Study inLuke’s Gospel

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The WillingnessOf Christ

Chap 5v12-16Presentation 19

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IntroductionMany Christians do not have a skewed picture of what Jesus is like. They have been influenced by a 21st C stereotype carefully packaged to give Jesus the maximum appeal. He is presented in quite sentimental terms, "Gentle Jesus meek and mild". He is portrayed as an establishment figure, as someone who would never rock the boat and never give ground for offence.

Now this stereotype is far removed from the real Jesus.! Jesus was an enigma to the religious leaders of his day. He broke with conventions of his time. He was controversial. He did the unexpected. He shocked his audiences. He caused them to question their established values. This is the Jesus that confronts us in the text of the N.T.

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Jesus' Choice Of CompanionsConsider Jesus' choice of companions. A choice that must have raised many religious eyebrows. He called Levi, a tax collector, to follow him [v27]. How could he be an asset to Jesus? Tax collectors were held in contempt and treated with resentment- much more so than their present day counterpart! Working as they did for the Roman authorities they were treated as quislings and became social outcasts. The kind of people who took this kind of job were often already regarded as the off scouring of society but it gave them the opportunity to become rich!

Levi had worldly comfort yet there was something missing. The world cannot give satisfaction to the thirsty heart, peace to the troubled mind, and direction to the one who has lost his way. Only Jesus can meet these needs.

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Jesus' Choice Of CompanionsOne day, Jesus called Levi [better known to us as Matthew] to be one of his close associates thus scandalising the religious establishment. It was a bit like conferring the Nobel peace price on Adolf Hitler or Saddam Hussein.

We immediately discover an interesting spin off from Jesus’ choice for Matthew decides to hold a banquet in order to introduce his friends and colleagues to Jesus. Matthew recognised that the sort of people who were made to feel unwelcome in the synagogue services would not feel in the least uncomfortable around Jesus as he spoke of God’s kingdom. If gospel benefits could be his why could they not also be experienced by his friends?

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Jesus' Choice Of CompanionsUsing our homes to introduce others to Jesus continues to be for them a non-threatening evangelistic opportunity. Have you ever thought how you might use your home to advance the evangelism of the church? You might consider hosting a neighbourhood Bible Study, or a coffee discussion group. By so doing you would be following the pattern established by Matthew 2000 years ago. When he decided to use his home he laid on a lavish banquet- there is no need for us to do that today. The important thing is that our homes offers a relaxed atmosphere for discussion and provide a non-threatening situation where people are able to discuss concerns about the Christian faith.

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Jesus' Choice Of CompanionsMatthew, a comparatively new convert, provided Jesus with access to a whole stratum of society hitherto untouched by the established church. The reaction of the religious establishment to Jesus’ involvement in this outreach method is recorded in v30 "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners".

The Pharisees had a fragile view of holiness. They believed in salvation through physical segregation, spiritual superiority and religious conformity. They were more concerned about preserving their spiritual reputations than in meeting the needs of the spiritually sick in their society.

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Jesus' Choice Of CompanionsA minister colleague was involved in an outreach programme which had helped a considerable number of alcoholics. The gospel had transformed their lives and though many of them continued to be rough diamonds, they clearly demonstrated that they wanted to live their lives for Jesus. Sadly however, some in the congregation resented this new influx. They believed that these newcomers lowered the respectable tone of the congregation. One woman said she was leaving the church because she was concerned that her Christian reputation would be destroyed if she associated with people who were recovering alcoholics. Jesus gave no thought to his reputation.

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Jesus' Choice Of CompanionsHow then did Jesus answer the criticism levelled against him? “Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance”v31-32. The Pharisees seemed to think that a doctor should only visit healthy patients in case he caught an infection! What a novel approach to running a health service! It is certainly a disastrous strategy to operate in building the church. “Keep well away from the unconverted and the backslider lest your personal holiness is contaminated,” was their strategy! In contrast Jesus approach enabled him to do what the Synagogue services had failed to do – reach the lost!

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Jesus' Choice Of CompanionsThis is not to imply that we can only use our homes fruitfully in God’s service if we can fill them with social outcasts. There are many needy people who could benefit from friendship evangelism. Ask how many people you know for whom Jesus is not a living reality. How might you use your home as a kind of stepping stone to help them come to faith? This may seem a daunting task but it may be the only way that some will ever hear of God's love. Wouldn't all our apprehension and reserve seem as nothing if just one person were to say, "I'm so glad you invited me along and caused me to think about Jesus"? If Jesus means a great deal to us then we will surly want others to make that discovery for themselves? cf. Isa. 63.7..

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Jesus' Style Of MinistryNot only were the Pharisees concerned about the kind of people Jesus mixed with they were also concerned about the way he conducted his ministry. They resented Jesus’ refusal to conform to their rigorous ascetic pattern of life cf.v33 “John’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.”

