Apprentice to Journeyman

The apostles being sent out for the first time on their own to “proclaim the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:1-6), were being directed to take the next step in their apprenticeship. I suspect the concept of apprenticeship was more familiar in times past than it is now. It was the customary way in which a person would learn a trade. A certain of amount of time would be agreed upon for a novice to come under the tutelage of one accomplished in a particular skill, a Master, with the idea that, eventually, the apprentice would become a “journeyman” like the one instructing him. The practice still exists in trade unions and, one could say, in such things as the summer internships that many students undertake. The novice observes, listens, asks questions, does a lot of grunt work, all with the hope of acquiring the necessary skills to carry out the particular trade.

This is the point of this adventure for the apostles, for as New Testament scholar, Robert Stein, suggests, the mission of the twelve "served as an apprenticeship for their ultimate mission.” With the outpouring of the promised Spirit on Pentecost, the apostles exhibit their journeymen status by healing and preaching with convicting power (take a look at Acts 4:13 and see how this concept helpfully informs what you read there), but at this point in their tenure with the Master they have yet to have their mettle tested. But after enduing them with power and granting authority to minister in his name, Jesus sends them out. This experience will prove to be significant when later they serve as “eyewitnesses and ministers of the word” to men such as Luke (Luke 1:20).

The apprentice to journeyman status can be a helpful way to think of every believer’s discipleship. As the writer of Hebrews teaches, we start with “milk,” but eventually we are expected to eat meat (Hebrews 5:12-13). As a community of New Covenant believers the resources we need are available (see Jeremiah 31:31-34). But it doesn’t just happen. There’s intentionality in Jesus actions, and it would be wise for us to think about how the church goes about making journeymen and women for Christ. Soli deo gloria!

Faith Healers and Dealers

The Gospel of Luke is filled with stories of Jesus doing extraordinary things. He speaks to nature and nature obeys. He speaks to death and death flees. He speaks to illness and illness becomes wellness. What is going on?! It is the Kingdom of God being manifested in the midst of the kingdom of this world. Darkness is being overcome by light, evil by good, brokenness by restoration. It is an awe inspiring display of God’s grace. 

Wouldn’t it be great if we could capture it in a bottle and then pour it over our lives? In a way, that is precisely what some people purport to do. An entire industry of “faith” healers and dealers has people thinking that this is the end for which Jesus came. What is missing when you listen to the leading proponents of this industry is the message of hope preached by the apostles. For the apostles, it is the hope of eternal life that has been promised. For the salesmen of earthly bliss, Jesus’ death and resurrection are the means of releasing God’s power so you can live your best life now. But the healings and deliverances accomplished by Jesus (or in his name by others) are integrally linked to the full restoration that we anticipate at the end of the age, the salvation for which all creation groans. That is the end to which the miracles we read of (and may even experience) are to point. They are not an end in themselves.

That being said, in our day to day lives we are confronted with the fallenness of the world in ways less dramatic than overwhelming storms and incurable diseases. Nevertheless, we can feel as helpless as Jairus before the corruption of creation (Luke 8:40-42). What can we do? We can do what Jairus did, and reach out to Jesus in faith. Knowing that Jesus has lived in our skin, we can have confidence that he understands our plight. We can hear his assuring words, “Do not fear, only believe,” and know that his eternal power will sustain us through every trial. Remember, as children of the covenant, we know that nothing can “snatch us” from the Father’s hand (John 10:29). As children of the covenant, we can receive the blessing, “Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace.” (Luke 8:48)

Persecution

Why was Jesus persecuted? He tells us: “The world . . . hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil” (John 7:7). 

His very presence exposed the world for what it was. He alone lived as a human is meant to live. His perfect love for his Father’s will shines bright against the backdrop of the self-defining and self-justifying standards of righteousness that has characterized humanity since the creature turned his back on his Creator. When fallen man stands in the front of this divinely sent Mirror he has two choices: to acknowledge the ugliness he sees in its light and repent, or break the mirror. Humanity regularly chooses the latter. 

Why are Christians persecuted? Because they are united to Christ: "If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you" (John 15:19).

