The Leadership Style of Jesus (Luke 5:1-11)

One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, the people were crowding around him and listening to the word of God. He saw at the water's edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat. (Luke 5:1-3 NIV)

Sound systems hadn't been invented yet.  Electricity hadn't been discovered yet. When a large crowd wanted to hear what you had to say, you had better hope there is a Greek amphitheater somewhere nearby.  Jesus, however, recognized his Father's sound system and took advantage of it this day.

Pushing out from the shore made it easier for Jesus to talk to the crowd.  First of all, they would all pack around the shore line, but not close in on him too much.  Secondly, water does a wonderful job of helping sound skim across the top of its reflective surface.  By pushing out from the shore on a boat, Jesus took advantage of a God-made amphitheater.  Now he can teach as he was sent to do.

When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch." Simon answered, "Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets." When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and said, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!" For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon's partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, "Don't be afraid; from now on you will fish for people." So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him. (Luke 5:4-11 NIV)

I'm confident that his teaching was powerful.  The teaching, however, wasn't the deal-maker that brought Peter, James, and John on board as followers of Jesus.  These were pragmatic men who needed to know that Jesus' teachings would make a real difference in their lives.  They were fishermen.  They understood fish.  So, Jesus spoke to them in their language.  He gave them fish - lot of them.  Then they didn't need to worry about going to work later that night.  Instead, they could simply clean up their catch and sell what they've caught.  Jesus had authority even over the fish!  This was someone worth following.

Jesus continued his lesson to Peter, James, and John by telling them they would "fish for people."  Once again, he spoke to them in a language that made perfect sense.  They knew how to fish for, well, fish.  They didn't know how to fish for people.  Apparently this was going to be more important than fishing for fish.  Besides, Jesus already demonstrated to them that they could get fish whenever they needed them.  They didn't even need to worry about their livelihood.  So, they dropped everything and followed Jesus.

How about you?  How would Jesus get your attention?  What would be the deal-maker for you?  Do you still worry about things like money and career? Are you willing to hold those things with an open hand and trust Jesus to teach you what is most important?  Would you drop everything to follow Jesus?

With Authority! (Luke 4:31-44)

Then he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath he taught the people. They were amazed at his teaching, because his words had authority. (Luke 4:31-32 NIV)

Jesus left his home town of Nazareth.  Folks there didn't really like what he had to say.  Now, we find him in Capernaum.  It's only about 40 miles away from home.  Google maps say we can drive it in 47 minutes today.  Back then, though, it would take more like 9 hours to walk from home to this town on the edge of the sea of Galilee.  It only took a days walk to find people who liked his teachings again.  To them, his words had authority.

In the synagogue there was a man possessed by a demon, an impure spirit. He cried out at the top of his voice, "Go away! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are--the Holy One of God!" "Be quiet!" Jesus said sternly. "Come out of him!" Then the demon threw the man down before them all and came out without injuring him. All the people were amazed and said to each other, "What words these are! With authority and power he gives orders to impure spirits and they come out!" And the news about him spread throughout the surrounding area. (Luke 4:33-37 NIV)

Well, it seams the people of Capernaum aren't the only ones who recognize the authority of Jesus' words.  The demons recognize his authority as well.  They even recognize that he is the "Holy One of God."  They feared him, obeyed him, and ran from him.  What kind of person has the authority to cast out demons and stop them from talking?  It's authority that comes from God, and Jesus has it.

Jesus left the synagogue and went to the home of Simon. Now Simon's mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her. So he bent over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began to wait on them. (Luke 4:38-39 NIV)

Now people and spirit beings aren't the only ones recognizing the authority of Jesus.  Illness can be added to the list of ones listening to Jesus.  He somehow has the authority to command bacterium, viruses, and anything else that stops our bodies from functioning in the way they were designed to work.  The power to heal people physically also comes from God.  Jesus has this as well.

At sunset, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them. Moreover, demons came out of many people, shouting, "You are the Son of God!" But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Messiah. At daybreak, Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them. But he said, "I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent." And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea. (Luke 4:40-44 NIV)

Healing the sick and casting out demons tend to be crowd-pleasers.  That's why Jesus did them.  He gathered large crowds so he could do what he was really sent to do: proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God.  Don't get me wrong.  The miracles were important.  They helped us recognize Jesus as a prophet of God.  (All prophets had to perform miracles as signs that they were sent by God.)  His specific miracles even helped us identify him as the Savior/Messiah.  (The blind would see and the lame would walk.)  In the end, though, we needed to hear him teach...with authority.  

