Hi and welcome to the Via Zion Sermon podcast.
We are a local church based here in Chennai, India.
We are so glad you are with us and hope that this will
encourage, inspire and instill fresh faith in you.
We have started a series called The Kingdom Life based on the
life and teachings of Jesus from the Gospel according to Mark.
We look at how we must live our lives on this earth as followers
of Jesus in a way that is countercultural yet powerfully
impactful. As you listen in, our hope is
that you will be motivated to live, love, lead and serve just
like Jesus. Hi Church, what a joy it is to
bring God's word to you today. We've been looking at the
Kingdom Life and we have started a sub series called The Kingdom
Paradoxes. And the paradox we're going to
be looking at today is what Jesus talked about the great
reversal, which was basically the first shall be last, the
last shall be first. And this is a teaching which I
don't think we could do with school age kids around because
if you have a kid who absolutely resents studying, he's probably
going to use this against you and say, well, I'm last, so I'm
probably going to be first in heaven.
So that is really not what this this whole passage is about.
We're going to be looking at three different passages to
understand what Jesus meant by this seeming paradox.
And the great reversal is really something that Jesus was saying
would happen at the end of time. Once eternity happens, you know,
when when the heavens and the earth are brand new, it's going
to be something that Jesus himself will oversee.
And the problem is that sometimes we look at these
things and say, oh, well, it's going to happen in eternity.
I don't need to worry about it now, but I believe that the time
has come. It's a ripe for us to start
living in the now and the not yet with a greater realization
of what the not yet holds for us because we sometimes think,
well, that's, that's then. Let me live in the now.
Let me live with this, this sense of immediate
gratification. And I remember growing up, my
father used to often tell my brother and me this.
We would ask him for certain things immediately and he would
say, you guys need to understand that delayed gratification is a
good thing that you can wait for certain things.
As we become adults, as we grow in God's word, as we grow closer
to him, we realize that the weight is so important to our
maturity. And I want to ask you today,
well, how have you been looking at the Kingdom life?
Have you been looking at it as a one and done thing?
It's just what I do on a Sunday. It's just what I did at the time
of my salvation. Or is it a marathon?
It's it's something that we're running towards eternity.
It's a long drawn process and a lot of it, while the decisions
we make, the the things we do in the now are important.
It's more important because these are the things that lay
the foundation for the future. And you know, a lot of us are
living with this thing of, you know, I want God to bless me
now. I want him to give me that child
I've been waiting for now. I want that increase now.
I want that a carrier now. And God is saying why while you
wait on me, while you ask me for these things, there is a larger
picture. There is stuff that is to come
which I want you to be aware of because it changes the way we
live. The Kingdom life shifts and and
really it makes sense when we start looking at it through the
lens of this great reversing. And so we forget very often that
the Kingdom life has its systems in place.
It has these guard rails in place, things for our good,
things for our benefit. And so often, more often than
not, the rewards for a lot of the things we do now are not
immediate. So maybe you're saying, well, I
give my 10%, oh, I'm generous. Oh, I'm doing the right things
at work and you're not seeing the rewards.
But I want to encourage you. Many times the rewards don't
come in the exact same way. The seed was sown, the seed is
sown. This.
You know how a seed looks, but the plant looks completely
different. When you sow a seed of
generosity. The way God blesses you may not
be with wealth, He may bless you with good health.
He may bless you with more favour.
He may bless you with an increase of relationships and
friendships. I want to encourage you that
this reversal Jesus is talking about is beyond our
understanding. And the reason it I think it's
good that it's beyond our understanding is who's the one
who mediates. It is Jesus himself and this God
that we worship. This living God is omnipotent.
He's Omni C and he's omnipresent, which means he is
everywhere at all times. He knows exactly what's
happening behind closed doors. He knows who I am in public, who
I am in private. He knows the thoughts and
attitudes of my heart. Nothing in all creation is
hidden from Him, which means the only one who has the right to
reverse the optics of it, of of the now for eternity is Jesus.
No one else. No one else.
I cannot judge someone based on what I see of them for four
hours on a Sunday. I know nothing of them.
But God, on the other hand, sees the hidden things, the things
that we keep masked while He sees all of it.
So the only one who can be judged an arbitrator is Him.
