190113 Jesus Was Rejected

Luke 4:22-30 And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. And they said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” ²³ And he said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘ “Physician, heal yourself.” What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’ ” ²⁴ And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. ²⁵ But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, ²⁶ and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. ²⁷ And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.” ²⁸ When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. ²⁹ And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff. ³⁰ But passing through their midst, he went away.

Jesus had had a very full time leading up to this event. He had been baptized by John the Baptist. The Holy Spirit had led him into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan himself! After he had survived that ordeal he began a ministry of preaching in the synagogues. He was praised by all who heard him. He came to his own hometown and read from the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 61:1, 2) and the Psalms some of the words concerning himself. Then he assured the people present that this Scripture referred to him.

When Jesus had come from his baptism in the Jordan he was immediately led by the spirit into the wilderness for 40 days of fasting. During that time he was tempted by Satan himself. In every attack, Jesus responded to the enemy with the word of God. We need to remember that God’s word is a sword. In fact, the writer of Hebrews raised the bar telling us that “the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword” (Hebrews 4:12). Anytime we are confronted by temptation we can use that weapon to defeat the enemy. Our enemy is always stronger than we are thus forcing us to defeat or else to dependence on the Lord Jesus Christ! You can’t use a weapon you have never learned. You need to read the word, store it in your mind, and the Holy Spirit will call it up when needed.

Luke makes a point of the fact that…

The people praised him. Luke 4:14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country. ¹⁵ And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.

The phrase “being glorified by all” could be translated “being praised by all”. Jesus’ humanity might have been somewhat impressed by the response of the crowds. We are not told what his reaction was. His divinity would’ve understood that this kind of praise was not particularly good.

As he went from synagogue to synagogue guided by the power of the Holy Spirit people spoke highly of him. Then he came to his hometown. Here he had been brought up and he was their carpenter! The people apparently had no category to put Jesus in. He was the hometown boy and when Jesus began to speak in his hometown synagogue the first response of the people was “all spoke well of him”! And then he began to speak from the text found in Isaiah chapter 61 and in Psalm 146 as well as other passages. He was not impressed with their praise because…

He saw beyond their shallow praise. Let’s look ahead to his warning given in Luke 6:26. Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.

Early in my ministry, I found these words of Jesus to be very encouraging. It was easy to listen to those who said good things about you. It was hard, sometimes, to listen to those who had criticism to share. However, this is where we learn the most about ourselves. Jesus certainly understood everything about himself and put their shallow praise in a category that he could deal with.

They had heard of his ministry in Capernaum. Matthew 4:13 And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali,

After Jesus’ battle with Satan’s temptations in the wilderness, he established residence in Capernaum. His ministry was so identified with that city that it was occasionally referred to as “his own city”! This raised questions in the minds of the local people. A number of times Jesus answered questions that were only in the minds of the people he was talking to. Yes, he knows what we think before we speak it! In this case, he heard them thinking “What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.”

What had he done at Capernaum? I will give you some examples. Some of them will be after the experience in Nazareth but they are descriptive of what went on in his life and his adopted city.

It was in Capernaum that Jesus healed the paralyzed man who had been let down through the roof to bypass the crowds. It was in the vicinity of Capernaum that he called some of his disciples who became apostles. He called Levi, who became Matthew! It was at Capernaum that he was called on to heal the son of an official. In order to continue to respond to the crowd, Jesus answered with Scripture examples.

The people wanted him to do something special in his hometown and he wanted them to know that God was concerned about all people everywhere. Therefore…

The first example came from the life of Elijah. Let’s turn to 1 Kings 17:8-9. Then the word of the Lord came to him, (Elijah) ⁹ “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you.”

Elijah was one of the early prophets of Israel. He did not write as many of the prophets did. He was a very powerful man of God. He came from the hill country of Gilead and confronted the king Ahab! Ahab had led Israel into evil. He married the daughter of the king of Sidon — Jezebel! And along with her Ahab worshiped Baal!

We are told by the Bible that he did more evil than all the kings of Israel who were before him. Elijah came to him with the word from God “there shall be neither dew nor rain except by my word.” (1 Kings 17:2). During the first several months of this major famine, Elijah lives by a nearby creek and was fed by God. Ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening and he drank from the brook.

