MPC 27th May 2007.May 27 - Luke 3:21-4:13 - "Whose Son are you?"
Derek Hanna MPC 27th May 2007.
Now in many ways I think the first three chapters of Luke is very much like a Prologue. Just like that introduction sequence with the scrolling text in Star Wars. It's important information, and it's absolutely necessary to know in order to understand what's going on - but the action hasn't really started yet.
See in 3:23 - Luke points out to us that the action is about to begin. When Jesus was thirty years old, he began his public ministry.
And as Jesus begins his public ministry, there are three things about this particular Son that we should notice. He's going to tell us that he's endorsed by God, that he's descended physically from the original man Adam, but then he's going to draw our attention to what really sets this one who's called the "Son of God" apart from all else in history.
And you can see the first one in verses 21-22 there. Jesus goes down to be baptised as lots of other people had been, and as Jesus was praying something pretty extraordinary happens.
The heavens unzip like a big sleeping bag, and down descends this dove shaped thing which is the Holy Spirit and a booming voice comes from heaven, "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased".
Now this is a pretty extraordinary event. Even back in Ancient Israel, when something like this happens, it's not an ordinary day.
An ordinary day for an Israelite is heading down the temple to make a sacrifice.
An ordinary day for an Israelite is sitting in the temple area and hearing someone read from the scroll of Isaiah.
An ordinary day for an Israelite is watching John the Baptist throw some water on people in the Jordan river.
But this is not an ordinary day. An ordinary looking man endorsed by the creator as His own Son.
But there have been Sons before...(Ex 4:22-23)
But this kind of declaration isn't unprecedented in Israel's history. Not necessarily on one specific person, but have a look at Exodus 4:21-23:
The LORD said to Moses, "When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. Then say to Pharaoh, 'This is what the LORD says: Israel is my firstborn son, and I told you, "Let my son go, so he may worship me." But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son.'"
You see that - there was another to be called the Son of God - that was Israel.
So notice what Luke points out here - just as Israel as a nation was the Son of God - so here in this one person of Jesus, we have another Son of God.
How will he fare? Will he fail as Israel did? Another rebellious son?
Well, Luke will get there soon enough, but there's something else he wants us to notice...
That Jesus is not only a representative of the Israelite nation - he is a representative of the whole of the human race.
So Luke runs through this whole genealogy starting with Joseph, who it was supposed was his Son, all the way back through all the famous Israelites that we read about in the Old Testament - Zerubabbel, David, Jacob, Isaac and Abraham - but unlike Mathew, Luke wants to go right back before the founding of the nation of Israel, right back to the original man that caused the original problem - Adam, the Son of God in v.38.
So if you read through the two genealogies in Matthew and Luke, you'd see two main differences.
One is that Matthew starts with Abraham and works his way to Jesus while Luke starts with Jesus and works his way all the way back to Adam.
Two, that Matthew in going from Abraham points out who was who's Father, while Luke by starting with Jesus, points out who was who's Son.
He is endorsed by God as the perfect Israelite (yet to be proven!), but he is also physically descended from the original Son of God - Adam.
That is, while there is something very different about Jesus, there is also something very familiar - he too, is descended from Adam.
As we'll see, the hope is not just that he'll be the perfect Son that Israel never was, but also that he'll be the perfect Son that the Adam and the sons of Adam never were.
But there's all this build up, all these parallels, all these allusions to being sons, but the question is, how will He go in the face of trials?
Now we all know how Adam went in the face of trial don't we? One simple command, and he fails.
Now I know in my house that there are strict rules about drinking out of the bottle. And that strict rule is... don't do it. But do you think I can do it? Don't think so... and in my own defense, that's just one of many rules that I forget to adhere to...
But for Adam, he doesn't have to remember the bottle, or the toilet seat, or washing... he just has to remember not to eat from the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil...
And just as Israel failed time again in their history as the people of God... how will Jesus go? What's going to separate him from the rest of humanity?
Well, if it wasn't clear enough that Jesus was being compared to Israel, 4:1-2 make it abundantly clear.
In Deuteronomy, where Moses is appealing to Israel not to forget the Lord when they go into the promised land, he tells them to remember this, Deut 8:2-3:
Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.
You see the parallels there?
Just as Israel was led by God in the desert, so Jesus in 4:1 is led by the Spirit in the desert.
Just as Israel were in the desert for 40 years, so Jesus is led into the desert for 40 days.
Just as Israel hungered and was tested by God, so Jesus will hunger and be tested by God.
And that is where the similarities end - because only one of those who were tested passed. While the devil might try to cast doubt on Jesus legitimacy of Jesus as the Son of God, by starting his questions with "If you are the Son of God" - Jesus is going to show beyond a shadow of a doubt why he is not just a Son endorsed and descended, but a Son in the true sense of the word.
Have a look at the 3 tests that the devil puts in front of Jesus.
