Rule & Ruin
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Video: Life With God
Religion is man’s attempt to get to God. To do the things that they think will win them the favor and approval of their god in such a way that it will bring blessing to their life.
Tension
Life with God is not about a religion, it is about a relationship. How many people here have ever heard that message before this morning? I know Daryl has, he even has the tshirt. Its a good message and one that I like to share every chance I get.
Sometimes when I am out in the community and I meet someone new the conversation will move toward, “What do you do for a living?” I try and steer clear of that as long as possible, because it always seems to instantly change the conversation. But when it does come and I say, “I am a pastor” occassionally I will get the response, “Oh, yeah, well I am not really religious” and I love to take that moment to say, “Yeah, me neither...” They look at me…and then I have the opportuity to explaing the difference between religion and relationship, much like the video that we just watched.
Religion is man’s attempt to try and please or appease a god through a man made system of “do’s and don’t’s”.
A relationship is where God has come down to us, because there is nothing that we can do to make please or appease God on our own. He is too perfect and too holy, but because he loves us he made a way that we could be together in relationship through the cross.
Religion is man’s attempt to get the attention of a god. It is typically a system of do’s and don’ts in hope that the god of that religion will bless us with favor that keep ruin from our lives so that we can rule them the way we please.
It is a beautiful picture of the Gospel.
I wonder sometimes though if we have swung the pendulum too far in using the word “relationship”. Most of our relationships are with other people so they are more of an equal status kind of thing. There is great danger in trying to relate to God in that way.
Sometimes we travel awfully close to “religion” in how we opperate in our “relationship” with God. People who go after religions are hoping that if they follow the lists of do-s an don’t-s just right then the god of that religion will bless them with favor and keep ruin from their lives so that they can rule them the way they please.
get the attention of a god. It is typically a system of do’s and don’ts in hope that the god of that religion will bless us with favor that keep ruin from our lives so that we can rule them the way we please.
But we sometimes approach our relationship with God in this way. That if we obey certain lists like the 10 commandments and the Beatitudes or we follow the principles found in the Sermon on the Mount then we should be assured that the God of the Bible will bless us with favor that keeps ruin from our lives so that we can rule them the way we please.
No, Christianity is not like that, but if we listen closely we will find that many people still try and use it this way. That if we obey certain lists like the 10 commandments and the Beatitudes or we follow the principles found in the Sermon on the Mount then we should be assured that the God of the Bible will bless us with favor that keeps ruin from our lives so that we can rule them the ways we please.
The problem with this, is that the only sure way to ruin your life is to be the one who rules it.
The relationship that the God of the Bible offers us is a relationship with a King in His Kingdom. Someone to rule over our life in such a way that no matter what happens it will never be ruined because it was used in service and surrender to the King it was subject to.
It is not about establishing some sort of equal partnership, it is about establishing a King and a Kingdom. Someone to rule over our life in such a way that no matter what happens it will never be ruined because it was used in service and surrender to the King it was subject to.
It is not about establishing some sort of equal partnership, it is about establishing a King and a Kingdom. Someone to rule over our life in such a way that no matter what happens it will never be ruined because it was used in service and surrender to the King it was subject to.
Service, surrender and subjected to are not our favorite way of thinking about our relationship with Jesus are they? We like to think of him as our “Savior” and he is, but we cannot forget that we must also welcome him as our Lord, our Master and our King.
Transitional Statement
Every person who has ever existed has some sort of relationship with the God who created them, the question that we have to ask is, “What is the nature of that relationship?”. Does Jesus rule our life as our King, having established his Kingdom in us, or have we made him less than that, asking him to be subject to our our rule, for that is a recipe for ruin.
We are going to take a look at the
In our text today, Jesus teaches both the religious leaders and his disciples about the Kingdom of God. He is asked when and where it will happen, and his answers are very applicable for us today.
If you haven’t already, open your Bibles to (p876), Ill pray and then we will learn from Jesus together.
Truth
We are going to tackle this text a little differently this morning as we will first be looking at the second half of the passage to get clarity from Jesus on the Kingdom of God, and then we will return to the first half in order to see what the Kingdom of God looks like among those who belong to it right now.
