The Hole in Our Gospel – What Does God Expect of Us? – Sermon

Nazareth was Jesus’ hometown. Jesus returned to his hometown as somewhat of a celebrity. To those who might say, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” the locals could reply, “Here is something good!” Jesus had grown up there, and now all Galilee was praising him for his teaching and mighty works.  Jesus was one of their own.  Jesus was a rabbi. It was customary in synagogue services to ask visiting rabbis to read the Scripture lesson and make whatever comments they felt were appropriate. By this time, Jesus had ministered about a year and was very popular; so, it was natural that the synagogue leader asked Him to participate. It seems, that on this day, the appointed lesson included Isa. 61:1–2, in fact, what Jesus reads is actually a combination of Isaiah 61:1, 2 and 58:6 with a couple of lines left out, one of which was the final half of the last line, which adds, “and the day of vengeance of our God” (cf. Isaiah 61:2b).

By omitting that last line, Jesus would get their attention! I suspect everyone there was silent and motionless, probably because they were startled at what Jesus was inferring. And if that wasn’t enough, “Then,” records verse 20, “he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down” (sitting down then has Jesus assuming the seated position of a preacher). That’s an ancient first century mic drop! “The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he said to them, ‘Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.’ ”

Now I need to do this moment justice – that Jesus would do this and say this and act this way is startling for these folks. I say startling because what Jesus says is nothing short of blasphemous to those that would hear it. Blasphemous, and at the same time as Luke indicates, it seemed to be a message that really resonated with the people in and around the Galilee countryside.

Do you recall a few weeks ago when I asked you to consider the Mission Statement of FBK? Well, what Jesus has just given us in this passage is His Mission Statement. You see, what Jesus’ message was offering, was hope. The passage Jesus read was a prophecy that envisioned a future messiah who would be both a king and a servant. As perhaps Jesus’ first public statement of his identity as the Messiah, what he said in Nazareth was a declaration both of who he was and why he had come. It was in essence Jesus’ mission statement, and it laid out the great promises of God to those who receive the Messiah and His coming kingdom. It laid out hope for the people that heard this…. but what it would become would also be a call to action for those that did accept Jesus as Messiah and Lord of their lives.

Friends, this morning, what I would like you to consider is that in these few verses, near the start of Jesus ministry, we see the foundational statements that I would propose serve as the basis of how we might answer this question that Stearns asks at the beginning of his book – What does God expect of you?

In this mission statement, we see three main components.

1. Proclamation of the good news of salvation.
2. Compassion for the sick and sorrowful.
3. Commitment to justice.

Now let me ask you another question here – Do those three components seem like they might contain some insight into our original question, “What does God expect of me?” I would suggest that they do.

Proclamation of the good news of salvation

The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.

Luke 4:18.

The word “poor” can cover poverty of every kind. Physical poverty certainly, but the emphasis here is on a conscious moral and spiritual poverty, which often is an affliction for the financially poor.  Let’s face it, the better off we are, the less likely we are to be aware of our own spiritual poverty (cf. Revelation 3:14–22). The Greek word here (ptochois) – poor, is the same word Jesus used in the first beatitude,

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” –

— Matthew 5:3

Jesus’ message was so impactful to the people he ministered to because more often than not, the poor were especially open to receiving Jesus’ teaching as good news because they realize their desperate spiritual situation and He provided them with hope.

Similarly, “prisoners” has a spiritual application as well. The word here technically means prisoners of war. Well, no prisoners were attached to the congregation in Nazareth, but this word would be familiar to them as it broadly includes many forms of spiritual imprisonment or slavery—slavery to money, imprisonment by the adversary, to Satan, bondage to guilt, bondage to hatred.

Look how Jesus uses this phrase here, “recovery of sight for the blind” — what a powerful spiritual promise. In fact, Jesus uses the imagery of healing the blind both literally and figuratively throughout His earthly ministry. I think one of the most powerful uses of “recovery of sight of the blind” actually comes after Jesus’ death and resurrection…. When Saul of Tarsus meets Jesus on the Damascus road and has his conversion experience, Here’s what Jesus said to him:  “I am sending you to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me” (Acts 26:17b–18)…and then Saul is blinded for a time. When the scales finally fall from his eyes he is the Apostle Paul, Missionary to the world for Jesus.

What does God expect of me. What does Jesus expect of you. That seems clear to me. What we see Jesus saying to Paul fits right into line with Jesus own proclaimed mission statement.

How many of you got ‘that feeling’ in the pit of your stomach this morning when I said we need to be able to answer the question of what God expects of us. That’s a question you must have an answer for.

Now put yourself in the place of the people hearing Jesus teach them that day in the Synagogue.  Can you imagine the exhilaration of hearing Jesus himself explain and apply his message for them. I’ll bet that congregation was enthralled. What insight! What logic! Such command of language! Luke says, “All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips” (v. 22a). They were captivated by the grace and hope of his words.