Firstly, Luke makes this great comment at the end of v.2 - Jesus didn't eat for 40 days and was hungry. Brilliant insight from Luke. But he doesn't put it there to be funny, but to emphasise this first test. The devil hits Jesus where he is most immediately hurting.
Look at verse 3. The pressure point that the devil goes for, is the same thing that Luke has been emphasising. That Jesus is the Son of God. "If you are the Son of God", he says, "then just tell this stone to become bread" and your hunger will disappear. Simple.
But what will Jesus do? Do as Israel did and doubt that God will care for his people, and take matters into his own hands?
What's his response? V.4 - "Man does not live on bread alone". Jesus won't follow his own leading, and he certainly won't follow the leading of the great deceiver. He alone will trust His Father to supply what he needs.
Well, when that doesn't work, the devil tries angle number two. Power and Glory. Look at v.5-6. He offers him not just Israel, but all the kingdoms of the world... right now. Now here is a good alternative to 3 years of tough ministry and a gruesome ending on the cross. Take the devil up on his offer, avoid all the pain... all you need to do is worship him.
So while this seems like a genuine offer from the devil - it's an offer with a catch...
He can have glory now, but it means changing allegiance. Becoming the Son not of God the Father, but of the Father of lies.
But it's a hollow offer, because what the devil offers is Jesus' by right anyway. The angel Gabriel had already declared in Luke that Jesus would inherit a never-ending Kingdom.
Everything the devil offers anyway he can only offer because God allows Him.
The offer looks good, but it's deceptive, and it's a call for Jesus to betray his Father and switch allegiance to the devil.
And Jesus answer shows that. V.8.
It is God alone who deserves worship.
So strike two for the devil. So again he tries a different tack. He calls for Jesus to assure himself of his status as the Son of God, the Messiah of Israel, the chosen one of God.
But this time the devil tries to use God's own word against Jesus.
If Jesus really is the Son of God... surely God won't let any harm come to him., surely.
But in his typical way, the devil distorts the word of God. There is no doubt that that is what Psalm 91 says there, but when you read it in it's entirety, you see that it is not talking in any way about putting yourself in harms way in order to see whether you are a person of God - for this would directly contradict Deut 6:16 which tells Israel not to put the Lord your God to the test.
Do not test the LORD your God as you did at Massah.
When Israel doubted God's goodness, they tested Him...but Jesus refuses to do so.
Strike three for the devil.
There is a difference, and that difference brings life.
And so if you haven't picked it up yet, here's what Luke wants to point out to people: One man did what no-one else has ever been able to do before or since.
Not a single son of Adam, not a single daughter of Eve, not a single son of Abraham, Isaac or Jacob has ever been able to do what Jesus did - resist temptation and serve God perfectly as a Son should.
It's on this platform that Jesus is going to begin and continue his ministry - that of obedience to the Word and the leading of God.
And that obedience was not easy, and it was not simple - it was painful and gruesome, yet glorious and amazing at the same time.
Obedience that did not shy away from humiliation, from floggings, from crucifixion... obedience that brought life.
So just as through one man's disobedience (Adam), death and disobedience was brought into the world for all who followed (including you and me) - so just as through the obedience of one man (Jesus) life and forgiveness is also offered to the world.
Have a look at this little snippet from Romans 5:18-19.
Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
By default, and before Christ entered the world and died, we had no choice but to be Sons of Adam. We followed the pattern that had been passed down, from the time of Adam's disobedience, to when we were born. We couldn't escape it, we couldn't avoid it - the result of Adam's trespass meant that we were all made guilty in the eyes of God, and we carried around the corruptness inherent in being human.
But through the obedience of the one perfect and true Son - Jesus Christ, another way of life has opened up to us. A life where we no longer follow the pattern of Adam, we follow the pattern of the one who resisted temptation and brought life to many.
Death comes through Adam. But life comes through Christ.
So I'll just say two things to finish...
Firstly, let me borrow a few more words from Paul the Apostle. If you are not already, be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ. By default, and without exception, you and I stand in the line of Adam, have given in to temptation again and again, and will fall under the judgement of God.
But with the arrival of Christ, with his life of obedience, we now have the option of standing in the line not of Adam, but of Christ himself. A line not with condemnation and death, but righteousness and life - because we now come from Christ.
And secondly, for those who have Christ as their saviour - let me encourage you to live up to the calling you have received.
Do not live with a foot in either camp - you are sons and daughters of the creator of the world, bought with the blood of Christ.
You are not sons and daughters of your career. You are sons and daughters of your God.
And you are not slaves to money and a secure future. As sons and daughters of your God, he will supply what you need without you having to grasp after it as the world does.
And you are no longer slaves to your sinful nature, because you have been given the Spirit of God which empowers you to overcome temptation and live as God's child.
You are not characterised by things of this world - bitterness, envy, selfishness, greed - you are characterised by the things of your saviour and your Father. Love, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control.
These are the things which characterise the sons and daughters of God. Live no longer as people under the curse of Adam, but live as those who have been given life by the perfect Son - Jesus Christ.