The Fullness Of God | Esther Daniels | Sunday 31st August

[00:00:03] Speaker A: So we're going to read the Scriptures this morning. I'm going to preach from part of a series that we have been doing in Newton Abbot all year. We've been doing a discipleship series called the Fullness of Christ. And this whole series. How many of us know that it's so easy in the Church to go along with our own words and make them very, very spiritual? This year we have made an intended kind of move to really listen to the words of Jes. Word by word, literally. We're going through the book of Luke from start to finish. In fact, we end in December with the death, the resurrection of Jesus. I know he's supposed to be born in December, but we're ending there because we spent a slow year going through the book of Luke. And this morning, we're going to read Scriptures as we do in Newton Abbot, we open up the Scriptures. Who loves hearing the word of God? Yeah, there's quite a bit this morning. It's about three minutes of reading. If you want to just close your eyes, you can do. I'm going to welcome my lovely husband this morning, who is going to read From Luke chapter 12 with us this morning. Thanks, Phil. [00:01:19] Speaker B: Okay. Meanwhile, when a crowd of many thousands had gathered, saw that they were trampling on one another, Jesus began to speak first to his disciples, saying, be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. There is nothing concealed that will be disclosed or hidden that will be made known. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight. What you have whispered in the ear of the inner room will be proclaimed from the roofs. I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body. And after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear. Fear him, who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him. Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies, yet not one of them is forgotten by God? Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Difficult in my case. Don't be afraid. You are worth more than many sparrows. I tell you, whoever publicly acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man will acknowledge before the angels of God. But whoever disowns me before others will be disowned before the angels of God. And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will will be forgiven. But anyone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. When you are brought before the 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. Someone in the crowd said to him, teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. Jesus replied, man, who appointed me a judge or an arbitrator between you? And he said to them, watch out. Be on your guard against all kinds of greed. Life does not consist in an abundance of possessions. And he told them this parable. The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. And he thought to himself, what shall I do? I have no place to store my crops. Then he said, this is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I'll say to myself, you have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy. Eat, drink and be merry. But God said to him, you fool. This very night your life will be demanded from you. And then who will get what you've prepared for yourself? This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich towards God. Then Jesus said to his disciples, therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, or what you will wear. For life is more than food and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens. They do not sow or reap. They have no storeroom or barn, yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable are you than the birds? Who of you, by worrying, can add a single hour to your life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest? Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all of his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and gone tomorrow and is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you? You of little faith. And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink. And do not worry about it, for the pagan world runs after such things. And the Father knows that you need them. But seek the kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out. A treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief near will come, or the no moths destroy. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Be dressed, ready for service. And keep your lamps burning. Amen. [00:06:06] Speaker A: Amen. Phil, do you need the water after that? You're right. Who loves the word of God? I mean, we could just stop there, couldn't we? There's the preach, over and done with. But yeah. So you know, when Jesus in this passage this morning, Jesus, I don't know if you noticed, some of you teachers in the room this morning would have noticed that Jesus gives a series of warnings to us. There are actually four warnings in this passage. But he also gives us encouragements. And we all love the encouragements. Right. But we need the warnings as well. And anybody know here that when Jesus gives us warnings in the church, we need to listen up, we need to pay attention. And so I'm going to focus. I'm not going to focus on all four this morning because of