The Purpose of Jesus
Luke 4:14-21
January 14, 2017
This morning we move forward in Luke’s gospel.
Luke has just revealed to us that Jesus was in fact righteous.
• We saw it DECLARED at His baptism
• We saw it DEMONSTRATED during His temptation.
Jesus is the righteous and holy Son of God,
And the only One capable of imputing righteousness to us.
And now that that has been settled, this morning we move forward.
Jesus is beginning His ministry,
And it is absolutely nothing short of
Him offering that righteousness to the world.
And Luke gives you a SNAPSHOT of that, right off the bat.
(14-15) “And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread through all the surrounding district. And He began teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all.”
Luke speaks of the Galilean ministry of Jesus,
But for the sake of the global picture, allow me to put it all in order.
Between Luke 4:13 and Luke 4:14 occurred a period of about a year.
(Only John’s gospel reveals it)
You can place all of John 1-4 in between Luke 4:13 & 14.
What we learn there is that:
• After Jesus was baptized and tempted, He approached John where John revealed Him as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”
• At this announcement two disciples immediately followed Jesus (We know one was Andrew, we assume the other was John)
• By the end of the chapter the number is at least up to 5 (Andrew, Peter, John, Philip, and Nathanael) though we might assume there were even more.
• From there Jesus attends a wedding where He turns water into wine – the first of His signs
• And then Jesus takes the disciples on a trip to Jerusalem where He cleans out the temple the first time.
• After that, it sparks a debate with the religious elite, and eventually Nicodemus comes to Him at night and you know about that conversation.
• Then Jesus determines to head back to Galilee.
John 4:3-4 “He left Judea and went away again into Galilee. And He had to pass through Samaria.”
• On that journey you will remember that He encountered the woman at the well and eventually everyone from her town.
• Then Jesus arrived back in Galilee.
John 4:43-45 “After the two days He went forth from there into Galilee. For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country. So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things that He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they themselves also went to the feast.”
It is at this point when His Galilean ministry exploded as Luke said.
(14-15) “And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread through all the surrounding district. And He began teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all.”
Since many of these Galileans were at the feast
And saw Jesus clean out the temple and challenge the Pharisees,
The Galileans were primed and pumped to welcome Jesus in.
And so Jesus’ ministry in Galilee can be categorized by 3 things.
POWER – PREACHING – POPULARITY
He returned “in the power of the Spirit”
Certainly that implies the power we enjoy of the Spirit in things like boldness and sanctification and love and spiritual gifts.
But for Jesus it was even more,
God had allotted for Him to work miracles through the power of the Spirit.
These miracles where for the purpose of validating His message.
John 5:36 “But the testimony which I have is greater than the testimony of John; for the works which the Father has given Me to accomplish — the very works that I do — testify about Me, that the Father has sent Me.”
And so Jesus went throughout Galilee (approximately 240 cities and villages)
And put on a demonstration of boldness and power.
And all of these miracles were to authenticate His message.
(15) “And He began teaching in their synagogues”
You don’t find synagogues in the Old Testament, they began as a result of the Babylonian captivity when God’s people had no access to the temple.
• After the exile, the idea stuck so that Jews would have a place to gather and worship God together.
• If there were at least 10 men a synagogue could start.
• They had no official preacher, just a synagogue ruler and a man in charge of keeping the texts of Scripture.
• Any visiting teacher could come to the synagogue and with the ruler’s permission could speak.
• You’ll remember the apostle Paul used this liberty many times.
• That is what Jesus is doing here.
He is traveling from village to village, entering synagogues
And preaching the gospel of the kingdom.
Mark 1:38 “He said to them, “Let us go somewhere else to the towns nearby, so that I may preach there also; for that is what I came for.”
And His preaching, coupled with His power,
Culminated in extreme popularity all throughout Galilee.
(14b) “and news about Him spread through all the surrounding district.”
(15b) He “was praised by all.”
