WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:05.200 Welcome to an audio teaching from Windsor Park Baptist Church in Auckland, New Zealand. 00:00:05.360 --> 00:00:22.879 If you would like to look at the message notes or see some questions for reflection that take their lead from today's teaching, head to our website windsapark.org.nz and head to the online tab where you'll see services and series and you can download different resources from there. 00:00:23.120 --> 00:00:26.960 Thanks for joining us and we hope you're encouraged by today's teaching. 00:00:27.760 --> 00:00:30.320 Korea everybody, it's great to be with you again. 00:00:30.480 --> 00:00:38.479 And like many of you, I've spent a lot of time waiting for people to come out of the arrival's door at Auckland Airport. 00:00:38.719 --> 00:00:45.439 And whenever I'm waiting there, there are always different levels of anticipation or expectation. 00:00:45.840 --> 00:00:51.039 When I've been waiting sometimes for my luggage, my expectations can be low. 00:00:51.280 --> 00:00:58.880 There have been times when my luggage decided it needed a few more days at whatever location I was coming from. 00:00:59.200 --> 00:01:06.079 If I've been waiting for someone I haven't seen for ages, there's the expectation of good times to come with them. 00:01:06.239 --> 00:01:13.599 And if I'm waiting for one of my grandkids from Sydney, everyone else who comes through the arrival's door is just getting in my way. 00:01:14.400 --> 00:01:23.120 If you stand and observe, everyone is looking at the same door, but they're not all waiting for the same person. 00:01:23.920 --> 00:01:37.359 Every time those doors open, some people light up, some start waving, and some rush forward with arms outstretched as everyone else just carries on looking at their phone. 00:01:38.000 --> 00:01:43.359 The person arriving determines the response. 00:01:44.560 --> 00:01:55.920 As I've been thinking about Luke chapter 19, verses 11 to 44 over the last few weeks, it struck me that this whole passage is a little bit like that. 00:01:56.400 --> 00:02:01.760 At the end of this passage, Jesus arrives in Jerusalem. 00:02:02.000 --> 00:02:06.799 Something significant is happening, but everybody responds differently. 00:02:07.040 --> 00:02:13.840 Some celebrate, some worship, some resist, and some reject. 00:02:14.319 --> 00:02:17.199 And Jesus himself weeps. 00:02:18.080 --> 00:02:24.400 The same king arrives, and there is a huge diversity of responses. 00:02:25.680 --> 00:02:34.240 Today we come to the end of the third block of our Luke series that we've called King and Kingdom Come. 00:02:34.479 --> 00:02:40.400 We'll return to it at the beginning of 2027 as we move towards Easter. 00:02:40.639 --> 00:02:46.560 But today is worth pausing to notice where we've been in the last six weeks of the series. 00:02:46.960 --> 00:02:57.039 We've watched Jesus on the move, as he is told the parable of the shrewd manager and asked us what we should do with what isn't really ours. 00:02:57.520 --> 00:03:03.599 We've sat with the rich man and Lazarus and felt the weight of a reversal that no one saw coming. 00:03:03.840 --> 00:03:14.080 We've watched blind Bartimaeus see Jesus clearly from the roadside, while religious insiders with a front row seat missed him entirely. 00:03:14.319 --> 00:03:17.520 Different stories, same question. 00:03:19.039 --> 00:03:23.759 Do we recognize who is standing in front of us? 00:03:24.879 --> 00:03:31.439 In Luke chapter 19, as Jesus finally arrives at Jerusalem, the question hasn't changed. 00:03:31.680 --> 00:03:34.560 In fact, it becomes a little bit more urgent. 00:03:34.800 --> 00:03:38.400 When the king arrives, how will we respond? 00:03:39.039 --> 00:03:45.599 Because when the king does arrive and he will come again, our response matters. 00:03:46.080 --> 00:03:52.879 One of the things that we've seen throughout the gospel is that Luke refuses to let us keep Jesus at a safe distance. 00:03:53.199 --> 00:04:04.800 He won't let us reduce Jesus to just being a nice teacher, or just a miracle worker, or just a moral example, or just a religious figure. 