Category: Devotions

Jesus and movements

Luke 5: 36-39

“He told them this parable: “No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’”

 

In the context of the challenge as to why Jesus’ disciples were not fasting and all that Jesus seemed to be doing was eating and drinking with the worst people possible comes a parable from Jesus.

One of the lovely things about Facebook is that it regularly reminds you of the past. This day 7 years ago = a picture. We look at the picture and memories come flooding back. Often happy ones and I guess sometimes not so.

In this short parable we have an example of the new looking back at the old times. Jesus seems to be stating that the old fasting was based on pre- experience of Him as the Messiah. It pointed to the redeeming work but it wasn’t post-finished work of Christ. The new fasting period is amongst us as we have tasted Christ and we want more.

Primarily it is a battle between the old and the new. The powerful stand-out words are “the new will not match the old.”

Jesus’ message was about movement and it still is. He is movement and He creates movements. In 2019 strategy seems to be so important. If leaders simply planned and had an idea of how they were going to achieve something then we would be getting better results. But there is something greater; it is movement.

A movement is a group of people who have been sent to move towards people to cause them to move towards Christ, who then in turn become part of a new movement themselves.

We are in a world where the Spirit is doing a new thing regarding the movement of the Church. The next big move isn’t God’s it is His people. Change is so difficult but change is happening and will happen. Some will hang on to their old garments and old wineskins but others are becoming part of a movement.

It is easier to apply this parable to the time of Jesus with the Pharisees interpretation of the Law etc. It is tricky applying it today. The old was once new and the new will become old though the new always thinks it is here to stay. There will always be those who say the old is better.

There are still old garments hanging on the coat hooks in churches today. There are still old wineskins wanting new wine not realising that unless they change they will spoil the new.

So what is the message of this movement?

1. Inclusivity for all are welcome. (Let’s keep partying with all types of people Jesus would say)
2. Separation (from the past but not from the world)
3. Expectancy of the increase of disciples (the Levi’s of this world) and a rejection of nostalgia.

 

Luke 5: 29-36

“Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” They said to him, “John’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.” Jesus answered, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.”

A great banquet; a large crowd; lengthy feasting; all over the gospels it is the same, Jesus loved parties! In Luke’s gospel alone I count 10 such dinners.

It isn’t true that Jesus only ate with tax-collectors and sinners, the sick and the condemned. He ate with those who saw themselves as healthy and righteous before God. Of course the point is they saw themselves as that, not that they were, for everyone is sinful.

So what is Jesus demonstrating?

God loves parties! He calls all people to a banquet, to a table of fellowship with Him.

Isaiah 25: 6 “On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine—the best of meats and the finest of wines.”

Song of Songs 2: 4 “Let him lead me to the banquet hall, and let his banner over me be love.”

Revelation 19:9 “Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” And he added, “These are the true words of God.”

The Bible is full of references to the great invitation to the eternal banquet.

Jesus clearly demonstrates he knew this as he launched into his mission of having dinner with as many people as possible, no matter who they are.

But guess what? Not everyone likes parties!

1. Some complain about the clientele. For them, everyone needs to be of the same category, namely, like them. They want to be the ones who decide who can enjoy God and more importantly who God can enjoy. They are fellowship-busters. The ones who turn the lights off and pull the music. They are frivolous-finishers. The decorum brigade.
2. Some think they don’t need to party and they don’t look like people you would want at your party. They are not hungry they are healthy; they are not in need of fun they have deep joy, so deep you cannot see it; they are right especially where others are wrong; they are righteous meaning they believe God is on their side agreeing with them not to be involved in such distasteful happiness.
3. Some don’t know when to fast or feast so they just fast. They don’t recognise the presence of Jesus amongst them. He was there right in front of them, God Incarnate. They missed it. They still do. Some will miss the eternal banquet and it will be those who everyone thought would be the first to the table that will surprise us the most.

Let’s party!

 

 

What did Jesus see?

Luke 5 v 27-28 “After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me,” Jesus said to him, and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.”

