Truth That Changes Lives

Announcer: The gospel of Jesus is a gospel of grace. We're saved not by our works but by the grace of Jesus Christ. But the following of Jesus Christ is a relationship where he's our master, he's our boss.

Music: Not to us, but to your name be the glory.

Announcer: Thank you for joining us on Truth That Changes Lives. Pastor JP Jones is the senior pastor of Crossline Community Church in Laguna Hills, California, and a professor in biblical studies at Biola University. Today on Truth That Changes Lives, Pastor JP will be giving us a message from a series entitled, Read The Red. Let's listen in as JP gives us part one of Luke 12, 13 through 53.

JP Jones: Well, good morning. If you have your Bibles, would you open to Luke chapter 12? We're in our series that we're calling Read the Red. Some Bible translations, the words of Jesus are written in red, and so what we're doing is we're working our way through the gospels, looking at the actual teachings of Jesus Christ. What did Jesus teach about heaven, about hell, about salvation, about life?

We're looking at the teachings of Jesus and we're we're wanting to take them to heart to be people who follow Christ as the Lord and Savior of our lives. In this morning, we're in Luke 12 and 13. It's kind of an extended section, Luke 11 to 13, where Luke kind of ties together several of the teachings of Jesus that in one hand are kind of stand-alone teachings, but on another hand, all of them reinforce this idea of surrender.

What Jesus is calling us to as his disciples is that we surrender to his Lordship. The gospel of Jesus is a gospel of grace. We're saved not by our works, but by the grace of Jesus Christ. But the following of Jesus Christ is a relationship where he's our master, he's our boss, he's our leader, he's our Lord.

And what Jesus teaches us in this section is that we're to bring every area of our lives under his Lordship and under his authority. And what he's going to tell us is that there's a compelling reason to do that because life as we know it is not just going to continue on. There is a judgment day that's coming, a day of accounting, and that will be a day of reward where Jesus will say to some, "Well done, my good and faithful servant."

And it will be a day of judgment for others who've rejected his offer and they'll be assigned a place of separation and punishment forever. And so Jesus is saying in light of this ultimate reality, all the more live every day as a devoted follower, surrendering your whole life to me. And so what I'm calling this message is a wake-up call.

If you've ever been on a business trip, you've ever stayed in a hotel room, you probably asked for a wake-up call. You get there and you kind of you fuddle with the alarm that's in the room, but you're kind of concerned that you don't want to sleep through it. So you call the front desk and say, "I'd like to get a wake-up call." And what normally happens is you are in the deepest sleep possible.

And the phone rings and you're completely disoriented and you reach over and you grab the phone and you say, "Yeah," and it's that voice that says, "This is your wake-up call." And what the wake-up call does is it wakes you out of your sleep, and the purpose is to get you from one state, being asleep, to the next state, which is getting ready for what you're going to do in the morning.

Jesus in this teaching is giving us a spiritual wake-up call. Because his audience that he's speaking to, they're kind of asleep. Many of them are living in ignorance to what Jesus is teaching them is ultimate spiritual reality. Others are living in rebellion to his call on their lives, and so he's giving them a wake-up call. So that they move from one state, being asleep, to being awake and being ready for what Jesus is teaching is real life.

Luke chapter 12, starting at verse 35. "Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, like men waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks, they can immediately open the door for him. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. I tell you the truth, he will dress himself to serve. He will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the second or third watch of the night. But understand this, if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house be broken into."

"You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him." Here's the observation. Be always ready to serve in the light of Christ's soon return. Be always ready to serve in the light of Christ's soon return. Jesus says, "This is reality, I'm coming back."

"And I'm not coming back on your timetable or your agenda, but on mine, and you don't know when it is, so it could be at any time." And the application is, "Because I'm coming back and I could be coming back at any time, you should be dressed ready to serve all the time. Dressed ready to serve." That word for "dressed" that Jesus uses is just a common term that was used in his vernacular to talk about putting clothes on.

Only he's not talking about putting clothes on, he's talking about putting on a readiness to serve. Now, I look out this morning as, you know, five or six hundred people here in this service, and I don't see any nudists. You all got dressed this morning before you came to church. Some of you got dressed probably purposefully. You picked out an outfit. You had it all ready.

You coordinated it and you put on the clothes that you wanted to wear. Others of you just grabbed what was closest. Others of you probably gave the smell test to your clothes. Smells okay, putting it on. Boom. Which, by the way, you know, guys and gals get ready, you get dressed differently. We've sent off a bunch of kids to camp, you know?

