The Jesus Way: Finding the Way of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke | Donovan Rillion | The Faithful Way

For the last few weeks, across 16 or so chapters,

we have been following or trying to follow the

way of Jesus through the gospel of Luke. And

this morning, we follow Jesus to Jerusalem, the

holy city. At the time Jesus enters Jerusalem,

he's already proven himself to be more than just

a rabbi. He's proven to be more than just a good

teacher. He's done miracles. He's taught things

that nobody could explain by earthly means. And

he's not only taught and done things that were

otherworldly, he's claimed to be otherworldly.

He's claimed to be God, the Son of God, the Messiah,

the Savior that the Jews have been waiting for.

And he's proven it. So far, he has proven to

be the long -awaited Savior. He's fulfilled a

lot of these prophecies. He's lived the life

that they would expect from their Savior. So

as he arrives to Jerusalem, the response of the

crowd is as intense as you would imagine it would

be for a people that are now receiving this thousands

of years -awaited Savior. The crowds shout. I

want you to read this boldly with me. Blessed

is the king who comes in the name of the Lord.

Peace in heaven and glory in the highest. And

they celebrate just as we would, just loudly

and proudly. Just imagine if like your favorite

celebrity came to town or they came into your

business, they came into your restaurant, whatever

it is, and you saw them and they came up and

talked to you. You would be awestruck. And maybe

if we knew they were coming, we would have like

a parade going ready for them to come into town.

You think about like your favorite sports team

when they win a championship and they come back

from wherever the championship was and people

meet them at the airport celebrating, shouting,

proclaiming their victory. That's what's happening

here. The crowds are declaring victory. They're

declaring glory because the king has arrived.

But we have to realize that this is the same

crowd. that in just a few short days, after Jesus

arrives in their town, will cry crucify. This

is the same crowd that would gladly cheer for

his arrest, the same crowd that would put him

forward to be beaten. They're chanting victory

and glory today, but in just a few short days.

they will be singing an entirely different tune.

The voices right now that are praising him, they'll

go silent. The crowds that are currently following

him and cheering for him, they will run far away.

The same people celebrating him, they're going

to be the ones that go off into hiding. The same

ones that will pretend that they never knew him.

And knowing that part of the story, after seeing

what Jesus taught them and knowing that he had

tried to prepare them, I asked the question,

where is the faith? You see, when Jesus is coming

into the holy city, after all the great things

he had done, after all the amazing things he

said, everything was sunshine and roses. But

now when the adversity, when the persecution

starts to approach, when it hits, we're nowhere

to be found. And I want you to think about your

life, your faith journey, your walk with God.

It's easy right now to sing praises. It's easy

to say, we love you, Lord. It's easy to declare

how good God is. But when life hits you, when

things get hard, when society makes it questionable

to be a follower of Jesus, where is your faith?

When you're challenged, where is your faith?

See, when Jesus is coming into the holy city

after all the great things he had done, it was

good. But what happens after that? When life

gets complicated? Is it possible that we as followers

of Jesus find it easy to celebrate him without

actually being faithful to him? Now that can

be kind of troubling to think about. So I do

want to offer some good news. The good news is

that none of this surprises Jesus. None of it

is surprising to him that the same people that

could cheer him on will be the same ones that

would offer him up to death. The same people

that will follow him are not going to be faithful

to him. That's not surprising to him. Before

he entered Jerusalem, he had been preparing the

disciples for this very moment. He had taught

them what it meant and what it looked like to

be faithful, even under not so great circumstances.

I want us to go back a couple of chapters. and

go back to some moments leading up to this scene

here in Jerusalem. And we'll start in Luke 18,

Luke 18:1–8

verses 1 through 8. In Luke 18, verses 1 through

Luke 18:1–8

8, Jesus tells a story about a widow. And this

widow keeps coming back over and over and over

again to a judge, and she refuses to give up.

She's seeking justice from this judge who wasn't

exactly a follower of God, and he wasn't really

a kind guy. So this is like if Kristen Stanley

was the judge. Not very nice. A little bit mean,

hard to deal with. She gave me permission to

say that. She did not. So if I ever get in trouble

and have to go see her, you'll know what happened.

But seriously, this is a not so nice judge. But

this woman, she keeps going back to the judge

seeking justice. And here's what Jesus says happens.

For a while, he, the judge, refused. But afterward,

he said to himself, though I neither fear God

nor respect man. Yet because this widow keeps

bothering me, I will give her justice so that

she will not beat me down by her continual coming.

And Jesus explains the relevance here to those

who are listening. And this is what he says in

verses seven through eight. Will not God give

justice to his elect who cry to him day and night?

Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he

will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless,

when the son of man comes, will he find faith

on earth? Jesus is teaching them about persistence.

He's teaching them about not giving up, about

not quitting when it gets hard. He's telling

them that faith isn't so quick to give up. And

I want you to notice, he isn't making it sound

like life is or life will be easy, but what he

is saying is because God is faithful, because

God is faithful to do right by his people, by

those that follow him, by those who he has redeemed,

made right. Justice will be served to the faithful

because our God is faithful. And I love that

question that he asked at the end, but it's also

kind of troubling for me where Jesus says, will

the son of man find faith on earth? What he's

saying is, will he find people? Will he find

people that trust? And what he's not asking is,

are there going to be people that believe right

now? Because while Jesus is sitting with them,

while Jesus is in their presence teaching them,

it's easy to believe in him. It's easy to believe

in the guy that's healing people that can't walk

and healing people that can't see. It's easy

to believe in the guy that shows compassion and

shows love to the outcast, to the widow. It's

easy to believe and trust and follow that guy.

But is it easy to trust and follow the guy who

is hanging on a cross? Is it easy to trust the

one who is dead, laying in a tomb? You see, this

week, we look at this life of Jesus and we see

on Palm Sunday where he enters Jerusalem and

people cheer his victory. And then just a few

days later, he gives his life and he dies and

nobody wants to be known as a follower. of Jesus

because it's not safe. It doesn't make sense

to follow someone who has been killed when they

thought he was coming to be a king. And so Jesus

says, yeah, you trust me right now, but will

you trust me down the line when it's hard? Will

your faith last over time? Because we know we'll

have trouble in this life. Maybe you're in a

spot right now where you are experiencing trouble.

There's uncertainty. Maybe you're seeking justice

because someone did something wrong to you. Maybe

you're seeking healing and you've been praying

and praying and praying, but you're not feeling

it. You aren't seeing the results and you just

wonder, should I give up? And what Jesus is saying

is, no, you've got to hold on. Faith is understanding

that you have to hold on because our God is faithful.

And you may not see it right now. You may not

see it a week from now, but he will do right.

And not only is faith persistent, not only does

faith hold on, but faith is humble. I want you

to look at Luke 18 verses 9 through 14 with me.

Luke 18:9–14

We see Jesus contrasting these two men that are

praying. And on one hand, you've got a very confident

man who wants to tell you about all the good

things he's done. And well, he's talking to God,

but he's saying it so loudly that everybody can

hear it. And he is a good guy. At least that's

what he wants you to hear. And then you've got

the other guy who's not so confident. He's a

little bit more maybe shameful. He understands

that he isn't capable of as much good. He understands

that he is fully dependent on the mercy of God.

You've got one guy who's a religious leader.

He's described as a Pharisee, and he's telling

God about all this good. And you have the other

guy who's this scummy tax collector. Not my description.

And here's what Jesus says the tax collector

was doing. But the tax collector standing far

off would not even lift up his eyes to heaven,

but he beat his breast saying, God, be merciful

to me, a sinner. Do you see the difference in

these two men? Do you see the difference between

the confidence of one man, the boldness of one

man to say, I'm good and I've done good, and

the other man who says, I just need help. I just

need mercy. And I think Jesus sees the difference.

You can imagine this because he says in Luke

Luke 18:14

18, verse 14, I tell you, this man went down

to his house justified rather than the other.

For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled,

but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.

You see, none of us are able to impress God.

None of us are able to prove anything to God.

None of us are able to give enough. We're not

able to earn enough. We're not able to prove

ourselves worthy or good enough. So having faith

is looking to God, trusting that he will look

upon us with mercy. It's letting go of my own

ability, letting go of my own status and my own

qualifications and understanding, God, I just

need you to do the work. Because I am just a

sinner. I'm just a wicked person. I'm just a

human. I'm incapable of saving myself. I have

no ability to redeem myself. I can't heal myself.

I can't make myself right. God, only you can.

And so we look to God, trusting. And I think

that's exactly why Jesus follows this by saying

this in Luke 18 verse 17. Truly I say to you,

Luke 18:17

whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like

a child shall not enter it. Faith is humble.

Faith realizes that I've got no ability. And

maybe you understand this concept of a child

because you have a baby. And a baby can't feed

itself, it has to be fed. And a baby can't get

up and go to the bathroom, it needs its diaper

changed. And a baby can't put a blanket on itself.

A baby can't go and do for itself. And even as

the baby gets older, it becomes a five -year

-old and it still needs help. And it becomes

an eight -year -old and it still needs help.

