#59 Lu. 8:1-3  THE PEOPLE WHO SERVE THE LORD

Introduction:

    In our text last Sunday we learned that great forgiveness produces great
love.  Those of us who are saved, the Lord has forgiven us a great many sins
and therefore we should love the Lord a great deal.  In our text today we
see something about the men and women who served the Lord during His
personal ministry here on earth.  Our text does not name all of those who
served Him in that day, but it does name enough to give us a pretty good
picture of those who served Him.

I.  The tour through Galilee

    V. 1, "And it came to pass afterward..."  That is, these events took
place after those just described in chapter seven.  They took place after
Jesus ate dinner in the home of Simon the Pharisee and was anointed with
ointment by the woman with the alabaster box.  They may not have taken place
immediately after, but they did take place after.
    (V. 1), "...that he went throughout every city and village..."  When
viewed in its whole context, this refers to the cities and villages of
Galilee.  Jesus had been preaching in and around the city of Capernaum, but
He left Capernaum and made a tour throughout the region of Galilee.  This
does not mean that this was His first tour through Galilee.  He had been
through Galilee before.  In all probability He had been to most of these
cities before, but He now makes another tour.
    (V. 1), "...preaching and showing the glad tidings of the kingdom of
God..."  Luke said that Jesus went throughout these cities and villages
preaching and then he told us what Jesus preached.  He preached the glad
tidings of the kingdom of God.  John the Baptist had preached the coming of
the kingdom of God.  That is, John had preached that the promised Christ,
the promised King, was about to come.  The Christ would soon come.  That was
John's message.  Jesus followed up on that and preached that the Christ, the
King, had come.  He explained that men must be born again if they would
enter that kingdom.  He may not have announced in plain word that He,
Himself, is the King, but He made it so obvious that more and more people
were recognizing that He is the King, the Christ.
    Luke does not make any specific mention right here about any miracles
that Jesus performed in those cities and villages as He went along.  But
we can sure that He did not just suddenly stop healing the great crowds of
sick and afflicted who came to Him for healing.  In all of those cities and
villages, in addition to preaching the good news of the kingdom of God,
Jesus healed the sick and afflicted and cast out demon spirits from those
who were demon possessed.

II.  The men who served the Lord

    (V. 1), "...and the twelve were with him."  In speaking of the twelve,
Luke is talking about the twelve whom Jesus had ordained as apostles.  The
twelve apostles accompanied Jesus on this tour.  They were present with Him
to learn from Him.  Jesus was teaching and training the twelve to carry on
the preaching ministry that He had called them to perform.  He had called
them to be fishers of men and He was now training them to do that very
thing.  He was showing them how to be fishers of men.
    They were with Jesus to be eyewitnesses to the things that He was doing.
After He was gone, they would be called upon to be eyewitnesses to the
things that Jesus both said and did.  They would be eyewitnesses to what
Jesus preached.  They would be eyewitnesses to the miracles that He
performed.  They would be eyewitnesses to the whole life and ministry of
Jesus.  They did not know it at this time, but later they would be
eyewitnesses to the crucifixion and to the resurrection of Jesus.  God had
them to travel with Jesus so that they could witness what would take place
wherever Jesus was and whatever Jesus was doing.  These were not the only
men who were serving Jesus, but these were the chief men who were serving
Him.

