• Stating the Purpose Luke 4:14-21  (see below)
  by Rev. Randy Quinn    
   

• How Scripture Makes us Different , Nehemia 8:1-10,  by Rev. Tom Hall 
   

• Body and Spirit 1Corinthians 12:12-31, by Richard Gehring 
   

• MISSION: POSSIBLE! Luke 4:14-21, by Rev. Rick Thompson  
   

• Sweeter Also Than Honey, Nehemiah 8 / Psalm 19 / Luke 4:14-21, by Rev. Edwin Searcy
   

• Home-Coming Luke 4:14-21, by Rev. Thomas Hall  
   

• The Gospel is ours now, Luke 4:14-21, by Rev. Dan Christ  
   

• All Things New, Luke 4:14-21, anonymous  
   

Stating the Purpose
a sermon based on Luke 4:14-21
by Rev. Randy Quinn
 

Before reading the text:

If you could pick one passage of scripture from the Old Testament that might serve to define who Jesus is, what would it be?  What one scripture portrait of “the Messiah” would you use to describe Jesus?

Ø      There is no doubt that for some, it would be the very first place where we read a prophetic foretelling of a savior, where God curses the serpent in the garden of Eden and then pronounces a word of hope:  “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will strike your head, and you will strike his heel” (Gen. 3:15) 

Ø      For others, it might be a quote from Moses, who after reminding the people of their salvation from the Egyptians and their long journey through the wilderness says:  “I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him” (Dt. 30:19-20).

Ø      Still others may turn to the amazing promise made to King David, “I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.  He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.  I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me. . . . Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever” (2 Sam. 7:12-14a, 16).  Of course, to use that one as a reference to Jesus, we have to leave out the line that says, “when he commits iniquity, I will punish him” (2 Sam. 7:14b).

What passage of scripture would you turn to?

Ø      Maybe you would turn to a familiar passage like Psalm 23 and affirm that Jesus is the Good Shepherd.

Ø      Or perhaps, you would hear him being spoken of in the words of wisdom in the book of Proverbs, “For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk blamelessly, guarding the paths of justice and preserving the way of his faithful ones” (Pr. 2:6-8).

Ø      Maybe you prefer to hear how Jesus came to express and share God’s love like Ruth did with Naomi or as expressed in the lover’s songs in the Song of Songs.

And while each of those can accurately and appropriately be seen as conveying some of what Jesus came to be, my question is which one passage would you choose?  I know it may be an unfair question since we hear Jesus being echoed throughout the Old Testament, but if there was one that would summarize your image of him, which would it be?

Ø      I suspect many of us would turn to the words of the prophets.  Jeremiah’s image of the new covenant, perhaps:  “The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.  It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt – a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the LORD.  But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD:  I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.  No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, "Know the LORD," for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more (Jer. 31:31-34).

Ø      Or maybe you would be one of those who turn to the warnings of Amos:  “For lo, I will command, and shake the house of Israel among all the nations as one shakes with a sieve, but no pebble shall fall to the ground.  All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword” (Amos 9:9-10).

Ø      Or what about something from Isaiah?  Maybe one of the familiar passages we used last month such as “a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty [continue]