The Church of Eleven22 - S01 E35 - Showing Up

Episode Date: June 1, 2020

Hey church family. It's time for DeVos, Luke chapter four. We're going to pick it up in verse 16. And man, crazy times, huh? What do you do when it seems like the world is on fire and that the things are absolutely out of control? Well, one of the things that we know that the gospel teaches us is that God is in control. And even when things look like they're most out of control, like say the cross that we know that behind the scenes that God is at work in all things for the good of those that love him and are called according to his purpose. Now, one of the conversations that happens amongst pastors, evangelicals, is this idea of the social gospel and is the gospel social gospel?

Social gospel just means are we supposed to help those who are hurting to lift up the most oppressed and unfortunate, et cetera, et cetera. Well, personally, I don't like, I don't think the gospel needs any adjective at all. But what I want to look at is what the gospel is, and honestly, most evangelicals have a truncated view of the gospel, particularly its implications. So in 1st Corinthians 15, we know that Paul says, I want to remind you, brothers, of what I brought to you that was of first importance of the gospel. The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus in accordance with the scriptures. So that is the gospel in a nutshell, according to the scriptures, and it is of first importance. In this COVID-19 season, we've heard this phrase that people are

testing positive for COVID-19, but they are asymptomatic. In other words, they have the the virus on the inside of them, but they show no symptoms of the virus. I would contend that according to the scriptures, there is no such thing is an asymptomatic gospel-infected person. In other words, if the gospel of Jesus Christ, the life, death, the resurrection, if you believe when he died on the cross, somehow that counted for me that from the inside out, your outsides would have to show some evidence of that and some evidence of that would be fighting for justice and fighting for the rights of people that can't speak up for themselves, et cetera. So let's go to Luke chapter 4.

Beginning in verse 16, it's Jesus' mission statement. In fact, this passage is the first passage I ever preached at the Church of 1122. And the title of that sermon was, it's not new, it's just our turn. And so what we find out here is Jesus is going to lay out to the people that are listening in his hometown, the reason that he is. is here on this earth. Luke 4.16. And Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up.

And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day. And he stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him, and he enrolled the scroll, and he found the place where it is written. The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. he has set me to proclaim liberty to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. And he rolled up the scroll and he gave it back to the attendant and he sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him and he began to say to them today,

this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. This is a messianic scripture from the prophet Isaiah, which he says. And Jesus says, the one that you have been looking for is reading the scripture before you. Now, here's his mission statement. Verse 18, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, upon me, because he has anointed me. That word anointed is the word Messiah. He is saying, I am the Messiah. And so this anointing was not just God's favor on any person, but the Messiah was to come

to lay down his life for the forgiveness of the sins of all the world. So what Jesus is saying here, he's not saying he's anointed like I would say I'm anointed, like God has breathed his favor upon me that when I preach, even though it's moderately delivered, it's exceptionally received and a whole bunch of people get saved and understand the Bible, and I can't do any of that stuff, only the Spirit of God can do that stuff. That's what we mean when we use the word anointing today. But here this word is Messiah. It means that God was going to send a lamb to take away the sins of the world.

Jesus is saying, I am that Messiah, I am that anointed one. I am the Son of God. That's where it starts. It starts with, the gospel starts with who God is. So that's who Jesus is. He goes, here I am. And now he's going to get into what he came to do. To proclaim good news to the poor.

Now we know that this word poor doesn't just mean people without resources. What he means here is to those who are poor in spirit. And the way we know it is because when Luke records the sermon on the mount, he uses the phrase, blessed are those who are poor, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew records the same sermon, and he says, blessed are those who are poor in spirit. So when Jesus is saying, poor here, quoting from Isaiah, he's not just talking about people that don't have income and resources. He's primarily talking about what it means to be poor in spirit. In other words,

