Partakers Christian Podcasts

Jesus' Mission

73. The Christian Disciple and Jesus’ Mission Luke writes in Luke 4v42-44: “At daybreak Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them. But he said, "I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent." And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.” Jesus’ public ministry on earth has begun! These verses at the end of Luke 4 tell us that His mission is to preach God’s Kingdom. A reluctant John the Baptist baptized him and the crowds heard God the Father speaking to Him. He underwent temptations by the arch-seducer, satan and emerged victorious from that ordeal. Now Jesus, led by the Holy Spirit, has returned home to Galilee (Luke 4v14). 1. Jesus at home (Luke 4v14-30) Jesus is back in home territory and because of the power of His teaching, He is becoming known as a great teacher (Luke 4v15). Jesus spent some time in Galilee, become known and arousing the interest, curiosity and excitement of people. a. Worshipping (Luke 4v14-18) – It was Jesus’ habit to attend public worship wherever he was. A typical synagogue service · Opened with a prayer for God’s blessing · Traditional Hebrew confession of faith (Deuteronomy 6:4-9; 11:13-21) · Prayer and readings from the Law and the Prophets · Brief sermon given by one of the men or a visiting rabbi (Acts 13:14-16) · Benediction or prayer Because of His growing renown as a teacher, it is no surprise that he should be asked to read the Scripture and give a short teaching session regarding it. Here in Nazareth, Jesus declared that the day for demonstrating God’s salvation had arrived and the day the prophets looked forward to, was going to be fulfilled in Jesus Himself (Luke 4v20). He was the Servant Isaiah had talked about long ago (Isaiah 61v1-2). His ministry was divinely directed; it was a ministry of hope for all people and a ministry to free the spiritually oppressed (Luke 4v18). Acceptable Year of the Lord (Luke 4:19) When Jesus said in Luke 4v19 “to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour”, Jesus was referring to the “Year of Jubilee” (Leviticus 25). Every fiftieth year, this special year was the balancing of the economic system. · Slaves were set free and returned to their families · Property that was sold back to the original owners · All debts were cancelled · Lands lay bare to rest and rejoice in the Lord The local reaction was at first one of astonishment (Luke 4v22) and telling each other he was the son of Joseph! But Jesus was not the son of Joseph, but rather the Son of God, the new Adam and the founder of a new humanity as he goes on to explain. b. Rejected (Luke 4:20-30) They saw Him as the son of Joseph. Admiration turned to anger, because Jesus began to remind them of God’s goodness to the Gentiles. · The prophet Elijah bypassed all the Jewish widows and helped a Gentile widow in Sidon (1 Kings 17:8-16) · Elisha healed a Gentile leper from Syria (2 Kings 5:1-15) Whilst those in Nazareth could only see Jesus in the local setting, He told them His mission was for all Israel! And if Israel rejected this message of Good News, then the Gentiles would be blessed by it (Luke 4v25-27). Upon hearing this, the astonished admiration turned to furious anger (Luke 4v28-30)! Salvation is no longer restricted to Israel but for every child of Adam – every human. Jesus’ mission was not to be Israel’s saviour but the world’s saviour. When Jesus quoted the proverb “no prophet is accepted in his hometown”, he revealed his knowledge of Old Testament history. He knew that God’s messengers often were rejected, and even as God’s Son, he was rejected as well. 2. Jesus away from home (Luke 4v31-44) Now Jesus walked through the rioting mob and went to Capernaum and here he engaged in public ministry: a. Preaching (Luke 4v31-32) – Jesus sets up headquarters in Capernaum (Matthew 4:13-16) and started teaching in the Synagogue. People were astonished that He taught with such authority. b. Rebuking (Luke 4v33-37, 41) – Our Lord did not want the demons to bear witness to Himself and His identity (Luke 4:34,41). Again people were astonished at Jesus power and authority. c. Healing (Luke 4v:39-40) – People bought their sick and asked Jesus to help them. d. Praying (Luke 4v42-44) – He was up early the next morning to pray (Mark 1:35). It was in prayer that He found his strength and power for service, and so must we. During this period: · No new teaching – He has God’s authority to do what He is doing – preaching healing and releasing. · God desires humility – Jesus is looking for people to acknowledge their spiritual blindness and poverty, so that Jesus may liberate them. · God’s Word is important – In the previous verses, Jesus counters the devil by using God’s Word, and he continues to do this throughout His ministry. He teaches and preaches in the synagogues (Luke 4v32, 44); rebukes demons (Luke 4v35, 41) and heals diseases (Luke 4v39) all with the authority of His word. Jesus’ mission was to be the saviour of the world as God’s Son (John 3v16) and the Servant of the Lord. His mission was to give a message of hope for the spiritually poor and spiritually oppressed people. People not only in his hometown, nor only in Israel, but rather for the whole world. People have two choices when faced with this fact: accept or reject. There is no other option. That is why as Christian Disciples we are to be actively engaged in evangelism, to tell people of this news about Jesus Christ. For more to think about please do read Luke 4v1-44. Ask yourself the following questions, writing them down if you can, and see how you respond or react to them. Then why not share your answers with your spouse or a close friend, so that you can pray over any issues together. Q1. How does knowing Jesus’ mission help me in my life as a Christian Disciple? Q2. Where does the authority for my ministry come from? Q3. What encouragement can I take from Jesus’ behaviour to those who rejected His message? As ever, if you have any comments to make on this, please do contact me at partake(at)hotmail.co.uk. Thank you.

