sermon – Page 19 – jeffersonvann

IN A DREAM #2

IN A DREAM #2

Matthew 2:1-12 NET.

¹ After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, in the time of King Herod, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem ² saying, “Where is the one who is born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” ³ When King Herod heard this he was alarmed, and all Jerusalem with him. ⁴ After assembling all the chief priests and experts in the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. ⁵ “In Bethlehem of Judea,” they said, “for it is written this way by the prophet: ⁶ ‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are in no way least among the rulers of Judah, for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.'” ⁷ Then Herod privately summoned the wise men and determined from them when the star had appeared. ⁸ He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and look carefully for the child. When you find him, inform me so that I can go and worship him as well.” ⁹ After listening to the king they left, and once again the star they saw when it rose led them until it stopped above the place where the child was. ¹⁰ When they saw the star they shouted joyfully. ¹¹ As they came into the house and saw the child with Mary his mother, they bowed down and worshiped him. They opened their treasure boxes and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. ¹² After being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they went back by another route to their own country.

Matthew tied all his Christmas stories together with a verbal clue to show that they all pointed to the same truth. That verbal clue is the phrase “in a dream.” We see that phrase in verse 12 of today’s text. We saw it in Chapter 1, verse 20, last week when we began our study of Joseph’s dream, instructing him to marry Mary and name her child Jesus. The phrase also appears in verse 13, where an angel instructs Joseph to escape to Egypt with Mary and Jesus. Later, in verses 19 and 22, Joseph gets more instructions in dreams, to return from Egypt and settle in Galilee.

But today, we are taking a short break from Joseph’s dreams to talk about the wise men and their dream.

They were wise men from the East.

That is all we learn about them from verse 1. If you are acquainted with the Old Testament, you know much about wise men. Daniel and his three friends, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah (AKA Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego), were wise men from Judah. They were taken into captivity by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and trained for his service as advisers. They were already the best and the brightest that Judah had to offer. Nebuchadnezzar took these four physically and intellectually perfect young men and trained them in the language and literature of the Babylonians.

These wise men (in today’s text) were probably not from Babylon, but many think they were from Persia. It is possible that these men had been brought to Persia as captives from other nations like the four Hebrews were. If that was the case, the thing that tied these wise men together was not their nation of origin; it was their identity as wise men and their purpose as official advisers and representatives of the nation that now controlled them.

They were like a think tank. Their job was to know everything about everything. One of their areas of expertise was astronomy. While studying the stars, planets, moons, and comets in the night sky, they encountered some visual display that was out of the ordinary. They took this as an omen that a new king was going to be born for the Jews.

Naturally, since the current King of the Jews resided in Jerusalem, that was where they should go. They received permission from their master to travel by caravan to Jerusalem to investigate this new king and pay him homage. The trip would take months, and they probably traveled with a large group that included their servants, soldiers to protect them as they traveled, and even family members.

It was a significant undertaking, and they probably encountered a few surprises. One thing that perhaps puzzled them is that every time they entered a Judean village or town, they would ask about news of this new member of the Jewish royal family, and they would get blank stares. That would puzzle them because they probably expected to be greeted by joyful inhabitants anticipating the arrival of this new royal. They could not understand why Jerusalem would want to keep such news secret.

They came to Jerusalem to worship Christ.

When they finally got to Jerusalem, they discovered the city was just like the villages. Everyone was doing business as usual, and no one knew that a new king had been born. So, since they were an official delegation of the king they represented, they booked an appointment at the palace of Herod the Great.

They sought help from the government.

Herod the Great was an influential politician and had accomplished much for the territory he reigned over. The great temple in Jerusalem had been rebuilt in splendor by Herod. He had performed this even though he was not a descendant of Jacob. He was an Idumean, a descendant of Esau. Like his ancestor, who had traded his birthright for a bowl of stew, Herod was more interested in the here and now than he was in the future. He was more interested in practical things than spiritual things.

Herod was also a fierce man. His superior, the emperor Augustus had recently joked that being one of Herod’s pigs was better than being one of his sons. But the joke was actual. Herod had ordered the executions of several members of his own family to keep his throne for himself.