00:04:05.039 --> 00:04:11.759 Again and again we've seen Jesus do things only the promised King and Savior could do. 00:04:12.080 --> 00:04:22.240 He forgives sins, he heals, he restores outsiders, he challenges the powerful, he shows authority over sickness, storms, demons, and even death. 00:04:22.720 --> 00:04:27.199 Luke has been quietly building this case the whole way through. 00:04:27.439 --> 00:04:40.079 Jesus is king and not just a king, not just an influential leader, he is the promised king, the rightful king, the king whose kingdom has broken into our world. 00:04:40.399 --> 00:04:45.519 And Luke chapter 19 is where that reality becomes impossible to miss. 00:04:46.879 --> 00:04:49.199 Let's notice how the section begins. 00:04:49.439 --> 00:04:58.639 Luke tells us in verse 11 that Jesus told the parable he tells because the people thought the kingdom of God was going to appear before them. 00:04:58.879 --> 00:05:03.439 They're excited, they're expectant as they approach Jerusalem. 00:05:03.680 --> 00:05:07.279 They think something dramatic is about to happen right there and then. 00:05:07.439 --> 00:05:14.959 Bells and whistles, trumpets and fanfare, the overthrow of the government, a leadership coup, perhaps. 00:05:15.360 --> 00:05:21.759 What Jesus says is that they've got the destination right, but they've got the timing wrong. 00:05:21.920 --> 00:05:26.000 And they've also got the nature of the kingdom of God wrong. 00:05:26.319 --> 00:05:28.240 So Jesus tells a story. 00:05:28.480 --> 00:05:37.439 In verse 12, he says, A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return. 00:05:37.759 --> 00:05:45.920 So he called ten of his servants and gave them ten miners, value of currency, about three months of wages. 00:05:46.560 --> 00:05:49.519 The following words are the ones that we often miss. 00:05:50.079 --> 00:05:54.879 Put this money to work, he said, until I come back. 00:05:56.000 --> 00:05:57.920 Until I come back. 00:05:59.120 --> 00:06:02.959 These four words explain the age we live in. 00:06:03.360 --> 00:06:10.160 The king has gone away, but his kingdom purposes don't stop, because the king will return. 00:06:10.399 --> 00:06:13.920 In the meantime, his servants have work to do. 00:06:14.160 --> 00:06:18.160 They're not told to sit and wait for heaven or to stare into the sky. 00:06:18.240 --> 00:06:21.360 They're not told to speculate about dates and times. 00:06:21.519 --> 00:06:27.120 On the contrary, they're told, put this to work until I come back. 00:06:27.600 --> 00:06:32.160 Effectively, live for the king while you wait for his return. 00:06:32.399 --> 00:06:35.279 Because when the king returns, there's a reckoning. 00:06:35.920 --> 00:06:45.759 Two of the servants are commended for the work they achieved while the king was away, but one servant buries what he was given and does nothing with it and is rebuked for it. 00:06:46.000 --> 00:06:50.639 And the people who hated the king, well, it's not the greatest ending for them. 00:06:51.279 --> 00:07:00.240 Luke isn't just telling us to be busy, he's telling us that faithfulness while the king is away actually matters. 00:07:00.480 --> 00:07:03.199 And sadly, so does refusal. 00:07:03.680 --> 00:07:06.639 We aren't living today in a neutral waiting room. 00:07:06.720 --> 00:07:13.839 We're living in a kingdom with a king who is coming back to ask us what we did with what he left in our hands. 00:07:14.079 --> 00:07:15.759 And this is where we live. 00:07:16.079 --> 00:07:22.639 Jesus has come, Jesus has risen, Jesus is king, and one day Jesus will return. 00:07:23.040 --> 00:07:28.160 Right now, we're living in the until I come back years. 00:07:28.879 --> 00:07:32.319 The kingdom is here, but not yet fully here. 00:07:32.560 --> 00:07:37.759 The kingdom reigns, but his reign hasn't yet been fully revealed. 00:07:38.079 --> 00:07:42.959 The question is, what are we doing with what the king has entrusted to us? 00:07:43.199 --> 00:07:49.519 Our time, our influence, our relationships, our resources, our gifts. 00:07:50.000 --> 00:07:54.240 And perhaps for us as a local church, there's a bigger question. 00:07:54.480 --> 00:07:57.839 What has the king entrusted to us together? 