Harbor Church - Mid City

Investigating Jesus: On the Kingdom

Luke 7: 18-35 Mid-City 7/4/10

We’re in a series in the gospel of Luke where we are investigating the central teachings and actions of the man around whom all of Christianity hinges, and in this text John the Baptist doing the same thing we are doing: investigating Jesus. See John the Baptist was in prison so he couldn’t come investigate for himself. And John is a bit confused. Remember, He has already baptized Jesus in Lk. 3 and proclaimed to all his followers that Jesus is the King who is bringing the Kingdom of . But King Jesus isn’t bringing the kingdom in quite the way he expected him to. In his mind, the coming of the kingdom meant the coming of judgment. Remember John’s pronouncement in Lk. 3: 16-18 just before he baptized King Jesus, “One more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear the threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

John says he is going to baptize you with fire. Symbolic of judgment. John expected King Jesus to bring salvation to God’s people and, at the same time, fire, judgment to everyone else. He was going to use the winnowing fork which is what was used to toss the grain into the air. Israel, wheat, over here; pagans, chaff, over here.

But it isn’t playing out quite how he expected. He is in jail and he received strange reports of mercy and grace being given to the pagans, not necessarily judgment. Certainly, I would imagine being in jail didn’t help either—Jesus shouldn’t you be liberating me? I’m on your team. When are the shackles coming off? Crank up the music, Jesus, & let’s get it started.

Since he doesn’t have the freedom to go himself, he sends a delegation to investigate him and double-check, “Jesus, you’re the king who is bringing the kingdom of God? Right?” And Jesus gives John this message:

1. Taste & See

2. Think & Reason

Taste and See. Why? Why does he take this strategy to prove who he is and what he is bringing? B/c there is no better way to convince someone than to have them taste and see it for themselves. My kids love Yogurtland. You mention Yogurtland and Milly starts jumping up and down saying, “I am so excited.” Why? B/c she has tasted yogurt at Yogurtland that makes her very happy. And she wants toppings—all the toppings she says. What she has tasted and seen at Yogurtland makes her long for Yogurtland.

Costco does this too—masterfully. I had no intention of buying hummus this week, but I tasted a sample, and I left Costco with hummus. Costco, Yogurtland—see they stole their business strategy from Jesus.

Well, in our text, Jesus isn’t selling yogurt, but he is selling something quite new. Jesus is selling a vision of a new world, as he calls it, a new kingdom. And, he, like Yogurtland/Costco, gives tastes of the coming of the kingdom that make them long for more.

What Jesus does in our text this week is that he gives his audience samples of a whole hosts of flavors that will be offered in the new kingdom. Look at v21,”At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. So he replied to the messengers, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.”

He is handing out samples right & left. Jesus says, “Taste it and see it for yourself how good this new world that I am ushering in is. people that were foaming at the mouth and constantly seizing about on the ground from evil spirits are now free and sane and whole, people whose world was completely dark are now seeing the wonder of a blue sky for the first time; men & women came hobbling down on a crutch and they are now dancing a jig in the street telling people about Jesus, lepers who had spent their whole lives screaming “Unclean, Unclean” now are screaming, “I am clean. I am clean.” Can you believe it?” That man there, he did it. And the poor—the good news that a King has come to bring his kingdom is taking off like wildfire among the poor.

Friends, this is Psalm 34:8, “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” Jesus is boldy proclaiming, “The Lord is here, the kingdom is coming. Taste & see. And people began to buy in b/c ithey sampled the kingdom. They began to taste and see real live, historical people who were raised from the dead by him. Who were born blind and they are seeing. Who were lame and now walking.

Some of you say, “Well, if I saw miracles like that I would believe too.” Not necessarily. Don’t use that excuse. Look at v30. But the Pharisees and experts in the law rejected God’s purpose for themselves, b/c they had not been baptized by John.” See they saw the miracles. They tasted them and didn’t believe. Why? The Pharisees and religious experts came with a bias against those baptized by John and who were now in support of Jesus. And their preconceived bias or skepticism so altered their taste buds that they tasted the same miracle and what was sweet to some seemed bitter to them.

