The Jesus Way: Finding the Way of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke | Donovan Rillion | The Blessed Way

I love that song because I think it's pretty

fitting for the culture, the context we live

in today, where it's popular to say you're a

Christian. It's popular to say you believe in

God. It's popular to say we are one nation under

God. That's popular right now. Like contrary

to the fear tactics and the things that people

will say about Christianity being like ridiculed

and mocked right now, it's popular to say you

follow Jesus. What's not popular, even among

people who live as Christians, even among people

that are sitting in this room right now, what's

not popular is to actually live the Jesus way.

And that's why I wanted to preach this series.

That's why I wanted us to look at what it means

to be a follower of Jesus, what it means to be

an apprentice of Jesus, because it's not... to

when someone strikes you, turn the other cheek.

It's not popular when somebody speaks ill against

you or about you to just walk away. It's not

popular to say, if you're going to kill me, if

you are going to abuse me, if you are going to

threaten me, whatever may come, I follow Jesus.

That's not popular. And what I don't want us

to be, especially if we're going to keep the

sign out front that says Church of Christ, What

I don't want us to be is a church of Christ that

just looks like a church. We've got to make sure

our identity, our lives are rooted in living,

looking, speaking, thinking like Jesus. And when

we lose that mission, when we lose that focus,

close the doors, turn off the lights, call it

a day. Because it's worthless. So are we going

to follow Jesus? If we're going to follow Jesus,

can I hear you say, I follow Jesus? Okay, I don't

think y 'all really believe that. So let's try

that again. If we're going to follow Jesus, let's

say, I follow Jesus. I follow Jesus. There we

go. All right. So over the last couple of months,

we have been in this series where we've been

exploring this idea of following Jesus. We've

been looking at this biography of the life of

Jesus known as the Gospel of Luke. In it, Luke

recorded Jesus' teachings. He recorded his miracles,

where he went, what he did, what he said. And

he also, in that, recorded Jesus' death. And

he recorded, most importantly, his resurrection.

Today we look at this final scene in the Gospel

of Luke. We look at this closing section, and

as we look at it, I want you to consider the

question on the screen. What do you do when the

greatest person you've ever known walks out of

your life? And I think a part of knowing how

you're going to answer that question is knowing

the context. And so what I mean by that is, did

that person leave on bad terms or did they leave

on good terms? Did that person leave very abruptly

or were you expecting it? Did you know they were

going to leave or did they say anything about

leaving or did they just kind of ghost you? What

do you do when the greatest person you've ever

known The disciples of Jesus, they're about to

experience this very thing. The greatest person

they've ever known, the person that they have

put their trust in, that they've lived by following,

that they have given up a lot of things, they've

sacrificed a lot to follow him. This person is

about to leave. And what's crazy is this isn't

the first time he's left them. He's already left

them once before when he died. But guess what

happened? He came back. Well, this time he's

leaving. And they don't know if he's going to

come back. Or maybe they do. We'll see. But I

want you to really think about how after being

with them, and this was probably about 40 or

so days, after being with them a little while

after his resurrection, he's leaving them again.

And I want you to think about what they had already

been through. They watched him die. They watched

him... experiences excruciating punishment, torment,

and death. And at that point, they thought it

was all over. They thought that the thing that

they had given their lives for was a waste of

time, but he comes back. He spends some time

with them, as Chad mentioned in the communion

thoughts, like he eats with them and he encourages

them. He tells them what they need to know to

feel okay about their circumstances. But now

he's leaving again. And so what do we do with

that? Well, I want us to read these three verses

that close the gospel of Luke out, and then we'll

talk about it a little bit more. So read it with

me. If it's underlined, I'd love for you to read

it out loud if you're comfortable doing so. And

he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting

up his hands, he blessed them. And while he blessed

them, he parted from them and was carried up

into heaven. And they worshiped him and returned

to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually

in the temple blessing God. Now, before we can

go on, I do want to take a moment to point something

that I found pretty significant out. So in verses

50, 51, and 53, there's a word used that we often

say, but I don't know if we often understand

what we're saying. And that word is blessed or

blessing. So Jesus blessed them. And while he

blessed them, he parts from them, goes to heaven.

