Category: Saturday Study

Luke 21-24 & Galatians 1 (5.6.23)

Grab your Bible and let’s go deeper into Galatians 1.

Read Galatians 1:1-5.

In this opening salutation, Paul gets right to preaching the gospel to the people in Galatia.

What is the gospel?

• It is the truth that God reigns supreme over all created things. Everything is from Him, through Him, to Him, and is for His glory forever and ever. That’s Romans 11.

• It is the truth that man has turned away from God’s glory in sin to make their lives about their own glory; man worships the idol of creation instead of God. That’s Romans 1 and 3.

• It is the truth that because of our sin, we deserve the righteous eternal wrath of God. That’s Romans 6.

• It is the truth that by God’s amazing grace, He saves sinners by the perfect shed blood of Christ, based on Jesus’ perfect life, sacrificial death, and victorious resurrection. That’s Romans 3.

• It is the truth that those whom God gives ears to hear and eyes to see, who repent of sin and self and trust wholly in Jesus Christ alone for salvation and lordship, He justifies and adopts as His own for eternity. That’s Romans 8.

The Word of Truth Catechism defines it this way:

The gospel is the good news of the grace and power of God to redeem undeserving sinners to eternal life through Jesus’ perfect, sinless life; substitutional, sacrificial death; and victorious resurrection from the grave. These sinners are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus alone from the eternal wrath they deserved, and they are reconciled into an eternally secure relationship with God.

This is THE GOOD NEWS. The word gospel means “news.” THE GOSPEL OF JESUS = THE GOOD NEWS!

There is no other news that has been, or ever will be, bigger than this.

The Scriptures teach us there is only one true gospel. The only one way to have lasting joy, real hope, total pardon from sin, and life everlasting with God is Jesus.

Only Jesus perfectly lived the life you and I failed to live.

Only Jesus paid the penalty in death that you and I should pay for eternity.

Only Jesus produces in us the redeemed life you and I could never attain on our own.

This is the good news! But, the problem in Galatia was that new Christians were being taught there was more to it than Jesus. This is a problem we still face today.

Read Galatians 1:6-7.

What is a false gospel?

It is any “news” that proclaims to change your life based on a savior or lord who is not Jesus Christ.

It is any “news” that proclaims to change your life with a different instruction or revelation that is not God’s holy word.

Some false gospels are easy to recognize because they are proclamations from Looneyville. But many are harder to discern because they claim Scripture and Jesus to be central to their belief.

Many false gospels are simply perversions or variations of the one true gospel.

What they will say is, “Oh, we are God’s people. We believe in the Bible, too. We believe in Jesus.” What they do is take the Scriptures and then lay another teaching or extra-biblical revelation over them.

For example:

• Mormons will claim the holy Scriptures and Jesus, but then lay the revelation of Joseph Smith over them.
• Jehovah’s Witnesses will claim the Scriptures, but then lay the teachings of Charles Taze Russel and the Watchtower Society over them.
• Christian Scientists will lay the teachings of science and health from Mary Baker Eddy over the Scriptures.
• Roman Catholics will claim the Holy Scriptures and Jesus as Lord, but then wrongly add the authority of the Pope and the church and the writings of the Apocrypha over them.

Whatever the agenda (Socialism/Marxism, Prosperity Capitalism, Moralistic Therapeutic Deism, etc.), if it seeks to add to or modify the pure gospel teaching of Scripture then you have a false gospel.

A false gospel is any teaching that is not solely rooted in the living word of God (the 66 books of the historic cannon of the holy Bible) and the authority and work alone of Jesus Christ.

A false gospel is any teaching that doesn’t say with clarity that all of us are, by nature, wicked and dead in our sin. In ourselves, we are without hope for eternal life or even the ability to pursue eternal life apart from the atoning work of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, and the sovereign work of the living God alone who redeems His people for His eternal glory and our eternal joy.

Paul is bringing a very important clarity, which is this:

The gospel of Jesus is not inclusive in that it’s not many ways to be redeemed and reconciled to God. It is exclusive–Jesus alone is the way, the truth, and the life. That is not an inclusive statement. The cross of Christ cannot and does not “COEXIST” with, or “include”, any other religion.

This is an aggressive denial of a common modern belief called Universalism or Pluralism! Universalism says everyone who dies will go to heaven and be reconciled to God someway somehow. Pluralism says all religious paths are equally valid and can, and should, coexist.

