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Daily Luke Commentary

For Fapstronauts who are disciples of Christ

  1. sherlock holmes

    sherlock holmes Fapstronaut

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    Gospel of Luke 8:16-56 Commentary

    The Disciples Hear an Extra Parable

    Similar to other teachings, Jesus speaks a short parable to his disciples and tells them how they ought to continue to gain knowledge. He warns that those who hold on to what little knowledge they have will eventually lose it. However, those who actively seek to know more with an open mind will be granted more and more. Just like a bank, a wealthy man who has proven himself to be responsible with money will much more easily receive a loan since he has proven himself and is willing to risk monetary loss; meanwhile, a poor man who holds on the money he has stashed will gain nothing from it and will eventually run out. We ought to never fall into the trap of thinking “I now know enough” because on a long enough time line, we will eventually lose that as well.

    Jesus’ family cannot reach Him

    Notice how in this short account, Jesus never plays favorites with anyone, including His own family members. This stands in stark contrast to, quite literally, any other singular founder of a major religion (as far as I have researched). Most confide in family members as their closest followers or “inner circle” in some form or another.

    Calming a Storm

    Once again, we find the disciples fearing for their lives in the presence of the Son of God, pleading for help. Given all of the things that they have seen Him accomplish and all that He has said about Himself as the Son of God, you’d think they’d get it by now. Unfortunately, they don’t. Jesus aptly notes this: “Where is your faith?”

    Casting out Demons

    I can sympathize with the people of the Gerasenes for being afraid of Christ. They were already living in fear of the demon-possessed man and were, quite literally, unable to control him due to his superhuman strength and unwillingness to cooperate. One day this Guy comes walking up and not only cures the man of his problem, but exercises unquestionable authority over a Legion of demons. Yeah, I’d be scared, too.

    Healing the Sick

    Notice, how the ruler of the synagogue asks Jesus to come with him to his house. Back in chapter 7, we have the same situation of a sick person in an important person’s house, and the gentile centurion had enough faith to say “say the word and I know he will be healed. You don’t need to come to my house nor should you; for I am unworthy” Meanwhile, the synagogue ruler needs Jesus to come to his house and see his daughter first. One of these people clearly has more faith than the other…and the best part is that Jesus helped both of them by doing things in the manner that each were comfortable with. He met them where they were.

    On the way, we have a sick woman who’s faith makes her well again. What she actually did would be considered by many to be a “work” by actively seeking out and physically touching Jesus. However, Jesus explicitly states that her faith made her well. The reason I bring this up is because many attempt to make the distinction between faith and works and go to great lengths to explain that works are not necessary for salvation. That could not be further from the truth. The healing of this woman is simply one of the many examples we have in the scriptures that demonstrate an inseparability between faith and works.

    Moving on, we see even more of a lack of faith of the Jews; while the gentile centurion believed Jesus could heal his servant from afar, the Jews mourned the loss of the sick before Christ even arrived. They even laughed at Him when He said that she wasn’t dead. Frankly, their lack of faith looks kinda embarrassing by comparison; would any of us have done much better in that situation? I doubt it.

    Big Takeaways

    1) If we are not growing spiritually, we will eventually die. If we are not seeking the word, we will starve and feed on something much less satisfying.

    2) We can find it easy to chuckle at the lack of faith of the disciples and the Jews, but how often do we doubt? How often are we hesitant to do what is necessary and tell others what we know to be the truth? How often do we lose focus? The answer is all the time. And yet, Jesus is willing to meet us on our level, just like the unfaithful Jews.

    Final Question: How long have you guys been able to avoid porn while also either not praying or not spending time in the Word?
     
