Truth That Changes Lives

JP Jones: Jesus offers us a way of escape. It’s called repentance. We either repent or we perish.

Guest (Male): 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 two of Luke 12:13-53.

JP Jones: Did you know Jesus didn't answer every question people asked him? He didn't answer every question that people in the crowd asked him. He didn't answer every question that the critics, the Pharisees, asked him. He didn't even answer every question that his devoted followers asked 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 they mean to me. That's the whole point. It's not what it means 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.

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 good managers of. Let me ask you: What has Jesus given to you? I heard someone say it. Michael Soares, you just got it. Everything. Jesus has given us everything.

James 1 says, "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow." Every good thing in your life has been given to you by Jesus Christ. 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 family of words in the Greek language. The New Testament was 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 or 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 he's preaching on it. This is "Read the Red." These aren't my words, these are Jesus's 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 given you talent, 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. Everything. We are to manage it. And the keyword is manage.

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's. We just get to manage it.

They're Jesus's. 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, Crossline, 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 doing in this little story that he's giving to Peter, 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 flip it for a while and 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—and so you're not taking anything with you, you're just taking off. And you 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 and its furniture." You open the closet, "Hey, these are all my clothes, you can take care of them."

And you open the garage, "Hey, this is my car, you can drive it." You hand them the checkbook, "Here's my bank account, you manage it." "Here's my computer, get on it." "These are my neighbors." "These are my kids, you're going to be watching them." And you take off. 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, it'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 is 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 and two against three. There will be divided: father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and 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 the south wind blows, you say it is 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 throw you into prison. And I tell you, you will not get out until you've paid the last penny."

So, what's Jesus talking about? Well, what he's talking about hinges on the rebuke in verse 54. 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. 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, 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. You see, what Jesus is saying is, "My kingdom agenda is so important we need to understand it."

He rebukes his audience because he says, "You understand the weather, but you don't understand what really matters: my teaching, my plan, my program." We need to be aware of the kingdom call of Christ and aware of the kingdom teaching of Christ. Jesus says that this teaching that he gives is a message that brings division and it's a message that needs to be understood and fully embraced because he says, "You're walking on a path with somebody that you're at odds with.

You better straighten it out because he's going to bring you to court and the judge is going to throw you in jail and you're not going to get out." Now, at first, that seems almost like a random teaching. Why is that even in there? Well, it's in there in light of the bigger kingdom teaching. What's the bigger kingdom teaching that Jesus is using in all these stories? He's coming back. We're going to have to give an account. We are either going to face him as our Savior or we're going to face him as our Judge. Wake up! It's a wake-up call.

So, what Jesus is saying here isn't so much about how we ought to handle our business affairs. He's saying we better get right with him. We better straighten our life out with him. Otherwise, we're going to face him as the Judge and he's going to throw us into the jail and we're not going to get out until we've paid the very last cent. Jesus is saying we need to wake up. Some of us are spiritually asleep. Some of us don't understand the kingdom.

Some of us are outside of a relationship with Christ. We need to repent. We need to be made right with God. Others of us, we've come to salvation, but we're living like it's not even true. It's like it's a little part of our lives that we hold on to, but the rest of our lives aren't any different than anybody else's. The rest of our lives are like people who are on their road to destruction. So, wake up! Be a wise and faithful manager. Wake up! Be dressed for readiness to serve. Wake up! We better get right with God while we can.

Remember when I've told you—I've been saying it a lot lately—but it almost is humorous to me when I talk to somebody who wants to say, "Oh, I don't believe that Jesus is the Lord or the Savior or the Son of God, but he's a great teacher. In fact, he's the greatest teacher who ever lived." And I just mental note: the person has never, ever really thought about the teachings of Jesus. My gosh, listen to these teachings.

If I didn't believe that Jesus was the Lord and Savior, I wouldn't think he's a great teacher. I'd think the guy's a lunatic! I'm not going to listen to that guy. That's crazy stuff. Because Jesus calls us to absolute surrender and absolute repentance. And that only makes sense if he's the Lord, the one who loved me so much he died on the cross and rose again from the dead and offers salvation to me.

One last observation here. Chapter 13, verse 1: "Now there were some present at the time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood had been mixed with their sacrifices." Jesus answered, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower of Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish."

Then he told them a parable: "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, 'For three years now I've been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven't found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?' 'Sir,' the man replied, 'leave it alone for just one more year, and I'll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! But if not, then cut it down.'"

What's Jesus teaching here? He's teaching that we need to be repentant of sin and fruitful for Christ. We need to be repentant of sin and fruitful for Christ. You see, people in the crowd try to engage Jesus in a question. Now, some of it is lost on us because they are appealing to some circumstances that took place contemporaneous to these events that we don't have a history of. But basically, two events. One is there was a situation where they murdered these people and mixed their blood and offered it up in sacrifice. Sounds terrible.

Then there was another situation where a big tower fell over and some innocent people were killed. And they asked Jesus about this. And apparently, they want to ask, "Were they worse people because that happened to them? Does that mean they deserved it because they were somehow guilty in some way?" If we were to bring this to a more contemporary situation, you might say, "God, these people who died in the hurricanes, were they worse people? Is that why they died?

Or these people over in Africa where they've got some tyrannical regimes and they've just murdered people? Were they worse people because they got murdered?" They asked Jesus this question. Do you read what Jesus says to both questions and to the questioners? No, they're not any worse than anybody else. You need to repent or you'll perish too. Be careful when you ask Jesus questions, by the way. Jesus says we're all in the same boat when it comes to our spiritual condition.

