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THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – YOU ARE THE MESSAGE

Bible Study, ,

YOU ARE THE MESSAGE

“When you enter a home, greet the family, ‘Peace.’ If your greeting is received, then it’s a good place to stay. But if it’s not received, take it back and get out. Don’t impose yourself.

“Stay at one home, taking your meals there, for a worker deserves three square meals. Don’t move from house to house looking for the best cook in town.

When you enter a town and are received, eat what they set before you, heal anyone who is sick, and tell them, ‘God’s kingdom is right on your doorstep!'” Luke 10:5-9.

As one reads Jesus’ instructions over and over, something begins to emerge about His strategy for infiltrating a community with the good news of God’s kingdom. The first thing one notices is His respect for people’s right to choose. He didn’t insist that His disciples bulldoze their way in and force the message on people whether they wanted to listen or not. Everyone had the right to choose whether they accepted or rejected the messengers and their message.

‘Test the water,’ He said. How were they to do that? They were to do it in the disposition of Messiah. ‘Say hello,’ He said but, at the same time, their “hello” conveyed something far deeper than just a causal “hi”. “Shalom”, translated “peace” was both a greeting and a prayer. Shalom is the essence of what God desires and does for those who believe in Him and entrust their lives to Him. His work of restoration produces an inner peace and a wholeness that He intended everyone to experience from the beginning when He created mankind.

If a family responded positively to their greeting, they were to stay there and share the life of that family for the duration of their stay. It was part of Hebrew culture to show hospitality to strangers. It was accepted that a friendly greeting would indicate an open door and a family’s generous attitude towards their guests.

Should the greeting not be returned, they were to move on without making a fuss. It was everyone’s right to choose, and they were not to react ungraciously by retaliating when they were refused hospitality.

They were to receive what was given to them as graciously as their hosts gave and not move on if they were not satisfied with the quality of the hospitality. Being in a home gave them opportunity to interact with the family and minister to their needs, including healing their sick and sharing the good news of God’s kingdom.

The overall impression one gets from Jesus’ instruction is that He was advocating personal interaction with the people of that community. He was not about setting up a big healing and preaching campaign, inviting people to a gathering in the village square. It was about spending time in people’s homes and entering into the family’s life for a while, infiltrating the community with more than just preaching. He was always about being the message, not just telling it.

One cannot dissociate the message from the messenger. Jesus’ way is so unlike the ways of the world, and especially the ways of religion which tries to impose and force its ideas on people whether they like to or not. The message and the messenger are inseparable. It was the message personified in the life of the messenger that would persuade people of the truth, not force it on reluctant or sceptical hearers.

Jesus illustrated the kingdom’s power to infiltrate and transform society in His story of the women who mixed yeast into a lump of dough. He didn’t tell His disciples to leave it to the suitably qualified “professionals” to preach the gospel. He sent all His followers out to spread the good news everywhere that God’s way is the best way to live.

It’s by both life and lip that God’s kingdom comes alive in a community and brings it closer to God’s original idea of a family living together in “shalom” – harmony and wholeness.

Are you doing that?

Learning To Be A Son – Chapter Ten – The Father’s Blessing

Book Reviews, , , ,

LEARNING TO BE A SON

CHAPTER TEN

THE FATHER’S BLESSING

Unlike slaves who have no rights in the house, a son has a right to his father’s name, his father’s home and his father’s inheritance.  As children of God the Bible teaches us that we have these rights.

The Father’s name

It was Jesus’ mission to do two things – to reveal the Father and to take us to the Father. Jesus took pains to teach His disciples the true nature of the Father, both by what He said and by what He did. He was in constant conflict with the religious authorities because He insisted that the law of God was more about mercy than about rules.

In His high priestly prayer on the eve of His death, He assured the Father that He had revealed His name to His disciples – not the names by which He was known in the Old Covenant but by the name “Father” which was foreign to them because they did not understand the fatherhood of God.

Adam and Eve lost their rights by rebelling against God, and became slaves to fear through Satan’s deception. By His death Jesus would reconcile those who believe in Him to the Father and they would be “adopted” into His family as His beloved children, restoring to them everything they lost at the Fall and especially the fellowship He intended from the beginning.

His first message to His disciples through Mary after His resurrection was:

Go . . . to my brothers and tell them, “I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ (John 20:17b)

His death had brought about a new status. From God’s perspective they were now on a par with Jesus – He was not ashamed to call them brothers (He. 2: 10). Everything that Jesus was as a son was potentially theirs as well. The Father loved them just as He loved Jesus. They were given the Spirit of adoption, and the witness of the Spirit that they were children of God, as are all those who believe in Jesus.

Jesus not only told them about the Father; He also showed and taught them how to relate to the Father as His sons and daughters in loving submission and obedience. He gave them the right to use His name as their authority for approaching the Father. He revealed the nature of His Father enshrined in His name.