Jesus’ Temptations

72. Christian Disciple and Jesus’ Temptations

Luke writing in Luke 4v1-2: “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.”

In Luke 3, we discovered that Jesus had started his public ministry at his baptism, and that He was revealed as God’s Son. However, not only was Jesus fully God, he was also human. In the other Gospel accounts of this event, Matthew (Matthew 4v1) and Mark (Mark 1v12) both tell us that Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert. Luke alone tells us that Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit, and that he was led in the Spirit into the desert. Luke’s phrasing and terminology makes it clearer that Jesus’ temptation experiences in the desert were all part of God’s plan at the start of Jesus’ public ministry, in order that the type of Messiah Jesus was, would be revealed.

This temptations event reveals Jesus’ perfect and full humanity. Knowing Jesus to be both God and man, satan starts his plan of attack against Him. After forty days of fasting, prayer and wandering in the desert, Jesus is confronted by satan. In this event we have three temptations, and it reveals the way Christian Disciples are to handle temptations when confronted with them.

First temptation (Luke 4v3-4) - Note the way satan starts by saying “So you are the Son of God.” As if to say, “If you are really who those voices speaking at your baptism say you are, then prove it to me. You must surely be hungry by now, so why don’t you turn these stones into bread and feed yourself” (Luke 4v3). Satan wanted Jesus to disobey to God the Father’s will by using His powers for selfish purposes. He also wanted Jesus to doubt God the Father’s love and care. Jesus however is the beloved Son who always does the will of the Father (John 8v29). Luke 4v4 shows us that Jesus answered satan by using Scripture “'Man does not live on bread alone.” (Deuteronomy 8v3). This reveals that while physical food is necessary, it is more important to be sustained by the authority of Scripture. For Jesus, instead of relying on His own power to create food, it showed His trust in God the Father to take total care of Him.

Second temptation (Luke 4v5-8) – This is satan’s encouragement for Jesus to engage in false worship, challenging him as it does to break the commandment “You shall have no other gods but me” (Exodus 20v3). Satan says its all yours if you just bow the knee and worship me. Of course satan is as always telling a deceiving half-truth. Though satan has great power (John 12v31; 2 Corinthians 4v4), he has no authority to be able to offer Jesus everything he said he would give. He is also not worthy of worship as his power is always destructive and leads to wanton disobedience and unfaithfulness. This reflects satan’s self-delusion of grandeur. Jesus’ reply again is from Scripture, "It is written: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve him only'" (Deuteronomy 6v13). Jesus here is saying that He will only serve one Master, and that is God the Father.

Third temptation (Luke 4v9-13) - Here, satan encourage Jesus to take God the Father up on His promised protection. “Throw yourself off the top of the temple. If God is faithful and true, God will catch you and protect you as you start off on this ministry of yours!” Satan also here quotes Scripture in order to make the temptation much more appealing (Psalm 91v11-12). However, this is a misquote, because he doesn’t add “in all your ways”. Jesus, however, being always wise, quotes Scripture back “Do not put the Lord your God to the test” (Deuteronomy 6v16). In quoting Scripture back, Jesus gives balance to the total expression of God’s will and not just part of it. Jesus refused to acquiesce to the lures of satan, and his demands to test God the Father’s faithfulness on his own terms.

