DATE: 10-4-26

As always, it’s a joy to be with all of you this weekend at Gateway Church. And there’s one thing I want you to know — and this is true if you’re worshiping with us for the first time or if you’re joining us at our North Main Campus — I want you to know that God loves you and that I love you too.

INTRODUCTION

Two weeks ago, we started a new preaching series in the book of Malachi. We’re returning to Malachi today, and we’re going to jump right back into it. We’ll be in Malachi chapter one — looking at verses six through fourteen. That’s Malachi chapter one — beginning in verse six. There we read…

Malachi 1:6–14 ESV

6 “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. But you say, ‘How have we despised your name?’ 7 By offering polluted food upon my altar. But you say, ‘How have we polluted you?’ By saying that the Lord’s table may be despised. 8 When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not evil? Present that to your governor; will he accept you or show you favor? says the Lord of hosts. 9 And now entreat the favor of God, that he may be gracious to us. With such a gift from your hand, will he show favor to any of you? says the Lord of hosts. 10 Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hand. 11 For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts. 12 But you profane it when you say that the Lord’s table is polluted, and its fruit, that is, its food, may be despised. 13 But you say, ‘What a weariness this is,’ and you snort at it, says the Lord of hosts. You bring what has been taken by violence or is lame or sick, and this you bring as your offering! Shall I accept that from your hand? says the Lord. 14 Cursed be the cheat who has a male in his flock, and vows it, and yet sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished. For I am a great King, says the Lord of hosts, and my name will be feared among the nations.

If you weren’t with us two weeks ago, we all acknowledged that Malachi’s not one of the more familiar books in the Bible for most of us. So — if that’s what you were thinking when I read our verses for today — you’re in good company. 

So, to quickly catch us all up, God called Malachi to be his prophet. And prophets were given the important job of speaking on God’s behalf to his people. And Malachi’s also one of the last Old Testament prophets; in fact, his book concludes our Old Testament. And after Malachi, roughly four centuries pass before John the Baptist appears in the Gospels.

At this time in history, the nations of Israel and Judah had both been conquered. About a century earlier, King Cyrus of Persia started allowing the Jewish people to return to their homeland. And, at first, the Jews were full of hope. Why? Because after seventy years of living in exile, they were finally returning home and the Temple was going to be rebuilt. And they all thought that the promises they’d been waiting for God to fulfill — promises like Jerusalem being the center of the Kingdom of God on earth — they all thought that these promises were on the cusp of being realized. 

But their hope quickly faded. The Temple was rebuilt, but the glorious restoration they’d expected didn’t happen. And Jerusalem wasn’t the center of a restored kingdom — Judah remained under foreign rule. And as far as some of the other promises — like there being no more evil or sin or death as described by prophets like Isaiah — well, evil, sin, and death were still going strong. So what began as a rise in hope quickly tanked into despair when their expectations weren’t met. 

Now, we shouldn’t pretend that their disappointment is hard to understand. God had promised restoration, and from where they stood, life didn’t look much like those promises. I’m sure you can relate. You’re certain God was going to do something — and life didn’t turn out that way. And, understandably so, you’re disappointed. 

For the Jews in Malachi’s day, the problem wasn’t that they struggled with disappointment. The problem was what they concluded from it — which is an important lesson for us to learn. What did they conclude? They questioned God’s faithfulness to them.

That’s why, in our first week in Malachi, we saw that when God told the people he loved them, they responded with, “How have you loved us?” They questioned him. And this pattern, where God makes a statement and the people respond by questioning him, is found throughout the book. And every time they question God, he replies with evidence to support his statement. And this happens in our verses. 

But before we get to God’s statement and their question, I want us to consider what our verses are all about. Obviously, the verses are about worship and sacrifices, but what exactly is the issue? Here’s how I’d summarize our verses:

Our worship reveals what we believe God is really worth. Our worship reveals what we believe that God is really worth. 

Christian or not, whatever you believe God is worth — what his value is — that’s reflected in your worship. And I don’t just mean what happens here on Sunday, but in how you worship him with your life.

And the danger for all of us is that we all — and I’m including myself here, so you go ahead and include yourself too — we all minimize God’s worth. There’s a part in every one of us — again, Christian or not — that wants to give God less value than he deserves, because then we can get away with giving him worship that doesn’t cost us much. And this is dangerous because we then feel good about ourselves because we’re keeping up a religious appearance thinking God is pleased with us.  

So that’s where we’re headed today. We’re going to see who God says he is and how our worship reveals what we think his worth really is. We’ll then be given a warning before we return once again to God and the worship he deserves. 

GOD IS A GREAT KING

So let’s start by seeing how God describes himself in our verses. We’re in the last half of verse fourteen, where God says…

Malachi 1:14 ESV

14 For I am a great King, says the Lord of hosts, and my name will be feared among the nations.

Who does God say he is? He says, “I am a great King.” But that’s not all, for the verse also calls him the LORD of hosts — or the LORD of the angelic army. And that’s still not all that we learn about God. We also learn that his name will be feared among the nations. 

He’s a great King. He’s the LORD of hosts. And his name will be feared among the nations. Let’s look at each of these briefly.

God’s a great King. This is an identity statement. And it helps us understand that everything that comes before this verse — all of that stuff about the sacrifices being offered — God being a great King tells us that our question shouldn’t be, “What’s wrong with the sacrifices?” — though we’ll look at what’s wrong with them — the bigger question is, “What does this great King deserve?” You see, the sacrifices matter because they reveal what the people think of the King they’re giving them to. 

But here’s the thing about God. His greatness doesn’t depend on our opinion of him. Even though the priests treat God as though he isn’t great — by bringing to him poor excuses for a sacrifice — God hasn’t become any less great. The only place where God’s become less great is in their opinion of him. God’s still great, and their worship of him, which could be great, is anything but.

God is a great King — and he’s the LORD of hosts. In our verses, he’s called the LORD of hosts seven times. This title emphasizes God’s sovereign power. He’s not merely Israel’s God; he’s the King who commands the angels of heaven and rules over all creation. 

Many of you know that I served in the Army. But you don’t have to serve in the Army to feel the weightiness when you’re around a general in uniform. You don’t have to know what all of the ribbons mean — you know what the stars on their uniform mean. This is someone in authority. This is someone who gives commands. This is someone who gives orders that are obeyed. 

Yet even military generals are a poor shadow of the LORD of hosts. We’re talking about the One who created everyone and everything out of nothing, who’s always existed and always will, who knows everything, is everywhere, and whose power keeps everything — including all of us — in existence. This is who God is.

And this great King, who is the LORD of hosts, says that his name will be feared among the nations.

If you didn’t notice, God keeps returning to his name throughout our verses. And his name represents who he is — his name is his reputation. Thus the poor sacrifices that the priests are bringing — in essence — are them attempting to give God a false name. They’re saying, “Based on our opinion of your reputation, this is what we think of you — this is the name we’ve given you — this is what you’re worth to us.” 

This is what’s going on in our verses, which tells us that worship begins with seeing God for who he is. 

So, for the rest of this sermon, I don’t want you to hear “Try harder to do a better job at worshipping God.” Instead, I want you to see God more clearly and more truthfully — to see him as he is. For then your worship will align more closely with who God really is. Because I have no doubt that many of us can say all sorts of right things about who God is — your theology is sharp, your doctrine is straight, your biblical knowledge is top-shelf quality. But if someone could only see the way you worship God — if they never heard you say a word about what you believe about God — if all they could see is how you live — what would they conclude God is worth to you? 

OUR WORSHIP REVEALS GOD’S WORTH TO US

Which leads to our second point: Our worship exposes what God is worth to us. Our worship — the way you and I worship — again, not just on Sunday mornings but throughout the week — is the truest indicator of what God is worth to us. We’re back to verse six.

Malachi 1:6–9 ESV

6 “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. But you say, ‘How have we despised your name?’ 7 By offering polluted food upon my altar. But you say, ‘How have we polluted you?’ By saying that the Lord’s table may be despised. 8 When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not evil? Present that to your governor; will he accept you or show you favor? says the Lord of hosts. 9 And now entreat the favor of God, that he may be gracious to us. With such a gift from your hand, will he show favor to any of you? says the Lord of hosts.

Sons were to honor their fathers. Servants were to honor their masters. These were cultural norms then. And though we live two thousand years later, we understand honor. 

• You go to the White House and, no matter who the president is, that building — and what it represents — deserves honor.
• A co-worker’s diagnosed with stage four cancer and, no matter what conflict you may have had with her, when she shares the news, you respond in a way that honors her.
• When a funeral procession nears, you pull over and let them pass as a show of honor.

We get honor — the Israelites understood it too. That’s why God says, “Try giving what you’re giving me to the governor.” For the priests knew there’d be severe consequences if they gave to the governor what they were giving to God. 

It’s also why God says, “You know what it means to honor others, so why aren’t you honoring me?” And notice that it’s not, “You know how to obey your father or that servants know how to obey their master, so why aren’t you obeying me?” That’s not what God says. The issue goes deeper than simply obeying or breaking God’s rules. Their disobedience reveals what they really think of the God who gave the rules.

All of this leads to God saying they’ve despised his name — his reputation, his identity. To which the priests reply, “How have we despised your name?” 

To despise means to treat with contempt — to treat disrespectfully. A modern-day version of their response would be, “God, what are you talking about? How can you say we’ve been disrespectful? We’ve never said a disrespectful word about you.” And that could very well have been true. 

They may never have taken his name in vain — one of the Ten Commandments — they may never have said one bad word about God. But you don’t have to say anything disrespectful about God to live in a way that’s disrespectful towards him. You don’t have to say out loud, “God isn’t worth much to me” — you can show everyone how little he matters by how you live. 

But here’s the crazy reality for these priests. God tells them exactly how they’ve disrespected him. “It’s those blind, lame, and sick animals that you’re offering to me.” Something we may not remember, but certainly these priests would’ve known, is that the Old Testament explicitly prohibited these kinds of sacrifices. Here’s just one example.

Deuteronomy 15:21 NLT

21 But if this firstborn animal has any defect, such as lameness or blindness, or if anything else is wrong with it, you must not sacrifice it to the Lord your God.

Centuries earlier, God had told Israel what was acceptable. So the priests weren’t ignorant. They knew the expectations. They knew what proper and improper worship was — what was respectful and disrespectful. The priests weren’t making a mistake — they knew better. And because they’re priests, the problem’s even more serious.

For priests…

• Were teachers of God’s law,
• And maintained the holiness of the sanctuary,
• And represented the people before God in worship.

Though the people of Israel aren’t innocent, the priests have an even greater responsibility because they were supposed to lead the people. And they were using their position to normalize devaluing God in worship. They’re not merely participating in Israel’s problem — they’ve exacerbated it by leading others to view God as worthless. 

And I can’t preach this as though I’m standing outside the warning. Malachi aims first at spiritual leaders. Those of us entrusted with leading God’s people can normalize casualness toward God. We can prepare sermons, lead songs, administer sacraments, organize ministries — and become so familiar with holy things that we forget how holy the One we’re serving actually is — where we treat him as if he’s worthless. That’s the warning to church leaders like me.

GOD TREATS WORTHLESS WORSHIP AS WORTHLESS

And this will probably surprise no one, but God has an issue when he’s treated as worthless. We see this in verse ten.

Malachi 1:10–14 ESV

10 Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hand. 11 For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts. 12 But you profane it when you say that the Lord’s table is polluted, and its fruit, that is, its food, may be despised. 13 But you say, ‘What a weariness this is,’ and you snort at it, says the Lord of hosts. You bring what has been taken by violence or is lame or sick, and this you bring as your offering! Shall I accept that from your hand? says the Lord. 14 Cursed be the cheat who has a male in his flock, and vows it, and yet sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished. 

When our worship treats God as if he’s worthless, he views our worship as worthless. He tells the people, “I’d rather the doors of the Temple be closed than for you to continue worshipping me in this way.” 

“Wait a second, Josh. I thought any worship is better than no worship?” I think you may be thinking of “No news is good news” or some other saying, because God says, “I’d rather you close the doors to the sanctuary than continue worshiping me in this way.” And man, does that offend us. 

To the priests God says, “I have no pleasure in you.” And there’s no spinning that headline. God says, “I will not accept an offering from your hand. You can keep doing what you’re doing, but I’m not accepting it.” 

You see, God isn’t just interested in being worshiped. He’s not that interested in how many people show up to church on Sunday — that’s what we focus on. God’s more concerned about our worship aligning with the truth of who he is. That’s what matters to him.

And if you think back over the last few decades, when it comes to worship, there’s been way more written, and debated, and vlogged about instrumentation and lighting and haze and what your musical preferences are, and very little about what Malachi’s putting before us: That true worship is always God-centered, and anything that’s man-centered isn’t true worship. 

This man-centered worship is exposed in verse thirteen. For man-centered worship results in comments like, “What a weariness this is.” Where worship becomes a burden. You want to know why worship becomes a burden for many people? Well, once God isn’t worth much to you, anything you give him feels expensive. Your time feels expensive. Your money feels expensive. Your obedience feels expensive. Even going to church feels expensive. This is when going to church feels like a dentist appointment instead of a time when you gather with others to worship the Great King and Lord of hosts. It’s when prayer becomes an obligation instead of a conversation with your Creator. It’s when reading Scripture feels like homework instead of hearing the voice of God. It’s when being generous with your finances feels like losing your money instead of investing your Master’s finances in the work he’s doing. It’s when obeying God feels like you’re missing out on living your best life now.

All of this comes from having a distorted view of who God is. But the good news is that we’ve been given the remedy. Correct your view of who God is — align your view of God with the reality of who he is as revealed in his Word.

Now, that may all be understandable and convicting if you’re a follower of Jesus, but maybe not very convincing if you’re not a Christian. I could imagine someone wondering why any of this matters to God. Aren’t people having a hard enough time as it is? Does God have some sort of ego problem — is that why he gets so worked up over how people worship him? 

The first thing I’d say, if this is what you’re thinking, is that God isn’t needy. He doesn’t need any of us, and he doesn’t need our worship either. The sacrifices the priests made — whether they disobeyed the rules or obeyed them — don’t affect who God is. The issue, and I think you can understand this, is that God wants those who say they believe in him to worship him for who he really is and not who they think he is or want him to be. 

Think of it this way: If I tell my wife I love her, but then treat her as if she doesn’t matter — if I didn’t provide for her, if I know she loves chocolates and puppies and hates flowers and cats — what would you rightfully conclude if, for every holiday, I gave her flowers and cats? You’d have to assume that — one — either I have no clue who my wife really is or — two — I do know who she is and I don’t care. 

That’s what the priests were doing with God. And that’s what many of us need to consider as well: Do I know who God is, and am I responding appropriately to him in worship?

CONCLUSION: GOD WILL BE WORSHIPPED

But let’s end on some good news. And that news is this: God will be worshiped. For God has determined that people from all nations will give him the praise he deserves. We find this in two of our verses — both of which we’ve already read. In verse eleven we read…

Malachi 1:11 ESV

11 For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts.

And in verse fourteen we read…

Malachi 1:14 ESV

14 For I am a great King, says the Lord of hosts, and my name will be feared among the nations.

Though the priests, and subsequently the nation of Israel, are dishonoring God and his name, they cannot diminish his glory or his purpose. And God has determined that people of all nations will worship him. And nothing will stop his purpose from being realized.

This is why I hope you haven’t been hearing, “You need to do a better job at worshiping God.” What I hope you’ve been hearing is this: “God is a great King, and the entire world will know it. For he will be worshiped by people of all nations. And he’s been revealing to you who he is today as he invites you to be part of his worshiping people.”

In fact, this is why Christ came — to save a people who would be true worshipers of God. 

• Where Israel brought blemished sacrifices, Jesus offered himself to God without blemish. 
• Where God’s people failed to honor their Father in Heaven, Jesus perfectly honored his Father in everything he said and did. 
• And then, he took the judgment we deserved for dishonoring God with our worship. 

Which means that our hope isn’t that we’ll figure out how to worship God well enough to make ourselves acceptable to him. Our hope is Christ. And that through faith in him, we’re united to him, clothed in his perfection, forgiven of our false worship, and are being transformed into people who worship God for who he truly is.

So please don’t leave here and just try to worship God better. Jesus didn’t bring the Father a blemished sacrifice. He gave himself — the spotless Lamb — in your place. And Jesus did so because he loves his Father and because he loves you. And, friends, when we believe this truth. When we realize that God’s not only a great King and LORD of hosts, whose name will be feared — but also that, in Christ, we see God’s love for us — then worshiping him will be a delight, and not a chore. It’ll be a joy and not a bore. It’ll be something we anticipate on Sunday because it’s been going on throughout the week, and we can’t wait to gather with others who’ve been worshiping our awesome and amazing God. 

May you look to your King — may you look to Jesus — and see his greatness. See the grace he gives to people who’ve failed to honor him. See his determination in loving a people into being his true and faithful worshipers. And ask yourself, “If this is who God is, what is he worth to me?” Let’s pray. 

PRAYER

Father in Heaven, we’ve learned at least two truths about you today. First, you take your reputation seriously. You want to be worshiped for who you really are, and not our mere opinions about you. And second, you are loving, gracious, kind, and merciful toward people who don’t deserve it. For your plan, which will come to be, is to have people of all nations worship you for who you really are. And, if left to ourselves, none of us would be a true worshiper. It’s only by your loving kindness that we’re being transformed into true worshipers.

Spirit of God, you’re the One who is doing this transforming work in us. Continue to mold us, and refine us, and shape us and our thoughts so that we worship more faithfully. We thank you in advance for giving us all that we need to become true worshipers.

And to you, Jesus, our great King. The Lord of lords. The unblemished Lamb of God. The One to whom every knee will bow and every tongue confess that you are God — to you we offer our grateful hearts. And our words of praise. For you are, and will always be, our only hope. For you are the only Savior — the One who’s saving a people who will worship you for all eternity.