The common statement by grieving people who have lost loved ones is, “They are in a better place.” But if they had no true repentance and belief in Jesus alone prior to death then that person had no redemption from their sin guilty by the substitutional atonement of Jesus Christ. Still, some people cling to the false gospel that their unbelieving loved ones will be accepted because they were generally thought of as a good person.

Hear this today very clearly: There is no accurate biblical teaching that a person can go on rejecting the gospel of Christ and still be saved.

There are other man-made religions besides true, biblical Christianity, and there are other man-ordained authorities that seek to override Scripture; but there is no other gospel, no other good news of salvation other than grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, based on holy Scripture alone, for the glory of God alone.

This is what Paul is fired up about. People in Galatia were being lied to and led astray. The false gospel Paul was specifically confronting was the Judaizers’ teaching that in addition to Jesus, you needed to be circumcised and act like a Jew to be right with God.

Instead of the good news being, “Jesus saves us by His power,” they were teaching: It is Jesus’ work and you also need to … (fill in the blank).

This is “Jesus PLUS” language. This is a false gospel! This teaching is adding to what the Scriptures clearly teach—Jesus alone saves us and redeems us. We can do nothing to add to, help, or assist our salvation.

Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Anytime you hear someone say, “You need Jesus … (plus something else).” STOP! And be warned! All we need is Jesus. Period. That is the good news. Jesus paid it all. It is an undeserved gift of epic proportions.

It is Jesus’ work for Jesus’ glory, and it is our utter privilege to be called by God into it. There is nothing else you and I can do. The Bible says even our faith is a gift from God.

Philippians 1:29 For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake.

God made it this way so that He gets all the glory, and not you or me. He made it this way so that we have nothing to boast in.

I encourage people all the time to stop testifying, “This is the day I accepted Jesus.” I encourage a change in how this is said not only because it is not a biblical statement, but also because in even the smallest way, it is a boasting in oneself—“Let me tell you about the day that I did this.”

Instead, I encourage people to proclaim, “This is the day that God saved me.” This way, all praise and glory go to God. “He chose me, He pursued me while I was His enemy and in His timing He awakened my depraved heart of stone to see and savor His gospel—He gave me faith in Jesus alone. Jesus did the work needed to earn my salvation—work that I could not do. And Jesus claimed for me eternal victory and right standing with God. All praise to God!”

We have nothing to brag about. Only Jesus. The good news is Jesus! Nothing else.

It is not Jesus … plus something else. He is our means and our prize! Our victory! Our greatest JOY! Jesus is not the means to another end. He is the prize.

Why is the gospel of Jesus “The good news”? One word: grace. Look at verses 3-5 again.

• Did you and I do anything to deserve the Son of God to come to earth and be tortured in our place, so we could be pardoned from our selfish rebellion against Him? NO!
• Was He obligated to do this anyway? NO!

That’s why it is called grace! Grace is unmerited favor, or an undeserved gift, given by an unobligated giver.

If you want to sum up what distinguishes Christianity from everything else, it is the gospel of grace. We are saved by grace, which means by nothing we have done.

What the Judaizers were teaching the Galatians was that they needed to “do” something else to be in the true family of God—they needed to get circumcised and act like Jews.

Next, Paul says we are to look very carefully for those who proclaim false gospels, even among those who claim to be in the church or who claim to be connected to God.

Read Galatians 1:8-9.

Many modern-day, self-proclaimed Christian teachers, preachers, and churches are the greatest danger to true Christianity. False teachers trying to satisfy fleshly desires will preach false gospels to gather a crowd, get rich, and/or start a movement.

Brothers/Sisters, just because it’s on TV, it is a big church, or the leader is likable, that doesn’t mean the true gospel is what is being preached. The worst thing we could do is think, “They talk about Jesus, so it can’t be that bad.” No, it can be that bad—bad enough to convince lost people who are under God’s wrath they are saved when they are not.

The testimony we are called to bring to the lost world is not one of pandering to others’ man-made beliefs that somehow they are good with God because of their (fill in the blank) point of view. Instead, our call is to testify the true, life-altering, exclusive gospel of Jesus Christ alone to them and trust in God’s perfect will and timing to set them free.

Finally, read Galatians 1:10.

Let me ask you, “Who are you trying to please?”

Often, we are working so hard to try to please someone else, to win the approval of man. We desire to be accepted by our loved ones, our work associates, others we associate with so we can be known and liked.

