Wednesday 31st March 2010

Luke 10.2

2 Now He said to them: “Indeed there is a great harvest, but few workmen. Plead then with the Lord of the harvest that He would thrust out workmen into His harvest.

In Matthews’s account of these words he records that Jesus had compassion on the people because they were like sheep without a shepherd – Matthew 9.35-37; the people were harassed and helpless.

On another occasion Jesus points to the harvest and says: I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see how the fields are already white for harvest. -  John 4.35. On this occasion He had just been speaking with the Samaritan woman at the well. Through her testimony Jesus went and spent two days in her village. No doubt this was a time of reaping the harvest, since John tells us that many Samaritans from that village believed in Him as the Saviour of the world.

Perhaps there has never been a time when there has not been a plentiful harvest. In every generation there is a whole world for whom Jesus died. We know that it is the Father’s will that no one should perish. Therefore, it is His desire that His people should be engaged in the task of praying for harvesters. Luke uses an interesting word when Jesus tells His followers that the Lord of the harvest should ‘thrust’ out harvesters. There is a force in the word that does not come through when the word is translated ‘send’. It is the same word that Mark uses in chapter 1.12 when He says that the Holy Spirit thrust Jesus into the desert; the literal translation being that of the Holy Spirit thrusting forth Jesus into the desert.

In praying that God will provide harvesters Jesus tells us to pray that God will propel them into the harvest fields.

It is also very interesting to see that the people who are praying are the very ones whom Jesus thrusts into the towns and places around.

It would seem that as we pray for more harvesters we are likely to become the harvesters for whom we are praying.

Tuesday 30th March 2010

Luke 10.1

1 After these things the Lord appointed seventy (two) others and sent them out ahead of Him in twos into every town and city where He was about to go.

(Some manuscripts say that Jesus appointed seventy two men).

Quite a number translate that Jesus sent out seventy.

W Barclay reminds us that seventy was a significant number for the Jews. It was seventy men who were appointed as elders to assist Moses in leading and governing the people of Israel as the wandered through the desert.

The number of members of the Sanhedrin (the Jewish council) was seventy men.

 Is the significance that Jesus was bringing in the New Israel with seventy men to assist Him making the gospel known?

It was general believed that there were seventy nations in the world at that time. Perhaps this could signify that the gospel was for the whole world, For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life – John 3.16.

These are interesting points for us to consider.

The word that Luke uses for ‘appointed’ has the meaning of being appointed to make a public display of something. The gospel is a completely open secret. Jesus said in Matthew 5. 14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid”.

None of us are called to be secret agents in the kingdom of God, but we are all called to be a public display and demonstration of the gospel of the Kingdom.

Every believer is an open expression of the love of God. Every believer is a public exhibition of the grace of our Lord Jesus, and every believer is a public presentation of the fellowship that we have with our heavenly Father, which He desired for all.

Luke uses the word ‘other’ which suggests that perhaps this did not include the twelve disciples. Whatever, it is a large gathering of men that would have a big impact on the towns and villages.

Monday 29th March 2010

Luke 9.61-62

61 Now another one said to Him: “Lord, I will follow you; but first give me permission to say goodbye to the members of my family”.

62 But Jesus said to him: “No one who puts his hand on the plough and is looking behind him is useful in the Kingdom of God”.

We come to the third of these incidents, which are all about being a disciple. In this final one there is a man who seems very eager to join Jesus and go wherever Jesus would take him. However, he wanted permission to go back home and say his good byes to the family. Again the reply of Jesus may seem hard.

The man’s request appears to be quite reasonable. Today the family might have a farewell party in order to send him away.

Yet, the request to return home appears to suggest a reluctance to leave home and follow Jesus. It would seem that this man wanted to follow Jesus on his terms.

Did Jesus see that here was a man that would always be looking backwards, having a desire to return to the way things used to be.

Jesus uses a farming illustration of ploughing. It is impossible to plough a straight furrow whilst looking backwards over the shoulder.

