No Neutral Ground.

Luke 11:14-23

“Anyone who isn't with me opposes me, and anyone who isn't working for me is actually working against me.” – Luke 11:23 NLT

This is Luke's version of the incident we looked at yesterday. Jesus had just healed a man who was demon-possessed, blind and unable to speak. The people who witnessed the event were amazed. But according to Matthew's account, the Pharisees accused Jesus of getting His power from Satan. Notice that they didn't attempt to deny the validity of what Jesus had done. They couldn't. They had witnessed it with their own eyes. They knew the people could and would easily refute any attempt on their part to deny that something miraculous had just happened. So they resorted to discrediting Jesus' source of power. They refused to believe He was from God, so that left them with only one option. He must be from Satan. Jesus obviously had power, so He was getting it from the enemy. If they could get the people to believe that, surely they would turn on Jesus and His ministry would fade away into oblivion.

But Jesus quickly exposed the fallacy of their premise. It made no sense for Satan to cast out his own demons. Why would the Prince of this world aid and abet God? Would possible benefit could Satan get by casting out a demon from this man and releasing him from a life of blindness and muteness? As Jesus was prone to do, He quickly turned the moment into an occasion to expose the hearts of the Pharisees and religious leaders. Luke reminds us that "He knew their thoughts" (Luke 11:17 NLT). He didn't just hear what they said, He knew the thoughts behind what they said. Jesus knew that these men were against Him. They stood opposed to Him and His ministry. They refused to believe that He was the Messiah, the Son of God, and the Savior of the world. As a result, they spent all their time trying to discredit Jesus, trap Him, trick Him, expose Him and get rid of Him. And Jesus makes it very clear that the real enemy in this story was them. If anyone was working in allegiance with Satan, it was this very same, self-righteous men. Jesus said, "Anyone who isn't with me opposes me" (Luke 11:23 NLT). This statement presented Jesus' listeners with a problem. If He was who He claimed to be and what His miracles seemed to prove Him to be – the Messiah – then He was from God. He was the messenger of God doing the very work of God. And to oppose Him was to oppose God. Yes, the Pharisees had offered up another option, that Jesus was in league with Satan himself. But now they were faced with the challenge of choosing which option they would embrace. Jesus makes the decision even more difficult by adding these words: "and anyone who isn't working with me is actually working against me" (Luke 11:23 NLT). The choice was theirs. And it would have eternal implications. Was He the Son of God? Was He working on behalf of God as He claimed to be? Jesus easily refuted their argument that He was receiving His power from Satan. That choice made no sense. But if He was casting out demons by the power of God, then the Kingdom of God had truly arrived among them, and He was proof.

In the world in which we live, there is a battle going on between the Kingdom of God and the forces of the enemy. It is a real battle with real casualties. Satan has never let up in his quest to dethrone God and destroy His creation. Jesus Himself told us that "The thief comes only to steal and killand destroy; I have come so that they may have life, and may have it abundantly" (John 10:10 NLT). Satan hates God. He loathes Jesus. And as a result he has an insatiable desire to destroy all those made in the image of God. He is out to steal, kill and destroy us. And the world he rules, according to Jesus, hates us. Every day of our lives we have a choice to make, whether we will love God and live according to His will, or whether we will love this world and allow it to influence our beliefs and behavior. We must daily choose to work with God and His cause. To not do so is to stand in opposition to Him. Remember when Jesus had informed His disciples that He was going to have to go to Jerusalem, be betrayed, tried and killed? Peter rebuked Jesus and told Him that these things could not and would not happen. He literally said, "Heaven forbid, Lord!" In other words, may God Himself stop what He intends to do. Peter was in essence denying God the right to be God. Jesus' response was harsh, but it reveals the seriousness and danger of opposing the will of God. "Jesus turned to Peter and said, 'Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God's.'" (Matthew 16:22 NLT). Peter was standing in opposition to Jesus. He was opposing the will of God. Why? Because He was seeing things from his limited, human perspective. And we can be guilty of the same thing. So we must walk carefully. We must choose wisely. We must evaluate our circumstances from a heavenly perspective. We must learn to ask, "What is God doing here?" "What is His will in this situation?" In opposing Jesus and His intent to obey the will of God for His life, Peter had become an unwitting ally to the enemy. May we constantly strive to work with God and not against Him. To do so, we must always be seeking to know what it is He is doing in this world and in our lives. We must always assume that God is in control and is using any and every circumstance for our good and His glory, whether we like it or not. He is sovereign. He is God. And we must always choose to work with Him and His Son, never against them. 

Father, it is so easy to stand against You and not even know we are doing it. We can oppose Your will for our lives by simply rejecting what You allow to come into our lives as uncomfortable, unwanted, and even unnecessary. We can refuse to listen to and walk in Your plan for our lives because we have better plans. We can reject Your way for our own. And when we do, we stand opposed to You. We end up working against You, not with You. Help us to see life from Your perspective, not ours. Show us how to seek Your will and live in it, regardless of whether it is pleasant or even makes sense at the moment. Amen.

The Family Tree.

