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Jesus alone straightens what is bent

Jesus alone makes much of what seems small

Jesus alone saves those who enter the narrow door

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Good morning church family! My name is Jack Flaherty and I serve as one of the pastors here at Harvest. It is a joy to open up God’s Word together this morning. For our 4th-5th graders you are dismissed to class. The rest of us can open up our Bibles to Luke 13. If you need a Bible, the ushers would love to get you one. On Wednesday nights we ask all of our students to have a bible with them and open. We don’t start reading till everyone has one! I wont make you do that, but that’s how important we think the Word of God is. IGet your eyes on it, it has the power to change you.

Speaking of students, it truly is a privilege to serve the students of this church and in our community. Excited for events coming up the next two Saturdays. But one of the best things is that student ministry is full of surprises! Some examples. Last Winterfest it was the junior high girls not high school guys who are the most snacks of anyone. Summer camp student was crying because she didn’t get to eat. When asked why she explained she can’t because she has a small canker sore is on her favorite side of her mouth to chew on.  This week a student came over after playing football looking like he was dripping sweat and in distress. Said he couldn’t see and proceed to explain it was bug spray all over his face. Some serious/sweet examples. Our first summer camp where 6th grader led a team building exercise with high school students. A hostile middle schooler who seemed a million miles away is now faithfully following Jesus. A high school girl who was the shyest elementary and middle schooler who became one of the best welcomers of new students into the church and ministry. I could share a million more stories. In this context of student ministry you learn to expect the unexpected.

Well in a similar way our text this morning is full of surprises. As Jesus teaches and demonstrates the power of kingdom of God, we realize this too is a context where we should expect the unexpected. Our sermon title today is Kingdom Contrasts because what we hear and see in the ministry of Jesus shows clear contrasts between the world and the kingdom of God. Not only contrasts, but that the kingdom of God is bursting in on the kingdom of the world and reverses our expectations and experiences. Recognizing the great reversals of God’s rule and reign is what Jesus presents to his disciples and to us. Look for the opposites, reversals, contrast. When Bible reading is difficult, this is a method which helps the Bible make sense and come alive! SO many here! Maybe keep track of them! But all will fall under one of three headings. We find the first as we read Luke 13:10-17. The first great reversal of God’s rule and reign to recognize is that…

Jesus alone straightens what is bent 

Luke gives less geographic context but points us to the theological and narrative happenings. In v10 Luke tells us Jesus is in a synagogue on the Sabbath. This has been an issue in this gospel already and will come up again next chapter. Happens to be a woman there who has disabling spirit and Jesus calls her over. He starts the conflict! He heals her by the power of his Words, then lovingly and with care lays hands on her. Immediately straightens up AND immediately she glorifies God! Makes difference of kingdoms clear and show his rule and reign!

She wasn’t seeking just faithful at synagogue. And she does nothing but walk to Jesus when called and God does the work to free her! Praises show she knows who did the work! But the ruler did not and did not like it. His job is to govern what happens at synagogue and he probably let Jesus talk. But now Jesus crossed a line. Avoids direct attack as v14 tells us “he said to the people.” But message clear that he thinks Jesus broke Sabbath. Tells people, go away come again another day. 

He misses at best of avoids at worst the divine work. But Jesus makes it clear. Instead of avoid in v15-16 answers him directly. Remember from Luke 6 he is Lord of the Sabbath! This ruler says it’s fine to free animals to drink but not ok to let a woman, daughter of Abe, who is dealing with 18 years of Satan oppression to experience freedom? Hypocrite! This woman sickness accredited to Satan but not said to be possessed or exorcism. Not that all disablements are Satanic but hers was. Might be something with number eighteen and Greek letters which abbreviate Jesus also standing for eight like his power flips the power of Satan! Regardless, the responses of Jesus in  lifts the lifts this up from crossfire of legal debates and puts it in messianic realm. Divine realm. This is picking a fight with God.

Jesus rhetorically fights back to defend his rule on display. His rhetorical question “ought not” this woman be loosed here in v16 directly rebuts the rulers word in v14 “ought” to be working six and resting one. He wanted to make sure they didn’t miss his disagreement.  When our oldest was about 2 years old she really enjoyed loud screams in the car for no reason. One day she had let a few out and I said “please you need to stop. Your screaming is not necessary.” Quiet for a few minutes. Then must’ve seen something roll by that warranted it in her mind and blurts out another yell. A brief pause and a calm little voice says “that was necessary.” Jesus says this conflict was necessary to demonstrate his kingdom rule and reign.

What the ruler speaks against is actually the original context of the Sabbath! Ruler thinks he is expositing the law meant to show love of God and others but instead show no concern for either. Consider the purpose of the Sabbath! Deuteronomy 5:12-15 “ ‘Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you.  Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.”

It was meant for rest from work and remembrance of deliverance! Ruler missed the point of the Sabbath and missed what the Sabbath was pointing too! That is to the Lord of the Sabbath, Jesus, and what he offers all who rest in him. We’ve already heard that back in ch 4 when Jesus reads from Isaiah 61 in the synagogue. Let’s review. Luke 4:16-21 “And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Sabbath is reminder of release from captivity. Jesus’ loosing is a sign of a new Sabbath accomplished by new Exodus! meant to bless people and mark Mosaic covenant. Jesus never broke God’s Law, He kept it! He did not violate it, He fulfilled it!!

Kingdom of God at hand. But this ruler is indignant as God’s power undermined his power. He tried to talk to the crowd and by v17 everyone’s attention captured. ALL adversaries shamed and ALL people rejoiced and ALL glorious things Jesus did! This restoring the bowed down ones is talked about in Ps 19:9; 144:14; 145:8 as something which only God does and brings God glory! Kingdom comes with rule and reign and will provoke opposition and praise.

The question for us is, do we recognize that Jesus is the one to straighten the bent things in our lives? First, he straightens the physical back of this broken woman. Jesus is one who can provide physical healing for us! And even when he does not, he provides the context for care in the local church! Care and healing can be shown by refusing to ostracize those who are ill, empathize with anguish, surround with love and respect. Even Jesus calling her a daughter of Abe shows unique ID. Term of honor! People first not disability first language we can learn from. Lets care in words and actions as Jesus does! 

Second, he straightens what Satan broke. Woman’s weakness is not within but without. Don’t think physical struggle is sign of spiritual weakness in fact it’s the often opposite! In fact in this honor shame Roman world Jesus shows weak woman as honor and shames the leaders of power! Not petty vengeance but showing who is really honored, those who follow Jesus! Don’t let your weakness be an impediment for trusting God or for taking God to others. Too young, too old, hindered in some way. You can still trust and praise God 

Third, he straightens what Pharisees twisted. Jesus showed compassion to the broken woman, while the ruler was concerned about broken rules. What does this contrast reveal about the difference between Jesus’ heart and a self-righteous heart? Guard against becoming more concerned with being right than loving people! Also, if you’ve been taught wrong, manipulated, mistreated, you are not alone. And yet, Jesus is even today, hear from his mouth! 

This is what the kingdom of God looks like: an unnamed woman who has been bent over for eighteen years standing upright in unnamed synagogue proving Jesus’ power over enemy. What feels bent in your life? Nothing is too broken for God to straighten out! And God might just use the hardest thing you’re stuck in to bring himself glory. Jesus is coming to make it all new! Jesus is in direct engagement in cosmic conflict with the purpose of kingdom coming through. He will ultimately straighten out all the sin and Satan and suffering has bent!  Wherever the kingdom comes it breaks the power and rule of Satan. Jesus shows however this is not always happening the way we expect it. We see that continue in our next section.

Read Luke 13:18-21. The second reversal of God’s rule and reign to recognize is that…

Jesus alone makes much of what seems small 

We see the word “therefore” in v18 which means Luke is highlighting how Jesus’ teaching is intentionally connected to what came right before. THEREFORE connects us back to all rejoicing at all glorious things.! This teaching is explaining Jesus’ kingdom coming in power to rule and reign over Satan and the kingdom of the world. Jesus has the authority to show what God is like!

So what is that like?! Jesus gives us two pictures to explain the kingdom. One of a man with a seed and the other of woman with bread. Mustard seed.  Super tiny not significant.  But this things grows. It can be a plant of decent size somewhere from 10-20 feet tall. Mustard Plant. But this is funny as mustard plant is actually hollow and is not a suitable nesting place. Also ALL the birds is exaggeration. Dramatic contrasts! God’s reign is improbably inglorious and humble yet enormously successful

Same thing with this next picture of the kingdom. Leaven loaf. Many of us know someone who got this started in their kitchen! We got a good starter in our fridge! That’s the leaven. It doesn’t take much to put into a loaf and spread through. But it’s a surprising pic in many ways. Such a huge volume for one. That’s roughly 60lbs of dough. Wow! But also an inversion of common images of sacred and profane! From perspective of pharisees Jesus view of God’s kingdom ignores purity concerns, violates, sabbath, and accepts sinners. Corrupting for their world view indeed! BUT its making great God’s true world view. Disorienting BUT focuses on end goal.  old is new with continuity. Jesus changing Judaism to something new.

He is helping explain why the kingdom contrasts maybe aren’t fully what we expect them to be yet. Not divine cedar as prophet Ezekiel anticipates but lowly mustard seed. Nonetheless aiding all. Not ruling conquer yet but silently and powerfully interrupts the norm. The kingdom of God breaks in and doesn’t always look impressive. But already present and staring to spread. It looks like a little bent woman, a tiny seed, little leaven. Small and hidden BUT will come in apocalyptic power! This kingdom is both happening in individual lives but also in lives together. This is a team thing! It is spreading and growing and surprisingly making an impact as God works through individuals apart but also even more so together.

This is what the kingdom of God looks like: something that begins like a mustard seed and becomes remarkably large. That is a scoop of leaven that leavens a massive loaf. So what does this mean for us? We can have a confidence that even if we don’t see things now God is on the move! Yes hidden and imperceptible but God is doing something. Church this should pump us up! Watched Remember the Titans this weekend and it’s a slow process of team coming together but then has huge impac ton them and their community and now millions who watch. We join the exciting like Gary Bertier fist pumping! Be excited! Who knows when that invite to church turns up years later. Who knows when those prayers prayed bring conviction & repentance. Who knows how the daily discipline of prayer and Bible reading will produce the exact help you need in time. Or on corporate level who knows when a SG might make a big impact. Or a small church have a large influence. Our church started from a a few hearts stirred, a Craigslist’s add, some living room prayer, and a pastor planning on going elsewhere hearing from the Lord while praying in a closet.

Do we think simple faith and obedience too small that God can’t move in or work through in big ways?  When you don’t see big things happening know God is at work. Humble beginnings and seemingly small growth yet there are major things happening! Yes God can bring breakthrough BUT also God works over ordinary daily pursuit of him. This is evident in counseling, in discipleship, in parenting, in student ministry, in our church life. God is not slow but patient not only wishing for all to repent but to build. Do you wish you saw something overcome NOW? Transformation now? Trust the seed the leaven is working also, in both God is the one expanding and raising up. God can work with something that seems small and accomplish much. 

If you’re an outsider, the Kingdom is unstoppable. Seems small and insignificant. But if you’re not recognizing how much of a deal this seemingly small thing is, you’re in for a rude awakening. This is not a small piece to add onto your life, this is the whole thing. Like the ruler who wants the kingdom his way, we can’t try to control or keep it to the side. It will become a tree for birds of the heavens. It will leaven ALL the loaf. Will you recognize that Jesus is going to take what seems small now and make much of it? Will you take the little stirrings of faith you feel now and trust the Spirit to fan them to flame? Or ignore and miss out? Let this last section persuade you.

Read Luke 13:22-30 The third great reversal of God’s rule and reign to recognize is that…

Jesus alone saves those who enter the narrow door

In v22 is a reminder we are still heading to Jerusalem as we have been since 9:51. Reign of the kingdom is not derailed by human hostility or religious hypocrisy! Jesus is multitasking. He is fighting false teachers, he is equipping disciples, and he is heading to the cross. Evidently the judgement and division talk stir up question and in v23 man asks an important question. Probably well-meaning and “Lord” shows he thinks Jesus has some authority to speak. Jesus answer is less worried about numbers but more worried that the immediate audience would respond personally. It’s implied in the verb in v24 but “you” is reiterated much in v24-30. This is Jesus speaking to this man and those around him. But as God’s Word still speaks it’s for you and me today too!  

Jesus says strive to enter the narrow door.  The word for strive has the connotation and same root as “agonize”! Why? Well this does not mean we work our way to be saved. Jesus already clearly said this even just at the begging of the chapter, REPENT. The woman healed was by God’s word and hand alone. The seed and loaf grew by kingdom work, not ours. We don’t have power to enter the door like woman was unable to stand up. It is an imperative but seems to be more emphasis on struggle than enter. God brings us through, but we still struggle. 

We see this in places like Phil 2:12-13 which says work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. Or 1 Cor 9:25-27 says we press on in the race to win the prize. Even this is the concept of Hebrews 4 of striving to enter the rest of God. As it quotes from Psalm 95 the message is the same. there is a personal urgency! So salvation doesn’t come from our efforts. Yet just because its not produced doesn’t mean we don’t participate. Salvation is for those who strive to enter! 

As I wrestled with this, I can’t help but think of passages like Jesus tell us to take up cross daily or Paul talking about being crucified with Christ. It seems the effort is to stop making it your own effort. Die to self to squeeze through that narrow door! Its agonizing to repent! Its hard to die to pride and admit sin! It takes effort to believe--Lord help our unbelief! It takes effort to stay committed to truth in the face of opposition and persecution. Its not easy to love God more than other people so that love for God makes love for others be like “hate.” Its agonizing to willingly welcome division. It’s not easy to say goodbye to possessions or see ya later finances that I wanted for my purposes but surrender to God. 

This striving in participation with God comes from a right recognition of his kingdom bursting onto the scene. Not everyone will recognize this nor make that the motivation for their efforts. Not because it’s not clear, but they miss out on the kingdom. And Jesus warns of this in two pictures. 

First in v24 is narrow door. Only right response to kingdom is repent and believe in Jesus. He is the way truth and life no one comes to father except through him! Contrasting hypocritical talk of the day of rule following getting you in. And contrasts our day that religious pluralism. We want to be generous and that’s unloving but it’s from Jesus mouth that entry is narrow! This isn’t church tradition made up. This theme is echoed throughout the Bible! Narrow means its not something you accidentally or casually get through. Agonizing! And after Christ alone! 

Second picture in v25-27 is a door that will shut. Wanting is not enough. Closeness not enough BUT it takes repenting and believing in the narrow way of Jesus. See the parallelism.

v25a master stands and shuts door THEN you stand and knock at door

v25b you say ___ and he answers I don’t know where you’re from

v26 you say ___ and he answers I don’t know where you’re from

v27 DEPART all workers or evil

Again shocking to those who thought religious motions of closeness will get you there. There is no such things as saving faith that is Jesus adjacent. Those who went to church, who had religious parents, who had children dedicated, and prayed at meals. Then in v28-30 we see another contrast of feasting at the table vs in a place of weeping and gnashing teeth. They loved the law but missed what patriarchs and prophets saw! Those expected are shut out and those marginalized are the cause for celebration! The self-righteous will murmur and weep and gnash. These is combo of sorrow and rage. Not remorseful for being shut out of the kingdom as they wish to enter on own terms. They have hardened hearts. 

Others “recline at table” in v29 this connects back to 12:37. The  Isaiah 25 image of the great feast! Patriarchs and prophets of course make the guest list. but also crowd from all over the world! others outside weeping. Joy for many despair for others. Those near are cast far and those far are drawn near. This preps for whimsical images of banquets with guests of honors coming from everywhere, highways and alleys (ch 14), and  far countries (ch 15) Jesus in fight with cosmic power and is putting that on display. Shows mercy of God’s coming reign. foretaste!

Is that where you want to be? Again emphasis on “you.” Don’t wait because there is a day the door will be shut. This is not fear tactics but facts. Again this is Jesus himself speaking. Heaven and Hell aren’t just scare tactics or treats to dangle for motivation. They are real places where you will really end up after your life on this earth ends. Do we believe this? Do we think on this? Don’t go through life as if Hell is something OTHERS gotta worry about. We make ourselves the hero of the story Jesus flips that script. He is the hero saving you in distress! If your stirred lets talk! Don’t wait! Time is not infinite. We know that as we watch it wind down and bodies of us and others grow old. So today is the day of salvation! 

If you’re a Christian two things for us. First, this should shake those comfortable in their sin awake! And second it should assure those comfortable in their salvation! That doesn’t mean we need to sit doubting and doubting and wrestling. If you’re trusting actively in Christ alone, he has aleady RSVP’d your seat at the banquet and let that motivate you! And as a part of the kingdom with others, we get to do both these things in community. Call out sin where needed and assure the sensitive conscience where needed. Point one another to Jesus alone! Notice that repetition in each point today is intentional. We cannot straight ourselves out but something’s think we can. We cannot make much of anything lasting in this world. Studying Ecclesiastes with students is reminding me of that. We need to know God for real and let him make broken things whole and tiny seeds into trees. And we need to know him forreal. That means we need be REAL clear on the narrow door which we enter to arrive at the meal. you know him!

Did you count all the contrasts and reversals? Animals bound in stall loosed to drink vs daughter of Abe bound by Satan loosed to praise. Bent made straight and oppressed set free. Lowly woman exalted/honored and mighty rulers shamed/humbled. Small made great and the imperceivable made evident. Those entering in vs those standing near. Outsiders brought near while insiders cast off. Partying now are weeping and weeping now will feast. Last first and first last. And more. Expectations reversed! The Bible is full of reversals! Jesus did it all! Is this true of you? 

This is what the kingdom of God looks like: people we expect to be first finding themselves last, and people we expect to be last finding themselves first. The kingdom brings a King who straightens, grows, saves. God straightens what Satan has bent. God makes much of what seems small. And God saves those who enter through the door. So don't stand near the door. Don't presume you'll enter later. Enter now. The biggest reality is that this kingdom paints the bigger biblical theological picture of the grand redemptive narrative. Of beauty of Eden which was wrecked by sin being reversed by the Second Adam. Jesus Christ is the one to rule and reign and he will bring a kingdom that crushes that of the serpent. In the end we will see judgment poured out on all who reject his rule and reign and blessing poured out on all who enter in through Christ. See these contrast and respond now with faith in Jesus Christ for all he has done and is doing for his kingdom.

One of the pictures we get to commemorate this is Lord’s Supper. The bread reminds us of the broken body which makes us whole. The cup reminds us of the righteous blood spilled so the unrighteous might be made clean. We celebrate Jesus reversal of the curse through the cross. We do this together with others who are a part of the kingdom! And we look forward to the day we feast with whim!

Two biblical warnings. First, this is a uniquely Christian act. All believers in Jesus Christ are welcome but if you have not placed your faith in Christ then we ask you take time now to respond or let the elements pass by. Second,  Jesus died to deal with sin between him and others and even believers need to examine if we have unrepentant sin. This doesn’t mean worry about if you forgot something BUT ask “Am I you actively trusting God, presenting my life as a living sacrificial and being transformed?” This means dealing with it before God and with others if sin involves another person. Deal with it or make a plan to deal with it. As I invite the ushers forward and worship team up and the elements are passed, I invite you to take some time to reflect and deal between you and the Lord (and others if needed). After all are served I will come up, pray, and then partake together.

In 1 Cor 11:23-34, Paul relays to us what he received from the Lord, recalling that night Jesus was betrayed. Jesus took the bread, gave thanks, and breaking it said “this is my body, which is for you. Eat this in remembrance of me.” Let’s eat together. In the same way he took the cup saying “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. As often as you drink it, do this in remembrance of me.” Let’s drink together. Hallelujah! Thank you, Jesus! Let’s stand together and sing to our humbly and loving God.

Be ready

Be repentant

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Good morning church family! My name is Jack Flaherty and I serve as one of the pastors here at Harvest. Gald everyone made it with new service times. Good news is, if you’re feeling a bit tired, we are hearing from God together! Earlier this week I attended a conference which reminded us over and over again it is the Word that does the work. If we believe the Bible inspired and breathed out by God then we every time we open the Bible we realize it is God speaking to us. What a blessing to hear from the Lord every time we open this book! God has something to say to us from his living, active, powerful, authoritative, clear, and life-giving Word!

Can’t wait to dive in! Before we do, 4th and 5th graders you’re dismissed for class. Rest of us, today we will be continuing our study of Luke’s gospel account starting in Luke 12:35. Go ahead and open up you Bibles and if you need a copy of God’s Word ushers will bring them to you.

Title today is Preparation for the Parousia. A couple weeks ago we talked about preparation for perseverance. They are prepared to handle persecution, to use possessions well, and now Jesus wanted disciples to be read to endure in carrying out their service to him. Endure till when? Well until his return! Parousia is the Greek word for this. Parousia -- The state of being present at a place; arrival, coming, advent; technical term for the future return of Jesus Christ in glory at the end of time. That is the idea which Jesus speaks of in this text.