00:07:58.160 --> 00:08:12.319 A church community, buildings, a childcare center, a mental health organization, community ministries, and an online congregation, opportunities to serve thousands of people who live within a few kilometers of our physical buildings? 00:08:12.879 --> 00:08:20.399 The question isn't simply what God has entrusted to me, it's also what has God entrusted to us. 00:08:22.160 --> 00:08:32.480 Sometimes we imagine that faithfulness means doing something spectacular, but Jesus isn't asking us to be impressive, he's asking us to be faithful. 00:08:32.720 --> 00:08:36.480 And faithful happens in ordinary places. 00:08:36.960 --> 00:09:08.639 It's choosing integrity when nobody's watching, or loving someone who's difficult to love, or forgiving when you'd rather hold a grudge, or giving generously, or praying when you don't feel like it, or serving when nobody notices, or raising children and grandchildren to know Jesus, or being the same person on Monday that you are on Sunday, whatever it is, putting what the King has given us to work until he comes for his purposes. 00:09:09.440 --> 00:09:13.120 And then Jesus moves from the story to the reality. 00:09:13.360 --> 00:09:14.799 The king is arriving. 00:09:14.960 --> 00:09:19.200 In verse 28, we move from the parable to these words. 00:09:19.440 --> 00:09:25.360 After Jesus had said this, he went ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 00:09:25.759 --> 00:09:28.960 Everything about his entry is deliberate. 00:09:29.279 --> 00:09:32.399 He arranges for the cult in verse 30. 00:09:32.559 --> 00:09:34.000 The disciples bring it. 00:09:34.240 --> 00:09:48.159 Cloaks are laid on the road in verse 36, and in verse 37, the crowd begins praising God, crying out in verse 38, Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven, glory in the highest. 00:09:48.720 --> 00:09:51.919 For once, the crowd has got it exactly right. 00:09:52.159 --> 00:09:53.840 Jesus is king. 00:09:54.240 --> 00:10:01.759 The problem though is that while they've got the right king, they've got the wrong idea about the kind of king that he is. 00:10:02.240 --> 00:10:05.840 They wanted a king who will overthrow Rome. 00:10:06.399 --> 00:10:10.240 But Jesus came to overthrow sin and death. 00:10:11.279 --> 00:10:14.080 They wanted political liberation. 00:10:14.480 --> 00:10:18.240 But Jesus came to bring a deeper liberation. 00:10:18.720 --> 00:10:23.679 They wanted immediate victory, but Jesus is heading toward the cross. 00:10:24.080 --> 00:10:29.039 They wanted a crown, but Jesus is about to wear thorns. 00:10:29.759 --> 00:10:36.240 The crowd is looking for a throne, but Jesus is moving toward Calvary. 00:10:37.679 --> 00:10:42.000 This is one of the greatest challenges of discipleship. 00:10:42.320 --> 00:10:52.480 We don't just have to decide whether Jesus is king, we have to decide whether we're willing to have Jesus as king on his terms. 00:10:53.039 --> 00:10:59.679 I was thinking about this during the week, and it reminded me of how I use GPS navigation. 00:10:59.919 --> 00:11:03.600 When the GPS says on my phone, turn left. 00:11:03.919 --> 00:11:05.919 There are really only two options. 00:11:06.320 --> 00:11:09.120 Turn left or don't turn left. 00:11:09.360 --> 00:11:12.879 But apparently I've developed a third option, so I'm told. 00:11:13.200 --> 00:11:15.759 I explain to the GPS why it's wrong. 00:11:15.919 --> 00:11:17.279 No, no, no, no, no. 00:11:17.440 --> 00:11:18.960 I know a better way. 00:11:19.200 --> 00:11:20.159 Trust me. 00:11:20.639 --> 00:11:24.879 Five minutes later the GPS is politely saying, recalculating. 00:11:25.039 --> 00:11:34.080 And ten minutes later it's still recalculating, and 20 minutes later, Joe is wondering why we're now in a completely different suburb from where we were supposed to be. 00:11:35.039 --> 00:11:38.480 The problem is that I didn't think the GPS was wrong. 00:11:38.799 --> 00:11:41.600 The problem was that I thought I knew better. 00:11:41.919 --> 00:11:48.879 And if I'm honest, there have been seasons in my life where I've done exactly that with God. 00:11:49.600 --> 00:11:55.919 Not walked away from him, not stopped believing in him, not stopped listening to him. 00:11:56.879 --> 00:12:02.960 But just quietly, I've told him that I know better about the direction that my life should take. 00:12:03.679 --> 00:12:07.360 And I wonder if that's sometimes how we approach Jesus. 