Often, we are looking to meet the approval of ourselves—trying so hard to get to a level of life we think we should be at, such as the way we look, our intelligence, the accomplishments we have made, the success of our kids.

God is making clear to us in this passage today that, “There is no other Gospel.” There is no other “good news” you can get from anyone else, or you can tell yourself, that will ultimately satisfy you and eternally save you from deserved eternal death.

Jesus is the only One who ultimately pleased God and the good news is that He satisfied God’s perfect wrath on our behalf, so we could be a part of the family forever.

In Christ, we have a new identity! We are accepted because of what Christ alone has done. This is the good news of Jesus!

Like Paul, the greatest joy in my life is to be a servant of Jesus: to be a solider for Jesus: to be a child of God!   Brothers/Sisters, hold fast to, and proclaim, no other gospel than “Christ alone.”

By His grace and for His glory,

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church

Luke 16-20 (4.29.23)

Grab your Bible, and let’s dig into Luke 19 and Jesus triumphal entry.

In Luke’s account of Jesus’triumphal entry into Jerusalem, we see that Jesus had reserved this event to make it known that He was the Messiah—the King!Jesus had not sought to be openly known as the Messiah until then. He did not want the waters to be stirred too early. Looking back now, we can see why. What the authorities did with Christ when they were convinced that He was a threat was literally deadly!

Read Luke 19:28-38.

The words the people shouted were not just random words. The people were singing and chanting the words of a song—one that generations of Jews had sung for almost 1,000 years. It was a song that David had written as a prayer for the people’s salvation—a prayer of hope and deliverance! It’s found in Psalm 118:25-27.

Even though they were singing the songs of their ancestors, and even with more than a thousand years of history and teaching, the people in that moment were looking for the wrong kind of savior. We’ll get back to this.

It’s important that we understand the formal entry of a king into a city in that day. During Jesus’ day, Pilate ruled over Jerusalem as a Roman governor. Pilate’s superior would have been Caesar. In those days, there were a few times each year that all Jewish people were supposed to go to Jerusalem to celebrate specific holidays together. The Romans were in charge and ruled over Jerusalem, but during these celebrations, the Jews would have certainly outnumbered the Romans who were present in the city.

Pilate, the Roman governor, would have probably felt pretty wary about these festivals. It would have been a stressful time in government and there was also the ever-present threat that if the Jews decided to all work together, they might have been able to overtake him. Now, Pilate lived in a mansion in Caesarea, but during these festivals, and specifically this week known as the Festival of Unleavened Bread or Passover, Pilate would march into Jerusalem to keep things in order during the festival.

His procession was designed to be authoritative and to show his power. It was designed to scare the people so that they would never even dream of uprising against Rome.

• The procession began with the Roman emblem, which was an eagle.
• Behind the eagle in the procession came the Roman soldiers carrying etchings of the Caesars with all kinds of things reminding the people of all the power they had and all the battles they had won. The etchings were all about power, strength, and domination.
• The soldiers marched with metal shields, which made a loud sound and brought about fear and terror to the people watching.
• Pilate entered next on a horse—a huge stallion—again, a symbol of power, strength, and military conquest.

Pilate entered Jerusalem on a horse from the west.

Now, Luke 19 describes another event, which happened the same week. Jesus went to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem. While looking from the Mount of Olives, Jerusalem could be seen to the west just past the Kidron Valley. They had brought the donkey to Him and people had spread their cloaks on the road as He went past them chanting, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!” This word “King” might not have been a good choice to use in light of Pilate, who had just come in, himself.

Read again Luke 19:39-44.

Let’s set the scene. There were a bunch of stones and graves on the Mount of Olives, because the Jews believed that the Messiah would raise from the dead all the good Jews who had died. From there they believed He would lead them all into Jerusalem where there would be peace and prosperity. Therefore, they all wanted to be buried near Jerusalem.

The Pharisees told them to be quiet, but Jesus said basically, “I’m the Messiah who will raise these people from the dead!” The Pharisees certainly knew what Jesus was talking about.

What about the fact that Jesus didn’t walk into the city, but rode a donkey?In the Old Testament, we read what Zechariah had said years ago in Zechariah 9:9:

Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion!

Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem!

See, your king comes to you,

Righteous and having salvation,

Gentle and riding on a donkey,

On a colt, the foal of a donkey. 

By riding in on a donkey Jesus is saying, “Hey, I’m the One you’ve been waiting for.”

Read again Luke 19:41-44.

