Make Time for Jesus

My prayer this morning is that you will figure out how to make some time with Jesus. Find a time and place and learn to get alone with the trinity. That is what we are going to talk about today is getting alone with Jesus.

If you have your Bibles, go with me to the book of Luke. I am in chapter 7. We will finish chapter 7 today and start chapter 8. That will put us about a 1/3 of the way through the book of Luke.

I hope you are spending time reading this book. You reading along will only enhance what I am saying to you each Sunday. Luke chapter 7.

Luke 7:18–23 NIV

18 John’s disciples told him about all these things. Calling two of them, 19 he sent them to the Lord to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” 20 When the men came to Jesus, they said, “John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?’ ” 21 At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. 22 So he replied to the messengers, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. 23 Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.”

Let me begin this morning by saying, the most important thing about us is what we think of Jesus.

In your mind, who is Jesus? Because the identity of Jesus Christ is the most important decision to be settled. We will see all throughout the book of Luke people are asking, “Who is Jesus?” So, as we are going through Luke you have to discover for yourself who Jesus is to you.

It is in this moment that we see John starting to have doubt. It is okay to have doubts because that is what will make you want to dig deeper into the word of God.

Moses had doubts. Jeremiah wanted to quit the ministry. Elijah wanted to die. Doubting is not a sin if it leads you to explore who God is more. The problem comes when your doubt leads you to stop searching for the truth.

It was Jesus that said in John 8:31-32

John 8:31–32 NIV

31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

It is when we stop searching for the truth that we get ourselves in trouble. Don’t stop searching for the truth. That is what John the Baptist is doing here. Doubt is creeping in and so he sends two of his disciples to search for the truth. And Jesus sends back a reply that John would understand. Verse 22 says.

Luke 7:22 NIV

22 So he replied to the messengers, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.

Jesus is showing John that what was prophesied in Isaiah 35 is what He is doing. Look at Isaiah 35:4-6

Isaiah 35:4–6 NIV

4 say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.” 5 Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. 6 Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.

This is the message that Jesus is giving John the Baptist and through this John will know that Jesus is in fact the Messiah. Jesus is reassuring John that He is here.

Then in verse 24, Jesus begins to speak about John the Baptist.

Luke 7:24–28 NIV

24 After John’s messengers left, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swayed by the wind? 25 If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear expensive clothes and indulge in luxury are in palaces. 26 But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 27 This is the one about whom it is written: “ ‘I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’ 28 I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John; yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”

When John’s disciples left to go tell him the news, Jesus reassured everyone there that John is who they thought he was. Jesus wanted everyone to understand just how great John was.

I find it interesting while studying for this message that the man that put John in prison, Herod Antipas, placed a reed as an emblem on his coins a few years earlier. And Jesus is making a reference to a reed swayed by the wind in verse 24. Jesus is wanting the people to understand that John stood up for the truth and Jesus shows them that John was the one fulfilling prophesy in Malachi 3:1

Malachi 3:1 NIV

1 “I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty.

So, Jesus is clarifying that John is great in Luke 7:28

Luke 7:28 NIV

28 I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John; yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”

What made John Great 1. he was filled with the Holy Spirit at birth 2. He was a faithful representative of God 3. He funneled people to God. 4. He is the final Old Testament prophet (Luke 16:16). 5. He is the forerunner of Jesus Christ.

These are the five things that make John great. But then Jesus tells us. Luke 7:28

Luke 7:28 NIV

28 I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John; yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”

How can we be greater than John the Baptist?

John announced the kingdom and he prepared the way. The kingdom is always greater than the announcement of the kingdom. If you are a believer of Jesus Christ then you are no longer a part of this world but you have made a reservation to be a part of God’s Kingdom.

These next two verses you could label the great divide if you want because Luke is pointing out two groups of people that were listening to what Jesus was saying. Verse 29

Luke 7:29–30 NIV

29 (All the people, even the tax collectors, when they heard Jesus’ words, acknowledged that God’s way was right, because they had been baptized by John. 30 But the Pharisees and the experts in the law rejected God’s purpose for themselves, because they had not been baptized by John.)

John’s baptism was a baptism of confession and repentance. The problem with the group in verse 30 is they were self righteous people. They had the mentality, I am good enough. I don’t need what John said. They were shallow. They had a shallow view of how bad their sin was.

John Owen said, “he who has a shallow view of sin has a shallow view of God.”

And Jesus continues in verse 31.

Luke 7:31–35 NIV

31 Jesus went on to say, “To what, then, can I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? 32 They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to each other: “ ‘We played the pipe for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not cry.’ 33 For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ 34 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ 35 But wisdom is proved right by all her children.”

Jesus compares the people to children that play.

I remember when I was a kid, my cousins, my sister and I would like to play church or house or something that adults would do. We would act out how we thought you were to play church or house. We would act out what we saw the adults doing. This is what Jesus is referring to. The children of Jesus time would pretend to have a wedding or a funeral.

Luke 7:32 NIV

32 They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to each other: “ ‘We played the pipe for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not cry.’

And because of how John was the people would say that John was too strict. Then Jesus came around and the people said that Jesus took too much liberty. And basically Jesus is telling them, the problem is not the messenger it is the mess that you have made it you little spoiled brats.