  2. Excellent question. Thanks for this entire post.
     
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  3. Jason911

    Jason911 Fapstronaut

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    Keep this going, a worthwhile study and thread.
     
    warriorforchrist likes this.
  4. Lydell Ash

    Lydell Ash New Fapstronaut

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    Hmm Honestly I don't know how long I've been able to avoid porn. It varies from 2weeks to months on end. during those times i don't think about porn it never enters the conversation, But then life sends me a curve ball. Financial trouble, Long stents of unemployment, Extreme boredom to the point of apathy. It causes me so much stress that a little thought hits my head and before I know porn binge for hours on consecutive days. Its like an uncontrollable wave. Really I think it is because I don't look inwardly to the god inside of me and express it outwardly. I become self absorb and Try to figure out what I should do. I just feel like a lot of things fall through when I rely on other people. So I rather take it on myself so I don't get disappointed. It just a cycle of frustration.

    At any rate thanks for making this thread It help me get rid of a lot of emotion.
     
  5. sherlock holmes

    sherlock holmes Fapstronaut

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    Glad you guys liked the commentary! Hopefully we can get some more folks on here for discussion and edification. I'll be posting these daily, so without further ado:

    Gospel of Luke 9:1-9 Commentary

    Jesus Sends out the 12

    And now, after following Jesus for some time, the apostles are sent out to do the exact same thing that Jesus had been doing for the people. Now we know from other gospel accounts that Jesus did this by sending them out in pairs. Luke doesn’t go into that great of detail, but it does beg the question: how do you think he paired them up? We have at least 3 working class fishermen, a physician (Luke), a tax collector (Matthew), and even a political zealot (Simon). I would not be surprised if Matthew and Simon, political enemies, were paired up together on a journey where they depended on strangers for food, clothing, and shelter. It certainly would have been an amusing bonding experience. Either way, we do get an idea of how one ought to spread the gospel: “shake the dust from your feet.” I have a big problem with this whenever I tell someone about the gospel; getting rejected is never easy. However, we do see the apostles later put this into practice in Luke’s account in Acts.

    Herod is Perplexed

    This seems to be a good illustration of just how tone-deaf Herod really was. Not only did he behead John the Baptizer (a man well-respected by the people) for calling out Herod’s adultery, he did so after listening to John and recognizing him as a messenger of God. And now he desires to see Jesus, the Man John told everyone about (and likely told Herod about also). Clearly, it’s not to listen to Christ.

    Big Takeaway

    Christ doesn’t care about your background, your political preference, or your demographic. He cares about your heart and what you will do with it.
     
  6. warriorforchrist

    warriorforchrist Fapstronaut

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    Great post. We MUST be prepared to be saoked in God's word and have staregies for getting it in to our system when we are faced with the choice - sin or faith. I use proper study and just picking up the bible and reading letting it wash over me. We need to be prepared to take the time to do this to a time when we know in our spirit that we have gained strength and built up walls of protection around us. It's good to grow in knowledge across the whole. Spectrum of God's word but also to take some themes that interest you and study, it out. Sorry... I'm going on a bit but in the days of deception we are in, and they are going to get much worse, we must be grounded in truth. Be blessed
     
  7. warriorforchrist

    warriorforchrist Fapstronaut

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    Those with a massive heart for Him, He can use and is so gracious even in our battle with sin. That is my experience as I sometimes wonder why ever is he using me!
     
  8. sherlock holmes

    sherlock holmes Fapstronaut

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    Like the 12 disciples who followed Jesus for 3 years, we also ought to grow. Like the 12, we will also fail in our understanding and stumble when tried, but salvation is for today. Let's finish off today on a good note:

    Gospel of Luke 9:10-20

    The Disciples are Tested

    When most read this passage, the focus is on the miracle itself (and rightfully so) and what it represents. However, I want to point out something that I found a bit interesting. The disciples had just returned from their journeys in pairs, traveling with no food, extra clothes, or money. They had just finished doing nothing but preaching, teaching, and healing the sick. After crowds had gathered to follow Jesus and they were all out in the middle of nowhere, the disciples first suggested to Jesus that the crowds be sent away, but Jesus then tells them to solve the problem themselves. I find this interesting in that the disciples had just finished spending a lot of time teaching others about Christ, yet their first instinct in the face of a logistical problem is to literally send people away from Christ. Jesus tells them exactly what ought to be done and yet they still respond with a rationalization of why it can't be done. My point in bringing this up is that the disciples had just finished casting out demons and curing disease, yet they still doubt the power of the Man who gave them that authority in the first place. Clearly, they have much to learn, despite their progress.

