Missions Paul

Why did He run?

Luke 15

Why did the Father run?
Was it because He loved the son? Was it because He was so excited he was coming home?
Both those things but more.
The son had not only shamed his father. He had shamed the community.
The community held to the belief that children honoured their parents. It is the 5th commandment. In the Torah the curses and blessings are clearly emphasised for the disobedience and obedience of the children to their parents. At the time of Christ stoning was still being used for shameful sins. This kind of community policing is not just in the Jewish culture.
Even today in some tribal areas of Africa, community leaders will excommunicate a shameful person from their village announcing that the sinner never to be allowed to come back home.

While he was still long way off, the father ran …
Quick! Bring me the best robe …

Now why did the father run? Why was he in such a hurry to make his son look like his son again? He got to His son before the community leaders did!
There will always be a community that want to pass judgment on those who have sinned.
We need more fathers.

To impact the lowest you need to reach the highest.
Luke 14
Jesus didn’t solely focus on the poor and the helpless. To change the culture then the changers, the leaders, the rulers have to be changed.
We need the body of Christ there in the high places, in the homes of the movers and shakers.

1. Who is higher in authority to you that needs the Gospel? Maybe you should try and get a meal with them? v1

2. Remember wherever you go, whatever you do, people are watching. The words you use, the actions you take, it’s all being monitored. v1

3. Though you may be on a higher level for a moment always be prepared to stoop down to those who suffer. v2

4. Be prepared to break protocol. If reaching the sufferer offends culture then so be it. v3

5. Seek permission to offend. It shows that you care if the easily offended do get offended. If permission is not forthcoming and the sufferer is waiting then go with the sufferer. v3

Everything

Luke 13
So many have nearly given everything, they nearly entered the victory place of total devotion but stopped short of everything.
John Huss, before being burned at the stake in the 16th century wrote whilst imprisoned:
“Without You I cannot do anything and especially, for Your sake I cannot go to a cruel death. Grant me a ready spirit, a fearless heart, a right faith, a firm hope, and a perfect love, that for your sake I may lay down my life with patience and joy.”

Jesus gave everything.
1. Performance religion will never lead to everything, v31 “some Pharisees came to Jesus …”
There are never enough works.

2. Leaving early stops short of everything, v31 “leave this place …”
There are more so-called prophetic words from God on leaving than on going forward, overcoming the problem, carrying out destiny. It needs to stop.

3. The fear of losing opposes the giving of everything, v31 “Herod wants to kill you …”
When a person is committed to the cause of giving everything then the suggestion that the person will lose something or if not everything us not a fear but an encouragement.

4. Prior to everything is persistence, v32,33 “I will keep going”
Can you stand firm in the valleys of the shadow of death as well as the green pastures?

5. His everything was everything, v33 He came to die.
Everything is saying goodbye to our plans.
The cross is death not beauty.

Will you give everything?

Right on time.
Luke 12:12
Now this is an easy verse to memorise. 12:12
The Holy Spirit is right on time.
There’s no need worrying beforehand how you will respond to the pressures of tomorrow.
You don’t know now, but you will be taught it later.
He is right on time.

In a certain place
Luke 11:1
It was in a certain place. No more is known than that.
Maybe no one knew where it was. Yes it had a name but he held it back from everyone. It was just a certain place.
Where was this secret place? No one knew or if they did they weren’t saying.
A certain place, maybe not a special one. Just a place. Life in the ordinary. Not the spectacular. Just a certain place.
Do we have a certain place?
Maybe you are in it now. A chair, a room, a scenic view. Some of these are special to others, all are special to us. It is our certain place.
Maybe we also know the certain place of being. We have reached that place of maturity. Reaching a certain place in our lives. We are all on a spiritual journey.
It’s a certain place.
A place where we pray.

