Sermon Tone Analysis

Last week we looked at quite a heavy text.

Jesus sends out seventy-two of his disciples into different towns, and they share the gospel.

He tells them what to do when people accept the gospel they are bringing, and what to do when they reject it.

We felt the glory of the kingdom of God coming near to us, and we felt the weight of the judgment that comes if we reject that kingdom.

A good number of people left last week ill at ease, because when Jesus talks this way he sounds a little too much like the Old Testament God of wrath for comfort.

The question on our minds, after such a text, is, “Why is this good news?”

We say the gospel is the good news of the kingdom of God; but if it’s accompanied with such judgment, how can it be good news?

That’s where Jesus is going to take us today.

He’s going to talk to the seventy-two disciples he’s sent out about why the gospel is such good news.

And what’s amazing here is how he’s going to frame it.

He’s not going to present the gospel as good news for the people they’ve just shared it with; he’s going to present the gospel to the seventy-two, as good news for them (and by extension, for everyone who has accepted their message).

Joy in Salvation (v.

17-20)

17 The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” 18 And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

19 Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.

So the seventy-two return, and they’re pretty excited about all that they were able to do on the road.

Essentially, the power of Jesus worked through them.

They healed people; they cast out demons in his name.

That’s great, and Jesus doesn’t deny it: “Yes, this is cool.

This is the beginning of the end for Satan, and you get to be a part of it.”

But he’s not going to leave it there; he’s going to say there’s something even better.

“Yes, this is cool.

This is the beginning of the end for Satan, and you’re a part of it.

“But that is the smallest thing you should be happy about.

Left unchecked, all you have in your hands is hubris.

Jesus Rejoices in the Father’s Will

“The fact that demons are subject to you is not the reason you should be happy.

You have a much greater reason for joy.”

20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

This is an image given multiple times in the Bible.

The picture is of a book, a register, in heaven, in which God has written all the names of all of his children.

What does it mean?

It means that if you have faith in Christ:

God knows your name—he knows you personally, not just as “a Christian”.

Whatever gets written in his book stays written in the book (cf.

Rev. 3.5).

If your name is there, it will always be there, regardless of how imperfect you are.

Your salvation is not just won by Christ, but assured by Christ.

Nothing you do can take back what he has given you.

Why would this be such a big deal?

Because it shouldn’t be the case.

Because of our sin, we absolutely deserved to be cast away from God.

We always talk about the justice of God, and how wonderful it is that God is just.

That’s true, but thank goodness he didn’t exercise justice the way we would!

Because if he simply gave us what was just, we would all be condemned!

Some here last week were upset that I talked about the way the gravity of our sin increases depending on the value of the one sinned against.

To help explain that I gave an illustration of someone swatting a mosquito off their arm, and how that wouldn’t offend most people; but if it was a baby you were slapping, it would be a much bigger deal.

So because God is the most infinitely worthy being in all of creation, rejecting his gospel is an infinitely horrible sin.

And some people took that to mean that rejecting the gospel is somehow worse than slapping a baby…which isn’t the point I was trying to make.

I said what I said last week because I knew we were coming here this week.

My point was not to diminish the horror of abusing children, but to increase it.

Saying that the gravity of our sin increases depending on the value of the one sinned against doesn’t make horrible sins less horrible, but more.

All sin, David says in , isn’t just sin against ourselves or against others but ultimately against God himself…which make our sin all the more horrible.

As horrendous as abusing children is, when people abuse children they are not just sinning against those poor little ones; they are sinning against God himself, who created those children in his image and who loves them.

So the sin of child abuse is even worse than you imagine.

So is lying.

So is coveting.

So are things we all do on a daily basis, from the “smallest” sins to the “greatest” sins.

This is the case for all sin, from the “smallest” to the “greatest.”

All sin is deserving of ultimate, eternal punishment, because it is sin against an infinitely worthy God.

Why am I going back over this again?

Because it is not right that we should be saved.

It is not normal that our names should be written in his book.

It is not fair that God would send his Son to die for us, in order to reconcile us to himself.

But he did.

So as much power as you may wield, even over demons, that is the smallest thing you should be thankful for.

This is why I have a problem with charismatic churches who put spiritual gifts on a pedestal as the most important part of the Christian life.

I believe in spiritual gifts.

I believe God still uses them for his glory today.

But I don’t believe that they should be the center of our lives, or of our church, or of our preaching, or of our prayer, because Jesus says not to rejoice that the demons are subject to us, but because our names are written in heaven.

That fact—the fact that despite all the weight of sin which condemned us, God saved us and gave us faith anyway through the life, death and resurrection of his Son—is the central reason for joy in the Christian life.

It is the central motivation of the Christian’s heart.

And it turns our eyes not to ourselves and what we can do, but always and only to God, because if he would save someone like me, what kind of God must he be in everything else he does?

If you belong to him, you probably barely even realize just how great his love is toward you.

Just how massive the gift of salvation is for you.

Whatever good things he has given you, they are not the main reason for you to rejoice.

Christians are commanded to be happy.

And they will be happy, for this specific reason: that their names are written in heaven.

Now I love what happens next.

Jesus gives us a reason for us to rejoice.

But then he does something incredible: he turns from our joy to his own.

Christ’s Joy in Revelation (v.

21)

21 In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.

This is one of the most glorious and incomprehensible truths of the Bible.

If you think about the way things usually work, and you think like I do, your mind will automatically go to action movies.

The ones who always figure out the important things—either the enemy’s master plan, or the only way to stop the enemy—are always the most brilliant ones.

The Tony Starks of the world.

You never see ordinary people let in on this kind of monumental plan, because they’re ordinary, and you have to be brilliant to understand it.

That’s what happens in movies because that’s what happens in the world.

But that’s not what happens here.

God never goes about things the way we would expect.

He chose to hide his plan from the wise and understanding—for example, the religious leaders of his time who should have seen it coming—and reveal them to “little children.”

To the ordinary.

To the uneducated.

To those who had no reason to be involved in such a story.

Jesus says this was God’s “gracious will.”

This should be good news to those of us who are idiots.

Because clearly God is not interested in mere efficiency (at least the way we view efficiency).

At least to my way of thinking, God could have gotten things done much faster and much more effectively if he had revealed these things to the Einsteins of the world, to the “wise and understanding,” as Jesus puts it.

But he’s not interested in mere efficiency—he’s interested in grace.

This was not God lowering himself because he had no other options.