What does Jesus mean when He says "Abide in Me"?

This week we are addressing the distorted view of God as the cosmic slot machine. Yesterday, we talked about the reality that this distorted view of God is the result of two different dynamics that we can experience as we live out our day to day life. The first dynamic involves the mystery of God. The second dynamic involves the uncertainty of life.

So for many people, the mystery of God and the uncertainty of life lead to the view of God as the cosmic slot machine. For many people, both God and life are viewed as being one big gamble. God is viewed as the cosmic slot machine, where life has little to do with love and instead is all about luck. God is viewed as the cosmic slot machine where you win sometimes, you lose sometimes, and, at the end of the day, the best you can hope for is to break even at the end of your life.

However, this image of God as the cosmic slot machine damages our perceptions of who God is and damages how we live out our day to day life here on earth. You see, when we view God as the cosmic slot machine, the seeming randomness of God will lead us to hedge our bets and play it safe for fear that we could lose it all.

And to view God as the cosmic slot machine that views life as being one big gamble that we hedge our bets on is a distorted view of God. We see this reality revealed in a section of an account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in the Bible called the gospel of John. And it is in this section of this account of Jesus life that we discover a timeless truth that can help us rid ourselves of the distorted view of God as the cosmic slot machine and replace it with an accurate view of God. So let’s jump into this section of the gospel of John together, beginning in John 15:1-3:

"I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. "You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.

Now to understand the word picture that Jesus is painting here, we first need to understand a few things. The first thing that we need to understand is the context of Jesus words here. At this point in the gospel of John, John, who is the author of this account of Jesus life, is giving us a front row seat to the final conversation that Jesus had with His closest followers before He was arrested, which would occur shortly after this conversation.

In that conversation, Jesus provided the timeless promise that His followers would have an eternal connection to Him. Jesus promised His disciples, and followers of Jesus throughout history, that our confident trust in Him would provide an eternal connection in the relationship with God we were created for. Jesus promised that He will reveal Himself and connect Himself in an intimate relationship with whoever places their confident trust in Him. And it is in this context that Jesus provides a word picture of this reality to the disciples in John 15:1.  

Now that leads us to the next thing that we need to understand, which involves vines and how they grow. You see, vinedressers, or gardeners who grow grapes understand that pruning is necessary for any vine if it is going to bear fruit. And vinedressers, or gardeners understand that dead wood is dangerous for the vine, as dead wood can harbor disease and decay.

And because of that reality, in verse 2 Jesus explains that the vinedresser, or gardener, removes everything that is not a true branch that would bear fruit.  You see, just because a person professes that they are a follower of Jesus, that does not mean that they are a follower of Jesus. Just as a branch that produces no fruit is obviously dead, it is the fruit, or the results that are produced in our lives, not our profession, that serves as proof of our rescue and that we possess a relationship with Jesus.

In addition, a vinedresser, or gardener, understands that an untrimmed vine will develop long rambling branches that produce little fruit because most of the strength of the vine is given to growing wood instead of fruit. And because the vinedresser, or gardener is concerned that the vine be healthy and productive, they will prune the vine so that it can bear more fruit.

Jesus uses this word picture to explain that God removes the dead wood from His church and is at work in the life of followers of Jesus so that they will reveal and reflect Jesus in their day to day lives. And the message and teachings of Jesus are the means by which He works in our lives to prune and clean away areas of our lives so that we can be more fruitful.  The issue that Jesus is primarily concerned with in this word picture is the issue is fruitfulness, not salvation. We see Jesus reveal this reality as He continues to unpack this word picture in verse 4-6:

 "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.

Here we see Jesus command the disciples to abide in Him. Jesus is commanding the disciples, and followers of Jesus throughout history to remain connected to Jesus. Jesus then reveals the reason behind His command: “As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me”.

You see, the issue for Jesus is fruitfulness. The issue for Jesus is that His followers reveal and reflect Him. And to reveal and reflect Jesus we must remain connected to Him, because as Jesus makes unmistakably clear in verse 5, apart from Me you can do nothing. In other words, we are unable to reveal and reflect Jesus in a way that advances His kingdom and makes much of Him apart from remaining connected with Him.

Now for a long time, I viewed the idea of abiding or remaining connected with Jesus as though I had to chase Jesus around and suck the life out of Him.  There was once a pastor who worked with college students who said that to abide in Jesus, we as Christians needed to be sap suckers. He further stated that for us to grow and bear fruit for Jesus, we as Christians needed to latch on to Jesus and suck out the sap that He has for us.

Well, after the pastor finished his talk, a student who majored in botany, which is the study of plants, came up to him. The pastor said hello, to which the college students said “You’re wrong”. The pastor, taken aback, said “How am I wrong”? The student then replied, “that’s not how plants feed.”  The student explained that, through the process of homeostasis, the branches don’t suck the sap out of the vine, the vine forces its nutrients into the branches”.

Now think about that for a second. How does that impact how you view remaining in Christ? As followers of Jesus, we don’t need to suck the life out of Jesus, like that is even possible. The image that Jesus is conveying to His disciples and us today is one of openness. Just as a vine forces life and nutrients into the branches to cause growth, Jesus wants to pour Himself into us so that we can grow and bear fruit for Him. What Jesus is asking us to do by remaining in Him is to simply be open to receive from Jesus what He wants to pour into us.

