Responding

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

RESPONDING

Luke 3:1-6

3:1 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar — when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene— 2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the desert. 3 He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 4 As is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: "A voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. 5 Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. 6 And all mankind will see God's salvation.'"  

NIV

We are being told the time setting of the beginning of the events which will lead to our redemption. Not that it hasn’t already began with the birth of Jesus, or rather the conception of Jesus, or actually with the creation, but this is the beginning of the revealing of the truth to mankind, which again really already happened, so we cannot be certain exactly how to describe this time setting. Luke tells us who was in power because it will be meaningful at some future time. What we should focus on in this section of the Gospel is the fact the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the desert. John responded to the word of God and went into all the country around Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Although John had a special calling to prepare the way for the Lord, the point is the word of God came to him. Was John the only person the word of God ever came to? Can the word of God come to us? In fact, the word of God does come to others, and it comes to us. It may not come to us with a calling to go into all the country around our homes preaching a baptism of repentance, but the word of God does come to us with not only a calling on our life for some sort of service to him, but it comes with instructions as to how to live. As john responded, do we? Do we respond to the word of God? Although it is true that the whole of the Bible is the word of God, and although it is true, the bible is chuck full of instructions for holy living, and although it is also true we fail to respond completely at all times to all the word of God, he also speaks directly to us. In order not to put God in a box, we need to see he could speak directly to us either through the Bible or through an audible voice, or through the Spirit. He might present us with a vision, or some other form of attention getting way in order for us to listen, but the word of God does in fact come to us and we need to respond when it does. If the word of God comes to us through an audible voice, how could we ever fail to respond? If the word of God comes to us through the Spirit, again how could we not respond? If the word of God speaks to us from the scriptures we need to respond, not doing so would be disobedience and that is nothing other than sin, yet the fact is we do not respond as we should to the word of God through the scriptures. What we need to learn is to respond when God speaks. He is God, we are his creation. He is God and when God speaks we need to listen and respond. 

God and Men

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

GOD AND MEN

Luke 2:41-52

41 Every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. 42 When he was twelve years old, they went up to the Feast, according to the custom. 43 After the Feast was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. 44 Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. 45 When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, "Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you." 49 "Why were you searching for me?" he asked. "Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?"  50 But they did not understand what he was saying to them. 51 Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.

NIV

Here we are at one of the more well know narratives about Jesus, as if any of the them surrounding Jesus are not well known, but nevertheless this is one which seems to be remembered easily. The family goes up for the feast and as usual a group travels together, the larger family unit along with friends. Jesus finds his way to the temple courts sitting among the teachers. These are men well versed in the laws of Moses and the Prophets, yet they all were amazed at his understanding and his answers evidently to questions that were posed to him. It does seem odd that teachers of the law would even ask a twelve year old any questions. Yet at the same time according to the Law of Moses he must have had his Bar Mitzvah, being twelve, as it was the age in which a boy becomes a man, and accountable to God instead of under the accountability of his father. So the teachers of the law would have accepted him as a man able to speak his mind regarding spiritual matters. Of course we know he was Jesus the Son of God and understand why they were amazed at his understanding. There is a life lesson in there, in the way that we too should be able to communicate regarding the scriptures to those we have the opportunity to speak with, even the teachers of the church. We should also note that Jesus was already full of the Spirit as he was also God in the flesh. But the lesson here is that if we are full of the Spirit we too will have the understanding and will amaze those who hear us speak on spiritual matters. There is also the lesson that we should be found, at no surprise in our Father’s house or business, which some translations use. Although both are added for clarification. The Greek text just says, about my Fathers must I be. Yet the lesson is that we should be about our Fathers, which certainly implies business. And what is our Fathers business? He came to save that which is lost. Our Father desires to reconcile himself to his creation. This he has accomplished through Jesus being our redeemer, the lamb of God, the sacrifice for our sin. This is what the Fathers business is and this is what we should be about. Telling people about Jesus, communicating in such a manner they will be amazed at our understanding and our answers. The third lesson is in what we are told about Jesus. He grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men. Can we expect any less from Jesus? And if we say we want to be more like Jesus, then can we expect any less from ourselves? Should we not be growing in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men? 

Strong, wise and influenced

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

STRONG, WISE AND INFLUENCED

Luke 2:39-40

39 When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. 40 And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.

