Luke 22:28-30 | The Upside
Notes
Transcript
Engage
Engage
Cultural Perspective
Cultural Perspective
For better or for worse unbelievers, on the outside looking in, tend to define Christians as a bunch of people defined by a list of things that they are not allowed to do. Probably one of the most notable quotes from the late 19th and early 20th century writer H. L. Mencken is
Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere may be happy
Now, Menchen was a humanist who admired the likes of Nietzsche. Other than the quote I just read, he is the man who coined nickname for the Scopes trial, calling it the Scopes Monkey Trial, and his satirical writing on the case made mainstream the notion that evolution should be taught in schools.
But clearly he had an impression of Christianity. He was antagonistic towards it in every possible way. I don’t think that his opinion of Christianity was or is unique. Everything about the Scopes trial was a publicity stunt designed to smear Christians. It wouldn’t take you long to find the same attitudes in your Facebook feed or from someone in Hollywood who rejects God.
Often criticism comes back to the notion that Christians are just people who live under a strict set of rules and aren’t aloud to do anything fun. To some degree I get this, we produce media as Christians that end up being cheesy copies of whatever our culture is doing and the result is typically pretty lame and uncompelling to unbelievers.
Luke 22 So Far
Luke 22 So Far
If you have been following with us as we have been working our way through chapters 21 and 22 of Luke, things look pretty bleak for the followers of Christ. Jesus talks about tribulations and betrayals. And Jesus talks about a life of servitude.
In todays passage we are heading in a different direction. The subject is not switching to the rewards that the Apostles should expect as a result of their faithfulness. And keep in mind, I said rewards the Apostles should expect, these don’t directly apply to you and me. Turn with me to Luke 22:28-30 Where we will get our text.
Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations. And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me; That ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Today’s message is entitled “The Upside”
Harvest@Home Intro
Pray
Tension
Tension
Lack of Understanding
Lack of Understanding
I have reiterated this several times over the last few messages. I don’t think that the Apostles had much of an understanding of what was ahead of them. The picture was coming more clear but at this point we are still probably a couple of ours away form Jesus being seized in the Garden. See I think If they had understood what was going to happen in just a couple of hours we would have had an incident something like what we find in Matthew 16:22
Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.
This is that famous passage where Jesus replies back to him “Get behind me Satan” but even with that rebuke I think the Apostles would have behaved differently if they knew.
Recognition
Recognition
Jesus recognizes something that is true of the Apostles., that is what we find in v28
Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations.
I think this requires a little bit of explanation. See the idea of continuing, the underlying Greek word means to “remain in association with for a period of time” It’s different from Apostle which means a messenger. It’s different from Disciple which means a student. This has this idea that, the 12 were Jesus’ entourage. That they stood with him through thick and thin, so far. If you remember when people began to abandon Jesus, what do we read in John 6:67-68
Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.
And so Jesus tells the 12 that you have stuck around, and that they did it while Jesus was undergoing his temptation. Again, let’s consider this word. Temptations here is the from the Greek πειρασμός Peirasmos. We think of temptations simply as the dangling in front of us some enticing sin. But the meaning behind this word is that it’s an examination. An extensive test to see the nature or character of something.
Last year I took a test to be certified as a lighting designer. Before the test I went to the US headquarters of Philips lighting and for a few days took a class getting an overview of the things that were expected to be on the test. Then, after spending what felt like every free moment reading design and standards books I drove up to Cleveland to take a 4 hour test. Which after this message I may start referring to as my temptation. But the goal was simple. Before they would allow me to use their credentials to call myself a lighting designer, they needed to prove that I was the real deal. That I did actually know a thing or two, or 4 hours worth of things or two, about lighting.
That is the same idea that Jesus is talking about. Now, certainly credentials for being the Messiah are a lot more significant than being a lighting designer. But, what Jesus is saying here is that through his ministry where proof after proof was being presented that he was both the Messiah and God, the Apostles stuck with him all the way.
Truth
Truth
The Upside
The Upside
So, Jesus continues and he gives them this upside to all all of the tribulation and sort of bleak picture he has painted for them. Take a look at Luke 22:29
And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me;
Jesus, appoints them a Kingdom. Meaning he was giving them an area to govern, he goes on to clarify in v30
That ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
and later in Revelation we see see something along these same lines, Rev 21:14
And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
What About Judas’ throne?
What About Judas’ throne?
There is a reasonable question to ask here. It stands to reason that Judas is going to get skipped when the thrones and foundations are divvied out. So who is in spot 12?
Well, In Acts 1:21-26 we find out what happens with the 12th position
Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection. And they appointed two, Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias. And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen, That he may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place. And they gave forth their lots; and the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.
