Allen Jackson - Decisions Regarding Jesus - Part 1
We're working through the Gospel of Luke. We're not hurrying through it. I know it's in addition to our normal Bible reading. As a congregation, we read through the Bible each year. I hope you're a part of that. If you're not, I would invite you to join us. It's about a 15-minute commitment a day and you can read the Bible from the table of contents all the way to the maps. It will change your life, it will stabilize your faith, it will initiate growth in a way that I don't know any other single thing that will contribute to it in that way.
But beyond that reading assignment, I've asked you for a couple of weeks or so to make an investment in reading the Gospel of Luke. There's only 24 chapters. You can read it in a single setting without a great deal of stress. And you can read it more quickly than you can watch a ball game. In the repetitive reading of it, you'll move past just seeing parables or miracle stories that are familiar and you'll begin to see themes and it eventually becomes clear that Luke was not just reporting a random set of events, that he's presenting a narrative towards an intended objective and that there's some themes that he revisits, that it's not accidental or whimsical at all. And at that point, it really becomes transformational in our lives.
So I've been highlighting some themes as we've walked our way through it. I didn't put them back in your notes today, but there's some themes I've suggested and I wanna keep adding to it. I've said that often the messaging in the Gospel of Luke is uncomfortable. What John the Baptist had to say was not friendly. I'm not sure you would like him as a guest speaker. When they came to him, he said, "You're a bunch of snakes," and there's no cultural something that makes that like a kind greeting. He said, "Who warned you to flee from the judgment that was coming"?
And, you know, he talked to prostitutes and thieves and Roman soldiers, and then Luke introduces Jesus, and Jesus's messaging is often caustic. I mean, it's filled with dire warnings and challenges and it seems that Jesus seldom misses an opportunity to unsettle his audience. He's invited to someone's home for dinner and while he's there, Luke says that a sinful woman came in and began to weep at Jesus's feet, and it offended the host, and Luke addressed it and you know, you're reading it and you think, "Well, he could kind of let it go".
Have you ever been to somebody's house, and maybe there was something a little awkward or something you didn't, but Jesus didn't leave it be. It's like he pulled his chair up right in front of the face of the Pharisee and said, "I need to tell you something. This woman who you despise has shown me great kindness, and you didn't show me any". Like, "Whoa, big fella". And what begins to become so apparent as you're reading through the Gospel is that Jesus doesn't behave at all like we do. And that's a problem because we're supposed to be following him. We've been coached for decades now within contemporary Christendom that the primary objective we have is to be liked by everybody.
We don't want to offend anybody. Big tent. We've worshiped at the altar of inclusivity and we've lost any sense almost of holiness or righteousness or purity. And as you read through Luke, we find that Jesus faces tremendous resistance and often just blatant rejection, which helps us understand why we don't behave that way, because we don't want to be rejected. It might impact our business, our kids might not get an invitation to a party, and we're just not sure that we're willing to do that. After all, we've been saved and baptized and we're going to heaven.
So why should we act like Jesus? But Jesus is frequently rejected. And then we find the most unlikely people responding to Jesus, not the biblical scholars, not the people that spend their time in the temple or in the synagogues. The people that are responding to Jesus, following Jesus, are like fishermen with no formal theological training and prostitutes with training of a whole 'nother kind. And the biggest thieves in the community, who say, "You know, I'm gonna give back all the things I've stolen," and the religious people go, "We're not". And you're reading Luke and going, "Wow".
And what's really uncomfortable is we would identify more with all those people that were rejecting Jesus. And Luke consistently reminds us that there's life beyond this material world, this physical world, that we have five senses, they're a gift from God, they're important, but they are not adequate to interact with all reality. You get this, you can even follow the science and get to this. With the aid of a microscope and a drop of pond water, you can discover a whole new world that you wouldn't know without that tool.