And for the guys that went out, the high school kids that went on this camp, probably most of them threw their clothes together 10 minutes before they walked out the door, the guys. The girls, they started getting ready all this past week. In fact, I have two daughters at camp. Yesterday, the rooms, their bedrooms, all their clothes from their closet and their dressers, were everything was out, and you're matching outfits, you see, because it's not just wearing clothes, it's an outfit.

It's camp, but it's an outfit, you see. So, some people, oftentimes women, get dressed with a real sense of what they're putting on and why they're putting it on. Jesus says, "We are to get dressed with the readiness of serving," because he's coming back.

So, whether you're a natural snappy dresser or not, as a follower of Jesus Christ, you should be dressed ready to serve. Did you get up this morning and put your servant clothes on? And by the way, Jesus isn't saying that we should just do that when we come to church or special occasions, or when we're intentionally thinking, "I'm going to go out and serve." No, we should live our lives, the Christian life is a life being dressed for service.

We're servants. Followers of Jesus Christ are servants and Jesus is emphasizing this fact in the light of his soon return. That's reality. He's coming back. And he even gives two illustrations to help us understand why this is so important. The one illustration is based upon the relationship of a master and his servants. He says, a master leaves, he puts his servants in charge, and he tells them, "I'm coming back."

And because they knew he was coming back, but they didn't know when, they were completely ready. And it says even if they came in the second or third watch. In other words, in the middle of the night, they were ready. And what Jesus says is, when that master comes back and finds his servants ready, as he had asked them to be, what Jesus says is, the master actually reverses roles and the master serves the servants.

Now, in the illustration that Jesus gives, and the point he's trying to make is, we're the servants, he's the master. He's called us to be ready. If he comes back and we are ready as he's asked us, guess what? He's going to serve us. He's going to reward us because we've been faithful servants.

Then he gives another illustration to emphasize more just this reality of serving and he says, "Hey, if you knew a thief was going to come in and break into your house, would you not be prepared for that reality?" Of course, you would. In fact, if I told you that tonight a thief was going to break into your house, would you make some preparations for that reality?

I bet you would. In fact, I think some of you would actually like a thief to try to break into your house so you could take him out. Bam!

Guest (Male): [Laughter]

JP Jones: Jesus says, I was Greg, I know. He fantasizes about a thief coming into his house. He's like, "Yes! In the name of the Lord! Whoa!" Jesus says, "I'm coming back. It's a reality. You don't have to wonder, guess, take a theology class on it, read a book, listen to 10 radio sermons. I'm coming back.

Be ready." How are we to be ready? By being an available servant every day. Being a representative of Jesus Christ every day, faithfully serving in Jesus' name every day. Jesus continues his teaching on this bigger idea of surrender and acknowledging his Lordship and the reality of his return.

Verse 41. "Peter asked, 'Lord, are you telling this parable to us or to everyone?'" Now, that's an interesting question. Peter is there, he's one of the disciples, one of the chosen apostles, and Peter is kind of taken by this teaching of Jesus. So he asks, "Is this kind of like more of the inner circle teaching that you're given to just us apostles, or is this something you you want everybody to know?"

"The Lord answered, 'Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time. It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns. I tell you the truth, he'll put him in charge of all of his possessions. But suppose the servant says to himself, My master has taken a long time in coming, and he then begins to beat the men servants and maidservants and to eat and drink and get drunk. The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and an hour he's not aware of, and he will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.'"

"That servant who knows his master's will and does not get ready or does not do what his master wants will be beaten with many blows. But the one who does not know and does the things deserving of punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded, and from everyone who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked."

Here's the thing we got to understand when we interpret this passage, because it's kind of some tough teaching. One, it's a story. It's a parable. Two, it's in response to a question. And I love this about Jesus. Peter asked him a very point-blank question. "Are you teaching this to us or to everyone?"

Did you hear in there an answer that Jesus gave him? No, he just gives him another story. Did you know Jesus didn't answer every question people ask him? He didn't answer every question that people in the crowd ask him. He didn't answer every question that the critics, the Pharisees, ask him. He didn't even answer every question that his devoted followers ask him, because Jesus was always throwing the ball back in our court.

