Marcus Mecum - Divine Revolution
Alright, if you've got your Bibles, turn with me to Luke 19. Luke 19:11, a familiar parable, parable of the talents or the minas. This is a parable concerning the Kingdom of God. Everybody say, "The Kingdom of God". "Now as they heard these things, he spoke another parable, because he was near Jerusalem because they thought the Kingdom of God would appear immediately. Therefore, he said, 'a certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return'". He's coming back in case you wanna know. "So, he called ten of his servants, delivered to them ten minas, and said to them, 'do business'".
The King James version says, "Occupy". I like the word occupy. Carry on. Keep on going. Keep pressing. Keep fighting. "Occupy until I come". I want to use that familiar parable to talk you about a few things that I feel like the church as a whole needs to hear. It says, "Occupy until I come". But what are we to occupy? Well, it tells us, it's the Kingdom of God. You might say, "Well, how do we occupy the Kingdom of God until he comes"? And it also teaches us that we are not owners, but we are stewards. We're to steward the kingdom until he comes. You might remember hearing that phrase, "Occupy wall street," back in 2011. It's a phrase that was coined because of the protest that began on Saturday, December 18, 2010. A revolutionary wave of public demonstrations began that rocked the muslim world.
It all started when a 26-year-old Tunisian street vendor named Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire. He was protesting the repeated humiliation and harassment that had been inflicted upon him by local authorities. Within hours, mass protest engulfed the streets of that city. Within one month, the president of that country had fled, and the wave of unrest swept across national boundaries all over the world. Corrupt governments one after another, after another, were dismantled and overthrown. This moment in history changed the hopes and the dreams of millions of people. A simple street vendor shook the world. And it leads us all to know what can happen when one man chooses to set himself on fire.
John Wesley was once asked, "Why do so many people come to hear you preach"? And he said, "I just set myself on fire and they come to watch me burn". Spurgeon said, "Put some fire in the sermon or put the sermon in the fire". I think it applies to what I do, but I think it also applies to what you do. Doesn't do me any good if I put fire in the sermon if you don't put fire into listening to the sermon. Right? What did those two that walked with Jesus onto the road to Emmaus, what did they say? They said that, "Our hearts burned within us as we heard him speak". It's not just I'm burning, it's you're burning as well. If you sing a song, put some fire in the song or put the song in the fire.
When you come into God's house and you worship and you offer him that sacrifice of praise, put some fire in your worship, put some fire in your service to him, or what good is it? You see, the thing that we see in this story where that occupy wall street was coined is it takes a special kind of sacrifice to start a revolution. Revolutions are not created equal and not all revolutions are noble. Stakes are different in different places and in different times. We are potentially in a different time. Revolution without sacrifice always ends in rebellion. Revolution is from the Latin word revoltis which means to turn or to roll back. Rebellion is from the Latin word rebelionis which means to wage war.
So, this teaches us that revolution is selfless, rebellion is selfish. Revolution unites, rebellion divides. Revolution returns us to the great principles of the past, rebellion sacrifices the great principles of the past for cheap comforts in the present. Revolution costs me deeply, rebellion always costs others deeply. So, if you look at world history or you look at church history, revolutions have always been necessary. And so, I wanna give you three insights into a divine revolution.
Number one, Christianity is a revolutionary kingdom. That's what we read about in our text, the Kingdom of God. So, this is not a republic. This is not a democracy. It is not a dictatorship. It is a kingdom. We are part of the Kingdom of God. And kingdoms are run by the rule of a king, not the mood of the masses, not the temperature of the times, but the rule of the king. The apostle Paul wrote to Timothy, and he said, "Jesus is king, eternal, immortal, invisible. The only wise God to whom be honor and glory forever and ever". He is king and this is his kingdom. And he invites us, he extends an invitation to you and I to enter his kingdom. However, we must do it on his terms, or we don't do it at all.
