Luke 5:1-16 - Catching Grace

You are listening to a message from Southwood Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama.

Our passion is to experience and express grace. Join us.

I'm going to ask you all to bear with me this morning.

Will just brought me the sheet of what I'm supposed to say,

so I didn't have a chance to review it before he wrote it for me.

If you have a Bible, open it to Luke chapter 5.

Luke 5 · chapter mention

We're going to be back in Luke this morning after the helpful sermon last week,

the recap from Will of Daniel.

It helped to settle my heart.

I hope to settle some of your hearts as well, going into the election time last week.

Feeling a little weighed down this morning,

and I can't help but be impacted by the beginning of this service

in a way I'd like to suggest for you to be impacted,

because I think that it helps us look through this passage today.

And this has just kind of been an overwhelming idea of the glory of Christ

and how big he is.

And that's a lot of what this passage has to speak about today.

The glory of Jesus, the wonder of his eternal kingdom,

the action of our loving Father throughout history,

actual things that have happened to assure our salvation to us,

his redemption of all of creation.

I mean, this is big stuff, and this is what Luke is on about.

So as we get back into it, I hope that our eyes are that big,

and I hope that our hearts are open to hear what Dr. Luke tells us today.

And we'll start in chapter 5 with verse 1,

and we'll read all the way down through verse 16.

On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God,

he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret,

and he saw two boats by the lake,

but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets.

So he got into one of the boats, which was Simon's,

and he asked them to put out a little on the land,

and he sat down and taught the people from the boat.

And when he'd finished speaking, he said to Simon,

hey, go put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.

And Simon answered him,

Master, we've toiled all night and took nothing,

but at your word, I'll go and let down the nets.

When they'd done this, they enclosed a large number of fish,

and their nets were breaking.

They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them,

and they came and they filled both of the boats so that they began to sink.

And when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying,

Depart from me, for I'm a sinful man, O Lord.

For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they'd taken.

And also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon.

And Jesus said to Simon, don't be afraid.

From now on, you'll be catching men.

And when they'd brought their boats to the land,

they left everything and followed him.

And while he was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy.

When he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him,

Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.

And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying,

I will be clean.

And immediately the leprosy left him.

And he charged him to tell no one,

but go show yourself to the priest

and make an offering for your cleansing as Moses commanded for a proof to them.

But now, even more, the report about him went abroad,

and great crowds gathered to hear him

and to be healed of their infirmities.

But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.

Let's pray.

God, we're overwhelmed with the reality of your grace through your son, Jesus.

We pondered David earlier and his great sins against you

and against the kingdom of Israel and against Bathsheba and against Uriah.

And we identify with the weight of who we are,

the weight of what we bring to the table.

And Jesus came to this earth to make our eyes big

at the amount of grace you've shown throughout all of history,

chasing down your people,

chasing down your creation,

bringing it back to yourself.

So as we go through this text,

I pray that the words of my mouth,

the meditations of all of our hearts,

will be pleasing unto you.

And that we will know something more

of how much you love us

and how much grace we indeed receive

through your son, Jesus.

We pray this in his name

and for the sake of his kingdom.

Amen.

Anything interesting happen to you guys this week?

Anybody have anything maybe on Monday or Tuesday

that was impactful,

that caused you some trepidation

or some excitement or anything like that?

I'll share a story.

On Tuesday,

there's this big thing that happens

every once in a while.

It's our session meeting.

And I was so touched

by the men that lead this church.

Not just Will and sometimes Ron,

but the feeling in that room

of men who were broken

for the cause of Christ in the world,

for the name of our God

to be represented well.

And starting from that point,

not from a point of

any kind of self-gratification

or glorification,

that just shaped me

for the rest of the week.

And so,

I've had a pretty good week

in that way.

You know,

it's not often that you can serve

in a church

where the session is like together

and they love you

and they love God

and they really want to do

what's best.

So I was in a good place.

And I think that our current circumstances

often shape the way we look at

truth

and the way we look at

what God's doing in the world.

And so for me,

that's what Tuesday was.

