Jesus: the Saviour and the Lord

Father, we just read from your Word just a minute ago how Jesus opened the minds of the

disciples to understand the Scriptures, and Jesus said, Father, that he would send the

promise of the Father to the disciples.

Father, we ask for that for us.

May Jesus be present in our midst.

May he open our minds to help us to understand the Bible, which is your Word written.

And Father, we are weak, and we can be so timid.

And so, Father, we ask that you would pour out your Holy Spirit upon us so that we would

be bold witnesses to proclaim your name, not only in this city of Ottawa, but to every

people group on the planet.

Father, please, we ask these things in the name of Jesus, your Son, and our Savior.

Amen.

Please be seated.

So, first of all, Happy Father's Day.

We didn't say that, but it's Father's Day, and so Happy Father's Day.

And that's sort of the whole Father's Day part of the service out of the way, other than

maybe something in the prayers.

Some of you maybe have heard this story before, but that's fine.

I started going to what was the equivalent of my seminary, of course, in September, quite

a long, long time ago now.

And just a couple of weeks after I started what was to be my seminary experience, Louise

and I had Jesse, our second child.

And about two months after Jesse was born, there was an event that really shook me.

In fact, it's been, I don't know if Louise thinks about it as much as I think about it,

but I often think about this particular event.

For you young parents, it's, you know, nowadays with babies, it's as if you almost, you know,

as soon as they're born, you put them in like a hockey helmet and body armor, and you put

them in big plastic things so they can survive nuclear wars or car crashes or tumbling down

stairs.

But it wasn't like that, like in the dark ages, 30 some odd years ago.

We still cared for children, but we didn't have all the armor that you have nowadays.

And anyway, Louise had this really beautiful basket that would have been about this long

and about this wide, and it was like a wicker basket and had a nice, you know, blanket and

cushion on the bottom.

And sometimes we would put Jesse in that basket because it was really handy.

You could carry it around.

It was nice and cozy and safe.

And so one day when Jesse was about two months old, I had put the basket on like a chest of

drawers.

It was about that high.

And then I just sort of, I just stepped out of the room for a second to go and do something.

And one of the things I was still discovering then is that two-year-olds have the ability

to materialize in rooms silently without letting anybody know, and that they also have the ability

to stretch their arms up farther than their height.

They're like Fantastic Four, Mr. Fantastic.

I didn't know that about two-year-olds.

I was still learning it.

And anyway, I'm just out of the room for the briefest of seconds, and I hear a thump, not

a nice thump.

And I hear a cry.

And I come rushing into the room.

And my son Tosh had pulled the basket off the chest of drawers.

And when I come in, all I see is Jesse's little head on the hardwood floor.

And the rest of his body is in the basket.

So that's very, very, very upsetting for anybody, any parent.

So several things happen very quickly.

You know, we, of course, pick them up, and you call, and you yell, and we get a car.

We didn't own a car.

We had to get a car.

And I'm driving, you know, Jesse to the CHEO Children's Hospital.

And all the way that I'm going there, of course, I'm really worried, and I'm praying like crazy

that Jesse will be all right.

And at the same time that I'm praying like crazy that Jesse would be all right, I was

saying to myself, all of my professors are completely wrong.

And why I would say that, let's look at the Bible, and you'll understand why I would say

that all of my professors were completely and utterly wrong.

So take your Bible, and you'll understand why I was saying that.

And we're looking at Luke.

Those of you who are guests, we've taken quite a while, and we've gone through the entire

gospel of Luke.

We preach through books of the Bible here at Church of the Messiah.

And so today we're looking at Luke chapter 24, verses 33 to the end, and it's the last

Luke 24:33

part of Luke's gospel.

Next week, we begin, I think it's 11 or 12-week series on the book of Proverbs, and after

that, in the fall, we begin Romans.

And we'll do the book of Romans.

So we're finishing Luke today.

And you already heard, if you were here, I gave a bit of the context of what happens

at verse 33 and what's going on before.

And so just continuing on from verse 33, what is it in this passage of scripture that is

relevant to my son Jesse with his little head on the hardwood floor and my prayers and why

I was thinking at the same time?

Actually, it was some anger that all of my professors were completely and utterly wrong.

Here's how the text goes.

And they rose, that's the two disciples, the Emmaus disciples, that same hour and returned

to Jerusalem.

And they found the 11 and those who were with them gathered together.

And just sort of note there, it's the 11 and those who were with them.

So we don't know how many of them were.

It might very well have been Mary, the mother of Jesus.

It might, we don't know, it might have been, you know, Mary Magdalene or some of the women

who'd also, you know, seen Jesus.

