(Alternate title: The Formation of Your Soul for Eternity)
Luke 19:11-27
11-16-14
I want to begin this morning with a rather shocking contrast: two guys in two very different conditions.i Just looking at these two individuals would you say that these two people probably made some very different lifestyle choices—and those choices profoundly influenced what you’re seeing on the screen right now?
That’s where we begin today—with the end result physical condition of these two guys. For a person to develop the physical heath and strength of this second guy there are normally four things that need to happen.
(1) KNOWLEDGE
You have to learn and understand that self-indulgent overeating, inactivity produces this result in your body and sensible eating and proper exercise produces this result in your body.
(2) VISION
You have to gain a vision of what end result you want and believe in the possibility that you can become that fit person. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for.…”ii If you have no hope that the end result can be attained, then you have no motivation to pursue it.
(3) DECISION
Having evaluated the difference in the end result, you have to access what action will be required to get there. To develop a healthy body you may have to watch less TV, play fewer video games, make fewer trips to Braums so that you have more time to jog or walk or lift weights. Since this will involve discipline of your body and schedule, you know that there will be effort in the process. On the other hand, ending up a fat slob requires very little effort. All you have to do is lay back on the couch and eat potato chips. So, I can be lazy—but here is the consequence of that in my body. I really don’t like what I will be 10 years from now. OR I can get up and get active and eat right and get the result I want. One thing I cannot do is be lazy and undisciplined and everything turn out great. God has set a principle in the earth called the law of sowing and reaping. If I sow corn, I will reap corn. If I sow a lot of corn, I will reap a lot of corn. If I sow dandelion seeds—I won’t reap corn—I will reap dandelion weeds. And this principle will be equally true for everybody in this room. Gal 6:7-8 “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. 8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.” “Do not be deceived...” the Bible says. If I’m going to make wise decisions I have to get rid of the deception that says I’m the exception—the law of sowing and reaping does not apply to me—I will beat the system. I have to face the reality: either I pursue one course of action and have the result of that choice or I pursue the other course and in the end have the result of that choice.
One mistake we can easily make in life is to make superficial decisions that leave us living in a double-minded state.iii My decisions need a deep root system that will weather the storms. Last week Pastor Harold took us to Matthew 13 where Jesus used the metaphor of a farmer to explain the kingdom of God. The farmer sowed seed in four kinds of soil. One kind of soil was stony ground. The plants sprang up, got off to a good start; but when the heat came during the dry season, those plants withered away. Why, because they had insufficient roots. In contrast some seed fell on good ground; the root system was sufficient to withstand the adversities, and these plants produced the intended results.
Our decisions need to be rooted in a process that counts the cost and then decides, yes, I will pay that price to have that end result! In Luke 14 Jesus gave two illustrations to drive home the importance of this decision-making process. The first was the metaphor of constructing a tower. You don’t just immediately start digging the foundation and building the frame. No, first you draw up blue prints identifying what you will have to do to have this tower as an end result. Then you dollarize the plan. How much will this actually cost us? And once we know that, are we sure we are committed to building the tower? Only then are we ready to make a decision.
Here is what Jesus said about the second metaphor. Luke 14:31-33, “Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace.” Now here in verse 33 Jesus makes the all-important application, “So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.”
So sufficient thought has to go into the decision! Just wanting a tower is not sufficient.iv Do I want it enough to make the investment to actually see the process all the way through?
So we have talked about 3 steps: (1) Knowledge (2) Vision (3) Decision.
(4) ACTION
Having gained knowledge, having seen the possibility, having counted the cost and made the decision—I must now take steps in that direction. I have to actually do the things necessary to move me toward the end result. This is what James meant when he said, “Faith without works is dead.”v I can envision and want a good thing all day long, but I must take action to really lay hold of it. Of course, we know that action must be taken in reliance upon God’s help, God’s grace, God’s empowerment. But grace does not preclude the actions; grace empowers the action. In faith, we step in the right direction expecting grace to meet us there and enable us to move forward.vi
So, we have talked about 4 specific steps toward the fulfillment of an end result.
(1) Knowledge: Do you have adequate information to make a wise decision? This is why we are exhorted over and over to stay in the word of God—we must have the knowledge that God has provided us there.
(2) Vision: Do you see the possibility?
(3) Decision: Have you counted the cost and are still saying “yes”?
(4) Action: Have you taken the first step of obedience counting on God’s grace to enable you to proceed. What step do you need to take next? Take it!
We have used the development of the physical body to teach the process because that is concrete enough that we can all see how it works. And that teaching alone is profitable. Paul wrote in 1 Tim 4:8, “For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.”vii Bodily exercise will help you during this life—you will be healthier, you will feel better, and you will probably live longer. The benefits of all that end when you take your last breath. In contrast, Paul says, godliness is profitable for all things, having the promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. Be sure you get this: the godliness you develop in this life does not just benefit you in this brief life; it benefits you forever! It benefits you forever because that non-material part of you does not end when you mortal body takes its last breath. There are eternal consequences to the development of your soul in godliness in this life.
So now I want to shift all this from the development of the physical body to the development of your eternal soul as a Christian. Peter says to the Christians in his 2nd epistle (3:18), “Grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” There is an important process that should be going on between the day you get born again and the day you physically die. In that process, the non-material part of you (your soul) is being matured and developed in preparation for your role in the life to come.
For a person to be born again, Romans 10:9 says the person must do two things as a process of receiving the free gift. He must (1) physically confess with his mouth the Lord Jesus and (2) believe in his heart that God raised him from the dead. Those two actions do not earn him salvation; but that is the process God has chosen and required for you to enter the kingdom. At the moment you are born again your spirt is joined to Christ and made perfect—old things have passed away and all things have become new.vii You have been birthed into a totally new arena of life. You have moved from mere biological life into the eternal life of the Trinity.
For everyone that has been born again 1 Peter 2:2 says. “As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby,” In the same way a newborn baby needs to be nurtured and grow into maturity, every re-born child of God needs to grow and mature in his soul into the capable, responsible son or daughter of God he or she is designed to be. But why does Peter tell Christians to do something?ix “Desire the pure milk of the word that you may grow thereby.” There is a growth process that needs to happen and taking in the milk of the word is essential to that growth process.
One of the tragedies of the modern church is a theology that minimizes that truth—a theology that says you got your ticket to heaven when you received Christ; now the goal is to get God to make your life as comfortable and pleasurable as possible. No (a thousand times no); that is not the goal. The goal after you get born again is to mature into the being God intends for you to be for all eternity. That does not happen as you are passive toward the kingdom of heaven and spend your life pursuing the things of this world. It only happens as you desire the sincere milk of the word and as you pursue God as the chief priority of your life.x
Listen to the Apostle Paul in Phil 3:8-14“ Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.xi 13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” For Paul, being born again was not the end of the matter, but the beginning (Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on). If the Apostle Paul had not already attained, it is probable that I have not already attained, that there is something I need to be reaching for with all my might.
The most important point to get from this message is our active involvement in this process. It will not happen (and I repeat, it will not happen) if I am passive about it. Passive, apathetic Christianity is a tragic atrocity foreign to New Testament teaching. Two hours a week is not even close to what is involved. We are not born again so that we can spend all our time and energy trying to pursue the same thing the world around us is pursuing. They that are carnal (Romans 8 tells us) set their minds on things of the flesh. A carnal mind is just a natural mind focused on the desires of the body and the things of this world. In contrast, they that are spiritual set their minds (are preoccupied with and in pursuit of) the things of the Spirit.xii You are always pursuing one or the other in every choice you make on a daily basis.
C.S. Lewis wrote, “…every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different from what it was before. And taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all your life long you are slowly turning this central thing either into a heavenly creature or into a hellish creature: either into a creature that is in harmony with God, and with other creatures, and with itself, or else into one that is in a state of war and hatred with God, and with its fellow-creatures, and with itself. To be the one kind of creature is heaven: that is, it is joy and peace and knowledge and power. To be the other means madness, horror, idiocy, rage, impotence, and eternal loneliness. Each of us at each moment is progressing to the one state or the other.” xiii
Today I want to set aside the progression toward a twisted, perverted, hellish creature.xiv I want to focus on the progress of a Christian toward spiritual maturity. From the time you are born again until the time you physically die, you have an awesome opportunity to cooperate with the development of your soul. The day you die, you will have arrived at a certain capacity for the glory of God. Every Christian will stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ that each one may receive according to what he has done (2 Cor. 5:10). Your assigned place in the kingdom will be based on what you have done and what you have become during this life. Many Christians have the mistaken idea that we will all receive the same. If that were so, there would be no need for a Judgment Seat of Christ. 1 Cor. 3:17 talks about some Christians being saved like a man coming through a burning house and being saved but everything he has is in ashes behind him.xv Compare that to Peter’s statement to those who give diligence to make their calling and election sure. 2 Peter 1:11, “for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”xvi
When the Judgment Seat of Christ is all said and done, our specific assignments in the kingdom of heaven will vary. Certainly the amount of authority God entrusts to Christians in the life to come will differ.
Look with me at Luke 19:11-27.
“Therefore He said: ‘A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return. 13 So he called ten of his servants, delivered to them ten minas , and said to them, 'Do business till I come.' 14 But his citizens hated him, and sent a delegation after him, saying, 'We will not have this man to reign over us.'
15 "And so it was that when he returned, having received the kingdom, he then commanded these servants, to whom he had given the money, to be called to him, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading. 16 Then came the first, saying, 'Master, your mina has earned ten minas.'xvii 17 And he said to him, 'Well done, good servant; because you were faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities.' 18 And the second came, saying, 'Master, your mina has earned five minas.' 19 Likewise he said to him, 'You also be over five cities.'
20 "Then another came, saying, 'Master, here is your mina, which I have kept put away in a handkerchief. 21 For I feared you, because you are an austere man. You collect what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.' 22 And he said to him, 'Out of your own mouth I will judge you, you wicked servant. You knew that I was an austere man, collecting what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow. 23 Why then did you not put my money in the bank, that at my coming I might have collected it with interest?'
24 "And he said to those who stood by, 'Take the mina from him, and give it to him who has ten minas.' 25(But they said to him, 'Master, he has ten minas.') 26'For I say to you, that to everyone who has will be given; and from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. 27 But bring here those enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, and slay them before me.'" (Last verse refers to citizens who hated him—not the servants).
So one servant was granted authority over ten cities, another over five cities, and one received essentially no authority. The capacity to rule was different for each of the servants. Would you give rulership over a city to a two-year old? No wise person would do that. It would be unfair to the whole city. The level of maturity (what we have become) arrived at when we appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ determines what God can safely trust us with in His eternal kingdom. It is “whosoever will” from beginning to end. We will not all be a bunch of clones, exactly the same in our development. A three-month old infant and a sixteen-year old son are equally loved, equally part of the family—but their capacity for responsibility is vastly different. One can drive a car; the other has virtually no capacity for leadership.
Why am I sharing this information? Because the first thing we need in order to realize a desired end-result is what? Knowledge. This knowledge helps Christians decide how much time and energy they want to invest in pursuing God and how much they wants to invest in pursuing the things of this temporal world. If my diligence toward the kingdom of God makes no difference in my end result, then why invest there? I’ll turn my energy toward making more money and having more fun. On the other hand, if every choice I make is slowly shaping me into the creature I will be for eternity, then some serious investment there might be wise.
What if I have (as a Christian) invested my time and energy into having a cool car, maintaining the most immaculate lawn, being the most physically fit, getting the most education and the best job, fully remodeling my kitchen—then the day I die, my soul is underdeveloped as a creature of limited capacity for God? What have I done? I have exchanged something that will last forever for a few fleeting moments of vanity and comfort. It’s not a good way to invest my life.
Knowledge is the first element of reaching a desired end. Christian, can you see the difference between a life invested in the process God has designed for your preparation verses a life invested in the desires of the body and the things of this world. If you don’t see that, you won’t have the motivation to make the kingdom of God priority in your life. Preachers can lecture you Sunday after Sunday on reading your Bible and praying and serving and all these good things. You may even say amen during the message. But if in the back of your mind is the deception that Jesus saved me—all I have to do is bid my time here on earth—in the end it really doesn’t matter whether I did that stuff or not—then you probably won’t do it no matter how many sermons you hear telling you to do it. What I am trying to communicate from the Bible is that the development of your soul is not just a duty you ought to do—it is supremely in your best interest to do it—even as a Christian your eternal destiny is at stake—not whether you will go to heaven or hell—but what you will be in heaven forever.xviii
That’s why Peter calls us to active participation in the process. 2 Peter 1:5-7 “…giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.” Giving all diligence means it’s the priority on your time and energy.
END NOTES:
i Side-by-side picture on power point of two middle-age men: one obese and the other physically fit.
ii Hebrews 11:1. All biblical quotes are in the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated.
iii James 1:6-8
iv Luke 18:18-23; Luke 14:26-27; Luke 9:57-62
v James 2:14-18. Here James is not contrasting a system of works verses a system of faith. He is emphasizing the
action that will characterize genuine faith. If I really believe something, I will act in accordance with that truth.
vi God commands us to do things we cannot do, but as we respond to His command then He supplies the ability
by grace. If we do not respond to the command, the grace is not supplied. A vivid picture of this can be seen in
Jesus’ command to the man with the withered (Luke 6:10).
vii 1 Tim 4:8-9 “For a little (ASV); the reference to the present life and to the life to come suggests that it
means "little while," in other words, this life. (from The Wycliffe Bible Commentary, Electronic Database.
Copyright (c) 1962 by Moody Press).
vii 2 Corinthians 5:17; 1 Corinthians 6:17. Once a person is born into the kingdom of God, he is exhorted in
Scripture to grow (1 Peter 2:2), progress in the development of godly character (1 Peter 1:5-5), and be
transformed by the renewing of the mind (Romans 12:2). This is the spiritual transformation that this message
focuses on. 1 Thes. 5:23, “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole
spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
ix This does not negate the operation of grace. Grace is not passivity. The operation of grace flows out of reliance
on God in obedience to His commands, in contrast to reliance upon our own strength.
x Matthew 6:33. An overemphasis on forensic theology has produced many Christians who do not pursue the
development of God’s character because they are told they already have everything. The death and resurrection
of Jesus has provided everything we need for life and godliness (2 Pet. 1:3) but in that verse Peter tells us in
comes through relational interaction (knowing) with Christ. He follows that up with the call for Christians t0
be “giving all diligence, add…” (1 Peter 5-6).
xi “He continued to strive in every possible way that he might appropriate to himself as much as possible what
was available to him in the grace of God.” Manford George Gutzke, Plain Talk on Philippians, (Grand Rapids:
Zondervan Publishing, 1973) p.180.
xii Romans 8:5-6
xiii C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1980) p. 92.
xiv This is the course of a Christ-rejecter. Hell is not just about a place in eternity but more about the kind of
creature the individual becomes without the influence of God’s grace.
xv “Shall suffer loss. Loss of reward, not loss of salvation…..By fire. Better, through fire. The thought back of it is of
one's rushing through fire to safety as the building crumbles….” (from The Wycliffe Bible Commentary, Electronic
Database. Copyright (c) 1962 by Moody Press).
xvi See also 2 Tim. 4:8; James 1:12. In his discussion of the Christian’s resurrected body Paul mentions that “…one
star differs from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead” (1 Cor. 15:41-42). The contrast he is
making is between a celestial body and a terrestrial; but there may be an implication that the degree of glory
manifested in one saint’s glorified body may differ from the degree in another just as the brightness of one star
differs from the brightness of another star. Of course, one cannot be dogmatic about this because that is not the
specific contrast he is making.
xvii Money worth about three month’s salary (New Spirit Filled Life Bible)
xviii I recognize this is not the ultimate motivation for serving God. Ultimately we should serve Him simply because
we love Him (1 John 4:19; John 14:21). But what I have shared in this message is a fact and in our imperfect state
is valid/scriptural motivation for pressing into God. Too many Christians do not have this knowledge and as a
result are making poor choices about the investment of their time and energy. Lecturing them to study the Bible,
pray, etc. without them understanding why, can be rather ineffective.
