Some of the most prominent themes in all of the Bible are the concepts of king and kingdom.
! We talked about this a couple of weeks ago in our fellowship group.
We were working through the Lord's prayer and we were dealing with that phrase,
thy kingdom come.
What does that actually mean?
What is Jesus instructing us on when he asks us to pray that?
And we came back to this very thought.
And that is, if not the most primary theme in the Bible, certainly one of the most prominent themes in the Scripture
is this idea of king and kingdom.
And I want you to think of it for just a moment in the broader scope of your Bible that you have in your hand.
If you've ever read the Bible all the way through, if you're just familiar with how it's structured, you'll understand this.
The Bible begins with a picture of kingdom with a king, right?
We go to Genesis.
We see God creates the world.
He creates this kingdom, the kingdom of this world.
It is a kingdom that is completely untouched by sin.
And what does he put in the midst of this kingdom, of this garden?
He puts a certain creature, Adam.
And what is Adam to act as there in God's kingdom?
As God's king.
He's God's representative to the world that God has created.
He is there to image God.
To guard the garden.
To speak truth.
To lead faithfully.
That's what Adam is meant to do.
That's what God creates him to do.
And he plants him in the garden, untouched by sin, for that purpose.
Now, let's pause from that.
And we're going to go to the whole other end of the Bible.
You're going to skip all the stuff in the middle.
We're going to go to the very end.
And you get to the book of Revelation.
What is it that we find there?
Well, this is the revealing of a new kingdom.
The new heavens.
The new earth.
God restoring a kingdom.
Not that it is untouched by sin in the same way.
But it is totally redeemed from sin.
And what does God use in this kingdom to lead it?
A new king.
The true and better Adam.
Jesus reigns in perfect righteousness in his eternal kingdom there.
And so we can see right there from just the big picture.
If we're thinking biblical theology for a moment.
The Bible starts with kingdom and king.
It ends with kingdom and king.
And everything in the middle is this incredible story of man's rebellion.
Man's redemption.
Man's restoration.
Through the saving work of God's king.
Now, these are the themes that are at the heart of the Advent season.
Which, according to the traditional Christian liturgical calendar, actually begins today.
I don't know if you realize that or not.
Maybe some of you did.
And maybe you're planning to start either this morning or tonight.
You've got your Advent devotional set aside that you're going to work through leading all the way up to December 24th.
But today is the first Sunday of Advent.
And these themes of king and kingdom is right at the very heart of it, isn't it?
From the first time that man sinned in the garden, Adam and Eve, continuing all through the scriptures thereafter,
God promised and reissued and continued these promises to send a savior king, a messiah, a Christ,
who would save his people from sin.
As the kids are learning in their kids' class on Sunday mornings,
who will crush the head of the serpent, right?
Who will restore the kingdom.
Advent itself, it means arrival.
Advent is about the arrival of this promised king.
In the liturgical season, which will run through December 24th,
it's meant to be a time of preparation, a time of anticipation that unfolds into,
if you're following strictly the liturgical calendar,
it will fold into the 12 days of Christmas,
which some of you kids may not realize is more than just a song, right?
And what is the 12 days of Christmas?
It's a time of celebration.
Celebration of what?
The fact that the king has come.
So we look to this promise in Advent.
We look to God's promises of a messiah.
And in Christmas season, we rejoice that the messiah has actually come.
Now, why am I saying all of this?
Because today we're going to find our place here in Luke's gospel.
And when you come to your Bible and you begin to read,
particularly in the four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,
you need to understand what their goal is as they write.
These are not just basic biographies.
That's not what these books are.
Certainly they have biographical information,
but the authors, Luke, is not writing just to tell us some interesting stories
about the life of Jesus of Nazareth.
That's not what he's doing.
That's why we call them gospels and not biographies.
Gospel meaning good news.
These are declarations.
They are proclamations.
They are arguments in that sense.
And what Luke and Matthew and Mark and John are doing
is they are trying to convince you, persuade you as the reader,
the listener of this book,
that Jesus of Nazareth is that promised king
and that in his coming, his advent, his arrival,
what he has brought with it is the inbreaking of this kingdom
that he will one day complete at his return.