And so I really don't want to get into the semantics of how
the reversal happens on what basis God judges someone.
The ones who are influencers and, and you know, well known
and, and, and influential in the present world may not be so in
the world to come. And the one who decides that is
only God. And so I want us to look today
at the three passages that Jesus actually brings to our notice to
explain the great reversal and leave 3 principles with you.
I am not going to tell you how the great reversal happens
because I don't know. That's how that God is going to
mediate it. He's the judge, He's righteous,
and He's all knowing. But what I am going to say is
the way we live now will determine how the great reversal
affects us. So the first passage we're going
to be looking at is Matthew chapter 19, verses 27 to 30.
This addresses all believers in Jesus.
OK, this is what it says. Peter answered him.
We have left everything to follow you.
What then will there be for us? Jesus said to them, truly I tell
you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits
on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit
on 12 Thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel.
And everyone who has left houses, brothers, sisters,
father, mother or wife, or children or fields for my sake
will receive 100 times as much and will inherit eternal life.
But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will
be first. I want us to look at a couple of
important things here. The first thing is everything
Peter quantifies. You know, I be left everything
to follow you. God.
What did Peter leave? He left behind his occupation of
being a fisherman. He left behind probably his
family because he was a lot of time with Jesus.
We don't know what else he left, but this is what he said.
These were the important things to him.
He says we left everything. And then Jesus quantifies the
everything by mentioning the houses, the siblings, the
parents, the spouse, the children, the fields, you know,
the place of work. And he's assuring them that the
everything that you have left, you will be repaid for Now the
interesting thing is a lot of times we come to God and we say,
Lord, I gave up everything for you.
But the question remains, did I really give up everything?
Have I really made it a point for it to be sacrificial in the
way I serve God? Has it cost me something?
Maybe not everything. Has it cost me something?
The second thing I want us to look at is the word left.
The word left, He says we have left everything.
And then Jesus says those who have left houses.
And this word kind of gripped me because I was like, how is Jesus
endorsing leaving family, leaving friends, leaving your
home, leaving your work? What is he saying?
Does he expect that of me? And so I was reading up on the
meanings of the word left in the original text.
And it's very interesting. One of the meanings, one of the
possible meanings for the word left is actually released.
So isn't it comforting to know Jesus is not calling you to
relinquish your responsibility. He's not asking you to cast us
as cast us aside. He's actually saying, will you
release it to me? Because the Christian life, the
Kingdom life is one of release. It's not one of cutting loose
and justice, you know, flinging something aside.
Oh, I don't want this marriage anymore because Jesus told me to
leave everything behind and I cast my spouse out.
No, that is not what he's talking about.
He is saying, will you release these things into my hand.
It's so interesting because in the book of Mark, Mark adds and
added a small phrase. He says they will receive 100
times as much and sufferings in other translations, persecutions
as well as eternal life. A lot of times on earth we have
struggles with our health, we have struggles in our marriages.
We have struggles with with our work.
And God is saying I will repay it.
I will repay it with good in this life and the next.
And it's so important to understand that the point of
release is everything here. In order for the great reversal
not to bother me, I need to live a life of release.
I need to live a life where my wealth is held loosely, where my
children are held loosely, where my spouse is held loosely.
Do I relinquish all responsibility for them?
Do I not look after them? Do I not provide for them?
Do I not love them? Do I not pray for them?
No, absolutely not. I do all of that.
But fundamentally, I realized they were given to me.
They were loaned to me in the goodness and the graciousness of
God. And so I hold them loosely.
There's a story told a Chinese fable where a person gave his
little grandson a bird and told him to look after it.
Few days later the little guy comes back to his granddad and
says granddad, my bird died. And he said why?
How did your bird die? And he said, well, the whole
time I held it in my hand and eventually the bird just was
dead in my palm. And a lot of times we're looking
at our lives like this where I hold the things that God has
given me so tightly that I suffocated.
I suffocated and without releasing it to God, I will
never really know what God entrusted it for to begin with.
And God is calling us into a place of saying, will I release
the things that matter most to me into His hands?
Because when I release it is when I actually show that my
faith in Jesus is active and real.
The closer I hold everything that you know I love and value,
the lesser I actually trust God. So God is calling me into a
place of releasing my hold and saying, you know what, God, I
trust you with my marriage. I trust you with my health.