Think about the idea of God as the vinedresser, or gardener, that prunes the branches so that they bear more fruit. What happens when you prune or cut back a branch? Is the opening where I cut bigger or smaller? It’s bigger. When God prunes and cleans us through His word, He makes us more open to receive what Jesus desires to pour into us.

Jesus desires that we remain connected to Him so that He can pour Himself into us so that we reveal and reflect Him in our character and conduct in a way that enables us to be the vehicle that He uses to reveal Himself to the world.

 

Friday, we will see Jesus unpacks this for us...

God as the cosmic slot machine...

At the church where I serve, we are in the middle of a sermon series entitled Distorted. During this series, we are spending our time together addressing six distorted views of God that flow from a distorted perception and assumption about God and that can result in us shaping and molding God into our image. And as we go through this series, our hope and our prayer is that God would move by the power of the Holy Spirit in our heads, hearts, and hands to enable us to rid ourselves of any distorted views that we have of God and replace them with an accurate view of God so that we would be able to experience a growing and maturing relationship with God.

This week I would like for us to spend our time together addressing another distorted view of God that flows from a distorted perception and assumption about God and that can result in us shaping and molding God into our image. And the distorted view of God that I would like us to address is the view of God as the cosmic slot machine.

This distorted view of God is the result of two different dynamics that we can experience as we live out our day to day life. The first dynamic involves the mystery of God. This morning, the timeless reality is that there is mystery about God. As finite beings, we are unable to wrap our minds around an infinite God. There is mystery surrounding the nature of God. For example, just take the concept of the Trinity. How can there be one God with God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, all considered distinct in their personhood? There is mystery surrounding the character of God. For example, a common question that is asked is “How can God be both loving and just?” And there is mystery surrounding the activity of God. For example, people will often ask “How can a good and loving God send people to hell?”

The second dynamic involves the uncertainty of life. The timeless reality is that life is uncertain. Life has a tendency to bring the unexpected. Life is often unpredictable. Sometimes bad things happen to good people. And sometimes good things happen to bad people. Sometimes people seem to do all the right things and yet still experience tragedy and misfortune in life. And sometimes people seem to do all the wrong things and yet still experience prosperity and blessing in life.

As a result, for many people, the uncertainty of life and the questions that flow from the uncertainty of life lead us to draw one of three conclusions. We can come to the conclusion that God is involved in every detail and has a reason for everything, even though it might be beyond our understanding. Or we can come to the conclusion that God is biased, and those who are either “blessed” or “cursed” are living proof of the bias of God. Or we can come to the conclusion that God is random, and “what you get is what you get”. What you do with what you get from the randomness of God is up to you.

So for many people, the mystery of God and the uncertainty of life lead to the view of God as the cosmic slot machine. For many people, both God and life are viewed as being one big gamble. God is viewed as the cosmic slot machine, where life has little to do with love and instead is all about luck. God is viewed as the cosmic slot machine where you win sometimes, you lose sometimes, and, at the end of the day, the best you can hope for is to break even at the end of your life.

Maybe I have just described your perception of who God is and how life is. Maybe you view life as one big gamble that is driven by luck, not love. Maybe you view God as being random and that” we get what we get” from God. However, this image of God as the cosmic slot machine damages our perceptions of who God is and damages how we live out our day to day life here on earth.

You see, when we view God as the cosmic slot machine, the seeming randomness of God will lead us to hedge our bets and play it safe for fear that we could lose it all. As a result, we end up living life as though we are playing the nickel slots. We never really win big in life, but most importantly, we never risk losing it all in life.

The problem with viewing God as the cosmic slot machine is that, when you really think about it, and if we are brutally honest with ourselves, every person we have ever known and every person that we have ever read about in the letters that make up the Bible, those who play it safe and hedge their bets on life never really live life. Those who decide to play it safe; those who hedge their bets on God never really know God.

However, to view God as the cosmic slot machine that views life as being one big gamble that we hedge our bets on is a distorted view of God. We see this reality revealed in a section of an account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in the Bible called the gospel of John. And it is in this section of this account of Jesus life that we discover a timeless truth that can help us rid ourselves of the distorted view of God as the cosmic slot machine and replace it with an accurate view of God.

Tomorrow we will begin to look at this section of the gospel of John…

We have a distorted view of God when we view God as a sweet old man instead of the lord of a boardroom...

This week we have been looking at the distorted view of God as a sweet old man. To address this distorted view of God, we have been looking at a parable that Jesus told His closest followers that is recorded for us in account of Jesus life in the Bible called the gospel of Luke.

In this parable Jesus explained that a nobleman went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself, and then return. Jesus explained that the nobleman called ten of his slaves, and gave them one mina each and said to them, 'Do business with this until I come back'. Each slave was given four months wages by the nobleman who was to become king and was given the responsibility to take care of the business of the future king's kingdom until the he returned as king.

The nobleman's expectation was that his slaves would take the resources and responsibilities that they had been given and leverage them in a way that would advance the kingdom of the future king in his absence, so that when the nobleman returned as king, his kingdom would have expanded to a greater degree than when he had left.

Upon giving each servant the same amount of resources and responsibilities to advance his future kingdom in his absence, the nobleman left on his long journey to be crowned king. While the nobleman was away from his future kingdom to be crowned as king, the citizens of his future kingdom sent a delegation after him to deliver a message to the future king that they did not for him to rule over them as king.

