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This is the audio from the September 3, 2023 sermon, “Good News: A Great FULL Life”, shared by Tom Lemler at the Deer Run Church of Christ.

Text: Luke 7

Today I continued a series from the gospel of Luke as we gaze deeply into God’s Word to find the good news of Jesus shared with us by Luke the physician.  As we continue our Good News From the Doctor series, we find Jesus encountered many people who looked to Him for an understanding of both God and life.  When we look at Jesus we see the fullness of God dwelling among us so that we can experience a full life.  Our response is one that ought to be of great . . .

• Faith: (Luke 7:1-10)

  • The story of a Roman centurion coming to Jesus and being declared to have great faith is powerful!  This man not only believed in the ability of Jesus to do what was being asked, he was willing to accept the word of Jesus as proof enough that his request would be granted.  The good news of Jesus calls us to live with a great faith that learns to trust God simply because we believe His Word is His authority.  When we seek to live a great full life, we learn to trust all the promises of God as we take Him at His Word and live with great faith.

• Understanding: — (Luke 7:11-17)

  • Bad things happen to people regardless of whether the person is good or bad in our eyes, or even in their own eyes.  The religious leaders in the days of Jesus had many debates with Jesus over the cause of a person’s trouble as they were convinced that most physical sickness, disease, or disability was some form of judgment for sin.  In fact, if you followed the logic of the religious leaders far enough, it would be easy to assume that God was against the people.  As Jesus lived on earth doing good as He loved and served people, there arose a great understanding that God had come to help His people.  When we seek to live a great full life, we take on a great understanding that God has not only come to help us, He has come to help us help others.

• Light: — (Luke 7:18-18-35, Matthew 4:16)

  • As Jesus went about the land teaching the good news of His kingdom, his cousin, John, had been imprisoned and he began to wonder if Jesus was indeed the Messiah which had been promised.  In response to John’s question, Jesus sent word back that really only answered the question if one were to know and believe the prophecies from Isaiah about the Messiah.  Things were happening that were not business as usual kind of things and they lined up with what Isaiah said would be a great light shining on those who lived in darkness.  Not only were the miraculous deeds of healings taking place, but this light was shining on all people as the good news was being preached to the poor.  When we seek to live a great full life, we do so as a great light to the world as the light of Jesus shines through us.

• Love: — (Luke 7:36-50)

  • I’ve not done any research in the matter but I suspect that there may be more songs written about love than any other topic.  We try to explain, understand, and define love but always come up short in doing so if Jesus is not at the center.  In our text from Luke 7, we find a woman who seems to be an uninvited guest making a spectacle of herself as she weeps, washes the feet of Jesus with her tears, and anoints them with perfume.  Her reputation was less than stellar as pointed out by the Pharisee who was hosting the party thinking to himself that Jesus could not be a prophet because if he was he would never allow such a woman to touch Him.  The response of Jesus, to the man’s thoughts, was a question of the connection between forgiveness and love.  The man understood that the forgiveness of financial debt would likely result in love proportional to the debt forgiven.  In a similar way, Jesus said that the one who understood the greatness of their sin, and the forgiveness being offered, would love much.  When we seek to live a great full live, we must have great love, for our self and for others, which reflects the greatness of God’s forgiveness.

Today, how will you live a great FULL life?