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The Identity of Jesus | Charles Zimmerman | Calvary Church

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  1. Last week, Carlos kicked off the fall by

  2. looking at Acts chapter 1. And the book

    Acts 1 chapter mention

  3. of Acts is Luke's second volume. And he

  4. mentioned, not sure you caught it or

  5. not, he mentioned that our series for

  6. the fall is going to be on Luke's first

  7. volume. And the reason he looked at Acts

  8. 1 is because the second volume, the book

  9. of Acts, is all about how the early

  10. church continued exactly what Jesus was

  11. doing. So what we're going to do for the

  12. next number of weeks, we're going to

  13. look at those things that Jesus began to

  14. do. And we're going to do that by

  15. looking at Luke. And so this morning,

  16. we're going to look at what and why.

  17. That first few verses. And then who.

  18. That's the second part. So if you know

  19. the what and the why and the who, you

  20. basically know what we're going to talk

  21. about today. We're going to talk about

  22. the introduction to the book and the

  23. identity of its primary subject. So, if

  24. you have your Bibles, uh, you can grab

  25. it or use your phone, your iPad, or just

  26. kind of listen as I read. I'm going to

  27. read the first four verses, and we're

  28. going to look at the story of Jesus. And

  29. Paul begins Paul, Luke begins in a very

  30. interesting way. He tells us what the

  31. book's going to be about. How's he doing

  32. and why he's doing it this way? Listen

  33. to how he begins.

  34. Many have under have undertaken to draw

  35. up an account of the things that have

  36. been fulfilled among us just as they

  37. were handed down to us by those who f

  38. from the first were eyewitnesses and

  39. servants of the word. With this in mind,

  40. since I myself have carefully

  41. investigated everything from the

  42. beginning, I too decided to write an

  43. orderly account for you, most excellent

  44. Theophilos, so that you may know the

  45. certainty of the things you have been

  46. taught. All right. So, what's going on?

  47. Well, let me call your attention to a

  48. few things in those verses. And the last

  49. part that I just read, he uh addresses

  50. this to most excellent Theophilos. Well,

  51. who the heck is Theophilus? And who

  52. would ever name their kid that? Well,

  53. Theophilus is a a compound word. It's a

  54. compound word that means God lover.

  55. Theos and then fileto, right? And so,

  56. God lover. And there's some debate about

  57. is it written to any God lover or I

  58. think more likely it was written to and

  59. and commissioned by this most excellent

  60. Theophosa Theophilos, a person named

  61. Theophilles. Because you got to remember

  62. to do all this investigation was going

  63. to be an expensive endeavor. And so

  64. usually usually a wealthy high-profile

  65. person would commission the research to

  66. perform a particular task. And then the

  67. book of Luke and the book of Acts, they

  68. would be the result of what the patron

  69. commissioned. And so probably the

  70. beginning Luke's saying, "Hey,

  71. Theophilles, thanks a lot for the

  72. commission and I'm writing this back to

  73. you as a result of the investigation,

  74. but not only to Theophilus, to all of

  75. those God lovers or those who want to

  76. understand uh what he's going to write

  77. about. Uh in the first couple verses

  78. there, let me uh mention a couple other

  79. things that that will get you started.

  80. Luke tells us that this is going this

  81. book is going to be the story of Jesus.

  82. And he says it's going to be the account

  83. of those things that were fulfilled.

  84. Now, isn't that weird? Why didn't he

  85. say, "I'm going to write about the

  86. things that happened. I'm going to write

  87. about the things that occur." He doesn't

  88. say that. He said, "I'm going to write

  89. about the things that have been

  90. fulfilled." Why do you think he said

  91. that? Well, here's what I think. Do you

  92. realize that a little more than 75%

  93. of the Bible is in the Old Testament?

  94. Only about 25% in the New Testament. The

  95. Old Testament gives the foundation,

  96. gives all of the building blocks. The

  97. New Testament gives the climax and the

  98. culmination. But you really can't

  99. understand what's happening in the New

  100. Testament unless you understand

  101. something about the 75% from the Old

  102. Testament. You have temples and priests,

  103. sacrifices, you have prophets, you have

  104. descriptions, you have rituals, all this

  105. stuff. But they're all like signposts.