Do you see the thrust of this complaint? Why were Jesus and his disciples enjoying themselves? Surely everyone knows that the truly religious man has got to have a long sour face and a determination to banish all enjoyment from his life! A great many people believe that being a Christian is a great trial, best suited to those whose personality and disposition leans towards morbidity!

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Jesus' Style Of MinistryHowever, if we do not enjoy our Christianity then there is every possibility that what we have is a distortion of true Biblical Christianity.

I am not suggesting that Christians must wear a perpetually artificial, frozen smile. I'm not saying that when we bash our thumb with a hammer we smile instead of grimace and instead of crying out, pleasantly comment, "What a delicate shade of blue that bruising will become". What I am saying is, that God is no spoilsport whose intention is to evacuate all pleasure from our lives. He wants the very best for us and he wants us to enjoy the rich abundance of good gifts which he showers upon us.

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Jesus' Style Of MinistryHow does Jesus reply to this second criticism that his disciples do not appear engage in the discipline of fasting? His reply in v34 can be paraphrased as follows;

“Just as fasting is out of place during a wedding celebration how much more is it out of place when the Messianic bridegroom is present with his people. Oh the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken away - [a reference to his death] and then would be the time for fasting and indeed the suffering of his followers would become quite intense but not yet!”

Jesus’ point is the need to recognise that every life situation has an appropriate response.

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Jesus' Style Of MinistryYou see some people are so rigid in their thinking that they always respond in the same way. It may be appropriate to send a wreath at a funeral but its wholly inappropriate to send one to a wedding. Different situations demand different responses.

Inflexible thinking is one thing most likely to stifle the growth and witness of the church. It complains: "This is the way my great grandfather did things and it’s therefore the way we should do things. The King James Version was good enough for Paul it should be good enough for the church today. A church without a steeple, or a choir, or rows of wooden pews is not a proper church. The apostles didn't use T.V. or radio broadcasts nor should we.”

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Jesus' Application Jesus develops our reluctance to let go of the past one step further by pointing out the danger of trying to mix things which will not mix. He highlights this danger in two tiny parables v36-39. Both of which point to the same truth.

The first will appeal to those of you who are dressmakers. Which of you would cut out a piece of material from a brand new dress in order to patch up an old shoddy garment? The patch that was supposed to solve the problem creates an even bigger one. Not only has a new garment been spoiled but the ‘repair’ to the old one is ineffective. And yet many people want their old and inappropriate religion patched up by Jesus – and no more!

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Jesus' Application Many people are content with their lives as they are and all they want from Jesus is a little bit of improvement, a little religious patch. Do you know people like that? I do! But Jesus will not be stuck on like a patch to a person’s life. Instead, he wants to give us a whole new garment, a brand new life. A life where he exercises his own gracious control and rule. Do you see how radical Jesus is? He wants to make us new creatures. Is this not precisely the point the apostle makes, when he says,

“If any man is in Christ he is a new creation, old things are passed away all things have become new“ 2Cor.5v17?

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Jesus' Application The second parable has exactly the same thrust as the first. New wine, which inherently has the power to ferment and become a far richer and fuller drink must not be put in old dry wineskins. Why? If it is then the new wineskins will simply burst, and the wine will be lost. New wine with all its remarkable potential for change must be put into new bottles capable of preserving it.

But the sad thing is that those who have grown accustomed to the taste of old wine have by nature no inclination to taste the new. The Pharisees were saying, "The old is good", and so they rejected the new, fresh, life imparting and transforming teaching of Jesus.

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Jesus' Application The Pharisees clearly preferred stuffiness to fresh air; the deadness of their man-made traditions to the vital life creating teaching of Jesus.

Ah, you say, you obviously can’t change human nature, or the habits of a lifetime. And that is true. It takes nothing short of the grace of God to create within man’s heart the desire for the new life, which Christ alone can impart. Only God's grace can change the way in which our minds think and the settled attitudes of heart, which have shaped our lives over the years. But God's grace can certainly do that!

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Jesus' Application What Pharisees could not come to terms with is that the Christian life, which is exhilarating, and dynamic, could not be contained in their worn out structures of thought and traditional man-made, doctrinal beliefs. It could not live side by side with their obsession with earning God's favour by their good works and best efforts. Vital overflowing Christian joy and a determination to cling tenaciously to an old empty religious life, cannot dwell together peacefully in the same person.

These parables of Jesus were designed to show that God’s work would not be bound to the ball and chain of conventional structure, historic practice, social expectation and doctrinal confusion.

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ConclusionThroughout his ministry Jesus was indeed truly controversial. We dare not think of him as an establishment figure. Jesus rocked the theological boat of his day, not for the sake of making waves [some seem to receive some kind of perverse pleasure from doing that] but in order to ensure that God’s purpose for men was fulfilled.

We are left with the question, “Are we prepared to rock the boat, not simply in our own individual lives but in our church life in order to work towards the establishment of God’s kingdom?”