However, despite the response of his citizens to his becoming king, the nobleman, after becoming king, returned to his new kingdom. And upon his return, the new king called for the ten slaves to appear before him to explain how they had done when it came to leveraging the resources and responsibilities they had been given in his absence. The new king wanted to know how faithful each of the slaves had been when it came to the responsibility they had been given to invest the resources they had been given in a way that expanded and advanced his kingdom.

Jesus explained that the first servant had taken the one mina that he had been given and turned it into ten minas. In other words, the servants faithfulness in fulfilling the responsibilities that he had been given resulted in a 1,000 percent profit for the king and his kingdom. The slave's faithfulness  in his responsibilities prior to the new king's return resulted in the king giving him corresponding responsibilities in the new kingdom.

Jesus explained that the second slave had taken the one mina that he had been given and turned it into five minas. In other words, the servants faithfulness in fulfilling the responsibilities that he had been given resulted in a 500 percent profit for the king and his kingdom. The slave's faithfulness  in his responsibilities prior to the new king's return resulted in the king giving him corresponding responsibilities in the new kingdom.

 Jesus then revealed how another slave had done with the resources and responsibility that he had been given in Luke 19:20-21:

"Another came, saying, 'Master, here is your mina, which I kept put away in a   handkerchief; ²¹ for I was afraid of you, because you are an exacting man; you take up what you did not lay down and reap what you did not sow.'

Unlike the first two slaves, a third slave had taken the one mina that he had been given and kept it in a handkerchief. Now this handkerchief was a face cloth that was often worn to protect the back of a person's neck from the desert sun's heat. Instead of faithfully fulfilling the responsibilities that he had been given to leverage the resources he had been given to advance the new king's kingdom while the king was absent, this slave carelessly laid aside the resources in a place where they could have easily been lost or stolen.

The slave then responded to the new king and his lack of faithfulness and responsibility for the mina he was given by doing what we can tend to do when we are busted for being irresponsible, which is to make excuses and play the blame game. The slave blamed the nobleman who was now king: “I was afraid of you, because you are an exacting man; you take up what you did not lay down and reap what you did not sow.”

In other words, the slave states “I was afraid of you because I knew that you were unjust and a thief. I knew that you are a unyielding man who takes what is not his. So I did not risk the possibility of loss, so I am just giving you back what is yours”. The slave rationalized and made excuses for his irresponsibility and shifted the blame instead of owning up to his irresponsibility. Jesus then revealed to the disciples how the new king responded to the unfaithfulness and irresponsibility of the slave in verse 22-26:

"He said to him, 'By your own words I will judge you, you worthless slave. Did you know that I am an exacting man, taking up what I did not lay down and reaping what I did not sow? ²³ 'Then why did you not put my money in the bank, and having come, I would have collected it with interest?' ²⁴ "Then he said to the bystanders, 'Take the mina away from him and give it to the one who has the ten minas.' ²⁵ "And they said to him, 'Master, he has ten minas already.' ²⁶ "I tell you that to everyone who has, more shall be given, but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away.

Now as soon as I read verse 25 your immediate response might have been “wait a minute, that’s not fair. I mean the one slave already has ten minas. Shouldn’t the mina go to the slave who has five minas? Shouldn’t the new king redistribute the income so that everyone has the same? That would be fair.

But, the timeless reality is that life is not fair. As a matter of fact, fairness is not a biblical value. Nowhere in the Bible will you see the concept of fairness. What you see everywhere in the Bible is the concept of rightness.

Jesus here is revealing the reality that the new king rewarded the slave who was faithful with the responsibilities that he was given and did the right thing, the responsible thing. And the new king responded to the slave who wanted to associate with king without trusting in the king or obeying the king by rejecting that slave.

And because the measure for the new king was faithfulness to the king; because the measure for the new king was to be responsible with the resources that have been given by the king to the citizens of his kingdom, the king will respond to unfaithfulness and irresponsibility with rightness and justice. Jesus reveals this reality as he brings this parable to its conclusion in verse 27:

"But these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them in my presence."

The new king responded to the citizens of his kingdom who hated him and who rejected and rebelled against his rule and authority in their life by exercising his authority as king. The new king exercised his rule and authority in his kingdom by executing those who rebelled and rejected his rule and authority. You see, for the new king, to be a part of his kingdom required faithfulness to the authority of the king and faithfulness in fulfilling the responsibilities that come with being a part of the kingdom.

To openly reject and rebel against the king would result in judgment from the king. To fail to be faithful to the king because of a distorted view of the king will also result in judgment from the king. And it is here, in this event from history involving a parable concerning a future king and his kingdom, that we discover a timeless and true view of God given to us by Jesus that can enable us to rid ourselves of the distorted view of God as a sweet old man. And that timeless truth is this: We have a distorted view of God when we view God as a sweet old man instead of the lord of a boardroom. 

The timeless reality is that we have a distorted view of God when we view God as sweet old man. We have a distorted view of God when we view God as some sweet old man sitting on a rocking chair in a retirement community waiting his turn to play shuffleboard. We have a distorted view of God when we view God as old, out of touch, over the hill, out dated, overrated, and unconnected to the world we live.

We have a distorted view of God when we view God as the sweet old God that we can visit whenever we want to; at Christmas or Easter or when we may remember Him at our meals. We have a distorted view of God when we view God as so old that He may have created this world, but He certainly doesn’t understand it anymore. We have a distorted view of God when we view God as a sweet old man that gives us our freedom so that He can play shuffleboard.