  106. They're all signs along the road

  107. pointing to something in the future. The

  108. something in the future is Jesus and his

  109. ministry. So we often say the Bible's a

  110. point and a purpose. The point is Jesus.

  111. The purpose is to lead you to him. But

  112. for 75% of the Bible, the foundation's

  113. being laid. The signposts are being put

  114. in place. And then Jesus shows up. Luke

  115. says, "I'm here to tell you, I've done

  116. my research. I'm here to tell you about

  117. the point and the purpose. You need the

  118. container and you need the content." I

  119. was thinking about this that this

  120. morning as I went to get my Starbucks.

  121. And by the way, Starbucks and Giant is

  122. closed. Closed yesterday. Very sad day.

  123. A lot of tears. So, I had to go to

  124. corporate Starbucks today and that was

  125. fine, too. Um, but as I got my

  126. Starbucks, I was walking to the car and

  127. I thought, you know what? This is kind

  128. of what Luke does.

  129. Uh, how's that work? Well,

  130. you need a container

  131. and you need the contents.

  132. Um, it would be ridiculous to get the

  133. cup without the contents. Yet, the only

  134. reason for a cup is to deliver the

  135. contents. The only thing worse than

  136. having a cup without the coffee is

  137. having the coffee without the cup. You

  138. see, they both have to go together. You

  139. need a container in order to have the

  140. content delivered. That's what Luke's

  141. saying. So, I've done my investigation.

  142. I put together I'm lay I'm building on

  143. the foundation. I'm giving you the

  144. content story of Jesus in the container

  145. of this gospel. Just like we could

  146. extrapolate and say the whole Bible is

  147. the container. The primary content in

  148. the container. The only reason for the

  149. container is to deliver the content of

  150. Jesus, the things that were fulfilled

  151. among you. He then says, um, I'm going

  152. to report to you what the eyewitnesses

  153. have seen and heard. Now, you need to

  154. remember Luke was not an eyew witness of

  155. the [snorts] things that Jesus did and

  156. said, huh? But he interviewed lots of

  157. eyewitnesses and he takes their

  158. accounts. He investigated thoroughly and

  159. he writes this gospel based on the

  160. eyewitness accounts. And that's really

  161. important. The gospel of Luke was

  162. probably written in the early 60s as

  163. best we can tell. Jesus was crucified

  164. and rose from the dead. Say 30. So, uh,

  165. it's about 30ome years between the

  166. events that Luke's recording and the

  167. actual document that he's red producing.

  168. Well, you know what? Lo's eyewitnesses

  169. are still living. It's one thing to

  170. fabricate a story that happened like a

  171. zillion years ago and there no

  172. eyewitnesses around. It's another deal

  173. to say, "Hey, this happened and there

  174. are eyewitnesses around that can

  175. contradict and correct your story." So,

  176. for example, suppose you were to say,

  177. "But if Flyers have been terrible for a

  178. while,

  179. I don't think they'll ever win, and they

  180. have never won a Stanley Cup."

  181. That's not true.

  182. I was there.

  183. I went to the parades. I saw the wins. I

  184. saw the Stanley Cup. And even though it

  185. was like over 50 years ago, it happened.

