Awe & Fear

well, good morning. So church family, so good to be with you all this morning. Um and for those of you, I have yet to meet my name is Shane, Hunger. I’m one of the five elders here. So yeah, no, I’m not, I’m dan Shane fridge last week. Uh the first service really got that joke, you guys, I’m praying for you. Thanks this morning. We are going to look at the gospel according to luke. So we’re gonna be in chapter eight of that gospel account. So go ahead and open your bibles to luke. Chapter eight we’re gonna Um read from verses 16 through 25 while you’re while you’re turning their just give you a little bit of background just by way of reminder. Um with this series with this account of luke’s gospel, you know, luke was a traveling companion of the Apostle paul. He was very well educated, he was also a medical doctor and as far as the historian goes, he was right up there with all of his contemporaries in terms of his astute mind. Uh the way he thought about things and the way he wrote and he interviewed many of the disciples and many of the early converts and through his research there and with his relationship with the apostle paul, he gives us this account, this this gospel according to luke. And so I think that’s fascinating and next week when we get to um further further along in this chapter, we’re gonna see some of luke’s own kind of giftedness and Ben starts to, to come out in terms of his concern with medical conditions. And so he likes to highlight that in his giving of this historical narrative. That’s what this is. This is a historical narrative. These things took place. But he’s also um, pulling it together and in such a way that we can read it and make sense of it and so it flows All right. So that’s Luke. Chapter eight We’re gonna be in versus 16 through 25 and we’re going to talk about the word of God and standing on the word of God in the midst of very trying and difficult times. Yes, I’m reminded of my own troubled childhood when me and my friends would get into trouble. Sometimes big trouble, sometimes little trouble. And my mom would get wind of it. And she would say to me, she say, son, if all of your friends jumped off a cliff, you would you jump too. Right. And so that parental wisdom, that parental care and concern, I later discovered, was shaped by a passage in first Corinthians. Uh, there’s several passages in the bible to speak to that very thing. But first Corinthians 15 where it says, do not be deceived bad company ruins good morals. So my mom was concerned that the people I was running with that they were influencing me in a very bad and negative way. Now, most moms believe that their Children are little angels. Right. Right. And, and, and we naughty little kids want to convince our parents that we are little angels, right? But we have a Biblical theology here, we understand that all mankind is born into sand. We are not surprised that our kids are little sinners and that we need to direct them towards jesus and we need to raise them up in the Lord, right, We get that right. But sometimes there can be a little johnny next door who is indeed a terror like he gets into trouble. Mischief is his middle name and last name. Yes, right. I mean, he’s that can be a setting that we find ourselves in and for us as christians, guess what? We live in a world that does not believe in the word of God, that does not trust in the word of God. We live in a world that thinks that the Word of God is outdated, narrow minded judgmental. We live in a world that does not value this word and every day we’re living next to people in this world that we’re called to love because of this word year. Their values are constantly coming face to face with us and our decisions and our goings and our doings. And if we’re not careful, we will begin to take on some of the unbelief, some of the rebellion, some of the lack of trust that the world around us has and we will bring that into the church setting. We want jesus, but we don’t have an appetite for his word. We don’t have the capacity to sit under his word. We struggled with his word, not in a way like we’re trying to fully understand the meaning of it, but we struggle with the authority of this word, but jesus and the passage that we are about to read, he wants us to see that there is an urgent mission, but this word launches us into and he wants us to prioritize this word and he wants us to see that we are to submit to the authority of God’s word. And it is the most faithful and loving thing that you could ever do as a christian. So without further ado, let’s read luke luke’s account Of the life of Christ. We begin in Chapter eight or 16. There’s no one after lighting a lamp, covers it with a jar, puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand so that those who enter may see the light for nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor anything secret. It will not be known and come to light. Take care then how you here for to the one who has more will be given and from the one who has not even what he thinks that he has will be taken away Father in heaven. Thank you for giving us this word. Help us this morning. To take care how we listen so that we might receive more understanding more of your spirit, more of your power and God move your presence in our lives. I pray you to use me in this time to lead your people in this direction. I pray this in jesus name? Amen. No. So last week Pastor Shane did an excellent job of walking us through the parable of the soils, amazing job talking about the condition of our hearts and the word of God. And and in that parable, jesus follows it up with another short parable and as pastor Shane, so eloquently put it last week, the parables they reveal and they conceal based on the hearts