However, unlike the sweet old man who gives us our freedom so that He can play shuffleboard in a retirement home, a more accurate view of God is that of the lord of a boardroom. You see, God is not old; instead God is timeless. God exists outside space and time, so God does not age.

A more accurate view of God is that of the lord of the boardroom who is ever present, and actively engaged and at work around us. A more accurate view of God is that of the lord of a boardroom who expects us to be partners in what He is doing in the world.

 A more accurate view of God is that of the lord of a boardroom who is both just and generous. You see, as Lord of a boardroom, God can both keep us to our end of the deal and forgive us when we fall short. A more accurate view of God is that of the lord of the boardroom, who holds the power in one hand to wipe out the angry mob who rejects and rebels against Him, and in the other hand the power to give away the keys to the kingdom to those who faithfully trust and follow Him.

A more accurate view of God is that of the lord of a boardroom who takes the profits of His advancing kingdom and generously and gives them away to those who faithfully fulfill their responsibilities in the kingdom. A more accurate view of God is that of the lord of a boardroom who is more good, generous, and full of grace than we can possibly imagine. And because of that reality, we should offer ourselves to Him as wildly as He has offered Himself to us.

So here is a question to consider: Which of these two views describe how you view God? Do you view God as a sweet old man? Do you view God old, out of touch, over the hill, out dated, overrated, and unconnected to the world we live? Do you view God as simply a the sweet old God that we can visit whenever we want to; at Christmas or Easter, or that we can remember at our meals?

Or do you view God as the lord of a boardroom? Do you view God as the lord of the boardroom who is ever present, and actively engaged and at work around us? Do you view God as the lord of a boardroom who expects us to be partners in what He is doing in the world? Do you view God as the lord of a boardroom who is both just and generous?

Because the timeless reality is that we have a distorted view of God when we view God as a sweet old man instead of the lord of a boardroom…

Responding to the responsibility given by a future king...

This week, we are addressing another distorted view of God that flows from a distorted perception and assumption about God and that can result in us shaping and molding God into our image. This distorted view of God is the view of God as a sweet old man. This view of God is that of a God that is out of touch, over the hill, out dated, overrated, and unconnected to the world we live.

Because God is old, we do not worry about the constant, daily, annoying presence of God; we can see Him like our grandparents, whenever we want to. We can go visit with sweet old God at Christmas or Easter. We can remember Him at our meals. And because God is old, He may have created this world, but He certainly doesn’t understand it anymore.

However, to view God as a sweet old man who cannot relate to and who has little or nothing to do with the world we live in today is a distorted view of God. We see this reality revealed in a section of an account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in the Bible called the gospel of Luke.

And it is in this section of this account of Jesus life that we discover a timeless truth that can help us rid ourselves of the distorted view of God as a sweet old man and replace it with an accurate view of God that will enable us to experience a growing relationship with God. So let’s jump into this section of the gospel of Luke together, beginning in Luke 19:11:

While they were listening to these things, Jesus went on to tell a parable, because He was near Jerusalem, and they supposed that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately. ¹² So He said, "A nobleman went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself, and then return. ¹³ "And he called ten of his slaves, and gave them ten minas and said to them, 'Do business with this until I come back.'

Now, to understand what is happening in this event from history, we first need to understand the context in which this event from history took place. At this point is the gospel of Luke, Jesus was headed to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover, which commemorated God’s deliverance of the Jewish people from slavery at the hands of the nation of Egypt. Most scholars and historians believe that this event from history occurred within two weeks of Jesus arrest.

On his way to Jerusalem, Jesus passed through the city of Jericho, where He encountered a man named Zaccheus.   Jesus invited Zaccheus, who was an outsider who was small in stature physically and in the eyes of the community, to experience life with Jesus. Zaccheus heart was changed as a result of Jesus offer to hang out and enter into relationship with him. And Zaccheus change of heart resulted in a change of the trajectory of his life that was moving away from God back to God.

Jesus responded to Zaccheus change of heart by revealing the reality that as the Son of Man, He came to seek and save the lost. In other words Jesus came to seek and bring back to relationship with God those who were outsiders that were far from God and had been lost as a result of their selfishness and rebellion. As the Son of Man, Jesus came on a mission to rescue from eternal separation from God and bring back to God those who were outsiders that were far from God as a result of their selfishness and rebellion through His life, death, and resurrection.

Luke then explained that, as a result of Jesus identifying Himself as the Son of Man, which was a reference to the Messiah that the prophet Daniel had predicted and proclaimed over 500 years earlier who would come to usher in the kingdom of God here on earth, His disciples wondered if Jesus was going to Jerusalem in order to fulfill the promise that the Prophet Daniel proclaimed to usher in the kingdom of God here on earth. In other words, the disciples were wondering if the kingdom of God would arrive on earth upon Jesus and their arrival in Jerusalem.

Luke tells us that Jesus responded to what the disciples were wondering by telling a parable. Now a parable is an earthly story that reveals a deeper spiritual truth. In this parable, Jesus explained that a nobleman went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself, and then return. In other words, a nobleman who was to be king was going to travel to great distance in order that he could be crowned king. After being crowned king, the king would then return from his trip to rule as king.

However, the distant trip to be crowned king would result in the nobleman being absent for a significant period of time. And because of that reality, Jesus explained that the nobleman called ten of his slaves, and gave them one mina each and said to them, 'Do business with this until I come back'. Now in the Jewish culture of the first century, a mina was the equivalent of four months wages. So each slave was given four months wages by the nobleman who was to become king and was given the responsibility to take care of the business of the future king's kingdom until the he returned as king.

