Jesus’ Mission on Earth
Isaiah 61:1-3;
Luke 4:14-21 or Luke 4:14-21
International Sunday School Lesson
May 11, 2014
Commentary
By
Jed Greenough
Are you ever intimidated by Christ? Surely because He is God we need to hold Him
in reverential awe. Likewise we need to
fear Him just as the Bible tells us this is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 1:7).
But one of the cool things about today’s scripture is that
we can do what He did! If that thought
didn’t cross your mind when you read today’s scripture go back and read it
again.
The scripture says in verse
14 that Jesus was “in the power of
the Spirit” and we likewise as Christians are given the ability to emulate
Christ and the power of the Spirit (1
Thessalonians 1).
If you read that and then read verse 14 again I think it is fair to say if we in fact fulfilled
what we read in 1 Thessalonians 1
that people would be talking about us through the countryside as well! I think we should be motivated by this.
In the 16th
verse we see that He dared to not just do this where He was but He went
home and did likewise. Many of us can
attest that living out our faith affectively where people first knew us or
where people don’t know we have become Christians can be the hardest of
all. Between our obsessing about their
remembering our brat moments and their in fact recalling our old ways it can be
hard but…it can and should be done if for no reason than if one person is
motivated by us as they see what we have become.
Like Jesus we go to our place of worship as is our custom
and we each have the chance if we will take it to be given the scripture and
read to others what is written. Do you
do that where you worship? If not you
should and not just the ones who always do but all should come in to rotation
until all are comfortable with doing so and comfortable listening to how we
each read. Great reader or poor reader
quit hogging or quit hiding, make it equal.
But it is one thing to share your faith where you worship
however the key to being talked about “through
the whole countryside” is doing it in the countryside!
Again, as with Christ in verse 18, we too are given the gift of the Holy Spirit. We too are “to proclaim the good news”.
As Christians this is our great commission (Matthew 28:16-20).
Really very cool isn’t it?
Once we too have dared to do this we also will have fulfilled the
scripture in our listener’s ears!
For Discussion:
1. Read
1 Thessalonians 1
2.
Find and read the connection in more than one
way of the fear of the Lord and the sharing of the gospel.
3.
Discuss the issue of being uncomfortable with
reading the scriptures aloud.
4.
Discuss the sharing of your faith with those who
don’t know you are Christian.
5.
Discuss experiences of going home with your
faith.
6.
Discuss verse 18 and 19 in depth.
Upcoming Lessons
5-18-14
Jesus’ Teaching on the Law, Matthew 15:1-11, 15-20
5-25-14
The Greatest Commandment, Leviticus 19:18; Deuteronomy 6:4-9; Mark
12:28-34
Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW
INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by
permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved
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