Amen. Uh, what a great time we've had this week at the church. This past weekend, we had our retreat. We were over in Huntington at Beach Fork and had a great time worshiping God, spending time together. It was an awesome week.
Um, we have exciting things coming ahead next week. Um, we have a guest speaker, Brian Perkins, coming into town. And we obviously have our service out in Huntington next week, so we won't have service here. We're doing all church in Huntington at Marshall University. We'll talk about that in the announcements. But along with that, we have a guest speaker, Brian Perkins, who is going to be speaking that Sunday, and so that'll be really encouraging. Amen.
So you guys only have to listen to me one more time before you get something new and something unique. Amen.
Look at Luke chapter four. Everyone's a little groggy this morning. Where's everybody? I know, right? My jokes are just missing all over the place. So, you know, we live in a funny time in life. Amen? Where there's cameras everywhere. Do you ever notice that? It's like you don't experience anything unless you actually take a picture of it. Even your food—like your stomach won't nourish it unless there's a picture of the evidence that that food existed and everybody knows about it and loves it and all that kind of stuff.
But along with that, we also did some fun lenses that we get to experience. Like, you guys use the 0.5 lens? My kids introduced me to that. That was a mistake, man. I'm all over the place with that thing. That's super fun, right?
Um, but one of the other cool things we have is the zoom lens in cameras, right? Like this. So if you were to guess, what is that? An orange flower? The sun, maybe? Right? Oh, flower was right! All right, let's try another one. What's that? Skin? Some fur? Anybody else? The richest face? No, I wouldn't do that to you guys. Oh, and that's so cute, right? Zoom out and get a bigger picture of things. What's this? [Laughter] It's our retreat last week. Amen.
So, you know, the idea we have of zooming in and zooming out, we're going to talk about that today. It affects how we see things, right? It'll change the perspective and our understanding of things depending on the lens we're using in order to view that thing. Amen, church?
All right, well, look with me over in Luke chapter four. That's going to be our text this morning. We are going through the Book of Luke right now, and so we'll be in Luke for the next foreseeable future. Um, next year, we're going to pick it up in verse 14. But as we approach God's word together this morning, let's join in prayer.
Father, we come before you this morning. We are so grateful to worship you, so thankful for a foundation that is firm, as Dustin talked about, that because of the Resurrection, we don't have to be waved all over the place. We can have absolute confidence in your truth and your promises and the hope that we have in Jesus Christ.
And so this morning, as we gather together with our hearts set on Him, we worship you. We fall down before you. We want to understand Jesus more deeply and implement that into our lives and into our community of faith. And we ask that your Spirit will work in a powerful way this morning as we study Scripture together. And I pray that what we talk about today will take root and be impactful to us as the people and as a fellowship as we enter into the world that is around us.
Father, we love you. We pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.
All right, we're going to start reading in verse 14. If you, uh, if you zap that—I don't know if everybody knows this, but we have an app, and on the app, we put the sermon notes with hyperlinks to all the Scriptures and everything. So if you're technologically savvy and that's your thing, that will have all the notes for you.
Luke chapter 4, verse 14 reads: Jesus returned from Galilee. This is after his temptation in the wilderness. Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread throughout the whole countryside.
He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him. He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day, he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
"The Spirit of the Lord is on me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendants, and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened to him. He began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
All spoke well of him and were amazed at his gracious words that came from his lips. "Isn't this Joseph's son?" they asked.
Jesus said to them, "Surely you will quote this proverb to me: 'Physician, heal yourself,' and you will tell me, 'Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.'"
"Truly I tell you," he continued, "no prophet is accepted in his hometown. I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah's time when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon.
And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian."
All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. They got up, drove him out of town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built in order to throw him off the cliff. But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.
And then jump down to verse 43. This is a little later. We'll try this out later as we go through the text. I'm going to reference it this morning.
As everybody said, "I must proclaim the good news of the Kingdom to the other towns also because that is why I was sent." And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.
Amen. So, uh, here we see that Jesus is teaching and preaching throughout. He comes out of his temptation and he starts going through Capernaum—that's the area of Galilee in northern Israel—and he's preaching in those synagogues. And he says that he preaches the good news of the Kingdom of God.
So that's what I want to talk about this morning: the good news. What is the good news? It's kind of a big deal for us to talk about, right? It's also called the gospel. It's the Greek word "euangelion," and that just means good message, good news.
Um, this is an important question for us to answer as a church because it ties into why the church exists. What is the good news? How does the church fit into the good news?
