Vous êtes sur la page 1sur 4

When The Heat Is On ~ Luke 12:8-12

November 15, 2015 ~ New City Church of Calgary ~ Pastor John Ferguson
Intro: Sometimes this world can be a very scary place in which to live. Dont you agree? In a week that is
reeling from news reports of terrorist activity in Lebenon and Paris, we are reminded yet again that this world is
a very broken and messed up place, and is often filled with senseless violence. And for those of us who are
interested in what it means to follow Jesus in this world, reports of violence directed at Christians because they
are Christians especially grieves our hearts.
Many of us have heard about the intense persecution that followers of Jesus are facing at the hands of
members of ISIS. Closer to home, at the beginning of last month, an armed man walked on to a college
campus in Roseburg, Oregon, killing nine people and injuring others. In one classroom, a WaPo article
reported, he appeared to point out Christian students for killing. According to the father of one of the
wounded victims, the shooter asked people if they were Christians. If they said yes, he responded by saying,
Good, because youre a Christian, youre going to see God in just about one second.
Question: What if what I believe costs me everything?
Were going to take a look at a teaching that Jesus gave his disciples to prepare them for what they were
inevitably going to face. The ancient physician, Luke, took great pains to give us a historical biography of
Jesus of Nazareth. One of the things hes been telling us is that along with the rising popularity of Jesus
there was also rising opposition as well.
Jesus senses the rising opposition, and he knows that when he goes to Jerusalem, he will be tortured and
killed. Jesus is trying to prepare his disciples for the heat they are going to face. And in hearing what Jesus
says to them, we can learn a great deal about what he wants to say to us when the heat is on.
When The Heat Is On ~ Luke 12:8-12
If you are new to Christianity, know that you will be listening in on a conversation that Jesus is having with
his inner circle of disciples as he preps them for the heated opposition that he knows they will face simply
for identifying with Jesus. Once you understand who he is and what hes done for you, he will ask for your
loyalty in return even when the heat is on.
If you are a follower of Jesus, youre going to see that what we believe about Jesus really is important, and
that were playing for keeps. You are going to see that loyalty Jesus is a vital part of what it means to follow
him, eve when the heat is on.

12:1-3, Jesus warns about hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is the gap between what people see and the real me.
12:4-7, Sure they people may kill you, but then what can they do? When the threat from others awakens fear,
remember the reign of the Lord I revere. My Father who loves me so much that apart from his will, not a hair
can fall from my head.
8

And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge
before the angels of God, 9 but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels
of God.

1. What does it mean when Jesus calls himself the Son of Man? (This is Jesus favourite self-designation).
(1) Daniel 7:13-14, I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a
son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given
dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his

dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be
destroyed.
(2) When we hear Jesus call himself, the Son of Man, we need to hear Jesus saying, I am the long
awaited King, and God has given me the Kingdom, and my Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom.
If we can see Jesus royalty, we should give him our loyalty.
2. What does it mean to acknowledge Jesus before others?
(1) The core message of Christianity is an announcement: it is good news about the life, death, and
resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. Its the Good News that God is now reconciling the world to himself
in and through Christ Jesus. And that Good News calls for a response.
(2) Romans 10:9-10, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that
God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and
with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
P. Ryken, To acknowledge Jesus before men is to be open and honest about our total life-commitment to him as our Saviour and Lord.
3. The Promise and the Warning serve as guardrails to keep our faith on track.
(1) Heres why Jesus wants you to take this seriously: he knows that if you deny him once, it actually
becomes really easy to do it twice. And if you deny him twice, you can do it three times.
(2) Heres why this is important: Heat shows you what you really believe. It helps you see what you really
value. AND it shows you who your true Lord really is. It tells you what you really believe about reality.
10 And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who
blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.
1. Examples
(1) Speaking against Jesus: calling him a glutton and a drunkard or a friend of sinners (Luke 7:34); or
Peters denial of Jesus (Luke 22:31-34; 54-62).
(2) Blaspheming against the HS: attributing the work of Jesus to the power of the devil (Matt. 12:22-32;
Mark 3:22-30 an eternal sin; cf. Luke 11:14-23).
2. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit seems to be the act of a person wholike some of the religious
leaders of Jesus dayis so hardened to Jesus and so set against him that he attributes His power
to the Evil One.
Over the years, I have talked to people who fear they have committed this sin, and I often tell them that if
you really had committed this sin, you would be glad to have done sonot worried that you had.
11 And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be
anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, 12 for the Holy Spirit will
teach you in that very hour what you should say.
1. When not If they bring you before the authorities.
John 15:20, Remember the word I said to you: A servant is not greater than his master. If they
persecuted me, they will also persecute you.
2