1. “If this man can be committed to do a job that everyone hates him for, then he won’t let me down.”
2. “This man has a name, but I will deal with his identity later. For now, I need a tax collector to be part of my team, I need those who the religious disqualify and who would never think of having any other destiny. I need the imperfect.”
3. “This man will show initiative. I need followers who know what must be done to follow. On my simple invitation I know this man will get up, he will leave everything and he will walk away.”
4. “I need to mobilise this man from the sitting position to the walking position. Mobilisation fuels transformation not the other way round.”
5. “This man needs not just to know about my reputation, he needs to be submerged into that. The important thing for this man is not where we are going or what we will do but it is who he will be with which is ME.”

 

What did Jesus see?

• Commitment
• Imperfection
• Initiative
• Mobilisation
• Identity

 

These are hallmarks of discipleship still today.

What can you see?

“Some men came carrying a paralysed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus. When Jesus saw their faith …” Luke 5 v 18-20.

Not everything comes in lovely wrapping.

Opportunities are often presented as imperfect, just ask the owner of this house.

Everyone can be looking at the mess, but can you see the miracle?

Can you find determination in the midst of disorder?

Faith is sometimes disguised in folly.

Lovers of people

Luke 5: 20-24 “When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.” The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralysed man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.”

Jesus knew what they were thinking. How? Perhaps he could see it on their faces when he announced forgiveness over the paralysed man.

When you know what people believe (only God forgives sins) and when you have grown up in how things are done (namely the Day of Atonement) then you know what people are thinking (these were Pharisees and the teachers of the Law of Moses).

The instructions for the Day of Atonement are given in Leviticus 16. For this, two goats were chosen and the high priest cast lots upon them, one for the Lord and the other for Azazel (scapegoat). The priests slaughtered the goat chosen as the Lord’s and sprinkled its blood on the mercy seat in the Holy of Holies. It was representative of the people bearing their sins and as it was killed the people saw the penalty of sin is death. This goat died for the people becoming the substitute.  But then the high priest laid his hands upon the second goat, symbolically transferring to it the sins of the people. Then the goat was driven into the wilderness, thus making clear God’s intent to remember no more the sins against his people. Those who grasped this for themselves were assured of forgiveness of sins and were brought into a personal relationship with God.

So when Jesus announces, “Friend, your sins are forgiven” they are immediately thinking the obvious thoughts:

“It isn’t the Day of Atonement today.

You are not the high priest.

Where are the 2 goats and where is the mercy seat.

There is no blood.

You are showing disregard for what has been practiced for generations since Moses. You are disregarding what God has said should happen. Who are you? Only God can sidestep His own words. You are either stating you have been given the authority by God to replace the way of Moses and to bring about a new way of forgiveness which actually is just words or you are indeed trying to take the place of God. This is blasphemy!”

The world over people think they have the monopoly on God or whatever name they call Him by.

For the past 30 years blasphemy against the Prophet Muhammad has been punishable by death in Pakistan. There have been 1,549 known cases of the most serious charges – either blasphemy against Muhammad or desecration of the Koran – according to Pakistan’s Centre for Social Justice. In those cases, 75 accused people have been murdered before their trials. Many were killed in police custody, or by mobs.

Isn’t it strange how over the most beautiful, hopeful, joyful good news of the love of God that the threat of severe punishment, painful torture to the point of death hangs over those who carry this gospel?

Isn’t it strange that it is those who stand for ‘God’ who have such thoughts when they see this perfect beauty?

All over the world, outside the church oppressing it, inside the church destroying it, those who truly believe they are the lawyers of God sit in judgment on those who are lovers of people. Who is sitting near you today? Where do you sit?

Jesus has an idea.

“You obviously think what I have said to this man is cheap grace. You think I have made forgiveness too easy. You question my authority to be able to do this. So let me try something that is obviously really difficult. Something that even the high priest cannot do and what you have never done in your life. Let me make the blind see, let me set the oppressed free and right now, before your eyes, let me make this paralysed man walk. Then ask yourself ‘where did my authority come from to do this healing and more importantly to proclaim forgiveness over this man?’”

