Focal Point

Dave Drewy: Today on Focal Point with Pastor Mike Fabarez.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: Now here's the deal. If you're willing to sacrifice for the sake of ambitious faith and the pain that it costs you is maybe a home or some property or money or whatever, you're going to get a hundred times as much there in the kingdom. Matthew 6, right? Store up for yourselves treasure in heaven. It's all about how you live now. And riches, property, power, and relationships are great to go after as long as you recognize the important place to invest in, and that's in the kingdom.

Dave Drewy: You know from time to time we all have to do things we don't enjoy. But even the most tedious task can be done with a smile when we focus on the perks. Today on Focal Point, Pastor Mike Fabarez continues a study in Hebrews chapter 11, the Faith Hall of Fame.

Last time we heard about the difficulties involved in doing great things for God. But while the process is tough, the rewards make it well worth the effort. Today's message is called Looking Past the Pain to the Prize.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: Now, when you think about the connection between greatness in the kingdom and great suffering, just know that part of it is cause and part of it is effect. I mean, suffering is sometimes the cause of greatness and sometimes it's the effect of greatness. Let me show you both, okay?

The cause. Sometimes God uses the pain to make us great. Turn with me to John chapter 15 and let me show you that this is just the basic pattern of how God works. He wants to make sure that you understand that when you suffer in this life, oftentimes it is the training, it is the preparation.

If he's going to prepare you for something great, you've got to know that the pathway is partly the cause for the greatness. The difficulty, the sweat, the training, the pain that you experience. And sometimes we just need to make the connection in our mind: God is preparing us for fruitfulness, greater fruitfulness.

Take a look at this in John 15:1. You remember the analogy? He says, "I'm the vine." And he's going to talk throughout this passage about "stick with me, abide with me, hang in there with me, be close with me." And he says, "But here's the deal, there's another factor here. It's not just between you and me."

He says that "my father, he's like the gardener. And you attach to me, that's great, and you hang on to me, that's great. But if you attach yourself to me artificially and you don't bear any fruit, because every real branch is going to bear fruit, but if you're just hanging on as a fruitless branch, well, he cuts those off, throws them away."

Now, every branch, though, that he sees bearing fruit, and here it comes, there's productivity, there's good things happening in your life, now look at this next phrase, which doesn't sound like a pleasant experience: "He prunes them so that they'll be even more fruitful."

I wish he didn't, right? Can't we just bear more fruit without the pruning part? And yet God says, "No, if I see you being fruitful, I'm going to prune you and you'll bear more fruit." And God may be looking at your life and you've stepped up and you've said, "I don't want to just be a mediocre person. I'd like to be an ambitious Christian who's ready to do something in my life or in my environment or in the world for Christ."

And then all of a sudden you're going through pain and you're going, "What's going on here?" What's going on here is exactly what God needs to do with you to prepare you for that greatness. It is part of his process of getting you ready. As a matter of fact, here's a passage to jot down, you can read it on your own later: Malachi chapter three.

Not a passage we go to very often, but in Malachi chapter three verses two and three, there's two pictures of God sitting with his people and preparing them for something great. One picture is him as a refiner, and he takes this precious metal and he's going to put it in the furnace and refine it and get all the dross out of it so it will be even more productive or even more valuable in his sight. And that doesn't sound good, being put through the furnace.

And the second picture is that of someone who's a launderer and he's taking soap and he's scrubbing the fabric so that it can be even more useful in terms of its cleanliness. And that doesn't sound good either. I don't want God scrubbing hard on my life. And yet that's the picture of God. If he's got people that he loves, he's going to get them ready and he's going to prepare them.

The process, though, whether it's pruning or whether it's the furnace or whether it's God scrubbing some section of your life, it all sounds unpleasant. But the Bible says, as it will in Hebrews chapter 12, and we'll get to that soon, the Bible says it never feels pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

And God's not going to get you anywhere to be distinguished in the kingdom without developing your gifts and working on your heart and training your spirit. So greatness and great pain, they seem to go together in God's economy. And as I said, part of it is cause. I mean, the suffering is the cause for the greatness.

And the other side of that, if you look through the list in Hebrews 11 again—jeering and flogging and stoned and sawn in two—you might say, "Well, that doesn't sound like training." Well, some of it I'm sure it was for the great people in Hebrews 11. But a lot of it is effect, right? I mean, the suffering is the effect that we have because of this godliness or greatness in our lives.

