Pastor Michael Neumann

January 31, 2010 

Luke 4:21-30

Don’t Treat the Word of Jesus Lightly

1) It alone is offered for your salvation.

2) It is the Word of the Almighty.

 Many times, it’s the outward appearance of something which shapes our opinion. Just what we can see on the surface so often determines what we think, and at times that distorts our opinion and keeps us from truly knowing what something is like, knowing what is really true. For example – a certain food may appear very unappetizing, but it may actually be very delicious. Because of the way it looks, a person may not even be willing to try it and so might miss out on something he would really enjoy.

 That is also the case when it comes to our opinion of other people. A person who is dirty and unkempt, homeless and living in a shelter – we probably would have difficulty accepting advice for our lives from such a person. And it probably wouldn’t matter how good his advice sounded, how wise it really was, because of his appearance, we would have difficulty accepting his advice. On the other hand, someone who was well dressed, whose reputation was well-known – with him we might take any advice he gave and follow it wholeheartedly no matter how foolish it sounded. Outward appearance often affects our judgment.

 Unfortunately, that is also often the case when it comes to Jesus. Many people may see in Jesus a great teacher, a good example to follow – but they can’t see how he could be the Son of God who came into the world to redeem all sinners. In the Bible, they may see only a book written by men who could make mistakes – not the inerrant Word of God. They see Christians who talk about receiving blessings from Jesus but who don’t look any better off than other people. They may even be poor, and they get sick and die. So they can’t be God’s children. We too may be tempted to similar thoughts. Jesus promises to always be with me. He promises to make everything work for my good. Troubles come and I’m tempted to wonder where he is. I don’t see any good. But “faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” Faith doesn’t come from sight but by hearing.

 The people of Nazareth made that mistake. They let the outward appearance dictate their thinking, and in doing so rejected Jesus and salvation. They could not accept Jesus’ message because of his background and who they knew him to be. Even though his message sounded good to them and even though Jesus had given evidence to support his message, they rejected. Because of their rejection, Jesus gave his blessings to others. This text serves as a warning to us – Don’t treat the Word of Jesus lightly. Don’t treat his word lightly, because his Word alone is offered for our salvation and to bless us; and his Word is the Word of the Almighty.

 As we heard last week, Jesus was teaching in the synagogue in Nazareth. He had just finished reading to them a prophecy from Isaiah which spoke about the Messiah and the message of joy and salvation the Messiah would proclaim. After Jesus had finished reading, he began his sermon by saying, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. His message was very simple – he was the Messiah who had been promised in the Old Testament.

 It seems that the people of Nazareth understood what Jesus was saying. Luke tells us that “All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words.” As regular church goers they were no doubt familiar with many of the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah. Most likely they were looking forward to the coming of the Messiah. And why couldn’t it be Jesus? They had heard about the miracles he had done in other places. What wonderful news to hear - the Messiah had finally come.

 But as they began to consider it a little more, they weren’t so sure. How could Jesus be the Messiah? They all knew who he was. He was no different than they were. He was Joseph’s son from just down the street. He was a carpenter. There was nothing special about him. He couldn’t be the Messiah. But maybe if he performed a miracle, then they could believe.

 Jesus knew their thoughts. He knew that they wanted a sign. He knew their unbelief. He knew that a miracle wasn’t going to cause them to believe and to accept him as the Messiah. So Jesus rebukes them for their unbelief. He lets them know that they are not going to receive any of his miracles because of their unbelief. He had given them the message of salvation; they had rejected. In fact, Jesus harsh words to them were nevertheless, words of love. Jesus was calling them to repentance. He didn’t want them to miss out on the blessings he had to give.

 In love, Jesus also comes to us with that message and like the people of Nazareth it is hard for us to believe as well. It is a message that by nature is offensive to us. While we recognize it as being all too true, we don’t want to hear Jesus’ words of the law – words that point out the terrible sinners that we are. We don’t want to be told that we are completely undeserving and unable to earn God’s forgiveness and favor. By nature, by our own logic and thinking, we reject it too. By our own power, we can’t accept Jesus any more than the people of Nazareth did. As Paul writes to the Corinthians, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” 

 But through the power of that word, the Holy Spirit has created faith in our hearts so that we do believe Jesus’ message that he is the promised Savior. But still, it can be a temptation for us to treat Jesus’ word lightly. It sounds good, but – then there are things in his word that just don’t make sense to our human logic.  How can God be triune, how can Jesus be both God and man, how can Jesus’ body and blood be present in communion, and the list goes on - how? The temptation is to change his word so that it does make sense, to take the square peg and stuff it into the round hole so that it fits with our human logic, so that it fits what I see and experience with my eyes. But these teachings must be accepted by faith. Our human reason must be made subject to the word.