For some other people,

which there was some laughter,

I didn't even know

I was that funny,

there was an election

on Tuesday.

That's all I have to say

about that.

I'm not speaking

because I had something funny

to say,

but I know it's not that funny.

So getting to this text,

I think that the way

we often approach life

and the way that we approach

the Bible

and the way we approach

scriptural truths,

we get together in small groups

and we pull our ignorance

or we get together

on the phone

and we're kind of

one-sided with somebody

or oppositional

with somebody else.

We're all coming from it

with this certain perspective.

If it hasn't occurred to us,

it hasn't occurred.

The situation that is shaping

my life right now

is the way everybody

should view and interpret

Luke 5

that we're going to go through

this morning.

And I think this passage

does a great job for us.

I was trying to figure out,

I had an illustration

that I worked on

in a PowerPoint for,

or not a PowerPoint,

an illustrator for about an hour

and then I lost it.

So I'm going to try to verbally

give the illustration.

And the best way

that I can summarize it,

I think that for all of us,

this passage is going to do

something well for us

to expand,

expand our thoughts of God,

expand what He's doing

in the world,

expand what He's done

in our hearts

through Christ.

And I think it's going

to also serve

to contract some of that.

And this is going to happen

simultaneously

at various places

throughout the passage

as we go through it.

And so the first place

that we're going to look

at things that will help us

expand and contract

our understanding

of this text

is in the call of Christ.

Christ,

as good Presbyterians

you might be,

or Reformed people,

you might be familiar

with the thought

of the effectual call.

Do you know

what the effectual call is?

It's that thing

that Jesus did

that made you believe.

And it's exactly

what it sounds like.

It was a call from Him

that affected

you coming to Him.

So I heard a pastor

display it this way once.

My wife is sick

of this illustration,

but I'm going to give it anyway.

He said,

imagine that you're

in your bed

and it's dark.

Maybe it's 2 a.m.

Your dog's not whimpering.

Your kids are asleep.

The lights are out

and you're deep,

deep and sound asleep.

And someone walks

into the room

and leans into your ear

and says,

wake up!

And you don't sit there

and consider to yourself

well.

I was sleeping.

Someone just yelled at me.

I think I'll go back to sleep.

No, you wake up.

Someone screaming in your ear

affects exactly

the response

that they're looking for.

And that's the reality

of the call

of Christ

in your heart

and my heart

and any believer's heart.

God's heart

and I think that

I think it's interesting

to consider that

because, you know,

do you believe?

Do you believe in Jesus?

Do you believe in him?

The Bible makes it

pretty simple

as far as

getting into heaven.

John 3.16

Believe.

He died for the whole world.

Believe.

Romans 3.22

Believe.

Romans 10.

Believe.

And a lot of times,

I mean,

I can explain to you

why you believe

through Ephesians 1,

through John 3.10,

through Romans 9,

right before Romans 10.

But do you believe?

And this gives us

a picture

in this passage

of several different

kinds of calls

that Jesus issues here.

First of all,

we have a group of people

sitting on the shore,

probably not too dissimilar

from what we're doing

this morning.

This guy has been

doing miracles.

He's interesting.

He's a good speaker.

Let's go down

to hear him talk.

And he did.

And they came closer.

His buddy Simon was there.

He just healed his mom

two weeks ago, right?

It was longer than that.

Put in Will's sermon

two weeks ago.

Pushed out in a boat.

And he's calling

these people,

faithfully preaching

the word,

preaching truth to them,

exposing who he is

to them.

Then there's a more

specific kind of call.

And I think that we can

identify with this one

as well.

And this is the one

that went to

the guys in the boat.

The first one's

more of a general call.

This is something

we might recognize

a little bit more.

You know,

the guys have just

gotten in.

You can imagine

it's the end of a work day.

They got nothing done.

They're not going to get

any money for their catch.

They spend a ton of time

in the water.

And this carpenter

who healed my mom,

I like him.

He's a good guy and all.

But he tells me,

you know,

you're talking

fisherman business now,

man.

We did this.