And then you see later in 53, they were constantly

in the temple blessing God. And I think it's

important that we look at that word this morning.

And so what we're going to look at is the idea

that this word bless, it comes from this Greek

word, and I am not a Greek scholar, so please

don't pretend or don't think that I am. I just

found this in a commentary that I was reading.

So the Greek word for bless. is eulogio. Okay.

And so what that is, is it's a combination of

the word you, which means good and logos, which

is word. And so essentially we're combining those

and we get a good word. And what I found is that

in verse 50, when Jesus blessed the disciples,

what he was doing was he was speaking a good

word over them. Another way that I read it was

that this could be said that he was giving a

speech that bestowed benefit. So it's like when

you would say, I am giving you my blessing. He

is giving them this benefit. He's speaking good

over them because he's about to leave. And so

his parting words, he wants them to know something

good. And he wants them to have the benefit of

what he's sharing. And then in verse 53, the

disciples, they're in the temple. They are blessing

God. What that would mean is they are speaking

good about God or speaking good to God. And so

you have these two ideas, this speaking good

over them. He's blessing them. And then it's

they are speaking good about him, about God.

And so we have this one word that carries these

two different directions. And what I want you

to see is that, well, and I think it's pretty

important, is what we see in verses 50 through

51 with Jesus blessing the disciples. So let's

read that again. If it's underlined, you can

read it with me if you like to. And he led them

out as far as Bethany and lifting up his hands,

he blessed them. And while he blessed them, he

parted from them and was carried up into heaven.

So Jesus, he leads his followers to this place

of departure, this place where he was going to

leave them. And so this would be like if you're

dropping your kid off for camp and you're dropping

them off in the church parking lot so they can

get on the van and go. This is the drop off.

that you go to the church, you put them in the

van, they go off with some crazy youth minister,

and you get to go have a week at home by yourself

and enjoy the time alone, right? So this is the

departure. Jesus is bringing them to this drop

-off point, and he's going to leave them, and

as he does, he gives this speech that bestows

benefit, or he speaks good over them. And when

I read this, what I see is this like priestly

posture that Jesus has where it's not a casual

wave goodbye. It's not a simple handshake and

a hug and we'll see you later. This is an imagery

of priests in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament,

they would give offerings. They would make these

sacrifices to God. I think of Aaron in Leviticus

9 where he lifts his hands over the Jewish people

and he blesses them after they've given their

sacrifice. Or David in 2 Samuel 6, where he blesses

the people after they finally bring home the

ark. And so I want to point out the significance

here that Jesus isn't just leaving, he's leaving

and he's blessing as he goes. He's acting as

our great high priest, which is how it's described

in Hebrews chapter 4. And it's on the screen.

Hebrews 4 · chapter mention

I'll read it for you. We have a great high priest

who has passed through the heavens. Jesus, the

son of God, he's passed through the heavens.

Does that not sound like what we read there in

Luke chapter 51, where Jesus was lifted into

heaven? We have a great high priest. who has

fulfilled the sacrifice. He has completed this

offering, this ritual that needed to happen so

that we could be saved, so that we could have

atonement for our sins. And he gives this sort

of final benediction over his people, this final

parting word over his people after he has completed

or as he's completing the offering. And that

offering was his life. And then... You look at

once this is complete, he's carried into heaven

and Luke doesn't separate the blessing. He doesn't

separate the blessing from the ascension. These

are combined for a reason. And so I want us again,

think about the Old Testament sacrificial system.

So you have the idea of burnt offerings where

they would bring these lambs and they would bring

these meat items and they would be burnt. And

as they're burnt, the smoke would ascend up to

heaven. And what would happen is it was this

aroma that God would smell and it would please

God and it would atone for the sins. Otherwise,

it would make up for the sins of the people.

And so they would give these burnt offerings.

As you could imagine, they can't give enough

to make up for their sins, right? Like we talk

about how we can't out give God. Well, there's

a reason we say that. It's because I don't have

enough money to pay off the debt of my evil ways.

