Sermon on the Gospel
Luke 4:16–21.
16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought
up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he
stood up to read. 17 And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to
him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
18 “The Spirit of the
Lord is upon me,
because he has
anointed me
to proclaim good
news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim
liberty to the captives
and recovering of
sight to the blind,
to set at liberty
those who are oppressed,
19 to proclaim the year
of the Lord’s favor.”
20 And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the
attendant and fsat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on
him. 21 And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been
fulfilled in your hearing.”
2 Co 9:10–15.
10 He who supplies seed to the sower and
bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the
harvest of your righteousness. 11 You
will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us
will produce thanksgiving to God. 12 For
the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but
is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. 13 By their approval of this service, they will
glorify God because of your submission that comes from your confession of the
gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all
others, 14 while
they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon
you. 15 Thanks be to
God for his inexpressible gift![1]
Imagine you are sitting in a café and
in rushes a man from outside exclaiming that he has the most wonderful news
ever. What would you think of such a man? You would probably think he was a
little bit crazy right? But he keeps shouting that he has the most wonderful
news, news that changes everything! You might find yourself at least a little
curious as to what this great news could be.
Your ultimate
response to the news the man tells you depends on several things. One does it
affect you personally. He could just be rejoicing that a friend of his who thought
he was dying has found out that he isn’t really dying. That would be good news
and you might be happy for the man for a second or two and then move on with
your life. His friend’s good news while certainly good does not really affect
your life.
Second is this
good news might be old news. In other words, it might be something you have
heard before. While still good news, say perhaps some kind of economic good
news, you have heard it before and it is not going to change the way you think
of things right now.
Maybe it’s not
good news at all but just some good advice like a stock tip. Something that is
useful to know but not necessarily news. Really good news is hard to come by in
this world of ours. There seems to be no shortage of bad news. Killings,
robbery, and all the rest are seemingly pretty common occurrences. Life
changing good news feels a long way off for most of us.
Isn’t that the
problem that we Christians face? After all we are tasked with bringing the Good
News of Jesus to our world, but doesn’t it seem that no one is listening? The
question is for us: Is the good news really good? It is over two thousand years
old how can that really be described as news?
I think a lot
of our problem is a misunderstanding of what the news is that we have been
called to tell the world. Think about it for a minute when you think of telling
someone the good news what image comes to your mind? Be honest.
If you are
like me you probably visualize an uncomfortable situation where you are trying
to explain the purpose of Jesus death and resurrection to someone who isn’t
that interested in hearing about it. But is that really the Good News? Our
scripture readings this morning didn’t mention anything about uncomfortable
conversations with friends or strangers about Jesus death and resurrection did
they? And yet both of these passages explained the Gospel.
The reading
from the Gospel of Luke was Jesus telling the people in his hometown synagogue
what the good news that he was going to begin to preach was going to be like.
It included phrases like recovery of sight to the blind, releasing the
captives, and the year of the Lord’s favor. Really it sounded nothing like our
mental picture of sharing the Gospel. Yet these are the very words of Jesus
describing the Gospel he wanted to share with the world through his life.
Then we read
Paul’s words to the Corinthians. They were all about sharing the gift of the
gospel with our neighbor. And in those gifts we see the Gospel of Christ lived
out. In the end these scriptures make it look like we may have gotten something
wrong in our sharing of the Gospel, but what could it be.
I mean there
are lots of scriptures that tell us about what believing in Jesus will do for
us when we die. The fact that believing in Jesus as our Lord and Savior will
mean that we will go to heaven to be with him when we die is repeated over and
over again in scripture, so that must not be our mistake. Perhaps there is more
to this good news than just how to get to heaven when we die. Perhaps the good
news of Jesus is more wonderful and exciting than even that!
Our world and
we Christians included have fallen for some lies of the devil. If we want to
understand how high and how deep, how long and how wide this good news really
is we are going to have to expose some pretty serious errors that most of us
make in our everyday thinking. These lies are not new to the modern world they
existed in Jesus day. Let’s take a look and see if we can straighten out our
minds.