The first temptation is echoed within us, when we try to do things in our own strength and power instead of relying on God’s power and strength to achieve much more than we can hope for or imagine.

The second temptation here echoes James 1v14-15 where desires and lusts lure the Christian Disciple into sinning against and disobeying God.

The third temptation occurs for us when we test God. Christian Disciples who actively disobey God, subsequently fall into trouble and then expect God to rescue us are testing God. An example of this is in Exodus 17v1-7.

Jesus emerged from the desert experience, the victor, and to continue his ministry. Satan skulked off for his next opportunity. As Christian Disciples we need to be aware of the schemes of satan, and learn to fend him off, just as Jesus did in the wilderness and in all subsequent encounters during his earthly ministry.

How satan tempts the Christian Disciple

Accuse them (Rev 12v10)

Devour their testimony for Jesus Christ (1 Peter 5v8)

Deceive them (2 Corinthians 11v14)

Hinder their work (1 Thessalonians 2v18)

The Christian Disciples’ response to satan should be:

To recognise his power and deception (2 Corinthians 2v11; Ephesians 6v11)

Stay with the faith (1 Peter 5v9)

Wear the armour of God (Ephesians 6v10-17)

Resist him openly by submitting to God and he will flee (James 4v7)

Not to give him opportunities (Ephesians 4v27)

Probably the best way to oppose him is to grow as a Christian Disciple and submit all to God. We must remember that our love for God must always be stronger than our love for the world. If we love somebody, we do not want to hurt that person. When we go against God and sin, we are hurting our relationship with Him. He is a holy God and cannot abide any sin! Therefore, as we grow as Christian Disciples we grow more in love with God, and therefore our desire to sin grows less. By having faith & trust in God to provide needs and protection and worshipping and serving Him alone, the Christian Disciple grows in spiritual maturity and will also not succumb to temptation to sin and disobey God.

For more to think about please do read 1 Corinthians 10v1-13. Ask yourself the following questions, writing them down if you can, and see how you respond or react to them. Then why not share your answers with your spouse or a close friend, so that you can pray over any issues together.

Q1. How can these examples given by Paul help me not to disobey God?

Q2. In what areas do I think I am standing firm and do I always recognize the way of escaping temptation?

Q3. What does Jesus’ experiences of temptation, tell me about his humanity and how I too can stand up when tempted?

As ever, if you have any comments to make on this, please do contact me at partake(at)hotmail.co.uk. Thank you.

Jesus' Baptism

71. The Christian Disciple and Jesus’ Baptism

Luke writing in Luke 3v21-23: “When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased."  Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry.”

In the next few Podcasts, we will discuss certain events in the life of Jesus.  But today, we start with Jesus’ baptism as it also shows the commencement of Jesus’ public ministry.  Jesus is now about 30 years old.  John the Baptist precedes all Gospel accounts of the start of Jesus’ ministry, and this is because repentance before God is the key to starting a new life in God’s Kingdom.

Witness One – John the Baptist (Luke 3v1-20)

When John came (Lukev1-2) – When John the Baptist appeared on the scene, no prophetic voice had been heard within Israel for almost 400 years. His coming was part of God’s perfect timing, for everything that relates to God’s Son is always on time (Gal.4v4; Jn.2v4, 13v1)

How John came (Lukev3) – Dressed and acting like an Old Testament prophet Elijah, John came to the area near the River Jordan, preaching and baptizing. He announced the arrival of the kingdom of heaven (Mt.3v3) and urged the people to repent. John’s baptism looked forward to the coming of the Messiah, while Christian baptism looks back to the finished work of Christ in His death and resurrection.

Why John came (Lukevv4-20) – John the Baptist was a voice “crying in the wilderness” (Is.40v1-5; Luke 3v4; Jn.1v23). Spiritually speaking, the nation of Israel was living in a state of unbelief and twisted spiritual reality. The people desperately needed to hear a voice from God, and John was that faithful voice. It was John’s work to prepare the nation for the Messiah and then present the Messiah to them. John is also compared to a farmer who chops down useless chaff (Luke 3v17). Many Jews of the time, thought they were destined for heaven simply because they were descended from Abraham. In Luke 3v7, John depicts the Pharisees as snakes.