time. I'm just going to focus on two. And the first one I'm going to focus on is hypocrisy. And then the next one, the fear of man. Now, hypocrisy. Let me just put it in a bit of context this morning. When Jesus walked on the earth 2,000 years ago, he was surrounded by religious leaders who were very ungodly. They had a form of godliness. They had the appearance of looking like they honored God and loved God. But you see, the issue was they loved God with their lips, but their hearts were far from God. They appeared one thing, but behind closed doors they were another. They were without character, without integrity, without honesty. They were godless. Is this Mike okay? Yeah. Are we? Yeah. Okay. And Jesus calls them out and he says, listen, your religion is worthless. You have this appearance of goodness, but underneath it all, you are self indulgent. You're greedy, you're lovers of yourselves. You're more bothered about position and people and possessions than you are in the presence of God. And this is not what following God is all about. You know, the word hypocrite actually comes from the Greek word to mean a stage actor. Have you ever been to those kind of Shakespearean plays? And you'll often have one person on stage and they're playing two parts. They will hold up a mask and then they'll take the mask down when they're playing another part. And so the word hypocrite is about playing a role or playing two types of characters. Jesus was warning his disciples that day. He said, don't fall into the pit of hypocrisy. If you are going to last your discipleship journey, if you're going to go from strength to strength, if you're going to make it, you can't be like the hypocrites, the Pharisees, who have a form of godliness, but they are God. Sorry, Godless. Jesus actually uses the word yeast here in the. In the word of God. And yeast is an interesting word if you are a baker. We've got any bakers in the house this morning? No. A few. All right. Well, you will know the process of baking and particularly yeast, when it goes into the dough. And so when the yeast goes into the dough, at first, the yeast, it's small, you only need a small. And when the yeast goes in, at first it's invisible. It's as if nothing is happening. But as the yeast gradually makes its way through the dough, you see the evidence, and the dough starts to rise and it becomes a loaf of bread. And Jesus was saying, this is what happens with hypocrisy, with people who pretend to follow me, but their hearts are really far from me. People who pretend to play a religious role, but they're far from me. You see, Jesus said the kingdom of God is where it's within. It's within. We have to take discipleship seriously. Thank God for the hands that are raised this morning to make those first steps. But let me tell you, it is only a first step. We have to take discipleship seriously. What is within this morning? What is within us? You know, I think there is a real danger, and I'm sorry this morning if you were coming for a really nice cosy message. It's not the message God put on my heart, but I believe it's one that will change us. But I think there is a real danger in the church. And it's not that we do it intentionally, it's not that we do it on purpose, but there's a danger that we fall into the pit of appearances, externals, this outer appearance of being godly, but really inwardly, we can be far from God. I know in my own life, I've been a Christian for a few decades, but I know there are seasons in my own life. I can feel it in me. When I'm far from God, I can recognize it. And here are some of the things I recognize. My spirit, my spirit. Man seems to be dull. My spirit in me just isn't coming alive. I pass opportunities by to witness to people, you know, if you're on fire for God, you don't pass opportunities by, do you? You want everybody to know how good God is. But I recognise it in myself and, and the lamp within me, the spiritual Life within me has stopped burning, but unfortunately the outward appearance has kept going. Does anybody relate to what I'm saying this morning? Why do we fall into this trap of pretense as the church? And you're saying, esther, look, we've heard some amazing reports, like Bible sales are up. There's a quiet revival happening amongst young people. And I don't doubt any of those things are happening, and they're good things that are happening. But I just know some of the last words of Jesus in the final book of the Bible to a church say you've got the appearance of being alive, but you are dead. Wow. Wow. I think sometimes we fall into the pretense, this trap of pretense of trying to be godly. And maybe for those of us who have been Christians a long time, it's because really, like yeast that comes very. Starts small and it's invisible and it's subtle. It's working its way in because we've lost sight of the majesty of who God is. We've lost sight of him and we've put our sight on people. Now, I love people, but let me tell you, I love God more. But we've put our sight on people. We've put our sight on appearances. We've put our sight on possessions. We've put our sight on positions. Can I say, we've become lovers of ourselves. Wow. Externally, we may carry the appearance of godliness, but internally there's been a drift. I just