Luke 4:22, "and all were speaking well of Him and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from His lips; and they were saying, 'Is this not Joseph’s son?'"
Observation:
Observation:
On what appears to be Jesus’ fist day of public ministry, he stood up and read from Isaiah. The passage was a message of hope and deliverance to the poor, oppressed, blind and captive. As Jesus told the people the scripture was fulfilled, they loved it- they loved Him. He was bringing good news of hope and comfort. The scripture says they all spoke well of Him. But if you go 6 verses later, the people are filled with rage and ready to kill Him. What happened? Jesus spoke a hard truth — that many times people don’t believe a prophet of God from their own hometown. He gave examples of Elijah and Elisha. In both instances the people of Israel missed the power of God through great prophets. Now Jesus was saying to those in his hometown that they would be just like the people in old times. And he was right. In a matter of minutes they go from hot to cold, from love to hate, from feeling mushy toward him to feeling murder toward him.
Application:
Application:
What this tells me is that people can be fickle. The crowd can love me one day if I tell them good news and make positive promises; but the crowd can and will turn when you deliver a more sobering truth. Both messages came from God and were true. What I sense in my spirit is the need to live for God’s approval and not people’s approval because people may love me one day and hate me the next. My job isn’t to make people like me. My calling is to deliver the truth of God under the power of the Holy Spirit with a heart of love. Whether people like the message or love me can’t determine what I do. I have to learn to live for God’s approval alone. That isn’t true just with preachers and preaching. It’s in any area of my life. If I live to please people I will end up disappointed because people can be fickle. I just need to be me, who I am, and who God created me to be. I need to live for God’s approval alone.
Prayer:
Prayer:
Lord, help me to live for Your approval over anything else. Help me to love people and love them enough to tell them the truth. But please deliver me from ever shaping that truth so that I gain approval. Help me to deliver the good news and the hard truth. And in other areas of my life — friendships, finances, whatever — help me to be true to you and to who I am in you and not to cower to the court of public opinion. Your truth will always stand and vindicate itself. And You will never change.
— Chip Henderson, senior pastor
— Chip Henderson, senior pastor
