Allen Jackson - Ambivalence and Destruction - Part 1
Working through a study on the Gospel of Luke, I've invited you to, beyond your normal Bible reading, which I understand is a little bit of an extra lift, but I've invited you to read the Gospel of Luke with me repetitively. If your schedule allowed, read it once a day. You can read the Gospel of Luke in less time than it takes to watch a ball game. Maybe that's just not possible. I know many of our lives are busy and crowded, maybe once a week is a busy time for you.
And if you can do that, do that, if you can, you know, if it just means you read it once over the course of the next 2 or 3 weeks, but take that, in the repetitive reading, you begin to move beyond just being introduced to the story and the narrative, and you begin to become aware of patterns and the larger message that Luke is telling. I would submit to you that Luke wrote the Gospel of Luke that bears his name and the book of Acts to communicate something to us, other than just a series of random events that got butted together and presented to us. But in order to begin to imagine that, it requires a little more focus than the casual reading and the check of a box that I fulfilled my obligation for the day.
So, if you're not in the habit of that, it's worth trying it on for a brief season. It's not a trick to get you to read your Bible for hours every day. As remarkable as that might be, I'm working up to that. So let's just, we've started with the Gospel of Luke. And in this session, I've titled this session "Obedience and Blessings," because I prefer the positive. If you chose the other side of that equation, it's also a discussion about ambivalence, which is a fancy word for being indifferent, and the destruction that that brings. You see, you don't have to be an advocate for evil in order to facilitate destruction. You just have to be indifferent.
And tragically, if you ask me to describe the posture of American Christendom in recent decades, I think we've been more indifferent. And so, the invitation that I'm putting before you, at least from this section of Luke's Gospel, is to understand the tremendous value of obedience to God and the blessings that come with it. Not casual obedience, not occasional obedience, but wholehearted, fully intentioned, purposeful obedience to God. We're gonna look at Luke chapter 7, we've gotten that far, but I wanna, we ended our last session at the end of chapter 6. You know, when the New Testament was put together, there were no chapters or verses. They were written as narratives.
The chapters and verses were put in much later as reference tools to help those of us who were reading the scripture to be able to find passages and refer to them more quickly. So, oftentimes, the chapters and the verses, rather than continue thought, oftentimes they break up thought. And in this particular case, I think the concluding verses of chapter 6 help us understand chapter 7 a bit. So Jesus ends chapter 6 with a parable. It's a familiar parable to most of us. It's the parable of the wise and the foolish builders. I suspect most of us have heard that about a person who builds a home on the sand and a person who builds a home with a firmer foundation on rock.
And when the storms of life, identical storms come to both, one stands and one collapses. It's kind of a happy little parable. And I don't know how many times I've listened to it in terms of, you know, Jesus being very pleasant, using a familiar word picture that we can all imagine a time when we either have or we hope to build a home and we're gonna load the car and go to Home Depot and pick out the finishes. It's just a happy little time. Well, if you actually look at what Jesus said, what Luke gives us, it's a pretty different story. It's in your notes. It's Luke 6:46, Jesus is speaking. He said, "Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say"?
Wow, imagine if I started my sermon and said, "Let me ask you a question. Why do you come to church and not do what the Bible says"? Whoa, Pastor, are you in a bad mood? No, and I don't think Jesus is in a bad mood either, but he's making a point, that he said that "it's wrong. It's a misunderstanding. It's a misalignment of your life. It's deception to call me, 'Lord,' and not be obedient". Wow, we've treated Jesus's instructions, we tend to treat the scripture, kind of like it's a menu. "You know, I'll have the chicken fried steak and a side of mashed potatoes and gravy". Well, that's not good for you. "Yeah, but it's what I want".
And we tend to take the Word and Jesus is challenging that kind of a casual obedience. "Why do you call me, 'Lord,' and not do what I say? I'll show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice". He said, "I'll show you a picture of somebody who's obedient. He's the man who builds a house. He dug down deep, laid a foundation on rock. The floods came, the torrent struck the house, and it couldn't shake it. It was well built. But the one who hears my words and doesn't put them into practice..."
