Luke 15:1…

If you’ve ever lost anything you know what Jesus is speaking of in Luke 15.

The thing is - you HAVE lost something. That’s the whole point. Jesus wants you to know

exactly how God feels about what He has lost.

If you had lost a sheep, what would you do? Of course you would seek after it to try to find it. The sheep has both monetary and emotional value to you. You would do everything you could to find that sheep. You might re-visit the places the sheep had preferred. You might go back to the water hole, and you would definitely search the dangerous pitfalls the sheep may have gone down into.

When even a single sheep is missing, it is a very uncomfortable feeling, and that lack of peace will not be resolved until you know what happened to that sheep.

How interesting Jesus referred to His followers as ‘sheep.’ How good to know if we wander, or fall into danger, Jesus is going to come looking for us.

Or perhaps as a woman you have lost an important piece of jewelry. This ‘coin’ Jesus refers to is one which you would have worn in a ten-piece head-dress at your wedding. How important to you that missing coin would be. You would search high and low, and you would involve the whole family in the search. That silver coin has value in and of itself, but knowing it is part of your marriage head-dress only increases its loss when it is missing.

How interesting Jesus’ followers are referred to as ‘the Bride of Christ.’

But how can God ‘lose’ anything? Doesn’t He know all and see all. Doesn’t He know exactly where the lost item can be found?

Well, what if the lost ‘item’ is lost on purpose? What if the lost item has left of its own accord, and doesn’t desire to be found? What if the lost item that is lost intentionally and doesn’t want to be found is your own son?

We learn more about the heart of God and how He feels for His children in this chapter than perhaps any other. Jesus wants it that way.

-Pastor Bill

Luke 14:1…

Consider the invitation.

Who invited you? What are you invited to? What are the expectations for your attendance? What is the dress code? What time should you be there? What do you expect to happen when you arrive?

All of these questions and more flood our minds when we receive an invitation. The questions usually have simple answers. (Generally speaking none of this is difficult to figure out.)

Our response is most often driven mostly by who the invitation is from. Is it a person we regard as important – or someone we don’t care much for?

Luke 14 is all about invitations. Jesus is demonstrating and indicating how God views our responses to His invitations to us…

Here we are in synagogue service, and Jesus scans the room and invites a man with dropsy to come forward. It is Sabbath. What will Jesus do? (Notice the man with dropsy does not hesitate to respond to Jesus’ invitation.) We could ask, “Why not?” but the answer is obvious.

On the other hand the lawyers and Pharisees don’t respond to Jesus’ invitation to be about the business of healing broken people on Sabbath. All the while they do respond to the invitation of the needs of their animals without regard to the day.

Jesus again uses healing on the Sabbath to demonstrate how far askew their opinion of God’s Law is. This is an invitation Jesus offers over and over again during the course of His ministry because inviting people to be healed is such an important part of God’s program – and God hates it when His program is misrepresented by men invited by Satan to not do what God desires.

The point Jesus so vividly demonstrates is how we so often attempt to remain pious in appearance while we are answering invitations from the devil and denying those from God. “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” That’s quite the invitation, isn’t it?

-Pastor Bill

Luke 13:18…

Have you ever wondered what the kingdom of God is like?

Considering heaven as an eternal destination makes it a worthy consideration. It is fascinating how much emphasis is placed on this life – which will end shortly – and how little emphasis is placed on the next life – which will never end.

So what do you think the kingdom of God is like?

How interesting Jesus tells us the kingdom of God begins in the here and now – and then spans on into eternity. We have a taste of heaven, and the rule of God in this life, and it is important we understand this because the kingdom of God comes to all those who desire it.

Doubly fascinating is how the kingdom of God may be corrupted in this life.

Jesus teaches the kingdom of God is in the heart of man, (the place God rules in those who allow it.) The extent of His rule in the heart of man determines how pure His kingdom is on earth.

Can we limit the rule of God in our hearts? Jesus indicates this is not only so – but prevalent. Jesus indicates the kingdom of God in this life is corrupted by the evil practice and influence of man upon it.

