Missions Paul

anapauó

Luke 12: 16-21 “And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’  “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’  “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”

Jesus tells this parable after ignoring the man who wanted justice from his brother and to gain from an inheritance.

In the centre of all that Jesus says are 3 words, well 1 word actually, anapauó which is translated ‘take life easy’.

The ground of a rich man gives him an abundant harvest – take life easy.

The barns of this now abundantly rich man were too small, so he worked only because he wanted to take life easy.

He built bigger barns to take life easy.

But he was a fool to take life easy.

That night his life was taken from him too easily.

Anapauó

This man actually was a poor man.

Those who have most usually appear to have the least.

Those who are powerful struggle to get on the floor.

Those who have done it all don’t usually do it now.

Those who treat others harshly have lost grace for their own lives.

Death is closer to life than we realise.

Live for self and there is no legacy when life is soon over.

Instead of taking life easy make life easy for someone else and you will know what it is to be truly rich.

Jesus: “I’m not interested”

Luke 12: 13-15   “Someone in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.’ Jesus replied, ‘Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?’ Then he said to them, ‘Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”

I wonder if you have ever heard Jesus say this to you, “I’m not interested”?

I am sure not! I mean Jesus is bothered about us yes?

What concerns us concerns him.

What upsets us upsets him.

What makes us angry makes him angry.

What we want he wants.

That’s right isn’t it?

Or maybe …

What I think is important actually isn’t.

What I am attracted to is a distraction.

“ … my … me” prayers hide God from our lives.

Who I am is more important than what I have.

Let us make sure our prayers are more about Him and others than me and mine.

Let’s keep Jesus interested.

DISCIPLESHIP: The benefits of being a friend of Jesus.

Luke 12

V4 “I tell you, my friends …”

Disciples who become friends of Jesus are formidable. If there has to be a falling away then friends will be the last to leave the room way after the followers have gone. I am a Manchester United follower but I am not a very good one. I mean, I couldn’t even give 11 names of the team. There are times I just don’t even want to watch them. In years gone by I have actually wanted them to be beaten by a non-league side because I have hated their arrogance. Yet every single day I am treated like a friend. They write an email to me every day, my MU app on my phone sends me updates throughout the day of something that is going on that they want me to know about and every year they send me a pen. How nice they are to me! Every day I feel important to Manchester United!!

I am not wanting to use MU as an illustration of me and Jesus, but I have done.

You see, there are days we are not good disciples and followers of Jesus and yet he calls us his friends. He is committed to us each and every day in our weak following of him. Jesus uses the lesser-greater argument to show us the benefits of that friendship with him. (If the lesser is true then how much more is the greater true?)

1. There’s no need to fear people.

V4-5 “… do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.”

Maybe like me today you have something to do that you really don’t want to do. We have to make purposeful decisions not to fear people. We have to decide not to be bullied into silence. The Religious Pharisees and experts of the Law held the ordinary person in a vice of threat. Follow us, do what we say and all will be well for you. Jesus blows them out of the water. Jesus says there is only one to be feared, obeyed and followed directly. God. People have no eternal authority over your life. When we pass from this life we will not be facing that religious bully, we will face God.

2. There’s no need to feel worthless.

V6-7 “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”

God knows how much things cost. He knows the market value of things, even insignificant things. Does God know the value of a budgie? YES. Jesus is saying to his friends that God knows every detail of their life. He has weighed them and has decided they are of great value.

 

3. There’s no need to worry about eternity.

V8-9 “I tell you, whoever publicly acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man will also acknowledge before the angels of God. But whoever disowns me before others will be disowned before the angels of God.”

I hadn’t heard from this person in a long time and then he called me. “Am I going to hell?” He wasn’t that concerned about the lives he was tearing apart now. But he was very concerned about the consequence of that. My response was “I think it sounds like you are already in hell.” On earth as it is in heaven. What happens here happens there. I’m not the perfect Manchester United supporter but when asked I never say I am a Manchester City supporter, I always own up, even when they laugh or roll their eyes. I am not wanting to use MU as an illustration of me and Jesus, but I have done it again!

As a friend, there’s no need to worry about eternity. It is safe. You will be known in heaven.

 

4. There’s no need to feel condemned

V10 ^“And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.”

In the most misunderstood verse in the Bible perhaps, Jesus simply tells his friends that their sins will be forgiven unless they purposely continually slander the God they know.

Friends look for forgiveness and friends receive it. Friends are not condemned, not the friends of Jesus.