He's doubling down. It's not like he was just offensive when he started the sermon. He said, Those of you that aren't listening, "Let me tell you who you're like. You built a house on the sand and the same storms that came to the other house are gonna come to your house. But the moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete". Now, this is right on the heels of Jesus being rejected in Nazareth. They tried to kill him in his hometown. And Jesus is saying... it's in this context of Luke 6. Jesus said, "If you reject my message, if you don't do what I say, there's a horrific consequence".
It's a very provocative approach. Jesus is confronting a problem. He said, "You say you're faithful, but you fail to be obedient. You don't do what I say". And their attitude would not be greatly different from your attitude. They're looking at him going, "Well, why should we be obedient to you"? In the same way, in a context like this, you'd go, "Well, why should we pay that much attention to what Pastor says"? And truthfully, you shouldn't, unless it's completely aligned with the Word of God. But if it is aligned with the Word of God, then it has very little to do with Pastor and it has everything to do with you and the Lord. To which Jesus said, "Oh, don't call me, 'Lord,' if you're not doing what you know to do".
And this parable that Jesus told that we've all made into kind of this little happy construction project, he is telling the people, he's the greatest of all the Hebrew prophets. He said that their lack of obedience is going to precipitate, what's a tremendous collapse. And within 40 years of Jesus delivering that message, the temple in Jerusalem is destroyed, the city is leveled, and horrendous suffering has come. So if you'll allow me, Jesus was very provocative. This is not a pleasant, friendly discussion about our opinions of scripture, which is the way we have all been coached to have a Bible study. "Well, this is what I think," and "This is how I feel," and "This is my perspective".
And I'm not saying that's evil. I don't think we have to be belligerent and angry. But there are times when the truth of God's Word is offensive, and Jesus doesn't avoid it. How many of you, I won't ask for a show of hands, but how many of you have heard it said in some format or another multiple times, "Jesus was all about love"? His message was all about love, group hug, everybody. Come on, let's hug it out. Well, I would agree with you that Jesus said a great deal about love. But there are many, many, many times, and we're gonna see it repetitively in Luke, where Jesus's message is very confrontational.
Now let's go on to chapter 7. The very next verse, it says: "When Jesus had finished saying all of this". So when he's finished this discussion, "In the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum, and there a centurion's servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. And the centurion heard of Jesus and he sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, 'This man deserves to have you do this. He loves our nation and he's built our synagogue.' So Jesus went with them. He wasn't far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: 'Lord, don't trouble yourself. I don't deserve to have you come under my roof. That's why I didn't even consider myself worthy to come to you, but just say the word and my servant will be healed for I myself am a man under authority with soldiers under me. And I tell this one, "Go," and he goes; and that one, "Come," and he comes. And I say to my servant, "Do this," he does it.' When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. He turned to the crowd following him, he said, 'I tell you, I haven't found such great faith in Israel.' And the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well".
Now again, out of context, it's still a wonderful little narrative, a little miracle story, but in its context, it's even more profound. Luke is telling us something. He's making a much larger point. Jesus is saying to the people that you would expect to follow him, his hometown, religious leaders, biblical scholars, keepers of the synagogue, "Why do you call me, 'Lord,' and not be obedient"? And he enters Capernaum which has become his base of ministry, and there's a Roman centurion with a sick servant.
It's a very stark contrast to the verses immediately before. He said, "You call me, 'Lord,' and you don't do what I say". And now Luke says to us, there's a Roman centurion who is the most hated of the people. They're the oppressors, they're extorting money, they're abusing women, they're flaunting their power. They hate them. It's the question the disciples ask in Acts chapter 1 after the Resurrection: "Are you gonna throw the Romans out now"? It was the dream that the Messiah would come and remove the Romans. And this Roman centurion comes to Jesus and he believes Jesus heals and he publicly expresses submission to Jesus's authority.