Worked my fingers

to the bone

all night long.

We didn't catch anything.

And then there was

still something in him,

in Peter,

that heard what Jesus

was saying

and said,

you know,

even though I've done

all I can

to control this situation

today,

tonight,

I'm going to go out

and do what he said.

I think that's a call

that we identify with

a little bit more

maybe in our lives

as we

tend to walk away

from

the reality

of Jesus doing things

for us

and trust and obey

for there's no other

way to be happy

in Jesus

than to trust and obey.

It's easy to say.

I'm going to stop

rhyming now.

But that's often

where we find ourselves.

Jesus,

thanks for getting me here.

I've done a lot of work,

though.

Thanks for healing my mom.

I've got it from here.

I'm going to take care of it.

We'll go out and work

and we'll do our thing

and I don't really need

to listen to you

as you tell me

to go back out

into the water

and fish again.

And then Jesus goes,

yeah, do it.

And you go,

okay,

yeah, do it.

That sounds good.

And this last call,

this third call

is the most poignant

and seemingly dramatic.

This leper,

broken,

ostracized,

outcast from society.

No hope for him

in life at all.

Can't get near people

in this society.

Lepers had to stay

a certain number

of paces away

from people.

And he knows

beyond a shadow

of a doubt

that if Jesus

wills for him

to be healed,

he can be healed.

More often than not,

we find ourselves

in that first group,

much like we are

this morning.

You probably have plans

already after today.

Some of you

are going to be lamenting.

Auburn and Clemson fans

are welcome to meet

at Pastor Will's house

to think about yesterday

and consider it together.

You're having dinner,

traveling back to where

you came from

if you're a visitor.

And we're thankful

and we're grateful

for this general call

that Christ continues

to give to us

where we can be fed

and we can be edified

by fellowship

and communion,

literally communion

and communion

with each other,

preached word,

getting to sing songs,

everything that goes along

with corporate worship.

This great thing.

Look to your right

and to your left.

Seriously,

look to your right

and to your left.

There's a good chance

these people feel

the way that you do.

They love Jesus.

They didn't come here

to sit in a bubble

and experience

this worship service

by themselves.

They came here

to be with you,

to worship their Savior

with you.

That's an awesome thing.

And it's great

that God gives us

this kind of call

in our lives

to be around each other.

That second call,

man,

that second call

is the one

I hate to hear about.

Over and over

in my life

I've learned that,

and I'm young,

I'm 35,

I'm young,

I understand that,

but over and over

in my life

I've learned

that I really try

to sort things out

and organize them

and get them just so

because God's given me

this so I should be

a good steward of it.

Right?

Is there anything

wrong with stewardship?

No,

there's nothing wrong

with stewardship.

It's a good thing.

But I begin to think

that,

you know,

God,

you gave me this,

I'll take care of this.

You go do the big stuff.

You go hang out

with the lepers.

I'm going to do this thing

in my life

that you've given me.

And God comes

and takes it from you

or it breaks down

because of the sin

of other people

in your life,

in your world.

And so we go

from these people

who are generally

happily going through life

receiving that general call

to those who are broken

and we get broken

by our own sin,

choices we make

actively against our spouse.

Will was discussing

something that I think

most parents can empathize with.

You know,

it's stressful

at the end of the night.

Why?

I have no idea.

If I could put my finger

on why it was stressful,

I would not be stressed

at the end of the night.

And then we sit there,

supposed to be

our representatives of Jesus

to our kids

and treat them

anything like

but that.

Our minds

our minds betray us.

Addictions,

depression,

awful,

awful realities

that are not

in our plans.

It's not supposed to be

what I'm doing.

And Jesus is there

calling us

in those moments

to saying,

rest on me

in that.

I know you've been

out working all night.

I know you think

you've got it.

And when you have nothing

and you're left with nothing,

you still have me.

And I think

both of these things

push us

down

to where this

contracts the most

on us.

Where

you probably remember

that time

if you're saved

in this room,

you remember

you remember that time

where you were broken

and you were brought

to your knees

at the reality

of who Jesus is.