Perfect example. Baby Ty. If you want a sample of Jesus’ work, Go talk to them. The doctors can’t explain it. In layman’s terms, he was born with half a heart. He shouldn’t have made it out of the hospital without surgery. And when the doctor told Nick how shocked he was that Ty was doing so well that he was going to be able to go home, Nick looked at Amber and quietly said, “Well, I can tell you why he is going home with us. Jesus. Jesus has moved on our behalf. So many people have been praying for Ty and Jesus has answered.” And the doctor looked at him and said, “Well, yeah, something beyond medicine is going on here.”

Now, you can rationalize this away. There is a medical way to understand how Ty’s heart is working. But why did it form this alternate way to function. What prompted his human body to function this way? Random, cold, fate OR a personal God who gets intimately involved in our lives. Jesus is inviting you to taste and see the world in a whole new way.

But this taste and see idea isn’t simply for those who are skeptical. Remember, Jesus is using this strategy to convince John the Baptist, who is quite clearly already a Christian. Here is what I draw from that: if John the Baptist needed to regularly taste and see King Jesus bringing his kingdom, so do I, & so do you. This is why worship matters. This is why hearing the preached word matters. This is why taking the Lord’s Supper matters. This is why being in Christian community matters. All of these are ways for you to continue to taste and see the King and his kingdom.

They help you taste and see the reality, “I was blind, now I see.” Amazing Grace—we’re going sing it as a way of tasting and seeing. There is Another King—we’re going to sing it, as a way of tasting and see the true and rightful King.

This is why Jesus says in Mt. 5:6, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they will be filled.” Keep tasting me, he says.

But what does that mean? To taste Jesus by faith? There are lots of ways to feed on Jesus by faith. I am going to give you 2 examples from this past week that involved feeding on Jesus through His word. Somewhat like when you read a really beautiful poem or you watch a really powerful movie and chew on it in your mind and heart all week.

That happened for me in 2 places in Jesus’ word this week. (1) The first comes from Psalm 116. Listen, “The Lord protects the simplehearted; when I was in great need, he saved me.” Simplehearted—we use that to mean naïve or just not all that smart. Not the Bible, a simplehearted person is one who has simply done one thing with their heart—they have entrusted it to their King. The picture is of a servant bowing before a king pledging loyalty and life to the King as an offering. And in response their King protects them. Bc of that the Psalmist can speak to his soul in v7. 7Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the LORD has been good to you.” See the Psalmist is talking to his soul. He is preaching the gospel—the good news of King Jesus—that he is protected by the King. Remember, you have entrusted your heart to your King, so you are under his protection.

8For you, O LORD, have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears ,my feet from stumbling, 9that I may walk before the LORD in the land of the living.10 See he is remembering the faithfulness of his King in the past. Remembering the faithfulness of King Jesus in the past is one of the most nutritious ways to replenish the spiritual nutrients that you need for the present. Then this really interesting verse next.

I believed; thereforeb I said,“I am greatly afflicted.”11And in my dismay I said, “All men are liars.” It isn’t that his problems have gone away. He is still afflicted. Men are still lying about him. But they no longer control him-the goodness of his King does. So v12-13, “How can I repay the Lord for all his goodness to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord.” So that became the focus of my day. Lifting high the cup of salvation in the midst of my problems. In the midst of hard conversations, things not going the way I would like, kids misbehaving, lifting up the cup of salvation. Tasting the Lord’s goodness by faith.

Or here is another example of what it means to taste and see that the Lord is good. Bradford and I tasted of the Lord Jesus in Daniel this week in our devotions. Here you have these 3 guys who simply refused to worship another god. They were simplehearted. They put their trust in God and in God alone. And there is this really amazing verse that Bradford & I chewed on this week. Dan. 3:16, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O King. But even if he does not, we want you to know O King, that we will not serve your gods.” See they don’t have a jeenie. Our King, Our God, is able to save us, but even if he does not. See they are acknowledging that God will indeed save them, but it just may not look like they think salvation should look. See my guess is that they would have anticipated God saving them before they were actually thrown into the fiery furnace. But God had better plans. But it involved them being tossed in the fiery furnace, and, then all of a sudden there is a 4^th guy in their with them. King Jesus.