Father, Son, and Spirit — may you bring more into your family today. More worshipers from all nations. More worshipers from those sitting among us. And we pray all of this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

COMMUNION

As we turn to the Lord’s Table, a table of feasting, I want to remind you about our Day of Fasting and Prayer, taking place at our North Main Campus this Wednesday, October 7th. We worship God by singing songs, hearing his Word preached, and receiving the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper — and also through prayer and fasting. So join us on Wednesday, for however long you’re available, for a special day of worship at our North Main Campus. 

In eternity, people will come from east and west, and from north and south — from all nations — to sit at the table in the kingdom of God. This is the Lord’s Table, and our Savior invites those who trust him to share the feast he’s prepared.

Hear the words of Paul: The Lord Jesus, on the night of his arrest, took bread, and after giving thanks to God, he broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying:  Take, eat. This is my body, given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way he took the cup, saying: This cup is the new covenant sealed in my blood, shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.  Whenever you drink it, do this in remembrance of me. Every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the saving death of the risen Lord, until he comes.

INSTRUCTIONS

Now, I’d like to invite those who will be serving us to come forward. And — while they make their way forward — know that as the bread and cup are passed down your rows, you’re to take the bread on your own — but save the cup — which we’ll drink together. Also — in the bread trays — there’s a gluten-free option in the center. 

If you’re NOT TAKING communion today, know that no one’s judging you. We would appreciate it if you could help by passing the trays to the next person in your row. And if you have any questions about communion or what it means to follow Jesus, please stop by the resource center before you leave today.

Eat the bread on your own — but save the cup — which we’ll drink together.

COMMUNION PASSED OUT

The blood of Christ, shed for you.

PRAYER (TRANSITION FOR WORSHIP TEAM)

Let’s pray. Father, we acknowledge that you are holy and majestic. And blessed is Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord. In Jesus, your Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and he was full of grace and truth. He lived as one of us, knowing joy and sorrow. He healed the sick, fed the hungry, opened blind eyes, and broke bread with outcasts and sinners. Dying on the cross, he gave himself for the life of the world. Raised from the grave, he won for us victory over death. We praise you that Christ now reigns with you and will come again to make all things new. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

BENEDICTION (Prayer teams available)

May you go knowing who God is, and respond accordingly as you worship him. Amen.

God loves you. I love you. You are sent.

SPEAKER: Josh Hanson

DATE: 9-20-26

As always, it’s a joy to be with all of you this weekend at Gateway Church. And there’s one thing I want you to know — and this is true if you’re worshiping with us for the first time or if you’re joining us at our North Main Campus — I want you to know that God loves you and that I love you too.

PASTORAL PRAYER

INTRODUCTION

We’re starting a new preaching series this weekend at Gateway. And as I’m sure you noticed, as we start this new series, we’re taking this opportunity to try some changes to the worship service leading up to the sermon, including using a song to introduce the sermon. Here are the words we just sang again — and no, I’m not about to sing to you. As you hear the words, notice what sticks out to you and how it might apply as you hear the sermon today.

Speak, O Lord, as we come to you

To receive the food of your holy Word

Take your truth, plant it deep in us

Shape and fashion us in your likeness

That the light of Christ might be seen today

In our acts of love and our deeds of faith

Speak, O Lord, and fulfill in us

All your purposes for your glory

Teach us, Lord, full obedience

Holy reverence, true humility

Test our thoughts and our attitudes

In the radiance of your purity

Cause our faith to rise, cause our eyes to see

Your majestic love and authority

Words of power that can never fail

Let their truth prevail over unbelief

Speak, O Lord, and renew our minds

Help us grasp the heights of your plans for us

Truths unchanged from the dawn of time

That will echo down through eternity

And by grace, we’ll stand on your promises

And by faith, we’ll walk as you walk with us

Speak, O Lord, ’til your church is built

And the earth is filled with your glory

Each summer, the pastors and elders of our denomination gather to learn, conduct business, fellowship, and worship. This past summer, before each of the six sermons preached over the three days we were together, we sang Speak O Lord. And it was powerful. And our hope — each week during this Malachi series — is that as we sing Speak O Lord, we’ll all be united together —  eager to hear from God through his Word. 

And knowing that Malachi might not be as familiar a book, I thought it’d be even more important for us to remember why sermons are preached, why we gather together, and why we come to worship. We do all these things because we want to hear from our speaking God — the God who speaks to us through his holy Word.

And, if you have your Bible, please open it to the book of Malachi. It’s the last book in the Old Testament. We’ll be in the book of Malachi — chapter one — beginning in verse one. There we read…

Malachi 1:1–5 ESV

1 The oracle of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. 2 “I have loved you,” says the Lord. But you say, “How have you loved us?” “Is not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob 3 but Esau I have hated. I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert.” 4 If Edom says, “We are shattered but we will rebuild the ruins,” the Lord of hosts says, “They may build, but I will tear down, and they will be called ‘the wicked country,’ and ‘the people with whom the Lord is angry forever.’” 5 Your own eyes shall see this, and you shall say, “Great is the Lord beyond the border of Israel!”

Here’s my hope for you today: No matter who you are, whether you’re a Christian or not, I hope you’ll leave here in awe of God’s love for you and for all people. That even as you sit and listen, I hope your heart will be moved in hearing that the God who created everyone and everything is a God who loves you. We’re going to get there, I promise, but first I need to help you understand this book, where we are in the history of God’s people, and a few other important details because, as I said earlier, Malachi’s often a pretty unfamiliar book for people. 

GETTING OUR BEARINGS

So let’s get our bearings. The first thing you need to know is that Malachi is a prophet. And a prophet, as you may know, is someone who speaks on behalf of God. Now the name Malachi can be translated as “my messenger.” So we’re not one hundred percent sure whether Malachi is his name or whether it simply means that this individual was God’s messenger. But to keep things simple, we’ll treat Malachi as the prophet’s name. 

Second, we don’t know much about Malachi. We know he’s the last prophet to speak on God’s behalf until John the Baptizer shows up roughly four centuries later.

So that’s our who. Now let’s cover a bit of history so you know when all that’s in our book takes place. Originally, there were twelve tribes of Israel — and each tribe descended from a son of Jacob, who was also named Israel. These tribes eventually asked for a king. The first king was Saul. Next came David. Then David’s son — Solomon — became king. 

After Solomon, conflict over who should be king led the nation to divide. Ten tribes joined together and kept the name Israel — they’re in the north — and two tribes joined together and were named Judah — they’re in the south. 

And — for a while — neither Israel nor Judah faced much external conflict, meaning things were overall pretty peaceful. But they still had serious internal problems, like evil kings and moral corruption — the people even abandoned God. Things are a mess, which you can read about in the books of First and Second Kings.

But here’s what may surprise you. The people of Israel and Judah both assumed that God approved of the way they were living. In other words, they thought “peaceful times” equaled “God’s blessing.” But — remember — they’d abandoned God, and yet they thought that he approved of their wicked behavior. 

So God makes it clear what he thinks about their behavior by sending the Assyrians their way. The Assyrians come from the north and invade and conquer Israel. And Israel, as a nation, is done. They’re destroyed. They’re no more.

Down in Judah, things are better than up in Israel — but not by much. The Assyrians don’t conquer them — they just oppress them until Assyria’s capital, Nineveh, fell in 612 BC. And eventually the Babylonians invade and conquer Judah a few decades later.

Nebuchadnezzar is king of Babylon at the time — this is the same Nebuchadnezzar found in the book of Daniel. And — after conquering Judah — the Babylonians dispersed many of the Jews, which began the seventy years of living in exile that God had warned his people about. God had warned them that they’d spend seventy years in exile as a consequence of their sin and rebellion against him if they refused to return to him. Eventually, Babylon fell to King Cyrus, leader of the Persian Empire. And — it’s during Cyrus’ reign — that groups of Jews began to return to their homeland. 

Malachi’s alive about a hundred years after the Jewish people began returning home. And, at first, the Jews had great hope, thinking they were living in the time when God would fulfill his promises to them. These promises were found in prophecies given in previous years — such as a New Jerusalem being rebuilt and how it’d be a city that would last forever. 

Yet their hope doesn’t last. For example, when the Temple’s rebuilt, it’s not nearly as glorious as the original Temple. It pales in comparison. So it’s a letdown. And all the other promises of the New Jerusalem — a city that’s the center of the Kingdom of God, a place where evil and corruption will be eradicated — well, none of that was coming true either. Instead — corruption, rebellion, and evil were still happening in full force. 

And the people’s response to their expectations not being met — even though they’re the ones continuing to live in sin and rebellion against God — their response to their expectations not being met is to question God. In fact, the book of Malachi shows a pattern. God makes a statement, and the people immediately question God about what he just said. This happens multiple times in the book. 

We’ll look more closely at each of these as we go through the book in the coming months, but I thought I’d give you a taste of what’s to come. Here’s how the people question God. After God says…

Malachi 1:6–7 ESV

6 “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. But you say, ‘How have we despised your name?’ 7 By offering polluted food upon my altar. But you say, ‘How have we polluted you?’ By saying that the Lord’s table may be despised.

God asks them, “Where’s my honor?” And the people essentially reply with, “How have we dishonored you?” God then gives specific examples of how they’ve dishonored his name.

In the next chapter…

Malachi 2:17 ESV

17 You have wearied the Lord with your words. But you say, “How have we wearied him?” By saying, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them.” Or by asking, “Where is the God of justice?”

God says, “You’ve wearied me.” The people reply with, “How?” God then gives them specific examples.

In the next chapter…

Malachi 3:7–8 ESV

7 From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?’ 8 Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions.

God says, “Return to me.” The people reply with, “How are we supposed to return to you?” Probably because they don’t think they’ve left him. Then God says, “Will you rob me?” And they reply with, “How have we robbed you?” God then gives them a specific example.

Later we read…

Malachi 3:13–14 ESV

13 “Your words have been hard against me, says the Lord. But you say, ‘How have we spoken against you?’ 14 You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts?

“You’ve spoken against me?” “How have we spoken against you?” To which God gives specific examples.

And then there’s their question in our passage.

Malachi 1:2 ESV

2 “I have loved you,” says the Lord. But you say, “How have you loved us?”

We’ll get to the example God gives to prove that he’s loved them in a moment. But this statement by God — and the people’s question in response — is the crux of our passage: The people doubt God’s love for them. 

One scholar writes, “The people were discouraged by [the] hard economic realities [of] Persian dominance. Some of the people felt that the Lord did not really love them because of these factors. Many Israelites were showing their dissatisfaction with the Lord by bringing defective animals for sacrifices. Some even went so far as to assert that worshipping the Lord was drudgery and serving God was a waste of time.”

They were judging God’s love for them purely by their circumstances. If things were going well, then God obviously loved them. If things weren’t going well, well, obviously it’s not because of anything they’ve done; God’s obviously being wishy-washy with his love. Clearly the problem is with God, not with them.

Now, if you’re living through loss, illness, maybe a long season of suffering or disappointment, I understand why God’s love may be hard for you to see right now. And the question I want all of us to consider is this: Where will you turn with that pain? Another question is: Will we let our circumstances have the final word about God’s love? 

Just like the Israelites, it’s common for people to think that times of peace and prosperity mean that God’s pleased with us. And times of hardship clearly mean that God doesn’t love us anymore, or that he’s unfair, so why even bother trying to worship him? Doesn’t the evidence speak for itself: God’s obviously still wishy-washy with his love. The problem’s definitely with him and not with us, right?

And what’s the result of all of this misled thinking? For the people in Malachi’s day, the result of this thinking was that God sent them a prophet with a message. A message still relevant to us today. Verse one states it this way.

Malachi 1:1 ESV

1 The oracle of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi.

A pronouncement is about to be made on God’s behalf. And God’s going to give his response to the rumors going around among the Jewish people. “You think I don’t love you? You think that worshiping me’s a waste of time? You think that serving me has no purpose because everything hasn’t turned out the way you thought it was supposed to? OK. Here’s my message.”

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE LOVED BY GOD? YOU ARE CHOSEN.

And the messenger is Malachi. And here’s the first message Malachi was to give to the people.

Malachi 1:2 ESV

2 “I have loved you,” says the Lord. But you say, “How have you loved us?”

And what comes next is God’s answer to their question. This is God’s defense of how he has loved them. And these are words that have disturbed many Christians over the centuries. Are you ready to be disturbed? Here’s what God says. I’ll let God just speak for himself.

Malachi 1:2–3 ESV

2 “I have loved you,” says the Lord. But you say, “How have you loved us?” “Is not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob 3 but Esau I have hated.

“Isn’t Esau Jacob’s brother?” The answer’s yes, by the way. Jacob and Esau were brothers. 

“Yet,” God says, “I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated.” I warned you: God’s response is disturbing. Why? Because we’re uncomfortable with the idea of God loving one brother and not loving the other. Much less God loving one brother — Jacob — and hating the other brother — Esau. And there’s no relief for our disturbance when we see how Paul quotes this verse in his letter to Christians living in Rome. 

In defending God’s sovereignty — meaning God’s Divine right to choose who will be saved — Paul writes…

Romans 9:9–13 NLT

9 For God had promised, “I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” 10 This son was our ancestor Isaac. When he married Rebekah, she gave birth to twins. 11 But before they were born, before they had done anything good or bad, she received a message from God. (This message shows that God chooses people according to his own purposes; 12 he calls people, but not according to their good or bad works.) She was told, “Your older son will serve your younger son.” 13 In the words of the Scriptures, “I loved Jacob, but I rejected Esau.”

I loved Jacob, but I rejected Esau. Not because of anything either of them did, but because I — God — choose people according to my own purpose. 

And if we go back to Genesis — where this is all first recorded — this is what we read.

Genesis 25:21–26 NLT

21 Isaac pleaded with the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was unable to have children. The Lord answered Isaac’s prayer, and Rebekah became pregnant with twins. 22 But the two children struggled with each other in her womb. So she went to ask the Lord about it. “Why is this happening to me?” she asked. 23 And the Lord told her, “The sons in your womb will become two nations. From the very beginning, the two nations will be rivals. One nation will be stronger than the other; and your older son will serve your younger son.” 24 And when the time came to give birth, Rebekah discovered that she did indeed have twins! 25 The first one was very red at birth and covered with thick hair like a fur coat. So they named him Esau. 26 Then the other twin was born with his hand grasping Esau’s heel. So they named him Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when the twins were born.

Now, if you follow their story in Genesis, you’ll see that God chose Jacob as the son of the promise that he’d made to Isaac and to Isaac’s father, Abraham. Yet God chose Jacob not because Jacob was worthy. Jacob was a mess. He’s a deceiver, a trickster, and he did a great job of looking out for himself even at the cost of his family members. 

And know this: If you were in charge — if you were the one doing the choosing — Jacob wouldn’t have been the guy you’d pick. Yeah, Esau’s pretty foolish, but he’s not deceptive like Jacob. And most of us would rather take an honest fool than a cunning deceiver — because we know we’ll eventually get played. So just based on what we see in the brothers, most of us would’ve passed on Jacob. But God chose him.

Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.

And even when we soften the “hate” language — and I think this is how you’re supposed to interpret what’s being said in Malachi, Romans, and Genesis — where love means God chose Jacob, and hate means God rejected Esau — the disturbance is still there. And I can’t get rid of it for you. It’s just there. 

You see, in the Bible, a big part of the history of God’s people — which is part of your history if you’re a Christian — is God choosing some and rejecting others. It’s a truth you have to come to grips with — or, at the very least — submit yourself to it even while you say, “I’m submitted, but it still disturbs me.” Because not just here, but throughout the pages of the Bible — from Genesis to Revelation — we see God choosing those who’ll be his people and rejecting those who aren’t. 

And just like Jacob and Esau, this choosing happened before any of us had done anything good or bad. Meaning the choosing isn’t based on something we did or didn’t do, and it’s not based on something that we will or won’t do in the future. It’s just God’s choice. And to call it anything other than sovereign choice or Divine election is to try to take from God what’s his sole right: As God, he gets to choose who he will save. 

That may raise a bunch of questions for you — I know it does for me. But the point is that God’s choice didn’t rest on something Jacob had done or something God knew Jacob would do. The choice was God’s to make. And this truth is meant to lead us to worship the God who chooses his people, even as we wrestle with questions we can’t fully understand.

For we read in Scripture…

Ephesians 1:3–5 NLT

3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. 4 Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. 5 God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.

If we take these verses at face value, it seems pretty clear who does the choosing. God does. And this truth is meant to stir in our hearts praise of our saving God.

GOD’S LOVE DOES NOT ELIMINATE HIS JUDGMENT

Malachi continues with…

Malachi 1:4–5 ESV

4 If Edom says, “We are shattered but we will rebuild the ruins,” the Lord of hosts says, “They may build, but I will tear down, and they will be called ‘the wicked country,’ and ‘the people with whom the Lord is angry forever.’” 5 Your own eyes shall see this, and you shall say, “Great is the Lord beyond the border of Israel!”

Edom — and the people who lived there, the Edomites — were descendants of Esau. And, if you read the Old Testament, you’ll see that they were a constant adversary of God’s chosen people — the descendants of Jacob.

Here are a few examples. 

One time, when Moses was leading the Israelites in the wilderness…

Numbers 20:14–21 NLT

14 While Moses was at Kadesh, he sent ambassadors to the king of Edom with this message: “This is what your relatives, the people of Israel, say: You know all the hardships we have been through. 15 Our ancestors went down to Egypt, and we lived there a long time, and we and our ancestors were brutally mistreated by the Egyptians. 16 But when we cried out to the Lord, he heard us and sent an angel who brought us out of Egypt. Now we are camped at Kadesh, a town on the border of your land. 17 Please let us travel through your land. We will be careful not to go through your fields and vineyards. We won’t even drink water from your wells. We will stay on the king’s road and never leave it until we have passed through your territory.” 18 But the king of Edom said, “Stay out of my land, or I will meet you with an army!” 19 The Israelites answered, “We will stay on the main road. If our livestock drink your water, we will pay for it. Just let us pass through your country. That’s all we ask.” 20 But the king of Edom replied, “Stay out! You may not pass through our land.” With that he mobilized his army and marched out against them with an imposing force. 21 Because Edom refused to allow Israel to pass through their country, Israel was forced to turn around.