want to say to our lovely, and I'm sorry if this embarrasses you, our lovely young men from Newton Abbott, who we have had the absolute privilege of discipling this year, I want to say to you, and I feel quite emotional about this, when you were walking into, it was like the 12 disciples were coming in. I want to say to you, all of you, stay strong in the Lord in your generation. I want to say to you, let the word of God live in you. I want to say to you, overcome the evil one today and for the rest of your lives. God has an incredible plan, but you've got to stay on track with him. You've got to stay on track with Him. See, false godliness will shipwreck the most precious relationship that we could ever have. The most precious relationship isn't with your spouse. The most precious relationship isn't with your children or with your best. The most precious relationship we will ever have is with the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Phil and I have been really staggered to the point this week. We were just really so upset about how in recent years some close friends of ours and I guess ministry acquaintances who have been leading amazing churches in cities across the UK when all on the outside seems to be going well, they were leading, well, they led large congregations. But over time, when everything looked good and it seemed good, tragically, tragically behind closed doors, all was not as it appeared. If you are in leadership, especially in church or in ministry or in any, I mean even in the workplace, let's make ourselves accountable to those in the church. When things are dry, when the lamps are going out, make yourself accountable. Run to somebody, run to the house of God. Don't run away from the house of God. And tragically, some of our friends, those couples are not walking with the Lord today. They are so lukewarm, it is affected like yeast their children. And we're praying, lord have mercy, don't let it go to another generation. We need a generation back. We need a generation back. You know, we were at a conference some years ago in Manchester and the, the, the leader of this conference, he met somebody, it was the last session and he met somebody in the corridor and this person said to him, this has been an amazing conference. Look at the thousands gathered here. It's brilliant. He said, what a success this has been. And the leader of the conference stood on that stage and he said, I guess it would appear that this has been a real success this weekend. He said, but come back to me in 10 years time, even 20 years time, should the Lord tarry and then I'll be able to tell you if it has been a success or not. And he said to the people in this room, he said, I'm thankful that you have turned up today. Like it's one of the leaders worry when you put on a conference, you hope there's more than two people turn up, right? And he said, I'm thankful that you've all turned up and it's been brilliant. What a great crowd we have had in this weekend. But he said for me, success would be kingdom, success would be that in 10 years time, in 20 years time, how many people in this room today are rooted and planted in a local church to see a local region, one for Christ who are living a holy and pure life in the workplace, who are daily keeping their faith and trust in Jesus Christ, who are still contending in prayer for generations and for nations and for their families. That to me I will know that what we have done over these years at this conference has had a massive impact for the kingdom. You see, if we focus on appearances and before we get our stones to throw at people, other people, let me tell you, it is one of the most easiest traps to fall into in the church. You're all looking so nice and innocent. It is. It is. It's one of the easiest traps to fall into. And if we focus on appearances in our discipleship, we will have shallow disciples who will be shipwrecked in their faith. Second thing, quickly. This morning, the final thing is the fear of man. Tell the person next to you, I'm just not afraid of you. Oh, yeah, not afraid of you. I'm not afraid of you. Some kids are looking at their parents going, I'm afraid of you. I've been naughty this morning. Oh, dear, my dad's gonna. No. Fear of man. I haven't got time. But I've got a right. Test me about the fear of man. And I am living, breathe in, walk in proof that I have not fully overcome the fear of man. But let's just say 20 years ago, I would not be up here. I'd be somewhere over there at the back. But, you know, fear of man will rob us of fulfilling all that God has called us to do. It will and Jesus needed that day. You know, Jesus was about to go to the cross and he had a limited amount of time to train his disciples, but he needed a bunch of ordinary young men and women and old. Sorry, not just young, but young in the faith. Men and women who would be bold and courageous to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. In the church today, I want to see desperately the fear of man dealt with once and for all. I want to see it gone so that we can fully shine our lights for Christ. I want it gone in the workplace, I want it gone where some of you teachers in the classrooms, the fear of God and the intimidation of man, gone completely. Anybody want