Trouble is a Comin'

Intro

It all started with a bag of clothes.

Or, rather, three bags of clothes. Three totally different bags of clothes from three totally different women, each bag stuffed full of fashionable women’s clothing and given to me during the same one week period. Everything was just my size.

Then there was the phone call. “Cheri, I had a party at my house and no one ate anything. I have a bunch left over. Could you use it?”

“Sure,” I responded, unaware that I was about to receive an abundance of fresh vegetables, a variety of chips and dips, meatballs, cheese, and an incredibly delicious chocolate cake. “This is the best lunch ever!” one of my boys proclaimed as we feasted on the surprise meal.

Later that week, my husband came home with a huge ham and a bag of potatoes. “They said it was too big for them and they wanted our family to have it,” he explained.

“Do you think God’s trying to tell us something?” I finally asked my husband. “Something like ‘Don’t worry, I’ll take care of you?’”

And when my husband reminded me of the check we had received in the mail earlier that week to help with car repairs, I was convinced. God was reminding us in a very tangible way that He had never let us down in the past and He would not let us down now. He would take care of us.

Good Times (v.35)

Jesus is at the Passover supper, the Last Supper as it is oft called, and giving a series of important teachings

Justin told us last week of how the greatness of God’s kingdom is the opposite of what humans think of as terms of power, prestige, and wealth

Peter refuted Jesus’ claim about him running away and abandoning Jesus, and we will see this come true in a few weeks

So Jesus is teaching the disciples of the importance of God’s kingdom and that it comes in good and bad times, which brings us to the first key point of this message

Enjoy the good times in God’s kingdom

What were the good times for the disciples?

It was found in Luke 9 and 10

It was here they were told not to take anything on the road, but that God and those who supported Jesus would support them!

Luke says that when they returned from their trip they returned with Joy!

Demons submitted to them, and Jesus rejoiced that they had their names in heaven!

These are great times!

It was a time when they could look at God’s provision, and faithfulness, when they went out with nothing, yet God answered their wildest prayers!

In their own words, they lacked Nothing

They had special authority from God, which resulted in special respect and appreciation

Story about goodness of God

Perhaps moving into our apartment for low rent when married,

Yet, there is a transition, Jesus says it will not always be so, it will not always be abundant, but there will be hard times coming

Hard Times (v.36)

Jesus transfers from the good times, to the hard times

He talks about the same things: a money-bag, and a traveling bag, but instead of not having one, they should have one!

Not only that, but instead of the sandals, those are replaced by a sword

And if you don’t have a sword you should sell your robe and buy one

This would be a radical statement, since this is the outer cloak that people use to keep warm at night, it was not a far fetched thing to say it was akin to ones survival

In fact, it was so important that in the Old Testament laws, it was forbidden to take someones cloak as collateral and not return it by the end of the day!

So what is the deal with this weird sword statement that Jesus is giving?

Well it could mean a literal sword, as it seems in this direct context as two swords

Yet, when looking at the scope of how Luke uses that word generally it seems to be used figuratively

In Luke 2, Mary is told that a sword would pierce her soul at the death of Jesus

In Luke 12 Jesus talks about how he divides the very closest of our relationships

Secondly, if we keep reading in Luke 22:49-51

Luke 22:49–51 CSB

49 When those around him saw what was going to happen, they asked, “Lord, should we strike with the sword?” 50 Then one of them struck the high priest’s servant and cut off his right ear. 51 But Jesus responded, “No more of this!” And touching his ear, he healed him.

This is basically mitigating any idea that this is about real swords, and making this about a right to self-defense

So if it’s not about buying up swords to defend ourselves with violence, it is a change of times, from the good times to the hard times

The hard times are going to be flushes out in what happens to Jesus, they will arrest him, kill him, and treat him as a common criminal

So when you and I turn our Bibles over to the second part of the story from Luke, the book of Acts we see this very reality

John and Peter are arrested for preaching, and even flogged, and thrown into prison

The first martyr of Christianity, Stephen, happens, James the brother of John is killed by Herod, and Paul and his companions go through various difficult trials

You and I are in enemy territory, we should not be surprised when the hard times for following Jesus

This brings us to the final point of the times we face

God Times (v.37-38)

Jesus says that a large portion of this is going for the fulfillment of prophecy

If you look at the passage in your bible you will notice that it is bolded text, which is a direct quote from Isaiah

Isaiah was a prophet in ancient Israel, and these prophets were told special messages from God, and they often times were given to the people to repent and turn back to God

During the time of Isaiah, Israel was divided into two separate kingdoms and he prophesied over both, and he served around 40 years over several different kings

So in the scroll of Isaiah, there are 66 chapters, and in Chapter 53 we find what is known as the suffering servant and much of this is found fulfilled in Jesus’ life, death and resurrection

These are God times because a specific Scripture is being found and fulfilled in Jesus, and that points to the divine purpose of his life

So Jesus quotes from Isaiah 53:12

Isaiah 53:12 CSB

12 Therefore I will give him the many as a portion, and he will receive the mighty as spoil, because he willingly submitted to death, and was counted among the rebels; yet he bore the sin of many and interceded for the rebels.

So part of the swords is that Jesus would be counted as part of the rebels by Rome, since the disciples had swords

This would be like one of us getting pulled over with an unregistered gun in our car!