You know, when it comes to this, there are two combating views of the good news. Okay? For some people, there's what's called the zoom angle or the narrow lens. Okay? And these people think that the good news is simply the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. Okay? That that is the good news. That's it.
Okay? And the answers—they're answering the question: What must somebody believe in order to be saved? Right? And so that's kind of a zoom angle or a narrow lens.
Then there are people who have a wide angle or a broad lens to their understanding of the gospel, and they'll say the gospel includes all of the blessings of the gospel: restoration of the new heavens and the new earth. It's a broad approach to the gospel that includes far more than just the message we have to believe, but all of the blessings and the things that come with it.
Here, they answer the question: What should the church be doing? Why are we here?
Okay, the problem with these two is they don't necessarily like each other. Okay? The zoom angle people, the narrow lens people, they say, "Well, the wide-angle people, they're diluting the gospel," right? They're making it Jesus plus something else, so they're watering down the gospel.
Okay? And so the zoom people don't like the wide people's perspective. The wide-angle people say the zoom angle people reduce the message of the gospel. They say it doesn't include all the work that God is doing in the world and what he wants to accomplish.
You with me? You guys ever hear any of this or feel any of this?
You know, here it's important for us to discuss because it affects us as a church. How are we going to approach what we are here for? What are we going to do?
So let's look at this passage here in the Book of Luke. Luke has spent the first three chapters of the book establishing that Jesus is the promised Messiah. Okay? He records the miraculous birth of both Jesus and John the Baptist. They couldn't have babies; they have babies. They shouldn't have babies; she's a virgin; they have babies. You know what I mean? All these miraculous births going on.
Uh, then they have Jesus presented at the temple where there are two prophets, Simeon and Anna, right? And they're waiting for the Messiah, and they say, "Finally, I can die because he's here." They point to the Messiah.
Then John the Baptist announces the kingdom coming and that Jesus is the fulfillment of that kingdom. Jesus's baptism is an anointing ceremony of his kingship. Well, at his baptism, God says, "You are my son, with whom I am well pleased." He's referencing two passages there: Psalm chapter 2, where the son will receive the ring; you have to kiss the son—it's a Messianic Psalm—and then Isaiah chapter 42, "With you, I am well pleased," is the suffering servant.
Okay? So it's referencing—it's pointing to him being the Messiah and fulfilling the Old Testament. And then he follows it up with the genealogies. Good old genealogies, right? We all love those. But that he's in the line of Judah and David; therefore, he is the king.
Right? And then Jesus comes on the scene, and he himself proclaims the good news of the kingdom. It's all about establishing Jesus's kingship and his kingdom.
Okay? Then he returns home to Nazareth, and he reads this passage in Isaiah chapter 61, verse 1 and 2, and says, "I am the fulfillment of this."
Okay? So why bring it up today? Why should today be the day that we talk about this? I don't know if you've ever experienced this, but when I read this passage, I wonder, should we only be preaching to poor people? You ever wonder that? Because he says, "I've come to proclaim the good news to the poor."
Like, does that mean that we're messed—that we're all middle-class people? I know, you know, most of us in here, we're middle class. What are we doing here, right? That we're supposed to be with the poor people?
Okay? And man, we're supposed to be proclaiming freedom for prisoners. I guess we're supposed to go to prisons and like set them free? I guess? I don't know. What do we do there? Like, that's complicated. I'm not sure if I'm signing up for that assignment. I might go to the poor people before I go to the prisoners and try and break them out. You know what I mean?
Like, no one's ever felt this before? Yeah? Like, what do I do with this, right? Recover the sight for the blind? Can't help you there, bro. Like, we can go to the optometrist, I guess. We should, you know, start a glasses campaign. What are we doing? Like, what do I do with this as a church? What do I do with this? You with me?
And then you see Jesus, and he's preaching the kingdom. What does that even mean? Are we supposed to preach the good news of the kingdom? Like, and if so, what do we say? Nobody knows? No one else wrestles with these questions? Huh? I'm the only one?
And so it's like this complicated thing of like, whoa, what are we supposed to be doing here? What are we supposed to be preaching here?
So what is the gospel? Is it the zoom angle? Is it simply the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus? If you look, there are passages that support that. In First Corinthians chapter 15, verses 1 through 5, it says, "You know, I passed on to you as what is of first importance: Jesus died and was raised on the third day and appeared to the apostles." That seems to distill the gospel down to the message of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, right?
And so that's kind of the first principles—the most important things—one that we're all familiar with: Romans 1:16-17, "The power of God." I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it's the power to bring salvation—salvation being the imputed righteousness through faith in Jesus.
