April 1, 2007
Morning Service
“The Gracious, Loving, Generous King”
Presented by Pastor Tim Pasma
Luke 12.32
Let’s again approach the throne of grace and ask God to bring us to a greater level of worship now as we listen to Him speak to us in His Word.
Father, now we worship You by listening. We worship You by seeking to understand how You have revealed Yourself and Your Son and His kingdom. Father, we confess to You that we are needy and dependent upon Your Spirit. The Spirit Who would bring us face to face with the truth of Your Word, that would not leave us alone until we grasp it, until we understand it, until we rejoice in the truth that we will learn. God, help us now, we pray, to worship You now as we listen. God, work in our hearts and let us rejoice. Let us rejoice in the great gift that You have given us. And we thank You in Jesus’ Name.
Amen.
Jesus and His disciples began their trek to Jerusalem all the way north in Galilee. And like many others, they were headed to the Holy City to celebrate Passover.
As they walked the dusty roads, other pilgrims joined them – and soon, hundreds of people swelled their ranks. Word started spreading that Jesus the Prophet – the Miracle Worker – was in their midst. And a certain excitement began to build like a giant wave in the ocean. Soon, that surge of excitement was carrying them along with unbounded enthusiasm.
When they reached the Mount of Olives, Jesus looked ahead and He saw a village. He sent two of His disciples to that village and told them, “You’re going to find a donkey and its colt. Untie them and bring them to Me.”
And as the wave of enthusiastic crowd swept Jesus along, He mounted that colt and rode down the Mount of Olives, and through the gates of the city of Jerusalem.
Now, Jesus did that on purpose. He was saying, by this action, that He was the promised Messiah – the Ruler that God had promised centuries before. At that moment, as He entered the gates of Jerusalem, He fulfilled Zechariah’s words:
“Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘See, your King comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey—on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’”
The pilgrims, by now, are wild with excitement. They start spreading tree branches before the King. They’re starting to lay down their cloaks before Him. They start giving Him the red-carpet treatment. They’re treating Him like a King. They start to shout and they start to sing:
“Hosannah to the Son of David! Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the King Who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in Heaven, and glory in the highest!”
And the residents of Jerusalem start shouting back: “What’s going on? Who is this?”
And the crowd of pilgrims reply: “This is Jesus, the Prophet from Nazareth in Galilee!”
What’s going on, here? Well, it’s really quite simple. It isn’t complicated at all. Jesus had – all along, for the last two and a half years – been preaching that the Kingdom of God had arrived with Him. And now, He reveals why that is true: He is the King. And with the King, comes His Kingdom.
He says to them, by riding that donkey into the city, “I am the King you have been waiting for. The King and His Kingdom have arrived.”
When the Pharisees – who were immune to such enthusiasm – said to Jesus, “Teacher” – they’re not going to call him King; they’re not going to call Him Messiah. They said, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples!”
And Jesus replied, “I tell you, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out!” In other words, He said to them: “The King and His Kingdom have arrived, and everyone recognizes that. And if no one recognized that, the rocks would cry out, ‘Blessed is the King Who comes in the Name of the Lord!’”
You see, the King had arrived that day. He is the Ruler that we have been waiting for. And He now rules from Heaven on a throne of glory.
What kind of a King is He, though? Well, when He entered Jerusalem, He did not enter on a stallion – a mount that would speak of war and conquest. He did not come into Jerusalem to force those people into submission to Him. He came on a donkey – that is: a meek, a gentle, a humble King.
And so, that’s how we picture ourselves. We picture ourselves welcoming the King into the city. We picture ourselves as welcoming the city into our hearts. A King Who is humble. A King Who is gentle.
But sometimes, I wonder how many of us look upon this lowly Servant King and think that this is merely a camouflage. Maybe beneath this lowly exterior, there is a terrible power and authority just waiting to burst out against you. Maybe this is merely a veneer of gentleness, hiding the real Jesus – Who is ill-disposed and angry toward us.