    Peter (the impulsive racist) gets it right...sorta

    I think we can all agree that Peter was a bit impulsive, but his heart was in the right place. The man who would later attempt to behead a guard for Christ's sake did get one thing right: Jesus is the Christ. He is not Elijah and He is not a prophet risen from the dead. The implication of that confession is significant though, particularly to a Jewish mind like Peter's. At that time, the popular sentiment among the Jews was that the Christ would be a military and political leader who would reestablish Israel as the most powerful nation on earth, liberating the Jews from Roman rule in particular. This was more than likely the view of all of the 12 disciples. Given that they had no trouble casting out demons, but doubted Jesus' ability to feed people, this perspective makes sense; they were looking for a military leader, not necessarily a spiritual one. It is only much later that Peter realizes who Jesus truly is.

    Big Takeaway

    These 12 disciples grew the church after Christ ascended in to heaven. All (except John...) were executed for their faith. We read the writings of a few of them, including this very gospel. As we can see from these last two excerpts, these were incredibly flawed, weak, imperfect men, yet God used them to do things that will ring through eternity. They stuck with the faith to their graves; it would behoove us, as equally imperfect people, to follow their example.
     
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  9. sherlock holmes

    sherlock holmes Fapstronaut

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    I hope everyone has been staying strong. As per usual, I have some more commentary to finish out the day. As always, discussion and thoughts are encouraged since you never know how you can edify someone else, particularly in a forum such as this.

    Gospel of Luke 9:21-28 Commentary

    Jesus Predicts His Death

    Here, we see Jesus tell His disciples in no uncertain terms that He will be tormented and eventually killed. It's a bit amusing how the disciples have such a hard time believing this statement. I think part of it has to do with how they perceived the Messiah as a political and military leader; it would make no sense for such a leader to die since He would not be able to "Make Israel Great Again" while dead. The other big thing that we see is that Jesus again tells His disciples to tell no one of what He either says or does. He repeats this charge multiple times. After doing some research, I found that it could have been a way to protect His followers from persecution until after He fulfilled His ultimate purpose on earth. I think of John 15:18 where he tells the disciples "If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you." We also know that after Lazarus was raised from the dead, the Pharisees sought to have him executed since he was a walking example of Jesus' power. For Jesus as a mortal man, this would have had to take incredible faith. If His purpose was to die for mankind, but mankind would have also needed to know about His death, the intuitive thing for Jesus to do would be to have as many people as possible tell as many others as possible as soon as possible about this good news. However, He didn't command that until after He had risen from the dead. To me, that speaks volumes of His obedience to God's plan.

    Jesus challenges His followers

    As is a common theme of this group, Jesus challenges His followers to spare no expense in following Him. Any spared expense will ultimately result in one's ultimate demise. This is counterintuitive to us as fleshly creatures. Our God-given nature is to survive and procreate. After all, having dominion over the earth and making more people were, quite literally, the first two directives that God gave to mankind (Genesis 1). It is counter-biological to do otherwise; yet Jesus commands it because the goal is for us to forsake concern of ourselves, not to hate ourselves or despise what God has blessed us with, and not even to think less of ourselves (because that is actually a form of pride), but to think of ourselves, less. Additionally, we are warned what will happen if we choose not to do this.

    Big Takeaway

    We cannot compromise with sin. We cannot equivocate or play with it. The minute we think to ourselves "I can handle this" is the minute we will have failed. That type of thinking is a textbook example of pride. When faced with a temptation that Satan knows to be our greatest weakness, we ought to do the only thing we can do, run.

