The  Danger  Of  An  Empty  House  (Christ The King Sunday 2022)

Luke 11:21 "When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe. 22 But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted and divides up his plunder. 23 "Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. 24 "When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, 'I will return to the house I left.' 25 When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. 26 Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first” (NIV).

Today is Christ the King Sunday. It is always the last Sunday of the year before we begin the season of Lent. On Christ the King Sunday, we celebrate the King of all kings and God’s Kingdom on earth. Today’s text illustrates religious leaders who should have recognized God’s Kingdom.

Consider what provoked Jesus to teach this parable. ?Jesus had healed a man who was unable to speak. His opponents in the crowd accused Jesus of working for the devil (Luke 11:15) whose works Jesus came to destroy (I John 3:8). Jesus said, “If Satan is divided against himself how can his kingdom stand” (Luke 11:18)? Other opponents in the crowd tested Jesus by asking for a sign (Luke 11:16). Is it not ironic that they are asking for a sign after witnessing a miracle? They should be praising God and recognizing that God’s Kingdom had come (Luke 11:20)! What does it say about them being religious leaders who refused to see God’s work among them?

What about God’s Kingdom priorities for us as a nation? God has created us in such a way that there is a God shaped space that only God can fill. Benedict Spinoza once said that "Nature abhors a vacuum". (Ethics.? Part I. Proposition 15: Note). That is a principle that is certainly true of nations and people.

This parable helps us to understand that there are three things to consider: Spiritual Hunger, Spiritual Vacancy, and Spiritual Well-Being.?

SPIRITUAL HUNGER

How do we as a nation satisfy our spiritual hunger? How did the nation of Israel satisfy their hunger? Psalm 33:12 says “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people he chose for his inheritance” (NIV). Even though God chose them for His inheritance they rejected God! “He [Jesus] humbled himself and became vulnerable, choosing to be revealed as a man and was obedient. He was a perfect example, even in his death—a criminal’s death by crucifixion!” (Philippians 2:8 TPT). “He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him“ (John 1:11 NIV). Today’s text is an example of how the religious leaders of Jesus’s time of visitation refused to receive Him. In His Triumphant entry into Jerusalem. Jesus even warned them and wept over them saying, “You didn't recognize the time when God came to you. So your enemies will smash you to the ground. They will destroy you and all the people inside your walls. They will not leave one stone on top of another" (Luke 19:44 NIrV).

1) Our beginning as a nation: There was a time when America was being founded that we were thought of as a Christian nation, a city set on a hill. Have we forgotten our first love (Revelations 2:4)?

2) Prodigal nation: “In the hit U2 song, "The Wanderer," Johnny Cash sings the line, "They say they want the Kingdom, but they don't want God in it." The verse seems very appropriate to the results of the latest study on belief in the United States. Americans are losing their belief in God, but strangely, they are keeping their belief in Heaven”. https://duckduckgo.com/?q=they+want+God%27s+kingdom+but+God+in+it&t=newext&atb=v294-1&ia=web

3) Bad national image: It has been said that one of the ways our nation is seen today is as an “ungodly exporter of pornography, immorality, and debauchery”. The point is that we cannot be blessed by God if we do not walk with God as His people!

4) Influence and consequences: Psalm 55:11 says, “Destructive forces are at work in the city; threats and lies never leave its streets” Pro 2:11-13? Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you. (12) Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men, from men whose words are perverse, (13) who have left the straight paths to walk in dark ways, (NIV). Therefore, it is no wonder that they call good evil and evil good (Isaiah 5:20).

How has God called us to represent Him?

It started with Adam and Eve who were made in God’s image and placed in the in the Garden of Eden. We know that the serpent deceived them mixing truth with falsehood. Satan was getting them to lean to their own understanding which is the opposite of what Proverbs 3:5 tells us. Little did they know that Satan was looking for an advantage to get a toehold.