III.  The women who served the Lord

    In verse 2 Luke then tells about some of the women who were serving the
Lord.  V. 2, "And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and
infirmities..."  These particular women were not only disciples of the Lord,
but they were women out of whom the Lord had cast demon spirits or at least
whom the Lord had healed from some severe disease.  They were women who were
very grateful to the Lord for what He had done for them.  They loved the
Lord for saving their souls and for setting them free from demon possession
and for healing their bodies.  They loved the Lord and they counted it a
privilege to serve the Lord whom they loved.
    (V. 2), "...Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils."  Most
Bible interpreters agree that the word, Magdalene, is not a part of her
name.  Rather it identifies the town from which she came.  She was from the
town of Magdala, which was on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee.  It
was located somewhat south of Capernaum.  Some believe that Mary Magdalene
was the sinful woman who, back in chapter seven, washed the feet of Jesus
with her tears and wiped them dry with her hair.  There is no evidence
whatsoever that this is so.  To the contrary.  There is strong evidence that
she is not that woman.  The term, Magdalene, was added to distinguish this
particular Mary from all other Mary's which were mentioned in the Bible.
Furthermore, if she had been the same woman, it is highly unlikely that Luke
would have mentioned her again so quickly without telling us that she is the
same person.
    This Mary, Mary Magdalene, had not only had a demon spirit cast out of
her, but Luke informs us that she had seven demons cast out of her.  Jesus,
of course, is the one who had cast them out.  In addition to this, she had
been healed of whatever physical afflictions the demons had caused.  It is
almost certain that they had caused some very grievous afflictions.  It is
also certain that they had caused Mary a great deal of mental and emotional
anguish.  He had not only freed her from the demons and from the afflictions
they caused, but He had saved her soul and cleansed her from her sin.  So
this woman owed Jesus a great deal of gratitude and she loved the Lord
deeply.  She was ready to do whatever she could in service to the Lord.  She
was ready to use her money for Him.  She was ready to use her time and
talents and energies in service to the Lord.  She did not count it a burden
to serve Jesus.  She counted it a joy.
    V. 3, "And Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod's steward..."  The word,
is the feminine form of the word, John.  If a father's name or grandfather's
name was John and the parents wanted to name a daughter after him, they
would name her Joanna.
    This particular Joanna was the wife of Chuza, the wife of the steward of
Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee.  As Herod's steward, Chuza was in
charge of all of the household of Herod.  He handled all of the financial
affairs and saw to it that all of the material needs of the family were met.
Often times, they made the decisions regarding business matters and
investments.
    The steward was almost always a slave.  He was a slave who had proven
himself to be true to his master.  He had also proven himself as capable of
handling the affairs of the master.  He had proven himself to be honest and
trustworthy.
    We are not told whether or not Chuza was a Christian.  Nor are we told
whether he was dead of alive at the time of this tour.  Some believe that
Chuza was already dead and that Joanna was left a widow.  This seems very
likely.  That way she would be free to travel without interfering with her
responsibilities at home.
    At any rate, Joanna had also been healed of some severe disease and
perhaps had a demon or two cast out of her.  Like Mary Magdalene, Joanna
felt a deep sense of gratitude toward the Lord Jesus Christ who had not only
saved her soul but had healed her physical body.
    (V. 3), "...and Susanna..."  All that we know about Susanna is what we
read right here.  She, too, had been saved by the Lord Jesus Christ and had
been healed by Him.  She, too, was filled with love and gratitude toward
Jesus for what He had done for her.
    While Luke named only three of the women who traveled on this tour with
Jesus, they were not the only ones who were in the group.  (V.  3), "...and
many others..." There were not just others who went with them.  There were
many others.  There was a sizable group of women.  All of them had been
saved by Jesus and all of them had been healed by Jesus.  Some of them had
demons cast out of them by Jesus.  They all had a lot for which to be
grateful to Jesus and they all were.  They all loved the Lord and had a
strong desire to do something in return for the Lord.
    This tour that Jesus was taking offered them an opportunity to do
something for Jesus.  They would not ever be able to repay Him for what He
had done for them, but at least they would have the joy of being able to
contribute in a very positive way to His cause.  (V. 3), "...which
ministered unto him of their substance."
    Apparently these women were women of some means.  That is, they had
money.  They may not have been rich, but they were not paupers by any means.
What they decided to do was to travel with Jesus and see to it that Jesus
and His apostles, who were traveling with Him, well supplied.  They used
their own money to buy food and to buy any other supplies that might be
needed.  Not only did they buy the food, but they prepared the food.
    I said, that they provided and prepared food not only for Jesus, but for
the twelve apostles who were with Him.  Also, if the there were other
disciples in addition to the twelve, then they supplied and prepared the
food for them.  This was no small undertaking even financially.  It was
costly to them just in money.  The money was not coming out of the church
treasury.  Luke said that they were supplying the need out of their own
substance.  These women were footing the bill for the whole group.  How many
times down through the years have good Christians followed their example and
have taken the initiative to see that the work of the Lord was financed.
    Neither was it a small undertaking from the standpoint of time, energy
and labor.  Going to the market and shopping for that large a group of men
and then preparing the food and washing the dishes was a tremendous task.
This was especially so in that it had to be done meal after meal, day after
day, and perhaps week after week.