  186. Then if that's 50ome years ago, there

  187. were still eyewitnesses eyewitness

  188. around 30 some years. You can't tell a

  189. story. You can't present things that

  190. aren't true if there are eyewitnesses

  191. still running around. We also know from

  192. the book of Acts that even though Luke

  193. was not an eyewitness, he traveled with

  194. Paul on his missionary journeys. And

  195. just like he lays just like um Luke lays

  196. out in Acts, Judea, Samaria to the ends

  197. of the earth. That was kind of Luke's

  198. itinerary. Judea, Samaria, the ends of

  199. the earth. Luke had lots of opportunity

  200. as he traveled with Paul to interview

  201. people that were eyewitnesses. Luke

  202. gives us the most detailed account of

  203. Jesus birth with the shepherds and Mary

  204. and all. Where did he get that? He

  205. probably talked to Mary. He pro she was

  206. probably one of the eyewitnesses. He

  207. said, "Mary, what'd you feel? How'd it

  208. go? What did the angel say?" He's

  209. recording what the eyewitnesses said. So

  210. even though he was not an eyewitness, he

  211. interviewed people that were still

  212. alive. They were eyewitnesses. He put

  213. all this together into an orderly

  214. account so that now he can communicate

  215. the content, the point and purpose of

  216. Luke and of the Bible as Jesus. Now

  217. there's one other thing I want to say

  218. about those verses. Notice it says, "I'm

  219. going to report to you the things that

  220. were fulfilled among us." So Luke is not

  221. a record of all the teachings of Jesus.

  222. It's not a collection of the Now there

  223. are teachings in there and it's not a

  224. collection of all the things Jesus said.

  225. Even though there are lots of sayings in

  226. there because you ever realize

  227. we are not forgiven, we don't experience

  228. salvation because of what Jesus taught.

  229. We experience salvation or forgiven

  230. because of what Jesus did.

  231. Now, what he said illustrates and

  232. explains what he did. But if you were

  233. saved by what Jesus taught, that means

  234. you would be f you would you would save

  235. yourself by doing what Jesus said and

  236. you kind of earn your way. That's not

  237. it. We're not saved by what he taught.

  238. We're saved by what he did because we

  239. cannot do what he taught. Therefore,

  240. Jesus came to do what we couldn't do so

  241. that we can then experience what we do

  242. not deserve. So Luke begins by telling

  243. us what and telling us why he put all

  244. this together. So we will have the

  245. contents of g of Jesus, the point and

  246. purpose of scripture. But that's kind of

  247. the who and the what. Oh, excuse me, the

  248. the what and the why from chapter 1.

  249. Now, we're going to look at a couple

  250. sections from chapter two and chapters

  251. two and three that tell us the who. Now,

  252. some of you are thinking, "So, are we

  253. going to talk about Christmas?" We're

  254. not talking about Christmas. In fact,

  255. I'll kind of lay out the next few months

  256. for you. We're going to look at the main

  257. thing, right? Who is Jesus and how we

  258. can follow him. And we're going to do

  259. that by looking at select passages in

  260. Luke. We're not going to go verse by

  261. verse. We're going to kind of select

  262. passages. We'll work with the passage.

  263. And we're going to skip over all the

  264. Christmas stuff. You know, Luke has the

  265. most detailed Christmas stuff. Why are

  266. we going to do that? Because in

  267. December, we're going to do the

  268. beginning of Luke. Because if you

  269. understand the point and the purpose of

  270. what it's about, then we'll go back and

  271. look at how Jesus entered our world and

  272. you'll see that all of those details are

  273. actually given to us in in minuscule

  274. upfront as he's about to do it. Well,

  275. what do we learn about the who? We learn

  276. all about sunship. Chapter 2 and three

  277. of Luke is all about Jesus, the son of

  278. God, right? He's the son. And he gives

  279. us two examples of what Jesus did and

  280. and what happened. And they're really

  281. interesting. The first of those is in

  282. the temple temple sunship in the temple.

  283. Now, we don't have time to read that

  284. whole account, but let me kind of tell

  285. you what's going on. You read it later.