We needed to understand God's plan to save us.  We needed to know what Jesus was doing and why.  We needed to hear His explanation of everything that was about to happen.  That's why Jesus didn't just stay in one town and heal everyone there.  Instead, he went from town to town, healed people, drew crowds, and then taught them the things that would really heal them.  He taught them how to have life more abundantly and life eternally.

What about you?  Have you listened to Jesus' teachings?  Do they speak to you with authority?  Do you get frustrated because he doesn't fix what ails you physically, or do you recognize the real reason he comes?  He wants to give you life abundantly and life eternally.  Do you listen to His teaching and receive it?

Who's He Think He Is? (Luke 4:14-30)

Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him. (Luke 4:14-15 NIV)

Now the "fun part" of ministry begins for Jesus.  His baptism was great, of course, with The Father's endorsement from on high.  Fighting the devil couldn't have been too much fun.  He was exhausted enough to have angels help him at the end of the fight.  Now, though, Jesus gets to do the part that preacher/teachers enjoy the most.  He gets to teach!  His teaching must have been top notch, too, since Luke tell us that "everyone praised him."

He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." (Luke 4:16-21 NIV)

Matthew isn't the only one who points out Old Testament Scriptures fulfilled in the life of Jesus.  Here Luke shares a teaching where Jesus himself claims to be the Savior/Messiah.  He is claiming to be the one with the Spirit of the Lord on him.  He is proclaiming the good news to the poor.  This is great news for the people listening to him that day, because they are in oppression under the Roman government.  They already went into captivity, returned home, and have remained in captivity or oppression for over 500 years now.  They are ready to be set free.

All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. "Isn't this Joseph's son?" they asked. Jesus said to them, "Surely you will quote this proverb to me: 'Physician, heal yourself!' And you will tell me, 'Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.'" "Truly I tell you," he continued, "no prophet is accepted in his hometown. I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah's time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed--only Naaman the Syrian." (Luke 4:22-27 NIV)

It didn't take long, though, before the people started to change their minds.  Oh, don't get me wrong.  They still wanted to be set free from the current oppression of the Roman Empire.  Their problem wasn't with what the teacher was saying.  Their problem was with the person who was saying it.  Jesus was just a kid who grew up in their neighborhood.  They watched him grow up.  He was just like any other child in the neighborhood.  Now he's saying that he's the Savior/Messiah?  How can that be?

To make things worse, he anticipates their doubt.  Jesus doesn't try to convince them with a cool miracle like he was performing in other towns all around the region.  Instead, he simply says that he is not "called" to perform miracles here at home.  Then he talks about how the prophet Elijah wasn't called to perform miracles at home either.  Who does this kid think he is?  He's no Savior/Messiah.  He's just a snot-nosed brat that has gotten too full of himself.

All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff. But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way. (Luke 4:28-30 NIV)

How about you?  Do you have things that get in the way of your believing that Jesus is the Savior/Messiah?  Do you get indignant when he won't do miracles for you the same way he did miracles for others?  What would you do if you met Jesus today?  Would you listen to his teachings?  Would you praise him, ignore him, or taunt him?  Would you try to throw him off a cliff?

Deliver Us from Evil (Luke 4:1-13)

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.  (Luke 4:1-2 NIV)

Jesus' baptism marked the beginning of His ministry.  He's not even dried off from being baptized before being called into battle.  Jesus will fight temptation for forty days in the wilderness.  His tempter: Satan.

The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread." Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man shall not live on bread alone.'" (Luke 4:3-4 NIV)

It's a good thing that Jesus was already learning Scripture before the ripe old age of twelve.  His parents must have taken him to temple with them, worked on memory verses, sung the psalms, and practiced the proverbs.  They must have given Jesus every opportunity to learn God's Word throughout the childhood and young-adult years.  By the time he began ministry, Jesus was ready for battle.