    I hope you all have a good night. God Bless.
     
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  10. sherlock holmes

    sherlock holmes Fapstronaut

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    I hope everyone is having a good week and I hope the following commentary is edifying. Enjoy!

    Gospel of Luke 9:28-36 Commentary


    The Transfiguration

    As with other accounts of this event, Jesus is seen by some of His disciples to be conversing with Elijah and Moses while they were up on a mountain together. Notice that Jesus was praying and the transfiguration literally woke up the disciples...so while His disciples slept, Jesus prayed. I never really noticed this before until I read it most recently; Jesus would very often try to separate Himself from the crowds and even His disciples so that He could pray alone. It wasn't just when He was about to be crucified, but throughout His ministry. It seems like He never really had much time to sleep when you think about it. The obvious question then is how did He do it? I think He may have simply stated His secret in John 4:34. "My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to accomplish his work."

    Additionally, I find it interesting that God had Christ converse with Elijah and Moses, two Jewish leaders who were incredibly revered by the Jewish disciples. God used images of these men as symbols of Christ's authority. While the disciples often referred to Him as teacher, it is questionable whether they truly understood who Christ was until after He ascended into heaven.

    Big Takeaway

    As Paul told the Christians at Thessalonica, we must pray without ceasing. Without it, we will starve ourselves. For us in particular, if we do not pray, we inevitably binge on the spiritual junkfood that is pornography. Like actual junk food, it is everywhere, it is cheap, and it is highly addictive. There's nothing wrong with being a spiritual health nut.

    Happy Hump Day! God Bless.
     
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  11. sherlock holmes

    sherlock holmes Fapstronaut

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    Happy Fake Friday! And Happy Thor's Day! I hope this commentary finds you all accomplished and right with God.

    Gospel of Luke 9:37-47 Commentary


    Healing Another Unclean Spirit

    Clearly, the crowd knew that Jesus was up on the mountain; they were waiting for Him when he came back down. Once again, the Man who is constantly seeking rest finds very little. This time, a father asks for Jesus to heal his son of a demon. It seems that, when read in combination with Matthew's account and Mark's account, the disciples that were struggling with removing the demon while Christ was on the mountain were also arguing with Scribes in front of a crowd. We do not get any further elaboration from the gospel accounts. so we can only guess what they were arguing about. The religious leaders of the day had argued with Christ about the nature of demons on more than one occasion; they were particularly hostile to Christ's authority over them. For the scribes to be arguing with Christ's disciples over the nature of a demon that they could not control would make sense. Regardless, we know that the disciples were unable to fix the problem due to their lack of faith.

    Jesus predicts His death...again

    The disciples, for all of their loyalty, were flawed human beings with a flawed understanding of who Christ truly was. It would make no sense to them for the political and military leader of the new nation of Israel to die voluntarily. As such, Jesus' warning that He would eventually die fell on deaf/ignorant ears. It serves as a reminder to us to beware how we interpret scripture and understand that we all have blind spots.

    Jesus puts the disciples in their place

    Here is another excerpt best read in combination with the other gospel accounts. We see in Matthew's account that in addition to using a child as an illustration for who the disciples should accept, Jesus uses the child as an example of how the disciples should humble themselves if they are to be great. The petty argument that they were shamefully engaged in became relatively meaningless when compared to how low Jesus told them to deprecate themselves.

    Big Takeaway

    We need to understand that we ourselves are incapable of successfully conquering life's challenges ourselves. We need to understand that reliance on God is the key to our success. We need to understand that our own greatness, in the grand scheme of things, is worthless. For those of you on a super long streak, in the words of Han Solo, "Great, kid! Don't get cocky!" We, however, know that Jesus said it first.

    Hope you all finish out the week strong. God Bless.
     
