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 Luke 10:26-37: The abiding challenge of a familiar story.(please click here for todays passage)

Many things could be said about this well – known story, but I just want to highlight certain phrases that grabbed me by the lapels and clamoured for attention as I read them:

‘Now by chance…’ (21). As you go through your days, you will find people in your path who need help and you are given the opportunity to come alongside them. It may seem that they are there by chance. In the ordinary course of every day life you stumble across them. The larger truth is, though, that they are placed there by a higher providence. How you respond is a test of your faith. Genuine belief will roll up its sleeves and help. It shows itself in ‘compassion’ (33).

‘…passed by on the other side’ 31,32). Coming across need supplies a test and provides an opportunity. Not everyone takes the chance to serve. Whatever the reasons the priest and the Levite had for ignoring the casualty ( and maybe there was a legitimate fear of being mugged themselves), it is never right, surely, to put distance between yourself and a real need you can do something about.

‘…came to where he was…He went to him…and brought him…’ (33,34). This was the Christ-like thing that the Samaritan did. Even more so when you think that Jews and Samaritans were at odds. It would be natural for the Samaritan to see the Jew as an enemy. But the Samaritan’s approach was truly incarnational. He went to where the need was; he gave his time, his money and his energy. He gave himself! He put himself on the line. He served both at risk and cost to himself. That is something to admire here. But it’s got to be more than that. It needs to be something that we emulate.

‘…desiring to justify himself’ (29). There is something inside the fallen human heart that wants to get right with God in its own way, on its own terms and by its own resources. But the New Testament teaches that we can only be ‘justified’ ( declared right with God) through faith in Jesus. If we truly believe in Him we will show this in our good deeds. When we see wounded Samaritans in our pathway we will do what we can ( see Janes 2:14-26).

A few weeks ago, Jilly and I were walking to church in Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand. We saw that someone had collapsed near to the roadside, but as a number of people were surrounding her we didn’t go across. We had no sense that we were failing to be ‘good Samaritans’ because as far as we could see the need was being met, and we didn’t want to add to the crowd around that poor lady, and unwittingly cause further problems. But in the ‘Elim’ church that morning, a young man called Tim gave a sermon on this very passage – and an excellent piece of teaching it was too. Leaving church, just a block or so away, we passed a foreign young lady begging outside a local supermarket. This was different and Jilly knew we must do something. Bending down she asked, ‘Would you like anything to eat?’ Immediately our new friend said.’A meat and potato pie!!’ Methinks she may have been asked this question before! We were easily able to buy one, and as Jilly put it into her hands she told her of One who loved her more than anyone else could.

Look out for people in your path today who may need a ride on your donkey, their wounds tending and possibly a bit of cash spending on them. It might be little more than the price of a pie and a word about the love of God.

Prayer: Make me more and more like you Lord Jesus. Help me to move towards human need and not distance and insulate myself from it. Help me to make a difference in someone’s life today.

Luke 10:21-24: The wonder of election.(please click here)

There is something here about praise (21). Jesus practised what He preached. In the ‘same hour’ in which He spoke to His disciples about rejoicing, he Himself did it. Don’t just tell others what to do, show them. Show and tell. Don’t be a hypocrite. Jesus was rejoicing ‘in the Holy Spirit’ ( and The Spirit is essential to a life of consciously experienced joy) about spiritual realities. That was what He had told His disciples to do. Be like Jesus: give people an example to follow and not just words to hear.

There is something here about perception (21b, 22). Spiritual perception; sight and insight and understanding come as a gift. There is a mystery to this. ‘ I know not how the Spirit moves convincing men of sin…’ But we know that He does. He is as uncontrollable, unpredictable and untameable as the wind. No human can fully explain the doctrine of election, but when Jesus opens your eyes, and reveals the Father to you, you can say, ‘Once I was blind, but now I see.’ You are often surprised by the people who get converted. They are not necessarily the most likely candidates in your book (21). Remember, though, God does not have to explain Himself to anyone. And whenever He acts He does so in grace (21b). No one can know Jesus; can know God without a miracle of divine illumination in their hearts.

There is something here about privilege (23, 24). Similar words are written in 1 Peter 1:10-12, and, of course, Peter heard Jesus say these words. So keep sowing good seeds into people. You never know what good might emerge in later years. Peter was listening and maybe he never forgot. But even if He did, at the right time the Holy Spirit reached into the depths of Peter’s memory and pulled these things to the surface.

Prayer: Lord, it is an undeserved privilege to know you. Thank you for opening my eyes. Now I see so clearly, and it’s all because of you.

 Luke 10:13-20: A sense of proportion.(please click for passage)

‘Knowing what we know, what will we do?’ Stephen Garber.

Knowledge brings responsibility.

As we saw yesterday it is a serious matter to reject Jesus. The greater the privilege, the greater the responsibility; with the entrance of light there goes the requirement to do something about it. In the Old Testament you can read about judgment falling on the cities of Tyre and Sidon. Jesus, being God, emphatically knew that those cities would have turned from their sin to the Lord if they had seen the things witnessed in Chorazin and Bethsaida; (see also verse 12).