I trust you with my children. I trust you with my job.
I trust you with my dreams. I trust you with my ambitions.
And there's this word which says over there will receive whoever
leaves, whoever has left houses will receive 100 times that word
will receive is not just a passive, oh, I'll just sit on my
couch, I'll wait and then God will drop it into my lap.
But it's an active taking hold of you.
Remember what Paul talked about, where Paul said I press on to
take hold of the price that which God has kept for me in
Christ Jesus. It is an active pursuing the
promises of God, pursuing the things he has kept for me, which
means that I don't sit there passive, but in this this season
of the now right where I'm placed like Isaac, the son of
Abraham planted during famine received a hundredfold.
God is saying in the season you are in, it could be a famine
season of the soul. It could be the most fruitful
time of your life, but will you continue to release the things
that are in your hand to me? How does this practically get
outworked? I want us to look at one Timothy
chapter 6 verses 17 to 19. It says command those who are
rich in this present world not to be arrogant or to put their
hope and wealth which is so uncertain, but to put their hope
in God who richly provides us with everything for our
enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be
rich in good deeds, to be generous and willing to share.
In this way, they will lay up treasure for themselves as a
firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold
of the life that is truly life. Maybe you've been asking God for
these things that you desire, or maybe you already have it and
you've been clinging onto it for dear life.
But God is calling us to give it away.
Money grows when it's in the right hands.
When it's in God's hands, it will grow.
It will bless many, he says be rich in good deeds.
It's not for you to hold up. It's not for you to take pride
in, but to be generous and willing to share.
God is calling us the Kingdom life is 1 where you leave or you
release the things that you have the that you love the most into
God's hands and you receive you take hold of the things that he
has marked out for you. So I want to leave this with
you. First thing that I want to leave
the principle is this. The great reversal will not
worry those who release the things they love into the hands
of the one who gave them everything.
God is the one who gave us all of this.
The best place for all of these things that we love is to be in
His hands, not in mine. So release is the first
principle. The second passage we're going
to be looking at is Matthew chapter 20, verses 1 to 16.
I'm reading it from the NKJV and this addresses seasoned
believers and the new believers, baby believers, older believers,
right? So with that mindset, let's read
it. But the Kingdom of heaven is
like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire
labourers for his vineyard. Now when he'd agreed with the
labourers for a dinar yesterday, he sent them into his vineyard
and he went out about the third hour and saw others standing
idle in the marketplace and said to them, you also go into the
vineyard and whatever is right, I will give you.
So they went again. He went out about the 6th and
9th hour and did likewise. And about the 11th hour he went
out and found others standing idle, and said to them, Why have
you been standing here idle all day?
They said to him, because no one hired us.
He said to them, You also go into the vineyard, and whatever
is right you will receive. So when evening had come, the
owner of the vineyard said to his steward, call the labourers
and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the
1st. And when those came who were
hired about 11th hour, they each received a denarius.
But when the first came, they supposed that they would receive
more, and they likewise received each a denarius.
And when they had received it, they complained against the
landowner, saying, These last men have worked only one hour,
and you made them equal to us who have borne the burden and
the heat of the day. But he answered one of them and
said, Friend, I am doing you no wrong.
Did you not agree with me for a denarius?
Take what is yours and go your way.
I wish to give to this last man the same as to you.
Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things?
Or is your eye evil because I am good?
So the last will be 1st and the 1st last, for many are called,
but few chosen. It's interesting that God likens
himself to the vineyard owner, but each of us are the workers.
Now interestingly enough, the workers who are hired at the
beginning of the day came in for an agreed wage.
It's not like he just gave them a vague thing saying come, I'll
give you something. They agreed to a denarius and
came in. They knew the cost.
The guys who came in later came in for whatever was given.
They were not told about the cost.
They just said you come, we'll give you something at the end of
the day. The problem was that the ones
who were hired first felt it was unfair to be deemed equal with
the rest of the guys. Now here's the problem, most of
us are fighting for equality all of the time, but when it comes
to God's grace, we don't like that God's grace is for
everyone. We don't like that everyone is
favoured in God's eyes, the ones that God chooses and hand picks.
