Six Potentially Debilitating Problems
Extraordinary Faith for a Kingdom of Extraordinary Dominion
Facing Six potentially Debilitating Problems in Life,
and how, through victory
by the Extraordinary Power of God,
they can be linked to benefit our Eternal Reward
By Pastor Dan Kennedy
© May 30, 2010
The Sacrifice
There is no greater love than for one to give his or her life for another (John 15:3).
This great love is established through the life of Jesus Christ, who willingly gave His life in the face of a sinful, cruel world, not for His own sin, but for the sins of the world.
From the beginning of time God has used sacrifices, to point to the Sacrifice of His Son for the sins of the world. In fact, the blessings of our nation today, rise from our forefathers founding our nation on the principles of sacrifice and the Risen Christ, found in of God’s Word, the Bible. This is why we have been called a Christian nation. This is why we have been blessed.
The Blessing of Christ’s Kingdom
Today we are looking at the pertinent aspects of the Kingdom that our Savior has provided for us, as a direct outcome of His death, Redemption and Resurrection.
When we look at the Kingdom that our Savior died to give us, we find it is an Extraordinary Kingdom, which is not of this world. Because it is not of this world, we uniquely find that our response to life in this Kingdom to be quite extraordinarily opposite to how we would live in this human world. We live in this world, but we are not of this world (John 17:14-18).
I love this extraordinary heavenly Kingdom that God so graciously has given us.
John 18 - Christ’s Kingdom…not of this world.
33 So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” 34 Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?” 35 Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?” 36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.”
Hebrews 11 – Abraham’s hope
10 For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.
Those who died in faith were looking for a homeland not of this world…
13 These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. 14 For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.
Jesus’ Kingdom was not of this world. He freely admitted this when in one of the most difficult confrontations in His life – the trial just before His crucifixion.
The Kingdom of Jesus Christ is seen as extraordinary in this world, because there are glaring contradictions between the foundational pillars on which people attuned to the kingdom of this world build their lives, as compared to the unique pillars on which those who, through faith, structure their lives, in Christ’s Kingdom.
Let’s look at how Jesus deals with six problems in life, in Luke 12, through the principles He has laid out in His Word, with His Power.
Facing Six potentially Debilitating Problems in Life,
and how, through victory by the Extraordinary Power of God,
they can be linked to our Eternal Reward
1. The Problem of the Hypocrisy of Religious Legalism (Working our way to God by religiously doing what we think God requires, and then imposing these requirements on others who are also seeking God… all the while living in Hypocrisy.)
Jesus was embroiled with those who were the legalistic religious of His day, who were living in blatant hypocrisy (Luke 11:37-54). They attacked Him for not following the letter of the laws that they had interpreted as being from God and imposed on Israel. This is the setting for Luke 12.
Luke 12
1 In the meantime, when so many thousands of the people had gathered together that they were trampling one another, he began to say to his disciples first, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. 2 Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. 3 Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops.
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Rejecting the Deceit of Hypocrisy: Seeing with Faith’s Eyes, Hypocrisy’s Final Outcome and God’s Justice Revealed.
Everything will be revealed. Live life honorably before God, seeking to follow His Word without the cover-up of deceit.
Hypocrisy in religious circles has been around a long time…as hypocrisy has been in every other area of life.
Eternal Outcome: God may allow us to experience the deceitful trial of Hypocrisy to reveal the depth of our own sincerity and the reward of truthfulness in our lives toward God.
The next need for extraordinary faith has to do with the fear of death. There are few other trials in life that catch our attention so clearly, as a terminal diagnosis.
2. The Problem of the Fear of Death (Fear only God)
Have No Fear
Luke 12:4 “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. 5 But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! 6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. 7 Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.
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Rejecting Death’s Subtle Fears: Seeing with Faith’s Eyes, the Reality of God’s Constant Watch-care Over Us
The fear of death is a primary fear for all human beings, and rightly so, because death remains starkly “unknown”, even after millennia upon millennia of dying which preceded us, and…still we all die. Jesus Christ’s conquering of death, at His Resurrection (1 Cor. 15), gives profound hope in the cavernous void of “unknowns”.
These verses give us the assurance that God intimately knows the tiniest details of each life (because He created each detail) and He also knows the smallest detail about us! If God has not forgotten the seemingly insignificant sparrow, then He will not forget about us! We must cast our fears on Him, because He cares about us!
Eternal Outcome: God may allow the trial of the certainty of death, to clarify the reality of eternal life, and the certainty of our faith in Christ.
Everyone has a hero. Unfortunately, some of the world’s heroes are as flimsy as the comic book on which they are printed.
3. The Problem of Pseudo-Heroes and False-Christs
(Choose Jesus Christ as Your Mentor, Master and Lord)
Acknowledge Christ Before Men
Luke 12:8 “And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God, 9 but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God. 10 And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. 11 And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, 12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”
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Rejoicing in the Confession of your Faith in Christ: Seeing with Faith’s Eyes, the Reality of the Eternal Kingdom of Christ, without being bound by earthly religion’s vain and man-made whims, doctrines or traditions.
Everyone wants a Hero. Everyone chooses a lord. Those wanting to claim super-hero fantasy status with mega-dollar movie windfalls, and those who would be real-life heroes are continually making their presence known on the business, political, religious and media stages of our world! The heroes of the world are often fabricated from fantasy, fiction and maybe even a sprinkling of fact!
