Jefferson Vann

IN A DREAM #1

IN A DREAM #1

Matthew 1:18-25

¹⁸ Now the birth of Jesus Christ happened this way. While his mother Mary was engaged to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹ Because Joseph, her husband to be, was a righteous man, and because he did not want to disgrace her, he intended to divorce her privately. ²⁰ When he had contemplated this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹ She will give birth to a son and you will name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” ²² This all happened so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled: ²³ “Look! The virgin will conceive and bear a son, and they will call him Emmanuel,” which means “God with us.” ²⁴ When Joseph awoke from sleep he did what the angel of the Lord told him. He took his wife, ²⁵ but did not have marital relations with her until she gave birth to a son, whom he named Jesus.

Last year, I shared a few messages based on Luke’s Christmas stories, and this year I am doing the same thing, only with Matthew’s Christmas stories. Both Gospel writers tell us the same basic truth – that Jesus was born in Bethlehem and God announced that birth miraculously. But each Gospel writer focuses on how that birth affected a particular group of people besides Joseph and Mary. Luke highlighted what God was doing in the lives of Zechariah, Elizabeth, John the Baptist in his mother’s womb, the shepherds around Bethlehem, and Simeon and Anna. For Luke, the primary source for these stories appears to be Mary.

But with Matthew, the focus changes. He chooses stories that illustrate what he said about Jesus: that he is the son of David and Abraham. Joseph is a key figure in these stories. When I reread these stories in preparation for this series of sermons, I noticed that the same phrase appeared numerous times. That is why I titled all the messages “IN A DREAM.” We see that phrase in verse 20 of today’s text. It also appears four times in Matthew 2. Once the recipients of the dream are the group of wise men, but in every other instance, Joseph receives the dream.

When God is about to do something significant in redemption history, he often announces it by giving someone a dream. When someone is in danger, God sometimes intervenes by revealing that fact in a dream.

There is something else that is kind of peculiar about these Joseph stories. If you read through them, you might notice that Joseph does not say anything in any of the narratives. I don’t think that Joseph had been struck mute like Zechariah was. But it seems odd that no word in all the narratives is attributed to Joseph. Here, we have stories about the adoptive father of Jesus himself, but not one of his actual words is recorded. That’s right. Our Christmas plays must invent words for Joseph because not one of his words is recorded in Matthew or Luke. Even when Luke tells the story of Joseph and Mary finding Jesus in the temple when he was twelve, only Mary has a speaking part.

I don’t think Joseph was a functional mute. I just think his part in the Christmas stories had more to do with what he did than what he said. He was sensitive to what God was doing in his life. Some people can have dreams every night and pay no attention to them, but not Joseph. When the angel Gabriel visited Mary, it was while she was awake. But when the angels spoke to Joseph, it was in dreams. It was just as real in either situation. Why did God choose to reveal himself to Joseph through dreams? Maybe God had spoken to Joseph at other times in his life through dreams. Maybe that was why it was settled for Joseph once he had the dream. He would obey the dream because he knew it was God’s real revelation.

The story begins with Mary’s BLESSING (18).

Matthew reduces the whole story of Gabriel’s announcement to Mary into one verse. You can read all the details about that visit in Luke chapter 1, but Matthew is only concerned with this detail: that Mary “was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.” It was a blessing. What Matthew wanted to make clear was the fact that Mary was going to give birth. In verse 20, “the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.” In verse 21, she “will give birth to a son.” In verse 23, “The virgin will conceive and bear a son.” In verse 25, Joseph “did not have marital relations with her until she gave birth.” At some point in history, some heretics will emerge and insist that Jesus was not a real human being – that he only appeared to be in the flesh. Matthew spoke to that heresy directly here. Joseph had a dream about Jesus. But Jesus was not a dream. He was a real human child, and he was a blessing.

Like most blessings from the Lord, Mary’s pregnancy was also challenging. When Mary told Joseph she was pregnant, Joseph’s immediate reaction was wrong but understandable.

We learn of Joseph’s PLAN (19).

Before his dream, Joseph only knew that Mary was pregnant and that the child was not his son. His plan for dealing with that blessing was to abandon Mary. He did not want to accuse her of infidelity and force her to undergo a public trial, so he decided to break off the engagement privately and let Mary deal with the consequences of her lack of self-control alone. He could not imagine a scenario in which Mary was telling the truth. No angel had visited him yet, so as much as it pained him to lose his fiancé, he thought that was the only choice to make.

Then we learn of the angel’s CHALLENGE (20).

The dream made all the difference. The angel encouraged Joseph not to let his fear make him give up on his relationship with Mary. Her child is not a mistake. He is the Holy Spirit’s work. The angel told Joseph that Mary would give birth to that child and that he – Joseph – would be right there with her.

Then we learn of the angel’s INSTRUCTION (21).

Joseph would name his adopted son Yeshua because that means “He saves.” The world needs to know that the LORD saves. He saves his people – not just from foreign rulers or present dangers. He saves his people from their sins. No other human being would ever be able to do that. But Jesus is special. His birth is special. His life is unique. His purpose is one that only he could achieve. He is more than a king. He is more than a temporary deliverer. He is the Savior.

Then, we learn Matthew’s EXPLANATION (22-23).

Matthew breaks into his own narrative to explain something about Jesus that even the angel did not reveal. Matthew says that this all happened to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah that when the virgin gives birth, it would be to Emmanuel: God with us.

“God with us” can only happen by means of an incarnation. John tells us that the divine WORD “became flesh and took up residence among us. We saw his glory — the glory of the one and only, full of grace and truth, who came from the Father” (John 1:14). Joseph adopted Jesus, but Jesus was already God’s Son. The LORD wanted all of us to know that he had not abandoned us. Jesus is his proof. That is why they called him Emmanuel. And the Lord Jesus will never abandon his followers. That is why Jesus told us that he is with us always, to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20).