If you wanna enter a relationship with the king, I hesitate to tell you, it is his kingdom and it is his terms, otherwise, there is no deal. Romans 12 says, "I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies," not your spirit, your body, your physical world, your physical life, your everyday life, what you do, your actions, everything about you, not just your spirit. If you have Jesus in your heart, you'd let him out. Jesus is never content being held hostage in your heart. He wants to impact every iota of your life. He said, "Present your body," your physical life, your life.
That's what you're here today doing. You're giving your body, your time, your physical world. And he says that, "That is a living sacrifice". He's not asking you to kill yourself, he's asking you to be a living sacrifice. In the Old Testament the priest would bring sacrifices to the altar. The fire on the altar would burn that sacrifice. The aroma of the sacrifice would go up to throne of God, and God would enjoy the aroma of the sacrifice. So, a living sacrifice in the same way never stops burning for him. "A living sacrifice," it goes on to say, "Is our reasonable service". So, setting yourself on fire, allowing yourself to be a living sacrifice, to burn for him and to be zealous for his kingdom is your reasonable service.
Paul told Timothy that, "Jesus is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. That he only has immortality. He dwells in the light which no man can approach unto, and no one has seen him or can see him, to him be honor and power everlasting". He is a king. He is an immortal king. He existed before anything you see existed. He's not a coach, he's a king. He's not a mentor, he's a king. He's not an advisor, or a counselor, he is a king. He's not a professor, he is a king. And before anything you see existed, he existed as king over it all. And what you and I have to remember is we've been invited into his kingdom. It is our privilege, and it is our honor. It's not his privilege and his honor that we're here, it's our honor and it's our privilege that we would be invited into his kingdom. A divine revolution begins with understanding Christianity has always been and always will be a revolutionary kingdom.
Number two, how this plays itself out is we are stewards or what's known as the priesthood principle. When you go to God's original mandate for his people, he made an entire nation, the nation of Israel, a kingdom of priests. Exodus 19:6, "'you shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation'. These are the words which you will speak unto all, concerning the children of Israel". So that the entire nation is designed to function as a priest, as priests. What is as priest? The person who offers sacrifices to a holy God. The person who offers sacrifices to the king. It goes on to say that "I want you to also be a holy nation. So, all these sacrifices that you're bringing, all these sacrifices that you're making, that I'm asking you for is what separates you as my people. And even though to the world you'll be odd, and unusual, and peculiar, you'll be a rare treasure to me".
So, we are a kingdom of priests. This means that this is not just a few people that come together, and we work hard, and people are in a crowd and they applaud us. We're all participating, every single one of us, in this thing called a kingdom of priests. When you come to church, it is not a place you attend. If you see it as a place you attend, attenders usually become pretenders. This is a gathering of the kingdom. So, when we make it the type of thing where if the music is right and they sing the songs that I like and the temperature is just right, and the sermon is just right, and our favorite speaker is speaking, and everything is just so, and we get the seat that we want, and no one does anything that any, then we tip God on our way out.
That's not what we're a part of. That's how the world acts. That's how the world thinks. We are a kingdom of priests. Not a few people doing the heavy lifting, it's a kingdom of priests. 1 Peter says, "A chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar," peculiar means a rare treasure, what makes us a treasure it goes on to say, "That you should shew forth the praises of him who called you out darkness into his marvelous light. In times past, you were not a people, but now, you are a people. In times past, you had not obtained mercy, but now, you have obtained mercy". And because of that, you and I have the priesthood principle. Which is what? Stewardship, service, and sacrifice.
And the bottom line of that is knowing you owe God something, he owes you nothing. He is the owner. He's the owner. He's king. So, as the owner, what's the root word of owner? Is owe. So, paint it however you want. We owe him our lives. We owe God our blessings. We owe God our possessions. We owe God our very breath. We owe God our eternity. We owe God everything. Our culture does not understand priesthood, that's why we need a divine revolution. It's always had to occur, and it will always need to occur where we'll be reminded that we need a divine revolution. Why? Because what got us here is what will get us there. "And occupy until he comes". What got us here, what occupied up unto this point is how we occupy until he comes.
