The PCF Blog

Listen to this podcast (or download – right click here and ‘Save as’):

Note on sermon preached 20  June 2010 on Luke 4 v.14-30

When we started this series in Luke in September last year we called the first sermon “We want to see Jesus”. And that is what we want to do as we proceed through the gospel. Now , at last, we reach the stage where we can take a close look at the Jesus of the Gospel of Luke. And we will find , like many before us , that the Jesus we see is not always the one we are expecting. It’s time to take another look.

• 1.   Setting the Scene

Luke sets the scene by telling us that Jesus moves from his temptation into the wilderness into the start of his public ministry in Galilee. No detail is given (though it appears in other gospels) just a general overview of the initial preaching tour that Jesus embarked upon in Galilee.

• 2.   Returning Home

We know from the comments that Jesus made that by the time he arrived in Nazareth he was already a popular preacher who was creating a sensation wherever he went. We can only imagine what it must have been like for Jesus to re-enter his home town as a celebrity. And what must it have been like for his friends to have received him?

• 3.   Preaching the Word

As a visiting Rabbi , Jesus would have been invited to read the scriptures, and to comment on them. Whether the passage from Isaiah 61 was the prescribed passage for the day, or whether he chose it, we don’t know, but all eyes were on him as the townsfolk waited for Jesus to speak. And he does what every preacher of the word does. He read the word and then he opened it up, commenting on it to help his hearers understand it. The passage in question is hugely pertinent to his own standing, as he points out that these scriptures – which all understood to refer to the Messiah – were fulfilled as Jesus spoke.

Jesus was claiming to be the Messiah – unbelievable: no wonder it elicited a response from the Nazarenes!

We also need to realise that the Isaiah passage refers not only to the ministry of the Messiah, but also to the ministry of His church as we continue the work of Jesus to bring the gospel to the needy around us

• 4.   Telling it how it is

We will consider the response of the Nazarenes to Jesus below. But let’s consider how Jesus continues to apply the Scriptures to the situation. Having pointed out clearly that he was the Messiah, Jesus knew that   their response would be to demand that he prove it. As always when he was called upon the carry out a miracle out of unbelief, Jesus declines and tells them that their unwillingness to receive his word puts them in the same category as those who were rejected by Elijah in favour of a Gentile woman. What a thing to say to professing Jews!

Before we continue we need to note the willingness of Jesus to confront unbelief wherever he met it. We may say ”if only he had quit whilst he was ahead! Why did he have to antagonise people who could have been his greatest supporters”! Jesus loves us far too much to let us continue in unbelief and will challenge us every time no matter what the risk.

• 5.   Receiving Feedback

On the surface of it, the response of the Nazarenes to Jesus is initially favourable. They “spoke well of him” and were “amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips”. However, Jesus always looks beneath the surface and he knows that their approval is only skin deep and is reflected glory at the “local boy” who has put Nazareth on the map. Jesus knows when our response is   superficial.

The clue is in the comment “isn’t this Joseph’s son?”, They are quite happy to respond to Jesus as Joseph’s son – but God’s Son is a totally different matter. What is their objection?

1. The Son of God comes with authority – the son of Joseph just comes with gracious words
2. The Son of God speaks of the sovereignty of God and challenges their prejudices.  The son of Joseph is  “just a good chap”
3. The Son of God declares the unthinkable – that the Gentiles will be beneficiaries of God’s mercy – at the expense of the Jews. The son of Joseph was one of them, and would never have sai d that!

Fawning sycophancy   to murderous hatred in a few minutes . Hell hath no fury like religious orthodoxy challenged!

• 6.   Experiencing protection

Every one who tries to serve God has experienced rejection and even danger as those who don’t like the message turn on him. Nowhere is this fiercer than in those who claim to followers of Jesus. We have to depend on the protection of our Father as we experience danger. And Jesus, in mortal danger, is able to walk away unscathed.

Having said that – Jesus still has to experience the pain of rejection from those who should be his supporters. .  Is it the fear of such pain that causes us to hold back? We will avoid upsetting people like the plague because we know they may reject us. The fact is that they may. But Jesus loves us enough to take the risk.

7.   Delivering the verdict

The final verdict is damning. “Jesus went on his way” Is the  worst fate that can befall a Christian? For God to bypass us because, although orthodox in doctrine, we don’t want him interfering in our cozy brand of Christianity is the worst fate that will befall a Christian or a church. It is similar to the fate of the Laodacean church recorded in Revelation 3, when Jesus says he will spit them out of his mouth.

