A life worth following
I am getting prepped for my small group study today; which is about the life of Jesus as Luke has investigated and documented it in what we now call the Gospel of Luke in the Bible. This week, we are in Luke chapters 4, 5, and 6, and I gotta tell you that there's so much that we could go over about what Jesus did and said that would take the whole week... in summary I've just gotta say "wow." If you want to know how the Son of God did life, this is a worthy list of great things to be admired...
1.) He faced down the strongest temptation at the point where he was the weakest (Luke 4:1-13). Beyond going 40 days without food, you'd think that'd be temptation enough. And then if that's not enough, the Devil himself goes after him... most of us can pretty much tempt ourselves without any demonic influence... but Jesus, being God in the flesh and perfect in every way, had Hell bring their big guns out... and he struck out against Jesus over and over again... just as those Yankees' hitters were doing against Cliff Lee in ALCS Game 3.
2.) He spoke directly and confidently. Whether it was from reading Isaiah in the Nazareth synagogue, or questioning the Pharisees, or coaxing Simon to cast out the nets one more time, Jesus knew what was on the minds of the people he was addressing and spoke into it. You knew where Jesus stood. He left very little room for doubt.
3.) He was humble. You know, if I was the Son of God walking on the earth I think I'd want to let everyone know about it, and leverage my power while I'm at it (it's a good thing I'm not :) ). Jesus didn't go around Galilee parading his status... in fact he shut up the demons that were shouting "You are the Son of God!" (Luke 4:41) and told the leper he healed to not tell anyone what happened (Luke 5:14). It's as if he wanted to stay on the DL... but could not keep the news from getting out and the crowds just grew. I'm sure that He knows how Andy Stanley must feel if Andy were to walk into a Starbucks.
4.) He didn't care about appearances. He touched people that other people would not dare touch (Luke 5:13), he celebrated when the mores of the day was on ritualistic fasting (Luke 5:33-34), He did the right thing on the Sabbath instead of worrying about the multifaceted set of regulations the system had in place (a system set up by tradition, not by God) (Luke 6:1-5, 6-11), and He calls a... *gasp* tax collector (think of your modern day: "don't talk to him/bad person") to follow him and join his inner circle.
Now when Levi (or Matthew) was called, he dropped all of his tax collector friends and joined a 12 week Bible study to learn about how to follow Jesus... uh, well... not exactly.
Instead, Matthew threw a big party and invited all of his *gasp* tax collector friends and other notorious friends to come (Luke 5:29), and also invited Jesus. And Jesus showed up to the party because he was the guest of honor (Luke 5:29). This didn't really work for the Pharisees because they complained about it (of course :) ), and Jesus again confidently speaks to their hearts. Did they get it... some, eventually did (Acts states that Pharisees eventually turned to follow Jesus after Pentecost, but this was a huge minority during Jesus's ministry time), but not most. Nevertheless, Jesus wasn't out to impress people with status, He was out to build relationships with people hungry for Him.
5.) When he taught about interacting with people, He taught us to give grace. And wouldn't the world be a much better place if we didn't retaliate when we were insulted, but instead did good (Luke 6:32-36)? If we loved people even if they worked to bring harm to us (Luke 6:27-31)? If we evaluated our motives before we confronted someone we thought was in the wrong (Luke 6:37-42)?
And he led by example: He healed people who were completely outcasts and untouchable in that world, He spoke forgiveness to the paralytic, and before having his hometown peeps attempt to throw him off a cliff, he spoke these words:
"The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed.
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
He wanted them to know that He came to free them. Even if they wanted to kill him.
My take is... wow! This is someone worth following, or (if you're not a Christian and reading this) someone worth getting to know just a little bit better. Knowing what I know and seeing His work in my life, He is someone to me worth giving my life to. Someone worth following and giving my complete trust over to. Perhaps you could say the same... or perhaps you may find that this is something that is not only admirable... but also desirable.
Because He is worth following. He is worth giving our lives to. He is worth our devotion.
And how He lived when he had none of that on this earth definitely shows just how much He does :-)
1.) He faced down the strongest temptation at the point where he was the weakest (Luke 4:1-13). Beyond going 40 days without food, you'd think that'd be temptation enough. And then if that's not enough, the Devil himself goes after him... most of us can pretty much tempt ourselves without any demonic influence... but Jesus, being God in the flesh and perfect in every way, had Hell bring their big guns out... and he struck out against Jesus over and over again... just as those Yankees' hitters were doing against Cliff Lee in ALCS Game 3.
2.) He spoke directly and confidently. Whether it was from reading Isaiah in the Nazareth synagogue, or questioning the Pharisees, or coaxing Simon to cast out the nets one more time, Jesus knew what was on the minds of the people he was addressing and spoke into it. You knew where Jesus stood. He left very little room for doubt.
3.) He was humble. You know, if I was the Son of God walking on the earth I think I'd want to let everyone know about it, and leverage my power while I'm at it (it's a good thing I'm not :) ). Jesus didn't go around Galilee parading his status... in fact he shut up the demons that were shouting "You are the Son of God!" (Luke 4:41) and told the leper he healed to not tell anyone what happened (Luke 5:14). It's as if he wanted to stay on the DL... but could not keep the news from getting out and the crowds just grew. I'm sure that He knows how Andy Stanley must feel if Andy were to walk into a Starbucks.
4.) He didn't care about appearances. He touched people that other people would not dare touch (Luke 5:13), he celebrated when the mores of the day was on ritualistic fasting (Luke 5:33-34), He did the right thing on the Sabbath instead of worrying about the multifaceted set of regulations the system had in place (a system set up by tradition, not by God) (Luke 6:1-5, 6-11), and He calls a... *gasp* tax collector (think of your modern day: "don't talk to him/bad person") to follow him and join his inner circle.
Now when Levi (or Matthew) was called, he dropped all of his tax collector friends and joined a 12 week Bible study to learn about how to follow Jesus... uh, well... not exactly.
Instead, Matthew threw a big party and invited all of his *gasp* tax collector friends and other notorious friends to come (Luke 5:29), and also invited Jesus. And Jesus showed up to the party because he was the guest of honor (Luke 5:29). This didn't really work for the Pharisees because they complained about it (of course :) ), and Jesus again confidently speaks to their hearts. Did they get it... some, eventually did (Acts states that Pharisees eventually turned to follow Jesus after Pentecost, but this was a huge minority during Jesus's ministry time), but not most. Nevertheless, Jesus wasn't out to impress people with status, He was out to build relationships with people hungry for Him.
5.) When he taught about interacting with people, He taught us to give grace. And wouldn't the world be a much better place if we didn't retaliate when we were insulted, but instead did good (Luke 6:32-36)? If we loved people even if they worked to bring harm to us (Luke 6:27-31)? If we evaluated our motives before we confronted someone we thought was in the wrong (Luke 6:37-42)?
And he led by example: He healed people who were completely outcasts and untouchable in that world, He spoke forgiveness to the paralytic, and before having his hometown peeps attempt to throw him off a cliff, he spoke these words:
"The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed.
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
He wanted them to know that He came to free them. Even if they wanted to kill him.
My take is... wow! This is someone worth following, or (if you're not a Christian and reading this) someone worth getting to know just a little bit better. Knowing what I know and seeing His work in my life, He is someone to me worth giving my life to. Someone worth following and giving my complete trust over to. Perhaps you could say the same... or perhaps you may find that this is something that is not only admirable... but also desirable.
Because He is worth following. He is worth giving our lives to. He is worth our devotion.
And how He lived when he had none of that on this earth definitely shows just how much He does :-)
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