18 Luke - Simplicity

By Richard

In Luke 18: 5-12 people try to get Jesus to touch their babies. The disciples try and shoo them off. I love Jesus words. “Let these children alone. Don’t get between them and me. These children are the kingdom’s pride and joy. Mark this [in other words take note]: Unless you accept God’s kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you’ll never get in!”

I think that Jesus not only let’s us know of God’s huge love for children (I’m so glad that we give children such a priority at Mountainview) but it also reminds us that there’s something profoundly simple about the Christian message; something that we can all too easily miss in all the complexities of adulthood. There’s a huge need to practice simplicity of faith and deed in our personal lives and churches.

18 Luke - Viewpoint

By Richard

Jesus’ story of the Pharisee and the Tax Man is found in Luke 18: 9-14. The Pharisee looked down on others and thought to himself, “Thank goodness I’m not like a sinner or even, God forbid, a taxman!” The taxman, on the other hand, humbled by his sins looked up to God and said, “Please forgive me!”

Jesus reminds us that it’s the taxman that leaves right with God.

The danger of pride is that we look down on others. The blessings of humility are that we tend to look up to God. Both men were in an equal position before God. The only difference was the viewpoint they had about themselves, for it affected the direction they were looking.

Let us humbly look up to God.

18 Luke - Persistence

By Richard

When I read Luke 18, I was just about to start preaching an Advent series at Mountainview. The first message was entitled, Jesus is Coming, and looks at the prophets. There are over 300 OT prophecies about the first Advent of Jesus and over 500 concerning his second Advent. One of the points that we made was that the prophecies for the first Advent help us believe whereas the prophecies for the second Advent help us prepare and persevere.

It was comforting to read the parable of the persistent widow (Luke 18:1-8) who badgers a mean judge until she gets the justice that she needs. Jesus uses the story to remind his followers to persist in prayer. If a mean judge will change his mind how much more will our Father in heaven, who love us greatly, give attention to our prayers and answer them. Jesus closes the section with this challenge, "How much…persistent faith will the Son of Man [Jesus] find on earth when he returns?”

The challenge is this. Jesus is coming back (to get us in death or to end the world – whichever comes sooner). He wants us to persist in prayer. He wants us to persist in doing good. He wants us to persist in loving and serving him. He wants us, even though he’s invisible, to persist in our faith so that when he returns to the earth he will find us ready.

17 Luke - The Arrival of the King

By Richard

Jesus said to the disciples that, “The arrival of the Son of Man is not something you go out to see. He simply comes.” (Luke 17:23, the Message)

Jesus emphasis to the disciples is that they should not get discouraged by the dark days ahead or distracted by the deceitful claims of the arrival of the Messiah. For when Jesus returns it will be sudden and total. There will be no doubt for anyone that it is the end of the world.

But if we read on Jesus tells us how to prepare. “If you cling to life on your own terms you’ll loose it, but if you let life go, you’ll get life on God’s terms.” In a sense we’re all hanging over a cliff. Jesus is saying, strange as it may seem if hang on you’ll die (the hanging on itself won’t kill us but we’re hanging onto a cliff that will eventually fall down and we will be destroyed), but if let go I’ll catch you on the way down and you’ll be saved and live.

17 Luke - Lower Your Expectations

By Richard

In Luke 17: 10-12 Jesus asks the disciples to lower their expectations. They were not to think about what they deserve but rather to have hearts that were willing to serve Jesus tirelessly; to serve Jesus with an attitude of, “I’m just doing my job!” Jesus asks us to be “matter of fact” about the commitments he asks us to make.

This is a challenge for me, for all of us I guess, as we so often think about what’s in it for us. Honestly, I tend to swing (if something can swing 3 ways) between pride for my achievements, bitter thoughts when my hard work goes unnoticed and grumpiness when I’ve worked hard and am feeling tired.

My prayer is that I will learn to serve Jesus more “matter of fact” and know that at the end of the day it is not for me or the approval of others that I am working, but for Jesus, the extension of his Kingdom and his “well done” when we eventually meet at the end of time.

17 Luke - More Faith

By Richard

We read that the Apostles came to Jesus and said, “Give us more faith!” (Luke 17:5). Jesus replied, “You don’t need more faith. There is no “more” or “less” in faith. If you have a bare kernel of faith, say the size of a poppy seed, you could say to this sycamore tree, ‘Go jump in the lake,’ and it would do it.” (Luke 17: 6, the Message).

