Psalm 71: 1 – 6; 1^st Corinthians 3: 1 – 6; Luke 4: 14 – 30 (Sermon)

Let’s face it – growing from a child into adulthood is difficult. We all have physical and emotional pains and bruises. We all have ups and downs. Most of us learn some hard lessons about ourselves and about other people. However, if we fail to learn these lessons we will not become mature adults.

The same thing is true about the Christian life. We all have to grow in our faith in order to become adult children of God. Sadly, many Christians do not want to grow up. They are content with a child-like faith. Paul called these people baby Christians. Our gospel text provides us with a good example of immature faith.

The religious Jewish people of Nazareth went to the synagogue to hear Jesus preach and teach. They were proud of their home town boy. Jesus talked about the familiar stories of God’s miraculous acts in the past: how God had fought Israel’s battles, how God had provided for Israel’s needs, and how God had chosen Israel to be His people. They like this! They knew they were sons and daughters of Abraham. They were confident that as Jews they remained at the center of God’s purposes.

The freedom for the prisoners that Jesus talked about reminded them of deliverance from Egypt and Babylonia. Then Jesus said, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."

When Jesus said this Jesus turned their abstract religion into reality. Jesus made the religion of their ancestors the religion of their day.

You see, the blind, the poor, and the captives were also a description of the religious peoples’ spiritual condition.

The release of the captives was joyously received because these people lived under the Roman occupation. But what if Jesus’ audiences were the oppressors rather than the oppressed?

When Jesus put them in the spotlight and focused on their lives they became uncomfortable and began to question Jesus’ authority.

Jesus told them they were keen enough to see the signs and to reap the benefits of God’s blessings. But then Jesus reminded them that they had failed to grasp the lessons from Elijah and Elisha. There were many starving Jewish widows in Elijah’s day but God only sent Elijah to miraculously feed a Gentile widow in Zerephath.

There were many Jewish people with leprosy in Elisha’s day, but God only miraculously cleansed Naaman the Syrian. Jesus reminded His audience and Jesus reminds us that God’s love and God’s blessings are for everybody. You see, we tend to put God in a box, we think God belongs to us and that God exists to only do favors for us.

Then these religious people in the synagogue were furious, drove Jesus out of town, and tried to kill Him. Verse 30 reminds us of Jesus’ divinity. "But He walked right through the crowd and went on His way."

But before we are too hard on the people at the synagogue in Nazareth, we need to examine ourselves. We have all seen immature self-obsessed religion at work. Some people quit coming to church because things are not like they used to be. Some people complain, "We don’t sing the songs I like to sing. People leave the church because the furniture they donated is no longer used. Some people complain because people don’t dress up to come to church like they did when I was growing up." People leave the church because they are not the center of attention or because their suggestion was not adopted immediately. We forget that this is the Lord’s church. We are quick to forget that Jesus is the head of the church. We forget God created us for His pleasure. We did not create God for our pleasure.

Our text challenges us to remember that the primary reason we come to church is to hear God’s word for us today! And some times God’s word for us is not what we want to hear but God’s word is always what we need to hear in order for us to grow in faith and to become the disciples that He has called us to be.

Our text challenges us to broaden our perspective and open our eyes to what God is doing in our world. Jesus said, "Today". You see, our faith is for today. Our faith is not limited to the past and our faith is not just for tomorrow. Our faith is for today.

Our text challenges us to examine our personal beliefs because we prefer comfort to challenge. We prefer reassurance to soul searching. We prefer praying for healing rather than confessing our sins and praying for forgiveness.

We prefer sermons that make us feel good rather than sermons on God’s commandment for us to tell our friends and neighbors the Good News of Jesus Christ.

We don’t like the Jesus who ate and associated with thieves, prostitutes, lepers, and befriended the friendless because if we are His disciples we have no choice but to do the same.

We don’t like the Jesus that stood up to hypocrisy, corruption, and injustice because if we are His disciples we have no choice but to do the same.

We don’t like the Jesus who told us that we are to love God more than anything else. The one who told us to set aside one day each week to praise and worship God.

We don’t like the Jesus who told us that we are to give generously to the Lord because if we are His disciples we have no choice but to obey all of His teachings and obey all of His commands.

Our text challenges us to trust God, follow God, and to obey God, to let God be God, to let God out of the box we like to put God in.

Jesus calls us to grow in our faith, to allow God to move us out of our comfort zones so God can mold us into the disciples He has called us to be. Jesus wants to be more than our protector; more than the one who supplies all of our needs. Jesus wants to be the Lord of our lives.

Is your faith mature enough to let God be God and not to think of Him as a genie in a bottle that we call upon when we need something or when we get into a jam?

Is your faith mature enough to trust God, follow God, and to obey God no matter what circumstance you find yourself in? AMEN