And you know what? Just like everybody in any field is recognized as distinguished and great, it comes with a price tag. Are we ready to pay that price? I am. Are you ready to pay that price? And you know, some of you distinguished in the Christian life already, you've experienced that. Please share that with other people.

Don't paint this rosy picture of the Christian life that's not accurate and true. Let them know that to stand up and stand alone in this world for Christ sometimes comes with a price tag. Now, there's two phrases in this seemingly negative list of things: one in verse number 35 and one there in verse number 38, that kind of put the silver lining around this dark cloud, which really is inverted in terms of how it should read.

The whole point of the chapter is about greatness. The whole point of Hebrews 11 is these guys are going to have a good eternity. These guys are going to have a great resurrection, whatever that means. We'll try to figure that out in a minute. But the point is that these two phrases help us to recognize that the goal of all this is to be encouraged and heartened in the midst of people throwing rocks at us and wanting to saw us in two.

How do you handle all that? Well, you need to be heartened. Number two: jot this down on your worksheet if you would. Be heartened by your future compensation. Do you think there's any perks that come along with being great in God's kingdom? There are. Be heartened by that. Because God in eternity is going to praise and glorify and exalt his servants.

And those that have been willing to go through the jeers and the hard times in the Christian life, those who are considered last on earth will be first in heaven. And you know what? If I'm going to go through all the being last on earth and despised and opposed, I've got to keep that in mind, that God is going to honor those people.

As a matter of fact, there are some people, verse number 35, that when they were tortured and captured, they didn't want to be released because they saw in that suffering and in that sacrifice that that was earning for them, as Paul put it in the New Testament, an eternal weight of glory. That there was something going to be added to their eternity that was going to make it all worth it. That they were going to gain a better resurrection.

Now, that's a hard verse for people, especially those that have fallen to the myth of what I call a celestial communism. You've heard me talk about that. There is no celestial communism. You need to recognize there will be some that will have a better resurrection than others. Now, don't get me wrong on this. There are two things that are going to be pretty much the stable foundational norm for everybody.

Number one, if you live in the New Jerusalem, it's going to be a good place to live, right? No crying, no pain, no death, no mourning. He's going to wipe away our tears. Now, you're going to live in a great place. I don't care if you were just one of the crowd or you were distinguished in God's family, you're going to live in a great place.

And you're also going to get, according to First Corinthians 15, a fantastic physical body. Won't that sound good? I preached that to the high schoolers this week and they're like, "Yeah, whatever." But for us, right? I'm thinking that's exciting. I want that resurrected body.

So I'm excited about that. And I'm thinking, now wait a minute, if you get the same kind of resurrected body that I get that's impervious to death, that's glorified, it's beautiful, it's strong, it's energetic, it's all those things we've studied in First Corinthians 15, I'm thinking, what then what more could there be?

I get the same kind of resurrected body you get, you get to live in the same place that I get. How can you have a better resurrection? How can that be? Those aren't variables. Living in a great place with a great body, that sounds good. But there are some variables in scripture.

And it's important for us to recognize those and to know that to the extent to which you were distinguished in the Christian faith, you will have a changing kind of reality in the resurrection. It will be different. And I think it would be good for us to point those out. What is some of the compensation? What is the addition to the resurrection that you can have?

I'm so glad you asked. That's a great, great question, okay? Let me show you a few from a couple of passages of scripture. Turn with me to Luke chapter 16. There will be variables that will make your resurrection better. And if I could just get us, and I know I've tried throughout Hebrews chapter 11 to underscore the importance of this, that would be great.

I want you to care about eternity. And some of you already are clicking this off in your mind: "Well, this is crass. This is selfish. This is some kind of spiritual materialism." You know what? Just read your Bibles, okay? Because here's what you'll find. Jesus commands us—are you ready for this?—to store up for ourselves treasure in heaven.

Now, I know some of you are too spiritual for that. Fine. But those of us that want to take the Lord seriously, let us store up for ourselves treasure in heaven. And I often say, what kind of hypocrites are we when we tell our kids to work hard in school so they can have better paychecks here on earth? How come you don't teach that same principle to your kids about eternity?