The Bible gives us the Eternal Hero, Mentor, and Savior worth following. Christ will, in eternity, acknowledge those who acknowledge Him, before the angels in heaven. Those who deny Christ on earth will likewise be denied in heaven.
Heaven may seem to be a long ways away to some of us because we are so busily involved in our hectic daily responsibilities on earth, but one day it will not be so distant or unimportant when we step into the reality of eternity. The diversity of life, or the obnoxiousness of some around us regarding Christ, may cause us a time of pause, in our confession of Christ here on earth. These are times when the reality of our faith has its opportunity to be affirmed or denied. May our faith be affirmed during these times of testing; and if we deny, may we repent, as Peter did (Luke 22:54-62).
It is interesting that in the cycles of life we reach peaks of intense involvement in life, when we can think of nothing else but barely surviving day-by-day, and other times, even during those intensities, we are slowed to almost a halt during times of sickness, disability, or nearer the end of life, in old age. Do we think that we have become so busy that eternity will never reach us and become a reality? Think again! Eternity could face us at any time!
Eternal Outcome: God may allow for us the ridicule of obnoxious scoffers of our faith, so that the confession of our faith in the face of blatant unbelief will later be to us a great glory as we forever enjoy Christ’s “well done” acknowledgement before the very angels in heaven.
Anyone would love to have a certain amount of unlimited wealth at his or her disposal. Wealth brings with it responsibility and often times carnal reliance on the security it falsely provides, and not on God.
4. The Problem of Greed, Selfishness and Temporal Values
The Parable of the Rich Fool
Luke 12:13 Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” 14 But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” 15 And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
16 And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17 and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ 18 And he said, ‘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. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”
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Rejecting the World’s Temporary Covetous Façade: Seeing with Faith’s Eyes, the Reality and Necessity of being Rich toward God
We seem to think that if we have enough financial benefit, we will not have to worry about anything else. Clearly, from the lives of the rich and famous, this is not always the case. One’s life does not consist in the abundance of things he possesses. We know this to be true from personal experience and from observation of those who love the Lord deeply, are very limited in their possessions, and have great joy.
Eternal Outcome: God may allow testing in our lives, of our need to trust Him for day-by-day provision, or to enjoy the benefit of great abundance, but, in either case, we should learn how to lay up treasure in heaven, not on earth, and to become rich toward God.
Everyone seems to enjoy it when they have success in life, but it seems that no matter how much success we have, as human beings, we can still be anxious over so many things, large and small. In every case, though, God wants His Children to trust in Him. The next passage focuses on Anxiety.
5. The Problem of Anxiety in Daily Provision
Do Not Be Anxious
Luke 12:22 And he said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. 23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. 24 Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! 25 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 26 If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? 27 Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 28 But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! 29 And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. 30 For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31 Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.
32 “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
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Rejecting the World’s Continuous need of Anxiety about Having Security in Life: Believing with Faith’s Eyes, that God knows our daily needs and will provide for them.
oAnxiety will not provide for our food and clothing, but God will.
oAnxiety will not give us a longer life, but God can.
oMake seeking the building up of His Kingdom, not just provision for daily, as your greatest priority. God will take care of you.
oOur Treasure is revealed by the emphasis of our heart.
Eternal Outcome: God may allow trying circumstances in our life that could be cause for great anxiety. These are things that press us to Himself and become true trials of faith, sorting out the depth of true faith from mere religious lip service.
Faithful service requires steadfast patience. We will reap the harvest if we wait for the grain to become ripe. It is hard to wait, unless we have an eternal perspective.
6. The Problem of Keeping a Proper Perspective on Eternity
You Must Be Ready
35 “Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, 36 and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. 37 Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. 38 If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants! 39 But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into. 40 You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
41 Peter said, “Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for all?” 42 And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time? 43 Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. 44 Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. 45 But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, 46 the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful. 47 And that servant who knew his master’s will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating. 48 But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.
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Rejecting the World’s assessment of Future Events: Seeing with Faith’s Eyes, what our eternal future holds
Steadfast endurance always causes us a certain amount of pain. We would rejoice should the Lord return and take us to be with Himself, but He has not chosen to come for more than 2,000 years!
“Where is the promise of your coming? For things continue as they have been for centuries!” The scoffer derides our Risen and Coming Lord.
God has chosen to reward those who are steadfast in their faith, and those who are faithful stewards serving in His Kingdom.
Eternal Outcome: God allows the testing of time and the pain of endurance to reveal the waking awareness of the steward and the integrity of his service for the Master.
In facing these six potentially debilitating problems of life, may we keep a heart of extraordinary faith as we look forward to the Extraordinary Eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Conclusion
Luke 12 gives us six potentially debilitating problems that we can face in life.
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1.The Problem of the Hypocrisy of Religious Legalism
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2.The Problem of the Fear of Death
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3.The Problem of Pseudo-Heroes and False-Christs
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4.The Problem of Greed, Selfishness and Temporal Values
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5.The Problem of Anxiety
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6.The Problem of Keeping a Proper Perspective on Eternity
In addressing these problems, and finding victory through the Extraordinary Power of God, victory in these trials can be blessedly linked to our Eternal Reward.