So lets start in verse 20 as Jesus is asked about the “
1. The Coming Kingdom ()
1. The Coming Kingdom ()
Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”
It is important for us this morning to get a good handle on what these religious leaders were asking Jesus. We have seen the religious leaders ask Jesus many questions and they have typically been trying to trick him or catch him saying something that the crowds would rebel against. This for once is a somewhat honest question, although it is based in faulty understanding of the Kingdom of God.
So lets start in verse 20 as Jesus is asked about the “
Imagine if you would that you lived in a nation that the entire world had both a fear and respect for. That when other nations considered doing something that would have impact beyond their borders, they would ask the question, “How would that nation respond if we decided to do this?” And this imaginary nation of yours, has proven itself with a long list of victories over any nation that threatened their way of life. Those who had dared to go up agianst your nation in the past, found themselves horribly defeated and ultimately disgraced.
Imagine if you would that you lived in a nation that the entire world had both a fear and respect for. That when other nations considered doing something that would have impact beyond their borders, they would ask the question, “How would that nation respond if we decided to do this?” This imaginary nation of yours, had proven itself with a long list of victories over any nation that threatened their way of life. Those who went up against your nation in the past, found themselves horribly defeated and disgraced.
I have not really taxed your imagination much up to this point have I? For we live in a nation that has been described in this way, but now imagine that it is 400 years later, and the respect and fear that the United States of America once had is only a part of distant and dusty history books.
This is the perspective of the Israelites in the days of Jesus. They remember the glory days of Israel, when great leaders like Abraham, Moses, and King David sat in positions of greatness that was known throughout the world.But that was hundreds of years ago, and the pride and culture of the Jewish people had taken beating after beating and it was hanging on by just a thread of hope.
This might be one of our motivators to show up to the polls this week and cast our votes for leaders who will hold to those things that have preserved the greatness of this nation for our last 400 years.
Because we don’t want to think about that possibility, but for those of us who were daring enough to allow our minds to go to that place, we have a better understanding of the mindset of the people of Israel in the days of Jesus. The Roman Empire allowed them to still operate some of their religious practices, but as a nation they were only a shadow of what Israel once was in the World. Some of the nation of Israel could still be found, but the Kingdom of Israel was a thing of the past.
The hope they had rested in the messages of their ancient prophets. These prophets had promised Abraham that God was going to bless the entire World through his people and they had not seen that happen yet. (verse) Their prophets had told them of God’s promise that someone from the line of their great King David would sit on the throne for all time - and they were waiting for that King to arrive. They were waiting for the KINGDOM OF GOD to again be established on earth so that every nation would again fear and respect the people of Israel.
When you read about the nation of Israel throughout much of the Old Testament, you are reading about one of the “superpowers” of the known world in that day. The glory days of Israel, when great leaders like Abraham, Moses, Joshua and King David and Solomon sat in positions of greatness that every faithful Israelite remembered and longed for again. When the nations of the World would do whatever was necessary to appease Israel, because when the God of Israel fought with them - no one on earth could stop them.
But that was hundreds of years ago, and the pride and culture of the Jewish people had taken beating after beating and it was hanging on by just a thread of hope. The hope they had rested in the messages of the prophets of old. These prophets had promised Abraham that God was going to bless the entire World through his people and they had not seen that happen yet. (verse) Their prophets had told them of God’s promise that someone from the line of their great King David would sit on the throne for all time - and they were waiting for that King to arrive. They were waiting for the KINGDOM OF GOD to again be established on earth so that every nation would again fear and respect the people of Israel.
So when a new prophet came on the scene, one of the first questions that they would want to know is “When?”. When will this happen? When will the Kingdom of God rule on the earth again. But it was not to be the kind of Kingdom that they were seeking.
English Standard Version Chapter 17
The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, 21 nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”
They were looking for the re-establishment of an earthly kingdom, and Jesus is teaching here that it will not happen in this way. It’s not something that is going to be set up as it was before, with geographic boundaries and systems of governmental rule. Instead, it will be and has been established in the midst of you already.
The Kingdom of God is any where that Jesus rules and reigns.
