Most commentators recognize Luke 9:51 – 19:27 as a special section containing information about Jesus that is unique to Luke’s gospel. Many of the most popular teachings of Jesus are found only here in the scripture. The Good Samaritan, the Prodigal Son, the Rich Man and Lazarus, the Ten Lepers Jesus heals and only one (a Samaritan), returns to give thanks, Zacchaeus up in the tree, and others are found only in these chapters of Luke’s gospel.
Today we have come to chapter 10 of Luke’s gospel. The three sections of chapter 10 are about: 1. Jesus sending out 70 to prepare the way for his coming. 2. The parable of the Good Samaritan. 3. A personal visit Jesus has in the home of Martha and Mary.
Each of these deserves attention that we can not give in the short time we have. But let’s touch on each one and find lessons to live by from them.
Verses 1-24 record the sending of the 70 and their return and blessing. Jesus was very concerned that people prepare themselves for the kingdom of God. He sent out the 12 and now the 70 to make the message known! One commentary pointed out the significance of the 70 is multifaceted. First, in Numbers 11 God had instructed Moses to appoint 70 elders and God put his Spirit on them to help Moses lead the people of Israel. Second there were 70 elders in the Sanhedrin who were appointed to guide and judge the people. Also, 70 translators had been used to translate the Hebrew Bible into the Greek language. This version is called the Septuagint, or 70. One commentator said that it was believed in that day that there were 70 nations in the world, and this number reflected the universal or international nature of the gospel of the kingdom of God. Since Luke doesn’t tell us, all this is guess work, but the number 70 does seem significant.
These 70 were sent out in much the same way as the 12, with the same power to perform signs and wonders. One of the ways we discover a deeper understanding of Jesus is by serving him and sharing our faith with others. They came back all excited! Verse 17 records them saying, “Lord even the demons submit to us in your name!” Wow. The Name of Jesus still carries power over Satan. Jesus told them not to rejoice over demons submitting, but over their names being written in heaven. Amen! May we all remember this priority. Then Jesus rejoices in prayer and in verse 22-24 he pulls back the curtain and reveals his identity on a deeper level. As we noted last week, these disciples had the right hearts but the wrong ideas about who Jesus is. Here he shows us all a glorious secret that blesses our eyes and ears if we see and hear it with faith.
Listen: 22 "All things have been handed over to Me by My Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him."
23 And turning to the disciples, He said privately, "Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see,
24 for I say to you, that many prophets and kings wished to see the things which you see, and did not see them, and to hear the things which you hear, and did not hear them."
Jesus has it all. He has the power to reveal God to us. Do you see that? Jesus has the power and authority to show us God.
What are some lessons we learn from this?
1. Jesus is serious about getting the message out. He uses his followers to spread the word! He instructs us, empowers us, and involves us in this work. And anyone who takes up the charge of the commission of Christ discovers the greatest blessings of this life!
2. The greatest thing to celebrate in life is knowing that your name is written in heaven. What do you and I celebrate most? What do we stand up and cheer about? Listen. There is nothing on earth more worthy of shouts of joy than having God reveal himself to you and know that you have a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. Then helping others to know Christ and follow him just magnifies and extends that joy! Ron Hutchcraft tells this: One day our little grandson was running around the living room, enjoying his own miniature "Toys R Us" store. He had his Veggie Tales toys out, his ball, his stuffed animals, his little ball you put the different geometric shapes in. He was 14 months old then, it should have kept him occupied, right? Yes, until he saw a certain person moving back and forth past the window on the front porch.
It was his father! As soon as the little guy saw his Dad outside, he turned his back on all those toys, and he dropped the one in his hand, and he ran to the window squealing and shouting, "Da da!" No toy got a reaction like that! Seeing his Dad was better than anything else he had!
A glimpse of Daddy is worth dropping everything for.
