JESUS ON HIS PURPOSE

Father, we thank you for your word.

Father, in a country like ours, at a time like ours,

parts of your word sound wonderful,

parts of your word sound really hard.

But Father, we thank you for Jesus,

we thank you that he died upon the cross for us,

we know that you love us.

We ask, Father, that your Holy Spirit

would gently but deeply be poured out upon us,

pour out your Holy Spirit, Father, upon our minds,

upon our hearts, upon our wills,

upon the depths of our souls.

Pour out your Holy Spirit upon us

so that we might hear your word written,

that it might come deeply into our lives

and that we might be disciples of Jesus

who are gripped by the gospel to live for your glory.

And this we ask in the name of Jesus,

your Son and our Savior, amen.

Please be seated.

Those of you who are lifelong Anglicans

know that it's not cricket

to interrupt the flow of the liturgy

to make comments before you read the gospel,

but I thought that it was appropriate today,

especially that verse 26 and 27

didn't completely and utterly catch you out of the blue,

or that you just snoozed through it.

You've got to be able to hear it.

So here's the thing about this text.

ISIS is in the news all the time

because they like to slaughter people.

They seem to, in fact,

I mean, not only do they behead innocent people,

they are so proud of beheading innocent people

that they film it and post it

so that as many people as possible

can see what they've done.

And wherever they go,

obviously there's some people

who are flocking to join ISIS.

That's a bit of a problem in our society.

We worry about Canadians fleeing Canada.

Imagine fleeing Canada.

For many of us, that's how we think about it,

to go and join ISIS

to engage in these acts of slaughter.

And so the question is,

is Jesus saying that God is like ISIS?

Is that what Jesus is saying?

Does God delight in slaughter

the same way that ISIS seems to delight in slaughter?

That's the question before us.

For many people in our culture,

they make no particular distinction

between Christianity and Islam and ISIS.

They just see it as all religion.

And so for many people,

they interpret and understand the Christian faith

from that lens.

And texts like this then are deeply, deeply troublesome.

In fact, they would probably say,

as my friend said to me,

how can you possibly want to love and worship

and adore a God like that?

Don't we fight ISIS?

Don't we send soldiers there

to participate in the struggle?

So why on earth should we worship and adore

a God like this?

So let's read the text again and have a look at it.

And so if you have your Bibles,

it's Luke chapter 9, sorry, 19.

Luke 9 · chapter mention

And just as you're turning in your Bibles,

I've already said that there's some extra ones there

that you can use.

Luke chapter 19, just as we're reading it,

Luke 19 · chapter mention

just a couple of things to remind us about it

before we start reading it.

This text, interestingly enough,

what we now call the Gospel of Luke

or the Book of Luke,

was written just over 30 years

after the death and resurrection of Jesus.

And it was written by a pagan

who was a doctor

who became a Christian.

He himself was not an eyewitness

of the events in Jesus' life,

but he obviously had gone through

some type of intellectual fact-finding journey

before he became a Christian.

And in some ways, what we see in Luke

is him recording his historical inquiry

into who Jesus was.

And the book is written for a pagan.

That's why the sermon titles,

the sermon series, by the way,

is called Luke, Jesus for Pagans and Skeptics.

It's also obviously for Christians

and Muslims and everybody,

but it's originally written

for probably a skeptic, definitely a pagan,

by a pagan who had become a Christian.

That's who wrote this text.

And today, as we're reading,

one of the ways that Luke organized his Gospel

was around a very, very long journey

that's taken 11, almost 11 chapters

of Jesus predicting

that he's going to go to Jerusalem to die.

And then all of these texts

from chapter 9 to chapter 19

up until his death in chapter 23,

it's all this long journey towards Jerusalem.

All within the mind,

he keeps reminding his disciples

that he's going to Jerusalem to die.

In fact, if you were here last week,

you'll know that just a few verses above,

chapter 19, verse 1,

which we're about to read,

he once again reminds his disciples

that he's going to Jerusalem to die.

And these are the last few verses

before Jesus arrives in Jerusalem.

Verse 28, which we won't read today,

Jesus arrives in Jerusalem.

So that's sort of the context.