So, this passage says,’the greater the light the greater the responsibility.’

But it also says, I believe, the more powerful and spectacular the ministry, the more important it is to maintain a proper perspective. On this mission, the ‘seventy-two’ exercised great authority. Mighty victories were won over the evil one. But Jesus said, ‘Remember what is truly important.’ So following all your excursions in Christian ministry, whatever form these may take, return (17) to the feet of Jesus – the One who sent you out- and regain a sense of proportion. What matters most is that you belong to God, and you will see His Face, and will move in ( or rather be moved in) to His house for all eternity. Preachers especially, but not exclusively, need to keep their feet on the ground.

Prayer: Father let me never lose the true joy of my salvation.

Luke 10:1-11: A pattern for evangelism.

Here are some principles of mission that will always be relevant:

a.) The priority of prayer (2): first they prayed, and then they went. But the ones who prayed were also the ones who were sent forth. Praying about evangelism is likely to get you fired up and give you even more of a heart for it. How seriously do you take the command of Jesus to pray for ‘labourers’ for the ‘plentiful’ harvest field? Prayer is indispensable for a powerful ministry. If we are going to ‘do the stuff’ as John Wimber put it (9); if we’re going to perform the miraculous works as well as speak the merciful words, then we must recognise the paramount importance of prayer, and this belief must not remain on the theoretical shelf, with all the other concepts we admire, but do nothing about. Jesus gives the authority to do His miracles, so walk with Him day by day; keep in His glorious company.

b.) The importance of team work (1). We need each other ( Ecclesiastes 4:9-12; Matthew 18:19, 20);

c.) The danger of our work (3): We operate in a war zone and cannot expect an easy life. The sergeant on  the 80’s television series ‘Hill Street Blues’, at the end of each morning’s briefing, used to say to his police squad about to go out onto the mean streets, ‘Hey, let’s be careful out there.’ As long as we live in this fallen, demon-infested world we will need both courage and wisdom in our kit bags;

d.) The Lord will provide (4): it remains the case that ‘God’s work done in God’s way will never lack God’s supply’;

e.) Mixed responses (5-12): Not everyone will respond positively, but know this – you can establish a base of operations with those who are responsive. Also it is a very serious matter for people to reject the gospel of Christ. This has never changed.

Prayer: ‘I am thine O Lord, I have heard thy voice, and it told thy love for me. But I long to rise in the arms of faith and be closer drawn to thee.’

Luke 9:57-62: ‘First’.(please click here for todays passage)

The first voice in this short section expresses a superficial, perhaps careless,                        ill-considered promise to follow Jesus. Do they really understand what they are getting into? It’s not been thought through.

In listening to the second and third voices we are brought face to face with the matter of priorities: Who or what comes first? Jesus does not encourage ‘easy-believism’; a shallow approach to follower-ship. We preachers should not do so either. Let would be disciples count the cost ( see 14:25-33). I am reminded that someone said, ‘Entrance to the Kingdom of God is free, but the annual subscription is all that you’ve got.’

Compare these words with the wonderful story of Elijah and the widow of Zarephath (1 Kings 17:8-16). Note especially Elijah’s words: ‘But first…’ (13), and see how God blessed her when her priorities were aligned with God’s (Matthew 6:33).

Prayer: Help me Lord to always put you first.

Luke 9:51-56: The ministry of tears.(please click here for todays passage)

I heard a leader ask, ‘Does good leadership walk away from a problem or towards it?’ I instinctively knew the answer, but was also aware in that moment of how much I feel the temptation to walk away from some things.

When you know that a difficult experience lies ahead, but you recognise that it must be part of God’s will for you, it is good to be resolute in determining to go through it, with His help. Set your face to ‘go to Jerusalem.’ Embrace the way of the cross. There is an unavoidable cost in Christian discipleship. Some things just have to be faced bravely; they cannot be avoided. You can’t fly over them; you have to go through them.

‘When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through the fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.’ Isaiah 43:2

And here’s another thing. Some Christians seem to be gung-ho about preaching hell and judgment. They seem to relish it. You can almost sense they are rubbing their hands together at the prospect.Theycan hardly wait to see people getting zapped; to watch fire falling on contemporary Samaritan villages. But one preacher said we should never speak about Hell except with tears in our eyes, and I rather find that I am drawn to his sentiments.

Prayer: ‘Some want to live within the sound of church or chapel bell; I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of Hell.’ C.T. Studd.

Luke 9:49,50: Be wary of criticism.(please click here for todays passage)

There are people doing good work for Jesus who do not belong to our particular sector of the church. Fancy that!

When the young, teenage, Spurgeon wrote home to tell his parents that he was going to be baptised by full immersion, his mother wrote him back to the effect that whereas she had prayed for his conversion she had not prayed that he would become a Baptist! (They were Congregational by affiliation). With his characteristic humour evident even then, Charles replied to the effect, ‘Ah mother, the Lord in His bounty has done far more than you could ask or think!!’