And just like I don't have enough money, they

didn't have enough lambs. They definitely didn't

have enough spotless lambs. And so they were

giving these like temporary, these. inadequate

offerings to God and it would please him and

it would atone for their sins in a little way,

but it couldn't fully complete the job. Well,

Jesus, he gives his life. He is that burnt offering.

And then he arises and he ascends to heaven and

his aroma goes up to heaven and it fulfills the

atonement completely. And so I don't have to

sacrifice lambs. I don't have to give burnt offerings.

I don't have to pay anything. The sacrifice has

been completed. My sins are atoned for because

my great high priest went into the holy of holies

forever to sit next to God when I mess up and

then I say, Jesus, could you help me? And he

leans into God's ear and says, Donovan's good.

He leans into God's ear and says, Nancy's good,

sometimes. He leans into God's ear and he says,

Ronnie's good. When we mess up, Jesus is there

advocating for us, pardoning our sins. And so

it's this final sacrifice from our great high

priest. So when Jesus ascends back to heaven

to sacrifice, is ascending to God. And the atonement

is fully presented before the Father. And maybe

that's like a little too heady. I know the Old

Testament can be kind of difficult to wrestle

with. Even if that is a little too much for you

at 10 a .m., we're going to keep rolling. Because

I think this is important. I want to spend time

on that, one, because it's really cool to me

how the Old Testament shows up being fulfilled

in the New Testament. Everything that Jesus did,

everything that the church becomes is a fulfillment

of the Old Testament. So that's important. But

more than that, it's because of what it means

for us. Like what all of this means for our lives

and for our relationship with God. What it means

for us is we don't praise Jesus out of obligation.

We don't praise him out of tradition. We don't

praise him out of habit. We praise him because

his blessing over us is loaded with the weight

of his accomplishment. His blessing, this good

word that he speaks over his disciples is full

of his grace. It's full of his mercy. It's full

of his... So when we raise our hands, when we

shout songs of praise, when we worship God, we

do it because our high priest has fulfilled the

sacrificial offering in a way that we never could.

And that's good news. Like that's the gospel.

Which leads us to verse 52. And they worshiped

him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.

Remember when I asked you what do you do when

the greatest person you've ever known walks out

of your life? Maybe that's happened to you before.

Maybe you had a loved one that was a great mentor.

Maybe you had a teacher or a coach or a boss

that you just really needed in your life. Maybe

it was a spouse. Maybe it was a family member.

I don't know who it was, but I'm sure you can

relate to this idea that somebody great leaves

you. And now you're left with this void. You're

left without their voice. You're left without

their wisdom. You're left without their example.

You're left without their comfort. And so now

you don't know what you're going to do. And so

what do you do when the greatest person walks

out of your life? I personally can't imagine

that what I would do is be filled with great

joy. I don't think joy is the response when you

lose your best friend. I don't think joy is the

response when you lose your loved one. That's

not what I imagine. And this reminds me of the

series finale of a great show, Boy Meets World.

Anybody, Boy Meets World? Okay, no, nobody liked

that show. Y 'all are lame. Great show. It is

an amazing show with a bunch of life lessons.

And a lot of those life lessons are taught by

a man named Mr. Feeney. And Mr. Feeney was this

great teacher who was with this group of kids

like their whole life. Somehow, Mr. Feeney was

like their elementary school teacher and then

one day ends up being their professor in college.

Don't ask me how that happened, TV. But Mr. Feeney

was with them their entire educational journey.

And he was more than that. He was their neighbor

and he lived next to them. He was in their home.

He lived life with them. And he was the greatest

person that these kids ever knew. And in the

series finale of Boy Meets World, they come back

into his classroom for one last time. And Mr.

Feeney kind of gives this final speech to them.

And he imparts some wisdom on them, and then

he tells them, you know, he says, go and do good.

In this moment, the greatest man that these kids

ever knew. He's walking out of their life. Now,

Mr. Feeney's probably going to be there. He's

going to be around, but he's no longer going

to be there in the same capacity for them. And

in this finale, the response isn't joy. Like,

I'm getting sad just thinking about it. These

students, they sit in these desks and they cry.