So, what does our culture understand? The big guy at the top. They understand prestige and position. They understand leadership. They understand celebrity. But they don't understand priesthood. Our culture cringes at words like submit and serve. We cringe at words like sacrifice, and service, and stewardship. "I own my life. This is my life". Every now and then, you'll meet someone who realizes what I'm talking about. And these are people who sacrifice those things that are so dear to them to advance the cause of Christ, our king, and people don't understand it. It confounds them. But what got us here will get us there.
So, this is not a message that I'm bringing to the world out there. I'm bringing it to those of you who are in here. So, our problem begins when we let the culture out there reflect in here. Big "I's" and little "Yous". Let me show how I see that a lot happen in church. Sometimes I try to get out in the lobby as much as I can, and one of the things that I have a privilege of doing is shaking hands, and meeting people, and praying with people. I always enjoy it. And if you've done this before, I'm not coming at you. I've been there. I've done the same things before. It's not a big deal. But I've learned over the years that a lot of times what happens is people will say things like, "Hey, how can I get an appointment with you? How can I get a coffee with you? How can I", and I understand. I don't have a problem with it.
"Hey, will you do this"? Or, "Will you do that"? And they'll even say things like this. "Oh, I come from a church where I need to know my pastor". And I understand. It's the idea that I'm the most important that bothers me. It's the idea that if I don't do it, in some way you feel less important. Like, I'm the one that has to establish your importance. My thing is we're a kingdom of priests. We're all important. You don't need me to make you feel important. What I'm saying is, it sounds spiritual, but it's a worldly concept. I'm not saying I should shirk the work and not be available. And I'm not saying that. I love to do those things. I really do and I do as much as I can. But what I'm saying is that the idea that if I'm not running myself into the ground to meet every immediate need and get every cat out of a tree, that I'm not a pastor to you.
Things like this, "Well, I just wanna know my pastor". So, if I eat dinner with you, you'd know me? Some of y'all live with people 20 years and you don't know 'em. So, you don't know somebody, you don't know me 'cause, I've shaken hands with celebrities and professional athletes. I don't know them. Y'all feeling me. So, we can't make it about a person is what I'm implying. You don't make it about me, we make it about him. Are you understanding what I'm saying? There can't be any big "I's" or little "Yous". Across this board, what this simply means is I'm not so arrogant to say that you're not important enough for my time, but I am bold enough to say that Evan's important enough for your time. And other pastors and leaders are important enough for your time. And other small group leaders are important enough for your time. And that I'm not the only important one.
And the way we build this church, and the way God builds his kingdom is to make it about more than one man. He built a kingdom of priests. We steward it together. We sacrifice together. And we serve one another together. We bear one another's burdens. Not the preacher bears everyone's burdens. We bare one another's burdens. I'm not correcting you, I'm just showing you how it plays out in religious ways that sound holy and righteous but they're really secular in nature.
Our leadership, our talents, our blessings are to be in service to the king. We are priests unto God. We are first and foremost priests unto him. This is the priesthood principle, and it began when God created the nation of Israel, and it has never been discarded. We submit to the one who reigns over us. Our main job is not to reign over others, but to submit to the one who reigns over us. This principle is how we occupy until he comes. It's not our kingdom. You're not my people. This is not my church. This is not my ministry. This is God's church. You're God's sons and daughters. This is his ministry. It belongs to him. And I'm not touching it.
Matthew 18 says that the same time the disciples came to Jesus saying, "Lord, who is the greatest"? And he gave them the priesthood principle, once again, "The one who serves". What's he saying to you and i? "I'm not king, you're not king. There's only one king and his name is Jesus. When I die, my job, if it's done well, I will be forgotten, but he will be remembered. My main job is to not create a legacy after myself, my main job is to create a place where God is big and man is small. Where Jesus is on the throne high and lifted up. The train of his robe fills the temple". In other words, everywhere you look you see him, you see his glory, you see his power, you see his mercy, you see his grace, you see his goodness, you see his kindness.