Author: Chris Johnson

Re:Verse reading—Luke 6:17-45 (day seven)

The great 18^th century Methodist leader John Wesley wrote A Plain Account of Christian Perfection arguing that Jesus truly meant Matthew 5:48, “Be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect.” Or if you take our Lukan passage, “be merciful, just as your father is merciful.”  Wesley ruffled a lot of feathers when he claimed that we should certainly strive every day to be as perfect or merciful as God is.  Who can do such a thing as that?

Anyone trusting the Holy Spirit can do such a thing as that.  As we allow the Holy Spirit to shape our attitudes we will live out Jesus’s sermon.  Our problem with this passage is not inability its unwillingness.  We want to reserve our love for people who deserve it when Scripture urges just the opposite.  Wesley points us to 1 Corinthians 13, a passage we relegate to weddings, as our actual behavioral standard.  We can do it, by the power of the Holy Spirit we can fully live out Luke 6, Matthew 5, and 1 Corinthians 13 in all of our relationships.

Re:Verse reading–Luke 5:1-11 (day seven)

It’s impossible to know all the specifics, but Jesus seems to get into Peter’s boat without asking.  It is almost as if Jesus is commandeering the boat for the Kingdom of God.  Peter surely thought it was going to be a long day.

What if Peter demanded that Jesus disembark immediately?  How would the course of Peter’s life have changed?  How would church history have changed?  Looking back on the whole scene I imagine Peter realized he made the best decision of his life when he allowed Jesus to do whatever he wanted on that boat.

That boat was Peter’s livelihood.  How are you going to respond when Jesus steps into your life and asks to borrow your boat, to commandeer your livelihood?  I hope we don’t end with the first half of verse 5, “Master, we worked hard all night…”  The temptation of a busy life is to hesitate, and tell Jesus that we’ve had a long day.  Peter didn’t hesitate.  His willingness to let Jesus borrow the boat brought jaw-dropping abundance into his life.

Re:Verse reading–Luke 4:14-30 (day seven)

Human nature tends to cause us to think of ourselves uniquely.  Our heart tells our mind that we would never fall down the same traps as everyone else.  Warned of great danger ahead, we scoff, thinking we are different somehow than all the other people who have ever walked this earth.  We do this with Jesus too.  He calls us into discipleship with him, and as He tries to shape us we give Him that “unique” spiel, “Jesus I’m different than all those other people, I don’t need the restriction, I don’t need the beginner stuff.  Just walk a mile in my shoes and you’ll see.”

In that moment, our pride is beaming.  We mean well, but our self-assessment is flawed beyond comprehension.  Jesus did walk a mile in our shoes.  He came down to earth to show us exactly what He would do this week if He were in our shoes.  Frankly, He didn’t even have to show us, it was already written in Isaiah.

If Jesus were walking in your shoes this week he would take care of the poor, he would take care of the captive, he would take care of the blind, he would take care of the oppressed, he would take care of the widows, and he would take care of the foreign lepers.  Jesus would seek out those things this week.  He is here to help whomever is in spiritual or physical trouble today. Jesus already walked two miles in your shoes, and that is what he did. What are you going to do?

Re:Verse passage – Luke 4:1-13 (day seven)

Jesus loves Deuteronomy.  Every time the devil threw a fast ball at Jesus he hit it out of the park with Deuteronomy.
Temptation 1:  Deuteronomy 8:3
Temptation 2:  Deuteronomy 6:13
Temptation 3:  Deuteronomy 6:16

“It is written…” is a perfect way to respond.  It is written that the devil will lose, Revelation 20:10: “And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”

Jesus loves Deuteronomy, and you should love Deuteronomy.  You should memorize it and treasure it in your heart.  For one, it gives you a chance against temptation, and two, it prepares you for the devil’s curveball.  You noticed in Jesus’s third temptation (Luke 4:10-11) the devil himself uses Scripture to back Jesus off the plate.  Satan knows, abuses, and manipulates Scripture with the best of them.  Be ready!  Just because someone is throwing a Scripture reference at you does not mean they know God.  The only way you overcome the devil’s chin music is to treasure Scripture in your heart by doing something like memorizing Deuteronomy for the opportune time.

