Sharing Jesus' Mission

I am sure that most of you can relate to this. You purchase something that needs to be assembled. It might be a swing set for the kids. It might be a certain piece of furniture. There are so many things now that you can get and assemble yourself in order to save money. Now I have to ask, ”When you start putting one of these things together, do you see it as something exciting? Or do you see it as just another chore?” I guess it depends upon how big the project is and how many hundreds of little pieces have to be put together.

But now I want you to think about evangelism - sharing God's word or sharing the gospel story with someone. Do you see that as an exciting opportunity, or do you see it as a chore?

For the past few weeks we have been talking about Jesus's mission and His ministry. I hope that you saw Good Friday, Palm Sunday, and Easter Sunday as an opportunity for Jesus to continue His mission, His ministry. I hope also that we all know and understand that Jesus' crucifixion was not the end of His ministry. Jesus’ crucifixion, death, and burial were not the end of Jesus' mission. It's not the end of our mission or ministry either. Jesus invited His disciples to join Him in His mission, and He wants us to join too.

Being involved in the mission and the ministry of Jesus should be exciting for us. We shouldn't think of it as a chore, something that burdens us. Let's take a closer look at this today as we look at sharing Jesus' ministry. Prayer.

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We're back in the Gospel of Luke as we close out the subject of Jesus' ministry and mission. As we look back, we remember that Luke opened his account of Jesus' life with how people prayed and worshiped at the temple. Last week, we saw the disciples in hiding, full of doubts. But as this 24th chapter of Luke closes, the disciples are so full of joy that they're back at the temple, praising God.

We have to wonder how they went from panicking in private to praising in public. We saw how Jesus appealed to their physical senses to take away any doubts they may have had. Today, we're going to see how Jesus opened their minds to understand the Scripture and to see their own role, and ours in the mission.

Luke 24: 44-45 – “He told them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.”

The entire Bible from start to finish, the OT and the NT, all of history, is about Jesus. God's world, God's rule, God's plan. It's always been about Jesus. When Jesus referred to everything written in the law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms, He was referring to the entire OT. Jesus is the One who fulfilled all of God's promises. Paul said it this way:

2 Corinthians 1:20 – “For every one of God’s promises is “Yes” in him. Therefore, through him we also say “Amen” to the glory of God.”

It is Jesus that helps us to understand His word. The time has finally come for the disciples to truly understand. Jesus knew that He was about to leave them, and He was commissioning them to take over His work. He knew the disciples still didn't fully understand how His death and Resurrection fit into God's plan, so He opened their minds to understand the Scripture. He showed them how all of Scripture pointed toward Him.

The disciples were never going to be able to figure this out on their own. This type of understanding came as a gift from God. But that doesn't mean that they instantaneously knew what it was saying. It looks like Luke, in his writing, meant that Jesus opened their minds by explaining the Scripture.

Remember the two disciples that left to go to their hometown in Emmaus on Easter day? I mentioned that last week. Luke recorded that same type of Revelation encounter when the resurrected Jesus met those two disciples. We are told that Jesus spoke to them about how it was necessary for Him to suffer and die. Luke says it this way:

Luke 24:27 – “Then beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted for them the things concerning himself in all the Scriptures.”

So Jesus started the same day of His resurrection to explain that all Scripture pointed to Him. Talk about show & tell.

Paul tried to explain the same thing in his letter to the Ephesians. The Holy Spirit led Paul to teach the people of his day as well as us today that an understanding of Scripture is given to us by the Holy Spirit. Do you realize that? We might think that we're smart and very studious as we study God's word. But a true understanding of Scripture is opened up to us by the Holy Spirit. To remind us all of that it might be a good idea to take a sticky note and write down Psalm 119:18 and stick it in the front of our Bible. Each time we open our Bible to read or study, maybe we should pray that verse before we begin studying.