The final thing we learn is Joseph’s OBEDIENCE (24-25).

The dream had given Joseph all the assurance he needed. He woke up from sleep and went to the courthouse to sign his marriage license. He got out of his pajamas and put on his tuxedo. His breakfast would be his marriage feast. From then on, Joseph did not question his role in God’s plan.

Joseph was a craftsman – a builder. He made his living constructing things out of wood and stone. He was also a dreamer. I’m sure he had daydreamed many times about starting a new life with that young lady. But he wanted to do it right. He had a plan and was going to stick to that plan. But then the angel appeared to him in a dream. Suddenly, Joseph’s plans didn’t matter. Once he knew God’s plan, Joseph was all in.

If we learn anything from Joseph, we must learn how to respond to God’s revelation as he did. We must be open to letting God tell us the whole truth from his word. Then, we need to have the courage to walk in that truth. The walk will probably not be easy. It certainly wasn’t easy for Joseph. He had to live his whole life under the shadow of an accusation he could not disprove. He had to raise the Son of God – a challenge that any of us would find daunting. He had to travel to Bethlehem at the worst time to travel there. They wound up sleeping with the animals that night. Later, they had to entertain foreign wise men. Then, they had to become refugees in Egypt for a while. When they returned, they were forced to go back to Nazareth – far from Jerusalem because the government still wanted baby Jesus dead.

In the Old Testament, we read about someone called Joseph, son of Jacob, who was a dreamer. His dreams got him into serious trouble, but finally, he became a savior of his people. Here, in the New Testament, we encounter another Joseph – also a son of Jacob (Matthew 1:16). He is also a dreamer. He heard God speaking to him through an angel in his dreams. He obeyed every instruction. His story challenges us to follow in his footsteps.

You might have some plans for the rest of your life. Joseph had a plan. But he was humble enough to turn his back on his plan when he learned God’s plan. He was sensitive enough to God’s will that when the dream led him in a different direction, that is the direction he went. He was courageous enough to endure all kinds of misfortune because he would stay in the center of God’s will. His love for Mary was not enough to keep them together, but his love for the LORD was.

Every year we wish each other a Merry Christmas. This year, I want to wish you all a Joseph Christmas.

For further study:

Boice James Montgomery. The King Has Come. Christian Focus Publications 1992. pp. 51-61.

Brown Raymond E. The Birth of the Messiah: A Commentary on the Infancy Narratives in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. New updated ed. Doubleday 1993. pp. 122-163.

Cottrell Stephen. Walking Backwards to Christmas. SPCK 2014. pp. 59-68.

Gleddiesmith Stacey. Welcoming the Stranger: Readying Ourselves for Christmas. Regent College Pub 2010. pp. 44-45.

Jeremiah David. Why the Nativity? Turning point ed. Tyndale House 2006. pp. 25-29.

Laferton Carl. Rescuing Christmas: The Search for Joy That Lasts. GOOD Book Company 2017. pp. 61-63.

Moltmann Jürgen. The Way of Jesus Christ: Christology in Messianic Dimensions. 1st Fortress Press ed. Fortress Press 1993. pp. 80-87.

DIED WITH CHRIST

DIED WITH CHRIST

Romans 6:1-14 NET.

¹ What shall we say then? Are we to remain in sin so that grace may increase? ² Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it? ³ Or do you not know that as many as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴ Therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may live a new life. ⁵ For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be united in the likeness of his resurrection. ⁶ We know that our old man was crucified with him so that the body of sin would no longer dominate us, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. ⁷ (For someone who has died has been freed from sin.) ⁸ Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. ⁹ We know that since Christ has been raised from the dead, he is never going to die again; death no longer has mastery over him. ¹⁰ For the death he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God. ¹¹ So you too consider yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. ¹² Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its desires, ¹³ and do not present your members to sin as instruments to be used for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead and your members to God as instruments to be used for righteousness. ¹⁴ For sin will have no mastery over you because you are not under law but under grace.

We have been spending these first Sundays looking at the gospel message as defined by the epistles of Paul. Today we are going to look at what Paul said in his sixth chapter of Romans regarding the relationship between the grace of God and sin in the life of the believer. The gospel message is a balance between two unbiblical extremes. One of these extremes is what we often call legalism. Legalism says that faith in Christ is not enough. Once people put their faith in Christ, they are saved until they sin again. When they sin, they get unsaved. The only way to stay saved is to stop sinning and obey the rules in the Bible. We talked about a form of this heresy in our series on Galatians in October and November of 2020.

Today’s text deals with the opposite extreme. This teaching is a form of antinomianism (and I’m sorry there is no shorter synonym for it). It teaches that once you put your faith in Christ, you can sin all you want to. The hypothetical question that Paul asks in verse 1 is something an antinomian would ask: “Are we to remain in sin so that grace may increase?” In other words, since we are saved already, why not keep on sinning so that we can demonstrate that God saves sinners?

Paul’s answer to that question in today’s text is “Absolutely not!” (verse 2). The Greek phrase he uses is μὴ γένοιτο, which might be literally translated as “it ain’t going to happen.” Paul is adamant that once a person comes to Christ, he or she no longer stays in constant sin. A change takes place which puts an end to the habit of sinning. Today’s text explains why that is the case. The simple answer is that the Christian stops habitually sinning because he or she has died with Christ.

Paul explains the conditions of dying with Christ (5, 8).

Paul says “If we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be united in the likeness of his resurrection.” It could also be translated as “since we have become united with him.” The idea is that the condition has already been met. We are already united with Christ in his death. That is longhand for “we have died with Christ. That statement tells us that when we came to Christ by faith in the gospel, we died with him in some sense. Paul says, “If we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.” Dying with Christ is a prerequisite to being raised from the dead in the future. But there is more to it than that. There is a sense in which every true believer has died with Christ and is now living a resurrection life in the here and now.

