The Life of the Christ - ForMinistry

Luke 6, 7
fully trained, they will be like their teacher.
41 You can see the speck in your friend’s eye.
But you don’t notice the log in your own eye. 42 How
can you say, “My friend, let me take the speck out of
your eye,” when you don’t see the log in your own
eye? You show-offs! First, get the log out of your
own eye. Then you can see how to take the speck out
of your friend’s eye.
A Tree and Its Fruit
43 A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, and a
bad tree cannot produce good fruit. 44 You can tell
what a tree is like by the fruit it produces. You cannot
pick figs or grapes from thornbushes. 45 Good people
do good things because of the good in their hearts.
Bad people do bad things because of the evil in their
hearts. Your words show what is in your heart.
Two Builders
46 Why do you keep on saying that I am your
Lord, when you refuse to do what I say? 47 Anyone
who comes and listens to me and obeys me 48 is like
someone who dug down deep and built a house on
solid rock. When the flood came and the river
rushed against the house, it was built so well that it
didn’t even shake. 49 But anyone who hears what I say
and doesn’t obey me is like someone whose house
wasn’t built on solid rock. As soon as the river rushed
against that house, it was smashed to pieces!
Jesus Heals an Army Officer’s Servant
7 After Jesus had finished teaching the people, he went to
Capernaum. 2 In that town an army officer’s servant was sick and
about to die. The officer liked this servant very much. 3 And when
he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish leaders to ask him to
come and heal the servant.
4 The leaders went to Jesus and begged him to do something.
They said, “This man deserves your help! 5 He loves our nation
and even built us a meeting place.” 6 So Jesus went with them.
When Jesus wasn’t far from the house, the officer sent some
friends to tell him, “Lord, don’t go to any trouble for me! I am not
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Jesus Preaches and Heals in Galilee
good enough for you to come into my house. 7 And I am certainly
not worthy to come to you. Just say the word, and my servant will
get well. 8 I have officers who give orders to me, and I have soldiers
who take orders from me. I can say to one of them, ‘Go!’ and he
goes. I can say to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes. I can say to my
servant, ‘Do this!’ and he will do it.”
9 When Jesus heard this, he was so surprised that he turned
and said to the crowd following him, “In all of Israel I’ve never
found anyone with this much faith!”
10 The officer’s friends returned and found the servant well.
LORD AS A TITLE FOR JESUS
The Greek word for “Lord” is kyrios, which may mean “master,”
“ruler,” or “sir.” “Lord” should not be confused with “LORD,” the
word which is often printed in all capital letters and used to represent
God’s special name “Yahweh.” In the Roman Empire, “Lord”
was used for Caesar and indicated his absolute power as monarch,
but did not mean that he was a god. “Lord” usually appears as a
title for Jesus in the New Testament and declares his royal authority
as the one who has been raised from the dead to sit at God’s right
hand. Practically speaking, “Lord” functions in the same way as
“Christ,” another royal title. When Peter addressed the crowd, he
said, “Everyone in Israel should then know for certain that God has
made Jesus both Lord and Christ, even though you put him to
death on a cross” (Acts 2.36). Another example of the royal meanings
of this title is found in its Aramaic form, maran, which means
“Our Lord,” and was used to designate the king in the royal courts.
In two places in the New Testament (1 Cor 16.22; Rev 22.20) the
Christian community calls upon Jesus to return soon by using the
Aramaic expression maranatha (“Our Lord, come”).
“Jesus is Lord” appears several times in Paul’s letters (Rom
10.9; 1 Cor 8.6; 12.3; 2 Cor 4.5). To affirm Christ as Lord gave
great confidence to the early Christians who suffered for their
belief that God raised Jesus from death and gave him the highest
place and honored his name above all others. As one ancient hymn
that Paul quoted said, “So at the name of Jesus everyone will bow
down, those in heaven, on earth, and under the earth. And to the
glory of God the Father everyone will openly agree, ‘Jesus Christ is
Lord!’ ” (Phil 2.10,11).
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