The Great Calling

Luke 4:14-20

There is a calling in our lives. It is specific and it is special. Each of us shares some strong elements of a common call and each of us is called to a particular role that is ours and ours alone. Jesus emerged from His wilderness trial confirmed in what He already knew. He exemplified the champion of a ministry that He would call us to share. He announced not only His personal ministry, but a new Messianic era. It was and is the Great Calling and it paved the way for us.

14 -And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about.

Having withstood near starvation and ruthless temptation, Jesus returned to Galilee. In returning, He did so in the power of the Holy Spirit. It was that same Spirit who had filled Him at His baptism and led Him into the wilderness. It was that same Spirit who would accompany Him throughout His ministry and upon whom He would rely. It was that same Spirit He would give to the believers at Pentecost and to us today. Jesus called upon no other power than that which He gives to us freely.

He just did it perfectly and in perfect submission.

As He went forth, His fame spread. There was a buzz. People were talking. Luke does not record any miracles up until this point. Nor does he tell us the content of any of Jesus’ teaching in the synagogues. Yet, there was something about Him and everywhere He went, people noticed.

Is there something about your life as Christ dwells in you? Is there a uniqueness and spiritual vitality that people can notice even if they cannot define it? Those who move in the power of the Spirit have it and it attracts attention.

Lesson # 1 – Walk in the Spirit and Listen for the Buzz.

There is no greater resource for your Christian life. You simply cannot live it apart from the Holy Spirit. If you do walk in the Spirit, you’ll reflect the life of Jesus everywhere you go and people will see the difference. You won’t have to manipulate the conversations to bring Him into them.

15 - And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all.

We know how Jesus taught. We read His words throughout the gospels. He shattered stereotypes, defied norms, redefined tired old religious language, and challenged empty traditions and prejudicial assumptions wherever He went.

Having been freed the need to prove Himself (significance), having settled the matter of His mission and loyalty (surrender) once and for all, and having laid aside all definitions and means success other than those that were from His Father and intrinsic to His nature, He could simply be who He was and say what He was given to say.

His countrymen were not accustomed to preachers like that. The early polls indicated approval. People were praising Him, but the unanimity of that praise would not last. He was about to become controversial.

Lesson # 2 – Settle on Your Identity in Christ and Be Yourself.

You have nothing to prove and nothing to lose. Be yourself – the person God made you to be – not the phony baloney self that you have fashioned for public consumption, but the truth-telling, Spirit-walking, joy-living, love-giving person you really are.

16 - And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.

Then He went home. It is tough going home. You will always be the little boy or girl they used to know. Familiarity to breeds many things, but one of them surely is contempt – not hostility – just contempt. He returned to His home synagogue where He had read aloud many times. This time would be different.

We all enjoy going home and we all have a sense of trepidation about it. How will we present ourselves? Will we be accepted? How will people relate to the experiences and insights we’ve had since we left?

Lesson # 3 – Don’t Be Afraid to Go Home and, when in Doubt, Let the Scriptures Speak for You.

Again, we have Jesus, the called, looking for a way to let the people who thought they knew Him know who He really was. Those folks thought they already knew. They had Him boxed in. Some folks think they know who you were; they have you defined, categorized, and set upon a course that they have predicted. Don’t buy into it. God designs you, defines you, and directs you.

17 - And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,

We pronounce the name of this book, “Isaiah.” He was the great prophet who had predicted the exile and return as well as the coming of the Messiah, the Suffering Servant. Jesus knew where to find the passage He wanted for that day. He knew exactly. He had immersed Himself in the scriptures all of His life. They had provided the foundation for His life and they had provided the ammunition He had needed to face temptation in the wilderness. Now, they would define His mission.

Lesson # 4 – If You Want to Be Sure of Your Calling, Prepare Your for Life by Immersing Yourself in the Sacred Scriptures.