But Jesus is at pains to help you think and feel differently. The King Who comes in the Name of the Lord perfectly represents and speaks in the Name of His God. And He does so in Luke chapter 12.
And I invite you this morning to turn to Luke, chapter 12. Let’s consider this morning what Jesus the King says about His Father and His Kingdom. Let’s consider carefully the words of Jesus in one verse.
I think this is something for us to think about, because in our – I don’t know how to put it. In our tradition -- in our theological way of thinking – we love to think of God as holy. Sovereign. Powerful. Who will pour out His wrath upon sinners.
Except for Jesus, and sometimes I think we have swung the pendulum too far and we don’t hear what Jesus has to say to us. I want you to listen carefully to what Jesus says in Luke chapter 12, verse 32.
“’Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.’”
It’s a simple verse. But it is packed – it is packed powerful with the grace of God.
“Do not be afraid, little flock,” He says, “for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.”
He says, “Do not be afraid.” We have much to fear, and Jesus recognizes that. In the context of this verse, we find that many times, He mentions fear.
Verse 4:
“’I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more.”
You will fear, because people will try to kill you for pledging your loyalty to Jesus.
Verse 11:
“’When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.’” (v. 11-12)
You will be anxious about what you will say when you have to answer for your faith in Jesus. And especially that is true when your answer may determine your freedom or your imprisonment – your death or your life.
I have a confession to make. I get anxious about preaching every single week. I do. Sunday morning, I wake up – I am anxious. I am very, extraordinarily, extremely anxious. And I have time to prepare to preach, and I preach before people – I think – who like me.
Imagine having to speak before those who are hostile to you, with no time to prepare! That’s time for anxiety, wouldn’t you agree? Yeah – I’d say so!
He goes on – verse 22:
“Then Jesus said to his disciples: ‘therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear.’”
You will be afraid about the essentials of life. How many of us can identify with us? We fear that we’ll have enough to eat. That we’ll have enough food on our tables. That we’ll have enough to wear.
There is always something to fear. Something to be anxious about. But there is another fear that we have that might go even deeper, and that fear is this: that God is not the kind of God Who wants to do good.
That’s a fear that goes beyond all others. Sometimes the fear arises in our hearts that God does not want to be gracious to us. We are afraid that He does not really want to be generous and helpful to us. Sometimes, we give intellectual assent to the fact that God is good; but in our hearts, we feel that His goodness is somehow forced or constrained.
We think of Him as a Judge Who’s been maneuvered into a corner by some clever attorney on some technicality, so that He must dismiss the charges against the prisoner – although, deep down in His heart? He really wants to put you in jail!
We’re waiting for Jesus to get off of the donkey, suddenly throw aside His cloak, pull out His sword, and storm forth to do what He really loves to do – and that is to judge! To show His wrath!
“Yes, God is good,” we might think, “but He begrudges His benefits. He is constrained out of character when He does nice things. But really, He is angry, and He loves to vent His wrath.”
Tell me you haven’t thought things like that, and you can be dismissed this morning. We’ve all thought that way, haven’t we? “Yeah, Jesus died on the cross, and He kind of – well, God missed His chance to judge us, now. Yeah, Jesus rode in on a donkey, gentle and humble, but – you know, He’s only going to save a few. And only those that can really keep the rules. He doesn’t really, down deep, want to save a great number of people.”
We’re waiting for Him to throw aside the cloak and pull out the sword.
Well, what does Jesus tell us about that Kingdom, and about God – His Father and ours? Look carefully at this verse. We’re going to concentrate -- we’re going to meditate on Luke 12.32.
First of all, Jesus says to us: “Do not be afraid, because God is gracious.”
Do not be afraid, because God is full of grace.
He says this: “Your Father has been pleased to give you the Kingdom.”
Your Father has been pleased to give you the Kingdom. “Has been pleased”. Interesting phrase, isn’t it? It’s one word. And that one word can be translated this way: “To delight, take pleasure in, well pleased”.
