Luke 9:46–48

Luke 9:46-48 

English Standard Version 

  We saw a billboard in the airport on Friday advertising a house on the beach for $35 million, and it's so far above and beyond what I could comprehend paying for a house that I simply can't comprehend that economic world.  I was thinking that people like that probably don't compare prices at the grocery store, but then I realized they probably don't even do their own grocery shopping.

  This is what it's easy to think about when we think about greatest.  We think about money and prestige.  We rank society in our minds, but Jesus knows our hearts, and he knows the disciples' hearts, and he's trying to teach them how different the Kingdom of God is.  Greatness in God's eyes isn't about prestige, it's about service.  The greatest is the one who finds ways to serve.  Children in Jesus' time had no legal standing or protection.  People didn't think about serving them.  But in the Kingdom of God, serving those on the bottom rung of society is to be celebrated.  Doing so glorifies God.

  It's almost impossible to wrap our heads around how different the Kingdom of God is.  But Jesus continues to invite us to contemplate the wondrous nature of God.  Let us not be put off by the challenge, but rather spend time in prayer asking God to open our hearts and minds to the wonders of life with Christ.

Luke 9:43–45

Luke 9:43-45 

English Standard Version 

  Here is Jesus, telling the disciples what is to come.  And here are the disciples, not understanding.  They were so in the dark that they didn't even want to ask Jesus what he meant.  

  If you were one of the disciples, telling Luke years later about Jesus' ministry, you wouldn't want to highlight this moment.  But it clearly stuck out to them, and because Jesus so miraculously worked things out in the end, the disciples didn't have to be embarrassed, because they were covered in grace, sweetly so by Jesus.  But think of how it sounded as they told Luke about it.  "Jesus told us he was going to be arrested and handed over, but we didn't believe him, and we were so confused by him that we didn't even want to ask him, so we all ignored it and pretended that we understood even though we were completely clueless."  Does that sound like it's coming from a future leader of the church?  That's the type of thing you can only admit to once you're certain that God's love for you is so thorough that it doesn't matter how bad you may look in the eyes of the world, because you look perfect in the eyes of the only one that matters.

  So don't be afraid of your failures and what you don't understand.  God reveals enough in God's perfect timing, and God covers us in grace so that we can go forward in faith and confidence.

Luke 9:37–43

Luke 9:37-43 

English Standard Version 

  Remember how Peter wanted to build a tent?  He wanted to stay in the moment with Moses and Elijah, but there was so much ministry to do.  They move from the Transfiguration to a child with a demon, being shattered continuously, time after time, with so little hope.  The disciples were powerless, and yet here is Jesus, with power for all.  Jesus doesn't stay on the mountaintop, but he is there.  Jesus doesn't stay in the valley, either, but he is there.  Wherever you find yourself, you can trust that Jesus has been there, and that he has power there.  I often find myself asking why I don't see or sense Jesus at work in the times when we so desperately need him -- I'm like the father, wondering why, seeking help, and I'm like the child, shattered by other forces.  We've all been there.  

  For the father, and for the child, there was a time when the unclean spirit overpowered the child, and they cried out and found no help -- the last time this happened, they didn't know that Jesus would heal the child before the unclean spirit came again.  They probably thought that it would come again, painfully, tragically, just like it had the time before.  The cycle continues, they likely thought, but they went to Jesus anyway, hoping, praying.  What if they'd given up?

  What if we give up?  God is constantly at work, sometimes in ways we don't recognize, sometimes in ways we do.  What if we gave up just before God did something amazing?  What if we stopped looking?  Faithfulness isn't always easy, patience with God can be trying.  We all understand that.  But steadfastly clinging to the Gospel is the wise thing to do, I believe, because the Gospel is the only thing we have seen in thousands of years of human history that can overcome death.  No one else has done that and promised that there is a way available to us.  So while it may seem dark in the midst of the night, that doesn't mean that dawn is not coming.  God has promised, and God has a history of keeping God's promises.  

  So cling to Christ.  Trust in him.  

Ephesians 4 Sermon for March 8, 2026

Luke 9:32–36

Luke 9:32-36 

English Standard Version 

  More than anything, Peter wants to stay in the moment.  He's tired, but he recognizes the gravity of what he is seeing, and he'll build tents so they can stay -- he doesn't know where he will stay, but he doesn't want Moses and Elijah to leave.  

