Saturday 31^st October 2009

Luke 4.20-21

20 Rolling up the book and giving it back to the servant (officer), He sat down; and every eye in the synagogue was gazing at Him.

21 Now He began to say to them: “This is the day when, in your hearing, this Scripture has been fulfilled”.

Those who have the responsibility of standing before others to preach or give some kind of presentation will know that it is quite an ordeal to have everybody’s eyes fixed on you. Some occasions are more nerve racking than others. It is always a good thing to feel nervous when we are engaged in public speaking, since those nerves help to prevent arrogance and a feeling of self importance. We do not know how Jesus felt as He was about to speak to the crowded synagogue. However, we can be certain that He was not there to speak in order to please or displease them. His sole purpose was to announce what God was doing and going to do in and through Him. Jesus had already gained a reputation and the crowd before Him may have had a mixture of excited anticipation and cynical criticism. All those who preach the word of God may often find their hearers to be listening in the same manner, and perhaps there has never been a preacher who has had the wholehearted support and agreement of their hearers. It was true for Jesus and it will always be true for all who proclaim the word of God.

The following words of Jesus that this scripture was being fulfilled are either words of extreme arrogance, or they are true. Jesus was either deluded or He was who He said He was. Either way He was likely to encounter a hostile reaction. Through the revelation of the Holy Spirit we are blessed to know that Jesus is indeed the fulfilment of all Old Testament Messianic (about Christ) prophesies. Therefore, we are able to confidently tell others that Jesus is the only One who brings freedom, healing and peace with God.

Friday 30th October 2009

Luke 4.18-19 cont.

18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to announce good news to the poor, He has sent me to proclaim freedom to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to send away in release those who have been crushed (oppressed).

19 To preach the year of the Lord’s favour.

5 Jesus ends the quotation with the words: To preach the year of the Lord’s favour. Previous generations have been noted for their preaching of hell fire and damnation, the fear of which brought some to repentance and accepting Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. However, Jesus came to preach that this is a time (the word ‘year’ only appears in the plural in Hebrew) when God is determined to show extraordinary favour to the world. This is in agreement with the message of the angels upon the birth of Jesus, as we read in Luke 2.14:  Glory to God in the highest place and peace on earth to men of kindly intent. The word of God tells us that it is our Heavenly Father’s desire that all men (people) be saved and come into a knowledge of the truth - 1 Timothy 2.4. This is a tremendous message and it determined the direction of the ministry of Jesus. He never turned people away, even when He wanted to be alone with the disciples. He rebuked the disciples when they tried to prevent the little children coming to Him. He accepted the repentant thief on the cross, promising that on that day he would be with Jesus in paradise. The love of God extends to every human being and the coming of Jesus proves His love. In Romans 5.8 Paul writes: God’s love is demonstrated to us in this way: while we were still sinners Christ died for us. John writes: Out of His fullness we all received grace and even more grace – John 1.16. These words from Isaiah are a fulfilment of God’s word to Abraham that all peoples on earth would be blessed through Him. Gen 12.3. Enjoy His favour and pass it on.

Thursday 29th October 2009

Luke 4.18-19 cont.

18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to announce good news to the poor, He has sent me to proclaim freedom to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to send away in release those who have been crushed (oppressed).

19 To preach the year of the Lord’s favour.

We continue with these verses, since they are instrumental in the direction of the ministry of Jesus, and therefore, of us, His followers.

3 The Good News of Jesus not only affects our souls and earthly circumstances, but it also reaches into our physical well being. Ill health is something which afflicts so many people. The growth of the NHS has become necessary because more and more people are in need of medical intervention to bring well being to their physical bodies. Many of us have personal reasons to be very grateful for this. My own stays in hospital this year have been a blessing from the Lord, which have brought a restoration to my physical body. It would appear that the longer we live the more we might need medical attention. During the ministry of Jesus we know that He healed blind people, restoring their sight. Some say that this was an illustration to show us that He is the Light of the World, come to deliver us from the darkness of satan and this world. This is true, yet Jesus has commissioned us to do the same things that He did and greater – John 14.12. Healing is as much a part of the gospel (Good News) as is our deliverance from sin and death. The gifts of miracles and healing are gifts of the Holy Spirit, which He gives to the Church and which are a part of the Good News that we have to proclaim in Jesus.

4 Release from being crushed (oppressed) is also part of the mission statement of Jesus. Everyone who comes to Jesus needs to know the truth of these words from Isaiah 42.3: He won’t break a bruised reed. He won’t quench a dimly burning wick. He will faithfully bring justice.

Jesus picks us up, restores us and releases us from the clutches of the enemy. The power of His gospel is able to release us from mental illness, and He is able to deliver us from the demonic forces of wickedness. Again, a part of the commission of Jesus is that we should cast out demons, thus bringing His release to those who are being crushed by the forces of darkness.