This is something that even the disciples did not understand yet. Remember that they are products of the Jewish culture and religion and Jesus spent a lot of time rewiring their default thinking on many of the things that had been taught to them since they will small boys.
English Standard Version Chapter 17
22 And he said to the disciples, “The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. 23 And they will say to you, ‘Look, there!’ or ‘Look, here!’ Do not go out or follow them. 24 For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day. 25
And he said to the disciples, “The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. And they will say to you, ‘Look, there!’ or ‘Look, here!’ Do not go out or follow them. For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day.
Jesus is talking about future things here, the coming Kingdom of God in it’s fullness. Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem to complete his mission, and when he ascend to his Father in heaven his disciples are going to long for more time with him. So Jesus warns them to not be deceived in their grief.
When Jesus came to earth the first time only a young and some shepherds knew that it had happened, but that will not be the case when he arrives the second time. It will not be a private affair that people will have to hear about from someone else. It will be something like a lightning bolt shooting across the sky so that no one will miss it.
But Jesus doesn’t want them to get too focused on that yet, because they are still working toward the next important step and He seems to want them to keep that in focus:
Of course Jesus is just as concerned that his disciples understand how he is going to leave this world as he is about how he will return.
But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.
There will be two women grinding together. One will be taken and the other left.”
Notice the “time stamp” on this. While he does not give them an indication of when he will return, he does give them some parameters of when he will leave. He will suffer and die under this generation, this language implies that there will be future generations. A lot of life will happen between Jesus ascending into heaven and his returning to initiate the Coming Kingdom of God. He will return at a time when people are least expecting it.
But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.
Notice the “time stamp” on this. While he does not give them an indication of when he will return, he does tell them when he will leave. He will suffer and die under this generation, and then there will be future generations. A lot of life will happen between Jesus ascending into heaven and his returning to initiate the Coming Kingdom of God. He will return when people are really least expecting it.
Notice the “time stamp” on this. While he does not give them an indication of when he will return, he does tell them when he will leave. He will suffer and die under this generation, and then there will be future generations. A lot of life will happen between Jesus ascending into heaven and his returning to initiate the Coming Kingdom of God. He will return when people are really least expecting it.
Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all— so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed.
It is going to seem like just a boring Tuesday, kind of day. Ok, I don’t know if it will be on a Tuesday but that seems to be the day of the week that is least exciting to me for some reason. The point is, it isn’t going to seem like an extraordinary day and then boom! Jesus.
So why is Jesus telling us this? We have to live life as if it could happen at any moment. You are not going to have a lot of time to prepare or get things right - it will just be life as you normally life it and then, like lightning...Jesus will bring in the Kingdom of God.
What will Jesus find us doing when he comes? He will find us doing the very things that we find ourselves doing every day right now. That should make us think.
On that day, let the one who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away, and likewise let the one who is in the field not turn back. Remember Lot’s wife. Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it. I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed. One will be taken and the other left. There will be two women grinding together. One will be taken and the other left.” And they said to him, “Where, Lord?” He said to them, “Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.”
Hanging on to the things of this life, or joyfully welcoming Him to bring you into the next?
Luke 17:31-37
On that day, let the one who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away, and likewise let the one who is in the field not turn back. Remember Lot’s wife. Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it. I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed. One will be taken and the other left. There will be two women grinding together. One will be taken and the other left.”
I am not the typical “Hell Fire and Brimstone” kind of pastor, but I have to preach what is there. This is a warning from Jesus. The language here at the beginning is typical of a war scenario where your enemy is at your gate and all you can do is flee. There is no time to go into the house and pack a bag, there is not time to run home quickly from the field. The destruction is imminent and all you can do is run for your life. This is not to say someone will be able to escape judgement by running away, it is just to give us a picture of how this day will come upon us without notice and we have to be ready now.
We have to be diligent in checking ourselves - are we holding on to the things of this life - temporary things that end? or are you sold out to both the salvation and Lordship of God in your life.
There is a three word sentence in these verses that should send shivers up our back. Abraham’s That one three word sentence
We can hear a repeated teaching that we learned back in Luke chapter 9 when Jesus was talking about taking up you cross and following him.
