“If two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in Heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them“.
The grace of God has not only renewed our relationship with Him but also
with each other. We not only learn to say, My Father, but “Our Father”.
Therefore, as much as it’s important to pray privately alone in our
room, it is also important to pray together as friends.
It is in the union and fellowship of believers that the Spirit can manifest His full power.
Friends, praying together not only promises us the experience of His presence but also His provision.
What an unspeakable privilege is the united prayer of friends coming
together in oneness. Imagine what we could accomplish if we understood the
power of such prayer.
As husband and wife, Jane and I can testify of the marvelous blessings we have experienced through such a prayer life.
My Friends, is there anything stopping you or holding you back from
praying with your fellow believer? Do you experience the benefits of such an
experience?
Our Thursday prayer time is an opportunity for you to participate and
see God at work. Make your home a place where God’s presence is manifested in
the unity of your hearts in prayer.
Prayer:
Father help us to see and experience your marvelous work in our hearts and in others as we come together as Praying Friends.
“For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?” – Matthew 5:46
It is so difficult to practise love; a love which doesn’t keep a record of the wrongs. God loves us even when we fail Him. He waits for us to repent. But what if we don’t repent? Does he abandon us? No. He still waits. He speaks to us in different ways and brings circumstances together for us to come to him. He disciplines us because He loves us just as an earthly father would discipline his child.
Similarly, when someone doesn’t behave with us in the best way, how do we respond? Do we speak to them bitterly and take revenge? Or do we honour God by taking the first step to reconcile remembering that Christ has done the same with us
When Jesus bore all our sins on the cross, he didn’t keep a record of our wrongs. If He, being the Son of Man can choose to forgive us from all our sins, we can choose to let go of our grudge and also forgive the one who has wronged us. How easy it is to love someone who is easy to love. The real challenge is to love someone who is difficult.
We can ask God for grace to not run away, but to keep displaying love towards that difficult-to-love person. Remember God’s grace over your sins. Ask God to give you the same grace to deal with the person. Find ways to bless them. Maybe by dropping in a text or catching up over coffee.
To respond to others in grace is not possible certainly by our own strength. We need to pray to God to help us show grace to difficult people in our lives. Pray to God to soften their hearts and work in them.
It is certainly difficult to love difficult people. But what is the reward in loving people who love us back? Love should not be based on our feelings rather it should flow from our heart, and in obedience to God’s command?
Lord, thank you for the grace you showered on us when we were still walking in the dark. Help us by your grace and intervention, to love people the way you loved us even when we were your enemies.
Good morning Church, It’s a beautiful Sunday and I am super excited to connect you through Facebook, I believe you all are spending quality time with your family and friends and I hope you all are doing great and I am sure you all are taking good care of yourself.
As we know, the world is going
through excruciate pain and suffering because of Covid-19 Pandemic, people are
living in fear, anxiety and uncertainty,
This pandemic disease is out of control, many people are dead and many people are fighting for life in a sickbed, many people are jobless, many people are living in hunger and thirst.
In these chaotic circumstances, the church can play a vital role by showing Christ love to the people around us, by showing Christ care and kindness to all the people and most importantly let us point the people around us to Christ, showing them that Christ is the saviour of the world and He is the answer for all our life problems.
Last week I came across an
encouraging quote from the scripture,
I want to read out for all of us.
“If God could Close the
lion’s mouth for Daniel,
Part the Red seas for
Moses
Make the sun stand
still for Joshua
Open the prison for
Peter
Put a Baby in the arm
of Sarah
And Raise Lazarus from
the dead
Then, He can certainly
take care of you
Nothing you are facing
today is too hard for Him to Handle.”
Shall we look to God in prayer:
pray….. Amen
As we enter passion week, we shall
look to the passage related to each occasion, since today is Palm Sunday we
shall meditate from Palm Sunday passage`
Our book study from Thessalonian will
continue in the following week.
Would
you open your bible with me to Matthew 21:1-13?
1.
As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of
Olives, Jesus sent two disciples,
2 saying to them, “Go to the village
ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by
her. Untie them and bring them to me.
3 If anyone says anything to you, say that the
Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.”
4 This took place to fulfil what was
spoken through the prophet:
5 “Say
to Daughter Zion, ‘See, your king comes to you,
gentle and riding on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’”[a]
6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had
instructed them.