Now, I want you to think about Luke's gospel for a moment.
He even begins his gospel by doing what?
Detailing the events of the literal arrival of the king in Bethlehem.
And everything that follows in this book is Luke's account.
It serves the purpose of declaring this good news
that Jesus Christ is the king
and how through his life and death and resurrection,
he made a way for you to be a citizen of his kingdom.
Totally redeemed from sin.
So on this first Sunday of Advent,
we're not going to do an Advent series.
We'll be back in 1 Peter next week.
But at least on this first Sunday of Advent,
I want to take you through a story in Luke
that I think beautifully portrays Jesus as king
and reveals how you can enter his kingdom.
Let's read it together.
Luke 17, verses 11 to 19.
On the way to Jerusalem,
he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee.
And as he entered a village,
he was met by 10 lepers who stood at a distance,
lifted up their voices saying,
Jesus, master, have mercy on us.
When he saw them, he said to them,
go and show yourselves to the priest.
And as they went, they were cleansed.
Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed,
turned back, praising God with a loud voice,
and he fell on his face at Jesus' feet,
giving him thanks.
Now he was a Samaritan.
And then Jesus answered,
were not 10 cleansed?
Where are the nine?
Was no one found to return and give praise to God
except this foreigner?
And he said to him,
rise and go your way.
Your faith has made you well.
Now perhaps you're familiar with this story.
Only Luke records it.
And it's usually presented as a powerful lesson
on gratitude and on thanksgiving.
Of course, highlighting the one former leper
who after being cleansed,
out of all the others,
goes back to Jesus and offers his thanksgiving.
And there can be no doubt that thanksgiving
is certainly a big part of this text.
I want to suggest to you, though,
that thanksgiving and gratitude
is not actually the point of this text.
What is this text actually meant to be doing here?
Why did Luke care to write it
when Matthew and Mark and John didn't?
And why did he place it where he placed it?
And I want to suggest that
actually the main point of this story
and why Luke includes it for us
is actually to give us a picture of the gospel.
It's to glorify Jesus as king,
which I've already said
is kind of the whole point of the book, right?
It's to show that Jesus is this king
and that he has brought the kingdom
and that you might enter it
if you trust him and believe him.
I think that's what Luke's actually doing
in this little story.
Yes, we want to be thankful.
We don't want to miss that here.
But I don't think it's actually about that.
It's about something much more profound than that.
Sometimes we look at the arrangement of material
in the gospels
and we think that maybe they're just
kind of this random assortment of events.
And I think that would be a mistake
for you to approach the gospels that way.
That would, one, be a pretty low view
of these four authors that wrote this.
Certainly they were more intelligent
and more intentional
than just to collect a bunch of random things
and with no particular order.
I actually think Luke's doing something
very different than that.
He is carefully ordering his material.
He's organizing this book
so that we might understand his argument.
So we need to determine
why Luke chose to place this story here.
And the only way to do that
is to look at what else he put around it.
So let's just zoom out for just a moment
and consider the chapter.
In verses one to four,
we find Jesus is teaching his disciples
a lesson on obedience and repentance
and the forgiveness that comes
after that repentance.
And he's doing that in the context
of how they are to interact with one another.
And of course, as they're interacting
with one another,
they are imaging God
and God's call to repentance
and God's willingness to forgive
again and again and again and again.
So we have that teaching there
in the first four verses.
And we get to verses five and six
and we see Jesus is teaching
another lesson to his disciples on faith.
It's a common one
that we see him teaching in the Gospels.
Little faith, like a mustard seed
that can do impossible things, right?
And of course, what's the point of that lesson?
It's not to say that
if you just believe hard enough,
you can do anything.
No, that's a worldly message.
That's not a biblical message.
No, what does Jesus mean to teach us there?
He means to say that faith,
God responds to faith
by doing the impossible in your life.
Faith is at the heart of it
and it only takes a little bit of it.
And God responds with magnificent things in our lives.
And then we get to the next section.
