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LUKE SERIES: CHAPTER 4- THE PROCESS OF BECOMING INTRODUCTION It’s a powerful thing we do from the moment we can put two thoughts together… making decisions… life-shaping decisions; conscious and unconscious. What will be the driving force in my life; personal ambition, security, acceptance, wealth, integrity, truth? What am I willing to do to get it? Anything? Nothing?
We teach our children, we must live with the consequences of our decisions. But in fact; it is even more than that. –How so? Let me tell you the story of Jesus in the desert.
The Judean wilderness is a patch of land thirty-five by fifteen miles. It is hot and jagged with steep foreboding cliffs. It’s a lonely place with absolutely no redeeming qualities. To this day, a person would be hard pressed to find any good reason to go there.
But there is Jesus, caked in sweat and dust; starving, thirsty… what’s He doing there?
There are a few times in a life, we are brought to a place of crisis- a “desert”, if you will. It may be a place of sickness, personal loss, or simply a cross-road that offers very different paths in life. It may be a place that seems to have no redeeming qualities… no silver lining in the cloud. But that’s the very place where the most profound transition may take place in your life. Everything is stripped away accept the most basic decision: How you are going to live. And your decision will produce more than consequences; it will shape who you are.
To understand Jesus in the desert, we need to understand what He is. Orthodox theology teaches us Jesus was fully God and fully man. The God side never changes. But the essence of being human; is change. From the moment we are born we are changing. Life is a perpetual process of becoming something; becoming more mature, becoming a parent, becoming wiser, becoming evil… becoming weaker, becoming stronger… becoming something.
So how could Jesus be fully, God who never changes, and man who continually changes? It’s very important we get this: Orthodox theology also teaches that Jesus set aside His Godly powers while He walked this earth. He was like a king who set aside His crown, and put on common clothes to walk among His people and live like they do. His is still king, but He has set aside, for a time, His royal powers. And that’s where the whole focus of decisions comes in.
The man, Jesus, was going into His own personal “hot seat.” He was going face to face with decisions that would determine what kind of man He would be. And He would not be the same person coming out as He was going in.
How did the desert change Him? Here’s a clue: The desert scene opens and ends with the same two characters- Jesus and the Holy Spirit. This is how Jesus enters the desert: Luke 4 1. Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,
Here’s a quick look at two key words: He was “filled” pleres (pronounced play'-race) in the original meaning: replete, or covered over
He was “led”- ago (pronounced ag'-o) meaning: to lead; to bring, drive, induce, to carry Here’s a mental picture we can draw: Jesus was covered over- influenced by the Holy Spirit and was compelled to go into the desert. There’s connection, but there’s a kind of external quality.
Verse 14 tells us how He came out of His desert: 14. Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit
Again, two key words: “In”- en which is: denoting (fixed) position (in- place, time or state). -In other words it deals with the inner nature of a person.
“Power”- dunamis- in the original meaning- ability, strength, mighty work.
In His human essence, there was a mighty work done in Jesus, a strength and ability that has not been mentioned up to this point in His life. He has become something more.
Jesus went into that “hotseat”… led by… He came out… in the power of… He went in an ordinary man in the human sense. For thirty years, the most extraordinary thing we are told about Jesus was the Temple at age 12. And that wasn’t all that extraordinary- it was common tradition to sit and discuss with the rabbis after Bar Mitzvah. It’s a misunderstanding to think Jesus was teaching the rabbis, at 12; his passion was a foreshadow of things to come.
Humanly speaking; we can see that it was only after the desert that Jesus became something new. It’s indicated by the way people reacted to Him: 22. So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, "Is this not Joseph's son?''
“Isn’t this that ordinary Joe next door? Where did all this power and authority come from?”
He went into His desert in weakness- 40 days, fasting in that heat. It’s a physiological certainty- he had to be very close to death. It was an experience of human frailty.
Obviously, the Christ is beyond ordinary humanity; that is the Savior’s message. But there is a flip side- there is a part, so much just like us, that He is also- an example. -An example of what it means to be perfectly human.
