Ya Gotta Want It
You have found Backyard Conversations and last time we were together we laid into the idea that the Kingdom of God is ‘bigger’ and ‘different’ than we have been made to believe. In my mind, this Kingdom Conversation is the most important conversation for the church in America today. And there are a lot of important conversations out there to be had, to be sure! Let’s go to Jesus to explore this idea of Kingdom priority.
When the Savior was teaching us about the Kingdom of God in His famous Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5, 6, and 7) Jesus decided to teach us a prayer. And the greatest prayer ever uttered came from the lips of our Savior:
In my estimation, this prayer, so neatly tucked right in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount, is the apex of His sermon teaching. It is at once a prayer and also a road map for living a Kingdom life in the here and now. I want to focus on just one thing today.
Did you notice that there is no Amen?
It is as though the teaching on forgiveness that follows our familiar prayer – “For if you forgive others…”is as much a part of the prayer that God’s Kingdom would come to earth as the prayer itself! Our petition and our actions have to line up it seems. Our Kingdom values must find their way into our deeds. We have to live them to have them.
God made us to be image bearers of His attributes and character. We are to be bringing the Kingdom to this world as Ambassadors:
Here is a little story that is an excerpt from a book that I am currently writing. See what you think and then say hello to me at Dave@100foldministries.org and let me know some of your thoughts!
A Parable on More
The Teacher asked the Student, “Once God Himself told a man He could have one wish. Do you remember?”
“Well,” said the Student, “If I have the story you are referring to rightly in mind, which isn’t exactly how I remember – it’s as though God were a genie from a bottle.” The student smiled smugly. He continued answering the Teacher. “King Solomon was once visited in a dream by the One True God at Gibeon. And God said to the King, ‘Ask for whatever you want me to give you.’ ”
The Teacher pushed back. “Does that not sound like a genie in a bottle to you?”
The Student was not smiling now. “Well, it doesn’t seem right to think of God Almighty in such a manner.”
“Oh,” said the Teacher. “How exactly are we to think of God except as He has revealed Himself in the Scriptures? Have you another way?”
“Teacher . . .” the student whined. “you know what I mean…It is just that…”
The Teacher smiled to the youth, offering an olive branch in his expression. “It is all right son, I am baiting you. Let’s circle back to where we started. Tell me, if God came to you in a dream and said to you, ‘Ask for whatever you want me to give you,’ what then would you ask for?”
The teacher now continued. “I can see in your eyes that just now you are refreshing your memory of the story. You remember that Solomon sought wisdom and was granted that. And you are trying to remember what God would not have been as pleased with. Let me tell you so that we do not stall out here. God essentially said to the king in this dream, “Good choice young king in asking for wisdom and not long life or money or death to your enemies. Since he asked well, God granted Solomon three wishes. The one Solomon asked for – Wisdom – and two things that he didn’t ask for – Honor and Wealth.”
“Think, my son before you answer. God seems to offer more than what is on the top of our minds. Think well, as if God is indeed asking you , ‘What can I offer you that cannot be taken away?’ ”
The Student was quiet, looking at his feet as though his shoes might give him an answer. “Ummm …” he hesitantly offered to start.
The teacher interrupted, “Don’t ‘Ummm’ out loud as if you are getting ready to phrase a question. How did Jesus put it to the Jerico blind man? ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ Now that is a very, very, big, open-ended offer. That sounds like a wish could be granted. Did the blind man ask well?”
“Well, it seems so! He got his sight.”
“Yes, very true. And the people marveled, and this miracle served the plans of the Messiah. But did he ask well? Is it possible that that very afternoon after receiving his sight that he might be struck in the eyes accidentally with a flaming torch, and that he could lose his sight again?”
“That is pretty far-fetched, isn’t it? I mean…”
“Is it? Does something similar not happen all the time? Just as you think something went right, everything goes wrong? Son, stop there before you make a fool of yourself. Will he not eventually lose his sight? In 5 years, 20 years? When he is 80, if he lives that long, will not his eyesight grow worse? Why would someone use their ‘one wish’ for what will most assuredly eventually be taken away with the relentlessness of life?”
