The Main Thing
Scripture Reading: Luke 4:14-21
It was early on the morning of the sabbath.
Bearded men in long robes
passed behind and between rows of pillars
as they took their seats in the room,
which was lit by a clutter of low-hanging lamps.
In the center of the room was an angled desk
atop a low platform.
Backless benches were arranged on all sides,
and looking down on the scene
was a balcony filled with the wives and daughters of the men occupying the room below.
A row of dignified men sat
in front of a heavy curtain at the end of the room;
one of them rose from his seat and spoke briefly to several of the others in the room, one of whom was the carpenter, Yeshua ben Yusef--Jesus of Nazareth.
The room was full, with many men standing,
when Jesus walked
to the raised desk
in the middle of the synagogue,
the same place where as a boy of thirteen,
he had celebrated his bar mitzvah.
All eyes in the room
were riveted upon his lean form,
made more gaunt by the recent ordeal he had endured
during a forty-day fast in the wilderness of Judah.
An air of expectation
mingled with the smoke
from the oil lamps in the room
as he ascended the rostrum;
sensational rumors had been spreading
all over the countryside
about the carpenter’s son,
and he had already taught in other synagogues in the area.
This sabbath appearance in his hometown of Nazareth had been long awaited by many in the room.
The carpenter’s strong voice commenced the first part of the service by reciting a series of prayers and recitations . . .
And then Jesus waited, briefly, while the Chazzan, the man whose duty it was to do so, carried a heavy scroll to the podium.
Jesus, handling the bulky scroll
with a skill that betrayed practice,
deftly unrolled it
while the crowd in the synagogue waited.
After just a moment,
he found the passage he sought,
lifted his eyes to the congregation,
and spoke without another look at the scroll.
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,” he said.
Immediately, puzzled looks were exchanged among the men in the rows of seats; this was not the haphtarah, the scheduled reading, for the day.
Up to that point Jesus had led the synagogue service in customary fashion,
but this was unconventional,
a jarring departure,
an unexpected development.
The son of the carpenter was reading from a passage of his own choosing.
“Because,” Jesus continued, the old words flowing from his mouth, ringing with new meaning, “he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”
In the quietness that followed his reading,
Jesus rolled the scroll together,
handed it back to the Chazzan,
and sat down in his seat,
as a rabbi of that day would do
when he was ready to begin teaching.
He gazed around the room,
meeting the stares of those who watched him.
“Today,” he said, “this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
That sermon in Nazareth, recorded in the fourth chapter of Luke’s Gospel, was Jesus’ inaugural sermon, the first official act of his public ministry. And I believe that what Jesus did that day has much to teach us today:
• about us as a fledgling church body, and
• about each of us individually as Christians.
So let me invite you to turn in your Bibles to Luke, the third book of the New Testament, and then to the fourth chapter, as we see what we can learn from God’s Word this morning. . . .
Luke 4, and we’ll be concentrating on verses 16 to 21. . . .
Before I go any further, let me just introduce myself: my name is Bob Hostetler, and I’m one of a small group of people--their names are on the programs you received when you came in to this room--who were just mentally unbalanced enough to believe that God might be calling us to start a new church in Oxford, despite the fact that we all had day jobs!
But as we began to discuss
and consider
and pray
about this crazy idea,
it became clear to us that very early on,
we should do exactly what Jesus did on that long ago Sabbath day in Nazareth, and that is to carefully,
prayerfully, and
clearly define our mission.
Now, scholars agree that what Jesus read that day,
as recorded in Luke 4:18-19,
was not part of the haphtarah,
the schedule of readings for synagogue worship.
In other words, he did something that was almost never done: he chose his own text. . .
He chose what is marked in our Bibles as Isaiah
61:1-2. . .
And he chose it for a very specific purpose,
one that’s pretty hard to miss:
to announce his mission.
Look at what Luke says, in v. 17:
The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
18"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, 19to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor."
Jesus was providing,
to the hometown crowd
of the synagogue he grew up in,
his “mission statement” as the Messiah!
He was stating,
matter-of-factly:
“THIS IS WHY I AM HERE. THIS IS MY MISSION.”
And it would have been understood,
by every Jew listening,
that when Jesus sat down and began his teaching--notice, in verse 21, that we’re not told what the rest of his sermon was, only the first line: “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing”--
when he said that, it may well have caused them to catch their breaths, because they knew Isaiah’s prophecy, and they knew two things:
(1) those words applied to the Messiah, and
(2) they referred to the year of Jubilee.
Now, as Ricky Ricardo might say to Lucy,
“I can essplain.”
You see, the Jews had a custom,
ordained by God,
that not only would every 7th day of the week be
a sabbath, a day of rest,
but that every 7th year would also be a sabbath, when the land would not be farmed, and so on. . .
And after every 7th sabbath year (that is, every 50th year) there would be what was called the “year of Jubilee.”
