Power, Corruption and Giving In So You Don't Get Hurt

Luke 19:11-27 tells the Parable of the 10 Minas. A story in which a rich ruler expects his servants to continue his investments while he is away, and one guy doesn't play by the rules!

This parable is interesting because people always assume that the King Jesus is talking about is himself; but this parable is not to be confused with the Parable of the Talents. Similar, but entirely different story! I want you to think about this parable a little bit differently. In this story, the King is not the good guy!

Jesus is telling this parable in the town of Jericho, a town frequented by King Herod and his son Archelaus. Two very unpopular people amongst the Jews. Our story tells us of a King who oppresses the people he rules over and his servants are employed to do his dirty work. The King is into corruption and loves receiving the biggest return from his clients; the poor of the nation. Think loan sharks and corrupt bankers. Who earns 100% profit on an investment?

In this parable, Jesus is telling us that it is not a good thing to work for someone who opressesses people and it's an even worse thing to get on the wrong side of such a person. Yet, Jesus wants us to be that person. Hold up! Jesus wants us to be the person who gets on the wrong side of the oppressor?

In the previous verses, Jesus tells the story of Zacchaeus, a guy who does a u-turn in his life and instead of taking money from the poor, gives much of his stuff away to the poor. Through doing a u-turn, Zac refuses to rip people off anymore: a move that could get him in a lot of trouble in Roman occupied Israel. Zac's no bad guy. He's the ancient Robin Hood, challenging corruption and giving to the poor. Seeing God's kingdom come here on earth.

So what can we learn from this? Zac isn't selfish. He chooses not to give in and will pay the price for that. What price are we willing to pay to see the end of corruption in power? How are we challenging the things that are happening to asylum seekers and the elderly and those on the fringes? What are we doing to bring salvation to the world; to make the world the way God would want it? If we are to live out salvation in Christ, we need to be challenge structures that exist that are keeping people down. Even if this means being unpopular. Even if it means we have to give up something. Even if it means we are risking what people think about us. Even if it means that it’s going to make our life a little harder.

Isaiah 58 calls for justice within our world. It calls for God followers to challenge oppression and corruption and to live righteously.

Practically, do we need to buy that extra coffee or coke or energy drink? Or we can share that money with someone who needs it more? Do we buy cheap clothes and sports gear we know were made in places where people are paid less than they need to survive, or do we choose to shop ethically and pay a higher price for the clothes we wear and things we use? Do we choose to support this system of profit and gain, or do we choose to turn away from it and live in a way that sees salvation come to the world?

Let's dare to be heard in the war against power and corruption. Let's dare to bring God's kingdom to reality here on earth.

Following Jesus is Hard, Man.

"Then he said to them all: "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me." Luke 9:23

Following Jesus means giving up what you want.

Our culture teaches us to put ourselves first. If we want something, then we must strive to achieve it. It tells us that we can be anything we want to be. Our culture tells us that more is good. More money, more houses, more inanimate objects to fill our houses, more promotions at work, more friends. More more more. And we consume. We consume so that we can fill this insatiable hole in our world. Because the more we get, the more we need.

The Gospel teaches us to put God first. If we want something, we must deny ourselves of that and hand it over to God. The Gospel tells us that we can't be anything we want to be, but instead we can be anything we are made to be. When we live our lives trying to be what we want to be we fail to be as complete as we can be because we are not being who we are made to be.

The Gospel challenges our culture because it is a different way of living. A way that is God-reliant, not self-reliant. It is a way to focus on what others need, not what we need. And when we shift our focus to the needs of others, God fulfills all our needs. The Gospel says 'no' to me and 'yes' to us. What we are made to be is found in community; because God originally made us for community. Life should be a journey of discovering who were are in communion with others and with our God.

That's why following Jesus is so controversial to our culture. Our culture doesn't understand that individuality is not the key to saving the world. We spend our lives spending time trying to find the right key to fit. But the truth is, there is only one key that will do the job. The key to saving the world has been given to us in the form of Jesus Christ- but who will use that key?

Follow Jesus. Deny yourself. Change your world.

I think I'm going to hurl...

This morning at Kids Church, we had a look at what it means to be hot or cold for Jesus, and what it means to be luke-warm. The scripture we looked at was in Revelation 3:15-16.

"I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth."

The kids thought it was pretty strange that God would spit us out of His mouth! But kids LOVE the gross stuff, so we made a huge mess getting to our point.

We used this scripture to illustrate that you must be one thing or another, because if you are both things, you are less likely to fulfil your purpose.

So, we got hands on, using the cornflour demonstration, we spoke about how tricky it was for the cornflour to be both a liquid and a solid. We first tried to play a ball game with the cornflour and decided that it was unsuccessful as a solid because it turned to liquid as soon as we let go of the ball. So we then thought we would use it to paint, but unfortunately it didn't work well at that either because it was too solid.

This was important for the kids to see and feel how useless it is to be two opposites. We can be christians at church and then be really mean and unkind at school. We can say we are followers of Jesus, but act opposite. And when we are like this, it makes God feel sick. It disagrees with Him. It upsets him. 

Think of the grossest thing possible. Think of something that would make you want to throw up. Maybe it is someone drinking from the toilet. Pretty gross. Well that's how God feels when we say we are one thing, but act another way. Or when we act like great christians when worshipping him but are pretty blaise about God in our everyday lives.

We also used the blender to further make the point. Some things are nicer when they are just one thing. Lemonade is nice as lemonade. Nutella is nice as nutella. Marshmallows are nice as marshmallows and carrots are yum as carrots. But when we mix these things up in the blender, they are not so nice and may even want to make us throw up/puke/hurl. That's what us being only a Sunday christian is like to God. Bleh!

God doesn't want us to just be Sunday Christians, He wants us to be everyday Christians or not Christians at all!