So you understand sort of the culture.
Jesus frenzy is at an all-time high.
He is the hottest ticket in town.
And then after that Galilean ministry, Luke reveals:
(16) “And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read.”
Now there is a reason why Jesus started in Galilee and not Nazareth.
(We saw it a moment ago in John’s gospel)
John 4:43-45 “After the two days He went forth from there into Galilee. For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country. So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things that He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they themselves also went to the feast.”
• Jesus already knew what it was going to be like when He headed to Nazareth,
and so He went to Galilee first.
• But now, having covered that region, Jesus faces His hometown, and Luke
records the event.
Now I do want you to understand the purpose of the story.
The main thought is really from Luke 4:14-30.
And the point is that Jesus was rejected and dishonored.
THAT IS ULTIMATELY WHAT LUKE WANTS YOU TO SEE.
However, before we get to that point, we have an incident
Where Jesus reveals Himself Scripturally to His hometown,
AND THAT REVELATION IS PRICELESS.
That is what we want to look at THIS MORNING.
(16) “And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read.”
Luke is revealing that
Jesus uses the SAME APPROACH here that He used everywhere.
And even that is important.
I’ve heard it so many times in my life about how
“We don’t change the message, but we do change the methods.”
Our day is consumed with every new fad and gimmick that comes down the pipe, every new pragmatic approach to make our ministries more effective.
I, for one, have never bought into that view of changing methodologies.
Romans 10:14 “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?”
Paul knew the message was the gospel and the method was to preach it.
It certainly seems that Jesus is in total agreement,
For when He comes home, His methods haven’t changed at all.
He entered the synagogue “and stood up to read”
• He is there to preach the gospel.
• He is there to proclaim the truth.
• You must see that this was absolutely central to Jesus’ ministry.
In a world where people are in constant search of
Signs, wonders, miracles, breakthroughs and deliverances,
YOU MUST UNDERSTAND THAT
THE BEST THING JESUS EVER OFFERED WAS THE GOSPEL.
That was always central to Him.
(17a) “And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him.”
• Here we would note that the man in charge of the scrolls would have picked which one was given to Jesus.
• He would have had a system for that days reading, and he handed the scroll of Isaiah to Jesus.
(17b-21) “And He opened the book and found the place where it was written, “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.” And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
This is astounding, because Jesus takes the Word of God,
Opens to a passage about Himself and unequivocally reveals His purpose.
And even a casual reading shows us the primary purpose,
Just look at the verbs.
“To Preach” and “To Proclaim”
What does He proclaim?
(5 things)
#1 GRACE TO THE POOR
Luke 4:18a
“The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor.”
You’ll notice in each of these announcements
There is a SPECIFIC MESSAGE and there is a SPECIFIC AUDIENCE.
• Jesus doesn’t just “preach the gospel”, He preaches “to the poor”
• And He doesn’t just preach to the poor, He preaches the gospel to them.
That means in order to better understand what He is preaching,
We need to understand who He is preaching to.
Jesus called them “the poor”
And He used the word PTOCHOS
It is a Greek word that means “to cringe”
It spoke of a beggar who was forced to hide in the shadows out of fear.
(It is the word used of the poor man Lazarus in Luke 16)
It is distinguished from another Greek word which is translated “poor”
That word is PENES which speaks of “one who earns his bread by daily labor.”
(the person who lives paycheck to paycheck)
PTOCHOS reveals those who receive their bread by begging.
They have nothing to offer.
A poor man with a job still has reason to expect he will eat
Because he has a means of earning a meal,
But a beggar has no reason to expect anything
Because he rests solely upon the mercy of others.
JESUS CAME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO BEGGARS.
And of course the gospel is the good news of salvation.
Matthew’s gospel records it like this:
Matthew 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
And we learn that the poverty referred to here
Is the poverty of those who are spiritually poor.
We are talking about people who have nothing to offer,
Who cringe in the shadows, and whose only hope is the mercy of God.