When you sit around the Christmas tree, handing out the gifts, do you take pleasure in giving those gifts to your children? Oh, isn’t that fun? Isn’t that the delight of your soul? The delight is not giving the gifts – the delight is handing gifts to other people. Handing gifts to your children, and watching them smile – watching them light up.
I doubt that any of you have said, “I’ve had it with this. I’ve just had it with this. This is just too much fun! It is way too much pleasure – I’m getting way too much delight out of giving gifts to my children. I hate that. I don’t want them to be that way any more.”
You ever done that? Now, certainly you’ve said, “I’ve got to quit giving so many gifts, or I’m going to spoil my kids!” But the problem is, that you like to give those gifts! That’s the problem! That’s the problem, you love it! You like to give gifts, it’s a thing that just lights up your world. You delight in that!
God does not act in this generous, gracious way – that is, presenting to you Christ the King and His Kingdom – to hide some malicious motives. He doesn’t do that. He is not like the Father who sits around the Christmas tree like this [arms folded], going, “Oh, yeah. I love to give gifts to my kids. I just love to imagine that sinking feeling when I set them up to really lower the boom.”
That’s just downright perverted, isn’t it? But somehow, we kind of put God in that category sometimes!
No, when you give your presents to your children, you are acting out of your deepest delight – which is to be good and kind to your children. And so it is with God. He gives you Christ and His Kingdom because He takes pleasure in doing that.
He brings to you Christ and that Kingdom because it is His joy. It is His delight. It is His pleasure. It is His gladness. It is His great desire to give you Jesus and that Kingdom.
That is the God that we serve. And I daresay to you that that is what we sometimes – maybe more often than not – to unbelievers, “God delights in being merciful. God takes pleasure in putting before you Christ so that you will believe.”
He says, “Your Father has been pleased to give you the Kingdom.”
My brother-in-law, Alan Gates, is a master at bargaining. He is an absolute master at driving down the price. His house – I think he built all on things he bargained for.
I mean, you know, like he’s driving down the road and he sees these guys tearing up a bridge. And so he drives over and goes, “You guys want those I-beams?”
And they go, “No.”
And he says, “Well, I’ll take them.” And he uses them to support the second floor story of his house!
He goes into the grocery store one night, okay? It’s late at night; they’ve been out that night. He walks in the grocery store, and he’s looking at the donuts. And there’s an employee there, and he says, “Do you want this much for these donuts?”
The guy says, “Yeah…”
And he says, “Okay, let’s think about this. It’s late at night, and you’re not going to get many more customers tonight. Tomorrow, these are going to be called ‘day-old’, and you’re going to reduce the price. Why don’t you just give them to me now for that price?” And he got the donuts for that price! [laughter] He’s a master at it!
Now, God does not come along and say, “Hey. I’ll make you a good deal on this Kingdom. What do you have to offer?” He doesn’t do that!
Neither does God say, “This Kingdom has cost Me a great deal. Now, it’s going to cost you.” He doesn’t do that.
What does He say? “It gives My Father great pleasure to give you this Kingdom. You will never be able to earn it. You will never be able to merit it. Even life in the Kingdom is not determined by how well you’re doing right now.”
He says He’s going to give it to you. God takes pleasure in giving it to you, and you—the only response that you can have is to receive it. And to receive it, just completely – with no questions asked –
Look over at Luke 18 for a moment. Luke 18, verse 17:
“’I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.’”
Isn’t that interesting? Jesus says, “It’s my Father’s great pleasure to give it to you!” And Jesus goes on to say later, “And you have to receive it, just like a little child would. You don’t ask questions – you just take it!”
You don’t try to say, “But God, I’ve got to do—“ No, he says, you’ve got to take it like a little child!
Now, how does a little child receive a gift? Now, one of my little buddies around here – and I have lots of little buddies who were here a little while ago. But one of those little buddies is Joe Greene. And he got a Slinky for Christmas this year. Okay? He was really into that Slinky, you know?