It's pretty obvious by this point in time.

In fact, it shows a little bit of the historical accuracy of the account and the cultural prejudices.

You see, God doesn't use perfect people to write the Bible because it doesn't matter that

it's people who wrote the Bible.

It wasn't that the people are inspired and brilliant.

It's that God is brilliant.

And he used sinful people to cause his word to be written.

And his word is the way he wants his word to be written.

So, you know, if you look at all the four historical evidences, all the four witnesses,

historical witnesses of what happened back in that day, we know that Jesus has also appeared

to Mary.

But we see reflected here the cultural prejudice of the day is that they're not excited that

Jesus has appeared to Mary, a woman.

They're excited that Jesus has appeared to Peter, a man.

The Bible doesn't say this is right, but it's just Luke's trying to record what happens,

what happened.

Not the way the world should be, but the way the world was.

And so, but you notice here that there's the 11 and others.

We don't know how many others there were.

Sorry, continue reading verse 34.

And they're all saying, the Lord is risen indeed and has appeared to Simon.

Then they told what, then the two Emmaus disciples told what had happened on the road and how

he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.

And just sort of pause here for a second.

I know I'm going to maybe upset some people, but I said last week, the breaking of the bread

isn't a reference to communion.

The Lord's Supper.

But what's significant about this, why it was such an important detail to them is just

imagine for yourself for a second that you have, maybe you know, you've been at university

or whatever, but over the last three years, you've developed a really close group of friends,

like really, really, really close group of friends over the last three years.

And then you have the worst day of your life.

And on the worst day of your life that begins with your best friends, at the very beginning

of the worst day of your life, all of your friends abandon you and deny you and aren't there

to support you.

Three days later, you see one of them.

Okay?

You see a couple of them.

And they see you.

And they're probably thinking, oh my gosh.

And maybe because they have tender consciences, they might say, you know, George, I'm so sorry.

Like, I shouldn't have done that.

I was a, you know, whatever.

I was bad.

You know, will you forgive me?

Can we go out and have lunch together?

And you might say, okay.

The worst day of my life?

And you abandoned me?

You denied me?

You denied me?

You denied me?

Did not support me?

Listen, I'm working on forgiving you.

But there's no way on God's earth.

I'm going to say, I'm going to sit down and have a meal with you.

You might not say it like that.

That's going on in your mind.

You might just say, I don't know if I'm ready to sit down and have a meal with you.

See, that's why the breaking of the bread is so significant to these two Emmaus disciples,

is that they had walked with Jesus.

God keeps it from their eyes.

They're not saying, oh my gosh.

He keeps it from their eyes.

And Jesus sits and eats with them.

He has forgiven them.

And he has shown that he's willing to be reconciled to them in the most unbelievably emotionally powerful way

by sitting down and having a meal with them.

So they say, not only did we see Jesus, he was willing to have a meal with us.

But, how amazing is that?

He didn't spend the time telling me how bad I was.

He ate with me.

That's why it's such a significant fact.

So continue on here.

Because I'm still talking.

I haven't forgotten about Jesse and his poor little head and why my professors,

why I was praying like crazy, which I think you can all understand,

and why I was also mad and angry at my professors.

So first, we'll go back to verse 36.

As they were talking about these things,

Jesus himself stood among them and said to them,

Peace to you.

Notice that.

Think about that.

He didn't say, You goofballs.

He doesn't say, I am so angry at you.

He doesn't say anything sarcastic.

He doesn't say anything demeaning.

He doesn't say anything at all like that.

His words to them are peace to you.

But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a disembodied spirit.

That's what that means.

And he said to them, Why are you troubled and why do doubts arise in your hearts?

See my hands and my feet.

Right?

He wants to make sure that they understand that he's physical.

And so he says, And look, there's the nail prints.

He wouldn't have been wearing socks with sandals, which I know is a fashion faux pas.

What the heck?

I'm old.

I don't care about fashion, right?

So he would have pulled up his robe so they could have seen where the nails went in there.

He wants them to see.

And he wants them to touch him.

Touch me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones that I have.

And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet.

41.

And while they still disbelieved for joy, what that means here is they were just so overcome with happiness,

it's as if their minds just couldn't work.

That's what it's trying to get at.

And we're marveling.

He said to them, Have you anything here to eat?

And he gave them a piece of broiled fish.

And he took it and ate it before them.

Then he said to them, These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you,

that everything, everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms.

That's one way of saying the whole, what we call now the Old Testament.

The whole Old Testament.

Everything written about me in the Old Testament must be fulfilled.

Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures and said to them,

And thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead.