And they go and they give Mr. Feeney hugs and

they walk out sad because they just can't stand

it any longer that they're no longer going to

be his students. They're not going to be under

him anymore. And that's what I imagine. If I'm

a disciple of Jesus who has lived with him for

all this time, that's what it would be like.

I would be sad. I would be full of remorse. I

would be thinking, how could I possibly, like

he's been my teacher from elementary school to

college. How can I get him to go be my boss in

the workforce? Or maybe I can get him to move

in with me and he can like be my personal tutor

throughout life. I would be thinking about how

can I just keep Mr. Feeney around? But the disciples

are full of joy. And the only way that I can

think of that that could be their response, that

they would go back not sobbing but full of joy,

the only way I can think of that is because they

have been assured of the promise and the purpose

of Jesus' leaving. That's the only way I can

imagine that they could respond with joy. It's

because they know what's going to come from his

ascension into heaven. They know what's going

to be the result of this tragic moment. And so

I want you to think about those bad times in

your life. And when I think of that, I think

of Joseph in Genesis where he says, what you

meant for evil, my God meant for good. Like I

think of those bad times when we lose those people,

those great mentors. And the only thing I can

think of is the disciples are thinking, yeah,

this really stinks. but God's going to do something

great because of it. And I think they're able

to think that and know that actually because

Jesus said as much. The disciples would have

known, or at least they should have known because

they had been taught this, that they were going

to receive because of Jesus' sacrifice, because

of His ascension, salvation. Salvation from their

sins, salvation from this awful life, salvation

from their tragic and messed up ways, they would

receive, because of Jesus, salvation. They would

have also known, because Jesus would have told

them, that they were going to receive access

to God. Think about when Jesus says it's finished

and he dies on the cross, the veil in the temple

is split from the top to the bottom. Essentially

that means you can go before God now because

our great high priest has fulfilled the sacrifice

so they now are receiving access to the Father

because Jesus left. And they knew about this

promise of a heavenly home. Jesus talked about

the kingdom. He talked about the home he was

going to prepare for them, this home with many

rooms. He describes it as a mansion. And that's

what they're going to have. It's going to be

this place that they get to live with God, with

Jesus, with all of the saints for eternity. And

they knew because he had just told them like

just a few days ago that they were going to receive.

the gift of the Holy Spirit that would live within

them. You know, I heard a quote, and don't debate

me on this one. I'm just sharing a quote. And

what it was, was he said, there are people that

believe that there is greater value to have the

Holy Spirit within you than to have Jesus beside

you. And what he's saying is not to discount

the goodness of Jesus. He's not discounting the

power of Jesus. But what he's saying is that

there is something special about having the power

of the Holy Spirit within you because now you

can function just like Jesus intended for you

to function. And so I say that to say these things

are the gifts that Jesus had promised that would

come when he ascends. And so this is a lot different

from the way they were feeling the day Jesus

died. This isn't the sorrow that they were feeling

when Jesus was on the cross. It's not the fear.

It's not the anxiety. It's not the sadness and

the worry of the cross. This moment is full of

joy. Because this time, what Jesus proved to

them in the resurrection helps them to know exactly

what is to come. They knew now that there is

no reason to doubt. There is no reason to worry.

There is no reason to fear because the promises

of God have been kept all along the way. Again,

I said it's important to know the Old Testament

because we see the New Testament show the fulfillment

of those Old Testament promises. And over and

over and over and over again, Jesus fulfilled

the promises. God fulfilled the promises. And

so now they know without a shadow of a doubt,

because Jesus rose from the dead, that he will

keep his promises. That what he says is true.

