Make Gods Kingdom Priority #1

Lesson Transcript

Well, good morning. Welcome to everyone. Thank you for your prayers. I think I'll write my title up on the board. Many times I think about the verse in Matthew 6:33 that says, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you." And I tend to be a rather introspective person, so I look at myself and evaluate how much effort I put into adding all these things unto myself. And how does that fit in with seeking God's kingdom first?

And I was gonna make that my title, but that didn't catch it. So I'll write it all up on the board, and we'll proceed from there. And I'll paraphrase it just a little bit. Most of what I say this morning is going to be specifically centered around the second part there. And I'd like for you to turn to Nehemiah chapter 8. The phrase, "The joy of the Lord is your strength," is a familiar one. I would like us to capture the context of that just a little bit.

Nehemiah chapter 8, starting at verse 8, and just reading a few verses. The context is the captives that went back from Babylon to Jerusalem to rebuild the city. They were building the walls, plans to rebuild the temple. And in the process, they reacquainted themselves with God's law. And this is the event that they had where everyone came together to hear the law. And the priests would read it, and they'd explain it.

I often wondered about the explaining, but I wonder how many of them still knew their Hebrew real well. So they might have even had some translation. But whatever the case was, it says in verse 8, "So they read distinctly from the book in the law of God, and they gave the sense and helped them to understand the reading. And Nehemiah, who was the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people, said to all the people, 'This day is holy to the Lord your God.

Do not mourn nor weep.' For all the people wept when they heard the words of the law. Then he said to them, 'Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared. For this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.' So the Levites quieted all the people, saying, 'Be still, for the day is holy.

Do not be grieved.' And all the people went their way to eat and drink, to send portions, and rejoice greatly because they understood the words that were declared to them." The joy of the Lord is our strength. In this particular case, they heard the law. It was being made clear to them. They were making sense of it. And it was grieving them, probably because of how badly they had managed to keep it. But they were instructed not to mourn, not to weep. This is a good day. This is a holy day.

This is a day to rejoice because you understand God's law. What is joy? Well, it's an emotion. And emotions, at least for me, are very elusive. I mean, I experience them. But when I try to describe or explain or define them, they get really slippery. So I will make a little bit of attempt. You can think of your own experience. What is it that happens to you when you experience joy, when it just takes over?

Joy is an emotion, the dictionary says, an emotion that is evoked by a prospect of possessing what one desires. I could latch onto that. So when I have something that I really, really want, and suddenly it looks like all the doors are open and I can get it or it's going to come to me, I get excited. I think excited and joy are kind of the same thing. Delighted. Okay? This feeling just takes over, and I begin to respond. Joy.

So it's an emotion that has a cause of something that you really, really like or want happening, or you get to possess it. I'd like for you to turn to Matthew chapter 5. I'm just going to read a few verses there. We'll come back to this later. It's a familiar parable. I just want to point out a few verses or actually just a phrase that comes out twice in here. Matthew chapter 5, it's the parable we call the parable of the talents, where the king gives things, and they do their thing with it.

And for two of them, the king comes back and makes this comment in verse 21. His Lord said to him, "Well done, good and faithful servant. You are faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord." And he says that same thing in verse 23 to the next one. "Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord." Matthew 25. Maybe I said the wrong thing. Sorry about that.

"Enter into the joy of your Lord." What was that? What was going to happen? I would like to identify or I'd like us to identify this object of joy. And I will refer to another familiar verse. You may turn to it if you want to, but I'm going to just give you a paraphrase of Hebrews chapter 12, verses 2 through 4, another familiar passage. "Jesus, because of the joy just ahead, patiently endured the cross, counting its shame as worthless, and is now God's acting authority.

Give serious thought to Jesus, who patiently endured such hostile arguments and debates and violent rebellion against his true identity, or you might pass out when it's your turn. You haven't yet shed a drop of blood fighting against sin." So the joy that Jesus had was his strength to go through the cross experience. And to better capture what this strength is and this joy, I would like to spend a little bit of time talking about how much opposition Jesus overcame with this strength of joy.

Because of this joy strength that Jesus had, he endured the cross and counted its shame worthless. The cross was no small thing to Jesus. In the garden, he faced I think of it as he faced terror. He didn't become terrified, but he faced terror when you read about what happened there. His prayer to have a detour, to go around this, his sweating, as it were, drops of blood. Some people say he actually did, but whatever it was, it was intense sweat that, like you and I, have never faced.