  286. So, here's what's going on. Mary and

  287. Joseph, as good practicing Jews, every

  288. Passover, they would take the family,

  289. right? Jesus and the oldest son, they

  290. would take them and they would travel to

  291. Jerusalem to celebrate Passover.

  292. Well, we don't know anything. Luke only

  293. tells us when Jesus bore nativity and

  294. then it fast forwards and at the end of

  295. chapter 2, we have this one weird

  296. incident when Jesus was 12. Fast forward

  297. from birth to 12. Then we get these few

  298. verses about 12. So when Jesus was 12,

  299. the family travels from where they

  300. living, Nazareth. They travel down to

  301. Jerusalem and a really weird incident

  302. happens. They go, they celebrate

  303. Passover and they're heading back home

  304. and they're heading back home and after

  305. a day or so on the journey, they realize

  306. um they're missing something

  307. like the son. Where's Jesus? Now, that's

  308. kind of easy to some of you think, boy,

  309. they're terrible parents and Mary and

  310. Joseph. Wow. How how can you leave your

  311. son, right? You have to Well, it's easy

  312. to understand if you think of it like

  313. this. The men probably traveled together

  314. and the women probably travel together

  315. and the men would talk about, you know,

  316. the eagles and work and their aches and

  317. pains and the women would travel alone.

  318. They would talk about the men and so

  319. they're traveling separately home. And

  320. so Mary probably assumes Jesus is with

  321. Joseph and Joseph probably assumes,

  322. well, Jesus is with Mary. And lo and

  323. behold, after a whole day, they maybe

  324. get together for dinner. And Joseph

  325. says, "Well, where's Jes?" Mary says,

  326. "Well, I thought he was with you." No,

  327. he's not with me. Uhoh. Where is he?

  328. They go back to Jerusalem. And after two

  329. more After 3 days, they find him. He's

  330. in the temple

  331. debating, arguing, and talking to the

  332. religious leaders, the priests, and the

  333. teachers.

  334. And that they're like amazed at what

  335. this 12-year-old kid knows. And he's

  336. kind of, well, that's not true. He's

  337. correcting what their interpretation is

  338. about the Bible. They're arguing and

  339. debating. Mary then says, "Let me uh

  340. read these verses to you."

  341. Mary says,

  342. as soon as I find it,

  343. when his parents saw him, they were

  344. astonished. His mother said to him, now

  345. check this out, "Son, why have you

  346. treated us like this?" Typical mom. Your

  347. father and I are anxiously searching for

  348. you. You kind of throw the dad name in,

  349. right? To add weight. your father. Um,

  350. why are you searching for me? Jesus, why

  351. are you searching for me? He asked.

  352. Didn't you know I had to be in my

  353. father's house?

  354. That's not just an interesting way and

  355. turn of phrase. What does Mary say? Your

  356. father. What's Jesus say? My father.

  357. Huh? Now, so what's going on? Uh, there

  358. are some people that write books and

  359. they don't know what they're talking

  360. about. They'll say, "Well, this is Jesus

  361. bar mitzvah." Bar mitzvah doesn't come

  362. to the middle ages. Nothing about bar

  363. mitzvah. But we do know this as Jewish

  364. kids were being raised. Um they kind of

  365. had a two-prong approach to education.

  366. One was you learn how to read so you can

  367. read Torah. You learn how to understand

  368. the Bible, right? And so you did that

  369. part time. But the main purpose of

  370. education was to learn the family trade.

  371. And so Joseph is a carpenter. And so

  372. Jesus would go to school and he'd learn

  373. how to read so he could read Torah. And

  374. he would learn from Joseph how to be a

  375. carpenter. Two-prong. But when you hit

  376. your early teens, you know, kind of when

  377. you're uh you're done with school and

  378. there are no middle schoolers here and

  379. that doesn't work in our culture, but

  380. back then you got to hit your early

  381. teens and you don't you that one prong's

  382. done. You know how to read, you're done.

  383. Now you're full-time learning daddy's

  384. trade. You're learning the family

  385. business. And so Jesus is right at that

  386. point. Not exactly sure how to hand a

  387. handoff works, but the one thing is

  388. clear. Jesus is transitioning from a

  389. two-pronged education to a singular

  390. prong of educ education where he's going

  391. to learn the family business.

  392. Matter of words ring a little

  393. differently. Mary says

  394. Jesus your father

  395. family trade. You got to get home to

  396. learn the family business. What's Jesus

  397. say? My father.