Again, Luke is saying something to us because we do... in the previous chapter, we saw them let down a man from the roof, a very slopy roof, into a room. And Jesus said, "Your sins are forgiven". You remember what the people watching said? "Who is this man? Who does he think he is"? And Luke tells us that the centurion said, "My servant's gonna die, but I know you could heal him". You have to think about the structure of it. He could have had Jesus brought to him at the point of a spear. He could have had Jesus bound in chains and drug before him.
What do you think the centurion's peer group thought when they heard that, in humility, he sent emissaries to say, "Would you grace my home with your presence"? It's humiliating in front of his Roman peers. It's an expression of humility that's gonna cause him some significant concern. In fact, before Jesus gets to his house, he sends another group of emissaries and says, "Listen, I'm not worthy to have you come to my home". Are you kidding me? "But I understand authority," he said, "and I see in you an authority".
I've told you multiple times now that Luke invites us, trying to help us understand there's more than one dimension to our lives. This is dimensional living. And this centurion has spiritual insight that the Pharisees don't have, that the teachers of the law don't have, that the disciples are struggling to process. "How is it that this man can speak to the wind and the waves," Peter says. "Who is he? I'm a sinful man". The centurion has grasped this. Luke is making a powerful point for us. "You just say the word because I tell a soldier, 'Go,' and he goes, or another one, he 'better show up' and he shows up. I know that if you will just say the word, my servant will be okay".
And Jesus is amazed. You understand the ridicule this centurion is setting himself up for, the vulnerability in that? And then Jesus confronts his Jewish audience. It's a harsh admission that Roman soldiers have greater faith than they do. You understand how off-putting that is for Jesus to turn and to look because it's the synagogue leaders that have gone on behalf of this Roman centurion. He's generous, he's a benefactor. He has a lot of power in this town. "We wanna keep this man happy. He's a political operator".
This is Jesus interfacing with the political authority of Capernaum. And Jesus turns to look at these people. These are his people, his covenant people, the people he was sent to give a message to. And he says to them, "That Roman soldier has greater faith than you". That is not a happy message. It's confrontational. Remember the passage immediately in front of it? "Why do you call me, 'Lord,' and not do what I say"? And then Luke says, "Let me tell you a story about a Roman soldier. And Jesus turns and says, 'This man has greater faith than anybody I have found in all of Israel.'" Wow, it's an invitation from Luke to you. I mean, he's not done.
Verse 11: "Soon afterward," it's like Luke's gaining momentum, "Jesus went to a town called Nain". It's not a long walk from Capernaum to Nain. Nain is a little hill, it's a little community on a hill right on the edge of the Jezreel Valley, right across the valley from Megiddo, the valley where the battle of Armageddon will take place. "Jesus went to the town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went with him". No kidding. "And as he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out". They did burials outside of the city walls.
So there's a funeral procession. "It's the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her. When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, 'Don't cry.' He went up and touched the coffin, and those carrying it stood still. And he said, 'Young man, I say to you, get up!'" Now, what did Luke just tell us? In the verses immediately preceding this, he had a Roman centurion say something to us. What did the centurion say? Do you remember? "I'm a man under authority. And if I say to a soldier, 'Go that way,' he goes or another one to, 'Come this way,' he'll come this way, and I know you have authority to simply say something and my servant will get well," right?
The servant got well when Jesus told the man he was okay. So the very next verses, Luke gives us this scenario at a little village not far away. There's a funeral procession and Jesus interrupts the funeral procession and what does he do? "He said, 'Young man, get up,' and the dead man sat up and he began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother". Luke is highlighting something for us that Jesus really did have a different kind of authority. We're Jesus's followers. We're still having seminars debating whether miracles still happen, for real. We've got whole theological systems built on secessionism, that miracles stopped at the end of the first century.