All of us have been recipients of our grace and that's where
our inequal inequality shows up. And here God, the wine dresser,
the the vineyard owner says here I can do as I please, I'm the
one who invited you in. I can do what I want with the
wages I'm giving. And So what is highlighted here
is the grace of God, which is available to everyone.
He's also highlighting the difference between a seasoned
Christian who feels they know God longer, they deserve more
rewards, greater grace than a fresh baby believer who somehow
seems to have inherited the same kind of grace, same kind of
favour and you're wondering God, but I know you longer.
I have worked longer in this vineyard for you.
I have been saving more souls. I have been standing on these
pulpits. I have a greater reach than this
person. How come they have the same kind
of favour I have and God is calling us into a place of
understanding the the vastness of his grace.
But the important thing I want you to look at here is God was
not is not talking about repaying people based on the
time spent in the vineyard. Whether you were hired first
thing in the morning or last thing in the day, there's no
difference, correct? He equalised that and as as I
was thinking about, I was wondering how do we draw it to
us today? Well, here's the thing.
Psalm 90 talks about how 1000 years are like a day in God's
eyes. And Peter writes that again in
two Peter chapter 3 verse 8, he says do not forget this one
thing dear friends with the Lord, a day is like 1000 years
and 1000 years are like a day. OK, So with that understanding,
the believers, the apostles, the the generals in God's army over
the last say 1000 years and you are all recipients of God's
grace, the ones who are forerunners, the founders of
churches, The Pioneers, the the martyrs, you and I, we stand
under the same grace of God. Isn't that amazing?
Isn't that beautiful? And God expects us to extend
that same grace to those who come after us, new believer or
not. But interestingly enough, it's
not about the time. It's about the work being done
in the vineyard. And that is what is important
for us to look at. Each person was called into the
vineyard to do work, whether we was.
So they they say this very interesting thing that sounds
like my kids when they're trying to get out of work because
they've done too much a previous day.
This is what they say. We have borne the burden and the
heat of the day and you made them equal to us.
It's like we work so many more hours.
We have toiled in the sun. These guys come in at dusk.
They're not faced all that we faced.
How come they get the same thing as us?
And yet God's sovereignty comes in there where he says I can do
as I want, it's my money. But when you bring it down to
the principle of the Kingdom, I believe that God is calling us
into a place of looking at the work entrusted to us.
He's saying, don't compare. You were hired in the morning.
You knew what you were getting in for.
You had to do your work. These guys were hired in the
evening. They had to do their work.
What was the work entrusted to work the field.
Too often many of us are looking at what someone else is doing
and wishing we had that. We Instagram probably has
created this culture of comparison.
Oh, they're doing a church plan. They're doing it like that.
Maybe we should do it like that or they do their church posters
like that. Maybe we should try that up.
Or maybe they we should do prayer like they do.
Maybe we should do worship like they do bring it down into
travel or they go to these destinations.
I can't go anywhere. We have created a comparison
culture within the faith that we've worshiped, the the faith
that we practice. And I believe it's very
destructive because comparison is the thief of joy.
The minute I take my eyes off my field, the space guard has asked
me to operate and with the gifts that he has given me and I start
looking at someone else and wishing I had what they had,
I've lost the purpose for my life.
And I want to ask you how many of you have been wasting your
life by just looking at what someone else is doing?
Some of us don't even take responsibility for the field
entrusted to us. So in our home after VBS, we
gave all of our kids fish to take home.
It was an underwater theme. So the take away gift was fish.
So we have both our younger kids brought home fish.
We we got them fish tanks. We brought the fish, you know,
from VBS. They didn't last long.
So we finally substituted all the fish.
We got them each a fighter fish. And these two tanks are at home.
And the job of each of the kids was just to look after their own
tank. But one of our kids, I won't
tell you who, decided that it was better that the other person
managed both the tanks. SO1 does the cleaning of both
and the other does the feeding of both.
This week one of the fish died, unfortunately.
So immediately the blame game started off.
You probably didn't. You fed the fish too much and
then the other person shifted the blame and said, well, you
didn't clean the tanks properly. And that's when my husband was
explaining to them, if you had just taken responsibility for
your own tank, we won't have this problem.