You sort of have a bit of the flow of the book,

and here's what happens, chapter 19, verse 1.

Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through.

Just sort of pause there for a second.

If you're wondering where Jericho was relative to Jerusalem,

it's just under 30 kilometers away.

There's sort of two Jerichos.

At the time, there would have been like a ruined,

the Jericho ruins of the old city,

and there was a new city that was just a few decades old,

very new by those standards of those days.

And it's about, in other words,

it's about a six-hour walk,

and that's where Jesus is.

He entered Jericho, verse 1,

and was passing through.

And there was a man named Zacchaeus.

He was a chief tax collector,

and he was rich.

He was loaded.

And just if you're not familiar

with some of these types of terminologies,

it doesn't mean that he works for CRA.

We have at least one person in our congregation

who works for CRA.

He's a really good guy,

not evil at all, and not rich.

But in those days,

the way that the Romans,

so the Romans had conquered,

this pagan empire had conquered Jerusalem,

and the way that they raised taxes

is they said,

well, one moment,

Rome's a long way from Jerusalem.

One's a long way from Galilee,

a long way from Judea.

How on earth are we going to figure out

who has the money and how they hide it?

So what they did is they hired locals,

and they said to the locals,

okay, I think that we can raise,

you know, whatever it is.

You know, I think,

I'll use dollars.

I think we can raise $5 million in this region.

And so a local would say,

okay, I'll raise you $5 million in taxes

in this region.

And the Romans didn't care

if the guy collected $7 million

as long as they got five.

Okay?

So Zacchaeus is Jewish.

He's not only a tax collector,

he's a chief tax collector.

That either means he's like,

you know, those real estate agents

that advertise in the top 1%?

It either means he's like

a top 1% tax collector,

or he's over other tax collectors.

And he's become very rich,

and for the Jewish people,

they would hate him.

He works for the pagan occupying forces

to rip off the local people,

take their hard-earned shekels

away from them,

and give it to the Romans

who pay their soldiers

to keep Jerusalem and environs

under their thumbs.

That's who Zacchaeus is.

So verse 3,

and Zacchaeus was seeking to see

who Jesus was,

but on account of the crowd,

he could not because he was

of small stature.

In other words,

he was a big man,

but a small man at the same time.

He was a big guy in that area,

probably one of the richest guys

in Jericho and in regions,

but he happened to be very short.

And here's the other thing

about this text.

It's very, very curious,

and you'll see the significance

of it later.

We have no way of knowing

why Zacchaeus was just curious.

In 1997, I think it was,

Billy Graham came to Ottawa,

and at the time this church

was called St. Albans,

and I'd only been there

a couple of years,

and there was a revolt

amongst a whole part

of the congregation

because they did not want

our church to support Billy Graham.

They didn't want me

to advertise it.

They didn't want me

to try to get people

to be volunteer counselors.

In fact, the revolt was so strong,

I'm not making this up,

had a small leadership team

that was going to help

to promote it

in the congregation,

and after the service

where it was announced

that we were going

to be supporting this,

there were so many people

who complained,

the entire volunteer

leadership team resigned.

But I had one of my,

several people

in the congregation,

and we went on

and supported it,

by the way.

But one of the people

who supported it,

he wasn't particularly

a follower of Jesus.

He just said to me,

George, Billy Graham

is like one of the most

important figures

of the 20th century.

Like, why wouldn't anybody

just want to go hear him?

Like, it was just,

he's just curious.

Who's this guy

that's known so many presidents

and influenced

so many people's lives?

I'm just curious.

And it looks as if

that's what was going on

in Zacchaeus.

He's just curious.

He's really curious.

He'd like to see

who this Jesus guy is.

Sort of eyeball him

and see if he looks different

or what's all these rumors

I hear about miracles

and raising the dead

and doing all these things.

Like, who is this guy?

So he's motivated

by curiosity.

That's what it seems to be.

So go back to reading the text.

Verse 4 again.

So Zacchaeus ran on ahead

and climbed up

into a sycamore tree

to see him.

He's really curious

because it's very undignified

for a rich guy

to climb a tree.

Imagine Conrad Black

climbing a tree

to see somebody.

Okay?