Verse 16: "They were all filled with awe and they praised God. 'A great prophet has appeared among us,' they said. 'God has come to help his people.' And the news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding country". Now, what intrigues me in this particular little scenario is it's an unsolicited miracle. Nobody asked Jesus to intervene. The centurion comes with some pomp and some circumstance and a curriculum vitae, his resume: "He's generous, he loves our people, he's been good to us. He hasn't mistreated us. He deserves to be helped, and he might help us some more". But the widow in the... Nain and this little funeral procession, nobody's asked for anything. Jesus's compassion initiated the event. And it's worth noting that the response is positive, grateful.
"The news about Jesus spread throughout the region". It's one of the very... it's a unique, many, many times in Luke's Gospel, the response is going to be very different. We're gonna see that in chapter 7, this same chapter. Next verse, verse 18: "John's disciples told him all about these things". All about what things? Well, dead people are being raised to life, sick servants are being healed, all the things Luke's been telling us. John's disciples are telling him about it.
"So he calls two of them and he sent them to the Lord to ask, 'Are you the one who was to come or should we expect someone else?' And when the men came to Jesus, they said, 'John the Baptist sent us to you. Are you the one who was to come? Should we expect someone else?' At that very time, Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses, and evil spirits. He gave sight to many who were blind".
Some of these verses, you need to take a verse and walk around with it all day long. He gave sight to many who were blind. Can you imagine? How far we have deviated. We have been content with Bible studies, with memorizing names, with arguing about translations, quibbling about worship styles. What time service should begin, how frequent we take communion, what the architecture looks like, what we believe about eschatology. All those things have a place. I'm not opposed to them. I've engaged in some of them myself, but I don't want to step away from the power of the gospel. Luke is telling us a story. He said, "I have thoroughly investigated this Jesus guy. I wanna tell you what it was like when he was here".
And when he gets to the book of Acts and he starts to tell us about Jesus's friends: "They act the same way. Many blind people were healed". What if we just began to frequently sit before the Lord and say, "Lord, let your power be made more evident in our lives". Now we gotta go back to that chapter 6 stuff. We want to do what you say. We want to value the things you value and oppose the things you oppose. You see, we've spent decades now making friends with evil. It's very common in the American church to say that inclusivity and tolerance are primary biblical values.
Jesus is not tolerant of disobedience. He's not inclusive of ungodliness. He's not. Doesn't mean we hate people. We can love people who have a different viewpoint, but we have a responsibility and obligation to tell the truth. And if we fail to tell the truth, the Bible says, we will receive the judgment that the ungodly will receive because we didn't tell them the truth. See, the reason we're in this terrible predicament as a people, the reason our freedoms and liberties are teetering on the brink, is because the church has been far friendlier to ungodliness than we have been to righteousness and holiness and purity.
We can change. We can change. It's not the politicians and the parties that need to be different. It's the people of God that have to be different. Well, I know I was in Luke. John's disciples: "Should we expect someone else"? How did I get there from that? "At that very time, Jesus cured many". That's what we did. "Many who were blind. So he replied to the messengers, 'Go back and report to John what you've seen and heard: The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised. Blessed is the man who doesn't fall away on account of me.'" It's an interesting sentence. "Blessed is the man who doesn't fall away on account of me".
Why would you fall away? The good news is being preached. The dead are raised. Those with leprosy are cured. The deaf hear. But we've been following Luke through this narrative and many people are falling away. In his hometown, they tried to kill him. When he says, "Your sins are forgiven," and they're offended. When the man is healed, they're agitated. On the Sabbath day, when someone with a withered hand is healed, they begin to plot how they can shut him down. And Jesus is reiterating and Luke is repeating it for us: "Blessed is the man who doesn't fall away".
I wanna pray with you before we go:
Heavenly Father, I thank you for every person that I've had this time with today. And I pray that in the name of Jesus, you would give us the will to persevere, the determination to overcome, that we may be reminded that greater is the Spirit within us than any challenge we face in this world. In Jesus's name, amen.