Jesus shows us that being a lover of people sets you as a target to those who only love their God. Loving people so much that you help them, lifting off judgment from their lives, seeing them transformed by the powerful touch of Jesus means that those who despise them will despise you too. Those who sit in judgment of them will judge you too. You have become sin also. You have incarnated into sinfulness becoming like them. You will be hated, persecuted, slandered and you will be hurt. The world will see Jesus in you and there are many in the Temples, Mosques and Churches of this world who hate this kind of Jesus. They always have. But whatever we do let us commit today to keep giving these people a bad day as we seek to bring hope to many!

 

 

 

Don’t just sit there.

Luke 5: 17-19 “One day Jesus was teaching, and Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there. They had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick. ¹⁸ Some men came carrying a paralysed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. ¹⁹ When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.”

There is always a group just sitting there.

Jesus was teaching, but they were just sitting there.

They had travelled from various places to be with Jesus. They just sat there. It looked like they were with Jesus. But sitting there doesn’t mean a thing. It doesn’t mean you are with him. As opposed to the power of the Lord that was definitely WITH Jesus.

There are carriers and there are consumers and then there are on-lookers neither giving nor receiving a thing.

In a scene that would appear to be quite dangerous (dropping a paralysed man through the roof) it is actually those who are just sitting there who are in greatest danger, just ask Eutychus!

When you are in the sitting group you have far too much time to think, “…The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” v21

So today, if you are not reaching out, if you are not healing and if you are not helping others to get to Christ then it could be that you are classed as being part of the sitting group. Be careful, you may be easily offended! You may have too much time on your hands to watch, observe and to think. Activity and focus means we have to think on our feet, we don’t have the luxury to sit down and chew over the event like a post-mortem. It is easier to let go of things when you are moving especially offence. Offence slows the journey down, it builds a hurdle. It stops us in our tracks.

The offensive sitting position deafens you to the Word of God and it blinds you to the needs of others.

Have you sat down today and not realised it?

Psalm 1: 1-3 “Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.”

Luke 5: 17-26

One day Jesus was teaching, and Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there. They had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick. ¹⁸ Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. ¹⁹ When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus. ²⁰ When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.” ²¹ The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” ²² Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? ²³ Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? ²⁴ But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.”²⁵ Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. ²⁶ Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen remarkable things today.”

 

Where is the Church in this story?

Are we the house full of people? A packed church is a successful church, right?

Are we the 4 men carrying the paralytic demonstrating faith for their paralysed friend? Bring people to Jesus is what we do, right?

Are we the religious leaders, the custodians of all that is righteous and not? Keeping a moral compass is our task in this fallen world, right?

Are we the paralysed man who is without power and is broken inside and out?

Or are we Jesus? What picture of Jesus is the Church portraying? A Jesus who gathers? Surely that is the goal. A Jesus who preaches? Yes, we all need to become better at that. A Jesus who challenges mind-sets of the religious? Yes to all these things. But one thing that seems to be lacking, one thing that we must seek, one thing that we come close to on many occasions and when it is demonstrated we marvel and we cheer.

The Church needs to be Jesus with authority:

• An authority that is heard in our speech – Why does this fellow talk like that?
• An authority that makes us like Christ – He’s blaspheming!
• An authority that brings a loving new direction to people – Who can forgive sins but God alone?
• An authority that re-writes the story of broken people – He got up, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God.
• An authority for this generation – We have seen remarkable things today!

Luke 5: 14-16 “Then Jesus ordered him, “Don’t tell anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.” Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.”

 

The ministry of Jesus involved:

Restoration.

His order to the man (now healed from leprosy) to go back to the priests and submit himself to the religious ceremony was for the benefit of the priests and the people, the very ones who had ostracised the man because of his disease. The ceremony of cleansing using 2 birds stated in Leviticus 14 took 7 days to complete and resulted in one bird being sacrificed and the other released. It typified the death and the resurrection of Christ, but of course the people of God didn’t realise this, they just saw something had died so that the leper could live.

The ministry of Christ through His Church is the same today. The Church must be the restoration house for those who have been stigmatised. There has been a death and as the body of Christ lays its life down continually revealing His death then more people will find the restoration they long for.

Production.