to see that happen in your life? Amen. Amen. Because. Because there's a nation to be won, and it needs bold, courageous men and women to go. To go. To go. You know, I love how Jesus words it here. It's almost like he's like saying, you know, the worst that anyone can do to you is kill your body. Well, I kind of want my body, need my body. He's saying, why are you scared of people who can only kill your body? Now, obviously there is a context to this because we're on the birth, on the horizon, really, of the birth of the early church. There was going to be persecution coming to the early church. So there is a bit of context, but we Know today, all over the world, our brothers and sisters, they are still losing their lives for the faith. But Jesus was saying, your body is not the most important thing. Now, we like to keep our bodies nice. We like to put good food in. Right? Yeah. And all that kind of stuff. But Jesus was saying, the most important part of you is where it's internal. So you're looking at me today, and I'm looking at you, but I am looking at your tent. I'm looking at your outer shell. It is the eternal part that is in us. That's the lasting part. Our soul, our spirit. You know, three weeks ago, I buried my lovely father. And as we lowered his coffin into the ground, my lovely uncle, who was with us at the time, he said, we're burying his tent. We're not burying dad, we're burying his tent. The external, not the internal. You see, my dad's physical body was completely destroyed by motor neuron disaster. Completely destroyed. And the day that Dad's tent packed in, his real self went to be in the presence of Jesus, because that is the hope that we have. And Jesus was trying to tell his disciples, why are you so fearful of man? The kingdom of God is within you. And if you are in Christ, if you are found as a disciple to be in Christ, then nothing and no one can harm you or touch you ever. Amen. Amen. Amen. What great truth. So when this earthly tent is destroyed, it's just new life beginning. Amen. And Jesus offers a solution to the fear of man. Are you ready? This is what he offers. He says, make the switch. Instead of fear in man, I want you to fear God. And this has really helped me in my own life. Verse 5. Jesus says, Fear the one who, after your body has been killed, has the authority to throw you in hell. So if we suffer with a fear of man today, Jesus says, make the switch. Fear God. Now, let me just talk just quickly about the fear of God. The fear of God is not a worldly fear. It's not something where we're frightened or we're full of anxiety and we're scared because of someone. That's not the kind of fear we are talking about. The fear of God is a holy fear. Fear, you know, he's here in our midst. Just think about that for a moment. It is a holy fear where we recognize the magnitude of our Maker because we know him to be perfect. We know him to hold every single thing in the palm of his hands. We know him to be right in all that he says and all that he does. We know him to be full of mercy and kindness. Me a wave. If you've experienced the mercy and the kindness of God, we know that he is in control from start to finish. 2 Samuel 25 David, King David, he was a military king. This is going to help us understand the fear of God a little bit, particularly for those who are new to Christianity. You're a new disciple. King David disobeyed God. He didn't listen to God. And God told David because he was a military king. God said to David, I don't want you to number your army. Now, we don't know why really. God told David not to number his army. I imagine you know that maybe God needed David to trust him when he went out to war, regardless of the number of people in his army, just to trust God to win the battle. But David one day disobeyed God and he counted his fighting men. And God told him through a prophet, he said, right, David, there are some consequences for disobeying me. There are consequences for not listening to God, for disobeying God. And God said to David, okay, I'm going to give you three options. You can choose three years of famine in your land. You can choose three months of your fiercest enemies pursuing you, or you can choose three days of the plague. And this is how David responded. He said, I am in such distress over my wrongdoing. I want to say to us that is a good thing to be distressed over our wrongdoing. If we are a disciple of Jesus and we are not distressed over our wrongdoing, then there is an issue with how we view our wrongdoing and how we view God. But we don't stay in distress too long because we have a loving God who forgives us. But David was in distress. He took responsibility for what he did and he said, let us fall into the hands of the Lord for his mercy is great, but do not let me fall into human hands. David did not want to fall in human hands. He said, I want to fall in into God's hands. You know, some of us are living every day and we're falling into human hands. We're falling into human opinions, we're falling into being intimidated and persuaded by humans. And David said, I don't want to be in human hands. I need to fall into God's hands. In other words, I want you to get at this this morning. The fear of God, the fear of God is fearing him, yet feeling safe and