Remember where we are in Luke’s gospel. In Luke 9-19 Jesus is heading toward the cross. This journey is marked by Jesus facing persecution and teaching in lots of parables in part to weed out false disciples and to prepare his true disciples for ministry after his death, resurrection and ascension. What we see today is just that, a warning to those who aren’t following in faith and an encouragement for those who are following in faith, about what is to come. And as a result of what is to come, that is the future return or arrival of Jesus, it should change how disciples of Jesus, including us, should live now. Living today in light of Jesus’ return is message Jesus is conveying. He is preparing the world to know of his future return and in light of that help us know how to live now. Though this is a large text, yet two very key actions emerge. We find the first in the remainder of ch 12. READ Luke 12:35-59.

The first way to live today in light of Jesus’ return is to…

Be ready

In v35-40 Jesus is still focused on the disciples which he has been since v22. Though there is much he says it is all centered around his sentence in v40 “You must be ready for the Son of Man.” In fact, the opposite is warned against in v47 “that servant who knew the master’s will and did not get ready” is in trouble. Surrounding these statements it seems that Jesus gives at least four descriptions of what that readiness for his return looks like along with several motivations for why they ought to be ready.

The first is to be ready by watching for His return. He tells them in v35 to get dressed for action. Literally in the Greek this is gird your loins! Likely a reference to Ex 12 where God told the people through Moses to tuck in their tunics, eat the Passover, and be ready for the road trip to the Promised Land. Instead of tripping on clothes they tuck into belt to move quickly. Also in v35 Jesus tells disciples keep lamp burning. Like my mom whenever I was on my way home, lamp on waiting for me to walk in the door. Like what ch 11 described and what is depicted here in v36--a servant waiting so that “at once they may open the door.” Why? At least part of this motivation v37 says is the blessing that comes from the master. The ones who he finds ready he will bless. The mater will put on the apron and serve the servant! They been working and watching and now they take a load off and relax and get served. Incredible!

And this is ready at any time. Debates about if this is the Roman or the Greek/Hebrew time system described in v38 but either way we are talking middle of the night. Time when most of us are pretty sleepy. The thief illustration v39 reinforces the same idea of a time we’d be surprised. That’s not how we wait for the turn of the master. We aren’t guessing but be always watching! We stay dressed and ready to go!

I am convicted I don’t think much about the return of Jesus let alone have this matter of alertness. I know that its true he can return at any time, and at an hour we do not expect. A few years ago I was able to preach on the return of Christ and was extremely humbled to see how much we are supposed to be watching based upon the volume of ink given to this subject in the Bible

There are 1500 OT passages that refer to the second coming of Christ (17 of 39 books)

There are 330 NT passages that directly speak to the second coming (23 of 27 books)

That’s 7 out of every 10 chapters and one out of every 25 NT verses

For every one mention of the birth of Jesus there are eight Parousia references.

Be thinking on the return of Jesus. Whether you believe it or not, he will be returning. It’s a more well-established fact than the reality he came the first time. Don’t let the Parousia surprise you. Instead let it fill your mind. New book for my kids The Awesome Super Fantastic Forever Party. We get new hearts that only seek good and true and beautiful. We get new bodies that never hurt or ache or ail. We get new creation with our decay and can explore forever. We get perfect relationships with others. Best of all, we get Jesus. It’ll be like nothing we can imagine! Both Paul and Peter write about longing for and loving Christ’s return.  John tells us in Revelation prays 3x “Come, Lord Jesus!” Is that your disposition? Dwell on the beauty of what that means as a believer to see your Savior. To enter into the joy of your master. To be served and recline at table. Disciples keep you awake and excited for what is to come.

Second, be ready by working faithfully until He returns. In v41 Peter asks if these words are for disciples or everyone. Maybe Peter wants to make sure the disciples get the preferential treatment, maybe he wants to know if they need to pass this along. We don’t fully know. But Jesus doesn’t directly answer and the way he talks seems to indicate this is for all. IN v42-48 goes into a parable of two managers/stewards who are set over the masters household. One is said to be doing what they were supposed to and gets blessed! The other serves himself and is a poor steward and gets a beating! So again, why be ready? Because he will bless stewards who work faithfully and beat those who are unfaithful or more literally faithless. He wasn’t expectant and is cut into pieces. Maybe literal, most likely to show steward had divided interests. Regardless beating is not something we want!

Maybe that seems harsh, but this isn’t just a little mix up. This is a just action of punishment for forsaking the responsibility given. This servant totally blows it off. indulges. God is not unfair. Now v48 goes on to say talk about the servant who did wrong but did not know. Thing is its not that he didn’t know the master, he just didn’t know the masters will. All will stand before him, follower of Jesus or not. And passages like Ps 19, Rom 1, Ecc 3 all tell us that Creation out there and our conscience in here tell us we know there is a Creator and a standard setter to whom we are accountable. No conscious human being can get away innocent just from not hearing. Why else be sent to go and tell? wouldn’t it be better to never hear? of course not! Instead we are sent to share the news so all might be saved! We are to be about the master’s work.

This is especially true for those with more knowledge and responsibility. If you are hearing this today, you have accountability to do the work of stewardship the master has called you to! Are you stewarding well the knowledge you have of God and his will? Or are you letting cares of this world slow you down? “I’ll respond to Jesus later. This thing is really important. I know He isn’t coming back right now I won’t have to give and account.” That says something about who you believe God is and who you believe you are. That says something about if you are faithful or faithless. The faithful are ready by working until Christ returns. It’s a good rule of thumb in the moment of temptation to ask yourself “If my Master returned right now, would he be pleased?”

Third, be ready by standing with Him no matter the cost. As Jesus continues to speak in v49-53 he not only wanted the disciples to understand their stewardship to work for Him but also to remind them to be ready to count the cost of standing with Him. Why be ready? Because he will bring division, and this should not surprise us. The fire in v49 is Jesus speaking of wanting to purify the world from sin. How? As v50 says through his baptism which causes great distress. This is the baptism of taking on the wrath of God on the cross for the sins of the faithful. His face is set for this since Luke 9:51. Disciples are spared their beating and receive their blessing because Jesus gave his blessing and Jesus received their beating. This is what it took to make peace with God!

However, this did not bring peace of earth according to v51. Peace comes up several times in Luke’s gospel. It’s what Zechariah sang about after his mouth was opened in Luke 1. It’s what the angles sang in the field to the shepherds at the birth of Jesus. It’s also part of the warning that Simeon gave in Luke 2 that Jesus would bring the rising and fall of many as he reveals their true hearts. And Luke 19 as Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey the crowd cries “Peace in Heaven” foreshadowingly leaving out earth and Jesus response is that he wishes they know what things truly make for peace but they cannot because it is hidden. Jesus brings peace for those who are His, but that reality necessarily divides. We are either with him or against him. Either faithful steward or not. Either waiting expectantly or not. Instead as we have followed his life, his teachings cause a ruckus! An uproar. And those who follow are swept up in it. In fact this is such a big deal it will divide households as some accept Jesus and some reject.

We need to be ready for this and stand with Jesus no matter the cost! It may cost your alertness and attention to other things, it may cost your comfort and laziness, it may cost your work and friendships, it may even be your own family. Some of you have felt this. I mentioned the conference this week. Pastor Afshin Ziafat spoke of his testimony. Iranian descent he was taught English in afterschool program and was give NT. Ten years later he opens up his NT, sees the one who made peace through the cross, and repents and believes. Hides from his parents but they find out and he is asked to choose between Dad or Jesus. He tells his dad if you are making me choose between Heavenly Father and earthly father I choose God. He is kicked out. He goes to his room to gather thoughts and things. Guess where he opens his bible to? right here! Power of the Word. It was a comfort. Is it a comfort to you?

Be ready! Maybe you haven’t had that but be ready. Maybe it’s different divide because you actually see them all the time and the division is noticeable and talked about and difficult. I know this from experiences as do many of you. But Jesus is coming back. These divisions are evidence of his truthfulness here. So stand firm, count the cost, know it’s worth it no matter what!

Lastly, we stay ready by discerning your urgent need. Notice in v54 a shift now specifically to the crowds. And repetition of the word “you.” Shift from his return to crowds ability to see their need before he returns. In v54-56 says these guys can tell the signs of the weather and in v57-59 they are smart about personal affairs and finances but they miss that I am Messiah. Hypocrite here is pretending they saw and did not. Like talking to a toddler OR someone using big words and you just say “yep” even when you got no idea. The rebuke implies choosing to be oblivious. There is an incongruity that they can know weather and personal affairs but not God’s heavenly intervention through Jesus. He was the Messiah, clearly so, and they missed it.

Though specific to that time we can still do that same. We miss what God is doing. IF you know the potential future outcome, will you not settle things before falling into condemnation? Not just good legal advice but real eternal judgment awaits. Maybe you are here today or listening because someone invited or shared. What a coincidence. Do you not know how to interpret the present time! Jesus wants to show there is a need for YOU! You too have common sense with weather and finances and personal affairs. But how about spiritual common sense? If you know what is coming why would you not settle accounts! wouldn’t that make sense?! Make peace before you pay the price.

Disciples, this is how you rep Jesus well. Crowd, this is how you avoid the fire! We stand guilty. While you have time before you roll into court where you will pay the fine forever, settle now. Turn to Jesus now! Thinking you have time is a dangerous game to play with your forever. Can you sit and really think about eternity and tell me it’s not an urgent need!? God can call you into account any time and could be today. Be ready. Jesus is returning. He wants his disciples to not forget so that they can be faithfully watching and working for him, standing with him. He wants all to be ready by knowing their urgent need.

This is the theme that continues as we READ Luke 13:1-9.

The second way to live today in light of Jesus’ return is to…

Be repentant

After speaking to the need of readiness and the urgency of settling before judgement, the crowd now speaks up about an action where it seems judgment may have occurred. As he interacts with these folks there are two warnings for us which emphasize again the urgency of repentance.

First, Don’t ignore your need! Discerning to not ignoring the fact that our need requires action personally. I love how people in the crowd feels comfortable to ask Jesus questions. Even as he is talking judgement and death there is an inviting presence about him. I am personally convicted by this in both a) the need to talk about God with others and b) the how to talk about God with others. But consider what they share with Jesus in v1. This is a horrible event! We don’t have other historical accounts of this specific event, but Pilate was a wicked man and events like this are strewn in historical records. It seems that some men from Galilee were killed either while offering sacrifices or on their way to offer sacrifices.

Perhaps the warning Jesus gives about settling before meeting was well understand that God may come back OR we may die and go to him and judgment might look like horrible things happening. How does Jesus respond? Will he be political savior and get caught in the furry against Pilate? OR will he say Pilate is the tool of God’s judgement like Babylon handing down a sentence on these guilt folks?  As he tends to do, he asks a question. You think they were judged with this because of their sin in v2? Answer in v3 NO! In fact, he gives a second example of a similar tragic circumstances in v4 where 18 people were killed because of falling tower. He speaks of those from Jerusalem to make it demographically diverse. Likely in the wall by pool of Siloam. Again not mentioned. But again he answers no v5.

His responses are surprising for a couple reasons. First, bad guys are getting off and good guys are getting killed HAD to be there were being judged! One is directly Pilate and the other like Pilate Herod ordered the construction. could be easy to blame and want to retaliate. Jesus says this not about being revolutionary. Stop just thinking nationalist and thinking eternal. Repent.

Second, especially in our day and age, it seems he isn’t so careful with language to make sure to talk about victims or say we shouldn’t discuss. Not that he was heartless or rash by any means and his tone matches that of the conversation. But notice what he says, sinners. They dead were sinners. How could he say that! Well because all are! Instead he says don’t you try to say these people were worse off! Instead when we see these tragic events that are meant to be reminders of coming future judgment! Easy to look around and to others and stop looking inside! You can discern what is happening around you. In weather and in the news. Why can't you discern what is happening spiritually?

For the crowd, this again was an indictment for them of missing Jesus right there. But principles is true of us as well. We need to repent otherwise we will face judgment. Now he says repent of we likewise perish is not to say all were condemned or that they were being judged for sin. Nonetheless they did suffer the end of life of earth and that’s meant to say something to those left behind. Repent.

We ought to lament disaster. We grieve with those who grieve. we want comfort in disaster by knowing the WHY. Not just why but that it was justified from our vantage point. Instead, Jesus says tragedies meant to lead hearers to repentance. We need to see these as moments to wrestle with death and what comes after. Are we ready to stand before our maker? Jesus gives us a reminder that news points us to the birth pangs before he return. Like the question of v56 do you not know how to interpret the present time? BUT all heading towards disaster unless we repent.

A second warning, Don’t presume on His patience! He follows this up by talking about a parable of the fig tree in v6-9. This may be the emotional climax of the whole unit. The Master has been delayed. The servant needs to be faithful. The crowd needs to recognize the time. And then suddenly there's a fig tree that has had time, cultivation, and patience—but no fruit. Fig tree in vineyard was common as it helped hold up grape vine. But they take extra nutrients so if not producing them extra useless. Vinedresser intervenes. supplicates. Tree hugger says save that tree, one more year! Do we ever do this? “One more time Jesus I promise this is the last time!” Dung might be a humorous insult that instead of pruned and watered lets thrown dung at it. Nonetheless he is gracious.  Yet the request is a bit negative. Greek is not an if/then but if/if assuming not a positive outlook.

Figs show up a lot in OT to rep Israel. It seems the context is pointing to indictment of Israel in that time needing to repent. They did not but put Jesus to death. And judgement seems immediate as in AD70 they got cut down by Rome burning the temple. But let us not miss how this applies to us. you too need to bear fruit and have a finite amount of time before he returns. They ignored the warning, but will we listen and bear fruit?

Even if we do listen, how do we bear fruit? Notice the owner doesn’t say “TREE BEAR FRUIT.” Nor does the vinedresser command it. Fruit is something that is natural outgrowth of where you are rooted. So Jesus is saying “Just produce fruit already!” This is not a do more in your own strength message. Well how do we do bear fruit then? The text says it clearly…REPENT! That’s how fruit is born. And its not a matter of good year bad year keep on moving on. Its life or death for this tree and you and me! God's work: cultivate, transform, produce fruit. Our response: repent, turn to Christ, obediently let him have his way. The goal of God's patience isn't that we remain fruitless. His patience gives us time to repent, and as we turn to Christ, He produces the fruit He desires in us.

Don’t presume of the patience of God thinking fruit might appear. Don’t wait till your surrounded by manure with clocking winding down hoping for a last second score to bring you home. Instead see the mercy and grace and patience of God as the thing meant to bring you to your knees. Romans 1-2 speak to this. The context there, as we mentioned before, is that no one has an excuse. We have creation around us that testifies of God. a Conscience within us the judges right and wrong in others and in ourselves which testifies of a God who is standard of right and wrong. And as such Paul warns

Romans 2:4 “Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?”

This message is repeated by the Apostle Peter. After sharing the need to remember and by way of reminder and reminding the people of God that hard times will come, Peter say we are meant to expect the day of judgement to come. It may seem a thousand years away, but a thousand years is one day with the Lord therefore.

2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”

In Whom Do You Trust?

Luke 12:13-34

Called to trust and seek God over self

Recognize the folly of trusting in self

Put off anxiety by trusting God

Put on trust in God by seeking his kingdom

Manuscript:

Good morning, church family! Welcome visitors + introduce self

If you were to pull our currency out of your wallet or purse and look at it, you would find the phrase “In God We Trust” inscribed upon it. In fact, I have a dollar bill and a coin with me today and though you can’t see it, this phrase is on each. I point this out to you because there is great irony that our passage for today has Jesus warning the people about putting their trust in things other than God. What makes this ironic is the context for this teaching comes from how you view and use money or possessions! The money that declares “In God We Trust” on it is often the very same thing we misuse to reveal that it is more accurate to say - “In Self We Trust”.

This is why I titled our sermon In Whom Do You Trust? Jesus’ teachings are going to reveal this is a very important question with an even more important answer. And, as we’re about to learn today, how you think about and use money or possessions reveals the true answer for your life.

As we pick back up in Luke 12, we are continuing to hear Jesus’ instructions to the crowds and his disciples. Remember that he is on his way to Jerusalem, where he knows what awaits him – rejection, arrest, and crucifixion. On this journey, Jesus is making the most of the time by rebuking the religious hypocrites, instructing the disciples in authentic faith, and calling the crowds to repent and believe in him before it is too late. Last week, we heard him prepare his disciples for perseverance in the face of the inevitable opposition and persecution that was coming their way. He assured them that God cares deeply for them and has authority infinitely greater than mere men, therefore they did not need to fear man. He also had promised that God would be with them in their suffering, providing the words to say to testify to the truth about Jesus.

Jesus does not want them to face opposition and persecution unprepared. He knows what is coming. In fact, in combination with what we’re going to learn about today, Jesus is addressing two of the primary hindrances to authentic faith that he warned about earlier in the parable of the soils in Luke 8 – trials and the pleasures and riches of this life. These are the hindrances that choked out soils #2 and #3. Jesus does not want his disciples to fall prey to either!

So, let’s read our text for today in Luke 12:13-34. We’re going to start with verses 13-21.

As Jesus is preparing his disciples for perseverance, someone from the crowd interjects! He wants Jesus to use his influence as a Rabbi (Teacher) to make his brother handle an inheritance in a specific way. This does not sit well with Jesus, and he refuses to get involved in this situation. But Jesus then uses this interruption as a teaching opportunity! He warns them to watch out or be on guard against greed. Life is more than having greater amounts of money or possessions!

This then leads to a parable. Jesus is known for using parables to teach surprising lessons. In this instance, he speaks of a rich man who has a bumper crop harvest. It seems to be an enviable situation – who wouldn’t want to have more resources than you know what to do with? Surely this man is blessed! Yet, as we heard, he now has a dilemma. His barns are too small. So, he asks himself, “What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?” There is a lot you can learn from listening to this man’s thinking and reasoning. Here it is again: “I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’”

What do you hear in this man’s inner-dialogue? “I, I, I, my, my, my…” He is entirely focused on himself. He isn’t thinking about God, nor is there any indication he has any concern for others. What he wants is to have a nice, easy life where he can spend his days doing what he wants. If we’re being honest, we can relate to this man, can’t we? Maybe we don’t ALWAYS think this way… but it is a regular temptation for nearly everyone. Who doesn’t daydream from time to time about what they would do if they suddenly won the lottery or came into a large inheritance? We live in a world that promotes hitting it big, looking out for #1 (self), and encourages you to acquire more so that you can live your best life now. Our culture promotes the message that if you just had _____, then you would be happy!

In fact, as I was preparing for this sermon, I came across a satirical work by Mark Twain called The Revised Catechism. It is a parody of the Westminster Catechism to critique the greed and corruption of America in his lifetime. Listen to just one piece of it:

This is parodying the first question of the Westminster which says “What is the chief end of man?

Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever.” Do you see/hear the difference?

The heart of man down through the ages has struggled with living for self, which inevitably takes the form of greed – the intense and selfish desire for wealth and possessions – so we can live out our days as we want, in comfort and ease. This is a common human struggle. To desire what we do not have. And to selfishly misuse what we do have rather than use it for the glory of God and good of others.

This was the undoing of King Solomon, who though commended for his desire for wisdom was led astray by the vast wealth he acquired and pleasures he pursued. It was the undoing of Demas, who deserted the Apostle Paul because he loved this present world more than Christ. It paved the path to Judas’ betrayal of Jesus, as we are told that he had charge of the disciple’s moneybag and used to help himself to what was put into it. Selfishness and greed go hand in hand, and they lead to terrible places.

Jesus drew a shocking conclusion to his parable in verses 20-21:

The rich man thought he was set for life! From his perspective, his greatest days were ahead of him. He thought he was calling the shots! Yet he could not have been more wrong… he could not see things from God’s perspective… God identifies him as a fool because he has not lived in light of eternity. His focus was on self rather than God. He trusted in his own plan rather than trusting God. His decision to hoard his wealth for selfish pursuits rather than to use it for the glory of God and good of others had eternal consequences!

This and the lessons that follow drive our emphasis for today. We are…

And the way we get to trusting and seeking God over self begins as we…

Recognize the folly of trusting in self

This is what is being driven home in verses 13-21. It is foolish to embrace greed/covetousness. It will not end well for you if your life is focused on self. If you ignorantly think that you are calling the shots. These are the behaviors and thinking of fools!

This man found his comfort and ease in his own provisions for himself but did not realize that God's judgment was looming. His self-focus clouded his view of eternal matters. And the outcome is judgment that will not go well for him. He had neglected God’s purpose for creating him and putting him on earth – to seek God, to know God, and to live for God. This man could have had a full life that used his prosperity to do much good to others for the glory of God, but instead he squandered his life in selfishness. He is an example of the 3rd soil, whose fruit was choked out by the cares and riches and pleasures of life.