 

5. There is no need to be powerless.

V11-12 “When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.”

So we find ourselves back to point 1. We can stand today before anyone because we never stand alone. The Holy Spirit, the power of God stands with us.

 

Jesus calls us his friends! Walk in that today! Look at those 5 benefits today and have a great day as a friend of Jesus!

It will all come out in the wash.

I love these sayings that are found all over the world. This one means the truth will be known soon.

Luke 12: 1-3

Jesus began to speak first to his disciples, saying: “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.

Hypocrisy tries to hide who you really are not what you have really done.

There are things that we have done which actually no one will ever know.

No one knows that for the first 6 months of me being a minister I preached a whole box of my dad’s sermons verbatim, well, the ones I could decipher his hand-writing!

No one knows of when I got caught speeding at 96 mph up the A6 heading to a suicide bid and was taken to Penrith court and fined £100. No one knows because my case was first in court and the journalist hadn’t arrived by then!

No one knows that on one of my first Mission trips overseas on filling in an immigration form, not knowing where exactly I would be staying, I panicked and made up a complete false address and telephone number.

No one will ever know things I have done! (With the exception of God of course!)

But hiding who I really am is not that simple. It seeps through eventually.

The truth is I get nervous if in an awkward silence, so I will make inappropriate jokes if I can. I have been accused publicly of being frivolous.

The truth is I desperately want to succeed in what I do, so I will work long hours. I have been accused publicly of being a workaholic.

The truth is I long to know God more than I do and I love the Bible more than any other book, so I will get up very early in the morning to read it. I have been accused of living an unsustainable life.

There are things I have done that no one will ever know, but who I am keeps coming through time and again and people either read or misread my actions.

But if I pretend to be someone who I am not then eventually it will catch up with me.

At some point the make-up will run (not that I wear it; that will never be a confession!).

It will all come out in the wash. Who I am will surface.

Discipleship is first

Do you know those crazy days when you feel bombarded by many things, tasks, people and your ‘to-do’ list looks impossible? How can you accomplish all that is demanding your attention? How many times do end the day wishing the day was longer because we haven’t done what we thought was most pressing? Never think that days with Jesus on earth were quiet ones.

Look at these verses:

Luke 11:54-12:1

When Jesus went outside, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law began to oppose him fiercely and to besiege him with questions, waiting to catch him in something he might say. Meanwhile, when a crowd of many thousands had gathered, so that they were trampling on one another, Jesus began to speak first to his disciples …

Can you picture the scene?

Jesus leaves the house of the Pharisee having offended the religious who come chasing after him. Fiercely, besieging him with question after question. Luke writes skilfully helping us to see the pressure Jesus was under. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were hoping Jesus might respond but he didn’t. They wanted to catch him out so these questions were as difficult as they could muster. Confrontation was demanding his attention but Jesus kept going.

At the same time as that, ‘meanwhile’ a crowd gathered, not a small one either, Luke says thousands and in fact it was becoming unruly and dangerous, people were getting hurt. The confrontation with the Pharisees and the experts would have to wait for surely the fact that people were in danger was far more pressing? The hysteria was filled with many hidden agendas, for example, one man would shout out later from the crowd about an argument with his brother over finances. History only repeats itself in telling us how self-centred people are.

So what is on your to-do list today? Some loud voices demanding attention and you know they are not going away? Is it the success of your life wanting more time from you? Are things needing to be done because they are getting out of hand?

Jesus began to speak first to his disciples …

1. Choose that which follows God. You might need to see past the religious and the crowd for that.
2. Choose who has a greater investment in you. The disciples had left everything for Jesus.
3. Choose to disciple ‘on the hoof’ (meaning without proper preparation) in the chaos of life and not only in the classroom. Discipleship doesn’t need you to carry a flip chart of principles around with you.
4. Choose discipleship first in your own life. This whole section from Luke starts with “One day Jesus was prayingin a certain place” 11:1 and will end at the end of chapter 13 with Jesus focused on Jerusalem “Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” 13:35. Jesus pursued His Father and the will of His Father. That is discipleship at its core.
5. Choose what comes second and third etc. If it’s not discipleship it may be important and it will get done, but it will be so that discipleship is further encouraged and built.

Be generous in the pursuit of God.

Luke 11 v 52-54 “Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering.” When Jesus went outside, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law began to oppose him fiercely and to besiege him with questions, waiting to catch him in something he might say.”

Be generous in the pursuit of God.

