Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Mistakes”
Our Bible verse for today: “For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him.” Colossians 1:19
Our thought for today: “It is a mistake to misunderstand who Jesus is.”
This Sunday at Oak Hill Baptist we will begin a new sermon series on the Gospel of Luke. As we do with every book of the Bible that we study, we will begin in chapter one, verse one, and we will study every major theme in the book. So whatever the next major theme is, that will be the subject for this week’s sermon.
I like the Gospel of Luke for many reasons but one of them is that Luke was not a Jew – he was a Gentile, a Greek. Because he was a non-Jew he was able to observe, understand, and then explain the life, times, and ministry of Jesus from a non-Jewish perspective. That’s very helpful to me because I am not a first century Jew living in Biblical Palestine and therefore it’s sometimes difficult for me to accurately understand things from that perspective. Luke is very helpful by simply and clearly explaining great Biblical truths about Jesus in a way that this Gentile can easily understand.
A mistake that many of us make is that we allow ourselves to end up with a distorted and inaccurate understanding of who Jesus is and what He is like. Philip Nation, a member of the LifeWay Research Group and a writer for the “Mission of God” study Bible, explained it like this: “It is vital to remember that Jesus is not whom we often make Him out to be. Though He taught, He is more than a great teacher. Though He performed miracles, he was not just a magical figure. Though He lived perfectly, He was not just an ethics professor.”
In Colossians chapter one the Apostle Paul tells us that the Jesus we worship and follow is actually the visible image of the invisible God (verse 15); Paul explains that of the members of the Trinity, it was actually Jesus Himself who did the creating (verse 16); it is Jesus who holds all of creation together (verse 17); and all the fullness of God the Father actually dwells within Jesus (verse 19).
The Jesus described by Paul is a good bit different from the smiling shepherd holding the little lambs who we commonly present to our children in Sunday school. He’s also a good bit more, and a good bit different, than “Jesus my good buddy, my friend.” as we so often tend to think of Him. Well yes, He our friend, but He is also the Almighty Lord of the universe, the Creator of heaven and earth, God Himself in a human body.
Luke is especially good at helping us Gentiles to better understand the real Jesus. A thorough study of his Gospel will help us to avoid the mistake of misunderstanding who Jesus really is.
My goal for this study, as a pastor and preacher, is for all of us to grow and mature as a result of digging deeply into the wonderful truths Luke teaches. The Apostle Paul expressed it well in his prayer for the Colossian Christians, “We are asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God.” Colossians 1:9-10 (HCSB)
That’s also my prayer for you. I invite you to join us for our study of the Gospel of Luke.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 