He was facing hours of excruciating physical pain. He wasn't ignorant to what crucifixion was, how they did it, how long it was going to last. Everyone was familiar with that. He was looking that in the face and knew that the path he was on led him straight through all of that. And not only the physical pain, but the public humiliation. Everything that Jesus had said up to that point was going to be hanging on that cross and look completely opposite.

Even his most faithful followers gave up, said, "There it goes." He was going to face that mentally, emotionally, all that rejection. But the joy that was set before him gave him the strength. When he left the garden, we never see him waver. There was that intense moment in the garden where he prayed, and he gave it all up and said, "God, your joy is going to take me through what I have to face." And he was able to pass through it. I don't know if a good example is like it were a pinprick.

It's almost like he never flinched as he went through all of that. Awesome strength that this joy gave him. And Jesus said, "If you don't take up your cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple." So he is expecting us to go through the same kind of test, the same kind of intense struggle and pain, and bear up. It's going to take this strength of joy. Well, what is this cross for you and I?

We can look at Jesus' experience, and I know even as I look at it and can think about all of the things that happen, it's not real to us. We have never seen a cross, a real cross, and much less seen someone hanging on a real cross in pain. That is completely foreign to us. So I find it a little difficult to think, "So what is this? What is this cross?" Well, I'm going to talk about Jesus just a little bit more. When Jesus entered life, I don't know how old he was till this mission became real to him.

But I get the hint that it was pretty young. I get the hint that when he was in the temple at 12 years old, I wonder how much he knew about what was ahead of him. But it seemed like he knew that he was to be about his father's business, and it was not Joseph. It was his heavenly Father. And if he was explaining things so clearly to those leaders about the law, I think there was something personal about it. It's my opinion. And I think he had a clue what was ahead. He had heard many stories about his birth.

And as a king of the universe, it was a rather pathetic birth. It wasn't even allowed in the end because it was so he had to be in the cave, in the animal stalls. Really, really just out of the way, outback birth. But I am convinced that when he was baptized, he knew what lay ahead. It was only three years. When he was baptized, he had three years before he was going to face what God had sent him there for. And every time he went to the temple and saw all the sacrifices, what was he thinking?

That was all there pointing to what he was going to face at the end of his earthly ministry. I look at myself. Do I face life that way? Do I face life knowing that God's mission is going to take way more strength than I physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually have? I think Jesus looked at every situation in those three years and had to depend on his Father's joy to give him strength to endure.

The cross Jesus carried and the cross he asks us to carry is the shame, the pain, betrayal, torture, and death we experience. Not necessarily because of sin and all the wrong. It's a part of it, but because we carry his name. And I would like to point out some verses that make that very clear. Matthew chapter 5. Now, you can turn to these if you want to, but most of them are going to be familiar.

The Beatitudes end with this statement, "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, who are persecuted because they are right." That's tough. That's when we get that's when our hair stands on end, our feathers stick out, and we say, "This is not just." At least that's how I want to respond. I'm doing the right thing. What's the matter with you all? Jesus could have said that at every turn because he always did what was right.

But he says, "Blessed are you when you are persecuted for doing what's right, for yours is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they revalue and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you just because they want to make bad rumors. No. For my name's sake." It's when they're doing that because you are claiming to carry Jesus' name. What's that mean? Well, name and character and nature are kind of the same thing just to help us out there a little bit.

So because we are carrying Jesus' name, because I'm saying I'm like Jesus, people are going to be doing this of all the crazy things. Matthew chapter 13. You would think people would want to see what's right. It's not what Jesus is saying. Matthew chapter 13, verse 21. This is the parable of the sower, and this is what it says. "Yet he has no root." This is the one that was in the stones, I believe. Here's a word with joy.

"Yet he has no root in himself but endures only for a while, for when tribulation and persecution arise." Why? Because of the word. So they're following what Jesus said. Because of this word of God, suddenly they're facing persecution. These people, they check out. Okay? And that's our tendency. One more. Again, in Matthew chapter 24, just a chapter before this parable we were alluding to. Chapter 24, verse 9 says, and this is very straightforward. I don't know why. I really can't believe it.

It's just hard for me to believe, but it's very pointed. Jesus says, "Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for my sake." In other words, there is nobody. There's no people, no nation, no ethnic group that's going to say, "Yeah, there's Jesus. I like this. We're going to lift this up and praise it." No, it says, "You will be hated, killed because of my sake." Well, maybe just to help us out a little bit, what are some of the claims?

