He had a message to proclaim. It was good news. It was good news about the kingdom of God. While this message might not be clear to us, it was understandable to Jesus’ hearers. They weren’t necessarily looking for someone to die on a cross and rise again, and that was part of their problem. However, they were looking for a king who would bring in a new kingdom.

They understood that things were not as they should be. Instead of enjoying prosperity in their own kingdom, they were under the dominion and often oppression of the Roman government. In addition, many of the people had compromised the ancient faith with the newcomers. Many would have agreed that a call to repentance was needed. They wanted a leader who would come and liberate them and lead them back to God and His ways. So, when Jesus talked about a kingdom, this would have made sense. They would not be surprised that the Messiah would come talking about the coming of the kingdom. They would have understood the idea that people should repent because the kingdom of God was at hand. They needed to get ready. They were looking with expectation, as Luke notes in Luke 3.

And so, Jesus’ message was an answer to their expectation. The kingdom is here.

Jesus spent much of His time teaching about this kingdom and correcting their misconceptions about it. You can see in our passage how much time Jesus spent teaching and proclaiming. First, Jesus taught in the synagogues. Now, people often avoid church because it has hurt them. Jesus had just been rejected in His hometown and nearly killed. And what does He do? “Then he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath he taught the people” (Luke 4:31). Jesus went into the synagogues, the places where people gathered for worship. He went where the people were, even though He had faced rejection. Continue reading “The Marvelous Works of Jesus, Part 3: The King Builds His Kingdom (Luke 4:31-5:11)”

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The Marvelous Works of Jesus 2: The Champion (Luke 4:1-30)

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When you start to think about the evil that exists in this world, it is easy to despair. The problems are just so big, who can solve them? Think of all the corruption and oppression that occurs around the world. It’s a tangled mess where the most vulnerable are prey. It’s astonishing to see how the strong will prey on the weakest and seek to squeeze all they can out of them.

Our church has dealt with the issue of scams. It’s amazing how creative people can be trying to steal. I have helped people deal with this. However, last week, I was almost victim of one. I actually could have lost some money, but the app didn’t work. The evil in this world is relentless.

The problem is not just out there. The battle against evil is waged in our own hearts. And when we look closely at the situation, we see our own weakness. We know we have been often deceived. We find ourselves in a fog and not able to act correctly. We have fallen into sin again and again and been only a few missteps away from disaster. In the face of the relentless challenge of evil in the world, we need a champion.

And that’s what this text teaches us. We have a champion.

The Battle
In the first three accounts of Jesus’ life, we find that immediately after the baptism of Jesus, the Spirit led Him into the wilderness to be tested. It was the guidance and leadership of the Spirit the brought Jesus to battle. In our own lives, we should recognize that after our baptism, the Spirit will lead us into testing as well. We should not be surprised if the Christian life is a battle. We follow in the steps of Jesus.

The similarity between Jesus and the Christian is not the main point of the text. The main point is the difference between us. Beyond that, it is the difference between Adam and Jesus. Adam was placed in a Garden with an easy test: don’t eat from one tree. Jesus was placed in hard conditions with 40 days of fasting in a very challenging test. The contrast could not be greater.

Just like with Adam, the devil came to tempt Jesus. Remember that beyond the evil of men in this world, there is the devil. We need to see that the evil in this world is not just the cause of humans. It is the work of a malevolent and powerful being that God created but who revolted against God and now seeks to wreck what God has done.

The Father had spoken to Jesus and confirmed that Jesus was the Messiah and the Son of God. He said, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” The question in all these temptations was, would Jesus trust the Father and the destiny that the Father had for Him, or would He try to take a shortcut? That was the same issue in the Garden. God had promised Adam a glorious future. All he had to do was trust God and obey Him in a very easy test.

Just like with our first father Adam, the devil tried to sow doubt. He does not say, “turn these stones to bread.” Rather, he says, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread” (emphasis mine, Luke 4:3). This was a subtle way of sowing doubt in what the Father had said. It was particularly challenging because Jesus was hungry. Did God really say . . . ? Satan might have said here. Jesus knew exactly how Satan was trying to emphasize the “if” that would bring doubt in God’s Word. He rejected what Satan said and went back to the Word of God in the book of Deuteronomy, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’” The rest of the verse says that it is on every Word that comes from the mouth of God. Jesus would not need to prove that He was the Son of God. He would rely on the word that came from the mouth of God. Continue reading “The Marvelous Works of Jesus 2: The Champion (Luke 4:1-30)”

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The Marvelous Works of Jesus, Part 1: Time to Change (Luke 3:1-22)

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In a way, the whole world recognizes the need for repentance. There is no other time of the year at which this message is better recognized than now. That’s what New Year’s resolutions are all about. We need to change. We have been going one way, and now we need to go another.

