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THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – THE INSIDE STORY

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THE INSIDE STORY

“The interest of the people by now was building. They were all beginning to wonder, ‘Could this John be the Messiah?’ But John intervened: ‘I’m baptising you here in the river. The main character in this drama, to whom I’m a mere stagehand, will ignite the kingdom life, a fire, the Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the inside out. He’s going to clean house – make a clean sweep of your lives. He’ll place everything true in its proper place before God, everything false He’ll put out with the trash to be burned.'” Luke 3:15-18.

Just imagine! These were the people who stood on the threshold of a new era in Israel’s history. Messiah was about to be revealed! And they were in on it.

No wonder they ran after John, even putting up with his scathing accusations to hear what he had to say. There was something in the air and they did not want to miss it. But, just like Jesus’ disciples, they all suffered from selective hearing. They associated Messiah so closely with their hope of deliverance from Rome that they conveniently missed the crux of Messiah’s purpose for coming.

John could not have made it clearer: kingdom life; fire; Holy Spirit; changing you from the inside; clean sweep; true/false…all these things had to do with the heart, and attitude, and behaviour, and relationships, and people – the  inner being – and nothing to do with politics and Roman occupation. But they just didn’t get it.

Funny how little has changed. Judging by much of what is propagated by so-called Christian television, the message still has to do with externals – blessing and prosperity and houses and cars and me, me, me; a free passport to heaven and everything I can get out of it now while I wait.

But that’s not what John told them. Messiah was about kingdom life and fire! If we read this like a Hebrew, fire was not about hell for those who don’t believe; fire was about purifying and burning off everything that contradicted the nature of God and His way of doing things; getting rid of the chaff so that the grain can be used. There is no place in His kingdom for anything false, like greed, selfishness, bitterness, anxiety, fear, unforgiveness, unbelief, jealousy, discontent and everything that makes our lives fall apart. It’s got to be burned off, burned up, if we are to have any place in God’s kingdom.

Unless a person is willing to let the fire burn, following Jesus becomes a very uncomfortable business. He’s not afraid to turn up the heat because He is passionate about presenting to His Father a family that resembles Him. If we are not prepared to let the fire burn off what does not resemble Jesus, the alternative is “torment”.

Torment is very much about “hell” now – the unquenchable fire of inner pain and turmoil. Have you ever been there? Jesus’ fire works quickly – it burns off the offending thoughts, attitudes and behaviour that contradict who He is, and peace is the blissful outcome, His peace that makes no sense but it’s real anyway. Hang on to your “stuff” and the fire burns slowly and never stops. It does not consume your issues but it does consume you.

When you think about it, God’s fire is pure mercy. Who, in his right mind, would want to hang onto the things that cause torment anyway? I recently read an article in a popular South African magazine about a woman who spends R3500.00 a month (about $350.00) on tranquillisers because she was raped. I have a young woman in my study group who endured the same terrible experience but she’s free because she allowed Jesus to “burn off” her anger and bitterness, and the torment has gone.

What John was introducing was something far better than a “Romans-free” life. When you are free inside, the outside has no power to enslave, no matter how bad the circumstances are. With shredded backs and their feet in the stocks, Paul and Silas sang in the jail because they were free.

That’s what Messiah came to do!

Disconnected!

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DISCONNECTED! 

“If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” John 15:6-8 NIV.

The vine leaves glistened silver in the moonlight as Jesus and His disciples made their way through the vineyard towards the olive grove. Jesus bent down and lifted up a fallen branch that had become disconnected from the vine. The leaves were withered and turning brown. The branch was dry and brittle. It was obvious that the branch was dead.

Turning to His disciples, He showed them the branch and taught them a simple object lesson. ‘See this branch,’ He said softly. ‘It is lifeless because it broke off the vine. It has no value now; all it’s good for is to be burnt. The only way a branch can bear fruit is to remain attached to the vine. You are just like the branch of a vine. If you maintain your connection with me, you will bear fruit just like the branch that remains attached to the vine.’

Amazingly, remaining attached requires no hard work while becoming detached takes effort. To break one’s connection with Jesus means that you have to reach the conclusion that there is no value in continuing to trust Him and then actively to walk away from Him, renouncing the truth you once believed and turning back to the worthless ways of the world.

To remain in the vine is to keep trusting in Him and allowing His word to shape your thinking and acting. How does the branch remain in the vine? By doing nothing except receiving the life of the vine as it pushes up into the branch. The water and nutrients that flow from the vine into the branches provide the nourishment that keeps the branch alive and supple, and eventually produces the grapes in season which is the only function of the vine.

Like the vine, fruitfulness is the primary function of the believer. What is fruit? Many Christian teachers believe that the measure of fruitfulness is reckoned in terms of the number of “souls” one wins to the Lord, like Red Indians counting scalps. Is this what the Word teaches us?

Fruit is what reveals the nature of the tree. “‘Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognise them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit…Thus, by their fruit you will recognise them.'” Matthew 7:15-17; 20 NIV.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control…” Galatians 5:22, 23 NIV.

The Pharisees had issues with Jesus because He healed on the Sabbath. To “work” on the Sabbath was abhorrent to them while, to Jesus, to do a work of kindness was what the Sabbath was all about. Why? Because works of kindness revealed His true nature as the Son of the Father. They called Him Beelzebub because of His good works. He called them children of the devil because of their hatred and plotting to murder Him. It was the fruit that revealed the nature of the tree.

Fruitfulness takes no effort but to remain in the vine and the fruit of remaining in the vine is answered prayer. The secret of answered prayer is not persuading God by much prayer but the branch remaining in the vine and the word remaining in the branch, the nourishment of the word flowing from the vine to the branch.

This is not labour but rest!