Northwest Gospel Church Sermons Camas/washougal

Jesus Christ is risen! This Easter, we continue in The Gospel According to Luke: Kingdom Stories. Luke 18:9-14 contains the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. Through this interesting scene, Jesus instructs his followers on the necessity of humility and the danger of self-righteousness.

This Good Friday, we remember the suffering of Jesus and how it informs our lives as his followers. Christ's suffering leads to our redemption and our suffering is redeemed.

At first glance, this text appears to be about prayer. While there are principles about prayer that can be gathered from this parable, the primary point is the vindication of God’s suffering people. The point here is that “God patiently listens to his elect as they pray in their continuing distress, waiting for the proper time to act on their behalf” (The Expositor’s Bible Commentary). But the question Jesus asks remains. “Will he find faith on earth?”

In our passage this week the Pharisees finally ask the question that has been a long time coming. When will this kingdom come? Again wanting to test Jesus, these religious leaders ask this question then wait to catch Jesus as they have so many times before. But Jesus doesn’t respond to their question in the heretical way they were hoping. Instead, Jesus describes to them the true reality of God’s kingdom. This kingdom cannot be located because it is already in their midst.

This week, Luke is tying together temptation, confession to one another, faith, and being faithful servants of God. As Jesus makes his way to Jerusalem, and ultimately his death, he is teaching his disciples how they live out the Kingdom Ethic when he is gone. He provides no room for loner Christianity, but he also doesn’t forget personal accountability. We are responsible for how we live out our faith with and among one another, and yet we will also all stand before the master to give an account of how we served him in our life.

This week, Luke is tying together temptation, confession to one another, faith, and being faithful servants of God. As Jesus makes his way to Jerusalem, and ultimately his death, he is teaching his disciples how they live out the Kingdom Ethic when he is gone. He provides no room for loner Christianity, but he also doesn’t forget personal accountability. We are responsible for how we live out our faith with and among one another, and yet we will also all stand before the master to give an account of how we served him in our life.

This week, we read of a rich man and a poor man. Here, Jesus is highlighting the Pharisees' desperate need to hear and receive. As we go through this week’s text, let’s examine our own hearts and ask, will we respond to God’s word?

We’ve just come out of three chapters full of the parables of Jesus. In these metaphorical stories, he’s been teaching us about the heart of God and the kingdom of God. To be honest, all this talk of the kingdom of God has the religious leaders pretty upset. Jesus doesn’t fit neatly into the box they’ve attempted to put him in, in spite of the fact that every ounce of the Scriptures are ultimately about him (Luke 24:27). This week’s text is Jesus’ response to some of their questions, attitudes, and even the condition of their hearts. As we go through this week’s text, let’s examine our own hearts and make sure that they line up with the words of Jesus and the kingdom of God.

The parable of the dishonest manager is rather perplexing at first read. But, when we look closely, there's an important message that Jesus wants to teach his followers. Jesus, speaking to his disciples, urges them to be faithful in all their dealings with wealth. The world is often more intentional with their wealth than believers are (v. 8). While the world’s methods and means are for unrighteous gain, shouldn’t Christians be just as intentional in their stewardship for righteousness? Jesus encourages his disciples to be faithful with little and with much. We are to be faithful with the world’s riches and with our spiritual riches. Because, just like the dishonest manager, you cannot serve two masters. You may have both God and money, but you cannot serve both.

The story of the Prodigal Son is not only the story of the tax collectors and sinners in Jesus’ day, but of all of us today. We are created to be with God and experience relationship with him, but we have all rebelled and gone our own way (Isaiah 53:6). This story teaches us that despite our rebellion, God is overjoyed to bring us back into relationship with him. Our God is a gracious and merciful and loving father.

It’s no coincidence that last week’s passage ends with Jesus’ words: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear,” and then this week’s passage begins with the religious elites grumbling and complaining about the sinners that are drawing near to Jesus. Jesus answers their complaints, as he often does in Luke’s Gospel, with three stories. These parables all have a similar theme: heaven rejoices when a lost sinner repents. In this week’s passage, we get the first two parables: the story of the lost sheep and the story of the lost coin. In these stories, we not only see God’s heart for the lost, but we also gain the correct perspective of those who have already repented.

It seems that Jesus is all about the wedding metaphors in this section of the Scriptures. Jesus’s heart is to fill his banquet up with people. So, he sends out the invites to all who will come. And thank Jesus that he did, because that includes you and me! Jesus concludes by advising his disciples to count the cost. At the end of this section we’re left to consider, will we RSVP to the wedding banquet? Will we be prepared for that day?

This week, we see Jesus speaking through two parables. His lesson is clear: Those who assume a place of honor will find themselves humbled, but those who humble themselves to care for those who need them will find themselves exalted in the end. So, we ask ourselves, who is invited to sit around our tables?

If on a religiously-mandated day of rest your son, daughter, or family pet fell into a well, would you wait until the next day to do the work of pulling them out to safety? No way! Our text this week tells of Jesus going to a top Pharisee’s house for a Sabbath meal. While there and being watched closely by these religious leaders, Jesus encounters a man who needs serious medical attention. This dinner scene reveals to us the deep love that God has for his people and the wicked hypocrisy of the religious leaders that we must avoid at all costs.

Darryl Elledge · This week, we look at Ephesians 1:1-14. In the opening words of his letter to the Church in Ephesus, the Apostle Paul greets the receives of his letter and immediately begins talking about the wonderful spiritual blessing that we have in Christ. Here, we learn of our great hope in Christ and what he has accomplished for us.

This week, we continue our journey through the opening chapters of Matthew's gospel account where we see how Jesus is the promise-fulfilling Savior. We see more of these fulfilled promises as Matthew narrates Mary and Joseph's escape to Egypt with their newly born son and the devastation of Herod's rule back in Bethlehem. Here, we see that Christmas is about redemption and hope in Jesus.

As we continue looking at how Jesus fulfills the promises of the Old Testament, we come to Matthew 2:1-12. This passage tells the story of the wise men coming to worship God's promised Shepherd King. Here, we see that Christmas is about worshipping Jesus.

This week, we begin our Advent sermon series: Promises Fulfilled. Matthew 1:18-25 tells the story of Jesus' birth. This baby boy is not only the savior promised to Israel, he is God himself. Here, we see that Christmas is about God coming to save us.

This week we close out the fourth installment of The Gospel According to Luke. In this section of Luke's account, we read about Jesus healing a woman on the Sabbath and then teaching his followers about the kingdom of God with two comparisons.