The Jesus that Luke speaks of is the Son of God that requires our unconditional surrender and will challenge us to the very core of our being, bypassing us if we don’t respond to him. He is not the son of Joseph, saying and doing nothing but nice things, but the Son of God, with fire in His eyes demanding our unconditional surrender.

Maybe it’s time to take another look.

Do we have a knowledge of God, or do we actually know him?

This week, Richard Miles talks about this from a Biblical viewpoint, and identifies characteristics of people whose energy comes from their relationship with God.

Listen to this podcast (or download – right click here and ‘Save as’):

Apologies for the missing first minute – Richard is reading Jeremiah 9 v 23-24.

Listen to this podcast (or download – right click here and ‘Save as’):

Note on sermon preached 6  June 2010 on Luke 4 v.1-13

This is part two  of our look at this famous passage about the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. We start with a review of  the previous look at this famous passage.

1. The Sequence

Previously we were considering  the baptism of Jesus, the day when Jesus was endorsed from heaven with the words “You are my Son, whom I love. With you I am well-pleased”. You might have expected that it would be followed with a dramatic appearance on the world stage, or with the signs  and wonders that  we read about later. But what we see is the Holy Spirit leading Jesus out into the wilderness, a place of solitude and loneliness, where he experienced cold, heat ,hunger and constant battle with the enemy. God’s ways are not our ways!

2. The Situation

What exactly is happening in this extraordinary encounter?

We saw last time that Jesus is truly God and truly man. He laid aside his divinity and, whilst never ceasing to be God, battled against temptation as man. So this story is a pattern of our own lives, experiencing the attack of the enemy who wants to to cause us to doubt God’s word, to cause us to live for ourselves rather than God.

Every day each of us live our lives in a situation of warfare, when the enemy of our souls does everything he can to cause us to turn away from God. It has been so with every human from Adam to you, and it is so  with Jesus. So we should not be surprised at the battle that engages us every day. And whilst we often talk about the attack of the enemy in circumstances and in illness, the main strategy is to get us to disobey our heavenly Father. Is that not your experience every day?

3. The Stakes

What is at stake in this extra-ordinary encounter?

Jesus won our salvation by dying on the cross. But in order to qualify to be the saviour of mankind he had first of all to live a live that was without blemish. That meant being in the forefront of the full range of temptations and pressures that we all face. Jesus had to face it all, and to win, without any recourse to his divine nature.

The onslaught must have been horrific.  Just as the first Adam failed, Jesus had to face a re-run of the temptation of Eden. And if he had failed – just one thought or deed out of harmony with His heavenly father – he would no longer have been the sinless son of God. He would not have been the spotless lamb and the opportunity of salvation would have been lost forever. What a moment this was!

4. The Springboard

There is no springboard for fruitful ministry other than alone with God. It is no accident that Jesus starts his ministry alone with God. And it is no surprise that the enemy attacks it for all he is worth.

5. The Strategy

Paul wrote that “we are not unaware of the devil’s schemes” We need to be aware of what  the enemy is trying to accomplish in the life of Jesus and in the life of every believer. The strategy is to  cause Jesus to act in a way that is contrary to the will of His Father in heaven. – which is what the bible calls “sin”. And that is what the enemy is at work to do every day in our lives. It has been his strategy since Eden and will be until Jesus returns. How does he go about it:

Tactic 1: ”You can’t trust God’s word” – “Did God really say?” has been the tactic of the enemy from the start of human history. The reason is that once we stop believing God we stop acting as he wants us to. Once we stop believing, for example if God as Creator, why should we live as created beings? Why is man not free to follow whatever instincts seem best to him? So jesus is tempted to doubt God’s word to Him “You are my Son” – and to do something dramatic to prove that the word of God is true. For the believer, the only evidence we need is the word of God.

The same evidence comes in the later temptation when Jesus is tempted to throw himself from the temple. “If you are the Son of God…” Jesus needs no other evidence of god’s faithfulness other than the word of His Father – and neither do we.

