Endurance
Notes
Transcript
In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years.
Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”
And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.
And while some were speaking of the temple, how it was adorned with noble stones and offerings, he said, “As for these things that you see, the days will come when there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” And they asked him, “Teacher, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when these things are about to take place?” And he said, “See that you are not led astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time is at hand!’ Do not go after them. And when you hear of wars and tumults, do not be terrified, for these things must first take place, but the end will not be at once.”
Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name’s sake. This will be your opportunity to bear witness. Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer, for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. You will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your lives.
Luke 1:5-1
Me
Me
I’ve mentioned before that I sometimes struggle with wanting to be liked.
Many pastors tend to be people pleasers and I’m no exception.
Very often this spills over into wanting to be liked by the world, when the world opposes God’s way.
I can think of a number of specific teaching in the Bible where there is temptation to compromise
There are times, that I don’t want to believe that it has to be either/or. Either God’s way, or sin’s way, but you can’t have it both ways.
You
You
I wonder if this has ever been a difficulty for you
Maybe your sin nature, or a family member, or a friend, or a co-worker is challenging your faithfulness to God.
You know what Christ teaches, what the Bible teaches, but you have this internal conflict.
This is a battle we all wage daily for one reason...
An internal sin that makes you want to change the Bible to fit your sin.
This is a battle we all wage daily for one reason...
REALITY: SIN, WHETHER OURS OR THE WORLD’S, FEELS NATURAL.
GOD’S HOLINESS FEELS UNNATURAL.
Bible: Jesus Reminds Us Today That Conflict Is Both Our Greatest Challenge And Our Greatest Opportunity
Bible: Jesus Reminds Us Today That Conflict Is Both Our Greatest Challenge And Our Greatest Opportunity
But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name’s sake. This will be your opportunity to bear witness.
But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name’s sake. This will be your opportunity to bear witness.
Point 1. Jesus promises today that in the Christian life we WILL face persecution
Point 1. Jesus promises today that in the Christian life we WILL face persecution
If you are a follower of Jesus you will, at the very least, have people who do not like your message or your way.
Jesus reminds us that the conflict point between sin and worldly thinking is both a challenge and an opportunity.
Not an IF, but a WHEN
Not a possibility, but a fact.
Reality is, those who followed Jesus in the New Testament were distinctive, and they were disliked.
“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.
AND…Will it always be the case that it’s people we don’t love the most who will attack our faith? The people OUT THERE who will want us to be quiet?
Jesus very clearly and consistently reminded his disciples that the Gospel he came to proclaim is not a Gospel that the world is going to like.
No. Jesus reminds in verse 16...
You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death.
I don’t know about you but I hear that and it’s like…WHOA
What would it take for family and friends to want to put me to death?
Why would anyone despise my testimony of Jesus so much that they want me dead?
He doesn’t paint this as a possibility, but as a fact.
If you’re like me, you aren’t TRYING to be difficult or more confrontational or mean?
Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.
Why? Because we are TRYING to be difficult or more confrontational or mean?
You know, I used to have this idea that if people really knew who Jesus is, they would love Him rather than reject Him.
No. It’s for ONE Reason that people can’t stand the way of Jesus
Reason 2: He
Reason: The way of Jesus is to reject external holiness in favor of internal holiness. Just previous to the passage we read, Jesus says this...
Reason: The way of Jesus is to reject external holiness in favor of internal holiness. Just previous to the passage we read, Jesus says this...
And in the hearing of all the people he said to his disciples, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”
Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”
I don’t believe that anymore, because so many people who were walking with Jesus walked away from Him!
Luke 21:1
5-
Jesus knows one thing about us…We love to be loved for our external actions
That necessarily means that we reject anything that takes us off that path or confuses the message
AND…Will it always be the case that it’s people we don’t love the most who will attack our faith?
No. Jesus reminds in verse 16
If that sounds exclusive or closed minded, it’s because
Reason 1:
I think of it sort of like an AFI or a TO.
Within policy and guidance are ways of doing things that keep us safe.
They provide warning
They also provide promise.
If you do it the way the DoD and the Air Force want you to do it, you’ll have Air Force happiness!
If you do it the way the DoD and the Air Force want you to do it, you’ll have Air Force happiness!
If you don’t do it that way, there are consequences and you might make a mess of things.
If you don’t do it that way, there are consequences and you might make a mess of things.
Does everyone LOVE following policy and guidance? Nope. Do they have to like it? Nope.
But will things go better for them in the long run if they stay within the lines of policy? Yep
But will things go better for them in the long run if they stay within the lines of policy? Yep
Why would they like the people who come sharing His message?
After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.
For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.
Luke 22:
But Jesus isn’t as interested in that as our internal love and motivations.
And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.
Jesus is asking for the MOTIVATIONS behind our actions
The world is like a little kid that wants to be patted on its head for all its good deeds…EVEN IF THERE IS NO LOVE IN THE DEED
What Jesus knows is that we don’t tend to do things out of loving motivation, but out of pride
Key: What does it say about your faith when you NEED the praise and admiration of the world?
It says that love of God and neighbor isn’t enough?
And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
In the same way, Christ is providing law and he is providing Gospel.
This Is Why People Persecuted Jesus. He wanted deeds marked by love of God and neighbor. Deeds without that meant nothing to him.
This Is Why People Persecuted Jesus. He wanted deeds marked by love of God and neighbor. Deeds without that meant nothing to him.