We're all sinners. Some of us may be sophisticated sinners, some of us may be culturally acceptable sinners, but we're all sinners. We're all guilty before a holy God. But Jesus offers us a way of escape. It's called repentance. We either repent or we perish. That's reality. That's what Jesus says. Repent or perish. It may sound harsh, it may not be politically correct, but it's the truth that will set us free.

If we continue down the path that we're walking, it will lead us to destruction, Jesus says. And so, he offers to us the privilege and blessing of repentance—doing a 180, moving from death, coming back to life. If you were in an area where it was freezing cold and everything was ice, and you're walking out on the ice, and all of a sudden it breaks off and now you're on a piece of floating ice going out to sea or out into the middle of a huge lake, if you stayed on that, you'd perish.

No, your hope, if all of a sudden it broke off and now you're on it, would be to immediately turn around and jump back. There's an urgency about it. Once you become aware of your condition, the call of Jesus in saying "repent," there's an urgency about turning. Repentance is turning from our sin to Christ. That's all it is. Repentance is turning from our sin and turning towards Jesus Christ because he's the only hope of forgiveness and salvation.

Now, in this whole teaching, Jesus teaches and gives stories, teaches and gives stories, teaches and gives stories. So now he gives a little story about a guy who owns a vineyard. He has trees growing in it and he wants to see fruit. And so, for several years, he's checking for fruit and the trees don't bear any fruit. So, he says, "Cut them down! They're fruit trees, but they're not bearing fruit. Cut them down." The guy who watches over the vineyard said, "No, let's give them one last chance. I tell you what, I'll dig around them, I'll fertilize them. Then if they bear fruit, that's great. But if they don't, then we'll cut them down."

Now, do you think Jesus is giving us a lecture on horticulture? He's just taught on repentance and then he talks about trees that are designed to bear fruit, but there's no fruit. Jesus is saying there needs to be fruit of our repentance or it's not repentance. There are people who say, "I've repented," but there's no fruit and Jesus says, "You haven't repented." Repentance brings transformation, life change.

This past week, our executive pastors, we just spent some time away reviewing this past year, looking at the goals and visions of all of our ministry directors and pastors, and then praying together and brainstorming where is God taking us in the future. And so, I gave all of our ministry directors some questions, some evaluation questions of this past year, and then some questions about what their vision is for this next year. And one of the questions I asked is: What are some of the stories of life transformation that you're rejoicing in over this past year?

And it was so cool to read about people whose lives are being changed in our church. Many of them I don't know who you are. You're involved in a ministry that I'm not intimately involved in, but there's a pastor or ministry director over that ministry and they're sharing these stories of life change. You see? That's what it's all about: life change. Repentance is not an intellectual decision. Repentance is a change of life.

And Jesus is saying "repent or perish." Turn to me and allow me to change your life and produce fruit in your life of the change that I'm making. This whole passage is a wake-up call. Wake up and be dressed ready to serve. Wake up and be a faithful and wise manager of all that I've given to you. Wake up and understand what my kingdom is all about. Wake up and repent and allow me to produce fruit in your life.

Guest (Male): 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 five dollars. 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 twenty-five dollars 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 to 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." We're looking at the teachings of Jesus. And we're in a section in Luke 11, 12, and 13 where Jesus is teaching us about discipleship and kingdom realities. Jesus is saying that this experience that we have right now in the temporary, in this world, is not going to continue forever. But there's going to come a time when we face God in judgment. This is a reality for every person: the judgment day. And some are going to receive, "Well done, my good and faithful servant," and others are going to be judged and separated from God for all eternity.

And so, Jesus is telling us how to be prepared for the day of judgment. But in telling us that, he's also telling us how to live life right now to the fullest because living to the fullest now to the glory of God as a servant of others, loving God and loving our neighbor, that not only brings life fulfillment now, it prepares us for eternity. And so, Jesus says we need to be watchful. We need to be managers who understand everything that we have is a gift from God. And we're stewards. We take care of what God has given to us.

All that we have is not for our own narcissistic pleasure. What we've been given, we've been given to us by God to bless others and to advance God's kingdom and to glorify Christ and to serve others in the name of Christ. When we live like that, that's when we're free and that's when we can enjoy life to the fullest. That's when we can have a kingdom impact and that's when we can go into eternity and facing God with the full expectation that we're going to receive, "Well done, my good and faithful servant."

And so, Jesus says this kingdom message, it's counter-intuitive because some people aren't going to embrace that and it's going to bring a division. But others who are searching for God, hunger for God, this kingdom message is going to be the very message that brings them life as they repent and believe in the gospel. And so, Jesus says we need to be interpreters of the times.

That we live in times where some men are seeking God and some men are turning from God, but we as kingdom disciples are to live totally for the glory of God. And the key is to be repentant, always turning our lives over to Christ, turning every day over to Christ, turning every area of our life over to Christ, not only to live a full life now, but to be prepared for living in eternity. That's God's call on us. Let's surrender to it.

Jesus, thank you that you're the King and you've called us to kingdom discipleship. It's counter-intuitive, but we want to follow you. We want to love Jesus, we want to love our neighbor, we want to be men and women who live as disciples of Jesus Christ, living now in preparation for heaven. And we thank you for that. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Guest (Male): 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.