The Book of Luke: The Ministry of Christ (Luke 4:14-30)
We ended last week with the temptation of Jesus in verse 13. We have this series of events that has prepared us for the ministry of Christ. We had the baptism of Christ and the temptation of Christ leading up to this. We will see the first documented sermon of Jesus Christ recorded in the Bible.
Luke 4:14 “14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about.”. Galilee is in the northern part of Israel where Judea and Jerusalem and Bethlehem would have been. Verse 15 “15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all.”.
Just by way of introduction, I want to give you some information about the synagogues. They aren’t talked about a lot in the Old Testament but in the New Testament you see it mentioned a lot. Jesus was attending and teaching and preaching at the synagogues. Today as New Testament Christians, we often think of synagogues as a negative think since Judaism is a false religion. However, they did not start out as a bad thing. Psalm 74:8 “8 They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together: they have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land.”. The enemies of God had burned up the synagogues. Here it is referred to as the synagogue of God. They did not begin as a negative thing. They were still following the God of the Bible and Judaism had not turned into a false religion.
The synagogues were a precursor to the New Testament Church. What I mean by that is that the whole nation of Israel as a whole was like a local Church. In the wilderness, they were referred to as a Church. They had a leader named Moses and they had a place where they worshipped of a temple or tabernacle. Instead of using 1 nation now, he has local Churches all over assembled together with people. It has been opened up to all nations. We were created to be around people. The synagogues were developed for people in a local area to meet together, pray together, have preaching, etc….They weren’t established in the same way as the local new testament Chruch but they were created to help people gather together as a community.
Luke 4:16 “16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.”. The synagogue is somewhere he goes on the weekend or on the Sabbath day. In a similar way, we meet together but on the first day of the week instead of Saturday. We read the scriptures and expound upon what we read just like they did. When you get toward the end of the Old Testament after the temple is destroyed before Ezra and Nehemiah come back to build it, the synagogue was kind of formed in order for people to come together and worship. We can’t say they are these evil things when Jesus is going there and reading there.
Acts 13:13-15 “13 Now when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia: and John departing from them returned to Jerusalem. 14 But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and sat down. 15 And after the reading of the law and the prophets the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, Ye men and brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on.”. This feels a lot like a men’s preaching night. They read the word and gave an opportunity for anyone who had something to preach about.
They meet there on the weekend, sit there, read the word of God and someone expounds upon it. I believe the synagogue is like a precursor to the Church. Not only did Jesus participate but this was something that he did his whole life. I want to be clear that the synagogue started right as it filled a need but it ended very badly. Having a place where people can meet together and sing songs and read the word of God is good. What happened though was that the people meeting in the synagogues rejected Jesus Christ and it became a false religion. Judaism teaches there is a Messiah but they reject Jesus as the Messiah. The Bible says someone is “antichrist” if they reject Jesus. Anyone who rejects Jesus Christ is going to go to hell and it is a false religion. The Jews don’t get a free pass to heaven. This is not anti-semitism. I think we should get Jews saved, Arabs saved and everyone saved.
Revelation 2:9 “9 I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.”. Jesus is saying that these people are Jews outwardly in their flesh but not inwardly. They had to have the proper faith. Here Jesus identifies the religion of Judaism and calls their place of worship the Synagogue of Satan.
Revelation 3:9 “9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.”. The Jews in the synagogue today, they say they are Jews but are not. That is what the Bible is saying.
It’s called the synagogue of God in Psalms but it ends in Revelation as the synagogue of Satan because they rejected Christ. It ended as a false religion. When Jesus was going to the synagogue, they were not false yet. They were headed that direction but not yet completely rejected. Whatever blessing was upon the synagogue was removed and given to the local New Testament Church.
When it comes to Luke 4, we see the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are going to see the very first sermon that he preaches. Firstly I want you to notice the pattern of the Lord Jesus Christ. Luke 4:16 “16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.”. The word “custom” is a habitual practice. Jesus was a man of routine. He had customs. One of his customs was to go to the synagogue and meet and fellowship with God’s people. He would hear the word of God read and preached. If Jesus was here today, he would be someone with a custom or pattern of being faithful to the house of God.
If you are reading this and you want to be a follower of Christ, that means you must follow his steps. Follow the pattern that he showed us. If you are going to be someone who is highly successful in life, you will have to be someone who develops routines. Luke 22:39 “39 And he came out, and went, as he was wont, to the mount of Olives; and his disciples also followed him.”. “As he was wont” means the pattern that he had. Jesus lived by a pattern.
If the Bible gave an accurate list of the most influential people of all time, #1 would be Jesus and #2 Paul the Apostle without question. Jesus is without question the most influential person who ever lived and #2 would be Paul. Paul also was a man of habit. Acts 17:2 “2 And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures,”. At the synagogue Paul is reasoning out of the scriptures.
Acts 20:18 “18 And when they were come to him, he said unto them, Ye know, from the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have been with you at all seasons,”. Notice it says “after what manner”. I am here to tell you that Jesus and Paul had a manner or pattern of how they lived their lives. They had things they did on a regular basis. If you want to succeed in your Christian life, you need to develop some routines.
Some of you are failing spiritually because you don’t even have a habit of going to Church. The Bible tells us to seek first the kingdom of God. When you are going to Church the first day of the week, you are literally seeking God at the start of the week. This thing of going to Church from time to time or when you feel like it will cause you to fail in the Christian life. If you are going to succeed in your Christian life, you need some habits and customs. We need to teach Baptists “3 to thrive”. You need to gather with other Christians and sing hymns and hear the word of God preached. You ought to develop that habit. When you miss Church, it ought to cause people to wonder “I wonder if something is wrong?”. You need to decide that the house of God is actually important to you. If you struggle with going to Church, I would encourage you to get a calendar and start marking when you come to Church and when you miss Church.
If 1 person in the family is sick, you don’t need the entire family skipping Chruch. Maybe mom or dad has to stay home to take care of them but the rest can go to Church. When you go on vacation, make it a point to go to Church somewhere. Take a vacation from work and responsibilities but not a vacation from God. Develop patterns in your life. Develop daily and weekly disciplines in your life. Daily prayer and Bible reading. Weekly soulwinning. A habit of Church on Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night. In 2022 we don’t need less Church, we need more Church. We need more preaching, more Bible in 2022. People like Jesus and Paul had a custom in their life.
We see #1 the pattern of Jesus. We also see the preaching of Jesus. Luke 4:17 “17 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, 18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,”. We need to understand the significance of this passage. Jesus just got baptized and was tempted by the Devil for 40 days. He has already started doing miracles and preaching and his fame has gone out. He goes to the synagogue where he was raised and he reads this passage as kind of a launch to his ministry. By the way, Jesus said as the Father sent me, so send I you. There are people that need us to come to them and preach the gospel to them.
We also see a prophecy to Christ’s ministry. Luke 4:19 “19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”. Go to Isaiah. Isaiah 61:1 “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; 2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;”.
Now in Luke 4, we see that Jesus ended in the middle of Isaiah 61:2 and handed the book over. “20 And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.”. Why did Jesus do this?