And so there are passages that talk about the gospel or the good news, and it is very straightforward, talking about the forgiveness of sins and the message that brings those forgiveness of sins: Jesus's death, burial, and resurrection.
Right? So I guess that's it. I guess that's all we should preach, right? That's all that it says.
Unfortunately, there's a lot more passages that muddy the waters here. Is the gospel the wide angle, where it talks about the Gentiles being allowed in, as it references in Ephesians 2 and chapter 3? Is it the Holy Spirit given to us, as is referenced in Ephesians chapter 1, verses 13 and 14? Is it transformation into Christ's likeness for all of us, as is talked about in Romans chapter 8, verse 29? Is it the renewal of all creation, as is also talked about in Romans 8, verses 19-21 and then Revelation 22? Is it heaven? Is it eternal life? Romans chapter 5, verse 1? Or is it what Jesus says: the kingdom of God?
Right? And so we have to wrestle with the tension of there being these two things that seem to be held up as both of them are the gospel.
Right? Look over in First Corinthians chapter 1 with me in verse 17. It reads, "For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, the good news, not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God."
Here, Paul talks about the message of the cross being the gospel.
Okay? So I would like to put forward the term "the gospel of the cross." Okay? The gospel of the cross being the zoom angle—the message of Jesus's death, burial, and resurrection that brings forgiveness of sins. Amen? You with me?
But then we also have the gospel of the kingdom that Jesus talks about, and that being the wide angle—the broader understanding of the blessings and what happens when we are a part of the kingdom. The kingdom is entered through the gospel of the cross, but the gospel includes all of the blessings achieved and expectant. Some of them we get right away, like we get the Holy Spirit, we get the fellowship of believers, we get the goddess begins to transform us. But there's some we don't get, like I'm not done being transformed, right?
Okay? I'm not in heaven yet. I'm not—I have not like entered into the other side, my reward. You with me?
So there's both things that we've received and things that we expect are to come, and that would be the gospel of the kingdom. The early church seemed to have no problem zooming in and out between these two.
Look over in Colossians chapter 1 with me. We're getting a little bit nerdy today. You guys doing okay?
In verse 15 of Colossians chapter 1, we're going to look at a passage where it seamlessly kind of zooms in and out between these two perspectives of the gospel.
Okay? We're going to start reading in verse 15. It says, "The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones and powers or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through him and for him."
So here it's talking about all things. What's included in all things? All things, right? It's spiritual things, physical things, everything—things we don't even understand, things you and I won't know about until we see Jesus, and all of a sudden we're like, "Whoa, there it is!" Right?
Everything. Verse 17: "He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He’s the head of the church, he’s the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have supremacy."
Now here it is: "For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him and through him to reconcile to himself all things."
So this is way—this is cosmic. This is a vast cosmic understanding of the work of Jesus on the cross, right? This goes far beyond just the forgiveness of sins. You with me?
All things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood shed on the cross. And so this is a vast understanding of the gospel—way, way big, right?
But then look at what it says in verse 21: "Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation, if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel."
This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.
You see, Paul had no problem going between the gospel of the kingdom—these massive cosmic things that are happening in realities—and the gospel of the cross—our personal redemption, our personal restoration and forgiveness. You with me?
Okay, this is pretty cool, isn't it? You guys with me? You need to stand up and take a breath?
All right. Um, so why—so there's these two views, right? Though I like to look at it a couple ways. There's this wide angle—you zoom, you know what I mean? And so if you zoom in on the message, it's interesting because the only single blessing that's ever connected to the idea of good news or gospel is the forgiveness of sins and redemption into a relationship with God.
Okay? So the gospel of the cross is preeminent. It's super important, obviously. Um, and that's because it is the way that all the other blessings are accessed.
You with me? And so it's like you can zoom in on the gospel of the cross, but when you zoom out, there's a lot more to the good news than just the forgiveness of sins. You with me?
The other way I like to look at it is different perspectives on where you're standing. Like, if you're outside of the kingdom, well then you're looking through the cross at all the blessings. You with me?
So you have to go through the gospel of the cross in order to get to the blessings. You with me? If we're on the other side and we're talking about the blessings, we still are looking back towards the cross as the source of those blessings. You with me?
So it's all about both of them. It's not two gospels. Let me be a hundred percent clear about this. Everybody with me? Everybody say this with me: There are not two gospels. Say it. There are not two gospels.
Say this: Rich is not saying there are two gospels. Rich is not saying there are two gospels.
Okay? Everyone said it. Everyone's affirmed it. I am not saying there are two gospels. But the communication of it in the scripture is that there's two perspectives of the gospel. You with me?