IN THAT YEAR,
all slaves would be set free,
all men whose poverty had forced them to sell
their lands would receive them back again,
those who had lost family members into slavery
or imprisonment would be reunited with their loved ones. . .
So you can see why it was called “The Jubilee!”
THAT is what Jesus said his mission was . . .
What the Law prescribed,
What Isaiah promised,
Jesus fulfilled!
He came to bring good news to the poor,
the kind of news that had ‘em dancing in the streets every fifty years!
He came to bring broken families together,
to bind up the brokenhearted,
to heal the hurting!
He came to free the slaves,
to open the doors of darkness,
to untie men’s hands,
to unfold their wings!
To proclaim the acceptable year,
the year of God’s grace,
the year of JUBILEE!--
BUT NOT JUST ONE YEAR EVERY FIFTY--
that was already the case--
but Jesus came to bring a worldwide Jubilee
that every year,
every DAY,
would speak good news to the poor,
liberty to the captives,
healing to the brokenhearted,
it would speak forgiveness for the guilty,
freedom for those who feel controlled,
release for those who feel trapped,
deliverance,
laughter,
relief,
joy,
JUBILEE!
That was his mission . . . he made it clear!
And it should be obvious, I think,
that if--for example--Karl Marx’s mission was to spread his communist ideology worldwide, his followers would share that mission;
Or if Bill Gates’s mission is to dominate the computer industry and make the entire information age DEPENDENT ON HIM--
[SPEAK TO CEILING] I’m joking, of course, Bill- Bill, I know you can hear me? I’m just kidding, okay?--
but if that were his mission, then you would expect his disciples to pursue the same goal, right?
But too often we, the disciples of Jesus,
even if we acknowledge that his mission was to “bring good news to the poor, proclaim freedom for the prisoner, recovery of sight for the blind, release the oppressed,”
we plan and program and function
as if his mission was
-- to give us a comfy club to belong to,
-- or a place to go five days a week so we don’t have to rub elbows with people who don’t already believe in Christ,
-- or a cozy classroom where we can debate our heads off about what I believe,
what you believe,
what we oughta be teaching,
yada yada yada.
Well, I’m sorry,
this church will be founded on the belief that what Jesus wants is not a country club of people who have their little Christian act together in their own little corner of their own little room,
but what he wants
is people to help him fulfill his mission of
spreading the good news all over the place, getting downright sloppy with it,
setting captives free, and
binding up broken hearts!
And just as Jesus defined his mission at the outset of his ministry, we want to be clear as a church about what our mission is, and it is this--
it’s printed in the programs--
I THE MISSION
of Cobblestone Community Church
“is to love people into life-changing encounters with God.”
That’s what we’re about.
The mission of this church is outward-focused.
We exist not for our own benefit, but for the benefit of others.
The leadership of this church is not--and will not--be here to meet our own needs, to massage our own egos. . . Like our master, we are here not to be served, but to serve.
The ministers of this church--and that means you--will be constantly encouraged to think not in terms of “How can this church meet my needs and reflect my preferences,” but “How can this church meet my neighbors’ needs and be sensitive to them?”
Do you see the difference?
One of our distinctives is that we plan to be outward-focused; in other words, we exist not for the benefit of Christians, but for the benefit of those who are not-yet-Christian.
Now, that doesn’t mean that there won’t be
Bible studies,
Sunday school classes,
fellowship events,
leadership training,
“women’s” stuff,
all those kinds of things;
But it does mean that we want to be diligent
to ensure that all we do
helps us achieve our mission of
“loving people into life-changing encounters with God.”
But there’s another great thing that our mission statement does for us. I want you to notice that, embedded in both Jesus’ mission statement and out mission statement is. . .
II THE METHOD
Most people miss the incredible impact of what Jesus said in that synagogue in Nazareth.
After all, there were many texts he might have chosen for his first sermon.
He could have unrolled the Isaiah scroll a little further and read Isaiah 63:1:
“Who is this coming from Edom, from Bozrah, with his garments stained crimson? Who is this, robed in splendour, striding forward in the greatness of his strength? ‘It is I, speaking in righteousness, mighty to save.’”
He could have rolled back nineteen chapters to Isaiah 42 and read,
“Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations. . . . he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth.”
But he chose none of those texts,
though they are all prophecies that refer to Jesus,
either in his first advent or his Second Coming.
But instead of those passages, Jesus turned to Isaiah 61:1. Why? What made him choose that passage?
I believe the answer is simple.
Jesus’ mission statement made it clear
that people are his priority.
Of all the texts he could have chosen,
of all the sermons he could have preached,
of all the ways he could have announced his mission to his family, friends, & fellow Nazarenes,
he chose a passage about sharing good news,
proclaiming freedom,
bringing healing,
releasing prisoners,
about compassionately meeting people’s needs.
THAT is the Spirit of Christ!
A bruised reed he will not break, and a smouldering wick he will not snuff out (Isaiah 42:3, NIV).
That is the Spirit we hope to capture in the mission of Cobblestone Community Church. That’s why we specify the method of our mission:
to “love people into life-changing encounters with God.”