Or the head of the,

I don't know,

just, you know,

Canadian billionaire

climbing a tree

to see somebody.

It would look,

it would be in the paper.

It would be on Twitter

if we got a picture of him.

For Jesus was about

to pass that way.

Verse 5.

And when Jesus came

to the place,

Jesus looked up

and said to him,

Zacchaeus,

hurry down,

hurry and come down

for I must stay

at your house today.

A completely shocking

turn of events.

That Jesus wants

to spend time

with this notorious betrayer

of the Jewish people.

And so Zacchaeus

hurried down

and came,

hurried and came down

and received Jesus

joyfully.

And when the crowd

saw it,

they all grumbled.

He has gone in

to be the guest

of a man

who is a sinner.

In the original language,

a sinner is emphatic.

In other words,

if we were doing

a bit more literally,

it would be bolded.

That's how we would

do it today.

A sinner,

it's bolded.

And Zacchaeus stood

and said to the Lord,

Behold, Lord,

notice he calls him Lord,

the half of my goods

I give to the poor

and if I have defrauded

anyone of anything,

and in the original language,

this is a very accurate translation,

but what it's not capturing

is that it's an idiom.

And in the original language

when he says,

if I have defrauded

anyone of anything,

it's a polite way of saying,

I have defrauded people.

He's confessing to fraud.

And it's in that,

it's a sort of a,

you know,

an elliptical way

of making a confession

that some cultures do.

And that's what it says.

He's actually,

in the original language,

is he's confessing

to fraud to Jesus.

And if I have defrauded

anyone of anything,

I restore it fourfold.

And Jesus said to him,

today salvation

has come to this house,

since he,

that's Zacchaeus,

also is a son of Abraham.

So it's a fascinating story.

And here's the,

here's the big takeaway point

for us.

Jesus uses small things

in bringing about the miracle

and the mystery of conversion.

Jesus uses small things

in bringing about the miracle

and the mystery of conversion.

This is a conversion story.

It's the conversion story

of a rich guy

who is a betrayer

of the people of Israel.

And when he starts

to climb the tree,

not a believer in Jesus.

And sometime between

Jesus saying his name

and saying he wants

to spend time with him,

and by the time it comes

to Zacchaeus saying

he's confessing publicly

to fraud

and willing to give away

half of what he earns

and repay those

he's defrauded

by four times.

In between,

that word of Jesus

and that public confession,

somewhere in that process,

Zacchaeus becomes a Christian.

He is converted.

He is,

in the language

of the scriptures,

saved.

And it's really

an interesting story

because the Bible

doesn't give you

the specific moment.

And on one hand,

you look at it

and you say,

all Jesus did

is say his name,

look happy to see him,

and say he wants

to spend time with him.

That doesn't add up.

But that's how it works.

My conversion story

begins with seeing

a poster on a pole

on Elgin Street.

That's how my conversion

story begins.

Maybe in heaven,

I'll meet the person

who put that poster up.

Maybe the person

who put that poster up

grumbled

all the way

down Elgin Street.

Maybe he did it

because his girlfriend

or his pastor

roped him into doing it

and he was embarrassed

and angry.

Maybe he did it

with great prayer.

God used that small thing

to catch my attention

and make me curious.

And it ended

about a year later

with me becoming

a Christian.

The second small thing

that he used

was the way

a speaker was dressed.

Don't despise

small things.

Do not despise

small things.

I'm sort of quoting

Zechariah 4.

For those of you

who know the Bible.

And that's really

sort of a relevant thing.

Do not despise

the day of small things.

It's always a mystery.

Jesus uses small things

in bringing about

the miracle

and the mystery

of conversion.

And in some ways,

because conversion

begins with the heart

and at some point

in time,

the heart

professes with the lips

what's going on.

But you know,

on one level,

I don't know

if I can tell

the precise moment

that I turned

from just being curious

about Jesus

to actually being

a believer in Jesus.

I don't know

if I know

that precise moment.

You don't have to know

the precise moment.

Some people do know

the precise moment.

That's fine.

But we don't all know it.

I just know

that at some point

in time,

I crossed a divide.

And then,

in my mindset

in those days,

you had to make it real.

You had to go down

to the front

for an altar call.