For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.
And then Jesus shows us how this is an individual thing, two people can be in the same place doing the same thing and one will taken up and the other won’t. There is no national, cultural, religious or geographical zone that you can go to and be assured of salvation. If you don’t have a saving relationship with Jesus when he comes there is not other hope.
It is only through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ that we are saved. Have we submitted ourselves to King Jesus, or are we still trying to rule our own life? The answer to that question comes down to what we believe about God. Do we believe that what God has for us is better than anything we have ever experienced in this world without him?
Don’t get so exc
Have we submitted ourselves to King Jesus, or are we still trying to rule our own life? The answer to that question comes down to what we believe about God. Do we believe that what God has for us is better than anything we have ever experienced in this world without him?
Abraham’s nephew Lot and family were rescued from Sodom right before God destroyed it with fire from heaven. The angels who brought Lot and his family out instructed the mto not look back, and when Lot’s wife did - she was turned into a pillar of salt. We are not told exactly why she looked back, but she must have thought that there was something back there that was worth missing.
We have to be diligent in checking ourselves - are we holding on to the things of this life - temporary things that we know will end? or are we sold out to both the salvation and lordship of God in our life. Does he rule our life? The answer to that question comes down to what we believe about God. Do we believe that what God has for us is better than anything that we will have to leave behind?
What do we believe about what God has for us in his Kingdom? Do we understand that it is so much better than anything that we could ever have in a kingdom of our making. A kingdom that we rule, because that Kingdom is a kingdom of ruin.
We have to be diligent in checking ourselves - are we holding on to the things of this life - temporary things that end? or are you sold out to both the salvation and Lordship of God in your life.
“Remember Lots Wife”
Do you remember this story? It is one of the crazy weird stories of the Bible, but Jesus references it here to help us understand what completely surrendering to him looks like.
Abraham’s nephew Lot had taken up residence with his family in the city of Sodom that was so evil God told Abraham that he was going to wipe it off the face of the earth. On behalf of his nephew, Abraham humbly pleaded with God to try and stop him from doing this. He even asked God if he might spare the city if 50 righteous men could be found there. God said he would, but the Abraham was like…well what if I can only find 45, you would destroy the whole city for a lack of 5 righteous men would you. God again said that he would spare them for 45, and Abraham keeps going until he gets down to 10, and each time God agrees. Because there was not even 10 righteous men in this city.
So God sends two Angels down to Sodom to find these 10 righteous men and they begin by going to Lots house. Well when the men of the city see these two striking men, the Bible says that every single man in the city came to Lots house in order to force themsevles on these men. And then we see how twisted and messed up even Lot was because he tries to settle down the mob by offering his two young daughters to mob. What kind of dad would do that. Thankfully, for the daughters sake, they didn’t want the daughters but instead turned on Lot himself and threatened to do to him the same thing they were going to do to these two angels. So the angels grabbed him back into the house and blinded every man so that they were left outside fighting each other blindly to try and find the door into the house. This is the stuff that nightmares are made of, but it really happened to Lot, you can check it out in .
The next morning the angles told Lot and his family that it was time to go because God was ready to destroy this place. Good riddens right. After what happened the night before, we would think that Lot and his family could not get out of that city fast enough.
Left Behind -
Do you know what Lot did when the Angels said it was time to leave? He hesitated. Can you believe that? The night before, every man in the city wanted to destroy you and now you have a chance to escape and you are not sure. What was he thinking?
“Well it’s not all bad here in Sodom...” Yes Lot it is! by very definition it is all bad - the whole city and God himself has judged it so. And don’t forget that Lot is in this city. He has become part of the evil. The Angels literally had to grab them by the hands and lead them out of the city in order for them to wake up to the hold that this place had on them. The gave them strict instructions to not look back…but as the fire begins to fall from heaven, Lot’s Wife looks back - and the Bible says she was instantly turned into a pillar of salt.
“There
The Angels literally had to grab them by the hands and lead them out of the city in order for them to wake up to the hold that this place had on them.