Tactic 2:  “Look after number 1” a second aspect of the temptation of Jesus to turn stones to bread is  the temptation to use what God given us in order to meet our own needs, rather than to serve God. When we look at what God has given us, time, energy, talents, money and so on – how are we using it? Do we use what God has given us to serve Him, or to bolster our own position and to feed our own appetites?  Similarly when Jesus is tempted to do a spectacular miracle – it would have been for his own purpose and not the purposes of God.  We use what we have for God – not our own needs.

Tactic 3: “What is it you want?” The temptation for Jesus to worship Satan seems grotesque. The trouble is that we have a limited concept of what “worship” is all about. We worship whatever we put on the throne of our lives. That means that to worship Satan simply means to dethrone God from the centre of our lives. And the enemy is so desperate for us to do just that that he will offer us pretty much anything we want in order to achieve.

The sober truth is that since Eden Satan has had almost unfettered access to the resources of the world to use as he likes. And he is in a position to offer it to us.  Stories in literature abound of people who have sold their soul to the devil in return for wealth, women, power or whatever we want. They pay for it with eternity. And that is the deal that enemy offers today. He will offer you riches, money, sex – anything you want – if only you will  topple God from the throne of your life. Deal or not deal?  For Jesus the answer is clear: “No Deal”. What’s your answer?

Tactic  Four:”Look what people will think” The temptation for Jesus to throw himself from the pinacle of the temple is a temptation to pride. What a shortcut to world domination! There would be no doubt that Jesus was THE man. The temptation to make ourselves look good in the eyes of others – sometimes at the expense of other – is constantly with us.

Tactic Five:  “Now look what you’ve done” With every believer (not with Jesus) a part of the battle is how to handle it when we fail. The enemy will pile on guilt as we experience the consequences of our disobedience. Sometimes this can be the hardest part of the battle. Whilst we can never use it to justify failure, we have to remember that Jesus knew we would never live the perfect life, and he did it on our behalf. So we can appeal to 1 John 1 v9 “If we confess our sins he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness”

6. The Solution

How can we respond to these tactices of the evil one?

a)      Prayer – Jesus taught us to pray “lead us not into temptation” and said to Peter “watch and pray so that you may not fall into temptation”.

b)      Fasting – victory after victory in the word of God comes  as a result of God’s people fasting. It is clear that God intends fasting to characterise the life each Christian and of his church. Does it?

c)       The Word  of God – when this passage is preached on it is usually rightly a key part of the message that Jesus resisted the enemy’s advances with the word of God,the sword of the Spirit.  When dealing with the enemy don’t argue – “quote”. But behind this there is a huge assumption – namely that you are in the word of God,and are able to quote it at will to resist the attacks.  Are you?

d)      Resist – James said” resist the enemy and he will flee from you. This victory overt the temptation  of the enemy to sin are a key point in the life of Jesus. In your life and ministry, you response to the temptations of the enemy are a key point in how your future unfolds. Your private battles do matter.

7. The Sequel

At the end of this long, lonely period of time the enemy leaves Jesus.( 4 v.13) The present crisis is over. And something else happens. Jesus returns to Galilee in the power of the Spirit.(v.14) He has gone from being “full of the holy Spirit”(v 1) to being “in the power of the Holy Spirit. And in that power he drives out demons, proclaims the good news of the kingdom, heals the sick and raises the dead. The wilderness victory leads him into the power of the kingdom. The strong man is bound – and the kingdom of God comes.

We long to see the power of the Spirit released amongst us. Are we prepared for the testing, the resisting, the prayer and the fasting? If we are – there is no reason why we should not see what Jesus saw.

Nick May spoke this week continuing his series on the attributes of God, this week talking about God’s mercy.

Listen to this podcast (or download – right click here and ‘Save as’):

Reference: Hebrews 2 v 14-18

Richard Miles spoke this morning about intimacy with God, suggesting that it is easy to admire God from a distance, but a different thing to truly seek God’s face and draw near to Him.

Listen to this podcast (or download – right click here and ‘Save as’):

Listen to this podcast (or download – right click here and ‘Save as’):

Notes on message brought  9  May 2010: “The Green Light”

Today we look at Luke’s account  of  the baptism of Jesus, which we can find in Luke 3 v19 onwards.

The Green Light.

Four thousand years have passed since Adam threw away the opportunity for him and his descendants to enjoy heaven on earth with God. Thirty years have passed since the events that led to the birth of Jesus. The human race is still suffering in bondage to Satan and sin, with the promise of the kingdom of God. This is the moment when God fires that starting pistol, when God shows the green light. From this moment on it’s all systems go as God sets in motion his plan for the salvation of the human race.