Can you relate to this at all? How tempting it is to think that we are working for our own gain, our own comfort, our own security for the future! What drives your decisions when it comes to finances or job opportunities? Is it “what will position me to do more good to others for the glory of God?” or is it “what will give me the lifestyle I want? What will allow me to feel secure for my desired future?”

Jesus’ parable is needed in our day and age just as much as his! We are still prone to trust in self. To make plans for our future irrespective of what God may say or want from us. To hoard resources rather than to share them generously for the kingdom and glory of God.

You see the purpose of this parable is not to serve as a cry against wealth or having a “good year” that produces much. No, it is to cry against those who are self-centered and greedy in their handling of wealth. God has not put us on this earth to only care about self. We are made in his image, called to have dominion, and to use what he entrusts to us for the glory of His kingdom and the good of others. A life that is consumed by greed and self-focus fails to honor God. It is a perversion of his design for our lives. Jesus is going to give us more to consider on this in the coming verses.

But before we continue reading, let me circle back to the original interjection to make one more observation - living with a self-focus induces anxiety. “Tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” I want this. I need this. When your focus is on self you are dependent on self to provide. Hence the man doing what he can to try to get some of the inheritance. He is willing to turn against his own brother to get what he wants. Let’s hear about a God-given alternative in verses 22-31.

Notice he shifts his attention back to the disciples. Though the lesson began with the crowd, it is his disciples who receive the most directed teaching. He wants them to learn not to be anxious about their lives by learning to seek after and trust God. He gives them several arguments why they should forsake the anxiety of self-focused living for trusting God.

Let’s consider his arguments…

First, he reminds them that to fixate on physical provision is short-sighted because life is about much more than what you will eat or what you will wear. The moment you make what you have your focus; you have oriented your life away from the most important thing about you – your relationship with God! How many people do you know that are so busy, so consumed with obtaining more in this life – more money, a nicer home/car, a better career – that they have forsaken a relationship with God? The longer you think about it, the more people you are likely able to come up with. And, if you’re not careful to heed this lesson, it could be you! It is far too easy to be caught up in our consumeristic, materialistic culture. “Did you see the new iPhone that just came out? My laptop is too old and slow. Boy, having a new car would sure be nice. This home isn’t what I want, I wish it were bigger. These clothes are too old.” You get the idea. You can fill it in with what you’re tempted to rehearse to yourself. When we make life about what we own/possess rather than about our relationship with God, everything else in life is askew. It’s off. We’re not functioning the way we have been designed. And this disharmony with how we were made creates incredible anxiety in our lives. Where do you need to confess and forsake an unhealthy pursuit of physical provision?

Jesus’ second argument is an invitation to consider the ravens. This is one he’ll repeat two more times with an invitation to consider the lilies and the grass. By doing so, Jesus is inviting Christians to consider God’s provision for lesser parts of creation to realize how much more he will provide for humans who are made in God’s image! These lesser parts of creation do not worry or fear about whether they will have what they need. They simply carry out the purpose for which they were made and glorify God. Even though they are temporary in nature, God has provided for them. CONSIDER HOW MUCH MORE HE WILL CARE FOR YOU, WHO ARE MADE IN HIS IMAGE AND WILL LAST FOR ETERNITY! To doubt God’s care and provision for your life and live in anxiousness is evidence of deficient faith. This is not to say that you are not a Christian, but rather that, in those moments, you are lacking in faith. You are failing to trust God, who we heard last week has complete authority and is intent on doing good to you! You can trust him! Don’t get caught up in the trap of self-dependence. You were not made to be sufficient in and of yourself. You need God! And he will provide.

What would it look like for you to consider God’s provision for the birds, the flowers, or the grass this week and to take heart in God? Perhaps you need to go stand outside and just watch or listen for a bit. I find myself doing this quite often in my mornings throughout the week. And then take time to respond in prayer and worship. “Thank you, Lord, for creating all these and for creating me. Thank you for caring for the details of your creation. For providing for the least of these and for people like me. Help me to trust in you and to put off anxiety today!”

This prayer is in line with our second takeaway in being called to trust and seek God over self…

Put off anxiety by trusting God

Put off the noisiness of your soul, the fear that you’re giving yourself over to, by replacing it with active trust in God. For the very reasons Jesus has already laid out here, two of which we’ve reviewed. Let’s consider two more.

The third is found in verse 25-26, where Jesus poses a question. “And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?” What is the answer to that question? No one! He then explains, “If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest?” Jesus is confronting us with the ineffectiveness of anxiety. It produces NOTHING. It is useless! So why worry? It will not produce anything. Your situation will not change because of worry. No one will be edified by your anxiety, including yourself. Are you willing to admit the ineffectiveness of anxiety? That it is a fruitless endeavor that is not worth your time or effort?

If so, then you are ready for the final reason Jesus gives for forsaking the anxiety of self-focused living for trusting God. It comes at the end of this section in verses 30-31.

God is deeply aware of your needs! Just as he knows the depth of our hearts, he knows our daily needs. In fact, he is more aware than we are of what we ACTUALLY need. And he is the GOOD Father who delights to provide what we need. Do you recall the Lord’s teaching on prayer back in Luke 11? “Give us each day our daily bread…” This is a request we can make to God because he knows what we need each day and he is ABLE to provide it. This is a prayer of faith and trust in God. It is forsaking trust in self for trust in God. You also need to remember what comes immediately before this request for our daily bread, “Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come.” We start by confessing God as our Heavenly Father and expressing our desire for his name to be revered and his rule and reign to be recognized!

This is the proper heart orientation of a disciple. One who perseveres to the end. One whose fruit is not choked out by the cares and pleasures of this life nor falls away in a time of testing. Jesus is preparing his people for what is coming. It was relevant then and it is still relevant today.

You WILL face many temptations in this life to be divided in your loyalty to King Jesus. Some may face persecution. Others may find themselves provided with much wealth/possessions. Both are opportunities to trust in God rather than self. What you do next will reveal whom you worship.

The better way is to put off anxiety by trusting God. Do not get caught up in the rat race of Western consumeristic culture. Do not believe the lie that if you just had more, you would be happy. Heed the warnings of King Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes:

Solomon had more than we could dream of, yet he confessed that it was vanity in comparison to living for God.

Heed the wise words of King David in Psalm 16:

True life, joy, and pleasure come from walking with God and living for him. There is a purposefulness that Jesus is commending to his disciples in this teaching. He has warned them of the folly of trusting in self, he has encouraged them to put off anxiety by trusting in God, and now we see his positive instruction on what to do next in verses 31-34.

Jesus’ positive instruction is to seek God’s kingdom. This is how we live out our faith and trust in God, by forsaking our kingdom for his. In essence, we are joining with Jesus in saying, “Not my will, but yours be done!”

So, our final takeaway in being called to trust and seek God over self is to…

Put on trust in God by seeking his kingdom

This is our active obedience. It is adopting the posture of, “I am going to pursue God’s desires. I want to align my life with what he wants. I want the world to know his rule and reign by living in obedience with his will.”

Adopting this posture of active obedience is only possible through faith in Jesus Christ. If you are realizing that you are the self-focused man/woman whose life needs to change, then I want to encourage you to trust in Jesus’ finished work. He died to rescue sinners like us from our selfishness. He rose again to conquer sin and death, so that we could be given new life and be able to live this godly, fulfilling life. If you find yourself stuck in anxiety, stuck in the rat race of Western society, stuck in discontentment and always wanting more… there is a better way! His name is Jesus Christ, and he stands ready to forgive and redeem. You can cry out to him in prayer, confess your need for him to forgive you, and ask him to help you trust him and seek his kingdom today!

And how wonderful that this is directly connected with putting off fear/anxiety! Once again Jesus speaks with a term of endearment – calling his disciples “little flock”. What a wonderful reminder that we are his sheep and he is our Good Shepherd. Not to mention that we have a Heavenly Father who delights to give us the kingdom! This is a wonderful reminder and promise from Jesus that God is FOR his people. He wants them to experience the joy of his rule and reign. When God’s will is done, then blessings and security overflow. This is experienced in this life in our salvation, our ongoing growth in holiness (sanctification), and the certainty of God’s provision of eternal life for us (glorification)! If God is willing to give us such incredible spiritual blessings, then how will he not also graciously provide us with our daily needs?! He will. And we have the privilege of learning to trust him each day for our breath, our heartbeat, and for the food we’re going to put on the table or the money to pay our bills.

In fact, Jesus gives additional teaching on how to seek God’s kingdom. In verses 33-34, he commands the disciples to stop focusing on self and begin caring for others. He does so by telling them to sell their possessions and give to the needy.

He is connecting generosity with the confidence that God is willing and able to provide. When you stop trusting in yourself and begin trusting in God, you are in a position to be generous towards others. You recognize that you were not put on earth simply to store up wealth for yourself and live a comfortable, easy life. Scrooge McDuck is not to be our role model. We want to be more like the Christians of the early church, who lived this out.

These Christians were sacrificial to meet the needs of others. Those who had more were willing to help those who had less, even at great cost to self. There is no indication that this was forced upon anyone, but that it was completely voluntary for the good of all. This same kind of mutual ministry was in effect later in the way the Gentile churches took up offerings to send to support the church in Jerusalem during their time of need. (Slide)

The principle at play here is that you forsake self-focus to care for others! Jesus doesn’t necessarily spell out how much to keep for self vs. to give for care of others. Nor does he specify who the others are. These are things we must wrestle out with the Scriptures and the Spirit in prayer. But take heed of the principle laid out in the second half of verse 33 and into 34. How we use the resources God has entrusted to us has eternal ramifications. (repeat)

Wise stewards realize that it is far better to please God by being generous in this life and thereby receiving God’s blessing in heaven. Jesus links our use of money with the orientation of our heart. You can either point your heart towards God by obeying him and being generous or point your heart towards self by living miserly.

As you go through life, have an intentional plan to use your resources in a way that blesses others. Micaela and I have found it beneficial to create line items in our budget that are for this purpose. You could have a special giving fund that you set aside money for each month, so that when a need arises, you’re ready to meet it. You could budget to sponsor a child through Compassion International or support a missionary or a non-profit that is doing good work. The point is to be intentional to use your resources to give and help others!

This is not a calling to be paupers. You will need resources to feed your family, put a home over their heads, clothes on their backs, etc., Obviously you will need resources to be generous! But this is a calling to forsake selfishness, to forsake poor financial management, and to put off anxiety over the cares and concerns of this world by trusting in the Lord. I hope that these callings have come through loud and clear from the text today. I am looking forward to how God works in our church family as we faithfully apply this to our lives.

May we be a church full of households who are seeking to do good to others. May we be humble enough to ask for help if we are struggling with financial management. May we learn how to budget and say NO to selfish purchases so that we can be generous. And I pray that will be true for all of us, both young and old. This is necessary for all ages. And parents/grandparents, you have the privilege and responsibility of modeling it for the next generation! Show them how much better God’s way is than the world’s way.

Now, before we close our services with celebrating baptism, I want to remind you of something rather timely and important! Starting next Sunday, our services begin 30 minutes earlier. (Slide) So you have an important decision to make. Will you show up for the 8:30 or 10:30 service?

Ironically, I realized this week that Pastor Jack will be preaching the next two weeks as I will be attending the ACBC annual conference. I promise that I didn’t change the service times earlier only to skip town and leave you to deal with it! I will actually be in attendance both Sundays, but he will be leading us in the study of God’s Word.

As I’ve mentioned, we have five individuals who are publicly professing their faith in Jesus Christ through believer’s baptism today. They want the world to know that they have turned from sin and are following Jesus. What a privilege it is to end our service with these baptisms.

Baptism is an act of obedience for all who follow Jesus Christ. In fact, Jesus’ last command to his disciples was to go and make disciples of all nations by baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and teaching them to observe all that Jesus taught.

As we see in Scripture, baptism is a public profession of a spiritual reality in a person’s life – namely that they have responded to Jesus Christ in faith for the forgiveness of their sins and that they desire to live for him. Baptism is not earning these folks any merit with God, but it is an act of obedience and worship. We have the privilege of witnessing this declaration, celebrating with these individuals, and partnering with them on the journey of a life of faithful service to Jesus.

In the Scriptures, we see that baptism is done after a person professes faith in Christ and it’s done by immersing them in water. The reason for this is that it symbolizes the person’s unity with Jesus’ own death, burial, and resurrection. Consider what Romans 6 teaches:

Going under the water symbolizes the person’s death to their sin (the old way of life) and coming back up again symbolizes their being raised from the dead to new life (following Christ).

If, after listening to these folks today, you realize that you do not have a testimony of faith like them, I would love to talk with you about that after the service. If you’re here and you’ve never taken the step of obedience to be baptized as a believer, then I would encourage you to email the church and let us know that you’d like to do so as soon as possible!

Here is the plan for our baptisms today:

There are 3 individuals being baptized at 9am and two more at the 11am service

Tori Pelzer

Benjamin Spracklin

Savannah Korodan

Aaron Williamson (11)

Megan Lees (11)

I’d like to invite Tori forward to share a brief testimony of her faith in Christ this morning.

Tori shares her testimony.

Baptize her.

Invite Benjamin forward to share his testimony.

Baptize him.

Invite Savannah forward to share her testimony.

Baptize her.

Let’s worship our King together!

Let’s pray.

Preparation for Perseverance

Luke 12:1-12

Replacing fear of man with faith in God

Realize that hypocrisy will be exposed one day

Consider the limited authority of men in comparison to the complete authority of God

Understand God's response to our faith in or rejection of him

Manuscript:

Good morning, church family! Introduce self + welcome guests

It is sweet to be back with you this morning, worshiping the Lord together! I am looking forward to diving back into our study of the Gospel of Luke this morning. Last week we left off after a very tense interaction between Jesus and the religious leaders. You may recall Jesus had been invited to a dinner party with the Pharisees and lawyers. And pretty quickly into the dinner, Jesus began confronting them on their religious hypocrisy! He pronounced woes on both groups for all the ways they had been leading the nation astray. And when Jesus had finished what he wanted to say, he left the meal, but the religious leaders followed him out of the home and began pressing him hard to try to trap him in his words! What a dinner party! This conflict between Jesus and the religious leaders will only escalate from here.

Why is this happening? Because the religious leaders failed to lead the people to God. Now the Son of God is confronting them and giving all who hear an opportunity to take note and repent before it is too late. Jesus has come to make a way of salvation for the people, and he is providing bold teaching to help them understand what is at stake. It will not do to take a lax approach to our faith. We cannot simply go through “the religious motions” of faith nor count on adherence to rules and traditions to save us. Jesus is lovingly ripping away the very things people are tempted to trust in for salvation, because he knows that there is only ONE way of salvation – faith in him.

Today, as we pick back up in Luke 12, we are going to hear Jesus continue to address the foolishness of fake faith or religious hypocrisy. God will not be fooled. He knows our heart. He knows what we truly believe.

Yet Jesus is no longer at dinner with the religious leaders. He is returning to teaching the crowds and his disciples. In this next section of Luke, he is preparing his disciples for what is coming. He wants them to be able to endure and persevere in their faith. Today we have the privilege of hearing Jesus’ instructions to his disciples on how they can fear God instead of man and thereby stand firm in the faith.

Let’s read Luke 12:1-12.

Jesus speaks plainly to his disciples. His goal is to prepare them for the persecution that is coming, so that they may persevere in their faith and glorify God. Throughout this teaching today, there is a theme of…

This is what we are going to focus on. And who doesn’t struggle with fear of man at some point in their life? Why is it so tempting to care more about what people think of us than to be bold in our faith and testify about all that Jesus has done? Wouldn’t it be great to have more confidence and boldness in sharing the beauty of who Christ is and what he has done?

I am certain that I am not alone in this struggle. Clearly it was an issue for the disciples in Jesus’ day, and I am certain it remains an issue in ours as well. So, let’s benefit from Jesus’ instruction as we seek to replace fear of man with faith in God!

It starts with the instruction of Jesus found in verses 1-3. This is where he warns the disciples of “the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.” When Jesus speaks about leaven, he is using a term that would have been very relatable in their day but may be a bit obscure in ours. He is speaking of yeast that causes bread to rise in preparation for baking. He is using this as an analogy for how the Pharisee’s hypocritical teaching and example is influencing people in a negative way. It is spreading throughout their society and causing tremendous damage! The disciples of Christ need to be aware of this and avoid it, lest they too be led astray.

But then Jesus goes further than simply warning them about this “hypocritical leaven”. In verses 2-3 he provides another incredible warning.

Here you have Jesus, the Son of God, promising that all will be made known one day. There are no secrets with God. The things that men and women believe are concealed, that no one else knows about… the words said while in hiding or whispered so others might not hear… will be declared in the light and proclaimed on the housetops one day! These are words of warning that religious hypocrisy and sin will not remain a secret. Which brings us to our first takeaway in replacing fear of man with faith in God…

Realize that hypocrisy will be exposed one day

This teaching from Jesus is not only a warning for those who engage in such wicked ways, but also an encouragement for faithful followers of Christ who are persecuted by such wickedness. Let’s start with the warning and then consider the encouragement.

Jesus’ teaching on these matters ought to strike a holy fear into everyone! You are fooling yourself if you think that you can sin in your speech or actions behind closed doors, and no one knows. God sees and hears all! What a terrifying reality.

Who here would claim to always say what is right and pleasing to God? No one, I hope. How does knowing that God sees and hears all that you say/do, even in private, challenge you to change?

I hope it will drive each of us to confess and seek forgiveness from our Savior. This is the first and most necessary response. Authentic faith turns from sin. But it doesn’t stop there. If we truly grasp what is being taught here, we ought to be challenged to pursue pure and holy conduct and speech! If God hears and sees all that I say and do, then I want what he hears and sees to be honorable and glorify him. I do not want to dishonor my God or invite his opposition into my life. Do you?

Jesus’ teachings invite us to turn from sinful speech and actions. We must not believe the lie that they remain secret or hidden from God. Instead, we must allow the light of God’s presence and knowledge to lead us to pure speech and actions.

How might your speech/actions need to change this week? Perhaps it is in your household - that is often where we are most comfortable with sinning. Adults, do you need to ask forgiveness from your spouse or children for the sinful way you’ve been speaking to or treating them? Kids/Students, do you need to ask forgiveness from your parents or siblings for the sinful way you’ve been speaking to or treating them? For some it might not be your home, but your workplace (or school). Do you need to turn away from office gossip and slander of your bosses or co-workers (your peers)? Perhaps you need to change your speech/actions when it comes to church. Maybe you are here putting on a show, but out there you’re living a completely different life. If that is you, it’s time to come into the light and ask for help!

Allow the warning of Jesus towards the religious hypocrites of his day to bear fruit in your life today! Through faith and obedience to Jesus, you can begin to put off ungodly words and actions this very week and replace them with speech and actions that glorify God.

Now let’s look at the encouragement that comes from this teaching. Remember that Jesus is speaking to his disciples. He is reminding them that those who oppose them will be exposed one day. The sinful behavior of these leaders is not hidden from God. This is an encouragement because, when you understand it, it robs hypocritical people/leaders of their "power" over you. The disciples did not have to fear the Pharisees or lawyers anymore! Even though they wielded considerable cultural power and influence, they were nothing in comparison to God. And God would hold these religious hypocrites accountable for their words and actions! Jesus is providing freedom from the fear of man.

Which is still quite applicable in our day and age. Christians still face opposition around the world. Much of our world hates Christ and those who follow him. In some places that takes the form of mocking Christians for their faith or the ways they live. In other places it takes the form of arresting and beating them and demanding that they recant their faith. This is quite the spectrum of opposition, yet in all of it, Jesus’ words can bring great hope. Those who oppose Christ and his people will not succeed in the end. God will vindicate his people who faithfully follow him. He will expose those who have opposed him and his people, even those who think they’ve done so in secret. Christians can rest in God’s sovereignty and righteousness, even as they face opposition in this life. In fact, this ties quite well into what Jesus says next in verses 4-7. Let’s hear it again.

Jesus addresses his disciples with a term of familiarity and love. “My friends” – how incredible to hear that from your Savior! What does he say to his friends? He instructs them on whom to fear and whom not to fear. And he explains why they ought to think and live this way.

Do NOT fear those who kill the body… but have no more authority beyond that. Why? Because there is One who is greater than them whom you ought to fear!

Fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. He is speaking, of course, of God. God alone has the authority to judge men/women. And, in comparison to God, these mere men who might seek to end your life, are nothing. This reoriented perspective is essential for Christians to live by faith in God rather than in fear of man. No matter how much opposition you might face from men for your faith, they are nothing in comparison to God. And it certainly is not worth it to live for the approval of man, only to be condemned by God.

Even as he says this, Jesus tempers this teaching on God’s authority with a wonderful reminder of his love and care for them. He reminds them that just as God cares for the sparrows, who are relatively insignificant, he cares MUCH more for the disciples who are image-bearers of God. Jesus’ purpose in this teaching is not to scare them but to encourage them! They are greatly loved by the eternal and sovereign God.