Don't I want to invest here and now in spiritual things so that I can earn some kind of better compensation in the eternal state? I would like that. That doesn't sound ungodly to me. Not only is it not ungodly, it's the most godly thing you can do. It's obedience to Jesus Christ. Store up for yourselves treasure in heaven.

What are those treasures? Five things. So if you're taking notes, this can be A, B, C, D, and E. You ready? Letter A: Luke chapter 16, verse 10. Now, again, the context here is what we're going to get if we compare faithfulness now and God's reward later. And he says this: "Whoever can be trusted with a very little can also be trusted with much. But whoever is dishonest with a little will be dishonest with much."

If you've not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth—here we are on earth—who will entrust you with, now if I'm comparing worldly wealth, that's the only kind of wealth I know, but he says no, there's another kind of wealth. And it's called—I love this—what does he call it? True riches. Hmm, that sounds good. I mean, what is that? Well, it's not worldly, but it's a kind of wealth. It's a kind of riches.

And I think because the context here is going to shift, I think it's clear we need to stop and at least jot that down. Let's put that down. Letter A: There is something called riches in the eternal state. Now, riches here change my reality because we can say, "Well, I've got good health and I live in the same country you do, so we all have the same experience here, right?" No. Check our parking lot out, right? Everybody has kind of a different experience here.

Go to their homes and look how big their flat-screen TVs are. Everybody has a different experience here. We can all be healthy and live in the same country and have great fellowship. Are we having great fellowship? We're having great fellowship. But you know what? You're going home to a bigger television than I am. Some of you may be.

I have a little bigger television than you. I don't know, mine's not very big. Some of you are driving nicer cars home. I know that because I've seen our parking lot. Some of you are doing that. Some of you are driving home in cars that aren't as great. Does that change your experience? Oh, it does. It changes your experience.

Now, we can all love the Lord, we can all have great fellowship, we can all be in good physical health, and we can all live in a great country, and all that's great. And we'll live in perfect bodies in a perfect place, and we'll all have the Lord. That'll be great. Is that just all that we care about? Well, it's the most important parts. But it sure would be nice to have a bigger account so I can buy a bigger television from the spiritual Costco, you know?

That'd be nice. That'd be good. Oh, I won't care about that then. Really? Look me up a thousand years from now and let's talk about it. I think you'll say, "I wish I would have invested in storing up more treasure for myself for this existence." And I think you'll say, "Wow, how do you do that?" Well, you step out. You be faithful with what God's given you.

You go after the kinds of things that we've been talking about in Hebrews chapter 11 that will require ambitious faith. Do more for God. Step out, take a risk for the kingdom. And God says, "You know what? You'll store up for yourselves treasure in heaven." He calls it riches, true riches. I love the phrase. How can you get a better resurrection? Well, more true riches would be good.

Verse 12. You're still in Luke 16. Look at verse number 12. "And if you've been trustworthy with someone else's property"—which, by the way, is how it always works down here. So for all you guys in title insurance, just know it's kind of a joke. Because here's the thing: nobody has any property and nobody keeps anything. It's all going in the eternal trash bin. It will all burn, right? Nobody owns anything.

It's all what the Bible calls a stewardship now. You're just kind of using the world's property. Because it's got a future date with destruction. And all of the property is going away. And I know we battle over it and we have all these lawsuits over it. The property is... you're not going to live there very long. We looked at that last week, right?

You're going to give it up to someone else, and then after that they'll give it up to someone else, and then God will take it and one day light it on fire and he'll say, "Done with that one." And then he'll bring down the new earth, and that's called the eternal state. And guess what? That property's not going away. And he's going to parcel that up and he's going to give it to people.

And he says, "Listen, here's the deal. If you've been trustworthy with someone else's property, if you've been godly, if you've been ambitious about doing things for God with that property, then here's the deal: if you haven't been trustworthy, who's going to give you property of your own?" Is the New Jerusalem a real place? Absolutely.

Is it tangible, tactile? Can you feel it? Corporal? Is it real? Yes, it's real. And here's the deal: you're going to inhabit some of that. You think you're going to rent it? No, God's going to give you a piece of it. And I'm just thinking a hundred acres is better than one. That's what I'm thinking. Oh, here he goes with spiritual materialism.