The Father’s house

It was the Father’s desire from the beginning of time to dwell with His people. Even when sin drove the first pair from God’s presence, He still desired to live among them. The tabernacle was His way of showing them His desire and at the same time, making it clear that they could not approach Him except through animal sacrifices. These were a picture of what He had promised – one who would crush the head of Satan and bring them back into fellowship with Himself.

The temple was the permanent structure in Jerusalem which took the place of the tabernacle for the same purpose. But even the temple was symbolic of something better. God cannot be contained in a building, but He has chosen to make His dwelling in the inner shrine of His human temples. All those who have been bought by the blood of Jesus are indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

Satan targets what is most precious to God – our fellowship with Him. Sin and all its spin-offs, independence and its fruit, i.e., making our own rules, cuts us off from fellowship with the Father.

But not only does He want to have continuous fellowship with us through the Holy Spirit, as sons our role is to “continue the house”. As His sons and daughters, it is our role both to reveal who He is and to bring others back into the household of God.

The Father’s inheritance

As the children of God we have a legal right to His inheritance. As co-heirs with Jesus we have an inheritance which is far superior to material things. Our inheritance comes to us through what God has promised (Heb. 6:12; 2 Cor. 1: 20). What had God promised? He has promised that we become partakers of His divine nature (2 Pet. 1: 3-4)

The problem is that the earth and all mankind have been corrupted by sin. God is untainted by corruption and He cannot have fellowship with that which is corrupt. God took care of the problem by sending His Son to deal with our sin and to restore His nature in us so that we can escape the corruption that is in the world. Just as Adam passed on his corrupted nature to every generation, Jesus has restored His nature in all who believe His promises, the perfect nature of the Father which He refines and purifies in us through the discipline of hardship and suffering (Heb. 12: 10)

The inheritance is already ours because the testator, Jesus has already died. It is our responsibility to make the promises of God ours through faith and patience, not what we want to make our lives cushy and comfortable, but to form in us the fullness of God’s nature in the likeness of His Son.

He calls us to leave the world and it corrupting influences and be separated to God. He has promised to dwell with us and to be our Father and we will be His sons and daughters                                                                      (2 Cor. 6: 16-7:1).

The Father’s nature

God is holy love. He is separated from everything that has been corrupted by sin. As His children, He insists that we be separated from sin to Himself. God is generous. He requires that we show who He us by our generosity, not only with our resources but with our attitudes.

The manifestation of God’s sons

Sin corrupted the whole universe which is waiting in pain for the manifestation of the sons of God (Rom 8: 19-21). This will be the sign that everything will be restored, including the heavens and the earth. Jesus’ return will be the cue for the restoration of all of creation and the final judgement of the rebellious angels who followed Satan. They will be condemned when God is vindicated.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my first book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

ISBN: Softcover – 978-1-4828-0512-3,                                                                              eBook 978-4828-0511-6

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or kindle version, on www.takealot.com  or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

My second book, Learning to be a Disciple – The Way of the Master (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing), companion volume to Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart, has been released in paperback and digital format on www.amazon.com.

For more details, check my website:

http://luellaannettecampbell.com/

Have you read my blogs on www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com ?

 

 

 

 

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Without A Word

Bible Study, , , ,

WITHOUT A WORD

As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they immediately told Jesus about her. So He went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them (Mark 1: 29-31)

Have you ever wondered why Jesus didn’t give His disciples a “healing” formula to say over sick people? As His disciples, it would be part of their job description to do what disciples do, imitate their rabbi. In this case, healing would be expected of them if they wanted to be just like their Master. Perhaps they began to wish that some other rabbi with s’mikah had called them to follow him – except that no one but Jesus would do such a thing because they were not qualified.

Notice how much confidence they had in Him at this early stage in their apprenticeship. They may have known something about Him from hearsay, or even from listening to Him preach about the kingdom of God, but they had hardly had time to get to know Him. Yet – this was a crisis in the family. A fever could mean anything from a head cold or ‘flu to a serious and life-threatening illness. And there was no doctor on call with a range of antibiotics to treat the condition.

Ah, but for once they had hope. Jesus was on call. Had He already shown His power to heal? We don’t know, but He had, just an hour or two ago evicted a demon. Did they believe that this woman’s condition was caused by an invading “squatter”? Again, we don’t know. But as far as they were concerned, Jesus was there and He was up to dealing with any uninvited invader, be it demonic or bacterial – not that they knew anything about bacteria.

All they had to do was to tell Him and the rest was up to Him. And they were not disappointed. What did they expect Him to do? Say a prayer over her? Quote healing Scriptures to her and command the sickness to leave? Impress God with His confidence in Him to heal – after all, there was healing in the Covenant, wasn’t there?

Jesus did the absolutely unexpected. He simply took he hand and gently helped her to sit up and get off her sleeping mat. One moment she was shaking with fever and the next she was up on her feet, as cool as a cucumber and ready to get on with her day. How did that happen?