And maybe you've got a 16, 17 -year -old in your

house and you realize they still need help. And

maybe you can relate to this when you were in

college or you were just starting out on your

own and you were calling home to mom and dad

because you still needed help. And that's what

I see when Jesus says, receive the kingdom of

God like a child. Understand that you can't do

for yourself. You can't make this kingdom happen.

You can't establish this kingdom. You need God.

And so we look at faith and we say faith understands

that it needs to hold on. And faith understands

that it needs to be able to let go and let God.

Faith is humble. It's dependent on God's grace.

It's dependent on God's mercy, on God's might.

Essentially, faith knows when to let go and let

God. And you see, when we put the parable of

the persistent widow and we put the parable of

the men praying together, you see this example.

Faith is holding on to what we believe and being

able to let go and let God handle what we can't.

We get to Luke 19 verse 13. And we see this story

Luke 19:13

of a man who he has servants and he's going to

go away. He's a very noble man. That's what scripture

calls him. He's going to go away. So before he

leaves, he calls 10 of his servants in. He gives

them 10 minus. He gives them responsibility.

He gives them a job to do. And he entrusts them

with this. And so he leaves. Well, he comes back

and he wants to see what his men did with what

they were entrusted. And you have a few men and

what they did was they invested and they kind

of made the money work, right? They did something

with it. But you had one man and he didn't really

do anything with it. He just kind of trusted

or really he lacked trust. And so he was thinking,

okay, if I just hold on to the 10, if I don't

lose it, then we're good. And so the man comes

back and he wants to see what his servants did

with what they were entrusted with. And he commends

the men that made something happen with what

they were entrusted with. And then he kind of

rebukes the one who did nothing, who sat on his

hands. And this is what scripture says, calling

10 of his servants, he gave them 10 minus and

said to them, engage in business until I come.

He gave them a responsibility. Faithfulness is

about being steady in the work that God has already

placed in our hands. It's trusting. that when

he returns, he will find us working in faith,

not working to earn anything, but working because

he's given us responsibility. From the beginning

of time, man has had work to do. When God put

man in the garden, he gave man a job. And so

when Jesus comes and he establishes his kingdom

and he gives us the gospel, he gives us these

blessings, he says, I need you to work until

I come back. And so again, he's telling you,

I'm going somewhere. I'm leaving. But I'm going

to come back. And when I come back, just like

he said in Luke 18, will the Son of Man find

faith on earth? Luke 19 verse 17 is what we want

Luke 19:17

to hear. It's what we all hope to hear when Jesus

comes back. And I want you to think about your

life and the way you're living today. The way

you are treating what you've been entrusted with,

the influence you have, the people you have around

you that you've been trusted to take care of,

to show love to, the people you work with, the

job that you have, the resources that you have.

And I want you to ask yourself, when Jesus comes

back, will he say, well done, good servant? Because

you have been faithful in a very little, you

shall have authority over 10 cities. Now, I don't

know that when we get to heaven, God is going

to put us in charge over cities. I don't know

that God's going to give us these places to rule

over. But what I do know is that God is going

to make one of two judgments. He's either going

to say, well done, good servant, or he's going

to say, what in the world were you doing? What

did you think I gave you the money for? What

did you think I gave you the influence for? What

did you think I gave you the people for? What

did you think I gave you this life for? And you

look at our life here in America, we are very,

very blessed. We are among the richest people

in the world. And so when Jesus comes back, he's

going to look at us and he's going to say, what

did you do with the blessings that you had? You

look at America, we are among the freest people

in the world. We have no worries about proclaiming

the gospel. We don't have to worry about sharing

the good news. And so he's going to look back

and he's going to say, what'd you do with the

freedom you had? Why didn't you share the gospel

with more people? You had so much ability to

plant seeds, but you just sat at home and you

just sat in a pew. What were you doing? And so

ask yourself, when Jesus comes back, will he

say you were faithful with what you had? Or will

he say, you just sat on your hands? You see,

faith is steady even when we don't understand

exactly what's going on. It is a faith that works

even when we don't know where our master is,

when we don't know when he's coming back, when

we don't know what business he's doing. Faith

just says, I'm going to work. You see, the servant

that didn't really do anything with his responsibilities,

That servant was afraid. He didn't trust. Essentially,

he lacked faith because he didn't know, what's

my master going to do when he comes home? And

so we work trusting that what we do, the seed

we plant, the things that we do with what we've

been entrusted in will result in good for the

kingdom. So that when our master comes back,

he says, you were faithful. And faith holds on.