Re:Verse reading–Luke 3:1-20  (day seven)

Now while the people were in a state of expectation and all were wondering in their hearts about John, as to whether he was the Christ (Luke 3:15)

John the Baptist’s ministry was filled with a unique authority.  He called people a brood of vipers, he told people they were about to be thrown into an unquenchable fire, and he told people, even the politicians, what to do.  He spoke boldly, and people just kept coming, uninvited, they surrounded him pleading for baptism.

John the Baptist’s work was so uniquely holy and powerful that people even started to wonder if he was God.  He was so close to God that people were confused where John the Baptist ended and where God began.

I wonder what that kind of faith and calling would look like today.  Is it possible for us to draw near enough to God by Jesus Christ and through the Holy Spirit that God unequivocally shines through us?  And just as importantly, can our church be such a place that San Antonians catch a glimpse of heaven every time they walk into our doors?  I pray that many will be confused, not knowing where we end and God begins.

Re:Verse reading–Luke 2:39-52  (day seven)

When they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem looking for Him.  Then, after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions.  (Luke 2:45-46)

It took Mary and Joseph three days to find Jesus.  I imagine that was the most nerve-racking three days of their lives.  We do not know what happened those 72 hours.  Some of it was traveling, maybe a day, then 2 days of searching.  Where did they look?  Where did they think Jesus might show up after so much time away?  Why did it take 3 days to finally get to the temple, both the place Jesus noted as logical and the place they had just been?

Let’s disregard why it took so long for Mary and Joseph to get there, and see where Jesus settled when he was separated from his family:  the temple.  The place of worship and sacrifice that pointed people directly to God.  The temple is exactly where he should have been.

If those closest to you went looking for you how long would it take them to come to church?  Would anyone in your life think to look in a place of worship?  Do they know your faith well enough or think of you as faithful enough that you might be found in church?  I pray for that Daniel-like faithfulness to be found in us.

Re:Verse reading–Luke 2:1-20 (day seven)

Verse 10 has bothered me all week.  The angel proclaims to “bring good news of great joy which will be for all people.”  I know the good news is for all people.  We do not always share it generously, but we know that we should.  It is the other part that bothers me, the great joy.  Is the great joy for all people too?

There are people beyond the church who use the word joy, but I am not sure you can comprehend what joy is apart from a relationship with Jesus Christ.  I imagine this is our message too.  It is possible for all people to be filled with great joy, but they only know what that is when the Gospel takes root in their lives.  When we witness we are setting out to help the lost come to know a new reality that produces joy.

You may be the key component to your neighbor finally understanding what joy is.  Right now they think it is some fleeting emotion, but by the Gospel they can come to know a state of joy in Jesus Christ that does not fade.  Do not miss the opportunity this Christmas season to spread the good news of great joy.  People are far more likely to listen this time of year than any other.  Spread the joy of the Gospel!

Re:Verse reading–Luke 1:1-38 (day seven)

John the Baptist is an alien to us.  In Luke 1 he is described as “great in the sight of the Lord”, never having alcohol, and filled with the Holy Spirit in his mother’s womb.  How is that even possible?  Matthew 3 reveals another time in John’s life, but it just as incomprehensible.  John is preaching in the wilderness wearing a garment of camel’s hair eating locusts and wild honey.  That sounds terrible.

As foreign as the peculiars are surrounding John the Baptist’s life, the message is familiar.  In Luke, John is said to turn people’s hearts toward God (v.17).  Matthew uses the term we are more familiar with: repent.  John’s message to prepare the way for Jesus Christ was always repent.  Repentance is the only way we can ever prepare ourselves to meet our God.  Luke 1 focuses on two groups who need to repent.  One, fathers must repent for not taking their God given role as seriously as God demands, and two, those that are disobedient to God need to seek out God’s wisdom instead of their own.  Fathers:  repent.  Disobedient ones: repent.

We are not called to live like John the Baptist, but we should heed his message: Repent.