Given to Jesus

Introduction

Good morning and welcome!

And to all the mother’s out there Happy Mother’s Day 2020!

And for the rest of our online audience it is great that you have joined us this morning.

If you will leave a comment and let us know you are with us either live, or if you stop by later on in the week.

This week, we are going to finish up this little mini-series that I started several weeks ago regarding the subject being “Blessed, Broken, and Given.”

If you recall, we started all of this with Jesus blessing, breaking and giving bread during the events of the feeding of the 5000.

So far we have learned form that that we are like the bread.

Not just some old piece of light bread, but rather a very special and sacred bit of bread in the hands of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

As that bread we find that God loves us because as we have learned, God loves what God creates.

And God blesses what God loves.

And we are all blessed because God loves us.

But then we looked a little bit further than that and started looking at the breaking of the bread.

Jesus took the bread after he blessed it and he broke it.

And that is really what we are in many ways in our lives.

First, the sinful ways of the world breaks our spirit and breaks our resolve.

And we come to Jesus in the broken and beaten down state and he asks us to allow Him to break us even further.

But the way Jesus breaks us is not the way that we think about being broken.

Being broken by Jesus is a breaking of the power and the chains that sin and death have over our lives.

And when that happens we come to realize the freedom that we have in Jesus Christ.

A freedom that we have rarely, if ever felt before.

However, this freedom also comes with a price.

And that price is that we begin to lose focus and place more faith and trust in ourselves rather than in Jesus Christ.

We tend to start exhibiting and expressing our will and our way over God’s will and God’s way.

And we get what I call “the big head.”

Which in turn leads us to needing to have another encounter with Jesus.

One that is designed to break our will and help us to put our entire trust in Him.

And that doesn’t sound great to have our “will broken” but it is necessary in order to break the power that “self” has over us.

And in the process though we realize the power of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

And we realize that we have to come to this place voluntarily and that God is not going to force us there.

God reveals the things in our lives that need changing and then we either decide to submit to them or decide to reject them.

And when we decide we will submit to God’s will and God’s way, our will and the flesh’s power is completely broken.

And we come under the power and direction of the Holy Spirit, who leads us , guides us, directs us, forms us, and informs us.

And thus now broken free from the sin and the power of sin in our lives, we now are ready.

But ready for what?

Ready for the next step.

Ready for the last part of what Jesus did to the bread when He fed the 5000.

We are ready to be given.

To be given back to the world as an agent of change.

As an ambassador of the King.

As the hands and feet of Jesus Christ.

Sharing the Gospel message through our words and our deeds with all others we come into contact with.

Which is what brings us to where we are this morning.

Being given to Jesus and then given by Jesus.

So, let’s take a look at some Scripture first in Luke 24, and then over in John 21, that’s going explain this a little better.

The Scripture says this . . . .

Scripture Focus

Luke 24:30–32 NIV - Anglicised

30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognised him, and he disappeared from their sight. 32 They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”

John 21:15–19 NIV - Anglicised

15 When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” 16 Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.” 17 The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. 18 I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” 19 Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”

The Road to Emmaus

Now I read two portions of some pretty familiar Scripture here.

The first is the tail end of the two disciple’s encounter with Jesus along the Road to Emmaus and the second is the last part of the account of Jesus’ restoration of Peter.

First, let’s take a look the Road to Emmaus and back up to verse 13 . . .

Luke 24:13–16 NIV - Anglicised

13 Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. 14 They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. 15 As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; 16 but they were kept from recognising him.

Now the mention of the same day here is the same day that the women had went to the tomb and found it empty and Mary had her encounter with Jesus.

These two disciples were walking along the road there on their way to Emmaus, which it says is about 7 miles from Jerusalem and they have some time to have a talk.

They were both amazed by all the things that had taken place, even though they didn’t understand it all, they were amazed just the same.

And probably arguing a little bit about the different facts of what had happened that day.

Just like we do, “so and so said this happened...” “well, I heard it happened this way...” type stuff going on.

And lo and behold, who else but Jesus himself comes up to them—but for some reason Jesus didn’t want them to know who he was.

We aren’t told why, but some think it is so Jesus can hear what they have to say and later on have a greater impact on their faith.