Here is the takeaway for us in replacing fear of man with faith in God…

Consider the limited authority of men in comparison to the complete authority of God

Even though mere men may seek to do awful things to Christians in this life, they are not to be feared over God. God is the One with all power and authority, who can bring us safely home to heaven. Our proper fear is of the God who is eternal and sovereign yet deeply loves us.

He wants them (and us) to trust God deeply. To be willing to face the inevitable opposition and persecution of men, even unto death. He is keenly aware of the direction things are heading for his own life and those who follow him. No one can accuse Jesus of sugar-coating what it means to be his disciple. He is quite forthright that you will suffer and be persecuted for his name’s sake.

This teaching is a reminder to beware the temptation to fear man and thereby hide your faith. It would be very tempting, as we will see later with Peter, to fear man and deny that you follow Jesus. Jesus is seeking to protect his disciples from living a double life, where they might profess faith in him when it costs them nothing but then hide their faith when they would face opposition! This is not authentic faith at all.

Do not fear the limited authority of your fellow man. Their power is constrained. They cannot keep you from God. They cannot condemn you to hell. They are nothing in comparison to God. So, forsake the fear of man for the fear of God.

Fear the one who has complete authority. And not in sense of “be terrified” of him but rather have a deep reverence and awe of him that leads you to worship and live for him. Unless you are not a Christian, then you should be terrified, because he will righteously judge you for your unrepentant sin and rebellion against him. But that terror can be replaced with trust if you confess your sin and ask Jesus to forgive you and help you to follow him. He delights to do so! We’ve heard about this before in…

Deal honestly with your sin before God and he will deal graciously with you!

If you are a Christian, then your fear of God should lead you to a place of deep reverence and trust in him. He loves you and deeply values you. He is at work in your life for your good and his glory. Even when you are not sure how he is working, he is at work! Even through the darkest and deepest valleys, he is conforming you to the image of his Son. We heard some of these wonderful promises over the summer in Romans 8.

The answers, of course, is that no one can successfully be against us and he will graciously give us all things – in Christ. Those who are God’s beloved can have great confidence in life and in our faith. Our temptation to fear men is diminished when our eyes and heart are full of God. Cultivating a healthy faith in and fear of God, not man.

If you are struggling with fear of man, I want to encourage you to reflect on the truths that we are learning today throughout the coming week.

Realize that hypocrisy will be exposed one day

Consider the limited authority of men in comparison to the complete authority of God

Remember that God’s complete authority is being expressed towards you, Christian, in the form of his deep love that is conforming you to Christlikeness. What he began in you he will complete! And no one will get in his way.

Allow these realities to cause you to rejoice as you boldly represent him in your spheres of influence. May fear of man no longer rule in your heart but be replaced by a faith in God that boldly and unashamedly worships him.

Let’s review verses 8-12 to see how public worship of Christ is so important:

Jesus is very concerned for his disciples’ perseverance in the faith! He lays out for them the importance of publicly acknowledging or confessing faith in Christ before others. Those who are unashamed of Jesus and proclaim their faith in him before men will find that Jesus will acknowledge or confess his allegiance to them before the heavenly host. But those who deny Jesus before men will be denied by Christ! These are high stakes indeed.

When I read this, I couldn’t help but think of those who are pursuing believer’s baptism next Sunday! We are going to have the joy of celebrating with multiple individuals in our church who are publicly confessing their faith in Jesus Christ. They are living out the principles taught in this passage. Praise God for that! I hope you’ll be here to celebrate with us.

Here is the final takeaway in replacing fear of man with faith in God…

Understand God's response to our faith in or rejection of him

Remember that Jesus had just come from the dinner with the religious leaders who were guilty of rejecting him. They were in the category of denying Christ before men and they have no confidence that he will acknowledge them on Judgment Day. This teaching guards his disciples against the same outcome.

He wants them to understand what is at stake in how we conduct ourselves in this life. It will not do to hide our faith in Christ. What kind of faith is kept hidden as if we were ashamed of our Savior and Lord? … Those who truly love the Lord and follow him will boldly proclaim that before everyone, EVEN IF it is in the context of being drug before religious or political leaders to be put on trial!

Did you notice that Jesus did not say “if” but “when” they bring you before such leaders? It was not merely a possibility but a certainty! To follow Christ is to elicit opposition. He is preparing them for the inevitable - they will be persecuted and forced to testify about Jesus. But they will not do so alone. God will be with them in their suffering. He will provide the words to say in those moments. Their job was to be ready and trust God to provide. Which is only possible when you have faith in God that overcomes fear of man!

While this was spoken directly to his 1st century disciples who were in a very challenging context, this does not remove the application for us today. Jesus’ teaching reminds us that we are not promised a life free from trials or suffering. On the contrary, we should expect them… because the world is opposed to God! Yet in these trials, God is with us. When you suffer for Christ’s sake, God will provide you with the strength and boldness to witness for him!

This has been true for many Christians down through the ages. Many of them were martyrs – meaning they gave their life for Christ. Those in power killed them because they would not recant their public testimony of Jesus Christ as the way, the truth, and the life. If you’d like to be challenged and encouraged by these testimonies, here are some ways to learn more about them:

Foxe’s Book of Martyrs

Public domain – easy to find

Christian Heroes Then and Now

Great book set (50+books)

The Torchlighters

Animated videos telling the stories of real-life heroes of the Christian faith

Available for free on YouTube and many other streaming platforms

I Am N

Documentary by Voice of the Martyrs about radical Muslims persecuting Christians

Evangelical Heroes | Reformation Heroes | Puritan Heroes

Books on different eras of Church History

There has never been a period of church history free from opposition. It has always been necessary to be prepared to stand for Jesus. The Apostle Peter, who struggled with fear of man at Christ’s arrest and denied him three times only to be forgiven and restored by Christ later, would write this to the 1st century Christians:

How incredible that Peter, of all people, would write this encouragement to boldly proclaim your faith in Christ, even if it brings suffering into your life! He knew firsthand the temptation to fear man and deny Christ. Praise God that Jesus had taught him ahead of time that it was possible to be forgiven! Peter got to experience his Savior’s forgiveness and that transformed him into a bold witness for the rest of his life.

Are you ready and willing to face opposition for the sake of telling others about Christ? Your answer is revealed by your willingness to share the gospel with your unbelieving friends, family, co-workers, neighbors, etc., I say that and I am speaking to myself as much as anyone else. It is too easy to fear man and keep quiet. To care more about how your family member or friend will respond or think about you than to care about honoring and glorifying Christ or care about that person’s soul and where they will spend eternity! We must die to this fearful, sinful way of thinking and living. And that starts by asking Jesus for forgiveness and help!

Are you thankful that Jesus stands ready to forgive? If you know that you’ve lived a life that has not pleased Christ… a life where you have been ashamed of him or outright denied him… there is still an offer of forgiveness available to you! It is not too late to confess your sin against the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and ask his forgiveness. As we heard earlier, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. If you have stood opposed or ashamed of Jesus, then I would encourage you to avail yourself of his forgiveness today, right now. You can pray and deal with this in your seat this morning. *pause*

I love that we have such a gracious and forgiving God! How incredible is our God in comparison to the capricious, works-based so-called gods of other religions? Our God is infinitely better and worthy of our faith and worship!

Which is why Jesus says it is so egregious and unforgiveable to “blaspheme the Holy Spirit” in verse 10. This is to be understood as rejecting the clear revelation of God the Holy Spirit about the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. We saw the Pharisees doing this in a previous chapter when they attributed the power of God on display as the work of Satan. This is speaking of a hard-hearted response to the convicting work of God. This happens in the lives of those who have had plenty of evidence for the saving work of God, yet they refuse to believe. They continue in their willful suppression of the truth, even making up other reasons for what they have witnessed. They refuse to believe the truth of God. This, Jesus says, will not be forgiven. It is a rejection of faith that leads to judgment.

The disciples need to understand the danger that comes from this posture of hard-heartedness. Unfortunately, one of them, Judas Iscariot, did not take this lesson to heart. He continued to walk alongside Jesus, observe the many miracles he performed, hear the truth he taught, and yet did not believe. His heart grew increasingly hardened leading him to the point where he gave himself over to Satan and betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. And this path ended in his own death and condemnation. What a sad and miserable ending that I hope we would wish on no man/woman.

Far better that we be people who are bold in our witness and publicly sharing the gospel with any who would hear, no matter the cost for us. This is the path that leads to eternal life. As we confess Jesus, he confesses us in the presence of the heavenly host. “That one, she is mine. Look at her faith. See how she is unashamed of me.”

I hope that this teaching from Luke 12 has helped you to recognize that faith in God is so much better than fear of man. The outcome of each path is completely different. Fear of man leads to our rejection of God and his rejection of us. Faith in God leads to our bold witness that glorifies God, ministers to others, and culminates in eternal life. This kind of faithful living is fostered as we…

Realize that hypocrisy will be exposed one day

Consider the limited authority of men in comparison to the complete authority of God

Understand God's response to our faith in or rejection of him

Let’s pray. Pray

Confrontation and Correction Pt II

Luke 11:37-54

Learning from Jesus' rebukes of religious hypocrites

External cleanness without internal purity is folly

Partial obedience while neglecting God’s primary commands is disobedience

Self-serving religion is proud and wicked

Hypocritical faith can lead others astray

Leaders who crush people with extra rules and regulations are ungodly

God holds hypocrites accountable for their actions

Ungodly leaders hinder rather than help faith

Manuscript:

 

Confrontation and Correction

Luke 11:14-36

Receiving pointed instruction for our eternal good

Recognize the source of Jesus' authority and follow him

Beware of the danger of deliverance without authentic faith

Understand true blessedness is in hearing and obeying God's Word

Heed the greater revelation of Jesus before it is too late

Pay attention to your response to Jesus

Manuscript:

Good morning, church family! Welcome guests + introduce self

As you turn to Luke 11, I want to share with you an important change coming to our church in October. It was already mentioned in the announcement video earlier, but we are going to move our Sunday morning services earlier by 30 minutes to 8:30am and 10:30am. This is something the pastor team and church staff have been discussing for months now to help spread out attendance between the two services. I apologize that you are only now hearing about it. I should have made sure we were talking about this earlier in the calendar!

Here’s why we are doing this. We want to make the second service, which is historically our lower attended service, a more viable option for more of our congregation. As we aim to make the most of our current facility, it will be helpful to balance out our services so there is room for new guests. There are some Sundays where the 9am feels very full!

We will be updating our website, outdoor signage, and print materials to reflect these changes over the course of September. October 4th will be the first Sunday these new service times are in effect. For the rest of this month, it will still be 9 + 11am.

Let’s turn our attention now to the reason we are here – the worship of God through the study of His Word! As we pick back up in Luke 11, remember that Jesus is heading to Jerusalem. And as he travels, he continues to provide instructions for those with ears to hear and rebukes for those who are hard-hearted. He is training his disciples to faithfully follow him, and he is giving everyone else an opportunity to repent before it is too late.

By this point in his ministry, Jesus has already performed many miracles, but he isn’t done yet. Once again, we will see his authority on display which becomes an opportunity for the hearts of the crowd to be revealed and for Jesus to confront and correct them. Let’s read now in Luke 11.

Jesus’ interactions with the crowds in this portion of his life and ministry are tense. Rather than responding in faith, some are beginning to accuse Jesus of being allied with Satan and others are trying to test him by demanding miraculous signs according to their whims. These are serious accusations and foolish ways to respond to the Son of God, the Savior of the world. In what follows, Jesus reveals that he knows their thoughts (which is a miracle!) and corrects their illogical argument. He concludes with a very pointed confrontation – if you are not for him, you are against him.

This section and what follows are united by the theme of evaluating your response to Jesus. As we study them today, I want to encourage you in…

Last week, we benefited from Jesus’ teaching on prayer. This week, we benefit from receiving his confrontation and correction where needed for our eternal good. In this first section of Scripture, Jesus is telling the people that a decision must be made. They and we must evaluate and answer - Who is Jesus and where does his power come from?

Some in the crowd were asserting that Jesus’ power over demons was given to him by Satan, who they called Beelzebul, the prince of demons. Jesus cannot let this accusation stand. This is a ridiculous, illogical argument. A kingdom cannot work against itself and be successful. It makes no sense to claim that Satan would work against himself in this way. Furthermore, their own priests were known to cast out demons, so are they going to claim that their power is from Satan as well? Of course not! They would say that God is the one who has authority to drive out demons. Which is the same with Jesus. His authority is from God. And that is why they need to pay attention to his ministry and message! The kingdom of God is upon them in ways they’ve never witnessed or experienced before.

I just love the imagery that Jesus uses of himself as the stronger man who has come to attack and overcome Satan, plundering his armor and his house. This is exactly what Jesus accomplished when he defeated Satan in the wilderness at the beginning of his ministry. We read about this back in Luke 4. From the very start of his ministry, Jesus is victorious over our greatest foe! Jesus is confronting the lies these people are believing about him and challenging them to…

Recognize the source of Jesus' authority and follow him

The truth is that Jesus’ authority is from God because he has been sent by God and opposes Satan. This is the logical conclusion from his teachings and the mighty miracles that Jesus repeatedly does. He has demonstrated authority over the spiritual and physical realms. It is imperative for us to recognize the true source of his authority and then respond rightly – by following him in faith!

Let’s make this personal. Who do you say Jesus is? And where does his power come from?

And before you answer, be careful about making illogical arguments or propagating lies. As we’ll hear in the next chapter, Jesus warns against accrediting the miracles from God the Holy Spirit to Satan.

It is a serious matter to speak against God in any manner, but it is especially evil to observe what is clearly the work of the Holy Spirit and say, “Satan did that!”

Jesus’ confrontational conclusion in Luke 11:23 is “whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” There is no neutrality when it comes to your response to Jesus. If you are not with Jesus, you are against him. There is no such thing as a neutral response. You are either following him and joining in the work of calling people to repentance and faith, or you are opposing him and leading people further from him.

We live in a world that loves ambiguity and to ride the fence about the objective truth claims of Christ. “I believe in Jesus, but I also believe in Buddha and Mohammed and Krishna… There are many ways to God. All religions lead to the same place…” You’ve likely heard these kinds of comments if you spend time talking about faith with people. But Christ confronts such illogical thinking! He won’t allow us to live in the ambiguity of religious pluralism. There was plenty of that in his day too. This is a binary decision. Are you with Christ or against him? And to be with him is to believe in Him as Savior and Lord and to joyfully follow him all your days. If you do not confess Jesus as Savior and Lord and seek to joyfully follow him in your daily life, then you should not assume you are with Christ. If that describes you, please understand that it is loving for Christ to expose this through this text. What is eternally good for you is to be confronted with Jesus’ identity and power. Your greatest need is for faith in Jesus! Believe in him! Follow him!

Please realize there is incredible danger in playing around with the things of God yet not submitting your life to him. Jesus is about to warn of the dangers of having your life impacted by God only to fail to believe in him. Listen to what he says next:

Do you hear the warning implicit in this teaching? If you receive the benefits and blessings of God in your life, yet fail to believe and be filled by God, then you are vulnerable to even greater spiritual ruin. Jesus is speaking to those who have experienced the blessing of being delivered from demonic hostility or possession yet failed to believe in God and follow him in faith. Such people have experienced a great blessing in being freed from spiritual tyranny, perhaps have even gone on to great moral reformation, yet, in the long run, end up in a worse condition!

Please receive this second pointed instruction for your eternal good today…

The situation Jesus is describing is not unique to 1st century life. There are plenty of people in our day and age who have cried out to God for help in time of need and experienced incredible deliverance or reformation of character. Perhaps helping them to overcome addiction or escape some sort of demonic influence, yet even though their life improves dramatically for a period of time, they never actually believe in and submit to God in faith.

The result is that they are not indwelt by the Holy Spirit. They do not have God’s Spirit living in them, protecting them from the ongoing attacks of the enemy. And, as Jesus points out, this is an incredibly dangerous position to be in. The inevitable outcome will be falling into greater ruin when the spiritual warfare resumes.

Now, this teaching may make many 21st century folks very uncomfortable. We like to pretend that only the physical realm matters. But that is simply not true. We are composed of both body and soul. Jesus assumes our understanding of such things. There is a physical and spiritual realm, and both are important. We must not discount either or fail to understand what is happening in either. There are real spiritual enemies, Satan and his demons, who are seeking to lead astray and destroy as many people as possible. They delight to cause havoc for image-bearers of God. They want to see God’s glory diminished in as many people as possible by leading them away from God.

The Apostle John speaks to this same issue in his first epistle:

The Apostle John warns that false teachers are led by demonic spirits. They deny Jesus Christ. And they are in this world all over the place. You don’t have to look hard to find them. Every other world religion is full of them - denying Jesus as the Son of God, the way, the truth, and the life. The new age practices and spiritual mysticism that is so popular in our day is filled with false teachers led by demonic spirits.

But for those who have faith in Christ, they are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. This is what John is speaking about when he says, “for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” When Jesus ascended to heaven after his D/B/R, he sent God the Holy Spirit to live in every believer, to protect them, to convict them of sin, and to help them know and obey God’s Word. This is how Christians are radically changed! God is at work in us to produce a changed and changing life. And we have incredible hope that we are protected from the attacks of the enemy. If this is true for you, give thanks to God for his provision and protection!

But if you’ve only been around the things of God… you’ve attended church, you’ve been blessed by the fellowship, you’ve experienced increased joy as you hear the Word taught and join the church in prayer, perhaps you’ve even been delivered from a particular sin struggle you previously had, but you have not confessed your sins and asked Jesus to forgive you and be your Lord and Savior… then you are in danger! Do not settle for moral reformation or deliverance without authentic faith. Listen to Jesus’ warning here and trust in him today!

Now, to continue with the narrative, it seems the crowd in Jesus’ day may have felt the tension just as we do this morning… because what happens next is a woman interjects with this outburst:

What an interjection! It may seem odd to us, but it was a way for this lady to show honor to the mother of Jesus and affirm honor to him as a teacher. But did you notice how Jesus responded? He shifted the focus by pointing out that true blessedness comes from hearing the word of God and keeping it!

What seems to us a random comment turns out to be an important teaching moment. Jesus wants the people to understand how to receive true blessing – hear and obey God’s Word! This is what God honors. This is the path that leads to the good life. Those who hear and obey God’s Word will be those who, one day, hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your master.”

Jesus is consistent in this teaching. Back in Luke 6, he had rebuked the people for calling him, “Lord, Lord”, yet not doing what he told them. He used the parable of two builders, one who dug down deep and built their house on the rock – signifying those who hear and obey God’s Word – and another builder who built his house on the ground without a foundation – signifying those who heard but did not obey… The results could not have been more different. The one who heard and obeyed stood firm in the faith when the floods of life came, but the one who merely heard but did not obey experienced total ruin…

Here is the pointed instruction to receive for our eternal good…

Jesus intentionally says, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it” using present active participles for hear/keep. This means they are both ongoing actions that continue into the future. Keep hearing and keep obeying. As you walk in these ways, you will experience the blessing of God.

This teaching has a striking resemblance to Psalm 1 in the Old Testament. Listen to this:

I love the consistency of the Word of God from Old to New Testament! God has not kept hidden from us the way to the good life. It is by hearing and obeying His Word.

If you’re not sure how to start, we have an annual Bible reading plan that you could jump in on. Or you could simply pick a book of the Bible, like the Gospel of Luke, and begin reading it day by day. Those who have been around Harvest for some time know that I am fond of recommending 4 questions to ask yourself as you study God’s word:

What does this teach me about God?

What does this teach me about humanity/myself?

How do I need to change because of what I’ve read?

How can I give thanks because of what I’ve read?

These aren’t the only ways to interact with the Word, but they are a way to do so. And I guarantee you that if you ask and answer these questions in faith, you will grow.

What evidence would you point to from this past week that you are actively engaged in hearing and obeying God’s Word? Do you believe that Jesus is telling the truth here? Then take him at his word and protect/prioritize time to hear and obey. Do not dishonor God and deny yourself blessing by neglecting obedience in these areas.

If you are actively seeking to hear and obey, then praise God for that! This is evidence of his grace at work in you. Do not grow weary in doing good. Perhaps a good takeaway for you is to remain humble and give the glory to God by sharing with others what he has been teaching you or how he is changing you. May our lives be bright testimonies for the glory of God, not the glory of self! How sweet it would be to spend our time in small group this week testifying to God’s grace in our lives!

Let’s keep reading to see what happens next:

The crowds are growing, but Jesus’ confrontation is not over! He isn’t interested in attracting large groups of people, but in faith that leads to repentance. Jesus rebukes them for seeking additional signs, treating him like some kind of magic genie for their entertainment. He tells them that the sign they will be given is the sign of Jonah and then connects Jonah’s ministry to the Ninevites to his ministry as the Son of Man to them.

