What Does It Mean To Stop At The Comma?

This past Sunday at Element Church we continued our sermon series called “Walk This Way” as we celebrated our 10 year anniversary as a church.  In this series we’re walking through some Bible stories and passages that my wife and I got to physically see or experience while in Israel, then applying the truth of them to our every day lives.

This week I preached from Luke 4:14-30.  In this passage, Jesus announces himself as the Messiah to the people of his hometown in Nazareth.  One day, on the Sabbath, Jesus read from the scroll of Isaiah chapter 61:1-2.  This passage is a direct prophecy of the coming Messiah.  Imagine, THE Messiah, reading a prophecy ABOUT the Messiah.  Pretty stinkin’ cool.

After the reading of the prophecy, Jesus says, “The Scripture you just heard has been fulfilled this very day!” (Drop the mic).  Jesus then goes on to basically tell these people, “My message is not JUST for the Jews, it’s for Gentiles as well.  It is not only for the clean, but the unclean.  My mission is so much greater than YOU and so much broader than Israel.”  Upon hearing this the people were engaged, took him to the edge of a cliff to throw him off, but Jesus passed right through them and went on his way.

That’s where we pick up the sermon and the story.  Jesus, when he read this prophecy, intentionally stopped at the comma.  He didn’t finish reading the prophecy.  In this clip, I challenge our church to be a people who stops at the comma.  What does that mean?  Check it out below.  #StopAtTheComma

You can watch full sermons HERE.