These might appear slightly confusing words, but I think that this is what Jesus is saying. The issue with faith is not having more of it…but using it. We need to start using faith. It’s also not a mind over matter thing. Faith is really a growing understanding that the invisible God is more real than the very air we breathe. It is living in a way that demonstrates the spiritual realities beyond the horizon are more real than the material things that we can grasp and touch. Will we open our eyes to see the unseen God and our ears to hear the whisper of his voice in our heart. Will we put our hand into the strongest, yet most gentle hand, in all eternity and say to Christ start leading me. Will we start practicing faith today?

16 Luke - Don’t Miss Jesus

By Richard

During Advent last December I was reading though the Gospels for the second time, I read the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, in Luke 16. The rich man ignores Lazarus, the beggar at his gate. They both die and the rich man ends up in hell and the poor man ends up next to Abraham in heaven (on his lap actually, but for some of us the idea of ending up on another man’s lap is not our idea of heaven). The rich man wants a drink and asks Abraham to send Lazarus over to hell with some water. Abraham tells him, “No can do!” So the rich man asks Abraham to at least warn his family back on earth. To which Abraham replies, “They have the law and the prophets to warn them!” The rich man ends up pleading, “Please can you send someone back from the dead – and then they’ll really believe”.

We read, Abraham replied, “If they won’t listen to Moses and the Prophets, they’re not going to be convinced by someone who rises from the dead!” (Luke 16: 31)

As I read the parable I had a couple of thoughts about how it related to Advent.

Firstly, Jesus told this story to the religious leader’s just after he told the religious leaders that they were faking it by making themselves look good on the outside. Not a popular thing to do! I don’t know what you think, but I think that the parable is more than just a story about looking after the poor. I think that Jesus is setting up things to shortly prove that religious leaders did not take Moses and the prophets as seriously as they publicly claimed. Not long after in Jesus ministry (we find the story in John 11), another Lazarus does come back from the dead after 4 days in the tomb. While we’re told that this becomes a turning point of belief for many Jews, many of the religious leaders got together and said to each other, “This guy Jesus is getting too good and if we don’t want to loose our job we’re going to have to kill him.” They were masters of religion, but their own ego had blinded them to the truths of Scripture. They missed the most important thing ever to happen on earth – the coming of Jesus.

Now I don’t want you to miss the coming of Jesus and maybe a good question to ask at this point is this. Do we believe the story of God in the bible? If we don’t, we need to be honest about what is getting in the way? Is it sincere doubts? Is it ignorance? Is it pride? Is it some untruths that we’ve brought into? Is it lack of interest? And, what can we do as a church to help you believe?

Secondly, I think the story of the rich man and Lazarus reminds us of how foundational our belief in the bible really is. The story suggests that the trustworthiness of scripture is a greater basis for faith than witnessing a man rise from the dead. It’s like building a building. Build a small building and we only need a small foundation. Build a huge office block and you need much bigger foundations. If our belief in the bible is minimal we’re not going to be able to build much of a Christian faith. If our belief in the bible is bigger we can build a bigger faith.

My prayer is that that through this blog we are going to end up more confident in the truth of Christ’s reality and by so doing closer to Jesus himself

16 Luke - Behind Appearances

Bt Richard

The Pharisees, blinded by their money could not accept Jesus’ warnings about serving God rather than money. So Jesus goes on to warn them, warn us, that we are, “Masters at making [ourselves] look good in front of others, but God [knows] what’s behind the appearance. What society sees and calls monumental God sees through and calls monstrous.” (Parts Luke 16: 14-18, the Message).

What a warning, if ever there was one, to work on the part that God sees and not the part that people see.

16 Luke - Making the Best out of Every Situation

By Richard

In Luke 16:1-9 we have one of those parables that Jesus told that is hard to understand. A manager gets fired for his mismanagement of finances and so reasoning that he’s done for he uses his last hours at work to make a few friends. He calls people into his office that owe the master money and tells them to take out their balance sheets and half their debts. When the master finds out he actually praises the manager for his shrewd dealings.

Jesus tells us that he wants us to be like the manager. He doesn’t want us to “complacently get by on good behaviour”, but, using every good means possible, he wants us to engage in life and to allow adversity to stimulate our highest creativity. Jesus wants us to, “live, really live!”

In a sense really living is figuring out how to make the best out of every situation

15 Luke - The Joy of Found-ness

By Richard

In Luke 15 we have 3 well-known parables of lost-ness. A lost sheep, a lost coin and a lost son. This is the only time that 3 parables on the same subject appear sequentially in the Gospel (so it must be important as repetition was the literary means of emphasis in ancient times). The stories also grow in the level of loss experienced. 1% of a farmer’s livelihood! 10% of a widow’s pension! Finally, a Landowner looses 50% of his wealth and 50% of his sons!