How grievous

your sins are

against a holy God.

You stopped

comparing your sins

to those around you

and started comparing

yourself to the one

who created you

and it drives you

to your knees.

And you say

like Thomas

or like Peter,

my Lord,

my God,

only you can fix

this brokenness

that's in me.

I'm cast out.

I cheated on my wife.

I cheated on my husband.

My church has betrayed me.

I'm alone.

I'm ostracized.

I'm depressed.

Nobody knows it.

I have cancer.

I'm alone.

I'm alone.

My spouse

is no longer

in this world

and people have stopped

visiting me.

I'm alone.

And you're

broken in that place.

And you reach out

knowing that

Jesus,

if you just reach down

and touch me,

if you'll just do that.

Have you experienced

these calls?

Have you experienced that?

The rest of my sermon

doesn't really matter.

I'm not sure the rest

of this text makes sense

to you if you haven't.

That's why I started

with do you believe?

I want to implore you,

believe.

Belief is not

that fleeting thing

that you did once

when you walked

down the aisle

or when you prayed

the believer's prayer

with your parents.

Whether you're

seven years old

or you're

77 years old

in this room.

Belief is a

continual understanding

of who you've

been called by.

The continual call

on your life

and the continual

understanding that

if he didn't reach

down effectually

to touch you

and heal you,

there's nothing

to believe in.

So,

the call of Christ

is one way

that we see him

do this today.

And the understanding

of the call of Christ

begins to

contract that reality

for us.

What he's doing

in men.

Even as it begins

to expand

our understanding

of what he's

doing in the world.

So,

the next thing

we would want to do

is understand

the care of Christ.

And I think that's

number two.

I think that's

full disclosure,

I was going to leave

blank underlines there

to be more like Will

and I actively chose

against them.

The care of Christ

is the second way

that this passage

shows us.

We actually see it

in the same breakdowns

as I used

for the call of Christ.

These people

who are there

in Luke 5,

1 through 3

on the shores,

he cares for them.

They're pressing in

on him.

He's tired.

He's been teaching

in the synagogues.

He's been healing people.

They won't leave him alone.

They're everywhere.

And they're pressing

in on him.

I lived at the beach.

That was my only image

in my mind.

I know this is less

of a beach scene

and more of a bay scene

or a lake scene.

But can you imagine

just people wanting

to be around you

that much

and want to hear

what you say?

And I don't know

if he had one of those

big, booming preacher voices

that could carry over

an entire beach.

But chances are

if the crowd

is of any substantial size,

they were pressing in

on trying to hear

and that can get,

man, your back's

against the water.

What's going to happen?

And I see my buddy Peter

and I say,

hey man,

let me get out

in your boat.

And he takes the time

to think through

how can I communicate

with them?

How can I be there

for them?

How can I continue

issuing this truth

to them?

Who cared for them?

A little thing like that

to continue being able

to speak to them

so that more could hear him

and maybe he could finish

what he had to say.

And for that same group,

I asked Will about it

this morning.

There's nothing really

substantial theologically

to this,

but it's a fair thought.

When Peter and James

and John left

everything in the boats

after they had just

caught a ton of fish,

well, something happened

to those fish.

They probably didn't sit

in the boats and rot.

So maybe that's

another subtle way

that he cared

for those people

who provided food for him

after they hung out

and listened to him.

Again, that's not

word of God.

That was word of Peter.

And then we see

these guys,

Peter, James, and John.

Peter, always at the forefront

putting his foot

in his mouth.

I can identify with this.

I wish my parents

had named me something else.

He says,

hey man,

you don't know

what you're doing.

And Jesus said,

yeah, go out

and do it anyway.

Can you imagine

imagine the,

what would you have done?

I keep thinking

I would have like

cut my nets,

gone into shore

and been like,

whatever,

whatever you're doing,

I'm doing,

just tell me where we're going.

But Jesus let them

experience the joy

of their work,

simply,

pulling in a big hall.

But he had called them

to be something more

than just fisher men,

as we see later

in that passage.