In teaching pupils to reverse a car, they are taught to look behind them to see where they are going. The pupil who reverses whilst looking to the front will end up either on the pavement or on the wrong side of the road. Neither is of any use.

Jesus says exactly the same. He says that any follower of Him who is looking to go back to the way things were is not of any use in the Kingdom of God.

In Isaiah 43.18 we read these words: “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. 19 See, I am doing a new thing.”

Following Jesus comes at a cost, staying with Jesus also comes with a cost; moving into the new things of Jesus comes with a cost, yet it is worth it.

Sunday 28th March 2010

Luke 9.59-60

59 Then He said to another one: “Follow Me”. However, he said: “First give me permission to go and bury my father.”

60 Then Jesus said to him: “Leave the dead to bury the dead themselves, but you, as you are going, must announce the kingdom of God”.

The first thing for us to note is that Jesus called more than the twelve disciples to follow Him. We have no idea who this person was; however, he must have been someone whom Jesus wanted among His companions as He travelled the country proclaiming the kingdom of God.

Perhaps the twelve thought that when Jesus had called them He had the full compliment of disciples that He needed. It may be that other people might have also thought the same thing. Yet here we see Jesus issuing the same call to this man as He gave to Matthew: ‘Follow Me’.

Jesus is still calling people who will accompany Him. He calls you and He calls me, because He wants us to be with Him and to go and announce the Kingdom of God.

What is our response?

The response of this man was to ask permission to bury his father, which would mean delaying his going to be with Jesus.

The response of Jesus may seem hard. It may seem that Jesus was unkind and uncaring in telling the man to let the dead bury the dead.  It may appear that this was an unloving response from Jesus.

However, it has been suggested that the man’s father was not dead and that this man wanted to wait until his father’s death before leaving. This puts a different light on the words of Jesus. Nowhere do we read that the man’s father was dead, it is an assumption. However, if we consider that the father was still living, and then the man’s request indicates his unwillingness to be a true disciple of Jesus.

There may be times when we put obstacles in the way of our going and doing the Lord’s will, when we use delaying tactics. Such times are not a blessing to Jesus, neither are we blessed.

Saturday 27th March 2010

Luke 9.57-58

57 And as they were going along the way a certain man said to Him: “Wherever you might go, I will follow you (as a disciple).”

58 And Jesus said to him: The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man does not have a place where He might lay down His head”.

There follows three incidents of people who have a desire to follow Jesus.

In this first incident the man who comes to Jesus seems very keen to join Him and the other disciples. Perhaps He had seen the impact that Jesus was making. He was probably deeply moved by the preaching of Jesus and the authority that He was displaying.

Perhaps he relished the prospect of the confrontation religious authorities were having with Jesus.

He may have been like the person that is so enthralled by the circus that he leaves home and joins them.

Jesus soon bursts his bubble and explains that following Him is not easy. To follow Jesus will mean hardship, it will mean deprivation, and it may well mean having nowhere to call home.

We can recall that before this Jesus had said that following Him means we have to deny ourselves, we have to reject our personal desires and ambitions. Jesus had said that being a true disciple of His would mean taking up our cross as we reject our personal considerations.

In John 15.18-19 we read these words of Jesus: 18 “When the world hates you, remember it hated me before it hated you. 19 The world would love you if you belonged to it, but you don’t. I chose you to come out of the world, and so it hates you.

This world is a temporary place for believers, as the writer to the Hebrews wrote regarding Abraham and other ancients: They agreed that they were no more than foreigners and nomads here on earth – Hebrews 11.13. He goes on to say that they were looking for the heavenly city.

Likewise, earth is not our home or our final destination. However, everyone who wants to be a disciple of Jesus must know that there are tough times to endure. However, let us be encouraged by these words:  Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with my victorious right hand – Isaiah 41.10.

Friday 26th March 2010

Luke 9: 52-56 cont.

52 And He sent some messengers on ahead, and they went into a Samaritan village to make preparations for Him;

53 And they did not welcome Him because He was determined to go to Jerusalem.

54 Now the disciples, James and John, noticed this and said: “Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to destroy them?”