00:12:07.679 --> 00:12:13.120 We don't necessarily reject him, we just keep suggesting alternative routes. 00:12:13.440 --> 00:12:17.519 Jesus, I know what you're saying, but you know what? 00:12:17.840 --> 00:12:19.600 My plan is better. 00:12:20.720 --> 00:12:24.720 The crowd wanted a king who would follow their route. 00:12:24.960 --> 00:12:28.879 But Jesus arrived and said, actually, we're gonna go this way. 00:12:29.759 --> 00:12:34.720 Jesus doesn't arrive asking for our approval, he arrives as king. 00:12:34.960 --> 00:12:38.879 The question isn't, would we like Jesus to be our king? 00:12:39.120 --> 00:12:44.559 The question is, will we what will we do now that we know he's king? 00:12:45.519 --> 00:12:50.960 The Pharisees say to Jesus in verse 39, Teacher, rebuke your disciples. 00:12:51.200 --> 00:12:54.879 In other words, Jesus, this is getting a little out of hand. 00:12:55.120 --> 00:13:01.840 And Jesus replies in verse 40, I tell you, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out. 00:13:02.559 --> 00:13:08.480 It's a strange and almost unsettling line, and it's worth sitting in it for a moment. 00:13:08.799 --> 00:13:18.960 Jesus isn't being poetic for effect, he's saying that this moment is so significant that if every human voice fell silent, creation itself would testify. 00:13:19.279 --> 00:13:21.279 History is reaching its climax. 00:13:21.519 --> 00:13:30.720 The promised Messiah is entering Jerusalem, and the truth of who he is doesn't depend on anyone's willingness to say it out loud. 00:13:31.200 --> 00:13:33.759 And here's the wonderful thing underneath that. 00:13:34.399 --> 00:13:37.919 Jesus doesn't become king because we acknowledge him. 00:13:38.399 --> 00:13:41.679 He is king whether we acknowledge him or not. 00:13:42.080 --> 00:13:48.159 But when we truly see him for who he is, worship becomes the natural response. 00:13:48.399 --> 00:13:53.360 When we really see Jesus, praise makes sense. 00:13:54.960 --> 00:14:00.559 And then in verse 41, Luke gives us one of the most extraordinary scenes in the gospel. 00:14:01.279 --> 00:14:07.200 As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it. 00:14:07.600 --> 00:14:09.039 Jesus weeps. 00:14:09.279 --> 00:14:13.360 One of only three times where Jesus is recorded as weeping. 00:14:13.600 --> 00:14:22.639 At a moment when the crowd is celebrating, the disciples are worshiping, the Pharisees are complaining, we find Jesus crying. 00:14:22.960 --> 00:14:24.879 Not because he's surprised. 00:14:47.200 --> 00:14:50.240 But now it is hidden from your eyes. 00:14:51.120 --> 00:14:53.440 Can you hear the heartbreak in that? 00:14:53.919 --> 00:15:04.879 For generations Jerusalem had been waiting for God to act, praying for it, longing for it, reading promises about it, singing songs about it, telling their children about it. 00:15:05.120 --> 00:15:15.440 And when God does act in his son Jesus, most of the people discovered that they wanted a different kind of Messiah than the one who had been sent. 00:15:16.159 --> 00:15:19.840 And Jesus doesn't just weep in general sorrow. 00:15:20.159 --> 00:15:23.840 He tells them exactly what's coming in verses 43 to 44. 00:15:24.320 --> 00:15:32.320 The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. 00:15:32.480 --> 00:15:36.399 They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. 00:15:36.559 --> 00:15:43.519 They will not leave one stone on another because you did not recognize the time of God's coming to you. 00:15:44.720 --> 00:15:51.840 Those words were not a metaphor, because within a generation, that's precisely what happened. 00:15:52.399 --> 00:15:56.399 The tragedy Jesus weeps over isn't only personal rejection. 00:15:56.559 --> 00:16:08.960 It's a whole city walking with its own eyes wide open toward a devastation it could have avoided if only they had seen who was standing in front of them. 00:16:09.919 --> 00:16:19.759 I think Jesus' words, you did not recognize the time of God's coming to you, are some of the most sobering words in Luke's gospel. 