In other words, Jesus wants us to think about his words and think about, "What do they mean to me?" That's the whole point. It's not, "What does it mean to somebody else?" No, "What does it mean to you?" Jesus wants us to personalize his teaching and apply it to our own lives. So he gives us this story about being a faithful and wise manager.

Again, it's in light of reality. What's reality? He's coming back. So, in light of reality that Jesus is coming back, we should be dressed in readiness. That's the first thing he says. And now he says, we should be faithful and wise managers.

We should manage all that he has given to us. Everything that Jesus has given to us, we're to be a good managers of. Now, let me ask you, what has Jesus given to you? I heard someone say it. Michael Flores, ding, ding, ding, ding. You just got it. Everything. Jesus has given us everything. James 1 says, "Every good, every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there's no variation, no shifting shadow." Every good thing in your life has been given to you by Jesus Christ.

Now, the reason I'm pointing this out is because the word "manage" in some of your Bible translations is "steward" or "stewardship." It's from a a family of words in the Greek language. The New Testament's written in Greek, *oikonomos, oikonomia*, we get the word economy. Sometimes it's translated as administration, sometimes it's translated as dispensation, sometimes it's translated as manager, management, and sometimes it's translated as stewardship or stewarding.

But if I told you that Jesus was teaching us something on stewardship, what would you automatically think I was talking about? Money! When we think about stewardship, we think about money. Jesus wants me to steward my money. And if you thought I was going to be preaching on stewardship, many of you would think, "The pastor wants me to give more money to the church." That's why I'm preaching on it.

Hey, this is Read the Red. This isn't JP's words, these are Jesus' words. This isn't about money, it's about managing everything that Jesus has given to us. If he's given you money, you should manage your money. If he's given you relationships, you should manage your relationships. If he's given you a house, you should manage your house. If he's given you kids, you should manage your kids. If he's given you a job, you should manage the job.

If he's giving given you talents, you should manage those talents. If he's given you a personality, you should manage that personality. If he's given you dreams, you should manage those dreams. If he's given you abilities, you should manage those abilities. You see, everything. We're to manage it. And and the keyword is manage.

Now, the reason that's significant is we are not owners. We are managers. We're not owners, we're managers. And I think that's the major shift in thinking that many of us need to make, because we think about our house as our house. We think about our kids as our kids. We think about our car as our car. We think about our job as our job. We think about our dreams as our dreams. We think about our resources as our resources. We think about our abilities as our abilities.

And they're not ours, they're Jesus'. We just get to manage it. They're Jesus'. See, that issue is settled in salvation. Salvation is coming into a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Around here we call it crossing the line. Hence, the name of the church, Crossline. Really sharp. So, crossing the line, crossing the line is when you admit, "God, I can't do it on my own.

I need you desperately." And you cross the line into a relationship with God completely based on grace, not what we do for ourselves, but what God does for us. He saves us. But in saving us, we are surrendering our lives to him. And so now it's not our life, it's his life that we manage. It's not our stuff, it's his stuff that we manage.

You see? And so what Jesus is is doing in this little story that he's giving to Peter, and to the rest of the apostles, and really to everybody, is helping us realize that we are to be faithful and wise managers. And it only makes sense. I mean, just just flip it for a while and just, you know, kind of step away and think about it.

If you were to take off on an extended trip, I mean, you're going to be gone for a year or two, right? And so you're not taking anything with you. You're just taking off. And you're going to get somebody to house sit and oversee your affairs and everything. And so you say, "This is the house. I want you to take care of it, this is the furniture." You open the closet, "Hey, these are all my clothes, you can take care of it."

And you open the garage, "Hey, this is my car, you can drive it." You hand him the checkbook. "Here's my bank accounts, you manage it. Here's my computer, get on it. You know, these are my neighbors, you know, these are my kids, you're going to be watching them." And you take off, bam! Now, when you come back, do you want to know that your house is still standing?

Do you want to know your furniture is still intact? Do you want to know that the car still works? Do you want to know your kids are still alive? Of course. Why? That's your stuff. That's your house. Your clothes, your furniture, your car, your kids. The guy living there, that's not his. He's just managing it. It's not ours.

We gave our lives to Christ. Paul says in Galatians 2:22, "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me, and the life which I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me." We are called by Jesus to be wise and faithful managers.

Here's a third observation of what Jesus is teaching. Jesus says in verse 49, "I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled. But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it's completed. Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. From now on there will be five in one family, divided against each other, three against two, two against three. There will be divided father against son, son against father, mother against daughter, daughter against mother-in-law, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law, daughter-in-law against mother-in-law."