55 But turning around He rebuked them.

56 And they went to another village.

We cannot determine how other people will respond to Jesus, we can only determine how we receive Him. We can pray for others to be open to Him and His gospel, and we can pray that we will be well received by others. However, as we have seen, there are no guarantees of any believer having a good reception.

Jesus had just been speaking about the one who receives a child in His name, receive Him and the Father. Therefore, those who receive us in the name of Jesus, also receive Him and the Father. Those who reject us are actually rejecting Jesus and the Father.

How we deal with these situations is not to be determined by us, but by Him.

As we can see the response of James and John was to bring judgement upon these villagers, by wanting to call down fire from heaven.

They may have had in mind some of the occasions in the Old Testament where fire from heaven came as a judgement. Perhaps the most familiar was upon Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19.24-25 as a judgement for the immorality and homosexuality of those cities.

They may have had in mind the occasion when Ahaziah (king of Israel). He sent men to Baalzebub (God of Ekron). Elijah intercepted them and told them to return to the king with the message that he would die on his bed.

The king’s response was to sent fifty men to bring Elijah to the king. Elijah’s response was to call fire from heaven to consume the fifty men. This happened twice.

Whatever may have been in the mind of James and John, Jesus does not allow them to call down fire from heaven to destroy them. Instead Jesus rebukes them for their intentions.

It is not for us to call God’s judgement on others, instead the call of Jesus may be for us to move on to another place where the reception may be friendlier.

Thursday 25th March 2010

Luke 9.52-56

52 And He sent some messengers on ahead, and they went into a Samaritan village to make preparations for Him;

53 And they did not welcome Him because He was determined to go to Jerusalem.

54 Now the disciples, James and John, noticed this and said: “Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to destroy them?”

55 But turning around He rebuked them.

56 And they went to another village.

We do not know which of the disciples Jesus sent on ahead, though perhaps it was not James and John, because we read that they noticed the Samaritan villages’ rejection. This suggests that they observed this after the messengers returned.

There is a sense in which the life of the Christian is that of being sent to prepare the way for Jesus. The preaching of the gospel is a preparation for the coming of Jesus, whether this be on a one to one basis or in larger meetings.

The inviting of people to the various events is a preparation for Jesus to come to people.

Our whole life is a preparation for the day when Jesus will come again.

We are His messengers preparing the way for Him. Some time we will be received well, but at other times there will be those who will not welcome the coming of Jesus.

Wherever we go and wherever we are we are all His ambassadors, representing the King of kings and Lord of lords. Therefore, we must constantly examine ourselves to make sure that in us other people will see a true representation of Jesus.

The reason why the Samaritan did not welcome Him was because of the rift that separated them from the Jews. This is seen in John 4.9 when Jesus asked a Samaritan woman for a drink: The woman was surprised, for Jews refuse to have anything to do with Samaritans.

For this reason most Jews, when travelling from the north to Jerusalem would not go through Samaria for fear of being attacked.

We can assume that for some Samaritans Jesus did have some credit, since through His encounter with the Samaritan woman, many came to confess Jesus as the Saviour of the world – John 4.42. We also know that Jesus did not only come for ‘the lost sheep of Israel’, but for other sheep which were not of this fold. These are the words of Jesus from John 10.16: I have other sheep, too, that are not in this sheepfold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice; and there will be one flock with one shepherd.

As we listen to His voice we may find that He will send us on ahead to prepare the way for Him. Are we ready?

Wednesday 24th March 2010

Luke 9.51

51 Now it so happened the time approached when He was to go back to heaven He determined (set His face) to go to Jerusalem.

The time was drawing nearer when Jesus was going to experience His triumphant return to heaven. It was to be via Jerusalem.

Going to Jerusalem meant He would have to endure the rejections of the people, the arrest and false accusations of the religious leaders, and the apathy and cruelty of the Roman political system.

It meant that He would have to endure the pain of the cross, which meant the desolation that separation from the Father would bring, as He took on Himself the sin of the whole world.

Luke says that He was determined to go through this. He was resolute in His desire to obey the Father, because He both loved the Father and the world He had come to save.