What is interesting is that the phrase "Do business" conveys the sense of making a profit. You see, the nobleman's expectation was that his slaves would take the resources and responsibilities that they had been given and leverage them in a way that would advance the kingdom of the future king in his absence, so that when the nobleman returned as king, his kingdom would have expanded to a greater degree than when he had left.

Upon giving each servant the same amount of resources and responsibilities to advance his future kingdom in his absence, the nobleman left on his long journey to be crowned king. Jesus the reveals what happened during the nobleman and future king's absence in verse 14-15:

"But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, 'We do not want this man to reign over us.' ¹⁵ "When he returned, after receiving the kingdom, he ordered that these slaves, to whom he had given the money, be called to him so that he might know what business they had done.

Jesus explained that while the nobleman was away from his future kingdom to be crowned as king, the citizens of his future kingdom sent a delegation after him to deliver a message to the future king. And that message, if it was communicated in the language we use in our culture today, would have sounded like this "We don't want you to be king over us so don't bother coming back. We always have hated you and we always will hate you and never wanted you around. So just stay where you are and don't come back because we will not accept your rule and authority over us".

However, despite the response of his citizens to his becoming king, the nobleman, after becoming king, returned to his new kingdom. And upon his return, the new king called for the ten slaves to appear before him to explain how they had done when it came to leveraging the resources and responsibilities they had been given in his absence.

The new king wanted to know how faithful each of the slaves had been when it came to the responsibility they had been given to invest the resources they had been given in a way that expanded and advanced his kingdom. Jesus then revealed how the first slave had done with the resources and responsibility that he had been given in verse 16-17:

¹⁶ "The first appeared, saying, 'Master, your mina has made ten minas more.' ¹⁷ "And he said to him, 'Well done, good slave, because you have been faithful in a very little thing, you are to be in authority over ten cities.'

Jesus explained that the first servant had taken the one mina that he had been given and turned it into ten minas. In other words, the servants faithfulness in fulfilling the responsibilities that he had been given resulted in a 1,000 percent profit for the king and his kingdom. But this morning, did you notice the king's response? " Because you have been faithful in a very little thing, you are to be in authority over ten cities."

The slave's faithfulness  in his responsibilities prior to the new king's return resulted in the king giving him corresponding responsibilities in the new kingdom. You see, the slave had demonstrated his faithfulness while the king was absent. And because of his faithfulness while the king was absent, the slave would be entrusted with greater responsibility in the new king's kingdom. Jesus then revealed how the second slave had done with the resources and responsibility that he had been given in verse 18-19:

"The second came, saying, 'Your mina, master, has made five minas.' ¹⁹ "And he said to him also, 'And you are to be over five cities.'

Jesus explained that the second slave had taken the one mina that he had been given and turned it into five minas. In other words, the servant’s faithfulness in fulfilling the responsibilities that he had been given resulted in a 500 percent profit for the king and his kingdom. The new king responded to the slave’s faithfulness by giving the slave authority over five cities. The slave's faithfulness in his responsibilities prior to the new king's return resulted in the king giving him corresponding responsibilities in the new kingdom.

The slave had demonstrated a level of faithfulness and responsibility while the king was absent. And because of that level of faithfulness while the king was absent, the slave would be entrusted with a corresponding level of responsibility in the new king's kingdom. Jesus then revealed how another slave had done with the resources and responsibility that he had been given.

Friday, we will discover hoe the slave had done and discover a timeless truth about God…

The view of God as a sweet old man...

Last week at the church where I serve we launched into a brand new sermon series entitled Distorted. During this series we are going to address an all too frequent reality that many of us can find ourselves facing. And that reality involves how we view and perceive God.

The reality is that, regardless of where we are at when it comes to a relationship with God, we can have a distorted view of God because we have a distorted perception about God. And it is those distorted perceptions about God that can lead us to make distorted assumptions about God.

And so often, just like C.S. Lewis, we can find ourselves in a place where we have made God into our image, based on our view of God that is the result of our distorted perceptions and our assumptions about God. And because of that reality, we are addressing six distorted views of God that flow from a distorted perception and assumption about God and that can result in us shaping and molding God into our image.

During this series, we are going to strive to replace those distorted perceptions and assumptions about God with six accurate views of God that were given by us by Jesus Himself. And as we go through this series, our hope and our prayer is that God would move by the power of the Holy Spirit in our heads, hearts, and hands to enable us to rid ourselves of any distorted views that we have of God and replace them with an accurate view of God so that we would be able to experience a growing and maturing relationship with God.

This week, I would like for us to spend our time together addressing another distorted view of God that flows from a distorted perception and assumption about God and that can result in us shaping and molding God into our image. This distorted view of God is in many ways the exact opposite of the distorted view of God as being the cop around the corner. And the distorted view of God that I would like us to address is the view of God as a sweet old man.

This view of God was most clearly portrayed by George Burns in the movie "Oh God". Now while "Oh God" was a very popular and entertaining movie during the 1970's, here is my question: How often do we view God in the exact same way? How often do we view God as this sweet old man?

Maybe I have just described how you view God. Maybe you view God as some sweet old man sitting on a rocking chair in a retirement community waiting his turn to play shuffleboard. How often do we view God as old? After all, since we do not know what eternal looks like, we try to fill in the blanks with the picture that comes to mind. And that picture is of grandpa.