We don’t know for sure the reason but at any rate, here they are talking about Jesus with Jesus.

Luke 24:17–24 NIV - Anglicised

17 He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?” They stood still, their faces downcast. 18 One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?” 19 “What things?” he asked. “About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. 20 The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; 21 but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. 22 In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning 23 but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. 24 Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.”

So, they tell him the whole story and by their words Jesus could tell that they had doubts about the validity and truth of it.

So, he rebukes them a bit . . .

Luke 24:25–27 NIV - Anglicised

25 He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

Now, he had their attention and they wanted to know more what this man had to so say, so . . .

Luke 24:28–29 NIV - Anglicised

28 As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going further. 29 But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.

And here it is . . .

Luke 24:30 NIV - Anglicised

30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them.

So, just like in the other accounts Jesus took the bread, blessed it, broke it, and then gave it to them.

And when he did this . . .

Luke 24:31–35 NIV - Anglicised

31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognised him, and he disappeared from their sight. 32 They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” 33 They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together 34 and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” 35 Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognised by them when he broke the bread.

And the point is, they did not truly recognize or understand Jesus until He broke the bread.

And we cannot truly recognize and understand who Jesus is until we allow Him to break us like the bread.

Until we allow Him to remove the sin and the impact of sin in our lives.

Until we surrender our will fully to him for him to take and break and make something new.

And what we have to decide is if we want this or not?

Do we want to know Jesus?

Do we want to know the power of Jesus Christ?

And we will all say “yes, I want to know,” but our lives do not reflect that.

Our lives reflect doing God’s will so long as it doesn’t interfere with our plans.

And it has to be the other way around.

Otherwise we will never understand and know the depth of God’s love and the power of God available for our lives.

The Apostle Peter

Which brings us to our second example.

The Apostle Peter.

Now, Peter has had a few bad days recently.

He has rejected Jesus Christ as Jesus predicted and Peter said he would never do.

He saw Jesus die.

He got the news of the empty tomb and saw it empty for himself.

He had got the news about the Emmaus road.

But yet Jesus had not come to see him.

Now, this was before Jesus appeared to the 11 in the upper room.

So, Peter has what we call the “mully-grubs.”

He is down in the dumps, feeling sorry for himself and sorry for what he had done to Jesus.

And he had vowed in himself, if he ever got the opportunity to see Jesus again, he would tell Jesus how sorry he was.

He was honestly broken by his own sin, guilt, and grief.

And he had given up and went back to just his ordinary old life before Jesus.

He went fishing.

And that wasn’t even going well.

Hadn’t caught a thing and nothing was going right.

But then Jesus changed everything . . .

John 21:4–6 NIV - Anglicised

4 Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realise that it was Jesus. 5 He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?” “No,” they answered. 6 He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.

So, they didn’t recognize Jesus at first, but . . .

John 21:7 NIV - Anglicised

7 Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water.

This was Peter’s chance!

He wasn’t even thinking about being restored.

He was just wanting Jesus’ forgiveness.

He just wanted the weight of his brokenness lifted from him.

He just wanted some relief.

So, they come to the shore and they have breakfast and then Jesus and Peter have an interaction with one another . ..

John 21:15–19 NIV - Anglicised

15 When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” 16 Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.” 17 The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. 18 I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” 19 Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”

And there is a lot of significance in this passage for many different reasons.

But what I want us to see is how Jesus took Peter who was broken and he not only restored Peter but he gave Peter.

He gave Peter to the world.

He prepared Peter for what he was going to face and then sent him out.

Equipped with the power of the Holy Spirit.

But Peter had to be blessed, broken, and then given.

Altar/Challenge

And the same thing is true for us.

We want the blessings and we may even want to be given, but we don’t want the broken part.

But it has to happen and we can’t take shortcuts or skip steps.

And we have already talked about being broken at length so as we close though do we want to be given?

Do we want to do God’s will?

Do we want to do God’s work?

Are we willing to take the necessary steps?

And those are questions that only we can answer between us and God.

So, before you log off spend some time reflecting on that this morning.

And as always don’t forget to tune in tonight at 6PM.

Stay safe and we will see you soon!