And we'll just pause there.

We're going to come back.

As those of you who know, we'll go through the scriptures several times.

Because what's more important not is that you remember what I say, but you remember what the Bible says.

That if you go away not remembering anything in the Bible, but remembering me, I failed.

Okay?

You have to go back.

Hopefully we understand the Bible at the end of it.

Or at least understand it a little bit better and understand Jesus.

So here's the thing.

We'll go back to my professors.

One of the things in my first year, I went to a very, very, very, very liberal equivalent of seminary.

It was a seminary for some, but anyway, a very, very, very, very liberal place.

And in every one of my biblical courses, the professors basically, not basically, they said,

nothing in the Bible actually happened.

Like basically, not only the Old Testament, but the New Testament doesn't deal with historical things.

Their mantra was, you need to distinguish between the Jesus of history and the Christ of faith.

And that might sound very pious, but it's hogwash.

You need to distinguish between the Jesus of history and the Christ of faith.

So it doesn't matter that things in the New Testament didn't happen.

It doesn't matter, as one of my professors said, that you could find the bones of Jesus and still believe in the resurrection.

It doesn't matter that things in the New Testament didn't happen.

You have to have the Christ of faith.

And if you look here in this text, Luke does everything he can to say that this is completely and utterly wrong.

Completely and utterly wrong.

And what does this mean?

If you have to separate the Jesus of history from the Christ of faith, then what do you have?

If, well, what do I want?

I'm driving along there.

And if nothing in the New Testament actually happened, if God doesn't do miracles, then why am I praying for my son?

And listen, I'm praying my heart out for my son.

And when I don't, you know what?

Like any praying parent in a situation like that, I'm just hoping and praying that my son's all right.

By the way, he has already ended up graduating summa cum laude and all that stuff.

His little head was fine.

But you know what?

In heaven, I don't, you know, it's not going to make any difference to me if God says,

yeah, George, as you were driving along, Jesse actually was, you know, in heaven, God says to me,

Jesse was brain damaged and I healed him right there in the car.

And the doctors didn't even know it.

I didn't want you to know that I'd performed a miracle, but now I can tell you because you're in heaven.

Well, I don't care if God says, yeah, George, I had my own plans for Jesse.

And so just before Jesse's little head hit the wooden floor, I had an angel come and catch Jesse's little head and just put it on the floor.

And even before you prayed about it, I was acting.

Or if it was just purely that the physics of the matter meant that his head was completely and utterly fine or the biology.

No parent cares about the difference in that, right?

You're just hoping the baby's fine.

And I will praise God in heaven just as much for the physics or the biology or the angels or the answer to prayer

or if it had been necessary that God would give the skill to the doctors and the people who invented drugs and all that thing so that my son would be fine.

That's what matters to me, right?

But I'm praying for a miracle.

I'm praying that there isn't a difference between the Jesus of history and the Christ of faith,

that God can reach down and touch my son and heal him.

That's what I am praying.

And that's what you would pray too.

And if there is a difference between the Jesus of history and the Christ of faith,

then all the Bible is is moralism.

I don't need more moralism in my life.

Do you?

Do you?

If there is a difference between the Jesus of history and the Christ of faith,

all you have is a deist God who set everything up like a clock and wound it up,

and then he went off on a holiday and he lets the world run.

I don't need a God like that.

That's not God.

If there's a difference between the Jesus of history and the Christ of faith,

then all you have in the Bible is therapy.

All you have is techniques.

All you have is institutions and religions.

And all you have is rituals.

And all you have are things that form social cohesion so that we live together better

because we teach the kids right and wrong.

And who wants any of that stuff?

If you're...

If you're...

If there isn't a God who does exist,

who's dealt with my separation from him in history for real,

the Bible is just about moralism or therapy.

I have a lot better things to do with my time,

and I don't need a whole pile of extra moralism in my life.

I can't keep up with all the advice I get all the time.

I don't need more advice.

Everything in this text...

Here's the thing.

It's going to be very, very brief.

Actually, today I could have a very simple four-point sermon.

Jesus really rose from the dead.

Jesus opens minds.

Jesus tells us the Bible is about him.

And the fourth thing is Jesus says he's going to send the Holy Spirit.

But because of clever people,

I've actually taken that first idea,

and I want to put it in two forms.

I'll just say them very briefly.

And if you're wishing, you could put it up.

If you're wishing, you could write them down.

I haven't left you enough time.

On Monday, they'll all be up online.

You can just go online if they're all helpful to you.

Here's the first thing that Luke's trying to communicate,

and the grammar's a bit awkward, I know,

but you can pray for me that I'll be better at grammar.