In addition, because God is old, it can lead us to a view of a God that is out of touch, over the hill, out dated, overrated, and unconnected to the world we live. Because God is old, we do not worry about the constant, daily, annoying presence of God; we can see Him like our grandparents, whenever we want to. We can go visit with sweet old God at Christmas or Easter. We can remember Him at our meals.

And because God is old, He may have created this world, but He certainly doesn’t understand it anymore. And since God is a sweet old man, we get our freedom and God gets to play shuffleboard. But how do we get to the place where we view God as this sweet old man?

You see, we get to the place where we view God as a sweet old man because we often view God as a being that lives and is confined to our concepts of time and space. However, this image of God as sweet, old, and weak damages our perceptions of who God is. And, to be honest, the church historically has not helped in this regard.

Church does not help our perception of God as a sweet old man when we talk about God in terms of remembering stories from thousands of years ago that are dominated by the use of past tense verbs. However, when we view God as a sweet old man, then that makes the Bible to be nothing more than a big old history book that has little or nothing to do with the world we live in. In addition, the longer we view God as a sweet old man, the longer we keep God confined to our concept of time, the older He gets.

However, to view God as a sweet old man who cannot relate to and who has little or nothing to do with the world we live in today is a distorted view of God. We see this reality revealed in a section of an account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in the Bible called the gospel of Luke. And it is in this section of this account of Jesus life that we discover a timeless truth that can help us rid ourselves of the distorted view of God as a sweet old man and replace it with an accurate view of God that will enable us to experience a growing relationship with God.

Tomorrow, we will begin to look at this section…

We have a distorted view of God when we view God as a cop around the corner instead of a late night neighbor...

This week we have been addressing the view of God as a cop around the corner. We talked about the reality that we can live life with the assumption that there is actually a permanent record out there with all the wrong things that we have ever done. We can live life with the assumption that we are probably doing something wrong right now and that God is lurking around some dark corner of our lives with His radar gun, just waiting to nail us for whatever it is so that He can add yet another entry into our permanent record.

We talked about the reality that we get to this place because we view God as a God who exists to give us rules. We view God as a God who gives us rules and people like pastors and Sunday School teachers to teach us and help Him enforce the rules to keep us from getting out of control.

However, to view God as a cop around the corner who is simply a rule maker that busts the rule breakers is a distorted view of God. We see this reality revealed in a section of an account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in the Bible called the gospel of Luke.

And it is in this section of this account of Jesus life that we discover a timeless and true view of God that can help us rid ourselves of the distorted view of God as the cop around the corner and replace it with an accurate view of God that will enable us to experience a growing relationship with God. So let’s jump into this section of the gospel of Luke together, beginning in Luke 11:5:

Then He said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to him at midnight and says to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves; ⁶ for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him'; ⁷ and from inside he answers and says, 'Do not bother me; the door has already been shut and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.' ⁸ "I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs.

Now to fully understand what is happening in this event from history, we first need to understand the context in which this event from history takes place. You see, as the disciples followed Jesus, they were striving to not only know what Jesus knew; they were striving to do what Jesus was doing. However, as the disciples did life with Jesus they noticed something about what Jesus was doing that they were not doing. As the disciples watched Jesus pray, they recognized that there was something different about Jesus when Jesus prayed. I mean the disciples, they prayed to God, but when Jesus prayed, something seemed to be happening between Jesus and God.

And because of that reality, in Luke 11:1-4, the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray.  Jesus responded to their request by teaching them to pray. Jesus lesson on prayer is referred to today as the Lord’s Prayer.  Jesus modeled for the disciples, and for followers of Jesus throughout history, how we are to approach God in prayer. Jesus modeled the reality that we are to approach God as one who is worthy of our awe because He sets the agenda as our provider, our forgiver, our deliverer, and our leader who is beyond anything we can wrap our minds around. And it is in this context that we jump into this event from history.

Luke brings us into this event from history by explaining that Jesus moved from teaching his disciples about prayer to telling His disciples a parable about prayer. Now a parable is an earthly story that is designed to reveal a deeper spiritual truth. Jesus began His parable by basically saying “If any of you had a friend who came to your house at o dark thirty and asked to borrow enough food to feed some of his friends who had shown up in the middle of the night at his house after a long journey, what would you do?”

Now to fully understand what Jesus is saying here, we first need to understand a few things about the Jewish culture of the first century. In the Jewish culture of the 1^st century, one was required to be a good host to a traveling visitor. In addition, the members of the community were responsible to help others in the community to be able to be a good host to visitors. However, in this case, a man had a late night visitor who arrived unexpectedly. And unlike today, this man could not run down to the local Wal-Mart to get food for his unexpected guests. This man had no food to offer and there was no store to go buy food.

And as a result, this man was faced with a choice; this man could either bother his neighbor to get the food he needs or this man could not bother his neighbor and be a poor host. In addition, most homes in the 1^st century were one room homes. So knocking on his neighbor’s door would wake up everyone in the home, which is why Jesus explained that the neighbor initially responded to the knocking by telling the man to go away before he woke up his entire family.

However, notice what Jesus says next “I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs.” What is interesting is that the word persistence here conveys the sense of shamelessness. In other words, the man shamelessly and boldly kept knocking. And as a result of this man’s shameless boldness, his neighbor responded by giving him the food that he needed.