One interesting thing about the New Year is that it is not on our timetable. The New Year calls for new patterns of life and new goals. It comes whether we like it or not. It is forced upon us, and we have to consider it. What am I going to do with this new year? Am I going to continue in the same old ways? Or, am I going to make something different of it? What will it look like?

That’s what happened to the people of Jesus’ times. They did not choose the time of the coming of John the Baptist or of Jesus. That was God’s timeline. When this time came, it demanded a change. It demanded repentance. That’s what we’ll consider in this passage. In order to understand the call to repentance, we need to look at the messenger, the message, and the Messiah.

The Messenger
The messenger was John the Baptist. The first thing we note about John is that John came from a miraculous birth. We are not going to look at every detail of the book of Luke, but it’s important to recognize that at this point in Luke’s telling of Jesus’ story, John was already set apart for the work of God. Before an angel announced the birth of Jesus, he announced the birth of John to the priest Zechariah. Here’s what he said:

He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord (Luke 1:14–17).

Zechariah and Elizabeth were past the age of bearing children. However, they were not outside the possibilities of God’s power. God gave them a son in a miraculous way to show the extraordinary nature of this child.

John was going to be God’s special messenger to call people back to the Lord. He was preparing the way for the Lord, as we shall see.

John came through God’s command. Even though John was marked out from birth, he did not go out until God told him to. We know the exact time when John came. It was in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberias Caesar. This was in A.D. 26. Luke emphasizes that this is not just imagination or a story. It is real history. It is verifiable. At that time, “the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness” (Luke 3:2). When God gave the command, he knew it was his time. He went and preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins (Luke 3:3).

John came with great boldness. Because he knew his commission was from God, he spoke with great boldness. “John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?'” (Luke 3:7). John saw that the wrath of God was coming on his generation, and he knew it was urgent to warn them. So, he spoke boldly.

In one instance, John rebuked even the ruler Herod because of his adulterous ways. That’s what ultimately landed John in prison. “When John rebuked Herod the tetrarch because of his marriage to Herodias, his brother’s wife, and all the other evil things he had done, Herod added this to them all: He locked John up in prison” (Luke 3:19–20). John did not let the threat of harm keep him from calling anyone, even the most powerful, to repentance. John came with great boldness because he feared God more than man.

John came to prepare for Jesus. John was not there for himself. The people of that time were looking for the Messiah. The Messiah means “the anointed one.” The idea is that it is someone sent and anointed by God to bring salvation. John was an anointed one. He was not the anointed one.

Here’s what happened when the people asked if John was the Messiah. “I baptize you with water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire” (Luke 3:16–17). John was powerful, but he was just the messenger sent to prepare the way for Jesus. Consequently, he knew that the day would come when he would step out of the way in order to let the Messiah come to the forefront.

Now, before we consider what that day in which the Messiah showed up was like, let’s look at John’s message because that is what is highlighted here and because it is very instructive for us.

The Message
The message of John is a message of repentance. What does this mean?

Repentance demands a mindset change. The word repentance in the original language really does not mean saying you are sorry. This is a fruit of repentance, but it is not what repentance is all about. The word repentance could be literally translated “a change of mind” or “a mindset change.”

The point is that real change begins with how we think about things. It begins with the stories that we tell ourselves. What we need is a change in our stories and thinking. Real and lasting change begins with the way we think. That’s the meaning of the word repentance. That’s what John preached.

One of the stories that they were telling themselves was that they were children of Abraham, and so they were fine. John said, no. A real child of Abraham is one who lives like him, not just one who is descended from him. Abraham’s significance is first and foremost in his faith working through love and not his biology. It’s easy to put our confidence in past religious experiences or privileges, but what God wants is real righteousness and justice.

Repentance demands adjustments. A mindset shift demands adjustments on our part. We may have been thinking one way before, but when God shows up, things will have to be adjusted. That’s why Luke reminded us of the fact that God had already told them through the prophet Isaiah that a new messenger would come. Isaiah told them that the coming of the Messiah would demand adjustments. Listen to these words:

A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
“Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.
Every valley shall be filled in,
every mountain and hill made low.
The crooked roads shall become straight,
the rough ways smooth.
And all people will see God’s salvation” (Luke 3:4–6).