Instead of letting their distant relatives travel through their land, they assembled an army to force them to turn around. 

Here’s another example. This happens hundreds of years after Moses and about a hundred and fifty years before Malachi.

Ezekiel 25:12–14 NLT

12 “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: The people of Edom have sinned greatly by avenging themselves against the people of Judah. 13 Therefore, says the Sovereign Lord, I will raise my fist of judgment against Edom. I will wipe out its people and animals with the sword. I will make a wasteland of everything from Teman to Dedan. 14 I will accomplish this by the hand of my people of Israel. They will carry out my vengeance with anger, and Edom will know that this vengeance is from me. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!

What had Edom done to deserve this kind of response from God? We find out from one of God’s other prophets — Obadiah. 

Obadiah 10–14 NLT

10 “Because of the violence you (Edom) did to your close relatives in Israel, you will be filled with shame and destroyed forever. 11 When they were invaded, you stood aloof, refusing to help them. Foreign invaders carried off their wealth and cast lots to divide up Jerusalem, but you acted like one of Israel’s enemies. 12 “You should not have gloated when they exiled your relatives to distant lands. You should not have rejoiced when the people of Judah suffered such misfortune. You should not have spoken arrogantly in that terrible time of trouble. 13 You should not have plundered the land of Israel when they were suffering such calamity. You should not have gloated over their destruction when they were suffering such calamity. You should not have seized their wealth when they were suffering such calamity. 14 You should not have stood at the crossroads, killing those who tried to escape. You should not have captured the survivors and handed them over in their terrible time of trouble.

When the Babylonians conquered Judah, Edom refused to help. They gloated when Jerusalem fell. They rejoiced at God’s people’s misfortune. They saw the people suffering — they saw them being destroyed — and they chose to plunder them — even killing those trying to escape from the Babylonians. 

So what would we expect God to do to those who take delight in his people — the people he loves — being harmed and destroyed? What would we expect God to do to those who killed his people who were fleeing for their lives? 

Do you want a God who turns a blind eye to this kind of behavior? Or a God who forgives them even though they’re not repentant or sorry for what they’ve done? Would it be loving for God to ignore their violence? No! God’s judgment tells his people that the harm that’s been done to them hasn’t escaped his notice.

You see, because he loves his people, God will bring judgment on their enemies — and that’s what God promises to Edom at the end of our passage. Edom, which prided itself on building a city so high up in the mountains that they believed it was indestructible and that no nation would ever conquer it — Obadiah reveals this to us — to this people God says, “You will be destroyed. And, though you think you’ll rebuild again, that won’t happen. For you’re a wicked people. And my anger towards you will never end.” 

And then, to the people he loves, God says, “You will see this with your very eyes. And, in response, you will say, ‘Great is the Lord beyond the border of Israel!” 

CONCLUSION

Notice God’s final words: “Great is the Lord beyond the border of Israel!” God’s greatness isn’t defined by Israel’s circumstances or its borders. And as we see in the rest of the Bible, God brings people from beyond Israel’s borders to himself through Jesus Christ.

With that in mind, I want us to all try something. Christian or not. First-time guest or you’ve been here for decades — it doesn’t matter. Right now, silently, I want you to ask God, “God, how have you loved me?” Let’s all do that right now. Right where you are — here at County Road 9, at our North Main Campus, watching online — wherever you are, right now, ask God, “God, how have you loved me?” 

And listen for his response.

— pause —

I have no idea what you just heard — or if you heard anything at all. You may have felt something in that silence, or you may have felt nothing. Either way, we don’t have to guess if God has spoken. For we’ve already heard what he’s said to us in his Word. 

But if your circumstances, like the Jews in Malachi’s day, if your circumstances have made it hard for you to hear or see or believe that God loves you, my prayer is that God’s words through Malachi will speak to you. My prayer for you is that, if you belong to Christ, you’d know your difficult circumstances can’t overturn God’s love for you. My prayer is that, for some among us who’ve been trying really hard to mess up their lives, my prayer is that you’d believe that God didn’t choose you because you earned it. He loves you because he loves you. And if you didn’t earn his love, you can’t unearn it either. And my prayer is that if you’re not sure whether you belong to Christ, my prayer is that you’d know that you don’t need to find the perfect answer about election and man’s free will and God’s choosing versus our choosing. My prayer is that you’d just come to him — and believe in Jesus. For everyone who believes in the Son has life. 

And when you know that you’re loved by God, though you’re sure to still experience hard and challenging days, you will know that those days mean nothing in regard to whether God still loves you. For all who are his people — all who have believed in his Son, Jesus — who’ve responded to his call of salvation — all who are God’s people declare, “Great is the Lord beyond the border of Israel!” For his saving, eternal love has gone beyond the border of Israel — all the way to you — and has changed you forever. Let’s pray. 

PRAYER

Father in Heaven, thank you for loving your people. You were under no obligation to love anyone — for we’ve all sinned and rebelled against you. None of us have earned your love. None of us deserve your love. Yet, you choose to love. 

Spirit of God, for those whose circumstances have made them wonder if you love them, may you speak to them right now. Remind them of a truth they’ve heard today. Bring to mind a promise from your Word that they heard years ago. Give them assurance that your love is unearnable, meaning what we do is neither why you choose to love us nor why you choose to keep loving us. You love us because you choose to. And that’s so different from the world we live in, where our worth is based on what we do, that it makes your love sound too good to be true. Spirit, can you flip that for us, where your unconditional love for us is so true that it frees us from this world where love must be earned.

And, Jesus, our freedom from this enslavement, and our being loved — though not earned by us — was earned by you. For you gave your life as the sacrifice for our sin. You exchanged with us your perfect, loving obedience to your Father for our sinful, rebellious lives. And, in doing so, our hearts were made alive not only to love you in response, but to be loved by you. Help us to trust in your love for us more and more. And we pray all of this in your name. Amen.

BENEDICTION (Prayer teams available)

Regardless of your circumstances, may you go knowing that you are loved by God. Amen.

God loves you. I love you. You are sent.

DATE: 9-13-26

As always, it’s a joy to be with all of you this weekend at Gateway Church. And there’s one thing I want you to know — and this is true whether you’re worshiping with us for the first time or are joining us online — I want you to know that God loves you, and I love you too.

PASTORAL PRAYER

INTRODUCTION

Once a year, we take time to remember, celebrate, and be thankful for all that God’s done and is doing in and through our Gateway Church family. And each year we take one of our discipleship characteristics and use it as the glue for our ministry celebration services. Now, if you’re newer to Gateway, you may be wondering, “Discipleship characteristics? What’s that about?” 

So here’s the quick version.

Imagine four columns. Each column represents a key component of a local church. The first column is the pastor — that’s me. The second column is the church’s key leaders. The third column is the church’s discipleship process. Here at Gateway, that’s Worship, Connect, Serve, and Go. Then the fourth and final column is the kind of disciples of Jesus we’re desiring to make here at Gateway. Meaning — what’s the goal of having you worship, connect, serve, and go? The goal is for you to be a disciple of Jesus. But what does that mean? 

Well, here at Gateway, our vision — our spiritual goal for every follower of Jesus — is that we’d be disciples…

‌1. Who are…Word and Spirit Christians.

‌2. Who are…generous.

‌3. Who are…family.

‌4. Who are…disciples who make disciples.

‌5. And who are…Kingdom-minded.

If you want to learn more about these discipleship characteristics, I encourage you to visit our website — gatewayepc.org — and search for our Vision series from 2024. We also have this booklet at the Resource Center, which explains in more detail what I just covered.

So back to our ministry celebration. Each year, we look back at God’s faithfulness — and look ahead in anticipation of God’s future faithfulness — to us as a church. And we do so through the lens of one of our discipleship characteristics: Word and Spirit Christians who are generous, a family, who make disciples, and who are Kingdom-minded.

And — this year — being Kingdom-minded will be the thread that ties this service together. 

KINGDOM-MINDED COMMITMENT

So — with that as an introduction — if you have your Bible, please turn with me to the gospel of Matthew. We’ll be in Matthew chapter six — looking at verse thirty-three. That’s Matthew chapter six — verse thirty-three.

There we read…

Matthew 6:33 (ESV)

33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

I’ve titled this sermon “Kingdom-minded commitment”. And the question I want us to ask is this: What does it mean to be a Kingdom-minded follower of Jesus? Here’s my answer: It means that we’re committed to prioritizing the Kingdom of God above everything else. It means aligning our lives with God’s purpose for his creation. It means that in this world — that’s full of distractions and competing priorities — being Kingdom-minded means we focus — and often must refocus and refocus and refocus — our lives on God’s Kingdom. 

And — when we do so — God will be glorified. He’ll be made to look awesome through our lives — both individually and corporately — as his will is done here on earth through our obedience and commitment to his cause. And — as if that’s not enough — when we commit to being Kingdom-minded followers of Jesus, a wonderful promise becomes ours. The promise that God will provide all that we need to glorify him as we accomplish his will. That’s the “all these things will be added to you” part of our verse. God fully supports his people when they’re committed to being Kingdom-minded.

CONCLUSION: TWO QUESTIONS

Now I want to quickly answer two questions before we celebrate together. First, what is the Kingdom of God? If we’re to be Kingdom-minded, we need to know what we mean by the word kingdom.

One definition of the kingdom of God is this: The Kingdom of God is “God’s governing activity and the sphere in which God’s reign is experienced and accepted.” God’s governing activity and the sphere in which God’s reign is experienced and accepted.

What’s the sphere of God’s reign? Everything and everywhere, right? All of creation. From the farthest star in the universe to the lowest depth in the ocean and everything in between — that’s the sphere of God’s reign. But God’s reign isn’t accepted everywhere, is it? And for those who are Kingdom-minded — that’s the issue. For we want more and more of God’s creation to accept his reign as King of kings and Lord of lords. 

This primarily happens when the gospel is proclaimed and believed. That’s why going is so important to us. It’s why we say, “You are sent” at the end of every worship service. For we’re sending you out as ambassadors of Christ to expand his kingdom by making his gospel known.

So that’s what we mean by the kingdom of God.

Second question: What does this look like in real life? Meaning, what are some examples of being a Kingdom-minded follower of Jesus? This won’t be an exhaustive list, but I hope it’ll be inspiring. That you’ll either be inspired to do something you hear, or be inspired with an idea that you’ll start doing in order to be even more of a Kingdom-minded follower of Jesus than you are right now. 

Some examples:

Parents, life can be stressful. Kids fight. Spouses fight. Conflict happens. To be a Kingdom-minded family, set aside one evening a week for a family kingdom gathering. Read a chapter of the Bible that focuses on loving one another, forgiving one another, or being patient with one another. Then talk through ways you can do what you just read as a family. Maybe there’s a current conflict where you can practice forgiveness, or an unkind word recently said that you can repent of. This will help you to be a Kingdom-minded family as you grow together as followers of Jesus.

Let’s talk about work. Work can be a place full of competition and stress. Some of your co-workers may have no issue making unethical decisions in order to get ahead. But you want your Kingdom-minded commitment to be on display at work. So how about taking a quick moment to pray when you feel the competitive culture taking over you? Or try starting a Bible study during your lunch break — even if you’re the only one in the study. By the way, Christians aren’t the only people who get upset with unethical practices, so maybe some of your co-workers — even non-Christian ones — would be interested in creating some sort of ethical accountability. Maybe you can even suggest some biblical principles that can create a more ethical work environment in your company.

You can display a Kingdom-minded commitment by volunteering with one of our local ministry partners: The Women’s Resource Center, Chopin Hall, City Mission, Christian Clearing House, Life Wise…these organizations are always looking for folks who love Jesus and want to see our community be blessed and for God’s Kingdom to grow.

You can volunteer at one of our local schools. I personally know teachers and principals who’d welcome the help — not only teaching their kids to count to one hundred, but also being a positive influence in their lives. By doing so, you’ll know how to pray for kids and their teacher by name. And I feel obligated to give this public service announcement. If your volunteering includes throwing a football or frisbee with second-grade boys, don’t take their word that they know how to catch. If you don’t test them at short range, you may end up hitting them in the face. I speak from experience. 

Finally, being Kingdom-minded means sharing the gospel. To your children. Co-workers. Our local community. To people in our country who don’t believe. And — ultimately — to the ends of the earth. Every week in our next gen ministry, the Kingdom of God is expanding as students of all ages hear and believe the gospel. Because we’re Kingdom-minded, we hosted six interns over the summer — potential future leaders in the church whom we believe God will use to expand his kingdom. It’s why we’re investing in a pastoral residency with Chandler and Nick. They’re here to gain both the education and experience they need to be sent out as pastors to expand the kingdom of God. And it’s why we go to places like Cuba, Beirut, Bangladesh, Tajikistan, and others — because we’re committed to being Kingdom-minded followers of Jesus. 

You’re going to hear a lot today about how our commitment to being Kingdom-minded is playing itself out in all areas of our church. From next gen to Life Groups, from worship services to our finances. I hope you’ll be encouraged. I hope you’ll be thankful. But my biggest hope is that you’ll be inspired — inspired to be even more committed as a Kingdom-minded follower of Jesus. Let’s pray.

PRAYER

Father in Heaven, inspire your people today to be even more Kingdom-minded. Spirit, as we celebrate your faithfulness to us — in using us for your glory — keep us humble. And, Jesus, all of this is possible because of your love and commitment to your Kingdom expanding throughout your creation — including each of our lives. Help us to play our small part in your Kingdom-expanding even more. And we pray all of this in your name. Amen. 

CONNECTION TIME

At this time, we’re going to take some time to greet one another. And a video will play to signal you to return to your seats. As Christ has welcomed us into his family, go ahead and welcome those around you.

DEPARTMENT PRESENTATIONS

COMMUNION

Friends, this is the joyful feast of the people of God! In eternity, people will come from east and west, and from north and south, to sit at the table in the Kingdom of God. According to Luke, after he was crucified and raised from the dead, Jesus ate a meal with his disciples. And during the meal he took the bread, blessed it, and broke it, and gave it to the disciples. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him.

This is the Lord’s Table. And our Savior invites those who trust him to share the feast which he has prepared.

Hear the words of Paul: The Lord Jesus, on the night of his arrest, took bread, and after giving thanks to God, he broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying: Take, eat. This is my body, given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way he took the cup, saying: This cup is the new covenant sealed in my blood, shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.  Whenever you drink it, do this in remembrance of me. Every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the saving death of the risen Lord, until he comes.

Now, with thanksgiving for all the things God has done for us in his Son Jesus Christ, let’s spend a moment in silence, offering God our grateful praise for cleansing us from all our unrighteousness.

—moment of silence—

God, in your wisdom, you made all things and sustain them by your power. You formed us in your image, placing us in this world to love and serve you, and to live in peace with your whole creation. When we rebelled against you, refusing to trust and obey you, you did not reject us, but still claimed us as your own. You sent prophets to call us back to your way.

Then at just the right time, out of your great love for the world, you sent your only Son to be one of us, to redeem us, and to heal our brokenness. Therefore we praise you — joining our voices with the choirs of angels and with all the saints of every time and place who forever sing to the glory of your name — words which are on the screens if you’d like to say them with me.

Congregation: Holy, holy, holy. God of power and might. Heaven and earth are full of your glory.  Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. Amen.

INSTRUCTIONS

At this time — those who will be serving communion can make their way to the tables. In a moment, ushers will dismiss you by rows so you can come forward to receive the bread and the cup. Take both before returning to your seats. Baskets are available up front for you to place your empty cups in. We also have a gluten-free wafer option for those who need one. If you’re unable to come forward — raise your hand and let the usher know as they dismiss your row — and someone will come and serve you in your seat. 

And — if you’re not coming forward for communion today — know that no one’s judging you for staying in your seat. We would appreciate it if you could help those coming forward make their way past you. And if you have any questions about communion or what it means to follow Jesus, please stop by the resource center before you leave today.

Finally, to any of our homebound members — who are watching this from home — know that your shepherding elder is available to bring communion to you in your home. Please reach out to him if you’d like to have communion brought to you.

BENEDICTION (Prayer teams available / DISCIPLE BOOKLET)

May you go committed to being a Kingdom-minded follower of Jesus. Amen.

God loves you. I love you. You are sent.

The book I quoted from is titled Lightning From the East: Liturgical Elements for Reformed Worship by Timothy Slemmons.

Additional resources on prayer that I’d recommend are:

Prayer by Tim Keller

Praying the Bible by Donald Whitney

Understanding Prayer by Sam Storms

Valley of Vision

DATE: 8-23-26

As always, it’s a joy to be with all of you this weekend at Gateway Church. And there’s one thing I want you to know — and this is true if you’re worshiping with us for the first time or if you’re joining us at our North Main Campus — I want you to know that God loves you and that I love you too.

PASTORAL PRAYER

INTRODUCTION

We’re continuing our Gospel Project series this weekend. During the summer, we’re syncing our sermons with our Kidway ministry curriculum, called the Gospel Project. We thought this would be a good way for those of us without kids in our Kidway ministry to understand what the kids are being taught each week. And they happened to be in the gospels learning about Jesus this summer, which is a great place in the Bible for all of us adults to be — because — the whole Bible is ultimately about Jesus. So what better way to spend our summer than by getting to know him better? 