You see, the neighbor gave the man the food that he needed because the neighbor knew that the man would not have knocked if he really didn’t need the bread. The neighbor gave the man the food that he needed because the neighbor knew that the man would not have knocked if he didn’t believe that the neighbor would give him the food that he needed. And to make sure that His disciples did not miss the meaning of the parable, Jesus took the time to explain the meaning of the parable, which Luke records for us in Luke 11:9-10:

 ⁹ "So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. ¹⁰ "For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened.

As Jesus explained this parable to His disciples, we see revealed for us the reality that, as followers of Jesus, we are invited to ask God when we have needs because God desires to respond to our prayers so as to meet our needs. When Jesus uses the word ask, here, this word is an invitation to pray. When Jesus uses the word, seek here, this is an invitation to pursue God and God’s will. And when Jesus uses the word knock, this word conveys a word picture of a person entering into and experiencing the presence of God.

 So Jesus is basically saying to His disciples, and to followers of Jesus throughout history, that everyone who asks receives an answer to what they ask for in prayer; everyone who seeks God and His will finds an answer to what they are looking for; everyone who knocks with a desire to experience God’s presence, will receive a response to their knocking.

You see, Jesus wanted the disciples to clearly understand that the issue isn’t with God; God is waiting to engage us and answer our prayers. The issue is with us as His followers, who hesitate to ask God for what we need. Too often we are afraid to ask a good and loving God for what He already longs to give us.

After teaching His closest followers about how we are to approach God in prayer as the One who is worthy of our awe because He sets the agenda as our provider, our forgiver, our deliverer, and our leader who is beyond anything we can wrap our minds around, Jesus wanted to make sure that His disciples did not view God as a cop around the corner. Jesus wanted to hammer home the reality that if an irritated neighbor responds to such shameless boldness, then we can be bold with our gracious God.

Just as the neighbor responded to the request not because of their friendship, but because of the shameless boldness, God responds to our boldness. Unlike the cop around the corner, who we avoid bothering because of their position of power and authority, God is approachable and should be approached often and with confidence.

However, it is important to understand that God does not always give us what we want, but He will always give us what we need.  Unfortunately, these verses have been used far too often by those in the prosperity gospel movement to advocate a name it and claim it mentality when it comes to prayer. In other words, the only reason that you do not have riches and material blessings in your life is because you have not been knocking hard enough with enough faith.

The problem with this distorted and false view of these verses is found both in the context of these verses and the very words of Jesus Himself. Let’s look at the issue of context first. If you were to back up in the gospel of Luke just seven verses, we see Jesus teaching His disciples how to about pray. Now, I have a question for you. Was Jesus teaching His closest followers to pray that God would give them a large house, a second car, or a larger college fund or retirement account?

 No, in Luke 11:3, Jesus called His disciples to pray give us each day our daily bread because in the culture of the day you lived day to day when it came to bread. In the first century, people worried over where they were going to get their next meal. Jesus was teaching them to pray for their needs to be met, not for their wants to be fulfilled. We see this reality reinforced by what Jesus says next in verse 11:

 "Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? ¹² "Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he? ¹³ "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?"

Jesus begins verse 11 by basically saying “Which one of you father would even consider giving your child a snake if they asked for a fish? Would any of you do that?” Now in the desert climate where Jesus was speaking, a fish and a snake were somewhat similar in appearance. While similar in appearance, however, their value was totally different. A fish was a staple of the diet of the Jewish people in this region of the world. A snake, by comparison, was extremely dangerous to a child. In our area, it would be as if Jesus was saying “What father would give their son a diamondback rattlesnake, when they asked for a bratwurst”?

Jesus then provided a second example to reinforce His point: “Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he?” I mean, the answer is obvious isn’t it? No good father would do something so horrific and unloving to their children. Jesus point is that just as an earthly Father would not deny their children something they needed to survive; God would not deny a need that we requested of Him. And just as an earthly father would not give his children something that was dangerous, God would not respond to our request by giving us something that was dangerous for us.

Jesus then hammered His point home in verse 13 by explaining that if human parents, as flawed and broken beings who are bent toward selfishness, are able to generously meet the needs of their children when asked, then how much more would the selflessly loving Heavenly Father generously meet the needs of His children when asked. And one of the good gifts that God generously gives His followers is the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus here is revealing the reality that God gives His followers the gift of the Holy Spirit to empower us to experience God’s presence, guidance, and intimacy. It is the Holy Spirit that unites us to Jesus, brings us to experience God’s presence in prayer, and empowers us to pray in a way that pursues God and His will for our lives.

And it is here, in this event from history involving a conversation between Jesus and His disciples about prayer, that we discover a timeless and true view of God given to us by Jesus that can enable us to rid ourselves of the distorted view of God as a cop around the corner. And that timeless truth is this: We have a distorted view of God when we view God as a cop around the corner instead of a late night neighbor. 

The timeless reality is that we have a distorted view of God when we view God as setting up a speed trap so that he can catch and expose all the wrong you have done. We have a distorted view of God when we view God as the keeper of a permanent record out there with all the wrong things that we have ever done. We have a distorted view of God when we view God as lurking around some dark corner of our lives with His radar gun, just waiting to nail us for whatever it is so that He can add yet another entry into our permanent record.