he's saying, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because I am the Christ. I am the Messiah. I am the one that all of the old covenant has been pointing to, the Lamb of God, who's come to take away the sin of the world. And what I'm going to do is to proclaim the good news. that's the gospel, that I am going to proclaim the gospel to the spiritually bankrupt people of this world, which is everybody. So now pay attention here. Jesus starts with who he is. Then he goes with the gospel. What is primary is the declaration of the gospel. Now, where most evangelicals, they just want to put a period right there and stop and say it. All we're supposed to do is preach the good news to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. But what they mean by that is just preach,

the eternal implications of the good news, but there are not just eternal implications of the good news. The good news is not just that when we die, we get to go to heaven, but the good news, the kingdom of God is at hand, that we are to be praying that your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. In other words, when the gospel infects us, that we should show symptoms of a gospel infected life, and now here comes the symptoms. And you cannot divorce the two. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives. That if we are Christians, then the gospel not only lets us know that when we put our faith in Jesus, then the penalty of sin is no longer on us, but also the enemy has no hold on us.

that the chains of addiction, that the chains of systemic injustice, that these things must be broken by the good news that Jesus came to save sinners. And listen to me, I know our world seems crazy right now. It is crazy right now because it's sinful and it's broken. And the things that started in Minneapolis, now it seemed to be spilling out all over the place. But Jesus, he was not born into some kind of utopic society. There was deep divide.

There were socioeconomic injustices in his day. There was serious racial tension between the Romans and the Jews and the Samaritans. And Jesus says there have been some people that are captive, captive to addiction, captive to systemic injustice, captive to a wrong way of thinking, and the gospel sets those people free not just one day when we die, but sets people free today.

And the recovery of sight to the blind. That because of the gospel, that God opens our eyes to begin to see people the way he sees people. I know that's going to give me in trouble, but what's new, man? People've been wearing me out all week on Facebook and whatever, but listen to me, Church of 1122.

Here's what I am trying to get us to understand. we have a predominantly white church. I hope and pray we get more and more diverse. I really do. But when you see news come out and there's a particular group of people that it impacts and affects in a way that's emotionally exponentially beyond

the way it affects you, what the Bible caused the body of Christ to do is that if any part of the body is hurting, that the whole body is hurting, that we are supposed to bear one another's burdens. We are supposed to weep with those who weep, mourn with those who mourn, rejoice with those who rejoice. And listen, man, don't hide behind this stuff.

We're like, well, let's just let all the facts come in. You know who didn't let all the facts come in? Jesus. In John chapter 4, he shows up and his friend Lazarus is dead. And his friends, Marriott and Martha are weeping. And you know what he could have said? Hold on. Let all the facts come in because in just a little while,

I'm going to bring him out of the grave and everything's going to be okay. That's not what he does. He weeps with his friends. That's what empathy is. That's what empathy is. Don't think about people. Think about a person. Think about how this affects.

This is what I do. I think about when these things happen, I see him on the news. I think about how does this affect my friends? Leons and Dr. Mason and Jerome and Cam and Jay. And I just reach out to them and say, I'm sorry. I'm hurting for you. I'm praying with you.

And then I also think about my friends, like Sheriff Mike Williams and Commander Russ Martin and St. John's County. And I reach out to them. And I say, I know you don't want this to happen. I'm praying for you too. You see, I pray that God would give us eyes to see humans the way he sees humans and not stand behind being ripe

but laying down our rights to go arm and arm with our brothers and sisters. This is what the gospel does. Recovery of sight to the blind. To set at liberty those who are oppressed. Listen, the Bible calls us, Christians, believers in Jesus, calls us to stand up for those who are oppressed, for those who don't have a voice. If you are pro-life, that means from conception to casket.

That means from womb to tomb. And I don't know how in the world you could read the Bible and not understand that pro-life begins, that life begins in the womb. And evangelicals are really great about fighting, speaking out for the unborn. And we should be. We should be. But pro-life continues all the way through life. No life should be taken unjustly.

No life. and so that's because, not because it's just the right thing to do politically, that's because the gospel of Jesus Christ is in us and Christ died on the cross for all who would believe, all who would believe. And then verse 19, he says, and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. In other words, what Jesus is saying is, very loose translation, I want you to know God ain't mad at you.