That was just the way

I understood it.

And that was a big

stumbling block for me.

But it's not all about

coming down

for the altar call.

It's that inner

change in the heart

that's a mystery

and a miracle.

God uses small things.

Jesus uses small things.

We shouldn't despise it.

We shouldn't despise

how important

it maybe is

that we just say hi

to somebody

who comes to the church.

Or we walk across

the room

during the dessert time

and the coffee time

because we see somebody

standing by themselves.

where we smile.

Or we pray.

Or we give them a leaflet.

Where we just share

about something

that happened to us

in the day.

We don't know

if telling a barista

at a coffee shop

that we went to church

on Sunday morning

will somehow or another

begin a journey for them

that you will never

hear the end of.

But when you go to heaven,

you'll find out

that they're there.

And it started

with a small thing.

It's an amazing

conversion story.

And the other thing

about it is

there's just two other

things about it

and then we're going

to rush in

is that when we

just when we give

our lives to Jesus

and he comes in

and there's this

miracle of the new birth

which is beyond

what this text

is talking about.

It's sort of part

of the overall

New Testament understanding

which underlies

this text

which people like Paul

and other writers

start to make clear.

But you see

once we come to Jesus

then coming to Jesus

starts to bear fruit.

In this man's life

it bears three types

of fruit.

It makes him honest,

it makes him just,

and it makes him generous.

And conversion

bears fruit in our lives.

In Galatians

it talks about

the fruit of the Spirit

which is we receive

the Holy Spirit

when we become

followers of Jesus.

And that singular fruit

is love, joy,

peace, patience,

kindness, goodness,

faithfulness,

gentleness,

and self-control.

There's much different

types of fruit

and the Bible's

going to talk about it.

Jesus is going to talk

about fruitfulness

more in a moment

but it follows

upon conversion.

And the second thing

is that if you go back

later,

those of you

who were here last week

know that we read

the story of the rich

young ruler

who comes to Jesus

because he wants

to inherit eternal life.

And Jesus says to him

that you have to give up

all you possess

and we talked about

how what that really means

is is there something

in your life

that you would choose

over eternal life?

And that's what Jesus reveals.

He goes right to the heart

in the presence

of the living God.

And the disciples

when they hear

all of this thing

what they say

is that this is

completely and utterly

impossible.

Nobody could possibly

be saved.

It's completely impossible.

And Jesus says

you're right

it is impossible.

Camels will go

through eyes of needles

before you're going

to be able

to accomplish this.

But then he says

God does the impossible.

And here we see

a rich man

and God does

the impossible

in this rich man.

And in fact

he ends up

not giving all

because it's not like

there's a

it's not like Jesus

is calling us all

to be monks.

Jesus goes to the heart.

The heart.

I mean for us

you know as a general

for those of you

who are followers

of Jesus

the general basic way

to deal with

the problem

of money in our lives

which is a problem

for every person

is to give 10%

back to God.

10% or more.

Some people

he'll call to a lot more

but that's just sort of

like the garden

variety way

of dealing with it.

But here

at the end of the day

God does

that's why I said

that Jesus

uses small things

in bringing about

the miracle

and the mystery

of conversion.

Now a little while ago

in a different Starbucks

I happened over here

you know I don't

when I go to Starbucks

I don't sort of sit there

thinking I'm just going

to pretend to read the Bible

and I'm going to listen

to conversations.

I don't do that.

But some people

talk really loud.

And some people

in fact talk so loud

I have a hard time working

and I don't

I wish I could say

oh I

when I

they're so talking

so loud

I'm just filled

with love and compassion

for them

and I just spend

my time praying for them.

No I look daggers

at them wishing

that they'd speak

more quietly.

And I

I'll confess that

further later on

in the service

it's part of what

I have to confess

I'm not always charitable.