Jesus worked hard amongst the people. There were rising crowds wanting to hear more teaching. He had to think through what He should teach them. He had to plan His talks, prepare His illustrations of which there were many. He interacted with the crowds. There were lots of times for healing of all kinds of diseases. The queues for healing were long. Jesus didn’t have a personal assistant who managed his diary. He didn’t have appointments booked. He wasn’t able to say ‘Sorry, today is my day off, tomorrow is a study day, the day after is a lieu day, the day after is my team day, the day after that I am at a conference, then of course it is synagogue day, but try me after that day, I should be fine by then, I can see one person in the morning and one in the evening and I will take the afternoon off because of course I couldn’t work all 3 parts of the day.’ That’s not Jesus here in the Gospels. Now of course I am a firm believer in resting but it has always come after work and not before, according to how God planned it anyway. I used a phrase the other day of someone who was about to take some time off, “You deserve a rest,” it was true, they did, but some don’t. Those who don’t work usually don’t produce.

Replenishment.

Jesus withdrew often to the place of prayer. To be with His Father to talk, to listen, to meditate and to worship. He went to places that others wouldn’t normally go to, that was the point, to get away from people, for an audience of One.

How do you replenish? Where do you go?

The wording in this verse indicates that this was an ongoing regular practice. The more people were coming to him, the more the work increased, the more he needed to withdraw to prayer. The sourcing of our work in the gospel is huge. Our relationship with the Lord must grow and not tire. We may be tired but our connection with Him must never tire.

Restoration, production and replenishment need to be part of our lives as seen in the life of Jesus. May it be so today.

Worship outweighs will.

Luke 5:12-13 “While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”  Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” And immediately the leprosy left him.”

 

If there was fear of contracting any disease then leprosy held the greatest. It totally ruined your life and those of your family. You became ostracised, an outcast with a social stigma that you never recovered from. Leprosy was permanent and gradually got worse. There was no future for the leper.

Whoever this man was he knew that according to form, Jesus could heal leprosy.

Even though his leprosy was so bad he was covered with it, Jesus could do it.

It is whether Jesus was willing.

So the man did what we all should do in similar situations.

Lay the burden down in worship.

He laid down, he brought the leprosy down to the feet of Jesus. His sickness was not even on the same level of importance as Jesus and certainly not bigger than him. His problem was less than the presence of Jesus. Our problems still are. No matter how huge they are or how terminal they may be, they are not as important as His presence in our life at this moment.

The man fell down into the posture of worship.

There was a moment when Jesus fell down in the garden and said a similar thing. For Jesus he would realise the will of His Father was to keep going to the cross.

For us, whatever the seismic problem you wake to today, then lay down in worship before His presence. Realise whether He wills it or not, here at His feet is the best place you can be. There is nowhere else to go but His presence. What can you do but worship? Worship outweighs will.

The Outcome to follow

Luke 5: 8-11 “When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” ⁹ For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, ¹⁰ and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.” ¹¹ So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.”

The outcome of the miraculous catch of fish was so they received their calling. The outcome was so that they would leave everything and that they would follow Jesus.

The men heard a call. “From now on you will catch men.” The word is ‘zogreo’ it means ‘to capture alive’ or ‘to spare life’.

The men had caught fish to kill them now they would catch people to free them. They will be involved in the miraculous catching of people.

Jesus still uses the same call to us today.

The men left everything. For them they would form a band of 12 disciples of Jesus, this would be a full time position which needed them to leave their work places.

For us … this is a call of surrender. It is a call to leave a divided loyalty and committing solely to Jesus. Later in Luke 14: 26 Jesus says, “ “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.” That is hard to read but even more difficult to put Jesus first before family. When I say that I don’t mean the ministry/work of Jesus or the church/followers of Jesus before family, I mean Jesus.

Jesus still expects us to leave something today to follow him.

The men followed him. It means they walked the same road. The walk with Jesus is tough but joyful. There is pain but there is purpose. Following Jesus makes our lives meaningful. Waking in the morning and making that first decision to follow Jesus as you did yesterday is the rhythm of life that keeps you wholesome in every way.

Jesus reaches out to you today with the call to ‘Come’.