October 25: Luke 10, 11 and John 10:22-42

October 25, Luke 10, 11 and John 10:22-42

Luke & John continued…

Luke 10 Jesus appointed 72 others to go out and proclaim Him before He was to go into those towns. Why? “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” There are many who God will bring in to his Kingdom, but few that are willing to put in the real work to get it done. They were directed by Jesus to go into the towns and homes - bringing no supplies or money to trust in God’s provisions for His workers - and to bring the peace of Christ to all of the homes that would receive it. Heal their people and proclaim that the Kingdom of God has come near to them (Salvation). Blessed are those towns that receive it and cursed are the ones that do not. It would be better for Sodom (which was destroyed) than the towns that do not receive Jesus Christ. 

Jesus declares a ‘woe’ to the unrepentant cities as they are sealing their deaths apart from Him. “The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me.” Jesus sends us. God sent Jesus. If people reject our words about Jesus, they are rejecting God Almighty. 

After this, the 72 remain and they are stoked! “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” Yes, how great of a truth that is for us today! Jesus warned them though, as Satan and his minions are subject to His name, “Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” The true joy comes from knowing that we will be with Jesus in heaven. 

Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit that they got to see God working and chose to reveal it to them (God’s Sovereign plan!). 

The parable of the Good Samaritan. Here we have another famous Christian story. But let’s take a closer look at it. The ones who were typically against Christ were the Pharisees, Scribes, Sadducees and Lawyers. A lawyer came up to Jesus to test Him and asked him what he had to do to inherit eternal life? Jesus asked him, what do you think the law says about it? “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.” The guy knew the answer… To justify this guys own life, he questioned Jesus further - “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus gave him a parable in light of their conversation, the good Samaritan. We have 3 guys. A priest (Jewish leader). A Levite (Jewish leader) and a Samaritan (culturally, Samaritans would have never helped a Jew. Bad blood between them). Some robbers beat a man up almost to death and stripped him of his clothes and left him there to die. Each of the 3 listed above sees him as they are strolling down the road, and the Priest and the Levite walked on the other side of the street, avoiding Him. Then walks on the scene the Samaritan and he had compassion on this man. He put some bandages on him and took him on his horse to a hotel. He paid for the hotel and stayed with the man overnight to help heal his wounds. He told the hotel manager that if any other costs were incurred that he would pay for it when he got back. Who was more of a ‘neighbor’ to this Samaritan, Jesus asked the lawyer. “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.” Honestly, we must look at this a bit - the ones who know what they were to do failed to do. Maybe it was inconvenient. Maybe they didn't want to get their hands dirty. Maybe to help him was below their pay grade. Regardless, they left him to die and did not show the love of God to this man. It was left to a Samaritan to do it. It is not enough to know the truth of God. We must do and live out the truth of God. 

Martha and Mary. Jesus entered a village and went to his friends house, Martha & Mary. Martha was upset because she was doing all the work and Mary was just ‘sitting’ there listening to Jesus.  She came to Jesus and complained. “But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” Yes, we are called to serve. But we are not to be too distracted with serving that we do not take the time to just sit down with Jesus. That is the greater thing to do. 

Luke 11 There is some additional overlap here with the other gospels, and some additions. For starters, the disciples wanted to learn how to pray, so Jesus set the model for them in a way that honors God and to depend on God for everything, while looking forward to what He is going to do. Seeking forgiveness and forgiving others while being protected from evil. 

Then we get a parable about a friend in need and another friend with a choice to help. We learn here that prayer requires action and obedience. No games. Not just lofty words. 

1. Ask and it will be given to you.
2. Seek, and you will find.
3. Knock and the door will be opened to you.

Everyone who asks, seeks, and knocks will get where God wants them to go. God knows what we need and will give it to us. Like a good dad who knows what his kids needs, that is God in its fullest because He does not sin like us. In addition, we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit from God!

Jesus was often accused of being demonic Himself by the ‘Leaders’ and here he casts out another demon. “But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons,” while others, to test him, kept seeking from him a sign from heaven.” Jesus’ reply is epic “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls. And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?” Basically saying that they are wrong with their philosophy. He was not done yet, “But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you…” They were witnessing God’s power before their very eyes. Jesus finished with an analogy of a strong man overtaking a home and says, “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” The evil spirits that are kicked out will try to return and if you have not filled your life with Jesus, then the demon will come back and bring many more demons to inhabit. Scary and true. If you have been released of a demon the next thing to do is to fill your heart with Jesus or the demons will fill your life. 

The sign of Jonah. This is where we learn that Jesus is Prophet, Priest, & King. He is all of them. He is the greatest Prophet, the greatest Priest, and the greatest King. The greatest.  

Light in You. If Christ is in you - it will shine out of you into the world. You wouldn't hide such a great light but shine the way for others to see. Either you are full of Christ and it shows or you are full of the world and it shows. 

Woe to the Pharisees again for being poor leaders and leading people astray. They wanted to look good on the outside & inside they were wicked. Oh yeah, and woe to the interpreters of the law who do not practice what they preach and place additional heavy burdens on people that are not required by God. Lawyers! Just kidding - but truthfully, we are not to place additional burdens on anyone that God has not placed. They wanted to condemn Christ because He was against them. 

John 10:22-42 we are picking up where we left off yesterday. Jesus went up to Jerusalem in winter, during the Feast of Dedication. The Jews gathered around Jesus again to listen to Him and asked Jesus when He was going to tell them if He was the Messiah or not. Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand…” They are not His so they don't know Him, nor will they. He is one with God and that is the end of the story! The Jews wanted to stone Jesus, so they picked up stones to kill Him. He stood His ground and asked them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?” They didn't disagree with His good works. They wanted to stone Him because He was claiming to be one with God, and God. Jesus told them that He was the Messiah and “If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father…” They wanted to kill even more now, but He slipped away. They hated Him. 

Jesus went away to where John was baptizing before and many believed in Jesus there.

To sum it all up: 

• The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Pray that God builds up more workers to get out there. If you claim to be a follower of Jesus, then you are a worker - so get out there and make His name famous!
• Jesus sends us. God sent Jesus. If people reject our words about Jesus, they are rejecting God Almighty.
• It is one thing to know all the Christian answers, it is another thing entirely to live out the Christian answers. Do this and live. Know the truth and do nothing with it and die with just knowing the truth. 
• Again, either you are full of Christ and it shows or you are full of the world and it shows.
• Many people hate the Truths of Christ for many reasons, most of which are because His Truths go against what they want.