NIV

We are given one brief sentence about the life of Jesus from the time he is a baby of eight days old until he is a child of twelve. We have no information about what happened in between except that he was taken back to Nazareth where Joseph and Mary lived, and that he grew and became strong, and that he was filled with wisdom and the grace of God was upon him. Thinking about the average child of between the ages of birth and twelve we generally do not think of them as filled with wisdom. We could conclude, however the grace of God might well be upon all children except this grace is that ‘charis’ grace which is the divine influence upon the heart and how it is reflected in the life. So in the case of Jesus, even as a child of up to the age of twelve he was reflecting the influence of God upon him. Although this is Jesus we are seeing here, it would be wise of us to follow his example. First we should be growing strong, and it is implied in spirit. Certainly Jesus was not lifting weights, building body mass and muscle for some strong man contest. He was growing strong in spirit. This is the kind of growing we should all be doing. We cannot be content with the present strength in the spirit we have, but we should continue to grow stronger and stronger. This is not necessarily all our own efforts either. As we yield more and more to the Spirit we grow stronger and stronger in our spirit. This also helps us in our being filled with wisdom. Certainly reading the scriptures would seem to be the way to wisdom, which it may well be, but it can also simply lead to an intellectual knowledge of scripture. It is generally known that knowledge is the accumulation of facts and data that we have learned about or experienced. It’s being aware of something and having information. Knowledge is really about facts and ideas that we acquire through study, research, investigation, observation, or experience. Wisdom on the other hand is the ability to discern and judge which aspects of that knowledge are true, right, lasting and applicable to our lives. It is the ability to apply that knowledge to the great scheme of life. It is also deeper, knowing the meaning or reason about knowing why something is, and want it means to our life. This comes from knowing the scriptures and being able to discern it’s meaning in our life, understanding the truths within. This is all included in the grace of God, in his divine influence on our heart, as well as our learning to listen to the voice of the Spirit who dwells within us, leading us in that understanding. To be like Jesus is far more than doing good deeds to others, it is growing, being strong in spirit, and filled with wisdom as we are influenced by God. 

Redemption

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

REDEMPTION

Luke 2:36-38

36 There was also a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, 37 and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. 38 Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.

NIV

Now we have this Anna, described to us as an old woman who once was married, most likely as a virgin, which is the custom in those days, but was left a widow after only seven years of marriage. We also should understand that she did not live in the temple although from the words here is would seem that way, but the reality is she most likely was at the temple constantly doing the hours of prayer, which were nine in the morning and three in the afternoon. That is she always attended these times. She had devoted herself to the things of God, serving in the temple, and again most likely was well versed in the words of the prophets. Being of such and old age it was likely she had no actually service requirements but still attending without fail those times. This act of fasting and praying is once again implied by the words that she always fasted and prayed, but again in the stickiest sense of Parasitical law fasting for prayer was only twice a week. We should also note the word prophetess does not denote her occupying the office of prophet in the sense of the prophets who foretold the future, but the word implies, such as Paul describes in his letter to the Corinthians, a person who speaks under the influence of the Spirit for the edification, exhortation, and comfort. The point of all this exercise is to understand that when Anna show Jesus she was inspired by God to speak about him as the Savior of Israel, the long awaited Christ, the Messiah. We would think that all who were at the temple during the hour of prayer heard Anna and would immediately come and worship their Messiah. But it seems that is not the case as Jesus was not followed by them at that time, and it was years before he began his public works, revealing himself to his people. What life lesson do we learn from all this? It would seem people can hear about Jesus and not follow after him. It would seem we could speak, even under the influence of the Spirit, about Jesus and people would not follow after him. We could also learn something from Anna in the sense we should not exempt ourselves from attending the temple at the appropriate times. We could simple pass this off strictly on widows being devoted to God rather than gossip, but it would seem rather, we should all learn this lesson. Certainly we all cannot live at church, but we should find ourselves there at the times of service, which in our cultural is Sunday morning, as most churches have departed from Sunday night services. It is also noted that our culture has become a twenty-four hour, seven day a week work force, and it is possible some simply cannot find themselves at church during those hours due to the responsibilities of supporting the family, as required by God. Yet the six days shall thou labor and the seventh rest, as the Sabbath, still applies. So it is most likely we should learn a devotion to God, a time of rest, of being in his service, in his presence, constantly, ready to speak under the influence of God about Jesus to whoever is looking for redemption. 

Pierced

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

PIERCED

Luke 2:33-35

33 The child's father and mother marveled at what was said about him. 34 Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: "This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, 35 so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too."

NIV

It is slightly curious why Joseph and Mary marveled at the words of Simeon. Mary had a visitation from an angel and became pregnant being a virgin. Joseph had an angelic visitation informing him of want was to happen concerning Jesus. Surely the shepherds must have told them about what had happened in the fields concerning their being visited by a host of angels and what they were told concerning Jesus. So by now it would seem they surely most have known who their baby was, yet they were marveled that Simeon called Jesus his salvation and a light for the Gentiles. But then he tells them even more which certainly clarifies exactly who and what Jesus would be and do. Jesus certainly reveals the thoughts of our hearts and it is as if a sword does pierce our heart when we find Jesus. When we lived solely for ourselves without any moral restrictions or at least any awareness of a life with God, we thought and behaved as we desired. But when  we did encounter Jesus he did indeed reveal to us our thoughts and how we should be thinking. He pierced our hearts with the truth, which is a sword, a double edged sword as we are told in the letter to the Hebrews:

 Heb 4:12

12 For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword , it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

NIV

Jesus is the word of God, for John has told us that in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God and he became flesh and dwelt among us. When Jesus comes into our life we are changed forever. Our thoughts and our behavior are changed and we can never be as we once were. Even if we try, deciding to walk away, we cannot ever think and behave as we desire without any thoughts of Jesus. Once he has pierced our heart, it will remain pierced. We cannot change what God has done. That almost sounds like, once saved, always saved, but it is not. We can walk away from Jesus, but the point is our thoughts will never be void of him. We can never return to a thought life that we had before we encountered Jesus. Once we meet Jesus we will never be the same, we will be changed forever because our heart was pierced. 

Sovereign Lord

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

SOVEREIGN LORD

Luke 2:25-32

25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ. 27 Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, 28 Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: 29 "Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. 30 For my eyes have seen your salvation, 31 which you have prepared in the sight of all people, 32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel."

NIV

Having focused on the character of Simeon, seeing him as righteous and devout. Noting he was filled with the Spirit and followed the Spirits leading and learning all that as a life lesson, we now should turn our attention to his words. To start out with we could spent many hours contemplating just those two words, “Sovereign Lord”. When we pray for God to do this or do that, are we praying according to the will of God? Jesus said that if we ask him, whatever we ask in his name, he will do it. How is this balanced with his being Sovereign? The fact is that he is Sovereign and he has decided that we can ask anything in the name of Jesus. We also have the words of John in his first letter, telling us that if we ask according to the will of God, he will hear us and whatever we ask we know that we will have what we ask of him. So coming back to the sovereignty of God, we have to know that because he is sovereign his will is to allow us to ask for anything in the name of Jesus, but at the same time we need to be cognizant of his will. That may sound a little confusing, and some might see his sovereignty as having complete control over everything, and as so, there is really no reason to pray at all for anything, especially the salvation of another, but God wants us to ask him, and because he is sovereign, we should obey him and ask. Again we could spend hours discussing that concept of his sovereignty, in fact we could write a book in just those two words. We might also consider the fact that Simeon lived with a purpose, a promise he had from God. He had been promised he would see the salvation of the Lord which he indeed saw when he looked upon Jesus. Simeon knew Jesus was the Messiah, the promised Christ. He was at total peace in his spirit. This is the case with every soul that looks upon Jesus. When we see the truth, the truth of Jesus, and we accept him as our Christ, as our redeemer, we are at peace with God. That means we are no longer objects of his wrath, but rather we have the right to be called children of God. This should give us great peace within our being. That includes freedom from all anxiety, all fear, all unrest, for we are at peace with the sovereign Lord. He has prepared a way for us to be redeemed, he has prepared a way for us to be free of death. He has prepared the only way for us by sending Jesus as a light onto our path, which leads to God. Praise you oh sovereign Lord. Thank you sovereign God for shining the light of salvation upon me. 

Who is Simeon

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

WHO IS SIMEON

Luke 2:25-32

25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ. 27 Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, 28 Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: 29 "Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. 30 For my eyes have seen your salvation, 31 which you have prepared in the sight of all people, 32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel."

NIV

Certainly we could spent this time focused on the words of Simeon concerning Jesus, and perhaps we will continue with this section of the gospel and do that. But today it seems appropriate to focus our attention on Simeon. First we should notice he was a righteous and devout man. We might take our life lesson from the character of this man and consider if we are righteous and devout. Of course we are righteous, or holy because we are in Christ, but when we consider, Simeon did not have that covering yet, he was righteous or equitable in character or act or by implication innocent, holy. We could ask ourselves if we are righteous in the sense being equitable in character, if we are fair and impartial, just, even-handed, unbiased, or unprejudiced as well as being devout, reverencing God. To reverence God is not to become too familiar or casual with him. Simeon understood God was the Almighty God who could by his word bring either a blessing or complete destruction upon man. We cannot afford to become too casual in our relationship with God, even in our worship times. The other thing we notice about Simeon is he was waiting for the consolation of Israel and he was moved by the Spirit. This consolation implies a summons, a call, which Jesus is that call, as he called the people to God, through him. But we also should note the Holy Spirit was upon him and had a promise which he believed as we see he was also moved by the Spirit. Simeon was a man who believed God, he was filled with the Spirit, even before the Spirit was poured out upon all men, and he followed the leading of the Spirit. Again we can take a life lesson from him in that we too should be filled with the Spirit, that is the Spirit is upon us, and thus we should follow the leading of the Spirit. We should not act upon our own, but go when told to go, and stay when told to stay. There is much in the character of Simeon we could learn from. It would be wise for us to ponder on being righteous and devout, filled and moved by the Spirit.