If you’re not familiar with the Old Testament prophet Jonah, he was sent by God to the Assyrians, the ancient enemy of Israel, to proclaim a call to repentance before it was too late. Jonah did not want to obey God and ran from this calling, taking a boat heading in the opposite direction. However, God would not allow him to run, so he caused a big storm to overtake the boat, resulting in Jonah willingly being thrown overboard to save the rest of the crew. By God’s grace, he appointed a large fish to swallow Jonah and keep him alive for 3 days before spitting him back out onto dry ground. It’s an incredible story that Jesus affirms as true by citing it during his life and ministry. When Jonah made it to Ninevah, his call to repentance was met with receptive hearts/ears. They heard and believed and were spared.

Now Jesus is saying that his ministry serves a similar purpose. He has come to call the people to repentance. They ought to hear and respond in faith before it’s too late. Jesus is also foreshadowing his death, burial, and resurrection, as he will stay 3 days in the tomb before rising again. If they will not hear and repent and believe, then they will be condemned by those who came before them and believed with far lesser revelation available to them! Jesus is the greater revelation and they/we must…

Jesus bluntly calls them evil for demanding additional signs when he had already come and revealed his authority in incredible ways. He was living proof of the plan of God. He demonstrated his power and authority over creation, sin, sickness, death, and the Law many times. And not in small, obscure settings. He did these things in the public eye, in front of hundreds and thousands of people!

Their demands for more signs are blatant and wicked unbelief. If they do not repent and believe, they will receive judgment because they have more evidence than pagans from the past (Queen of the South; Ninevites) yet refuse to repent. These words of warning are necessary for people in every age. We must not think that we are in a position to demand more from Jesus. We are not the ones in authority, he is! Demanding things from God when he has already sent His Son is the height of folly and rebellion. It only serves to reveal our wicked hearts rather than to justify us in our unbelief.

If you are here and you continue to hold Jesus at arm’s length, demanding more evidence of him… then realize this is speaking to you. You are part of the evil generation who is dead in unbelief. You are in danger of judgment if you do not repent before it is too late.

Jesus’ confrontation and correction in these passages may be hard to hear, but they are for our eternal good. The reality is that judgment is coming. When Jesus returns and ushers in the end of all things, he will return as the Righteous Judge.

Listen to this incredible account from the vision of the Apostle John:

At his first coming, Jesus was meek and mild as he patiently called people to turn from sin and follow him. Yet he also faithfully warned of what is coming if we persist in rebellion. When he comes again, he will judge the living and the dead as the Righteous King of Kings and Lord of Lords. None who oppose him will stand before him. And this will be the outcome:

Those who refuse to repent and believe will be rightly judged for their rebellion. This is the outcome that Jesus warned about at his first coming – which the people of his day and ours must heed.

And please realize the alternative is glorious! For those who turn from sin and follow Christ, there is the hope of eternal life in glory with God. Listen to this beautiful vision:

What a glorious hope! Once again, God will dwell with us and we with him. Like the Garden of Eden but without the possibility of sin ruining it. This is the hope for all who trust in and follow him.

So, receive Jesus’ confrontation and correction. If your faith is not in Jesus, heed the greater revelation available in him and believe! If you have questions or objections, let’s meet and talk through those. I promise you there are compelling answers.

If your faith is in Jesus, then look forward to what is ahead. And allow that hope of future glory to inform the way you live for Christ here and now. Share this greater revelation of Jesus with your family, friends, coworkers, neighbors… because they need to hear the same call to repent and believe!

Let’s turn our attention to the last teaching in this section:

Jesus’ final instruction for our eternal good is a call to…

This teaching is connected to what has come before it as Jesus rebuked the unbelief of the crowds. The revelation of God is publicly apparent in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ! He is the lamp put on a stand so that all may see the light. The works of God have not been done in isolation or secret.

But the response of the people is their responsibility. They are either going to set their eyes on the light and thereby radiate the light, or they are going to have a “bad” or “evil” eye that rejects the light and focuses instead on darkness/wickedness and thereby live wickedly. The call is to be careful or to pay attention to where your focus is!

The theme of your response to Jesus is woven throughout the teaching in this section of Scripture. Your response matters.

The proper response to Jesus is to keep your eyes on him. Take in the light. Allow the light to transform your life and radiate light to others. This is what Jesus does for every Christian through the power of the Holy Spirit.

On the other side is the promise that if you set your eyes on other things, your whole life will be full of darkness. Choosing to remain in rebellion against your Creator will not end well for you. It will not lead to the good life here and now. The promises of this rebellious world and the enemy behind it are lies intended to deceive you. And I am willing to bet that every single Christian here today would be willing to share how we used to believe those lies. But God rescued and redeemed us. By God’s grace, we have beheld the light of Christ and believed. And nothing is the same. There is only the hope of a changed and changing life ahead of us. And it is our greatest delight to be increasingly conformed to Christ and to be radiating his glorious light to the world around us.

Hopefully that is what you experience when you interact with Christians here (or anywhere for that matter). There is no hiding the light! It ought to show up in the way we speak, in the ways we handle conflict, in the ways we serve others and share the hope that we have. As we each keep our eyes on Jesus and seek to hear and obey his Word, there will be a lot of light shining in our lives. And to God be the glory.

If you are a Christian and you realize that you’ve been struggling to focus on Christ. Perhaps your life has a lot of darkness in it right now… please seek help. Do not stay stuck in darkness. Ask your small group for help. Let our pastor team walk with you and protect you. Sign up for our free biblical counseling ministry to get practical instruction on how to grow and change to glorify God. But whatever you do, do not stay focused on darkness!

Let’s pray.

 

The Messiah's Teaching on Prayer

Luke 11:1-13

Learning how to pray from the Son of God

Approach God as your Heavenly Father

Desire for God to vindicate his name as holy

Pray that God’s rule and reign would come

Ask God to give you what is needed

Consider God’s willingness to answer and graciousness in giving us the best gift

Manuscript:

 

Good morning, church family! Welcome guests + introduce self

Today we are returning to our primary sermon series for the year Luke: The Life and Ministry of Jesus Christ. We began this series back in January and made it through chapter 10 before taking a break for the summer series on our union with Christ. Today we return to where we left off in Jesus’ life and ministry in Luke 11.

But before we do that, I thought it would be helpful to give us a recap of what we’ve learned so far in the Gospel of Luke. After all, it’s been a few months since we’ve been in it and some of you may not have been present for the earlier part of the series.

Let’s start by reflecting on what I shared last week in our study of the final book of the Old Testament – Malachi. These are the final words of God to his people before 400 years of prophetic silence:

The Old Testament ends with words of warning and a call to repentance. And so, the people were left waiting in anticipation for the promised prophet to come… Yet years passed without any sign of him. Decades passed, which turned into centuries. Entire generations were born and died waiting for this prophet…

And so, when we began the Gospel of Luke, we heard in the very first chapter the surprising announcement that the prophet was finally coming! The next stage of redemptive history was here! And the shocking nature of this announcement is only increased when you remember to whom it was given – a righteous yet barren elderly couple named Zechariah and Elizabeth – and whom it was given by – an angel named Gabriel. Listen to this incredible announcement:

Gabriel’s announcement after 400 years of waiting was exactly what God had said through the prophet Malachi. God is still at work to make a people for himself, and the next stage of that work was about to begin! I hope having studied Malachi last week gives you an even greater appreciation for how GOOD this news was.

But we know from our study of Luke that this wasn’t even the BEST news. John was being sent to prepare the way of the LORD. The angel Gabriel also appeared to a virgin named Mary and declared to her that she would miraculously conceive and bear a son to be named Jesus. Let’s hear it again:

Over the following chapters in Luke’s Gospel, he takes great care to show that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who was promised as the fulfillment of the covenants to Adam, Abraham, Moses, and David. Luke further shows the authority of Jesus through his miracles, his teachings, and his defeat of the devil in the wilderness. We heard about Jesus standing up in the synagogue and reading from the prophet Isaiah and declaring that he was the promised Servant of the Lord.

Unfortunately, the religious leaders and many of the people did not have ears to hear and so they rejected him! In the same ways their ancestors had rejected the prophets, so they rejected Jesus. But this did not stop God’s grand redemption plan. Jesus went to the meek and the lowly – he called fishermen, tax collectors, and other sinners to repent and follow him. And they did.

Through his life and ministry, Jesus has demonstrated that he is the Savior, not of the self-righteous, but of those who recognize their sinfulness and need for salvation. He revealed that he did not come for one single ethnic group but has come to rescue and redeem people from every tongue, tribe, and nation for himself. And, in the process, he has demonstrated his authority over creation, sin, sickness, death, and the Old Testament Law.

Luke wrote his detailed account so that his friend Theophilus would understand the incredible amount of evidence that points to Jesus’ identity! He wants Theophilus to have certainty in his Christian faith. It is a bit ironic that a Gentile had eyes to see, while the Jewish religious leaders did not. The Pharisees and Sadducees were passionate about keeping the law, as God had commanded through Malachi, yet they missed the heart of it. They turned the law into a means of self-righteousness that led them to condemn others and miss the Savior sent by God, rather than a means of pointing them to their need for the Savior!

Through Luke’s Gospel, we have seen that Jesus’ teachings were consistent with the prophets who came before him. He confronts and calls the people to repentance. He reveals their self-righteous hearts. He declares he came to save those who know they are sinners and are ready to repent in faith. In his sermons, he taught the dangers of hearing but not obeying the Word of God. Those who hear and do not obey will be washed away in judgment. But those who hear and believe and obediently build upon their faith in Jesus will stand in that final day.

And we’ve seen examples of such people. Both Jews and Gentiles who hear and believe and follow Jesus. A Roman Centurion. The 12 apostles, minus Judas the Betrayer. The sinful woman at Simon the Pharisee’s dinner. The woman with the bleeding disease. Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue. And more…

Jesus has been raising up and calling out disciples to follow him. And he gives them delegated authority for their mission of proclaiming the good news of God’s kingdom. The plan and purposes of God continue to be revealed through Jesus as he trains up others to spread the good news. He continues to provide teaching and confrontation, even as he heads to Jerusalem to suffer and die for our sins. That is where we have left off in Luke’s Gospel. Jesus has set his face to go to Jerusalem. And as he is going, he instructs those with ears to hear and confronts the self-righteous, religious hypocrites. Through his teaching, he prepares his disciples to faithfully follow him and gives everyone else the opportunity to repent and believe before it is too late.

So, there is our recap of 10 chapters of Luke! Let’s turn our attention now to the study of God’s Word in Luke 11:1-13.

We join Jesus as he is instructing his disciples on how to pray. They had witnessed him praying and recognized their need to grow in this area, so they asked for help! And Jesus delights to answer their request.

Our focus today is on…

If you’ve ever struggled to know how to pray or felt like you weren’t “good” at prayer, then listen up! You get to learn from the Son of God on this matter. There is no better teacher.

And from the very first words in Jesus’ reply, there are already important observations for us. In verse 2 he said to them, “When you pray…” When Luke writes this down in the Greek language, his word choice tells us that Jesus expects an ongoing practice of praying. Christians are to be a praying people, not just once but for the rest of their lives!

Already we’re being challenged in our prayer life! Are you faithful to pray? Do you have a pattern of drawing near to the Lord in prayer? The LORD expects his followers to be people who are faithful in prayer.

Moving past our frequency of prayer, you might also notice that this prayer in verses 2-4 is full of plural pronouns. Jesus was teaching his disciples to pray in community. Not all prayers are solitary prayers! Jesus demonstrated both praying alone and with others in his lifetime. Are you faithful to pray in community with other believers? Do you have a pattern of drawing near to the Lord with others? This is a sweet blessing given by God to his people and we should embrace it!

These are two lessons from Jesus’ teaching on prayer that I did not draw out in a bulletin point. But I didn’t want you to miss them. So, now that we’ve covered them, let’s turn our attention to the content of Jesus’ teaching on prayer. What do we learn about how to pray from the Son of God? First…

Approach God as your Heavenly Father

Jesus teaches his disciples to come to God as Father. Which was shockingly different than the formal titles they would have been used to. To call God Father suggests a deep level of familiarity and intimacy with him. It is using familial language for the greatest being in the Universe!

Jesus wants them to understand their incredible access to God. Through faith in Christ, they have been brought into the family of God, and they are able to interact with Him as their Heavenly Father who cares for them. This kind of access was unheard of! Consider their frame of reference with the temple and the many restrictions so that only the approved priests could enter. And even then, only the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies behind the curtain, and only once per year after having atoned for their own sins through sacrifice.

Yet now they are told that any one of them, mere fishermen and tax collectors and former prostitutes, could come to God as Father! It was simply unheard of. And who were they that the Creator of the Universe would be mindful of them? They are his precious children. His sons and daughters whom he deeply loves and cares about…

If your faith is in Christ, do you view yourself in that manner? Do you approach God as your Heavenly Father? What an amazing privilege you have in Christ! You do not need to stay silent, as if God were far off and aloof, or as if he has better things to be doing. He invites you to come to him and share your prayers as a child to a patient, loving Father who delights to hear and answer them.

What a difference between our God and every other world religion. We serve a God who is approachable, welcomes us as family, and desires to be near to us. May we not take this lightly and treat prayer as if it were unimportant. This is an incredible privilege to draw near to our Creator and to remember that he cares for us.

Not only should you approach God as your Heavenly Father, but you should also learn to…

Desire for God to vindicate his name as holy

This is what “hallowed be your name” is communicating. It is giving voice to a desire for God to act and vindicate his name as holy. The verb is a divine passive, which tells us that God is the one who accomplishes it. Jesus is instructing the disciples to pray that God would show the world his holy nature. To defend it from those who profane and mock it. And because of the way this is written, it is speaking to God doing this in a final completed manner. This is praying for God’s vindication of his name once and for all at the end of all things.

Unfortunately, we know that there are many who profane the name of God. The world is full of people who hate God. So, it is paramount for God’s people, when they pray, to pray that God would act to show the world just how wrong they are on this matter. He is the HOLY, HOLY, HOLY God.

When you pray is the desire to see God’s name revered on your heart/mind? *pause*

If you were to slow down and evaluate your desires during prayer, what do you think you’d find? *pause*

I personally find that it is so easy to be consumed by thoughts and desires related to self rather than of God. So often we begin with our wants/needs rather than revering God’s holy name. By putting this at the start of a godly pattern of prayer, Jesus is teaching his disciples to have their heart and mind set on God first. One of our greatest desires ought to be to see God’s holiness revealed and known across the earth!

Can you imagine what might change in you if you were to prioritize this desire for God to vindicate his name as holy? *pause*

As I thought about this for my own life, I realized that prioritizing this desire would help me to flee from temptation and sin more quickly and consistently. Because holiness is on my heart and mind! And if this were carried out in our Christian community, the church, I realized that it would create a culture where we prioritize God’s holiness over our desires. Which would make our church one where God is lifted high and we are living in a more selfless manner, thinking of how we can love God and love others.

I believe it would be very hard to be selfish if we were constantly praying in a way that desired God’s name to be revealed as holy. Because this is a prayer for the whole world to know God’s holiness. This has immediate implications for our witness. If we are consistently praying with this focus, then we are going to be more aware of the people around us who don’t yet know God or worship him as holy. And I would hope that this would not remain as mere awareness, but that we would then be driven to talk to them about God’s holiness. To talk of the things of God, so that they might have the opportunity to revere his name rather than profane it. This is a timely matter, because if they do not repent of their rebellion before he returns, then they will only have the expectation of judgment.

This concept is on my mind more readily right now not only because of studying this passage but also because my grandma passed away this past week. She was 97 years old and professed faith in Christ. But my dad and my sister and my nephews and many of my extended family on that side do not know Christ. If I am consistently praying for God’s name to be revered, then that should drive me to share Christ with them. God often uses trials like these to provide Gospel opportunities. Will I take them? Will you when similar opportunities are present in your life?

Make no mistake, when Jesus taught his disciples to pray in this way, he knew that one day God’s name would be vindicated as holy. This is the direction all history is heading towards at Christ’s return. God’s people ought to care deeply about this and allow the certainty of it to drive the way we live – our witness to others, our private and communal walk with God, and our worship of our Holy God. I want to encourage all of us to adopt this focus on God’s name being revered in our prayers.

This emphasis is followed by another declaration in Jesus’ teaching on prayer – “Your kingdom come.” This is again worded in a way that teaches us to seek the decisive realization of God’s reign. It is a prayer focused on the completion of God’s grand redemption plan. From this, we learn to…

Pray that God’s rule and reign would come

God’s kingdom is his rule and reign. It is a prayer that the rightful King of all Creation would make his rule and reign known throughout Creation once more. That we might know and experience the beauty of God’s will and ways in the fullest. Because God’s ways are best and lead to joy and life.

To pray for God’s kingdom to come means that we are praying that all other opposing kingdoms would be defeated. That sin and rebellion would be no more. This includes our own little kingdoms that we have set up and for which we are often tempted to live.

This is a prayer that ought to produce humility and submission in God’s people. By praying this way, we are confessing that our kingdom is not best, God’s is! This is not only beneficial for us individually but also corporately, as the church. We want to be aligned together with the will of God. We want to agree in our prayer and way of life that God’s rule and reign are best.

When I think about this in application to our church today, I think of our submission to God’s will and ways for the future of this local church. Your kingdom come, Lord, not ours! Your will be done, not ours! Praying this way protects us from pride and selfishness in our planning.

Praying this way also protects us from putting our hope in worldly rulers or systems. These earthly kingdoms are temporary, and they will be superseded by God’s kingdom one day. Our hope must be found in His kingdom! This can be a tremendous hope for our persecuted brothers and sisters around the world. One day God’s kingdom will come, and their faith will be vindicated, no matter how oppressive their current earthly leaders might be.

Or are you more concerned with your own kingdom being established? Where might God be calling you/us to further align with his will rather than our own? *pause*

In verses 3-4, Jesus transitions to teaching his disciples to present their requests to God. Notice that the prayer did not start with their needs, but with God’s character and kingdom. Yet now we learn that it is appropriate to…

Ask God to give you what is needed

Across these two verses, we find Jesus instructing them in three specific areas of need.

Starting with asking God to give you…

Daily Bread

Jesus is modeling dependence on God for daily provision. This encompasses both physical needs, such as your supply of food or beating heart or breath in your lungs, and spiritual needs, such as his ongoing grace, mercy, and favor in your life. This is a reminder that we cannot do anything apart from God! He is our Creator and Sustainer.

Asking God for daily bread keeps us humble. It reminds us that all that we have comes from him. I can’t help but think of Paul’s teaching to the Corinthian church – “What do you have that you did not receive?” The assumed answer is “NOTHING. It’s all given to us by God!”

Do you pray in a way that acknowledges your complete dependence on God? “God, I need you today! I can’t do it without you.” No matter what age or stage of life you are in, this kind of humble, dependent prayer is necessary. We never reach a point where we are no longer dependent on the Lord!

What would our church be like if we were known for this kind of prayer? A humble, dependent group of believers who recognizes all we have comes from God. That sounds like a compelling community! Where God gets all the glory and we get the joy of delighting in His provision. Can you imagine gathering on Sundays or with your small groups and the conversations were consistently about God’s provision of daily bread in your lives? How edifying that would be! I believe God would be greatly glorified in this!

Beyond asking God to give us our daily bread, Jesus also teaches to ask him for…

Forgiveness of sins

There it is again. That reminder that we are sinners in need of a Savior! And it is coming from the Son of God as he teaches his people how to pray.

Our personal and corporate prayer patterns ought to include a recognition that we need God’s forgiveness of our sins. He alone is in the position to handle this greatest need – the forgiveness of our sin debt! It is only because of his forgiveness that we have the hope of heaven and eternal life with him.

And remember that this is a pattern for prayer, so Jesus is not saying that we ought to pray this once and never again. No, no, no… This is an ongoing prayer emphasis for the church. We are to ask God for forgiveness often, because the reality is that we continue to struggle with sin.

How could praying this way impact our church? Surely it would also promote a humble posture within us. This is not a church where everyone pretends they have it all together. We do not call ourselves “Harvest Perfect People Chapel”. Praying this way keeps us from self-righteousness. It protects the church from turning into condemnatory, hypocritical looking down our noses at “those dirty sinners” type of people.

But do not mistake this as excusing sin or allowing us to continue to wallow in it. By no means! Praying this way also promotes a desire for holiness. We are recognizing our sin and confessing our desire to be forgiven and made holy again! We do not want to remain in broken fellowship with God or fellow man.

In fact, did you notice that Jesus elaborates on this prayer request when he says, “for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us”? Pay attention! The Son of God, as he models prayer for his disciples, is teaching us that Christians must be committed to forgiving others. The verb in this teaching indicates an ongoing practice, living in a state or posture of extending forgiveness. To whom? Some people? Just the people you like? No, to everyone! Jesus leaves us no room for harboring bitterness and unforgiveness against someone else.