He called them to be

fishers of men.

You're going to be

catching men.

And he was preparing them

to understand

what following him

was going to be like.

Because they knew

about the miracles.

They'd seen them.

Peter had seen one

firsthand.

And he was caring

for them enough

to show them,

look,

this is you too.

And you're going to be

my inner circle

and come with me.

And they did.

And he led them to lepers.

We'll talk about that

more in a minute.

Then he goes to the leper.

And the care for the leper

seems obvious, right?

Jesus,

the great rabbi,

this one who's healing

and teaching people,

reaches down

and touches this guy

who's not supposed

to be anywhere near him.

That's not supposed

to be how this worked.

Will lepers stay over

in their leper column?

And this could have

been anything back then

from psoriasis

to Robin Hood,

Prince of Thieves,

where you lost your ear,

my love.

Did I just date myself

with Robin Hood men?

Anyway.

And Jesus does that.

That's simple care.

The thing I,

it's interesting

that we lose in this,

and Mark has a little bit

different take on this,

but Jesus takes care

of the guy

to make sure

he knows how to properly

get back into society.

in society.

Because it would have been

easy for the dude,

and we've seen Jesus

saying to them

over and over again,

he's been shutting demons up.

He's been telling

his disciples,

don't say that I'm the Christ

for his purposes

and his time.

And it would have been

easier for him,

or for this guy,

to jump up and be like,

whoa,

Jesus cast a demon

out of me.

This whole system

we have of Levitical stuff,

that's going away.

I can see it.

Can you believe

what this guy did to me?

And Jesus is really

careful to say,

hey,

go back to them

and show them

so that you can

satisfy the law.

You can be cleared

by the priests

who are the only people

who can tell you

that you're clean

and properly put you

back into society.

We need to take

great care of him

to show him that

and to do something

little like that.

So, I mean,

it was this physical need,

but it was this need

that the guy probably

was not even thinking about.

And again,

I mean,

this is the kind of care

that he shows

to you and I.

And it expands

our view of care

a little bit

when we think about

this thing

that you struggle

to do

and get up

and get to church

by 10.30.

If you're under

the age of 20,

you know I just spoke

a real truth to you.

This thing of getting up

and going to church

means something.

You're communing

with believers.

You're hearing

God's word preached.

You're seeing all

of those kind of things

that mean something.

There's something

of God's care

in that for you.

And we can approach it

with more of a sense

of joy

than we have to

with a sense of work.

My wife

is my superhero

in so many ways.

The devil led us

to get a dog yesterday.

And so,

in getting four,

buddy,

I'm just kidding.

I love the dog.

It was always amazing

to me

that I would just

get up and do

my own thing

on Sunday mornings

because you get here

and got to work

and all that kind of stuff.

And she somehow

gets four boys

under the age of 10

out of bed,

clean,

dressed,

teeth brushed.

A couple of weeks ago

she put an Instagram

photo up

that I was going,

man,

I can't,

that happened at my house.

That is amazing.

So she's a superhero

for that.

And all of us

have that kind of thing

whether it's

sleep or children

or tough things

at work.

A lot of us

get paid

to do way more

than we can possibly

fit into 50 hours

or 60 hours

in a week

that most of us work.

There's plenty

of reasons

not to come here.

And yet,

this is something

that shows

Christ's care

for his church.

The church that,

there's a little bit

of politics for you.

The church that existed

before the American

experiment began.

The church that will

exist long after

the American experiment.

I mean,

well,

Lord Jesus,

come now.

Save you all

from the rest

of my sermon

and that would be

an awesome thing

for all of us.

But generally speaking,

the Lord tarries.

This is what

he's given us.

This is what

he's given us.

This is the care

he's given us

generally.

And it's awesome

that it doesn't matter

how you feel

coming in.

Because we're all here

with that stuff.

We're here with parents

who are needing

way too much care

from us.

That's unfair.

Children who are

making terrible decisions.

Loneliness.

It's all here.

It's all around you.

You look to your left

and to your right again.