And we’re going to be in the gospel of Luke today. And we’ve got two different passages to look at. We’ll be in chapter eleven — looking at verses one through thirteen — and in chapter eighteen — looking at verses one to eight. Again, that’s Luke chapters eleven and eighteen— beginning in verse one of both chapters. 

We’ll begin in chapter eleven where we read…

Luke 11:1–13 ESV

1 Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” 2 And he said to them, “When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. 3 Give us each day our daily bread, 4 and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.” 5 And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, 6 for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; 7 and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? 8 I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs. 9 And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 11 What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; 12 or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

And now we’re in chapter eighteen where we read…

Luke 18:1–8 ESV

1 And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. 2 He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. 3 And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ 4 For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” 6 And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. 7 And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? 8 I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

Jesus is going to teach us about prayer today. And he’s going to teach us what to pray, how to pray, and why we pray. What to pray. How to pray. And why we pray. 

But before we get to what, how, and why we pray — I want us to think about prayer in Jesus’ life. When you think of Jesus’ life and ministry, what comes to your mind? 

• Many people think of the miracles he performed. Healing the sick, raising the dead, calming raging storms, freeing people from demons, and so on. 
• Others think of the parables he taught — those short illustrative stories that teach a moral truth. The parable of the Good Samaritan or the one about a Lost Coin, the parable of the Prodigal Son or the one I just read to you.
• Some may think of the conversations he had with people. His conversation with Nicodemus about being born again. Or the way he told a Samaritan woman all about her relationships. Or when he told Peter that he’d deny knowing Jesus three times. 
• Some may think of everything after Judas’ betrayal — Jesus’ arrest, being beaten, crucified, mocked, his death, and burial. 

We think of these moments in Jesus’ life and ministry — and I don’t know about you — but then it’s like — “And somehow, in between all of that, he prayed.” Where all of the cool stuff — the miracles, and parables, and private conversations — occasionally calmed down enough so he could pray. To which one Bible commentator suggests we view Jesus’ life differently. “As a series of private prayer times, interspersed with the ordinary events of his daily ministry.” 

Where we see prayer as Jesus’ main activity — and the miracles, parables, private conversations, and so on were temporary interruptions. And after a brief interruption, Jesus would resume praying.

In Luke’s gospel, there are nearly a dozen times recorded when Jesus prays. Given that there are only twenty-four chapters in the book — and the first two chapters of Luke contain the Christmas story, when Jesus is still a young child — all that to say, Luke records Jesus praying quite a bit in his gospel.

But it’s not just the amount of prayer that’s impressive; when Jesus prays should also stick out to us. Listen to what one author has noticed about Jesus and prayer in Luke’s gospel. The author writes…

“The first example [of Jesus praying] comes in connection with Jesus’ baptism, which marked his formal entrance into public ministry. Luke tells us that when Jesus “had been baptized and was praying,” the Holy Spirit descended like a dove and God the Son received the blessing of his Father (Luke 3:21–22). Luke also tells us that as his popularity began to grow, and great crowds gathered to hear him and be healed, Jesus “would withdraw to desolate places and pray” (Luke 5:16). Luke tells us that when Jesus was about to choose his twelve disciples, “he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God” (Luke 6:12)…After Jesus fed the five thousand, he was…in prayer once again (Luke 9:18)…Eight days later, Jesus went out to pray again, and this time he took three of his disciples with him. While they were saying their prayers…the disciples saw him transfigured in radiant splendor (Luke 9:28–29). Jesus prayed again — rejoicing in the Spirit and giving thanks to the Father — when the seventy-two came back from their first gospel mission (Luke 10:21–22). It seems that whenever anything of major importance happened in the life and ministry of Jesus, it was surrounded by prayer.”

Jesus prayed. And he prayed. And he prayed. And, today, he’s going to teach us to pray. 

WHAT TO PRAY

Beginning with what to pray. We’re in verse one of Luke chapter eleven. There we read…

Luke 11:1–4 ESV

1 Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” 2 And he said to them, “When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. 3 Give us each day our daily bread, 4 and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.”

Now, after that lengthy overview about Jesus and prayer in Luke’s gospel, I hope verse one stuck out to you. Here it is again.

Luke 11:1 ESV

1 Now Jesus was praying…”

And I hope you’re like, “Well, of course Jesus was praying — that’s what he does.” And after this time of prayer, his disciples ask him to teach them to pray. And I’m sure — Christian or not — what comes next both sounds familiar and a bit off at the same time. That’s because this is Luke’s version of what’s known as the Lord’s prayer. The more familiar version of the Lord’s prayer is found in Matthew’s gospel, which says…

Matthew 6:9–13 ESV

9 Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread, 12 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

The differences between Matthew and Luke’s versions may indicate that there were two different occasions when Jesus used a similar — but not identical — prayer to teach his disciples what to pray. Now, it shouldn’t surprise us if Jesus had to teach his disciples more than once on the topic of prayer. Meaning no disrespect to his disciples, but they do have a track record of not exactly understanding what Jesus had to say after one hearing. 

So maybe it’s two separate occasions, or maybe Matthew and Luke are recording the same moment and simply wrote down slightly different versions of what Jesus said. Regardless, there’s enough overlap between the two gospels that we can understand what Jesus wants us to include in our prayers.

And notice what we’re to start with.

Luke 11:2 ESV

2 And he said to them, “When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come.

What should be included in our prayers? Though we don’t want to make this formulaic, I think at the very least, we should include something about God’s name being revered — that we desire God’s name and who he is to be treated as holy. This prayer’s the opposite of taking God’s name in vain, which, when we do so, is to break one of the Ten Commandments. A commandment often broken — maybe the most often broken of God’s commandments when you think of the ways that Jesus and God’s name are used in foul ways by so many mouths — maybe even by mouths in this room. 

We’re to pray that God and his name be set apart as holy — and — for his kingdom to come. A kingdom has a king who’s in authority — and the king reigns and rules. And God’s kingdom has a king — his name is Jesus. And when we pray for God’s kingdom to come, what we’re praying for is for Jesus’ reign and rule as King of kings to become more of a reality over all of God’s creation. Yes, this prayer will ultimately be fulfilled when Christ returns, but we’re to pray for more of God’s creation to come under Christ’s reign and rule now. We’re to pray for more people to submit their lives to Christ now. For more of God’s people to submit more of their lives to Christ — for we’re still in a fight against our enemy and our sinful desires which lure us to rebel against Christ’s authority as our King.

“Hallowed be your name and may your kingdom come.”How might you add this to your prayers? Is this currently part of your prayer life? Or do you skip straight to the rest of what Jesus teaches us to pray for? And please know that I’m not saying that praying…

Luke 11:3–4 ESV

3 Give us each day our daily bread, 4 and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.”

I’m not saying that praying in this way is wrong — by no means! But what I’m saying is that many people pray as if Jesus never said the part about “hallowed be your name and may your kingdom come.” We go straight to our needs and the needs of others. 

• Heal her. 
• Save him. 
• I need a job. 
• I want to get married. 
• And so on. 

Things like this often make up the vast majority of what we pray. And I’m not even going to get into how we confuse our greeds with our actual needs. All I want us to do right now is to consider what may be lacking in our prayers. The part where Jesus teaches us to focus on God when we pray. Praying for his name to be kept holy. For his kingdom to come. 

What would change in the way you pray if you spent some time, more time, or as much time praying about God’s name being kept holy and his kingdom to come as you did praying for the equivalent of daily bread, forgiveness, and fighting temptation? Things you should be praying for — just not the only things you should be praying for.

Now at this point, you may be wondering, “Well, what would some examples of ‘hallowed be your name’ and ‘your kingdom come’ prayers look like?” 

Here are two examples from a book on worship that I have.

• Loving God, you have spoken to us through your angels and prophets, heralding the gospel news that salvation from sin has come to us through your Son Jesus Christ. We thank you and praise you that we have nothing to fear, since in Christ Jesus you have come to us and you are with us, even in our present condition, that we might receive grace, learn obedience, and grow in your spirit of holiness.
• To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. You make my heart exceedingly glad! For you, my God, are good and forgiving, loving and kind to all who call on you. There is no one like you, O merciful God!

Biblically, it’d sound something like this.

Psalm 145 NLT

1 I will exalt you, my God and King, and praise your name forever and ever. 2 I will praise you every day; yes, I will praise you forever. 3 Great is the Lord! He is most worthy of praise! No one can measure his greatness. 4 Let each generation tell its children of your mighty acts; let them proclaim your power. 5 I will meditate on your majestic, glorious splendor and your wonderful miracles. 6 Your awe-inspiring deeds will be on every tongue; I will proclaim your greatness. 7 Everyone will share the story of your wonderful goodness; they will sing with joy about your righteousness. 8 The Lord is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. 9 The Lord is good to everyone. He showers compassion on all his creation. 10 All of your works will thank you, Lord, and your faithful followers will praise you. 11 They will speak of the glory of your kingdom; they will give examples of your power. 12 They will tell about your mighty deeds and about the majesty and glory of your reign. 13 For your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. You rule throughout all generations. The Lord always keeps his promises; he is gracious in all he does. 14 The Lord helps the fallen and lifts those bent beneath their loads. 15 The eyes of all look to you in hope; you give them their food as they need it. 16 When you open your hand, you satisfy the hunger and thirst of every living thing. 17 The Lord is righteous in everything he does; he is filled with kindness. 18 The Lord is close to all who call on him, yes, to all who call on him in truth. 19 He grants the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cries for help and rescues them. 20 The Lord protects all those who love him, but he destroys the wicked. 21 I will praise the Lord, and may everyone on earth bless his holy name forever and ever.

Sometimes the best way to pray is already written down for us in God’s Word. 

Jesus taught his disciples — and us — what to pray.

HOW TO PRAY

And now we turn to how to pray — how to pray. We’re in verse five of Luke chapter eleven where we read…

Luke 11:5–13 ESV

5 And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, 6 for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; 7 and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? 8 I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs. 9 And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 11 What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; 12 or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

What I want us to notice here is that Jesus gives an illustration to teach his disciples how to pray. And in the illustration, we learn we’re to pray with a bold perseverance. We’re to pray with a bold perseverance.

I say bold because, in the illustration, the friend is quite bold in waking up his neighbor in order to feed his unexpected guest. Some may even call it rude, but the story’s meant to be absurd — I say this because of how Jesus begins. In fact, the next time you read the gospels, watch for when Jesus starts an illustration with words like “Which of you…” What follows is usually an unimaginable situation. It’s intentionally an exaggeration of a scenario that’s never gonna happen.

Think about the obvious answer to Jesus’s “which of you” question. Which of you is going to wake up your neighbor at midnight and say, “Hey, somebody unexpectedly showed up at my house, and I need to feed him. What do you have in your fridge?” I’ll tell you which of you’s doing that. None of you! Which is the same answer that everyone listening to Jesus was thinking. Waking up your neighbor like that would be absurd!

But this is the illustration Jesus uses to teach us how to pray.

Be the neighbor who won’t take no for an answer. Keep asking. Keep seeking. Keep knocking. Meaning — keep praying, and God will answer your prayers.

“Now, wait a minute, Josh. I’ve been praying to God for — fill in the blank — for years. And no answer.” Some of you are thinking that right now. While others are thinking, “Josh, are you promoting some sort of health, wealth, name-it-and-claim-it prosperity theology?” Nope.

The reason I started with the what question — what we’re to pray for — is because the content of our prayer shows us what Jesus meant when he said, “Keep asking, seeking, and knocking, and it’ll be given to you.” For what are we to be praying for — praying boldly for — praying persistently for? 

• God’s name to be kept holy.
• His kingdom to come.
• Our needs — not our greeds — to be met.
• Like forgiveness for our sins.
• And to not be led into temptation.

When this is what we’re boldly and persistently praying for — God will answer our prayers. The asking, seeking, and knocking isn’t a blanket guarantee that God will give us everything we pray for — remember the context. Jesus just told us what to pray for — then he tells us how to pray: with bold persistence. 

When you think about your prayer life, how boldly and persistently are you praying for what Jesus has told you to be praying for?

WHY WE PRAY

Finally, why we pray. We’re in Luke chapter eighteen — beginning in verse one.

Luke 18:1–8 ESV

1 And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. 2 He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. 3 And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ 4 For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” 6 And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. 7 And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? 8 I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

Now the danger of this illustration is to think that Luke — or Jesus, since Luke’s written down Jesus’s words — the danger is to think that their goal is for us to think that God the Father is like this unjust judge. Jesus’ point is actually the opposite — similar to the illustrations he used in the last passage, when he said…

Luke 11:11–13 ESV

11 What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; 12 or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Jesus’ point isn’t to say that God the Father is just barely better than us or that he’s just slightly more kind than this unjust judge who basically gives in to the widow because she won’t stop bothering him. It’d be quite the statement for Jesus to compare his Heavenly Father to a judge who neither fears God nor respects man. My point is that Jesus doesn’t want us to think that his Father in Heaven is like the unjust judge — he wants us to think the exact opposite. 

But look at what Jesus asks at the end: When he returns, will he find anyone who believes him? Or will we — because we get the what and the how wrong in our prayer life — will we also get the why wrong? 

The reason why we pray is that we know we’re praying to a good, just, and merciful God. A loving God who’s full of compassion and kindness. A God who sees you, hears you, and knows you. A God who isn’t some distant deity, but is near. A God who is giving and generous. For, if you remember, the even better gift that your Father in Heaven has given you — the gift that’s better than fish and eggs and all the daily bread type requests we ask for — is the gift of the Holy Spirit who dwells in you. So we pray because we know our God is good.

CONCLUSION

Today, Jesus has been teaching us what to pray, how to pray, and why we pray. One final thought about prayer. Do you remember how Jesus taught us to refer to God when we pray? What word did he use? He told us to address God as Father. 

When I’m in my office — and the door’s closed — it’s always interesting to observe how people knock on my door. First off, they’re probably overcoming quite the dilemma when they do — “His door is closed. Should I bother him? What if he’s busy? What if he’s in the middle of writing a sermon and I’m going to disrupt some super holy moment?” I don’t know what they’re thinking, but here’s what I know. 

Often the knock is so timid it’s like, “Maybe he’ll hear this, but if he doesn’t I’ll just come back another time.” Sometimes they’ve even texted me to ask if they can stop by, and I say “yes.” Still, the knock is barely noticeable. 

I’m not saying I like this; it’s just the reality of being a boss and sometimes needing to close my office door to get work done. I feel like I should also say to the staff that I don’t need you all to start walking by my office, loudly knock on the door, only to take off running — we’ve got some jokers that need to hear that. Joe Sherrieb and Adam Borsay, in particular.

But a few weeks ago, my daughter was here on a weekday practicing with the youth worship band. And I was in my office, working on a sermon, with my office door closed. Yet, because she’s my daughter — and because I’m her father — without even knowing what I was doing behind the closed door, she just opened the door — no knock — and said, “Hi, Dad.” Asked me about something of no eternal or, honestly, temporary importance. And then went on with her day. I told her I was going to tell this story in my sermon. And, when I did, she said, “Dad, I didn’t even think about knocking on your door.” 

I know it’s not a perfect illustration, but can you see the difference between viewing God as a boss versus viewing him as a Father? 

One last observation about prayer in Jesus’ life. Did you know that every time Jesus prayed to God, he called him Father with only one exception? The one exception is when he experienced the punishment for our sins on the cross. In that moment, Jesus prayed…

Matthew 27:46 ESV

46 “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

For at that moment — and this was the only moment in his eternal life — but at that moment Jesus was separated from his Father as he endured the curse for our sin. Jesus — for all eternity — had only known his Father’s presence. He never knew any relationship other than opening his dad’s office door and going straight in without knocking. Yet — in becoming cursed for our sins — he experienced his Father’s absence. 

But once the payment for our sins was complete, Jesus prayed one last time before breathing his last breath. And I hope his words will give you great hope and joy. For after enduring the punishment for our sins, Jesus prayed…

Luke 23:46 ESV

46 “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.

And because of his sacrifice of love — because of his perfect obedience in your place — because his Father accepted his payment for your sins — his Father in Heaven is your Father in Heaven. The God to whom you pray. The God who hears and answers your prayers. So, like my daughter, go ahead and just open the door and say “Hi Dad” as you pray to him. Let’s pray.

PRAYER

Hi Dad, our prayer today is pretty simple. May your name be kept holy throughout all of your creation — especially in our lives and lips. May your kingdom come. Give us what we need and forgive us for our sins — especially when we confuse our greeds with our needs. Help us to forgive others as you’ve forgiven us. And lead us away from temptation. That’s all for now. Talk to you soon. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

BENEDICTION (Prayer teams available)

As you go, may you remember what to pray, how to pray, and why we pray to our Father in Heaven. Amen.

God loves you. I love you. You are sent.

SERMON TITLE: Jesus Teaches About Prayer

‌SCRIPTURE: Luke 11:1-13, 18:1-8 (ESV)

SPEAKER: Josh Hanson

DATE: 8-23-26

TURN MIC ON / WELCOME

As always, it’s a joy to be with all of you this weekend at Gateway Church. And there’s one thing I want you to know — and this is true if you’re worshiping with us for the first time or if you’re joining us at our North Main Campus — I want you to know that God loves you and that I love you too.

PASTORAL PRAYER

INTRODUCTION

We’re continuing our Gospel Project series this weekend. During the summer, we’re syncing our sermons with our Kidway ministry curriculum, called the Gospel Project. We thought this would be a good way for those of us without kids in our Kidway ministry to understand what the kids are being taught each week. And they happened to be in the gospels learning about Jesus this summer, which is a great place in the Bible for all of us adults to be — because — the whole Bible is ultimately about Jesus. So what better way to spend our summer than by getting to know him better? 

And we’re going to be in the gospel of Luke today. And we’ve got two different passages to look at. We’ll be in chapter eleven — looking at verses one through thirteen — and in chapter eighteen — looking at verses one to eight. Again, that’s Luke chapters eleven and eighteen— beginning in verse one of both chapters. 