Matthew 1:1-17; Luke 3:23-38

“This is the record of the ancestors of Jesus the Messiah, a descendant of David and of Abraham.” – Matthew 1:1 NLT

God took on human flesh. But while it might be easy to assume that Jesus could have come as just anybody, as some nondescript, obscure no-name, it was important that He not only come just when He did, but as who He did. Paul tells us, "But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law" (Galatians 4:4 NLT). Jesus came at a divinely chosen moment in time. This date was picked from before the earth was created. In God's all-knowing, sovereign wisdom, He had marked this date down and He had picked just the right place, time, and people group into which to send His Son.

These two genealogies give us a glimpse into the details of God's plan. It provides a backdrop of unbelievable specificity that shows us that Jesus didn't just pop onto the scene, like some superhero falling from the sky. His arrival was well-planned and meticulously orchestrated by God over centuries of time. You see, Jesus is the fulfillment of a promise made to a man called Abraham. All the way back in the book of beginnings, Genesis, we have recorded God's promise to Abraham: "I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you" (Genesis 12:2-3 NLT). Now, generations later, we read the fulfillment of this promise to Abraham. Matthew records for us that Jesus was a direct descendant of Abraham. He is the means by which "all the families on earth will be blessed." But Luke takes it a step further. His genealogy goes all the way back to Adam. In essence, Luke is reminding us that Jesus is related to all mankind, not just the Jews. He is the Savior of all the world, not just the Hebrew people.

Both of these genealogies, while perhaps boring reads, are significant in their detail. There are names woven throughout that give us a glimpse into God's remarkable plan and how intricately it was worked out over time. They both reveal that Jesus was royalty. He was a direct descendant of David. This was important because it reveals that He was royalty and a legitimate heir to the throne of David, fulfilling a promise God had made to David many, many years before. It would be easy for us to overlook the significance of these genealogies and even refuse to read them. But don't lose sight of the incredible nature of what is being revealed in them. This story is real, not myth. Jesus was a real man, not a made up one. He came into time. He was literally born as a man. And while Joseph was not His biological father, his place in the lineage of David gave Jesus legal rights to the throne of David as the step-father of Jesus. Mary, as the literal mother of Jesus, and as a direct descendant of David, provides Jesus with legitimacy as well. Think of the details behind these names. Think about all that could have gone wrong along the way. Consider the miracle that these two family trees both meet at the same place – at the birth of Jesus. God is indeed amazing. This story is remarkable. And we're just beginning.

Father, You are a God of details. Nothing escapes Your notice. Your plan was perfect and You worked it to perfection. And You still are. So why should we worry, fret, become anxious or let the affairs of this world shake us? You are in control. Thank You for that reminder. Amen.

Emmanuel.

Luke 1:1-4; John 1:1-18

“So the Word become human and made his home among us.” – John 1:14 NLT

As we begin this reading through the four Gospels, it is significant that we start with a solid foundation and a clear understanding of the significance of what we are about to read. This is not some fairy tale devised by men or some religious myth created through someone's fertile imagination. This is the truth regarding the coming of the Christ – the chosen one, promised by God thousands of years ago and sent by God at just the right time in history to accomplish the divine will of God regarding mankind.

This is not just some quaint story reserved for reading at Christmas. These four accounts of the life of Jesus Christ are a window into the the divine rescue plan for a doomed planet and all the people who live on it. These are four men, divinely inspired by the Holy Spirit, writing what they saw and heard, from their own unique perspectives. They are writing to four different audiences and each provides a unique viewpoint, based on their own personalities and aimed at giving a different glimpse of the life of Christ.

But no account of the life of Christ would be complete without the fact that this unique, one-of-a-kind man was more than just a man – He was God. Without that foundational truth, His life becomes meaningless and these four Gospels become nothing more than historical accounts of some obscure Jewish prophet who lived and died. But Jesus was more than just a man – He was the God-man. He was God in human flesh. A difficult truth to comprehend, but no less the truth because of it. What sets this story apart is how it begins. At just the right time in human history, God chose to send His own Son on a rescue mission. And He chose to do it by sending Him in the very form of the ones He was being sent to save. "So the Word became human and made his home among us" (John 1:14 NLT). That's what Emmanuel means, "God with us." God became one of us. How remarkable is that? But wait, there's more. "He came into the very world he created, but the world didn't recognize him. He came to his own people, and even they rejected him" (John 1:10-11 NLT). That's the story we are about to read for the next five months. Don't lose sight of it. Don't get lost in all the stories, parables, healings, miracles and messages. God sent His Son in human flesh in order that He might save some. He sent Him to rescue "all who believed him and accepted him," but not took Jesus up on His offer. And there are still those rejecting that offer today.

These four Gospels are just that – the Gospel – the good news of Jesus Christ and His sacrificial, substitutionary death on the cross for sinful man. This is good news about salvation, but also about sanctification. God has provided a way for men to live in harmony with Him that isn't based on our own self-effort. He has taken care of our sin problem by sending His Son and having Him die in our place. But we're getting ahead of ourselves. Let's start at the beginning, but let's not forget the significance of how this story starts. The Word became human. Amazing.

Father, open our eyes to the unbelievable nature of this story. Don't let us read it with the same boring, been-here-before attitude. Make it come alive. Show us things we have never seen before. Bring the miracle of this story to life again for us. Amen.