And that last promise he made was that the...

that God was sending the Holy Spirit. Look at

John 16, verse seven. I tell you the truth, it

is to your advantage that I go away. For I do

not go away, or if I do not go away, the helper

will not come to you. But if I go, I will send

him to you. Remember when I mentioned that quote

of the Holy Spirit within you is better than

Jesus beside you. Jesus said that. He said, if

I stay here, I'm walking with you. And think

about some of the things that they did when Jesus

was walking with them. Like Peter was still a

crash out and wanted to fight every chance he

could. And when Jesus was still with them, they

were afraid. When Jesus was still with them,

they didn't understand the things that he had

been trying to teach them. When Jesus was still

with them, they still worried about what they

would eat, where they would sleep, what they

would do, what people would do to them. They

still had those fears and those worries. But

think about what comes after the Spirit becomes

within them. And that's why I'm so excited to

get to the book of Acts. Because in the book

of Acts, Peter, he's not running scared. In the

book of Acts, the disciples aren't worried. In

the book of Acts, they're not afraid. In the

book of Acts, the disciples have power. They

have courage. They have boldness. Why? Because

the Holy Spirit is now. Inside them, Jesus had

to go so that the Spirit could come. And that's

why they're filled with joy. And so they worshiped

because they no longer had to hope. They no longer

had to just like imagine the day. They no longer

had to think about what would it be like. They

know. They now know exactly what it's going to

be like. They knew that Jesus was sending power

to them for the mission that they had ahead of

them. And that leads us to verse 53. We're going

to read 52 again, and we're going to read 53.

And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem

with great joy. That's not underlined. That's

so unfortunate because I had it underlined. Read

that with me. Okay, and they worshiped him and

returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were

continually in the temple blessing God. Remember

our definition of blessing, to speak good, good

words. And when we said that Jesus blessed them,

he was speaking good over them or speaking in

a way that bestowed benefit. Well, now they are

speaking good. about God continually in the temple,

speaking good about God. This is where the church

was first born. This is where the church finally

starts to talk about the goodness of God in a

communal way. It says they were continually.

And I love it says continually. It doesn't say

on Sunday mornings. It doesn't say on Sunday

nights. It doesn't say on Wednesday night. It

doesn't say on Thursday mornings. It says continually

in the temple. Doing what? Speaking good about

God, the disciples. They're gathering in the

temple regularly. And this is not some minor

detail. This is a public gathering. This is them

going into this public space, worshiping and

proclaiming the good news of Jesus. And I want

you to notice that it's not just any public space.

Like this isn't just them in the community garden.

It's not them at the park. They went to the temple.

And in the temple were Jews. The same people

that just a couple days ago, maybe a little over

a month ago, hung your rabbi on a cross. The

same people that probably want you dead. The

same people that have no problem going and snitching

on you to Rome so that Rome can kill you. Oh,

and don't be mistaken. Roman soldiers and guards,

they would have been outside the temple. So the

Jews are in the temple. They're doing their thing.

And then here come these... followers of Christ,

these Christians, and they're speaking about

God and what Jesus did. They're telling the good

news, and the Jews are not happy about this,

and the Romans are out there, and they're not

happy about this. And so can you imagine how

bold you would have to be to continually be in

the temple speaking good about Jesus? You could

only do that if you had the power of the Holy

Spirit. And I believe part of our problem Part

of the reason we are so content to sit in this

room and talk about God and speak good about

God, but it's hard to do it out there. Part of

our problem is because we are not tapping into

the power, the boldness, the courage that can

only come from the Holy Spirit. But the church

there, wide open, in the middle of it all, not

meeting in secret, not trying to keep their voices

down. Not waiting to be saved. They're not waiting

to be socially accepted. They're not waiting

to have political power or political favor. They

aren't waiting on any of that. They were bold.

They were constant in their proclamation of the

goodness of God, of the good news of Jesus Christ.