  398. Mom, I am learning the family business.

  399. Joseph's family business is carpentry.

  400. Tables, chairs, doors.

  401. My father's business is redemption,

  402. salvation.

  403. I'm learning that. And in the very next

  404. chapter, it begins the ministry where

  405. Jesus has learned the family business

  406. and he's commissioned then to fulfill

  407. the family business of redemption and

  408. salvation. not carpentry and making

  409. tables.

  410. Isn't it also amazing? Mary says my your

  411. father. Jesus says my father. And at the

  412. beginning of the sermon on the mount,

  413. Jesus says, pray like this, our father.

  414. That's where this is going. You kind of

  415. know where the end of the message is.

  416. So, we got sunship in the temple where

  417. Jesus says, "I am the son. I'm learning

  418. the family business. I'm sitting here

  419. with the scholars. I'm sitting here with

  420. those who understand and those that are

  421. supposed to lay this out for people. I'm

  422. learn. Can you imagine? He's correcting

  423. what their what their understanding of

  424. the Old Testament was. Well, guys, let

  425. me explain to you what that really

  426. means. Um, and they're dumbfounded.

  427. But then we get another sunship passage

  428. in chapter 3. Now, in in chapter 3, it's

  429. not sunship in the temple. Now, it's

  430. sunship in the river. Fast forward

  431. again. So, the first couple chapters of

  432. Luke, Jesus is born, nativity. Fast

  433. forward to the end of chapter 2, Jesus

  434. is now 12. Fast forward again to chapter

  435. 3, Jesus is now 30. So, this is not a

  436. biography like biographies we read with

  437. every detail spelled out of a person's

  438. life. Luke's hitting the highlights.

  439. He's investigated everything. He's

  440. laying out what must be fulfilled and

  441. how it's going to fit together.

  442. Now, it's sunship in the river. So Jesus

  443. comes to be baptized and uh a strange

  444. incident happens as Jesus is being

  445. baptized. Now here's what God says.

  446. Jesus is baptized. John the Baptist. And

  447. as he's being lifted from the water, a

  448. voice booms from heaven.

  449. You are my son. Oh, there we are again.

  450. Right. Sunship in the temple. My father.

  451. Sunship in the river. You are my son

  452. whom I love.

  453. With you

  454. I am well pleased.

  455. Now those words probably sound familiar

  456. to you a little bit.

  457. And maybe you're thinking, "Yeah,

  458. they're familiar because I've read that

  459. a few times before, right? Matthew has

  460. it in mind. There I've read it before."

  461. Others are thinking, "No, no, no. I

  462. remember I didn't sleep that Sunday

  463. morning, Charles, when we did Psalm two

  464. and we talked about sunship in Psalm

  465. two." because you realize um you are my

  466. son. That's a quote from Psalm 2. Psalm

  467. 2 is a messianic psalm. And what's Psalm

  468. two about? In a nutshell, Psalm 2 is all

  469. about God saying, "One day, I'm going to

  470. send my son, the Messiah. He will be the

  471. conquering, victorious king. He's going

  472. to come to make things right." Yeah, you

  473. live in a broken world. Things aren't

  474. fitting together. I'm going to send my

  475. son. He's going to be a king and he's

  476. going to make all things right. Justice

  477. will rule. Psalm two. So, as Jesus is

  478. being baptized, God says,

  479. he's here.

  480. He's here. Remember that promise? I'm

  481. going to I'm going to send my son. He's

  482. going to be the Messiah. He's going to

  483. be the king. He's going to bring

  484. justice, makes it great. He's here. Here

  485. he is.

  486. But that's not the end of the quote.

  487. That's not even the end of a sentence

  488. from Luke 2. But here's the weird thing.

  489. The second part of the sentence, with

  490. you I am well pleased, that does not

  491. come from Psalm 2.

  492. It does come from the Old Testament,

  493. part of that 75%, but not Psalm 2. You

  494. know where that comes from? Isaiah 42.

