Have a wonderful, holy, glorious Christmas and Happy New Year. I will be offline until January 2, spending time with family and friends and transitioning with the new pastor of The Way Middleton! See you in the new year.
Bill & Gloria Gaither - O Holy Night (Live) ft. David Phelps - YouTube
After the last few chapters of Luke, this chapter awakens the soul to joy!
What must it have been like when the women went to the tomb that Sunday morning and found the stone rolled away and heard the greatest announcement? “Why are you looking for the living among the dead?” [vs 5 HCSB]
Why, indeed! Jesus was not in that tomb. The women were reminded that this was exactly what Jesus had said must happen. Then the women … yes women … ran to the disciples to announce that Jesus was alive! “Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them were telling the apostles these things.” [vs 10 HCSB]
I find that most amazing. God used women to testify to the resurrection of Jesus. This was at a time when the word of women carried no weight. In Jesus’ day their testimony was even considered inadmissible in a court of law.
But no matter the gender of the messenger, it is the message which brings peace and comfort to the soul. Our LORD Christ Jesus is not in the tomb. He is Risen! And now He brings that Resurrection Life to us.
Christmas is about so much more than a simple story of a couple that could not find lodging and ended up having their baby born in a shelter for animals. Christmas without the cross would not exist. And the cross without Christmas would just be another case of capital punishment in the Roman era. Christmas and the Cross need each other.
And God’s magnificent exclamation point is the Resurrection! Without that, we would never celebrate Christmas or Easter!
Our LORD Christ Jesus, Immanuel (God with us!) came to seek and save the lost. Us. He became a helpless babe born in humble circumstances. He died on a Roman Cross and was buried. And then, rose from the grave. “Why seek the living among the dead!”
Why, indeed!
Today we read of the trial before Pilate, the crucifixion, death, and burial of our Lord Jesus. It is a sad chapter with very little to rejoice in, except for a wonderful promise found in verse 43.
Jesus was crucified between two criminals. One of the criminals yelled insults at Him. “Aren’t You the Messiah? Save Yourself and us!”, while the other rebuked the first. “Don’t you even fear God since you are undergoing the same punishment? We are punished justly because we’re getting back what we deserve for the things we did, but this man has done nothing wrong.” [vs 40-42]
Then this second criminal did something amazing, he turned to Jesus and made a request. “Jesus, remember me when you come into Your kingdom,” and Jesus did something even more amazing! He made that criminal a promise. “I assure you: Today you will be with Me in paradise.” [vs 42-43]
My grandfather was an atheist. My grandfather also loved me. He would take me to the “French Club,” the neighborhood bar in Charleroi, PA, buy me a soda and set me on the bar’s counter while he drank beer with his buddies.
My parents moved out of Charleroi, and I started school in a Catholic school in Sewickly, PA. There I learned about God. I began to send letters to my grandfather about faith—about salvation as a first and second grader knew it.
When my grandfather lay dying, he asked my aunt to call the priest, which she did. The priest led him through the sinner’s prayer where my grandfather renounced his sins and accepted Jesus as his Savior. He died shortly after. When they cleaned his room, they found all my letters under his mattress.
My grandfather made heaven just like that criminal on the cross next to Jesus. He did nothing to earn salvation, he didn’t understand faith and salvation probably much more than I did … but Christ Jesus saw his heart and brought him into the kingdom. I so look forward to meeting him again when we all gather around the throne.
Praise His Wondrous Name, Amen.
Luke 22 begins the final days of the life of Christ Jesus on earth in His first coming. What Jesus had to deal with in this chapter alone is almost beyond belief.
Judas meets with the religious leaders to plot to betray his friend and teacher.
At His last supper with His disciples, the disciples are arguing over who is going to be the greatest.
Jesus tells Peter that he is going to deny his LORD three times before the night is over.
He sweats great drops of blood in Gethsemane as He wrestles with the plan of God and drinking the cup of wrath filled with the sins of the world, all the while His disciples catch up on their sleep.
He is betrayed by a kiss as a mob comes to capture Him.
He hears Peter’s three denials.
He is blindfolded, mocked, and beaten.
He is condemned to death by the religious leaders.
As I read this chapter, my heart aches. Most of this chapter happens at night and the words Jesus speaks in verse 53 stop me every time I read them. “…But this is your hour—and the dominion of darkness.”
The Booth Brothers sing a medley called, “In Christ Alone,” and some of the words from that medley always break my heart. “There in the ground His body lay/Light of the world by darkness slain….”
This truly was the hour of darkness, the hour of judgment and wrath. And my precious LORD Christ Jesus faced it all—endured it all—for me, for you, for us.