IV.  The men and women who serve the Lord today

    I think I told you earlier that these were not all of the men and women
who served the Lord.  But these were some of the more prominent ones who
served on this particular preaching tour.  But what about the men and women
who serve the Lord today?  The Lord still has a goodly number of men and
women who serve Him today.  There are a great many men who have surrendered
their lives to the Lord to preach the gospel.  Most of the serves as
pastors, a goodly number as missionaries, and some work strictly as
evangelists.  Many take leadership positions in the field of music.  Many
play musical instruments.  A large number sing in the choir or quartets or
sing solos or whatever.  There are a great many more who serve the Lord in
the office of deacon.  There are a great many men and women who teach Sunday
School classes or some other Bible class.  Some clean the church buildings
and the church yards.  There are many who give themselves to working with
youth groups or groups of elderly people.  Some devote themselves to working
with those who are in prison, some to those who are in hospitals, and some
to those who are in nursing homes.  The greater number of all are those who
come to church Sunday after Sunday and put their money in the offering to be
used for the Lord.  They support the local church financially.  They support
missions and Christian education out yonder in the field.  Over a year's
time they contribute a great deal of money to the Lord and to His service.
    I'll tell you what let's do.  Let's ask all these people, "Why do you do
this?  Why do you serve in this capacity?  Why do you devote such great
amount of time, energy and money to the support of the Lord?
    The answer to this question would not be much different that the answer
that would be given by the twelve apostles, by Mary Magdalene, Joanna,
Susanna, and all the others who served Him in that day.  In the first place
we serve Him simply because we love Him.  We love Him because He first loved
us.  He loved us and went to Calvary to die for us that we might be saved.
He persistently worked with us when we were lost to win us to salvation.
Again and again He sent the gospel message to us and sent the Holy Spirit to
us and sent various Christians to us to appeal to us that we might be saved.
Thank God he kept on after us until we finally turned to Jesus and got
saved!  Thank God He didn't give up on us!  Thank God that He loved us
enough to keep on keeping on with us.  Thank God that now we are saved.  We
owe Him our all. Nothing that we can ever do for Him will ever repay what He
has done for us.  If it were not for Jesus we would go to hell and spend
eternity suffering in the flames.
    It is not at all too much to put in the extra time that is necessary to
study and prepare to teach the lessons for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
It is not at all too much to come down to the church on Sunday morning,
Sunday evening, Wednesday evening and whatever other time the church has
worship services.  It is not at all too much to dig down in our pockets and
keep a good supply of funds on hand to carry on the work of the Lord, to
meet the regular expenses and to take care of the sudden unexpected
expenses.  It is not at all too much to meet down at the church and then go
out into the community to witness and to work for the Lord Jesus Christ.
You have seen the posters which advertise some kind of charity work where
one boy is carrying another boy and he is saying, "He aint too heavy.  He's
my brother."  Down at our house I have asked by wife, "Now, Honey, when you
think the load is too heavy for you, we will make arrangements and put your
mother in a nursing home."  In effect, what she said to me was, "The load
ain't too heavy.  She is my mother."  And what all these Christians are
saying who sacrifice and serve the Lord, "This load ain't too heavy; He is
my Lord.  It's not nearly as heavy a load as the cross He carried up
Golgotha's Hill for me.
   Let me tell you, my friends, this is the kind of people who keep the work
of the church going and keep the church doors from closing.  This is the
kind of people who have keep Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist church going
for about a hundred and thirty-six years.  It is this kind of people that
send the gospel to the four corners of the world.  It is this kind of
people who reach out into the community and win souls for Jesus.  It is this
kind of people who will take a little child and train him up in the ways of
the Lord.

Conclusion:

    In you are a Christian then you, too, have a place in the service of the
Lord.  If you are not saved, then I would not have you to think that you can
be saved by rendering service to Jesus.  The thing that you need to do to be
saved is to repent of your sins and trust the Lord Jesus