John the Baptist also was a teacher. He taught people to live their new faith (Luke 3v10-14). He told them not to be selfish, but to share their blessings with other people. Tax collectors were told by John to do their work honestly. Soldiers were to stop using their jobs for personal gain. John clearly stated that Jesus was “the Lord” (Luke 3v4) and the Son of God (Jn.1v34)

Witness Two and Three – The Father and the Spirit (Luke 3v21-23a)

Jesus comes to John the Baptist, and presents Himself for baptism. John at first refuses to do it (Mt.3v13-15). He knew that Jesus of Nazareth was the perfect Son of God who had no need to repent of sin.

Through His baptism, He identified with all sinners that He came to save.  We have seen already that it is the start of His public ministry (Acts 1v21-22, 10v37-38).  But why did Jesus get baptized?  In replying to John’s initial refusal to baptize him, Jesus said “…it is proper for us to do this to fulfil all righteousness” (Mt.3v15).  This looks forward to the cross, because it is only through the baptism of suffering that Jesus endured on the cross, that God is able to fulfil all righteousness. The “us” referred to means Father Son and Spirit. When Jesus came up from the water, the Father spoke from heaven and identified Him as the beloved Son of God, and the Spirit visibly came upon Jesus in the form of a dove.

Jesus as the Son of Man - The Genealogy Luke 3v23b-38

The genealogy here reminds us that the Son of God was also the Son of Man, born into the world, identifying with the needs and problems of mankind.  Through the genealogy, we see down through the generations Jesus’ link to Adam and ultimately God.  The phrase “the son of” generally means any remotely connected descendant or ancestor.  It is a reminder that Jesus, being Joseph’s legal son was part of a human family, tribe, race and nation.  Jesus’ line goes back through the Old Testament from Joseph to King David to Judah, Jacob, Isaac and Abraham, to Methuselah to Noah and Adam.  The genealogy with its link to David, shows Jesus’ right to ascend to David’s throne (Luke 1v32-33).  The genealogy shows Jesus’ total human-ness, and because he is linked to Adam, identifies with all humanity and not just Israel.  But there is one difference between Jesus and all other humans.  In that Luke doesn’t stop the genealogy at Adam, as he would have for all other humans.  Luke ultimately leads and links Jesus to being God’s Son.

Son of God (Luke 3v38) – Adam has come into the world bearing the true image of a son of God, for when Adam disobeyed God, that image was marred & scarred due to sin entering the world.  All that is, except Jesus.  The voice from God the Father ratified Jesus as the Son of God.  Not a son of God as some may claim, but the one and only Son of God.  This genealogy points to the unbroken relationship between Jesus and God.  Jesus is as Adam was before Adam’s disobedience.

For more to think about please do read Luke 4v1-30. Ask yourself the following questions, writing them down if you can, and see how you respond or react to them.  Then why not share your answers with your spouse or a close friend, so that you can pray over any issues together.

Q1. What lesson can I learn from the ministry of John the Baptist?

Q2. What link is there between being tempted and doing the work God has give me to do?

Q3. What lessons can I learn Jesus’ rejection at Nazareth?

As ever, if you have any comments to make on this, please do contact me at partake(at)hotmail.co.uk.  Thank you.

4. Jesus - fully God

How is it possible, you may well ask. If you take a pint of milk, and you pour the milk into a milk jug, the milk remains milk, although it is now in another container. In the same way, God inhabited a human body, thereby still being God, but also being human.

3. Jesus - fully human

That Jesus was a man is not really disputed. The primary documents about Him, found in the Bible, says that he was born of a woman which in itself tells us that at least in a prenatal state he was nurtured and formed as any other male baby was and is. His genealogical line is given and He grew into maturity as any young Jewish boy did. With his humanity, he exhibited normal human emotions such as love, weeping, sadness, anger and anguish. Jesus ate and drank. He had a body and a soul. Jesus grew tired. He slept & perspired. Jesus died just as all mortal people do. Religiously, he worshipped as a Jew. Not only these facts, but the 4 ‘biographies’ or gospels written about him acknowledge his humanity. He was human in every way that we are - physically, mentally and emotionally.