  495. Huh? Isaiah 42 is not about the Messiah

  496. as the conquering king to bring justice

  497. and make things right. Isaiah 42 is a

  498. servant song, a suffering servant song

  499. that finds its climax in Isaiah 53. And

  500. we learn from the servant songs that God

  501. is going to send a servant, a suffering

  502. servant, and he is going to take the

  503. guilt of all of the world, the guilt of

  504. those that trust in him, and he's going

  505. to pay. He will bear the punishment that

  506. that guilt deserves.

  507. Because if the conquering king comes to

  508. bring justice and make things right,

  509. well, there's not a human being that's

  510. ever lived that will then be able to

  511. stand. So then God says, "Yeah, but I'm

  512. going to send my suffering servant." And

  513. the suffering servant realizes not

  514. everybody has their acts together. In

  515. fact, nobody does. But those who admit

  516. their problem, admit their sin and hand

  517. their guilt over to the suffering

  518. servant, the ser the suffering of the

  519. servant will actually pay for the for

  520. those that trust him by taking the guilt

  521. away.

  522. What does Luke say?

  523. One Messiah,

  524. conquering king who comes to make things

  525. right,

  526. suffering servant who comes to bear our

  527. guilt. Not two, one.

  528. The conquering Messiah is the suffering

  529. servant. And what does Luke say? The

  530. voice booms from heaven.

  531. He has arrived.

  532. The conquering king to bring justice.

  533. the suffering servant to pay for guilt.

  534. He has arrived. He is now here. That's

  535. the who. That's the content. And right

  536. at the beginning, Luke says um who the

  537. who the climax is Jesus. He's the one

  538. that is all of the content. He's the one

  539. that all the signs point to. Now,

  540. before we continue, let let me just make

  541. a point here that sometimes we we mix

  542. up. Do you understand the order?

  543. Remember what Luke said? I've

  544. interviewed all these eyewitnesses and

  545. I'm putting together an orderly account.

  546. That doesn't mean everything's

  547. chronological in the book, but it does

  548. mean it's an orderly account. Here's an

  549. order of first importance.

  550. Sunship precedes ministry.

  551. Jesus hasn't done anything yet.

  552. What does he need

  553. as he goes into the desert to follow and

  554. he's tempted by the devil? What does he

  555. need as he engages with people who won't

  556. believe? What does he need as he begins

  557. his ministry? What does he need as he's

  558. going to take our sin and suffer for it?

  559. What does he need as he's going to raise

  560. from the dead? He needs to know above

  561. everything else who he is. He's a son of

  562. God. Identity precedes ministry. That's

  563. true for us. You don't become a son by

  564. doing lots of ministry. You do lots of

  565. ministry because you're a son. Sunship

  566. precedes ministry.

  567. But Jesus didn't go through his min. You

  568. read Luke and tell me if this is right.

  569. Jesus didn't go through the rest of his

  570. ministry saying to people, "I'm God's

  571. son and you're not." He doesn't do that.

  572. What does he do? He said, 'I am God's

  573. son, God's unique son, and by trusting

  574. me, you can be sons and daughters of

  575. God, too. Right? Your father, my father,

  576. our father. That's how the transgression

  577. go or that that's how the transition

  578. goes.

  579. So, what's our sunship in Jesus? Well,

  580. Luke's going to lay that out through the

  581. rest of his gospel. But maybe a place

  582. for you to see that real clearly was

  583. written by Paul. And Paul, in my mind at

  584. least, Paul's thinking about the river.

  585. He's thinking about Jesus sunship in the

  586. river as he records these words.

  587. Now, Paul's writing to the people in

  588. Romans, but he's also writing to us.

  589. Listen to what he says about sons and

  590. daughters. The spirit you've received

  591. did not make you slaves so that you live

  592. in fear again. Rather, the spirit you

  593. received brought about your adoption to

  594. sunship, and by him we cry, "Aba,

  595. Father." The Spirit himself testifies

  596. with our spirit that we are God's

  597. children.

  598. Now, what does that mean? I would say it

  599. like this.