There is some argument as to if the position is filled by either Paul or Matthias. I have read many who suggest that since Matthias was selected by lot and not by being directly chosen by Jesus that Paul would get the position, having his Damascus road experience. Now my belief is that Matthias was chosen legitimately. We have no Biblical statements to the contrary, and lots were, at that time, an acceptable way to have God’s will communicated in a situation. Besides that: The 12 were to be judges over Israel and Paul’s mission was to Gentiles. I suspect that Paul will have a position over the Gentiles in some capacity. To be fair though I could probably have a pretty lengthy debate with myself on that and even if there will still be tribe distinctions or Gentile/Jew distinctions in heaven, given the position of the Gentiles being adopted or grafted in to the Kingdom.
Application
Application
Judgement
Judgement
There is something else here for us to catch. This idea of sitting as judges isn’t something exclusive to the Apostles. In 1 Corinthians 6:3 Paul asks a question
Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?
Paul says to the church in Corinth, we shall judge angels. So it stands to reason that we are given some manner of position in the Kingdom. I don’t know if this is an on going thing or if it’s what we read in Jude 6
And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
Maybe it will be the church who will sit in judgment that day. We know that righteous gentiles of the past will sit in Judgment of the generation of Jews who rejected Christ from what Jesus says in Matthew 12:41-42
The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here. The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.
Perspective
Perspective
You aren’t likely going to face the type of persecution that the first churches experienced. Lord willing we will continue to live in a country that even if antagonistic towards Christianity, still allows for freedom of religion without the threat of being shunned, jailed, beaten, or killed. I would like to go on in a society that allows us to pencil in our names in the back pages of Foxe’s Book of Martyrs with the description “wasn’t told Merry Christmas by department store clerk”. But I can’t guarantee that. Countries can change quickly. I don’t think anyone could have ever imagined that Germany, where the reformation began, could have become the focal point of the greatest evils in modern history. In 1934 the government of Germany worked to move people away from Christianity to what they considered their pagan roots, roots more sympathetic to the ideas of Nazi’s. In 1933 there were 60 million professing Christians, claiming either Catholicism or Protestantism. That was the entire population at the time. By 1935 Pastors were being arrested for not conforming to the state religion.
God forbid we have to experience anything like this. But that doesn’t make it any less real of a thing that the secular culture of our country now looks down their noses at Christians. There is often a focus on what our culture considers the negatives of Christianity, and we can catch ourselves letting that run us down. In Psalm 13:1 David writes
How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? for ever?
How long wilt thou hide thy face from me?
And knowing that sometimes the Christian walk can become tiring. That things can look so much easier for those on the outside. Paul tell the Galations about this
And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
This is a lot like, what Jesus is telling the Apostles in Luke. We don’t have Apostles any longer, what Jesus is telling them doesn’t apply to us directly. But we also need to have perspective. No matter how difficult things might be today. James 4:14 reminds us
Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
Inspiration
Inspiration
I believe that there are opportunities we could be focusing on instead of the negative, but life has introduced some challenges for Christians right now. These are our temptations, to find out what we are made of. After his introduction in v1 of his Book, James jumps right into this when he says
My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
We get to find out who we are, and who other people are. A lot like that test I sat for in Cleveland, the credential, Child of God is being tested for. It’s tested in how we use social media, it is tested in how we care for our neighbors, it’s tested if we show a heart of rebellion, it is tested if we slip past diligence and into anxiety. But if you are going to be faithful, you should be able to count it joy. I can look at a framed certificate now and I have a lapel pin and a couple of letters after my name on my business card, because I was tested and passed. And that gives me joy. But how much more joy do we get, if we can look back through difficulties in our lives and know that even when it was difficult we conducted conducted ourselves with Christian character. It’s not statement about our salvation but the joy of knowing that we have truly been good stewards of what God has given us to look after.
Action
Action
No matter what tests are being applied to your Christian walk, God wants you to pass. it’s a lot easier said than done, but you can resolve today, or just reinforce the decisions you have already made that you are going to do things God’s way when those tests arise. Even if it is difficult.
And if you are on the outside looking in and all you see is Christianity as a bunch of rules and not having fun. Let me make this appeal. My walk with Christ has never been about trying to stay within a set of rules, it’s been God revealing to me that I can have more joy if I do things a different way, and he has changed the desire in my heart for a lot of things. The Gospel isn’t about following a rule book, it’s about giving your life to Christ and being willing to let him change your heart. It is something that I would love to talk to you about more if you want to comment on this post or send me a private message.
Closing Prayer
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