Paul details the facts about dying with Christ (2-4, 6-7, 9-10).

One of those facts is that having died with Christ, we cannot go on living the sinful life we lived before we became Christians. A person can be one or the other; not both. Either a death has occurred, or it has not. Verse 2 says that the death we experience is a death “to sin.” That means that before becoming believers, we were alive to sin. But after becoming believers we became dead to sin. Now, that does not mean we are no longer capable of sinning. If that were the case, the antinomians would be right. We could continue to act just like we did before, only now it would not be sinning.

No, a change has taken place. That change is demonstrated by the believer’s baptism. When we were baptized, we were buried in the water as a depiction of that death we died with Christ. Then we were raised up from that water by someone else as a depiction of the resurrection. It depicts two resurrections. It is our way of saying “Just as Christ was raised from the dead, so we will also be raised when he returns.” But it also depicts our intention to live a new life from that time on. We died to sin when we died with Christ.

In some of the countries where Penny and I worked, people draw attention to that fact by giving themselves Christian names at their baptism. Another illustration of this would be what happened to our daughter last week. Once she said, “I do”, her last name changed. Her life is now identified as a new life from now on.

Christ was born here on earth into a world of sin. When he was raised from the dead, he was living from that point on in victory over sin. That is the kind of life you and I can live.

Paul outlines the implications of dying with Christ (1, 11-14).

One of the implications is that we cannot live the way we did before we got saved. We cannot remain in sin. But how do we go about living that resurrection life? First, we must consider ourselves dead to that old sin life, and alive to the new, resurrection life. Whenever we are tempted to sin, we must hold on to our new identity, and refuse the old identity.

Second, we must not allow the old passions and desires to dominate our thinking. The old desires will still be there, but the new desires and passions will also be there. The life that will dominate is the life that we feed. Either sin will reign, or holiness will reign. Now, one problem believers face is that we will be tempted to have two lives: the Sunday life and the Monday-to-Saturday life. You cannot live like that. You must make up your mind to let holiness reign 24/7.

Third, we must not limit the resurrection life to only certain aspects of our lives. Paul put it this way: “Do not present your members to sin as instruments to be used for unrighteousness but present yourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead and your members to God as instruments to be used for righteousness.” When we were baptized, our whole bodies went under the water. When we were raised up, every part of our bodies was raised to new life. We now have new eyes. They see what God wants us to see. We have made a covenant with our eyes so that we refuse to gaze where our eyes have no business gazing. We have new hands: we have no business taking what God’s holiness does not want to take. We have new feet. They have no business going where we should not go. Our path is God’s kingdom path. All other paths lead to destruction.

Paul uses the language of sacrifice to describe what a Christian does to keep from habitually sinning. He says to present ourselves to God. We are not to present just part of ourselves, but our whole selves. Our lives are a total sacrifice. That is how we keep from being dominated by sin. We dedicate our entire lives to doing what God wants – all the time. That is the opposite of antinomianism. That is why Paul will go on to say in this chapter that we have been set from our old slavery to sin to be slaves of God.

Our challenge as believers is to thank God for his amazing grace but to never allow that grace to become an excuse for sinfulness. We have been set free, but not free to sin – free from the domination of sin. That is the way we can lead other people to Christ. When people see Christians living sinful lives, they rightfully think that they have no good reason to come to Christ themselves. But if they see Christians living lives characterized by love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control – they will want to have what we have.

For further study:

Donnelly Edward and Evangelical Movement of Wales English Conference (2001 Aug: Aberystwyth Wales). Life in Christ. Bryntyrion Press 2007. pp. 35-58.

Stott John R. W. Men Made New: An Exposition of Romans 5-8. [1st ed.] ed. Inter-Varsity Press 1966. pp. 30-52.

Penn-Lewis Jessie. Dying to Live. Overcomer Literature Trust 1935.

Davis Christopher A. The Structure of Paul’s Theology: “The Truth Which Is the Gospel”. Mellen Biblical Press 1995. p. 238.

COMPUTE THE COST

Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.com

COMPUTE THE COST

Luke 14:25-33 NET.

²⁵ Now large crowds were accompanying Jesus, and turning to them he said, ²⁶ “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother, and wife and children, and brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. ²⁷ Whoever does not carry his own cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. ²⁸ For which of you, wanting to build a tower, doesn’t sit down first and compute the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? ²⁹ Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish the tower, all who see it will begin to make fun of him. ³⁰ They will say, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish!’ ³¹ Or what king, going out to confront another king in battle, will not sit down first and determine whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? ³² If he cannot succeed, he will send a representative while the other is still a long way off and ask for terms of peace. ³³ In the same way therefore not one of you can be my disciple if he does not renounce all his own possessions. ³⁴ “Salt is good, but if salt loses its flavor, how can its flavor be restored? ³⁵ It is of no value for the soil or for the manure pile; it is to be thrown out. The one who has ears to hear had better listen!”

Well, the wedding is over, and the marriage has begun! The newlyweds are back in Colorado, enjoying their lives together in their new house. And now Mom and Dad can relax. I am grateful that we had the wedding here because it turns out that we needed the help of a few good friends to pull it off. We want to thank all of you for the help because getting ready for this wedding took more than we could do alone.

Which brings me to today’s topic. We have been studying the commands of Christ, and today’s command has to do with the cost of discipleship. It is important that I explain why we must talk about cost when it comes to discipleship. Salvation is by grace. It is God’s work, and therefore it is by grace since no one deserves it. We cannot bribe God with good works because everything good comes from him anyway. Trying to bribe God is like a child giving his parents money from his piggy bank to get what he wants. The piggy bank and the money in it come from the parents already.

You cannot blackmail God either. He does nothing wrong, so you cannot extort him into giving you what you want by recognizing some misdeed and threatening to tell on him. He has no authority higher than he is, so there would be no one to tell.