There was in His heart that strength of purpose, which made Him set His face toward the city that He wanted to gather to Himself, as He said in Matthew 23.37: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let Me.

Jesus still wants to gather us to Himself, to take care of us, to bless us. He still draws His people to Himself so that He can sustain us in the difficult times, encouraging us when circumstances get hard. He is able to do this, because He resolutely endured all the hardship of the cross for us.

With His Spirit within us, we also are able to be determined to be the people that He has called us to be, to unwaveringly be steadfast in our loyalty to Him, and to be resolute in our obedience to Him. We can be certain of the words of Paul in writing to the Philippians 1.6: And I am sure that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on that day when Christ Jesus comes back again.

Tuesday 23rd March 2010

Luke 9.49-50

49 Now replying John said: “Master we saw a certain man casting out demons in your name, and we prevented him from doing so, because he does not follow with us”.

50 But Jesus said to him: “Don’t stop him, for who is not against you, is for you”.

How do we cope when other people are being successful in doing the things that we know we are also doing? Are we pleased for them, or do we get jealous?

Again, how do we handle situations where others are successfully doing the things that we are failing to do? What is our attitude towards them?

Perhaps we have a mixture of emotions based upon a certain amount of envy and a reluctance to admit that they have got it right and we have some way to go.

Perhaps as we grow older we begin to realize that Jesus has more than one outlet than our narrow ways. We begin to appreciate that the Holy Spirit works in born again believers of all kinds. We grow more in an appreciation of how He moves in other churches and believers.

The disciples had to learn this quite quickly. They thought that they were doing Jesus a favour by preventing this man from casting out demons in the name of Jesus. In this Jesus corrected them by telling them that whoever is not against them is for them.

If we believers could get hold of this perhaps there would not be so many divisions and splits between churches.

Perhaps there is always going to be a need for different expressions of our life in Jesus. We are all different and have been called to be the Body of Jesus according to how He has made and shaped us. This inevitably leads to different ways of worship, evangelism and church lifestyles.

The problem comes when we insist that ours is the only true way and that all others are not God’s way. Sadly, many of us have either been in these situations or still are.

The words of Jesus are to point us to see that He has other sheep, which are not of the fold we are in, and He is using them differently for His eternal and glorious purposes. Let us pray for the other churches of our town.

Monday 22nd March 2010

Luke 9.46-48

46 Now they argued among themselves as to who of them might be the most important (the greatest).

47 Now Jesus knowing what they were thinking in their hearts, took hold of a child and stood him by His side.

48 And He said to them: “Whoever receives this child in my name, he receives Me; And whoever receives Me, he receives the One who sent Me, for the one who is least among you is the greatest”.

By taking a child and standing it by His side Jesus was demonstrating how different things are in the Kingdom of God from the kingdoms of man.

Jesus takes a child to represent that those who are considered the least are actually the greatest.

We all know that the cultures of men are built upon a kind of pyramid system, where the least are at the bottom and the greatest are at the top. It is a hierarchical structure that covers all kinds of governmental systems, where the least are seen as the least and the greatest afforded a lot of honour.

Jesus is saying that His Kingdom is not like this. He is saying that the disciples should not even be having the discussion as to who is the greatest. The reason being is that His Kingdom is about loving, obedience and serving, which He displayed in perfection.

In Mark 10.45 Jesus said: “For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom price in the place of many.”

He who is the greatest emptied Himself and became a servant.

We might consider how well the church has done in following this. Then we might like to consider how well we are doing in emptying ourselves and becoming a servant.

As Jesus takes and places a child by His side the symbolism could not be more obvious: those who are considered to be the least are seen as the greatest.

Jesus tells us that it is in receiving children that we also receive Him and the Father.

Is He also saying that it is in receiving those whom the world considers the least that we also receive Him and the Father?

Let us remember the words of Jesus from Mark 10.14: “Allow the children to come to me, do not prevent them, for of such as these is the kingdom of God.”

Has Jesus turned the world upside down, or has He shown us what the right way up is?