And you know what that sounds like to me? It

sounds like what Jesus told them needed to happen

a few verses earlier in Luke 24. We talked about

it last week. Repentance for the forgiveness

of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all

nations beginning from Jerusalem. So where'd

they start? Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these

things. Remember I said, if you're a witness,

you have a responsibility to speak the truth

and only the truth. If you witness... the goodness

of Jesus, you got to tell people. And what Jesus

says is this good news is to be proclaimed to

everyone starting in Jerusalem. So the disciples,

they go to the temple, they proclaim the good

news to everybody that'll listen, even if it

leads to death, even if it leads to being a social

outcast, even if it leads to not having business,

even if they proclaim the good news. They respond

with blessing, speaking good about God. And that's

what the Jesus way produces in a community. The

Jesus way produces a people that are not afraid

to go to their workplace, are not afraid to go

to the public gathering, are not afraid to go

to the city council meeting, to go to the school

board, to go live in this community and speak

the goodness of God. And not in like a pickets

outside of abortion clinic way, but in a way

that says Jesus loves you and I'd like for you

to know what that love means for your life. In

a way that says the route that you're going,

it's not the best route, but I got a better way

for you. It's a way that says even if you're

going to ridicule me, even if you're going to

be mean to me, even if you're going to be ugly

towards me, I know a God who still wants to be

nice to you. That's what the Jesus way produces

in a community. It's boldness. And it's a way

that changes how people think. It produces people

who gather despite the threat or fear. It produces

a people, a community that worship with joy regardless

of the circumstances of life, regardless of the

things that are causing sorrow or fear. It produces

a people that declare publicly the goodness of

a promise -keeping God. And that's what the church

is supposed to be. What the disciples started

there is exactly what we were called to be. A

people that were not afraid of this world. A

people, frankly, that weren't concerned with

this world. It was a people that had one concern,

and that is the kingdom of God. This isn't supposed

to be quiet. It's not supposed to be once a week.

It's not supposed to be solemn and somber. It's

not supposed to feel like a funeral service.

It is supposed to feel like a joyful proclamation

of God come down to earth to live a life and

die a death, rise from a grave to save people

like you and me. That's what this is. And it

is supposed to be something that cannot be contained

to a building, but overflows into the community

around us. And that's what Luke's gospel is giving

us right before we get to the book of Acts, where

it is a joyful, bold proclamation of a good God.

What we've seen is that Jesus blessed the disciples.

He gives them this benefit. which leads to a

joy -filled response of public praise and proclamation

of the goodness of God. And that is the Jesus

way. And it's a blessed way. It's a good way.

That is a good word. Remember I said, logos,

word, you, good, good word. What else are we

calling the gospel? Good news. And if you've

ever read a newspaper, there's a lot of words

there. We have a good word. blessing to share

with the world because Jesus shared his blessing

with us. And Jesus didn't complete the way on

his time on earth. Jesus invites us, he invites

his disciples to complete the way through his

church. And that's why we're going to look at

the book of Acts next to see what does the church

need to do? Who does the church need to be in

this world to represent Jesus rightly? What do

we need to be? Who do we need to be to represent

Jesus in this world righteously? And so next

Sunday, we begin a series on the book of Acts

called The Jesus Church. And in that series,

we're going to see what verse 53 looked like.

Being in the temple continually, publicly blessing,

speaking good about God, what that looked like.

Where the Jesus way didn't end with Jesus ascending

into heaven. It didn't end with the disciples

blessing God in the temple. It multiplied. It

carried on. And that's why we're here today.

Because those people lived the way they did.

And what I want us to ask ourselves in that series

and ask ourselves today is what can we do to

multiply this good word into all nations like

Jesus called us to do? So for those of us who

have accepted the call of Christ, for those of

us who have accepted the good news, the Jesus

way, we're called to join him on that journey.

Because we're beneficiaries of the book of Acts.

We're beneficiaries of Luke 24, 53, of this public

proclamation. We are beneficiaries of the Jesus

way and the Jesus church. And for those not yet

in Christ, for those of us who haven't, well,

for those of you who haven't accepted the good

news, that haven't given your life to the gospel.

to being a part of the family, to being a part

of the kingdom, the royal priesthood of God.

I'm asking you to choose the Jesus way. And for

those that are in Christ, that have been walking

with him, but maybe, you know, you struggle to

actually follow him. Like I said, it's popular

to be a Christian. It's not really popular to

be an apprentice of Jesus. What I'm asking you

is this morning. if you are on the outside, on

the other side of the trail of this Jesus way

and you want to step onto it, if you've kind

of been walking on it but not fully, my plea

for you is to accept the invitation, not my invitation,

God's invitation to choose the Jesus way. And

if the church here can help you, if we can help

you walk with Jesus, if we can help you follow

Jesus, whatever we can do, We invite you to accept

the invitation to be with Jesus and be with his

church now as we stand and as we sing.