Writing in 1991 Dallas Willard said, ‘In previous times, to be a Protestant and to be a member of a particular Protestant denomination was a very serious matter. On occasion it had been, as history shows, a literal matter of life and death. People were persecuted and even killed over differences of denomination, and those of one denomination rarely held out much hope either for the moral decency or the eternal prospects of those from others. As late as the forties and fifties of this century, intermarriage was strongly discouraged and deep friendships rarely found across denominational lines’

Thankfully, he could go on to add, ‘In the sixties and seventies, by contrast, such attitudes effectively disappeared from the American scene…it is a fact that during the last two decades we experienced the complete trivialisation of sectarian dogmatism along denominational lines.’ (‘The spirit of the disciplines’, p21.)

The same thing can also be said of the UK. We recognise across the Bible-believing churches that we have much more in common than things that cause us to differ, and the differences tend to be about secondary matters.

Eugene Peterson writes about how for many years, in his town in Maryland, he was part of what he calls ‘the company of pastors’. They met in his study at 12 noon every Tuesday and came together to help and encourage each other in the pastoral task. Most of them were following the same lectionary, so they would talk together about the text for the following Sunday, and try to give help with exegesis and illustrations. They would discuss how to apply this Scripture passage to every aspect of their week.Not every minister in the town joined them, but many did. I understand that today, probably more than 40 years after its inception ( and long after Peterson moved on) the ‘company’ is still going. It sounds marvellous and something I would love to be part of. We have so much to learn from other believers of different stripes.

It remains the case of course that we have a duty to guard the gospel, and not compromise by our associations. But let’s be wary of judging others, and keep clear of dismissing people whose methods and views may differ from ours in some ways. God has the right to use people I don’t like; those I might disagree with. There are many doing good work for Jesus who don’t belong to my ‘church’. God bless them I say!

Remember this dictum: ‘In essentials – unity; in non- essentials – liberty; and in all things – charity.’

Prayer: Lord give me a big heart towards all who own you as Saviour and Lord, and a willingness to learn from all my brothers and sisters in Christ.

Luke 9:46-48: ‘The relentless smell of the self.'(please click for todays passage)

Yet again we see an expression of ‘the upside down kingdom’.

We can’t hide from Jesus; He sees and hears us.

People who follow Christ are called to be humble. ‘For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment…’ (Romans 12:3). ‘Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.’ (Philippians 2:2).

Here are three challenges from this short reading:

1. What is my attitude to status (48b)? Am I willing to take the lowest seat? (14:7-11). We have the example of Jesus ever before us (Philippians 2:1-11), and it teaches and rebukes and corrects us.

2. What is my attitude to children? Do I see their worth and value? Do I care for them, and listen to them and treat them with dignity? Do I welcome them and see Christ in them? (18:15-17). Do I regard the Sunday School as of less importance than the ‘main church service’?

3. What is my attitude toward others? (46). Is it one of unfavourable comparison; of competition? Do I feel myself to be in some way superior and want to be thought of in that way? What happened to the idea of all being on level ground before the cross? The irony is that the One who truly was ‘the greatest’ in that group made Himself least among them. But Jesus exemplifies God’s law of gravity, that ‘what goes down must come up’ ( see 1 Peter 5:5,6).

In his autobiography, ‘The Pastor’, Eugene Peterson describes how, at one time, two young people, ‘Sarah and Steve’, came to see him regularly to talk about what is involved in being a pastor. In one conversation he said this to them, ”You are at your pastoral best when you are not noticed. To keep this vocation healthy requires constant self-negation, getting out of the way. A certain blessed anonymity is inherent in pastoral work. For pastors, being noticed easily develops into wanting to be noticed. Many years earlier a pastoral friend told me that the pastoral ego ‘has the reek of disease about it, the relentless smell of the self.’ I’ve never forgotten that.”

Prayer: Lord I see that every Christian grace grows in the soil of humility. I hate my prideful egoism. Help me to humble myself under your mighty Hand.

Luke 9:43b-45: The centrality of the cross(please click here for todays passage)

In the previous section, a desperate man pleaded with Jesus for help for His son, calling the Lord, ‘Teacher’ (38). But the section ends with the words: ‘And all were astonished at the majesty of God.’ The Divinity of Jesus was revealed in His mighty works, and the next paragraph opens with, ‘But while they were all marvelling at everything he was doing…’ (43b). However, things took an unexpected turn, in spite of what Jesus had said earlier (21,22). The more they saw of Jesus’ miracles, possibly the more they thought of Him as the conquering Messiah who would evict the Romans once and for all, and bring in the final expression of God’s Kingdom there and then. But the fact was that Jesus was going to die in the next scene of the drama (44). The cross is central to Christianity and we should let the Bible’s words about it ‘sink into’ our ears (44).

There is a mystery to the workings of God in this world as He reveals His truth to people (45). But I am so glad to be able to say that although once I was blind, I now can see.

Prayer: Jesus keep me near the cross.