I have often thought of how Elijah was cared for. Where do you suppose the ravens got the bread and meat? Well, the way I imagine it they flew through the open windows of the king’s palace and snatched the bread and meat from his table. Remember there would be no window glass to obstruct them. This was the way Elijah was provided in the beginning and when the water dried up God told him to go to Sidon. Where did Ahab’s wife, Jezebel, came from? Sidon, that’s where, and that’s also where God took care of Elijah. God did not use a woman of Israel, or Judah, to feed Elijah. He used a widow of a suburb of Sidon called Zarephath! This widow had only enough oil and flour to prepare a small meal for herself and her son before they set down to starve to death! Elijah, having a good word from the Lord, ask her to prepare him a meal first. His words were assuring “first make me a little cake and afterward make something for yourself and your son”. In order to do this, she had to believe that there would be an afterward with flour and oil sufficient to feed her and her son. Elijah promised her that the God of Israel would keep her jar of flour and jug of oil filled until the famine ended. We do not know how long this lasted but we do know that it was “many days”!

Elijah ministered to this lady when her son died. Elijah prayed for him and the Lord listened to the voice of Elijah and the child was brought back from the dead. With that event, the widow was given faith to believe in the God of Heaven!

We do not have time to go over all that happened in Elijah’s and Ahab’s battles. Suffice it to say that God used Elijah to break the power of Baal worship!

The second example came from the life of Elisha. He was Elijah’s servant who had become the prophet in his place. Let’s look at the story told in 2 Kings 5:8-14. But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent to the king, saying, “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come now to me, that he may know that there is a prophet in Israel.” ⁹ So Naaman came with his horses and chariots and stood at the door of Elisha’s house. ¹⁰ And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean.” ¹¹ But Naaman was angry and went away, saying, “Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper. ¹² Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage. ¹³ But his servants came near and said to him, “My father, it is a great word the prophet has spoken to you; will you not do it? Has he actually said to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” ¹⁴ So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

Elisha did not have any respect at all for the king of Syria. Naaman was the commander of the army of Syria. He had a servant girl in his house who had been taken from Israel to become his wife’s slave. When it was discovered that Naaman had leprosy the servant came to her mistress, his wife, and said, “Would that my Lord was with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.”

Let me explain the story of Naaman’s healing.

Naaman went to his king — after all the proper protocols should be followed — and told him what the servant girl had said. So, the king of Syria wrote a letter to the king of Israel asking that Naaman be healed!

This is not a simple process. The king of Syria had sent a large number of gifts to pay for the cure. Now, of course, the king of Israel had no idea what had transpired in the home of the Syrian commander. He went into panic mode when he was confronted by Naaman and his team.

Elisha heard about the king’s panic. And he sent a message. He asked why there was a panic in the castle. Elisha then told the king of Israel to send the foreigners to him and he would show that there is a prophet in Israel.

Naaman came with his entourage to the house of Elisha. Expecting to be treated like a royal guest, Naaman was highly offended when Elisha did not even come to the door. Instead, he sent a servant to him to give him the message, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times and your flesh will be restored, and you shall be clean.” The Syrian commander was very angry that he had been treated so lightly.

He turned and went away and his servants came to him with a proposition. The prophet had given them a great word and it was easy enough to do it. Why not try and see what happened?

Naaman went to the Jordan and dipped himself seven times. I can picture the scene. He dipped once in the water and nothing happened. Twice and nothing happened. Three times and nothing happened. And on the seventh time when he came up his flesh was like that of a little child. He was clean! There’s much more to the story so  I would encourage you to read those chapters in 2^nd Kings and imagine what it would’ve been like to see that great healing experience. Learn also what happens to those who are greedy and self-centered.