But you see what I'm saying? Some of us think that we have
the right to bicker and complain about what's not working out for
us. But maybe you haven't been
looking after your field. Maybe you've been having your
feet in someone else's field. Maybe you've been having your
eyes and mind on someone else's work, someone else's trajectory
and you missed out the fact that you have a field that you have
called to work on. How do you take this into your
daily life? How do you apply this into the
Kingdom life? We are called to live?
Luke chapter 12 verse 48 says, but the one who does not know
and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with
few blows From everyone who has been given much, much will be
demanded. And from the one who has been
entrusted with much, much more will be asked.
This is it. It's on the the background of,
you know, the servants who've been entrusted with things in,
in certain in one of the Gospels it talks about giving him 10
cities and you know, or 10 talents, whatever it is, the one
who had lots grew it, the one who had little hid it.
And God is saying to whom much is given, much more will be
expected, much more will be also entrusted.
But it remains as to how I do the little.
First, if you're not faithful with the little, He cannot
increase it into much. And God is calling us to live
with humility, to live with contentment, to live with
diligence rather than with pride and comparison and being slack.
Because when he returns, he's going to take account.
He's going to take stock. I give you 70 years on earth.
What did you do with it? Were you wasting your time
comparing yourself with others? Were you trying your hand at 10
different things without being the one thing I created you for?
It's so important that we realise whether we are seasoned
believers or fresh baby believers or growing believers,
wherever we are, the favour of God is on all our lives.
There is no point comparing how my journey looks with yours, but
it is important that we work the field we are placed in.
So what's the Kingdom principle here?
The great reversal won't worry those who work with joy in the
fields that are marked out for them.
This is my field, the field of Via Zayn, the field with my
children, my spouse and myself, the field of the people
entrusted to us through the church, the field of influence
through what I create artistically.
It is important that I work that field.
If I suddenly decide, oh, you know what, writing isn't my
thing, I should start singing, I'm going to be answerable to
God for that. Too many of us are not content
with the field entrusted to us. If I had a spouse like that
person, my marriage, marriage life would look different.
If I had kids who listened like their kids, my life would look
different. You don't know the struggles of
the person working that field. If each of us put our heads down
and worked with joy with the field we have, I believe the
great reversal won't matter because we'll be doing what
we're called to do when the Master returns.
So that's the second principle. The third principle we're going
to be looking at the book of Luke, Luke chapter 13 verses 20
to 30 and says this. He went through the cities and
villages teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem.
Then once said to him, Lord, are there few who are saved?
And he said to them, strive to enter through the narrow gate.
For many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be
able. When once the master of the
house had risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand
outside and knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open for us.
And he will answer and say to you, I do not know you where you
are from. Then you will begin to say, We
ate and rank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.
But he will say, I tell you, I do not know you where you are
from. Depart from me all you workers
of iniquity. There will be weeping and
gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all
the prophets in the Kingdom of God and yourselves thrust out.
They will come from the east and the West, from the north and the
South, and sit down in the Kingdom of God.
And indeed, there are those who will be first and there are
first who will be last. Now this was written to the
Jewish audience. These are the guys who are
following Judaism seriously. But The thing is this, the, the
way of the, of Judaism was not the way of Christ.
There was this one point where they all stumbled and that was
believing in Jesus. He is the narrow door.
There is no way to eternity. There's no way to the Father
through the Son. And so Jesus was talking to his
Jewish listeners saying the narrow door is me.
You believe in me, you have eternal life.
But many of us choosing not to choose Jesus, not to believe
him. And we live in a time of the New
Age movement. We live in the time of
universalism. All roads lead to God.
If I say God, I mean all the divine powers.
But the truth is this. Jesus is the way, the truth, the
life. Many of us don't choose Jesus as
the way, but we have our own truth and we want to live our
own life. But God is calling us into a
place of saying, hey, you want access to me, you go through my
son. There is no other route.
Too many people are standing outside that door and thinking,
you know what? I know God.
He's the God of my parents, my grandparents.
I think that's adequate. But it requires that you and I
will strive to enter through the narrow door, which means it
requires effort on our part. It requires a step of faith.
If you are someone who's been dilly dallying, choosing Jesus,
I would urge you now is the time.
I remember this bumper sticker we saw on a car in our time in
the US, which said, if you're waiting to accept Jesus in the
11th hour, don't be surprised if he turns up at 1059.