By focusing on the lost side of the parable we might miss something important. In the context the Pharisees are complaining that Jesus is, “Eating meals with sinners and treating them like old friends.” (Paraphrase, Luke 5: 3). Jesus goes on to tell the stories about lost-ness and each ends with an emphasis on celebration and the joy when sinners come back to God. He ends off the 3 parables by reminding the Pharisees of their hard and cold hearts and their lack of joy over repentant sinners.

So perhaps rather than about lost-ness the emphasis Jesus is making is on the joy that comes from “found-ness”.

14 Luke - The Cost

By Richard

In Luke 14: 25-34, Jesus does not want us to be under any illusions, following him is very costly. He’s asking us to put him a clear first above family, possessions and the big one, ourselves. He recommends that we figure out that we’ve got what it takes to follow him before we even start. He’s ultimately looking for people that so closely follow him that they become like Jesus in the world. “The salt of the earth [and so] bring the flavour of Jesus to the world”.

My suspicion, from personal experience, is that many of us have not set the bar high enough. How often have I been a half-hearted follower of Jesus! Jesus wants our greatest commitment. Will we take the time to figure out the true cost and then, if we’re willing to pray the price, follow Jesus before family, friends, possessions and even ourselves? Follow him fully and start bringing the flavour of Jesus to the world.

14 Luke - Be A Blessing

By Richard

In Luke 14: 12-14 Jesus says that God wants us to bless others without expecting anything in return. Indeed God wants us, like heat seeking missiles, to look for and target the blessing of people who cannot repay the favour. The promise is that when we bless unconditionally, “The favour will be returned, - oh how it will be returned at the resurrection of God’s people” (Luke 14:14, The Message)

14 Luke - A Great Challenge

Jesus said, “If you walk around with your nose in the air, you’re going to end up flat on your face. But if you’re content to simply be yourself, you will become more than yourself.” (Luke 14: 11, the Message)

13 Luke - A Party Of Friends

By Richard

Jesus is asked in Luke 13: 26-27 about how many people will be saved. He goes on to tell them that it’s, “None of [their] business”. Our task is not to play around with theological questions but to focus our attention and energy on God.

Jesus goes onto tell the Parable of the Banquet. Many people will find themselves outside the Kingdom of Heaven (the Banquet) and will say, “How’s this possible God? We’ve known you all of our lives!” And we read that God will respond. “Your kind of knowing can hardly be called knowing…You don’t know the first thing about me!” (Luke 13: 27, the Message)

God’s words might be strong, but how true they are. God’s not building a kingdom full of people with a casual acknowledgement of his reality. He wants his party to be filled with friends; friends who love and care about him (and how many of us would want our party to be filled with people who don’t give a rip about us?). He will fill his kingdom with people who have shown a desire to focus all of their energies and attentions on him! He will fill his Kingdom with friends.

13 Luke - Debugging Faith

By Richard

Jesus heals on a Sabbath and the ruler of the Synagogue is literally seething. “Come on one other six days designated for work,” he said, “But not on the Sabbath.” We read that Jesus, “Shot back. ‘You frauds! Each Sabbath every one of you regularly unties your cow or donkey from its stall, leads it out for water, and thinks nothing of it. So why isn’t it all right for me to untie this daughter of Abraham and lead her from the stall where Satan has had her tied for these 18 years?’” (Luke 13: 15, 16, the Message)

I wan’t to focus in on the line “You frauds”. If we’re honest every one of us has, at some level, fraudulent behaviour. One of the challenges of the Gospels is that Jesus tends to expose our double standards. Indeed this tendency of Christ to “expose” us is actually one of the reasons that I believe so many people claim that the Christian faith is untrue. You see, we’re not talking about some feel-good-yoga of the safety of rule-based-religion, but we're talking about a call to take an honest look inside ourselves and become people of integrity. We’re called to debug faith of fraudulent behaviour and friends that’s a challenge that we must either embrace of hate.

13 Luke - The Apple Tree

By Richard

Adding to yesterday’s blog. Jesus tells us a story about an apple tree. The tree would not produce any fruit. The owner suggests that it be cut down. So the gardener pleads for clemency, “Give it another year. I’ll dig around it and fertilize it; maybe it will produce next year, if it doesn’t, then chop it down.” (Luke 13: 8-9, the Message)

This reminds us of God’s efforts to save us – but notice it does not negate the warning of destruction. At the end of the day we will either be saved by God or destroyed by self. God is doing all he can to save us. God is hoping we will produce spiritual fruit. God is helping us produce spiritual fruit. The clock is ticking and time is running out. The next move is ours. How will we respond? A bud , a flower and a fruit, or fruitless apathy to the most important fact of life?