The answer is simple – God’s mercy, through the hand of Jesus, did a miracle. It didn’t even need a prayer or a command or a mantra or a repetition of Scripture to effect a miracle. The Holy Spirit was all over Him. He came on Him at His baptism. And the Father was with Him. Jesus and the Father were one. Hadn’t the Father affirmed Him vocally, verbally at His baptism? They were all there together, Father, Son and Holy Spirit to bring heaven back to earth. With that powerful presence, no word was needed. Just a helping hand and power flowed.

What did the disciples think of that? They must have been flabbergasted. “We are supposed to do that! Who does He think we are – some superhuman god-men or something?” By this time they must have known that He was someone more than a man. But how were they supposed to be like Him?

There were then, and still are now, two important factors that made all the difference. Firstly, Jesus had called them, them, because He had confidence that they could become what He was. That what rabbis with s’mikah did. Secondly, He was equipped with the power of the Holy Spirit, and so would they be after He had dealt with sin. That’s what He, Jesus, could and would do. No other rabbi could do that!

And what about us? Jesus instructed them to go out and make replicas of them because they were on the way to becoming replicas of Him. This was His simple but effective strategy. Any new disciples were to receive the same equipment as He had and they would have – His confidence in them and the power of the Holy Spirit in them. They didn’t need to do what other religions tried to do – get their gods to respond by formulae and babbling and mantras and ridiculous rituals and capers and . . . and . . . and. . . Just like the prophets of Baal.

Only “Christ in them”. They didn’t even need words – just the awareness that the Father was there, the Holy Spirit was there, Jesus was there. That’s all He did on that occasion, gave her a hand and she was up on her feet. Sometimes He spoke. Sometimes He didn’t. Sometimes He did strange things, like make mud with spit, or ask strange questions like, “Do you want to be healed?” It actually didn’t matter. What did matter was that God was right there and did the work through an obedient and trusting channel.

It’s not words that heal. It’s God, all God – because He wants to bring heaven to earth – now.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

 

Have you read my new book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (copyright 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

 

Available on www.amazon.com or www.kalahari.com in paperback, e-book or kindle format, or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

 

Check out my blogsite at www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com

 

You Are The Message!

Bible Study, , , ,

YOU ARE THE MESSAGE

“When you enter a home, greet the family, ‘Peace.’ If your greeting is received, then it’s a good place to stay. But if it’s not received, take it back and get out. Don’t impose yourself.

“Stay at one home, taking your meals there, for a worker deserves three square meals. Don’t move from house to house looking for the best cook in town.

When you enter a town and are received, eat what they set before you, heal anyone who is sick, and tell them, ‘God’s kingdom is right on your doorstep!'” Luke 10:5-9 (The Message).

As one reads Jesus’ instructions over and over, something begins to emerge about His strategy for infiltrating a community with the good news of God’s kingdom. The first thing one notices is His respect for people’s right to choose. He didn’t insist that His disciples bulldoze their way in and force the message on people whether they wanted to listen or not. Everyone had the right to choose whether they accepted or rejected the messengers and their message.

‘Test the water,’ He said. How were they to do that? They were to do it in the disposition of Messiah. ‘Say hello,’ He said but, at the same time, their “hello” conveyed something far deeper than just a causal “hi”. “Shalom”, translated “peace” was both a greeting and a prayer. Shalom is the essence of what God desires and does for those who believe in Him and entrust their lives to Him. His work of restoration produces an inner peace and a wholeness that He intended everyone to experience from the beginning when He created mankind.

If a family responded positively to their greeting, they were to stay there and share the life of that family for the duration of their stay. It was part of Hebrew culture to show hospitality to strangers. It was accepted that a friendly greeting would indicate an open door and a family’s generous attitude towards their guests.

Should the greeting not be returned, they were to move on without making a fuss. It was everyone’s right to choose, and they were not to react ungraciously by retaliating when they were refused hospitality.

They were to receive what was given to them as graciously as their hosts gave and not move on if they were not satisfied with the quality of the hospitality. Being in a home gave them opportunity to interact with the family and minister to their needs, including healing their sick and sharing the good news of God’s kingdom.

The overall impression one gets from Jesus’ instruction is that He was advocating personal interaction with the people of that community. He was not about setting up a big healing and preaching campaign, inviting people to a gathering in the village square. It was about spending time in people’s homes and entering into the family’s life for a while, infiltrating the community with more than just preaching. He was always about being the message, not just telling it.

One cannot dissociate the message from the messenger. Jesus’ way is so unlike the ways of the world, and especially the ways of religion which tries to impose and force its ideas on people whether they like to or not. The message and the messenger are inseparable. It was the message personified in the life of the messenger that would persuade people of the truth, not force it on reluctant or sceptical hearers.

Jesus illustrated the kingdom’s power to infiltrate and transform society in His story of the women who mixed yeast into a lump of dough. He didn’t tell His disciples to leave it to the suitably qualified “professionals” to preach the gospel. He sent all His followers out to spread the good news everywhere that God’s way is the best way to live.

It’s by both life and lip that God’s kingdom comes alive in a community and brings it closer to God’s original idea of a family living together in “shalom” — harmony and wholeness.

Are you doing that?