We hear this today as well. That preacher preaches too long or too short. The music is too long or not enough hymns. The pastor doesn’t use enough illustrations in his message or he uses too many. The problem is not the messenger it is the mess that we have made it. We need to get our personal feelings out of the way and let God be God. We need to think more about spending time in the presence of God than we do about how the message is presented.

Then Luke moves from this to a story that I believe is one of the most important stories for us today. If you don’t get anything else from what I am going to say you need to get this. Verse 36.

Luke 7:36–50 NIV

36 When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. 37 A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. 38 As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. 39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.” 40 Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.” “Tell me, teacher,” he said. 41 “Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?” 43 Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.” “You have judged correctly,” Jesus said. 44 Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. 47 Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.” 48 Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” 49 The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” 50 Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

I have some thoughts along with some questions about this story. First of all, why would a Pharisee invite Jesus to his home? There are a possibility of two answers.

It was a local Pharisee and it was a custom to invite visiting Rabbis to come to their home.

Jesus became a controversial celebrity and it might have become cool to have him at your house.

Protocol was you would be greeted by the host. Oil would be placed on your head and your sandals would be taken off and your feet washed. But Jesus came in and just set down.

Now the question about the lady. How did she get in? There is probably no way that she was an invited guest. The houses back then were built around a courtyard. You would have three houses and then on the fourth side a gate that opened out into the street. And it was accessible for people to walk in off the street onto the courtyard. So, the woman is going by and probably notices Jesus in the courtyard.

At this meal all the guests would be seated at what is called a triclinium. So, Jesus feet are behind Him. The woman lets down her hair. Now during this time that would have been a reason for her husband to divorce her. But it didn’t matter to her because she was probably a lady of the night. So, Simon sees this lady and has these thoughts if he only knew who was touching him.

You couldn’t have chosen two people that were more different than Simon the religious leader and this woman a lady of leisure. And both of them are in the presence of Jesus. You have the host, an invited guest and an uninvited intruder all in the same house.

Not in Luke, but in chronological order of the four Gospels, shortly before this you have a sermon where Jesus preached come all ye sinners and I will give you rest. Could that have been the sermon that she heard and she wanted to come to the man to find rest for her weary soul.

She has this alabaster box. Alabaster is a kind of marble. In it you would hold expensive oils and perfumes.

So, Jesus begins to tell Simon a story. In this story 500 denarii is mentioned which represents about 20 months of wages and 50 denarii is about 2 months wages. In the story you have two people needing forgiveness and in the house you have two people at the dinner needing forgiveness. This parable is giving Simon an example of the situation that was in front of him.

All of us are a little like Simon. We tend to rely on a tentative righteousness. We look at our life and we say, “I’m not perfect, but I’m not as bad as that person.” The truth is it doesn’t matter because we have all sinned.

Romans 3:23 NIV

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

However, in this story, the woman that was a great sinner has become a great saint.

Our greatest need is forgiveness and God’s greatest gift is to grant it to us. This woman came as a repentant sinner and she left as a changed woman. The Pharisee came as an unchanged sinner and he left unchanged.

I want to close with the first three verses of chapter 8. These three verses are unique to Luke.

Luke 8:1–3 NIV

1 After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, 2 and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; 3 Joanna the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod’s household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.

Luke highlights the role of women in Jesus’ ministry more than any other gospels. The three women listed here are Mary Magdalene. She is called this because she comes from the town of Magdala. Joanna and Susanna are only mentioned here in Luke and in no other Gospels. What was it that made women drawn to Jesus?

We know that all people are drawn to Jesus but there were several women that followed him. And this drew quite a bit of controversy for Jesus.

Let me be clear, regardless of what you may or may not here out there, Jesus never had a relationship with any woman sexually. There are some people that try to say that Jesus was married because of something that a false Gospel said. You may have heard about some erroneous sources that are called gnostic gospels. You may even remember the Davinci Code from a few years ago. These things tried to say that Jesus said he had a wife. The only source that should be referenced is the Holy Scriptures. And no where in the scriptures does it say that Jesus ever was married. So, what do you think drew these women to Jesus?

I tend to think, and I will close with this, that Jesus was different from the other men they were around. Women were considered at the bottom rung of the ladder in the Jewish community. But Jesus was different. Jesus treated them with compassion. We see that here in this story. Jesus didn’t shoo her away but He showed her compassion.

Also, you may remember the woman that brought before Jesus to be stoned. He told all her accusers to cast the first stone if they were without sin. Each one dropped their stones and left leaving her alone with Jesus. Jesus told the woman to go and sin no more.

Jesus has a gentle loving spirit about him. This woman and Simon’s house and the three women mentioned here that supported Jesus financially all saw the compassion that Jesus possessed.

Jesus loved everyone. And He shown that love to all people.

We can no longer think like we use to think. We have to begin thinking on a kingdom level. We have to think like Jesus did. You have to take advantage of the opportunities that God gives you. If you see someone that needs prayer, stop and pray for them right where you are. If you feel like God is telling you to help someone in need you need to help that person. If you feel God prompting you to go to someone and tell them something that God has given you to say, you need to do it. Our thinking has to change and our actions have to change. We have to be about the work of the father building his kingdom. We have to become kingdom builders.

Let’s Pray.