“Son, think!” The Teacher whispered to the student as if his life depended on it. “What can only God offer to you that cannot be taken away?”
That question triggered a memory from inside the Student. Looking up from his feet, he answered confidently now. “Forgiveness.”
“Good, “said the Teacher while smiling slightly. “That was wish one. What else do you want God to offer you?”
“What do you mean what else? I just answered your question. Are you saying that is wrong?” The Student was easily tempted to anger. As for many, pride was still an issue for this student.
“Did we not just see that the God of All Things has more to offer?”
The Student drilled the Teacher with his eyes, looking to see if there was a hidden trick question or a missing answer the Teacher wanted to hear parroted back. The Teacher’s face was open and honest.
The Teacher tried again. “Son, look at me. Does the God of All Things have more for you that only He can offer?”
“Eternal life?”
“Don’t ask me. Tell me what you want.”
“Eternal life.”
“What kind of eternal life?” The Student looked again at the face of the Teacher. Still open and honest.
The Teacher probed deeper. “What kind of eternal life?”
The student started off slowly, setting his mind to the task. “A meaningful Eternal Life. One that honors God and glorifies Him and brings him joy. A productive Eternal Life. Or maybe, not a wasted Eternal Life, I guess.”
“You guess? OK. As guesses go, that is a good guess, I guess. And what else?”
The Student started to gather some steam.
“A life of joy on earth – a special kind of divine joy that is not dependent on my circumstances. On whether I was blind or not.” That sentence caused the Student to look at the Teacher for approval. The Teacher’s face did not change.
“Good and what else?”
“I want Shalom. I want that perfect peace that Christ promised. I don’t actually know what that peace is at all. I wake up every night worrying about everything. And now, that I think about it, I don’t want mere life. I want an abundant life. I want streams of living water to flow from me!”
The student’s voice was rising.
“I want to seek first His righteousness and I want to lay aside treasures in Heaven. I want to do more than what Jesus even did, just as He promised we would when the Spirit comes in power. I want, by faith, to offer healing to the deep wounds of the lost and lonely. I want to have the confidence that I am advancing the Gospel of the Kingdom in ways that I cannot see just yet. I want to pursue His priorities on Earth. I want to live life without regret, shame, guilt, and fear. I want the full fruit of the Spirit!”
The student looked at the Teacher.
The student straightened himself up. He stood toe to toe, chin to chin, and eye to eye with his mentor.
“Teacher, I want it all. I want more! I want everything God has set aside for me in His Kingdom.
Teacher – What must I do to have it all? Not just 30-fold. Not just 60-fold. Not even just 100-fold. Not if there is more than that. Teacher, I want it all! I want more! Teacher! Look at me! What must I do to have it all?”
The Teacher was pleased, but his face showed some sadness. “Have you asked?”
The Student was silent.
“Do you want these more than anything here on Earth? Are you willing to give up everything? To renounce the world? Will you pursue these things with all your heart and mind and soul and strength? Are you abiding well in Christ? Are you disciplined and is your jaw set like a flint toward what you want? “Son, do you believe that God wants you to have these things?”
Looking down, the Student nodded slightly.
“Son, you say you want more, but are you settling for less?”
The Student began to weep. He put his hands to his head in anguish, covering his eyes.
“Teacher,” he whispered. It was all the volume he had. “Teacher, can you help me? I am lost right now.”
“Peace son, I can help you. God is for you! Quiet now. Listen. What is God saying to you?”
After a moment, his eyes glistening with tears, the Student looked into the quiet eyes of his Teacher and said with confidence, “He is saying, ‘Come into my presence, let’s sit for a bit and rest.”
“And?”, offered the teacher. A moment passed as the student seemed to be listening to something.
“And now He is saying, ‘When we are done resting, my young Elijah, follow me.’ ”
If you care to engage with me about this little story, you can find me at: dave@100foldministries.org.