Let’s go back to Jesus. Throughout his entire life, there had been those who would try to take it from him. On the hillside outside of Nazareth, they wanted to kill him because he made himself out to be God! Well, this is no new experience for him. At the very beginning of his life…

The people attempted to kill him. Let’s read Matthew 2:16. Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. The Magi had come seeking the newborn King. This was some time after the birth of Jesus. They were no longer in the stable but in a house. As soon as the Magi left God told Joseph to take Jesus and Mary to Egypt to save his life. This also fulfilled a prophecy that God would call his son out of Egypt. The family was able to avoid the assassins by this trip. God the Father kept his hand of protection upon Jesus and his family for the next 30 years. Near the beginning of that period of time, Jesus came to Jerusalem spend a couple days with the teachers in the temple. As a 12-year-old he was not a threat to them. Just a curiosity but let’s look at the record in …

 John 5:18 This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

Jesus had gone to Samaria and caused many people to believe in him. He moved around the area healing and preaching. And John tells us what the result was.

The old saying goes, “no good deed goes unpunished.”

The response of the people in Nazareth mirrored that of every generation of people since. In his humanity, he may have thought they might hear him. After all, he had grown up in their midst. We have every reason to believe that Jesus lived an exemplary life. He was the carpenter in town, the son of Mary. He had brothers and sisters living in their midst. Mark tells us that Jesus was amazed at their unbelief. Amazing unbelief! That is the condition of mankind. Jesus had come to seek and to save the lost and yet amazingly he is rejected in spite of overwhelming evidence. I hope you will not reject him.

All scriptures quotes are from: The Holy Bible: English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

190106 Why He Came

Luke 4:16-21 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. ¹⁷ And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, ¹⁸ “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, ¹⁹ to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” ²⁰ And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. ²¹ And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Jesus intentionally opened the scroll of Isaiah and went to what we now designate as chapter 61. He would have needed to know exactly where that was in the scroll because there were no chapter and verse divisions. After reading the section Jesus proclaimed that this Scripture was fulfilled in their presence. Let’s look at several references that will help us to know why Jesus came into the world.

We want to look at Jesus’ own statements as well as passages from the Old Testament about why he came. There is a wealth of material available throughout the Bible showing why Jesus needed to come into the world.

First…

Jesus’ responded to a question by John the Baptist. Let’s look at Matthew 11:2-6. Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples ³ and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” ⁴ And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: ⁵ the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. ⁶ And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”

This is one of the most impressive descriptions of the work that Jesus did while he was on earth. He had gathered the twelve and Matthew pointed out that one of them was the person who betrayed Jesus. Jesus did not present the future to them as a bed of roses. They understood that they were going to face opposition and they were going to be like sheep in a flock of wolves. Jesus encouraged them not to be afraid because the Father would take care of them. But he assured them he did not come to bring peace to the earth. The future for them would be opposition in their communities and even in their families.

Then, John the Baptist’s disciples arrived with the question that must’ve been very heavy on John’s heart. “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” This was a burning question for John. He was in prison at the order of Herod Antipas. John had been bold enough to challenge the king who had taken his brother’s wife. John himself must’ve realized that he would very likely die in that prison. We know the story, at the request of his step-daughter John’s head was cut off. Yet, while he awaited his fate in the King’s prison he wanted to know if Jesus was really the Messiah.

Jesus’ answered them by demonstrating what he was doing! The blind were given sight! The lepers were cleansed! The deaf could hear! The dead were raised to life! And, last but not least, the poor heard the gospel! Jesus always was concerned for the downtrodden. He had compassion for those in need. In Jesus own words…

Jesus came to provide spiritual freedom. Let’s look at John 8:31-32. So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, ³² and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Many times we hear someone quote the words, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Somehow they think this has to do with education. There is a certain kind of education involved. But it is a deeply spiritual learning process. Jesus spoke to the Jews who believed him!

I had to go back and correct what I had written. Originally I wrote that Jesus spoke to the Jews who believed in him. But what John said was that he spoke to the Jews who BELIEVED HIM! If we’re not careful we will find ourselves adding thoughts that become words to the word of God.

He went on to say, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples.” Abiding in his word and becoming his disciples allowed them to know the truth and be set free. It is the same for us today.