Well, Luke reminds us that there's a whole spiritual dimension. Frequently, Jesus knows what people are thinking before they say it. He has an authority that doesn't come from governments or monetary expenditures or military might. He can speak to wind and waves or raise the dead. Luke just keeps reminding us and I would remind you, Luke was a physician. Luke reminds us that there's a dimension of authority and power beyond our material universe. And the church doesn't live with that awareness much anymore either. And then finally, Luke begins to tell us that Jesus was preparing disciples. He wasn't just doing miracles and teaching studies. He was preparing men and women to follow him.
Now, we can raise our hands, say, "I'd like to be one of those". So begin to watch what they do. Watch the changes that came. They said, "We left everything to follow you. We don't have any place to go to. We burned the boats. We're all in with you". Wow, that's not the way we've been invited either. So, Luke really gives us this radical presentation of Jesus's message and the people who will follow him. It's worth reading. If you haven't started yet, come on and join us. It'll help you. You think I won't, you'll know, I won't be quite as crazy if you've read before you get to church. I mean, it won't completely eliminate the crazy, but it'll help a little bit.
The rejection of Jesus, I've been living with it in Luke's Gospel enough that I guess I'm a bit more aware, but I got home one afternoon this week and we were on the way to someplace else and I had just a couple of minutes and I sat down and turned on a television and there was a news program that came up. It's late in the... it was actually in the evening, and there was a panel discussion taking place, and one of the... it was on a conservative network.
So this wasn't somebody that I expected. And the statement was made that the greatest threat that faces our nation these days, the greatest threat that faces us as a nation, was Christian nationalists. The definitions are manipulated and they can mean many things and they'll be twisted, and so without spending a lot of time with them, but the comment went on and say, you know, "There are these people who believe their faith should impact how our nation is actually governed and what happens in people's lives". And I mean, I was, by now, I'm kind of leaning forward, you know, and the veins are beginning to get a little, "And these people say that Vice President Harris has a demon".
And, boy, there was such vitriol. You know, I'm quite comfortable acknowledging that I believe there's an enormous amount of demonic activity in Washington, D.C. I wouldn't limit it. I wouldn't limit it to a single person. In fact, I wouldn't limit it to Washington, D.C. I think that's incredibly naive. But as I turned it off, I had had enough, I'd had my 4 minutes dose of news for the day. But what was so clear to me that it's appropriate in mainstream media outlets to denigrate and mock traditional historic Christian values.
They can be spoken of derisively with great anger. They can be identified as a significant threat to our wellbeing and our peace and safety. And there's very little pushback. In fact, there was none on that program. There was a bit of redirection, a bit of awkwardness, but there was nobody saying, "That's a wicked statement to make, and I won't tolerate it," which would have been more appropriate. And I've thought about it a good deal since then. How is it that we've arrived at a place where our Christian worldview is being broadly mocked and rejected?
I would remind you, just in passing, Jesus believed in demonic activity. It was a very significant part of his ministry. I would add to that, that Jesus's followers, for centuries, in fact, since he was here, Jesus's followers have believed in demonic activity. And just in passing, for the record, orthodox Christian doctrine acknowledges demonic activity. So to step away from that and go "Well, I don't believe in any of that," understand you're separating yourself from Jesus, his followers through the century, and the orthodox, which means the agreed upon, accepted position of the church.
So it isn't like the lunatic fringe. It's a part of who we are. How have we arrived at this place where biblical values, where that Judeo-Christian worldview, can be mocked and ridiculed and demanded that the public be expunged of such things? Well, I would submit to you that I think the first line of defense that has failed and capitulated almost completely is the church. We're the ones that have to hold up those values. If we don't believe it, if we're not the people willing to voice it, we've rejected within Christianity, we've rejected the authority of Scripture. We've rejected our assignment to be salt and light, we've rejected obedience.
We allow marriage to be redefined. We say that our biological sex is confusing. No, it isn't. My dad was a vet. We figured that out in a barnyard long time ago. But those same biblical values have been rejected by academia. They're not welcome in educational systems. That is startling and it cannot be accepted. We cannot imagine that we're appropriately educating our children if we deny them the truth of Scripture and that biblical worldview. I assure you there's a worldview being taught in our schools and our colleges and our universities.