The real, historical, physical person who died on Friday

is the same real, historical, physical, resurrected person on Sunday.

Jesus.

That's what Luke wants you to know.

See my hands.

See my feet.

I'm the same guy who was on the cross on Friday.

Hey, I'm the same guy who was walking around with you for three years,

and I kept telling you I was going to be betrayed,

I was going to die, I was going to rise,

and I was going to speak to you.

I'm the same guy.

And the second thing, if you could put up the second point,

Jesus of Nazareth crucified,

and the Lord and Savior Jesus Messiah

are the same person.

The text even says Christ in it.

Jesus of history talks about the Christ and all the promises,

and Luke wants us to understand that.

He wants us to understand that God isn't a deist God who's distant,

and God isn't just about adding moralism or therapy to our lives.

He's not into just creating, you know,

being an excuse for a religious institution or a ritual or anything like that.

He sends his son into real history, real time,

as a real person to die a real death on a real cross

and be put in a real tomb

and taste all there is to taste,

really taste of death with nothing left out.

And on the third day, he rises from the dead,

he defeats sin, defeats death,

defeats all hostile spiritual powers.

The grave is empty,

and he makes itself very clear to his disciples

that he is Jesus of Nazareth.

He is the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

And I have come to be your Savior in real history.

That's what Luke wants you to know.

My professors were all wrong.

Lord, have mercy.

Lord, have mercy.

Lord, have mercy.

Lord, have mercy.

Here's just a little takeaway point.

You could put up A.

Here's a prayer we can pray.

Jesus, please help me to pray more

and pray boldly in your name.

Remember last week I was talking about my friend Bob,

and he understood that he didn't remember.

I talked about how he couldn't believe in the resurrection,

and he also then, of course,

didn't believe in any miracle in the Bible.

And he also couldn't pray.

When it came time for prayer in church services,

he understood it as a time of quiet reflection.

And remember those, if you go remember the story from last week,

it was just one of those times I was mainly called to listen,

because I'll talk to him lots of times.

It's not like I just have this one shot.

But if you don't think God acts in history, you can't pray.

I mean, people pray despite it, but it's really hard.

And, you know, one of the things we get here from the resurrection

is that Jesus wants us to pray more and pray with boldness.

Pray that that will be true of me.

I'll pray that will be true of you.

Now, one of the things that people say about Christians

is that we're narrow-minded, that we're close-minded,

that we're anti-intellectual.

It's a very, very common belief in our culture

that Christians just want to shut down discussion and debate.

It's a very, very common belief in our culture

that to become a Christian is to kiss your mind goodbye

and that we don't ask ourselves tough questions.

And you know what?

Lamentably, that is true of maybe...

I mean, if it's true of one Christian,

it's true of one Christian too many.

But, you know, most of the world gives itself a pass.

I just want to ask you a little bit of a thought experiment.

Imagine that you went on a blog

in the city of Ottawa.

You know where they have...

And you can make comments.

And imagine there was a blog about Bruce Jenner

who now goes by Caitlin.

And in the blog, you wrote down in a response

with your name, not, you know, exiled in Ottawa,

but you actually...

I wrote George Sinclair.

And in your blog, you actually said

that I'm only going to refer to Caitlin as Bruce and as he.

And all the way through the blog,

you refer to Caitlin as Bruce or he.

Just a thought experiment.

How do you think the responses would be to the blog?

Do you think they would be measured, reasonable,

appreciating your appeal to biology and science,

and thanking you for your insightful comments?

Or do you think it might get launched into the Twitterverse

and you would be dealing with all sorts of unbelievably angry,

hostile, name-calling, slanderous tweets, blogs, etc.

Now, which one do you think it would be?

And it wouldn't be the religious right

that are sending all those tweets.

Here's the thing.

If there's one thing that characterizes our country

is that we're leaving Christendom

and that actual general debate and inquiry

is also becoming less and less and less.

In fact, it's interesting.

The problem with having a closed mind is a human problem.

It's not a religious problem.

It's a human problem.

And the interesting question is,

in whatever your system of thought is,

does it have the resources within it

to encourage having an open mind and civility?

Does your system of thought have the resources for that?

So look here again at what Jesus says.

It's actually quite stunning

what Luke tells us, records historically that Jesus says.

Look at verses 44 and following.

Then Jesus said to them,

These are my words that I spoke to you

while I was still with you,

that everything written about me

in the law of Moses and the prophets

and the Psalms must be fulfilled.

Then he opened their minds

to understand the scriptures.

Then he opened their minds

to understand the scriptures

and said to them,

Thus it is written,

that the Christ should suffer

and on the third day rise from the dead.