We’ll begin in chapter eleven where we read…

Luke 11:1–13 ESV

1 Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” 2 And he said to them, “When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. 3 Give us each day our daily bread, 4 and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.” 5 And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, 6 for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; 7 and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? 8 I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs. 9 And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 11 What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; 12 or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

And now we’re in chapter eighteen where we read…

Luke 18:1–8 ESV

1 And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. 2 He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. 3 And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ 4 For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” 6 And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. 7 And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? 8 I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

Jesus is going to teach us about prayer today. And he’s going to teach us what to pray, how to pray, and why we pray. What to pray. How to pray. And why we pray. 

But before we get to what, how, and why we pray — I want us to think about prayer in Jesus’ life. When you think of Jesus’ life and ministry, what comes to your mind? 

• Many people think of the miracles he performed. Healing the sick, raising the dead, calming raging storms, freeing people from demons, and so on. 
• Others think of the parables he taught — those short illustrative stories that teach a moral truth. The parable of the Good Samaritan or the one about a Lost Coin, the parable of the Prodigal Son or the one I just read to you.
• Some may think of the conversations he had with people. His conversation with Nicodemus about being born again. Or the way he told a Samaritan woman all about her relationships. Or when he told Peter that he’d deny knowing Jesus three times. 
• Some may think of everything after Judas’ betrayal — Jesus’ arrest, being beaten, crucified, mocked, his death, and burial. 

We think of these moments in Jesus’ life and ministry — and I don’t know about you — but then it’s like — “And somehow, in between all of that, he prayed.” Where all of the cool stuff — the miracles, and parables, and private conversations — occasionally calmed down enough so he could pray. To which one Bible commentator suggests we view Jesus’ life differently. “As a series of private prayer times, interspersed with the ordinary events of his daily ministry.” 

Where we see prayer as Jesus’ main activity — and the miracles, parables, private conversations, and so on were temporary interruptions. And after a brief interruption, Jesus would resume praying.

In Luke’s gospel, there are nearly a dozen times recorded when Jesus prays. Given that there are only twenty-four chapters in the book — and the first two chapters of Luke contain the Christmas story, when Jesus is still a young child — all that to say, Luke records Jesus praying quite a bit in his gospel.

But it’s not just the amount of prayer that’s impressive; when Jesus prays should also stick out to us. Listen to what one author has noticed about Jesus and prayer in Luke’s gospel. The author writes…

“The first example [of Jesus praying] comes in connection with Jesus’ baptism, which marked his formal entrance into public ministry. Luke tells us that when Jesus “had been baptized and was praying,” the Holy Spirit descended like a dove and God the Son received the blessing of his Father (Luke 3:21–22). Luke also tells us that as his popularity began to grow, and great crowds gathered to hear him and be healed, Jesus “would withdraw to desolate places and pray” (Luke 5:16). Luke tells us that when Jesus was about to choose his twelve disciples, “he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God” (Luke 6:12)…After Jesus fed the five thousand, he was…in prayer once again (Luke 9:18)…Eight days later, Jesus went out to pray again, and this time he took three of his disciples with him. While they were saying their prayers…the disciples saw him transfigured in radiant splendor (Luke 9:28–29). Jesus prayed again — rejoicing in the Spirit and giving thanks to the Father — when the seventy-two came back from their first gospel mission (Luke 10:21–22). It seems that whenever anything of major importance happened in the life and ministry of Jesus, it was surrounded by prayer.”

Jesus prayed. And he prayed. And he prayed. And, today, he’s going to teach us to pray. 

WHAT TO PRAY

Beginning with what to pray. We’re in verse one of Luke chapter eleven. There we read…

Luke 11:1–4 ESV

1 Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” 2 And he said to them, “When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. 3 Give us each day our daily bread, 4 and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.”

Now, after that lengthy overview about Jesus and prayer in Luke’s gospel, I hope verse one stuck out to you. Here it is again.

Luke 11:1 ESV

1 Now Jesus was praying…”

And I hope you’re like, “Well, of course Jesus was praying — that’s what he does.” And after this time of prayer, his disciples ask him to teach them to pray. And I’m sure — Christian or not — what comes next both sounds familiar and a bit off at the same time. That’s because this is Luke’s version of what’s known as the Lord’s prayer. The more familiar version of the Lord’s prayer is found in Matthew’s gospel, which says…

Matthew 6:9–13 ESV

9 Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread, 12 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

The differences between Matthew and Luke’s versions may indicate that there were two different occasions when Jesus used a similar — but not identical — prayer to teach his disciples what to pray. Now, it shouldn’t surprise us if Jesus had to teach his disciples more than once on the topic of prayer. Meaning no disrespect to his disciples, but they do have a track record of not exactly understanding what Jesus had to say after one hearing. 

So maybe it’s two separate occasions, or maybe Matthew and Luke are recording the same moment and simply wrote down slightly different versions of what Jesus said. Regardless, there’s enough overlap between the two gospels that we can understand what Jesus wants us to include in our prayers.

And notice what we’re to start with.

Luke 11:2 ESV

2 And he said to them, “When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come.

What should be included in our prayers? Though we don’t want to make this formulaic, I think at the very least, we should include something about God’s name being revered — that we desire God’s name and who he is to be treated as holy. This prayer’s the opposite of taking God’s name in vain, which, when we do so, is to break one of the Ten Commandments. A commandment often broken — maybe the most often broken of God’s commandments when you think of the ways that Jesus and God’s name are used in foul ways by so many mouths — maybe even by mouths in this room. 

We’re to pray that God and his name be set apart as holy — and — for his kingdom to come. A kingdom has a king who’s in authority — and the king reigns and rules. And God’s kingdom has a king — his name is Jesus. And when we pray for God’s kingdom to come, what we’re praying for is for Jesus’ reign and rule as King of kings to become more of a reality over all of God’s creation. Yes, this prayer will ultimately be fulfilled when Christ returns, but we’re to pray for more of God’s creation to come under Christ’s reign and rule now. We’re to pray for more people to submit their lives to Christ now. For more of God’s people to submit more of their lives to Christ — for we’re still in a fight against our enemy and our sinful desires which lure us to rebel against Christ’s authority as our King.

“Hallowed be your name and may your kingdom come.”How might you add this to your prayers? Is this currently part of your prayer life? Or do you skip straight to the rest of what Jesus teaches us to pray for? And please know that I’m not saying that praying…

Luke 11:3–4 ESV

3 Give us each day our daily bread, 4 and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.”

I’m not saying that praying in this way is wrong — by no means! But what I’m saying is that many people pray as if Jesus never said the part about “hallowed be your name and may your kingdom come.” We go straight to our needs and the needs of others. 

• Heal her. 
• Save him. 
• I need a job. 
• I want to get married. 
• And so on. 

Things like this often make up the vast majority of what we pray. And I’m not even going to get into how we confuse our greeds with our actual needs. All I want us to do right now is to consider what may be lacking in our prayers. The part where Jesus teaches us to focus on God when we pray. Praying for his name to be kept holy. For his kingdom to come. 

What would change in the way you pray if you spent some time, more time, or as much time praying about God’s name being kept holy and his kingdom to come as you did praying for the equivalent of daily bread, forgiveness, and fighting temptation? Things you should be praying for — just not the only things you should be praying for.

Now at this point, you may be wondering, “Well, what would some examples of ‘hallowed be your name’ and ‘your kingdom come’ prayers look like?” 

Here are two examples from a book on worship that I have.

• Loving God, you have spoken to us through your angels and prophets, heralding the gospel news that salvation from sin has come to us through your Son Jesus Christ. We thank you and praise you that we have nothing to fear, since in Christ Jesus you have come to us and you are with us, even in our present condition, that we might receive grace, learn obedience, and grow in your spirit of holiness.
• To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. You make my heart exceedingly glad! For you, my God, are good and forgiving, loving and kind to all who call on you. There is no one like you, O merciful God!

Biblically, it’d sound something like this.

Psalm 145 NLT

1 I will exalt you, my God and King, and praise your name forever and ever. 2 I will praise you every day; yes, I will praise you forever. 3 Great is the Lord! He is most worthy of praise! No one can measure his greatness. 4 Let each generation tell its children of your mighty acts; let them proclaim your power. 5 I will meditate on your majestic, glorious splendor and your wonderful miracles. 6 Your awe-inspiring deeds will be on every tongue; I will proclaim your greatness. 7 Everyone will share the story of your wonderful goodness; they will sing with joy about your righteousness. 8 The Lord is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. 9 The Lord is good to everyone. He showers compassion on all his creation. 10 All of your works will thank you, Lord, and your faithful followers will praise you. 11 They will speak of the glory of your kingdom; they will give examples of your power. 12 They will tell about your mighty deeds and about the majesty and glory of your reign. 13 For your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. You rule throughout all generations. The Lord always keeps his promises; he is gracious in all he does. 14 The Lord helps the fallen and lifts those bent beneath their loads. 15 The eyes of all look to you in hope; you give them their food as they need it. 16 When you open your hand, you satisfy the hunger and thirst of every living thing. 17 The Lord is righteous in everything he does; he is filled with kindness. 18 The Lord is close to all who call on him, yes, to all who call on him in truth. 19 He grants the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cries for help and rescues them. 20 The Lord protects all those who love him, but he destroys the wicked. 21 I will praise the Lord, and may everyone on earth bless his holy name forever and ever.

Sometimes the best way to pray is already written down for us in God’s Word. 

Jesus taught his disciples — and us — what to pray.

HOW TO PRAY

And now we turn to how to pray — how to pray. We’re in verse five of Luke chapter eleven where we read…

Luke 11:5–13 ESV

5 And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, 6 for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; 7 and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? 8 I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs. 9 And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 11 What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; 12 or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

What I want us to notice here is that Jesus gives an illustration to teach his disciples how to pray. And in the illustration, we learn we’re to pray with a bold perseverance. We’re to pray with a bold perseverance.

I say bold because, in the illustration, the friend is quite bold in waking up his neighbor in order to feed his unexpected guest. Some may even call it rude, but the story’s meant to be absurd — I say this because of how Jesus begins. In fact, the next time you read the gospels, watch for when Jesus starts an illustration with words like “Which of you…” What follows is usually an unimaginable situation. It’s intentionally an exaggeration of a scenario that’s never gonna happen.

Think about the obvious answer to Jesus’s “which of you” question. Which of you is going to wake up your neighbor at midnight and say, “Hey, somebody unexpectedly showed up at my house, and I need to feed him. What do you have in your fridge?” I’ll tell you which of you’s doing that. None of you! Which is the same answer that everyone listening to Jesus was thinking. Waking up your neighbor like that would be absurd!

But this is the illustration Jesus uses to teach us how to pray.

Be the neighbor who won’t take no for an answer. Keep asking. Keep seeking. Keep knocking. Meaning — keep praying, and God will answer your prayers.

“Now, wait a minute, Josh. I’ve been praying to God for — fill in the blank — for years. And no answer.” Some of you are thinking that right now. While others are thinking, “Josh, are you promoting some sort of health, wealth, name-it-and-claim-it prosperity theology?” Nope.

The reason I started with the what question — what we’re to pray for — is because the content of our prayer shows us what Jesus meant when he said, “Keep asking, seeking, and knocking, and it’ll be given to you.” For what are we to be praying for — praying boldly for — praying persistently for? 

• God’s name to be kept holy.
• His kingdom to come.
• Our needs — not our greeds — to be met.
• Like forgiveness for our sins.
• And to not be led into temptation.

When this is what we’re boldly and persistently praying for — God will answer our prayers. The asking, seeking, and knocking isn’t a blanket guarantee that God will give us everything we pray for — remember the context. Jesus just told us what to pray for — then he tells us how to pray: with bold persistence. 

When you think about your prayer life, how boldly and persistently are you praying for what Jesus has told you to be praying for?

WHY WE PRAY

Finally, why we pray. We’re in Luke chapter eighteen — beginning in verse one.

Luke 18:1–8 ESV

1 And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. 2 He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. 3 And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ 4 For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” 6 And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. 7 And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? 8 I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

Now the danger of this illustration is to think that Luke — or Jesus, since Luke’s written down Jesus’s words — the danger is to think that their goal is for us to think that God the Father is like this unjust judge. Jesus’ point is actually the opposite — similar to the illustrations he used in the last passage, when he said…

Luke 11:11–13 ESV

11 What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; 12 or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Jesus’ point isn’t to say that God the Father is just barely better than us or that he’s just slightly more kind than this unjust judge who basically gives in to the widow because she won’t stop bothering him. It’d be quite the statement for Jesus to compare his Heavenly Father to a judge who neither fears God nor respects man. My point is that Jesus doesn’t want us to think that his Father in Heaven is like the unjust judge — he wants us to think the exact opposite. 

But look at what Jesus asks at the end: When he returns, will he find anyone who believes him? Or will we — because we get the what and the how wrong in our prayer life — will we also get the why wrong? 

The reason why we pray is that we know we’re praying to a good, just, and merciful God. A loving God who’s full of compassion and kindness. A God who sees you, hears you, and knows you. A God who isn’t some distant deity, but is near. A God who is giving and generous. For, if you remember, the even better gift that your Father in Heaven has given you — the gift that’s better than fish and eggs and all the daily bread type requests we ask for — is the gift of the Holy Spirit who dwells in you. So we pray because we know our God is good.

CONCLUSION

Today, Jesus has been teaching us what to pray, how to pray, and why we pray. One final thought about prayer. Do you remember how Jesus taught us to refer to God when we pray? What word did he use? He told us to address God as Father. 

When I’m in my office — and the door’s closed — it’s always interesting to observe how people knock on my door. First off, they’re probably overcoming quite the dilemma when they do — “His door is closed. Should I bother him? What if he’s busy? What if he’s in the middle of writing a sermon and I’m going to disrupt some super holy moment?” I don’t know what they’re thinking, but here’s what I know. 

Often the knock is so timid it’s like, “Maybe he’ll hear this, but if he doesn’t I’ll just come back another time.” Sometimes they’ve even texted me to ask if they can stop by, and I say “yes.” Still, the knock is barely noticeable. 

I’m not saying I like this; it’s just the reality of being a boss and sometimes needing to close my office door to get work done. I feel like I should also say to the staff that I don’t need you all to start walking by my office, loudly knock on the door, only to take off running — we’ve got some jokers that need to hear that. Joe Sherrieb and Adam Borsay, in particular.

But a few weeks ago, my daughter was here on a weekday practicing with the youth worship band. And I was in my office, working on a sermon, with my office door closed. Yet, because she’s my daughter — and because I’m her father — without even knowing what I was doing behind the closed door, she just opened the door — no knock — and said, “Hi, Dad.” Asked me about something of no eternal or, honestly, temporary importance. And then went on with her day. I told her I was going to tell this story in my sermon. And, when I did, she said, “Dad, I didn’t even think about knocking on your door.” 

I know it’s not a perfect illustration, but can you see the difference between viewing God as a boss versus viewing him as a Father? 

One last observation about prayer in Jesus’ life. Did you know that every time Jesus prayed to God, he called him Father with only one exception? The one exception is when he experienced the punishment for our sins on the cross. In that moment, Jesus prayed…

Matthew 27:46 ESV

46 “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

For at that moment — and this was the only moment in his eternal life — but at that moment Jesus was separated from his Father as he endured the curse for our sin. Jesus — for all eternity — had only known his Father’s presence. He never knew any relationship other than opening his dad’s office door and going straight in without knocking. Yet — in becoming cursed for our sins — he experienced his Father’s absence. 

But once the payment for our sins was complete, Jesus prayed one last time before breathing his last breath. And I hope his words will give you great hope and joy. For after enduring the punishment for our sins, Jesus prayed…

Luke 23:46 ESV

46 “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.

And because of his sacrifice of love — because of his perfect obedience in your place — because his Father accepted his payment for your sins — his Father in Heaven is your Father in Heaven. The God to whom you pray. The God who hears and answers your prayers. So, like my daughter, go ahead and just open the door and say “Hi Dad” as you pray to him. Let’s pray.

PRAYER

Hi Dad, our prayer today is pretty simple. May your name be kept holy throughout all of your creation — especially in our lives and lips. May your kingdom come. Give us what we need and forgive us for our sins — especially when we confuse our greeds with our needs. Help us to forgive others as you’ve forgiven us. And lead us away from temptation. That’s all for now. Talk to you soon. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

BENEDICTION (Prayer teams available)

As you go, may you remember what to pray, how to pray, and why we pray to our Father in Heaven. Amen.

God loves you. I love you. You are sent.

Did Adam grow up as child or was he created as an adult?

Great question! First, let’s see what the Bible has to say about this.

Genesis 1:26-31 (ESV

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29 And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. 30 And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

From what we read in the Bible, we can conclude that God created Adam as an adult. He and Eve are given authority over the rest of creation and the responsibility of caring for the land God had given to them. Adam’s exact age is unknown to us, but given that Eve was also created at that time and they were immediately told to “be fruitful and multiply” (meaning, have babies), they were at least created at an age where procreation was possible.

In the next chapter of Genesis, we also get more details helping us to know that Adam was created as an adult.

Genesis 2:23-25

Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” 24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

In the New Testament, verse twenty-four is quoted in referring to marriage. Thus, we can conclude that, though we don’t know the exact ages of Adam and Eve when they were created, they would have been old enough to serve as the ongoing biblical example of marriage.

DATE: 8-16-26

As always, it’s a joy to be with all of you this weekend at Gateway Church. And there’s one thing I want you to know — and this is true whether you’re worshiping with us for the first time or if you’re joining us at our North Main Campus — I want you to know that God loves you and that I love you too.

PASTORAL PRAYER

INTRODUCTION

We’re continuing our Gospel Project series this weekend. During the summer we’re syncing up our sermons with our Kidway ministry curriculum, which is called the Gospel Project. We thought this would be a good way for those of us without kids in our Kidway ministry to understand what the kids are being taught each week. And they happened to be in the gospels learning about Jesus this summer, which is a great place in the Bible for all of us adults to be — because — the whole Bible is ultimately about Jesus. So what better way to spend our summer than to get to know him better? 