You see, God uses many ways to bring people into his kingdom. And, as Steve Sjogren, the pastor of the Cincinnati Vineyard Church, said a couple weeks ago, there’s “no bad way to evangelize.” But some ways are more effective than others. And so we at Cobblestone Community Church are going to focus our efforts on reaching out in ways that are
low-risk to Christians
and nonthreatening to non-Christians. . .
And that will include servant evangelism,
it will include low-risk ways of surprising people with God’s love, and
it will include developing ways for this church to make it as easy--and FUN--as possible for you to invite your non-Christian neighbors and friends to come to events designed specifically for skeptics and seekers, and we will help you experience the unspeakable THRILL of leading them to Christ!
But bear with me just a little longer, because I want to point out one more thing that’s embedded in our mission statement, and that is not only the Mission, not only the Method, but also (and finally -wake up, Logan Tankersley!). . .
III THE MEASURE
Would you turn in your Bibles just a couple chapters deeper into Luke’s Gospel? I want to refer you to the seventh chapter, verses 19-22 . . . Luke 7:19-22 . . .
Look at that passage with me, will you?
And summoning two of his disciples, John sent them to the Lord, saying, "Are You the Expected One, or do we look for someone else?"
And when the men had come to Him, they said, "John the Baptist has sent us to You, saying, ’Are You the Expected One, or do we look for someone else?’"
At that very time He cured many [people] of diseases and afflictions and evil spirits; and He granted sight to many [who were] blind. And He answered and said to them, "Go and report to John what you have seen and heard: [the] BLIND RECEIVE SIGHT, [the] lame walk, [the] lepers are cleansed, and [the] deaf hear, [the] dead are raised up, [the] POOR HAVE THE GOSPEL PREACHED TO THEM” (Luke 7:19-22, NASB).
Do you see what Jesus said to John? He referred to his mission statement! Now, I don’t know if John was in that synagogue when Jesus read from Isaiah--he may have been, the two men were cousins, after all--but when John asked, “Are You the Expected One, or do we look for someone else?” Jesus said, “Am I fulfilling the mission of the Messiah or not? I mean, look at the measure of the Messiah, John--
[the] BLIND RECEIVE SIGHT,
[the] lame walk,
[the] lepers are cleansed,
[the] deaf hear,
[the] dead are raised up,
[the] POOR HAVE THE GOSPEL PREACHED TO THEM”. . .
Jesus was saying, in effect, “Am I fulfilling my mission or not, John?”
And we want to do the same here at Cobblestone Community Church as Jesus did in first-century Galilee and Judea. . .
We want to regularly, constantly, measure and improve our effectiveness at fulfilling the mission God has called us to.
And the measure will be: changed lives.
I mentioned last week our strategy of developing outreaches and programs that will help people progress on a spiritual scale from:
Skeptical---to----seeking,
Seeking---to----saved,
Saved---to----serving.
But we plan to measure whether or not we’re doing that, and to hold each other accountable and to help each improve a little more every week, every month, every year. . .
Because, as Jesus made clear to John, the measure of a mission is in its fulfillment, not in its good intentions.
So, that’s what we’re about here at Cobblestone; but let me take the message of Luke 4
from the corporate to the individual,
from the church to . . . you.
Let me ask you to put yourself in that Nazarene synagogue, and ask you what you would read from that rostrum. . . what is the mission of your life?
Oh, now, don’t panic--we’re not gonna go around the room and answer that question--but how would you answer it? Have you found a mission? Have you discovered something worth giving your life to?
I know, we all have to make the rent,
we all have jobs, or classes, or chores or stuff--
but let me just ask you to prayerfully consider three quick questions:
First, what are you doing that will last forever?
what are you doing with your life
what have you found that matters?
What are you going to do that is great for eternity?
What are you going to do with your time,
your talents,
your life,
that will enable you to stand before God someday and say “Yes!” “God, this was for you!
This really mattered!”
Second, what is God calling you to do?
You see, I’m thoroughly convinced that God has a clear and meaningful mission in mind
for every one in this room, just as he does for this church.
And I want to encourage everyone here to give careful thought to your mission;
I even encourage you to come up with a mission statement of your own;
It can be like Jesus’ statement,
it can be like this church’s statement,
it can be identical to one of those,
it can be nothing like either one.
But this much I know: if you aim at nothing,
you’ll hit it.
But if you prayerfully and sensitively seek God’s face, he can and will make it clear to you what you can--and SHOULD--do.
And, third, what are you waiting for?
I urge you not to wait another day,
another moment,
to say, “Yes, Lord! Your servant is listening!
Yes, Lord, I will follow,
Yes, Lord, I will obey.”
I urge you to consider those questions as we spend a few moments in prayer and meditation in the final moments of this time together.
And if, as sing together,
or as the celebration concludes
and people start to head for pizza,
if you’d like someone to talk to
or someone to pray with you,
I’ll be waiting here, and so will several others. . . .