And we'll just sort of pause there.

Here's the first thing,

if you could put up the point.

Jesus opens minds.

Jesus opens minds.

This, right here,

you see this huge gulf

that opens up between Jesus

and other religious teachers.

You know, right now,

the way that most people experience

Hinduism and Buddhism

is that they like the meditation practices

because it's a way of calming themselves

and trying to get a bit of perspective.

But in their original form

and in their fundamental intent,

meditation in Hinduism and Buddhism

is to kill the mind

because the mind is a problem.

because the human problem,

expressed slightly different in both faiths,

but the problem that human beings face

is that the mind keeps making distinctions

and therefore the mind is getting in the way

of the fact that in fact

there is only the one.

Minds make distinctions

between beautiful and ugly,

between the good and the bad.

The minds make distinctions

between myself

and that which is not myself.

It makes distinctions

in terms of this object

and that object

and this color

and that color.

And so meditation

is actually a way

to kill the mind

so that one

can be at one with the one.

And in Islam,

I mean, one of the things

which is a problem for it

is that in a sense

the person is almost like a slave

and the relationship with God

is one that if God says jump,

it's almost a sin to say how high

because you should just jump.

Islam does not have the book of Job.

God, why are you doing this to me?

I don't understand.

Maybe you're wrong.

And even though

at the end of the book of Job,

God shows up

and Job says,

you know what?

Now that I actually have

even more of a knowledge

of you, God,

I realize I was wrong.

And Job talks to God

and asks questions of God

and that's missing in Islam.

It's just command.

And if it's just command,

how can you open your mind?

And even actually

in scientism and materialism,

a great problem

for atheistic thought

is that if everything

is just a result

of cause and effect

and cause and effect,

how is it that we can actually

trust that our mind can know?

Because actually,

the odd thing is

that the theory

developed by the mind

brings you to the point

where the mind

actually can't develop theory.

Sorry, that was probably

way over a lot of your heads.

I had to throw it in.

But here's the thing

which is so astounding.

Jesus doesn't say,

I'm going to shut your minds,

I'm going to close your minds,

I'm going to make

your minds more dumb,

I'm going to make your mind.

He opens their minds.

And here's the thing,

as we'll see in a second,

Jesus doesn't say,

okay, whoa, whoa, whoa,

whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,

don't get carried away,

I'm just going to open your mind

to understand the Bible,

but I'm going to close your mind

to science, art, beauty,

common sense, politics, economics,

whoa, whoa, whoa,

don't get carried away.

No, no, no, no, no, no.

He opens minds.

And as he opens minds

to understand the Bible,

the mind stays open.

If you could put up

the next point, Andrew.

Yeah, Andrew.

Jesus, first point three

was Jesus opened.

Fourth point is Jesus opens minds

to understand the Bible,

God's word written.

And this is very, very important

because it tells us something

about the nature of the human

that God has created.

And what redemption means

is that, you know,

nowadays we think

that being open-minded

means that you don't actually

ever come to any conclusions.

We'll talk about this more next week

because actually that's

what the book of Proverbs

says is a fool.

But G.K.

Trusted once said

that we are to open our minds

like the way a baby

opens its mouth

so that it can get some food.

Have you ever tried

to feed a little one-year-old

or a nine-month-old?

It's so cute, you know.

You have the baby gruel

and you have the spoon

and the little baby,

of course,

is with its mouth like that.

So I don't know,

you do the airplane sound

or car sound

or something like that

and you make it go like this

and their little eyes dart around

because the goal is

that the little mouth,

little plump mouth

will open up

and you stick the little spoon

in the mouth

and then the little mouth

comes down

and you hope that the little mouth

doesn't immediately squirt

all the food right back out

because that's a separate problem.

But, you know,

Chesterton said

the Bible teaches

that our minds

are to be like baby's mouths.

They open

so they can fall

on something to eat.

And that's what we see here.

Jesus opens the minds

of the disciples

so they can feed on

the truth

that comes from God.

Our minds were made

to be fed by truth.

Our emotions, by the way,

are meant to be fed

with beauty.

And our wills

are meant to be fed

by goodness.

And what makes us,

us,

the command center

of our lives,

that the heart,

as the Bible calls it,

that's meant to be fed

by love.

Because ultimately

it's meant to be

at one with God

who is the Father,

the Son,

and the Holy Spirit.

Three persons,

one God forever and ever

who have existed

in perfect love

for all eternity

and God has made us

for himself.

And that is why

the food

of the command center

of the human being

is love.

But the food

for the mind

is truth.