• 1.   The Three Persons of God

This is a classic passage that talks about the three persons of God. We have heaven breaking open and God the Father speaking from heaven. We have God the Son, God in human form, hearing the voice of the father and receiving his endorsement. And we have God the Holy Spirit descending on the Son of God in bodily form.

Each of the three persons tells us something about the nature of our God, and each provides a different way we can relate to God.

This mystery of God in three persons was reflected on, pondered and has boggled the minds of theologians from the early days of the church. Eventually a new word was formed to summarise the biblical truth – the word “Trinity”.

The doctrine of the trinity can be summarised as follows:

1. God is three persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit
2. Each of these three persons is wholly God
3. There is only one God.

Who can explain such a sublime doctrine? There have been a number of illustrations used to explain the doctrine of the trinity – but they all fall down at some point simply because divine truth can  not be limited to human concepts. This is just one explain of many truths that we accept humbly in the knowledge that God’s wisdom is greater than ours.

• 2.   The Three Titles of Jesus

• The Son of God

Jesus has livedfor 30 years in obscurity and here he has the ringing endorsement from heaven that he needs in order to start his public ministry “You are my Son…with you I am well-pleased”. The word “Son” here means so much more than our use of it as the physical descendent of someone. The term refers to  the one who is the fullest expression of God in every way. As Paul said in Colossians “in Christ the fullness of the deity dwells in bodily form” . What does this mean for us? It means that Jesus is the One who speaks the very words of God. He is One in whom God has divested all his authority and all his power. As God said on the Mount of Transfiguration “This is my Son. Listen to Him”.

• The Son of Man

The long genealogy of Jesus is there for a reason. In it we see that Jesus has direct human lineage that takes His origin, in human terms back to the first Adam. The title given to  reflect this is “the Son of Man” This means that Jesus is the supreme example of the human being. It means that though he existed with his Father and the Holy Spirit in eternity, at a point in history he became a man.

This is so important for us to understand properly. If we have a good understanding of the deity of Jesus that is crucial but we need also to have a clear view of the humanity of Jesus. He lived life as a man. That means that without in any way ceasing to be divine, he chose to live a human life putting aside his divinity.  As the song goes:

“You laid aside your majesty”

This means that he understand the pain and the joys that humanity in a fallen world experiences. He understands what it means to be born in questionable circumstances, to be a refugee, to grow up in a family, to suffer temptation, to b rejected by friends and enemies, to laugh and cry and to experience excruciating pain. There is no pain that we can experience that he has not experienced worse. Commenting on this the writer to the Hebrews says:

¹⁵For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. ¹⁶Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Hebrews 4 v15-16)

So in this passage, Jesus is baptised, as we should be; he prays, as we do, he hears from His Father in heaven and he is anointed by the Spirit of God. In all aspects – except Sin – he lives like us. Basically, Jesus is our brother – one of us.

• The Messiah

Messiah literally means “anointed one”. One of the implications of Jesus sharing our humanity is that he is dependent on the Holy Spirit exactly as we are.

When the time came for Jesus to start His ministry, he could not depend on his own resources. As God he could have done, but as man he needed affirmation from heaven and he needed an anointing of power from on high. The same is true for us. Whatever God asks us to do , he will equip us and anoint us for.

It is very significant that the image used of the Holy Spirit at this point is the image of the dove. This is the most gentle, peaceful, graceful and inoffensive of God’s creatures, easily scared away. God’s anointing in us is real – but any sign of unforgiveness,  pride, self –centredness he will flutter off. The key to keeping the anointing of god in our lives is in keeping close to God and immediately rectify anything that Holy Spirit shows is displeasing to God. In Jesus, the Holy Spirit dwelled ungrieved, unquenched and operating in power. That can be true of us as we yield to the dove in our lives.

So,  Jesus has been affirmed from heaven, anointed for ministry and is ready to  start the work God had for Him. The green light has been shown and the main event is about to take place.

But that’s another story.

Gez Jones spoke this week about the story of Gideon. He explained how it shows us God’s mercy, how it teaches us the importance of passing on experience of God as well as knowledge, and Gez suggests that in order to increase our own faith, we should not set the bar too high!

Listen to this podcast (or download – right click here and ‘Save as’):

References:

1. Judges 2
2. Judges 6
3. Galatians 2