Luke 9-10: Rejoice That We Are Saved

Jan 9, 2009

Today’s reading is Luke 9:1-10:42.

I’m in a bit of a time crunch today; I’ll have to be brief, which is tough because there are several things I’d like to talk about including Martha, the Good Samaritan, going out two by two and others.

However, what keeps hitting me even as I think of all these other amazing lessons in today’s reading is Luke 10:18-20.

“And he said to them, ‘I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

How often do I wish I could command spirits, tread on serpents and perform miracles. That would be so cool. But why? Is it not because I wish I had some kind of special power? Because then people would have to reckon with me. Even when Jesus offered that power to some, He said that wasn’t the important part. That wasn’t the part on which they should focus and rejoice. Yes, they had a specific role in God’s plan. Yes, because of that role, they were able to do some pretty amazing things. But that wasn’t what was important.

The important point was their name was recorded in heaven. They were saved by the blood of Christ (even though they had no concept of Christ’s blood yet and even though it had not yet been shed).

If they should rejoice at that, how much more should I? Sure, I get to preach lessons. Sure, I get to baptize people. Sure, I’ve taught people and their lives have been changed. But rejoicing in all that is rejoicing in me. I need to rejoice in God and His grace in recording my name in His book of life. The fact is without His grace, none of those other things would have happened anyway.

Let’s take some time to rejoice today not for what God lets us do, but for what God has done for us. He has saved us and recorded our names in heaven.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

P.S. What did you get out of today’s reading?

7 Comments

Luke 10:18-20, Miracles, rejoicing, salvation

6 Comments

Andy Sochor • Jan 9, 2009 @10:54 am

Good thoughts. There were several things that stood out to me too. One that I thought was important was in the account of the Transfiguration. Peter and the others awoke to see Jesus speaking with Moses and Elijah. Verse 33 says, “And as these were leaving Him, Peter said to Jesus, ‘Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three tabernacles: one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah’ — not realizing what he was saying.”

Zeal and enthusiasm are great to have. But we need to channel these into doing the things that are according to God’s will. We are not going to hear a voice from heaven (9:35) to correct our good, yet misguided, intentions. So we need to consult the word of God to find out if our good ideas are actually good works. We must be “zealous for good deeds” (Titus 2:14). Those good deeds are defined by God in His word (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
Clay Gentry • Jan 9, 2009 @10:58 am

Great thoughts today Edwin.

If I may, I’ll offer a few observations from today’s readings…

1) If you don’t know what to say… don’t say anything at all (Luke 9:33; Mark 9:5-6).

2) If I am teaching someone and they reject the faithful teaching of the word, they are not merely rejecting me, they are ultimately rejecting Christ (Luke 10:16).

3) Like the Samaritan, we should be prepared to do good works (Luke 9:34).

4) If we only show mercy to our own then what have we really done? How can our lights shine in a word of darkness if we want go out into the dark? (Luke 10:25-37; Mat 5:44-48)

5) Jesus wants us to set the world on fire but He doesn’t want us burning down villages (Luke 9:54-56).
Ben Hastings • Jan 10, 2009 @8:11 am

You stole my verse, Edwin! But, since my only complaint about this reading plan is that these passages are SO dense and it’s challenging to pick just one point to discuss, I have an alternate!

Mary and Martha offer a great contrast in approaches to God. Martha was so focused on doing what she always did and making sure the “expected” things were done that she was missing her opportunity to spend time with Jesus. Mary was willing to embrace the moment and just sit and enjoy being with Jesus, listening to what he had to say.

It occurred to me that – as we sit and chat with friends around the dinner table – this may have been the same in Martha’s house. How great would it have been to just sit and be part of Jesus’ dinner conversation? Mary got it, but Martha was too distracted.

We need to make sure we don’t just stick so religiously to our daily routines that we miss the wonderful opportunities God presents us every day.
Nathan Williams • Jan 10, 2009 @8:22 am

I have a question. I have taught before that Jesus would never ask something of me unless He knows I can perform that which He asks. But here Jesus tells His disciples, “You give them something to eat.” There are 5000 people. Do the apostles have the power to perform this kind of miracle? Is it even possible they could have obeyed Jesus here?

Is Jesus trying to teach them that very thing – they could NOT do it, but He could?
Edwin Crozier • Jan 12, 2009 @9:49 am

Nathan, sorry it took me so long to get to this. Been busy this weekend.

My answer comes in a couple of parts.

First, I think your question highlights something we all need to be careful with. We need to be careful how strongly we make statements that sum up our conclusions from the Scripture when those statements aren’t actually found in scripture. For instance, I recently said in Bible class, “Jesus has never asked us to do anything He didn’t do.” The context was talking about being humble and putting others first. In general, I think what I said is true. However, in the extreme sense it is not true. After all, Jesus has asked me to seek forgiveness and He never did that.

Second, in general, I think your statement is true. Jesus doesn’t ask us to do things that we can’t do. However, when we make that statement, I think we have a specific concept in mind. We are speaking of Jesus asking us to do things in order to serve and glorify Him on which our salvation may hinge. In this scenario, Jesus wasn’t saying, “You give them something to eat or you’ll be lost.” He was giving them a directive in order to teach them a lesson. In fact, the lesson was to get them to think about why they “couldn’t” do this in this scenario.

Third, having said all that, I think there is a sense in which the apostles did have the power to do what Jesus did. They could have also fed the 5000. The problem was they didn’t have the faith Jesus had. But that gets back to the lesson Jesus was teaching. He wanted them to look face to face with why they “couldn’t” do what He said. The reason was not because they couldn’t but because they didn’t have the faith necessary.

Does any of this make sense?
Edwin Crozier • Jan 12, 2009 @9:51 am

Ben, I get your complaint. It is mine too. However, the only way to keep it from being too dense was to make the daily reading about 5 verses. Of course in some places, we’d still have the problem. I hope the density problem is overcome as we keep this plan up for a lifetime, getting new things each time through.