Now, when Andy gave him that, Joe Greene did not say, “How much do I owe you for this, Dad?” Can you imagine Joe saying that? No, Joe’s not going to say that. Joe’s not going to say, “How much do I owe you for that, Dad?”
And when he opened up that present, he did not say, “Okay, Dad, what do I have to do to earn this?” Children don’t do that. They get their Slinky and what do they do? They run to the stairs – immediately, without thinking about it – to see if they can get it to do that “woop-woop-woop” thing down the stairs.
There’s no questions asked. There’s nothing that I’m going to do to earn it. I’ll just take it!
And that’s the way you have to receive it – just like that. Little children do not think about earning or meriting gifts. They know: “This is a gift!”
And so, Jesus tells us this: “God is not stingy. He is not a Scrooge. He is not tight-fisted. Rather, He is infinitely generous. He gives you that Kingdom.”
There’s no fear here. God takes delight in giving us His Kingdom.
Jesus says: “Do not be afraid, because God reveals His love.” How does he say that? Well, notice:
“Your Father has been pleased to give you…”
Your Father. He does not say, “Your Slavemaster has given you your lodging.”
He does not say, “Your Employer has given you your wages.”
He does not say, “Your King has condescended to meet your needs.”
He says, “Your Father is taking delight in giving you this Kingdom.” A father can not help but delight in giving good things to his children. A good father does not give begrudgingly or miserly or deviously. A father loves and just gives.
Do you see God’s love? He is your Father. He is your Father.
Here is love that casts out fear. “Do not be afraid, little flock.” Little flock. We are the flock of Jesus. He is the Shepherd Who lays down His life for the sheep.
Frankly, folks, I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t give up my life for one single sheep! If I was a shepherd and I saw a wolf coming? I’d have a really hard time saying, “I’d rather die than let these sheep get eaten.” I’d probably throw him one and get the rest out of there as quickly as I could! [laughter]
But Jesus says, “No one takes My life from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord.” Begrudgingly? Under constraint? No.
The Father never begrudged us the gift of His Son. The Son never begrudged us the gift of His life. They both willingly and lovingly gave, that we would believe.
“Little flock” gives you a vivid picture – God’s flock is small enough. God’s flock is small enough that the Shepherd knows each sheep. He knows all the sheep. He knows each sheep’s personality. He knows every single sheep’s struggles and needs. He knows everything there is to know about that flock.
It means that not one sheep will be lost in the shuffle. You know, I’ve lost my children. I can think of two hair-raising times that I’ve lost my children – and a few more that wasn’t so hair-raising.
God isn’t going to lose one of His sheep. Not one. “Little flock” – He knows every single one of you. He knows where you are. He knows what you’re doing. He knows everything about you.
It also says that the Father’s love for us is not based on our greatness. Have you ever noticed celebrities? You ever notice how many people flock around them? How many people love celebrities? How many people love these people because they’re famous, because they’re rich, because they have something?
We have nothing to offer! We are little in size, little in strength, little in wisdom, little in love, little in righteousness, little in faith – little in everything!
Doesn’t make any difference. We are His flock. There is nothing in us that brings out His love. There is nothing in and of ourselves – we are not great. At all. And yet, we’re His flock. He loves us despite what we are. He loves us -- because God is love.
“Do not be afraid,” lastly, He says, “because God gives the greatest gift that can be given.” Jesus says, “Your Father has been pleased to give you the Kingdom.”
The Kingdom – that’s kind of a fluid thing in our thinking. We don’t give much thought to that. What is this Kingdom of God? What is this Kingdom of Christ? What is that all about?
That theme is weaved throughout the Scriptures. It’s weaved particularly throughout the New Testament. What is this Kingdom all about?
The Kingdom, in the Gospel and the New Testament, means the saving reign of God. The saving rule of God. It is not a piece of geography. It is not something that can be measured. It is His reign. His Kingdom is His reign.