Jesus is talking about the demise of the city. Jerusalem would fall about 70 years later. This is the result of the people all being focused on the wrong kingdom victory. Jesus is sad because many will miss the truth He brings—the peace He brings.

Now check this out:

• Pilate came from the west proclaiming his war abilities.
• Jesus came from the east, so He could proclaim peace.
• Jesus’ kingdom is totally different from the kingdom of Rome. His kingdom is about peace, not war. It’s about life, not oppression.

Jesus’ parade is for the humble who enjoy Him rather than the parade for Pilate which is for the proud who enjoy themselves.

Now, kings typically rode on horses or in chariots with the power proclamation of their officials, tools of war and weaponry, and many times were followed by the people they had conquered. But not Jesus. Jesus’ entry was all about peace. It was about a power that was bigger than man’s weapons and trophies. The real battle was about to go down, but it would be fought by Him on behalf of us. Hisblood would pour out—not ours.

Peace is what Jesus brings to those who will trust in Him.But too often we long for a savior that only brings a momentary peace

instead of looking for something deeper—something life changing—something eternal, a lasting peace. The people longed for Jesus to come into Jerusalem and be crowned into power and change the political and social scenery.

They had lost their passion for the restored relationship that the Messiah would be for them, spiritually. They were looking for a king to change things. But the change they desired was about monetary fruit, political peace, and safe borders. It was all about temporary stuff. Even while many were missing the point of who Jesus was and would be, God was not sitting in heaven frustrated. God was carrying out a plan of deliverance and of hope—a plan that would set us free.

When the people stood that day on the side of the road, they shouted “The Son of David is our salvation! Hooray for the king! Salvation belongs to the king! He is here!” And when they shouted, “Hosanna in the highest!” it meant, “Let all the angels in heaven join the song of praise. Salvation! Salvation! Let the highest heaven sing the song of hope and salvation!”The kind of savior they thought they were shouting to, is often the kind of savior we cry out to.

They were so oppressed by abusive taxation and hierarchical rule that they believed Jesus was showing up to take over the city, claim the throne, and change the political, economic, and social landscape. But Jesus didn’t come to be the popular leader of the day who would change the political, economic, and social landscape—the kind of leader who would ride His fame to the top. Jesus was an altogether different leader. Jesus was coming not to bring temporary solutions or patches of policy remix. He was coming to bring life to what was dead.

He was coming to find what was totally and utterly lost in the darkness. And instead of climbing up on the throne, He let Himself be caught, falsely accused, beaten, lied about, and condemned to death. So much so that many of those who a week earlier had screamed, “Hosanna!”with palm branches hoping for a temporary fix to their problems, now yelled, “Crucify Him!” when they saw that He wouldn’t give them what they wanted right then.

Here is the thing. Don’t you and I do this all the time?We go to God or to church hoping for God to simply make what we already have better, to make what once worked the way we liked it work again, or give us a little more of what we have.

And when He doesn’t deliver the way we want, we bail on Him, too. Some leave the church or the club. Some stay but are not truly surrendered to Him, trusting in Him, enjoying Him. We are guilty of crying out for a prosperity gospel. A fix-my-circumstances-for-me-now-and-then-I-will-praise-you kind of leader.

Thank God for Jesus Christ. Thank God that we have a God that loves us despite our selfish ways and worldly idol worship. We have a God who rode on the back of a lowly donkey into the city that long-ago Palm Sunday knowing that He was bringing to His enemies a salvation that was far beyond politics, the economy, and social stability. He was saving us from eternal death.

So, when we sing, “Hosanna!” now, in these days after Jesus’ death and resurrection which has saved us forever from our deserved punishment, we must see and sing, “Salvation has come! Salvation has come!”

The Son of David has come. He has saved us from guilt and fear and hopelessness. Salvation! Salvation belongs to our God and to the Son! Hosanna! Hosanna in the highest! The King has come!

By His grace and for His glory,

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church

Luke 11-15 (4.22.23)

Grab your Bible, and let’s dig into Luke 15 and the setting of a famous parable Jesus taught.

Luke 15:1-3 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” So he told them this parable:

Have you ever stopped to really consider what the parable of the Prodigal Son is about by studying the context in which Jesus tells it? First it says, “Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear him.” Let’s look at these for a moment:

The Tax Collectors

If you grew up in the church as a child, you were told the tax collectors were bad guys because they were like Friar Tuck from Robin Hood: They took more than they should to get rich. To give you the full picture of why tax collectors were so hated, you have to understand Rome at that time. Rome dominated the people with oppressive rule that required a massive army. How do you fund, supply, feed, and train a massive army to oppress the world? TAXES!! Tax collectors were the guys showing up at your door to take a large portion of your money, essentially so an evil empire could later come through your neighborhood to kill and abuse your loved ones.