And we’re going to be in the gospel of Luke today. We’ll be in chapter seven — looking at verses thirty-six through fifty. Again, that’s Luke chapter seven — beginning in verse thirty-six. There we read…

Luke 7:36–50 ESV

36 One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and reclined at table. 37 And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, 38 and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. 39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.” 40 And Jesus answering said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he answered, “Say it, Teacher.” 41 “A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 When they could not pay, he canceled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?” 43 Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he canceled the larger debt.” And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.” 44 Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. 46 You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. 47 Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven — for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” 48 And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” 49 Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this, who even forgives sins?” 50 And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

In this gospel passage, we discover two approaches to Jesus — two ways to view him, to think about him, two ways to approach him. And we’re also forced to ask ourselves which way we’re approaching Jesus. But this is a beautiful story from the life of Jesus, which I hope will compel all of us — Christian or not — to love him even more than we do right now. Two approaches to Jesus and how you’re approaching him. That’s where we’re headed today.

TWO APPROACHES TO JESUS

Beginning with two approaches to Jesus. The two approaches to Jesus are highlighted by the two people interacting with him in this story: Simon, the Pharisee, and the unnamed woman. Let’s look at Simon’s approach to Jesus first. We’re in verse thirty-six.

Luke 7:36 ESV

36 One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and reclined at table.

We’ll skip to verse thirty-nine, where in response to the woman’s approach to Jesus…

Luke 7:39 ESV

39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.”

There’s more we’ll see about Simon’s approach to Jesus, but for now, let’s make a few observations. Let’s start with a positive observation: Simon invited Jesus to his house to have a meal. That’s a good thing! Simon’s going to take a beating here in a moment, but I don’t want to miss this positive observation. Unlike many of the Pharisees, who wanted nothing to do with Jesus, Simon — in quite a bold move — invites Jesus to his home for a meal. 

Now — he hasn’t been the best host — as we’ll see in a minute — but there’s at least some curiosity on Simon’s part when it comes to Jesus. He’s intrigued. He’s not out simply to trap Jesus, as other Pharisees try to do. In fact, Simon had no idea that a woman, who becomes the center of his conversation with Jesus, would disrupt his meal. All that to say, many people have a similar curiosity about Jesus. They’re not completely turned off by him — as others are — but they’re not completely convinced either. 

• This may be your son or daughter — they’re not antagonistic towards Jesus, but they’re not in love with him either.
• This may be your co-worker, your roommate, your sibling, your spouse — they’ll show up to church with you, talk about Jesus with you; the door isn’t shut, but it feels like it’s barely pried open. 
• This may even be you.

But this seems to be where Simon’s at in his approach to Jesus. He’s curious, but not much more. Thus, when he sees Jesus’s reaction to the woman’s behavior, Simon thinks to himself, “If this guy was really a prophet, he wouldn’t let her touch him.” This tells us that Simon’s not even convinced that Jesus is a prophet, much less the Son of God and Savior of the world. 

One has to wonder — though — why would Simon have invited Jesus to his house for a meal? Being a Pharisee, Simon was a well-educated individual. So maybe he had questions for Jesus about his ministry or something he’d heard Jesus teach. Maybe he wanted to test Jesus’ knowledge of the Bible. Who knows, but Simon — though curious — still has serious doubts about Jesus.

Now — let’s turn to the woman — and then we’ll let Jesus highlight the difference in both of their approaches to him. We’re in verse thirty-seven.

Luke 7:37–38 ESV

37 And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, 38 and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment.

A few observations about her. First, Luke doesn’t come out and say it, but in describing her as a “woman of the city who was a sinner” — most likely he’s indicating that she was a prostitute. Again, we’re not certain about this, but that’s what many scholars believe Luke is describing. 

Second, she wasn’t invited to the meal, but she barged in anyway. Something helpful to know about meals in this culture is that homes had more of an open floor plan than many homes today. Doors were often left open to let air in, and meals would take place in what would’ve felt more like a public space than in a private home. So it wasn’t uncommon for neighbors or others to be uninvited participants in meals like this. 

But what would’ve been unusual was for a prostitute to show up. As you can tell from Simon’s remarks about her, prostitutes were not favorably looked upon. Yet this woman approaches Jesus from behind and begins to weep. And the word Luke uses is sometimes translated as rain. So this was no insignificant shedding of tears — she’s crying so much that Jesus’s feet, which would’ve been behind him because of how they sat around the table — she was crying so heavily that his feet got wet because of her tears. And knowing she needed to do something, she dried his feet with her hair, then kissed them and anointed them with the ointment from the alabaster flask that was hung around her neck. 

These flasks were fairly common in the culture of the day. Women, in general, would wear them — but prostitutes in particular wore them as a way to allure men. And when she took down her hair to dry Jesus’ feet — well, doing so was considered so inappropriate that a man could divorce his wife for behaving in such a way. A woman with her hair down, culturally, meant that she was a loose woman — a promiscuous woman — she’s the kind of woman you didn’t want your husband being around. And, in the culture of the day — a culture much different than our own — a woman’s honor was based on her reputation for sexual modesty and chastity, and any appearance of sexual indecency would bring dishonor to her husband. You may disagree with that kind of thinking — but that was the reality of the day in which she lived. And she knew all of this, and yet she let down her hair to dry Jesus’s feet, which were wet with her tears.

And then she takes that flask of ointment — an item of value — an item that, in many ways, was her identity, for she’d given her life to prostitution — and what does she do with it? She uses it to anoint Jesus’ feet. To anoint something or someone is to set them apart as holy and sacred. And she anoints Jesus with her most valuable possession. It’s like she’s giving herself to him as she realizes that this ointment — as well as herself — can be used for a better purpose. 

Later, Jesus compares the two — Simon and the woman — when…

Luke 7:44–46 ESV

44 Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. 46 You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.

Simon didn’t give Jesus the culturally appropriate and common courtesy of offering him water to wash his feet upon entering Simon’s house. The woman washed his feet with her tears and hair. Simon didn’t greet Jesus warmly — that’s the kiss being referred to. The woman, however, kissed Jesus’s feet. Simon didn’t anoint Jesus’ head with oil. She anointed Jesus’s feet with her expensive ointment. 

Two vastly different approaches to Jesus.

WHAT THE WOMAN KNOWS THAT SIMON DOESN’T

Those are the facts that Luke records for us as he describes this moment in Jesus’ life. And now we turn to the reason why there’s such a difference in their two approaches to Jesus. Why do Simon and the woman respond to Jesus the way they do — why are their responses to him so drastically different? We’re in verse forty — right after Simon thought to himself, “I guess Jesus isn’t a prophet, for he doesn’t even know what kind of woman she is.” 

Luke 7:40–43 ESV

40 And Jesus answering said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he answered, “Say it, Teacher.” 41 “A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 When they could not pay, he canceled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?” 43 Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he canceled the larger debt.” And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.”

Someone’s said, “Anytime Jesus says, ‘I have something to tell you’, you better run. He’s about to throw you a spiritual grenade.” And that’s what Jesus does when he tells Simon this parable — a parable’s a short story meant to teach a truth — and the point of this parable is pretty straightforward. 

There are two people who both owe a debt to their lender. Neither can pay back their debt. And, in Jesus’ day, that meant you went to prison until you could pay your debt off. But being in prison meant you weren’t making any money, which meant you still couldn’t pay your debt off — so you stayed in prison. You get the idea. If you can’t pay your debt — essentially — you go to prison for life.

So there are two people in debt. Since denarii mean nothing to us, we’ll keep this simple. One person owes two years’ worth of pay while the other owes two months’ worth of pay. Both are large amounts — but one is ten times larger. But — again — the point is that they both owe money and neither can pay it back. Don’t focus on the difference in the debt they owe — focus on the fact that neither can pay back the debt they owe. 

After setting the scenario, Jesus says, “Then the lender cancels both of their debts.” So both debts are forgiven. Both people were facing life in prison, and now they’re both debt-free.

So Jesus asks Simon, “Simon, of the two, who would love the lender more after having their debt forgiven? Who’d be rejoicing more? Who’d be more relieved?” That’s Jesus pulling the pin on the spiritual grenade as he hands it to Simon. And what does Simon say? He says, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt.” And Jesus tells him he’s correct.

And the grenade goes off in verses we looked at earlier.

Luke 7:44–46 ESV

44 Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. 46 You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.

That’s where we stopped earlier, but look at what Jesus says next. He says…

Luke 7:47 ESV

47 Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven — for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.”

Do you see what Jesus did? He tells Simon that he and the woman are the two debtors in the parable. Essentially, Jesus says to Simon, “Simon, you’re in the same boat that she’s in. You’re unable to make good on your sin debt. Yes, yes, I know. It’s a much smaller sin debt than hers, but it’s still a debt you can’t pay. You’re just as condemned as she is.”

And I know how offensive this can be to our ears. But if you don’t understand this view of sin — you really don’t understand the gospel. For no matter the sin we’ve committed — none of us can pay back the debt we owe. Even the most moral among us have a sin debt we can’t repay. Your pile of debt may be nowhere near as big as others — but it’s still too much for you to pay back. Even with an eternity before us — there’s still not enough time for any of us to repay our sin debt to God. 

And, honestly, not understanding this is the cause of much anxiety in people’s lives — not all anxiety — but much of it’s caused by living under the guilt of the sin debt you owe. A lot of the anger you experience is because you’re mad that God’s not saying “paid in full” because of what you’ve done for him. I wonder how you’re responding to the news that — because of your sin — you owe a debt to God that you can’t repay?

After his short illustration, Jesus then points out to Simon the difference between how both he and the woman have responded to Jesus. How they’ve both approached him. “Simon, she’s responded by showing me love. She’s adored me. She washed my feet with her tears and wiped them dry with her hair when you didn’t even show me the courtesy of basic hospitality by offering me water to wash my feet. You didn’t give me a kiss of welcome. You showed me no such courtesy while she hasn’t stopped kissing my feet. You didn’t anoint my head with oil when I came into your home, but she’s anointed my feet. Simon, your own words condemn you. For everything she’s done shows that she recognizes that her sins — which are many — can be forgiven — not because she can pay back her debt, but because she’s found the one who can. While your response to me, well, your response suggests that you still think you can pay back God for your sin debt.”

CONCLUSION: HOW ARE YOU APPROACHING JESUS?

So how are you approaching Jesus? Simon and the woman both wanted to see Jesus. Both wanted to be in his presence. Both wanted to be near him. And they both heard his words about sin and forgiveness. 

She’s transformed while Simon isn’t. She shows obvious love and joy — because of Jesus — while Simon — at best — keeps Jesus at arm’s length. And look at how the story ends. We’re in verse forty-eight.

Luke 7:48–50 ESV

48 And he (Jesus) said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” 49 Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this, who even forgives sins?” 50 And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

Her sins are forgiven. But what about Simon’s sins? Luke doesn’t tell us, does he? Though he doesn’t tell us, it seems like Luke wants us to conclude that her sins were forgiven while Simon’s weren’t. So — again — how are you approaching Jesus? 

Simon kept Jesus at arm’s length. He didn’t want Jesus to get too close to him. He definitely didn’t want Jesus to be someone to whom he owed a debt of any kind. He’s willing to listen to Jesus, yes. Have a conversation with him, sure. For many people — when it comes to Jesus — it’s OK for your mind to be involved, but — like Simon — he’s never going to have your heart. 

The woman, on the other hand, gave all of herself to Jesus. Her mind, yes. But even more than her mind. She wasn’t going to keep Jesus at arm’s length. She not only wanted Jesus close, but she went to him to get close to him. And she knew that, if there’s anyone in the world to owe a debt to, Jesus is the best option. For he’s the one who forgives us of our debts. 

But don’t miss this: they both want Jesus in their life, just in entirely different ways. Thus the warning to all of us is that you can be a very religious person, come to church, serve, be in a Life Group, support a church financially, read your Bible and pray — do all sorts of religious activities — all while keeping Jesus at arm’s length. You can be someone who doesn’t mind hearing what Jesus has to say; you may even say you believe what he’s said, but your relationship with him is solely intellectual. You agree with your mind, but you don’t love him with your heart.

For others it’s like this: You’re good with Jesus as long as you’re in control of the relationship. That was Simon — he was good with Jesus as long as he was the one asking the questions. But once Jesus started asking the questions — well — that was enough for Simon. Who asks the questions in your relationship with Jesus? Are you asking him all the questions, or is he asking you questions? Who’s changing who in the relationship? When you find yourself in a disagreement with Jesus, who’s right? Now we all know the answer is supposed to be “Jesus,” but is that how you’re living? 

One pastor has described it this way. “Simon is approaching Jesus the way many…people do. Simon’s interviewing Jesus. In other words, Simon is sitting down and saying, “Jesus, I’ve been looking at you, and you do miracles. That’s very impressive. I’ve heard your teaching, and it’s remarkable. I’m trying to figure out right now whether it would be advantageous to me to have you in my life as a shepherd and guide. So would you fill out these forms in triplicate, please?” In other words, he’s in control. Jesus is the applicant. He’s interviewing Jesus to see what he thinks.”

I wonder if this describes any of our relationships with Jesus? Where you’ve asked him to fill out an application to be the god of your life, where you’re interviewing him — and probably a few other options — to see which god is the best option for you. 

Friends know that Jesus can’t be approached this way. He’s not someone you interview — he’s the one who’s asking all of us to receive forgiveness. To respond to the gift he’s offered by giving his life on a cross to pay our sin debt in full. And for those who’ve been forgiven — just like the woman — for those who really see that their sin — no matter how small or insignificant or “not as bad as those other people” they think their sin is — just like the woman, all who truly respond to Jesus in faith — believing in him with their mind, yes, but with their whole being — see that they’ve been forgiven of a debt that — not only could they not repay — but the consequence of defaulting was an eternity in the prison of hell. 

And, like the woman, the entire direction of your life will be changed. She knew that Jesus couldn’t be an add-on to her life. It was all or nothing. All of her tears or none of them. All of the ointment or none of it. All of her heart, mind, soul, and body — or none of her. There’s no getting Jesus partially into your life — where it’s like, “Jesus, I’ll take a little bit of you, but all of you would be too much. So how about we have a relationship where I still get some personal space?” To which Jesus says, “If personal space is what you want more than me, then you can have it without me.” 

It’s not enough to just invite him over to your house for a meal. He’ll ask you why you didn’t offer him water for his feet, why you didn’t greet him with a kiss, or why you didn’t anoint his head with oil. And it’s not enough to invite Jesus into your heart — as we Christians like to say. He’ll ask you why you didn’t offer him that part of yourself that you think you can stay in control of. And when Jesus isn’t what you value and love most, like Simon, his questions will really get to you. They’ll irritate you. Because you’ll come to realize that Jesus won’t let you treat him like you treat everyone else because he’s completely different than the rest of us. He’s either your Savior and Lord, the Son of God and Creator of all things, the one whom every knee will bow before one day — or he’s — as C.S. Lewis said, “A liar or a lunatic.” Liar, lunatic, or Lord — those are your options. 

Those who believe he’s a liar or a lunatic respond to him like Simon — he’s welcome to come over and hang out as long as he doesn’t expect you to go out of your way or anything. But those who believe that he’s Lord respond to him like the woman — they give Jesus all of who they are, anointing him with the ointment of their entire lives. 

How are you responding to Jesus? Let’s pray.

PRAYER

Father in Heaven, you are holy, majestic, loving, and kind. You are the One who will judge every single one of us, and your judgment will be just. This should stir in us a holy fear because of our sin — no matter how insignificant we may consider our sin to be — we owe a debt to you that we can’t repay. And the consequence — the deserved consequence — is an eternity in hell.

Spirit of God, you are the Spirit who gives life to our spirits. You open spiritually blind eyes and deaf ears, and give new life to spiritually dead hearts so that we might respond to the Good News that God saves sinners. And that all who come to Jesus repenting of their sins and believing in him will be forgiven. For though the wages of sin is death — the free gift of God is eternal life. And this free gift is possible because Jesus paid our sin debt in full on the cross.

To you, Jesus, the payer of our sin debt and the One to whom we now owe our lives, we first thank you for your love for us. No mere lip service, your love is one of action. And, in response to being forgiven, our love for you is now one of action. Of anointing you with our lives as we live for you. Serving you. Sharing with others the news of your love. A life of loving you. 

Father, Son, and Spirit — for any who came here today approaching Jesus like Simon once did — we ask that you would help them to see the better approach. The humble approach. The “I won’t hold anything back from you” approach that the woman displayed. For that is the approach of those who realize their need to be forgiven — who are then those whom you forgive. Jesus, forgive many who approach you today. And we pray all of this in your name. Amen.

BENEDICTION (Prayer teams available)

In response to who Jesus is and all that he’s done for you, may you go anointing him with your life. Amen.

God loves you. I love you. You are sent.

DATE: 8-9-26

As always, it’s a joy to be with all of you this weekend at Gateway Church. And there’s one thing I want you to know — and this is true if you’re worshiping with us for the first time or if you’re joining us at our North Main Campus — I want you to know that God loves you and that I love you too.

PASTORAL PRAYER

Each week we spend some time praying for people, circumstances, and situations going on in our congregation, community, country, and world. Today we’ll be praying for teachers and homeschool parents as some of our local schools are starting back up this week. And, if anyone’s wondering, we’ll pray for students in a few weeks.

Please join me in prayer.

Heavenly Father, as we begin this time of prayer for teachers and homeschool parents, we want to begin by first acknowledging that you are our ultimate teacher. For “this is what [you, our] Lord says — you the Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is good for you and leads you along the paths you should follow.” (Isaiah 48:17) You are the God who has promised “to instruct and teach us in the way we should go.” (Psalm 32:8) You are the God who has promised to give wisdom to anyone who lacks it.