If the One who authored them read them, at what point to we become to wise or familiar with them to leave them behind? Jesus came under the authority of the Word of God and centered His life and ministry in them. We can learn from that.

The old hymn goes like this:

Sing them over again to me,

Wonderful words of life.

Let me more of their beauty see,

Wonderful words of life.

Words of life and beauty,

Teach me faith and duty.

Beautiful words, wonderful words.

Wonderful words of life.

18 - The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me” is what a Messiah might say – certainly one who is certain of His words, certain that what He is saying is from God and is authoritative. It is the voice of confidence and clarity.

“He has anointed me.” Messiah means, “one anointed by God.”

Lesson # 5 – You Are Not the Messiah, but You Are Indwelt by Him. Therefore, speak with Confidence.

That gives you the authority that comes from being directly under authority. And it bestows confidence upon you.

“He has anointed me to …” Somehow, the One about whom it is ALL ABOUT had the attitude that it was not all about Him. For Jesus, it was about the message and for us it is about the message., Of course, He is the message because He is the agent of the liberation He is about to proclaim.

Lesson # 6 – It’s Not All About You. It IS All About the Message.

“To preach the gospel to the poor…” The Master who needs no affirmation from any man, does not need the status of a court prophet, a ladder climber, or an elite circle runner. He came to preach good news to the neediest of all. He would explain that the poor are the truly blessed because of their special place in the Kingdom. The poor could not help Jesus climb to power and He chose to relate to them.

Anyone can be poor enough to be included if they will just see themselves for what they are.

Lesson # 7 – Jesus Has Set the Pattern for Our Individual Callings with His Great Calling.

God has created you with a unique ability to proclaim the message that Jesus proclaimed. You will do it in your own way. You may focus on a particular component of it, but you share His overall calling to share good news with the poor and “ to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,”

We need to measure the success or failure of our church’s ministries against the standard of Jesus as He read from Isaiah:

q Are the poor being told the good news? Or are targeting only those audiences that we think can make our churches gown and stroke our egos. It’s not that God does not care about the rich in this world’s wealth, but He can’t help them much until they know how poor they are.

q Are the brokenhearted being healed? He is not saying that He has come to relieve our superficial sadness. It is more. People hearts are broken and that is more than being forlorn and lovelorn. It is about losing heart and giving up, throwing in the life towel and resigning from life. We have a message that can revive the heart and it is our calling to deliver it to the point of brokenness for the ultimate healing.

q Are captives being delivered? Are people coming out of addictions and sin? Are they being lifted? Is Satan losing the battle for people’s souls?

q Are the blind seeing? Are we doing our best and seeing some results in the ministry of physical, emotional, and spiritual healing and we promote a message of wholeness and truth? Are eyes being opened that once were oblivious to truth? Are people perceiving reality in a new way?

q Are we setting people free from the chains that bind them and the old tapes that tell them they can never be any more than they are? Are we communicating our calling through His calling that people in bondage have a calling as well and that they can become more than they are?

q Is it happening? Is the Spirit of the Lord upon us? Are we confidently embracing our call?

19 - To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

Jesus announced a new day. A careful study of the text including the context of Isaiah, informs us that Jesus was announcing a Messianic age and that He was the fulfillment of the Messianic Year of Jubilee. It was bold and scandalous, but it was true and He did not hold back.

We live in the Messianic Age of Jesus Christ. We live in the Day of Grace, the Moment of Liberation, a Time of Hope – the Day of the Lord!

These are urgent times and these are opportune times.

20 - And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.

21 - And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

There was something about the way He spoke that they knew more was coming, but His sermon was very short and very powerful.

Today, this scripture is fulfilled.

And everything is fulfilled in Christ – all of our hopes and expectations, all of our needs and all of our aspirations, the whole law, the prophets, and the wisdom of the Hebrew Scriptures, all the wisdom of the ages, all the longings of humanity through the generations.

Lesson # 8 – This Is the Time to Proclaim Christ and That Is Our Highest Calling.