We get to verses seven to 10
and we find this maybe strange story
that Jesus is telling about a master
and his servants.
It's a story about servant-hearted humility
and submission to God.
We might say it this way,
it's a story about lordship
and humble service to the king.
All right, and then comes this story
that we just read.
But we got to look at what comes after it.
That'll help us get the proper context.
We see right in verses 20 all the way to 37,
we see Jesus is now in a conversation
with a group of Pharisees.
And the whole conversation
is about the coming kingdom.
In verses 22 to 37,
it's all focused on the kingdom
that is to come at the end,
the eschaton, right?
At the end when Jesus returns,
the day of judgment that will come
and what will that be like
and what will the signs be like
when the kingdom does finally come in its fullness.
That's verses 22 to 37.
But Jesus does this thing
that would have surprised the Pharisees,
certainly they wouldn't have bought into it,
and that's in verses 20 to 21.
Before he says, yes,
the kingdom is indeed coming,
he says it's actually already here
in some measure.
Just look at it in verse 20.
Being asked by the Pharisees
when the kingdom would come,
he answered the kingdom of God
is not coming in ways that can be observed.
They were looking for, in that moment,
for these big signs,
political arrangements
and military arrangements
and a particular king
that's gonna sit on a throne
and do all these things,
things you can see.
Jesus says the kingdom
isn't coming that way right now.
You won't be able to see it
the way that you think
you'll be able to see it.
Nor will they say,
look, here it is, they're there.
Why?
Because the kingdom
is in the midst of you, he says.
It's in the midst of you.
So there's this already,
not yet view of the kingdom.
Yes, it will come in its fullness,
but it's already here
in some measure.
Now, we take all of that into account
and we realize,
when we put this story
in its context,
what is it exactly
that Luke's doing
by telling us about these lepers?
We find that he's using it
as a living illustration
of all of these truths
that Jesus was teaching
in this chapter
that he's arranged for us.
He's got repentance,
he's got faith,
he's got lordship,
he's got kingdom,
he's got king,
he's got all of it there
right in the middle of it.
He says,
now let me tell you this story
about something that happened
with Jesus and these lepers
that perfectly shows
all of these things
and how they are lived out
in practice.
Jesus' interaction
with this man in particular,
it reveals how the kingdom
is already in our midst
and its citizens
are marked by repentance
and faith
and submission
to Jesus as king.
And the placement of it here,
it emphasizes a sign
that the kingdom
has come in Jesus
and that citizenship
in that kingdom
depends entirely
on faith in him.
And that's the two parts
that I want to point out
to you here.
First, I want you to see this.
I want you to see the sign
of the king,
the sign of the king.
Look again at verses 11 to 14.
Let's just read this part
of the story again.
On the way to Jerusalem,
he was passing along
between Samaria and Galilee.
And as he entered a village,
he was met by ten lepers
who stood at a distance,
lifted up their voices,
saying,
Jesus, Master,
have mercy on us.
When he saw them,
he said to them,
go and show yourselves
to the priest.
And as they went,
they were cleansed.
Now, let's think about
this first phrase.
He's on his way to Jerusalem,
which is really how
Luke is structuring
his narrative.
Beginning all the way back
at chapter 9,
he structures it
around this final journey
that Jesus is taking
from Galilee
to Jerusalem.
And you know what
he is moving to Jerusalem
to do?
To die on a cross.
And that's how Luke
is tracking these stories
and these lessons
along in his particular gospels.
Those who had a messianic
thought of Jesus
believed that he was
going to get there
and he was going to
assume a throne,
deliver Israel from Rome.
If you think back,
even if you've ever studied
what we call
the triumphal entry,
what was that all about?
That's at the end
of this journey
that Luke's referring to.
Jesus finally does
get to Jerusalem
and he rides on that donkey
and what is it
that the people do?
They welcome him
as a king.
They throw down
their garments
and the palm branches
and they shout,
Hosanna!
Salvation is here!
The Lord saves!
And they're expecting
Jesus is going to
mount this donkey
and he's going to
ride it all the way
to the throne.
Except that's not
where he rides.