But sometimes people

just talk loud

and

and at this time

the two women

got very very heated

they were talking

about a

a friend

a mutual friend

and the whole conversation

I wish I'd heard

the beginning of

and then I guess

they maybe realized

they were talking

really loud

maybe they noticed

other people

looking daggers at them

and they got quieter

so only heard a little bit

but the thing

that they kept talking about

is that this woman

had to keep to her path

she has her path

she has to follow

her path

she can't get

deflected from her path

because it's her path

and they kept on

talking about her path

and following her path

and being true to her path

and

and

that's sort of

a very interesting analogy

I don't know if it's something

that Oprah's talking about

or I don't know if it's

Deepra

Chopra

or somebody that talks about it

but they seemed

it was their language

so they'd probably

be deeply offended

to what Jesus says

in the comment

about Zacchaeus

leaving his path

to become a follower of Jesus

because look what Jesus says

in verse 10

and actually this is

when I read this verse 10

just so you know

you know

sometimes people say

well that's just what you say

Jesus is all about

or you know like that

but you know listen

listen

the book of Luke is a book

that's one of the things

I try to bring out

as we go through the book

we're going through the book

and it's written

in a particular way

Luke's thought a lot

about how to write this book

and in the course of the book

you'll notice

that basically

half of chapter 19

all of 20

all of 21

all of 22

all of 23

all take place

in Jerusalem

you'll notice

that out of a 24 chapter book

over 20% of it

all takes place there

in fact those are even

longer chapters

it's even more than that

and a lot of it focuses

on the crucifixion

the death of Jesus

and in fact Luke

and Luke organizes

his whole book

saying that this

this man Jesus

keeps saying

I'm going to go to

Jerusalem to die

and so Luke

is writing a book

to try to communicate

a particular type of thing

and in the course of it

Luke reveals

what Jesus understood

his purpose in life to be

so this isn't me

imposing something on Jesus

it's not just

oh yeah

you know you're just

like an evangelical

or you know

or someone to say

you know you're this

or that or that

no no no

you just try to

you just read a book

you just read a book

and if you're reading

the book

the book reveals

Jesus reveals

what his purpose is

and it's in verse 10

for the son of man

came to seek

and to save the lost

in fact if you could

put up the second point

here's the second

takeaway point

Luke records

Jesus' self-understanding

of his purpose

I am the son of man

who came to seek

and to save the lost

Jesus

Luke reveals

Jesus' self-understanding

of his purpose

I am the son of man

who came to seek

and to save the lost

son of man

means that he's quoting

from Daniel chapter 7

Daniel 7 · chapter mention

and Daniel chapter 9

Daniel 9 · chapter mention

who in that

in that particular case

almost is

you know Jewish people

didn't have a category

at the time

of understanding

that there could be

something like a trinity

but it sure almost

looked like God

and it's a

and he's a majestic figure

who will come to rule

and is in God's presence

and has all of this authority

and Jesus is saying

that that whole promise

of authority

and reigning

and ruling

that's me

and the one who has

that's going to fulfill

all of these promises

and predictions of God

about coming to rule

and to reign

this one who just seems

to be all about power

actually is coming

to seek

to seek

and to save

the lost

that's why I've come

and he says this

this is

he says this

and then there's the parable

and he's in Jerusalem

and in Jerusalem

at this point in time

it's like

he's on

going down

on the roller coaster

and it's just

inevitable

at this point in time

or not entirely

because he keeps doing things

he could

he could avoid it

if he wants

but he keeps doing things

that will culminate

with his descent

to the cross

and his descent

to death

and he explains

to us his purpose

and

and

and

and

and here's the thing

about it

you see

if you go on

and you read

that Luke also

not only wrote the book

wrote the book

of Luke

but he wrote the book

of Acts

we see that

in the book

of Acts

it's all about

the Holy Spirit

coming upon

the followers

of Jesus

to continue

the purpose

and the mission

of Jesus

it means

that what's part

of our purpose

if we understand

ourselves

as a congregation

of followers

of Jesus

to seek

and to save

the lost

means that we

seek out

soccer moms

and the poor

and high tech

executives

and government

leaders

and people

who work

in theater

and Muslims

and gay activists