This is Dave Scherrer, and I am President and Founder of 100 Fold Ministries. Come over, let’s sit down and have a conversation in the backyard about things that really matter! Peace to you!
When the Savior was teaching us about the Kingdom of God in His famous Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5, 6, and 7) Jesus decided to teach us a prayer. And the greatest prayer ever uttered came from the lips of our Savior:
-
Matthew 6:9-15
9 Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread, 12 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
In my estimation, this prayer, so neatly tucked right in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount, is the apex of His sermon teaching. It is at once a prayer and also a road map for living a Kingdom life in the here and now. I want to focus on just one thing today.Did you notice that there is no Amen?
It is as though the teaching on forgiveness that follows our familiar prayer – “For if you forgive others…”is as much a part of the prayer that God’s Kingdom would come to earth as the prayer itself! Our petition and our actions have to line up it seems. Our Kingdom values must find their way into our deeds. We have to live them to have them.
God made us to be image bearers of His attributes and character. We are to be bringing the Kingdom to this world as Ambassadors:
-
2 Corinthians 5:16-21
16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Here is a little story that is an excerpt from a book that I am currently writing. See what you think and then say hello to me at Dave@100foldministries.org and let me know some of your thoughts!
A Parable on More
The Teacher asked the Student, “Once God Himself told a man He could have one wish. Do you remember?”
“Well,” said the Student, “If I have the story you are referring to rightly in mind, which isn’t exactly how I remember – it’s as though God were a genie from a bottle.” The student smiled smugly. He continued answering the Teacher. “King Solomon was once visited in a dream by the One True God at Gibeon. And God said to the King, ‘Ask for whatever you want me to give you.’ ”
The Teacher pushed back. “Does that not sound like a genie in a bottle to you?”
The Student was not smiling now. “Well, it doesn’t seem right to think of God Almighty in such a manner.”
“Oh,” said the Teacher. “How exactly are we to think of God except as He has revealed Himself in the Scriptures? Have you another way?”
“Teacher . . .” the student whined. “you know what I mean…It is just that…”
The Teacher smiled to the youth, offering an olive branch in his expression. “It is all right son, I am baiting you. Let’s circle back to where we started. Tell me, if God came to you in a dream and said to you, ‘Ask for whatever you want me to give you,’ what then would you ask for?”
The teacher now continued. “I can see in your eyes that just now you are refreshing your memory of the story. You remember that Solomon sought wisdom and was granted that. And you are trying to remember what God would not have been as pleased with. Let me tell you so that we do not stall out here. God essentially said to the king in this dream, “Good choice young king in asking for wisdom and not long life or money or death to your enemies. Since he asked well, God granted Solomon three wishes. The one Solomon asked for – Wisdom – and two things that he didn’t ask for – Honor and Wealth.”
“Think, my son before you answer. God seems to offer more than what is on the top of our minds. Think well, as if God is indeed asking you , ‘What can I offer you that cannot be taken away?’ ”
The Student was quiet, looking at his feet as though his shoes might give him an answer. “Ummm …” he hesitantly offered to start.
The teacher interrupted, “Don’t ‘Ummm’ out loud as if you are getting ready to phrase a question. How did Jesus put it to the Jerico blind man? ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ Now that is a very, very, big, open-ended offer. That sounds like a wish could be granted. Did the blind man ask well?”
“Well, it seems so! He got his sight.”
“Yes, very true. And the people marveled, and this miracle served the plans of the Messiah. But did he ask well? Is it possible that that very afternoon after receiving his sight that he might be struck in the eyes accidentally with a flaming torch, and that he could lose his sight again?”
“That is pretty far-fetched, isn’t it? I mean…”
“Is it? Does something similar not happen all the time? Just as you think something went right, everything goes wrong? Son, stop there before you make a fool of yourself. Will he not eventually lose his sight? In 5 years, 20 years? When he is 80, if he lives that long, will not his eyesight grow worse? Why would someone use their ‘one wish’ for what will most assuredly eventually be taken away with the relentlessness of life?”