And if we're silent while they say, "Your worldview isn't welcome," you at least better care enough to say, "Well, exactly whose worldview is it you're advocating for"? It's been removed from the political arena as well, rejected by our political class. I would remind you and I'll do it in passing because I am gonna get to Luke, I promise. You're looking at all those verses of Scripture, thinking, "We will be here for dinner". You're right. But this is our heritage as a nation. This is what is so egregious to me. They have taken our heritage and say it's no longer welcome.
Imagine saying that to any other segment of our society. Imagine if it was said to any other subset of our society, that your heritage, your values, are not welcome in the public square. They have to be separate from us. You can hold them, but you can only hold them in private. Don't bring them into the public square. We wouldn't tolerate it. But somehow, the Christians have meekly, because we weren't willing to face any of the rejection. So now we've come up with this false gospel where Jesus is all about love and everything's a group hug.
Well, Jesus certainly brought a message of love, but not in the squishy way that it's typically defined in the public square. This heritage as our nation is not something new, it's not fringe or peripheral. This Judeo-Christian worldview has been at the heart of our national formation, from our legal system to our educational systems, to our business values, to our community values. They have been shaped by this biblical worldview. Do you know that the Bible was used as a textbook for public education for decade upon decade upon decade? Do you know that for many years, the pastors in this nation in the midst of national election cycles would preach election sermons?
There are books published, volumes of election sermons from pastors across the nation who would talk about the policies that were in play in that election, the candidates, and dictate who to vote for. Did you know that sermons in the major American cities for a long season were printed on the front page of newspapers on Mondays? Do you remember that our money says, "In God we trust"? I mean, it's just a sampling, folks. I'll spare you the longer version. But some of our most important monuments, buildings, and landmarks in Washington D.C. include religious words, symbols, and imagery. They're cut in the stone of the buildings.
In the United States Capitol the declaration, "In God we trust," is prominently displayed in both the United States House and Senate chambers. Around the top walls of the House chamber appear images of 23 great lawgivers from across the centuries, but only Moses is honored with a full face view, looking down on the proceedings of the house. Religious artwork, Christian artwork, is found throughout the United States Capitol including in the Rotunda where the prayer service of Christopher Columbus, the baptism of Pocahontas, and the prayer and the Bible study of the pilgrims are all prominently displayed.
In the Cox Corridor of the Capitol are the words, "America! God shed His grace on thee," are inscribed. At the east Senate entrance with the words, it's in Latin, but it means, "God has favored our undertakings," and in many other locations in the building. Images of the Ten Commandments are found in many federal buildings across Washington D.C., including in bronze in the floor of the National Archives, in a bronze statue of Moses in the Main Reading Room of the Library of Congress, in numerous locations at the Supreme Court building, including the frieze above the Justices, the oak door at the rear of the Chamber, the gable apex, and in dozens of locations on the bronze latticework that surrounds the Supreme Court Bar seating.
Summary, the spiritual heritage of the United States of America is obvious. It's blatant, bold, repeated. Numerous other of the most important American government leaders, institutions, monuments, buildings and landmarks both openly acknowledge and incorporate religious words, symbols, and imagery in official venues. Such acknowledgments are even more frequent at the state and local level than at the federal level, where thousands of such acknowledgments exist. It's our heritage.
But now we have leaders, presidents, maybe most famously because it seemed to get more notoriety, President Barack Obama said, "We're not a Christian nation". Well, I mean, he's entitled to an opinion, and I would respect that, but it's an uninformed one. We've never been uniquely Christian or totally Christian. But the values that have shaped us, the worldview that has shaped us undeniably is that Judeo-Christian worldview. But now, our generation, we're rejecting God. We're being quiet while he's peeled out of the public square, denied access to our schools. We're told we have to be separate, we should be quiet, our values don't matter.