Wednesday 28th October 2009

Luke 4.18-19 cont.

18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to announce good news to the poor, He has sent me to proclaim freedom to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to send away in release those who have been crushed (oppressed).

19 To preach the year of the Lord’s favour.

Many businesses and churches have what is called a mission statement that gives a brief description of the objectives and goals of that business or church. In these verses Jesus does just that. He takes the quote from Isaiah and applies it to Himself, as we shall see later on.

1 He has good news for the poor, which is for those who are destitute, living under the breadline. What is this good news? It is that our God is able to meet all our needs in accordance with the richness of Christ in glory – Philippians 4.19. The testimony of many believers is one where our Father has constantly filled us up with what we needed, but which we lacked. When Jesus fed the five and four thousand He was meeting their needs in a miraculous way. Again many of us have seen Jesus cause our food go further than it would normally do, for which we give Him all the praise. The good news is that it is through His richness in glory (heaven) that He meets our needs. Out of the abundance of heaven comes deliverance from poverty. In Psalm 50.10 we read: For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. As believers in the rich western world we have the responsibility of bringing relief to the poor in various parts of the world, which is why churches are prominent in bringing relief and aid to the third world.

2 There is freedom for the captives. Jesus came to break our slavery to sin and satan. In Romans 6 Paul tells us that we are either slaves of sin, which leads to death or slaves to obey God, which produces righteousness within us. He goes on to say in verse 17: But God be thanked, that you were the servants of sin; but you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. The mission of Jesus was to set us free from the control of sin and satan.

Tuesday 27th October 2009

Luke 4.18-19

18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to announce good news to the poor, He has sent me to proclaim freedom to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to send away in release those who have been crushed (oppressed).

19 To preach the year of the Lord’s favour.

The quotation comes from Isaiah 61.1ff. In verse 1 of this chapter, Luke says that Jesus returned from the Jordan full of the Holy Spirit. In verse 18-19 Jesus is quoting Isaiah, who prophesied that the Spirit of the Sovereign God was upon Him (the Messiah). There are some who suggest that not only was Jesus filled with the Holy Spirit, but that the Holy Spirit was upon Him, hovering over Him. If we take an illustration from the natural world we know that our bodies have oxygen within them, which is essential to keep us alive. Also we know that oxygen is upon us so that we can breathe it in, which replenishes the oxygen our bodies use up. Oxygen is both within us and upon us. We sing the song: This is the air I breathe, Your Holy presence living in me. Just as Jesus was both filled with the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit was upon Him, so also do we need both the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and His presence all around us. This agrees with the sense of what Isaiah says when he uses the word ‘anointed’. We understand anointing to come upon us. When we anoint with oil it is usually done by pouring oil on the head to bring God’s presence, grace and empowering. Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit for a specific task. Whatever our God has called us to do in whatever time, we all need both the infilling of the Holy Spirit and His anointing to enable us to continue within that calling. God never calls us to do anything without He gives His anointing. Sometimes His calling may come well before the anointing. The intervening time is the opportunity to be prepared by Him for the appropriate time when the calling is to be activated. At this point our Heavenly Father gives the anointing of His Holy Spirit.

Monday 26th October 2009

Luke 4.16-17

16 And He went into Nazareth, where He had been brought up, and He went into the synagogue, as was His custom on the Sabbaths, and He stood up to read.

17 And the book of the prophet Isaiah was given to Him, and opening the book he found the place where it had been written:

Perhaps a lot of people have an affection for the place where they were brought up and spent their childhood and formative years. Going back to such a place can often lead to a nostalgia that might lead to some feelings of being homesick. There are both pros and cons in returning to a place where we used to live. We only read of one occasion when Jesus returned to His home town. It was to be an occasion where He received a mixed reception.

He enters the synagogue, where, we can assume, He would have been well known and where He would have received His education. Going to the local place of worship and Bible teaching is essential whenever we go to another place, especially if we are going to live there. When we moved to Sutton-in-Ashfield, one of the first things we knew that we needed to do was to find a Church where we could worship and serve God and enjoy the fellowship of brothers and sisters in Jesus.

Jesus is handed a scroll which contained the book of the prophet Isaiah; then He appears to deliberately look for the particular scripture that we find in verses 18 ff. In the purposes of God it was on this Sabbath that Jesus was invited to read and it was the book of Isaiah that was the chosen book. In God’s purposes things don’t just happen. With Him events and circumstances are never random. The times we are living in and our being placed within them are not by accident. Each one of us has been placed where we are at this time to advance the Kingdom of God in this place. The short time Jesus was in Nazareth was to be a time of personal agony, but, as we shall see, it was in the purposes of God. Let us rest in the knowledge that our Father leads us either to remain where we are, or to move on. Whichever it happens to be we are where we are to accomplish His purposes.