If we got what we deserved, we would all be incinerated. So, when we talk about the cost of discipleship, we are not talking about something we could do to “buy in” to grace. Grace cannot be bought into. It is free, and it must be free, or else it is not grace.

Discipleship is our human response to God’s grace of salvation. It is a life of repentance in response to the gospel of God’s grace. We don’t produce grace; we respond to grace. But our response is an indication that we have experienced grace.

Some people talk about cheap grace. There is no cheap grace. God’s grace cost God the life of his only Son. God’s grace cost Jesus the cross. God’s grace is more costly than any other gift.

What people mean when they talk about cheap grace is cheap repentance. It is saying yes to God without reading the fine print of the salvation contract. It is not cheap grace; it is cheap discipleship. It is saying to Jesus, “I do” when you have no intention of doing anything. Today’s text reveals that Jesus was in a situation where a lot of people were being tempted to embrace cheap discipleship.

We are following the Gospels as they describe the life and ministry of Jesus. We started out in Galilee, then went to Judea, and now we have crossed the Jordan River to the region of Perea. Jesus will only spend a few months here, but his ministry here will be hugely popular. Large crowds will show up wherever he goes. But because there will be so many crowds, many of the people who come to Jesus will not really understand what he is calling them to do. Let’s look at today’s text.

First there is the question at hand: fan or follower? (25, 33).

The text tells us that there were large crowds accompanying Jesus. It does not say that they were following him. It does not say that they had already become his disciples like Peter and John and the others were. Remember our study of Mr. Idleman’s book. They were fans, not true followers. A fan is interested in Jesus, but not interested enough to do what he says to do.

J. Dwight Pentecost talks about three different kinds of people who claim Jesus. He talks about the crowds who were curious about Jesus; those who were convinced about him, and those who were committed to him. Those who were curious might stick around to see his miracles and listen to his teachings. They might even become convinced that he is who he says he is. But that would not be enough. Jesus says a person is not truly committed unless he is willing to renounce all his possessions and follow him.

The question for all of us today is are we curious fans – looking at Jesus from the outside as a possible sideline in our lives. Are we convinced that he is who he says he is? If so, isn’t it time we became all in? Jesus came to save whosoever will. But it isn’t whosoever will be curious. It isn’t even whosoever will be convinced. It is whosoever will follow.

To teach this, Jesus told two mini parables. He illustrated his command with two hypotheticals.

There was a tower illustration (28-30).

He asked, “Which of you, wanting to build a tower, doesn’t sit down first and compute the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish the tower, all who see it will begin to make fun of him”

The tower Jesus was talking about was not like the tower of Babel. It was a farmer’s tower. It was a structure designed to prevent robbers from stealing a farmer’s harvest. The farmer or some of his family members or slaves could perch themselves in that tower and keep watch over the crops and keep people from sneaking in and making off with the family’s food. To protect the whole crop, the tower had to be large enough to provide the guards with visibility of the whole field. It also had to be substantial enough to safely house all those guarding the crop.

Jesus said that if a person was going to build such a contraption, he had to think it out. He had to get the proper supplies and construct it in such a way that it would not fall apart after it was constructed. It’s not about just wanting to build a tower. It is about investing in the construction so that the tower will serve its purpose. It’s not how you begin. It’s how you end. If the tower collapses, it can’t serve its purpose. If the farmer cannot complete the construction, it will bring shame to him, not honor.

Then, Jesus told a battle illustration (31-32).

He switched characters, and the farmer became a king. The king has an enemy, and he contemplates going to battle against that enemy. He decides to risk ten thousand soldiers in his army. But he learns that his enemy has twenty thousand soldiers ready and waiting. Suddenly, negotiation sounds a lot more practical.

Then, the plan: renunciation (33).

Jesus’ message to those crowds in Perea was that building the appropriate tower is going to cost everything they owned. Coming against the real enemy in their lives is going to require them to renounce all their own possessions. Renunciation is what turns the curious and convinced into the truly committed. Renunciation turns fans into followers.

Remember last week we talked about the man who planned a great banquet. He sent out the invitation, and lots of people said, “Sign me up,” but then when the banquet was ready, they all gave excuses. They had said yes, but they were not really committed. Each of them had something in his life that he was not willing to give up. For one it was a tract of land, for another it was a team of oxen, for another it was a new bride. But in the story, the man chose a new group of invitees. He swore that none of those originally invited would taste his feast.

That is a warning for all of us who gather in Jesus’ name. Those who are just curious about Jesus might fool those around them, but the master of the feast knows. Those who are merely convinced about Jesus might seem like his sheep, but they are really goats. One day there will be a separation: sheep on the right, goats on the left. Being convinced about Jesus is not enough. The cost is commitment.

Finally, Jesus talked about the product: influence (34-35).

What does it look like when a person is truly committed to Jesus? Maybe we should ask what it tastes like because that is how Jesus described the product of a disciple. He said “Salt is good, but if salt loses its flavor, how can its flavor be restored? It is of no value for the soil or for the manure pile; it is to be thrown out.” Flavorless salt is not salt. It is a substance that might look like salt, but it does not salt anything.

An uncommitted Christian is an oxymoron. I asked Mr. Google for some examples of an oxymoron, and he said, “accurate estimate; alone together; awfully good; bittersweet; climb down; close distance; grow smaller and jumbo shrimp.”

An uncommitted Christian looks like salt but doesn’t salt. He looks like he is saved, but he doesn’t obey the Lord’s commands, so he’s not going to get anybody else saved. He looks like he is going to the banquet, but he has really responded to the second invitation with an excuse.

On that day during his ministry in Perea, the Lord challenged all the fans to become actual followers. He challenged the curious and even the merely convinced to stop sitting on the fence and become committed. He challenges you and me to do the same thing. He challenges us to renounce all our possessions – anything that keeps us from being all in. Real repentance does not share the kingdom of God with any other priorities. Real repentance makes building the kingdom priority number one.

