Discipleship in the Gospel of Luke

The point of our series in looking at Discipleship in the New Testament is life change. That is what we are shooting for. That is the destination. That is the metric as to whether or not we are accomplishing our purpose. Are we allowing the word of God and things within it by the Spirit of God to change our hearts?

Discipleship

(Slide) When we say, “Yes” to Jesus… what we are saying is we want to be His disciple...

You are my master and I am your apprentice (authority)

My priorities will be reordered according to your priorities (mission)

My loves will be reordered according to your loves (posture)

Discipleship is continuing to be transformed as children of God who have allegiance to Jesus, His teachings, and who hold onto faith until He comes again.

I think you will find that as we journey through this series, Discipleship in the New Testament, it will be invaluable to be reading the books of the Bible each week.

Can I mention… unless we are reading our Bibles, our growth, maturity, our ability to understand God and His plan is greatly diminished. Constantly reading, studying, memorizing, taking in the Word of God is how God has chosen to reveal Himself. We can not know Him deeply and intimately apart from His revealed Word.

Helpful hint: Look at the book, take the chapters, and divide by 5 or 6 and commit to read that many each day if not the whole thing

As the weeks go on and we get past Acts and Corinthians, the chapters get less and less.

Join us at ReST each week as we will be discussing that Sundays book (9am downstairs) and glean from one another what you are finding and seeing.

Point: “Discipleship is not so much about how we behave among other believers but how we engage with a needy world. Discipleship is not designed to turn us inward but outward.” - Darrell Bock

The apostle Paul instructed Timothy (his son in the faith) 2 Tim 2:2 “What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”

As we look at the Gospel of Luke, we see that the intent of Luke in writing the gospel is that… to be certain of the things which we’ve been instructed.

Not a lot unlike today… there are a lot of opinions about what should govern our lives. There are a lot of voices vying for what is truth and owning truth.

Other religions

Culture (your particular community in the culture… organizations, friend group, etc)

Traditions

Self (what we want): For those who are more bold, within the last 10 years it is now acceptable to say you have “your truth” and I have “my truth”

Luke 1:1-4 “Many have undertaken to compile a narrative about the events that have been fulfilled among us, just as the original eyewitnesses and servants of the word handed them down to us. So it also seemed good to me, since I have carefully investigated everything from the very first, to write to you in an orderly sequence, most honorable Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things about which you have been instructed.”

Luke felt it necessary to investigate whether these things are true. He writes to his friend, “beloved of God” affirming what they know to be true. (Background of Luke… goes here)

I’ve been a part of the church for many years now. I get this… is it for real? Can I trust what I’ve been taught?

Grew up in the church

Recognized I wanted to commit my life to Jesus when I was a Junior in High School, have been committed to Jesus and the church ever since

If you have been a part of the church and paying attention for any length of time, you’ll know that there is infidelity, abuse, hurt, embezzlement, selfishness and so much.

Not only that, but confronted with my own weakness… my own failures

There have been times where I’ve questioned things… I sought answers… I sought counsel… I asked the questions that Luke seems to be answering.

What I was then reminded and encouraged to keep focus on is that Jesus is hero. Jesus is the center of my story. Jesus needs to be the center of our story. What Luke is telling the beloved of God is that Jesus is the Hero. Jesus is the center of the gospel.

When you read the gospel, it’s really hard to come away with the understanding that God exists to get my will done… that somehow we are the center of the story.

Me: The temptation is to look for acceptance and validation from other people. There I have become frustrated and let down… because we’re all sinners… we all fall short.

I’ve looked to myself, but I know me. I know me pretty well and I disappoint myself. I don’t measure up. I can’t be what I know I want to be. I can’t always walk in a way that I do everything I know what is right to do.

I’ve felt like this in my own Christian walk. Disoriented, confused, small, insignificant and unsure. What do I do, how do I do it, God what do you want from me… what am I supposed to do with my life.

Nothing makes this more clear as when I’m disoriented by anger or disappointment. I want to take justice into my hands. I want to take what is God’s and make things the way I want them to be.

Or maybe those out there aren’t safe. I’ve been hurt. I’ve been let down. I’m disappointed… can’t trust others.

I need to look to Jesus. Jesus is the hero of my story.

We: Maybe you’ve felt like that too.

Maybe others have let you down. They haven’t been able to keep commitments, promises that they made.

Maybe you’ve been hurt deeply by someone you love or a trusted person.

Maybe you also have let yourself down and your disappointed by your own behaviour and choices.

Luke has written down this gospel for us.

That we might be reminded that Jesus is the hero.

Our culture is one where our personal stories are the center of our worlds. Our stories are not big enough. Like the book of Luke… we need to find ourselves in the larger story. Our story only makes sense in the larger story.

God: God knows our story. God knows our story and loves us. God has given this to us so that we might know what is true. That Jesus has come not for His own sake but for ours. He is our hero. He needs to be the center of our story.

I want to say again, that Jesus has come not for His sake but for ours.

God has something to say about this in our journey with Him. He’s given us the example that we might know how to follow Him in a genuine, life-giving, the way its supposed to be relationship with him.

While there are many passages of Luke that highlight the purpose of Jesus in the gospel of Luke, I’m compelled by Mary’s song in the first chapter. Her song when she meets her cousin Elizabeth helps us see what the gospel should do as we seek to be obedient to the authority of Jesus, the mission of Jesus, and the posture of Jesus for life change.