Some of us are just hoping, you know, I live the way I like, but
just before I die, I'll say, Jesus, I believe in you and just
kind of sneak into heaven. But the problem with that is you
remember that first passage which says you will receive 100
times that in this life and eternal life.
So eternal life is the goal, yes, but there is a reward for
those who choose Jesus on this side of eternity and live a life
with Him. You miss out on that.
The ones who choose Jesus at in the 11th hour, you miss out on a
fruitful life. You miss out on a life filled
with the joy of knowing Him, filled with the victories that
come by walking with Him. And so it comes back to this.
The word strive is so important. Maybe you're someone you've
chosen Jesus and you're like, you know what?
I made it through the narrow door.
I'm in, I'm in safe pasture, I'm good.
But it's interesting because it's not talking about a one
time striving. It's not talking about a one
time door. Jesus is the is the way.
He's the truth to life. He is the door that I entered
in. But season to season, we have
doors that we transition through to the next season, and it is
important that we keep striving to enter through the narrow
door. So maybe you're saying, you know
what? I'm not a universalist.
I'm not a new ager. I believe Jesus is the way I go
to church. I tithe, I look after my family.
I'm doing all the stuff that I know I need to do.
But my question to you is, do you continually strive to keep
taking the narrow door? What does that look like?
You're building a house. They want the money in black.
Will you choose to take the broad door which everyone else
takes, or will you decide, no, I'll do it all in white?
Or maybe you're someone who says I need this particular pass from
the government, so if I give them that bribe under the table,
who's going to know everyone's doing it?
Or maybe, just maybe, you've been deciding to step out of
your marriage because you're just tired of this whole
monogamous lifestyle. So many are doing it in my
office and everywhere. Why not?
But to choose to take the narrow door, the narrow way is an
everyday thing. It's a seasonal thing.
Many times we look at open doors as as symbolic of transitions
into new seasons. But it means that you and I need
to be very intentional about which door I take.
Because always in our lives there are many doors which will
open up. Doors of opportunity, Doors to
travel, doors to achieve more, doors to do more.
But God, is this the door you want me to step in is the
important question. And I believe that striving to
enter the narrow door is something that every believer
must do consistently. I cannot rest complacent that I
chose Jesus. I'm sorted for the next 50
years. I don't believe that because we
live in a world where the temptations are many.
I live in a world where the opportunities arrive.
I can do anything I choose to at any given point of time, and no
one needs to know. But the point is the one who
counts me, who will finally ask me and take account, will know.
He will know which door I walked through.
He will know the repercussions of that door before I even know
it. And so it's important that I
endeavour to choose the narrow door.
The word for strive says strive to enter through the narrow
gate. The word for it is agwon
NIZOMAY, to contend, to fight, to struggle, to endeavour.
Now why I know this is not talking about the narrow door of
salvation is because to enter through the narrow door of
salvation is a very simple thing.
There's no contending there. I just say yes to Jesus.
He, I repent of my sins, I accept him into my life as Lord
and Saviour and he comes in. So it cannot be that door that
doesn't need striving and contending.
It's just accepting his grace. It's a free gift.
But this door that he's talking about is is a continual door
throughout my life, in every season, sometimes every day for
some of us. Do I choose to Live Today with
joy or do I choose to complain? Can I pick up the phone and
gossip or can I sit quietly and allow God to work in me?
These are the choices. The narrow door, the broad door
are constant choices. And it I believe when it says
content, it's talking about contending for a prize.
Again, I'm drawing back on what the apostle Paul says.
He says I'm running for the prize.
I contend. I fight my body.
I beat it's desires. I beat it into submission so
that I will not be disqualified, but I will run and get the
price. And so this Christian walk is
many times a fight. It's a fight to the bitter end.
It's a fight for my life. It's a fight for my faith.
You will find people who will contend with you at every turn.
You will find people who will tell you do this.
This is better. You will find believers who will
tell you there's ways to cut short and do things in a
different way. You will find ways in which you
can bypass the right way to do it.
It's shorter. It's easier time, less time
consuming. But if it is the narrow door, I
don't know you would. And God is calling us into a
place where we will struggle and find that narrow door and walk
through it. It's not easy.
At no point if we ever gave you the impression over the past 3-4
weeks that the Kingdom life is easy, It's not.
But it's incredibly fruitful. It's incredibly planned by God.