For further study:

Blackaby Henry T and Melvin D Blackaby. Experiencing God Together: God’s Plan to Touch Your World. Broadman & Holman 2002. Pp. 191-192.

Bouwman Gilbert. The Bible on the Imitation of Christ. St. Norbert Abbey Press 1965. Pp. 89-91.

Crowder Bill. The Mind of Christ. RBC Ministries 2008. Pp. 32-33.

Couch James F. Parables. Serendipity House 2003. Pp. 54-55.

Glen, J S. The Parables of Conflict in Luke. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1962. Pp. 121-133.

Idleman Kyle. Not a Fan: Becoming a Completely Committed Follower of Jesus. Zondervan 2011.

Kealy Sean P. Jesus the Teacher. 1st ed. Dimension Books 1978. Pp. 41-42.

Laurie Greg. Discipleship: Giving God Your Best. Harvest House 1993. Pp. 19-31.

Moorehead Bob. Courageous Christianity. College Press Pub 1990. Pp. 74-75.

Pentecost J. Dwight. Design for Discipleship. Zondervan Pub. House 1971.

Phillips Keith W. The Making of a Disciple. F.H. Revell 1981. P. 28.

Swindoll Charles R and Ken Gire. Living Above the Level of Mediocrity: A Commitment to Excellence: Bible Study Guide. Rev. and expanded ed. Insight for Living 1994. Pp. 36, 40, 70.

Williams H. A. Tensions. Collins 1989. Pp. 97-98.

Yohn Rick. Now That I’m a Disciple. Harvest House 1976. Pp. 66-67.

URGE PEOPLE TO COME IN

URGE PEOPLE TO COME IN

Luke 14:15-24 NET.

¹⁵ When one of those at the meal with Jesus heard this, he said to him, “Blessed is everyone who will feast in the kingdom of God!” ¹⁶ But Jesus said to him, “A man once gave a great banquet and invited many guests. ¹⁷ At the time for the banquet he sent his slave to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, because everything is now ready.’ ¹⁸ But one after another they all began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please excuse me.’ ¹⁹ Another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going out to examine them. Please excuse me.’ ²⁰ Another said, ‘I just got married, and I cannot come.’ ²¹ So the slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the master of the household was furious and said to his slave, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and alleys of the city, and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’ ²² Then the slave said, ‘Sir, what you instructed has been done, and there is still room.’ ²³ So the master said to his slave, ‘Go out to the highways and country roads and urge people to come in, so that my house will be filled. ²⁴ For I tell you, not one of those individuals who were invited will taste my banquet!'”

We are continuing to study the commands that Jesus gave during his earthly ministry. We have traveled with Jesus and his disciples during his major evangelistic campaigns in Galilee and Judea. Now we are with them during the short – but very significant campaign in Perea – the region just east of Judea across the Jordan River.

Today’s command comes in the context of a parable, and that parable sounds very similar to the one I quoted last Sunday. But it is not the same parable. Last Sunday I quoted the parable of the wedding banquet which is found in Matthew 22. That parable was spoken by Jesus in Jerusalem during his final week before his trial and crucifixion. As we look at today’s text, you will find a few differences.

We read about a MEAL at a Pharisee’s house (15).

Let’s begin with the context. In Matthew 22, Jesus is teaching several parables in the temple courts at Jerusalem. But in today’s text, he has just been to the synagogue for a Sabbath service in Perea. A leader of the Pharisees in that village has invited him to come to his house for a meal. Prominent members of that local community were invited. These Pharisees and theologians were interested in what this wandering Rabbi had to say, so they were watching him closely to see if they could find some reason to discredit him.

An opportunity presented itself when a sick man entered the house. He had edema. That is a condition that is easy to diagnose since it causes parts of the body to swell up with fluid. This man was obviously ill and needed help. Unfortunately, he picked a bad day to ask for it. He came looking for healing on the Sabbath. Jesus wanted to heal him, but he also knew that if he healed this man, he would be challenging the theology of these men. They taught that healing was work, and no work could be lawfully performed on the Sabbath Day.

Jesus could have told this sick man to make an appointment for tomorrow, but he did not. He used this opportunity to challenge the doctrine of these theologians. He asked them if it was lawful to heal on the Sabbath. Not one of those religious experts opened his mouth. They may have felt embarrassed and angry, but they were not going to add insult to injury. They knew that Jesus had the power to heal that man, and if he did so, it would refute anything they had to say. They could argue doctrine all day long, but none of them could heal the man.

For a few moments, everybody looked at themselves. Awkward silence. Then Jesus grabbed this sick guy, and the very touch of the master’s hand was all it took. The man was miraculously healed in front of the whole crowd. This man had shuffled into that house with swollen limbs, but he walked away completely healed. As soon as he left, Jesus turned back to these theologians, and he asked them a question. He asked them to imagine if they had a son or even an ox and it had fallen into a well on the Sabbath Day. Would they immediately pull out their son or their work animal? Or would they wait a whole day to rescue the one who needed it? Once again, the theologians didn’t say a word.

Everybody was anxious to change the subject, so when the bell rang for the meal, each man scrambled for a place at the table. They had been watching Jesus closely to see what he was going to do. Now, Jesus watched them to see what they were doing. Each man spied out the room and carefully chose a place of honor. So, Jesus shared some advice with these men. He told them not to look for the best spots, because if they took a place of greater prominence, the host might ask them to step down to a lower place, and that would be embarrassing. He told them to humble themselves.

Then Jesus had some advice for the host of the meal. He told him that the next party he put on, instead of inviting a bunch of important people — prominent members of that local community — he should invite people like the man who was just healed. He should invite the people who could not pay for the meal, people who could not walk, people who could not see. He told the host that if he did that, those people would not be able to repay him, but God would repay him on resurrection day.

