Luke 17:11-37 "Get With the Times" (Carlton 9:00am)

Oh, I'm Marcus, by the way. I'm one of the pastors here. But why don't we start our time by praying?

Our Father God, we pray that as we engage with what Jesus has done and said in this passage today, that you would transform us by the renewing of our minds so that we might live lives for you. We pray all these things in the name of Christ Jesus. Amen. Now, in our passage today, what Jesus is going to do is completely reorient the way that we think about our lives. And he's going to do it in a way that completely disagrees with one of the basic premises of our society today.

Because if you go to a school, or you go to your workplace or you go anywhere in the world, people are living by this same mantra everyone lives for today. And we've got lots of different ways of saying this throughout history, particularly over the past couple of hundred years. So you might remember Dead Poets Society, Robin Williams, they're standing on the desk and carpe diem. Carpe diem. Seize the day.

Make the most of today. Maybe some of the younger people in the room, like Pete Wrench, you might remember a couple of years ago, yolo, you only live once. You got to get the most out of you can today. Because this life is all there is. Make the most of it.

Because this life is all there is. And so people have become laser focused on trying to make this life count. They're trying to squeeze out of life every good thing that they can find. But today, what Jesus is going to tell us is don't get swept up in it. And the reason he'll say it is because there's more to life than the present.

Because not only do we misunderstand the present reality that we live in, but the realities of the past, the realities of the present, and the reality of the future mean that our lives will be completely different to the people around us. And so let's start with the past. And particularly we're going to be thinking about the salvation that Jesus has given to us. And to see this, I want you to imagine that you're leaving the house tomorrow morning. And as you do, you notice on your hands just a little bit of a flaky skin, a little bit of a rash.

You're like, oh, I'll come home later, I'll put some moisturiser on it. Or if you're like me, you'll just leave it, it'll be fine. But then you get in your car, you drive to wherever you're going, and as you get out of the car, a woman walking past sees you and screams. Because now the little rash has made it all the way up your arm, all the way up your arm. And she looks at it and she says, you got to go to a doctor.

You need to get out of here. I've seen what happens with this, and it's bad. Go to a doctor straight away. And so you're like, okay, I guess I should probably do what she says. So you drive to the doctor, and you get there, and as the doctor looks at you, his jaw drops.

Because now the rash has made it all the way across your body and up onto your face. And as the doctor is putting on the Hazmat suit to treat you, he says, you gotta get out of here. Don't talk to your friends. Don't talk to your family. Don't go to work, which you're kind of happy about.

Get out of here. Don't see anyone. Drive three hours away to Wagga Wagga, because there's people there with your disease. You just need to go hang out with them, don't you don't see anyone. And so you drive out there and you meet these people and they tell you, yeah, you can't see your friends.

You can't talk to your family. You can't even go to do anything you want to do where you might see other people because you might make them sick. All you can do is sit around here with us until you die or some kind of miracle comes to town.

Do you see how the 10 lepers are feeling in this story? They're isolated, they are sick, they're suffering, and they just feel so alone wanting to do all. All these things with their life. But take a look at what happens in verse 11, the beginning of our passage. Luke 17:11.

While traveling to Jerusalem, Jesus passed between Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered a village, 10 men with leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and raised their voices, saying, jesus, master, have mercy on us, because the miracle that they've been waiting for may have just arrived. And you can tell how ingrained in them the isolation is because they're still standing at a distance. They won't come close to Jesus.

But look at what he says in verse 14. When Jesus saw them, he told them, go and show yourselves to the priests. And Jesus says this because in the Old Testament, once you were clean from your disease, once you couldn't see it on your skin anymore, you would go to the priest and he would declare you clean. And yet Jesus Sends them off while they've still got their leprosy. But they take the risk.

And then look at what happens in verse 14, the second half of verse 14. And while they were going, what happens? They were cleansed.

See, Jesus has done it. He's brought the miracle and he even did it from a distance. Do you see how powerful and compassionate Jesus is right here? And so you'd expect all of them to start running back. You know, Jesus has just scored the goal in the World Cup.