Let’s look at the second group listed: sinners.

We know that “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). We are all sinners. So what is unique about these “sinners”? When Luke writes “sinner” here in the Scriptures, he is talking about the outcast. Sinner, here, means one who is deformed or diseased, homeless street people, prostitutes, slave traders, drug runners, etc. This is speaking from the Jewish perspective on society. If people were outside of the Jewish norm, they were labeled in this way. They were sinners!

The third group that was near Jesus on this hillside was “the Pharisees and the scribes.”

The Pharisees

A Pharisee was a person who held a high position in society because he was part of the religious elite—the highest rank in the Jewish faith. And Pharisees loved being above everyone else. It says here that the Pharisees were “grumbling” or “muttering.”  This is what self-righteous people do!

Who do you know that is always complaining about something or, even worse, is nit-picking other people all the time? Ask yourself, “Am I muttering a lot lately?” So what were they grumbling about? We find the answer in verse 2: “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” The Pharisees disapproved of a Rabbi (Jesus) allowing dirty, unrighteous people to fellowship with him. Eating together was a sign of acceptance, and the Pharisees wanted nothing to do with it.

Now, I want to set the table for what Jesus is about to unveil in these three parables, as it gives us a great way to think about our spiritual journey and go about our ministry. Jesus is going to deconstruct and reconstruct three world views—three roads we can travel.

1. The Irreligious

In biblical times, the irreligious person (e.g.: the tax collector and the sinner) had:

• No real regard for the law of the Bible or religious ways.
• If they grew up Jewish, they have left home, leaving behind the Jewish traditions and beliefs.
• By doing this, they were told regularly by the religious that they were outcast and that they would be judged and condemned for their rebellion.
• They essentially lived for themselves and for pleasure.

**Even though the irreligious have done life their way and are put down by the religious, HERE THEY ARE GATHERING AROUND JESUS! They are interested; they want to hear what He has to say! WHY? Because it is different than RELIGION.

2. The Religious

The self-righteous, religious man looks down on others because that is what you do when your identity is wrapped up in accomplishment—in keeping the RULES! Everything is about keeping the moral standard.

• If you keep the rules, you feel good; and when you are on top of your game, you point out all those who fall short compared to you.
• When you are not at the top of your game, you scramble to work harder to earn your righteousness back.

Now, there is a third party in this hillside scene: It’s Jesus! But many times, as with life, He is the one that we completely look right past. The Bible is given to us, not so that we can learn about these other people and how to copy them or not copy them, but it is always pointing us back to Jesus.

So, there is a third camp that we can be in. But only because Jesus makes it so.

3. The Gospel

Now, here is the kicker: Just because you go to church or because you prayed a prayer when you were younger, doesn’t mean that you are currently living through the GOSPEL. It is this very important clarity that we NEED to chase down.

Understand this: each of us is currently living in one of the three camps! It is imperative that we begin to see how we relate and operate out of these different relationships with God!

1. Some are living like the irreligious person—seeking answers and salvation because everywhere else we have looked, we have not found it. When those who are the irreligious look at other irreligious people, they say, “Sweet, rock on.” Or they see the danger in the worldly lifestyle they are in, and it causes them to want to change—to not end up where their dad or brother or friend ended up.

When you who are the irreligious look at the religious camp, you want to vomit at their hypocrisy and uppity, self-righteous, “look at me” lifestyle. When you look at those truly living out of the gospel, you are inspired but hesitant, because you are fearful that deep down it just looks like the religious.

2. Some relate with the religious who are frustrated with the grace of Christ that is trumping all the self-righteous good works they have worked so hard to do to earn their place. When the religious look at the irreligious, they think, “What a lazy waste! Get yourself together. I did it; so can you!” 

When you who are the religious look at other religious people, many times it is all judgment. Are you as good as me? When the religious look at those truly living out of the gospel, they are frustrated at the peace and the freedom in Christ!

3. Or we are the ones humbled and transformed by the gospel who seek to know Him more and worship Him as our greatest treasure! Your objective in showing up is to say, “Thank you,” and dig deeper—to walk in obedience, not because you have to, but because you want to.