One problem
that we all have is that Jesus doesn’t look like we expect him too. The first
century Jews had exactly the same issue. We all want God to come down from
heaven and sort everything out and put it all to rights, the problem is that
both the Jews and ourselves have no idea what that will look like. We both long
for a social, political revolutionary who will turn the world upside down. The
problem is that Jesus isn’t that person. In fact he warns against it.
Another issue
is that the church in her desire to win souls over to Christ has relied too
heavily on formula and rote means of “winning souls”. We have proof texted our
way into the four spiritual laws. We lead people down the “Romans road” and
then fail to accompany them down the road to Rome with all of its heartaches
and disappointments. And much too frequently once the sinner prays the sinners
prayer they have just been left there wondering what to do next. The Good News
is so much more than just rote routines and prayers by which people become
saved. Christianity is a life and a relationship not just an after death
insurance policy. So what are we to do to improve this situation?
The difference
between the powers of this world both then and now is that the kingdoms of this
world run on violence. The Good News of Jesus is that the kingdom of God runs
on love and grace. The kingdoms of this world put wrongdoers in prison. The
kingdom of God changes the wrongdoer into a righteous one and puts them in
heaven. The kingdom of this world grinds people down; the kingdom of God builds
people up.
If we are to
truly live the Kingdom Life here on earth there is so much more to do than have
awkward conversations with friends and strangers about going to heaven after
you die. Much more than passing out tracts and wearing sandwich boards that say
repent or perish. We get to come alongside the hurting and help them. (In much
the same way the Holy Spirit comes along side of us when we are hurting, I may
add.) When we are truly “soul-winning” those we “win” really will know us by
our love and the conversations we have will be so much less awkward. Do we
still need to tell others about Christ? You bet we do! But in a whole different
way than we did before. It’s not a duty or a chore, but a natural outflow of
our love for others.
In the words
of Pope Francis, “We have a treasure of life and love which cannot deceive, and
a message that cannot mislead or disappoint. It penetrates to the depths of our
hearts sustaining and ennobling us. It is a truth which is never out of date
because it reaches that part of us which nothing else can reach. . . But this
conviction has to be sustained by our own constantly renewed experience of
Christ’s friendship and message. It is not possible to continue in spreading
the good news of Jesus Christ unless we are convinced from personal experience
that it is not the same thing to have known Jesus as to not to have known him.
It is not the same thing to walk with him as it is to walk blindly. It is not
the same thing to hear Jesus’ word and call as not to have heard it. It is not
the same thing to worship Christ and find our peace in him as not to. It is not
the same thing to build the kingdom with Christ’s Gospel as to try to do it in
our own strength. In the end we know well that life with Jesus is richer and
deeper than any attempt to live by our own strength and energy.”
What Pope
Francis has been describing is a way of incarnating the Gospel. Evangelicals
like to talk about the gospel a lot, but we don’t always do such a good job of
living it out. I think the scriptures are clear that a living and talking gospel
is required. A lived gospel that matches a spoken gospel is the most powerful testimony
that the church could possibly have. So how do we go about summing all this up?
Just what is a
good definition that we may keep in mind when we think of the Good News? I
think I have found a good one in the writings of N. T. Wright New Testament
scholar and author of a new book “Simply
Good News: Why the Gospel is News and What Makes it Good.”
“The good news is that the living God is indeed establishing
his kingdom on earth as it is in heaven, through the finished work of Jesus,
and is inviting people of all sorts to share not only in the benefits of this
kingdom but also in the work through which it will come to its ultimate
completion.”
Our marching
orders are clear then. Accept the good news. Jesus came not only to save us
from our sin and take us to heaven when we die, but to help us live daily in
such a way that we are testimonies to God’s love and grace toward all sinners
of which we are the greatest. Then we can live out the classical Greek meaning
of the term Gospel which is an announcement of victory. Our victory in Jesus,
Amen.
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