and academics

and

entrepreneurs

and stay at home

moms

and stay at home

dads

and people

in China

and people

in Kazakhstan

and people

in the Arctic

and people

in India

and we don't

just say

well we're

just going

to pray

for them

but we seek

we seek

because that's

what Jesus

does

we are very

heart

to be a

go to faith

not a

come to

religion

we seek

the Bible

describes

them as

lost

and that

would probably

be an

offensive

term

to those

two women

in the

Starbucks

and I

think I

would have

viewed it

as offensive

as well

but all

I'll say

about this

is that

there's

two types

of ways

there's

two stages

of being

lost

the first

stage

of being

lost

is not

knowing

you're

lost

the second

stage

is knowing

you're

lost

but you're

equally

lost

there's a

thing in

the paper

a little

while ago

but I

think she

was a

tourist

from Sweden

or Norway

I can't

remember

which

and she

was out

in a

part of

in BC

and she

was sort

of in a

remote area

where you

do some

remote

snowboarding

and she

was with

a group

of house

mates

and she

wandered

off on

her own

and sometime

way off

long after

she wandered

off on

her own

she realized

she was

lost

but she

was lost

long before

she realized

she was

lost

right

that's how

it works

and probably

when Zacchaeus

climbed up

the tree

that's not

the way

he would

have used

to understood

himself

but as he

confessed

fraud

as key

to his

way of

life

it was a

confession

that he

was lost

you see

the interesting

thing about

that expression

of lost

which even

though we

might find

it on

it's actually

a very

homey

type

of

illustration

it implies

something

about what

God wants

for us

you know

it implies

a home

and safety

and civilization

and ones

who love

you

and it

implies

a place

where there's

healing

and resources

and it

implies

all of

these things

that there's

this waiting

for you

for you

to enter

into

I mean

in the story

of the young

woman

it's

her parents

I can't remember

if it's Norway

or Sweden

talk to her

so glad

she's safe

her housemates

so glad

she's safe

the resources

of Canada

to find her

to make her

safe

lost

while on one

hand

it might be

offensive

on the other

hand it's

actually a

profound image

of a

civilization

of care

of food

of shelter

of loved

ones

of that's

what Jesus

is

is

available

and many

of us

we live

in a world

where people

maybe don't

know that

but that's

what Jesus

is saying

and he's

saying

that we

know

that that's

the case

and we're

to seek

and save

I mean

Jesus

doesn't save

but we're

to seek

and tell

him about

Jesus

that should

be the

purpose

of our

church

now some

of you

might say

okay

George

you know

those old

pirate movies

where people

walk the

plank

and you

know how

in those

old pirate

movies

you walk

the plank

and I

don't know

if let's

say over

there that

mark I can

see it there

that's the

end of the

plank and you

know they

walk along

and they

talk to the

cat pirates

maybe hoping

or whoever's

going to make

them walk

the plank

hoping that

there'll be

some deliverance

that a boat

will show up

that people

will change

their heart

and George

was all began

with verse 26

and 27

and Jesus

using this

parable about

slaughtering

people and

you've been

chatting away

to us

with all

sorts of

types of

things

but George

you've

come to

the end

of the

plank

unless you

keep

chattering

away about

verse 10

verse 11

comes and

that takes

you right

to verse

27

so just

restate it

I mean it's

very interesting

for Jesus

to say that

he came to

seek and

to save

the lost

it's very

interesting

to hear

that Jesus

uses small

things in

the mystery

and the

miracle of

conversion

it's a

very interesting

thing but

what about

this portrayal

of Jesus

and God

as delighting

in slaughter

is Jesus

like Isis

is God

like Isis

it's time

to read

so let's

look at

verse 11

as they

heard these

things he

proceeded

that's Jesus

to tell a

parable

because he

was near

to Jerusalem

and because

they supposed

that the

kingdom of

God was

to appear

immediately

just pause

notice there

that Jesus

understands

that the way

that they've

understood

all of the

Old Testament

promises

they've

misunderstood

it

and they

think that

when the

Messiah

comes

he will

act as

a political

conqueror

and they

don't understand

that that's

not how it's

going to work

at all

and so he

tells them

this parable

to prepare

them for

the truth

verse 12

he said

therefore

a noble

man

and that's

correct

but in

literal language

it actually

is a man

of noble

birth

a man

of noble

birth

went into

a far

country

to receive

for himself

a kingdom

and then

return

