LOJ #100: ‘Where is the Love Brothers?’
Andover Baptist Church-March 27th, 2011
Opening
A. Text for today is John 7:10 and Luke 9:51-56 and our sermon is titled ‘Where is the Love Brothers?’
B. Scripture NET: John 7:10; Luke 9:51-56
“7:10 But when His brothers had gone up to the feast, then Jesus Himself also went up, not openly but in secret.”
“9:51 Now when the days drew near for Him to be taken up, Jesus set out resolutely to go to Jerusalem. 9:52 He sent messengers on ahead of Him. As they went along, they entered a Samaritan village to make things ready in advance for Him, 9:53 but the villagers refused to welcome Him, because He was determined to go to Jerusalem. 9:54 Now when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do you want us to call fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” 9:55 But Jesus turned and rebuked them, 9:56 and they went on to another village.”
C. Children’s Sermon(SLIDE)
1. How do people act when people are not nice to them?
2. How do you think Jesus' acted when people were not
nice to Him?
3. Should we hate people that are not nice to us? Should
we pray that God would hurt them?
4. What do you think we should do when people are not
nice to us?
D. Introduction
1. These last few weeks we have seen how to deal with
people inside the faith that disagree with us
2. Today we are going to see two ways of dealing with
people that disagree with our faith:
a. The first way is in self-righteous judgment
b. The second is the way Christ would have us
respond , and that is in grace and mercy
3. It’s understandable that we feel very passionately about
our faith and the Gospel as Christians
4. The issue is when we take this passion and turn it into a
hammer that looks nothing like the love and restraint
that Jesus exhibited in His ministry
5. Friends as we will see today we should always have an
answer, yes, but it needs to be one that is framed with
gentleness, love and respect
6. I pray that individually and corporately do not have the
attitude that we will see exhibited by James and John
today in our text, and that if we do we will not by the
end of this service
Sermon
READ: John 7:10 and Luke 9:51 (Scripture slide)
John 7:10 (NET) “But when His brothers had gone up to the feast, then Jesus Himself also went up, not openly but in secret.”
Luke 9:51“Now when the days drew near for Him to be taken up, Jesus set out resolutely to go to Jerusalem.”
A. Jesus' brothers had wanted Him to go with them, which if He
had would have likely been disastrous for Jesus' mission
B. As we saw last week Jesus was not going anywhere by the
influence of men
1. Jesus decided to leave on His own terms
2. When He decided the time was right He headed out
C. This is where the center of the Gospel of Luke begins
1. It’s also the start of Jesus' leaving this world
2. The Father's purpose for Jesus is soon to be made a
reality
3. And it begins with a trek southward
4. And because the time is ready Jesus is determined now
to go to Jerusalem
5. Which will culminate fully when He is 'taken up' = to
heaven, recall the Ascension
READ: Luke 9:52, 53 (Scripture slide)
“9:52 He sent messengers on ahead of him. As they went along, they entered a Samaritan village to make things ready in advance for him, 9:53 but the villagers refused to welcome him, because he was determined to go to Jerusalem”.
A. 'sent messengers'
1. It would generally take a three day trip to go through
Samaria from Galilee headed to Judea
2. So Jesus would send disciples to prepare the place for
His ministry
3. Having to go through Samaria they come to an unnamed
Samaritan village
4. If you call he last time Jesus went through a Samaritan
village they accepted Him (John 4)
B. A refresher on the relationship between Jews and Samaritans
1. At least 400 years of animosity
2. Origin of the Samaritans
a. Jews who mixed with foreigners during the time
of the Assyrian conquest
b. Corrupted views on Jewish worship
c. Even tried to stop the rebuilding of the temple in
Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile
2 Ki 17:24"The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath and Sepharvaim and settled them in the towns of Samaria to replace the Israelites. They took over Samaria and lived in its towns."
3. If a Jew from an Orthodox Jewish family marries a
Gentile (non-Jew) they consider them as dead and give
them a funeral
4. The Samaritans worshiped at Mt. Gerizim and the Jews
in Jerusalem on the temple mound
5. The Jews destroyed the Samaritan's temple once, in
retaliation during a Passover some Samaritans threw
some skeletons into the temple to defile it
C. With this in mind it is not so hard to see why they refused to
welcome Him when they found out He was going to Jerusalem
1. Interestingly enough this is the only time in the Gospels
that the Samaritans are looked upon negatively
2. It was all due to racial prejudice
3. This serves as a reminder that when you are committed
to follow what God would have you do, you had best
expect such hostility
4. It's hard not to feel sympathy for these Samaritans for
they are rejecting the precious gift of God
Luke 9:48 (NET)“and said to them, “Whoever welcomes this child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me, for the one who is least among you all is the one who is great.”
