LUKE 4:37

Luke 4:37

Here in Luke Chapter 4 we are being told about the early days in the ministry of Jesus. He had already spoken in the synagogues in Nazareth and Capernaum, two of the towns in the region of Galilee. He had also cast a demon out of a man. We are very early in His work, but it did not take long for things to start moving. The Bible says of Him in Luke 4:37, "And the fame of Him went out into every place of the country round about." Jesus became famous over night. We have seen this kind of thing happen in our society. Sometimes sudden fame destroys people. Most humans cannot receive too much attention or else they will become proud and vain and even self-destruct.

But the fame of Jesus was acquired differently than that which some humans achieve. Jesus became famous by doing the will of God. He did not seek fame or desire it. It just happened as He went about doing what He was supposed to do and what He was called of God to do. As a matter of fact, in the gospels you will often find Jesus asking people to not spread the fame of Him. Beware of those who seek the lime-light. Most often they are motivated by the spirit of selfishness and pride. Jesus said, "He that seeks his own glory speaks of Himself, but he that seeks the glory of Him that sent him, the same is also true." If you are supposed to be famous in this world, it will just happen as a result of doing what you are supposed to do and fulfilling the gifts and calling that God has given you. Don’t seek the fickle spotlight of fame or you might find that it leaves your life empty and vain. It will be much more rewarding to know that you did what you ought to have done.

Jesus did what He ought to have done. He did not seek fame. He sought to do what was right. He helped others when they needed His help. He glorified the Father. He proved what He was supposed to prove: that He was the Son of God. He spoke the Word of God. He fought against evil and darkness and won. He was faithful to His calling all the way to the cross. One of the main reasons that Jesus performed the miracles that He did was to show that just as He was capable of undoing the results of sin and disease and death in the circumstances that crossed His path while on earth, He would also finally and thoroughly end them forever in His eternal Kingdom.

The power of the Word of Christ was shown in the casting out of the demon. The day will come when Christ will speak and all the effects of sin and the failure of man will cease forever. Luke 4:38-44 tells us more of the things that Jesus did at the start of His public work to prove who He was to the people. It says, "And he arose out of the synagogue, and entered into Simon’s house. And Simon’s wife’s mother was taken with a great fever; and they besought him for her. And he stood over her, and rebuked the fever; and it left her: and immediately she arose and ministered unto them. Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto him; and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them. And devils also came out of many crying out, and saying, Thou art Christ the Son of God. And he rebuking them suffered them not to speak: for they knew that he was Christ. And when it was day, he departed and went into a desert place: and the people sought him, and came unto him, and stayed him, that he should not depart from them. And he said unto them, I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also: for therefore am I sent. And he preached in the synagogues of Galilee."

It’s interesting to note that when Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law that Jesus "rebuked the fever." The implication is that the fever had some kind of spiritual cause and therefore needed a spiritual remedy. As soon as this woman had the right kind of contact with Christ, she became well. It’s not true of all sickness, but it is true of some. If you want to be as healthy as you can be physically, then you must also be healthy spiritually. Notice that as soon as she was healed, she rose up and ministered to them. If God gives you health, it’s because He wants you to use your health for some kind of service. God gives life and health and strength for a reason. Find that reason and do it.

Jesus healed the mother-in-law of Peter by the words that He spoke. Jesus rebuked the fever and it left her. Jesus also healed people by laying His hands on them. This was not the same thing as the laying on of hands done in some denominations today when they claim that they are healing sickness. Jesus healed every sick person that came His way. If you only claim to heal some of the people who come your way, then you do not have the power to heal. If Jesus were on the earth today, He would walk into a hospital and everyone in it would get out of their bed and walk out. Don’t be fooled. No one on the earth today can heal the way that Jesus did. When the Bible says that "he laid his hands on every one of them," it means simply that He touched them. He touched them probably in order to symbolize the empathy and the concern and the love that He had for each one that was sick. God cares about you. He knows when you suffer, and He suffers with you because He loves you. Any parent suffers when their child suffers, and God loves us more than we could ever love even our own children.

Of course, Jesus did not have to put His hands on them to heal them. He spoke and healed Peter’s mother-in-law. Sometimes Jesus put His hands on people when He healed them, and sometimes He did not. Another reason for the times that He did place His hands on people was so that they would know assuredly that He was the one who had healed them. Christ still heals people today through prayer and through spiritual contact with Him. Because God can heal, does that mean that a Christian should not seek the advice and assistance of a doctor? Of course not. God created the world and the medicines that exist in it. God gave man intelligence, and the ability to understand the workings of the human body and what can be done to improve the chances that the body be healed from certain diseases and afflictions. A wise person will seek the help of a doctor, at the same time trusting in God, knowing that what a doctor cannot do God can always do. That’s why there are patients that seemed incurable from the standpoint of medical science, but a supernatural God still heals people when He so determines. It can happen and it does happen, because God is God. And Jesus healed whom He would because He is God. He proved who He was by the things that He did.