condition of the hearers. But there’s something else that you need to know about those parables that jesus likes to tell is that he intentionally uses hyperbole. He wants to show how absurd it is. Do not see and do things God’s way. So he says, who likes a lamp and puts it under a bed? Now we know what’s going to happen with that, right? It’s gonna burn up the house, right? It makes no sense of stupidity. And so everybody listening to this parable, they’re like, yeah, that kind of makes sense. Don’t do that with a limp. Well, jesus is saying, well if you won’t do that with a limp, what about the limp that God has given to this world my life and the gospel. Yeah. What are you going to do about it? Mhm What are we going to do about it as christians living in a world that does not trust in the word of God, that does not believe in the God of the bible, but does not believe that jesus is the only way to the father. What are we going to do with the lamp that he has given to us? Are we going to be ashamed? Are we going to put it under a bad hide it? Cover it up. The people that you’re around the most in life? Do they know that you love jesus? And by the way, if you have told them that you love jesus and your character and your life the psa par that you need to go back and repent to them and tell them that the jesus that you love has convicted you of your sin and your crappy way of living. But who knows what about your neighbors? Do they know people at your job? Do they know that you love jesus? Now we don’t live in an environment where you know, we might lose our heads if we’re a christian right? We don’t live in that kind of a country and nation. We have brothers and sisters across the globe where they have to be shrewd as serpents, but yet innocent as doves when it comes to their witness. But here in this country, just because there is hostility. Just because people don’t believe in, trust in this word doesn’t mean that we take the lamp and put it under the bed? No, we do not. In fact, jesus wants us to see. And using the analogy of a lamp just how dark the environment is, that we live in unbelief and sin is offensive to God. It literally cash aid on the character of God, because God is good, his truth, his love, his merciful. He reveals himself in scripture as a father, but unbelief and sin cash aid on all of that. And so jesus and using the analogy of a lamp, is saying that you live in darkness, but here is the light of the Gospel, the word of God. And just because the darkness does not like it, don’t shrink back, don’t give up on it. Don’t put it under a bed. But he also shows us in this parable and giving a lamp and giving this light that nothing is hidden from God. Now, that’s terrifying. That’s frightening to come to the realization that every secret thought and secret deed, we will have to give an account for someday God seeing all of this, Seeing all of our secret thoughts and deeds and what was his response? That’s to give us light that we might repent. God shows us he’s merciful. It doesn’t give us what we deserve right away. He gives us an opportunity to be delivered. And jesus says that once this lamp has been given Once this light has been seen, that no one escapes the judgment of God, there will be no excuses because God when he gave you the lamp, when he gave you the light to show you how much a holy and just God is willing to show you mercy and love and to bring you into his family, You denied it. So there will be no excuses. And then he ends this little mini parable by showing us that hearing is a spiritual activity that involves the heart. That listening to the Word of God is a spiritual activity that involves the heart. You may not realize it, but think of about how difficult it is to just get yourself to church on a sunday morning to get yourself in this sanctuary and to leave, all of the distractions, all of the problems, all of the difficulties, all of the challenges that you were dealing with before you got here and they are waiting for you when you leave this place and think about how difficult it is to get in this place and to hear God when we were newly married, most of my fights with my wife were on the way to church. Some people say that’s why you take separate vehicles now. No, it’s not. It’s not you’re wrong. But hearing is a spiritual activity and there’s so much resistance to you being in a place and being in the right frame of mind to hear the word of God to receive it and to go deep into your heart. In fact something I want to revisit that pastor Shane covered last week and looking at the four soil types representing the different types of hearts and the first one being the beaten path, the hard, the hard path and luke eight versus lavender 12. It says now the parable is just a seed is the word of God and the ones along the path or those who have heard then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts so that they may not believe and be saved. Me saying that this hard path has been so hardened towards the word of God, so resistant because of the way life is leading them. Maybe it could be that the person has experienced a lot of of dysfunction in life. Well maybe they’re just constantly being influenced by the little johnny’s that are doing all the wrong things whatever the case may be. When the word of God comes near, there is not a soft place for it. There’s not a receptive heart for the word of God. And he says, look, the devil comes quickly to take it away, snatches it away. Yeah, we can plant grass seed in our yard and water it like crazy and it’s hard to grow and in half of the seat of some we’d lands in a crack on the driveway and the whole driveway is being overrun with weeds man, there’s something spiritual about that, jesus was onto something there. Mhm We