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  12. sherlock holmes

    sherlock holmes Fapstronaut

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    Gospel of Luke 9:49-62 Commentary

    The enemy of my enemy

    Here we see part of what many Christians find as a confusing contradiction with Matthew 12:30. Jesus tells His disciples here that "the one who is not against you is for you." However, in Matthew 12:30, He seems to contradict Himself when He says "He who is not with me is against me." One is inclusive and the other is completely exclusive. On further research, it seems that the context of each of these phrases is completely different. In the verse from Luke, Jesus says this in reference to a man casting out demons in His name. Clearly, the man has authority to do so, though as the disciples rightly noted, he did not walk with them or associate with them. Jesus tells His disciples that if the man is doing a good work (and clearly demonstrating divine power like Christ and the disciples), then he must be doing so by God's authority, regardless of whether he walked with the apostles or not. Meanwhile, the verse from Matthew is in the context of the nature of demons and who they serve, a completely different conversation. Hopefully this will save you any future issues.

    Jesus rejected in Samaria

    I highly encourage you to research the divide between Samaritans and Jews at the time of Christ and why they hated each other so much. It truly makes the racism of today look tame. That being said, while the Jesus was, in fact, the Christ, and the village was very likely aware of who He was, they rejected Him anyway because of His focus on Jerusalem. Knowing the nasty history between these two people makes this rejection understandable (but not at all justifiable). Regardless, James and John's response to this rejection is telling. They had just seen Jesus speak with Elijah and likely expected Jesus to liberate the Jews from Rome, so the request for fire from heaven to consume the Samaritans makes sense, as short-sighted as it seems in hindsight. Once again, Christ's disciples still struggle with walking by sight and not faith; they still think Jesus will become a political ruler.

    Jesus makes clear the cost of following Him (Final Takeaway)

    Many people read this passage and find Jesus' responses to potential followers to be extreme. They're right, Jesus' responses are extreme. That's the whole point. Following Christ cannot be subject to one's personal convenience.

    Hope you guys stay strong this week! God Bless.
     
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  13. sherlock holmes

    sherlock holmes Fapstronaut

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    Gospel of Luke 10:1-24 Commentary

    Sending Out the Seventy-Two

    The rules that Jesus lays down for the 72 disciples make for a Spartan existence to say the least. For one, they are forced to completely rely on the good will of other people. While we are not specifically commanded to live in the same way, it does illustrate how far our faith ought to take us if our situation requires it. Additionally, they are explicitly told to either bless or condemn a town based upon how they are received. It's tempting to see this behavior as "judgemental", but we must also understand that 1) this is a judgement to be made by explicit command from Christ to these disciples and 2) it is to be made based upon how the town receives the good works of the disciples. In short, a town has little hope if it rejects strangers of good will who heal the town's sick.

    Additionally, Jesus specifically calls out towns who have already behaved in such a manner in response to the works of Christ and His disciples. They outright rejected the Messiah and as such, merit condemnation. We learn later through Paul's letter to the Romans that all have sinned in this way and deserve an equal punishment. Thankfully, Christ died.

    Jesus and the disciples rejoice (and Big Takeaway)

    Upon returning, the disciples return excited and accomplished. Jesus confirms their excitement with a description of the spiritual result of their actions. For anyone who has played sports, there's nothing quite like winning a game and celebrating with the coach afterward. When you boil it down, that's really our purpose on this earth, to be as Christ-like as possible despite our inevitable failures. When we do well and follow God's will, it truly is a reason to celebrate, not in ourselves, but as Christ said, "that your names are written in heaven."

    Stay strong, everyone! God Bless.
     
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  14. HappyDaysAreHereAgain

    HappyDaysAreHereAgain Fapstronaut

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    Starting something can be really stressful, even when we go in with many more resources that the disciples had. Still we can rejoice in our successes, without letting our failures get us down.
    Keep up the good work @sherlock holmes.
     

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