It is God intervening to restore harmony to His creation. That’s what we talked about last week. Do you remember? What is peace? Peace is harmony. The saving reign of God is God’s intervening to restore harmony to all of His creation.
So, where is that? Well, you know what? It’s not all here, yet. It has begun with Jesus. It will be concluded by Jesus. But right now, we are experiencing the fruits of that Kingdom that is yet to come now. It’s as if the future age has invaded this age.
We are experiencing some of the fruits – some of the benefits of the age to come – now. We don’t have to wait for some of it. Part of it is what we’re looking at in our study of the Fruit of the Spirit in Galatians chapter 5: Love, joy, peace – all those things. Those are all things of the age to come. We enjoy them now.
What that means is that the omnipotent authority of the rule of the King of the Universe will be engaged forever on behalf of His little flock. Dear people, always remember this: the Kingdom of Christ means that Jesus reigns for the good of His people. That is, that every event in history – and we can’t see how this all works out – but every event in history is coordinated, is planned, is over-ruled, is under the authority of our King for the good of His people!
Do you realize that? Do you realize that the war in Iraq – as controversial as that is – Jesus is over-ruling those events for the benefit of us! Now, we can’t see the Big Picture. We can’t begin to see the Big Picture. But the Big Picture is, God has harnessed His power to rule for your good. That’s the Kingdom. That’s what He means, and that’s what God is delighted to give to you. He’s delighted to give His authority, operating for your good.
Now, we haven’t looked at the rest of the verses, but let me just make a comment about them. Verses 33 and 34:
“’Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven than will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.’”
Because of that gift, rather than live life in fear –listen! Because of that gift, rather than living life in fear, we can live life on the edge!
You say, “You know, that’s the kind of edge I like to stay away from! You know, the kind of edge where I’m giving things away? I don’t like to give things away!”
Here’s the point. Because of what God gave you, you can now give.
Preparing for this sermon, these last couple of verses have struck me, and there’s going to be a lot of thinking going on about those verses. There’s going to be new sermons coming out of those verses. Because this has brought God’s conviction upon my own soul. Where it says, “Sell your possessions so you can give to people who don’t have.”
Well, okay, we get in all kinds of discussions about that. But the point that Jesus is making is that you don’t have to live in fear – you can live life on the edge. A life where you’ve got the Kingdom – you’ve got nothing to worry about. God is pleased to give you His Kingdom. What in the world do you have to worry about in terms of this age’s possessions?
Wow! That sounds like powerful living to me. “Do not be afraid,” Jesus says, “because God gives you the greatest gift.”
So, why did Jesus ride in triumph into Jerusalem? Simply to proclaim that He was the King and that He had brought the Kingdom.
What does that mean? It means a life without fear. Especially the fear that God is angry and delights in pouring out His wrath. Rather, Jesus describes the Kingdom He brings in different terms.
This Kingdom involves a King, and is a free gift from God. It is a gift given to you by the love of our great God, Who is the Father of His little flock. And it is a gift that God delights to give.
This Palm Sunday, we need to think about the pleasure of God. The pleasure that God gets by giving us His Kingdom.
Come to Christ, and His Kingdom, and find this God. Stay outside of that Kingdom, and you certainly will find the wrath of God. He does not delight in pouring out His wrath, but He does delight in people embracing His Son and entering His Kingdom.
Father, help us to rejoice in the pleasure of our God in giving us – His little flock – this Kingdom. Oh, God, how often we have dishonored Your Name by distorting truth. There is truth that you are a God of wrath. There is truth that You are, indeed, a holy God Who can not countenance sin. But Father, we have dishonored Your Name by forgetting that You delight in being merciful. That Your greatest delight is to give us mercy, and to give us your Kingdom. Your greatest delight is to give us salvation. Lord God, help us to rejoice in Your character – the character that Jesus, Your Son, has revealed. And this Palm Sunday, Father, help us to remember the King Who delights in giving His little flock the Kingdom. I pray this in Jesus’ Name.
Amen.