The more the disciples of Jesus reflect his image, the more they can expect that attempts to destroy them will follow. The prospect of such suffering is not pleasant to contemplate. If this is the reality that comes with the call, we might be tempted to leave off following Christ. But walking away is not an option. As Peter acknowledged when others found Jesus words hard to hear, ‘‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68). No, we must not walk away. Rather, we must witness. The promised Holy Spirit who, himself, bears witness to Christ, also empowers us to testify (John 15:26-27). United to Christ, empowered by his Spirit, we are more than able to “hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering” (Hebrews 10:23).

Demoniacs All

When I was a teenager, I was taking a car trip wth a few of my friends during which I acted cruelly toward a complete stranger. As we were driving up a hill, we passed by an elderly man who had gotten off of his bike to push it up the steep grade. When we were close to him, I leaned out the window and shouted an expletive in his ear. It was designed to startle him, and I’ve no doubt that I did.

Many might chalk it up to the kind of immature ugliness associated with high school boys. In hindsight, however, I believe it is evidence of my being under the authority of Satan,“the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:2). Don’t get me wrong, I’m not making excuses. I’m not mimicking the comedian Flip Wilson: “The devil made me do it.” What I’m saying is that I was as subject to the forces of evil, perhaps not in degree, but undoubtably in essence, as was the demoniac who confronted Jesus on the shore of Lake Galilee (Luke 8:26-33).

Demons delight in turning a man into a beast. They would have had no care, no desire, to see the glory of God manifested in the pitiful soul Jesus met. Anything they could do to vitiate God’s image in this man they would do out of their hatred for God. Their evil intent has not ceased, and will not cease until the day they are thrown into the abyss, the lake of eternal fire that God has prepared for them (Matthew 25:41). To the extent that my regretful actions participated in that vitiation, I showed myself to be in league with them.

But thanks be to God, in his mercy, those who have been made alive in Christ, are no longer at the whim of such evil influences. We have a new master to whom we are subject. And he is the one who has power over demons, even Satan himself. It is he who holds the keys to death and hell, and to whom all authority in heaven and earth has been given. And rather than being like a thief who only comes to steal and destroy, he has come to give life, and that more abundantly. Motivated by a deep eternal love, his intent is to cause the image of God to shine more gloriously through each of his brothers and sisters, enabling them to be agents of blessing and not sorrow.

By the grace of God, I believe that I would not now do what I did then, and for that I am grateful. I trust that you, too, can say such a thing, if you have been made alive in Christ. He really is making all things new (Revelation 21:5). 

What Manner of Man Is This?

Jesus is asleep in a boat. Being tired, he seized the opportunity to take a nap as they made their way across the Sea of Galilee — a very natural thing for a man to do given the day we can assume he’s had. He must have been exhausted, for when a violent wind came up, causing the boat to be swamped, he didn't stir. The others were clearly afraid and exasperated at his lack of awareness of the peril. They shake him, urging him to wake. Why? Perhaps they thought he could join in the effort of bailing out the boat. Perhaps they wanted to give him the chance to swim for it should the boat capsize. Either of these reasons could account for their urgency. But even if they were expecting him to do something extraordinary (he had done so many extraordinary things already!) what he ends up doing is completely unexpected. He commands the winds and the waves — and they obey!

The disciples are amazed, even terrified, by what they have witnessed. “What manner of man is this?” they wonder. But we know. We’ve been given the back story. At the beginning of Luke’s gospel we were told that he was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of a virgin and pronounced the Son of God. It shouldn't surprise us that he had the power to speak with Genesis 1 authority over earthly matter. He is the divine Word by whom all things were made who became flesh. 

In one person, therefore, two natures reside: one fully divine, the other fully human. The mystery of his unique existence is crucially important for the church to embrace. While it’s not easily explained, it can, and must, be affirmed. The church, early on, established boundaries concerning the humanity and divinity of Jesus that are not to be crossed. They set them because what is at stake is the authority of Scripture and the hope set before us in the gospel.

The rescue Jesus effected on the Sea of Galilee was a type of the eternal rescue that he accomplished by his atoning death. It serves to remind us that all who call upon him, who know they are perishing, will be saved. This we confidently confess because the Bible reveals a Savior who alone was suited to the task: “a true and perfectly righteous man,” for “the man who is himself a sinner cannot pay for others;” and “true God,” so “that by the power of his divinity he might bear as a man the burden of God’s wrath.” This is our "Lord Jesus Christ, who is freely given to us for complete redemption and righteousness” (Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 6).

