Welcome to our Together on Mission Podcast, when we seek to be with and like Jesus, as we begin a conversation with Jesus in the morning, through scripture, prayer, and meditation, and then continue that conversation with them throughout your day. Your host is Travis Twiney, the pastor at the Inland Vineyard Church in Corona, California. In this season of the podcast, we will be journeying through the Gospel of Luke, specifically looking for moments in the life of Jesus of the Aspirin. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Together on Mission Podcast, and welcome to our journey through the Gospel of Luke, especially we want to welcome you.
If you're new to the podcast, we're starting every day with Jesus and enjoying a passage in the Gospel of Luke, and then entering into time of prayer and meditation, and just enjoying Jesus throughout the day, discovering how to have a conversational relationship with Jesus. And the title of the podcast this morning is Pick a Fight. And some of us are thinking about an inappropriate title for a Christian podcast. I'm appalled, but then of course, others of us are absolutely delighted.
But nevertheless, pick a fight. And the question, this morning is simply this, who do you need to pick a fight with? Who do you need to stand up to? Who do you need to say something to?
And some of us immediately have an answer, oh, I need to say something to them or that person. I need to stand up to them. But others of us would say something like, well, there's nobody that I need to stand up to. I stand up to everyone.
I say whatever I want to say, you know, if someone cuts me off on the freeway, you know, if I could say, you know, but if we're losing it on strangers or if we're losing it on those that we're not supposed to be losing it on, it just means we're not actually saying or standing up to those that we actually need to. And so it's displaced anger. So the question presses, who do you, who do I need to say something to? Who do we need to confront?
It might be picking a fighter arguing with someone who we actually need to argue with because we haven't argued with them and arguing can be very healthy in a relationship. It may be confronting a boss or a coworker or a teenager or a neighbor because they need to be confronted or because we need to confront them. It might be standing up for someone else who we're called to protect, have a conversation for, you know, offer our strength to them. Who needs us to share advice with them or who do we need to be vulnerable with?
Right? Who's just on a dangerous course and somebody needs to love them enough to speak to them? Who do we need to pick a fight with? Start arguing with who do we need to say something to?
That's the question. Pick a fight. And we get to Luke chapter six. And Luke has been telling the story about Jesus going from town to town to town announcing the Jubilee.
And when we get to chapter six, it seems that Jesus is picking a fight with a group of people. So chapter six verse one on the Sabbath. And that's important. Jesus was going through the grain fields and his disciples were picking some heads of grain, rubbing them in their hand and eating the kernels.
Some of the Pharisees asked, why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath? Now, go down to verse five. Jesus says to them, the Son of Man, which is Jesus, is Lord of the Sabbath. Now, verse six, on another Sabbath, he went into the synagogue and he was teaching.
And there was a man with a shriveled hand. And the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking closely for a reason to accuse Jesus. So they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath. But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said to the man with the shriveled hand.
Get up and stand up in front of everyone. So he got up and he stood there. And Jesus said to them, I asked you, which is lawful on the Sabbath? To do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?
And he looked at them all and he said to the man, stretch out your hand. And he did so. And the hand was completely restored. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus.
Now, there are Sabbath controversies throughout the Gospel of Luke. And remember, Jesus is bringing in the Jubilee, the Kingdom of God. And the Pharisees are seeking, maybe unbeknownst to them, but they're seeking to keep people from experiencing this new Jubilee. They're oppressing the people with Sabbath laws and puree laws and kosher laws and tying up heavy burdens that they're not willing to lift a finger to help other people with.
And it seems, and this is something I want us to think about, it seems like Jesus is picking a fight with the Pharisees. It seems like Jesus is choosing the Sabbath to do things that are appalling to the Pharisees, but delightful to the crowds. It seems that Jesus is often picking the Sabbath so that he can have a confrontation with the Pharisees because a fight needs to be picked with them. They need to be confronted.
People need to be protected. And Jesus is offering or willing to offer his strength to people that need it and to have the conversation that needs to be had. And if you flip through the Gospel of Luke, as we're reading through the Gospel of Luke, we're going to find so many times on the Sabbath, Jesus did this. The Pharisees get irritated.
Jesus says something to them. And then when we get to Luke 11, Jesus is really going to let them have it. He's really going to have that conversation. He's really going to say what needs to be said.
And I know what you're thinking Jesus doesn't pick fights with people or did he? I mean, read the Gospels. It looks like he's intentionally provoking the religious elite, the Pharisees, the Sadducees on the Sabbath. It seems like he's picking a fight with them because something needs to be said to them.
And no one else will do it. And I love the verse, I read last verse 11. The Pharisees and the teachers of law were furious and they began to discuss with one another what they might do with Jesus, what they might do to Jesus. I mean, that's one of my favorite lines in the Gospel.
They were furious, but they needed to be talked to. And Jesus was willing to do that. And this morning we got to figure out what we're going to do with Jesus. Because here he is, living alive, living this life of Jubilee and asking disciples, summoning disciples to follow him.
He's summoning you and I to follow him. And that following of Jesus is sometimes going to involve picking fights with people we need to pick fights with. Saying what needs to be said. Having the argument that needs to be had.
Being honest. And confronting in love. Those that need to be confronted. Having that difficult conversation with your friend, with your teenage daughter, with the co-worker, a boss, a spouse.
Maybe some of us need to let somebody down that we've been trying to keep the peace with for far too long. Sometimes following Jesus is going to look like that. And sometimes I'm afraid that we have accepted a mistaken image of Jesus where he just went around smiling and saying, I stings to people. And what's interesting is that we've hidden behind that at least incomplete image of Jesus.
And it's no longer time to hide. It's time to be open. It's time to be brave. It's time to be honest, vulnerable.
And of course loving. It's time to have the conversation that we need to have. So who do you need to pick a fight with? Who do you need to have a conversation with?
Who do you need to stand up for? Who do you need to confront? Who do you need to be vulnerable with? So let's read the story.
Let's pray. Let's think. Let's meditate in the prayer that I want to pray this morning. Simply this Holy Spirit give me the courage and the grace and the truth to actually say what needs to be said.
Holy Spirit give me the courage and the grace and the truth to actually say what needs to be said. We'll talk tomorrow. Please even check out our website at InLudvigner.org.