Jesus was not the perfect guest for the meal that day. He had managed to insult and embarrass just about everyone there. But he made an impact for the kingdom of God at that meal.

We read about a FEAST in the future (15).

There didn’t seem to be a lot of casual conversation at the meal that day in Perea. The ones who had originally been watching Jesus closely were now aware that he was watching them closely, and they didn’t want him to catch them in another mistake. I can hear the cautious whispers. Then, somebody realizes that the whispers themselves are embarrassing. He felt he should say something out loud or else the silence would be unbearable. But, what to say? “I know”, he thought. “We are eating a meal, why don’t I say something about the Messianic Feast?”

The Messianic Feast was a very old doctrine in Judaism. The prophet Isaiah had predicted that when the Messiah came, he would hold a great feast. He wrote, “The LORD who commands armies will hold a banquet for all the nations on this mountain. At this banquet there will be plenty of meat and aged wine — tender meat and choicest wine. On this mountain he will swallow up the shroud that is over all the peoples, the woven covering that is over all the nations; he will swallow up death permanently. The sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from every face, and remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth. Indeed, the LORD has announced it! At that time they will say, “Look, here is our God! We waited for him and he delivered us. Here is the LORD! We waited for him. Let’s rejoice and celebrate his deliverance!”” (Isaiah 25:6-9).

Over time, the Jews built up elaborate traditions and doctrines about that feast in the future. Even though Isaiah’s message clearly taught that all the nations would experience this feast, the theologians managed to change that. Popular opinion said that Gentiles would be excluded from the feast. But the Jews did retain two aspects of Isaiah’s prophecy. The feast would be a celebration of the Messiah’s deliverance, and that deliverance would include the fact that death itself would be ended permanently.

So, at the meal that day in Perea, this guest decided to break the awkward silence by saying “Blessed is everyone who will feast in the kingdom of God!”

We read about a BANQUET in a parable (16-24).

I’m sure at that point every eye in the house turned to Jesus to see what his reaction was going to be. Surely Jesus couldn’t find reason to react negatively to such a pious proclamation! He doesn’t denounce the statement. But he does take it as a cue to begin a little story.

The parable of the great banquet is the story of a man who decided to put on a feast of his own, and he invited a lot of guests to attend. Back in those days, you gave two invitations. The first invitation is the announcement that the banquet is being prepared. Then, when everything is ready, you send your servants out to contact the same people you invited, to tell them to tie on the feed bag.

But in Jesus’ story, when the servants went out to give the second invitation. Everyone rejected it and gave lame excuses. “I bought a field, and I need to go look at it” said one. Really? You don’t buy a field without looking at it first. That would be stupid. “I just bought five yokes of oxen and I need to examine them.” Really? You spent all that money on a team of animals, and you haven’t seen them in action? That is ridiculous. “I just got married and I cannot come.” Really? Nobody accepts an invitation to a banquet and then quickly gets married between the first and second invitations. What are you, an idiot?

The theologians at the meal in Perea are listening to the story as Jesus tells it and they cannot help chuckle at the humor. Finally, this young Rabbi is saying something that does not shame them. They are laughing at the joke, and then things get a little more somber as the story continues.

The master of the household discovers that no one is coming to his banquet. He is furious. He gives orders for his slaves to go to the streets and alleys and gather all the riffraff they can find. He empties the slums, the ghettos, and the quarters. When he still has room, he orders his slaves to go to the highways and country roads and pull in all the people travelling through from far away.

About this time, it is dawning on the theologians that Jesus had not changed the subject. He had advised them to invite the lowly to their parties. In his story, that is exactly what the master of the household did. But wait. They knew Jesus was not just telling an amusing story. His stories always had a point. The one who is going to put on the Messianic Feast is the Messiah himself. He’s not going to have all the prominent people at his feast because they have not responded to his invitation. They said they were going but then they changed their mind and gave stupid excuses.

So, one of the enduring messages we get from today’s passage is that there is going to be a great reversal. Lots of people who think they are going to be at the wedding celebration of the Lamb are going to be left out. Those originally invited will not taste the master’s banquet.

But there is a missionary challenge in the story Jesus told as well. The master of the household who is putting on the banquet is Jesus – the Messiah. But the slaves that the master sent out are the ones proclaiming the gospel and inviting the world to his coming feast. We are those slaves. We have been commanded to go get some guests for the party. If the original people invited refuse the invitation, we need to go into the streets and alleys. That is the task we call saturation evangelism. There will still be room, so we are to go to the highways and seek guests who are coming from far away. That is the task we call foreign missions.

We are to urge people to come in. That means pressing the invitation and not taking “no” for an answer. It means getting as many warm bodies into seats at the feast as possible. We have one job. We must convince a large crowd of people to stop making excuses and get into the feast.

This is the point where Jesus’ message applies not just to first-century Jews in Perea, but also to twenty-first-century North Carolinian Christians. We have a habit of targeting those who have already heard the invitation and have rejected it. They lied. They gave stupid excuses. The master tells us that if those prominent members of the community want to treat him that way, we need to reexamine our evangelistic strategy. We need to target the riffraff that we intentionally left off the list the first time. We need to shake the dust off our feet and go on to the next town. We need to give up some of our sons and daughters and grandchildren to go to Asia, Africa, and Europe to reach them for Christ.

Our mandate from Jesus is that we are to go into the world and preach the gospel to every nation. The easy part has been done. Most of our neighbors and family members have heard the gospel. Some of them have confessed faith in Christ. But we cannot help but notice some empty spots in these pews in which we are sitting. Now, we have a choice. We can sit back and wait for the feast. Or we can do what our Master has told us to do. There are still plenty of empty place settings at the banquet. Will we exert our energy looking for others to respond to our Lord’s invitation? That is what his servants do.

For further study:

Briscoe D. Stuart. Patterns for Power: Parables of Luke. GL Regal Books 1979. pp. 110-121.