7 They brought the donkey and the colt and
placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on.
8 A very large crowd spread their
cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread
them on the road.
9 The
crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,
“Hosannato the Son of David!”
“Blessed
is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”[c]
“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
10 When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city
was stirred and asked, “Who is this?”
11 The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the
prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”
12 Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money-changers and the benches of those selling doves.
13 “It is written,” he said to
them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are
making it ‘a den of robbers.
Before we see the main 3 points let’s see
What is
Palm Sunday?
Palm Sunday marked the start of what is called “passion week” the final days of Jesus earthly ministry, it is the day we remember and celebrate the triumph entry of Jesus Christ to Jerusalem as Saviour and king.
Palm
leaves: Signifies victory / Triumph
Jesus riding on a donkey: When a king rides on a Donkey it symbolises peace. And we know from the scripture that Christ is the prince of peace.
Hosanna: Save us
now/ Deliver/ Rescue us.
Crowd: The crowd shout hosanna because they saw Jesus performing lots of miracles, heal the lame and blind, turn the water into wine, feeding 5000 people with 2 fish and 5 loaves, raise Lazarus from the dead and because of this great
They expect that He can rescue them politically and free
them from Roman rule.
But Jesus mission was to save mankind from the slavery of sin and gave mankind eternal life. When the crowd expectation was not met, it was the same crowd who shout crucify Him on Good Friday.
These are a few things I would like to remind before we enter our main points.
I would like to entitle my sermon as
“Your
King is coming”
I would like to bring 3 very important points from the
above passage.
1. Jesus
Enter Jerusalem as a king, who will save mankind from the bondage of sin.
Matthew 21:5. “Say
to Daughter of Zion,
‘See, your king comes to you,
gentle and riding on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
Matthew quote this verse from Old
testament Zacharias 9:9.
Prophet Zacharias prophesy 500 years
prior to the Jesus arrival in Jerusalem.
As Jesus enter Jerusalem the crowd
threw their cloaks on the road, they took the palm leaves and began joyfully
praising God in the Loud voices for all the miracles they have seen.
And they were shouting
“Blessed is the king who comes in the
name of the LORD,
Peace in heaven and glory in the
highest.
Purpose of Christ coming to this world: before that let’s see the
condition of mankind.
1. Christ our king came to this world as a Passover lamb. (Exodus 16).
(Moses told Israelites to pain their
door with the blood of a lamb so that the spirit will Passover your house and
your family,
In the same way if we wash our heart
with the blood of Jesus, His blood will cleanse us from all sins.) he came as a Passover lamb.
2. Christ our king came to this world to give us Eternal life. (John 3:16)
3. Christ our king came to reconcile our broken relationship with the
Father. (Rom.5:1}
(Therefore being justified by faith,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.)
4. Christ our king came to show us the Way, the Truth and the Life. (John
14:6).
5. Christ our king came to this world to free us from condemnation of
sins. (Rom.8:1).
(There is therefore now no
condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.)
5. Christ our king came to take us to heaven. (John 14:1-3.)
(1.Let not your heart be troubled,
you believe in God, believe in me also.
2. In my fathers house are many
mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you, I will go and prepare a place for you.
3. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and recieve you to myself, that where I am, there
you may be also.)
Application:
Beloved church
Christ has redempt us, His love has
captured us,
Even though if we go through this
corona virus pandemic, facing all kinds of life difficulties and challenges, He
promised us He will never leave us nor forsake us,
His everlasting love is with us.
Roman’s 8: 35.
35. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or
nakedness, or perils, or sword.
38. For I am persuaded that neither
death nor life, nor angels nor
principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,
39. Nor height nor depth, nor any other created things, shall be able
to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
This is our bless hope and our
Assurance in Christ Jesus.
He is our beautiful saviour our Lord
and our King.
2. Jesus enter and cleanse the Jerusalem temple.
Matthew 21: 12-13.
12 Jesus entered the temple courts and drove
out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the
money changers and the benches of those selling doves.
13 “It is written,” he said to
them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are
making it ‘a den of robbers
Jerusalem
temple was like thieves’ market, all kinds of cheating and lying and betraying
business was going on in the house of the LORD.
Jesus enter and chase them out and
remind them that this house is the house of prayer.
Paul also Remind us in 1 Cor. 6:19-20.
