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LUKE SERIES: CHAPTER 5- THE PROCESS OF BECOMING CHRIST INTRODUCTION: As chapter 5 unfolds; the impact of Christ’s life moves into high gear. Last week we were reminded that the word “Christian” means “little Christ.” So the question becomes personal: How does a life that was the ordinary guy next door suddenly become a life of great impact? Luke 5 1. Now so it was, as the multitude pressed about Him to hear the word of God, that He stood by the Lake of Gennesaret,
Isn’t that interesting! It began with “church on the Lake.” Jesus started by preaching in the synagogue, and He faithfully returns to the synagogue. But, the real impact begins when He steps out of the religious bubble of the building and engages the outside world where it is.
But what an overwhelming task! An occupied country, corruption, disease, death and suffering were everywhere. Life was a meat-grinder; what, qualities in Christ equip Him to overcome such darkness? …Here’s what chapter 5 reveals: 4. Now when He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, "Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.'' … 6. And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking.
· Christ-eyes see what is before them- The first great miracle in Luke; is the fish. Here’s a basic question: Were the fish already there, or did Jesus create them?
If you’ll pardon the pun, there are two schools of thought: 1. Jesus suspended the basic laws of nature and instantly created full-grown fish. 2. There are many shoals around the edge of that lake, and the fish become densely packed in those areas. The miracle was not instant creation, but the miracle of inspired eyes. Seeing what was already there.
At first, it may seem that option 2 diminishes the power of Christ. But if God must continually suspend his own laws to make His plans work, it simply makes Him an all-powerful cheater. –Just hit the reset button!
If instead, God had engineered all the circumstances of nature, from way back in time, to result in that school of fish being there at that particular moment; wouldn’t that require an even greater work of God?
Then the real miracle was the empowerment of Jesus to see what was already there. –To be so in tune with the Father, He saw what no one else was seeing.
Every day, in the world around us, God is weaving His perfect plan in the natural course of things. Real power is to have eyes that see what natural eyes cannot see on their own. No matter what the circumstances, we don’t have to lose heart or direction, because we’d see where God was working. We simply need to join Him.
That is not to say God doesn’t directly intervene. There are miracles beyond nature. In fact, every person saved is a supernatural act. But the vast majority of God’s work; is through His creation. So, one of the greatest capacities we can have as “little Christs” are Christ-eyes that see what is already there.
So, with inspired vision, Jesus went on to engage the broad spectrum of humanity. And here is the very first person mentioned in Luke 5: 12. And it happened when He was in a certain city, that behold, a man who was full of leprosy saw Jesus; and he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.'' 13. Then He put out His hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing; be cleansed.'' And immediately the leprosy left him.
· The Christ-heart reaches to the unlovable Of all humanity, why this person? …Leprosy is a strange disease. There is as much mental impact to the disease as there is physical. To be a leper, is to be isolated from the rest of humanity. At the time, it was law; you must call out “unclean” as you approach other people. (Imagine what that would do for your esteem.)
It was believed, such a horrible disease, was the result of horrible sin. So there was guilt on top of the loathing. You were shunned by everyone until you began to detest yourself.
What do you think the message is here? The very first person Jesus comes upon is so unlovable, he even hates himself. The clue lies in a few key words. The leper wasn’t concerned with what Jesus could do. His issue was “if you are willing,” that was the question.
And the answer was “I am willing.” Then He touched the unlovable.
-What a challenge to anyone striving to be “little Christ!” A top priority of God’s business is to touch those seen as impossible to love. And the question isn’t; can we do anything to help; it is “are we willing.”
· Christ-hands are your hands The story of the second person goes like this: 18. Then behold, men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed. And they sought to bring him in and lay him before Him. 19. And when they could not find how they might bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the housetop and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst before Jesus.
Let’s ask another basic question: Who saved this paralyzed man? -Jesus, yes… but only Jesus? What about the friends who broke through to Jesus? They carried a friend who could not carry himself.