And these are people

who identify

with you

not only in

how much

God has called them

specifically

and their need

for a savior

but also in

life didn't stop

because of that.

Sin didn't stop

because of that.

Unexplainable things

didn't stop

because of that.

You know,

our understanding

is not any kind

of precondition

to faithfulness.

we don't always

know what God's

on about.

We want to

but we don't.

And this is a place

where you get to come

and be beside people

in your brokenness,

in that lowly state,

in the state

of just kind of

being here.

That's a great care

for God's people.

And for these guys

who are

sowing their nets

after a bad catch.

I mean,

if you're a salesman

and you've had a dry spell

for the last three weeks,

no sale,

no money.

Some of your jobs

are impacted

by a presidential change

and potential change

in policy.

That's very real.

You've worked

and organized

your time

in such a way

that your career

is headed

on this trajectory

and all of that

could be up in the air.

Some of us

just make bad decisions

at work

and we finally

got caught for them.

and we planned

not on getting caught.

And Jesus

meets us there

and shows us

his care for us

by saying,

yeah, but

you move forward

because you're

one of mine.

The things

that I've called you

to do

are because

of my reasons

and you can't see

that there is

a giant catch

out there.

I'm not necessarily

talking about

men

but I'm talking

about the reality

of what God

has set in motion

to happen

and that

our role

sometimes

is just to get

in the boat

and go out

and let down

the nets.

Whatever that looks like.

That short bit

of momentary

faithfulness.

God cares

for you enough.

Jesus cares

for you enough

that he's still

orchestrating

those things

in spite of

our desire

to control

and desire

to basically

tell him

you don't

really know

what's going

on with me

because the last

time I trusted

you

I had

nine businesses

go under

because you

had

told me

things were

going to go

a certain way

and I had

really aligned

my life

that way

and then

none of it

worked out.

That's a personal

story for me

and in spite

of my lack

of understanding

and the

place that I

was kind of

brought low

to

I was really

just rebelling

against my own

desire to control.

God didn't know

what he was doing

because if he knew

what he was doing

my 5, 10,

and 15 year plan

would still

be happening.

My investment

broker

would still

know my

first name.

That was my

plan.

That wasn't

God's plan.

And God

wants to

satisfy us.

But I guess

it's John Piper

that says that

we're most

satisfied in life

when we're

satisfied in him

because he's

doing things.

He cares for us

and we think

we know everything.

We're like

petulant

two-year-olds.

I want my

lollipop before

bed.

I want it.

You've already

brushed your teeth.

Sometimes we get

a specific answer

like that.

Sometimes we don't

know the answer

but we just have

to trust

that God is

really doing

what he's

supposed to.

George Mayer

and I were

talking about

this after

Sunday school

a few minutes

ago.

Where does

our view

of God

as this

abusive

father

come from?

and I

think I can

identify it

in my

own heart

and I

think that I

turn around

and project

that on him

even though the

Bible is nothing

but a story

of how much

he loves

and cares

for us

enough that

he sent

his son

who he was

in perfect

relationship

with.