It's that kind of celebration. This is incredible. You know, they're going to get in a circle and start jumping up and down. It's going to be a great celebration. But look at what happens in verse 15.

But one, only one. But one of them saying he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice gave glory to God. He fell face down at his feet, thanking him, and he was a Samaritan.

Now we don't get told why they don't come back. The generous assumption is that maybe the other nine went off to the priests. But I don't think even Jesus thinks that. But these people have been isolated from friends and family and doing whatever they want for potentially years. They haven't been able to go anywhere that other people could see them.

And now they're free.

And so I think they're probably off to seize the day.

But regardless of where they are, they've made the wrong choice. Because look at verse 17.

Then Jesus said, were not 10 cleansed. Where are the nine? Didn't any return to give glory to God except this foreigner? See what I mean? I think Jesus knows that they haven't listened to him.

But keep looking. And he told him, get up and go on your way and look at this. Your faith has saved you. He says, you have now been saved. And he doesn't mean to be saved from the disease because he's only talking to the one who returned.

And the other nine were healed too. No. Jesus says, you have been saved from an even worse fate than what was happening to your skin. He says, because you saw salvation and turned to me. You have been saved from an eternal isolation.

You've been saved from an eternal uncleanness. You've been saved from hell, just like Lazarus was in our parable two weeks ago. Because this man has seen the power of Jesus and fallen at his feet in praise and thanksgiving. And I think that shows us the right response to what Jesus has done for us. We've seen his power, his resurrection from the dead.

We've seen his salvation. We have seen what he has done in the past for us. And that means we turn to him, we run to him, we bring our whole lives back to Him. So I think this is what it means to have faith. And it's not that we see Jesus salvation and just go off and do the things that we've always wanted.

No, we turn back and we fall at his feet because he has saved us. And really this is the basis for the Christian life, isn't it? It's the beginning of what transforms everything. Because now we live to worship Jesus, to bring praise to the king who reigns today. And I want to say, if you are one of the few people here who haven't already turned back to Jesus, please do it today.

Because he is the king who reigns presently.

And that is our present reality, isn't it? And I know I said earlier that our world lives for the present, but while our world lives for today, we live in light of the king who reigns today. And we see it in verse 20. It all starts with a simple question. Because the Pharisees want to know when the kingdom of God is going to come.

When will God fulfill His promises to us? When will he send his king? When will he reunite all nations under him? And Jesus gives a simple answer.

He says, you're looking at him. Just take a look at verse 20. When he was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, the kingdom of God is not coming. With something observable. No one will say, see here or there.

For you see, the kingdom of God is in your midst. Jesus says, you want to see the kingdom of God? I'm right here. I've brought it. Don't go looking for it.

You won't find it out there. The kingdom of God is standing right in front of you. And that's a pretty revolutionary idea. Not just back then, but also today. Because it means that we today are not waiting for God's kingdom or for Jesus reign to begin.

And we definitely don't need to do anything to start God's kingdom here on earth. Because Jesus is king now. And we are his people. Now. You, me, right here, as we gather here today, are citizens of heaven.

Because as you sit here right now, Jesus is reigning from heaven where he sits at the right hand of the Father. We are not waiting for the kingdom to begin. The kingdom has come now. We still need to pray and we still need to sing the song that we sang at the beginning of our service, that God's kingdom would be fully realized here on earth. As it is in heaven.

But that doesn't mean that Jesus isn't king. Now just think about it this way. Just because people break the law in our society right now, that doesn't mean that the government, that the courts aren't in charge. You see what I mean? See, the reality is that even though people don't acknowledge Jesus as king, he is reigning everything from heaven.

And that's a great comfort, isn't it? As I've been reflecting on this this week, I found it really comforting because the same king who compassionately healed 10 lepers is running the place. And that's actually taken a bunch of stress off my shoulders because I know that the one who rules will bring about his glory and my good. And I know that the only perfectly good king is in control. And so often people around us will be stressed because everything seems like it's out of control.