He rides to the temple,
doesn't he?
He didn't come
to sit on a throne,
not at least
in this instance.
He came to die
on a cross.
God's king,
he wasn't going
to deliver his people
by defeating Rome.
He had come
to deliver his people
by defeating sin
and making an atonement
for their sin.
And we find
Jesus is early
in this journey
at this point
in Luke's gospel.
And he's journeying
north from Galilee,
south to Jerusalem.
And he's going
towards Samaria
at this point.
And of course,
he and his disciples
are met by a group
of lepers
as they entered
the village.
Now that the encounter
took place
at the entrance
of the village
makes a lot of sense,
doesn't it?
Because lepers
were excluded
from society
on account
of their condition.
This form
of leprosy
that we see
notated
in the gospels
was a terrible
terminal
disease.
It involved
skin lesions
that would spread
through the body
and cause it
to decay.
It also affected
the nervous system
in a unique way.
It created
this numbing effect
so that their brain
wouldn't always register
whenever they were
sensing pain
or when something
was wrong.
So you can imagine
the longer that
these people lived,
it was a slow disease
the way that it took over.
But the longer
they would live,
not only would their
body be deteriorating,
but they might
would roll an ankle
and not realize
exactly what's happening.
and it creates
these other injuries
that are unrelated
to the skin lesions.
It's just a terrible
way to have to live
your life.
Leprosy wasn't
just a diagnosis.
It was a death sentence.
A leper didn't
just lose their health.
They lost everything.
They lost their family.
They lost their home,
their job,
their community.
They weren't allowed
to worship any longer
in synagogue or temple
either one.
They're outcasts
living on the fringes
of society
and barring a miracle
in their lives,
this kind of leprosy
had a 100% death rate.
Lepers were required
to cover themselves,
cover their faces
whenever they would get
within a certain distance
from other people
who were healthy.
They would have to yell out,
they'd cover their face
and they'd have to yell out,
unclean!
Unclean!
It was the law.
They were highly contagious.
And here Jesus
and his disciples
are nearing a village
in Samaria,
bordering Samaria
and Galilee.
And here's this group
of lepers,
this commune outside,
10 lepers,
who cover their faces
but it's not unclean
that they yell out.
Somehow they recognize
who this is
that's coming.
Perhaps there's a crowd
that's following Jesus along.
At this point,
he's three years
into this ministry.
His fame was spread
even beyond Israel
at this point.
They recognized
who he was
and they cry out,
Jesus,
Master,
have mercy
on us.
Such is the cry
from many of the suffering people
who encounter Jesus
in the Gospels.
Mercy from God
through his Messiah
was their only hope
for life.
And these poor souls
did what any of us
would have done.
You've heard the stories
of this great healer?
And here he comes.
Maybe before they had
contracted the disease,
maybe they had witnessed him
do it
or heard him teach.
They recognize him
and they do what we would have done.
Have mercy!
Lord,
have mercy.
They begged for
the great healer
to show mercy
and help him
and what we find Jesus doing
is what we find Jesus
always doing.
He hears their cry
and he answers
and he heals them.
And what's amazing
about this particular miracle
is that Jesus does it
in the most
undramatic way ever.
It's very quick.
He doesn't converse
with them
at least in the way
that Luke tells the story.
He doesn't converse
with them in any way.
He doesn't touch them
like we see him doing
with other lepers.
There's very little
interaction here.
This is very undramatic,
isn't it?
What does he do?
He just simply says,
go show yourself
to the priest.
Now this was important.
This was part of the law.
In order to be able
to reenter society again,
to get their life back,
they would have to go
to the temple.
They'd have to present
themselves to the priest.
Then eight days
they would have to live
and be monitored
and observed
before they would actually
be allowed back
into society.
The people who went
to present themselves
before the priest
were the people
who believed themselves
to have been healed
of their disease
or cleansed
from their leprosy.
Jesus tells these men,
if they were all men,
he tells these ten lepers
to go and present themselves
to the priest
except they're not clean.
They're not healed.
They're still leprous.