READ: Luke 9:54-56 (Scripture slide)
“9:54 Now when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do you want us to call fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” 9:55 But Jesus turned and rebuked them, 9:56 and they went on to another village.”
A. 'James and John'
1. Two of Jesus' inner three (Peter being the other)
2. These were the same brothers that caused a stir when their mother wanted to know if they would be at the
right and left hand of Jesus in His kingdom
3. So contentious were these two that Jesus gave them a
nickname
Mark 3:17 (NET)“to James and his brother John, the sons of Zebedee, he gave the name Boanerges (that is, “sons of thunder”);
B. 'Lord do you want us'
1. Didn't these Samaritans know Who they were dealing
with?
2. The sons of Thunder, as Jesus referred to them, James
and John wanted to call down fire from heaven because
these guys didn't accept Jesus
3. And surprisingly for once Peter is not involved
4. James and John wanted a cataclysmic judgment to fall
upon the Samaritans
a. They thought Jesus would give them the
authority to do a holy airstrike against these
people
b. They must have been thinking about what Elijah
did to the king of Samaria's army in 2 Kings 1
c. Or when Elijah had called down fire upon an
altar in a showdown with the prophets of Baal
5. James and John didn't want to do this to scare the
Samaritans, or to confirm that Jesus was the Messiah,
but to consume them, to destroy them
a. You would think that James and John became
the first members of the Westboro Baptist
Church (all judgment and no offer of grace)
b. And just like Fred Phelps and his church, James
and John felt like what they were wanting to
accomplish was what Jesus would want to come
about
C. What they received instead was the rebuke of Jesus
1. They thought their request would bring about the
destruction of the village, but in reality it brought Jesus’
disapproval upon them
2. Church let us learn from this that we need to be very
careful when we make decisions based on what Jesus
would do when it comes to judgment
3. Or we like James and John might have Jesus turn to face
us, not in acceptance, but in rebuke
4. You see they misunderstood the will of Jesus
a. Jesus had come to save men not to destroy them
b. Jesus had not come this time around to judge but
to save, judgment would come later
c. The ways of Jesus are so opposite of what the
world teaches…...and what many Christians are
like now
d. James and John cared nothing for the salvation
of these people only their judgment
e. We are not to rejoice in the lostness of others,
but to have compassion and love for people that
don't have compassion and love for us, that is
the way of Jesus people!
5. I've seen too many believers become hostile when their
ideas are rejected, to become rude, bitter and overall a
poor witness of Christ…..(use example of Jewish guy
who saw the Fred Phelps group)
a. Jesus taught us civility in the face of
rejection
b. If someone slaps you in the face for the
Gospel….how would you respond? In kind? It
had best not be...instead you should turn your
face and offer them the other cheek
c. In the face of rejection we must call upon the
grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus to deal with
the situation and not rely upon what we feel is a
good response
1 Peter 3:15–16 (NET) “3:15 But set Christ apart as Lord in your hearts and always be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks about the hope you possess. 3:16 Yet do it with courtesy and respect, keeping a good conscience, so that those who slander your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame when they accuse you.”
6. It doesn’t matter if we are right if we are unrighteous in
the way we present it!
D. 'went on to another village'
1. They simply took the Gospel to another village
2. This is what James and John should have done in the
first place, they should have just shaken the dust of
their feet and left
3. This is another lesson we need to learn: when rejection
comes simply care on
Application (slide)
A. If you fail to have love and compassion for others, if you act
like the world in how you respond to rejection than be prepared
to face the rebuke of Jesus
B. Don't assume that your holier than thou attitude is Jesus sent,
because it is not
C. In your quickness to judge others you may just end up
accomplishing your very own rebuke by Jesus
D. Yes we need to stand up for and preach the truth, but is must
be done in the love of Jesus and not in our own self puffed up
pride….John later learned this
1 John 4:7–8 (NET)“4:7 Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been fathered by God and knows God. 4:8 The person who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”
Is there pride in your life, self righteousness that needs to be confessed? Or have you been like this unnamed village and rejecting the call of Jesus? If there is anything between you and Christ today that needs to be broken down...come.
Invitation
Let us sing our last song #,
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