What are some of the claims that this name makes that the world cannot tolerate? I just picked out a few. You can think of some more. One of them is that Jesus claims dignity and value for every person. I don't know of any nation that really does that, that says every person in here has the same value. Every nation has elite people that are the most valuable and have the homeless scum on the street that are of no value. They might say otherwise, but you just look how they treat them. That's the real tale.

Jesus claims dignity and value for every person, and even the Jews did not like that. If you look at this context of this verse in chapter 24, I'm not going to take time to read the whole thing, but I'll give you the little story. This chapter begins with them asking him a question about, "Tell us, what's the sign of your coming?" No, wait a minute. I think I have the wrong chapter here. Yeah, I forget where it is. But Jesus went into the temple, and there was this man that was needing healed.

I forget what the hand or what it was. But first, he looked around and said, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day?" And they were mummed. They didn't say a thing. And then Jesus asked them a question. He says, "How many of you, if your ox fell into a pit, wouldn't take it out on the Sabbath?" Again, they were mummed. The answer for the first one was then their mind would have been, "No, you don't heal on the Sabbath day." The answer for the second one, pulling an ox out of the ditch on Sabbath? Well, sure.

That's my livelihood. It only makes sense. Right away, there is value of animals over people, and Jesus wouldn't accept that. He healed the man, and they were upset. And there's more in that chapter, but that's the context. Jesus gives dignity and value, equal dignity and value to every person. The world can't handle that. Another claim this name makes is that God makes sons and daughters of any person that believes Jesus. And we're not going to take time to talk about believe Jesus.

But there's not any other religion that will do that. You have to rate somehow that they have their little thing. But any person who believes Jesus can come and be a son and daughter of God. And there are verses for these. I'm not going to take time to go over that. The third claim that this name makes, or another one, is that God, the creator of the universe, walked among humanity in human flesh, in human flesh and blood.

I don't know of any other religion that says their God came and lived with them and took on their being. And John makes it clear in his epistle that unless you believe that, you're not in on this. This is a sign. You believe that God took on human flesh and blood and walked among us. And by doing that, he claimed that humanity is capable of experiencing what he has to offer. Another one, death is not the end. The world doesn't handle that. Paul faced that on Mars Hill.

When he got to that, they said, "Ah, you're stupid." And there are more. But these are claims that this name of Jesus makes that we take on when we say we follow Jesus. We are his disciples. And they are claims that the world will not tolerate. If we fudge on them and make a little way, sometimes we can make it look like they tolerate it. But if we are true to what Jesus claims, the world will finally say, "We can't have it." And we're living in a day when that's happening more and more.

Unfortunately, I have allowed myself to indulge in the imagination that the world will appreciate and follow or fall over itself to appreciate what Jesus has to offer. And I'm still recalculating every time I think, "Wow, really?" And we tend to act that way. So we think, "Well, maybe if we go on the streets, we'll get a crowd of people. If they would just really listen to what's being said, or if I'm talking on the phone to somebody, and if they were to really listen, surely they would just buy into this.

It's so awesome. We know that. We're Christians. What's their problem?" But Jesus is very clear that that is not what happens. We just read that verse in Matthew 24. "They will hate you and kill you for that very thing." Suffering for carrying the name of our Lord and the name of Jesus and our Father and all of that is powerful, redemptive, pleasing to God suffering. That was hard for me to accept. It's like, "Really?" And John talks about people on the phone.

If God's really that way, I don't want to have anything to do with them. But the Bible was clear that that kind of suffering is pleasing to God. And I just want to point some of those out. Isaiah 53 is probably one of the most common ones. I remember Wendell reading it when he was going through this part of Isaiah. It says in verse 10 of Isaiah 53, "Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him." I still think, "Wow, really?

God was actually pleased to see Jesus bruised?" "He has put him to grief when you make his soul an offering for sin. He shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see the labor of his soul and be satisfied." That sounds hard. "By his knowledge, my righteous servant, shall justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities." Another one in the New Testament, Matthew chapter 5, verses 44 and 45.

Now, that was Old Testament, but in the New Testament, Jesus understands this. "But I say unto you, love your enemies. Bless those who curse you. Do good to those who hate you and pray for those who despitefully use you." They just take advantage of you any way they possibly can and persecute you. Why? This is part of the thing that gives God pleasure, that you may be the sons of your Father in heaven. This is a path to somewhere. Suffering is not an end in itself. It is a path to somewhere.