And yet Jesus comes to these beggars in the shadows,
Bids them to come out of the shadow,
And offers to them the good news of salvation.
That good news is that:
CHRIST WILL PROVIDE on behalf of the beggar all that God requires.
He will give to the beggar what they do not have, and cannot earn.
We call that GRACE
Luke 5:29-32 “And Levi gave a big reception for Him in his house; and there was a great crowd of tax collectors and other people who were reclining at the table with them. The Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling at His disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?” And Jesus answered and said to them, “It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick. “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
Christ didn’t come to push people to work harder
Christ came to provide for those who could not provide for themselves
His message was for the beggar
He proclaimed grace to the poor
#2 FORGIVENESS TO THE CAPTIVES
Luke 4:18b
“He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives.”
Again we look at what He is offering and who He is offering it to.
After addressing the beggars,
Jesus now turns to “the captives”
This comes from a Greek word which means “to be taken by a spear”
We are talking about a prisoner.
We are talking about someone who has lost their freedom,
Has been taken into custody, and who awaits punishment
Or even execution from the one who captured them.
IN A BROAD SENSE we can talk about captivity in any number of ways.
We can talk about bondage to sin
John 8:34 “Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.”
We could talk about bondage to Satan
In 2 Timothy 2:26 Paul speaks of those who need to repent so that they can: “escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.”
And certainly those captivities are real and part of life,
But neither of those are primarily what Jesus has in view here.
The captivity he refers to is the capture and pending doom of the one who has offended God.
• These captives are those who await eternal punishment.
• These captives are those who anticipate the full fury of God’s wrath being
poured out upon them for all eternity.
Psalms 11:5 “The LORD tests the righteous and the wicked, And the one who loves violence His soul hates.”
Psalms 7:11-16 “God is a righteous judge, And a God who has indignation every day. If a man does not repent, He will sharpen His sword; He has bent His bow and made it ready. He has also prepared for Himself deadly weapons; He makes His arrows fiery shafts. Behold, he travails with wickedness, And he conceives mischief and brings forth falsehood. He has dug a pit and hollowed it out, And has fallen into the hole which he made. His mischief will return upon his own head, And his violence will descend upon his own pate.”
We are talking here about sinners who have offended God
And who cannot satisfy His wrath because their debt is too great.
It is the same concept referred to by Jesus in that parable of the slave who could not pay off his debt to his master and so his master ordered him to be sold along with his wife and children until the debt could be paid off.
We are dealing with those types of prisoners.
We know that because of what Jesus offers to them.
We read it as “release” but that is a bit misleading.
The word is APHESIS (off-e-cease) and you’ve already seen it a few times.
Luke 1:77 “To give to His people the knowledge of salvation By the forgiveness of their sins,”
Luke 3:3 “And he came into all the district around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins;”
IT MEANS “forgiveness of a debt and the subsequent release from the captivity that the debt has caused.”
And this is what Jesus came to offer.
He came to offer grace to beggars
And forgiveness to prisoners who sat as it where on death row.
Certainly this shows up later in Luke’s gospel:
Luke 5:18-26 “And some men were carrying on a bed a man who was paralyzed; and they were trying to bring him in and to set him down in front of Him. But not finding any way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down through the tiles with his stretcher, into the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus. Seeing their faith, He said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven you.” The scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?” But Jesus, aware of their reasonings, answered and said to them, “Why are you reasoning in your hearts? “Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins have been forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? “But, so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,” — He said to the paralytic — “I say to you, get up, and pick up your stretcher and go home.” Immediately he got up before them, and picked up what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God. They were all struck with astonishment and began glorifying God; and they were filled with fear, saying, “We have seen remarkable things today.”
What I love about that story is that it reveals the true purpose of Jesus.
• He wasn’t holding a healing service, and even His initial work for the paralytic was not to heal Him.