If you could put up

the final point

for this,

Jesus tells his disciples

that the Bible

is all about

who he is

and his work

of redemption.

So he doesn't just

point us to the Bible,

but he tells us.

He says,

George,

he says,

Peter,

John,

Andrew,

George,

Anne,

Louise,

Daniel,

you read the Bible,

call out to me.

I want to open your mind

so you can understand

the Bible.

And you need to understand

that everything in the Bible

is helping you

to understand

who I am

and what I've done

for you.

That I am the power

of God

for salvation

for all who believe.

That's what this book

is going to be about.

I'm going to open

your minds to it.

Here's the little

prayer takeaway

for you.

I want this to be

just to encourage you

to consider praying.

Jesus,

please open my mind

as I daily read

your word written.

Jesus,

please open my mind

as I daily read

your word written.

You know the wonderful

thing about a prayer

like that?

It's obvious

that Jesus wants us

to pray a prayer

like that.

He wants us

to pray that.

He said,

I'm opening your minds

to understand

the scriptures.

So,

just call out

to Jesus

and say,

Jesus,

open my mind.

Open my mind

to understand

your word

and open my mind

to understand

the truth

about what's going

on in the world

and the truth

of science.

Jesus,

open my mind.

Feed me with truth.

Feed me with your word.

Help me to read

your word every day

and as I read

your word,

open my mind.

Open my mind.

Jesus,

thank you

that you love me.

Please open my mind.

a couple of weeks ago,

two weeks ago,

I talked about forgiveness

and one of the things

that happened to me,

just,

it actually,

I almost used it

as a sermon illustration

two weeks ago

because it actually happened

just before the sermon

but then I realized

I was going to be talking

about it here today

and I thought I'd save it.

I had a really remarkable

thing happen to me

in Starbucks

just over two weeks ago,

two and a half weeks ago.

a man that had

very,

very wrong,

very much wronged me

and hurt me

for almost ten years

I had been praying

that I could forgive him.