2. Trust not in themselves, but in the Spirit of God living within them. The same Holy Spirit who anointed
Jesus to proclaim the Gospel is the same Spirit who can empower you to speak before others, even if they
ones who can kill your body.
So, why did Luke include these words of Jesus to his disciples in his historical biography of Jesus?
Because Luke wants us to know what Jesus wanted his disciples to know, namely, that following the Lord
Jesus might cost us everything.
So we must be so settled on acknowledging Jesus and his royalty before others that we would gladly lay
down our life for him out of loyalty.
Bottom Line: Jesus royalty deserves our loyalty.
If we really believe that to Jesus was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and
languages should serve him; then his royalty deserves our loyalty.
If his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be
destroyed; then his royalty deserves our loyalty.
I want to show you how grasping another aspect of the Gospel of Jesus helps us to do this.
Kenneth Samples, 7 Truths That Changed The World called the resurrection of Jesus Christianitys most
dangerous idea. The idea that Jesus truly did rise form the dead is indeed the most dangerous idea on Earth,
for it tells us that not all men stay dead. Given the inevitability of death, this truth is the greatest news that
mortal human beings could ever hope to hear.
1. Exhibit A: Peter who in a moment of fear and weakness denied his Lord. As soon as he did it, he realized
what he had done, and he wept bitterly (Luke 22:62). And yet, after the resurrection, Jesus specifically
sought out Peter and restored him not only to himself, but to ministry (John 21:15). Peter went back into
Jerusalem and fearlessly preached about the resurrection of Jesus (Acts 2-5).
1 Peter 4:12ff, Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as
though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christs sufferings,
that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of
Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.Yet if anyone suffers as
a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.
Peter knew that Jesus royalty deserved his loyalty.
2. Exhibit B: The Apostle Paul, former persecutor of the early followers of Jesus until he had an encounter
with the resurrected Jesus. Then nothing, not countless beatings or imprisonments, not even the threat of
death nor actual attempts on his life (cf. Acts 14:19ff) could deter him.
Romans 8:35, 37-39, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or
persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? No, in all these things we are more than
conquerers through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither life death nor life, nor angels nor rulers,
nor things present nor things to come, nor powers nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation,
will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Paul knew that Jesus royalty deserved his loyalty.
3. Exhibit C: Revelation 12:10-11, Then I heard a loud voice shouting across the heavens,It has come at last
salvation and power and the Kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our
3

brothers and sisters has been thrown down to earththe one who accuses them before our God day and
night. And they have defeated him by the blood of the Lamb and by their testimony. And they did not love
their lives so much that they were afraid to die.
John wants us to see that these martyrs knew that Jesus royalty deserved their loyalty.
Assignment: Set apart Christ as Lord in your heart. His royalty deserves your loyalty.
Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken by Henry Francis Lyte (1793-1847)
1. Jesus, I my cross have taken
All to leave and follow Thee
Destitute, despised, forsaken
Thou from hence my all shall be
Perish every fond ambition
All Ive sought or hoped or known
Yet how rich is my condition
God and heaven are still my own

4. Go, then, earthly fame and treasure


Come disaster, scorn and pain
In Thy service, pain is pleasure
With Thy favor, loss is gain
I have called Thee Abba Father
I have stayed my heart on Thee
Storms may howl, and clouds may gather
All must work for good to me

2. Let the world despise and leave me


They have left my Savior, too
Human hearts and looks deceive me
Thou art not, like them, untrue
O while Thou dost smile upon me
God of wisdom, love, and might
Foes may hate and friends disown me
Show Thy face and all is bright

5. Soul, then know thy full salvation


Rise oer sin and fear and care
Joy to find in every station
Something still to do or bear
Think what Spirit dwells within thee
Think what Fathers smiles are thine
Think that Jesus died to win thee
Child of heaven, canst thou repine

3. Man may trouble and distress me


Twill but drive me to Thy breast
Life with trials hard may press me
Heaven will bring me sweeter rest
Oh, tis not in grief to harm me
While Thy love is left to me
Oh, twere not in joy to charm me
Were that joy unmixed with Thee

6. Haste thee on from grace to glory


Armed by faith, and winged by prayer
Heavens eternal days before thee
Gods own hand shall guide us there
Soon shall close thy earthly mission
Soon shall pass thy pilgrim days
Hope shall change to glad fruition
Faith to sight, and prayer to praise

Imagine: What if all the Christians in our city actually lived like this, fearlessly acknowledging the Lord Jesus?
What if we really believed that Jesus royalty deserves our loyalty?
What if we did not love our lives so much that we would be afraid to die?
How would things change if we so free from the fear of man that we could shamelessly acknowledge Jesus
before them, even if it costs us everything?

NCC, may you be a people who recognizes


that Jesus royalty deserves your loyalty,
even if it costs you your life.

Vous aimerez peut-être aussi