This citation from Isaiah 40 used the image of making a road in the desert. Valleys would have to be raised. Mountains would have to be leveled. Crooked roads would have to be adjusted.

God uses this image to tell us about the adjustments that we have to make when He comes. We may have had some things on our agenda, but we may have to add others or take away others. Things will have to change. Are we ready for the types of adjustments the Lord’s coming demands? That was the message of John.

Repentance demands fruit. The change in our hearts and minds demands a change in our actions. “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance” (Luke 3:8). This means that our actions will have to change. God tells us in this passage that various groups came to him and asked how they should change.

“What should we do then?” the crowd asked.

11 John answered, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.”

12 Even tax collectors came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?”

13 “Don’t collect any more than you are required to,” he told them.

14 Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?”

He replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely—be content with your pay” (Luke 3:10–14).

What is interesting is that the change centers in their relationships with people. Our love for God is demonstrated in just relationships with other people. Our tendency in our society is to basically focus on our own things and let others go their way. Repentance demands a concern for our neighbors, our communities, and the people around us. We should be content with what we have and be ready to share our time, talents, and efforts for the community. That’s what John is saying. That’s how we begin to live in conformity with the community that the Messiah will bring.

Now, there is an important part of this message that we need to see here. If we do not repent, then it is not okay. The wrath of God is coming, and the kingdom of God is coming. Adjustments are going to have to be made, and whoa to us, if we refuse to make those adjustments. If we refuse to break with our old ways, then the coming of the kingdom will break us.

On the flip side, if we repent, we should be encouraged. John washed people with water when they agreed to his message. This showed that their sins were forgiven. Confessing their sins, they were washed to show that God forgave them and that they were welcome in the coming kingdom of the Messiah.

And then one day, something rather astonishing happened.

The Messiah
John had been talking for a long time about the coming Messiah, and one day, he showed up. Now, what do you think that he would do? Do you think he would now take over and start leading the people? Do you think that he would stand up and speak?

No. He did something rather remarkable. He told John to baptize him. He received the baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. This is remarkable because he did not have any sin. As John said, Jesus is the spotless lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He did not need to repent because He was the King bringing the new order of the kingdom into the world. It was His reign and rule. So, it’s exceedingly strange that he would come and be baptized. It’s a really shocking thing.

But it’s a marvelous thing. How do we know when we repent that our efforts will bear any fruit? Because God says, “I am with you.” That’s what happening here. Jesus comes to his repenting people, and says, I am totally with you. I enter the waters of baptism with you. I am intimately united to you. I will bring you to a new place and empower you to make the adjustments. I don’t condemn you, Jesus would say. I am here to help you. Jesus’ baptism is a marvelous confirmation of God’s acceptance of all who repent and believe.

And there’s more. As Jesus entered the water, He was praying. He was speaking to His Father in heaven. Then, the Spirit came down in bodily form. The Father spoke in audible form: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased” (Luke 3:22). Here was the presence of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It is the clear revelation that baptism is in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It is God revealed as Triune, as the great Three in One. It is God as Triune revealed in solidarity with us. God is with us.

How will we make the change? How will we make the adjustments? How will we bear the fruit of repentance? God is with us.

Conclusion
What would happen if Jesus came to your house today and said, I am going to be a part of your life this week and just do life with you? What sort of adjustments would you want to make? What things would you not want to do? How would your priorities change? What would be important to you?

That’s how we should think of the coming of the kingdom. Jesus is coming to be with us in the midst of our homes and lives. Repentance is demanded. Priorities will change. Adjustments will need to be made. Actions will have to occur that have not occurred in a long time.

It would be a very humbling experience but a healthy one. It would hurt, but it would heal. And, Jesus, seeing our heart to repent would say, “Don’t be afraid. Remember. I went down into the waters of the baptism of repentance just like you. I’m with you all the way.” Amen.

Benediction: This is a great time of year to think about repentance. What shifts need to occur in our mindset? What do we need to leave behind? What do we need to start doing and thinking? What needs to be adjusted? Jesus has come into the world. His kingdom demands a change on our part.

But remember also your own baptism. You are baptized into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Jesus was baptized like you. This assures us that wherever we go and whatever God calls us to this week, He will be with us all the way. So, go out to serve the world in the assurance of the blessing of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

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Joyful Fellowship with God and Man, Part 10: The Blessing of Fellowship (1 John 5:13–21)

[Listen to an audio version here]

Everything we do involves some administrative work. We have to make lists. We have to get things done. We have to organize. We have to prioritize.