That doesn't sound very godly to me. It's godly. Store up for yourselves treasure in heaven. The problem God has is when we're so focused on earth when it's all going to burn up one day. God says, "Care about eternity." How do I do that? I have ambitious faith and I step out and do something great for God. I distinguish myself now. Because here's heroes, he richly rewards them with riches and, let's letter B, and property.

And that's real. That's real. And again, "I don't know, isn't it see-through clouds and chubby angels and golden harps and endless church services and we're not even going to need a home, are we?" Yes, you will. You'll have a place to live. You will wear clothing. We will be transporting ourselves—that's what the streets are all about, right?

I mean, this is a real thing called eternity. The New Jerusalem. You're going to live there. And you're going to want a place to live. "I don't care about that." Well, you seem to care down here, don't you? You care down here. I know how you guys care and we're all caring about our houses here. Well, you know what? All of that, God says, "Don't even worry about that. That's small beans."

What really matters is your real estate there. Can you have a better resurrection? Yeah, a hundred acres is better than one. So true riches. It'd be great to have a great account there. And property. I would like to have some property of my own that doesn't ever get taken away. Which, by the way, in the old covenant, do you see the forecasting picture of that?

Do you know in the old covenant, under the Israel's theocracy, you owned property and kept it? As a matter of fact, that at the year of Jubilee—you remember that?—one thing that was supposed to happen is if you did rent some of that out, you got it all back. And you were supposed to keep that property. Here's a picture of the divine. A picture of the eternal kingdom when we will have property of our own. Property that won't go away.

We're not talking about earth. Verse 13 should make that clear. Not talking about this earth, not talking about money down here. Can't serve God and money. Let's serve God and then God will entrust us with property of our own. Okay, what do we got? A and B. We got riches and property. Let's go to Matthew chapter 19 and pick up a couple more.

Matthew chapter 19. Take a look at verse number 28. Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne"—that's what we're talking about here, the eternal state when I get my resurrected body—"you who have followed me"—now he's speaking specifically to the 12 apostles—"you will sit on 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel."

And this isn't Judge Judy or the People's Court or anything like that, right? We're not gavels and well, let's see, did you back into his car? I don't know. No, we're talking judging in the Old Testament concept was you were a leader. You were a prince. You ruled things. You want a cross-reference here? Jot down if you would in Luke.

Luke chapter 19, verse number 17, for instance, and it goes on after that next few verses that talks about the picture of the kingdom doling out responsibility over cities. Do you remember that? "Here, take charge of 10 cities. Take charge of five cities." And if some of you are seasoned enough in this life to recognize that riches, property, and let's call it this, letter C.

Let's call it power or responsibility, if you can't bring yourself to write that because that sounds way too ungodly in church. Write down at least responsibilities. But if you're with me on storing up treasure in heaven, write down power, because you will have a level of power in the kingdom. And if you're seasoned enough in this life to say, "Well, I know riches, property, and power, they bring nothing but headaches," then jot down this in the margin: Psalm 16.

Psalm 16, verse 11. And it says that "at his right hand there are pleasures forever, eternal pleasures." And I know if he's doling out eternal riches and property of my own, real property, and power or authority, those are things that don't come with the earthly headaches that usually come with them down here.

Because after a while you recognize that all of that comes with a lot of headaches. "I don't want to be in charge of 10 cities. I served on a city council or whatever. I don't want to do that." What a headache! Not a headache in the kingdom. It's eternal pleasures and you're going to want more responsibility, not less. And it will be doled out based on your faithfulness and your ambitious faith now.

And you're not going to go, "Well, I didn't want to rule 10 cities anyway." You're going to go, "You know what? It would have been great to be distinguished in God's family because that is a place of responsibility for God's glory that I would like to have." It's all open to you right now. Right now.

It's not about—think about this—in this life it's kind of dealt out where everybody's got different head starts and, "Look at him, he's got the brains," or, "His dad bequeathed him this great company or whatever." It doesn't work that way spiritually. You recognize that, right? All of us have a level playing field.

You can be the smallest on earth, and if you are faithful with ambitious faith to step out and stand up for God, you've got the same opportunity to have riches, property, and power in the kingdom of God. Same thing as some guy who seems to be born with the silver spoon in his mouth. Same opportunities. That's a great, that's a great open door for us.