As a matter of fact, any other kind of suffering is consequential. It's a result of our own stupid mistakes and decisions. This kind of suffering is unique. It's different. And let's read First Peter just to take a look at that. First Peter chapter 4, starting at verse 12, "Beloved, do not think it's strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you by the way." Peter was one of the persons that when Jesus was hanging on the cross said, "It's over," he left. But he caught it, and this is what he's saying.

This isn't strange. Don't think it's strange when you're going through this fiery trial as though some strange thing happened to you. But rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's suffering. You've entered into something that Jesus was involved in. You've become a part of the same thing. "That when his glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy." This is the jumping up and down that Jesus talked about in Matthew chapter 5.

He says in verse 14, "If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. On their part, he is blasphemed." They're blaspheming God by treating you the way they are. "But on your part, he is glorified." Verse 15, "But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody," whatever that is, "in other people's manners." So that kind of suffering, that's just consequential. You just expect that. This other stuff is different.

You're doing the right thing, and people are hating you and killing you for it. That's different. Back in verse 1 and 2, the same chapter says, "Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh," in the same flesh and blood that we have, "arm yourselves also with the same mind," like enter life the same way Jesus did. "For he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin." And I'm just going to give you a heads up. That last phrase is a clue to the joy that is God's.

And we'll talk about that a little more later. I'll read verse 2 yet, "That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lust of men, but for the will of God." So have I really taken up my cross, or am I just accepting some things around me as a cross that really are not a result of my taking up Jesus' name and being right? John says the reason Abel was killed was because he was righteous and because Cain was evil. And we're promised that there will always be evil in the world.

So if we live right, we're always going to be up against that. It's always going to be attacking us. We don't have to go after it. It's going to be going after us. What promised joy, what desired possession could give a joy so strong that it would make such painful abandonment seem trite? What is it that Jesus was looking at? What was this joy that was set right ahead of him that took him through the cross? Turn to Romans chapter 8. And it can be our joy. This isn't something that has to be just unique to Jesus.

Jesus was God's Son, first one. He had a role to play that you and I can't play. But he did this so that we can enter into the same thing. These are difficult verses even for me, and so I'm not going to try to explain all of them. But I think there's some things that come very clear. Starting at verse 17. Actually, let me start at verse 16. That's the beginning of the sentence.

"The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified together." That's Peter's picking up on that. "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." That sounds like something Jesus must have been looking at. He was looking at the cross and says, "That is no match.

The pain there is no match for what is on the other side." And that gave him courage and strength. "For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God, for the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope, because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pains together until now. And not only that, but we also who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. For we are saved in this hope. But hope that is seen is not hope. For why does one still hope for what he sees?

But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance." So without trying to explain what all this is, there is something that this suffering is going to produce that is going to be way better than anything you and I have ever imagined. And whatever little pain or struggle we have to go through here, I said little, it feels big. But whatever that it is, it's going to look little when it's finally over.

And he says, "We're not the only ones waiting for it." He said, "All creation is waiting for this." So when Jesus looked at the cross and saw all of that, he was tempted with terror. But when he looked past the cross and saw what God was going to do, that all looked so small. And he could go through it without batting an eye. Doesn't mean it didn't still hurt. Doesn't mean he didn't still experience all of the things. But he knew this was going to be very little compared to what was on the other side.

So what is this all about? Well, let's go back to Jesus. And I think I should start saying that John's chapter 13 through 17 are probably maybe my most favorite passage in the Bible. I don't know. It's still hard to decide. But Jesus says so much in those few chapters. I don't know if it was minutes or hours before his crucifixion that give us a little clue into what was going on in his mind. What was he thinking? And he was telling his disciples all of this. And at the end, they said they got it.

But in the end, did they? But in the end, they did. I think that was part of what he was looking at on the other side of the cross. They were going to get this. He had faith. John chapter 13, verse 1 says, "Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come, that he should depart from the world to the Father," so Jesus knew what was happening. He was not clueless. This was very clear in his mind.

"Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end." Jumping down to verse 3, "Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands," so Jesus knew that this moment, everything on the other side of the cross, all things were going to be given into his hand. And he alludes to that before he ascends into heaven. He says, "All power is given to me in heaven and earth." This is what he was looking at on the other side of the cross.

So he says, knowing that God had given all things into his hand and that he had come from God and was going to God. So these are all things that were going through Jesus' mind. He proceeded. This is a familiar passage. I'm not going to read it. But he proceeded, knowing all of that, to perform the lowest cultural act of the Jews. Interesting. No stooped and washed their feet. At least that's what I understand. I'm not a Jew. I didn't live there.