And this is really important as we move forward in who we are going to be as a church.
So let's look at some of the implications, right?
The first implication: It's wrong to say that the gospel of the cross is a reduction of the good news. Okay? It is the good news, and it is the way that we access the rest of the good news. You with me?
Jesus's death, burial, and resurrection on the cross is preeminent. Again, it's the only single blessing that's ever shared about as good news. It is the good news. Amen, church? Amen.
Number two implication: It's wrong to say the gospel of the kingdom is a dilution of the good news. The promises and blessings associated with the gospel are the good news as well, so long as they are tied to the access point of those blessings. You with me?
And the access point of those blessings is the gospel of the cross.
Implication number three: It's wrong and futile to strive to bring the gospel of the kingdom without the gospel of the cross.
And here's what I mean by that, and this is part of why we're talking about this, and we're going to dig deeper into this—not this coming Sunday, but the Sunday after, because Brian's preaching this Sunday. But the Sunday after, we're going to talk about this.
There's a trend in the church to think that really what we're supposed to be doing is kind of bringing the kingdom of God to bear in the world, and as Christians, we're supposed to just go into the world and change the systems and the processes of the world to make the world reflect the kingdom of God. You with me?
Some people would term this—and I'm going to say this, and I'm going to ask you to forego judgment or stoning me, okay? Like I said, this is what we're going to talk about next time we get together. Some of this falls under the guise of social justice, where Christians believe what we're actually supposed to be doing with our time and attention is transforming the systems and the political systems and the things around us to be more like the kingdom of God.
Okay? And we're going to talk about that when we get together in two weeks. Okay? So again, please don't stone me. Please don't shoot me. Please don't badmouth me yet. Come to that Sunday, and we'll talk directly about that.
But to try to bring about the kingdom of God without the kingdom of the cross—it's never God's plan. Someone had Jesus—when he pre— I think I'm getting ahead of myself. Maybe I'm getting behind myself. Who knows?
To enter through the gospel of the cross requires repentance. In Matthew chapter 4, when Jesus goes out to preach, he says, "Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand." The only way to have the kingdom blessings is to go through the gospel of the cross.
So you must repent. You must have faith in Jesus. You must repent. You must be baptized. Then you enter into it. To try to make the kingdom of God a reality among unrepentant hearts is futile. It's frustrating. It's not God's plan. You with me?
I'm not going to say that. I'm not going to say that. Does that make sense?
We're going to go more into that in two weeks when we talk about that more specifically. But this is—guys, I don't know if you feel this. I feel this as a church leader. This is one of the things that going away on sabbatical, I had to answer the question: Am I supposed to be changing every social wrong in the world? And is that what I'm supposed to be focusing the church on doing?
Because I feel an intense pressure, okay, to engage in this. And if I don't, I'm wrong and I'm evil and there's something wrong. You with me, guys?
It's a pressure that's real and is out there, and this is why understanding the gospel is so important.
Okay? Um, again, I'll speak directly to that in two weeks. Come back. See, I'm making sure everybody's back. You got to come back for part two. It's a cliffhanger, you know?
Implication number four: People living good lives and doing good works are not living kingdom lives and doing kingdom work.
Okay? This is another thing that's come around where, "Oh man, anybody who's a good person and does some good things, well, they're really kingdom people." No, no. The kingdom is all about the king. His name's Jesus. If someone is not all about Jesus, they're not—it's not kingdom.
Or they're doing good things. I'm not down on them. It's better than bad things. I prefer that. Like, cheer them on. But let's not confuse it for what it is. Kingdom work is for people who enter through the gospel of the cross and are living kingdom lives. Amen?
Number five implication: The church's focus must remain steadfastly on the proclamation of the gospel of the cross and the kingdom among responsive hearts.
This makes sense when you look at what Jesus sent the church in the world to do. In Luke chapter 24, he says, "He told them, 'This is what's written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.'"
He doesn't say, "Go change all the social systems." He says, "Go preach the gospel." Right?
Matthew chapter 28, verses 18 through 20: "Then Jesus came to them and said, 'All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Therefore, what?' Uh, what's his name referenced today, right? 'Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I've commanded you, and surely I'm with you always to the very end of the age.'"
That makes sense if the gospel of the cross and the gospel of the kingdom is what we're supposed to be doing as a church. Amen? You with me on this?
They were witnesses to—and they were to witness to and proclaim the gospel of the cross and the gospel of the kingdom.
Right? Now I want to show you a brief video about some good news. Amen.
on Nov 05, 2023