Psalm 37:4 talks about what should light you up if you’re a child of God. It says, "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." Get excited about seeing the Lord, like a certain baby I knew who got excited about seeing his earthly father. A glimpse of Daddy is worth dropping everything for.
The Lord describes how you can keep getting exciting glimpses of Him. 1 Chronicles 16:10-11 - "Glory in His holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Look to the Lord and His strength; seek His face always." The ones who see the Lord all the time are the ones who seek the Lord all the time, who are looking for Him all day ... every day. And, by the way, those who seek the Lord "rejoice." But the world is full of substitutes for this joy. When people get more excited about a foot ball score than about seeing God or helping others to come to know him, we have big problems. Some are more engrossed in their toys than seeing their Heavenly Father. Here at Signal Mountain Church of Christ we will seek the Lord! Right? And as this church gets so excited about discovering a deeper awareness of God through Jesus and helping others to see him that we can’t help but rejoice in it, God is going to show us his power in a way we could never imagine! We’ll think the demons are on the run. We will not be able to build a building large enough to hold the crowds.
This section answers the question: Where do I serve? The next section answers the question: Who am I called to serve?
Verses 25-37 tells one of the most popular stories in the Bible: The parable of the Good Samaritan.
We know this story by heart. So I want us to think of it in terms of the question: who am I called to serve? That question is answered by answering another question: who is my neighbor? In this section Jesus is confronted by a lawyer who stands up to test Jesus. Big mistake… You don’t give the teacher the test, he gives the test to you!
The lawyer’s test comes in the form of a question: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Now that’s not a bad question, is it? In fact, it’s a really good question! If asked by a seeking heart, it is one of the best questions. But this man’s heart is a testing heart. He’s already sure of the answer. He just wants to see if Jesus knows the answer. Hey, listen… Jesus not only KNOWS the answer, he IS the answer. But notice that Jesus responds to this test question with two of his own. Jesus says: “What is written in the Law?” and, “How do you read it?” The lawyer answers:
27 " ’You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ’your neighbor as yourself.’"
Jesus, the teacher gives him an “A.” But the lawyer can’t give it up. So he asks another question: “Who is my neighbor?” You see, this lawyer thinks he has got God all figured out, he thinks his problem is figuring out his neighbor. Now listen to me. If you can’t figure out who your neighbor is, how on earth are you going to know God? John later says, 1 John 4:20 If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? 21 And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.
Jesus then tells this famous parable to show what a neighbor looks like. In Jesus’ story, the neighbor is the one who gives the help. So the real point is, are you a neighbor? Neighbors help neighbors. Jesus’ point is found in his final four words: Go and do likewise. While you are trying to figure out all this, go be a neighbor and help others. You may just find out who God is in the process!
What are the lessons here?
1. Jesus indicates that serving others is one of the main things people who love God do. Are there people you know that could use a call or visit? Do you know that we have at least 16 widows in this church? Are you too busy to give of your time to greet and show God’s love to one of our widows? They are God’s gift to us. Do you know anyone who needs encouragement or a helping hand? Is your life too busy to reach out to offer encouragement and help to just one of these? We need to be neighbors! When the world treats each other as neighbors, like Jesus describes here, we will have a much better world to live in.
2. Jesus ties love for God directly to love for neighbor. If you want to see the Lord, get busy serving your neighbor. In our devotionals in Honduras, one question we always open the floor on is: Where did you see Jesus today? It really gets easier and easier to see the Lord when you get busy serving your neighbors with the love of God in your hearts.
Finally, in this last section of the chapter, verses 38-42, we see a partial answer to the question of “How do I serve?”
How about some down time! Did Jesus ever go anywhere and just relax? The closest example I can find is right here at the end of Luke 10. Martha asks Jesus over for dinner. This is the Mary, Martha and Lazarus family. Jesus had friends. In fact, when Lazarus was sick the message to him from the sisters said simply, “He whom you love is sick.” He whom you love? That’s friendship, is it not? The text doesn’t say anything about the rest of Jesus disciples being present at this meal in Luke 10 and it doesn’t matter, but I don’t think they were.
