Allen Jackson - Rejecting Jesus - Part 2
The challenge I think we faced is we've done these sinners parties and we've gathered to sympathize with their sin. We wanted to be sure they know we're empathetic, that we understand. Jesus met with them to call them to repentance, which is a change of thought and a change of behavior. The message we hold out to the world isn't that we know it's difficult to say no to sin. We do know that, we've all struggled with that ourselves. The message we hold out is that if you will repent and choose a new way of life, there's a better kind of existence under the Son.
And I would submit to you, at least from my vantage point, and I have enough experience that it's an informed opinion, that too often we've wanted to attract sinners by diminishing holiness. I don't find any place where Jesus did that. You will never make a case that is so ironclad, so moving, so significant, that you will cause God to agree with you in your ungodliness. It doesn't exist. And Jesus wraps this all up with this parable where, basically, he says there's something new and better that is present. Will you accept the new?
Folks, our lifetime, my lifetime, has coincided with one of the most precipitous declines of Christian influence in the history of the church, by almost any marker you would pick up. We need a new response to the world we live in or our children and grandchildren will lose the freedom that we have assumed upon. So the question is, are we willing to choose a new response? Or are we going to tenaciously cling to what we've always done? I don't believe that is ungodly or against the scripture. It sounds a great deal like the message Jesus brought. He's talking to the covenant people of God. The people he's talking to are all worshiping in the temple.
They attend the synagogue, they read their scripture portions, they keep the right holidays, they have the right diet. They are very religious people. They are the covenant people of God, but they are standing unwilling to co-operate with the purposes of God. I do not want to find myself in that place, nor do I want you to. I believe Luke has given it to us as a cautionary tale. It grows more intense in chapter 6. The opposition to Jesus is gaining boldness. They recognize the threat that he represents. People are beginning to follow him and if they follow him, there'll be less following them. The tension of that is going to step right off the pages.
Chapter 6, verse 1: "One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to pick some heads of grain, rub them in their hands and eat the kernels. And some of the Pharisees said, 'Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?'" Okay, at this point, we've seen Jesus is really good with fishing. He's really good with people that have limited mobility. He's been great at helping people reorient their lives towards the principles of scripture, whether they're fishermen or tax collectors. And the best response the Pharisees have is, "You're not keeping the right rules. You are not worshiping in the right way".
It's a theme Luke gives us. There's going to be consistent criticism. It is rooted in an incomplete understanding of scripture, but his critics are bringing scripture to him. Luke has already established for us in the temptation of Jesus when he was in the wilderness that Satan knows the scripture. The devil quoted scripture to Jesus. That should make you smile just a bit. The devil quoted scripture to Jesus, the living word. So if he did it to Jesus trying to manipulate him to forfeit God's purposes for his lives, I would submit to you, you should anticipate the devil using scripture to either give you license towards ungodliness or try to limit your effectiveness with your kingdom assignment. It's why you need to know the Word of God, the context of the Word of God. You need more than a verse of the day. We're not done.
Verse 3, same passage: "Jesus answered them, 'Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and taking the consecrated bread, he ate what is lawful only for the priests to eat.'" How did Jesus respond? From the narrative of scripture. He said, "You're misusing it". "Then Jesus said to them, 'The Son of Man is the Lord of the Sabbath.'" Now, up to that point, we're just having a polite discussion. Jesus just dropped a bomb in the room. "I'm the Lord of the Sabbath". He just challenged their authority.
The Pharisees are the ones who oversee the synagogues. The Sadducees have authority over the temple in Jerusalem. It's the National Bank. They're the wealthiest, the most politically astute. They have access to the halls of political power in Jerusalem. The Pharisees are scattered all over the empire, but the synagogue is their base of operation. It's their home base of authority. So they are really the overseers of the Sabbath. And Jesus said, "I'm the Lord of the Sabbath". Game on. "On another Sabbath he went into the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was shriveled. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus".
What a happy group of people. They weren't grateful for the miracles. They weren't encouraged by the people that were seeking God. They're looking for a reason to accuse Jesus. "So they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath. But Jesus knew what they were thinking". There's that thing again. "And he said to the man with the shriveled hand, 'Get up and stand in front of everyone.' So he got up and stood there. And Jesus said to them, 'I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy?'"
There's two things happening here. Have you got it? There's a man with a physical problem and there's this group of people gathered, trying to trap Jesus. And so he says to the man, "Stand up". This is not quiet, this isn't subtle, this is very public in the synagogue. And then he turns to the critics and he says, "So which is right, to do good or to do evil on the Sabbath"? Man's still standing there going, "Uh". "He looked around at them all, and he said to the man, 'Stretch out your hand.' And he did so, and his hand was completely restored. But they," the critics, "were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus".
So that's weird. I know it's in the Bible, but it's not what you would expect. If you were writing it, you'd say, "That doesn't go together. You need to change the narrative. Let's say they were perplexed. Let's say they didn't understand. Let's say they've never seen anything like that". But they weren't those things. They were furious. You see, there's a revelation of Jesus given. He says, "I'm the Lord of the Sabbath," and it challenges the structure, challenges very specifically the Pharisees. They're the synagogue leaders, they're the Sabbath lords, and they're there looking for a reason to accuse Jesus. Luke abuts two of these narratives together. So they're watching him closely. They're gonna find a reason that they can take him down.