But that is as far as it went. They had all known him since he was a little boy. They had known him as the nice little lad down the street, or a playmate, and later as “the carpenter.” Their admiration apparently degenerated into cynicism: “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” (v. 22b). They admired his words, but they were totally unmoved and unaffected by their meaning. They did not see themselves in any of the metaphors he used, and the truth is they did not want to.

Jesus knew these people as well though, He had lived with them for thirty years. He could read them like a book. He didn’t need his omniscience to know that he was in fact being rejected. If we were going to read on in Luke’s gospel you’d see that is in fact what happens.

Here’s the bottom line that I want you to receive at the outset of our journey through this book together. Jesus makes it very clear the business that he is about – the business of the God the father and proclaiming the good news. And as he did with Paul, He makes it very clear for us what that should mean for us as we seek to follow Him. And so the question, “What does God expect of me?”, Jesus had a lot to say about it. Through His teaching Jesus gave us a view into the character of God and our relationship with Him, but He also spoke repeatedly about God’s expectations, our values, and how we are called to live in the world.

Look at something that James the brother of Jesus said:

Faith and Deeds
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” a and he was called God’s friend. You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.
In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

What is God asking for, really, from each of us? It’s more than church attendance or Bible Study. It’s more than belief in an unbelieving world, it’s even more than denying ourselves for Him.

Here is a brief story from introduction of Stearns book to help you see more specifically the degree to which God is calling us:

His name was Richard, the same as mine. I sat inside his meager thatch hut, listening to his story, told through the tears of an orphan whose parents had died of AIDS. At thirteen, Richard was trying to raise his two younger brothers by himself in this small shack with no running water, electricity, or even beds to sleep in. There were no adults in their lives—no one to care for them, feed them, love them, or teach them how to become men. There was no one to hug them either, or to tuck them in at night. Other than his siblings, Richard was alone, as no child should be. I try to picture my own children abandoned in this kind of deprivation, fending for themselves without parents to protect them, and I cannot. I didn’t want to be there. I wasn’t supposed to be there, so far out of my comfort zone—not in that place where orphaned children live by themselves in their agony. There, poverty, disease, and squalor had eyes and faces that stared back, and I had to see and smell and touch the pain of the poor. That particular district, Rakai, is believed to be ground zero for the Ugandan AIDS pandemic. There, the deadly virus has stalked its victims in the dark for decades. Sweat trickled down my face as I sat awkwardly with Richard and his brothers while a film crew captured every tear—mine and theirs. I much preferred living in my bubble, the one that, until that moment, had safely contained my life, family, and career. It kept difficult things like this out, insulating me from anything too raw or upsetting. When such things intruded, as they rarely did, a channel could be changed, a newspaper page turned, or a check written to keep the poor at a safe distance. But not in Rakai. There, “such things” had faces and names—even my name, Richard. Not sixty days earlier I had been CEO of Lenox, America’s finest tableware company, producing and selling luxury goods to those who could afford them. I lived with my wife and five children in a ten-bedroom house on five acres just outside of Philadelphia. I drove a Jaguar to work every day, and my business travel took me to places such as Paris, Tokyo, London, and Florence. I flew first-class and stayed in the best hotels. I was respected in my community, attended a venerable suburban church, and sat on the board of my kids’ Christian school. I was one of the good guys—you might say a “poster child” for the successful Christian life. I had never heard of Rakai, the place where my bubble would burst. But in just sixty days, God turned my life inside out, and it would never be the same.

What does God expect of you – God is asking you and me – for everything. And everything means that we are not only Jesus followers here on Sunday or in the private parts of our life. What He invites us to and requires of us is a total life commitment. To get out of our comfort zones. Just like he called Paul on the road to Damascus, just like he called Jonah, Matthew or Richard Stearns, Jesus calls us to be His partners in changing our world.

So, what might we do in response to that? As you’re wrestling with this, and no matter where you are in your spiritual journey, you should wrestle with this at least a little.

This week, pray for God to show you a way to put your faith into action. Every day there are thousands of opportunities to reflect God’s love.

• This past Saturday – Ride/walk for Refuge;
• Maybe you will offer to watch your neighbours children for the afternoon,
• Look into volunteering in the community to help those that need help – FBK Community Dinner this month;
• Even simply calling someone you know who needs a friend,

The goal is to become a transformed person whose actions are a result of faith. And for many of us that’s gonna’ be hard and uncomfortable. That’s Ok. It’s normal to feel outside your comfort zone in a transformation like this. However, I can absolutely assure you of something here. If you trust Him, if you trust Jesus and his calling upon your life, and as you spend time with Him as you trust in His love, action will begin to naturally flow out of your faith.