If we turn to Jesus’ sermon on the mount in the Gospel of Matthew, we will hear even more severe teaching on this. Listen to this:

Do you hear that? Christians are expected to be people who walk in forgiveness. Why? Because they have been forgiven so much by their Heavenly Father! Those who have been greatly forgiven should be greatly forgiving... And there is a real danger if you choose to live in a posture of unforgiveness towards others – that God will hold your sins against you.

When Jesus teaches us to ask for forgiveness, it is in direct connection with our own commitment to forgiving others who have sinned against us. They go hand in hand. Consider how powerful this prayer becomes both privately and corporately… Now we are cultivating a Christian community where sin is handled God’s way – by confessing it, asking forgiveness, and granting it – rather than allowing bitterness and division and broken relationships to thrive. What kind of Gospel witness will Christians and the church provide as we function this way? A beautiful testimony of God’s redeeming grace and the forgiveness we’ve received in Christ! It will be radically different than the rest of the world, which is full of broken relationships due to bitterness and a lack of forgiveness. Again, a compelling community is revealed because of our love and commitment to one another. And that is attractive to those who are seeking answers in a lost and broken world.

Finally, we see Jesus instructing them to ask God for…

Protection from temptation

The translation into our English is a bit confusing in the way it is worded. God does not lead anyone into temptation. This is communicating “cause us not to succumb to temptation”. It is crying out to God to help us in our time of need, as we are enduring temptation.

This is an important component of our prayer life! We all know that we face daily temptations to sin. But are you coming to God in prayer asking for help in those moments? Or even proactively praying before the moment of temptation? That is something that I have found to be most helpful in my walk with God. As we mature and learn the patterns of our struggles, it is so helpful to pray before temptation that God would strengthen and help us to resist it when it comes. I know it is coming at some point, so while I am thinking correctly, I want to ask God for help!

Can you imagine the benefits of praying this together for our church? We want to be a community that flees from temptation! We want one another to be holy as he is holy. What a privilege to come together before the throne of mercy and grace to ask God to protect us! What if our small groups closed with this kind of prayer? “Lord, protect us from temptation this week. We want to honor you in our lives. We do not want to bring disrepute to your name!” That will certainly bear sweet fruit in this church over the long haul.

I believe praying this way would help us to stay alert. That is a consistent theme of Jesus’ teachings. Be alert. Stay awake. The enemy is on the prowl. Temptation crouches at the door. And by praying faithfully for one another’s protection, we are far more likely to stay engaged in spiritual warfare. And we’ll know we are not alone in the battle! I don’t know about you, but I am often tempted to think that I am alone, and no one will understand what I am facing. But that is a lie of the enemy! We are in this together. We are one body, one family, and we have so many brothers and sisters to come alongside of us in our time of need. Praise God for that!

I hope this study of Jesus’ model for prayer for Christians has been helpful for you. There is so much more that could be said. But for the sake of time, I want to wrap up by summarizing what we see in Jesus’ teaching in verses 5-13. This is the section where he provides the example of going to your neighbor at midnight to ask for 3 loaves of bread, and then proceeds to instruct the disciples to ask, seek, and knock, and culminates in comparing God’s graciousness to a father’s graciousness to his own child.

The purpose of these teachings is to invite you to…

Consider God’s willingness to answer and graciousness in giving us the best gift

As Jesus is teaching about prayer, he is driving home the point that God is more willing and more gracious than our fellow man to help us in time of need. Jesus assures us that our asking, seeking, and knocking will be successful. Those who come to God will not be ignored.

These lessons are meant to instill a sense of boldness in coming to God. The man who came to his neighbor at midnight was impudent or shamelessly bold. He ignored social conventions to seek help in time of need. This same kind of boldness is how Christians ought to come to God. We do not have to be bashful about seeking him. He is not too busy to care for us. He delights to give help in time of need.

And Jesus points out that God gives us the best gift – the Holy Spirit, our Divine Helper and the One who brings us into God’s family. To borrow from Paul’s words in Romans 8 and this teaching in Luke 11… If God does not withhold His Holy Spirit or His Son from us, how will he not also graciously give us all things? The assumed answer is he will!!!

The point is that God is a willing and gracious gift-giver. Everything we have is from him, including the most important things about us – that we are invited into His family and get to experience the glory of the Trinitarian love of God. These are realities that take a lot of time to grasp. A lifetime really. So, I want to encourage you to meditate on these wonderful truths this week. Allow them to cause you to have greater awe and reverence for God.

And, if you do not know Jesus as your Savior and have not received this greatest gift of the Holy Spirit bringing you into God’s family, then I would encourage you to do business with that today. Confess your sins to God in prayer. Ask him to forgive you and commit your life to following him. Even better, practice what we heard today and invite someone else to pray with you on these things. We’re in this together.

Let’s pray.

Overview Sermon: Malachi – A Call to Keep Covenant

Malachi 1-4

Recognizing evidence of vain religiosity

Coming to worship God while actively living in sin against one another

Going through the motions of worship without concern for God’s glory

Questioning God’s character and failing to trust him

Manuscript: 

Good morning, church family! Introduce self + welcome guests

In the Bible, there is a section of Scripture that says this:

The principle is plain. A servant who has been entrusted with responsibilities by his master is expected to carry out his duties faithfully. If he does so and lives wisely in the master’s absence, then he will receive blessings when the master returns. But if the servant decides that the master’s prolonged absence is an opportunity to live selfishly and abuse his position, then the master will judge him upon his return.

Do you know where this teaching is found? The Gospel of Matthew, chapter 24:45-51. These are the words of Jesus Christ as he teaches his disciples about living faithfully until his return. Another way we might describe this is “keeping covenant with God”. By that, I mean living faithfully in the ways God has called us to live. (Main Slide)

This New Testament teaching near the end of Jesus’ earthly life captures so well the same kind of message that is taught by the prophet Malachi in the Old Testament to the nation of Israel. God’s call for his people hasn’t changed over the years! God has always had a plan for his people to represent and reflect him here on earth. To be a people who faithfully loves him and loves one another. Who keeps covenant with God by earnestly seeking him and serving one another.

Yet, one of the themes of the Scriptures is that humanity, left to themselves, consistently goes their own way and pursues selfish endeavors, rather than remaining faithful to the One, True God as he has commanded. This was as true in the Garden of Eden as it was in the nation of Israel throughout the Old Testament as it is today in our current historical moment. We are people whose hearts are prone to wander (as we sang about earlier!). And perhaps many in our day and age don’t even realize it!

We live in a time where many are convinced that they can believe and practice their faith however they want. That God isn’t overly concerned about the details of our faith, as long as we are sincere. This is evidenced by many who claim Christ yet live in ungodly, contradictory ways to what God says in his word. And I am not simply talking about matters that may seem more egregious and prominent in our culture, like affirming homosexuality or being pro-choice for abortion. I am also speaking of matters that many might excuse, such as being enslaved to hidden lust or gluttony or lacking generosity or having apathy towards your daily walk with God.

As I was preparing for this sermon, I almost titled it “Worship Matters”. God’s words through Malachi are going to challenge us to evaluate whether we are approaching God and one another in the way he intends. As the Lord of Heaven and Earth, he has made a way for us to have holy and healthy relationships, both with him and one another. But when we forsake his will and ways, it leads to division, destruction, death and, ultimately, judgment. As we hear from Malachi to the nation of Israel, I invite you to consider for your own sake – Am I keeping covenant with my Creator? Am I living faithfully for him?

Let me share a little bit about this book we are diving into today – the last book of the Old Testament before the coming of Jesus Christ. The author is revealed to us in 1:1.

The oracle of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi.

Malachi literally means “my messenger”. We do not know much about him, as this is the sole mention of him in the Bible. However, he is quoted by Paul, Luke, Mark, and Jesus. His message is one of importance both for his day and ours.

From clues that are dropped throughout his writing, we know that he ministered to the people of Israel after their exile in Babylon. He speaks of the temple being rebuilt and sacrifices being made on the altar. In chapter 1:8, he references the governor of their land, which was a position that was present in the Persian era, after they had allowed the Jews to return to their homeland. So, the Jews were back in Jerusalem, their temple had been rebuilt, yet, as we’re about to hear, things were not going well. They still faced opposition on many sides, the temple was a fraction of its former glory, in fact there was no evidence that God’s presence had returned to the temple as previously, and the people were disobedient to God’s Word.

Though God had called them to be a chosen people who represented and reflected him to the nations, they were continuing to forsake that calling. This is what had led them to exile in the first place, and even though God had shown mercy by sending them back to the Promised Land, they did not remain zealous for the Lord. There were periods of revival when Ezra and Nehemiah were leading the people, calling them to repentance and obedience, but these were short-lived. The very things these godly leaders confronted them on are the same issues Malachi confronts them on. They are too quickly returning to their sinful ways… going through the outward motions of religion but actively disobeying God in many areas of life. For many, they had a dead faith, yet they thought they were “good” with God.

This letter is going to be a great reminder that it matters how you worship God. I hope it will challenge you to evaluate your own heart posture towards God and others. That it will help you to see whether you have concluded, wrongly, that you can live and worship however you like and it doesn’t matter, as long as you are well-intentioned. That’s not how it works with God.

Now this letter is shaped around six disputes that God has with his people. There is an intentional structure to these disputes known as a chiasm. What that means is that the 1st and 6th disputes are related, the 2nd and 5th disputes are related, and the 3rd and 4th disputes are related and at the center of the message. This structure is going to direct how we study the letter today.

So, let’s learn more about…

It is my hope that we will all walk away with convictions about how we are to live faithfully for God in this life. Allow the words of Malachi to protect your own relationship with God and others!

We head first to the center of God’s disputes with his people… that they are…

Coming to worship God while actively living in sin against one another

In the center of the letter, God confronts the people through Malachi on their wickedness towards one another. Let’s hear his confrontation:

The people had forsaken God’s commands to protect the purity of their faith by not intermarrying with pagans. This was a warning that God had given repeatedly throughout the Old Testament. He knew that if they gave themselves in marriage to foreigners who worshiped false gods, it would lead the entire nation astray. Yet they consistently ignored the warning to watch who they married! They cared more about their own desires than remaining holy by keeping covenant with God.

Does this sound like an irrelevant cultural issue to you? It shouldn’t! In the New Testament, Paul issues a very similar warning to the Gentile Christians in Corinth:

If you are going to worship God, then it matters whom you marry. God will not settle for a portion of our lives. He is our Creator and Lord and has authority over everything. If you are a Christian or considering following Christ, you must realize that God even has authority over these details of your lives. He is in the process of creating a holy people for himself, which is incredibly complicated when you pursue or unite yourself with someone who does not follow him!

To those who are single and desiring marriage, are you keeping covenant with your God in this area of life? Do not give your affection and heart to someone who does not love the Lord.

If you are already married to someone in a different spiritual position than you, this is not an encouragement to divide that relationship. In both Old and New Testaments, we see that God calls his people to remain faithful to their spouse. We also see the encouragement to be a witness to your unbelieving spouse so that they might know Christ.

One of the biggest problems with the people of Malachi’s day is that they did not regard their marriage covenant highly nor obey God in whom they married. This led to great spiritual apathy and watering down of obedience to God in their land. Competing religions spread throughout the land and the next generation was often led astray. Which is the outcome in every age when we fail to obey God in our marital pursuits.

As we heard in verse 15, God desires godly offspring. He wants two believers to pursue one another in a holy marriage and enjoy the fruit of that relationship – a family that pursues God together. This is how many generations of faithful followers of God are made! Do not forsake this calling for the fleeting pleasure of a pagan man/woman who catches your eye.

In their day they were essentially practicing what we now call “no-fault” divorce. If a man decided they hated their wife, they would divorce them and move on to the latest “apple of the eye”. This is a godless, faithless way to live. It is disobedient to God and opposes his plan to raise up godly families on the earth. Learn from this dispute with his people!

In the very next section, 2:17-3:5, we have another of God’s disputes with his people. Here’s what he says next:

What you’re hearing is that God’s people have been calling evil good and questioning whether the God of justice is even around anymore. Which led them to excuse all kinds of sinful behavior. People practiced sorcery, engaged in adultery, lied about one another, oppressed those who were powerless to resist them, and treated the foreigners poorly. They had no fear of God in their hearts, which allowed them to live wickedly!

But God is not absent. He is not unaware of their sinful ways. Do not mistake his patience in delaying judgment for absence, ignorance, or approval!

Through Malachi, God foretells of his messenger who would prepare the way for him. He promised that he would be coming. But they would not be able to endure when he came, because he was coming to refine and cleanse.

If you’re familiar with your Bible, then you know that this prophecy was fulfilled in the New Testament era by John the Baptist. Of John, Jesus said:

And do you recall what John’s message was? Repent. It was a call to turn from sin back to God.

God has been clear throughout human history that he is calling his people away from sin to holiness. He desires a people for himself, a people for his own possession. Which means we must not make peace with sin of any kind. Repentance is a gift from God that leads to life. We should not despise this word and calling but love it! It is for our good and God’s glory. To ignore God’s will and ways, like the Israelites of Malachi’s day or many of the people of Jesus’ day, will result in judgment.

God cares about how we treat one another. The message of the Bible is that we are saved into a community of believers, the people of God. We must do away with our individualized, self-focused view of faith and submit to God’s plan for a deep commitment to one another. Especially in our marriages and households, as we raise our families in the faith. Does your life reflect a growing commitment to others as you worship the Lord?

Unfortunately, in Malachi’s day, the people were not only treating one another poorly and so forsaking their covenant with God. They were also treating God poorly! They had adopted a vain religiosity by…

Going through the motions of worship without concern for God’s glory

We see evidence of this laid out in our second set of disputes (2, 5). For the first, we go to 1:6-2:9. Let’s read a portion of this passage:

You can hear God’s charge against them. They do not honor or fear God. How so? Because they offer polluted sacrifices to him. Rather than bringing him the best of their flock, they offer the lame and the blind. This is in direct violation of God’s commands in the Law. You can read about the acceptable offerings in Leviticus 22 if you’d like.

They knew it was wrong. They were holding back their best from God and even revealing that they were wearied by his commands. And notice that God is rebuking the priests! These were the religious leaders of his people. They were the ones who were supposed to not only know the law but model obedience to it for the people. They were supposed to help the nation know their Great God and to lead in worship of him! His name will be great among nations, yet his own people are dishonoring him!

God promises in chapter 2 to curse them as a result. He knows the hearts of men and he responds appropriately. They have broken the covenant that God had made with Levi to represent and reflect him. There was such a contrast here - Levi originally kept the covenant and feared God and it was a time of peace and uprightness. In those days, people were turned away from sin, but now, with the wicked priests in Malachi’s day, the people were led into sin! This can only end in cursing and judgment from God.

Do you hear the seriousness of this matter? God knows your heart. It is not sufficient to say that you love God or are a Christian if your heart is far from him. He is not fooled! He sees the example we set for others and knows whether it is leading them towards or away from him.

The people of Malachi’s day thought that they could get away with giving God their leftovers. The blind and lame from their flock rather than their best offerings. This is foolishness. It is mocking God and revealing that you don’t really honor or fear him.

Each of us must wrestle through this. And it is likely going to be an ongoing process, because there are many times when we are tempted to put other things first. God wants your best!

Later in chapter 3:6-12 another dispute is laid out before the people along the same lines. Let’s look at verses 8-12:

The people revealed their disobedient hearts by withholding what was owed to God. God had commanded them to give a tithe of their harvests – 10%. This was the command and he says that if they would trust him in this, then he would greatly provide for them. That is why this was put in place, so the people would rely on God and trust him rather than their own provision.

Giving sacrificially, first and to the Lord, reveals that we recognize it is all his in the first place. That it is better to be trust God and live on 90% of what he has provided than to keep 100% for self. Yet the people of Malachi’s day did not believe God in this matter. They preferred to keep 100% for themselves. They were selfish and the nation was suffering as a result. God’s judgment was upon them and their land was barren. Their stealing 10% from God led to an even greater judgment!

The Old Testament called for a tithe (10%) given to God. My understanding of this principle for New Testament (New Covenant) Christians is that the tithe should be the desired starting point for our giving. We should prayerfully look for ways to grow in generosity above and beyond this as we’re able. This is the principle of radical generosity that is revealed throughout the Word.

I have been reading in Proverbs lately and there are numerous encouragements to be generous and meeting needs. Not because you’re trying to have anyone in debt to you, but because this is synonymous with righteousness. The righteous recognize that everything is God’s, so they seek to manage it well and use it for kingdom work. Whereas the wicked spend and spend on self and they have little to give to bless others. They are ever in want, yet God entrusts the righteous with more and more resources to manage wisely.

These are hard and uncomfortable questions. And I ask them of myself just as I ask them of you. The beauty of God’s Word is that it is speaking to all of us. Allow yourself to be purified by the refiner’s fire.

If you’d like to be further equipped in this area, then I’d like to recommend several resources for you:

Crown MoneyLife Personal Finance Study

Pastor Brent and I took a group through this course last year and it was really good material! I was personally quite challenged and blessed by it. It’s only $30 for the online version of the study and well worth the cost. It will take you on a thorough biblical study on finances, while also giving you practical assignments to help you honor God with this area of your life.

The next are two resources by Pastor Randy Alcorn. Both are very good and again challenge us to adopt God’s view of our possessions and finances in light of eternity.

Money, Possessions, & Eternity – Randy Alcorn

The Treasure Principle – Randy Alcorn

We have at least one copy of each of these in our resource library, free for you to check-out. (Main Points Slide)

I really appreciate Pastor Mark Dever’s comments on this matter:

I am so thankful for the generous givers at Harvest. Year after year we have had a surplus of giving beyond the budgeted need, which has allowed us to ask, “How can we bless others?” Each year we’ve been able to send financial gifts to many of our ministry partners or missionaries because of your generosity. And that is not even considering other ministries or missions work that you may support directly. Praise God for faithful givers! I believe we have seen God fulfill his promise from Malachi that he opens the windows of heaven and pours down his blessing.

But back to the original point, this is all about keeping the main thing the main thing – God’s glory in our worship. May we not fall into vain religiosity, where we go through the motions of faith without actually loving the Lord. Do not fall into the trap of thinking that your religious activity, church attendance or attending small group or serving, is what indicates the health of your relationship with God. These activities must not be disconnected from a heart that loves the Lord and desires to give him your best.

And a large part of guarding against this kind of vain religiosity is by cultivating a right view of God. Which is what the people of Malachi’s day failed to do. Instead, they were actively…

Questioning God’s character and failing to trust him

At the beginning and end of the book, the Lord lays out his disputes that the people have turned against him. First, they question the Lord’s love for them.

God’s rebuttal to their accusation is that he has demonstrated his love in his sovereign choosing of Israel over Esau. This was God’s case-closed argument. He simply pointed to his sovereign decision to choose Jacob and his descendants as his people. It wasn’t because they were so great or had done anything to earn or deserve it. It was solely a matter of God’s grace and mercy.

This is the same argument that Paul later re-uses in his letter to the Romans. This is not something we have the luxury of ignoring. God uses this to prove his love of his people. God uses this argument multiple times throughout his Word to say it is PROOF of his character and love! In this passage in Malachi, God even says that the people of Israel will see and know that God is great in all the nations, beyond their borders, because he will work through his love to establish a people for himself and oppose those who are not his people.

If you’re going to keep covenant with God, then you must know him. You must understand who he is and what he is like. And this is one of the ways he reveals himself in the pages of Scripture. He is a sovereign God who saves sinners from his wrath. Not because they deserved it or worked their way to his love, but solely because he is kind and gracious and merciful to pluck them out of their sin, wash them white as snow with his Son’s blood, and call them “my people”. This is what we spent all summer learning about in our In Him series. For Christians, the only reason we CAN keep covenant with God is because Christ has already done so on our behalf! Through faith in Christ, we have been declared righteous, given a new heart, and now have the desire to obey and follow God!

But that does not mean we do not struggle… Are there ways that you call into question God’s love? I want to encourage you to prayerfully examine these wonderful truths to help you to think rightly about God and to learn to trust him.

Let’s look at the final dispute, where the book wraps up.

The people had concluded that it was vain to serve God. They believed it was not worth it to obey. It seemed the wicked were prospering, so might as well join them. This is foolish logic… Do not mistake God’s patience for approval, ignorance, or absence.

God takes notice of those who fear him. Those who remove themselves from wicked ways. He notices those who have the right view of him and live uprightly. And he protects them and watches over them. He will provide for them in the day of judgment. They will not burn up like the wicked but shall experience the joy of the Lord. They will inherit eternal life.

Listen to the final words of Malachi, which are also the final words of the Old Testament before the 400 years of prophetic silence…

Remember the law. Look for Elijah. God points the people to the law and the prophets. They are to obey God and look for his messengers. And that messenger would come, but not for 400 years. The Old Testament ends with anticipation and warning. If they will not repent and turn to God, they will be destroyed.

And remind me again, what was John the Baptist’s message when he came 400 years later? Repent. Turn from sin to God. Prepare, for the kingdom of God is at hand. His Messiah has come. Jesus Christ. Turn from your sin to believe in him and receive eternal life.

