Episode 1510: As Was His Custom

[00:00:00] Scott Maderer: Thanks for joining me on episode 1510 of the Inspired Stewardship Podcast.

[00:00:08] Sean Allen: I'm Sean Allen, and I challenge you to invest in yourself, invest in others, develop your influence, and impact the world by using your time, your talent, and your treasures to live out your calling. Having the ability. To live in two opportunities without burning out is key.

[00:00:30] And one way to be inspired to do that is to listen to this, the Inspired Stewardship Podcast with my friend, Scott Maderer.

[00:00:49] Scott Maderer: Doing things despite our fear, despite our frustration, those things need to become a habit. We don't need to stop and think about whether we should follow, [00:01:00] but rather we should just follow. That is what we're called to do. Follow me, Jesus said. Welcome and thank you for joining us on the Inspired Stewardship Podcast.

[00:01:15] If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent, and your treasures for your true calling. In the Inspired Stewardship Podcast, you will learn to invest in yourself, invest in others, and develop your influence so that you can impact the world.

[00:01:44] In today's spiritual foundation episode, I talk about Luke chapter four, verses 14 through 21. I share how Jesus looked at his call to ministry and also share how the call that Jesus had and that we all have is one to make a [00:02:00] difference in us and in the world. Luke chapter four, verses 14 through 21 says.

[00:02:08] Then Jesus, in the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding region. He began to teach in the synagogues and was praised by everyone. When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, as was his custom.

[00:02:26] He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. Because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor, he has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of the sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.

[00:02:49] And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, Today this scripture [00:03:00] has been fulfilled in your hearing. The passages of Luke chapter four that come right before this passage that I just read, talk about how Jesus had to wrestle with how he was going to perform his ministry, had to determine what kind of Messiah was he going to be.

[00:03:21] Luke talks about a time in the wilderness. where Jesus was deciding or wrestling, if you will, with all of the possibilities in front of him. The voice said to him, give the people what they want. After all, that was within his power. Turn this stone into bread, feed them, get to them through their bellies, through their hungers.

[00:03:43] Feed them and they'll follow you anywhere. And Jesus said, no, there's more to it than that. I want to feed hungers that they even forgot they had. Amen. Okay, the voice said. Then show them strength. Flex your muscles. Play [00:04:00] the power card, the authority card. People are drawn to power like bees to honey. Be strong and they'll all fall at your feet.

[00:04:10] And again, Jesus said, No, true power is not of this world. Power belongs to God. We're called to live in humility, to live vulnerably, because after all, that's what living is. Risking, letting go, surrendering. Okay. The voice said, then just go for sensation, whispered at his ears. There's miracles. There's death defying acts that you can do folks go for that.

[00:04:35] Give them a show and you'll have to fight them off with a stick. And again, Jesus said no, you can't live just by miracles. You can't sustain faith based only on miracles. That's not going to work. Maybe what was left, he thought. What is the way I'm going to run this ministry that I'm called to? I [00:05:00] know what I'll do, Jesus thought.

[00:05:03] And he came back from the mountains, came back from the wilderness, got a drink of water and maybe a sandwich, and wandered into the synagogues and the town centers. Word spread, Luke says. And actually the reports were positive. Everyone is speaking well of him. He's teaching something different, something new, but old at the same time.

[00:05:27] He's sharing ancient truths in new language, in new words, with authority. Plainly, but with stories and parables, offering a simple truth, and drawing it in pictures that seem familiar to everyone, if not always comfortable. And that truth that he was teaching, what was he teaching? This part of Luke now, when he goes home to Nazareth, he goes back to where he was raised, to his hometown.

[00:05:59] And [00:06:00] again, he goes into the synagogue, that same one where he sat as a boy. in the school of Sabbath, where he was called to recite lines and repeat answers to old questions and who knows, maybe even ask an impertinent question now and again. And Nazareth, his hometown, they'd gotten the news, his reputation had preceded him.

[00:06:22] And so he was invited forward to teach. Called to the front, he was handed the scroll that contained Isaiah, the biggest and heaviest of them. And he was told to read. And Luke actually says he looks for the bit that he wanted to read. It's not by accident. It's not just the reading of the week or what he was given to read.

[00:06:45] No, Jesus looks and finds a place. And after Looking through the scroll and finding the place in that silence. He read the spirit of the Lord is upon me. [00:07:00] Of course it was right. That came from verse 14 that we read earlier. He was walking in the spirit wherever he went. The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he is anointed me to preach.

[00:07:15] Yeah, Isaiah's message was quite a message and quite a guy. And Jesus goes on to read about what Isaiah was calling him to do. And maybe like all too often happens in our churches, people looked at that and said, that was the day. Yeah. Back in those days when people were really believers, When Isaiah was there declaring the word of the Lord, people took notice then, you better believe it, God was closer then, it was better then, when people like Isaiah were around, proclaiming, setting free, opening eyes, saying God is close, pay attention, and see, that was the time, that was the day, [00:08:00] that was the good old days.

[00:08:03] And then Jesus let the scroll roll up in his hand like a window blind, hands it over to the attendant and sits down. Now, in modern parlance, when we see that and he sits down, we're thinking to ourselves, oh, that means he was done, he was finished with the reading, so he sat down. But realize, no, when rabbis sat down, that's how they taught to each other.

[00:08:25] They would stand when they read the word because that's respectful, but then you would sit down and you would explain and expound and apply. You sat down and now is when we discussed and tore into the word and looked at it and chewed on it and approached it from every perspective we could think of.

[00:08:44] You would think about the history. What did that time mean? What was going on at the time? What did they mean in that context of the history? The literary. What literary devices? Is this poetry? Is this prose? Is this prophecy? The [00:09:00] contextual. Who were the listeners at the time and how did they hear? those words, the theological.

[00:09:06] How does this tell us more about God? You would expect that kind of lecture after someone had read the word. You would expect this expounding upon the text. So they all look to Jesus with expectation, waiting for this teaching. And instead, Jesus gives them what appears to be a short, nine word sermon.

[00:09:36] Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. That's it. That may not have seemed like much of a teaching to the people that were there in the moment. They may not have been thrilled about it, but he's referencing the fact that Isaiah, this passage is about him. It's about Jesus. It's about his ministry priorities, his core [00:10:00] values.

[00:10:01] It's his mission statement laid out for all to see in here and in your hearing, he means Yes, this is about Jesus, but he also means it's about us those that hear it. It's about me. It's about you He's saying you've signed up for something bigger when you decided to follow me when you decided to hear me You're entering a whole new world A world where you too have the same mission statement.

[00:10:33] Because if you claim to hear, if you claim to follow, whether you're afraid of the call, whether you lean into it, whether you lean away from it, whether you're afraid you're not up to it, it doesn't matter, you're part of it. It's about loving as Jesus loved, loving enough to make a difference in the world.

[00:10:56] Yes, it makes a difference in us, but even more, it [00:11:00] makes a difference in the world. How do we get closer to being like Jesus, closer to loving as he does? We have to make it a habit. We have to, Jesus went to the synagogue, as was his custom. We have to go to places of worship. We have to listen to the word.

[00:11:19] We have to love like he did. We have to make doing things despite our fear, despite our frustration, those things need to become a habit. We don't need to stop and think about whether we should follow, but rather we should just follow. That is what we're called to do. Follow me, Jesus said. Thanks for listening.

[00:11:50] Thanks so much for listening to the Inspired Stewardship podcast. As a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively [00:12:00] listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you enjoyed this episode, do me a favor. Go over to Facebook. com slash Inspired Stewardship.

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