Luke 10:38 Now as they were traveling along, He entered a certain village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home.
Martha likes to put on a good spread. She invites Jesus into her home. He’s special and she’s going to show him what a really good meal looks like. Mary and Martha seem to be women of some means. Mary has a pound of nard, worth a year’s salary, that she later will pour on Jesus as an offering of love to him. Poor people in that time didn’t have such things.
But back to this text: Martha is in the kitchen “going to town” on the meal working up a sweat trying to get it all together, but where is Mary all this time? She’s just sitting there at Jesus feet listening to Jesus. Martha is wanting to be a good neighbor to Jesus, but actually, Jesus doesn’t want or need a huge spread of delicious food. He certainly would receive it with all the grace that he received Mary’s gift of nard, but Martha has a problem. She wants to do something for Jesus and that desire to serve him gets lost somewhere in a distraction. Her attention moves from serving Jesus to needing help to serve him the way she wants to. That’s not bad, but then notice what happens. As she works and works Mary sits and is mesmerized by Jesus words.
What is going on in Martha’s mind? I can almost hear it. Where is that Mary? I’m going to burn something here if I don’t have help! Why doesn’t she get in here and help me with this? She knows I’m up to my neck in all this. Finally, Martha pokes her head in where Jesus is goes to him and blurts out:
"Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me." Why? She expected Mary to join in and help! Now there is no reason to believe that Mary is lazy, but Mary is more interested in being with Jesus, than in impressing him with a big meal.
Jesus has to coach Martha in how to be a neighbor to him. I’m sure he would rather her just relax and come on in and visit with the rest of them and just have some peanut butter sandwiches or something simple. Listen to his reply to her frustration: "Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only a few things are necessary, really only one, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her."
Martha didn’t ask Jesus if he needed a big meal, she decided that he did. That was fine and Jesus would surely have received it as a gift of love, but when she turns on her sister in the process, it tarnished her gift of service to him.
Lessons:
1. How do you serve? Well, don’t look around and blame anyone else for not jumping in and working your pet project with you! They may actually be doing exactly what the Lord wants them to do. It’s ok to invite others to join you, but don’t expect it.
2. Your service to the Lord can be as simple as a listening ear. There may be someone who needs you to just be there to listen. This too is a service that Jesus accepts and values. Are you too busy to stop for a while and just sit and listen to someone in need? Don’t underestimate the power of being a listener for Jesus!
So summing up:
Where do I serve? Jesus sends us out! Discover God’s power in Jesus name and rejoice in seeing God and knowing your name is written in heaven.
Who do I serve? A neighbor is anyone in need and to love our neighbor helps us discover God as we reach out to others.
How do I serve? 1. Without blaming others for not doing things my way. 2. In whatever capacity we can. The smallest gift will be rewarded greatly!
Luke 10: The Servants Chapter
Luke 10:1-24 Where do I Serve?
The 70 are sent out.
1. What instructions and empowerment does Jesus give them?
2. What are they excited about when they return?
3. How do they discover who God is through this?
Lessons:
1. Jesus is serious about ___________________________________________________
2. One of the greatest things to celebrate in life is _______________________________
We find our highest joy when we see _________________________________________
Luke 10:25-37 Who do I Serve?
The Good Samaritan
1. Who gives the real test in this event?
2. What does a neighbor look like?
3. Are you a neighbor?
Lessons:
1. Jesus indicates that serving others ________________________________________
2. If you want to see the Lord ______________________________________________
Luke 10:38-42 How do I Serve?
Martha Learns to Serve
1. What kind of relationship does Jesus have with Mary and Martha?
2. How does Martha intend to serve Jesus?
3. How does Jesus teach her a better way?
Lessons:
1. When you serve, don’t ________________________________________________
2. Your service to the Lord can be as simple as _______________________________