That Jesus teaches the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, planted in a garden, which grew and became a large tree may sound exciting, but in reality Jesus speaks of that which has grown grotesque through the influence of carnality upon that which is intended to be purely spiritual. The mustard seed - which normally grows into the form of an herb as a bush or small tree with wispy branches – has in this example grown into a large tree capable of supporting the existence of evil in its branches.

The kingdom of God is like leaven, which has corrupted the entire lump. (Leaven in God’s Word is always a ‘type’ of sin.)

It is important for us to live self-examined lives, in self-examined churches, determined to keep out the influences of entertainment and the world and the flesh.

-Pastor Bill

Luke 13:1…

Sometimes we may think of disaster as a form of judgement. An “act of God.”

We look back to 9/11, and we well-remember some who were prominently stating this to be “God’s judgment” upon our nation.

If it were so, this “judgment” would be well-deserved, as our nation has strayed far from God’s commands - but even more than that from devotion to and love for God.

Truly we can say this nation’s separation from God is not God’s doing but our own. The United States has turned away from God. This has happened so often and in so many ways it is probably impossible to note all them all at this point.

Our court system has certainly played a large part, beginning with a new doctrine supposedly based upon the 1^st Amendment to the Constitution, which since the 1940’s has been interpreted as a doctrine of ‘separation of Church and State.’ (That the 1^st Amendment to the Constitution says no such thing only makes matters worse pertaining to how we may view God’s opinion about this.)

Is God angry? Did He bring judgment against us on 9/11, or in any of the subsequent disasters that have seemingly become a regular feature of life in the United States? Did God pour out His judgment on secular-humanist France on November 13^th? Would God employ terrorists to be a thorn in our sides? Would wild-fire, hurricane, tsunami, earth-quake, rampant disease and the like be God’s means of communicating with His creation that He is displeased?

It’s easy to fall into this pattern of thinking isn’t it?

And so it was when it was reported to Jesus about the Galileans whose blood had been mingled with their sacrifices by Pilate. (The Galileans were known to be sinners as a people group. Indeed it was said, “Can anything good come out of Galilee?”) But what about those from Judea, killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them? (These were Judean Jews, so they must have been “good” people.)

The real point Jesus makes here is life is fragile. Very fragile. Life teaches us this over and over again. We must be prepared to die, and repentance is the necessary preparation. To go on and pretend this is not so is foolhardy.

-Pastor Bill

Luke 12:49…

Usually, we think of anything which brings division as being harmful to the church. We are taught to desire unity in all things pertaining to Jesus Christ and His church.

In fact, in Proverbs 6:16-19 that God hates a divisive spirit. The final statement in that passage reads that “God hates…one who sows discord among brethren.”

How interesting Jesus concludes His teaching in Luke 12 by speaking about the fact He has come to bring division on the earth. (V51)

In fact, division is necessary to bring about true unity, rather than that which is false. That which is false may have the appearance of unity, but is most divided of all.

Remembering Jesus began this teaching with a divisive statement back in Luke 11, which was basically, “…you are either for Me or against Me.” The strength of this statement is it tells us there is no middle ground when it comes to Jesus Christ. You must stand with Christ, publically, personally, and philosophically in all things and in all ways – or else you are against Him.

All those WITH Christ are in unity. Those who are either fake or against Christ are identified in order to preserve the unity of those who are with Christ.

This is the “fire” Jesus speaks of in Luke 12:49. It is a ‘fire’ of judgment and/or persecution which burns away the chaff, the false, and the hateful, lazy, and the undermining. It is a purifying fire which burns away all those who come by pretense, or by feigning some sort of religious purity and piety.

Those who are with Christ are with Christ because they KNOW they are sinners in need of a Savior – and they know ONLY Jesus saves them from their sin. In a very real sense, they are desperate people. They are not ‘good’ people, and they are certainly no better than those who oppose Christ – but they have given their heart to Jesus, and they have lovingly submitted to His Lordship in every arena of life – while looking forward to eternal life with Jesus in His kingdom.

The price will be and always has been high to live with this kind of personal devotion to Jesus Christ. In Jesus’ time, they knew to follow Christ would cost them everything. Why should we think ourselves different?

-Pastor Bill