NT Sermons

So who is Jesus then?

Why did he come?

Why did he die?

What is his relevance for today?

Those are questions we’ve got to be clear on. At least, we’ve got to be clear on the last one haven’t we? We’ve got to know what his relevance is for today. If he’s of no relevance, we shouldn’t waste our time on him. If he’s of great relevance, we’ve got to know what relevance so that we relate to Jesus appropriately.

But how relevant or not he is will depend on the other two questions. Who is he? Why did he come?

I was working for some time on what I would say in the final sermon in the series on Luke 21. A change of circumstances in our church family meant that what I originally planned no longer seemed to be the right sermon for the occasion. So here is what was eventually preached…

I was working for some time on what I would say in the final sermon in the series on Luke 21. A change of circumstances in our church family meant it no longer seemed to me that this was the right sermon for the occasion. As the title indicates – this is a draft. A little rough at the edges, no doubt. But nevertheless, what I was planning to say develops further implications of Luke 21 for life today that people may be interested to chase up at a future date. So draft though it is, never delivered though it was,... here it is for what it’s worth.

Introduction

Note: handout for this sermon is at the bottom of the webpage as an attachment

Introduction

Do you ever read bits of the Bible and wonder what possible relevance they have for today? Two weeks ago, I suspect I turned Luke 21 into one of those bits of the Bible for quite a few of us. You’ll remember how I told my story, how I used to see this as a chapter all about the second coming of Jesus, and therefore bristling with relevance. But how careful study had changed my mind, such that I now think it is about something far more specific. And in taking this passage away as a passage about the second coming, there’s a danger that we also take it away as a passage that has relevance for today. What I want to do this morning is give the passage back to us. It may not be about the second coming, but it still has so much to say to us.

Note: handout for this sermon is at the bottom of the webpage as an attachment

Introduction

The Future Return of Jesus

I don’t know about you but I am really looking forward to the day when Jesus comes back. He has promised that one day he will return to this world in person and every human being will hear his voice. When that happens everyone who has died, whatever point in history they lived, whichever part of the world they occupied, will hear his voice and come out of their graves.

Luke chapter 20 is an absolutely shocking chapter. I don’t know how much you’ve felt this as we’ve looked at it over the past few weeks – Jesus says some absolutely outrageous things! Have a look at verse 16. “When the people heard this, they said ‘May this never be!’” They couldn’t believe what they had just heard. Outrageous! You can’t say that!

Those of us who were here last week saw how Luke wrote this chapter so that we, his readers, can be really, really wise. Luke doesn’t want us to learn from our mistakes; he wants us to go one better than that – he wants us to learn from the mistakes of others before we even make them ourselves.

Jesus told a parable about a vineyard that had tenants. The tenants thought they owned the place, and so mistreated the servants sent to collect some of the fruit, and finally they killed the owner’s son. The owner kicked them out of his vineyard, and gave the vineyard to a new set of tenants.

Last week Peter talked about the dramatic end of Luke chapter 19. Jesus is being cheered and hurrahed into Jerusalem, palm branches waving, crowds ecstatic. And all of a sudden he stops and, very publicly, he weeps. He weeps because the leaders in Jerusalem have not realised who he is, and as a result the city will be brutally demolished – down to the last stone, down to the last child. And then he goes into the temple and drives out the profiteering merchants, to foreshadow the horrendous judgment that will befall the city and its temple.

Here’s a question: What will happen at the end of time?

Will this world come to an end with a nuclear holocaust? That was the fear of many in the 1980s. Or will global warming one day make this planet uninhabitable? That is the fear of the present decade? Or will we ride out both of those, only to succumb to a meteor strike like that purported to have wiped out the dinosaurs? Or will the human race suffer none of these fates worse than death, but continue to evolve, adapt and survive forever?

When I was 15, I was fortunate enough to have the chance to walk up Mount Kenya. You can’t get to the twin highest peaks without an 11 hour rock-climb of a high grade. But there is another peak, Point Lenana, which is 700 feet lower than the top two, and that is a 2 day walk and a bit of a scramble. One thing you need on Mount Kenya, because it’s a large mountain, is a guide.