But I understand that's the lowest, if not one of the lowest acts for the servant to do. And he did it knowing what he was doing. That's interesting. He did it knowing where he was from. He was from heaven. He did it knowing where he was going, back to heaven through the cross. In just a few hours, just a few short hours, he was also going to be—I shouldn't use the word playing. He was going to be in the lowest cultural position there was. Executed as a criminal. And why was he doing it? Why was he going there?

Why was he going to be the lowest person on the human scale, a criminal being murdered, executed? He was doing it to clean you and I. I like that picture. I don't know that's what Jesus was thinking, but I think it was something like that. Here he was washing the dirtiest part of his disciple's body. And Peter's like, "We'll wash all of them." He says, "Well, don't worry about that. We'll just take care of the worst part." And he was going in a few hours to wash every one of us of the dirtiest part of our lives.

That is a beautiful picture. He was going to cleanse humanity. Every human being that believed in him was going to have their sin cleansed. Wow. In verse 15, 16, and 17 of that passage, it says, "I have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you." And just thinking about what Jesus knew he was doing, and he's passing that to us, suddenly makes me wonder, "Wow, can I even handle this? You're doing something.

Can I even do that?" He says, "I've given you an example that I want this to do." Yeah, we can wash each other's feet. But Jesus knew he was doing a lot more than that. And I think we should know the same thing. "Most assuredly, I say unto you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is he who sent greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them." We have a role to play in cleansing humanity. I really believe we do. Maybe that sounds extreme. I don't know.

But I think if we enter into Christ's cross, the suffering that he suffered because he was right, we are cleaning up things maybe that we don't even know about. We are performing this same thing that Jesus was. And in chapter 14, Jesus begins with saying, "Do not let your heart be troubled. You believe in God. Believe in me." He had just said, "This is what I'm doing. I want you to do the same thing." He says, "I'm going to prepare a place for you." What did that mean?

"And if I go, you're going to follow me." I used to always think of that as heaven. And I think that holds true. But I also think it holds on the other side of the cross. Jesus went through the cross to prepare a place for us in humanity that we had no way to fill until he did his thing. If we accept the cross of Christ, there is a place for us in humanity, the same place that Jesus had, to be a redemptive force, to be a powerful redemptive force. And we could look at a few more things.

He said, "I'm going to the Father." Why? Because if I don't go, you can't have the Spirit. So this was all planned to make a space for us on the earth that we could fill the role that Jesus had. And in his prayer, Jesus, you could tell he was praying for this. I like to think of it as a family unit. "I want you to have the same relationship with me that I have with the Father." There's so much packed in that Jesus was looking at on the other side of the cross. And I think we can only catch a glimpse of it.

The point I get from this is when I see victory over sin, and I know this is true, when I see someone get victory over sin, I experience a joy that goes deeper than any other joy on this earth. It brings tears to my eyes. There is a beauty there that I almost can't handle. Because once again, I see an expression, and I experience the beauty of Jesus' suffering. That is only possible because Jesus went through the cross experience. That's the only way you and I can have victory over sin.

That's the only way we can expect to see it in someone else's life. And that is beautiful. That is powerful. And the suffering that goes along with that, if we are really into this, if we really believe what Jesus was all about, the suffering holds no candle. Whatever I have to go through to help someone experience that, or even experience it myself, that suffering holds no candle to the brilliance and the joy and the peace that that brings.

It's just a small glimpse to me of heaven, where that's the only experience, freedom from sin. So let's go back and take a look at Matthew chapter 25 and read that parable. I was very inspired to look at the parable through this window. Starting at verse 14, "For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling into a far country who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them.

And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability, and immediately he went on a journey. Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them and made another five talents. And likewise, he who had received two gained two more also. But he who had received one went and dug in the ground and hid his lord's money. After a long time, the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them.

So he who had received the five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, 'Lord, you delivered to me five talents. Look, I have gained five more talents besides them.' His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. You were faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.' He also who had received two talents came and said, 'Lord, you delivered to me two talents.

Look, I have gained two more talents besides them.' His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.' Then he who had received the one talent came and said, 'Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid and went and hid your talent in the ground.

Look, there you have what is yours.' But his lord answered and said to him, 'You wicked and lazy servant. You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers. And at my coming, I could have received back my own with interest. Therefore, take the talent from him and give it to him who has ten talents. For to everyone who has more will be given, and he will have abundance.