00:16:20.240 --> 00:16:22.799 Because the issue wasn't a lack of information. 00:16:23.039 --> 00:16:36.480 They'd seen the miracles, they'd heard the teaching, they knew the scriptures, they knew the promises, they were surrounded by evidence, and still they missed the king. 00:16:38.320 --> 00:16:43.440 Throughout Luke, the kingdom of God had been right in front of people. 00:16:43.679 --> 00:16:51.919 The blind man saw it, Zacchaeus saw it, tax collectors saw it, sinners saw it, yet many religious people couldn't. 00:16:52.240 --> 00:17:01.039 The tragedy of Jerusalem wasn't that God was absent, the tragedy was that God was present and they didn't see him. 00:17:02.080 --> 00:17:07.279 And if I'm honest, that's what I find most unsettling about this passage. 00:17:07.519 --> 00:17:11.039 Not that people rejected Jesus, we expect that. 00:17:11.519 --> 00:17:25.119 What's unsettling is that many of the people who missed him were the people who knew the scriptures best, who attended worship most faithfully, and who thought they understood exactly what God was doing. 00:17:25.440 --> 00:17:29.599 Which means this passage isn't really about those people out there. 00:17:30.160 --> 00:17:42.240 As much as it's about us, it's about whether we can become so familiar with the things of God that we stop recognizing the voice of the Spirit of God in us. 00:17:43.519 --> 00:17:50.319 There is truth to the notion that we can become too familiar with obvious beauty. 00:17:50.799 --> 00:17:55.519 Joe and I live in Long Bay Beach, and we walk the beach regularly. 00:17:55.599 --> 00:17:56.960 We live by the beach. 00:17:57.119 --> 00:18:11.440 And if we get bored with that beach, we can go to Tor Bay or Browns Bay or Rothesay Bay or Murray's Bay or Mirangi Bay or Campbell's Bay or Castor Bay or Milford Beach and on it goes all the way down to Devonport. 00:18:12.319 --> 00:18:25.440 Sometimes they only realize how incredibly beautiful our area is when one of our friends or family comes for a visit from Palmerston North, a place without much beauty, and on our walk they say, Wow, this place is incredible. 00:18:25.759 --> 00:18:26.960 It is right. 00:18:27.680 --> 00:18:33.119 But we can walk the same beach every day and stop noticing what's right in front of us. 00:18:33.279 --> 00:18:37.599 We become familiar, and familiarity can blind us. 00:18:38.240 --> 00:18:40.640 The same thing can happen spiritually. 00:18:40.880 --> 00:18:49.680 We can know the songs, we can know the stories, we can talk Christianese, we can quote the Bible, and we can know when to stand and when to sit. 00:18:49.839 --> 00:18:53.519 Some of you even know what the preacher's gonna say before they say it. 00:18:53.920 --> 00:18:57.359 And yet, we can still miss the king. 00:18:58.799 --> 00:19:04.559 We can know about Jesus without knowing Jesus. 00:19:05.599 --> 00:19:11.279 We can admire Jesus without obeying Jesus. 00:19:12.640 --> 00:19:17.839 We can worship Jesus without surrendering to Jesus. 00:19:18.319 --> 00:19:25.440 And we can sit in church every week and still miss the King standing in front of us. 00:19:26.640 --> 00:19:28.880 And perhaps that's why Jesus weeps. 00:19:29.519 --> 00:19:39.039 Because he isn't looking for religious spectators, he's looking for people who recognize the king, who trust the king, and who follow the king. 00:19:39.599 --> 00:19:47.680 People who put what he's entrusted to them to work until he comes and for his purposes. 00:19:48.480 --> 00:19:53.119 And so I'd suggest that the warning of this passage isn't simply for Jerusalem. 00:19:53.279 --> 00:19:55.920 I wonder whether it's for churches like ours. 00:19:56.400 --> 00:19:59.359 Could God be at work among us and we fail to notice him? 00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:06.559 Could God be inviting us into something deeper, but we've become too familiar to recognize his voice? 00:20:07.039 --> 00:20:10.480 Could Jesus be standing closer than we realize? 00:20:11.519 --> 00:20:19.920 In these events in Luke chapter 19, the tragedy wasn't that God failed to show up, the tragedy was that God showed up. 00:20:20.319 --> 00:20:24.640 And yet the people wanted a different kind of king. 00:20:26.319 --> 00:20:28.319 May that never be true of us. 00:20:29.440 --> 00:20:34.720 I think the three movements of this passage that I've talked about belong together. 