In the first chapter of his letter (John 1:9) John said that Jesus was the light which came into the world. Let’s look at that passage…

Jesus came to bring light into darkness. John 1:1-5 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. ⁴ In him was life, and the life was the light of men. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

The promise came from God hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus in the prophecy of Isaiah. God, Yahweh, called his people in righteousness. And he still does today! Jesus came to give us a righteousness that is not our own. Jesus, who had no sin of his own, became sin for us in order for us to become the righteousness of God! IN HIM! None of this world’s righteousness is of any value. The only thing that counts is that which is given by God through Christ. God the Father promised to give a light for the nations to open the eyes of the blind and bring prisoners into freedom (Isaiah 42:6-7).

Jesus came to save all who believe in him. Let’s look at those familiar words in John 3:16-18. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. ¹⁸ Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

Without God’s righteousness mankind had no hope. The Bible tells us that we are brought forth in iniquity (Psalm 51:5). In plain language look at Ephesians 2:1 “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked”. When Jesus came into the world it was a world of darkness. They were carrying on the sacrificial system given to them by Moses. But that system was not sufficient for the needs of mankind. As the writer of Hebrews taught us, “But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Hebrews 10:3-4). Consequently, in order for anyone to be saved and inherit eternal life the Son of God had to come into the world and take mankind’s sin into his own body. Jesus had to become the substitute sacrifice that covered our sin.

God does not condemn us we are born condemned because we inherit the sin of Adam and Eve. As a consequence we deserve death and hell! Unless we repent and place our faith in Jesus we have no hope. The message of John the Baptist when he began his preaching was simply, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2). Praise God, Jesus did not inherit Adam’s sin. The apostle John puts it this way, “You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin” (1 John 3:5). So one of the reasons he came into the world was to take away sin. Not his own sin since he did not have any sin. He came to take our sin and to give us the ability to repent and believe.

In his own words…

Jesus came to seek and save. Let’s look at Luke 19:10. “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

This is not a new concept. During a time of great trouble King Asa was warned that “the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him” (2 Chronicles 16:9). I hope our response to the idea that God is a seeking God is more positive that Asa’s was. He rebelled against that idea that he needed to seek God. Or that God was seeking him and requiring him to be blameless.

Many people today have the same kind of response. Many rebel at the idea that they may need to repent and follow Christ. When we come to Christ for salvation we are not doing God a favor. God does not need us it’s quite the other way around. Without him we have no hope.

Jesus did not just appear in order to sit and wait for those who would believe to come to him. He came to seek and save. No one who seeks him will ever be turned away. The reasons why he came into the world could be summed up as…

Jesus came to give abundant life. Let’s look at Jesus’ words in John 10:10. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

We know that thief is Satan himself. He is also roaming to and fro over the earth looking for those whose hearts are not completely surrendered to God. He is seeking to steal and kill and destroy. Just as Satan tempted Eve he tried to pull Jesus down in the temptation in the wilderness. Satan and his demons will do everything possible to blind the spiritual eyes of people. He will use lies and deception. Our enemy will work to keep people in bondage to anything that hinders them from coming to God. The enemy will use temptation, doubt, guilt, fear, confusion, sickness, envy, pride, slander, or anything else that will possibly hinder a Christian’s peace and the ability to witness to Christ. Satan would not have us be useful to God in any way.

On the other hand, our Lord Jesus came into the world in order that we may have abundant life. It’s so sad that so many sincere believers allow Satan to rob them of their inheritance in Christ Jesus.

“The fact that God created us for his own glory answers the question about our purpose in life. Our purpose must be to fulfill the reason that God created us: to glorify him. When we are speaking with respect to God himself, that is a good summary of our purpose. But when we think of our own interests, we make the happy discovery that we are to enjoy God and take delight in him and in our relationship to him.” (Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, p 441).

King David told God “In your presence there is fullness of joy in your right hand are pleasures for evermore” (Psalm 16:11). The normal attitude of the Christian is rejoicing in the Lord and the lessons of the life he gives us.

Jesus came to give us these things and much more. In the words of our Lord Jesus, “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:11). Jesus came to disable Satan and deliver us from a life of rebellious sin into a life of peace. He came to take away the fear of death! Have you put your heart and life into his hands? Today could be your day of salvation. Call on him, repent of your sin and he will give you life abundant.

All scriptures quotes are from: The Holy Bible: English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.