Luke 4:14-37
Luke 4:14-37
Jesus demonstrates a very important concept that He actually shows throughout His life and ministry many times; He graciously spoke the truth, even though He knew a lot of people would be mad about it. Christ’s primary purpose was not to make people happy, it was to declare that the Kingdom of God was near and that they needed to repent and believe. His success in this was not based on the feelings of those who heard it.
Charles Spurgeon once said of this passage, “I learn, from this incident in our Lord’s life, that it’s not the preacher’s business to seek to please his congregation. If he labors for that end, he will in all probability not attain it; but, if he should succeed in gaining it, what a miserable success it would be!”
The purpose of living our lives in service to Christ is not to please those in this world and win their approval. In fact, if we are really doing this right, the world will not approve of us. Unbelievers in our circles should question why we would give so much of our time, energy, resources, comfort, etc to God and His Kingdom. People should look at the way we live and ask, “What would make them do this?” And we should be prepared to give them our answer: we are motivated by the love of Christ! We pour out our lives as an offering to Him who paid for our sins and adopted us into His family. Though it is hard to be vulnerable, it’s hard to serve, it’s hard to truly love, we can do it because God has done that and more for us. Our former Lead Pastor, Tim Parsons, wrote in our Search for Significance discipleship material: “There is nothing anyone can ever do to me that is worse than my sin of rebellion against God, for which I have been completely forgiven.”
Does your life make sense to the world, or do you stand out from those who are not in a relationship with God through Jesus? What is something God is calling you to do for His Kingdom today?
By: Kaitlin White
Jesus demonstrates a very important concept that He actually shows throughout His life and ministry many times; He graciously spoke the truth, even though He knew a lot of people would be mad about it. Christ’s primary purpose was not to make people happy, it was to declare that the Kingdom of God was near and that they needed to repent and believe. His success in this was not based on the feelings of those who heard it.
Charles Spurgeon once said of this passage, “I learn, from this incident in our Lord’s life, that it’s not the preacher’s business to seek to please his congregation. If he labors for that end, he will in all probability not attain it; but, if he should succeed in gaining it, what a miserable success it would be!”
The purpose of living our lives in service to Christ is not to please those in this world and win their approval. In fact, if we are really doing this right, the world will not approve of us. Unbelievers in our circles should question why we would give so much of our time, energy, resources, comfort, etc to God and His Kingdom. People should look at the way we live and ask, “What would make them do this?” And we should be prepared to give them our answer: we are motivated by the love of Christ! We pour out our lives as an offering to Him who paid for our sins and adopted us into His family. Though it is hard to be vulnerable, it’s hard to serve, it’s hard to truly love, we can do it because God has done that and more for us. Our former Lead Pastor, Tim Parsons, wrote in our Search for Significance discipleship material: “There is nothing anyone can ever do to me that is worse than my sin of rebellion against God, for which I have been completely forgiven.”
Does your life make sense to the world, or do you stand out from those who are not in a relationship with God through Jesus? What is something God is calling you to do for His Kingdom today?
By: Kaitlin White
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