If you’ve been around Grace for any length of time you’ve heard us repeat that our vision as a local church is “to present everyone mature in Christ (Col. 1:28).” In God’s good plan, he intends for us to grow into greater maturity in Christ together. How does this happen? I have been helped recently by Dane Ortlund’s book Deeper: Real Change for Real Sinners.

He begins by suggesting that a common reason we might not seem to be growing in Christ is…

…that we have a domesticated view of Jesus. Not a heterodox (false) view; we are fully orthodox in our Christology. We understand that he came from heaven as the Son of God to live the life we cannot live and die the death we deserve to die. We affirm his glorious resurrection. We confess with the ancient creeds that he is truly God and truly man. We don’t have a heterodox view. We have a domesticated view that, for all its doctrinal precision, has downsized the glory of Christ in our hearts.

So, how do we keep from downsizing Jesus’ glory?

Let me suggest that you consider the possibility that your current mental idea of Jesus is the tip of the iceberg. That there are wondrous depths to him, realities about him, still awaiting your discovery… Is the Jesus you are following a junior varsity Jesus, an unwittingly reduced Jesus, an unsurprising and predictable Jesus?

Have we unintentionally reduced him to manageable, predictable proportions? Have we been looking at a decaffeinated, one-dimensional Jesus of our own making, thinking we’re looking at the real Jesus? Have we snorkeled in the shallows thinking we’ve hit bottom on the Pacific?

One of the reasons we gather weekly to hear God’s word preached is to prevent this from happening. Our passage in Luke’s Gospel this week will magnify Jesus’ tender compassion and his limitless authority, both of which can strengthen our trust in him and deepen our love for him.

Kenny Clark will be preaching from Luke 7:11-17 this Sunday and Walt Harrah will be leading our sung worship. Would you make some time this week to read the passage and pray for each as they prepare? And let’s ask God to enlarge our estimation and adoration of Jesus this week as we see his glory recorded in the God-breathed Gospel of Luke.

See you Sunday, Grace. Come hungry!