Meaning that before
anything's going to happen
for them in this moment,
some measure of faith
and obedience
has to come into play.
Surely there was
a discussion, right?
Who knows how long
they've been out there
together, dying.
They've heard the stories,
maybe they've heard
about Jesus actually
touching others
and he's telling us
to go to the priest.
How can we do that?
They're not even going
to let us in the city.
Eventually they decide
to do it
and what happens?
As they are on their way,
they're cleansed
suddenly.
And this cleansing,
it wouldn't have been
minor.
They had everything to gain,
nothing to lose.
They set out for the temple
and suddenly their skin
becomes perfectly healthy.
They're healthy.
The broken bones
that maybe they had
suffered along the way
are strong,
set in place,
missing fingers
are suddenly present
and functioning,
whatever was the case.
Jesus never heals halfway.
The cleansing he brings,
it's total,
it's complete
and these lepers
would have experienced
new life and health
to the fullest
as a result of Jesus'
kindness toward them.
It's not hard to see
the symbolism here,
is it?
It's a symbol
of the spiritual cleansing
that Jesus came
to bring all
who will trust
and obey him.
And that cleansing,
just like the cleansing
of these lepers,
is total.
It's complete.
He doesn't do anything
halfway.
He doesn't come
part of the way
and expect you
to come the rest
of the way
to complete the process.
No, he does it all
from start to finish.
to the fullest.
It lacks nothing at all.
It comes entirely
of Jesus' own kindness
and compassion
toward sinners.
Just like those lepers,
spiritually speaking,
each of us
have a death sentence
on our lives.
100% death rate.
The only hope we have
is a miracle from God
that he will intervene,
that he will show mercy
to us,
kindness and compassion
to us.
Mercy from God
through his king
is your only hope.
And if you will come
through his king,
your healing,
your cleansing
will be complete,
paid in full.
Now the prophets foretold
that a sign of the Messiah
would be his power
to heal.
Jesus demonstrated
that power
on a remarkably
massive scale.
John MacArthur
used to talk about
how Jesus essentially
eradicated disease
from Israel
throughout his ministry.
I mean,
we're talking thousands
and thousands
of people
who are coming to him
sometimes on a daily basis.
They're being healed
in tangible ways.
It's not something
that you could just
quickly dismiss
to say there's no way
that happened.
If there was maybe
just a handful of people
that Jesus had claimed
to have healed,
maybe so.
This is healing
on a massive scale.
Thousands of people.
And what he did
for these lepers
doesn't even begin
to scratch the surface
of the power
that he demonstrated
throughout his three years
of ministry.
And what was this all about?
Why does Luke record
all of these instances?
Matthew and Mark
and John the same.
Why did they even
add this in there?
Well, it's not just
to amaze us.
It's to show us
something about Jesus.
It's to say
Jesus is that king
that Isaiah said
when he comes
the blind will see
and the lame will leap
and the dumb will speak.
It's marked
in his existence
and what he has done.
Just look at Jesus.
He is the king.
The savior king.
God sends
his people.
That's the point.
The first part
of this story,
I think.
Yeah, there's compassion.
There's this
microcosm
of a gospel story
right here
in these first few verses
and all of it's
pointing to the fact
that Jesus is king.
The king has come.
Well, then we get
to the second part
of the story
and we see
we move from
a sign of the king
to now we're seeing
a citizen of the kingdom.
Citizen of the kingdom.
Look at 15 to 19.
Then one of them,
when he saw
that he was healed,
turned back.
He was praising God
with a loud voice
and he fell on his face
at Jesus' feet
giving him thanks.
Now he's a Samaritan
and Jesus answered,
Were not ten cleansed?
Where are the other nine?
Was no one found
to return
and give praise to God
except this foreigner?
And he said to him,
that is he said
to this former leper
who has returned,
Rise and go your way.
Your faith has made you
well.
Now all of those lepers
experienced an incredible
life-changing miracle.
This one experienced
something that he
could have never imagined here.
Luke here,
he moves from the many
to the one.
He's making a distinction
in the work
that Jesus is doing.
There is this big work
that he's doing in the ten.