00:20:34.880 --> 00:20:39.279 The parable asks, what will we do while the king is away? 00:20:39.920 --> 00:20:45.920 The triumphal entry asks, Will we recognize Jesus for who he really is? 00:20:46.799 --> 00:20:53.200 And Jesus' tears asks, What happens when we fail to recognize him? 00:20:54.559 --> 00:20:57.839 And all three come back to the same point. 00:20:58.559 --> 00:21:01.839 When the king arrives, our response matters. 00:21:02.079 --> 00:21:10.640 Because every person at the arrival's gate has to decide how they'll respond when the doors open and Jesus walks through. 00:21:10.960 --> 00:21:14.559 For some of you, the response may be faith. 00:21:15.039 --> 00:21:19.279 Perhaps you've been around church or Christianity for years. 00:21:19.440 --> 00:21:26.480 You know about Jesus, you respect Jesus, you admire Jesus, but you've never actually surrendered your life to him. 00:21:27.119 --> 00:21:29.440 Today the invitation is simple. 00:21:30.079 --> 00:21:31.279 Recognize him. 00:21:32.000 --> 00:21:33.359 The king has come. 00:21:34.240 --> 00:21:35.759 Will you follow him? 00:21:36.480 --> 00:21:47.680 And if that's you, I pray that you would open your heart to receive the beauty of the kingdom of God by the infilling of the Holy Spirit. 00:21:48.799 --> 00:21:51.759 For others, the response may be repentance. 00:21:52.160 --> 00:21:57.839 Perhaps there are parts of your life where you've welcomed Jesus as Savior, but you've resisted him as king. 00:21:58.079 --> 00:21:59.599 You want his forgiveness, but not his. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:00.960 Leadership. 00:22:01.119 --> 00:22:03.920 You want his grace, but not his authority. 00:22:04.160 --> 00:22:07.920 Or perhaps you want his blessing, but not his direction. 00:22:08.720 --> 00:22:13.759 And Jesus gently but firmly says to you, I am your King. 00:22:15.119 --> 00:22:20.079 So what's the area of life where Jesus is Savior, but not quite King? 00:22:20.319 --> 00:22:29.519 Maybe your finances or a relationship or your future, a decision you're trying to control, a hurt you're holding on to, a dream you're afraid to surrender? 00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:35.599 What would it look like this week to place that one thing back under the rule of the king? 00:22:36.160 --> 00:22:40.960 And for many of us, the response could be renewed faithfulness. 00:22:41.359 --> 00:22:44.880 We're living in the until he comes years. 00:22:45.440 --> 00:22:50.319 The king has entrusted something to us and we need to put it to work for his purposes. 00:22:50.480 --> 00:22:53.680 Let's not waste the until he comes years. 00:22:54.079 --> 00:22:56.799 So let's ask ourselves honestly this question. 00:22:57.039 --> 00:22:59.839 What has he put in our hands right now? 00:23:00.319 --> 00:23:04.880 Is it a relationship or a skill or a season or a role? 00:23:05.359 --> 00:23:08.720 Something that's sitting buried rather than working. 00:23:09.039 --> 00:23:15.279 What's one step you could take this week to put what has been given to you back to work? 00:23:16.799 --> 00:23:23.920 As we pause our journey through Luke and return to it next year, Luke leaves us standing at the gates of Jerusalem. 00:23:24.079 --> 00:23:26.000 Let's remind ourselves of the picture. 00:23:26.160 --> 00:23:34.400 The crowd is shouting, the disciples are worshiping, the Pharisees are objecting, the king is arriving, and Jesus is weeping. 00:23:35.119 --> 00:23:40.480 The king who has every right to judge the city first weeps for the city. 00:23:40.799 --> 00:23:46.000 The king who knows he will be rejected still loves the people of the city. 00:23:46.240 --> 00:23:52.000 And the king who knows the cross is coming, keeps walking toward it. 00:23:52.640 --> 00:23:58.319 The king who knows many will miss him keeps moving toward them. 00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:03.200 I sometimes wonder what Jesus weeps over today. 00:24:03.440 --> 00:24:14.720 Does he weep over cities that have forgotten him, over broken families, over young people searching for meaning, over loneliness, over churches that have become too comfortable? 