Power Source - Luke - Part 8

Written by Ed Allen
Sunday, 01 August 2010 09:00

The Gospel of Luke - That You May Know

Sermon Notes

You can’t live in the 21s Century without knowing the importance of a good consistent power supply. (cell phone, laptop, car, remote the TV, energy independence discussion, you name it) The same is true spiritually.

So, what was Jesus’ power supply? How did he do what he did? What was the fuel for Jesus’ remarkable life and ministry?

John 5:17-19

(17) Jesus said to them, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working." (18) For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. (19) Jesus gave them this answer: "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.

JESUS’ POWER CAME FROM A PROFOUND DEPENDENCE ON THE FATHER!

But that’s not all!

Luke 3:21-22; 4:1; 4:14

(21) When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened (22) and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased."

(1) Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert,

(14) Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside.

JESUS’ POWER ALSO CAME FROM AN INTIMATE CONNECTION WITH THE SPIRIT

If you don’t believe me...

• Look at Luke 22:42. Radical dependence on the Father even to the point of death
  • (42) "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done."
• Look at Luke 4:18. Identifies his ministry as emanating from the anointing of the Holy Spirit.
  • (18) "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed,

JESUS’ POWER FOR LIFE AND MINISTRY CAME FROM A PROFOUND DEPENDENCE ON THE FATHER AND AN INTIMATE CONNECTION WITH THE SPIRIT.

Notice what I didn’t say: that Jesus’ life and ministry came from the power and glory that was his as the Son of God.

• As Christians, we believe in the trinity. We believe in one God who exists in three persons. This is why Muslims think we are infidels.
• C.S. Lewis explanation
• Jesus is divine, of one substance with the Father. According to Hebrews, he is the “radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being.”
• And as his early followers came to realize this, they also came to understand that he had hidden his full majesty and power in order to come here and serve us, both through his ministry and through his death. The Apostle Paul explained it like this: “who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.”
• This means that in his earthly ministry, Jesus did not draw on his majesty and power as God the Son in order to preach, or heal, or raise the dead. His source of power for his life and his ministry came from a profound dependence on the Father and from an intimate connection to the Spirit.

So how did he nurture this dependence and this connection?

Jesus had a pronounced life-defining habit of seeking God in specific disciplined times of devotion and prayer. Listen to these references from Luke:

• Luke 3:21 – at his baptism, when he is anointed by the Spirit, it happens in the context prayer
• Luke 5:15-16 “Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
• 6:12 “One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray and spent the night praying to God.”
• 6:28 teaches his followers to “pray for those who mistreat you.”
• 9:18 Listen to this casual reference to Jesus’ prayer life. It comes almost as an aside from Luke.
• 9:28 “About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, James and John with him and went up onto a mountain to pray.”
• In fact, Jesus’ prayer life was so noticeable and so vital and so effective that his disciples asked him to teach them how to pray. 11:1 “One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.’”
  • Surely they knew how to pray
  • But not like Jesus!
• Then of course, there is the account of the last night of his life. 22:39-44
  • 39Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. 40On reaching the place, he said to them, "Pray that you will not fall into temptation." 41He withdrew about a stone's throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, 42"Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done." 43An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. 44And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.
• All of this explains what the writer of Hebrews meant when he said, “During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.” (Hebrews 5:7)

Jesus’ power for life and ministry came from a profound dependence on the Father and an intimate connection with the Spirit, which he nurtured through very regular times of seeking God.

• If we’re going to be followers of Jesus, we will live the same way. We will have the very same power source and we will pursue it in the very same way.
• This is why we have made it part of our covenant with one another to “Practice Creative Devotion”.