13 Luke - Downhill Slide

By Richard

Jesus in very clear in Luke 13, and we cannot ignore it, mankind is in a perilous position and that, “Unless [we] turn to God [we] will die.” (Luke 13: 1-5, the Message). The phrase is actually repeated twice by Jesus, which indicates emphasis.

I’m not sure if we are helping much when we try and ignore these strong words of Jesus. They remind us that we need a Saviour and that the world badly needs one too. Jesus is more than a nice role model to be followed. The world is sliding downhill fast, like a runaway sled on a steep snow covered hill. Jesus is offering us a chance to be rescued before we hit the wall at the bottom. Pretending that there is no wall does not make it go away. Let us heed the words of Jesus, the one who John says is the only one to have come from the very presence of God, and I believe the only one who really knows what he’s talking about.

12 Luke - Common Sense

By Richard

In Luke 12: 54-59 Jesus reminds the crowds that they have a wonderful skill – they can predict the weather simply by the direction of the wind. He calls them to develop skills when it comes to understanding the things of God. So will we take time developing skills in understanding and applying faith or will we continue to sit, like a couch potato, watching the weather on TV?

12 Luke - The Fire

By Richard

Maybe we are giving misinformation if we sell the Christian faith as a, “come to Jesus and everything will be OK!” kind of belief. Indeed one of the reasons I believe the Gospels are so true is that they do not come across like a party manifesto. In Luke 12: 49-53 Jesus is seriously not “selling” a call to come and follow him. He says, “I have come to start a fire on this earth…I’ve come to change everything, turn everything rightside up…I’ve come to confront and disrupt.” (the Message).

Following Jesus challenges our status quo. It calls for a radical reversal in our lives from self-centeredness to God centeredness. If we follow Jesus it will capsize us and upset others. Maybe we’ll even get ourselves “hung”. But we must not fear the fire for it is the power of God’s love offering us freedom from a dark and sickly attachment to self.

12 Luke - Generosity

By Richard

Generosity is clearly a biblical antidote to materialism. In Luke 12: 33-34 Jesus says his followers should, “Be generous. Give to the poor” (the Message). I like this, but I’m sometimes still left wondering who the poor are that God wants me to give to. I do want my giving to be helpful and I want to be generous and God lead in my giving. Guess I’d better pray.

12 Luke - The Problem with Consumerism

By Richard

The problem with consumerism is described fully in Luke 12: 22-34. A fixation on food and looks and material possessions takes our focus off God. We miss the greatest treasure of all, a loving Father in heaven who wants to look after us. God calls us to put all of our trusts in Him and enjoy all the benefits of a loving friendship with the Creator and Sustainer of the universe. When we do so all the worries and concerns of life will take their right perspective before God and we will be in a position to really live.

12 Luke - Primary Focus

By Richard

At the beginning of Luke 12 we read that the crowds attracted to Jesus, “Numbered in the thousands.” But, in the midst of this busy confusion we read that, “Jesus’ primary concern was for his disciples.” (Luke 12:1, the Message).

I find this quite a challenge because as a leader I’m often called too strongly by the attentions demanded of by the crowds and forget the quieter, but more important voice, of developing leaders. We need to focus on building into our leaders for only then, like Jesus, will be we have the chance to multiply ourselves manifold and change the world.

11 Luke - Opening a Door

By Richard

You’re hopeless, you religion scholars! You took the key of knowledge, but instead of unlocking doors, you locked them. You won’t go in yourself, and won’t let anyone else in either. (Luke 11: 52, The Message)

Jesus calls for a huge challenge form leaders. Our job is to open up the ways of God, to lead the way by entering into them first and then to invite others to follow us in doing so. Apparently the Pharisees had locked the door to God. They had locked themselves out, and they were making it nigh impossible for others to come close to God.

We need to evaluate our desire to be Christ-like in our leadership and ask the tough question: Am I helping or hindering others from finding and growing in Christ? It’s a question that needs to be rigorously investigated and following this all necessary adjustments made.

11 Luke - Inside Out

By Richard

In Luke 11: 37-41, an upset over the fact that Jesus didn’t wash his hands before the meal becomes a teaching moment for Jesus. He upsets the Pharisees even more by reminding them that while they spent inordinate amounts of time keeping the outside clean they were overlooking the most important – cleanliness of the heart. Following Christ comes down to the fact that it’s not the “show” but the “hidden” walk with God in the heart that is important.