live in an environment as hostile towards the word of God and hearing is a spiritual activity and so Jesus warns this crowd, he says take care of them, how you here. And he wants his disciples to understand that they can’t give up on the word, they can’t give up on the urgent mission of the word just because the environment is hostile, don’t take this lamp and put it under a bad, that’s what he says to them. You have an urgent mission and reading on in this passage in verse 19, he says then his mother the mother of jesus, now we are, we’re we are protestant evangelicals, here we are bible believing christians, we say the mother of jesus, not the mother of God. That needs to be clear for some of you who may have been influenced by some different cultural background ing’s maybe grew up catholic or or something like that. No, we we believe that Jesus had two natures that he was fully human and that he was fully man, this is the pastor says the mother of jesus, he’s it’s speaking of his human nature, not his divinity, that says then his mother and his brothers came to him but they could not reach him because of the crowd and he was told your mother and your brothers are standing outside desiring to see you but he answered them, my mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it, jesus saying this to this crowd of people and in this crowd There was a mixture of four kinds of people. The first kind would be the disciples, the believers, the good soil that we talked about last week, right? Those pursuing christ wanting to know him, we’re wanting to hear his word, disciples are in that crowd and then there’s a second type, they’re curious seekers, they prioritize self interests, they’re seeking self interest. What can I take from this man’s wisdom and have it add to my life, make my life a little better, jesus is just a little add on the wisdom of God, the word of God is just something to help me live my best life now. And it’s one theologian said that if this is your best life now, you are in a world of trouble and eternity. Some of you let that set, let it register a little bit, it’ll take a while, you’ll get it, you have the curious seekers. And then a third group would be the thrill seekers. They want something exciting to see man, What’s it gonna do next? Who he turned, you know, he gave us a fish fry not too long ago, I mean, what about some lamb chops, can he do that? What can he do with some lamb, I mean the thrill secrets, right? And I want to feel good and I want to have something to talk about. And then there’s a 4th type of people in the crowd, these would be opponents, they simply want him to stop, Stop, stop, stop! They get the parables in the sense of understanding it logically intellectually many times the parables were about them and they understood it and they just simply wanted him to stop, stop it, stop it. You ever been in a situation where you just tried to love on someone, be kind of someone who didn’t know jesus and as soon as you did that and acted that way towards them, their response to you is no, stop, get away, anger, frustration at you treating you as an enemy and all you tried to do is be loving and kind towards them and you’re like, I don’t understand this, I’m trying to help you, I’m trying to bless you, I’m trying to give you something good, that’s hard, that’s been hardened and every time the word has landed on that heart, the enemy is quickly snatched it away. And so this is the crowd, there’s four types of people in that crowd, right? The disciples, the curious seekers, the thrill seekers and the opponents and jesus says something very uncomfortable for parents in this room, right? I mean, he says in response to his mother and brothers, coming to get him that my mother and my brothers are those who do the word of God and now some smart at IQ little teenager will say this to their parents later was like mom, I’m gonna bang God over here while they’re playing video games, right? And I don’t work like that buddy, that’s not what Jesus was saying. In fact Jesus is in no way advocating disrespect to his parents or neglect of one’s family, he’s not in any way saying that we aren’t to love our families or that he doesn’t love his mother and brothers, he’s not saying that at all. Why does he say such a very uncomfortable statement? Because Jesus is wanting his disciples to prioritize the word of God. Mhm. When it comes to obedience, when it comes to obedience, the word of God obey what Jesus was doing was what he was sent to do. Yeah. And his parents out of his mom and brothers, their concern was sincere but wrong and there are a lot of people who can have a sincere concern about your obedience to christ and yet be wrong. In fact, we know that Jesus had to deal with this in his own family. When we look at Mark chapter three verses 20 through 21 says that when he went home, this is a different angle, different um reflecting on his store on this story, because that’s when he went home and the crowd gathered again so that they, that they could not even eat and when his family heard it, they went out to seize him for they were saying he is out of his mind, do you imagine saying that about jesus? Yeah, now that’s a sibling rivalry like none other wright. Brothers and sisters will say things right to one another and that’s what that is right there mama, you always favor this guy, he is out of his mind right now we get him, we can’t even eat, we can’t even get into your own home. Jesus says the word of God must have priority when it comes to our obedience and loved his mom. In fact when he was on the cross he made sure that she was cared for and he loved his brothers. He didn’t start witnessing to them just because they were knuckleheads. In fact two of his young brothers, James