I love how consistent the Bible is from start to finish. Over thousands of years there is one grand plan of redemption being carried out. Will you turn from your sin and follow God? This has been a call to keep covenant with God. Which we know is only possible through faith in Jesus Christ. The One who makes us new and gives us a new heart that can turn from sin and follow him. Who provides the promised Holy Spirit, our Helper who convicts and equips us for daily life and righteousness.

Let’s pray and confess our need for him and ask for his help in keeping covenant.

In Him: God's Transforming & Training Grace

Titus 2:1-15

Embracing God's plan for our good and his glory

Receive God’s grace to save

Hear and obey God’s training plan

Adopt the right heart motives

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Good morning, church family! Welcome guests + introduce self

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve had the privilege of opening God’s Word with you and I’m excited to have the opportunity of doing so today. Today we are wrapping up our summer sermon series In Him. Because of that, before we dive into our study for this morning, I wanted to share with you what is coming next in the preaching calendar.

For those who have been here all year, you may remember that we shared that we would occasionally drop an Overview of one of the Minor Prophets throughout our preaching calendar. Back on June 21st, Pastor Brent preached an overview of the book of Micah as our first sermon of that series. Well, next Sunday, I will be preaching an overview of the book of Malachi. Malachi was sent by God to confront people who are complacent, even after exile! I believe it will be a sweet study on its own but will also serve as a great transition back into our study of the book of Luke the following week, where we see Jesus also confronting people who are complacent to prepare them for the kingdom of God. This study is our primary sermon series for this year and will carry into 2027 - The Gospel of Luke: the Life and Ministry of Jesus Christ. We will be picking back up at Luke 11:1-28 in two weeks. I’m looking forward to returning to systematically working our way through a book of the Bible together!

As I mentioned a moment ago, today is our final sermon in this series In Him. I hope it has been a blessing to you to spend time considering this incredibly rich truth that we are united with Christ by grace through faith in Him. If your faith is in Jesus, you are no longer your own but have been bought with a price - the precious blood of Jesus.

I have been delighted to spend this summer remembering what this means for my identity and life in Christ. As we have studied through passages in Ephesians and Romans, we have unpacked beautiful truths that have very real significance for our daily lives! In fact, I thought it would be helpful to summarize each sermon in a sentence to jog our memories of these wonderful truths. And I am woefully aware of how inadequate a single sentence is to capture the beauty of these texts!

Recap of each sermon:

Ephesians 1 - God has provided redemption through His Son and lavished his glorious grace upon us

Ephesians 2 – God has transformed our identity and purpose through Christ

“Because I am in Christ, I can _______”

Ephesians 6 – God has provided protection from our enemy and a path for holiness through his gospel armor

Romans 6 – God has rescued us from slavery to sin and made us alive to righteousness in Christ

Romans 8 – God, through Christ, has provided immense hope for this life and the one to come by giving us his Spirit and actively conforming us to his Son

Romans 12 – God has called us to mature by his mercies into living sacrifices, who die to everything else so that we might live for Christ

There is so much more to be said about each of these amazing chapters in Scripture, so I would encourage you to go back and read them again or even listen to the sermons again too. May we never tire of such wonderful gospel realities! (In Him graphic)

Today we are closing out the series in Titus 2, as we continue to look at how our union with Christ leads us to maturity. In this section of Scripture, we are going to see a call to counter-cultural living because we have been made new in Jesus! And along with that counter-cultural living, there is an expectation of modeling holiness for others – Titus setting the example for the pastors he raises up, older men leading the way for younger men, older women investing in younger women, and, more generally, Christians modeling holiness in an unbelieving world in a way that shows how beautiful God and his ways truly are!

Because we are dropping into a new letter, I want to provide some context for what we are going to be reading today. The Apostle Paul is writing this letter to one of his disciples, Titus, who was a leader in the early church. Titus has been left in Crete (map), which you can see on the map behind me is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. In chapter 1, Paul explains that Titus is there so that he might put what remained into order, which includes appointing for the churches elders who are of godly character and holding firm to the trustworthy word of God, able to teach sound doctrine and to rebuke those who contradict it. Unfortunately, there were false teachers in Crete who were insubordinate and using their influence and speech to deceive others and upset whole households. On the whole, the culture of Crete was a very ungodly one. Drunkenness was considered a societal virtue. Their women were known as gossips. Both men and women were often undisciplined and lazy. The secular Roman writer Cicero states, “Moral principles are so divergent that the Cretans … consider highway robbery honorable” (Republic 3.9.15; see Comment on 1:12–13a). The Greek historian Polybius (Po-lyb-ius) wrote in his Histories that it was “almost impossible to find… personal conduct more treacherous or public policy more unjust than in Crete.” (Hist. 6.47.5)

In fact, Paul even quotes one of their own people about the immorality of their culture:

“This testimony is true.” Paul is laying it out there. These people are far from God and need rebuked so that they may have sound/healthy faith that leads to eternal life. There is a real danger for the Christians in this society to be led astray, so Paul wants Titus to model how to believe, teach, and live to the Cretan leaders/pastors. These leaders are then expected to turn around and model and teach this faithful lifestyle to the Christians in their local churches! We’re going to hear some very practical teaching that speaks to each age demographic in a household and church, as well as to bondservants/slaves.

But why are we studying this today to close out our summer series? Great question! I’m glad you asked.

In this series, we’ve been focused on our union with Christ and how that reality shapes our identity and life/lifestyle. This text will help us understand that Christ has called Christians to live differently than the world around us! There is a call to Christian maturity here and a very detailed explanation of what that looks like - what we are to be and do as men and women, young and old. I believe we will gain some clear direction to help us evaluate our answer to the final question in this series - "Do I make disciples?"

With that in mind, let’s turn our attention to the reading of God’s Word in Titus 2.

*Read verse 15 again*

It’s safe to say that Paul views these teachings as incredibly important for the Cretan Christians to understand and obey. He uses multiple commands to drive home just how seriously Titus must take this calling. Declare them out loud to the people. Exhort/urge/implore them. Rebuke or convict them with all authority (as a representative of God). Do not let anyone disregard or despise you. I believe that last one is tied to the way Titus conducts himself – to be above reproach. The point being that these teachings are that important! They are so fundamentally for our good that we must not ignore them or disregard the messenger! I hope to convey the same urgency in our time together today.

As we approach this study, we are going to work backwards in the argument. We started with verse 15, but from there we are going to look at verses 11-14. I want to start here because these are the foundations, the reasons for the ethical teachings that Paul provides in verses 1-10. I want us to start with the WHY before we talk through the HOW.

And, as we go, our aim is…

This is God’s Word revealing his plan which is ultimately for our benefit and his glory! So, let’s enjoy studying it and applying it as his church. I think it would be remiss of me not to start with what we see taught in verse 11, which is that God’s grace has appeared, bringing salvation for all people. Paul is referring to God’s grace as revealed in Jesus Christ, who is identified as our great God and Savior in verse 13.

This assumes that humanity is sinful and in need of a Savior. That should not surprise anyone who is familiar with the teachings of the Bible. That is a fundamental truth that undergirds everything else. You see, the teachings of Scripture reveal a perfectly Holy God who is without fault or flaw. He has zero imperfections. He is the source of righteousness. And even though the first humans were created without sin, they had an untested character. When it was tested, they gave into temptation and chose sin. This is captured for us in the book of Genesis in the very first 3 chapters of the Bible. As the representatives of the human race, Adam and Eve’s sin (rebellion against God) plunged our entire race into the curse of sin. Whether or not you’re intellectually willing to admit that we are all born sinners, you experientially know it to be true. No one must teach us to be selfish or desire to do what is right in our own eyes; that comes naturally to us! And, as we grow, we continue to choose selfishness and desires that are contrary to God’s will and ways. It is safe to say that no one is perfect, none are sinless. This is a big problem for us! A perfectly holy and righteous God must address our sin/rebellion. How can we ever be at peace with God if we are guilty and condemned by our treason against him? The answer to that question is what the entire Bible unpacks. On our own merit, we will never be able to have peace with God. We cannot make up for our sin against an infinitely holy God. However, God can make a way for peace in a most unexpected way! He sent Jesus, who we just heard is “our great God and Savior” – aka God the Son – to be the perfect sacrifice for our sins. As Paul explained in verse 14, “who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness…” God the Son willingly entered into his creation, taking on flesh and dwelling amongst us, so that he could live the perfect, sinless life that we could not live and die in our place, facing the wrath of God for us. He gave himself for us. So that we could be redeemed from our lawlessness! He has provided salvation for us! This is a gracious gift of God, not something that we can earn or deserve. And what must you do with a gift? You must joyfully receive it!

In embracing God's plan for our good and his glory… you must…

Receive God’s grace to save

This grace has been revealed in Jesus Christ, as we’ve been hearing throughout this summer series. It is only by grace through faith in Christ that we are saved. This is a work of God that we receive and from which we benefit.

How incredible is that?! Can you believe that God would do this for you? For me? It ought to humble us this morning. The Lord of glory willingly left that glory to take on the frailty of human form and to be treated horribly during his time on earth, all so that he could die on the Cross and bear the wrath of God for our sins! Who could conceive of God the Son dying and bearing the wrath meant for us so that we might live? We ought to be shouting “Hallelujah, thank you, Jesus!” right now!! This is GOOD NEWS this morning.

Have you believed it? Have you received God’s grace to save? For many of you the answer is, “Absolutely! Yes, I have. By God’s grace I have been convicted of my sins and need for a Savior. I believe in Jesus!” Praise God for that. Rejoice in your salvation.

For some in the room, the answer is, “No. Not yet.” Can I ask you… what are you waiting for? What else do you need to hear to receive this gracious gift of salvation? What fear, doubt, or matter of unbelief is keeping you from receiving Christ? There are compelling answers to whatever it is you’re holding onto. You’ve heard many of them this summer. I am imploring you to pray and ask God to give you a heart to believe and receive Christ. In fact, I would like to pray for you, right now.

I want to point out that the emphasis in Paul’s teaching is not only that God’s grace has provided salvation, but also that it is actively training us in sanctification or “growing in holiness”. Let’s read it again in verses 11-12.

God's grace is not simply a "get out of hell" free card; it transforms our desires and direction for the rest of our lives. Grace is our tutor or, if you prefer a more physical analogy, our personal trainer! We are saved by grace through faith in Christ, but then each day we are schooled/trained by grace on how to live the godly life for which we have been created! God’s plan for our good and his glory is comprehensive and complete.

Yet this requires us to forsake our plans to follow his. This teaching is a call to live in light of what Christ has already done through his death, burial, and resurrection AND in hope, perhaps better stated as the settled certainty, of what he will do when he comes again to usher us into his glory. Our present lives as Christians are carried out considering these two wonderful realities. We look back and see what Christ HAS done, and we look ahead and behold what he WILL do. This is the beauty of our union with him!

Putting this back in its original context - Titus was to be teaching and speaking sound doctrine – what is right and true according to God’s Word - to these Christians on Crete. Their calling was to hear and obey what God had said. To embrace their tutoring or training sessions with God’s grace.

The word translated “training” in verse 12 is a very rich word in the Greek. It is παιδεύω (paideuo) which conveys both the idea of positive instruction and corrective discipline. God’s grace is going to gently instruct and persuade Christians of ways they need to grow and change, but it will also confront and convict when there is sin that needs to be put off! In fact, the rest of verse 12 is informed by this – God’s grace trains us “to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions” – it confronts us in where we need to put off sin, the things of the world. Yet it also positively trains us “to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age”. There is a reformation of our character and conduct as we…

Hear and obey God’s training plan

For the Cretan Christians, there was a lot of reformation needed! They were rescued and redeemed out of a past life and a society that was quite immoral. They were surrounded by family and friends who still celebrated sinfulness. The pressure they faced would have been immense, not to mention the false teachers who were trying to lead them astray, making it all the more confusing!

Isn’t it a shame that this is totally unrelatable to our society and day and age? It’s too bad that we’ve come so far and are such a godly society who joyfully submits to God’s ways! That is clearly sarcasm, in case you didn’t pick up on it. Sadly, about 2000 years have passed since this was written and our society is nearly as immoral and filled with false teachers as theirs. These teachings are not irrelevant or culturally outdated. They are the timeless word of God, and they are applicable to Christians everywhere, throughout history. So do not dismiss what you hear in the text today!

We too need to hear and obey God’s training plan. We need to be trained to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions. In fact, underneath this bullet point, I’d like you to write:

Put off ungodliness

God’s grace confronts and convicts us when wes are in the wrong. If you are a Christian, are you embracing this refining grace of God? Or are you hardening your heart to it?

This process occurs as God convicts you through His Word and by His Spirit. We heard about this from Pastor Jack last week. It assumes that, as a Christian, you are regularly opening God’s Word to study and apply it. Prayerfully asking God to teach you truth that will lead to life change.

I have found these daily disciplines to be perhaps the most important things for my walk with Jesus. If I am not prayerfully in the Word, I will not grow. It’s that plain and simple. If I cut myself off from the Words of life, then I will die. I will turn inward. I will make foolish or downright sinful choices. Maybe not today, but it won’t take long.

But regular, ongoing, prayerful pursuit of God through his Word allows the grace of God to train me to put off ungodliness! That’s why Titus was commanded to teach sound doctrine. It is the truth of God’s Word that convicts and equips us for the way that leads to life!

If you go back up to verses 2-10 now, you will see that there are ways Titus was to teach them to put off ungodliness and worldly desires. Let’s survey the different categories spoken to here.

Older men

Put off unrestrained living

Put off activities that bring dishonor

Put off an apathetic, unhealthy relationship with God that does not lead you to love him or stand firm for him

Older women

Put off behavior that does not show respect or reverence for God

Put off making false and malicious statements about others

Put off drunkenness

Put off abdicating your role to teach younger ladies what is good in God’s sight

Younger women

Put off loving your own pleasures/desires over loving your husband and kids

Put off unrestrained living

Put off the things that make you unholy

Put off laziness about carrying out household responsibilities

Put off treating others poorly

Put off a defiant attitude and actions towards your husband

Younger men

Put off unrestrained living

Bondservants

Put off an argumentative spirit

Put off taking goods from your master for your own gain

Please note that the number of items addressed to each category does not imply that younger men have little to grow in. This is not an exhaustive list. It is assumed that the older men would also have been expected to train up the younger men into their role.

The point being that God’s grace trains us to change. To be transformed. Which begins with putting off ungodliness and worldly passions! Perhaps it is helpful to think of it in terms of clothing. Before you put on clean clothes, you first remove or take off the dirty ones.

This is the biblical pattern. And this kind of teaching is the very same conversation we are often having in the counseling room when we are helping people grow in their walk with God. You must realize that Christians are always in the process of being transformed and trained by God’s grace. This is God’s plan and process to conform us to the image of His Son. A plan and process that is only complete when Christ returns or calls us home! So Christian brother or sister, learn to embrace it and love it!

Please do not make peace with sin in your life. Do not allow laziness or hard-heartedness to lull you to spiritual apathy. These are dangerous places to be! They are no place for a Christian to remain! That is more akin to the world than Christ and you have been unified with him. Live like it!

Ask yourself - Where do I need to put off ungodliness in my life? I want to encourage you to write something down in answer to that question. Perhaps one of these teachings in Titus resonated with you. Where is God’s grace training you to change?

As you consider this process of putting off ungodliness, I want to encourage you to keep your eyes on your eternal hope. That is where Paul directs Titus’ attention in verse 13. We are waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ… Remember what God has done and will do. And do not forget his call to be zealous for good works. Christians throughout the ages have an incredible privilege to represent and reflect our Holy Creator to the world around us as we put off ungodliness.

But it doesn’t stop there, does it? God’s grace not only trains us to put off ungodliness, but it also trains us to…

Put on holiness

I want you to write that on your bulletin, if you’re taking notes.

Or, as Paul put it, to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age. You may have noticed that theme of self-control comes up often in this text. Not being ruled by your passions but exercising control over them. Restraining and directing your conduct in a way that pleases Christ. God’s plan for Christians is to conform them to holiness as they live righteously and conduct themselves as people who fear God.

If you slow down and think about this, it is incredible. Who are we that God would be mindful of us? That he would work in and through us? What an incredible privilege to be rescued and redeemed by God and to have the opportunity to grow in holiness so we can dwell with him in glory forever!

These Cretan Christians needed to understand that they were no longer the same! They are no longer slaves to sin, as we learned in Romans 6. They are dead to that and slaves of righteousness! And, as we see in verses 2-10, there are specific ways they are called to put on holiness. Let’s talk through them.

Older men

Put on restrained, controlled living and thinking

Put on conduct that is worthy of honor

Put on a healthy relationship with God that loves and stands firm for him

Older women

Put on behavior that shows respect or reverence for God

Put on teaching younger ladies what is good in God’s sight

Younger women

Put on loving your husband and kids

Put on restrained living

Put on the things that make you holy

Put on a joyful commitment to carrying out household responsibilities

Put on treating others well

Put on a willingness to affirm and follow your husband’s leadership

Younger men

Put on restrained, controlled living and thinking

Bondservants

Put on a willingness to affirm and follow your master’s leadership

Put on a desire to please your master

Put on a visible integrity that guides all you do

If the Christians in Crete will hear and obey God’s training grace in their lives in these ways, then they will radiate the glory and majesty of God in their immoral society. And so will we, if we do the same in ours. We are talking about living a holy and godly life that is visibly different from the world around us. That our character and conduct would be above reproach, as we embrace God’s plan for our lives. So that God’s glory would be made known to the watching world around us! (Main Points)

Contrast that with the self-focused narrative of our culture. A narrative that tells you to live however you want and that no one gets to claim the only way of being right. (Except those who are opposed to your way, of course! No one said it had to make logical sense…) We live in a day and age that screams a message of unrestrained, uncontrolled desires ruling our lives. Do what you want. Feel how you want. Live how you want. Say what you want. And no one gets to tell you otherwise.

And do you know what that produces when an entire society embraces it? Chaos. Unmitigated chaos, just like we see in the world around us. A society that tears itself down by its own hands. That undermines its stability at every turn, in the name of progress. That calls evil good and good evil. The very things the Bible warns us about have been happening for generations and continue to happen before our very eyes.

But God has made a way for us to live differently. To be made new through our union with Christ. To experience creation the way it was intended; not living for self, but for God and others. Experiencing the joy of a disciplined life that is zealous for good works. Tasting the sweetness of serving others and being a blessing. And having the hope of eternal glory when Christ returns.

It is entirely possible to experience this kind of life now, as a Christian. You do not have to settle for something less. Through faith in Christ, you can be transformed and trained by God’s grace. You can be a godly man or woman, boy or girl. One whose character and conduct is righteous, who invests in the next generation. Who obeys and fulfills Jesus’ command to make disciples.

I spoke earlier to the necessity of personally studying God’s Word to see his grace convict and equip us. Are you faithfully studying God’s Word? Have you ever studied it with someone else? That is a fantastic way to disciple the next generation towards godliness. How else can older men and women teach what is good to the younger men and women? You must open the source of what is good – the Word! Who will you study the Word with this Fall?

And beyond simply studying the Word, are you seeking to apply it for life change? God does not intend to leave you where you are. His training is in session. His grace will transform you as you prayerfully apply it to your life. Perhaps something from this text today has struck a chord with you.

Maybe you’ve not been self-controlled in your thinking or desires or actions…

Maybe you’ve been running your mouth too much and dishonoring God/others…

Maybe you’ve neglected or despised your role in the home…

Perhaps you’ve not been setting an example of godly faith for your family and friends…

Or you have shrugged off your Christian duty to disciple others…

Or in the workplace, you’ve not joyfully submitted to your employer

Perhaps you like to argue with you co-workers or are stealing time from your company…

Wherever you are being hit between the eyes by God’s Word, allow that to happen. And then prayerfully consider how you can take the next step of growth! What is the next thing that you need to do to grow in that area? Write it down and then commit to doing it this week. And, even better, share what you’re learning and growing in with someone else as a way of encouraging them in their faith! This is part of discipleship.

Speaking of growth and discipleship, if you’d like to receive some more formal training in counseling others from God’s Word, I want you to know that we are launching a biblical counseling training cohort next month. There is a lot more information about this online, but if you’d like to become more adept at helping others from God’s Word, then this 30 hours of video training will be a great way to do so. There is no cost to the training, however it is a commitment of 1 Saturday a month from 8a-4p for 5 months. This training counts towards ACBC’s certification process as well, if you are interested in pursuing formal certification. If you’d like more information, please chat with me after the service or visit the website! (Main Points)

This would make for an incredibly healthy and holy church filled with healthy and holy households. That’s the kind of church I want to be a part of! Don’t you? Then embrace God’s plan for your good and his glory by hearing and obeying his training plan! And, it is worth repeating, this is fueled by God’s grace, the eternal hope that we have in Jesus, and as we…

Adopt the right heart motives

This whole section of Scripture is tethered to some important motives. This is not just a run-on section of moralistic teaching of dos and don’ts. Paul links it with the goals of:

Agreeing with sound doctrine (1)

This whole discussion has been about agreeing with what God says. He has revealed what is right and true and the way to the good life. Will you agree with God or not?