There's a different work
that he's doing in the one.
It's significant.
They were all
cleansed of body.
This one, I believe,
was cleansed of soul.
And we find that
in Jesus' final statement
in verse 19.
Literally it reads,
Your faith has saved you.
An expression
that he often communicated
to those who he healed.
It's a reference
to spiritual salvation
as distinct from
physical healing.
healing.
There's really no question
as we understand
the gospels
that Jesus had more
in mind here
with this statement
than healing from a disease.
As God's king,
Jesus affirmed
this former leper
as a new citizen
of his kingdom.
But why?
And this is where
Jesus' teaching
throughout the chapter
begins to show itself
in this story.
It's in the life
of this one man.
Just three things
I think are helpful
to note here.
First I want you
to notice his return.
His return.
Look at verse 15 again.
One of them,
when he saw he was healed,
turned back,
praising God
with a loud voice.
Jesus says it again
in verse 18.
Was no one found
to return
and give praise
but this one.
Now remember
at the beginning
of the chapter
Jesus taught this lesson
on repentance
that's to result
in forgiveness.
It's not a coincidence
that Luke is using
language of repentance
to describe
how this man
turned back,
praising God
with a loud voice.
Paul told the Romans
in Romans chapter 2
and verse 4
that God's kindness
and patience
are meant to lead us
to repentance.
And here in the 10
lepers,
we see an example
of God's kindness
and of his patience.
A miracle that was
meant to show them
Jesus.
A miracle that was
meant to bring them
to something deeper
than physical healing.
That was meant
to bring them
to repentance
and now with the one,
Luke is using
this language
of repentance,
he turned back.
Jesus says
he returns.
Literally that word
for repentance,
a turning away
and turning to God
in these moments.
All 10 lepers
received God's grace
and their healing
but only this man
turned
even from the benefits
of that healing
to offer praise
and thanksgiving
to Jesus.
Now we need to think
about what he was
turning away from.
going to the priest
would have resulted
in this man
getting his life back.
And I would imagine
after this encounter
with Jesus
he did indeed
go to the priest
and get his life back.
But even that
becomes a lesser priority
than coming back
to Jesus
in this moment
to offer his thanks
and to give praise
to God
through the king.
Is that not a picture
of real spiritual repentance?
What he's turning away
from in this moment
is not some gross sin
not some pagan
heresy.
He's turning away
from life
and health
and everything good.
But even the best things
in true repentance
become lesser things
when it means
that we're coming
to Jesus
in the process.
Isn't that what he's doing?
There is no salvation
without repentance
and what this man did
beautifully pictures
what repentance
unto salvation
actually looks like.
So we see his return.
Next I want you
to see his faith.
His faith.
I look again
at the second half
of verse 15.
He turned back
and he was praising God
with a loud voice
just as a nice side note.
You can ask your kids
this when they get home.
They can get a piece of dessert
if they get this right.
The Greek language here
literally means megaphone.
Phones megalase.
Megaphone.
He's coming
and as he's on his way
back to Jesus
this is not subtle.
You know
he's not in the service
singing the song
and he's got his head down
and he's hoping
that nobody hears him
because he might be
a little embarrassed
if they hear his voice.
No, this man doesn't care.
This is like a megaphone.
He's praising God
as he's on his way back
to find Jesus
in this moment.
Now are we to assume
that the other nine
former lepers
did not praise God
as they journey
to see the priest?
That's often how
this story is presented
isn't it?
That well there were
ten of them
and they all received
this healing
but only one of them
actually had any gratitude.
But you know
the text doesn't
actually say that.
What it does say
is that one of them
returned to Jesus.
It doesn't say
that the other nine
refused to have gratitude
or that they didn't
praise God.
I would imagine
on their way
to the temple
there's a pretty nice
party going on.
They're excited
they're going to get
their life back.
If they're Jews
they would have understood
this is coming
because of God's
mercy on my life.
Probably I would imagine
a lot of praising
going on.
I don't think
that the emphasis
of this text
is to say
that they didn't
praise God.
Jesus' emphasis
is not just
on the man's praise.