  600. If you've admitted that you need a

  601. savior and you're trusting Jesus for

  602. forgiveness and acceptance, if

  603. you need to hear the father say over you

  604. what he said over Jesus in the river,

  605. you are my son.

  606. You're my daughter

  607. whom I love.

  608. With you I am well pleased.

  609. Not just to Jesus, but as we trust him,

  610. God says those words over us. Sunship

  611. precedes ministry.

  612. All right. Well, uh, what does that mean

  613. practically? Well, let me tease out a

  614. couple things and then we're done. First

  615. of all, it means intimacy. It means

  616. intimacy. Do you realize that, um, your

  617. kids

  618. can do, say, and request things of you

  619. that nobody else can? Uh, let me give

  620. you an example.

  621. Uh, a few weeks ago, it's kind of late

  622. one evening. Uh, I'm lying in bed

  623. watching a game. Kim's kind of cleaning

  624. up, getting ready to come to bed, and

  625. the phone, her phone rings, and I can

  626. tell from Kim's end of the conversation

  627. that this is going to be a long night.

  628. The conversation goes something like

  629. this. Well, how did you do that?

  630. What do you want me to do?

  631. I'll see what he's doing.

  632. Well, anyway, here's what I find out.

  633. Megan took the two French bulldogs for a

  634. walk. Mike's at work and the door locks

  635. behind her.

  636. Not the strong door, you know, wood. The

  637. screen door.

  638. She said, "I come back, the screen door

  639. is locked. I can't get in." I pull the

  640. screen door. I'm pushing. I can't get

  641. in. Um, Kim says, "We'll be right over."

  642. I'm think, "What? What do you mean we?

  643. We what?" Um,

  644. so I got out of bed

  645. and I put on my shorts

  646. and I found Kim's utility knife

  647. and we jumped in the car and we went to

  648. Megan's in a very short order. I cut the

  649. screen out of that door. We reached in,

  650. opened the door, they went in, and I

  651. went home.

  652. Now, what's the moral of that story? If

  653. you ever get locked out of your house,

  654. do not call me. I'm not coming. But

  655. Megan, even though she's 37, she got mad

  656. when I said that. Even though she's 37.

  657. She can call me and Kim can say, "We'll

  658. be right over." Because it's different

  659. if your kid calls and says, "I need

  660. you." And if you call and I'm not even

  661. answering.

  662. See how that works?

  663. Well, through Jesus, God has become our

  664. father

  665. 24/7.

  666. He waits to hear from us even more than

  667. we want to talk to him.

  668. Time, energy, priorities at our disposal

  669. because through Jesus, we're his kids.

  670. Intimacy, 247

  671. access.

  672. That's pretty amazing, isn't it? the

  673. king of the universe.

  674. You have him on speed dial waiting to

  675. listen. Not just intimacy, but also

  676. safety. Now, safety, protection, Jesus

  677. is our shepherd. All those things we

  678. learn. I was reminded of that yesterday.

  679. Two grandsons had their first little

  680. league game yesterday. So, we show up,

  681. there must be thousands of people at the

  682. Hardiesville Fields. And a lot of the

  683. kid first game, right, the little kids,

  684. six, seven years old, they're all

  685. nervous and I don't know what to do

  686. until dad shows up. Dad's behind the

  687. batting cage. All of a sudden, the

  688. seven-year-old thinks he's he's been

  689. just been inducted to the Hall of Fame.

  690. He walks up twirling the bat. Watch the

  691. one kid said, "Watch this, Dad. I'm

  692. going to nuke it." Yeah.

  693. And dad being there kind of makes all

  694. the difference, doesn't it?

  695. Well, our heavenly father being I'm the

  696. present and I'm the He's always with

  697. you. Always. Well, there's kind of an

  698. upside and downside there. Always with

  699. you. He sees what you're doing, but also

  700. always with you to protect you, take

  701. care of you. We're safe. Isn't it a

  702. maybe one of the most sobering days of

  703. your life is the day you realize that uh

  704. your father can't fix all your hurts,

  705. can he?