He has, he has a plan for every step of the way.
But it will require contending. And what is contending?
Contending is the is the stance of a fighter.
You don't just, you know, kind of just lazily walk on this
Kingdom Life Rd. You're actually ready for
whatever life brings at you. And if you look at this one
statement, he says, you will begin to say we ate and rank in
your presence. And you talk in our streets.
He's talking to those who know him, to those who actually have
encountered him. And it's interesting because it
speaks of a familiar familiarity, but it's not
intimacy. He says we ate and drank in your
presence. What does that mean?
You were there. We were eating and drinking.
You have to remember, in the old system, the temple priest would
perform the sacrifices, and there were certain offerings
that they could. The ones who offered it could
eat there. It could mean that.
But I really believe it. It comes down to us in today's
time. We could be sitting in church
with hearts that are far from him.
We could be worshipping in church, but our minds are really
not on Him. We could be saying all the right
things to people that we fellowship with, but we know
where our heart is really at. It says you taught in our
streets and he would say, depart from me, you workers of iniquity
because it speaks of a proximity but no relationship.
You can be close to those who know God but not know God.
You could know about God and not know God.
And the importance today is that we come back to this place.
This is for each of us. We find ourselves in Christian
circles. We find ourselves in church, in
fellowship, in Bible studies, in small groups, but we could be
far from God. I want us to look at how do we
apply this? How do you and I actually
prevent that from becoming our story, that I'm in proximity but
not in relationship? I have a familiarity but no
intimacy. God forbid that becomes the
story of our life, because then the great reversal will shake us
up. Jude chapter 1, verses three to
four, says this. Dear friends, although I was
very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I feel
compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that
was once for all entrusted to God's holy people.
For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about
long ago have secretly slipped in among you.
They are ungodly people who pervert the grace of our God
into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ, our only
sovereign and Lord. It's so important to understand
that the faith has been entrusted to us once and for
all, the faith that is in Jesus. It's a faith through grace.
That's all. That's the only formula.
But the problem is that many times we who know Jesus, we who
are attempting to live in the ways that he has postulated for
us, have taken our own routes and made it the right route.
But the truth is this, the narrow door awaits.
Every season will have a narrow door.
It will also have a wide door. It's two decisions you'll have
to take, but the decision you take will have to be spirit LED.
God, is this the route you want me to take?
I love that passage. I think it's in the book of
Isaiah, which says he will. He'll come to a place where he
says this is the way walk in it. But it'll come down to whether
my ears are tuned to the Chief Shepherd.
And I want to ask you this for those of you who find yourselves
in church, those of you who have Christian names, those of you
who are normally Christians, those of you who say I am a
believer in Jesus, Are you doing Christian things?
Are you near the House of God, but far from being the temple of
God? Are you familiar with the things
of God but not tipping your feet into the rivers of God himself?
Have you been so far from him but putting up a show that
you're close? Familiarity is not relationship.
Knowing about God is not knowing God.
God is calling us into deeper waters.
He's saying know me more. It's not enough to just do the
Christian thing. How are you living on a
day-to-day basis? Which door do you strive to
take? The principle here is that the
great reversal won't worry those who contend for the faith and
live the Kingdom life intentionally.
The Kingdom life is not for someone.
It's not just, you know, like you take a gun and just shoot
like a shotgun and there's a volley of bullets.
No, it's highly focused. It's every decision that you
make will be impacting eternity. Every relationship you invest in
is for eternity. Even if they're just seasonal in
your life, what you impart to them is for eternity.
Every transaction you make could either be wearing a hole like a
moth wears a hole in a curtain, or it could be depositing things
in it in your eternal inheritance.
It's really up to you. It's really up to me.
So what are the three principles I want to leave with you?
And as we close up, we don't need to worry about the great
reversal because that is in the hands of God himself, the
sovereign supernatural. Beyond understanding God who
knows all things, He sees all things.
The only righteous judge, the one who can actually turn
everything on his head, is Him. So we leave that to him.
But that doesn't need to worry us.
If we are living the Kingdom life, and how do we live it?
We release the things that matter most into His hands.
When I say release, it's not releasing them and throwing them
by the side of the road. Not saying I don't want this
marriage, I don't want these kids, I don't want this
relationship, but rather saying Lord, I release them into your
hands because in your hands they are the safest.