Clements Roy. A Sting in the Tale. Inter-Varsity 1995. pp. 48-62.

Gire Ken. Instructive Moments with the Savior: Learning to Hear. Zondervan 1992. pp. 89-95.

Keddie Gordon J. He Spoke in Parables. Evangelical Press 1994. pp. 121-129.

Kistemaker Simon J. The Parables: Understanding the Stories Jesus Told. New paperback ed. Baker Books 2002. pp. 161-167.

Leman Derek. Jesus Didn’t Have Blue Eyes: Reclaiming Our Jewish Messiah. Mt. Olive Press 2004. pp. 76-79.

Ratzlaff Lydia Nelson. Jesus Said. Bruce Pub 1963. pp. 199-200.

Timmer John. The Kingdom Equation: A Fresh Look at the Parables of Jesus. CRC Publications 1990. pp. 54-60.

TRY THE NARROW DOOR

TRY THE NARROW DOOR

Luke 13:22-30 NET.

²² Then Jesus traveled throughout towns and villages, teaching and making his way toward Jerusalem. ²³ Someone asked him, “Lord, will only a few be saved?” So he said to them, ²⁴ “Exert every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. ²⁵ Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door, then you will stand outside and start to knock on the door and beg him, ‘Lord, let us in!’ But he will answer you, ‘I don’t know where you come from.’ ²⁶ Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ ²⁷ But he will reply, ‘I don’t know where you come from! Go away from me, all you evildoers!’ ²⁸ There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves are thrown out. ²⁹ Then people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and take their places at the banquet table in the kingdom of God. ³⁰ But indeed, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”

We are resuming our study of the commands of Christ today. In our chronological study, we have reached the point where Jesus and his apostles are going through the towns and villages on their way to Jerusalem. John in his Gospel (10:40-42) tells us that there was a point when they left Judea and crossed the Jordan and began teaching in the region of Perea to the west. That is the context in which the words of today’s text were spoken. John draws a sharp contrast between the rejection that Jesus had just experienced in Jerusalem and the large numbers who are coming to faith in Perea, even though they only preached there a short time. It is in that context that we read of …

A question: “Will only a few be saved?” (23).

We don’t know whether the “someone” who asked the question was a believer or not. We don’t know what motivated this person to ask his question. Many assume that this person was a Jew, and that was probably the case. He may have asked the question because he was considering whether everyone who was born a Jew would be saved. If he thought that, he might have wondered what God’s plan was for all the other nations of the world. Will they be shut out of the great banquet God has planned for the descendants of Abraham? Is God only going to save the Jews?

If that was the basis for his question, this person probably was not vitally interested in the answer. After all, if he was already safe, he could only be slightly interested in the fate of people who were not like him.

I cannot help but think that there must be a lot of people in the world today who think that way. They may have been blessed with the privilege of growing up in a nation that allows the free preaching of the gospel. They may even feel that since their parents and grandparents got saved, that they will be allowed into the kingdom by virtue of their Christian heritage.

For these people, the world is made up of two kinds: us and them. Salvation belongs to us; damnation belongs to them. These people are marked by gratitude for being us and repulsion at anyone who is not us. For them, the world is clearly marked.

Except that Jesus said that it isn’t. From Jesus we read a command: “Exert every effort” (24).

This would be a strange reply because it does not convey the confidence of the question. The question implied that the questioner was safe. But Jesus’ answer said that nobody is born safe. If you want to be saved, you must go through a door, and it is narrow and hard to get through.

Jesus had used similar language when preaching in Galilee. He told them to “Enter through the narrow gate, because the gate is wide and the way is spacious that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it” (Matthew 7:13). The image Jesus was conveying at that time was that of salvation being a road that you can get to by means of a narrow gate. The destination you can get to after you get through the narrow gate is life. But only a few will take that route. Most will choose the easier path that is accessed by the wide gate. But that road will eventually lead to destruction.

The narrow gate that Jesus talked about in Galilee led outside and went to a place called life. That place is a symbol of the eternal life that believers will receive when Jesus returns. The wide gate led outside and went to a place called destruction. That place is a symbol of complete destruction which is the fate of everyone else – all those who take the easy road.

What Jesus is teaching here in Perea is only slightly different. Here, he is describing salvation not as a gate that leads to a road, but as a door that leads to the great banquet. In the Book of Revelation, it is called the “wedding celebration of the Lamb” (Revelation 19:7, 9). In Galilee, Jesus talked about two gates. Here, there is only one door. You either make it through this door, or you don’t.

The command that Jesus gives is “Exert every effort to enter through the narrow door.” These words imply that the man who had asked the question was not as safe as he thought he was. In fact, Jesus’ words are in the plural. He was not just speaking to that one person but to the whole crowd. He said “Y’all need to exert every effort to enter through that narrow door. The Greek word is ἀγωνίζομαι – which suggests an effort that is so strenuous, it causes agony. The word is used for athletic competition and warfare.

Jesus is saying that a person cannot get safely through that door by being born in a certain family or born a citizen of a certain country. It is an individual decision, and getting through that door is going to be a struggle.

I must apologize for my rather benign-sounding title for today’s sermon. I called it “TRY THE NARROW DOOR.” But we must do more than just try the door. We must fight our way through it. Jesus gives us all a warning: “Many … will not be able” (24).

Many will try to enter and will not be able to enter. They will be prevented from being saved even though they want to be saved. The door itself is going to be the obstacle to entering the wedding celebration of the Lamb. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob got through, and so did the Jewish prophets. But not all Jews will get through the door. Those who truly have faith in God will struggle through that door. But those who just assume that they will make it will not make it. They will be thrown out. They will weep in sorrow over their loss. They will gnash their teeth in anger at God for denying them access to eternal life.