When you who are living out of the gospel see the other two camps, your response is the same: sad and excited. Sad, because you see their lostness in their unsatisfying, man-driven pursuits. Excited, because people who truly love the treasure they have found are only really satisfied when they get to share it with others. A heart captured by Christ, treasuring Christ above all else, is one of authentic worship and true love for others.

So in which of the three camps are you living?

The common reality is for many who are saved, we can resort to taking a religious or irreligious approach to life in certain things. Our heart is captured and surrendered to Jesus in one setting, but we are completely reliant on our own strength and works in another. Some of us who have the gospel don’t live out of it at times because we get caught up practicing the habits of our religious upbringing or our wild days of trying to be satisfied with the world’s offerings or methods.

Now don’t miss this: In verse 3, it says, “Jesus told them this parable.” Really, He goes on to tell them three parables. Let me ask you this about the Prodigal Son: In what context have you told the story of the Prodigal Son to another or heard it used? Relating to someone who is lost or has lost someone they love and how it doesn’t matter how bad their rebellion was, the loving Father God always welcomes them home! RIGHT?

But there is so much more to this story. At the beginning of the story as Jesus told it in verse 11 that a man had two sons.We have made this story mostly about the younger son, but it is as much about the elder son as the younger son, and as much about the father as the two sons.

Instead of its well-known name “The Prodigal Son” (by the way, Jesus didn’t call it this), a better name might be “A Loving Father’s Response to His Two Lost Sons.” What we must see is Jesus is telling this story to not only show the sinners their need for Him, but to speak to the Pharisees, who relate to the elder brother and show them their need for Him, too. He is saying, “Do you see that you are just as lost as the younger brother? That you need me just as much as they do?”

Jesus is highlighting the failure of both brothers—both camps: irreligious and religious!

-The hedonistic, self-centeredness of the younger brother

-The self-righteous, self-centeredness of the elder brother

They both are lost and in need of the father. They both really want the father’s stuff more than the father. They just go about it differently.

In the end, only the father’s love and grace bring hope! This points us to the gospel!

In verses 1-3, we see Jesus take the time to share and speak truth and hope into the people who surround Him.

Just as Jesus came for them, the religious and irreligious, we are to share the gospel with both lost groups. We are to share the good news to the self-centered and the self-righteous. We are to share with them that Jesus left His throne to put on flesh.

If we are going to share this GOOD NEWS that changes lives with others, we have to see the costly expense of a Father who loves us and paid the high price for us to come into the party and celebrate with Him! We have to live out of the gospel camp and not just talk about it.

It begins by acknowledging which road you have been walking lately. Irreligious? Religious? Gospel?

Go back and read the parable of the Prodigal Father and his love for his two lost sons in Luke 15:11-32 again, and let it help you see and savor the beauty and power of living out of the gospel in all things.

By His grace and for His glory,

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church

Luke 6-10 (4.15.23)

In Luke 9:23-27 we read Jesus say:

And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.”

When Christ died on the cross for sinners, He not only stood in my place, doing what I never could do (forgiving my sin), but He also showed me what I must do as a follower of Him; namely, I must take up my own cross and join Him on the Calvary road of death to self.

Jesus spoke repeatedly to His disciples about taking up their cross (an instrument of death) and following Him. He made it clear that if any would follow Him, they must deny themselves, which means giving up their lives—spiritually, symbolically, and even physically, if necessary.

Chew on this with me: Christ died to save us from hell, but not to save us from the cross.

He died so that we could be glorified, but not to keep us from being crucified.

When you look at a cross as a believer, it should bring two very important things to mind:

1. Jesus died in your place—a gift that you did not earn and for which you will forever praise Him.
2. Jesus died in your place to give you the power to die to yourself every day and glorify Him.

The Christian life is one of crucifixion. The cross of Christ is not merely a past place of substitution; it is also a present place of daily execution.

We must never let the cross lose its crucifying power in our lives!

The great tragedy of much modern Christianity is that the cross is something that happened back then. I think it was Piper who once said, “We shame the cross of Christ when we think the cross means Jesus was soaked in blood so that I can now soak in a Jacuzzi.”

This is the demise of the life-changing gospel into a commonly acceptable form of the prosperity gospel.

The cross is not merely a past place of substitution; it is also a present place of daily execution—the execution of pride, and the execution of boasting in men, and the execution of self-reliance, and the execution of the love of money and status and the praise of men.