Some of you might remember

I said sometimes

when we pray

to forgive another person

sometimes God answers

it just like that

but sometimes

you have to pray

for a long time

and I think

one of the ways

that you understand

that you've actually

finally forgiven the person

is that when you see them

and you're with them

you don't feel like

punching them

you don't feel like

yelling at them

or being mad at them

and you also don't feel

like running from them

you can just sort of

be calm in their presence

and I was sitting

in this Starbucks

that I often go to

and this guy

that I'd been praying for

that I could forgive him

for almost ten years

I've never seen him

in this Starbucks

but he shows up

in this Starbucks

and I realized

I felt no fight or flight

and that my prayers

for almost ten years

had been answered

I'd forgiven him

in fact afterwards

when I was going home

I thanked God

that he'd answered

those prayers

and I was able

to forgive the guy

and

here's the thing

about the text

is that

Jesus talks about

his death upon the cross

we talked about this

more two weeks ago

but it's really important

to bring home

and that the way

that we are to explain

one of the ways

that we are to go

into all the world

and explain what it is

that Jesus has accomplished

for us on the cross

is that one of the ways

that we are to understand this

is that God

forgives us

in Jesus

listen to it again

if you go back

to verse 44

then Jesus said to them

these are my words

that I spoke to you

while I was still with you

that everything written

about me

in the law of Moses

and the prophets

and the Psalms

must be fulfilled

then he opened their minds

to understand the scriptures

and said to them

thus it is written

that the Christ

should suffer

and on the third day

rise from the dead

and that repentance

that's our repentance

and forgiveness of sins

that's what Jesus

has accomplished

should be proclaimed

in his name

to all nations

and the word nations

there is actually

people group

to every people group

beginning from Jerusalem

you are witnesses

of these things

you are witnesses

of these things

if you could put up

the first point

here's the thing

which is so amazing

and I

you know

I just really tried

to make sure

I tried to just add

a whole pile of words

it doesn't have rhythm

and if I was like smarter

they'd all spell a word

or all begin with the same letter

or something like that

but I'm not

have that type of mind

Jesus offers pure

full

free

complete

deep

total

whole life

undeserved

forgiveness from God

to ordinary people

because of his

death

and resurrection

that's what Jesus

wins for us

on the cross

I'll say it again

it's pure forgiveness

full forgiveness

free forgiveness

complete forgiveness

deep forgiveness

total forgiveness

whole life forgiveness

it goes from

a moment of your

conception

in your mother's womb

to that time in the future

at which you die

undeserved forgiveness

and it's forgiveness

from God

and it's offered

to ordinary people

like you and me

and the people we meet

in the city of Ottawa

and around the world

and it's

and it's because of

Jesus' death

and resurrection

that if you put

if you

repentance

doesn't

doesn't

sometimes you feel guilty

in repentance

repentance is all about

turning

it's turning to Jesus

turning to God

maybe you've been involved

in ritual

maybe you've been involved

in religion

maybe you've been involved

in irreligion

maybe you've been involved

in witchcraft

maybe you've been involved

in different

whatever it is

and you turn

to the living God

and you turn to Jesus

and in a sense

you give yourself

to him

you might not have

very much of an understanding

about who he is

or what he's done

God doesn't ask you

to pass a theology test

before you can become

a Christian

but you turn

to Jesus

and

and

and

complete

full

pure

forgiveness

is offered

to us

from God

Jesus tells us

that

I'm not making this up

that's what Jesus

tells us

after he is risen

from the dead

that's what he's

telling you and me

and if you could

put up the next point

as well

Jesus

has obtained

for me

peace with God

and forgiveness

from God

so I can walk

with God

day by day

into eternity

see that

you catch that

when he

the first words

he says to the

disciples

are peace

and it's not only

him reassuring them

he's also telling them

what he has accomplished

for them

and he

he

embodies it

he acts it out

he eats with them

he's

his demeanor

to them

is

is one of

a favor

towards them

and by

you know

the other

you can look at

we can look at

Paul and Hebrews

and there's other ways

to try to

figure out

how to try to get

into the mystery

but at the

most simple level

of the mystery

are these two things

that Jesus'

death upon the cross

and his resurrection

are what the Bible

is telling you

all the Old Testament

is pointing to that

preparing you for that

and that

what is offered

to us

by God

through Jesus'