Jesus taught the same thing using a parable in Matthew 22. He said “”The kingdom of heaven can be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his slaves to summon those who had been invited to the banquet, but they would not come. Again, he sent other slaves, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited, “Look! The feast I have prepared for you is ready. My oxen and fattened cattle have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.”‘ But they were indifferent and went away, one to his farm, another to his business. The rest seized his slaves, insolently mistreated them, and killed them. The king was furious! He sent his soldiers, and they put those murderers to death and set their city on fire. Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but the ones who had been invited were not worthy. So go into the main streets and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.’ And those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all they found, both bad and good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to see the wedding guests, he saw a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ But he had nothing to say. Then the king said to his attendants, ‘Tie him up hand and foot and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth!’ For many are called, but few are chosen.””

This parable teaches us what kind of people are not going to be able to get through the door. Those who get the invitation, but ignore it, will never be able to join in the wedding banquet. Getting an invitation does not guarantee you a place at the table. You must respond to the invitation. The gospel is the invitation. Failing to respond to the gospel is like holding the invitation in your hand, but refusing to R.S.V.P.

Showing disrespect to those who preach the gospel will also keep a person from getting through the door. In the parable, the king was so angry at those who abused his servants with his invitation that he sent his soldiers to kill them. Nowadays, we have atheists who think that they can do everything they can to destroy the church and that it will not matter. But it will matter.

Another thing this parable teaches is that only those properly attired will have a place at the feast. Those without proper wedding clothes will be treated just like those who ignored the invitation. Getting through the door entails allowing God to change you into the kind of person he wants you to be. Paul called it being transformed by the renewing of your mind. He taught that we should put to death whatever in our nature belongs to the earth: sexual immorality, impurity, shameful passion, evil desire, and greed. We should put off all such things as anger, rage, malice, slander, abusive language, and lying from our mouths since we have put off the old person with its practices and have been clothed with the new person who is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of the one who created it (see Colossians 3:5-10). I believe the wedding clothing in Jesus’ parable is that new person.

Not all Jews will get through the narrow door because many will not experience justification by faith. Not all Jews will get through the narrow door because many will not experience regeneration – the new birth. Not all Jews will get through the narrow door because many will not experience the Holy Spirit’s sanctification. The final experience to cap off all these other experiences is what the Bible calls glorification. That is what will happen at the wedding celebration. That is what is going to happen to all true believers.

It isn’t just first-century Jews in Perea who must hear and understand this message. Glorification is not going to automatically happen to all 21st-century Americans in North Carolina either. In every age and every culture, there will be many who ignore that door and many who try to enter it but fail. It is not an easy thing to do. It is a tight squeeze. It is an uncomfortable task. The kingdom of God is not inclusive. It is exclusive.

Finally, Jesus shares a principle: “some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last” (30).

The idea here is that the people you might expect to jump at the chance of being made into new creatures will say no. Many will come to Christ, but not many of the best and the greatest in this world. They are going to come from all the directions of the compass. But lots of those who one might expect will be thrown out.

Jesus had just spent a long time preaching – first in Galilee and then in Judea and now in Perea – but that does not mean those areas will have a larger percentage of glorified believers participating in the wedding celebration. God’s plan is to send the gospel message all over this planet and rescue people from every nation, tribe, and tongue. But not many of the important and famous people one might expect to grab at the good news will be quick to do so.

The Apostle Paul explained this to the believers in Corinth once. He told them to think about the circumstances of their call. Not many of them were wise by human standards, not many of them were powerful, and not many of them were born into a privileged position. But God chose those who the world thought foolish to shame the wise, and God chose those who the world thought weak to shame the strong. God chose what was low and despised in the world, what was regarded as nothing, to set aside what is regarded as something. He did this so that no one could boast in his presence. Because salvation is by grace, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.

Now, Jesus could have answered that man’s question differently. The man asked, “Lord, will only a few be saved?” Jesus could have opened the skies and shown that man a vision like the one he would later show John on the Isle of Patmos. John looked, and there was an enormous crowd that no one could count, made up of persons from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb dressed in long white robes, and with palm branches in their hands. That enormous crowd was shouting out in a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God, to the one seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (see Revelation 7:9-10). No – in that sense – there will not be only a few saved.

But Jesus did not answer that man with that vision because he did not want that man to think that salvation was going to be easy. He told him and everyone in that group that day to struggle, to fight, to agonize their way through that narrow door. He told them to exert every effort to enter that narrow door. He’s saying the same thing to you and me today. He is saying that one day we can relax and take our place at the banquet table and enjoy the wedding celebration. But today is not that day. Today is the day to get ourselves ready.

For further study:

Barclay, William. The Gospel of Luke. Edinburgh: Saint Andrew, 1997. pp. 216-218.

Barrell E. V and K. G Barrell. St. Luke’s Gospel: An Introductory Study. J. Murray 1982. pp. 112-113.

Baugher, H L. Annotations on the Gospel According to St. Luke. New York: Christian Literature Co, 1896. pp. 262-266.

Card, Michael. Luke: The Gospel of Amazement. Downers Grove, Ill: IVP Books, 2011. pp. 171-172.

Danker, Frederick, W. Jesus and the New Age, According to St. Luke: A Commentary on the Third Gospel. St. Louis, MO: Clayton Pub. House, 1972. pp. 160-161.

Erdman, Charles R. The Gospel of Luke: An Exposition. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1921. pp. 133-135.

Foster, Lewis. Luke. Cincinnati, Ohio: Standard Pub, 1986. p. 200.

Marshall I. Howard. The Gospel of Luke: A Commentary on the Greek Text. 1st American ed. Eerdmans 1978. pp. 562-568.

Plummer, Alfred. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel According to St. Luke. New York: C. Scribner’s Sons, 1902. pp. 346-348.

Tinsley, Ernest J. The Gospel According to Luke: Commentary. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1965. pp. 148-150.

Wright, N. T., and Patty Pell. Luke: 26 Studies for Individuals or Groups. Downers Grove, Ill: IVP Connect, 2011. p. 85.