William Barclay writes: When Augustine was living a reckless and immoral life his devout mother came to ask the help of a Christian bishop. "It is impossible," he said, "that the child of such prayers and tears should perish."
Parents; grandparents, friends; people who have been changed in “the desert” of chapter 4, live that change in front of others. Every one of us owes someone else. God works through human connection; person to person.
· The Christ-voice calls to the sick, not the healthy What implications for us! Churches naturally look for the most promising, the respectable, and those already on our wavelength. It’s only natural. That makes running a church easier. But churches aren’t meant to be natural; they are meant to be supernatural. And when churches resort to the easy and natural ways; they don’t really grow, they just cannibalize other churches. Failing to realize why we’re here is an age-old mistake:
30. But their scribes and the Pharisees murmured against His disciples, saying, "Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?'' 31. And Jesus answered and said to them, "Those who are well do not need a physician, but those who are sick. 32. "I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.'' -The powerless, the jaded, the deluded, the hopeless, the hostile… how can we impact that world? However we do it; it involves the next quality of Christ…
· The Christ-mind is revolutionary 36. Then He spoke a parable to them: "No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old. 37. "And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined. 38. "But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved. 39. "And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, `The old is better.' ''
From the time of Christ- every great impact on the soul of humanity has come with a revolutionary way of seeing the ageless, unchanging truth. ü In a time when a culture prided itself in rigid law- Jesus said no, God is worshiped in spirit. You don’t do God’s Law, you become God’s vessel. ü Martin Luther- At a time when the church was seen as the means to salvation; he said; you are not saved by an institution; you are saved by Grace alone. ü In the early 1700’s, life in Britain and the American colonies were becoming very secular. God was growing distant. Then men like Jonathon Edwards and George Whitefield cried; you can have the spark of spiritual life. It comes through a personal relationship with God that you live. ü A. B. Simpson, Billy Graham other people through the centuries brought revival through fresh revolutions of Godly thinking. Brand new approaches.
Those revolutions didn’t devalue what had come before, they fulfilled it. They caused truth to resonate in that day. God is forever original! …Churches are filled with compassionate people who do want to reach into the world. The trouble is; they want to reach into the world of 1958! Whether we like it or not; it is not the world of 1958, or even 1998… it is 2008. We will resonate in this world as we think in revolutionary new ways of the Christ-mind.
But it is not change for the sake of change. Jesus says, it is “the old wine”; the spiritual spark for its time that matures, which is the best. There is balance.
· At the heart of every Christ revolution is joy, not judgment Right on the heels of Christ’s call to the sick, we have this interchange: 33. Then they said to Him, "Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink?'' 34. And He said to them, "Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? 35. "But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast in those days.''
Again; Jesus keeps things in balance. There will come days of fasting; days when spiritual growth comes through painful times. But the resounding note of Christ’s call is not judging a world filled with all kinds of terrible wrong. The call that carries high impact resounds with JOY. "These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.”
I believe this little clip is an allegory of what we are called to do. [PBS video] There is the next generation not running away, not pushed off by judgment; but chasing after- in joy.
CONCLUSION You know, we don’t have to live a life of weak faith; wondering if there’s really anything we can do. We don’t have to live with the sense that we can’t have any real impact. Christ, and a lot of “little Christs” after Him; engaged the world; they brought a fresh new wind, and they called with joy. –And the world was changed.
But we have to be willing to spend a little time in the desert of chapter four- facing our decisions; resolving to become what we need to become. Then we need to do what we are called to do, in the way we are called to do it.
That is right out of the Scriptural page of Christ. What we need to do is- get on that page?
INVITATION This morning- maybe you feel you could use a greater touch of Christ’s eyes, heart, hands and mind- why not pray for that touch? And ask for this reason; with that deeper touch, you resolve to be a greater impact. -Just like the Christ you hope in.
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