Jesus knows their thoughts and here's what I think, Jesus intentionally provoked them. Is that fair? He said to the man, "I need you to stand up". Now they're all leaning forward. Is he going to? But he doesn't do it subtly, he stops, says, "Okay, let me ask you a question, everybody. Is it right to do good or evil"? And they won't answer him. Some of the other Gospel writers tell us that Jesus was angry at their hard hearts. And then he says to the man, "Stretch your hand," and the man's healed. That is a very intentional provocation of his adversaries. Jesus could have met that man after service. He could have met him at the restaurant while they're out having lunch, after service. He could have caught him the next day. He's Jesus, he could have found him.
The time and the location were very purposeful. He's making a point: "I'm Lord of the Sabbath and the teaching you've been given is incomplete. It's inaccurate". This is a very different message than what we've been coached to. We've been told that almost the highest values we can imagine were inclusivity. No matter what's going on, we should have a big tent: diversity. Well, it's true that the ground at the foot of the cross is level and that the kingdom of God will be comprised of people from every nation, race, language, and tribe, that you can't evaluate our spiritual condition by the color of our skin or our biological sex. Those are not determiners.
The scripture very clearly tells us that we can't determine that by looking at the outside. But it also gives us some rather clear list of behaviors that will not allow you to be included in the kingdom of God, and on those things, we don't have the privilege of being diverse and inclusive because then we're not telling the truth. We certainly don't have the option of choosing those behaviors for ourselves and saying, "because I sit in church," or we're as guilty of redefining righteousness and godliness as those who opposed Jesus were. And I would very humbly submit to you that to take a position in opposition to Jesus will not work out well.
Luke is trying to help us. He's telling us that the struggles of the 21st century are not new, that they were very present in the first century. Jesus is going to give us some help. Jesus and his message in Luke's presentation are consistently rejected. I wanna say it again because I think we're surprised, we're shocked. We've heard revival language, language about outpourings of the Spirit of God and the moving of the Spirit of God and these great... and my imagination, I'll put it in my life. My expectation for so long was there was gonna be, it's almost like universal globalist, and we're all gonna go, everybody's gonna reign. Amen, let's go. It's a wonderful idea because it would eliminate things like dissenting opinions and opposition and the tension that comes in a space where people say, "I don't believe that".
Well, the biblical presentation says that even when Jesus was present, they were here. They're not denying his miracles, they're not denying his power. They don't like the message and they're not gonna yield to the authority. They are flat out, straight up, saying, "I'm rejecting that. And I don't care what parlor tricks you do". Now, Luke is informing us. If it was true for Jesus, I would submit to you, we should begin to imagine it might be true for us. Jesus tells us very directly.
Look at verse 22. Now he's talking to his disciples. This is the same chapter. We're not leaping around. Same unfolding narrative. "Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man". Jesus is telling them, and through them he's telling us, that you'll be hated, excluded, insulted, and rejected as evil because of the Son of Man, because you've been willing to align with his principles, with his values. We recognize that and our tendency, our carnal nature, says, "Well, dial it down a little bit. It'll infringe on your business opportunities. You won't get invited to all the social things you wanna be a part of".
And your intuition is correct. That is accurate. You will forfeit some economic opportunities if you choose a biblical worldview. You will be excluded. Not Allen's opinion. Jesus said it. Jesus is telling us that what he's experienced as presented by Luke is going to be visited upon his disciples and he begins from this point in the Gospel, we're gonna look at it in some detail. He begins to coach his disciples on how to overcome rejection. Rejection was very much a part of Jesus's life. Spoiler alert, it's very much a part of our lives. We're gonna talk about it in a bit more detail in some other sessions.
Our alignment with Jesus will make certain that there is spiritual opposition, devilish, demonic opposition, that will orchestrate points of rejection and we will meet people who choose to side with the kingdom of darkness and they're going to impact our lives. Jesus's purpose, mission, and assignment were not diminished by that. He overcame it.
If I can borrow something beyond Luke, in Hebrews it says: "He scorned the shame. He looked ahead to what was before him". He will teach us. Luke will help us overcome rejection so that the purposes of God can be fulfilled in our lives. If you'll allow me, I would suggest we need to learn to overcome it, not overlook it. There's a difference. For quite some time now, we've been coached in the church to overlook sin. "Well, it's not that big a deal," or, "They're in transition," or, "I gotta be amongst them in order to give them the good news". The assignment we've been given is to overcome evil, not overlook it.
We got two more verses. Look at Luke 6:24: "Woe to you who are rich, for you've already received your comfort". This is woe, W-O-E, not W-H-O-A. When you want a horse to stop you say "Whoa". That's not this one. This one means I'm about to thump you. W-O-E is a warning of some impending, "Woe to you who are rich, for you've already received your comfort. Woe to you who are well fed now, for you'll go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets".