But Jesus came to the earth to do more than heal: He came to teach and to preach. He came to spread the truth and to publicly proclaim it. He did what He asks us to do. When the people came to Jesus and asked Him to stay with them, He told them that He could not stay because He had to "preach the kingdom of God to other cities also." The gospel is for everyone. Salvation is offered to everyone in the world. If you look at the attitude of Jesus and the words of Jesus from start to finish, it’s always an emphasis just like it is here on the equality of the human race and the common need of everyone to be saved. "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."

For thirty years Jesus lived quietly with Mary and Joseph the carpenter in the town of Nazareth. He stayed in Nazareth for most of that time. Now when He is asked to stay somewhere, He tells the people that He cannot stay. Something has changed. What is it? One thing that changed was the will of God and the calling of God. Jesus said, "I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also; for therefore am I sent." Does God want you to stay or go? It depends upon your calling, and only you and God will know for sure. Perhaps one of the reasons that Jesus was so insistent upon going to as many towns as He could was because He knew His time was short. In three short years He would be nailed to the cross. Later Jesus would say, "I must work the works of Him that sent me while it is day. The night comes when no man can work." We do not know the details about our human destiny the way that Jesus did. We do not know how long we have left. Some of us may have only a very short time. All the more reason that we be careful to go where He wants us to go and to do what He wants us to do. It may be that we have one last chance and one last calling before our time on earth is done.

There are many wonderful lessons to learn from the life of Christ. This passage has several good lessons for us also. We see in this passage as in other passages in the gospels that the people in great numbers came to Christ. They sought Him out because they had heard what great things He had done. But notice what Jesus did before He was with the people. Luke 4:42 says, "And when it was day, he departed and went into a desert place." Even the Christ made sure that He had time alone with the Father, undoubtedly for prayer and meditation on God’s Word. If you do not have the proper amount of time alone with God, you will not be sufficiently equipped for the times that you are with man.

In this passage Jesus cast out the devils from many people. The devils could not remain in the presence of Christ. He forbad them. Evil and good, darkness and light, do not dwell together. There is a great gulf between the two, so that the one cannot dwell comfortably in the presence of the other. "Except two agree, how shall they walk together?" That’s one of the reasons that a marriage can be so difficult if one person in the marriage is spiritually minded and the other is not. This vast difference between evil and good, and between light and darkness is the reason for the doctrine of separation that’s taught so clearly in scripture. "Come out from among them and be you separate saith the Lord." One of the best ways to remain separate is to walk closely with the Lord. When you do that, usually the people of the world will not want to be in your presence. The dark forces of this world are afraid of the light, just as they were when Christ crossed their paths 2000 years ago.

After thirty years with Mary and Joseph in his carpenter shop, why did Jesus go public? Why did He begin a public preaching ministry? The answer to that question is very similar to the only valid reason for a man today to become a preacher. Jesus was "sent." He was sent by the Father and by the Spirit of God. The Bible says in Romans 10:14-15, "And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent?" Perhaps some people have become preachers for the wrong reasons. That’s one reason there is a lack of power in the pulpit. You do not become a preacher because no one else will do it, or because someone told you that it is a good profession to go into, or because your father was a preacher. There is only one valid reason to become a preacher: because you have been called and sent by God.

How do you know if you have been called by God and sent by God to preach? One way of knowing is from the thing that Jesus said in Luke 4:43. He said, "I must preach the kingdom of God." Someone who has been called to preach and teach God’s Word has an inner force that compels them to express publicly what God has put in their heart. There is a time to learn, but then there is also a time to teach others what you have learned. If you are called of God to preach, somehow from deep inside your soul, you know just like Jesus did that somehow, somewhere you "must preach." You have got sermons inside of you that have built up because of your relationship with God and because of your study of His Word, and you must get them out. If you are called of God to preach, you cannot be silent any longer. No matter what the cost and no matter how much you have to give, you are ready and willing to do it all because of God’s calling that has touched your heart.

When you do stand up publicly and preach, what should you preach? Hopefully you will preach about the same thing that Jesus preached about. He said, "I must preach the kingdom of God." Jesus preached about the kingdom of God. We know what He meant about the kingdom of God, because He told us in other passages. In John 18:36 Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world." His kingdom is a spiritual kingdom. There is a big difference between the material kingdoms of this world and the kingdom of Christ. The kingdoms of this world are often full of deceit and empty promises. The kingdom of Christ is good and true. It’s the only place were righteousness and justice prevail. The kingdoms of this world are temporary in nature and will one day pass away. The kingdom of Christ will endure forever.

It’s much more important to have a place in the kingdom of Christ than to have only a limited future in the kingdoms of this world. One very important point about the kingdom of Christ: through Jesus and Jesus alone can you find an entrance into His great and wonderful kingdom. In John 10:9 Jesus said, "I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved."

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