The wise men came to Herod in good faith, expecting him to be just as interested as they were in seeing this newborn king. But Herod only pretended to be interested in the birth of Christ. Instead of inviting them to feast and stay a few days at his palace, Herod sent them away that night, instructing them to find this boy and report his location.

They saw the star again.

The wise men had not followed the star to Jerusalem. They knew how to follow maps to get to Jerusalem. When they were in Jerusalem, they were told that the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem, only a few miles from Jerusalem. So, they returned to their camels and set out in that direction. Then somebody looked up. There it was again. When they saw that star, they shouted joyfully. The star – the same unexplained celestial sign they had seen in their land – was now showing them how to find the child. It was like a heavenly GPS. They followed the star to the house where Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus lived in Bethlehem.

They worshipped the child and gave him gifts.

The wise men had treasure boxes with them, where they kept these valuable items. Gold was needed to finance the trip. Incense made the trip more pleasurable. Myrrh aided in the healing of sore spots caused by camel humps. So, it was understandable that these men would have these items on hand. But they brought plenty extra because they wanted something to give to this new king to ingratiate him with their king. Incidentally, we don’t know that there were only three wise men. People have guessed this because there were three kinds of gifts. The text says there were treasure boxes, so there may have been a box for the gold, one for the frankincense, and one for the myrrh.

The more significant thing about the gifts is that they were visible expressions of worship. At Christmas, we give gifts to those whom we value. The story of the wise men’s visit is a helpful addition to our Christmas stories because it expresses the truth about Jesus. In Luke’s Christmas stories, the angels spoke to shepherds, and the shepherds visited him. But those shepherds were all local. They were raising sheep that would eventually become sacrifices at the Jerusalem temple. The shepherds are low-class Judeans. But the wise men are high-class Gentiles. Among those two groups, all of us are represented. Jesus is not just the King of the Jews. He is the King of Kings. He is Lord of all.

They were warned in a dream not to return to Herod.

These wise men may have been a bit naïve about Herod. So, God intervenes. At least one of these wise men gets a dream instructing them to return home and not go by way of Jerusalem. Herod did not know the actual location of this house in Bethlehem.

We learn in the next section that Herod is enraged that these wise men have outwitted him. He had planned to have Jesus killed privately. Now, he would have to risk killing a few newborns to protect his throne.

The dreams we see in Matthew’s Christmas stories all have one purpose. They all protect Jesus. Joseph’s first dream protects Jesus by securing a foster father for him. The dream in today’s text protected Jesus by hiding his location from Herod, who wanted to kill him. Next week’s dream protects Jesus by taking him out of Herod’s jurisdiction – all the way to Egypt. The final two dreams instruct Joseph to resettle in Galilee, and that protected Jesus by having him grow up far away from the government in Jerusalem, which still posed a risk to Jesus even after the death of Herod the Great.

The dreams also illustrate the biblical doctrine of the providence of God. God is sovereign, and history is his story. Nothing happens that God does not allow. He is in control. He will be glorified no matter what happens because he moves the chess pieces around the board. He is not restricted to the white pieces or the black pieces. Our God is sovereign over all. His plan will be accomplished no matter what we plan.

Wise men from every nation still seek Jesus. People from every tribe, tongue, and nation will be blessed to find him and worship him.

For further study:

Bagby Chuck. Born to Die: The Jesus Story What I Wish I Had Known Book One. Burning Heart Bible Studies 2014. pp. 52-55; 84-96.

Boice James Montgomery. The King Has Come: The Real Message of Christmas. Christian Focus 2008. 140-141.

Halliday Steve. Mighty God: The Enduring Mystery of Emmanuel. 1st ed. WaterBrook Press 2001. pp. 107-118.

Kalas J. Ellsworth. Christmas from the Back Side. Abingdon Press 2003. pp. 24-25; 45-49; 55-62.

O’Collins Gerald. All Things New: The Promise of Advent Christmas and the New Year. Paulist Press 1998. pp. 46-47; 82; 91.

Patterson Eric. Walking Toward Christmas: Devotions for Advent. 3rd ed. Publisher Not Identified 2011. pp. 19-23.

Somerville A. N. Precious Seed Sown in Many Lands: Sermons. Hodder and Stoughton 1890. pp. 155-178.

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

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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.