In your hands things grow because your life itself.
The second thing is that you would work the field that is
entrusted to you. Stop comparing, stop slacking
off because if you snooze, you lose.
But work the field that you have stopped thinking that someone
has it better than you. They don't.
Everyone is fighting a battle, every single person.
The third thing is that you would contend for the faith.
Fight for the faith that was given so freely to you.
Don't just let it off saying, you know what?
We'll all believe what we believe.
That's fine if someone is speaking against the faith, if
someone is trying to convince you of an alternate faith, stand
for your faith in Jesus and live the Kingdom life intentionally.
It is an everyday choice. It is it comes down to the
thoughts. I think God.
If I think this thought I'm going to go down this black hole
of self pity and despair. So I'm going to choose to
believe the best in this moment, choosing the narrow door.
How I respond to my household help, even when they keep taking
plenty of leave, plenty of holidays.
How I respond to her in that matter matters.
Because again, it's a narrow door moment.
I could scream at her. I could, you know, take off on
her, cut her salary, do a bunch of things.
But should I choose to offer her grace, the way I have received
grace, it changes everything. I chose the narrow door.
It comes down to everything. Would you start looking at life
through the lens of the great reversal?
Because nothing is as it seems. I need to remind us of this.
What we see all around us is temporary.
Everything around us is temporary.
What is permanent is yet to come.
So there's more than meets the eye.
Let's not fall for what is temporal and before us, you
know, in in the flesh. Things beyond our understanding
are just around the corner. And it matters how we live in
the now. We must live in the tension of
the now and the not yet. So even as we pray, I want to
just encourage you. No matter where you're at, you
could be a fresh believer, you could be a long time believer.
It doesn't matter. The grace of God holds you.
It's what keeps you going. You could be someone who is
churched for for donkeys years, but your heart is far from God.
And he's saying come back. I want your heart, I want your
soul, I want your focus back on me, lest it be said like the
prophet Isaiah wrote, You know these people, they listen to me,
they say the right things, but their hearts are far from me.
That shouldn't be said of us. And also for those of you who
said I've sacrificed so much, I cut off my birth family when I
chose you, Jesus, he's saying I will repay in ways you have not
imagined. But it all comes down to if we
will choose to live the Kingdom life on a daily basis.
Father in heaven, I just thank you for this time and Father as
as a community of those who love you and believe in you.
We just want to release our hold on the things that matter most
to us, ourselves, our loved ones, our wealth, our circle of
influence, our networks, our dreams, our ambitions, all of
it. God, we just release it.
If you can do this with your hand, you release it to him.
It's just a symbolic representation of letting it go.
You let it go to him and God, here I am empty handed.
Use us, use us as you see. If it do with what all that I've
entrusted you do with it as you will grow it, expand it, bless
it. Father, I pray for those who are
struggling to work the field that has been entrusted to them.
Father, I pray that they will put their back into it if it's
teaching, if it's feeding, if it's encouraging, if it's
hosting, if it is leading, whatever it is got.
I pray that we will put our heads down, put our back into it
and work. I pray that comparison will stop
in the name of Jesus. God, I pray also for those who
are struggling to stand for the faith.
Lord, I pray for those who are on the verge of choosing
multiple options to God. I pray for those, Lord, who have
for too long been so complacent about their faith that God, they
will make a conscious choice to choose you, Jesus, and to keep
entering through the narrow door.
I pray for those, Lord, who have relinquished things that
mattered. They'll relinquish their
responsibility. I pray today, your Father, that
we would come to you in repentance and say sorry, Lord,
for handing over what belonged to us, what we should have
stewarded. I pray that God, that you would
continue to work in us. Thank you for forgiving us.
Thank you for washing us clean. Thank you for your grace, which
is all we really need. We pray that you would continue
to shower us with your favour, with your blessing.
Thank you God that you are the justice God that you will
reverse everything in eternity. But until then, help us to live
faithfully. Help us to live intentionally.
In Jesus mighty name I pray Amen, Amen.
God bless you. Have an amazing week.
Remember you don't have to worry about the great reverse and you
just need to live the Kingdom life now and to the fullest.
God bless you. Thanks for listening to this
message. We hope you were blessed to hear
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