They work so hard to get security because they ignore who the king is. But that doesn't have to be us, does it? Because we have our king sitting at the right hand of, of the Father in heaven right now.

But that also means that our lives are oriented towards the purposes of our king. We obey our king, we do what he says because he is our authority right now. We do what he says. And again, that's a great comfort because his ways are always good.

And so we've seen the past, we've seen Jesus salvation, that we've been saved by faith, and we've seen the present, that the reality is that Jesus has brought the kingdom and that he is the one who currently reigns. But I don't know if you noticed this as you were reading. Most of this passage is actually about living in light of the future reality. Just take a look at verse 22 and notice how Jesus changes his audience and his topic. Then Jesus told the disciples, the days are coming.

The days are coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man. But you won't see it.

See, he's telling his disciples about when he's going to come back. And we're going to long for this day as his people, because trials will come. But what he says is his return is going to be unmissable and not unmissable in the way that people are talking about, you know, Christopher Nolan's the Odyssey. Like you got to see it, you can't miss it. No, he means unmissable in terms of there's going to be no mistake that it's happening.

Which is why Jesus says what he does in verse 23. Take a look at verse 23. They will say to you, see there or see here, don't follow or run after them. Basically, Jesus is teaching us about Chicken Little. Before Chicken Little was Chicken Little.

He's saying that there will be lots of boys who cry wolf, lots of people who look at the events of this world and say, look, this is it. It's happening, guys. Get ready. But that's not how it works. Jesus return won't be gradual or something that we'll get specific signs about.

No, Jesus says it's going to happen like a flash of thunder in the sky, bang. And there it is. And this is a warning from Jesus because he says that when it happens, people will go to judgment. Take a look at verse 34.

I tell you, on that night, two will be taken, two will be in one bed, one will be taken and the other will be left. Two women will be grinding grain together. One will be taken and the other left. See, Jesus says on the day that he returns, on the day that comes instantly, those who haven't turned to him like the one leper will face condemnation. And sometimes Christians think that Jesus is talking about Christians being taken away to the new creation, to heaven.

But if we look closely, Jesus is talking about people being taken to judgment. Just take a look at what the disciples asked in verse 37.

Where, Lord, they asked him, where will these people be taken? But keep looking, he said to them, where the corpse is. There also the vultures will be gathered on the day Jesus comes back. Those outside of Christ will find themselves eternally outside of God's kingdom, in the place where they will be picked at by vultures for eternity.

As Phil said last week, Jesus doesn't sugarcoat his words, does he? And I think for many of us, reading this can be a deep point of sadness because this is the fate of some of the people that we are closest to. That's a great reminder of the need to share the gospel with the people that we love. And so in some ways, this is a warning to all people. Be ready for Jesus to come back, come and believe in him.

Turn to him like the one leper has. And at the same time, we also need to remember who Jesus is telling this to. Because do you Remember in verse 20 who he's talking to? He's talking to the disciples. Because this is a warning to stay vigilant, a warning to us, to Christians.

Take a look at verse 26, where Jesus talks about a similar judgment in history, just as it was in the days of Noah. So also it will be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given up in marriage to the day Noah entered the ark.

Then the flood came and destroyed them all. People lived like nothing was going to happen and then they died in the flood. And so Jesus is saying, be ready, be like Noah. Don't just carry on as if nothing's going to happen. No, the Christian life is one where we wait.

We live longing, waiting for this day.

Now I don't know if any of you remember a couple of years ago we had this thing called the COVID pandemic. Anyone remember? But over those two years there was this phenomenon that took place and. And it even actually came back recently with petrol. I don't know if you saw it.

Panic buying. Did anyone hear Panic Buy? I don't know if it's something people want to acknowledge. I like to think that we didn't panic buy. But my wife Naomi reminded me the other day that we may have gone to my parents place around the corner and pinched a couple of toilet rolls.