I believe we'll face judgment for these choices if we don't repent. We shouldn't imagine that we can mock God and then demand his blessings. Nor should we presume upon the faithfulness of previous generations to ensure our place in the grace and mercy of God. Again, this very similar to Scripture, Jesus faced audiences on multiple occasions and they were offended at his words and they said, "Abraham is our father. How dare you tell us we need to change"? And Jesus said, "Well, for the record, God can make children of Abraham out of the rocks. You better change".
And I believe a message that our generation has to grapple with, it's uncomfortable and it's awkward, is we have to change. We've presided over one of the most precipitous declines of Christian influence in the history of the church. And we want to point at our heritage. And while I value that heritage and I will remind you of it frequently, every generation has to make a choice for themselves. What are we choosing? What is it we are worshiping? What are the values that we're aspiring to? I don't think you have to have a very creative imagination to understand there's an enormous demonic influence in our nation.
One of the major platform pieces of a party that is presenting candidate for the presidency of the United States, being embraced, if the polls are anything close to true, by half of the population, is the right to murder your child at any point during pregnancy. Folks, that cannot be understood as anything other than demonic. It's unbelievable. It is unbelievable.
Now, Luke is going to present to us today, quickly, a group of people making decisions regarding Jesus. But I want us to understand we're not just reviewing something from antiquity. We're not considering a theological tome, that we're sitting here with our one-time journey under the sun, our one opportunity to represent the kingdom of God in a journey through time.
And the question I want you to consider is how are you doing with decisions regarding Jesus? How are you doing when he points a conversation towards us that feels awkward? How are we doing when alignment with Jesus will bring rejection to our lives? Do we go quiet? Do we just get silent because we don't want to offend? How are we doing?
Luke chapter 8 and verse 19. We're in Luke 8, we started in this in the previous session and I didn't get past verse 18. "Jesus's mother and brothers came to see Jesus, but they weren't able to get near him because of the crowd. And someone told him, 'Your mother and brothers don't like big church, and so they left.'" I'm sorry. "'Your mother and brothers are standing outside, they wanna see you.' And Jesus replied, 'My mother and brothers are those who hear God's Word and put it into practice.'"
That's not some distant obtuse statement that's been made by Jesus. In the preceding verse, he's helping the disciples unpack a discipleship. He's told them a parable, the parable of the sower, the farmer who sows seed and it falls in four separate categories. It's an often discussed parable. I suspect you know, generally, the outline of that. And as he's helping them understand the implications of discipleship because in that parable, only one in four actually are able to hold on to the truth of God's Word. And the statement that he's made in the preceding verse is, "Consider carefully how you listen".
Consider carefully how you listen, that listening to God becomes an essential component that Luke is sharing with us in becoming disciples. Not attending, not being busy with religious rule observance, but "Consider carefully how you listen to what God is saying". We live in a very confusing time. There is propaganda and censorship in unprecedented ways. We have communications tools the likes of which the world has never known before. We are bombarded with messaging, much of it is ungodly. It's disorienting. We're gonna have to become better listeners.
And immediately upon that, Luke gives us this little scenario. It seems to almost be out of place in this chapter that Jesus's mother and his brothers present and they would like to say something to him. Maybe they brought lunch, we don't know. And Jesus answers with what seems obtuse if you peel it out of context. He said, "Those who hear my word and put it into practice". You gotta listen and implement. Another familiar parable Luke told us was the the parable of the builders, the one who built on the sand and one who built on the stone. And he began that parable that we've used in such a happy, friendly way.
And he said, "Why do you call me 'Lord,' and not do what I tell you"? He said, "The one who builds a house on a foundation that will withstand storms is the one who hears my words and puts them into practice". Then in the parable of the sower, he's saying to us, "Consider carefully how you listen". And now he says the message for his mom and his siblings is, "Listen to God's Word and put it into practice". Do you think Luke might have a theme emerging? Do you think there was something he understood Jesus wanted his disciples to know that he's trying to communicate to us? It's an essential component to being disciples or followers of Jesus. Let's pray:
Father, thank you that you're moving in the earth and that you have prepared us for just this time. I pray we'll have ears to hear, eyes to see, and hearts to receive. Thank you for it, in Jesus's name, amen.