00:24:15.039 --> 00:24:18.480 Over people who are so close to him yet still miss him? 00:24:19.359 --> 00:24:27.759 If Jesus wept over Jerusalem, perhaps his tears tell us something about his heart for our world today. 00:24:29.200 --> 00:24:34.160 Before he would wear a crown of glory, Jesus would wear a crown of thorns. 00:24:34.640 --> 00:24:38.640 Before he would be exalted, Jesus would be crucified. 00:24:38.880 --> 00:24:44.400 And before he would reign visibly, Jesus would give his life for the very people who rejected him. 00:24:45.200 --> 00:24:47.279 That is the heart of a king. 00:24:48.240 --> 00:24:55.039 Imagine standing at the arrival's gate, the doors open, and the king walks through. 00:24:55.359 --> 00:25:10.640 Not the king we've designed, not the king who simply agrees with us, the king who comes on his terms, the king who entrusted something to us while he was away, the king who weeps over those who miss him, the king who one day will come again in glory. 00:25:11.039 --> 00:25:13.519 The question Luke leaves with us is simple. 00:25:14.559 --> 00:25:16.000 Will we recognize him? 00:25:17.119 --> 00:25:21.119 And having recognized him, will we follow him? 00:25:22.319 --> 00:25:23.200 Let's pray. 00:25:25.440 --> 00:25:31.839 Father, as we round out this section of the Gospel of Luke, it's continues to be very confronting. 00:25:33.200 --> 00:25:36.480 We confess that we get these things wrong sometimes. 00:25:36.799 --> 00:25:41.759 We might see Jesus, but we don't always recognize him for being the king that he is. 00:25:43.119 --> 00:25:52.480 We might acknowledge that Jesus is the Son of God, but we might not let that flow through to allowing him to have reign in our hearts. 00:25:52.799 --> 00:26:03.200 We confess we live in a world that orientates us around living for ourselves, not for the purposes of the king and the kingdom of heaven. 00:26:04.880 --> 00:26:08.640 So we repent, we're sorry. 00:26:09.759 --> 00:26:18.000 And as we read these scriptures today, might we not just read them, might we allow them to dwell in our hearts? 00:26:18.720 --> 00:26:40.160 And might we allow your spirit to come and enlighten us of the significance of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, the one who has come, the one who has died on a cross for us, the one who has ascended to the right hand of the Father, and the one who will return one day and will hold us accountable for the way in which we live. 00:26:41.519 --> 00:26:52.559 And so, Father, help us to assess our lives today, to take stock of the responsibilities that we have with the gifts that we've been given? 00:26:53.519 --> 00:27:02.160 Might we put them to work for the sake of the kingdom of God that Luke has so comprehensively been talking to us about? 00:27:04.000 --> 00:27:11.279 Might we allow your spirit to come and lead us this week, to live our life in a way that stewards who we are? 00:27:12.079 --> 00:27:21.519 Might our eyes be open to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, the beauty and the glory of what it is to be in the presence of our Savior. 00:27:22.160 --> 00:27:35.279 And might that continue to change us day by day, step by step, in the way that we see the world and the way that we see people, and the way that we put our faith into action. 00:27:37.119 --> 00:27:41.119 So, as difficult as these passages are, Father, thank you for them. 00:27:41.599 --> 00:27:50.319 Might they shape us today and tomorrow and in the weeks and months ahead as we resume the journey toward the cross at the beginning of next year. 00:27:50.400 --> 00:27:53.839 We thank you for Luke and his gospel. 00:27:54.480 --> 00:27:56.480 We pray in Jesus' name. 00:27:56.799 --> 00:27:57.440 Amen. 00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:02.559 Thank you for joining our audio teaching today. 00:28:02.720 --> 00:28:08.319 If there are ways that we can continue to support you or help you in your journey, please reach out to us. 00:28:08.559 --> 00:28:14.960 Head to our website, windsapark.org.nz, and you'll find various ways to contact us. 00:28:15.279 --> 00:28:16.240 God bless.