Jesus first forgave Him, and left it at that.
It wasn’t until His ability to forgive was questioned
That Jesus worked the physical miracle.
That is what Jesus came to do.
• He came to offer grace to beggars who couldn’t afford it,
• And He came to offer forgiveness to prisoners who didn’t deserve it.
Grace to Beggars
Forgiveness to Captives
#3 SIGHT TO THE BLIND
Luke 4:18c
“and recovery of sight to the blind.”
We know the passage Jesus is reading comes from Isaiah,
That is fitting because the people of Isaiah’s day were all of these things.
• They were “poor” in the sense that they had nothing God desired, all of their “righteous deeds were like filthy rags”.
• They were “captives” as they awaited the promised Babylonian captivity and coming destruction of Jerusalem.
But probably the most memorable analogy from the book of Isaiah
Is that these people were “blind”
And the blindness did not refer to physical blindness,
But rather spiritual blindness.
Isaiah 6:8-10 “Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!” He said, “Go, and tell this people: ‘Keep on listening, but do not perceive; Keep on looking, but do not understand.’ “Render the hearts of this people insensitive, Their ears dull, And their eyes dim, Otherwise they might see with their eyes, Hear with their ears, Understand with their hearts, And return and be healed.”
The problem of Isaiah’s day was that
• People had eyes, but they were spiritually blind.
• They had ears, but they were spiritually deaf.
• They had hearts, but they were spiritually insensitive.
Isaiah’s job was to expose that.
Jesus’ job was to fix it.
• He came to those same blind and offered them spiritual sight.
• He opened men’s hearts to the things of God.
• He gave spiritual regeneration and discernment.
• He gave that new birth He spoke to Nicodemus about.
He certainly illustrated this by healing physically blind people,
But the real miracle was giving sight to those who did not know God.
John 9:39 “And Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.”
What we see here is that Jesus is approaching
• Not only beggars who have nothing to offer,
• Not only captives who have a death sentence upon them,
• But also blind men who don’t even know where to look.
Can you imagine a more helpless person
Than a poor prisoner who can’t even see to look for help?
Jesus came to correct that blindness and lead those captive beggars to a knowledge of God.
• He came to show them God.
• He came to show them truth.
• He came to show them redemption.
Grace to Beggars, Forgiveness to Captives, Sight to the Blind
#4 REST TO THE OPPRESSED
Luke 4:18d
“to set free those who are oppressed,”
“oppressed” here comes from a word that means
“to crush or to bruise or even to run through.”
Jesus came to release broken people from their bonds.
Surely it could be the consequences of their own sinful choices,
But it was also the effects of their wicked spiritual leaders.
We remember:
Matthew 9:36 “Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd.”
Jesus looked around and saw a flock that had been skinned and thrown aside.
We also remember:
Matthew 23:4 “They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger.”
Beyond that, these people were under God’s Law,
Which only brought guilt and condemnation continually.
Jesus came to heal the bruise and break the burden.
Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
He came to people who daily bore the struggle of trying to appease God,
And who had not been able to do it.
• They were broken, they were burdened.
• They were blind.
• They were under divine wrath and facing judgment.
• And they had nothing by which to appease God.
They were people in the most horrific of circumstances.
And Jesus said I came to deliver those people.
Grace to beggars, Forgiveness to criminals, Sight to blind, Rest to the broken
And it is all summed up in that final statement:
#5 SALVATION TO SINNERS
Luke 4:19
“To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD.”
He refers to the day of God’s salvation.
Isaiah 49:8 “Thus says the LORD, “In a favorable time I have answered You, And in a day of salvation I have helped You; And I will keep You and give You for a covenant of the people, To restore the land, to make them inherit the desolate heritages;”
He refers to the year of redemption.
Isaiah 63:4 “For the day of vengeance was in My heart, And My year of redemption has come.”