It lets go and it lets God work. And it stays

steady. So I want to ask you, in your life today,

whether it's... Something that you're struggling

to hold on to. You've decided in your mind it

makes sense to you and you've believed it and

you do believe it to be true. Logically, it makes

sense and you've agreed to believing this and

living by this, but maybe life has gotten hard

and now it's hard for you to hold on to this

conviction. You know, I've had the blessing of

working with college students and one thing in

working with college students is you get to see

That they do believe in certain things. They

do have convictions. Even I know sometimes young

people, it seems like they don't really have

any real convictions. They do. And they believe

that drinking to excess is wrong. They believe

that sleeping together outside of marriage is

wrong. They believe that doing drugs is wrong.

They have those convictions. But you get into

certain social circles and you get into certain

situations and life happens and you find yourself

doing things that you believe are wrong, but

it's hard to hold on to those beliefs because

life happens, right? And so I don't know what

that is for you. Maybe for you it's struggling

with where are the lines of sin? Maybe it's struggling

to understand what you need to be doing because

you believe that you need to be living a certain

way, but life happens and it's hard to do that.

It's kind of like, you know, I used to, when

I was in youth ministry, I would hear from parents

all the time. Well, we know we need to be at

church, but we've got the ball game. We know

we need to be at that youth thing, but we've

got some other responsibilities. And maybe that's

the struggle for you is you've got the thing

that pulls you away. I don't know what it is,

but what I do know is faith holds on. Because

when you are convicted, when you believe something,

if you have faith in that, you have to hold on.

And faith lets go. It stops trying to fix everything

on its own. And this is hard for me because I'm

a hands -on person. I want to have control. But

faith says, I can't do it on my own. I've got

to trust in someone who is much more qualified

than me. And I don't know what you're trying

to fix in your life. I don't know what it is

that you're trying to handle on your own. I don't

know who it is that you're trying to save on

your own. I don't know. But what I do know is

you need, I need to let go. And that doesn't

mean we get lazy. It doesn't mean we get complacent.

It just means we stay steady in our walk with

Jesus as we let him figure it out. We let him

do the work because he's so much more qualified

than us. Faith holds on, it lets go, and it stays

steady while it waits. And if that sounds hard

for you, if that feels like something for you

that you just don't know if you can trust because

you can't see Jesus right now because he's not

here. If it feels like life is way too stressful.

It's way too chaotic. It's way too hard to just

let go or to just hold on. Wherever you're at,

I want you to know that if you will be faithful,

it is not going to be in vain. If you will be

faithful, it will not be wasted. Faithfulness

is never wasted when you are being faithful to

the one who is the ultimate promise keeper. And

I will say this every time I get up here if I

need to, that our God always constantly keeps

his promises. He has proven it time and time

and time again. So I don't know what you're struggling

with. I don't know where life is hurting you,

where Satan is attacking you. I don't know what

the waves of life are doing to your ship. But

I do know who our promise keeper is. I do know

who our anchor should be. And if you will trust

in Jesus and everything he has taught and everything

that he has proven to be true, it will be worth

it. And so we hold on in faith. to the one who

has proven to be good. We let go and let God

work because he has proven to do good work. And

we stay steady even when life wants us to veer

off course, even when life wants us to sit on

our hands and do nothing. When Satan tells us

to give up, we keep holding. We keep letting

God work. And I promise you, it will be worth

it. Because right now, in this scene that we're

looking at, when Jesus enters Jerusalem and he's

arrested and he's beaten and he's hanging on

a cross, everything seems dark. Everything seems

hopeless. Everything seems like it's over. And

the disciples, I can imagine, are probably sitting

there thinking we wasted the last three years

of our life. Because we're following a dead man.

And right now, you may be feeling like that.

You may be thinking, he's not here. I can't see

him. It's been 2 ,000 years. He still hasn't

come back yet. Maybe he's never coming. I promise

you, the resurrection is coming. Jesus will not

be defeated by death. And I promise you, he is

coming back. You see, we're in the same place

the followers of Jesus were from Friday to Sunday.

We're waiting, scared. But my hope for us is

that we do not live with a spirit of fear, but

we live in faith knowing that he is coming back

because our God makes good on his promises. And

I don't know about you, but when somebody has

proven, that they can be held to their promises,

I tend to trust them. And my God has proven over

and over again to make good on his promises.

So I ask you to follow him in faith. Today, whatever

your struggle is, whatever is hurting you, whatever

is making it hard for you to just keep the faith,

my prayer is that you remember Jesus is coming

back. And if you need prayers from the church

to help you to keep holding on, if you need someone

to help you in your walk, if you just need to

take a step in faith and give your life to Jesus,

we offer you an invitation now. And we mean it

sincerely when we ask you to please come as we

stand and as we sing.