Sermon Title:  So what is the good news?

Sermon Text:  Luke 4:42-44

Sermon Date:  November 25, 2007

 

Eight weeks ago we picked up the fourth chapter of Luke and watched as Jesus, led by the Holy Spirit, was changed. 

            I’m one who doesn’t believe that Jesus understood what his life and actions were going to mean to humanity until they unfolded.  In fact, I strongly believe he was truly tempted in the wilderness by Satan.  I mean that he actually considered taking Satan’s offer for power, wealth and immortality – maybe just for a nanosecond, but he considered it to be sure.  I believe that because it says plainly that he was tempted.  I believe it because if he wasn’t, he really wasn’t really human.  And while Jesus was fully divine, we must never forget that Jesus was fully human too. 

            We humans would have been tempted and probably longer than a nanosecond.  Jesus would have understood that and it would have helped him to understand us as he went into ministry with the disciples.

            After he left the wilderness he went around preaching and ended up back home in Nazareth.  It was there he got up to read the scriptures and read this from Isaiah:

 18"The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
      because he has anointed me
      to preach good news to the poor.
   He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
      and recovery of sight for the blind,
   to release the oppressed,
    19to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

 

                The people were impressed with him until he said that God sent him to make this come true.  That didn’t go over well with the hometown crowd and they tried to push him off a cliff.  He then went onto to Capernaum where he continued to teach.  People were amazed at what he said and then a man with a demon told everyone that Jesus was the Holy One of God.  But since Jesus wasn’t ready for that bit of news to be made public, he ordered the demon to come out of the man and the man was healed.  Jesus did a lot of healings.  Everywhere he went people lined up to hear the good news but they came to be healed too….as if the two things went together.  Hear the good news and be healed.  Hmm.

            When it came time to take a rest, the disciples and Jesus went to Simon Peter’s house where Jesus healed his mother-in-law.  Then the teaching continued and here we are today, ending this series on the 4th chapter of Luke and perhaps you are wondering “So what is the good news?” that Jesus told them.

            It is simple – “The kingdom of God is now.”  You don’t have to wait to die to be in the presence of God.  You don’t need to wait for something else to happen.  There are no more barriers or hurdles.  No government has to change.  The kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven is now.  That is the good news.  Jesus loves you today and tomorrow but you don’t have to wait until tomorrow to receive that love.

            This chapter is the theme of the New Baptist Covenant in January.  I’ve told you about it before.  President Carter gathered a group of Baptist leaders together over a year ago and out of it came this gathering of Baptists who are coming together to serve God in the Kingdom of God.  Now.  Today. 

            The time has come when we must be concerned about all of the people who are currently living in the Kingdom of God.

            Instead of coming together to start a new denomination, we will come together over these themes:

Unity in Bringing Good News to the Poor
Unity in Respecting Diversity
Unity in Seeking Peace with Justice
Unity in Welcoming the Stranger
Unity in Setting the Captive Free

 

            Now where have we heard that before?  Isaiah said it in chapter 61 and then Jesus read it to the hometown crowd.  At the gathering we will not just hear incredible speakers like Presidents Carter and Clinton, but Tony Campolo, Bill Moyers, Senators Lindsay Graham and Charles Grassley and the Rev. Dr. Julie Pennington Russell, the first woman pastor of First Baptist Church of Decatur, Georgia, a church aligned with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and the Southern Baptist Convention. 

We will attend workshops to learn how to break the chains of poverty, welcome the stranger and deal with our faith and public policy.  And those are just a few of the workshops from which to choose.

            Together we Baptist want to make a difference in the world.  One Baptist at a time and all together.

            We want and need to be able to live in this world today understanding that THIS IS THE KINGDOM OF GOD.  Today.  Wherever you are.  Whatever you are.  You are living in the kingdom of God and your job is to bring good news to the poor.  To set the captives free.  Release the oppressed and recover sight for the blind.  The good news from Jesus is that you don’t have to wait until you die for these things to come true.

            The good news is that together we bring relief to the poor, the blind and the oppressed.  And that someone else is bringing good news to you….whether you are oppressed, in prison, blind or poor.  That circle of life means that what you do is tossed out there and floats along until it actually comes back to you.  You see, we are all secret agents of the Kingdom of God.

            “Secret Agents” is a term used by Brian McLaren in his book “The Secret Message of Jesus.”  You will hear a lot about this book because each family will be getting one to be read in preparation for your time of renewal during my sabbatical.  We hope that you will not only read it, but participate in a small group to process it.  This is important stuff, my friends.  We have been granted the chance of a lifetime with this Clergy Renewal Grant from Lilly Endowment and First Baptist Church and the Kingdom of God needs you to be part of the future of the church and the kingdom of God.

            I know it sounds complicated.  Like more is being asked of you than you can handle but it isn’t that way at all.

            Brian talks about Carter, an African American, 75-year old cab driver in Washington, D.C.  They met through Brian’s friend Don and became friends.  Don was one of Carter’s fares during his many years driving cabs.  It turns out that Carter has a story.  In 1994, Carter picked up a man from Malawi, Africa.  Because Carter wasn’t just a taxi driver but instead was a taxi driver in the kingdom of God, he treated his guest with special respect as only a taxi driver in the kingdom of God can.  The guest introduced Carter to some other Malawian friends and soon Carter was invited to visit them in Africa, which he did in 1998.

            There he saw poverty he never imagined.  He asked God to help him bring joy to this village and God answered his prayer.  Carter realized there was no road in the village, just a narrow path, rutted and muddy.  (Of course a driver would notice this!  If you had gone you would have noticed something else.) 

            With a proper road, people could get around better and the elderly and sick could be transported to the area hospital.  Carter had brought some money so he offered to pay for gas and oil and drivers if the people of the village would do the work.  Soon Carter’s generous spirit – the spirit of the kingdom of God – became contagious and someone provided a grader and more and more people volunteered to help.  Three days later, they had a road a mile and a quarter long.

            Carter returned a year later.  A young man was in jail, falsely accused of stealing.  Since Carter seeks the kingdom and justice of God wherever he goes, he got involved and soon the young man was released.  He also met a boy who needed medical care only available in a distant city.  Carter made it possible for the boy to get treatment on a regular basis by finding and convincing – who else? – a driver to take him.

            The next year he helped some young men improve their farming.  He saved money from his job as a taxi driver to buy seeds.  He also made connections and got 26 soccer balls donated to the children, because in the kingdom of God, fun and playing are important things. 

            With Carter’s help, other kids were healed and a bible school was launched.

            Roads, rides, seeds, ringworm medicines, soccer balls and a bible school – these are all signs of the kingdom of God in that little village.  Carter told Brian, “I don’t do any of this myself.  God is doing it through me.” 

            Remember that Carter is a taxi driver but he is also a secret agent for the kingdom of God.  And this – from roads to soccer balls – is good news for the people of God.

            Chris found a way to be a secret agent in the kingdom too.  What will you do as a secret agent? 

            You have been given a mission field where you can plant seed and work the ground and then you can reap what you sow and share the good news of Jesus Christ. 

            You too have the opportunity to be a secret agent for Jesus and

 

      to preach good news to the poor.
      to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
      and recovery of sight for the blind,
   to release the oppressed,
    19to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

 

            You can change someone’s life and someone else can change yours.  This is a secret that must be shared or it will die.  And that is not good news.  Share the good news that the kingdom of God is now.