Luke 1:46-55 “And Mary said: My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, because he has looked with favor on the humble condition of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed, because the Mighty One has done great things for me, and his name is holy. His mercy is from generation to generation on those who fear him. He has done a mighty deed with his arm; he has scattered the proud because of the thoughts of their hearts; he has toppled the mighty from their thrones and exalted the lowly. He has satisfied the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering his mercy to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he spoke to our ancestors.”

vss 46-49

God did a thing for Mary like no one could have done for her. Ever had anyone make you feel like the most precious, special person in the world? This is what God did for Mary.

This is what God has done for you and for me. Jesus came and gave the highest honor to a woman of no reputation, no wealth, no accolades (she hadn’t proved anything by worlds standards). She recognized her need for a Savior and that God was giving her one… giving one to the world.

The reason the world calls her blessed is because it is those who know Jesus who want to be like Mary. Those who have been born again feel this and know this… what I mean can be summarized by was an English Anglican philosopher, theologian, and biblical scholar Austin Farrer,

“A Son is better than an explanation. The explanation of our death leaves us no less dead than we were, but a Son gives us a life in which to live. The mother revives as her thought attaches itself to this new life. And Mary of all mothers is most blessed as her thought ranges forward over the happy tasks of which her life hereafter must consist, the nurture and protection of her Son.

Here is a Son in whose life she can always more richly live, for he is life itself, and to live in him is to live in life everlasting. If we live in our own children we live in what must fail and disappoint us; Mary was most blessed, because for her, the natural love of parenthood could run on unbroken into the love of that Son whom God had supernaturally given. And so Christians have desired to have her prayers, not because special virtues are recorded of her, but because she has a path of incomparable simplicity into the heart of God's love.

And so from a mother she came to be a worshiper; she lived in him-not in what she made him, but in what he made of her.”

Carrying for Jesus, nursing him, carrying him, teaching him, to then following Him and being saved by Him.

Oh that we would have the same affection and devotion to Him. In Him is life.

vss. 50-53 (slide)

He has shown mercy to those who have needed mercy. Like wave after wave of those in awe of him.

He has rescued the humble and is near to the broken-hearted.

He has rebuked the proud and resisted those who make themselves out to be something when they are not. He takes kings and kingdoms and brings them down as they become sources of tyranny.

He is a safe refuge to the one who has no home.

He feeds the hungry and cares for the poor.

He allows those that think money, power, and fame are going to satisfy them, giving them over to the emptiness of riches, renown, and authority.

Leonardo DeCaprio… one of the most famous actors of our time, in 2013 says this, “fame is empty and pointless.”

There’s a reason that “accomplishment” often leaves us feeling “empty”—and it’s actually very simple. Compliments, prizes, awards, good grades, money, and other sources of “external validation” make us feel great for little while, but ultimately they’re not filling or satisfying. Because they’re not reliable. They can be given—but taken away just as easily. And it feels like there’s never “enough.” - Suzanne Gelb, Ph.D. Psychology Today - May 11, 2019

“Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water…. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably, earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing.” C.S. Lewis

“It works like this: we hunger spiritually and are then filled and become supremely satisfied. The satisfaction then makes way for a deeper spiritual hunger, a further filling and blessed satisfaction. And so it goes on in sublime paradox: hunger – filling – satisfaction, hunger – filling – satisfaction. We become more and more full of Christ.” Pastor, Theologian, Kent Hughes

vss.54-55

God is faithful to His word. He said He would remember His people, He would save His people.

When you weigh eternity verses our human existence, praise God He is more concerned about our eternal place near Him rather than our present comfort and ease of life.

Jesus came with an eternal focus.

Those who follow Him will also turn that focus from the temporal to the eternal

Those who follow Him will turn from being inward focus to outward focus. This is what we see the in the gospel of Luke.

“Luke teaches that the disciple of Jesus is to be a vessel for reconciling others to Him.” - Darrell Bock (NT Scholar)

In loving Him, His loves become our loves.

In confessing Him as Lord we give Him our lives

In encountering the things of life we are asking Him to help us respond in the way He would.

You

What would happen if you this week, looked to put Jesus at the center of your day?

What would happen if we were orienting ourselves to the things that Jesus gave Himself too?

Luke 4:18-19 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Luke 19:10 “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.””

What would it look like to be oriented in this way?

Us

What if we took to heart that “Discipleship is not so much about how we behave among other believers but how we engage with a needy world. Discipleship is not designed to turn us inward but outward.” - Darrell Bock

What kind of community would we have if we sought to love and have Jesus at the center of our hearts, lives, decisions that we made? That it wasn’t about what people thought of us… looking for others approval and validation but sought only the approval and validation of our Lord and Savior?

Luke teaches us and the “beloved of God” to be vessels poured out for His kingdom and His purpose. This is what discipleship looks like in Luke.

This week, commit to when you wake up (set an alarm on your phone) to take a moment and pray, ask the Lord to

Strengthen you in your Spirit to follow Him

Give you eyes to see the opportunities before you to be a vessel of His showing His mercy, kindness, goodness, and grace.

Pray for the Lord to give you the joy of giving and changing someone’s circumstance.

In your obedience to the Lord, may He continue to bless you and keep you… transforming you more into the image of Jesus. Remembering that God will use your obedience to not only transform you but transform the community around you.

Let us stand.