Then a servant girl, seeing him as he sat in the light and looking closely at him, said, “This man also was with him.” But he denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know him.”
Here’s God’s way and God’s standard.
But the way and standard isn’t changing.
You won’t follow it or live it perfectly.
But it’s still the way and the standard.
He wasn’t looking at deeds
The world wants the deeds, but it does not want God, and it most certainly does not want Jesus.
Jesus never says people will LIKE God’s way!
He wanted hearts of faith, marked principally by love of God and neighbor
People love to be applauded for their good works.
But it is the way of God, and He refuses to change it for anyone.
EXAMPLE: An atheist and a
Here comes Jesus saying God hates your good deeds if the foundation isn’t love of God and love of neighbor.
AND IT HAS TO BE BOTH!
First of the 10 Commandments:
You shall have no other gods.
And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”
It’s almost like the church has become addicted to the approval of the world.
We have all become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.
We all fade like a leaf,
and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
as it is written:
“None is righteous, no, not one;
Isaiah
It’s almost like the church has become addicted to the approval of the world.
We have all become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.
We all fade like a leaf,
and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
Isaiah
I notice something really interesting in all this...
It’s almost like the church has become addicted to the approval of the world.
There are those who are clean in their own eyes
but are not washed of their filth.
And friends, this last verse is most important because it is the hinge upon which the whole door swings...
We change worship
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Jesus never begs people to follow him.
We change message
We change the Bible
We withhold parts of the Bible that won’t seem attractive
Jesus wasn’t killed by accident. He was killed because the holiness of God as embodied by Jesus was OFFENSIVE to a world that utterly opposes light and prefers darkness.
2. Jesus wasn’t killed by accident. He was killed because the holiness of God as embodied by Jesus was OFFENSIVE to a world that utterly opposes light and prefers darkness.
That’s why the world hates Jesus, and that’s why the world hates Christians when we are faithful to His message.
Jesus wasn’t killed by accident. He was killed because the holiness of God as embodied by Jesus was OFFENSIVE to a world that utterly opposes light and prefers darkness.
His call to us…the church…is simple...
We are simply saying what Scripture says...
His call to us…the church…is simple...
Your works without faith are filthy rags. You’re not righteous. The soup you served in that kitchen does you no good. the house you helped build for the neighbor will not save you,
He’s not looking for worldly affirmation. In fact, He seems to assume there are many who WILL NOT follow Him, and he doesn’t beg them to change their minds.
Only one things saves…Faith in Jesus Christ. That’s IT...
The world wants us to be impressed by its works but without Jesus those works mean nothing.
They get rewards on Earth but nothing in heaven
So, the world will hate us for this, but we must continue in the message that Jesus gave us.
Namely, your works are nothing absent faith in Jesus Christ, and righteousness before God means a heart that loves God FIRST, neighbor second, and self last.
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
If we are ASHAM
Concordia Commentary: Luke 9:51–24:53 Persecution before the Destruction of the Temple (21:12–19)
Christians will experience persecution for no other reason than their connection with Jesus. The name of Jesus defines their identity, for Christians bear in their bodies Jesus, the new temple. For that reason, Christians are living stones and their bodies are temples.m The opponents will hate them because the presence of God has shifted from the temple of Jerusalem to where Christ has promised to be present: in those baptized in his name, in the Gospel, in his Supper.
Point 2: Jesus never calls his followers to be attractive, but to ENDURE
I notice something really interesting in all this...
Unlike
I notice something really interesting in all this...
Jesus never begs people to follow him. In fact, a lot of people abandoned Jesus and he never went chasing after them.
He’s not looking for worldly affirmation. In fact, He seems to assume there are many who WILL NOT follow Him, and he doesn’t beg them to change their minds.
After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.
Then a servant girl, seeing him as he sat in the light and looking closely at him, said, “This man also was with him.” But he denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know him.”
Luke 22:5
What Does This Mean for YOU?
What Does This Mean for YOU?
Firstly, accepting that without God your goodness is like a filthy rag is the VERY foundation of Christianity.
Our message is not that the world is nice and we’re just trying to make it nicer.
Our message is that without the love of Jesus, we are nothing in the eyes of God.
For you this means firstly that YOUR trust is not in your works but in the reminder that it is faith in Christ alone that saves.
A work without
God loves to see us serve our neighbor, but anybody can do that.
Secondly, it means that we ENDURE IN GOD’S WAY.
What God really wants is a heart the views the
We don’t make God fit into the world. We stand firm in the Word of God and invite the world into that unchanging way because God’s way ALWAYS starts with love of God first. Love of neighbor second. Love of self last.
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Matthew 28:
To be a disciple of Jesus Christ is to stand firm in all that Jesus teaches us through the whole Bible generally and h
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
What Does This Mean For Us
What Does This Mean For Us
It means that we must be the one place on Earth where people will hear truth rather than the promises of the world.
We cannot become like the world..that calls sin good and calls the holiness of Jesus evil.
Where they can be reminded that God’s way is THE way…Not just legally, but ultimately spiritually.
We must call sin, sin, and we must share forgiveness when there is repentance of sin.
I have never met a truly peaceful, happy person who has accepted their sin as OK.
The blessing in that, is that when people come to the church they are getting a real church.
Not a church that reflects the values of the world, but a church that reflects the values of Jesus Christ.
Those values:
You are a sinner in need of salvation
Repent and be baptized
Know that your sins are forgiven in Jesus Christ
Sin no more, and serve your neighbor in the love of Jesus
AMEN