19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the
Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your
own;
20 you were bought at a price. Therefore, honour God
with your bodies.
The scripture clearly taught us that our Heart is a Temple
of Holy Spirit.
But sadly, many people entertain their heart with sin like
those people in Jerusalem temple.
From this passage we know that God and sin can’t dwell
together.
God hate sin but He loves sinners, he like to clean all
our sins as He clean up the Jerusalem temple.
Beloved church how are you all maintaining your heart?
Illustration: Garbage story
You know there are times I forgot to dispose kitchen
garbage, when the garbage keeps for so long it smells horrible and the garbage
smell the whole room.
In the same way, if we didn’t confess our sin and didn’t
dispose them, this stinking sin will poison your whole life and even killed
you.
The garbage we store in our heart can be.
(Laziness, cheating, lying, selfishness, bribing, sexual
immorality, drunkenness, pornography,
Lust of the flesh, lust of the eye and the pride of life)
We should not let these things rule and control our heart.
Romans 6:23 says. For the
wages of sin is Dead but the gift of God is eternal life.
Application:
How are you maintaining your heart and your life?
Is it God please with the lifestyle you are living today?
Beloved Let us examine ourselves right now and if there is
any sin in our life and if there is anything hindering us to love Jesus. Let us
confess our sin and make right with Him.
1 John 1: 9. “If we
confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
I strongly believe that the
solution for this corona pandemic is in the hand of God,
The world need to turn to God
and repent for the forgiveness of sins.
May God have mercy on us.
2 Chronicle 7:14.
“If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray
and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven
and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
3. Jesus enter and wept for Jerusalem.
Luke 19: 41-44.
41 As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over
it
42 and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this
day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes.
43 The days will come upon you when your enemies will build
an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side.
44 They will dash you to the ground, you and the children
within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because
you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”
Jesus foresee the heart of the people; he sees their
miserable future;
He knows their hopelessness; He know that these
people will never make it to His kingdom. Knowing all these Jesus cry for them.
In
Noah days before the flood people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving
in marriage, they all miss the
opportunity to be to be in
the ark. Everyone perish in their sin.
In the same way people of Jerusalem lose the golden
opportunity.
Jesus was weeping over the tragedy of lost
opportunity,
the Israelites that assembled in Jerusalem for
Passover miss the opportunity to be saved from both earthly and eternal
destruction.
They were visited by their saviour but they didn’t
know it,
instead of receiving Him they killed Him.
Illustration:
I would like remind with the familiar story from the
bible, the rich man and Lazarus
(Luke
16:19-31).
Rich
man.
God bless him with riches: He misuse his wealth in a wrong way. (partying)
God gave him beautiful life: He waste his beautiful life.
God gave him enough time to live on earth: He misuse his opportunity
He never remembers God in his entire life but he
remembers God in hell fire
but it was too late for him.
Whereas
Poor
Lazarus Know the true living God, he makes use of every
opportunity and he ends up his life in eternal heaven.
God gave time
to all of us to come to him before iti is too late.
Application
How Jesus may be thinking of you right now?
Is he weeping of you? Like He weep for Jerusalem?
Or Is he celebrating because you are his child?
Our
life on earth is short let us make use of every opportunity.
God
is an omniscience God He know the pain and suffering we are going through right
now.
He
know our financial struggles, he knows our life challenges and life struggles.
The
cool part is we are not facing all these complications alone. He promised he
will take care of us. If He takes care of the birds in the air and Lily in the
field, he will surely take care of us.
Matthew
11:28-30.
28 “Come to me, all you who
are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from
me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your
souls. 30 For
my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Finally
I wanna close with this beautiful song lyrics.
We are on the last & final topic of the
series called ‘The Church’.
The title of today’s sermon is ‘The Ministry
of the Church’ and the passage we are looking at is Matthew 28:18-20
18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All
authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit,
20 teaching them to observe all that I have
commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Jesus, after spending 33 years on earth as a
human being, walking through this broken world with us, through all the
vulnerabilities we humans go through so He can identify with our struggles,
tempted in every possible way just as we are tempted but still lived a perfect
and holy life pleasing to God the Father.
And after spending the last 3 years in ministry,
preaching the Kingdom of God, making disciples out of uneducated, sinful men,
teaching and enlightening them about the Kingdom of God, offering Himself to
die on the cross as a perfect sacrifice for the atonement of our sin and
rebellion, he exchanged His righteousness with us & finally rose up from
the dead and sealed this new covenant with us of restoring us back to Father.
And now Jesus is at the end of His ministry and He is giving out his last
commandment to his disciples.
These disciples after hearing these commands
from Jesus, on His instruction they wait for the baptism of the Holy Spirit,
just like Jesus waited when he started His ministry, and then scattered all
around the world preaching the good news of the Gospel, making disciples and
teaching them to obey.
Today we are the recipients of God grace because
of these men who took Jesus’s command seriously against all the odds,
challenges, threats, pain, suffering, even death and made Jesus and truth of
the Gospel famous all around the world. A special thanks to Thomas who when led
by the Holy Spirit travelled to our nation India in the year AD 52 and
faithfully preached the Gospel, later was killed in AD 72 in Chennai for
spreading the Gospel.
Brothers & sisters, we all are called &
commanded to do the same. This is the ultimate purpose of our lives and the
ultimate purpose of the Church as we saw a couple of Sundays back. It is to
lift up Jesus to this dying world and communicate this message of hope.
And the funny thing is that this almighty,
all-powerful God doesn’t need us to accomplish this task, he can do it on His
own, but he invites us to have this amazing privilege to participate in His
work as partners – For which He rewards us, on earth and in heaven.
Therefore, lets pay careful attention and
understand this Great commission in depth and how it applies in our current
context of life.
I want to share four things from this passage
that are important for us to know and learn.
1. It’s a command and not an instruction,
from the highest authority.
We all work in corporate companies, imagine the
Founder & Managing Director of your company invites you to his cabin and
personally assigns you a task to do and also promises to reward you for doing
it. How would you respond?
Will you say ‘I’ll do it whenever I get free
time?”, or “I’ll see whether I want to do it”.
No, we will never say that, instead we will be
so excited that we will keep aside every other work to complete the task, in
fact some of us will even work extra hours to get the job done, just to please
your boss and get his compliments.
Brothers & sisters, the one who is speaking
to us is Jesus, to whom all authority in heaven and earth has been given. If an
assignment from an earthly boss can move us and shake us from our comfort zone.
Consider, the one who is speaking to us is almighty God.
And when the most powerful person on heaven and
earth speaks to us, it’s not just an instruction that we can chose whether we
want to do it or not.
There is no other option then to take Him
seriously and get on with the task.
2. Go & tell, not come and see
The instruction is quite clear. It is to ‘go
& tell’ and not ‘come and see’. – “Go therefore …”
In the Old Testament, or in the old covenant the
presence of God resided in the “Tabernacle of God”, in the temple, where people
would come with their sacrifices to receive pardon from their sins. But if we
study the structure and ordinances of the temple we will learn that they were
mere symbols pointing us to Jesus and the ultimate display of His work on the
cross.
Instead of we bringing the sacrifice for the atonement
of our sins, he came and gave himself as a sacrifice once for all. The Bible
tells us that now we are the temple where God resides.
Today the church is not a building or a
structure, church is the people of God – temple of God where God resides (1 Cor
6:19).
When Jesus is asking us to ‘go therefore’, he is
telling us to take His presence with us into this dying world. Which means,
when we invite and have a coffee conversation with a friend or a college we are
allowing them to have close proximity with the presence of God residing in us.
When we are talking to them and expressing our hearts, inviting them into our
lives we are expressing God’s heart to them and inviting them to God’s Kingdom.
Here’s some practical ways in which we invite
them to give us a listening ear. Remember, these are only effective when we are
thoroughly soaked in the Gospel and are experiencing the transforming work of
Christ in us.
Through Our vocabulary –
Speaking the Kingdom language:
When we speak Words of Hope that help people see life beyond
their present pain and suffering
When we speak Words of Life that put King Jesus on the
pedestal for others to see and admire
When we speak Words of acknowledgment & gratefulness to
God for others to learn and follow.
Through Our responses –
Our faithful responses to the brokeness of this world:
Our response when we go through financial crises in trusting His
provision.
Our responses when we fall sick in relying on His Sovereignty.
Our response when we are tempted to sin in saying ‘No’ at all costs.
Our response when we see delay in Gods answering our prayers in
knowing that He makes everything beautiful in His time.
Our response when our bosses sit on out head in trusting in the ultimate
authority.
Our responses to such situations testify the
fact that nothing in this world bothers us because we rest in Jesus and his
finished work on the cross.
Through Our values –
Walking the talk:
Doing the right thing at all times regardless of what the
consequences are.
Walking according to principles and commandment prescribed in the
scripture. – Not out of compulsion but with joy.
Through Our service –
Having a Servantheart:
Going the extra mile to bring the hope of Christ to a person in need,
physical or emotional.
Serving the poor, caring for the orphans, providing for the widows.
Sacrificing our time, energy and resources to comfort others in
need.
Remember, these are means through which we can
invite others to hear us out, but the ultimate goal is Gospel proclamation.
Sharing the True Gospel in a clear, meaningful, & effective manner is most
important, not the Gospel that promises health, wealth & prosperity but the
Gospel that promises eternal life in heaven whether in riches or poverty; pain,
suffering or good health, not a work-based Gospel that says to get this you
have do this, but a Gospel of grace, that says its a free gift we receive
without doing anything in return – All we do is believe in the Son of God &
trust Him.
3. We are called to make disciples, not mere
friends and colleagues
Don’t settle and be satisfied that you have made
some unbelieving friends and that you hang out with them often. Our job is not
complete unless we make a disciple out of them.
And it just doesn’t happen like that, there is
an investment of time, money and resources we need to consider if we have to
walk and disciple people. If time, money, comfort matters to us more than
saving our loved ones from pain, sorrow & misery then we have to consider
offering them as a sacrifice for the sake of the Kingdom.
Jesus left His glory and came for us,
sacrificing everything, the disciples of Jesus left the comfort of their homes
and sacrificed their lives so that we could find hope.
What is it that the Holy Spirit asking us to do?
Are we making disciples or just friends with whom we like to hangout and chill,
mostly so that we can feel good and relieved from the daily stress.
We ought to be making disciples, not just hang
out with them as friends.
4. Teach them to obey, not just attend church
and sing Christian songs
Let us not be like those parents who are happy
that their children go to church, by-heart bible verses and sing Christian
songs. Unless we’ve understood and experienced Gospel transformation and are
walking in obedience to God word, no Christian activity will save our lives.
We are not inviting our friends to do Christian
activities with us but we are inviting them to walk in obedience and to fulfil
the God given purposes in their lives.
It is not the good feeling of being part of a
church, or a good feeling of being part of an exuberant worship that brings
life transformation. What brings life transformation is the truth of God
revealed in our heart that leads us to walking in total surrender to Him.
Therefore, we need to consistently and
faithfully encourage one other to walk in obedience to God’s word. Jesus said
“If you love me you will obey me”. There is no loving without obedience. If you
come to me and say you love Jesus, I will only be able to validate your love
for Jesus if I also see unconditional obedience. – That’s how even Jesus will
measure our love when we meet Him.
Teach them to obey, not just attend church and
sing Christian songs.
In all of this, brothers & sisters, be encouraged
– Jesus is with us and walking alongside us. He promised never to leave, never
to forsake, his hand of protection, his comfort, his strength, his wisdom, his
power is always with us.
This is the ministry of the church, the ministry
of every single person sitting in this room. I hope I’ve given you compelling
reasons to find your joy in serving in the Kingdom of God and tools to start
acting on it. I believe you will be like the faithful servants who used their
talents for God’s glory and when you meet your saviour and master in heaven you
will hear him say “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of
your master”.
Our passage for today is Matthew 25:14-30 and the topic we will be looking at is Gospel Stewardship.
Everything we have and everything we see around belongs to God – Our time, treasures, talents, things & places. In 1 Cor 4:7, Paul writes “Whatever we have, we have received from God” – Beginning with our lives and everything in it.
We are merely Stewards of what actually belongs to God.
Biblical stewardship isn’t just about being good managers of our schedules, our skills, and our stuff, but it calls us to use all these things in the way the Lord wants, for His glory.
Here in this chapter, Jesus is telling a series of parables to his followers explaining about the kingdom the God. In the parable right before our passage, he tells the story of the five foolish virgins who were unprepared in receive the bridegroom and missed the chance to go with him.
In verse 13, Jesus says, “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”
Jesus is not merely saying stories to entertain the disciples. He is sharing some life-impacting truths through these parables. He is talking about the Kingdom of God, he is revealing the heart of the Father and his expectation from his children.
In the parable, Jesus is telling us that God is like this man who called his servants and entrusted them with his property. He then gave talents to each one of them according to their abilities, watch them steward those talents and rewarded them accordingly.
Here are a couple of things we learn from this parable.
God has gracefully given to us.
To Jesus’s original hearers, a talent meant a very large unit of monetary value. People whose net worth equalled a talent were very well off. Scholars say that one talent in today’s world would be worth crores of rupees.
In reality, no servant’s stewardship was insignificant. Each received something of great value.
But this parable is not really about stewarding money. It is about stewarding our time, talents, treasures, abilities – everything we have and possess, God entrusts to us.
No one in this room can say God did not give them anything.
If you say so then, consider these words of Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 4:7
“What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?” (1 Corinthians 4:7).
The master wasn’t obligated to give the servants anything. Each servant received his talents by the grace of the master.
Remember, God had graciously given to each one of us sitting here according to our capabilities. To some, artistic abilities, writing abilities, cooking skills, serving skills, talking skills, musical abilities, counselling abilities, dancing abilities, parenting abilities, etc.
And as we faithfully steward whatever is given to us, more will be provided, as it was given to the servants who brought back double portion.
He expects us to put in hard work.
When the third servant brought back the one talent as it was and gave it back to the Master, the Master answered and said ‘You wicked & slothful servant’.
God hates a lazy person, it makes him angry to see a man lazy. There is no reward for the one who is lazy. Proverbs 12:24 – The hand of the diligent will rule, while the slothful will be put to forced labour.
The other two servants took the talents, worked hard and brought back double the portion, and the master applauded them and gave them more.
God expects us to put in hard work to grow our artistic abilities, counselling abilities, cooking abilities, talking skills etc.
He expects us to seek and apply wisdom.
When the lazy servant came with nothing, the master says “couldn’t you at least be wise to invest the money with the bankers, and at least brought back the interest”
Proverbs 9:6 says “Leave your simple ways, and live, and walk in the way of insight.”
The two faithful servants applied wisdom to double their money and brought back returns to their master, and he was pleased.
God expects us to seek and apply wisdom as we steward the talents he’s given to us.
Proverbs 4:5-6
“Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or turn away from them. Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you; love her, and she will watch over you.”
The wisdom that comes from heaven – a pure; peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. – James 3:17
He will hold us accountable.
Finally, God has not given us the talents for our own self-gratification. But someday he will hold us accountable for how we’ve stewarded the time, talents & treasures he has given us.
“everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more” (Luke 12:48). जिसे बहुत दिया गया है, उस से बहुत मांगा जाएगा, और जिसे बहुत सौंपा गया है, उस से बहुत मांगेंगें॥
This parable is meant to strike the appropriate fear of God in us and force us to ask what we are doing with the gracious gifts that has been given to us.
We cannot run away from God.
Brothers & sisters, in reality, we are the lazy and foolish servant in the parable. Even though we know that God is just and holy, who can reap without sowing and gather without scattering the seed. We, in our flesh, chose to rebel against him, we chose to remain slothful, and we chose to remain foolish. We are the sinful ones.
If anyone here says, no I’m not like that foolish servant, I work hard, I apply wisdom to everything I do. I would ask you, as you do these things, are you always doing it for the right reasons – seeking God’s glory above everything.
1 John 1:8 says “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.”
Brothers & sister, we cannot be a biblical steward if we haven’t really understood the Gospel — the story of what God has accomplished through the life and death of Jesus Christ.
Yes, we are supposed to work hard
Yes, we are supposed to apply wisdom in everything we do
Yes, we are supposed to be accountable to God
But not without the inspiration of the Gospel, of what Christ has accomplished for us.
When we received the saving grace of Jesus, the Gospel changes not only a person’s destination in eternity but also his heart and mind here and now. The Gospel transforms more than a person’s relationship with God; it also transforms a person’s relationship to everything else.
That’s why, when someone says he’s become a believer, the most reliable evidence that a person has been converted is that he begins looking for ways to use his time, talent, and treasure in service to the Gospel.
Only Gospel-inspired stewardship is the true stewardship.
By the Gospel & for the Gospel
When a person eagerly begins to use his resources to serve and spread the Gospel, it testifies to the value he places upon the Gospel and to the fact that he treasures the God of the Gospel above all.
Let me give you a couple of examples, and then I’ll finish.
For example, the way I treasure and steward my marriage will tell you how much my life is impacted by the Gospel, how much I’ve understood the Love and affection of Christ for His bride.
If I’m stewarding my marriage in an unhealthy manner, where I’m failing to exercise love and forgiveness towards my wife than it is evident that I’ve really not understood the Gospel, especially the love and forgiveness of Christ.
Similarly, Art & Music are good endeavours, but unless it is inspired by the Gospel, with a deeper understanding of God love and his power displayed through his son Jesus, and with the motive to glorify the giver of gifts, it can turn into a breeding ground for pride, depression & brokenness.
This morning as you leave this room, I don’t want us to go thinking, I’m now going to work hard, apply wisdom and do something for Jesus. No, I want you to leave the room saying I’m going to fall deeper in love with Jesus, draw inspiration from Jesus, from his expressions of love, forgiveness and grace.
May it be that our hard work and application of wisdom be the outcome of the impact of the Gospel, only then we will be able to fully and faithfully steward our time, talents and treasures given to us in a manner that it glorifies God, just like the two faithful servants in the parable.
Today’s sermon is part of a series called ‘Gospel Renewal’. Through these sermon series, we are discovering how to consistently live all of life under the influence of the gospel.
So far, we’ve covered topics on Prayer, Humility, Repentance & Dependence. Today we will look into the topic of ‘Gospel Satisfaction’ – In this broken world, how can we live a truly satisfied Life. And our passage for today is Matt 13:44-46.
To begin with, let’s ask ourselves “How many of us don’t want to live a satisfied life?” – None, right. Which means every one of us wants to live a satisfied life.
Last week as I was thinking about our topic today on ‘Satisfaction’, I asked a couple of people at my home and office from different age groups “What is it that you expect to happen in your life that you think will give you ultimate satisfaction?”
Here are some of the answers I received:
I will be fully satisfied in life…
• When all my debt is clear
• When I get my dream job
• When the conflicts in my home will be fully resolved
• When I get a dog (answer by a 10-year-old)
• When I am healed of my sickness
• When I have a good enough bank balance
Here are a couple of things I learnt when I heard these answers
We all tend to look for satisfaction in the fleeting pleasures and things of this world.
At different junctures in life, these desires keep changing. It never ends.
If we genuinely evaluate, there is nothing of this world that can give permanent satisfaction in life, even on our death bed, we will be discontent with something we never got to enjoy.
The sad reality – Unknowingly, we are spending all our lives wasting our energy chasing after things that were never meant to give us true satisfaction.
If these things are not meant to give us true satisfaction, what is it that gives us true satisfaction? To discover that, let’s look at our passage today and find the answer – Matt 13:44-46
“The Kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy, he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the Kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”
First of all, we have to note that the passage is a parable and not a direct command. And therefore, we have to understand the principle behind the parable and not to take it literally.
Jesus is telling us the parable about a man who finds such satisfaction in what he found, that he went and sold everything he had to own it.
True satisfaction in life comes when we find and chase after the one thing that’s of great value.
What is that one thing that the man in this parable finds of great value? – The Kingdom of God.
In Matthew 6:33, Jesus said “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you”
Jesus is saying, instead of running after all these things in life that you think will give you real satisfaction. I’m saying first seek the Kingdom, and all other things shall be added unto you.
To chase after the Kingdom of God should be of primary importance, then chasing after the things of the world. 1 John 2:17 says “the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” Isn’t it true?
The picture painted in the parable is of a man who is running after the right thing and is fully satisfied.
Now, what is the Kingdom of God?
The Kingdom of God is God’s redemptive work through his son Jesus Christ in the world, resulting in people being in right relationship with himself. The Kingdom of God is the big picture of what God is doing in this world.
Which means to seek and chase after the Kingdom of God, is to walk in right relationship with God and to participate in God’s glorious work in this world.
If you are someone who’s hearing such a message for the first time, having a troubled life, without peace, without joy… You need to know that unless we walk into a right relationship with our creator God, we will never find true satisfaction. What you need right now is not a temporary solution to your temporary problem but a permanent solution that will set you free forever.
The answer to all our temporary problems is one permanent solution – Restored relationship with our creator God.
Bible says, Our sins have separated us from God, the reason the world is dark, broken, lost is because we are separated from God who created us for this glory. Instead of worshipping and adoring him, we end up worshipping the created things of this world. Idols, money, fame, pleasures.
And none of them is capable of giving us the true satisfaction our soul is seeking.
Money is not the solution to our problem. If it was money, then all the rich people in this world should have been the happiest people in the world, and that is absolutely not true.
Yes, money can give temporary relief, but it will never satisfy our souls, that craves for love and acceptance.
No matter how hard we try to mend the broken relationship with our creator God on our own, we will never be able to accomplish it on our own. Unless we are purified of our sins, we will never be able to relate with God, unless we’ve paid the penalty of our sins that satisfies God’s Holy wrath and anger on us we will never be able to mend the broken relationship.
And our human efforts can never satisfy God’s Holy anger.
The beautiful thing is, more than our cravings for a relationship with God, God craves, even more, to be with us.
The Bible says that God himself sent His son Jesus for us, to live the perfect life we were supposed to live, offered himself as a perfect sacrifice for the atonement of our sins, pay for our mistakes, die on the cross and satisfy God’s wrath on our behalf, to kill the power of sin in our lives. And rose again from the dead, seated in heaven, praying for us.
And so as we repent of our sins and receive Jesus as our Lord, believe in his name, he gives the right to become children of God.
True satisfaction comes when we realize how precious is this gift from God, and therefore, willing to give away anything that holds us back from receiving this gift.
“the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”
Brother & sisters, it is not easy to go against the world when they say money is the answer to all problems, it not easy to go against the world when they say following family traditions and values is important, and that we have to follow them without questioning blindly.
It is not easy to drop all our idols, let go of all our dreams, count the things of the world rubbish and follow the footsteps of Jesus. Jesus said, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” – In other words, we cannot fully receive the Kingdom of God unless we are willing to pay the price.
The man in the parable, when he finds the Kingdom, he hides it back realizing how precious it is, goes back and sells everything he has, pays the price, and buys the land – and is fully satisfied in doing so.
To those who’ve received the Kingdom of God in their hearts. Here are two things I want to say, to help us treasure what we’ve received and to continue finding your satisfaction in it.
1. We have to order our lives around the Kingdom of God
Even after receiving the Kingdom of God in our hearts, as we continue to live in this world, among all the dark forces, the result-oriented bosses at work, the nagging family members at home, still seeking specific answers to our prayer. It is so easy for us to slip away and go back to find our satisfaction in the world.
To order our lives around the Kingdom of God is to make ‘Intimacy with Jesus’ the ultimate goal of our lives. Which means we should always be willing to let go of anyone or anything so that you grow in intimacy with Jesus.
Whether its an ungodly relationship that takes all our energy away and weakens us from enjoying intimacy with Jesus.
Whether it’s our job that doesn’t allow us time to enjoy intimacy with Jesus.
Whether a business that takes most of our focus away from enjoying intimacy with Jesus.
Whether the wealth that is stopping us from enjoying intimacy with Jesus.
Like the rich young ruler who wanted to know how to inherit eternal life. When Jesus knowing his heart idols, asked him to go and sell all that he has, give to the poor and follow him. Was unwilling to do so and went back sorrowful.
Jesus said, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!”
The key to continuing living a satisfied life for all those who believe, is to order our life around the Kingdom of God, to find our satisfaction in our relationship with Christ.
2. Dedicate all of life for the expansion of the Kingdom of God
As we enjoy our relationship with Christ, fully satisfied in Him. He then calls us to participate with Him in his Kingdom work.
It’s a privilege for us to be called to participate in His work. By serving God and his people, we’re not doing a favour on God. But, in fact, God is doing a favour on us.
By allowing us to participate in his Kingdom work, he is giving us more opportunities to be satisfied in life.
Personally, as a family, to be serving God and to serve you with our time, energy and efforts, even thought it gets tiring, and exhaustive. By the end of the day when we sit down and reflect on all that God is doing in and through our lives, there is such joy and satisfaction in our hearts. I sometimes cry.
Yes, we have to look after our families, work hard to survive, but unless our primary pursuit in life is to participate in the expansion of the Kingdom of God, we are still lacking sometimes precious in life.
As I conclude, let us all first seek the Kingdom of God and his righteousness that comes through repentance and belief in Jesus, and He will surely satisfy our soul with all good things in life, that is meant to bring true joy and happiness.