and jude would become pillars in the church. Later their sibling hardened hearts were softened and they became major players in the church. They got it, but that’s something that we need to see in. That sometimes our family or those who love us really close to us and and are like family to us, they can have those sincere concerns about our obedience to christ and whether or not that’s the right thing to do and jesus wants us to remember that it is the right thing to do, obeying God is the best thing that you can do for watching world for family members watching for neighbors who are watching for co workers who are watching that, that is the most loving thing you could do. That is the most loving thing you could do in terms of your own expression of faith and love and trust in God as well as your love for your neighbour, because that is what is wrong with the world, no one does. God’s will all have gone straight, that’s what roman says. All have gone straight and so for you to love God and to trust God and to obey God, that is the most loving thing that you could do in all of your relationships. Perhaps someday you might even see those watching one to the war, prioritizing the word is a huge part of our christian witness, I would submit to you, it is your christian witness, you living this truth and that’s the problem today in the church, we’ve bought into an emotionalism, Pastor Shane touched on it a little bit last week where we want an emotional view and picture of jesus, that doesn’t place any demands on our life, doesn’t call us to obey him in anything. He’s just my little homeboy. That’s not the biblical jesus and that’s not love, that’s not love for God, and that’s not love for your neighbour. Yeah, disciples prioritize the word because they understand that that is their witness, that is their example of love, they walk in it, they share it, they demonstrate a humility before before God. Their whole concept and understanding of jesus is shaped by his word and all of his word, all of it. So jesus wants his disciples in the face of a hostile world, a hostile environment to not lose a sense of urgency for the mission and to not back away from the priority of the word of God. Let’s read on in this chapter, verse 22 I’m going to look at what else Jesus teaches us Verse 22, it says one day he got into a boat with his disciples and he said to them, let us go across to the other side of the lake. So they set out and as they sailed he fell asleep and they went storm came down on the lake and they were filling with water and were in danger and they went and woke him saying, master, master, we are perishing and he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves and they ceased and there was a calm and he said to them, where is your faith? And they were afraid? And they marvelled saying to one another, Who then is this? That he commands even winds and water and they obey him. What an amazing story. It’s one of those stories that leads me to say, man, I love jesus, what a guy, I love jesus, what a guy do you know who is in this boat with him, his disciples, some of them seasoned fishermen come from generations of fishermen have been on the seas quite a bit, have been through storms quite a bit and they are in this narrative account are experiencing a storm. That is so terrifying and frightening that these seasoned fishermen are worried that they are going to die and jesus is asleep. Oh, I love jesus, Oh, I love this dude, I love him, he’s asleep, Water is getting into the boat. I know his feet got wet, he’s in deep sleep Now I’m a husband and father had five little kids. Well, they’re not little anymore, they’re bigger. But when they were younger, every time a storm came rolling into town, they woke up and guess who else woke up me and now I cannot sleep through a storm. Jesus is sleeping through a storm literally through a storm in a boat. I can’t sleep through a store. In fact, I’m so ruined now that my kids are older, they don’t do this anymore. I still can’t sleep through a storm. I wake up like, where are the kids baby outgrown? This still can’t sleep now. They’ve trained me wake up during the storm. In fact, we had this one child, he will remain anonymous. Yeah, he will not just wake up during the storm, but you know, he walked into our bedroom quietly, open the door, step in past the threshold and just stand there quietly. So while I’m half asleep wondering, is this a robber? Mhm can I take him? I know a few wrestling moves, but what if he knows those moves? Should I just tell him my wallet, you’ve already passed it. He’s kind of short. Yeah, I don’t know what to do storm kid. Okay, all right. And now I’m ruined. Can’t sleep through storms like my Lord. But this storm is so bad that season fishermen are terrified. It’s so scary that they are terrified and jesus reminds them of his word, He reminds them of the authority of his word. He told them get in the boat, we’re going to the other side. He had no doubts about his word. That’s why he sucked. We struggle, we’re trusting and obeying his word and we live in a hostile environment that does not trust and obey his word. But he told his disciples get in the boat and that’s what disciples do. They get in the boat, They’re all in, they are completely submitted to the authority of his word. He says get in the boat, no questions asked. They get in the boat. That’s what we’re about here. Getting in the boat with jesus, where he goes, we want to go, we pray the kind of prayers that Isaiah prayed and Isaiah six where he says, Lord send me, I will go, that is the prayer of a disciple. We get in the boat and here that’s or get in the boat. What does that look like fill out to connect card, join a community group. Find a place to serve, find a group of people