But as the fire begins to fall from heaven, Lot’s Wife looks back - and the Bible says she was instantly turned into a pillar of salt.
So the next morning, the Angels tell Lot it is time to go, and Lot hesitates. God is about the destroy this place and Lot is like, “I don’t know...” So God shows mercy to Lot by allowing the angels to grab them by arms and drag them out of the city so that they would understand. Finally Lot seems to get it so he leads his family to a nearby city, but the angels tell them to not look back.
But as the fire begins to fall from heaven, Lot’s Wife looks back - and the Bible says she was instantly turned into a pillar of salt.
That is what those three little words mean, “Remember Lot’s wife”. Don’t think that you can have the salvation of God, without his Lordship. We just gotta know guys, that there is nothing in this entire world that compares to being with Jesus in heaven? When we understand that, they we will never turn back for anything here.
Remember Lots wife.
The Full and Perfect Kingdom of God is Coming, and we need to be ready, but in the meantime the truth remains that
And they said to him, “Where, Lord?” He said to them, “Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.”
Luke 17:37
This seems like a rather morbid example, but in essence Jesus is saying that it will not be hidden. That people from far away will be able to see that it is happening so you don’t really have to worry about where - the evidence on the arrival of the COMING KINGDOM will be plain to see. But while we wait for the arrival we have to remember that Jesus said that Kingdom of God is also in our midst.
This is something that the Pharisees missed, but the Kingdom of God was present in their midst because King Jesus was present in their midst.
The Kingdom of God is wherever Jesus rules and reigns. So there is THE COMING KINGDOM and
1. The Kingdom that’s Come ()
1. The Kingdom that’s Come ()
Lets return to the first half of this chapter to see what the Kingdom of God looks like right now in the life of the believer. The first thing that we encounter is how to handle
Sin in the Kingdom.
Sin in the Kingdom.
And he said to his disciples, “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come!
Lets just stop there for moment and recognize the fact that Jesus himself is declaring that temptation is a present reality in the Kingdom.
never be putting obstacles in others way
a regular part of being being tempted is not a sin. In fact, we know that Jesus was tempted.
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
The word translated “Temptation” in english is the Greek word σκάνδαλον (skondalon) and another way to understand it is a “cause for stumbling”. We need to expect that there will be causes for stumbling in the Kingdom and we need to watch out for them. The first way that Jesus teaches us to look our for them is in how we interact with others in the Kingdom community.
should not take the presence of temptations to mean that we are outside of the Kingdom of God. In fact, if anything it is evidence that we are dwelling in it. Our enemy doesn’t bother trying to trip up people who are already lost. What Jesus does warn us about here is that we should be cautious that what we are doing does not in some way cause others to stumble. Jesus uses some pretty strong words here:
Being Tempted is not a sin, it is only when we give in to that temptation that sin occurs. So Temptations to sin are sure to come, but Jesus wants to warn us about something even graver
And he said to his disciples, “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin.
Luke 17:
Do not
Wow, that is an unpleasant thought. I don’t know if you know what a millstone is, but it was this huge round bolder that was rolled around on top of grain to pound it down to flour. Those are some strong words, but Jesus wants to make sure that his disciples know that it is not enough that you just resist temptation yourself, you have a responsibility to consider other people in the Kingdom and not be the cause of someone else’s stumbling as well. And there are more ways to interact with others in the Kingdom community.
Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”
:
Remember that rebuking is about empathetic-ally correcting someone, not harshly condemning them. Basically, this is when you see how your brother is heading into things that you know are going to drive them far from God. That is what sin is. For a believer, sin is what separates us from sweet fellowship with God. If you see a brother heading that way, then in love you’re gonna let him know,
“Hey bro, that is not ok! you can’t be a follower of Jesus and a follower of that kind of stuff at the same time. I love you too much man to see you go down that road.”
And we will do that as much as it takes. The number 7 is not the maximum, it just means as much as it takes.
When 7 times in the same day and I still must forgive him? Why? Because forgiveness is more for the one forgiving then for the one who is forgiven. Every time we offer forgiveness to someone else in our life it should stand as a reminder of how much we have been forgiven. And if it takes 7 times in one day then we just have a steady reminder of how much we have been forgiven that day.