The Booth Brothers - In Christ Alone (Medley) [Live] - Bing video
Luke 21 is primarily a prophetic chapter. Jesus tells His listeners about the Destruction of the Temple, Signs of the End of the Age, the Destruction of Jerusalem, The Coming of the Son of Man, a Parable about a Fig Tree, and finally the need for Watchfulness.
Whew! By the time you get through reading all those heavy prophecies, you almost forget how the chapter begins, with the Widow’s Gift. [vs 1-4]
While in the temple, Jesus spotted a poor widow. She brought an offering to the temple treasury located in the Court of the Women. She brought two tiny coins and dropped them into chests called “trumpets.” The chests were called trumpets because they were narrow at the top and wide at the bottom.
Jesus witnessed her gift and noted that “This poor widow has put in more than all of them. For all these people have put in gifts out of their surplus, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on.”
I remember an event that changed my life decades ago. I was Associate Pastor at Loomis First Assembly. I was in my office working on a Sunday School lesson. I was also drinking a lot of coffee! The restrooms were located on the other side of the foyer, and I made many trips across it that morning. As I did so I repeatedly ignored the trash on the floor left over from Sunday.
On one of my last trips across I saw an older woman, a very sweet simple lady who loved the LORD and did not hesitate to tell people of that love. She was bent over picking up the trash that I had walked past all morning. I heard the LORD speak to my spirit. “She has done more for me with her simple act than you have done with all your preparations and lesson plans.”
I will never forget His Words. I realized that like that poor widow, this woman had put her gift, all she had, before the LORD that morning out of her love for Him, while my heart had been far from Him in my arrogance thinking that my lessons for Sunday were too important to stop and pick up the trash.
I never forget that—ever. It is not the size or importance of the act before men, it is the attitude of the heart that pleases the LORD.
Jesus gives us the Parable of the Vineyard Owner in Luke 20:9-19. It is a parable about a man who leased a vineyard to tenant farmers, a common practice of His day. The owner expected a portion of the harvest, but the tenant farmers treated shamefully each of the servants he sent to collect some of the fruit. Eventually the owner decides to send his “beloved son” expecting him to be treated with respect.
Instead, the tenant farmers plot to kill the owner’s son. When the owner of the vineyard hears his son has been killed, he decides to come and destroy the tenant farmers. The scribes and chief priests who hear this parable know that it has been spoke about them.
Jesus then quotes Psalm 118:22: “The stone that the builders rejected—this has become the cornerstone.”
The Jewish leaders had no place in their plans for the Son of God. God, however, will vindicate His Son, who is the “Stone. He will give him the place of preeminence by making Him the “Chief Cornerstone,” a stone which carries the key foundational role. That “Chief Cornerstone” is indispensable and holds the place of greatest honor
Not only will God vindicate His Son, but all those who oppose Him will meet destruction. It is risky business to stand in opposition to the precious stone whom God has exalted.
The scribes and chief priests who were listening acknowledged the truth of Jesus’ statement by their reaction. “Then the scribes and the chief priests looked for a way to get their hands on Him that very hour, because they knew He had told this parable against them, but they feared the people.” [vs 19 HCSB]
Opposition to Jesus grows more intense. The scribes and chief priests know that their position is being challenged. They seek ways to arrest Jesus, but for now He is still too popular with the people. They need to seek a way to discredit Him and reverse His popularity.
It is not easy to surrender everything to Jesus the Chief Cornerstone but considering the alternative (having that Stone crush any who refuse to), it is a splendid choice.
We have come to the heart of the matter in Luke 19. Jesus is passing through Jericho when a man named Zacchaeus hears about it. Zacchaeus is described as a chief tax collector and rich. He is also short in stature, so in order to get Jesus’ attention he climbs a sycamore tree.
When Jesus spots Zacchaeus in the tree, He invites Himself into Zacchaeus’ house. It is there in Zacchaeus’ house that we hear Jesus speak the heart of the matter. It is the theme of Luke’s Gospel, and it is the glory of our hearts. “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.” [vs 10 HCSB]
Jesus uses His favorite title…Son of Man. It is a title found in Daniel 7:13-14. Daniel saw “One like a Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven [shekinah glory]. He was given authority to rule and glory, and a kingdom, so that those of every people, nation, and language should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away and His Kingdom is one that will not be destroyed.” [HCSB]
The Glorious Son of Man came to us with a glorious purpose, “to seek and to save the lost.” Me. You. Us.
For me the most wonderful word in that verse is “seek.” It is zeteo, and it means “I seek, search for, desire, require.”
The Glorious Son of Man seeks, searches for, desires, requires the lost. It is not that we “find Jesus,” it is that “Jesus finds us.” We are the lost.
I remember being lost once as a child, probably around 7 or 8 years old. I went with a classmate after school thinking I could find my way home after that visit. I could not. I wandered the streets until finally a man found me and took me home to my family. Lost is a feeling I remember quite clearly.
