Luke 19:1…

Imagine the excitement generated with the news Jesus is coming to your town.

Even with all the opposition He faced, Jesus still drew huge crowds to observe His movements, and to hear His pronouncements. There was obviously great anticipation and expectation when His approach was known. What may happen? What may He do?

So much was already known and felt about the potential in Jesus. This is why when the news began to spread of His approach, so many would drop everything just to lay eyes on Him.

I wish we had that kind of excitement and anticipation for Jesus today.

Zacchaeus was one of those who you may have thought least affected by the approach of Jesus. If you were looking on from the outside, you would probably have assessed Zacchaeus to be a hard man. Perhaps an embittered man. Whatever had taken place in his life, Zacchaeus had checked out of society and made himself an enemy of the people on behalf of his own fortune. Greed had become his master. At some point in his life, the opportunity presented itself for Zacchaeus to become a tax collector, and Zacchaeus had turned away from friends and family and chosen a path of life most hated by the Jewish people. It was the wealth he could accumulate which made it worth his while to be a hated man.

Usually, with this construct, a man’s heart becomes hard as a rock for self-preservation purposes, if nothing else. It takes a special degree of hardness to endure the thoughts of hatred everyone has for you and for your chosen profession. Wealth is not much compensation for enduring hatred, but for those hard-hearted enough to endure it, wealth becomes their solace.

It is interesting to note how often Jesus interacted with tax collectors. One of His apostles, (Matthew,) had been a tax collector. You would think these particular men would be impossible to reach.

But it reminds us those with the hardest hearts are often the closest to salvation. Zacchaeus’ story reminds us how a hard heart is so often a shield for a brokenness dying to be revealed. Jesus IS the answer for every broken heart – especially those hardened by the evil constructs of this world.

-Pastor Bill

Luke 18:9…

“Men always ought to pray and not lose heart.”

Such an important teaching by Jesus as He anticipates all that will happen once He has been crucified, raised from the dead, and ascended into heaven.

He encourages those men He is leaving behind to pray always because they are without a physical, present Savior they can see with the eye and hear with the ear. Those men, (including all of us,) would be departing the physical realm of guidance, and moving into the spiritual one. (This explains the importance of understanding WHERE the kingdom of God is.)

(The kingdom of God is not a place, it is a heart attitude present in a man who desires to be ruled by God. This establishes God’s Lordship, and it is only accomplished by yielded-ness in man.)

This explains the importance of praying always – in light of the evil present in this world - and because the mystery of God remains for the mortal man seeking to understand The Immortal God.

But there can be a danger in the accumulation of Spiritual wisdom gathered and experienced through constant prayer, and Jesus warns us of this as well:

It is Spiritual pride. Jesus employs the Pharisees as an example of this.

The Pharisees began as a needful institution. When the Israelites returned from exile, the Pharisees eventually emerged as a body of leadership within the Jewish faith intent on keeping God’s Word and departing from any vestiges of idolatry which had led them into exile. God hates idolatry, and He loves those who keep His Word. It is needful in any society to have those present whose role is to protect God’s truths and present them to the people as guidance for their lives.

By the time of Jesus, the Pharisees had been performing this role in Jewish society for over 150 years. They were looked up to as being the seat of all knowledge. The problem is they became prideful as they were looked up to. Instead of being humbled by the acclaim, they looked down upon the people they ruled over. Jesus lets us know this attitude of Spiritual pride is detestable to God. No man is above the Law of God. ALL men are broken by its precepts.  

-Pastor Bill

Luke 18:1…

Jesus has just spoken to His disciples of His departure from the earth.

The detail Jesus has provided about the events which will transpire from His time into our future are staggering. Can you imagine what the disciples must have been feeling and sensing?

In the first case, it would have been difficult and even tragic to even think of Jesus leaving. He has been their ‘All in All’ and their ‘everything’ in this period of their lives.

For three years He has walked with them and provided God’s instruction and guidance in every thought, and every word, in every deed. It is impossible to fathom how MUCH they may have learned from Jesus while they walked with Him. Can you imagine trusting God with EVERY decision and action for three years’ time - and then having to contemplate losing that sort of direct counsel and instruction?

Sure, the teaching Jesus has just laid out for them in Luke 17 is fantastic, but rest assured, the part they probably heard the loudest was the part where He informed them He is leaving them. (The implication is He is leaving soon.)

And so, certainly the focus goes to His return, which Jesus also emphasized. However, in the prophetic manner Jesus spoke, His return is not as well-defined as His departure.

It still isn’t today, and this becomes an issue for all Christians. When WILL Jesus return?

How are we to respond to His absence?

As Christians we are dealing with the very same issues His disciples were when it comes to Jesus’ return. He promised to return. When will this be? (WILL it be?)

Jesus reassures His disciples with the same guidance He provides us. His return is certain. A given. There should be no doubt. Why then do they/we doubt? Why then would we possibly lack when it comes to making our petitions before God? Why would our persistence ever lag – especially when we see earthly examples all around us making their persistent petitions to earthly judges for their needs? Poignantly, and very poignantly Jesus asks: “When I return, will I really find faith on the earth?”

-Pastor Bill

Luke 17:20…

We know God by inspiration, by proclamation, by demonstration, (and by meditation and perspiration.)

Soon and very soon, we will also know God by revelation.

This is the ‘apocalypse’ we are so familiar with, but mostly by the blatant and constant misuse of the word.

This word which means ‘unveiling’ - or truly - ‘revelation,’ has been used in the modern age to mean some sort of cataclysmic event. A huge explosion, or massive battle, or some such thing. A super-colossal tragic event of some sort is said to be “apocalyptic.”

The ‘apocalypse,’ (which has no doubt been borrowed for use by the world,) is the revelation of Jesus Christ to the whole world at one future point in time. This is the moment when all will see and know that Jesus truly IS the Christ, and when all will acknowledge His Lordship over their lives. For many this demonstration of His Lordship will come by His destruction of their attempts to oppose it.

In the second half of Luke 17, Jesus answers the Pharisees’ sarcastically spiteful question about when the kingdom of God will come with a clarity few may have expected. One question we may ask about Jesus’ lengthy answer: How does Jesus know all this?

If you know the answer to that question, than you know Who it is Who is answering, which means His answer is the Way, the Life, and the Truth. To deny His answer can only lead to your destruction.

On the first point - which is major for us - Jesus reveals the present location of the kingdom of God. To those who were looking for a political figure to come and overthrow the Roman government, or any other thing which may be dominating their lives, Jesus informs us the kingdom of God is within us. It is not presently a physical kingdom, it is a kingdom of permissive Lordship over the heart of man. It is a spiritual kingdom present only within those who allow it to be so. To date, this kingdom is invisible.

But soon and very soon this will change, which should be of primary importance to every life. Jesus IS coming back, and to every eye and every heart He WILL BE revealed.

-Pastor Bill