Sometimes, in the Kingdom of God, forgiveness benefits the one forgiving even more than one who was forgiven. Because every time we offer forgiveness to someone else, it should stand as a reminder of how much we have been forgiven. What a great opportunity, to actually be able to offer someone else something that God has so richly given us. And if it takes 7 times in one day, then we have a full day of reminders of how much God had forgiven us.
But forgiveness is never just about the one doing the forgiving, it is also about the one who is asking for the forgiveness. Notice that it says, “If he repents, forgive him.” This is the same Greek word we studied a couple weeks ago, μετανοέω (matanoeo) meaning the Change one’s mind. This is not talking about repentance unto salvation, but repentance that will bring you back into a right relationship with your brothers and sisters in the Kingdom.
That is how we handle sin in the Kingdom, we watch ourselves so we do not stumble, keep others from stumbling in it, but if they do we forgive as we have been forgiven.
It does sounds simple, but it does not sound easy, even the Disciples were struck by the weight of these demands and they worried that they did not have what it took to obey them. They felt like they needed more
What are they changing their mind about? That it is not OK to dishonor God by doing things that he has commanded us not to. ction and that they will not do again. If our brother sins we need to rebuke him, or tell him that it is not OK to dishonor God like that, and then if he repents, then we forgive him, remembering how much we have been forgiven. There is so much that we could go into here from Scripture on this, but for now lets just remember that this is how we handle Sin in the Kingdom
We protect others in the Kingdom, by making sure that we are not putting any obstacles in their way that might cause them to stumble.
When our brother sins, we lovingly rebuke him by showing him how much his behavior dishonors our King
When our brother repents, we forgive him as much as it takes, because we have been so richly forgiven by our King.
And he said to his disciples, “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin. Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”
Those things are easy for me just stand up here and say, but they are hard to live out every day aren’t they. The Disciples felt the wait of this too, so they cried out to Jesus for help to be able to handle these things. They wanted more
Faith in the Kingdom
Faith in the Kingdom
The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.
We have encountered the illustration of a mustard seed before. The idea was that even though you might not see it as much, there is more power in that little casing than you think. Genuine faith is like a mustard seed, one of the smallest seeds and it is all the really matters in the Kingdom of God. Jesus had already compared the Kingdom of God to that seed. The seed was so small but the life giving power that was contained inside that little seed was so strong that it would grow into the tallest plant in the garden. The Disciples are saying that they want to live like Jesus is teaching but they need more faith to do so - Jesus is saying that even the smallest amount of genuine faith is enough, because it is made to grow!
Do we believe that what God has told us is true is true or not. That is the seed of faith that will grow into the ability to do anything that God asks of us. If you are like the disciples today and you feel overwhelmed by all the things that you know God desires for you, I would encourage you to go back to this seed of truth -
Do you believe that what God has told you about who He is and about who you are is true.
If you don’t, then any faith that you think that you had is rooted in something that will not hold up when “temptations” come. Faith in the Kingdom begins with that little seed.
Sin in the Kingdom
Sin in the Kingdom
Faith in the Kingdom
Faith in the Kingdom
Service in Kingdom
Service in Kingdom
“Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’? Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’? Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’ ”
Do you hear Jesus clarifying our “relationship” with Him here. He is the King and we are the servants in his Kingdom. No servant would ever think that when he is done serving his King in one area, then the King should start serving him. That is just not what the relationship looks like. What happens after you have finished serving your King in one area of the kingdom? You start serving him in the next. That is what being the servant is, but if we are honest, we really want to be the ruler.
No servant would ever think that when he is done serving his King in one area, then the King should start serving him in another. That is just not what the relationship looks like. What happens after you have finished serving your King in one area of the kingdom? You start serving him in the next. That is what being the servant is, but we really want to be the ruler.
The best news ever is that we do have a King who serves us, but not because he is endebted to us because of something that we have done. He serves us because it brings him glory, and it increases his Kingdom to work through his servants to accomplish his tasks. That is great news, but we should never think that God somehow owes us. That is the thinking of “religion” where if we do these things then our “god” has to do what we ask him to do.