Jesus read a passage from Isaiah’s prophecy that spoke of a day
• When beggars would receive grace,
• When criminals would be forgiven their debts,
• When blind men would be granted sight,
• When the bruised and broken would be liberated from their toil,
• And when salvation would be offered to those who had felt God’s wrath.
And the startling part is what Jesus says next.
(20-21) “And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
We talked about this on Christmas morning.
• Jesus wasn’t preaching this passage so that people would be reminded of a
future promise of God.
• Jesus preached this passage to reveal that it was talking about Him.
Jesus read about those glorious realities of salvation
And then said, “Come and get it!”
Are you poor? – Are you guilty? – Are you blind? – Are you broken? – Are you lost?
Well here’s the answer!
IT’S ME!
I can’t imagine a greater sermon ever preached anywhere.
If Nazareth wanted something amazing from Jesus when He finally returned home, I’d definitely say He didn’t disappoint!
He just offered salvation for anyone who needed it.
NOW, THE MAIN POINT OF THIS TEXT (which we will see next time) is that this glorious offer was not at all what the people of Nazareth wanted.
They chose to dishonor Jesus.
They didn’t want grace
They didn’t want forgiveness
They didn’t want sight
They didn’t want rest
They didn’t want salvation
THEY DIDN’T THINK THEY NEEDED THOSE THINGS,
They wanted signs and wonders and a miraculous show.
And because He refused to offer that,
They will be the first to try and assassinate Him.
BUT BEFORE WE GET TO THAT TRAGEDY,
I think it’s fitting this morning that we pause
And simply glory in what Christ offered,
Even though the children of Israel were often disinterested.
Nazareth didn’t want it, but I sure do.
Grace – Forgiveness – Discernment – Rest – Salvation
That is what Jesus came to offer, and that is what I want.
And I’ll tell you something else, that is what every other down and outer wants too.
• I don’t know a single beggar who doesn’t want mercy or grace…
• I don’t know a single prisoner who doesn’t want forgiveness…
• I don’t know a single blind man who doesn’t want sight…
• I don’t know a single burdened man who doesn’t want rest…
• I don’t know a single condemned man who doesn’t want salvation…
UNLESS…
They are among those who refuse to come to grips with what they are.
THE PEOPLE WHO REJECT SALVATION
Are those who refuse to admit that they are beggars or prisoners or blind men or broken men or condemned men.
They have no use for Jesus.
They all go to the church at Laodicea:
Revelation 3:17-18 “Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.”
That is a tragedy!
But for those of us who know what we are,
This offer of Jesus is most certainly the good news of the gospel!
Jesus came to bring salvation!
Jesus came to offer grace!
And as you can see, this morning we remember and celebrate the means through which He obtained that salvation.
• He came and died upon the cross.
• He bore the full wrath of God for all the sin of all God’s children for all time.
• He fully atoned for all of the redeemed.
• He could set free captives, because He paid their debt.
• And He provides His righteousness as a covering to every spiritual beggar, every condemned convict, every blind wanderer, every broken laborer, every condemned sinner, who will trust in Him for it.
It is quite simply the best news there is.
And for those of us who have received this salvation,
THIS MORNING WE GLORY IN IT.
As always we are going to have a TIME OF PREPARATION first.
Paul said:
1 Corinthians 11:28 “But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup.”
And what a fitting way to approach.
Look at yourself!
Do you see what you are?
If you look in the mirror and you see some good person,
With whom God should be proud and who has plenty to offer, then you are most certainly blind and misguided.
But when you look in your mirror, if you are overcome with wonder
Why in the world God would accept you, then you are on the right track.
AND WHEN YOU COME TO THE FINAL CONCLUSION
THAT YOU ARE JUST FLAT OUT UNWORTHY,
Then lift your eyes to the sacrifice of Christ,
And rejoice that Christ has made you worthy.
We participate in that this morning and we rejoice!
So first come to grips with what you are,
And then you will be able to rejoice in what Christ offers.