secure in God's hands at the same time. Because his mercy is great. Let me just say that again. The fear of God is this, that we fear God, yet we feel safe and secure in his hands because we know his mercy. Great time and time and time again. And finally this morning in this section, Jesus finishes in Luke 12 by reassuring them how much God loves them, how much he loves them. Jesus was about to demonstrate to his disciples just how much he loved them by going to the cross. And Jesus says, God will not forget you. God will protect you. Time and time again in my own life, when I haven't had the words to say, I had the camera crew, BBC camera crew some years ago. I haven't got time. This morning came to my house and I hadn't got a clue what to say. And these words just came out of my mouth and I thought, what a load of rubbish. And then when the program was aired on tv, I'm like listening to and thinking, I did not say that. I did not say that. I know the Holy Spirit backed me up to preach the gospel on this program without a shadow of a doubt. And he said, God will not forget you. He will back you up as we walk before him, as we put our trust in him, because you are worth more than anything to Him. Church, surely he is worth more than us trying to fake it, just trying to live as though. Well, I'm not really. I do love God, but I can't really fully give myself to Him. He's numbered the hairs on your head. That's how precious you are. Jesus says right at the end, keep a close eye on your lamps. Keep a close eye on your spiritual life inside. Replace hypocrisy with walking, with humility before God and honesty. Leave this place today and be really honest with God. Replace the fear of man with the fear of who God is. Let's not be fooled and distracted by appearances, possessions and focusing on people over God. You know, my prayer for the church of our nation is that we would be known for our bold submission. We sang this morning. There's. I have decided to follow Jesus. It's easy in a room like this. I pray for us as a church, that we'd be known for our bold submission and our allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ in our workplaces, in our schools, in our colleges, that the living word would be alive in us, that every day we would keep our lamps burning every single day. Our submission to the word of God. I could say so much more, but I won't. I'm going to finish up. But Church, we need to read this. We need to get the word of God in us. There is a danger of concocting what we think is the word of God, but it isn't. We need to read and say, holy Spirit, let your word be alive and living in me every single day. The end of our discipleship journey. I pray that we will testify, like Paul, that I fought the good fight. Yeah. Because how many of us know the discipleship journey is a journey of sacrifice? It is a difficult journey, but it's a glorious journey. It is so difficult, it is paved with sacrifices, with things that we're going to have to give up, things that we desperately want. Some people are going to have to let go of ungodly relationships. Some people have to let go of some things that mean too much to them. But they're worldly things and they don't need you to leave this place. And God's going to challenge you. He's going to say, come back to me. Be generous towards me. That I have finished the race well. He wants to finish the race well. And who knows when that day is going to come. That I have kept the faith in Christ and Christ alone. Not kept my faith in what I own. I've not kept my faith in even the person who's preaching, not kept my faith in other people. I've kept my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the soon and coming King, the wonderful Savior of the world. Is he your Lord and Savior this morning? Lord, we give you all glory today. Thank you for what you are doing across the nations. Lord and Father, I pray for Rediscover Church right now. We come a bit inward this morning. And, Lord, I pray for Rediscover Church across this southwest region. That we would be known to be men and women disciples with an allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ. That we would be strong in these days. That the word of God would be alive in us. That we would keep our spiritual lives burning for Jesus Christ, Lord. That we would not get swept up with appearances, Lord. We would return to you and love you. Really love you. Lord. We would be in public what we are in private. That, Lord, you would find us in those rooms, on our own, in the private place, seeking your face, Lord. The world doesn't need us to be like them. To win them, the world needs a church. On her knees. Help us, Lord. For you are the good shepherd. It is an honour to follow you, Jesus. Just like the words of Jesus, we say, lord, where would we go? We don't want to leave you. Where would we go? You have the words of eternal life. We're following you, Lord, Even when it's hard. Even when the decisions we have to make are hard. Lord, I thank you that you see those decisions. I thank you the Lord, as we honour you, you will honour us. As we draw near to you, you will draw near to us. As we love you, you will love us. Do a deep work in our hearts. Lord, today we bless you and honour you, glorify your name. Amen. Amen.