We have a distorted view of God when we view God as a God who exists to give us rules. We have a distorted view of God when we view God as a God who gives us rules and people like pastors and Sunday School teachers to teach us and help Him enforce the rules to keep us from getting out of control. We have a distorted view of God when we view God as a rule maker that busts the rule breakers.

And a as result, we become focused and consumed with whether or not we are keeping the rules. And that focus on whether or not we are keeping the rules becomes the focus and determines the depth of our relationship with God. And inevitably we end up living life in fear of God. However, God does not give us rules so that we would fear Him. Instead God gives us rules so that we can experience freedom. You see, we experience true freedom when we are lovingly given guardrails that enable us to experience the life that God designed us to live. The freedom from guilt, shame, condemnation.

However, unlike the cop around the corner who we avoid bothering because of their position of power and authority, a more accurate view of God is that of a late night neighbor. A more accurate view of God is that of a late night neighbor invites us to pray to Him, to pursue Him and His will and to enter and experience His presence.

A more accurate view of God is that of a late night neighbor who is approachable and should be approached often and with confidence. And while God is a God who will not always give us what we want, God will always give us what we need. Yet, too often we are afraid to ask a good and loving God for what He already longs to give us. Too often we can find ourselves in a place where we believe in God instead of believing God.

However, like the late night neighbor, God invites us to simply ask and come to Him, even at o dark thirty. You can come because God delights in us shamefully and boldly asking Him to meet you where we are at so that He can lead us to the place that He desires us to be, which is in a growing relationship with Him.

So here is a question to consider: Which of these two views describe how you view God? Do you view God as the cop around the corner? Do you view God as lurking around some dark corner of our lives with His radar gun, just waiting to nail us for whatever it is so that He can add yet another entry into our permanent record? Do you view God as simply a rule maker that busts the rule breakers?

Or do you view God as a late night neighbor? Do you view God as a late night neighbor who is approachable and should be approached often and with confidence? Do you view God as a late night neighbor who will not always give us what we want, God will always give us what we need? Do you view God as a late night neighbor that invites us to pray to Him, to pursue Him and His will and to enter and experience His presence, even at o dark thirty?

Because the timeless reality is that we have a distorted view of God when we view God as a cop around the corner instead of a late night neighbor...

God as a cop around the corner...

At the church where I serve, we just launched into a brand new sermon series entitled Distorted. During this series we are going to address an all too frequent reality that many of us can find ourselves facing. We can find ourselves facing this reality regardless of where we are at when it comes to God.

You see, regardless of whether or not you buy the whole Bible, Jesus, or church thing; regardless of how often you have attended church in the past; regardless of the fact that you may feel like you do not know and do not feel that you can ever know about whether or not the Bible or church is real or relevant; regardless of all the bad experiences that you may have had with Christians and churches, we can all find ourselves facing this reality.

And that reality involves how we view and perceive God. The reality is that, regardless of where we are at when it comes to a relationship with God, we can have a distorted view of God because we have a distorted perception about God. And it is those distorted perceptions about God that can lead us to make distorted assumptions about God.

The great writer C.S. Lewis wrested with this reality in his life and once famously said “I do not want my image of God, I want God.” And so often, just like C.S. Lewis, we can find ourselves in a place where we have made God into our image, based on our view of God that is the result of our distorted perceptions and our assumptions about God.

And because of that reality, during this series, we are going to spend our time together addressing six distorted views of God that flow from a distorted perception and assumption about God and that can result in us shaping and molding God into our image. During this series, we are going to strive to replace those distorted perceptions and assumptions about God with six accurate views of God that were given by us by Jesus Himself so that we would be able to experience a growing and maturing relationship with God.

This week, I would like for us to address the distorted view of God as a cop around the corner. How often do we view God as the cop around the corner? I mean, if all it takes are a couple of flashing lights and a squealing siren to evoke fear of being found out, of being exposed, what fears and anxieties can rise to the surface in our lives at the slightest thought of being caught by God? Maybe I have just described how you view God? Maybe you view God as setting up a speed trap, so to speak, so that he can catch and expose all the wrong you have done. How many of us live out our day to day life with these assumptions about God.

How many of us live life with the assumption that there is actually a permanent record out there with all the wrong things that we have ever done. How many of us of us live life with the assumption that we are probably doing something wrong right now and that God is lurking around some dark corner of our lives with His radar gun, just waiting to nail us for whatever it is so that He can add yet another entry into our permanent record.

But how do we get to the place where we view God as the cop around the corner? You see, we get to this place because we often view God as a God of rules. We get to this place because we view God as a God who exists to give us rules. We view God as a God who gives us rules and people like pastors and Sunday School teachers to teach us and help Him enforce the rules to keep us from getting out of control.

However, the problem with viewing God as the cop around the corner is that our day to day lives become focused and consumed with whether or not we are keeping the rules. And as a result of our focus on whether or not we are keeping the rules, whether or not we are keeping the rules becomes the driving focus of our lives and determines the depth of our relationship with God. Thus, our image and view of God becomes that of a rule maker that busts the rule breakers and we end up living life in fear of God.

However, to view God as a cop around the corner who is simply a rule maker that busts the rule breakers is a distorted view of God. We see this reality revealed in a section of an account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in the Bible called the gospel of Luke. And it is in this section of this account of Jesus life that we discover a timeless and true view of God that can help us rid ourselves of the distorted view of God as the cop around the corner and replace it with an accurate view of God that will enable us to experience a growing relationship with God.

Friday, we will jump into this section of the gospel of Luke together…