I also remember being spiritually lost, wandering through life with no real awareness of where I was, until Jesus, in August 1973 found me and brought me home. The Glorious Son of Man sought me, saved me, because He loved me.
The riches found in Luke 18! In that beautiful chapter we find the Parable of the Persistent Widow, which re-emphasizes the need to be persistent in prayer. Jesus also welcomes the children who are brought to Him and reminds us that we are to be like little children in welcoming the kingdom of God.
Then there are two interactions. The first with the Rich Young Ruler and the second with a blind man who loudly asks Jesus to restore His sight.
If you have read the chapter, you know I skipped over the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector [vs 9-14].
Jesus speaks of two men who went into the temple complex to pray. The first, a Pharisee, reminds God that “I’m not like other people—greedy, unrighteous, adulterers or even like this tax collector.”
The second man is that tax collector. His reaction to God is completely different. “God, turn Your wrath from me—a sinner!”
Jesus tells His listeners that the tax collector went home justified rather than the Pharisee “because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Oh, precious LORD, how often we are more like that Pharisee than we are the tax collector! We look at others who do not hold our viewpoint on so many things and we say, “I’m glad I’m not like other people …!” And, yet, with that attitude we are.
I will probably offend many when I say this, but there are far too many Pharisees in the church today. God is calling us to remember the pit from which we have been dug … and to pray for those who do not know Christ Jesus as Savior and LORD.
Psalm 40:1-3: I waited patiently for the LORD, and He turned to me and heard my cry for help. He brought me up from a desolate pit, out of the muddy clay, and set my feet on a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD. [HCSB]
There is a wonderful event in the life of Jesus related in Luke 17. It involved ten lepers who were healed by Jesus and sent off to the priests to affirm their cleansing. One, a Samaritan, came back and fell at Jesus’ feet offering praise and glory to God. I love that story, but it is not the one I want to focus on this morning.
The one that has always been especially precious to me – and especially challenging – is found earlier in the chapter. Jesus’ disciples asked Him to “Increase our faith.” Jesus tells them they just need faith like a mustard seed. [vs 5-6]
Ah, if Jesus had just left it there, but He did not. He goes on to tell them about the duty that is attached to the faith. He uses an example of a slave who has spent the day toiling in the fields who then comes home and needs to make dinner for the master. He ends with a description of this slave that seems almost cruel. “In the same way, when you have done all that you were commanded, you should say, ‘We are good-for-nothing [unworthy] slaves; we’ve only done our duty.’” [vs 10 HCSB]
When we approach this Scripture, we need to understand the norms of that society. Jesus describes here something that would have been a common practice and obvious to His listeners. It is totally foreign to us since this world’s idea of success is not servanthood but to lord it over others.
Jesus is not demeaning servants, instead He is giving the ideal of servanthood, and attaching duty to faith. The true bondservant of Christ Jesus has no reason for pride. In its place there must be a true sense of duty that is rooted in humility. Humility is the foundation of faith.
As we seek the LORD, our desire is to serve Him and do His work. That duty and accompanying faith provides us the power we need to thrive as we serve Him and others in His name. Jesus reminds us that we are not to feel proud of our faith or of our good works. They are, after all, what is expected of those who desire to be disciples of Christ.
LORD Jesus, thank you for the opportunity to serve You and others in Your name! Amen.
Jesus sure did talk a lot about money! That often seems to be a part of “Jesus” the world ignores today. How many times pastors have been chastised because they spoke about money in their messages!
People who do not like to hear messages about money have probably never read Luke 16. It begins with the Parable of the Dishonest Manager and ends with the Rich Man and Lazarus. In the middle Jesus gives a small discourse on Kingdom Values to the Pharisees who were listening. He is prompted by the Pharisees love of – you guessed it – money.
“The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, were listening to all these things and scoffing at Him. And He told them ‘You are the ones who justify yourselves in the sight of others, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly admired by people is revolting in God’s sight.’” [vs 14-15]
There are four words in Jesus’ warning to the Pharisees that should bring all of us up short. “God knows your hearts.”
When the Pharisees heard that, they should have remembered 1 Samuel 16 when God sent Samuel to the house of Jesse to anoint a new king after God rejected the current one, Saul.
When Samuel tried to anoint Jesse’s oldest son Eliab, God stopped him. “Do not look at his appearance or his stature, because I have rejected him. Man does not see what the Lord sees, for man sees what is visible, but the LORD sees the heart.” [vs 7 HCSB]
In essence Jesus was telling the Pharisees that they were being rejected as Eliab was because God knew what was in their hearts. What made them “highly admired” by people was “revolting in God’s sight.”
No wonder they hated Jesus so much that they were willing to bond with their enemies to try to find a way to silence Him forever.