Holy Spirit, you are the promised Teacher who’s been sent from the Father in the name of the Son to teach us all things and help us to remember all that Jesus taught. 

As we bring before you teachers and homeschool parents, bless them with the fulfillment of all of these promises. May they know your intimate presence in their lives, may they be given your wisdom, may they be taught by you, and may the Holy Spirit lead them along the path they should follow. And we ask this so that Jesus would be glorified in their lives as his followers as they teach the students in their classroom or in their home. And we pray all of this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

INTRODUCTION

We’re continuing our Gospel Project series this weekend. During the summer, we’re syncing up our sermons with our Kidway ministry curriculum, which is called the Gospel Project. We thought this would be a good way for those of us without kids in our Kidway ministry to understand what the kids are being taught each week. And they happened to be in the gospels learning about Jesus this summer, which is a great place in the Bible for all of us adults to be — because the whole Bible is ultimately about Jesus. So what better way to spend our summer than by getting to know him better? And today, we’re going to see a side of Jesus that should leave all of us in awe and wonder.

We’re going to be in the gospel of Luke today. We’ll be in chapter seven — looking at verses eleven through seventeen. Again, that’s Luke chapter seven — beginning in verse eleven. There we read…

Luke 7:11–17 ESV

11 Soon afterward he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a great crowd went with him. 12 As he drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her. 13 And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.” 14 Then he came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” 15 And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. 16 Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited his people!” 17 And this report about him spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country.

Each week, the kids learn a big idea during the Bible lesson. Today I want to read what they’re learning. Here’s the big idea from our kids’ curriculum:

Jesus has the power to bring the dead to life. We are all dead in our sins, but Jesus will give us new life in him if we repent and trust in his life, death, and resurrection.

Here it is again: Jesus has the power to bring the dead to life. We’re all dead in our sins, but Jesus will give us new life in him if we repent and trust in his life, death, and resurrection.

This moment in Jesus’ life — when he raises a widow’s dead son to life — is meant to point us to a spiritual reality. We’ll get to that spiritual reality by the end of this sermon, but first, I don’t want us to miss the beauty of what we see in this widow’s encounter with Jesus. But even before we get to her encounter with Jesus, I want to say something about resurrection stories in the Bible. And here’s what I want to say about them: They’re pretty rare. 

Here are some examples of resurrection stories in the Bible. 

In the Old Testament the prophets Elijah and Elisha are both used by God to resurrect a dead child. In the New Testament, Jesus raises three people from the dead — the son in our story, the daughter of a man named Jairus, and Lazarus — the brother of Mary and Martha. In the book of Acts, Peter is used to raise a woman named Dorcas from the dead. And then there’s Jesus’s resurrection.

And our story — the resurrection of this widow’s son — is only found in Luke’s gospel. And in this moment from Jesus’ life, we discover that Jesus is our hope in death because he’s our resurrection hope. Jesus is our hope in death because he’s the one who fulfills the eternal promise that this — and all biblical resurrection stories point us to. 

OUR HOPE IN DEATH

Let’s begin by seeing how Jesus is our hope in death. We’re back in verse eleven of our chapter.

Luke 7:11–13 ESV

11 Soon afterward he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a great crowd went with him. 12 As he drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her. 13 And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.”

Just a few weeks ago, my wife and I attended two funerals in one day. The first was for one of our neighbors and the second was for a Gateway member. No death of a loved one is easy — especially for the family members and friends who are left behind to grieve. But for the mother in our verses — a mother who’s experienced the death of her child — well, that’s a different kind of hard. 

One person has said, “The death of a child is certainly one of the greatest agonies possible in this life — a burying of a part of oneself, a period before the end of a sentence, the death of a future. It’s a burden that all parents fear.” 

The first funeral I ever did was for a stillborn birth. It was so hard. The grief of the parents was so heavy. The church I was serving in had two stillborn births that week. Parents and family members were suddenly devastated. 

Though no death of a loved one is easy, there’s something extra shattering about the death of a child. And it’s at this moment in a woman’s life — in this moment of pain and hopelessness — that Jesus enters into her life. And he — along with this crowd that’s been following him around — he meets this mother just outside the city gate with the funeral procession behind her, carrying her son on a bier — that was sort of an open casket or cot that the body would be carried on. And the funeral procession was walking to the tomb where the son’s body would be buried. 

This is when Jesus meets her.

• The visitation hours are over.
• The funeral service has concluded.
• Folks going to the cemetery have all gotten into their cars.
• And, as the body is being walked to the hearse, Jesus just so happens to arrive on the scene…

And when he saw the woman, he had compassion on her. 

Did you notice that nobody sought after Jesus? No one was sent to try and find him so he could come help this woman. Nobody was praying and asking God to show up in some miraculous way. None of that happens, according to what we have in the Bible. Instead, according to Luke, Jesus just so happened to be in the right place at the right time — we call that the providence of God — and he saw what was going on and invited himself into the woman’s life. And he said to her, “Don’t weep.” 

Now, I know that Jesus telling her not to weep doesn’t sound very compassionate, but that’s because we misunderstand what he meant. He’s not saying don’t grieve the death of your son — that’d be cruel — and Jesus isn’t cruel. Instead, he’s telling her that — even now — there’s reason for hope. It’s as if he’s saying, “Don’t worry. I’m here. The giver of life — the one who can raise the dead is here. So have hope.” 

In one of the other resurrection stories in the Bible — the one I’m referring to now is Lazarus’s resurrection story — after Jesus arrived in Bethany — the town where Lazarus had died — and after having met with Martha — one of Lazarus’s sisters — Mary — Lazarus’s other sister — came to Jesus. And look at how John describes what happened.

John 11:32–33 ESV

32 Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.

When Jesus saw Mary weeping — grieving the death of her brother — he was deeply moved in his spirit. This shows us something about Jesus. It shows us that he’s deeply moved by our sorrows, pains, and grief. Not only does he move toward us — as he did with the mother in our passage, or like he did with Lazarus’s sisters — not only does Jesus move toward us in our sorrows, pains, and grief — but he’s moved deeply in his spirit and is compassionate toward us. And — as you probably know — if you’re familiar with Lazarus’s resurrection story, after asking where they’d buried Lazarus, the next words recorded by the apostle John are…

John 11:35 ESV

35 Jesus wept.

So why did Jesus — who wept at the death of his friend — why did he tell this mother not to weep over the death of her son? 

OUR RESURRECTION HOPE

To answer this question, we come to the next part of the story. We’re in verse fourteen.

Luke 7:14–17 ESV

14 Then he came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” 15 And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. 16 Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited his people!” 17 And this report about him spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country.

He tells the mother not to weep because Jesus knew he was about to give her her son back. 

And there are some details about this resurrection that I don’t want you to miss. First, did you notice that Jesus touched the bier? Now this may not seem like a big deal to us, but in the Jewish religion of the day — to touch a bier was to make oneself ritually unclean. And, to be unclean was the same as being unholy. But Jesus is the holy one of God who — when he touches the unclean — well — he makes the unclean clean by the power of his holy touch.

Second, when he touched the bier — those carrying it stood still. Jesus didn’t tell them to stop moving, but something about the situation told them to stand still. It’s as if they could sense that something was about to happen. I’m sure they had no idea what — again, resurrections weren’t a common thing in their day — but their spidey sense was tingling — something was going to happen.

Next, Jesus told the dead son to arise. No big show. No theatrics. Just a few words — but they were words of power that demanded a response — a response even from a corpse.

Then, and I can’t help but smile at how Luke wrote these next words — but in verse fifteen Luke writes…

Luke 7:15 ESV

15 And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.

Did you notice anything interesting about this verse? It’s so easy to miss details like this — I missed it the first few times I read the passage. Luke says, “The dead man sat up and began to speak.” The dead man did what? Isn’t he the formerly dead man? The no longer dead man? The alive again man? But that’s not what Luke says — he says, “The dead man sat up and began to speak.” 

As one person has said, “Notice that when Jesus spoke to the boy’s cold corpse, the boy heard him. The young man was dead in body, but he was fully alive somewhere! For we humans, death is only death of the body. The human spirit lives on.” 

You see, the dead son heard the voice of Christ call out to him, “Arise,” and he lived. Similarly, all who hear God’s voice commanding us to “arise” in faith, to believe in his Son, to turn from our sin and turn to the Lord of life — do so. For God takes the dead — both the physically and spiritually dead — and raises us up from the grave. 

Next, Jesus gives the mother back her son. She’s had Jesus’s attention from the beginning. You’ve gotta love that about Jesus. Though there’s a crowd of people, he often focuses on individuals who need his loving attention.

And, finally, there’s the response of the crowd: Fear seized them all. Think of this fear as great awe and wonder — and yes, regular old fear. And why were they afraid? Because who has the power to raise the dead? Someone powerful. And if they’re that powerful — well — it’s kind of scary.

And who did the crowd praise with their words? Did they praise Jesus? No! They glorified God. And, yes, I know that Jesus is God, but this crowd of witnesses hasn’t figured that out yet, and Jesus didn’t find it necessary to make this fact known to them. But they do call Jesus a great prophet. A prophet who has — and I love this — “arisen” among us. Jesus told the boy to arise, and the people echoed Jesus’s words as they praised God. 

But then the crowd says something about Jesus that echoes back to words we find early on in Luke’s gospel. In a passage often read around Christmas, we find the words of a father who’d been unable to speak for months because he needed to learn a lesson about trusting God. The man is Zechariah — he’s the father of John the Baptist — who’s the cousin of Jesus and the one who paved the way for Jesus’ ministry. In some of the first words he spoke after being mute for months, Zechariah said…

Luke 1:68 NLT

68 “Praise the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has visited and redeemed his people.

“Praise God, because he has visited his people.” It’s as if the crowd — who probably had no idea about Zechariah’s words thirty-plus years earlier — quote him. 

And what comes of all of this? Reports of the resurrection spread throughout the area because the people couldn’t help but go and tell others about what they had seen.

A QUICK ASIDE ABOUT SALVATION

Now, I want to stay focused on our text, but I can’t help but point out the spiritual implications these resurrection stories force us to face. In the resurrection stories we find in the Bible — one thing’s clear: The person is dead. These aren’t cases of misdiagnoses. Luke, if you don’t know, was a medical doctor. So he knows the difference between mostly dead and dead — to quote Miracle Max.

I bring this up because when the Bible describes our spiritual condition because of sin — it doesn’t describe us as being sick, or being mostly dead. The Bible describes us as being dead. Here’s one example.

Ephesians 2:1–3 NLT

1 Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. 2 You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil — the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. 3 All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.

Did you notice Paul’s language? “Once you were dead” and — at the same time — “you used to live in sin…obeying the devil.” So how’s that possible? How can someone be dead — yet be alive at the same time? Well, the kind of deadness that Paul’s referring to is spiritual. Meaning he’s telling these people that they were spiritually dead even though they were physically alive. And the proof of their spiritual deadness was how they were living for sin and obeying the devil.

And this truth — this reality — of being spiritually dead, yet physically alive — is why Paul’s next words are so powerful.

Ephesians 2:4–5 NLT

4 But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, 5 that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)

Again, one could ask, “How can a person be given life when it’s clear that they’re already physically alive?” Because the life they’re given isn’t physical life, but is spiritual life. 

You see, because of sin — both the sins we commit, but also the sin nature we’re born with because of Adam and Eve’s rebellion against God — the consequence of being a sinner is spiritual death. And all of us are born with this condition: We’re born spiritually dead, while being physically alive. We’re all born as spiritually dead boys and girls who grow up and become adults who walk around, and live life, celebrating births of children and marriages and job promotions and touchdowns and catching a prize winning fish and electing presidents and doing all sorts of things — while also aborting babies, and cheating on spouses, mistreating employees, celebrating the downfalls of others, and lying, and slandering, and bickering, and doing all sorts of sinful things — and we’re doing all of these kinds of things while being physically alive, but spiritually dead. 

Until…Jesus just so happens to show up in our lives. And, like the mother in our gospel story, he often decides to show up in our lives without ever being asked. And he speaks to us and says, “Arise,” and gives us new life. A resurrection of the spirit. An act of grace. Nothing we deserve; nothing but God’s kindness, mercy, and compassion towards us. 

I wonder if you’ve experienced God’s call to you to “Arise, and live”? Have you experienced his loving, merciful, yet powerful call that gives spiritual life? And, if you have, I wonder how your life shows others that you’ve experienced a spiritual resurrection? For when the dead are raised — physically or spiritually — it can’t go unnoticed. For just like a mother’s dead son sitting up and talking to those who were taking his body to the tomb — just how that can’t go unnoticed — so too a spiritual resurrection in one’s life will surely have a similar, undeniable kind of impact.

CONCLUSION

Now I’d do us all a disservice if I didn’t broach a subject that none of us want to talk about: 

Our own death. Everything you and I’ve been taught is to avoid admitting to ourselves that there’s a shadow that death has cast over all of us. In fact, if you think about it, it’s quite amazing how adept we’ve become at repressing the reality that our death day is coming. But the truth is, no matter how much you learn, no matter the technology you use, no matter how seriously you take your health, one thing’s certain — you’re dying. We’re all dying. For just as we each have a birthday, there’s a day to come for each of us that will be our last.

And the culture we live in doesn’t want us to think about this. “Entertain yourself,” we’re told. “Drown out the reality of your mortality with new toys and experiences, but whatever you do — don’t think about your death.” And this is why — when death interrupts our lives — as it did for the mother in our story — it’s disorienting, disrupting, and it disturbs us down to the very core of who we are. And, for many, the experience of death is so devastating that it leaves them hopeless. While for others, though the experience is still devastating — hope remains.

So what’s the difference between the two groups? 

One group has tried to live while repressing the fact that they will die. While the other group decided to face their mortality and — in doing so — discovered a living and eternally lasting hope. The famous Russian author, Leo Tolstoy, went through a crisis and describes it in a way that’s pretty universal to human experience. He writes…

“I enjoyed physical strength. Yet I could not live. My question, which at the age of fifty brought me to the verge of suicide, a question seeking an answer without which one cannot live, was this: Is there any meaning in life that the inevitable death awaiting me does not destroy? Today or tomorrow, death will come to those I love and then to me. Nothing will remain but stench and worms. But soon not only I will not exist, but eventually no one will exist who will remember anything I have written or done. Why then go on with the effort? What is it all for? What does it all lead to? What difference will it make whether I do this good thing or that bad thing or nothing at all? So I could give no rational meaning to any single action or to my whole life. What was so surprising is how we can fail to see this. For a time it’s possible to live intoxicated with life, but as soon as one is sober, it’s impossible not to see that it is all a mere fraud, and a stupid fraud at that. There’s nothing either amusing or witty about it. It’s simply cruel and stupid. How often I have been told, ‘You cannot understand the meaning of life, so don’t think about it; just live.’ But I no longer can do that.”

Tolstoy’s point is that death makes all of life meaningless unless you do one of two things. The first option is to ignore this fact. Just live life as if everything matters — when in reality, what you believe tells you that none of it matters. And this is the option many people choose — as crazy and hypocritical as it sounds — they state that this life is it, death is the end, nothing matters after death, but still live as if things matter. That’s option one, which I don’t recommend.

Then there’s option two: Find the reason to have hope. The reason where you can face death — the death of those you love and even your own death — and do so with hope. Not a “I hope this all works out” hope. But a “this is guaranteed” kind of hope. 

So what can give you this kind of hope even in the face of death? 

Well, that was a trick question. For it’s not a what. It’s a who. The one who is the Lord of life. He who is our living hope. The one who defeated the power of death when he experienced death himself.

Earlier, I mentioned that there are only seven resurrection stories in the Bible. We’ve looked at a few of them today, but I want to return to Lazarus’s resurrection. During funerals, I always bring up Lazarus’s story because it shows how to grieve and still have hope. And I usually say something like this about Lazarus’s resurrection.

Just before Jesus brings Lazarus back to life — he’s standing outside the tomb of his friend — and Jesus weeps. He cries. He sheds tears because of the death of his friend. Yet Jesus grieves with hope because he knows what he’s about to do. In a few moments, his friend will walk out of the tomb alive.

But do you know why Jesus wept? He wept because death isn’t the way things are supposed to be. Even bringing Lazarus back from the dead won’t solve Lazarus’ death problem. Lazarus would die again someday — just like the son of the woman in our gospel passage will die again someday. But Jesus stands by his friend’s tomb, weeping because death is an enemy we weren’t supposed to encounter. Yet — because of our sin — death has become our most fearsome foe.

So Jesus knew that the miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead wouldn’t solve his friend’s death problem. Jesus knew that to defeat death, he would have to experience an even greater loss of life than the loss of his friend. He would have to experience the loss of his own life.

For death to be defeated, the Creator and Lord of life would die on a cross. And Jesus gave up his life so that — through faith in him — by believing in him — we might not only find life — but have reason to hope even as we grieve the death of those we love — whether it be a spouse or a friend, a parent or a child. And he died so that — through faith in him — we might even be able to face our own death and do so with hope. For the Lord of life has given us a new life. A resurrection life that death can’t defeat. A life of power. A life of purpose. And a life full of hope that death can’t take from us. My prayer for you is that — if you haven’t already discovered this life of hope — that today would be the day you hear and respond to the words “arise.” Let’s pray.

PRAYER

Father in Heaven, may many taste and see how good you are to your people and to all of your creation. For you did not leave us to die in our sins, but sent your Son to make life possible. What undeserved mercy and grace. What kindness and compassion. What goodness and beauty.

Holy Spirit, may you use my words to give life today. May you anoint the words that have been spoken so they are words that give hope — eternal, lasting hope to those who came here hopeless. May you use them to raise those who came here spiritually dead to spiritual life. May you use them to comfort those who are suffering, living under the shadow of death — whether it be the death of someone they love or their own. Spirit, take the words I’ve said and use them to magnify the name of Jesus.