to pray with, studied the bible and be a light to the city with get in the boat and when you get in the boat, remember his authoritative word and learn from this example, just because you’re in the boat trusting his authoritative word on mission for jesus, you’re not going to be exempt from storms, storms are still going to come, you’re still going to have adversity, you’re still going to have to deal with conflict in your relationships, conflict at work, you’re still going to have to deal with infirmity and sickness. God forbid death and tragedy, storms are still going to come and learn from this example when they come cling to jesus and cling to the authority of his word, that’s how you get through it. But disciples, they get in the boat, the crowds are left chasing. Where did he go, wondering where did he go? But disciples are near, they draw near to God there in the boat, they are all in, they follow and pursue his glory. But the crowds mhm They’re left wondering where did he go? And when we get in the boat, we realize we’re not exempt from the storms of life, But we do have his word, we do have the promise that he will be with us forever. We do have this promise in John 16, he says, I said these things to you that in me you may have peace and peace isn’t the absence of difficulty, it is peace in the midst of the difficulty, in fact, if you were to really break that down, it’s like putting your foot on the neck of the enemy, he’s still an enemy but your foot is on him and you’re trusting God that kind of peace you will have in christ but in this world you will have tribulation, he says take heart, I have overcome the world into the disciples, they get in the boat, they’re all in and they trust him and they submit to the authority of his word. They remind themselves in the midst of those storms like it says in hebrews one that he is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. And they remind themselves of Matthew 24 where he says Heaven and Earth will pass away but my words will not pass away. So no matter how hostile the environment is, no matter what kind of storm you’re facing. His word is what we submit to and we remember in his word that he draws near and we have him in our lives, that’s what the disciples do. They wake him up, he’s here, he’s right here, let’s wake him up and he rebuked the winds and the waves and there’s peace and it says that they marvel but marvel, that’s what disciples do you see the world when the world hears the word of God, the world is hostile, outdated, narrow minded judgmental the disciples when the word of God is open to the side marvel. Oh God, I want to know you more. I want to honor you, I want to obey. You want to share your love with this person that I’m thinking of right now, I’m gonna pray for them. They marvel, that’s the heart of a disciple, that’s that good soil. But no, no, no, no, I don’t like that, no, that’s that’s not the heart of a disciple. So I’m 65 says this by awesome deeds. You answer us with righteousness, Oh God of our salvation, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas. The one who, by his strength established the mountains being girded with my who stills who stills the roaring of the seas, the roaring of the waves, the two most of the people so that those who dwell at the ends of the earth are in awe at your signs. You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy, disciples marvel God and his authoritative word, disciples do not give up on the urgency of the mission. They do not back down from the priority of the word, obeying the word and they joyfully and humbly submit to the authority of this word. I want to close by reminding you and reiterating this in a different way. The greater the hostility, the more urgent the mission because jesus says judgment judgment awaits. So the greater the hostility, the more urgent, we must be on mission to bring about the light into the darkness so that people can be saved and delivered. I restored back to God. That’s love for God and love for their souls. There’s a false kind of piety that says, you know, I won’t do anything about this because I don’t want to offend anyone. You know what that is. That’s self love. It’s not love for God and love for neighbor. That self love, the greater the hostility to more urgent need for the mission of this word. The greater the hostility towards the word, the more we must prioritize this word. That’s our calling his disciples. That’s our witness. That’s how we show the love of God and our faith in christ. We give priority to do obedience to God. And then thirdly, our submission to the authority of this word is not only an act of faith, but it is a demonstration of our love for God. It was jesus who said that if you love me, you will what obey my commands. It’s a church. We live in a hostile world, don’t be intimidated, don’t shrink back, know that you are called in christ to bring forth the light the lamp of the gospel and that God in his sovereignty and his love and in his mercy, he will bring about his will through your faithful obedience. Just keep prioritizing the word. Keep joyfully and humbly submitting to the authority of his word. Let us pray father in heaven. Thank you for your word. We love you. We thank you for loving us first. Thank you for calling us. Thank you for the hour in which we live. It’s not an hour and a time to shrink back, but it is an hour and a time to joyfully submit to you. Got everything that was heard today. God, if it is not a view, I pray that through your whole spirit, you would help us to filter that. But those things that were of your spirit, many bear fruit, Many bear fruit towards the mission of christ, towards the prioritising of your work towards joyfully submitting to the authority of your word.