The Preeminent Word

There are a number of sites online that offer quotes from famous people. It can be helpful for one called upon to make speeches or preach. A pithy quote that supports the point one is trying to make, adds variety and can prove to be memorable. In fact, if you look at the site BraineyQuote.com, you’ll find some attributed to Jesus. For the most part he’s quoted correctly, and if you know the context in which the quotes live, they are powerful ones. But what I discovered at the bottom of the page is a heading “Related Authors,” with tabs you can click for Ghandi, MLK, Jr., Buddha, Dali Lama, Napoleon, Martin Luther, Margaret Thatcher, and Sai Baba. Hmmmm . . . The inference is that Jesus is just another famous person who has something interesting, even profound, to say. You might be inspired by him, or you might be inspired by Napoleon, or Ghandi, or the Dali Lama (I didn’t take the time to click on the links, but I’m intrigued as to how Napoleon is a related author — I’ll look later). 

While it’s understandable how the curators of the site could list Jesus with other historical figures. To suggest that his words exist on a level plane with those of mere humans, however, is to not take seriously what he said was happening when he spoke. He was scattering the seed of God’s word and the expectation was that his seed should find good soil so that it could produce abundant fruit to the glory of God (Luke 8:4-15). His were not words, therefore, that could be taken or left at the listener’s discretion. They were to be heard and heeded, and they were to take priority over every other word that has been spoken or might be spoken.

But for the word to realize its full potential requires rich soil, an "honest and good heart" that bears fruit with patience. This is the soil found in the “sinful woman” who wept at the feet of Jesus (Luke 7:36-50). She knew she needed Jesus, and when she heard him it caused her to humble herself and, in gratitude, worship. Hard soil, like the heart of Simon the Pharisee, does not receive the word and in not receiving does not believe and is not saved. I fear that is too often the case for those clicking through the quotes of Jesus on BrainyQuote.com. His words do not generate faith, nor is humility engendered. As a consequence, the word that was meant to bring life becomes a one that ensures judgment. 

Let’s pray that the words of Jesus, whether preached, shared one with another, or even encountered on a website, will find fertile ground in the hearers so that they will receive the comfort Jesus offered to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”

Self-Justifying Machines

Human beings are self-justifying machines. We get it from Adam ("The woman you gave me . . ."). It's not a noble trait. Part of the fallout from our desperate desire to justify ourselves is that it causes us to judge others without being willing to judge ourselves. Quick to point out the speck in our brother's eye, we cannot see for the log in our own. Self-justification is fueled all the more when the speck in the other's eye is truly as big as a log, making our log seem like a speck. This was the problem that Simon the Pharisee had when a woman, whose "sins were many," came uninvited into his home (Luke 7:36-50). He had every reason to think she was "a sinful woman," but her overt sinfulness allowed him to think more highly of himself than he had a right to do. In fact, he thought so well of himself that he stood in judgment over the One before whom all will give an account, including Simon. That will not be a pretty day for the Pharisee, unless at some point, by the grace of God, he came to see that his need for forgiveness was as great as the woman he despised.

Self-justification has no place in the life of a Christian. We, of all people, should recognize that we are doing better than we deserve. In light of the reality that Christ died for us "while we were still sinners" (Romans 5:8), an act that one would scarcely do for a righteous person, we have every reason to be as grateful as the unnamed woman who wept at Jesus' feet. Yet, we are prone to slipping into the same mindset as Simon. When that happens remember how Jesus responded to the Pharisee. The parable he offered Simon was a devastating critique of the man's attitude. He didn't get it, but we should. 

A helpful antidote to the poison of self-justification is a resolution Jonathan Edwards penned when a young man: "Resolved, to act, in all respects, both speaking and doing, as if nobody had been so vile as I, and as if I had committed the same sins, or had the same infirmities or failings as others; and that I will let the knowledge of their failings promote nothing but shame in myself, and prove only an occasion of my confessing my own sins and misery to God." Joining Edwards in his resolve could go a long way in drying up the fuel that runs our self-justifying machine.