And to you, Jesus, the Giver and Lord of life. The one who wept outside of the tomb of his friend. Who approached a mother grieving the death of her only son. Who knew that even those you raised from the dead would still have a death problem, compelling you to give your life on a cross so that death would be defeated — to you — our Savior and God — we now respond to you in praise. In your name we pray. Amen.

BENEDICTION (Prayer teams available)

May you leave here with hope, having believed in Jesus, the Lord of life. Amen.

God loves you. I love you. You are sent.

After I preached this sermon on the Sabbath, a few folks brought up Gateway’s membership and baptism connection. Where we, the elders of Gateway, require an individual to be a member in order to be baptized (and vice versa). And where we, the elders of Gateway, require a parent/guardian to be a member in order for their child to be baptized (in most cases).

I’m not going to get into the details of why we require membership for baptism (and baptism for membership) in this post. Instead, I want to clear up confusion I caused by not being clear on man-made laws vs man-made laws.

Yup. You read that right. Man-made laws vs man-made laws.

In the sermon, I contrasted the Pharisees’ man-made laws to God’s law. I highlighted how the Pharisees created many laws that became the standard for whether or not someone was a devout follower of God. And if you broke one of their man-made laws, you sinned according to them. They then stacked their man-made laws in their favor so they were always on the right side of being a devout follower of God.

Jesus came along and disrupted their man-made religious expectations. And, because he did so, the Pharisees said to Jesus, “Why are your followers doing what’s unlawful (i.e., ‘sinful’) on the Sabbath?” That’s a bold assertion. They basically accuse Jesus of sinning.

My point wasn’t to say that all man-made laws are bad. My point was to say that any man-made law that becomes the standard for determining whether or not someone was a devout follower of Jesus is bad. Similarly, any man-made law that becomes a standard for what is sinful or not is bad.

But there are many man-made laws, even religious ones, that do not determine whether someone has sinned or if they’re a devout follower of Jesus.

Some examples.

At Gateway, we require all volunteers who work with minors to have a background check. This is a man-made law. There’s no Bible verse to back this up. This is a different category of a man-made law than what the Pharisees were holding people to.

At Gateway, we give all financial donors an end-of-the-year giving statement. This is a man-made law. There’s no Bible verse to back this up. This is a different category of a man-made law than what the Pharisees were holding people to.

At both of our campuses, we have a seating capacity in our worship centers. This is a man-made law. There’s no Bible verse to back this up. This is a different category of a man-made law than what the Pharisees were holding people to.

And at Gateway, we require those wanting to be baptized (or to have their child baptized) to be a member of the church. There’s no Bible verse to back this up. But this is also a different category of a man-made law than what the Pharisees were holding people to.

Why?

Because we’re not saying that someone is sinning by not becoming a member of Gateway. We’re also not saying that someone is a less devout follower of Jesus by not becoming a member of Gateway. We’ve never said anything close to that. And we never will.

Not all man-made laws are the same. Some man-made rules are good practice, and others become the standard for whether someone is a Christian. Let’s not confuse the two. And let’s all remember that a man-made law isn’t the bad kind just because we don’t like it.

Your pastor and friend,

Josh

DATE: 7-26-26

As always, it’s a joy to be with all of you this weekend at Gateway Church. And there’s one thing I want you to know — and this is true if you’re worshiping with us for the first time or if you’re joining us at our North Main Campus — I want you to know that God loves you and that I love you too.

PASTORAL PRAYER

INTRODUCTION

We’re continuing our Gospel Project series this weekend. During the summer, we’re syncing our sermons with our Kidway ministry curriculum, which is called the Gospel Project. We thought this would be a good way for those of us without kids in our Kidway ministry to understand what the kids are being taught each week. And they happened to be in the gospels learning about Jesus this summer, which is a great place in the Bible for all of us adults to be Christian or not — because — the whole Bible is ultimately about Jesus. So what better way to spend our summer than by getting to know him better. And, today, we’re going to see a side of Jesus that I don’t think many of us think about very often: Jesus the preacher

So, with that, let’s turn to our passage. We’re going to be in the gospel of Luke today. We’ll be in chapter six — looking at verses seventeen through forty-nine. Again, that’s Luke chapter six — beginning in verse seventeen. This is Luke’s version of Jesus’ most famous sermon, which is often called the Sermon on the Mount. 

And for full disclosure: The kids are looking at Matthew’s version — but I didn’t think preaching through three chapters would be possible today. So we’re going with Luke’s shorter version. Here’s how Luke records Jesus’ sermon.

Luke 6:17–49 ESV

17 And he came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, 18 who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. 19 And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came out from him and healed them all. 20 And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. 21 “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied. “Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. 22 “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! 23 Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets. 24 “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. 25 “Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry. “Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. 26 “Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets. 27 “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. 29 To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. 30 Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. 31 And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them. 32 “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. 35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. 36 Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. 37 “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; 38 give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.” 39 He also told them a parable: “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? 40 A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher. 41 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 42 How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye. 43 “For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, 44 for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. 45 The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. 46 “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? 47 Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: 48 he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. 49 But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”

Today, we’re going to let Jesus preach to us. And we’re going to look at three points that Jesus makes in his sermon. And I’m going to do my best to let Jesus just speak for himself. 

But, to give us some context, Jesus has just called the twelve disciples to follow him. That’s what Chandler covered two weeks ago. And, just before that, Jesus healed the man with the withered hand on the Sabbath — a story I had us look at last week. And, after these events, Luke then records Jesus’ sermon. And if I were to summarize Jesus’ points, I’d do so like this: Those who are blessed by God are to be a blessing to others — that’s point one. Point two is: Those who are loved by God are to love others. And point three is: Those who’ve been forgiven by God are to forgive others. 

God’s blessed ones, bless others. God’s loved ones, love others. And God’s forgiven ones, forgive others. That’s where Jesus is taking us today.

GOD’S BLESSED ONES, BLESS OTHERS

Beginning with his first point: God’s blessed ones bless others. We find this beginning in verse seventeen, where we read…

Luke 6:17–26 ESV

17 And he came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, 18 who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. 19 And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came out from him and healed them all. 20 And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. 21 “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied. “Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. 22 “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! 23 Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets. 24 “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. 25 “Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry. “Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. 26 “Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.

God’s blessed ones, bless others. The kind of blessing that we all want to experience — regardless of whether you consider yourself to be a religious person or not — is seen at the beginning of our passage where people with diseases are healed by Jesus, as are those with unclean — or demonic — spirits. These are examples of a kind of blessing where we experience the power of God. And who doesn’t want to be blessed by God if that’s what it means to be blessed, right?

And it’s at this point that Jesus begins his sermon. And here’s what he does. Jesus essentially takes everything that we all want — and again, Christian or not — these are things we all want. Things like having lots of money, good food, laughter, popularity, and so on — and Jesus says that these things are not signs of God’s blessing. To which we all want to say, “Now hold on, Jesus. Not so fast, please. I’m struggling to follow you.”

So he goes on to explain that these kinds of things — money, popularity, everlasting youthfulness, fill in the blank with what you see people giving their lives to — Jesus says when these things are what a person lives for — they’ll never satisfy. In fact, when Jesus uses the word “woe,” he’s not using it as a warning. He’s not saying, “Be warned” — he’s expressing sorrow and sadness because he knows that there’ll be many who hear his words and yet will choose to live for these kinds of things anyway. Where — instead of living for him — we live for things that end up disappointing us.

But that’s not all he does. Jesus goes on to say some things that most of us don’t want to hear. Like that being poor and hungry, experiencing sorrow and weeping, or having people hate you, exclude you, and talk bad about you — because you follow him — Jesus says these are signs that you’re blessed by God. Which — in response — we all want to call a timeout. 

Why would these be signs that you’re blessed by God? One reason — and not the only reason — but one reason is that when we’re in these hard situations — all that usually distracts us from finding satisfaction in Christ alone — my way of phrasing this is “finding joy in Jesus alone” — all of that stuff is taken away. And it feels like a curse, but it’s actually a blessing. Because now, some of the competition — the biblical word would be idols — have been removed, leaving us to discover the soul-satisfying joy that’s only found in Jesus. And that — my friends — is a blessing from God. 

So the next time you find yourself — and maybe you’re there now — but the next time you find yourself stripped of something — and it being taken away makes you feel like you’ve been cursed by God — look to see how God might be giving you an opportunity to find greater joy in him than ever before.

Now the other half of Jesus’ first point — that God’s blessed ones, bless others — and now I’m talking about the “bless others” part — comes out of the idea that once we’ve allowed Jesus to define what it means to be blessed — all of these blessing stealers — money, abundance, entertainment, popularity, and so on — can be used to bless others. Where money is no longer what you hope will give you joy — but now, because Jesus is your joy, the money you have is a resource you joyfully use to bless others with. Same with food — you’ll be hospitable and enjoy meals with others instead of shutting people out of your life. You’ll live to make disciples — which is why Jesus saved you — instead of living just to be entertained. And you’ll care less about being popular — or even escaping the ridicule of the world — and instead will love Jesus boldly and obediently for the only Person’s opinion of you that really matters — is Jesus’s opinion of you.

As one Bible scholar has said, “According to Jesus…there are two kinds of people: People who suffer for his sake and have his blessing, and people who live for themselves and will come to an unhappy end.” Which kind of person are you?

God’s blessed ones, bless others — that’s Jesus’ first point.

GOD’S LOVED ONES, LOVE OTHERS

Now we come to his second point: God’s loved ones, love others. We find this beginning in verse twenty-seven, where we read…

Luke 6:27–36 ESV

27 “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. 29 To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. 30 Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. 31 And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them. 32 “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. 35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. 36 Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.

God’s loved ones, love others. If you thought Jesus’ first point was hard to hear, well, here in his second point it gets even more challenging. For Jesus challenges all of us as to what it means to love others. 

In Jesus’ day, many rabbis — the Jewish religious teachers — taught that Jews only needed to love their fellow Jews. That the commandment “love your neighbor as yourself” only applied to a fellow Jew. So a Jew had to love a fellow Jew, but they didn’t have to love anyone who wasn’t Jewish. And what does Jesus do? He challenges the thinking of the day as to what it means to be a loving person.

And Jesus not only pushes back against who we think we need to love — surely not “those people” — whether, for you, “those people” are Democrats or MAGA folks, Michigan fans or cat people — whoever “those people” are for you, Jesus wants you to love them. And he tells us what he means by loving them. Notice his words in verses twenty-seven and twenty-eight.

Luke 6:27–28 ESV

27 “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.

Do good, bless, and pray. 

• To do good is to love with our actions — and we’re told to do good to those who do us wrong. 
• To bless is to love with our words — and we’re told to use our words to bless those who use their words to curse us. 
• And to pray is to love with our hearts — and we’re told to pray for those who abuse us, asking God to rescue them from their sin — even those who’ve sinned against us. 

One author asked some good questions to see how we’re applying Jesus’s words to our lives. He suggests we ask ourselves…

• What good have I done for my enemy? 
• What words of blessing have I spoken to them?
• What prayers of intercession — specifically praying that they would seek forgiveness from God — have I offered for them?

Challenging questions. Questions that force us to face whether we’re really someone who loves others as God first loved us or if we’re someone whose love is merely lip service.

Now, we need to continue moving through Jesus’s sermon, but I know that I can’t skip over the face-slapping, cloak-taking, and begging illustrations that Jesus uses to make his point about love.

So, first, know that the strike to the face that Jesus refers to, culturally, wasn’t an act of violence, which is what I think comes to most of our minds. The back of the hand was used, and causing physical pain wasn’t the goal. The goal was public humiliation — usually resulting in a person being kicked out of the synagogue and quite possibly their community. So this illustration is less about us being willing to experience physical harm for Christ and is more about us being willing, because of the love that you’ve experienced from him, to love Jesus even if it costs you your reputation. 

The cloak illustration is meant to teach us to love people unconditionally — for that’s how God loves us. An example of what this might look like would be: Imagine that our local community turned against us — where the city of Findlay — the residents and even the government leadership — doesn’t like Gateway Church. Instead of pulling back from doing our winter soup drive, hosting mobile food pantries, and the many other ways we love the people of our city — what Jesus is saying is that we keep loving our city in these ways. Even when we’re mistreated, we keep loving — because — God keeps loving us even when we mistreat him.

And, finally, love means we do all of this while expecting nothing in return. And we do so because — with hopeful anticipation — we believe that many of the people who we love in this way will experience God’s saving love through us.

GOD’S FORGIVEN ONES, FORGIVE OTHERS

Finally, we come to Jesus’ final point: God’s forgiven ones, forgive others. We’re in verse thirty-seven, where we read…

Luke 6:37–49 ESV

37 “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; 38 give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.” 39 He also told them a parable: “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? 40 A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher. 41 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 42 How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye. 43 “For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, 44 for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. 45 The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. 46 “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? 47 Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: 48 he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. 49 But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”

God’s forgiven ones, forgive others. 

And here we come to something that Jesus said that even non-Christians love to quote: Judge not. 

Now, we like this quote for a variety of reasons. But the main reason we like it is because we want everyone else to stop judging us — while we happily go about judging everyone else. Jesus knew we’d all do this, so he uses the splinter and log illustration to make his point. For most of us — dare I say all of us — we focus on the sins of others more than we do on our own sins. 

Yet there’s an instinct we all have, and when we consider the rest of the Bible, we see that our instinct is partially correct: There are times when we’re to judge others. Here’s just one example from the apostle Paul. He writes…

1 Corinthians 5:9–13 NLT

9 When I wrote to you before, I told you not to associate with people who indulge in sexual sin. 10 But I wasn’t talking about unbelievers who indulge in sexual sin, or are greedy, or cheat people, or worship idols. You would have to leave this world to avoid people like that. 11 I meant that you are not to associate with anyone who claims to be a believer yet indulges in sexual sin, or is greedy, or worships idols, or is abusive, or is a drunkard, or cheats people. Don’t even eat with such people. 12 It isn’t my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it certainly is your responsibility to judge those inside the church who are sinning. 13 God will judge those on the outside; but as the Scriptures say, “You must remove the evil person from among you.”

Here Paul makes it clear that — one — there are people who Christians are to judge — those inside the church. And — two — there are people who Christians aren’t to judge — those outside the church. Why don’t we judge those outside the church? Because God will judge them.

So, based on what Jesus is teaching, some self-reflection questions to answer would be:

• Though I have an opinion about this — what this person should do or how they should be treated — is it my place to make a judgment?
• What’s my role in their life? 
• Is this an “in the church person” or an “outside the church person”?
• Is this one of those rare occasions where it is my place to judge and, if so, what does God’s Word say about this situation? 

But where Jesus’s words really come at us is in the fact that what he’s really telling all of us — Christian or not — is not to be judgmental of each other. For we can be judgmental without ever saying a word of judgment to another person. You see, even when there are times when we are to judge others — say a Christian is found to be cheating on her spouse — though we’re to judge her — we’re not to treat her unfairly or unjustly. Meaning, we’re to correct her lovingly as we call her to repent. Being judgmental is the opposite of that. Being judgmental is — at its essence — to be an unforgiving person. To be a graceless person. To demand perfection — as you define it — with all of the power in your hands to call fouls on others while you stack the deck to ensure no one can ever call a foul on you. 

Yet the Christian is someone who believes they’ve been forgiven by God for every sin they have, are, or will ever commit — that’s the loving-kindness, mercy, and forgiving nature of our God. The deck was stacked against us — we stacked it against ourselves by rebelling against God — and, yet, he forgave us because of what Christ did in love for us. 

And, in being forgiven in this way, we forgive others. And, in doing so, we display God’s transforming power at work in our lives. For not only do we forgive those who’ve sinned against us — we also put to death the judgmental spirit that finds delight in condemning others — a spirit not from our Father in Heaven, but from the father of lies. 

And Jesus’s warning to all of us — about the seriousness of practicing forgiveness — is that he says, “Whatever standard you use in being judgmental of others will be the standard that God uses when he judges you.” And that should terrify all of us. For, as one Christian has stated, “All too often, the people who render the harshest judgments and make the fewest allowances are people in the church — as if we ourselves were not in constant need of saving grace, or had never received any undeserved mercy from God.”

CONCLUSION

There’s much more in Jesus’s sermon that we don’t have time to get to today. I barely mentioned his famous illustration of the speck and the log, much less his words about the futility of the blind leading the blind, or how those who are truly his disciples will do what he says — but Jesus has been our preacher today. And he’s a great preacher — the greatest of all time, in fact. But what will you do in response to hearing his sermon? 

• Have his words offended you?
• Have his words brought some conviction, but no lasting change?
• Has what he said challenged you to grow in your commitment as his follower?
• Or have his words encouraged you, for now you see a bit more clearly as to what it means to be blessed, loved, and forgiven by your God?

One thing I know for sure is that you can’t hear Jesus preach a sermon and leave unchanged. Let’s pray. 

PRAYER

Father in Heaven, thank you for your Word to us today. Your Word spoken to us through your Son. 

Holy Spirit, help us all to better see and believe what it means to be blessed, loved, and forgiven by you. And help us all to obey what it means to live as those blessed, loved, and forgiven by God.

And, Jesus, our being blessed, loved, and forgiven are all possible because you not only are a great preacher, but you fulfilled every word you spoke. And you did so because you knew that our obedience to your words would never save us, because we’re unable to save ourselves. So you perfectly obeyed on our behalf so that your work — including the work of giving your life on the cross — would be the work that saves us. 

Father, Son, and Spirit — may many respond to you and your Word today. And I pray all of this in Jesus’s name. Amen.

BENEDICTION (Prayer teams available)

Having heard from Jesus the preacher, may you go and do all that he’s said, knowing that you are blessed, loved, and forgiven by him. Amen.

God loves you. I love you. You are sent.