He said to the crowd, "When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, it's going to rain, and it does. And when you the south wind blows, you say it's going to be hot, and it is. Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don't know how to interpret this present time? Why don't you judge for yourselves what is right? As you're going with your adversary to the magistrate, try hard to be reconciled to him on the way. Or he may drag you off to the judge, and the judge turn you over to the officer, and the officer throws you into prison, and I tell you, you'll not get out until you've paid the last penny."

So, what's Jesus talking about? Well, what he's talking about, I think hinges on the rebuke, verse 54. "He said to the crowd, 'When you see a a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, it's going to rain, and it does. When the south wind blows, you say it's going to be hot, and it is. You hypocrites, you know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it you don't know how to interpret the present time?'"

Well, what's the present time? It's what Jesus has been teaching them about reality. So the observation is this: Be understanding and aware of Christ's kingdom agenda. Be understanding and aware of Christ's kingdom agenda because Christ's kingdom agenda is not necessarily our agenda. And he points that out to his audience by saying, "You think I've come to bring peace, but actually, I've come to bring division."

In other words, you think, "Can't we all just get along?" You think Jesus has come so that we all sit around and hold hands and sing, "Kumbaya, my Lord." No, my message actually divides. It's so radical. So transforming. It literally is a line in the sand and people either line up and believe it and totally commit themselves to it, or people look at that and say, "I don't want anything to do with it." And it divides. And it'll actually divide families. It'll actually divide intimate relationships.

Announcer: What a great message for all of us today. Pastor JP provides us with great insight. That is why we'd like to make it available to you on CD. Just get in touch and mention today's date. We'll send it your way for just $5. Or if you'd like to support this ministry, you can write us at Truth That Changes Lives, 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California, 92653. Or give us a call at 949-916-0250. That's 949-916-0250.

For your gift of $25 or more, we will send you a signed copy of JP's new book, *Facing Goliath*. Please join us every Sunday at 9 or 11 a.m. at Crossline Church in Laguna Hills. The address is 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California, 92653. Or check us out on the web at crosslinechurch.com. We're going to get you the address and phone number again in a moment, but before we do that, Pastor JP, do you have any insight from today's message?

JP Jones: Thanks, Greg. We're in a series called Read the Red, and we're looking at the teachings of Jesus Christ, in particular, the teachings of Jesus on discipleship. What does it really mean to follow God and obey God and grow in our relationship with God? And we're in a section, it's in Luke 11, 12, and 13. And our discussion in this session is from Luke chapter 12, where Jesus gives the story or the parable of the rich young fool.

And then he teaches about materialism and the temporary versus the eternal, and then he brings in the whole concept of the final judgment. Here's what Jesus is saying. Life as we know it is not just going to continue on and on and on and on. But every one of us is going to die, and every one of us is going to stand before God and give an account of our lives.

And some of us on that day will receive, "Well done, my good and faithful servant," and others will be judged and separated from God for all eternity. So Jesus is telling us how to live right now with hope and expectation of the life to come, so that we might look forward to a heavenly reward and actually being a a blessing and bring pleasure to the Father.

The way we can live right now with hope and expectation of the future is to be a faithful servant of Christ, not to be bound up in our greed and not to to make life all about material possessions, but to be servants and to be generous and to have Christ first in our lives, and to as some have said, wear the cloak of materialism lightly, to see things as tools to serve God and bless others, not as a an end in themselves.

God designed us to seek him and find our value in him and to be servants of others. And for the person who does that, the person who lives right now with an eye towards eternity by being a servant of others and being a steward of things for God's kingdom glory, that's a person who can look forward to receiving, "Well done, my good and faithful servant."

God, thank you for this teaching and it's a challenge to us. Help us to put you first in our lives and to see ourselves as servants and stewards of all that you give to us. And I ask for that in Jesus' name. Amen.

Announcer: We want to help you in your relationship with Christ. Please get in touch with us at Truth That Changes Lives, 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California, 92653. Or call us at 949-916-0250. On the internet, you will find us at crosslinechurch.com. We hope to see you at one of our services every Sunday at our new campus in Laguna Hills. For more information and directions, please go to crosslinechurch.com. Please join us next time on Truth That Changes Lives.

Music: The cross before the world behind. No turning back. Raised a banner high. It's not for me. It's all for you.