and he

sort of

noticed

that

that's

just

a bit

of an

aside

Jesus

is warning

them

he's the

person

of noble

birth

he's

he's

God's

son

and he's

going to

go to

a far

country

that's

going to

involve

his death

and his

resurrection

and he's

going to

go to a

far

country

to receive

a kingdom

and then

he's going

to return

he's warning

his disciples

that there's

going to be

a time

when he's

absent

and then

he's

going to

return

that's

what he's

warning

his

disciples

verse 13

calling

ten of

his

servants

he gave

them

ten

minas

and said

to them

engage

in business

until

I

come

but his

citizens

and that's

actually

the literal

word in

the original

language is

subjects

actually

but his

subjects

hated him

and sent

a delegation

after him

saying

we do not

want this

man

to reign

over us

and the

original

language

this man

is derogatory

it's

they're really

putting him

down

it's like

this man

we don't

want this

man

to rule

over us

they taking

a posture

of being

superior

we don't

want this

Nazarene

of uncertain

birth

with all

his pretensions

of seeking

and saving

the lost

we don't

want this

man

to rule

over us

that's

the original

language

and that's

going to come

back to this

at the end

verse 15

when the

man of

noble birth

had returned

having received

the kingdom

he ordered

these servants

to whom he

had given

the money

to be called

to him

that he might

know what

they had

gained

by doing

business

the first

came to him

saying

lord your

minna has

made ten

minnas

more

and the

lord

said to him

well done

good servant

because you

have been

faithful in

a very

little

you shall

have authority

over ten

cities

and the

second

came

saying

lord

your

minna

has

made

five

minnas

and the

lord

said to him

and you

are to be

over

five

cities

and just

sort of

pause

there

here's

the first

thing

for us

to

understand

as we

get into

this

until

jesus

returns

or calls

me

home

i am

to use

his

resources

under

my

care

to be

fruitful

as i

glorify

him

to those

of us

who are

followers

of jesus

that's

what jesus

is saying

to us

we live

in that

in-between

time

our lord

and savior

has died

upon a

cross

and risen

from the

dead

ascended

to heaven

he will

return

and how

are you

and i

to live

our lives

in this

in-between

time

we are to

understand

that the

things that

we possess

whether it's

our

our mind

whether it's

our strength

of will

our iron

resolve

whether it's

our looks

our youth

our age

our wisdom

our connections

our financial

resources

our job

our position

in the community

our position

in the family

the fact that we

have a family

or we don't

have a family

the number of

children

grandchildren

singleness

whatever it is

that are resources

they are ultimately

his resources

not mine

not the

not the states

either by the way

okay

this isn't

like a way

of sneaking

in socialism

it's neither

socialism

or capitalism

it's something

different

you and i

have resources

and and and

they're not

really my

resources

or our

church's

resources

they're always

god's resources

and he's made

me a steward

of his

resources

and he says

that i am

to be fruitful

with these

resources

as i glorify

him

notice in

verse 19

look at

verse 19

he said

to him

oh sorry

not verse 19

um

uh

uh

uh

verse uh

17

16

sorry

verse

verse 16

my notes

aren't very

good here

the first

came before

him saying

lord

your

minna

has made

ten minna

more

he doesn't

say

lord i

took your

minna

and i

made ten

minnas

more

he doesn't

say that

he said

your minna

has made

ten

right

there's this

humbleness

in the face

of the resources

for some reason

god blesses

some of his

followers

with spectacular

vast resources

some of us

have very

small resources

but we're all

in a sense

equal in the

sense that

whatever the

resources are

that he's

given

they're under

our care

and we are

to be as

fruitful as

we possibly

can with

them

to his

glory

and

fruitful

here means

it means

not just

gospel

proclamation

it means

honesty

and generosity

and justice

it means

good works

it means

act of

love

it means

loving our

city

it means

if we're

called to be

an entrepreneur

to be

an entrepreneur

like to be

the type

of boss

that ends

up that the

papers want to

talk about you

being like one

of the best

employers in the

country

and it means

about being

profitable

and providing

jobs for the

city

or the

region

or for parts

all around

the world

it means

if you're

given musical

gifts

that you

write beautiful

music or

paint beautiful

paintings

it means

gospel

proclamation

it means

loving your

husband or

your wife

or your

kids

and being