But anyway, panic buying happened because people saw everyone else doing something and got freaked out because they thought they needed to do it too. And Jesus warning here is not to panic buy this life. Just look at what he says about lot in verse 28. Verse 28. It was the same in the days of Lot.

People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. And that to me is the greatest summary of what people live for nowadays. Just go to Bunnings on a Saturday. They're trying to live the good secure life here and if we're not on guard we'll do the same. We'll get caught up in it too.

We'll see everyone else investing in the property market for security in this life and and panic because we think we need to do the same. We'll see everyone else trying out the best restaurants for comfort and then panic because we think that we need to do the same. We'll see everyone spending endless cash to send their kids to particular schools and panic because we think for our safety and security we need to do the same.

But people do these things because they think that this life is all that there is. They're trying to seize the day or what they think the day is. But they don't care about the future and they definitely don't care about the day of the Son of Man, the one day that's more important than all others. So they do it out of a desire to have security and comfort now. But that's not us.

We know Jesus is coming back. And he's coming back so that those who trust him will live with him in the perfect, better new creation forever. Because just as an aside, do you remember what people panic bought during COVID I mentioned it earlier. They panic bought toilet paper. And if we think about the things here in light of eternity, it amounts to about the same.

Because what Jesus has on offer is so much better. The new creation will be fantastic. It will be unmissable. And so we need to do what Jesus says in verse 32. Take a look at verse 32.

Remember Lot's wife. Whoever tries to make his life secure will lose it.

And whoever loses his life will preserve it. See in Genesis 19, as Lot and his family were escaping judgment, Lot's wife, Lot looks back. She was told not to. They were all told not to. And she looked at the world that was being destroyed.

She took her eyes off the salvation that was before her and focused on what she was losing. And she received judgment. She turned into a pillar of salt.

And Jesus is warning us, Remember Lot's wife. Don't live for security in this world. Don't look back, don't panic. Buy this life. Don't let a fear of missing out in this world mean that you miss out on the next.

But it's more than just panic buying. It's trying to find security in this life. That's what Jesus confronts us on. He's promised us that he is coming back. And he gives us this warning so that we won't lose our security for the next life.

He says, be ready for when I come. Because when he does, it'll be like a thief in the night. And the only way to be prepared is to be ready at all times.

And so let's get ready. Let's be ready. Are you waiting for this day? Do you know the times that we live in? Or are you trying to find security in this life?

Pleasure in this life? I think it really puts our lives into perspective, doesn't it? Because there's no middle ground. Jesus doesn't talk about being half prepared. It's all or nothing.

Which means our lives are all or nothing too. And Jesus gives us some examples of what it looks like to still be caught up in this world.

But if we think about it, it's everything, isn't it? It's absolutely everything. Because if our response to Jesus salvation is to turn back to him with our whole lives, and if Jesus is the king who reigns now, and if we need to do everything, we can to be ready for the day that he comes back, then just changing a couple of things here or there isn't actually the answer. That's not the call Jesus is making on us today. Because if we just change our attitude to one thing, then we'll probably find something else in this world to replace it with.

That's what our hearts so often do. And so yes, if you need to sell the investment property, change careers, remove those distractions. But don't just do that. Do everything you can to be ready for that day. Because the past, the present and the future give us every reason to do it.

And do what Jesus says in verse 32. Take a look. Remember Lot's wife. Whoever tries to make his life secure will lose it. And whoever loses his life will preserve it.

Because the life we'll receive in the new creation is better than the toilet paper castles we'll build here. And so do you see how this changes everything?

We don't live for today, we live in light of today, but all of our days. We live for Jesus, the King who reigns and will return to take us to the new creation. And I look forward to seeing you there. Let's pray.

Our Father God, we thank you so much for the Lord Jesus who compassionately heals and saves and has given us a salvation beyond anything in this world. Father, we pray that we would live in light of that salvation, that we would live in light of knowing that there is a king who reigns over all things and help us to be ready and prepared for that day. We ask all these things in Jesus name. Amen.