He did everything by the power of the Spirit, and the authority of the Father. Jesus illustrated for us what it looks like when human nature becomes melded with God’s nature. There’s a change; we BECOME something else.
What’s the message of the “desert change”? Even Christ had to become something in order to carry out His purpose in this world.
The onetime event of “getting saved” is not the real goal of Scriptural Christianity -not by a long shot. Scriptural Christianity is being engaged in this process of “becoming” something. –Becoming what?
The translation of the word tells it all. “Christian” means “little Christ.” Ever see a miniature working model? It may be tiny, but its nature and mode of operation is just like the full scale version. You and I are called to become like “the full scale version.”
What’s the process of “becoming?” We can start by looking at how Jesus, Joseph’s son became Jesus, the Christ.
#3 THE “DESERT CHANGE” IS A PROCESS
· Jesus was led- Change starts with a decision. He decided to follow. · Jesus left the Jordon River, and went into the barren wastelands. He didn’t put it off; He didn’t avoid it. He went nose to nose with questions of who He was going to be in His humanity. He engaged His decision.
For forty days- He wrestled in the depths of decision, but all the while, a change was taking place inside. Here’s something to remember in our culture of instant gratification… and instant Christianity. Real change… the process of becoming- takes time. As a matter of fact, it takes a lifetime.
· But as we become more like Christ, it is natural we begin to live more like Christ- The same connection, the same things turn us on; the same response to life. It isn’t drudgery or a duty, it is simply who we are.
The process of becoming “little Christs” is a cycle; over and over- life event, decision, act on it, live it- change- life event, decide, act on it, live it- change.
There’s no doubt- the wilderness is a dangerous place. The loss of a loved one or physical loss, or some other “desert” in life- It is as much a temptation to dry up inside as it is to blossom through the wreckage.
In the desert, the temptations of Satan were geared to corrupt the Messiah. But the truth is; we all face the same nature of questions- How are we going to eat? Even if we have noble goals; how are we going to meet them? How are we going to find security and power in what we believe… who is boss?
The questions are so compelling because they are legitimate. We have to answer them. In the desert, Satan used the ultimate hook… and then he used the ultimate bait… “I have an easy way; an instant way.”
He’d take care of it all, and Jesus wouldn’t even have to change. …And it would seem to work… at least for a while.
But the purpose of the desert wasn’t about doing anything. It was about Jesus becoming what He needed to become; so He could truly do what He was here to do.
In the desert, Jesus made three decisions that established His humanity: · Jesus decided- The most important need in life is not physical. · Jesus decided- Life has purpose; but the means don’t justify the ends. · Jesus decided- There is no security in following a wise God in a foolish way. He decided; He acted; He lived it. –Does that principle carry weight in our lives, still, today?
Recently, I heard of an interesting study on what practices truly impact a Christian life. It was based around three basic focuses: 1. Consistent church attendance; 2. Attendance in a small group; 3. Actively using your personal gifts in Christian service
Through a series of questions, they quantified the positive impact on a person who was doing it, and negative impact in a life, for not doing it. · Getting together in Small groups had a surprisingly high impact · People in active service just blew them away on the level of impact · But service attendance, alone, came up with an affect of zero… zero impact on life, on becoming. It is not that church services are useless- but they are only the call to decisions. -Interactive places like Sunday school, small groups, meeting in the home, your personal time with God- that is where we act and begin wrestling with the decisions. …Missions, outreach, your workplace, your home, in your recreation time- that’s where we live our decisions. We become our decisions.
Is there a problem with “becoming” at Canaan? We just need to ask ourselves; is every person naturally engaged with the gifts and talents God has given them? - Just to put a practical face on it; does AWANA, Alpha, outreach, driving ministry, advertising, mentoring, music, technical support, church offices, greeter ministry, children’s ministry, missions, even the nuts and bolts stuff have all the help they need?
The great news of the Gospel is what you and I can “become.” What we do, where we ultimately go in eternity, is simply an extension of what we are becoming right now.
Deserts come in all sizes and levels of heat, what they have in common are the decisions. What have you decided to “become?”
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