It seems to me, it's my opinion, that there's been a tremendous amount of effort invested amongst contemporary American Christians to be understood well by the ungodly. Again, I don't think we should be obnoxious or condemning or belligerent or hateful. But the goal is to say we have found something so remarkable, to have such enthusiasm about it, such joy in it, such a willingness to share with them, to serve them. The goal isn't always to be liked. That takes a different kind of courage.
Again, Luke is giving us these contrasts: the contrast between being excluded, insulted, and rejected and the alternative is when all men would speak well of you. It's not fun to be excluded. I don't enjoy it. I much prefer the applause. You ever run a 5K? You don't have to; walk one. It's a race, they call it. You don't even have to walk fast. In fact, you can shuffle. I'm pretty sure you could just shuffle. You know what will happen? People you don't know, will line the road and... it's one of the most affirming things you can do. Strangers will be handing you stuff to hydrate with. "You want a slice of orange"? "Yeah, thank you. Can I get a whole one"? "Sure. Good..."
You get to the finish line, you've been shuffling. You haven't even broken a sweat. There'll be complete strangers going, "Awesome". I'm telling you, it's an affirming... now there's a few crackpots. They're gonna be out at the front, sprinting, gasping for air, perspiring. Don't go with them. Come shuffle. Well, if we can borrow the image, we've been shuffling on this kingdom thing. It's not the great effort of our life. It's not the great sacrifice of our life. It doesn't take a great deal of commitment or self-discipline. You shouldn't have to train for it. You know, we go to church if it's convenient and there's not something else we'd rather do, and serving the Lord, it's, you know.
And Luke is giving us a contrast. He's showing us very clearly in the very next verse. I'll pick it up with our next session. Jesus looks at these people and he says, "Why do you call me, 'Lord,' and not do what I say"? If you read that verse outside of this context, you think, "Wow". But in this context, Jesus is, like, up in their business. "Why do you call me 'Lord,' and not intend to do what I'm telling you"?
Whoa, back up, big guy. And then he tells them that parable that every one of us know about these two guys that build houses, one on the sand and one on the rock. He said, "I'll tell you who these people are like. You who don't wanna do what I'm saying, you're building your house on sand and there's a storm coming and you're gonna collapse. And some of you are gonna do what I say and you're the people who build your house on the rock and the storm's gonna come and you'll be golden".
That is not a friendly presentation. You know, we've told the parable of the two builders, these two happy little fellows who go to Home Depot, totally unaware it's storm season and we've morphed it into this happy little clappy Sunday School lesson with any that, Jesus said, "Why do you call me 'Lord,' and ignore what I'm saying to you? There's a collapse coming and you're gonna lose everything you have". He's the greatest of the Hebrew prophets, greater than Isaiah, Jeremiah. He starts his ministry at about 30. So let's say we're somewhere, we're within 40 years of the Romans completely destroying Jerusalem, and Israel being ransacked. "There is a storm coming and you're gonna lose everything you have. Why are you not doing what I'm talking to you about? You call me 'Lord.'"
One of the things that Luke brings us to repeatedly and we'll see it before we're done is people who want the benefit of cooperating with God, but they don't wanna co-operate with God. I'll give you one example from Luke's writing: Ananias and Sapphira. They wanted the benefit of being generous without being generous. Same principle right here. "Why do you call me 'Lord'"?
So for those people who think that Jesus was just always about love, group hug, get it in here. Come on, let's hug this out. Kumbaya. There are times Jesus is very provocative with his language and his words and his behavior, provoking the people towards godliness. Not being annoying for the sake of being annoying. That's not the Spirit of God, that's something else. But he is holding out to them an opportunity. We're told that we hold out to our generation the truth of Almighty God. We don't just gather in church to be polite. We cannot continue to close our eyes and sacrifice our children. We can't be intimidated by the threats; Jesus told us they were coming. We have to decide for whom we are going to stand and how we will do that.
If we say "Lord," we want to follow his instructions, amen? I brought you a proclamation to close with. It's not new. We've been saying this around here for a bit. I didn't bring you the whole thing because I know you wanted to go to lunch. But let's stand. It's a good way to wrap up our session. We're gonna carry Luke forward in the next session. You've read it. We've read enough of this together now. I think we could say that Jesus didn't get his friends together to have soft cuddly discussions about scripture, which is exactly what we call a Bible study. Get together with your friends, you're like-minded people, and be sure you don't say anything that's offensive. And that is not what Jesus modeled for us. So it's time for us to change. We need some new wine skins. Are you ready? Well, I'm grateful for the four of you. Let's say this proclamation together:
God has uniquely blessed us: the best is yet to come. The earth is the Lord's and everything in it. He is the sovereign creator of all things. Nothing is too difficult for Him, His love sustains us. Jesus, His only son, is our savior, Lord and King. We live in a season of shaking. God is shaking the earth. He's restoring the Jewish people and purifying His church. If we look at the things which can be shaken we will be filled with terror. If we look at the eternal Kingdom of our Lord, we'll be filled with anticipation. Our determination as we gather today is to declare before one another and Almighty God, WE WILL NOT STOP, amen.