Adorning God and His Word in the public eye (5, 8, 10)

Multiple times Paul points out that living in these holy ways, removes reasons for people to mock/scorn Christ/Christians. Godly conduct commends the Gospel, whereas ungodly conduct defames the Gospel. What kind of Gospel ambassador do you want to be? One who brings disrepute to the name of Christ or one who lifts high the name of Christ?

I hope we would all agree that we want to adorn God and his word in the public eye by the character that we cultivate and the ways that we live. So, let’s close in prayer and ask God to continue his good work in us and that we would cooperate with that good work.

In Him: Growing Up

Romans 12:1-21

Maturing by the mercies of God

Present yourselves as a living sacrifice (v1)

Be transformed, not conformed by the renewal of your mind (v2)

A renewed mind thinks humbly (v3-8)

A renewed mind loves genuinely (v9-21)

Manuscript:

Good morning church family! My name is Jack Flaherty and I serve as one of the Pastor’s here at Harvest. I am excited to open up God’s Word together this morning as we continue our series on identity in and union with Christ titled “In Him.” I hope this has been as impactful for you as it has been for me! Consider what we have covered so far:

who is HE? what God has done! Eph 1

who am I? Transformed ID and purpose. Eph 2

is the enemy and how do I think about this? Standing firm to the end. Eph 6

whose kingdom am I living for? Alive in Christ. Rom 6

where is my hope really found? Now and forever.  Rom 8

Am I maturing? Growing Up. Rom 12

do I make disciples? Titus 2

If you’re with us and are not a follower of Jesus or aren’t sure or are investigating, lucky you! We are laying out foundational truths of God and self, including requirements and blessings of following Jesus! If you already know Jesus, lucky you! We are reminding you of the hope and joy and freedom and power and blessings and resources that are yours all IN Jesus! Today more of that as we answer the question “Am I maturing?”

Open you Bibles to Romans 12. If you need a Bible, the ushers would love to get you one! As you turn there, let me ask: What do you want to be when you grow up? Children and students in the room it’s a very real question because, Lord willing, your entire life is before you! Have you spent time thinking about it? I was going to be a professional athlete, pilot to fly the team plane, and Dr to take care of the squad. Fun to think of. OR maybe it also brings fear or shame. “I need to figure it out! I can’t pick something bad. What if I am terrible at what I pick?” This is a very real question for adults as well.  Maybe some of us feel we made poor decisions of what we wanted to be. Or we wonder with life already behind us, what does that mean for future growing up goals and aspirations? Or you might think you’ve already arrived because you’re doing what you want.

Regardless, what if I told you that, when it comes to the most important thing about you, there is an answer for what you should want to be? Biblically speaking the most important thing is to be like Christ. Whether you think about it or not, we all are growing up until we step into eternity! And when the growing is done what the Judge of our eternal destination is going to ask is whether or not all that growing was modeled after, obedient to, and made possible by Jesus Christ. When Christ meets you in your need, transforms you by his grace, welcomes you into his family, and spells out your hope in him now and forever, he is calling you to the privileged of not staying where you are at! Being a Christian is not just a one-time moving from lost to saved, wretch to righteous, worldly to holy, but a lifelong whole personhood growing in Christ likeness!

Lets start by reading Romans 12:1-2. Consider the context we drop into. Ch 1-11 explain the righteousness of God, unrighteousness of man, the way to be made righteous through faith in Jesus Christ, the promises and resources for those who Christ has made righteous, and the defense of the means by which God bring this righteousness to the nations. Then ch 12-16 spell out what that righteousness ought to look like in the lives of Jesus followers. Which introduces this main idea of Maturing by the mercies of God. If you read ahead in Romans 12 you may have noticed there are a lot of commands! Imperatival adjectives, imperatival infinitives, and imperative verbs calling us to be about that action! However this is not saying "try harder to get God’s mercy"; though these are commands to obey. Rather the argument is, "Because you've received God's mercy and are in Christ, the Spirit forms a new way of living and thinking and feeling in you." They mercy of God isn’t just the fuel in the tank of the car we are driving towards eternity, it’s the merciful God himself who is the vehicle which we are offered to hop inside of—in Him—as he dictates how to bring us home.

With that, lets re-read Romans 12:1. The first piece of maturing by the mercies of God is to…

Present yourself as a living sacrifice

In Christ, we are to live life as an ongoing act of worship. Makes sense coming out of the end of Romans 11:33-36 which is a glorious doxology about the incredible glory of God. Paul then says God deserves worship, therefore, be a sacrificial offering of worship.

THEREFORE is a big word. Anytime you see this in the Bible your antennae should go up and you should start looking for the source of that word. Paul doesn’t just command “be a sacrifice” but he appeals. He doesn’t just appeal but tells on what basis he makes the appeal. WHY be a sacrifice? God’s mercies--meaning not just one small thing but many--which Paul uses to summarize eleven glorious chapters! Think about that!  Mercy is a tender compassion, treating people better than they deserve. Paul magnifies this aspect of God and reminds us that we have received mercy! It’s not to be incognito but on display through us who have received it.

Present your bodies means everything—physical, mental, emotional. Maturing is surrender. Our growth in obedience isn’t because we always want, will, feel, or think the same BUT because we’ve laid down our wanting, willing, feeling, and thinking at the foot of the King! Living sacrifice means we don’t die on the altar like OT but die to everything else in our live to live before God. In the OT sacrifice language was for atoning. But Jesus has atoned once for all, so our sacrifice means we are back from the dead and to display the worth of the one to whom the sacrifice is presented. Not expiring but exalting Jesus.

We’ve seen this already in Romans 6:6-11 “ We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

We’ve died to self and are living to God! Maturing means living as a surrendered sacrifice to the merciful God! Not something burnt up and spent but something on fire for God and giving light that points to his glory. Holy and acceptable to God shows that our aim is not our own desired standard nor standards of world, or friends, or family--but God’s! This is your “spiritual worship” may also be rendered “reasonable service.” Being a living sacrifice makes sense! If someone does something for you, there is a thank you. If that happens to be saving your life, that’s a big thank you. If that something happens to be saving your life AND empowering the rest of your life AND carrying you unto eternity, then your response is give it all up! This is not to try and get even for what God has give because we can’t! The debt actually grows! Instead what sounds crazy and radical actually is reasonable. It not only makes sense it’s the only right thing to do.

So that’s the why and it makes sense. But how do live as a sacrifice? Paul answers as we read Romans 12:2. The second piece of maturing by the mercies of God is to…

Be transformed, not conformed, by the renewal of your mind.

After appealing Paul follows up with a strong contrast helps show how to carry this out. Options are either to conform to the world OR be transformed. The Greek word is metamorephoo means inward change in fundamental character or conduct. It is a passive imperative, meaning there is a command, but we don’t carry out the action. Again, this is the mercy of God at work. Instead of surrendering to the world and being conformed to the mold we are to be transformed by surrendering God! This has to be a work of the Spirit as we read elsewhere in places like Titus 3:5 and  2 Cor 3:17-18 And God does this by renewing our minds!

What’s wrong with our minds? Romans 1:21-25 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. 24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

This is what Romans 12 is combatting! Romans 1:26-32 goes on to spell out what happens when conforming to the world and the rest of Romans by contrast lists what follows when renewing our minds. I couldn’t help but think of the lyric “It didn’t make sense not to live for fun, your brain gets smart but your head gets dumb.” Smashmouth got it part right. We don’t just conform to the world’s rules and play along. You might gain knowledge but that’s foolish way to live and won’t bring true growth or joy. However unlike Smashmouth we find true joy and wisdom not by life on your terms but living life on Jesus terms! Don’t blindly follow rules of this age BUT also don’t follow your own rules. Follow Jesus which brings true fun and wisdom!

Look at the result at end of v2! That we may discern God’s will, which is described as good and acceptable and perfect. Schreiner says this idea of testing signifies that which is approved after a process of examining. Said another way, go ahead and let God transform your mind and you will see the good and acceptable and perfect things God intends! This is less about take this job or date this person, but more about the ability to discern God’s moral will and wisely applying to all life. Doesn’t growing in that ability that sound freeing and refreshing!  We come across situations we don’t want to change OR patterns that are really deep ruts to get out of OR our affections get in the way “I just feel.” Difficult to renew our minds but if we submit to God and by faith trust his merciful ways it’s not impossible! In fact, all of life can only be renewed and changed by God. How is this mind renewed? Well how do we inform our inner man? The Word and the Spirit! That’s why we as a church are committed to the ministry of the Word from the pulpit, in the family, in the counseling room, in SG, in the neighborhood. It is without error and sufficient for all that we need for life and godliness, so we may be complete equipped for every good work. By the mercies of God we have the tools to be renewed! We have to lean in and let it shape us!

Its interesting that Paul talks about renewed mind in v2 but presenting bodies in v1. I think what he is saying is that we have to take the step of trusting in our inner man the truths God has said in his Word, being renewed by the Word and the Spirit, by actually living it out in our bodies. In fact, in the doing there is transformation that happens. Our minds are renewed in trusting and obeying the truth of the Word! So this renewal is of the mind and informing our thinking rightly BUT it also must be played out in action. Which where v3-21 take us.

Various ways people have tried to categorize and organize all of which have truth and are helpful, but I broke into the two main ideas. Again, all from a position of being in Christ! The appeal is to brothers and sisters in the Lord from v1. Paul isn’t presenting just a list of things to do BUT a scorecard of evidence of maturing, according to God’s mercies. None of this is meant to be exhaustive but representative of  person who is growing and surrendered to Christ.

A renewed mind thinks humbly (v3-8)

This spells out what v1-2 looks like. If you are being transformed and maturing in Christ, then you are thinking rightly. The root for “think” shows up 4x in v3. And the idea is don’t think highly of self but be soberminded. Evidently, we can view ourselves wrongly. I know that’s not YOU! J Well “everyone among you” means we are all guilty at times and need to think humbly! But what should believers think humbly about?

First, think humbly about the fact that God saved you by grace through faith. That’s the latter part of v3. We have been assigned faith by God. Eph 2:8-9 say faith is a gift. This obliterates boasting! Puts us rightly in the living sacrifice category of responding to God’s mercies not our awesomeness. Of ALL he could have said, says think about self.. The idea is contemplating all reality in Christ centered way. Make it your aim to please him. be self-forgetful!

Second, think humbly about the fact that you are saved into one body in Christ. That’s what v4-5 emphasize. Paul appeals to the illustration of a body. A transformed mind remembers you are not running a solo but part of a team! We are in Christ together, in one body. You are interconnected and interdependent on others. Which takes humility to admit but is the basis on which much of the following commands, which involve interactions with others, depends.

Third, think humbly about the fact that you are given gifts by grace. We see in v3 & v6 that “gifts differ according to grace given to us.” Doesn’t mean we are more or less saved. Rather show us we aren’t just brought into the kingdom by God’s grace but also all that we do for his kingdom is by grace. There is a  diversity of gifting and ability with gifts and maturity in all of that! we are each uniquely gifted to work together!  Which brings up…

Fourth, think humble about the fact that you are to use your graciously given gifts for Christ’s body. In v6-8 we get a list of spiritual gifts. One of four in the Bible. Not mean to be exhaustive nor is the emphasis on the gifts themselves but on the manner of their use. Remember we aren’t to proudly think your gift is from you or for you. You may be uniquely effective at something BUT that’s meant for the kingdom! To bring glory to God, to edify the church, and to advance the gospel! So all that to say think rightly! Humbly! We cannot overvalue or undervalue anyone in the body NOR anyone’s giftings. Yet at the same time, those gifts aren’t meant to just be held onto but deployed for the good of the body. All English translations supply a verb of “let us use” or “let us exercise.” But Paul just said you all have gifts and DUH YOU USE THEM!

For example some of us here are meant to lead and are hiding. Some of us here are servants and aren’t deploying that service for the kingdom. Some of you have contributions God wants. Some of you would be a blessed encouragement but can’t find time to get with people or join a SG. We have people uniquely effective at a variety of things. We need to see and affirm that. But also Romans 12 says not just affirm gifts but humbly deploy gifts as an act of sacrifice in the body, not hide or use at home or workplace we need to talk! Humility will actually offer that up, whether young or old, instead of just waiting to be sought out. These aren’t found in an inventory, though again we can see unique effectiveness. But that happens as deployed in the body! When our minds are renewed it keeps you humble and helps you steward you gifts as a living sacrifice.

Non better or worser. It’s God’s mercy that empowers any and all gifts. All of this is EVIDENCE not EARNING! And there is more.

A renewed mind loves genuinely (v9-21)

Paul moves from right thinking within Christ’s body to genuinely loving like Christ. Again, v9-21 explains v1-2 looks like. Looks like a lot of to-dos BUT is a report card tool to evaluated if things are being produced by God’s grace and mercy in your life! The renewed mind, one transformed by Jesus not conformed to the world, is one of love! Love played out in every aspect of life relationally, internally, eternally, and beyond!

And I think v9 shapes up the whole rest of the section. The word genuine is literally “unhypocritical.” I once read John Piper say “ hypocrisy is trying to be on the outside what you are not on the inside” and that is so good! because what we see here isn’t just action, but thinking and feeling and willing and wanting! This is tough! Which is why we need to renew our mind regularly by the mercy and grace of God! With v9 I think governing the list, it says abhor evil and hold fast to good. What follows are commands which apply “abhor evil” OR “hold fast to good.” What a contrast! Not just good and evil but love and hate! Bible says emotions need to change even if you don’t have immediate control…over time as we contemplate ugly and good we will see new emotions formed/matured/grown. And as we look at these, I think you will see that this reflects the mercy of God shown to us in Christ.

v10---this Is not just resolved to be nice but actual affection! This is beyond natural capacity and transcends natural bonds. We are to outdo or lead the way, not compete. Desire to serve more than be served! Isn’t this what Jesus did, when he gave his life as ransom for many? Sinners don’t deserve honor BUT show honoring is treating people as if they do. This is what Jesus did.

v11---not about your desires/feelings NOR about other peoples but about God’s! that’s maturity  all a service to Christ. Christ service to us as he empowers what we do.

v12—follows pattern of Rom 5 & 8 of hope, endure, pray. Satan seeks to destroy but God designs to strengthen! hope is not in spite of but actually because of tribulation working in you patience is perseverance and all that served by prayer. Serving God. trusting God.  PRAYER! Isn’t that what Jesus, who for joy set before him endured the cross? Patient means endure! and prayer!

v13 --commanded because it’s dangerous and risky. BOTH put you at risk. Evidence because who was most generous contributor to needs and ready to host us in heaven?

v14 -- this is what God did for you! not just acting but wanting this for our enemies…not just brave to say the right thing but actually doing it. didn’t Jesus do this praying Father forgive?

v15-- again we put God first to fight pride and haughtiness. If upset at others happiness or happy at others sadness we need to keep looking to Jesus! This happens BUT it tells you there is a need to keep staring at Jesus to let him transform rather than conform. Jesus did this perfectly and still does as the one who sympathize with our weakness.

v16-- don’t be a know it all/ both adjust to lowly persons and be carried by humble tasks. Jesus left heaven. Jesus sought Father’s will and prayed.

v17-- don’t pay with evil but be meticulous to do what is transparently honorable.

v18—Sometimes I hear this applied wrong. one extreme is I HAVE to make peace. If it depends on me I didn’t do enough. control what is yours only! Other extreme is I TRIED. We often avoid this and miss the growth it brings and the chance to display the mercy which we have received. The term “protect your peace” is one that is growing in popularity and this verse flies in the face of it!  “Paul doesn’t say, “Protect your peace by keeping away from people who disrupt it.” Rather, because Christ has given us a peace that circumstances and other people cannot ultimately take away, we are freed to pursue peace with others—even when pursuing peace is uncomfortable, costly, or not reciprocated. We don't have to control the situation to have peace; we can enter difficult relationships without surrendering our peace because our peace is ultimately received from Christ, not produced by our circumstances. Jesus had peace in trial, betrayal, storm. have peace not shaped by circumstances but by God…and if its not there maybe some practical steps to help get there

v19-20—builds off this idea of peace. Paul quotes Deut 32:35 here to remind us that God will right all wrongs and administer perfect justice in due time don’t take into your own hands but show remarkable kindness. He is modeling renewing our minds with the Bible as he again quotes the Word using Prov 25:21-22. Two possibilities: 1)  kindness is further evidence for God to judge your enemy! shows how series sin is if they continue unprovoked. Burning relates to judgment so Paul again is saying if they stay unrepentance God will have plenty to judge OR 2) kindness results in enemy feeling shame and repenting! possibly old Egyptian ritual of guilty person putting coals on head to show repentance. heaping more kindness will embarrass enemy and lead to repentance. regardless we are kind because of aim to live peaceable and to trust God to right wrongs not us.  And feeding and giving water is meant to stand for doing every kind of good. Not just those literal actions! We are relieved of need to be wrathful and frees us to love! We lay our life down for the one who laid it down for us. Who didn’t seek vengeance on but is living water and bread of life, Jesus.

Finally v21 this is a summary of v17-20. and this mirrors v9 of hate evil and love good and closes loop. If this is all you get today, let it be so. Don’t be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good. Kids don’t hit back or same names or take. Overcome Students don’t gossip or hit with silent treatment or passive aggressive jokes. Overcome. Adults don’t take matters into your own hands and rage on SM or place hopes in political solutions. Overcome.

Again, these actions are less DO IT and more as you lay down your life as an act of work and renew you mind by looking to Christ not self or world you will see these things play out! Christians know we aren’t perfect and need God’s help, but a right understanding of the mercies of God we have received in Christ the means of our maturing in Christlikeness. Don’t stay stuck or think there is an area of life His mercy can’t touch. See Romans 12 not as the daunting list of to-dos but as the hopeful spelling out of what you are called to and will grow up into if you’re in Christ.

Takes us back to where we started today. Being in Christ doesn’t just mean the gospel is the fuel, but the Jesus is the vehicle we hop in to get to our destination. Detours and road bumps and ups and downs and fatigue and rest stops and potty breaks but we get there in the vehicle. In Christ we get to where we are going! Similarly an airplane two people. one is fearful and worried and taking notes and hyperventilating and nervous at every bump of turbulence. Another is veteran who has complete confidence, rests most the way, is intentional with what he brings to do. There is a difference in faith/maturity BUT does the plane bring them different places? No. BUT in Christ we are going the same place. And overtime as we trust the captain our faith will bear fruit that looks like the things we looked at in Romans 12.

Pause to ask you to consider, are you on board? Are you in Christ? Its not just asking Christ to come into your heart as many have prayed the prayer and asked. But its you stepping through the narrow door, the gate, the one way into Him. then letting him bring you home! Praise God he will bring us home! By his mercy we are saved! By his grace he empower us! All he calls us to do is surrender. So do it, today! Stop trying to grow up our own way or into our own image or into whatever anyone else would have for us. Simply grow into what he has spelled out for us through Christ and modeled for us in Christ and brings us into by Christ’s work on the cross. Brothers and sisters, strive in this freedom! The blood has been spilled. Forgiveness secure. So rest in Christ, living sacrificially for his glory as he continues to transform you by his mercy and grace. Grow up into his humble and loving likeness!

We do all of this because of the one who died for us! Which brings us to our celebration of the Lord’s Table. This is a gift to us from our Savior meant to serve both as an act of remembrance and an act of anticipation. We look back remembering what he has done for us on the cross but also look forward to the time we will partake with him in eternity! Two biblical warnings. First, this is unashamedly exclusive and uniquely Christian act. All believers in Jesus Christ are welcome but if you have not placed your faith in Christ then we ask you take time now to respond or let the elements pass by. Second,  Jesus died to deal with sin in our hearts so we ought to look inward and not partake if we are cherishing sin. Examining doesn’t mean worry about if you forgot something BUT ask “Am I you actively trusting God, presenting my life as a living sacrificial and being transformed? We also look around and remember Jesus died to bring us into one body, so if there is something relationally that needs cleaned up deal with it or make a plan to deal with it. As I invite the ushers forward and worship team up and the elements are passed, I invite you to take some time to reflect and deal between you and the Lord (and others if needed). After all are served I will come up, pray, and then partake together.

PRAY.

In 1 Cor 11:23-34, Paul relays to us what he received from the Lord, recalling that night Jesus was betrayed. Jesus took the bread, gave thanks, and breaking it said “this is my body, which is for you. Eat this in remembrance of me.” Let’s eat together. In the same way he took the cup saying “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. As often as you drink it, do this in remembrance of me.” Let’s drink together. Hallelujah! Thank you, Jesus! Let’s stand together and sing to our humbly and loving God.