God doesn’t owe us anything, we are eternally endebted to Him, so we gratefully serve him as it is our duty.
Lastly, Jesus teaches us about
Do you see the attitude that Jesus is trying to chip away at here? What does it mean that God “rules” our life. Does that mean that after we have decided we are really going to give Him our all on a Missions trip or during a Bible Study then we can expect that He is going to start doing things our way. Start serving us in the ways that we would like Him to. That is the attitude that Jesus is getting at here. In the Kingdom of God, there is only room for one King, and anyone else is a servant. We need to humbly be doing our duty, with not expectation that it will earn us some extra favor from God.
(God I am tired, I just spent a whole day serving you at Church and now I come home and my family needs me ???)
Fourthly, Jesus teaches us about
Gratitude in the Kingdom
Gratitude in the Kingdom
On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.”
On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”
Luke 17:11
Leprosy, as you probably know was a very deadly and contagious disease in Jesus’ day, so much so that these lepers didn’t dare approach Jesus but yelled out from a distance. They called him “Master” which typically was only a title used by Jesus’ Disciples. The last time we read about Jesus healing a leper, he chose to heal him by touching him, but this time he does it in a different way
When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed.
Luke 17:
Can you picture this moment in your mind? 10 men crying out to Jesus with great respect and hope, then Jesus says go show yourself to the Priest and they all just went. They hadn’t been healed yet, but they so trusted in Jesus’ word that they left in faith that it would happen. And as they were heading to the priests, their healing came.
his particular time, they had to exhibit a measure of faith in the words of Jesus before they were healed. And they did, they were miraculously healed by faith in the words of Jesus as they too action in line with Jesus’ instruction.
That would have been a great story in and of itself, but there is more.
Luke 17:
Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”
Can you imagine how loud you would be if you were healed like this? And this man, a Samaritan, someone who would typically have not dealings with Jews, was the only one to return and give thanks. Luke is the only Gospel writer to include this story of Jesus, but one of the thing that we see clearly is that even though the man showed great faith, so much so that Jesus pointed to it as a source of his healing, it was still fitting for him to return to thank Jesus. It was not his great faith that was responsible for the healing, but the greatness of object of his faith. The fact that his faith was in Jesus, so how can would not respond in thanksgiving.
We have encountered this before, but the Greek word translated “made you well” is the Greek word σῴζω (sozo) and it is the same word that is other times translated, “saved you”. This seems to indicate that there is more that has happened in this man than just a physical healing, he has come to believe through this experience of healing that Jesus is who he claims to be. The seed of faith has been planted, Jesus is now his King, and the Kingdom of God is being formed in him.
Application
A good friend of mine sent me this story about an Englishman who came to this country back in the 1960’s and spent his first week in Philadelphia visiting many of the historic landmarks in order to familiarize himself with the American culture. After visiting Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell, he stopped into several antique shops that specialized in Colonial and Revolutionary War memorabilia. In one of these shops he saw several posters and signboards containing the slogans and messages of the Revolutionary war. They said things like “No Taxation Without Representation’ and “Don’t Tread on Me” and one sign in particular caught his eye, it said, “We Serve No Sovereign Here” As he considered the message of this last sign, he thought to himself, how difficult it must be for someone in a culture that so honors Independence to be able to understand the the Kingdom of God.
The truth is that the idea of one individual have complete rule over our life is something that we do resist. And I would argue that we should resist, if we are talking about any other broken and sinful man. But we shouldn’t relate to God in this way. If we resist his Lordship like we resist the control of other men then we are in trouble. For Gods word tells us that
The truth is that the idea of one individual have complete rule over our life is something that we really struggle with.
The only sure way to ruin your life is to rule it.
Landing
The Good news is that our King is not like any other earthly King. Another thing that God’s word is clear about is that He loves us, and when he gives us directions and commands it is not to harm us but to help us to be everything that He has created us to be. To be actively operating in His Kingdom, as his servants is the only place that any of us will find the peace that we are looking for. And we would never have been able to get there if it were not for Jesus and what he did not the cross for us.
Crown vs. Thorns idea instead?