I would like to be heartened by a better resurrection. And these guys were saying, "Bring on the pain, that's fine. I'm willing to suffer for this because I'm looking to the Hall of Fame." And there's a lot of perks that come with that. What do we have so far? Riches, property, and power.

Are you still in Matthew 19? Let's keep reading. And then he turns to us basically, not the 12, it's going to be true for us too as well, and it's in other places too. Luke 19 you jotted down, Matthew 25:21 if we're still on letter C, just to bolster that: "Take charge of many things in the kingdom."

Let's look at verse number 29, though, to go to letter D. "Everyone who has left houses"—we've already dealt with property—"brothers, sisters, or father or mother or children or fields for my sake." Now, it's sandwiched between houses and fields, and in between are all these relationships. It says if you've done that for my sake—and that takes ambitious faith to leave all that for God's sake—then you'll receive a hundred times as much and you'll inherit eternal life.

Now, here's the deal. We've already dealt with property. If you're willing to sacrifice for the sake of ambitious faith and the pain that it costs you is maybe a home or some property or money or whatever, you're going to get a hundred times as much there in the kingdom. But also sandwiched in the middle are all these words of close relationships. Look at them: brothers, sisters, father, mother, children.

If because of your ambitious faith for Christ, those relationships are strained, and you know you're doing the right thing, you're stepping out for God, and there are people that are going, "You're really disappointing me," or whatever, there's problems there. And there's strain and there's hurt. The Bible says you'll get a hundred times as much.

Let's put that down as letter D: relationships. Relationships. Because you can have a lot of riches, a lot of property, and you can have a lot of power, but if you've got no one to invite over on Friday night for your barbecues in the kingdom, that's not real good. Be great to have a lot of relationships and a lot of friends there. Do you recognize that the opportunity for what you have in that place is based on how you live here?

Does that sound too materialistic for you? We've got to keep quoting Matthew 6, right? Store up for yourselves treasure in heaven. It's all about how you live now. Don't worry about earth, that's not the issue. God is not concerned with our ambition; he's concerned about the target of our ambition. And riches, property, power, and relationships are great to go after as long as you recognize the important place to invest in, and that's in the kingdom.

Dave Drewy: This is Focal Point, and you're listening to a message titled Looking Past the Pain to the Prize. We're near the end of a series called Ambitious Faith. And remember, you can always revisit or share these daily lessons by going online to focalpointradio.org or by downloading the free Focal Point app.

This month we have a book we'd love to send you called Sinners in the Hands of a Good God by David Klotzfelter. Klotzfelter takes head-on one of the most challenging tensions in the Christian faith: How do we hold together the wrath of a holy God and the mercy of a father who pursues his children?

He works through it honestly from scripture, building a portrait of God that is more whole, more awe-inspiring, and more worthy of the all-in faith we've been called to than any comfortable half-truth could produce. Read this book and you'll come away with a bigger, truer view of the God you serve.

Sinners in the Hands of a Good God is our thank-you when you give to Focal Point this month. Call our team at 888-320-5885 or give at focalpointradio.org. And if you'd rather send your donation by mail, just write to us at Focal Point, Post Office Box 2850, Laguna Hills, California, 92654.

You know, every time someone new hears Pastor Mike's teaching and their life is changed by God's word, well, that happens because a donor decided to make it possible. That could be you. Giving monthly as a Focal Point partner is the most powerful way to stand behind this ministry. It's predictable, it's purposeful, and its impact compounds every single month of the year.

Don't wait. Commit today at focalpointradio.org or by calling 888-320-5885. And if you're a new listener, we'd love to send you a free copy of Storing Up Treasures by Pastor Mike Fabarez. Just contact us for the first time at focalpointradio.org. Well, I'm Dave Drewy. Be sure to come back tomorrow for the conclusion of the 13-part series called Ambitious Faith. More Bible teaching from Mike Fabarez coming up Thursday on Focal Point.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: Pastor Mike here. You know, it's an honor to be with you every day helping you explore the depths of scripture. But I want to be clear, no amount of Bible knowledge is ever going to save you. Be sure where you stand with God. Get in touch with us. We'd love to pray with you and for you. Visit us today at focalpointradio.org. We look forward to hearing from you.

Dave Drewy: Today's message was produced and sponsored by Focal Point Ministries.