But from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'" There's a lot of things about this that I'm not sure what to make of. The one was this king that went into another country. For some reason, I always thought, well, that was Jesus going somewhere. But I think it was him coming here to earth, came here, gathered his servants around him, and gave them these talents, whatever they were. Okay?

It was things from him. It was part of his character. Let's just say it was his name. And he gave various ones according to their ability, maybe more of his character if there is such a thing, this one a little less, and this one just one little thing. But it was part of Jesus. It was Jesus' name that he gave them. And so they went and did with this. Two of them did what they were supposed to. They went and took this character and invested it. Okay?

And let's just say that investment in our window that we're looking through is suffering for that name's sake. And through that suffering, he generated some more of this character and nature of Jesus. Same with the other one. This other man who just had maybe just a little bit of this character, it was actually, according to the king, it was all he could handle of it. He went and said, "Well, this is kind of risky business.

I think maybe I should just keep this and preserve it, make sure I don't lose it so that when the king comes back, he can have it. Don't want to mess this up." So he tucked it away in a nice, neat napkin. And it says, I had to think of Cain for some odd reason. It says he went, I think, and buried it in his tent. How did it say that? "I was afraid and hid your talent in the ground." Yeah. But when the king came back, we get the story.

The king doesn't give his name out just to have it packed away somewhere and preserved for him. He had come and made an investment, a big investment, bigger than any of those fellows had. Jesus came and invested his entire life on this earth, gave it up, suffered for you and me so that we could have his name, his character. And he left. And he said, "I want you to go into all the world, preach the gospel, baptizing people in my name.

And when he comes back, if we haven't done that, we will pay just like this man did. But if we have done that, we will enter into the joy that God has. God wants to come back and claim his kingdom. And we need to have joy in seeing that same thing happen. And if we do, if I really can capture that vision, it will give you and I the courage to stand up against the entire world and say, 'I know my God is true. I know what God said is real. He is going to come back, and his joy is going to be complete.

And I'm going to invest myself in that. It doesn't really matter what it looks like now. It's going to happen.'" That's what Jesus did. He didn't go by what it's going to look like while he's hanging on the cross. It looked like it was the end. But he put his faith in his Father, and he accepted his Father's joy, and that gave him courage.

And he with confidence told his disciples before he went to the cross, "It's going to be here." And even when they couldn't get it, I love the story of the two on the road to Emmaus. And they were like, "Don't you know what happened?" And who were they talking to? And he said, "Well, it happened just like it was supposed to." He had told them, and he said, "Even the prophets." And he explained it all to them. And it burned in their hearts. And they got it. "I want to get it too.

Am I going to invest in the suffering redemption Jesus has invested into me to gain others for my king, be it little or much? Or will I keep it to myself, try to preserve it in spite of what I know about God?" God doesn't put up with that. He just doesn't. "Will I enter into the joy of my Lord or just await the wrath of a royal redeemer? How much did Jesus want you to be his blood brother and sister? So much the cross was a small thing.

How much do I want to see my enemy, that person that persecutes me, calls me bad names, tells bad stories about me? How much do I want to see him become my brother or sister?" The joy of the Lord is our strength. And I want to pray, and you can pray for me and pray for each other, that we will see the joy that God has in redeeming the world. And let that give us the courage and the strength to do with his name what he wants us to do. If we don't have that joy, we will have no strength.

That's the conclusion I came to for myself. If I feel no strength in this, apparently, I do not understand God's joy. I haven't allowed it to become clear. I've let other things, weeds, rocks, whatever that parable of the sower is about, get in the way and think, "I need to somehow preserve myself. I need to work to make sure I live rather than keep God's kingdom priority number one." Seek first God's kingdom, his rightness, or in other words, lives that have been cleaned from sin by Jesus and his suffering.

And the joy of the Lord will be our strength to do that. And if we do that, he promises we will have everything that we need to get that done. He won't leave us sitting with an empty bag. We will have all the tools and all the resources that we need. Let's just bow our heads for a short prayer. God, I thank you for the picture that Jesus left us of your joy and of his willingness to bear the cross, to have that become a reality in our lives. O God, forgive me. Forgive all of us. Will we take that too lightly?

Open our eyes, open our hearts to the redemption that you've given us and that you want for every person around us. And Lord, give us the courage, the strength to endure what you've promised will be part of our lot here on this earth, to invest in your kingdom. And Lord, we want to expect then that you will make good on what you have said, that it will all become yours. Help us to believe that you have given authority to Jesus, and he has told us what we can do. In Jesus' name, amen.

Are there any comments that anyone wants to make?