It's on the fact
that he returned
to Jesus
to offer
that praise
to God.
At the very least
he seems to have
grasped
that Jesus
was God's
representative
and even
Jesus' response
suggests
that the man
understood him
to be more
than just a
prophetic representative
like the woman
at the well.
His eyes
were opened
to Jesus'
messianic
significance.
This was God's
promised king.
It's not only
that he's offering
praise to God
it's that he's
offering praise
to God
through Jesus.
He falls
at Jesus'
feet
and he offers
his praise
to God
through thanksgiving
to Jesus
as a mediator
of God's
blessing
on his life.
And it's
this faith
in the heart
of this man
this faith
in the person
of Christ
that Jesus
responds to
in verse 19
when he says
your faith
has saved
you.
The others
may very well
have offered
praise to God
I imagine
that they
very likely
did
but they
missed Jesus
in the process
of it
and because
they failed
to recognize
and return
to Jesus
they missed
the greatest
miracle of all
in the story
the cleansing
of their souls.
You see
without faith
in the person
and work
of Jesus Christ
there is no
salvation.
salvation
your life
may contain
all kinds
of praises
to God
whether that's
just a general
idea of God
in your mind
or maybe it's
even in the
context of
Christian religion
you may have
all kinds
of praise
to offer
but if you
miss Jesus
in the process
of it
you've missed
everything.
If all you
get out of
this story
is offering
thanksgiving
to God
and you
miss Jesus
you've
missed it
all
and if
you go
through this
life
affiliating
with
Christianity
and showing
up to
church
on Sunday
and singing
with everybody
else
when we go
through the
songs
and sitting
around the
table at
Thanksgiving
saying God
it's just
been so good
to me
look at all
that I have
or whatever
it is
and you
miss Jesus
and all
the process
of it
you've
missed
it all
you've
received
some great
benefits
of his
kindness
but that
doesn't make
you a
citizen
of his
kingdom
his
faith
here
is
significant
the
picture
of
lordship
as he
cast
himself
at
Jesus
feet
all
part
of
this
chapter
isn't
it
and we
find this
third
thing
here
we see
his
citizenship
look
again
at
verse
16
now
he was
a
Samaritan
verse
18
is
no
one
found
to
return
and
give
praise
to
God
except
this
foreigner
now
this
seems
weird
doesn't
it
why
would
Luke
make
an
issue
of
this
why
would
he
bring
out
the
fact
that
this
man
was
a
Samaritan
well
Luke's
primary
audience
is
not
a
Jewish
audience
can
you
imagine
you're
a
Gentile
you've
been
told
your
whole
life
as
far
as
it
goes
with
the
Jewish
God
you're
excluded
and
now
Luke's
writing
this
and
he's
telling
about
God's
king
and
he's
saying
the
guy
that
he
responded
to
wasn't
a
Jew
he was
a
Samaritan
it's
a
pretty
big
deal
isn't
it
Jesus
is
making
a
big
point
here
by
calling
him
a
foreigner
he's
not
degrading
him
that's
not
what
Jesus
is
doing
he's
not
he's
making
a
point
about
the
kingdom
part
of
the
of
his
kingdom
and
of
his
true
people
citizens
of
Christ's
kingdom
are
not
marked
by
ethnicity
they're
not
marked
by
political
alignment
they
are
marked
solely
by
faith
in
the
Lord
Jesus
Christ
thus
Jesus
tells
the
Pharisees
in
verse
21
that
the
kingdom
of
God
is
already
in
the
midst
of
them
first
it's
in
their
midst
because
Jesus
is
there
he's
the
king
the
representative
of
the
kingdom
but
from
there
it's
present
in
people
from
every
nation
who
trust
and
love
and
follow
him
that's
how
the
kingdom
breaks
through
even
now
it's
not
a
Jewish
kingdom
it's
not
an
Israeli
kingdom
it's
God's
kingdom
and it's
universal
it's
global
international
and it's
breaking
through
even
now
just
like
a
summer
day
when
an
afternoon
rain
storm
comes
through
and you've
got all
the dark
clouds
but as
the storm
begins
to break
you start
to see
these flashes
of light
from the
sun
it may
still be
raining
!
