At the church
where I serve we are in the middle of a sermon series entitled “Invite”. During
this series we are looking at several events from history where Jesus engaged
and invited those who were far from Him to follow Him and live in relationship
with Him.
During this
series, we are going to discover what Jesus said to invite those who were far
from Him to follow Him and live in relationship with Him. During this series,
we are going to discover how Jesus said what He said to invite those who were
far from Him to follow Him and live in relationship with Him. And as we go
through this series, our hope and prayer is that God would move by the power of
the Holy Spirit in our heads, hearts, and hands in a way that equips and
empowers us to follow the example of Jesus when it
comes to inviting those who are far from Jesus to follow Jesus and live in
relationship with Jesus.
This week I
would like for us to look at an event from history that
is recorded in a section of an account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in
the Bible called the gospel of Luke. And it is in a section of the gospel
of Luke that we see Luke give us a front row seat to a confrontation that reveals
a timeless truth about how Jesus engaged and invited someone who was far from
Him to follow Him. So let’s discover that timeless
truth together, beginning in Luke 10:25:
And a lawyer stood up and put Him to the test, saying, "Teacher, what
shall I do to inherit eternal life?"
Luke brings us
into this event from history by explaining that as Jesus was engaging in a
conversation with His disciples about a short-term mission trip that they had
just returned from, a lawyer stood up and put Jesus to the test. Now this lawyer, who were also known as a
scribe, was an expert in the Law, which are the first five books of our Bibles
today, which the Jewish people referred to as the Law or Torah.
When Luke says
that this lawyer put Jesus to the test, he is revealing for us the reality that
this lawyer was trying to trap Jesus with a question. This lawyer was setting a
trap in hopes that Jesus would incorrectly answer the question in a way that
would jeopardize Jesus status and credibility among the people.
Luke then
revealed the question that was posed to Jesus in order to trap Jesus: "Teacher,
what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" Now this question, if communicated
in the language we use in our culture today, would have sounded something like
this: Jesus, what must I do so that I can experience eternal life with God in
Heaven? What must I do to be right with God so that I can obtain a ticket to
Heaven?”
The reason why
this question was a trap was due to the fact that there was great disagreement
when it came to the answer to this question. And the lawyer believed that
however Jesus answered this question, Jesus would end up offending someone.
Now here is a
question to consider: Has anything changed? Is this not the question that is
still asked today? And do not people argue and debate the answer to this
question? Doesn’t the answer to this question still end up offending someone?
Maybe you are here this morning, and this is a question that you have.
Maybe you are
wondering “What must I do to experience a relationship with God? What must I do to be right with God so that I
can obtain a ticket to Heaven?” You see, regardless of
whether or not you buy the whole Bible, Jesus, or church thing; regardless of
how often you have attended church in the past; regardless of the fact that you
may feel like you do not know and do not feel that you can ever know about
whether or not the Bible or church is real or relevant; regardless of all the
bad experiences that you may have had with Christians and churches, this is a question
that resonates within us.
This is a question that will cause
us to stop and think. Is there a God? And if there is a God, who is God? And if
there is a God, how do I get right with God? However, while the lawyer thought
that he had trapped Jesus, the lawyer was not prepared for what Jesus would do
next, as we see in verse 26-28:
And He said to him, "What is
written in the Law? How does it read to you?" And he answered, "YOU
SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND
WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND; AND YOUR NEIGHBOR AS
YOURSELF." And He said to him, "You have answered correctly; DO THIS
AND YOU WILL LIVE."
Instead of
providing an answer to the lawyers’ question, Jesus, sensing the lawyer’s
insincerity, responded by turning the tables on the lawyer. Jesus basically
said to the lawyer “What do you think? What do you think God said about how we
can experience eternal life with God in Heaven?”
Luke tells us
that the lawyer, unable to resist the temptation to show off how much he knew
about God, responded to having the tables turned on him by Jesus by quoting from a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the Old
Testament of our Bibles called the book of Deuteronomy. The lawyer, who was not
interested in learning from Jesus, but just wanted to trap Jesus with a test,
quoted Deuteronomy 6:5, which was part of the Hebrew Schema, which was the
Jewish people’s confession of faith. The schema would be recited by all Jewish
people as part of their daily prayers and was committed to memory.
This answer would not have surprised those listening and
would have seemed like the right response. The idea of loving God with all your
heart and with all your soul and with all your mind conveys a sense of total
commitment. In our culture today, we would communicate this concept by saying
that we should love God with our total being. In addition, this lawyer also
quoted from another section of a letter in the Old Testament of our Bibles
called the book of Leviticus.
Luke tells us that Jesus, hearing the lawyers answer to
his own question, responded by affirming the lawyers answer. And in affirming
the lawyers answer, Jesus quoted a section from a letter in the Old Testament
of our Bible called the book of Ezekiel.
In Ezekiel 20:11, the prophet Ezekiel reminded the Jewish
people that the Lord had given the Jewish people His commandments to reveal His
nature and character and the nature and character that the Jewish people needed
to possess and display in order to live in relationship with Him. Jesus quoted
this Old Testament passage as a command to the lawyer.
Jesus basically said to the lawyer “You answered your own
question correctly. Now make sure that you are living your life in obedience to
your answer. To be right with God
so that you can obtain a ticket to Heaven make sure that you are
living your life in obedience to the Lord’s command to love the Lord with your
total being and to love your neighbor as yourself, because you will show your
love for the Lord by how you love your neighbor.”
Now I want us to imagine ourselves in this event from
history as this lawyer. Place yourself in his shoes. You have just tried to
trap Jesus with a question in a way
that would jeopardize Jesus status and credibility among the people. However,
Jesus just turned the tables on you in a way that forced you to answer your own
question and that made Jesus look even better in the eyes of the people.
You are this
lawyer. What would you be thinking at this point? How would you be feeling? How
would you respond? Tomorrow we will see the lawyer’s response…
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