First Scripture Reading: Luke 4: 21-30
21 He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked.
23 Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ And you will tell me, ‘Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’ ”
24 “Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown.
25 I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land.
26 Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon.
27 And there were many in Israel with leprosyin the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”
28 All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this.
29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff.
30 But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.
Morning Message:
I believe that in today’s church we need a regular, healthy dose of praise. There is something about praising and thanking God that is very good for our souls. It needs to be heartfelt and genuine, and we need to practice praising God. We need to give thought to our many reasons for being grateful to God. I have always suggested to people: When asked where to start reading their Bibles, that a good place to start is the Psalms. In the book of Psalms, we find the very raw emotions of the writers as they cry out to God with their burdens as well as their joys. As we read, we find a commonality between their troubles and ours, but we also learn that through every trail there is a reason to praise God, and we realize that joy truly does come in the morning; following closely behind the trials. In Psalm 71, the reading for today, I hear a person who is under stress and facing some kind of difficulty in his life. He is praying for God’s help; notice how he is praying. He is confidently reminding God of his righteousness and his faith in his ability to save them, and he is praising him for all that he has brought him through from the time of his birth. It is important for our prayers to be filled with praise because praise reminds us of our place before God.
If you pay attention to the message, you will realize that I have given you the answer to the problem before letting you know what the problem is. It’s kind of like playing jeopardy; I give you the answer and you give me the question. Our scripture today picks up kind of in the middle of what is happening in Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth. Jesus is coming home. The people of his hometown have heard about the miracles that he has performed all over Israel. You might think that they would plan a parade or give him the key to the city. Maybe they would hold up signs as he walked into town that say: Hometown Boy Does Good, or Congratulations on Your Successful Ministry. More than that, they should have been praising God and Jesus, proclaiming him as the Messiah. None of that happened, but when the Sabbath day came, Jesus went to the synagogue. He stood up to read and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. This is what he read, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” This is known as a messianic text, and those listening should have easily understood, after hearing of his miracles, that Jesus was indeed the Messiah that they had been waiting for. But just to make sure they understood, he proclaimed after the reading, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Jesus reminds them of two stories in scripture where God sent prophets to people outside of the nation of Israel. If you have never read these wonderful stories of faithfulness, I encourage you to find them and read about the wonderful steps of faith by people who were very far removed from Israel. They are stories of a miraculous jar of flour and oil that never ran out, and of a Syrian military man who swallowed his pride, listened to the command of a prophet, took a bath in a muddy river, and was healed. Jesus is questioning their faith! How is it that people who are completely removed from the faith, people who have never heard the word of God, how can they have more faith than you are showing? Here is a wakeup call for us. God doesn’t reserve his mercy and grace for only those who enter the church doors. God’s mercy and grace are available to all mankind. God honors faithfulness, and yes, coming to church is a step in the right direction, but it doesn’t give us special privileges, or make us feel like we can take faith for granted. Jesus gets right to the heart of the matter and the people of Nazareth react by trying to kill him. Heaven only knows; they are the church; they can’t be wrong.
Here is the issue. In the church there is the danger of complacency. Complacency is a feeling of quiet pleasure or security, often while unaware of unpleasant possibilities. I had never heard this term until a friend that I was attending ministry school with said it to me. He said, “They are dyed-in-the-wool Presbyterians.” It took me a while to realize what that really meant. It meant they felt as though they were a part of the very fabric of the church; they were the church; and the church was them. This is not just a Presbyterian thing, but a church-wide problem. I have met many wonderful church members since then, and I remember many that I knew before I was familiar with this term, that I would place in this category. Don’t get me wrong! Being dedicated to your church is a wonderful thing as long as you are dedicated to your Savior first. Too many times I have I have encountered wonderful pillars of the church who miss the point. Complacency comes when our focus is on anything other than Jesus. Even when we know Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we can become complacent in the church. Here is a test for us: If Jesus were to show up here today for worship what would we do? Would we recognize him? He might be dressed in a robe that is a little dusty. His hair and his beard might be long and not very well groomed. I have known people in the past, not here, so please don’t send me a secret, unsigned letter, but I have known people who would be more concerned with his appearance; where he might sit; and what they might have to do to clean the pew afterwards. The true danger of complacency in the church is that we stop seeking Jesus and the kingdom of God in favor of the pleasure and security we associate with this place. The people of Nazareth had things just the way that they wanted them; there was no room for Jesus.
In Christ’s Love and Peace
Pastor Bob
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