 We listen to Jesus’ word and it sounds good, but then there are those teachings of his word that don’t appeal to my selfish flesh. Jesus, the almighty God, has overcome sin for me. He has overcome the world. He promises future glory and assures me of a home in heaven. But he says, “In this world you will have trouble.” He tells me, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” Trouble, and a cross – let me rethink this. He tells me even to “rejoice in our sufferings.” He uses them to discipline us and refocus our thoughts on himself and our true home. But rejoice in suffering. That seems a bit extreme and so we have trouble accepting what he tells us.

 We listen to Jesus word. It sounds good, but then there are those teaching of his word that are unpopular in our world today – the role of man and woman and the doctrine of church fellowship are just a couple. How easy for us to want to overlook those doctrines. There can be the temptation to consider them to be less important and not necessary. We are tempted to treat his word lightly. But Jesus has given his word for our salvation. That is the only means he has given us for our salvation. The Apostle Paul tells us, “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.”

 We might think, like those people of Nazareth, that it would be nice if we could have a miracle performed. How much easier it would be to believe. How much more sure we could be that what we taught and believed was correct. And just think about how many more people we could get into church. But we don’t need signs. We have the word. 

 In that word we are shown that Jesus is the promised Savior from sin. Again and again throughout the Gospel accounts, we hear the phrase, “so that Scripture might be fulfilled.” Every Old Testament prophecy about the Messiah was fulfilled in the person of Jesus. We have his word. That word alone is offered for our salvation. That word is all that we need.

 That word is given to bless us. The people of Nazareth, like many of the Jews of Jesus day, were no doubt looking for an earthly Messiah, someone who would reestablish Israel as a great nation and take care of their physical needs. So someone who could perform a miracle, Him they might accept as the Messiah. 

 They heard of Jesus doing miracles and now they wanted some performed in their town. Certainly they deserved it. If Jesus had performed miracles in other places, certainly he should perform some in Nazareth, after all this was his home town.

 Jesus points to two Old Testament examples of times when miracles were performed for the benefit of someone who was not an Israelite. Because of the unbelief and rebellion of Old Testament Israel, these blessings were given to others.

 Jesus point to the people of Nazareth was that because of their unbelief, they were not going to receive the benefit of Jesus miracles. They thought they were more deserving of these miracles than others. But Jesus shows them that they are not deserving of them and won’t receive them because of their unbelief.

 We too can be tempted to think that we deserve God’s blessing more than others. We are faithful Christians. We go to church regularly. We support the work of the church. So why doesn’t God give us a few more blessings. Again we need to realize that we don’t deserve any special treatment from God. 

 He has given us his word to bless us. He has already given us the greatest blessing that anyone could ever have. We have forgiveness of sins and the hope of heaven. The Christian life will not always be one of easy and pleasure. Poverty and suffering are not signs of a lack of faith. The Lord disciplines those whom he loves. He has promised that he is with us and will provide for us. He will bless us through his word.

 So we will study and learn and cherish Jesus’ word. Learn from the example of the people of Nazareth and from Israel. They rejected the word. Because of their rejection, the word and its blessings were taken from them and given to others. May we cherish the Word, so that by God’s grace we never lose the word.

 The people of Nazareth got the message of Jesus and they got mad. They wanted to kill him. But here Jesus gives them the sign that they had wanted. He shows that His word is the Word of the Almighty God.

 “Physician, heal yourself!” No one is going to go to a doctor who has the same illness as you do, but hasn’t been able to cure himself. The people wanted a miracle and after their rejection, Jesus gives them that miracle. H shows he is God. They took him out to kill him, but they couldn’t lay a hand on him. Jesus simply walked through their midst. Yet this miracle didn’t cause them to accept him as the Savior.

 Jesus word shows him to be the Savior. His miracles attest to his divinity. He is the Son of God and our Savior. As the perfect Son of God, Jesus did not need to be healed. He had no sickness or disease. He had no sin. Yet for our sake he took all our sins. He became sin for us. The Apostle Peter writes, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.” 

 That proverb, “Physician, heal yourself!” reminds us of the words spoken to Jesus while he hung on the cross - Save yourself. Come down from the cross and we will believe. Jesus as the almighty Son of God could have come down from the cross. But thanks be to God that he didn’t. He hung on that cross and suffered the punishment for our sins and paid the price demanded. He was victorious for us. His resurrection is proof of his victory. Jesus is indeed our Savior. His word is the word of the Almighty.

 We have the words of Jesus recorded for us. They are the words of the very Son of God. We don’t need signs and miracles. That word is sufficient to save. That word is the only thing through which we are saved and through the word the Lord wants to bless us. Listen and study that Word. Believe and cherish that Word, for that Word is our Saviors’ word for our salvation.