Half-dead means you’re still alive.
Luke 10:25-37
Of the many wonderful things of this story of the Good Samaritan is the fact that though the man was robbed, stripped naked and very badly beaten up, he was half-dead. Isn’t this great?!
We need to find more encouragement in the fact that we are still alive.
Okay you may be struggling, you may not be happy at work, at home. Maybe every part of your life is not what you would have wanted it to have become. But you are still alive.
Maybe the marriage is bad and nearly finished. Maybe financially you are going under. Maybe your past is better than your future.
But you are still alive.
Let us focus on what is still there not what we have lost.
God knows where you are v33
There is power in the oil and the wine v34
There is provision to carry you into your next season, v34
You will have a next day, it will come to pass, v35
The mercy of God often comes from strangers, v37

Beheadings.
Luke 9:1-9
Have we ever been in such a horrible world?
I guess the answer is Yes. But it feels so intensified today.
Christians stoned, sawn in two, flogged, burnt, tortured, beheaded.
What other descriptions of death are there?!
Herod thought he had stopped John the Baptist by beheading him.
But he hadn’t counted for the Spirit. The Spirit within John was now at work within the disciples for the Son had given them power and authority.
Remove the body of Christ but there is no way you can remove the Spirit of Christ within that body.
Whatever Boko Haram, ISIS or any other evil group of people do today will not stop disciples advancing in our world because the Son is continually giving power and authority to them.

A waste of pork chops?
Luke 8
A group of demons equals a legion.
A group of pigs equals a herd.
Gerasa also known as Gadara was the capital of the Gerasenes. Though it was known as one of the proudest cities of Syria it is now called Jerash and is a deserted ruin. Remove the body of Christ from a place and not long later it will become a ruin, v37
Jesus gave the legion permission to enter the pigs because the disarming of all demonic power to take place on the cross was not ready yet.

The people didn’t mind that this man had legion.
Nor did they mind the pig farmers possessing a herd. (Pigs are an abomination to the Jews).
But when the body of Christ moves in the supernatural and turns the tables on evil making wrong things right, then the towns will sit up and their response may not be what we expect.
Jesus cast legion out of the man and the town cast Jesus out of their vicinity.
Leave our town not because you are boring, ineffective, dwindling, non-relevant to our generation. No.
Leave the town because this supernatural activity is too much for us.
This is a sleepy town. We need a sleepy Church.
Let’s stop giving what our towns want and give them what they need.
Some Churches leave a town because they fall asleep.
Other Churches leave a town because they wake everyone up.

Social outcasts are often better lovers of God.

A woman, a sinner, publicly known for her shameful ways is at the feet of Jesus.
Luke 7:36-50
Simon, the Pharisee, religious, lover of God, publicly known for not being a sinner.
Which one loves God the most? Simon or the woman?
Who is the greatest sinner? Simon or the woman?

Jesus turned towards the woman and spoke to Simon. I love this.
Jesus is forcing Simon to look at the woman and to see what Jesus sees.
Simon hadn’t been looking at a person but an object.
Man has always looked at women as objects.
Simon has no kind words for the woman.

What Simon misses is that the brokenness of her life has brought about a greater expression of love for Jesus than he could ever muster.
v44-46 You did not but she did …. You did not but she did … You did not but she did.

The greatest sinners are therefore perhaps those whose eyes will not weep and whose lips will not kiss and whose knees will not bend in surrender and love to Jesus.

2 places
Luke 6
(v12) There’s a place to meet with God. It’s a place higher than that of man. To ascend this hill is to understand his ways and thoughts are not man’s.
There is always the temptation not to find solitude with God. The pull of man does not want us to ascend.

(v17) There’s a place to meet with man. It’s a place on their level. We need to come down into their culture, their thinking, alongside, in the dirt, amongst their disease, to feel their trouble, to experience their touch.
There is always the temptation to approach man from a higher place, to look down on them. The pull of our own blessing will not want us to descend.

Some people get the 2 places mixed up. Some ascend to worship their hero and heroine. Some descend and view their God as a mate and lose the awe and wonder.
Let’s keep the 2 places separate and in the right way.