This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

I want to welcome you to day two of our look through the book of Luke. This is
week three, day two, actually chapter 12 as we go through a chapter a day.
Yesterday we began a look at barriers to our relationship with God, barriers to
the life that God wants to give to us and work through us and in us.

We looked at the barrier of the fear of change. We looked at the barrier of
always asking for something more. God, you've got to show me this miracle before
I'll do it, before I'll commit.

He's already worked the miracle of coming to this earth, of being born, of dying
for us, of being resurrected, but we have to have something more when we're
afraid of what he wants to do. The reason you ask for something more is you're
afraid of what he wants to do. And then a third barrier we looked at, being
clean on the outside, looking better morally than the people around us.

There's a fourth barrier as we get into chapter 12 that begins in verse four.
The fourth barrier as Jesus walks through these challenges that we have in the
life of God is the barrier that comes from the fear of others' opinions. In
verse four, Jesus is very straightforward about this.

He says, "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 the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I
tell you, fear him.

" Jesus says, "Are you afraid of the opinions of others? Let's just take it to
the extreme. Let's suppose someone has an opinion of you that's going to lead
even to them threatening your life.

I'm not just talking about what you and I might face in everyday life right now,
somebody in the office or somebody at your school who looks down on you because
of your faith. I'm talking about somebody who has the power to take your life. "
Jesus says, "Don't even be afraid of them.

Even if they take your life, that's only in this world. We're talking about
eternity here. So be in fear of the one who controls your eternity," Jesus says.

How does that work? What kind of fear should I have of God? What kind of
attitude should I have towards this God who has the power to throw me into hell?

Who has decided instead to send his son to die on a cross so I could be rescued
from that? The answer to the fear of other people's opinions is not being
terrified of God, but it's having a deep and holy respect for the person of God
and knowing that God in his character, who he is, is not a God who is out to
scare you, he is a God who is out to save you. Right after he says this, in
verse 6, Jesus says, "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. Don't be afraid.

You are worth more than many sparrows. I tell you, whoever acknowledges me
before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God.
But whoever disowns me before men will be disowned before the angels of God.

" To develop a deep and holy and lasting relationship with God, you develop a
relationship with God where you live in fear of God, but you're not afraid of
God. That's what Jesus has just told us. He told us, "I want you to fear God,
but don't be afraid of God.

" Now is that double talk? Absolutely not. When he says, "I want you to be in
fear of God," he's talking about a deep and holy respect for the person of God
and who he is that goes above and beyond any human being.

There's nothing that any human being could do to you that's equal to the power
of what God can and will do in your life. So you have this depth of respect for
God that's above anything and everything in this world and the greater that
grows, the deeper your relationship with him grows. But at the same time, as you
are living in fear of God, this idea of fear that means respect, we don't use it
that way often, throughout the Bible it's used that way.

As you're living in fear of God, you also are not afraid of God. Don't be afraid
because you're worth more than many sparrows. Don't be afraid because you
realize how valuable you are to him.

That's how you live in depth of relationship with God. Now in these verses, as
Jesus is talking about fear of God, he speaks about blasphemy of the Holy
Spirit, which I know is a question for many, many people. In verse 10 he says,
"And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but
whoever blasphemes the Holy Spirit against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.

" Many definitions are out there of what this means. I believe, as I've studied
through the New Testament, that blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is rejecting the
work of the Spirit in our lives. And Jesus tells us in the night before he died
as he was teaching his disciples that the Spirit's work is to convict us of our
need of Jesus.

So blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is rejecting that message, rejecting his
message that you need Jesus Christ for forgiveness of sin. That's what I believe
it is. Rejecting that message is really what condemns you to a separation from
God for all eternity because it's rejecting the lifeline that God has thrown you
in Jesus Christ.

The barrier and the fear of others' opinions. How do you deal with that one? You
fear God without being afraid of God.

And then there's a fifth barrier that Jesus talks about. It's the barrier of
greed. In verses 13 to 15, this one also begins with a comment from the crowd.

"Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, 'Teacher, tell my brother to divide the
inheritance with me. ' Jesus replied, 'Man, who appointed me a judge or an
arbiter between you? ' And then he said to them, 'Watch out.

Be on your guard against all kinds of greed. A man's life does not consist in
the abundance of his possessions. '" Jesus is telling us here that greed is a
barrier to a relationship with him and really it's a barrier to real life.

In fact, after this Jesus then tells a parable of a rich man who built bigger
and bigger barns, not knowing right after he'd built his biggest barn that the
next night his life would be gone and he'd be in eternity. He invested nothing
in eternity where he'd spend the vast majority of his life and he invested
everything in the relatively few seconds that he spent on this earth. As Jesus
talks about greed and he talks about the danger of possessions, he then teaches
us, because he knows we all have to live with possessions every day of our
lives, he then teaches us how to handle our money.

And here's what he says. Jesus says, "As you handle your money, first of all,
don't worry. That's the killer.

Don't worry, because if you worry, your money's going to get a hold on you.
Don't worry," he says in verses 22 and 23, "Therefore I tell you, do not worry
about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. Life
is more than food and the body more than clothes.

" The next thing he says is, "Build treasure in heaven. " Now he understands we
have to buy bread on this earth to feed our family, to feed ourselves. We have
to have a roof over our heads.

He understands that. But he also says, "As you're handling the money that God's
put into your hands on this earth, build treasure in heaven," verses 33 to 34,
"Sell your possessions and give to the poor, provide purses for yourselves that
will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no
thief comes near and no moth destroys, for where your treasure is, there your
heart will be also. " Jesus teaches here that when we give to someone who's in
need, we're actually investing in eternity.

We're putting our treasure there. And that not only affects our eternity, we're
not only going to enjoy the rewards, the benefits of that, and I don't know what
those will look like, they may just be purely in the joy of seeing somebody's
life who was changed because you invested financially somehow. And so a church
was built, so a person was fed.

So a disease was cured, and in heaven you get to experience the joy of that
person's life being changed. It may be that. It may be the rewards that God
gives you.

I don't know what it'll look like, but there is joy. There is reward in it,
Jesus says, there when you get to heaven. But there's also impact on your life
now.

Jesus says where your treasure is, that's where your heart's going to be. You
want your heart with God. You want to look forward to eternity, then you invest
in the things of God.

You invest in the things of eternity. How do you handle your money? Jesus says,
don't worry.

Jesus says, build treasure in heaven. And he says a third thing. He says, be a
faithful manager.

Now you may be like Simon Peter, one of the disciples. You hear these things and
you think, is this about me or somebody else? Peter asked in verse 41, Peter
asked, