Scripture: Matthew 6:9-13; John 7:38-39; Luke 19:11-27
Title: We Owe Others
Proposition: There are three things that We Owe Others 1. An Encounter with the LORD 2. An Example 3. The Message of Good News*
Grace and peace from God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit!
N. T. Wright made this statement:
“Jesus’s resurrection is the beginning of God’s new project not to snatch people away from earth to heaven but to colonize earth with the life of heaven. That, after all, is what the Lord’s Prayer is about.”
Now, that does not diminish any ideas concerning the Second Coming. Scripture is clear about the fact that Jesus Christ is Coming Again.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
“For the LORD Himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the LORD in the air. Then we will be with the LORD forever.”
However, it is just as clear what we are to do in the meantime. We are not called to either navel gaze or sit on our hands. We are not called to isolate ourselves on high holy mountain tops nor be conformed to this world.
This morning we all owe a debt. We owe a debt to our fellow Christians. We owe a debt to those outside the faith. Now, this debt is not primarily a financial or materialistic debt.
This debt has to do with how I live my life here on this Good Earth. And it has to do with what I do with my life on this Good Earth. For, the truth is this morning there are those who are in our lives who may never understand their truth value and worth unless we are willing to do our part in the here and now.
Anita Canfield in 1985 shared the following quote in her book, A Woman & Her Self-Esteem. It is a quote that has been attributed to a great many people including Pastor Ernest T. Campbell, Dr. Rev. Thomas K. Tewell and even Mark Twain. Regardless of who actually wrote it the quote causes us to take a moment and do some thoughtful introspection:
Ask yourself a most profound question: “What are the two most important days in my life?” THE DAY YOU WERE BORN and THE DAY YOU REALIZE WHY YOU WERE BORN! And why were you born? You were born to bless the lives of others. You were born to make a contribution.
What an amazing and wonderful statement. Let’s take some time this morning to look at three debts that we owe to others; those who believe in Christ and those who as yet have not believed in Christ.
1. An Encounter with God
The greatest thing that we can do for ourselves, for our fellow Christians and for those outside of the faith is to have a Personal Encounter with the God of All Creation. There is no greater gift that we can give to ourselves, to our children, our grandchildren, our extended family, and our friends and to the world at large.
We can leave them money and in no time it may be spent and gone. We can leave them a great deal of material goods and in the end all of those things will rust, rot and find their place in some landfill. But if we can share with them experiences of when we have had encounters with the LORD, it will not only inspire them it can reveal the way for them to experience such encounters and even more.
One of the reasons such names as Abraham, Jacob, Moses, David, Deborah, Ruth, Hezekiah, Isaiah, Esther, Simeon, Mary, Joseph, Peter and Paul possess such spiritual gravitas is due to their encounters that they experienced with the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY.
Three of Abraham’s encounters with God are recorded in Genesis chapters 12, 15 and 17.
+In chapter 12, Abraham encounters God as he is living in a pagan land and is called to go to the Promise Land.
+In chapter 15, Abraham encounters God in a vision as God reveals more about His future plans for blessing Abraham and his descendants.
+In chapter 17, Abraham is again encountered by the LORD as the LORD further reveals His plans concerning the birth of a Promise Child – Isaac.
In all of this, we see a progressive deepening with each encounter. Abraham faith grows, his experience with the LORD deepens and more and more God reveals His nature and His plans with Abraham. That is the way it is with God.
A little later we see Moses having this amazing encounter with the LORD. It is recorded in Exodus chapter 3. It is an encounter that turns Moses’ life around. Moses goes from being an insignificant shepherd on the backside of nowhere to becoming the leader of the People of Israel and God’s mighty Law Giver.
What may be missed however is how God reveals more of Himself to Moses than He had to Abraham. Moses and His People will know God in a more intimate way. This is what happens as we read the through the Bible. Each time God encounters His People it is not to set thing back to square one – there is a progressive characteristic to all of God’s encounters with His People.
We see this for example in Isaiah chapter 6. Here, we have the Prophet Isaiah’s encounter with the LORD. He is overwhelmed as he finds himself being overshadowed by the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY. He falls to his feet as he becomes aware of his sinfulness only to have the LORD supernaturally remove his sins and commission him to be His Prophet.
Again we see a progression – from calling one to leave a life of paganism (Abraham), to one receiving the Law (Moses) to now Isaiah not only being in God’s Presence but being cleansed and filled with God’s Holy Spirit. Each time God is revealing Himself more and more and humanity is being able to understand and receive more and more of God.
When we go to the New Testament we see this progression exponentially increasing. The Apostle Peter’s life was transformed over and over again with his numerous encounters with Jesus. Jesus patiently took this one time rough and ready fisherman and through a myriad of encounters fashioned his life to become the leader of the Early Church. Peter not only witnesses signs and wonders that were greater than those of Abraham, Moses and Isaiah, he participates in them. His encounter is not to walk on dry ground but to walk on water. His encounter is not to see God’s law coming down from Mount Sinai but to see Jesus, Moses and Elijah being transfigured. His encounter is not just to see God’s Shekinah gloryfill the Temple but to fill over 3,000 people on the Day of Pentecost.
All of these and others that are mentioned in Scripture all have this one common thread running in and through their lives – they experienced a supernatural encounter with the LORD. For some it happened through God’s Holy Spirit speaking to them, for others it was through an act of nature and still others through an angel, a dream, a vision or the testimony of a Christ follower.
And with each of them their lives were transformed forever. They were never the same after meeting the LORD, being touched by the LORD and being filled with His Holy Spirit.
It is essential for each of us to have an encounter with the LORD. It may not be through an angel or through a vision or a dream or then again it could very well be. It may not be like one that has been experienced by another member of our family. But, the fact remains that each and every one of us should be able to testify about having deep and personal encounters with the LORD God Almighty.
We owe ourselves such encounters. We owe the world such an encounters.
Jesus paid the price on Calvary for us to have such encounters. Jesus promised us such encounters in John chapters 14 and 16. Jesus tells us over and over again that the Holy Spirit will reveal Himself to us, that the Holy Spirit will testify to us all manner of things about Jesus and that the Holy Spirit will cleanse us from all unrighteousness and will reside in us. Jesus tells us that the Holy Spirit will lead us, comfort us, guide us and reveal all manner of truth, wisdom, knowledge and understanding to us.
It is through the Holy Spirit that Jesus tells us that we can experience a life of “living water” (which is the Holy Spirit) that will continually flow from our hearts. The Bible tells us that we can experience so much Living water that it will cause other people to be attracted to us and to our Savior.
Now, living water is to be more than the bottled water we all are familiar with today. If you look at a bottle of bottled water you will notice that it is never absolutely full. It is never overflowing. Instead, while it is full by the accepted standards of the bottle manufacture it is not really full. There is always a little room at the top. Bottled water is contained water. It is not overflowing.
The only way for it to be truly full is to remove the cap and pour some more water into it until you have an overflow. Fullness is only measured in the OVERFLOW.
It is the same way in our lives with the Holy Spirit. The only way for us to have full lives is to live in the OVERFLOW of God’s Holy Spirit. The only way for us to have full lives is to experience every deepening and enriching encounters with the LORD that leads to more encounters with the LORD which leads to our lives being continually over flowing with His Holy Spirit.
The Devil wants us to live spiritually bottled lives; almost full but not running over. He wants us to lived Spiritual lives that are contained and capped. He wants us to live limited spiritual lives. Lives that look refreshing and pure but stay contained. He doesn’t mind up being pure as long as we are isolated and capped. He doesn’t even mind a church full of capped and contained water as long as that water doesn’t leak out and they stay safe and contained in their own individual containers.
But the LORD wants us to be more and do more. He wants to uncap us and continually pour Himself through us with each and evermore encounters so that we are like living water – flowing over and over and over. So, that we are like living water running to people everywhere who are dying of spiritual thirst.
II. Secondly, this morning we owe the world an example
It is vital for us to experience multiple encounters with the LORD. People need to hear about those encounters. People need to see a physical example of what such encounters will do in and through a person.
People need mentors and models that illustrate firsthand what it looks like to live life in Christ. People need mentors and models that illustrate firsthand what it looks like to live life in the Holy Spirit.
In Psalms 67, the Psalmist shares that one of the reasons he prays for God’s mercy and grace is so that the whole world may see the favor and blessing of God on his life and turn to the LORD. He wants his life to be a life that not only is seen as a blessing but shows how others can receive and be a blessing as well.
In Zachariah 8:13 LORD GOD ALMIGHTY tells the Prophet Zachariah
“… Now I will rescue you and make you both a symbol and a source of blessing…
Can you imagine that? Can you see that in your own life; to be both one of God’s symbols (examples) and a source of blessing?
In His Sermon on the Mount this is the life that Jesus challenges His Disciples to experience (Matthew 5:14 – 16)
“You are the light of the world – like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.”
In other words be an example – be a light for God that can be seen, felt and experienced. Be an example so that people will praise the LORD and turn towards the LORD.
Being an example is not being quiet or isolating yourself. Being an example is not living afraid of the world. Just the opposite; being an example is using your hands, your arms, legs and your mouth for the LORD!
The Patriarch Isaac was such an example of the LORD’s favor and blessing that people wanted him to live beside them because they would receive the overflow. One of his neighbors, a man by the name of Abimelech did all he could to have a covenant with Isaac because he saw how much God blessed Isaac. Abimelech knew that through Isaac he would be able to receive blessings (Genesis 26:26-33). Isaac had such a close walk with the LORD that his “living water” overflowed onto others. Isaac was a gateway of blessings.
Thankfully, the Bible tells us how we can be a source of blessings; how we can be an example that permeates the lives of others.
In Acts 17:6 the Early Disciples were criticized for their faith walk but at the same time they were respected by those living in Thessalonica because they were seen as the “men who have turned the world upside down”
Now, what did they mean when they made that statement – “these men who have turned the world upside down”?
At that time, Thessalonica was like the rest of the Roman World which was saturated with all kinds of wickedness. It was a world of polytheism, sex outside of marriage (adultery, fornication, and homosexuality), divorce, infanticide, addiction, alcoholism, abortion, greed, violence, racism, the gladiator games etc…
Paul, Peter and the rest of the Early Church invaded such a world and began to promote a whole new way to live. They modeled what it meant to live like Jesus. They were living examples of what it meant to live a life of Spirit-filled holiness.
They did that by living a life of purity, hosting the power of the Holy Spirit and releasing that power of the Holy Spirit. They did that by not hiding away from the world but by confronting the world with holiness. They did not condemn the world but allowed the Holy Spirit to work through them to bring both conviction and salvation.
And in time the world began to catch on. People began to turn from their pagan ways. The Gladiator games eventually came to an end. Marriage and family became more important than divorce and/or sexual immorality. Instead of killing the unborn or leaving unwanted children to die on the streets the ideas of adoption became part of the cultural norm.
None of these things happened overnight. But as people began to see authentic and true Christianity lived in the flesh it was appealing and contagious. People began to see what it meant to live in the Light. People began to see what living a life of holiness would do for them, for their families, for their neighbors and their cities.
+The more holiness was lived out the lower the crime rater became
+The more holiness was lived out the stronger the family/community became
+The more holiness was lived out the more people worked for public education and public medical services for everyone
+The more holiness was lived out the more people were valued
+The more holiness was lived out the more Heaven invaded Earth
There is no greater message than the witness of seeing a Spirit-filled person in flesh and blood. It does not mean that such a person is perfect. We all know that only Jesus was perfect. But that does not stop us from striving to be as perfect as we can be in Christ.
This morning, two of the things that we owe the world are:
+Having an Encounter with the LORD that transforms our lives
+Being an Example of God’s purity, God’s power and God’s Infilling Presence
III. Finally, We Owe Others A Positive Message
John the Baptist had a very positive message – the Coming of the Lord and the Coming of the Kingdom of God.