This would run it’s course and end up with Jesus killed and crucified

The Disciples are earnest in trying to follow what Jesus says, and say

HERE ARE TWO SWORDS!

Which Jesus says that is enough!

What Jesus is really saying is I like how the Message says it

The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language Chapter 22

They said, “Look, Master, two swords!”

But he said, “Enough of that; no more sword talk!”

The disciples have missed the point, the meaning is going over their head, they cannot grasp the reality of this until later, it is a statement of exasperation by Jesus!

Jesus did not need their protection, nor did he desire to start an uprising against Rome to establish an earthly kingdom

Jesus’ kingdom does not advance by means of military force, but my God’s truth

After all we know that Hebrews 4:12 “12 For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

The ideas that Jesus has put here will not make sense to them until after Jesus is dead and risen again, and then it all comes together when they receive the Holy Spirit

Application

So what is our application here?

This story shows us the full spectrum of our lives, as well as the life of Jesus

There are great times in our spiritual journey’s, hard times, and God times, and quite often they are interlinked

Call to follow Jesus and Gospel presentation

In the good times, we are thankful for God’s gracious blessing, and it means we should relish in the time we have

I will find myself periodically thinking outside of myself, and almost surveying my life and the things that are great and good, and it is during these times that I can take a step back and be thankful for the fellowship I have with the people God has placed around me for that season

It just takes a memories post from Facebook for us to recall times in the past that were good and joyous times for us

In the hard times, we should not be surprised

If we are facing a crisis or major decision in your life, do all the things you can legally, morally, ethically, then trust in God to show up

In the world of post crucified Jesus, we are prepared to face hostility and persecution

This also means that it is ok get ready to protect yourself, after all we all have locks on our doors, and wear seatbelts

So then we can view these swords not simply leaving everything open to whatever happens

I am reminded of the Lord of the Rings analogy. In that series, the Hobbits are a group of small peace loving people, and several of the main characters are Hobbits

Yet, when they suddenly receive this grand quest to destroy the ring, and are faced with a dangerous task they arm themselves with armor, and swords

Now, they are not violent people, nor do they desire to inflict violence on anyone, but they use it as protection and a deterrent, they are not seeking a battle, but sometimes the battle comes to you

We must resolve ourselves to trust in God’s working behind the scenes

Then there are God times, when our best laid plans are suddenly changed, or seemingly set in stone without much effort

For Jesus this looked like his betrayal and death, fulfillment of prophecy

Yet for us it’s God stepping into a situation that just seems, perhaps too good to be true

When I was only about 7 months old, the strongest tornado to ever strike the United States in August happened in Plainfield, IL

I was at a babysitter, and my parents were at work, and so it happened that I we were at the Library in town. While at the Library, the baby sitter’s house was hit

Then when we left the library to go back to the house, the Library was hit by this tornado

Apparently God still had a plan for me right

Yet, I said these things often work together, where bad times become God times which bring about good time. or bad times bring us to rely on God time to lead us to good times

Another such example recently in my own life which left me in awe of God is with Baby Levi’s parents

In essence Levi has high frequency hearing loss from the side effects of Chemo, and for parents that is terrifying in many ways

So when I was able to call up his parents and encourage them that it was not some sort of major disability that would hinder his life, it was God

God saved my life, and gave me a high frequency hearing loss 33 years ago, for two reasons, to show that in my weakness, God may be glorified, and I think perhaps this scenario as well

I would like to close with a bit of an ode to Tim Keller, who passed away on Friday from Pancreatic Cancer

Tim Keller is an extremely well read and brilliant Christian pastor and apologist, that is one who defends and reasons the faith

In his last interview before he died and went to Glory, he said this

“I pray for total healing each day, even though my doctor says that there is no cure for stage 4. God can do it, or he doesn’t have to do it. This is from years and years of experience with him and when I look back on things he did for me that I thought were awful but now I realize were actually good for me. It’s the years of experience, look God knows. That might sound a little to easy, to those saying no I can’t die yet!

I remember when I was 69 and got this cancer diagnosis, Kathy and I looked at each other and said we thought we’d feel a lot older when we got to 69, but after years of experience, the Lord, he knoweths. So I am praying for healing, but ultimately I may not get that, but God knows.

You see, after a life of serving God, of experiencing his goodness, in the good times and bad times, and God times, it allowed him to trust God

In the words of Mr. Beaver, “Of course he’s not safe, but he’s good!”, and a good God can turn the hardest times into the best of times

So let us trust God in good times, bad times, and God times, for Jesus is worth it!

Ecclesiastes 3:1–8 CSB

1 There is an occasion for everything, and a time for every activity under heaven: 2 a time to give birth and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to uproot; 3 a time to kill and a time to heal; a time to tear down and a time to build; 4 a time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance; 5 a time to throw stones and a time to gather stones; a time to embrace and a time to avoid embracing; 6 a time to search and a time to count as lost; a time to keep and a time to throw away; 7 a time to tear and a time to sew; a time to be silent and a time to speak; 8 a time to love and a time to hate; a time for war and a time for peace.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 CSB

11 He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also put eternity in their hearts, but no one can discover the work God has done from beginning to end.