Such is often the way of salvation of King Jesus. It isn’t so much preventative in keeping you out of the furnace. It is more that he goes with you in the furnace. And so we said, “We need not fear the fiery furnace or the one we’re afraid of being tossed in. King Jesus is with us & will be with us.” A few minutes later I was talking on the phone with Sarah Wiese, who is currently in Philadelphia raising all of her support to come join our team here to help us develop a lay counseling movement in our church. Amazing stuff. Jesus just keeps bringing the most insanely gifted and gracious people—you are going to love her. Anyway, the fiery furnace she is in is that of support raising. All the fears associated with it. Is this career suicide? Will I have enough to eat? And Sarah & I lifted high the cup of salvation, we celebrated King Jesus who is with her in the furnace of fundraising. Friends, if you don’t taste and see Jesus daily, hourly, by the minute, you will grow spiritually emaciated.

(2) Think & Reason with the King about His Kingdom

After Jesus hands out samples of the kingdom, He quotes the prophet Isaiah in v22, which as a prophet John would have been very familiar with. See verse v22 is straight out of Isaiah 29, 35, & 61. “So he replied to the messengers, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard. The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.” Jesus is saying, “What the prophets have spoken about the coming of the kingdom, you are now seeing played out in your midst.” Think with me, Jesus is saying; reason from your Bibles.

And John was convinced. The fulfillment of the prophecies convinced John. He went to his death bed knowing and proclaiming that Jesus was King. That what all the historical prophets predicted, Jesus was doing.

Some of you are much more skeptical than John. You have never made a commitment to Jesus like he did and you have lots of doubts and questions. Think with Jesus. He is asking you to reason.

This same approach has actually caused untold numbers of people to trust Jesus. As they go back and look at the historical, Old Testament prophecies and see how Jesus actually fulfills them, things begin to make sense. Here is why. All throughout the Old Testament, prophecies were made to help God’s people know when Messiah was coming. They were markers or identifiers so that when Messiah showed up they would know.

Let me tell you this story that helps you see how the process works. John Ankerberg relates the true story of how governments use prearranged identification signs to identify correct agents:

David Greenglass was a World War II traitor. He gave atomic secrets to the Russians and then fled to Mexico after the war. His conspirators arranged to help him by planning a meeting with the secretary of the Russian ambassador in Mexico City. Proper identification for both parties became vital. Greenglass was to identify himself with six prearranged signs. These instructions had been given to both the secretary and Greenglass so there would be no possibility of making a mistake. They were: (1) once in Mexico City, Greenglass was to write a note to the secretary, signing his name as "I. JACKSON"; (2) after three days he was to go to the Plaza de Colon in Mexico City and (3) stand before the statue of Columbus, (4) with his middle finger placed in a guide book. In addition, (5) when he was approached, he was to say it was a magnificent statue and that he was from Oklahoma. (6) The secretary was to then give him a passport.

These six prearranged signs worked. Why? With six identifying characteristics it was impossible for the secretary not to identify Greenglass as the proper contact (John Ankerberg, John Weldon and Walter Kaiser, "The Case for Jesus The Messiah", Melbourne: Pacific College Study Series, 1994, 17-18).

This is what God did through the prophets throughout the Old Testament. He was jealous for his people’s love and affection. He didn’t want them to have any other Gods? And so he certainly didn’t want His people putting their trust in a false Messiah. So he gave a large number of prophecies markers or identifiers that would help his people know who the Messiah was who was coming to save them. Now the number varies, based on how wooden and literal you require the fulfillment to be. Some put that number up near or over 500, others who place it lower. The exact number isn’t important when you consider the science of probability.

Peter Stoner can help us understand the science of probability. He was a professor of Science at Westmont College, & he calculated the probability of one man fulfilling the major prophecies made concerning the Messiah. The estimates were worked out by twelve different classes representing some 600 university students.

For example, they took prophecies like Micah 5:2, where it states the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem or Zech. 11:12 that he would be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver. Stoner used 48 prophecies (Idem, 109) that he felt like were the most conservative and widely accepted, and he concluded that probability of 48 prophecies being fulfilled in one person is the incredible number 10^157. According to Emile Borel, who is a French mathematician and probability expert, he stated that once one goes past one chance in 10^50, the probabilities are so small that it is impossible to think that they will ever occur (Ankerberg et. al., op. cit., 21).

So Stoner concludes—this goes beyond mere chance or probability. See Jesus is begging you, my friends, to think, to reason with him. God showed up in human form as Messiah. No more human could do this. And what you see is that God, on the cross, became sick with your sin, so that you may be healed. He became unclean so that we might be able to shout, “I am clean.” Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound!

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