That was the most positive message being shared at his time; the message that the LORD was getting ready to step into history in a big way that would change everything.
Both the Gospel of Mark and the Gospel of Luke share with us the positive message of Jesus –
In Mark 1:14-15
“Later on, after John was arrested, Jesus went into Galilee, where he preached God’s Good News. ‘The time promised by God has come at last!’ he announced. ‘The Kingdom of God is near! Repent of your sins and believe the Good News!’”
In Luke 4:18-19
“The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim the captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.”
Jesus’ message was quite clear – God is ready to do something amazing and in fact is already doing it. You want to get in on what God is doing. But you must be ready. You must repent. That is to say, you must change the way you think, you act and you live. You must allow the LORD to change your heart, your mind and your spirit.
If you do that then you will find yourself being able to live a life that is beyond amazing. You will find yourself living a life that is filled with God’s Holy Spirit. You will find yourself living as the LORD has always wanted you to live.
This is the call that Jesus gives to the Apostles and to all His Disciples. Come and follow me and be ready to be amazed.
Jesus’ main message was never – YOU ARE GOING TO HELL or BE READY FOR HEAVENLY ONLY
Jesus’ message is one of Salvation; of undoing the work of the devil in our lives and in the world in the here and now.
Jesus’ message is one of rescue, redemption and restoration.
Jesus’ message is one of freeing us from the power and penalty of our sins.
Jesus’ message is that we can be reconciled to God, others and with all of creation.
When Jesus told us the message of repentance and of the coming of the Kingdom of God He was in effect saying:
Be ready, heaven and earth are going to reunite. In and through me, Heaven is invading earth and I am going to wipe out all that is against you and I am going to disarm all evil principalities and powers. On the cross I am going to make a public spectacle of them as I cast them down. I am going to undo what Adam and Eve did in the Garden and make it possible for you to be Born Again and filled with My Holy Spirit.
And if that was all Jesus did and said that would be more than amazing. But there was even more in Jesus’ message.
For not only did Jesus rescue and redeem us He has enabled a way for us to live a life that is abundant, blest and free here and right now.
In Christ we can enjoy agape love with God, with one another and with all creation.
In Christ we can experience a life of joy that is full; that is complete.
In Christ we can enjoy a peace that the Bible says is beyond human comprehension.
In Christ we can be a blest people who in turn is able to bless others.
The most blest people on this earth are those who know Jesus Christ as their Savior and LORD. The most blest people on this earth are those who are hosting the presence of God in their lives. The most blest people on this earth are those who are already living a heaven filled life.
Is there really anything better than being touched by God; having a personal encounter with God?
Is there really anything better than hosting the presence of God in your heart, your mind and your soul?
Is there really anything better than knowing that we serve a God who takes care of us and will give us good gifts if we just ask Him?
Is there really anything better than being able to live a life knowing that when all around you there is death, decay, chaos and storm that you are safe and secure in the palm of God’s hand?
That and more is the positive message we are to share with the Others.
+The message of Goodness and Greatness of God
+The message of what can happen to a human being who allows God to redeem them and fill them with His Holy Spirit
The Apostle Paul testifies of just how wonderful a life a person can have in Christ. Yes, it may lead to some temporary discomfort but it will also lead to a life of experiencing Heaven first hand, of having dreams and visions, of being a part of people’s salvation stories and co-laboring with God in miracles and blessings.
This is the life that all of us have been called to live.
The question we must ask ourselves – is this the life we are living, the life we are enjoying right now?
+Have we and do we experience God Encounters?
+Are people being blessed by our life example?
+Do we have a positive message to share?
How we answer those question will determine just how free, how abundant and how blest our life will be on this earth.
God challenges us this morning to experience Him.
God challenges us to be an example – His Witness.
God challenges us to live and share the Good News.
Closing song – invitation – blessing
*I am indebted to the wonderful book - God is Good by Bill Johnson. It is from that book that I received some wonderful insight for this message.