  That's not the spiritual life to which we are called.  We're not stationary -- God tells us to listen to Jesus, and he often sends us forward, often into unknown and uncomfortable situations.  We like to be comfortable -- we want to build tents in the moment, to stay there and not leave.  I still marvel at Abraham, being sent out from everything he knows, only to later discover that his descendants would outnumber the stars.  The vision God has for us often requires us to leave comfort behind, much as I don't like that idea.  

  But it all starts with listening to Jesus.  

Time Change and the Gospel

Luke 9:28–31

Luke 9:28-31 

English Standard Version 

  It's one of those Biblical moments that you'd pay anything to be present at.  Imagine, seeing Jesus talking with Moses and Elijah.  The conversation spans centuries.   These are the two giants of the Old Testament, and what are they speaking of?

  The coming cross.  The suffering of Jesus that is to come.  

  It says a lot about what is most important.  For all the things they could've talked about, they were focused on the cross, the tool of violence that was to be used for the glorious liberation.  Freedom was on the other side of it, but it was not to be an easy journey.  

  What a privilege for Peter and John and James to witness this.  What would you have been thinking?  What questions would you have for these three?  How would it change you?

  And how do we think more on what Christ did for us on the cross?

Luke 9:23–27

Luke 9:23-27 

English Standard Version 

  When we invite people to church, we tend not to lead with this passage.  It's a hard teaching.  The cross has lost much of its meaning in a world where the Roman empire is no longer crucifying people by the thousands (thankfully!).  But imagine the reaction of the crowd when Jesus tells them that they are invited to take up their cross daily.  No one would have been excited about that, and you can't really take up a cross more than once.  And yet here is Jesus, inviting the crowd to find their life through losing it, to find salvation through sacrifice.  

  Are we willing to trust that the God of creation has our best interests in mind, that the God who feeds the crowd out of abundance will care for our every need?  It's a hard step to take, given that so much in the world is about protecting ourselves from shortages and working to secure ourselves from losing anything.  But Jesus has a vision for more than this world has, and he sees us as children handcrafted in the image of God.  He knows us completely and loves us completely.  He can do impossibly more than we can ask or imagine, and he's coming again in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

  Knowing that... what do you imagine it means to die to yourself daily, to lose your life daily so that you may find it?  

Luke 9:21–22

Luke 9:21-22 

English Standard Version 

  This is not the plan I would have come up with.  Peter has just confessed that Jesus is the Messiah... and then Jesus follows with a plan that involves suffering, death, and resurrection.  Had I been in charge, I might have developed a plan that omitted the first two parts of that and focused on glorification.  

  Thankfully, God is in control.  God understood what must be done, even if it doesn't make sense to human minds.  God knew, and God was committed to saving humanity and was therefore willing to pay any price.  God wasn't afraid of the necessary suffering, because God thinks you and I are worth it.  

  So let us not shy away from what we do not understand.  May we ask big questions and follow God wherever God may lead, trusting in God's plans and God's ways, which are greater than our own.

Ephesians 4 Sermon for March 1, 2026

Luke 9:18–20

Luke 9:18-20 

English Standard Version 

  There are movies or television shows that I haven't seen that I still have opinions about, based on clips I've seen or what I've heard.  There are books that I have strong feelings about that I've never read.  I know that I should read them for myself... but my mind is made up.  

  We form opinions about people, too, even though we don't know them very well.  Perhaps an actor played a character that we didn't really like, but we've decided we didn't like the actor.  Does it make sense?  No.  Do we do it?  Yes.

  Jesus is addressing the disciples directly.  He asks what the general knowledge about him is, what the crowds think.  But that's not the tough question.  You can say anything at that point and just blame it on someone else.

  The real question is, what do you think?  Who do you say that I am?  Are you willing to put it on record, to bet your life on it?  That's a direct question.  No dodging here.

  How would you answer this question?  And do your actions match your words?

Daffodils and the Gospel

Luke 9:14–17

Luke 9:14-17 

English Standard Version 

  The disciples were ready to send people away -- there was simply not enough food.  There was too much demand, not enough supply.

  But the economics of the Kingdom of God don't work the same way that our worldly economics work, because we worship a God of abundance.  Where there was once a shortage, we discover abundance.  Christ opens his heart and blessings flow.

  Such abundance leads to obedience.  Jesus gives the abundance to the disciples, and through their hands, the abundance of God is distributed to the world, with plenty left over.  God is simply showing off at that point! 

  Christ's role is to create abundance.  Our role is to be obedient and share what is put into our hands as a demonstration to the world of the abundance of God.