“Son, think!” The Teacher whispered to the student as if his life depended on it. “What can only God offer to you that cannot be taken away?”
That question triggered a memory from inside the Student. Looking up from his feet, he answered confidently now. “Forgiveness.”
“Good, “said the Teacher while smiling slightly. “That was wish one. What else do you want God to offer you?”
“What do you mean what else? I just answered your question. Are you saying that is wrong?” The Student was easily tempted to anger. As for many, pride was still an issue for this student.
“Did we not just see that the God of All Things has more to offer?”
The Student drilled the Teacher with his eyes, looking to see if there was a hidden trick question or a missing answer the Teacher wanted to hear parroted back. The Teacher’s face was open and honest.
The Teacher tried again. “Son, look at me. Does the God of All Things have more for you that only He can offer?”
“Eternal life?”
“Don’t ask me. Tell me what you want.”
“Eternal life.”
“What kind of eternal life?” The Student looked again at the face of the Teacher. Still open and honest.
The Teacher probed deeper. “What kind of eternal life?”
The student started off slowly, setting his mind to the task. “A meaningful Eternal Life. One that honors God and glorifies Him and brings him joy. A productive Eternal Life. Or maybe, not a wasted Eternal Life, I guess.”
“You guess? OK. As guesses go, that is a good guess, I guess. And what else?”
The Student started to gather some steam.
“A life of joy on earth – a special kind of divine joy that is not dependent on my circumstances. On whether I was blind or not.” That sentence caused the Student to look at the Teacher for approval. The Teacher’s face did not change.
“Good and what else?”
“I want Shalom. I want that perfect peace that Christ promised. I don’t actually know what that peace is at all. I wake up every night worrying about everything. And now, that I think about it, I don’t want mere life. I want an abundant life. I want streams of living water to flow from me!”
The student’s voice was rising.
“I want to seek first His righteousness and I want to lay aside treasures in Heaven. I want to do more than what Jesus even did, just as He promised we would when the Spirit comes in power. I want, by faith, to offer healing to the deep wounds of the lost and lonely. I want to have the confidence that I am advancing the Gospel of the Kingdom in ways that I cannot see just yet. I want to pursue His priorities on Earth. I want to live life without regret, shame, guilt, and fear. I want the full fruit of the Spirit!”
The student looked at the Teacher.
The student straightened himself up. He stood toe to toe, chin to chin, and eye to eye with his mentor.
“Teacher, I want it all. I want more! I want everything God has set aside for me in His Kingdom.
Teacher – What must I do to have it all? Not just 30-fold. Not just 60-fold. Not even just 100-fold. Not if there is more than that. Teacher, I want it all! I want more! Teacher! Look at me! What must I do to have it all?”
The Teacher was pleased, but his face showed some sadness. “Have you asked?”
The Student was silent.
“Do you want these more than anything here on Earth? Are you willing to give up everything? To renounce the world? Will you pursue these things with all your heart and mind and soul and strength? Are you abiding well in Christ? Are you disciplined and is your jaw set like a flint toward what you want? “Son, do you believe that God wants you to have these things?”
Looking down, the Student nodded slightly.
“Son, you say you want more, but are you settling for less?”
The Student began to weep. He put his hands to his head in anguish, covering his eyes.
“Teacher,” he whispered. It was all the volume he had. “Teacher, can you help me? I am lost right now.”
“Peace son, I can help you. God is for you! Quiet now. Listen. What is God saying to you?”
After a moment, his eyes glistening with tears, the Student looked into the quiet eyes of his Teacher and said with confidence, “He is saying, ‘Come into my presence, let’s sit for a bit and rest.”
“And?”, offered the teacher. A moment passed as the student seemed to be listening to something.
“And now He is saying, ‘When we are done resting, my young Elijah, follow me.’ ”
If you care to engage with me about this little story, you can find me at: dave@100foldministries.org.
This is Dave Scherrer, and I am President and Founder of 100 Fold Ministries. Come over, let’s sit down and have a conversation in the backyard about things that really matter! Peace to you!