For anyone who was in Christ Jesus, this is love. Not that we loved him, but he loved us. and send his son to be the propitiation for our sin. Propitiation means a payment that satisfies, which means that God cannot be dissatisfied in you. Not if you're in Christ. If you're not in Christ, you already stand condemned. Would you please surrender your life to it?

But if you are in Christ, then God's favor is upon you, not because of anything that you have done, but because of what Christ has done for you, that God's not waiting for you to get your act together, and then maybe he'll be okay with you, but his evidence of his love for you is poured out at the cross. so smile you're his child so this is what jesus says so you see it he says this is who i am i'm the messiah i came to die for your sins this is the gospel i'm going to preach good news to the poor

and spirit for everybody that's that's spiritually bankrupt that needs the gospel and not in addition to as a part of this is what the gospel does in the lives of the believers it brings liberty, it changes the way we see one another, it fights for the oppressed, and ultimately it is the declaration that God is for us, he's not against us. So he rolls it up, everybody's looking at you. And he says today, the scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.

Here's what it means. You know what our broken world needs? Our broken world needs this, and this is Jesus. and then Jesus has commissioned us with a great commission to go in the whole world. You see, we're studying the sermon on the Mount right now, right? So we started with the beatitudes, which is Jesus's order of salvation. In other words, once you get the gospel, remember the next section, I didn't come to do away with the law, but to fulfill it.

And then he says, therefore you are salt and light. You cannot divorce these things. You cannot divorce these things. The gospel is about you going to heaven, and the gospel is about us who have been redeemed fighting like crazy for the rights of the oppressed, standing in the gap, speaking up for those that don't have a voice, and it's setting aside whatever political viewpoints you have, and I know you're so right about your political viewpoints.

It is laying that down and putting your arm around your brother and sister and just crying with them. And just listening and loving. and like Jesus does in John chapter 4, just showing up. Now, Jesus says, that's what I'm going to do. This is what the gospel is going to do. It's going to turn the world upside down. And everybody, I don't have time to read it all. He reads it, and everybody's pumped.

They're like, this is the best preacher we've ever heard in our lives. And then what Jesus does is he shares two examples from the Old Testament, one about Elijah and one about now. Amen. Elijah and La Elisha are prophets. And in the old covenant, both Elijah and Elisha healed people that were not one of the 12 tribes of Judah, one of the 12 tribes of Israel. In other words, what Jesus says is, I did not just come, these things that you've heard,

all of my Jewish brothers and sisters, I did not just come from people that, four people that look like me and think like me and vote like me. like me, but I came for those who don't look like me and don't think like me and don't feel like me and have different color of skin. Those are the two examples he did. And do you know how the crowd at church at the synagogue that just said, wow, what a great preacher. You know how they responded to him? They took him to the edge of the mountain and they tried to throw him over the mountain to kill him. But the Bible says in verse 30, but passing through their midst, Jesus went away.

So the message of the gospel from the very beginning has been the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ for any person who would believe, and for every person that believes, it changes our entire worldview. That we would show symptoms of a gospel-infected life. And the gospel is not just for one group of people, it is for all people.

And anybody that has been infected by the gospel should be standing up and praying for and loving and preaching and demonstrating the gospel of Jesus Christ. Church of 1122, may God use us to make a difference in this city. May you pray, may you pray. And I don't mean like say a prayer. May we pray for his kingdom coming as we'll be done.

And may we pray, may we beg God that he would drop defenses that have been built up in you for, decades and decades and decades, and may he give us a heart like his heart to have empathy for our brothers and sisters. And may he use us to change everything. I pray. Our good and grace, this, Emily, Father, Lord, I pray for our nation. Lord, I pray for so many hurting people. God, I pray that the gospel would change everything. Lord, I pray that you would firmly establish in us this deep, God-sized desire to see all suffering done away with particularly eternal suffering. May we be true gospel people, I pray to Jesus' name.