The Pharisees knew their Scriptures. Well, they had memorised huge chunks of the Old Testament, if not all of it. Yet in this 6^th and final woe Jesus says they lacked knowledge. He says to the so-called experts in the Law of Moses that what they have memorised they have failed to understand. Worse than that, with all their man-made rules surrounding the Law, they have prevented others pursuing that understanding.

Many years ago I attended a meeting that was only for a few certain Pastors that had been invited by another Pastor. There were around 7 Pastors sat with this Pastor listening as he described a new model of Church that he had discovered and had entered into the revelation of. (The sooner we realise there isn’t anything new under the sun the better!).

As we sat around the table, the said Pastor described a little of this model/revelation of Church, but he said that we were not ready to understand the full revelation of it. I said, ‘Give us everything, get it all on the table, because this doesn’t sound all that special, what’s the missing treasure?’ He became offended that I had asked such a question and this served to show him that what he had learned which was that the mainstream church would never accept what he had now become a follower of. His response was, “I have it all. It is right here in my briefcase. But I won’t show you. Because you are not ready yet. Your heart isn’t right.” We did plague him a bit for having something in his briefcase. It sounded rather spooky to the rest of us.

He wasn’t very generous in the pursuit of God.

Being generous means this. I am on the way to finding God and understanding what this life on earth is about. I haven’t got there yet. As I get older I seem to know less and want Him more. Join me. Together is better.

The experts still exist. They outwardly proclaim special revelation and look down on those who don’t see things the way they do or they wrap it up in complexities that no one would ever truly understand.

That day we left the table and went home. We never got to see what was in his briefcase.

Luke describes how Jesus left the table and went outside. He leaves the meal.

Hostility will always rise when Jesus leaves the table. If we lose His presence we have lost it all.

Be generous in your response to what God is doing

Luke 11: 47-51 “Woe to you, because you build tombs for the prophets, and it was your ancestors who killed them. So you testify that you approve of what your ancestors did; they killed the prophets, and you build their tombs. Because of this, God in his wisdom said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and others they will persecute.’ Therefore this generation will be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the beginning of the world, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, this generation will be held responsible for it all.”

That generation were more responsible than all simply because the prophets all spoke of this moment when the Messiah would be standing in front of them. But they did not recognise Jesus and would be instrumental in his crucifixion. Further they had elaborate tombs for these prophets and yet do not speak about how those prophets were killed.

The prophet Zechariah was killed by stoning because he spoke against the rebellion of God’s people (2 Chronicles 24). Their ancestors did this. Zechariah not only prophesied Jesus would come but he even prophesied his betrayal by the 30 silver coins (Zechariah 11).

Be generous in your response to what God is doing.

It is easy to be generous towards the past when the past has proven the prophet correct.

But when the prophet is moving in the present and speaking of the future then we are tempted to be less so. We become sceptical, we are dismissive; if God was going to speak He would do it through a different person, through me, right? I wonder how many messages we have missed and how many acts of power we have ignored simply because we were not generous to what He was doing right in front of our eyes?

When I was a young minister I would drive miles to the other end of the country if I heard that God was doing something. People would say to me back then that no one should have to do that. If God was wanting to do something He would do it right here without any need to travel. They were not generous to what He was doing. I hope as I get older that I never lose that generosity for the things of God. I will fight cynicism that kills generosity.

Be generous in grace

Luke 11: 45-46 “One of the experts in the law answered him, “Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us also.” Jesus replied, “And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them.”

V41 “… be generous to the poor, and everything will be clean for you.”

Be generous in grace

If we see a burden as something that is a heavy weight which is too much for any one person to carry (hence Paul saying we should carry one another’s) and a load as a responsibility (which Paul said we should carry on our own) then we see what the Pharisees were doing.

The heavy weight was the failure of not reaching the expectations of pleasing God.

There are 613 do’s and don’ts in the Law of Moses.

But then the Mishnah contains more commandments. This was a commentary on those 613 laws which had further man-made rules which served to help people not even come close to breaking the Law of Moses. At the time of Christ these were passed down the generations verbally, it would not be till the 3^rd century were they written down. They were not laws, the intention was to train in thinking through the law. So the Mishnah tries to help the questions regarding: Can cheese and meat be on the same table? How much water is needed for a ritual bath? The punishment of a rebellious son is clearly in the Law however, what are the behaviours that actually make a son rebellious? That’s what the Mishnah helps with. They served as oral laws and Jesus denounced the Pharisees who were more interested in having the appearance of keeping the Law of Moses rather than understanding the message behind the Law.