If you have

a child

if you have

a dog

that you

love

if you

have a

cat

that you

love

you can't

imagine

sacrificing

that thing

for much

and imagine

if there was

none of that

brokenness

and sin

in your

relationship

there was

perfect

intimacy

that's the

reality

of what

Christ sent

what Christ

being sent

to us

is

and we

think that

somehow

our bad

decisions

are what

are driving

God's

love for

us

when God

is on

about this

work in

the world

that has

everything to

do with us

and has

nothing to

do with

us

it contracts

all the way

to you

and it

expands

into places

that are

amazing

and that's

the third

place

third thing

I think

we can see

from this

passage

Jesus

shows us

something

really unique

here

we're

going to

get to

the third

point

in a

second

I like

this

because

he

he

talks

about

what

he

does

in

516

he

withdraws

to

desolate

places

and pray

and this

is setting

up the

third

point

Jesus

needs

that

intimacy

with

his

father

and this

is something

he's showing

to us

about the

way that

we commune

with God

in our

need for

prayer

because our

prayer so

often starts

out with

God

I've got a

chance to

sell four

fire trucks

today

I really want

this deal to

go through

it would be

awesome for

me and

Sarah and

the kids

and please

make it

happen

or

God I've

got to

preach this

morning

I hope

I don't

sound like

an idiot

please

fill in

the blank

of how

our prayers

start that

way

God I

just

I know

my kid's

been out

drinking

all weekend

and I

can't

figure out

how I'm

going to

talk to

him about

this

or her

about

this

God

my

mom

turned

the heater

up to

80

for no

apparent

reason

again

and mixed

all of

her pills

up

and turned

the oven

on

and then

she was

laying

underneath

of the

couch

on the

porch

even

though she

can barely

get up

and that

was even

before I

had to

start talking

to her

and trying

to get

through that

line of

communication

you know

we pray

about

things

so

centered

on us

that

we

forget

about

Christ's

call on

our hearts

and we

forget about

the care

that he's

actually

showing

us

and promised

to show

us

in these

situations

and we

forget

about

his

cause

in the

world

because

our

minutia

and that's

point three

go ahead

Blake

the minutia

in our

lives

are so

big

and so

real to

us

and I

said that

very

specifically

I said

minutia

because

as

the cause

of Christ

is expanding

in our

minds

it feels

like

what's

going on

with me

must not

really matter

that much

in the

grand scheme

of things

but the

reality is

that Christ

cares so

much

that he

pursues

even us

in those

moments

for you

to know

that he's

there with

you

that he's

experienced

every kind

of temptation

and every

kind of

brokenness

and that

little thing

that you're

dealing with

matters to

him

it matters

to him

because he

loves you

it matters

to him

because he's

on about

this huge

work in

the world

what did he

come to do

we've seen

it earlier

here in

Luke

a couple

weeks ago

I must

preach the

good news

of the

kingdom of

God in

other towns

as well

because I

was sent

for this

remember what

the angel

said to

Mary

he'll be

great

and he'll

be called

the son of

the most

high

and the

Lord God

will give

him the

throne of

his father

David

and he'll

reign over

the house

of Jacob

forever

and of

his kingdom

there will

be no

end

and then

he read a

prophecy

and then

said it was

about him

in Luke

4 as well

go to the

next slide

Blake

the spirit

the spirit

of the Lord

is upon

me

to proclaim

good news

to the

poor

he sent

me to

proclaim

liberty

to the

captives

to recover

the sight

of the

blind

and to

set at

liberty

those who

are

oppressed

to proclaim

the year

of the

Lord's

favor

that's his

messianic

understanding

of himself

this is

Christ's

cause in

the world

to be as

big as

the king

of everything

and be

the one

that walks

to you

and says

I love

you

I'm

going to

free you

from this

I'm

going to

put you

in right

communion

with your

father

the

linchpin

of all

of biblical

history

God promised

Abraham

he was

going to

make his

people

into a

great

nation

and they

would

bless

the

world

they

probably

had a

different

idea

of what

that

might

look

like

also

you

look

through

their

history

adulterous

kings

bad

judges

whole

generations

of people

who turned

their back

on God

despite a

few who

wanted to

keep the

covenant

Deuteronomy

talks about

the same

thing

the people

of God

I'm

going to

make a

blessing

to the

nations

we

can't

do

it

we

failed

every

step

of the

way

but

God

kept

his

promise

in

Christ

to

you

individually

he's

keeping

it

to

the

world

that's

that's

the

scope

of

what

Jesus

is

on

we

talked

about

communion

in

senior

high

Sunday

school

today

how

important

is

this

table

how

incredible

is

this

table

the

call

of

Christ

on

your

heart

making

you

a

believer

has

more

to

do

with

your

understanding

of

his

mission

in

the

world

we

talk

about

faithfulness

and

not

sinning

the

mortification

of the

flesh

is the

way

that

Paul

words

it

and

we

get

bogged

down

in

this

idea

that

God

wants

us

walking

on

our

knees

up

the

stairs

and

flogging

ourselves