It may
still be
blowing
hard
but you
see
maybe
in the
distance
these
lights
of the
sun
poking
through
the
clouds
just
like
that
even
now
we're
going to
see
the sun
in its
fullness
one day
but even
now
there's
these
rays
of the
kingdom
that they're
shining
through
and they're
shining
through
entirely
based on
those who
come to
faith in
the Lord
Jesus
Christ
that's
how the
kingdom
comes
Kevin
de
young
says
the
kingdom
comes
when
and
where
the
king
is
known
when
Jesus
is
loved
and
worshipped
and
believed
upon
there
the
kingdom
of
God
is
in
the
midst
of
you
citizenship
!
in the
kingdom
eternal
salvation
in other
words
it's
not
about
ethnicity
political
alignment
or even
religious
affiliation
in and
of
itself
salvation
is
all
about
where
you
stand
with
the
king
Jesus
the
eternal
king
and
entrance
into
his
kingdom
comes
exclusively
through
faith
in
him
exclusively
there
is
no
other
way
and
all
who
come
to
him
in
faith
are
welcomed
into
his
kingdom
all
everyone
it
doesn't
matter
what
you've
done
up to
this
point
in
your
life
it
doesn't
matter
how
unclean
you
actually
are
in
my
eyes
or
anybody
else's
eyes
you are
welcomed
by your
king
if you
will
come
to him
the way
he said
to come
to him
which is
in repentance
and faith
there's really
two miracles
that's happening
in this
story
the cleansing
!
cleansing
of the
ten
lepers
gets
all
the
attention
right
but
it's
the
cleansing
of
the
one
that
really
the
story
is
about
all
of
Jesus'
miracles
there
were
they're
meant
to be
these
signs
that
he
is
indeed
God's
son
and
Messiah
they
aren't
ends
in and
of
themselves
in
the
text
they
are
means
by
which
these
authors
are
revealing
the
true
nature
of
Jesus
because
once
we
see
who
he
is
only
then
will
we
begin
to
understand
the
significance
of
his
arrival
and
why
he
came
and
ultimately
he
didn't
come
to
heal
our
diseases
he
came
to
forgive
our
sins
and
the
only
way
that
those
sins
will
be
forgiven
is
if
he
himself
pays
for
them
in
our
place
remember
the
first
line
of
the
section
where
is
he
going
he
is
on
his
way
to
Jerusalem
what
is
going
to
do
when
he
gets
there
he
is
going
to
lay
down
his
life
for
this
leper
that
came
back
and
fell
at
his
feet
and
worshipped
him
he
is
going
to
lay
down
his
life
for
you
and
for
me
that's
how
the
kingdom
comes
the
king
gives
himself
for
his
people
in
his
death
and
resurrection
those
who
trust
in
him
receive
forgiveness
of
sins
they
receive
entrance
into
the
kingdom
and
if
like
the
man
in
this
story
you
will
turn
to
him
today
you
too
will
be
saved
Advent
is a
season
of
preparation
that
unfolds
into
celebration
puts
us
in the
shoes
of
Israel
in the
Old
Testament
as
they're
waiting
for the
fulfillment
of the
promise
and
of
course
December
25th
rolls
around
and
it
breaks
into
celebration
that
the
promise
has
actually
been
fulfilled
but of
course
looking
from
this
side
of
the
cross
the
Advent
season
is a
little bit
different
for us
isn't
it
actually
starts
with
celebration
now
doesn't
it
because
the
king
has
already
come
it's
rooted
in
celebration
as we
prepare
and
anticipate
another
Advent
another
arrival
and
though
his
kingdom
is
already
in
our
midst
we
await
its
fullness
at
his
return
and
with
glad
and
joyful
hearts
we
celebrate
as we
prepare
for that
great
and
glorious
day
and
perhaps
this
story
will
be a
help
to
you
as
you
meditate
on
the
real
reason
that
we
celebrate
over
these
next
24
or
25
days
let's
pray
do