Without going any further, we can already see that trying to accomplish all this would easily create burdens.

The ordinary Jew failed and continued to fail in pleasing God and there was no one to help them.

Let us be different.

Let us be generous in our grace towards people. Maybe we need to tear up our own rule book? Cultural norms that may have the intention of good can do more harm to those who do not meet them. Tear them up. Be gracious. Relationship with Jesus not the rules of Jesus is the most important thing. We don’t get married and then ask what are the rules of marriage? The order of marriage comes out of relationship and so with Jesus.

For those who feel they have failed, give them a generous hand, they understand condemnation so we don’t need to teach them that, they don’t understand grace.

If you are in leadership, be generous, open your fist, nail your hand to the cross, lay your life down generously so that others can thrive from the failure. Be generous in grace and it will go well for you.

Be generous with your mouth

Luke 11: 44 “Woe to you, because you are like unmarked graves, which people walk over without knowing it.”

V41  But now as for what is inside you—be generous to the poor, and everything will be clean for you.

Be generous with your mouth

Our experience of following Jesus is often filled with wonderful moments of revelation, of worship and wonder at who He is! His love and care for our lives overwhelms us. But there are times when we wonder just who it is we invited to dinner tonight! Jesus seems anything but polite. Offensive, challenging, he is anything but a fun guest. If our Jesus is not challenging to us like this then what Lordship is truly over us?

You are an unmarked grave!

The Law of Moses said that if anyone touched a grave in any way they were deemed ‘unclean’. The Pharisees would white wash tombs so that people could see them and not go anywhere near them.

Jesus’ accusation is that they are unwashed, unmarked graves. When the ordinary Jew hears from them it is like they have come into contact with the deceased and they become unclean. The influence of the Pharisee is hugely negative on the ordinary Jew. That’s what Jesus is saying.

Have you ever come away from that conversation and felt worse than going into it? Have you ever come away feeling small, shrunk in vision and hope? If so then that person is not generous in their heart nor their mouth. Be careful for you may just be walking over an unmarked grave and you may need the cleansing from Jesus.

But you can be different especially to those who are in need. You can be generous with your words and be a huge influence. Many can walk away from you better for being with you. Many can want to return. What comes out of your mouth is a huge factor in this.

Be generous and come second.

Luke 11 v 43  “Woe to you Pharisees, because you love the most important seats in the synagogues and respectful greetings in the marketplaces.”

They wanted to be noticed.

Maybe the important seats had special padding, maybe a nice back to them, maybe even their names printed on them. Maybe when you bumped into a Pharisee you bowed and went into some long-winded greeting of praise for who they were and what they had done. The other gospels of Matthew and Mark indicate how they loved their titles.

We need to remind ourselves who has the best seat, who deserves the greatest greeting and who has the better title!

Philippians 2: 9-11 “God exalted Jesus to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

The Pharisees would first see Jesus sacrifice his place on earth and be slandered on the cross, the Lamb of God slain for the sin of the world.

Be generous and give up your seat.

We had just taken a bumper offering for new chairs in the Church. I had advertised it as ‘buy a chair’. What I hadn’t anticipated was that for one of the members they heard ‘buy your chair’. It wasn’t long before that person was causing problems when a visitor unassumingly sat in ‘my chair’.

Be generous and don’t use your title.

I was just about to join the singing with the congregation as the evening service began when I was handed a business card by a new person who had begun attending the Church. I knew it was coming and I was glad to receive it so that I had their full name and address. What I hadn’t anticipated was the number of titles under their name: Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor and Teacher. I got the hint that they were looking for a position in the Church however, with all those titles I wondered at what grandiose a position I could create for them!

Jesus didn’t flaunt his titles and He has all the titles. He came to fulfil a mission not a position.

Be generous and give a true blessing.

Over the last 20 years of travelling around the world the one thing I have had garlands of flowers, head dresses, cloths placed over my shoulders even offered a powder from a plant (I think it was a drug!). All these and many more were given to bless and to honour me. I live in a culture where even with our close friends we playfully plague and belittle each other. We seem incapable of honour unless it is on a big stage. We must bless more in private. We need to start by being generous with our words in honouring one another. Bless their days. Ephesians 1:3 “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.”

Jesus said in v41 “But now as for what is inside you—be generous to the poor, and everything will be clean for you.”

Do you like to be first? Today purposely come second in everything. Be generous. Especially to those who have less than you. Be generous, don’t be first.