The teachings of Jesus that we read here in Luke 9 were not one-time clarities Jesus gave but a vital teaching He wanted us to rightly understand.

On another occasion, when surrounded by a crowd of eager followers, Jesus turned to them and remarked, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26).

Now, there are a lot of people out there longing for a seeker-sensitive church. The problem is, Jesus didn’t preach this way. He makes it very clear in the next verse:

Luke 14:27 “Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.”

The Scriptures teach if you are reborn, your life is a life of surrender to self. This is the life of crucifixion. This is a huge reality check for the redeemed, to give up your grip on the temporary for the sake of the eternal. To have a rightly placed priority on our stuff, our comfort, and our loved ones so that in everything we do, we show that Christ is our greatest treasure. 

Let me give you another text to show you that Jesus is clearly saying the Christian life is not one of comfort; it is a progressive road of refining fire known as sanctification.

Luke 9:57-62

As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

In this text, we see three men who approached Jesus, who seemed eager to follow Him. But to our surprise, Jesus seems to have tried to talk them out of doing so.

The first guy said, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus responded, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” In other words, Jesus told this man that he could expect homelessness on the journey ahead. Followers of Christ are not guaranteed that even their basic need of shelter will be met.

The second man told Jesus that his father had just died. The man wanted to go back, bury his father, and then follow Jesus.

Jesus replied, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”

A third man approached Jesus and said he wanted to follow Him, but before he did, he wanted to say good-bye to his family. Jesus wouldn’t let him. He told the man, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”

Plainly put, a relationship with Jesus requires total, superior, and exclusive devotion.

“Become homeless. Let someone else bury your dad. Don’t even say good-bye to your family.” 

Here is why the modern church should not use gimmicks to try to reach lost people: Jesus never used a gimmick to get more followers. He was simply and boldly making it clear from the start that if you follow Him, you abandon everything—your needs, your desires, even your family.

For those whom God gives rebirth, you give up comfort and familiarity to join Jesus in a life that dies to self!

Pastor David Platt speaks of this so well in his book Radical:

“Jesus’ simple call to his disciples—‘Follow me’—contained life-altering implications.

He was calling them to abandon their comforts, all that was familiar to them and natural for them.

He was calling them to abandon their careers. They were reorienting their entire life’s work around discipleship to Jesus. Their plans and dreams were now being swallowed up in his. Jesus was calling them to abandon their possessions. ‘Drop your nets and your trades as successful fishermen,’ he was saying in effect. Jesus was calling them to abandon their family and their friends.

When James and John left their father, we see Jesus’ words in Luke 14 coming alive.

Ultimately, Jesus was calling them to abandon themselves.

They were leaving certainty for uncertainty, safety for danger, self-preservation for self-denunciation.

In a world that prizes promoting oneself, they were following a teacher who told them to crucify themselves. And history tells us the result. Almost all of them would lose their lives because they responded to his invitation.”

So I ask you today, are you comfortable or crucified? Do you realize that the two don’t go together? They are like oil and water.

You are either finding ways to slip into a lifestyle that is comfortable, or you are daily dying to yourself and being refined out of your comfort in order to live to glorify God. What are some ways you could live more sacrificially for the sake of the gospel?

What are luxuries that you over-cling to that inhibit your sanctification and/or gospel ministry?

Is your greatest identity in your life not dad or husband or wife or mother or fill in the blank, but it is servant of the most-high God?

May the Christianity that Jesus defined be our reality and the reality of our churches and ministries.

May our sacrifice be a beacon of the hope that we have in Christ alone. May others trust their lives to Jesus, too, and be forever saved and sanctified.

By His grace and for His glory,

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church

Luke 1-5 (4.8.23)

Grab your Bible, and let’s go deeper into Luke 1.

Today, I want us to see the arrival of lasting joy as we look at Christ’s birth through the testimony of Elizabeth.

Read Luke 1:5-7.

Elizabeth is very late in age. What makes Elizabeth’s journey hard is that one of the greatest joys of a woman is to give birth to a child. Elizabeth is long past the window of human expectation for the ability to give birth. No doubt this is a hard reality for her. She says so herself in Luke 1:24-25. Please read it and let me ask a question.

What is the reproach among people she has faced for so long?

She is a descendant of Aaron and the wife of a priest, so the expectations on her to be a model woman are high. She is a good woman who is righteous before God and blameless in her lifestyle. The world says good, obedient people prosper, RIGHT? That is NOT what the Bible says, but that is what people think should happen. So it brings great misplaced expectation.