death and the resurrection

is that peace

we can be at peace

with him

God has

never been

against us

it is that

I have

been against him

and God

has never wronged me

but I

have wronged him

and God

offers me

through Jesus

when I turn

to him

forgiveness

and peace

with him

that's what

Jesus tells us

that's what

I'm telling you

so here just

one thing

a take away

prayer

if you could

put it up

Jesus

please help me

to stop

trying to

forgive myself

by the way

you know

the Bible

never tells you

to forgive

yourself

when we're

trying to

forgive ourselves

it's because

we're proud

please give me

both a tender

conscience

and an ability

to accept

God's forgiveness

that's what we

need

that's what we

see here from

this text

because God

forgives us

in Jesus

he forgives me

I don't want to

I don't plan to

sin next week

or in 10 years

or tomorrow

but I will

because I am

a bent human

being

and that's all

been dealt

with by Jesus

on the cross

there's nothing

I can add to it

there's nothing

I can subtract

and I don't need

to learn to

forgive myself

I need God

to keep my

conscience

ever more tender

so I recognize

when I've done

wrong

and I need

him to work

in my heart

so that I

accept

the forgiveness

that was won

for me

by Jesus

and is offered

to me

by Jesus

from God

himself

and I need

to have a tender

conscience

and live

out of being

forgiven

it's a prayer

that many of us

need to pray

maybe some of us

have to pray it

for 10 years

maybe the rest

of our lives

until we can

actually start

to enter into it

and walk in it

and that just

leads me to this

final thing

as part of my

preparation for this

sermon on Friday

night I watched

Legally Blonde

again

that

you know that

movie Legally Blonde

with Reese Witherspoon

a 14 year old

movie

and there's

at the end

of the movie

without giving

it away

it's like every

American movie

every American

movie

or a lot of

American movies

either end with

a man and a woman

kissing each other

or they end

with applause

right

so this didn't

end with kissing

but it ended

with applause

and the heroine

gets a standing

ovation

and all that

stuff

and she gives

a very typical

commencement address

that what she's

really learned

is that she has

to have faith

in herself

you go to

just about

any type

of commencement

that's

we all are

learning to

have faith

in ourself

faith in

ourself

in fact

one of the

things about

Christianity

is that it's

viewed as a

downer

many Christians

actually will try

to make it look

as if the Bible

is talking about

us having faith

in ourselves

but I don't

want to depress

you

I want to give

you better news

don't have faith

in yourself

none of us

need more faith

in ourselves

Jesus says

we need more

awareness of

our weakness

and faith

in the promise

of God

that's what we

need

look it's right

here in the

Bible

verse 48

you are witnesses

of these things

and behold

I am sending

the promise

of my father

upon you

but stay in

the city

until you are

clothed

with power

from on high

here's the little

two takes away

first of all

Jesus

if you put it

up

Jesus sends

out witnesses

not spin doctors

he doesn't

need me to

go in the

Starbucks

when I have

conversations

and I say

well you know

it says this

in the Bible

but actually

I've always

thought that

was not

very well

put

then you

close it

and put it

down

listen to

my thoughts

on the

subject

because I'm

actually

you know

I think

I can

no no

at the very

end of the

day

it's a very

very interesting

process

Jesus doesn't

tell us to

go out and

convert people

he doesn't

tell us to

go out and

do all of

the work

that's necessary

he tells us

to bear witness

and he sends

the Holy Spirit

so you know

sometimes you

go back home

afterwards

I've had many

times I've

done I think

I probably have

done a very

poor job

in bearing

witness

at least I

did some

type of

bearing

witness

and God

does the

big work

he carries

the heavy

lifting

but here's

the final

thing

the one I

want you

to really

take to

heart

and notice

how I

put it

the promise

of the

father

is sent

by Jesus

to clothe

weaklings

in God's

power

so we can

proclaim the

gospel

and live

for his

glory

I need

to come

to God

and just

say I

don't need

to come

to God

and say

father please

help me

have more

faith in

myself

this is

really

really

counterintuitive

but it's

far better

if I

come to

God

and say

father I'm

a weakling

but Jesus

died for

me

I'm at

peace with

you through

him

you've

forgiven me

through him

and you

have promised

that you

are far

bigger than

any problem

you are far

bigger than

any obstacle

you are far

bigger than

anything I

have to

face

and you

will send

the Holy

Spirit upon

me to

help me

and father

I want

to have

a deeper

trust in

you

please

father may

you work

may you

give me

power

may I

live out

of your

power

I am

a weakling

I want

to live

out of

your power

father

I don't

want to

have

self

confidence

I want

to have

God

confidence

I don't

want to

have

self

confidence

I want

to have

Jesus

confidence

I don't

want to

have

self

confidence

I

want

to

have

Holy

Spirit

confidence

I

don't

want

to

have

self

confidence

and

keep

going

肯

confidence

ifω

You can put up the prayer that I put.

Oh, no, it's already up there.

Jesus, please help me to...

Where am I?

D, Jesus, here's...

Yeah, prayer D.

Jesus, I am a weakling.

Please make me a bold witness.

Please make me a bold witness.

I want to ask you to stand.

If you could put up the final slide,

that would be great.

My friend, I told you about...

I didn't mention this,

but there's no reason I shouldn't mention his name.

My friend, Byron Wheaton,

when I was having coffee with him a little while ago,

he said to me,

like, what do you think the book of Luke is all about?

And I told him a version of this prayer.

And in some ways, as we finish the Gospel of Luke,

in some ways, I think all of Luke was written

so that we would pray a prayer something like this.

I mean, all these other prayers that I've suggested,

but a prayer something like this.

Because I think Luke is moving us

to come to the point where we've repented,

after hearing about Jesus and turned to Jesus,

that we know him as our Savior,

that our God is not a distant deist God,

but he's our Heavenly Father,

that we are to pour out our hearts to.

And God has Luke bear witness to Jesus

in this scripture to be written

so that we will come to a knowledge

and grow day by day in a knowledge

of the greatness and glory and grace of Jesus,

and that we'll walk with Jesus,

and we'll be humble before him,

and we'll trust him,

and we'll know him,

and we'll do all of that by the power of the Holy Spirit.

And I think that's what Luke wants us to come to

as a conclusion as we read his gospel.

And so I invite you to pray this prayer with me.

You don't have to,

but I invite you to pray this prayer with me.

Because I think that's why God had the gospel of Luke written,

so that we would come to this point

where not only would we want to pray a prayer like this today,

but that this would be the type of prayer

that we want to pray to the Father

and the power of the Spirit

in the name of Jesus every day.

It's how you begin the Christian life.

It's how you live the Christian life.

So if the Holy Spirit has touched your heart,

join with me in praying.

Loving Heavenly Father,

please pour out your Holy Spirit upon me

and grow in me a humble, trusting, walking,

knowing of the greatness, glory, and grace

of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,

crucified and risen.

Amen.

Father, we ask that you would gently

but deeply pour out your Holy Spirit upon us.

Grow within us, Father,

a confidence in you,

a confidence in your Son, Jesus,

a confidence in the Holy Spirit,

a confidence in your Word,

a confidence in your promises.

Father,

grow within us

this basic, humble, trusting,

walking, knowing, obedience to Jesus

and his greatness and his glory and his grace.

Father, make this the cry of our heart

as we live for your glory.

Father, make us disciples of Jesus

gripped by the Gospel

who live for your glory.

And all this we ask in the name of Jesus,

your Son and our Savior.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.