Missions Paul

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’.

 

 

Jesus loves you

Luke 5: 6-10

“When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. ⁷ So they signalled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. ⁸ 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.”

Jesus had just made Simon a very wealthy fishermen. He was certainly someone Simon wanted as a partner on his executive board. However, in the midst of this amazing supernatural act, something was causing tension within Simon, it was his sin.

Perhaps Simon had been proud that Jesus had chosen his boat as a pulpit.

“That’s my boat Jesus has chosen, can everyone see?!!”

We cannot guess. But whatever was going on, Simon became aware of his sin.

Job 42: 5-6 “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.”

Isaiah 6:5 ““Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”

Revelation 1:17 “When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead.”

The presence of Jesus exposes our humanity and brings to the surface our sin.

Luke 5: 10 “Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid …”

Your sin will make you feel distant, unwanted and unacceptable.

The message for us today is, “Do not be afraid. Do not back away. I’ve not finished with you yet.”

 

 

 

 

NOW

Luke 5: 4-6 “When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” ⁵ Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” ⁶ When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break.”

This should not have happened.

Fishermen fished at night in the deep water and perhaps during the day in shallow water.

But Jesus knew there were fish and that they were passing by about ‘now’.

Often said in a blasphemous way the phrase, ‘God knows when’ indicating that we mortals have no idea when something is going to happen is actually true … He does know when. God is a NOW God. In Matthew 17:27 we have a really strange request! “Go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.”

He knows when the fish are coming and He knows which one has the coin in its mouth to pay the tax!!

When we learn to walk with Jesus then we learn that when God says NOW then we do it NOW.

I reckon Simon wished he had a bigger boat that day!

They had never seen such a miracle.

Miracles are perhaps lost because we missed the timing.

I don’t want to miss miracles because I couldn’t do or go or be or say it NOW. Miracles cannot be put into our tidy diaries. We don’t say NOW, HE does.

NOW can look like the wrong timing when in fact it is perfect.

NOW doesn’t take into account the effort and disappointment of having previously tried.

NOW requires obedience.

Is God saying NOW?