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The Key Is to Start Small | Sermon Notes, Luke #79
From the June 26 sermon, "Investing for Jesus," preached out of Luke 19:11–27:
In this parable, a nobleman gives ten of his servants one mina each to engage in business with while he goes away to receive a kingdom. Those who steward their mina well are entrusted with cities to oversee; those who don’t have theirs taken away. Similarly, Jesus is a King with a kingdom, and we have the opportunity to be faithful servants of Jesus’ kingdom while we await his second coming.
For those of you who aspire to leadership and to influence and to impact, you need to start small. No one gets to start off as the CEO of a company. Nobody gets to start off first day playing football as the quarterback on the team. Nobody gets to be the general manager of the franchise. You don't start there. You start in a simple place, a humble place, a lowly place, and you take the small opportunities that are given to you and you become, by the grace of God, a good steward of them, making a good return on investment, doing the things you're supposed to do, and over time your influence grows.
Pride is when we want to be in a position of leadership, but quite frankly we just have not proven ourselves to be competent and qualified for. The result is that some of us will get into positions of leadership and then fail miserably because we don't have the experience, we don't have the humility, and we don't have the wisdom to sustain the office or the opportunity that we've assumed.
The key is to start small. And this is true with everything. This is a true principle in business. This is a true principle in ministry. This is a true principle in every single aspect of life. God gives you a little opportunity, you make the most of it. As you make the most of it, God gives you a little bigger opportunity. As you make the most of that, he'll give you another opportunity.
Life is to be a series of humble, ongoing opportunities and lessons, successes and failures, but as we prove ourselves to be faithful in little things, we can be entrusted with even more things.
"Sometimes Sin Is Not Doing Anything At All" and "Are You Going to Belong to Jesus, or Not?" after the jump:
Through the death, burial, resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Bible actually says we've received a great inheritance. The Holy Spirit lives in the people of God.
We have the good news of the truth of the gospel of the death, burial, resurrection, the salvation, love, and affection of Jesus Christ as our God.
We have knowledge of the coming of the kingdom of God.
We have knowledge of eternal rewards that this life matters, that there will be rewards for those who are faithful. And those rewards last forever. And they glorify God who loves us well.
We know that there are people who have needs—needs for love, encouragement, service, and most of all a need for a relationship with Jesus and his people. And so we have all of these opportunities to invest our life.
Imagine if we just take our life and stuck it in a sock drawer or put it under a mattress and did nothing with it. And that's what some people are doing. That's what some of you are doing. Some of you'd say, "I'm not doing a bad thing." No, you're doing nothing. That's a bad thing. You're doing so little [with] this opportunity of a life that has been entrusted to you. Just wrap it in a handkerchief, stick it in a sock drawer, wait for Jesus to return, resurrect from death, stand before him and say, "I didn't do much. In fact, I didn't do anything."
Some Christians say that everybody's going to heaven. That's not true. Jesus never said that.Jesus spoke of hell more than anyone in the whole Bible. Here he uses the language of "my enemies will be slaughtered."
Not everybody's gonna make it into the kingdom of God.
Not everybody's gonna be friends with God forever.
Not everybody's gonna have all their sins forgiven and enjoy eternal life with the people of God in the kingdom of God.
That is not happening for everyone.
And you and I need to be loving and brokenhearted, but honest and clear. Just because someone dies, we can't say they're in a better place. We don't decide who goes to heaven and hell, Jesus does.
But Jesus is the one who tells us that simply by dying you do not get to be in the presence of God in a loving way, enjoying an eternal kingdom, that he has citizens and enemies—that's exactly what the parable says. The citizens are servants of Jesus; those enemies are opposed to Jesus. Which are you? Which are you?
I even get frustrated with Christians who would say, "Well, I think God should take everybody to heaven." That's not what enemies want. People who are enemies of Jesus and don't love his rule and reign, they will not be happy in his eternal kingdom anyways. In the same way, I don't want to be ruled over by someone who I hate.
Now, I love Jesus, and so the thought of being under his rule sounds like the best, most glorious, safest place I could possibly be. But if I hated Jesus, if I despised him, if I disagreed with him, if I disregarded him, I would not find myself rejoicing forever because he was my Sovereign King.
Jesus has enemies. Some of you are his enemies. Some of you are his enemies. You don't love Jesus, you don't know Jesus, you don't trust Jesus, and you don't belong to Jesus. You're going to be slaughtered. You're going to stand before the Creator God and give an account for your whole life. And just like there are varying degrees of rewards for Christians in heaven, there are varying degrees of punishment for non-Christians in hell. The punishment always fits the crime.
But, here's the good news: It's not too late. And I don't say this to scare you, but I say this to warn you. It's not too late.
Jesus was a man who claimed to be God. Think on that for a minute. If that were true, how would it change the way you thought, felt, and lived this life?
At Mars Hill, we believe that Jesus is God. We take him at his word. Because of this, everything we do is all about Jesus. We invite you to learn more about this man who is God and how you can find forgiveness and new life in him.
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