Monday 26th October 2009

Luke 4.16-17

16 And He went into Nazareth, where He had been brought up, and He went into the synagogue, as was His custom on the Sabbaths, and He stood up to read.

17 And the book of the prophet Isaiah was given to Him, and opening the book he found the place where it had been written:

Perhaps a lot of people have an affection for the place where they were brought up and spent their childhood and formative years. Going back to such a place can often lead to a nostalgia that might lead to some feelings of being homesick. There are both pros and cons in returning to a place where we used to live. We only read of one occasion when Jesus returned to His home town. It was to be an occasion where He received a mixed reception.

He enters the synagogue, where, we can assume, He would have been well known and where He would have received His education. Going to the local place of worship and Bible teaching is essential whenever we go to another place, especially if we are going to live there. When we moved to Sutton-in-Ashfield, one of the first things we knew that we needed to do was to find a Church where we could worship and serve God and enjoy the fellowship of brothers and sisters in Jesus.

Jesus is handed a scroll which contained the book of the prophet Isaiah; then He appears to deliberately look for the particular scripture that we find in verses 18 ff. In the purposes of God it was on this Sabbath that Jesus was invited to read and it was the book of Isaiah that was the chosen book. In God’s purposes things don’t just happen. With Him events and circumstances are never random. The times we are living in and our being placed within them are not by accident. Each one of us has been placed where we are at this time to advance the Kingdom of God in this place. The short time Jesus was in Nazareth was to be a time of personal agony, but, as we shall see, it was in the purposes of God. Let us rest in the knowledge that our Father leads us either to remain where we are, or to move on. Whichever it happens to be we are where we are to accomplish His purposes.

Saturday 24th October 2009

Luke 4.14

14 And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and a rumour went out in the entire region about Him.

The time that Jesus spent in the wilderness was a limited time. The moment had to come when He would need to return so that He could begin the work for which the Father had sent Him. As we have seen the time in the wilderness was a time for Him to be tested by Satan, but it was also a time of being alone with the Father, a time of receiving more detail of the mission He was about to embark on, a time when that mission would have a clarity about it. In our times in the wilderness, we will have the same experiences: testing, which builds our spiritual character, envisioning, which motivates our spirit for His purposes; clarity, which gives us the same focus as Jesus. Then the wilderness times will come to an end and, like Jesus, we shall return in the power of the Holy Spirit. It may be that these wilderness experiences are our holiday times, when we devote time to being alone with Jesus; they may be times when we are temporarily inactive through whatever reason; they may be times when He leads us into a different area of service, which allows us the time to stop and know God. I believe that every wilderness experience is given to us to: Be still and know that He is God – Psalm 46.10.

Perhaps we need to recognise the times when we need to release one another to have the opportunity to spend time with our Heavenly Father. Just as we need time with our earthly family, so we need time with the Lord Jesus. They will be times of refreshing, times of being filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. This means that as we return we will be equipped from heaven to accomplish His heavenly will here on earth, it means we return filled with God’s ideas and vision, ready to do whatever His will is for us. It is true that there is a hardship in the wilderness experience to endure, but as we do we also will return in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Friday 23rd October 2009

Luke 4.13

13 And, the Devil, having finished all these temptations, withdrew from Jesus until a more favourable time.

The Devil and his demonic forces are not equal with God. They are not everywhere or always present. After the Devil had attempted to cause Jesus to give into his evil temptations, he left Him alone for a more opportune time. This whole incident in the wilderness can only have come from the lips of Jesus, since He was alone in the wilderness and there were no eyewitnesses to these events. The comment that the Devil left Jesus to wait a more favourable time suggests that the Devil thought he would have a greater opportunity at a later stage to cause Jesus to sin. We can only imagine when this would have been. We can think of various occasions when the temptation of escaping from doing the will of the Father would have been great. His prayer in the garden of Gethsemane: ‘Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me, yet not as I wish, but as you wish’ – Matthew 26.39. With the agony of the cross getting closer, escape into the countryside would have been easy. Similarly the temptation to come down from the cross would have been great as he faced the taunts of the crowds: Save yourself and come down from the cross.” – Mark 15.30. The Devil may have  ceased to tempt Jesus in the wilderness, but he was looking for a greater opportunity. We will be faced with similar situations. There will be those times when the Devil always seems to be tempting us. Then he will leave us alone, but be sure he will come back again when he thinks we are more vulnerable. Again our encouragement is in the reality of the presence of Jesus to always be with us, to always give the right amount of grace that we need and to never leave us alone.