So when Elizabeth gets through her 20’s and doesn’t conceive, then her 30’s, her 40’s, her 50’s and on, she is disgraced by her community for not meeting their expectation of doing the most basic thing a woman is designed to do. Do you relate to her in not meeting expectations you have placed on yourself or that others have placed on you?

But here is what is cool. Elizabeth is a faithful, righteous, God-fearing, God-obeying woman, who is looking into the last stretch of life and has been kept from one of the great joys of womanhood in not being able to get pregnant, and what does she do? She rejoices in God! What is her response? Joy in God!

Read Luke 1:8-14.

The angel says that joy will come to the household of Zechariah and Elizabeth. Praise God that He has a plan for every person. Praise God that these two did not give up on God! If we skip down to Luke 1:57-58, we see she carries the baby to full term, and it is a great joy to them all.

Elizabeth gives birth, and she is full of joy. She is rejoicing with her neighbors and relatives that God had shown great mercy to her and provided a son for her to raise. Did you see the testimony of God redeeming some of the relationships that surely were a part of her reproach while barren? This is what God does. He redeems; He restores—not in our timing, but in His perfect timing!

Now you could say, “See? The joy in Elizabeth is because her circumstances changed. She finally got what she wanted.” Yes, she is joyful in the provision of a child, but what we must see is that she has a greater joy in Jesus.

Turn with me real quick and read John 16:19-24. Read verses 22-24 very carefully. Here Jesus is speaking of a lasting joy, a greater joy that is found only in Him. “I will see you again,” He says! What this means is to see Jesus after the cross of salvation—to not be blind anymore but to be given eyes to see Him and know Him—is to know lasting joy. It is to know and experience a joy that transcends our circumstances. He says, “Your joy will be complete.”

Brothers, if God has ordained that you are a parent, then admit that the day your child was born was amazing and filled with great joy. But not every day with that child is that way. In other words, the joy one has in God’s “provisions” in this life is temporary. But the joy found in “seeing and knowing Jesus” can never be taken away. It is a complete joy!

The joy the Scriptures speak of that we have in Christ transcends! This is how what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 6:10 can be possible. When he says he is “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing,” he is saying that even when life is hard—when circumstances are terrible—in Christ there is JOY!

Now what about Elizabeth? On the surface, it looks like her joy is only in her circumstances changing for the better. Let me show you why it is not. Look at the visit Mary makes to Elizabeth while they are both pregnant, and observe where Elizabeth’s joy really is.

Read Luke 1:39-45.

If I know women at all, there is one thing I know to be true: women are highly competitive. Not in a “let’s fight it out way” like men, but in a “how one stacks up against another” kind of way. They are constantly judging each other’s looks, attitude, words, parenting, etc.

Have you ever noticed that this is a very lopsided visit between two pregnant women? They only talk about Mary’s baby. How is it that the “VERY OLD” woman’s pregnancy is not the thing that Elizabeth wants to talk about?

Because Elizabeth’s joy and focus is on Mary’s pregnancy with Jesus.

Elizabeth makes no move to pull the conversation onto herself. Why? Because she gets it. She gets that Jesus is the One she has been waiting for. The source of her greatest joy is in the Messiah. She truly gets how the gospel is the most important news she could ever receive and that it trumps the one thing she has waited her entire life to have happen to her: getting pregnant. Do you see her greater joy is in the news of the coming (the advent) of Jesus?

This is how this is so applicable for every one of us. Is your greatest joy in Christ alone?

My prayer for all of you is that you see and savor Jesus over any other thing and therefore discover lasting joy in your life! May you find a joy not found in your circumstances but in the fact that you finally SEE and SAVOR Jesus as LORD and SAVIOR in your life!

It says it is in this conversation that Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit. This is God’s divine appointment to take up residence in His chosen woman. This is the truest evidence that Elizabeth is a woman of God. Her joy is in the birth of her anticipated redeemer King—JESUS! Jesus is the ultimate source of her joy, as it must be for us if we are to know lasting joy.

We must know the true reality of our sin. The Holy Spirit will not take up residence in a life that is living for itself, but only in a life that has truly repented of sin and trusted in Jesus alone—a life that is living for Christ.

We are faced with the same crossroad in our modern days. You can put your hope and joy in your circumstances or look to Christ as one that changes everything in our lives!  

I pray that you know this not just in your head but in your heart! And may it change everything in your life!

By His grace and for His glory,

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church