Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Prayer Meeting Lesson Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/pm/pm19981021.htm

LUKE: GOSPEL OF CERTIFYING THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
Part LVII: Christ's Claim To Deity Seen In His EXPECTING To Receive Man's Worship
(Luke 17:11-19)
  1. Introduction
    1. Among cultists who deny the deity of Christ are those who believe that Jesus Himself never thought of Himself as the Creator God, but that other disciples around Him elevated Him to that stature on their own.
    2. The events recorded for us in Luke 17:11-19 reveal that Jesus expected others to worship Him as God, the Creator, a full signal that He claimed deity opposite the claims of such cultists to the contrary.
  2. Christ's Claim To Deity Seen In His EXPECTING To Receive Man's Worship, Luke 17:11-19.
    1. Luke's Gospel was written to show the credibility of the Christian faith to Theophilus, Luke 1:3-4.
    2. Accordingly, Luke 17:11-19 shows that Jesus considered Himself the Creator worthy of worship, a signal that His claims to be God were justifiable from what He thought of Himself as follows:
      1. One day, ten lepers met Jesus from afar and called out to Jesus to have mercy on them, Luke 17:11-13.
      2. Jesus responded that they obey Leviticus 14:1-32 by showing themselves to the priests, Luke 17:14a. In effect, Jesus expected them to believe that they would be healed before they arrived at the priests so th at the priests could examine and pronounce them clean in accord with the Law.
      3. So, in faith, as these lepers began to depart, they found they had been healed in the process, Lk. 17:14b.
      4. One of the healed men, a Samaritan, turned back toward Jesus, and gave glory to God with a loud voice, bowing on his face to the Lord in thanksgiving, Luke 17:15-16.
      5. This ACT signaled in that day that the man thought Jesus was the God who had healed him!
        1. The posture of the man who fell at Jesus' feet was a posture of worship, B.K.C., N.T., p. 248.
        2. Elsewhere, in Revelation 22:8-9 when the Apostle John fell at the feet of the angel who was giving him a vision, the angel stopped John. Worship was to be given to God, not to him as an angel.
        3. Thus, for one such as John who came from Palestine in Jesus' day to fall at the feet of a being and worship God was his way of signaling that he viewed the Being at whose feet he fell as Israel's God!
      6. What is equally significant is that Jesus not only accepted this man's worship as God, but actually expressed dismay that the OTHER healed lepers had also not done the same thing, Lk. 17:17-18:
        1. When the single healed man returned to worship Jesus, Christ asked where were the other nine, v. 17
        2. In fact, Jesus wondered why these other men had not "returned to give glory to God" (Luke 17:18)
        3. Thus, Jesus indirectly called Himself "God" in wondering aloud why the other nine men had not come to prostrate themselves in worship at His feet as had this lone Samaritan.
      7. In fact, this man's faith in Jesus as God had saved his soul from hell;
        1. Jesus told this worshipper to go to the priest (17:14 with 19a) as his faith had (lit.)"saved" him, v. 19
        2. As the man later physically died, the permanent salvation attested by the perfect tense of the verb, sesoken used here for "saved" (UBS Grk. N.T., p. 283) referred to the eternal saving of the soul!
        3. Thus, believing that Jesus was God healed the man's soul, a step further than healing of his body!
Lesson: As to whether or not Jesus of Nazareth considered Himself to be Israel's Creator God, we note the following facts from Luke 17:11-19: (a) in the first century Palestinian culture of His era, Jesus Christ accepted a healed leper's worship as God. (b) Jesus even wondered aloud why other healed lepers also did not worship Him as had the Samaritan, and (c) He then went on to state that the healed man's faith in Him as GOD had saved his SOUL. Thus, Jesus viewed Himself as GOD.

Application: (1) In terms of the culture and theological beliefs of Jesus' era, we must counter cultist's claims who deny that Jesus saw himself as God. Jesus both considered Himself to be Israel's God and also acted surprised when others did NOT worship Him as God. (2) By way of application, we should thank our Lord Jesus Christ for all He has done for us in saving our souls as well. (3) Also, by way of application, we should view Christ as God, cf. 1 John 4:1-4. (4) Also, we should take J esus' word as God's truth and not only the Apostle Peter's or the Apostle Paul's word, that salvation is by faith alone; Jesus as God claimed as much in Luke 17:19.