  706. And your father can't make all the

  707. problems go away,

  708. but your heavenly father can. There's no

  709. problem beyond his ability, no situation

  710. he can't handle. He's your dad. Intimacy

  711. and safety. Well, there's one more, and

  712. that's community. Somebody, yeah, I knew

  713. you were going to get here, Charles. I

  714. comm Well, if God's our father and we're

  715. sons and daughters of God through Jesus,

  716. that means we're brothers and sisters.

  717. Um, you don't always like your siblings,

  718. right? But they're blood.

  719. Now,

  720. most of you in this room are parents.

  721. And so, let me uh at least mention a

  722. hypothetical situation that you probably

  723. have never experienced, but in my

  724. wildest imagination, I can think of

  725. something like this happening with

  726. little kids. Mom, he wore my shirt and

  727. didn't ask me. Dad, he took my iPad.

  728. Now, I can't get back to where I was.

  729. Mom, he wore my shoes. No, I didn't.

  730. Your feet stink. I don't want to wear

  731. your shoes. Mom, he's in my room

  732. messing. You've ever heard those

  733. conversations, right? I often wonder why

  734. the uh parent when I hear them or in my

  735. mind. Um I feel like the parent should

  736. walk in and say,

  737. "Your shirt,

  738. your iPad,

  739. you you own nothing. You don't have a

  740. job. You didn't pay for it. IT'S ALL MY

  741. STUFF. You know what? They're my shoes.

  742. That's my shirt. That's my iPad. And you

  743. know what? I'm lending it to you because

  744. I'm kind and gracious. I brought you in.

  745. I can take you out. It's my stuff.

  746. You ever

  747. wonder if God thinks like that?

  748. It's all my stuff. And you brothers and

  749. sisters down there fighting about yours

  750. and mine and hoarding. It's all mine.

  751. I've graciously given it to you. And

  752. here you are hoarding my stuff, acting

  753. like somehow you deserve it. Somehow you

  754. weren't. It's my stuff. And what pleases

  755. a parent more

  756. than siblings who lovingly share. I I

  757. know. Imagine that, right? In your

  758. wildest dreams, it may happen. They

  759. share. They generously give. They help

  760. each other. If that pleases you as a

  761. parent,

  762. that's got to please God as our father.

  763. So this whole sunship thing, preceding

  764. ministry,

  765. not just an exercise in understanding of

  766. cool principles from the beginning of

  767. Luke,

  768. it's all about intimacy with the King of

  769. Kings. 247

  770. access.

  771. Make yourself available today.

  772. safety.

  773. You can trust God to take care of your

  774. schedule, take care of your bank

  775. account. Okay? You can trust him. Again,

  776. he gives us a part to play. You can

  777. trust him with all that. Oh, yeah. In

  778. community, why don't we stop hoarding

  779. and start lovingly sharing, being

  780. generous with our brothers and sisters.

  781. Sunship precedes ministry. out of the

  782. well of all that we have through Christ

  783. now live as sons and daughters of God

  784. through him. That's kind of the whole

  785. message of Luke in like 30 minutes.

  786. That's not bad, right? Let's pray.

  787. Father, we give you thanks for all the

  788. work that Luke did. We're not exactly

  789. sure about the hours he sat down with

  790. the eyewitnesses. We're not sure about

  791. the headaches he may have gotten or the

  792. problems he may have experienced putting

  793. it together, wrestling over words,

  794. allowing your spirit to move and maybe

  795. erasing some things that he put

  796. together.

  797. But Lord, we're thankful for what the

  798. spirit energized him to write

  799. because he tells us what and why.

  800. Most importantly, he tells us who. Lord,

  801. help us to view the Bible accurately.

  802. just a container.

  803. You only need the container to deliver

  804. the contents. But without the container,

  805. he can't get the contents. The point and

  806. the purpose is Jesus. Lord, help us to

  807. uh see him more clearly, follow him more

  808. closely, and may this fall be a really

  809. key step in that whole process. We pray

  810. in his name. Amen.