The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, "I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. If you worship me, it will all be yours." Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.'" (Luke 4:5-8 NIV)

Forty days without food wasn't enough to drive Jesus to accept food from the tempter.  Authority and splendor wasn't enough to draw Jesus away from faithfulness to God.  Everything Satan used to pull Jesus away from The Father was deflected by the truth of God's Word.  Yes, Jesus was prepared for battle.

The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down from here. For it is written: "'He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'" Jesus answered, "It is said: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" (Luke 4:9-12 NIV)

Even when Satan tried to trip Jesus up by quoting Scripture in a way that God didn't intend it to be understood, Jesus couldn't be tricked.  He not only knew God's Word.  He knew how to correctly interpret its meaning as well.  Jesus knew what it meant.  Every lie of Satan was deflected with the truth of God's word.  

When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time. (Luke 4:13 NIV)

He didn't only fight temptations for those forty days in the wilderness.  He fought them throughout the rest of his life.  The devil didn't leave him after that day.  He left Jesus until a more "opportune time" to tempt again.

Jesus fought temptation with the same tools we have available to us.  All too often, we like to say that we can't do what Jesus did because He was God and we are not.  The problem with that logic is that it, too, comes from the devil.  Satan wants us to think we can't win against him.  But we can.

Jesus' victory in the wilderness had nothing to do with his deity.  His victory had everything to do with his knowledge of Scripture, understanding of Scripture, and dedication to the God revealed in Scripture.  Jesus couldn't be tripped up because he had learned God's Word so well that he recognized an impostor when he saw one.  Jesus used the power of God's Truth to fight off Satan's lies.  The battle was tough, but victory belonged to Jesus.

How about you?  Are you armed and ready to fight battles against the devil and his followers?  Do you read God's Word?  Do you understand it?  Have you memorized it?  Are you committed to following the one true God revealed in Scripture?

This is my Son (Matthew 3:1-17)

In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near." This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: "A voice of one calling in the wilderness, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.'" John's clothes were made of camel's hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. (Matthew 3:1-6 NIV)

The more we understand the clues God gave us about the Savior/Messiah, the more we see that only one person has fulfilled all the prophecies about God's chosen one.  Sometimes, the prophecies are about the people around the Savior/Messiah who will point to him.  John the Baptist fulfilled several of these prophecies.

Matthew does a nice job of quoting Old Testament Scripture for us so that we will recognize exactly how each person fulfills the prophecies about them.  John was being the "voice of one calling in the wilderness," as described in Isaiah 40:3 and following.  John was that voice.

"I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come," says the LORD Almighty. But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the LORD will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness...  (Malachi 3:1-3 NIV)

John fulfilled other prophecies about the one who would "prepare the way" for the Savior/Messiah.  Malachi, as you just read, prophesied that the messenger would prepare the way for the LORD to come.  When the LORD came, it would be a time of refiner's fire for the priests, leaders, and teachers of the law.  John told them that the time had come in no uncertain terms.

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. "I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire."  (Matthew 3:7-12 NIV)

John wasn't just a "crazy man" who was living in the wilderness, eating locusts and honey, and yelling at people.  He was fulfilling the prophecies about the one who would prepare the way for the LORD.  The one preparing the way was actually the return of an Old Testament prophet.  That prophet was Elijah.

"Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire," says the LORD Almighty. "Not a root or a branch will be left to them. But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves. Then you will trample on the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I act," says the LORD Almighty. "Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel. "See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction." (Malachi 4:1-6 NIV)

When John fulfilled the prophecies about the return of Elijah, then Jesus came to fulfill more prophecies about the Savior/Messiah.  Jesus was the one John was preparing people to see.  Jesus was the Savior/Messiah.

Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." Then John consented. As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."  (Matthew 3:13-17 NIV)

When heaven opened up, the Spirit of God descended on Him, and the voice from heaven said, "This is my Son," the people of that day would have seen more and more prophecies being fulfilled right before their eyes.  We've already read Isaiah 42:1-9 (my Spirit upon him), Zechariah 12:10-14 (like a firstborn Son), so we won't read them again today.

Instead, today's focus belongs to John the Baptist, how he was Elijah returned, and how his part in God's plan pointed us right to Jesus.  Not only that, his part was to point us right to the LORD.  Jesus is the LORD - God in the flesh.

How about you?  Does God work through you to point people to Jesus?  Do you believe that Jesus is God in the flesh?  What is your part in His plan?