Our society seems to be very, very busy. We always have things to do. People who are retired tell me that they have never been busier than when they are retired. They don’t know how they did everything before.

In the midst of all the busy-ness, we have to remember what life is all about. Christmas is a great time to remind us. First, it is about joyful fellowship with God. Second, it is about joyful fellowship with man, with other human beings. Christmas refocuses our attention on God. We set aside time from our hustle and bustle and enjoy our family and friends. It’s a chance to reset and focus on what is most important.

That’s what this letter from John is all about. The goal of this letter, which we call 1 John, is that we might enjoy that fellowship with one another and fellowship with God. These two are connected. We cannot ignore the one or the other if we want to experience joyful community.

In this passage, we have a sort of summary of what John has said in this letter with a few additional concluding thoughts. Let’s look at these through the lens of the blessing of fellowship.

Knowing the Fellowship
The key problem in our fellowship with God is, how do we know we can enjoy fellowship with Him? After all, how can an infinite God have fellowship with human beings? Even if he can, we know that we have not done what He has asked of us or become what we were supposed to be. How can such people have fellowship with Him? We all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God. So, how can we know that we can have fellowship with Him?

Well, that’s one reason John wrote this letter. “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13). Eternal life here is fellowship with the Triune God. It is not just length of life, though that is also included. He writes to those who believe in the name of the Son of God that they might know that they have that eternal life, that fellowship with God.

How can they know it? They know it because of what Jesus has done. “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:9–10). Out of His great love, God has done what is necessary to restore our relationship with Himself. Continue reading “Joyful Fellowship with God and Man, Part 10: The Blessing of Fellowship (1 John 5:13–21)”

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Joyful Fellowship with God and Man, Part 9: How to Have Joyful Fellowship with God and Man

[Listen to an audio verison here]

The Need for Faith
Our society does a lot to ignore the reality of death. We want to look young. The cemeteries are somewhat hidden. You will see many commercials about preparing for retirement. Very few about preparing for after retirement.

In spite of all this, the truth is that this world is a tomb. It is a place of death. It is a place where the dead are buried. When you think about it, we have lost a lot of people close to us this year. Kelsey just lost her Grandfather this past week. I lost a Grandmother last month. Jackie Bain lost her grandfather. Diane lost her husband Bobby. Deb Bain lost her husband Steve, and we lost an elder and leader in our church. Lisa Suplee lost her Father and her Uncles. Penny Reeder lost her Mother. This world is a tomb.

In the Bible, death is not just physical death. It is spiritual death. The presence of physical death is the result of the death of our relationship with God. The separation of the body from the soul is rooted in our separation from God. Out of our separation from God flows a separation from other people. This separation from other people leads to war and to death like it did with Abel and Cain.

That’s why there cannot be joyful fellowship with God and man. There is death. This spiritual death manifests itself in physical death. This spiritual death has made this world a tomb.

Into this world of death, God sent His Son. His Son died the death we deserved to die and experienced the separation from God that we experienced when He cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” However, He rose from the dead. He conquered death. He brought about new life and new hope.

If we have Jesus, then we have life. “And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5:11–12). What does this mean? It means that instead of a sentence of death, we have life. This means we enjoy a restored relationship with God forever! That’s what we have when we have the Son.

Now, we might ask, why then do we have to die? For the believer, death is a liberation from the presence of sin. When we come to Christ, He breaks the dominion of sin. At death, He frees us from the presence of sin. When Jesus comes again, we will have our bodies restored but in a glorified way like Jesus. “But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2b).

This is why we need faith in Jesus. “Whoever believes in the Son of God accepts this testimony” (1 John 5:10). When we believe in Jesus, we accept what God says about Him. We accept that it is true and that it is what we need. We are saying that Jesus can do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. That is the power of faith. It is not the greatness of faith that saves. It is the Christ in the faith that saves.

The problem we face is that there is much pressure in the world to go in a different direction. It tells us, focus on what we see. Focus on what we can get. Make this world about you. This is what John calls the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (see 1 John 2:15–17).

So, how do we overcome the world and obtain life in Jesus? “This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God” (1 John 5:4b–5). Do we want to overcome the world? We need more faith! If we feel like the world is attacking us, we need the faith that enables us to overcome the world. Continue reading “Joyful Fellowship with God and Man, Part 9: How to Have Joyful Fellowship with God and Man”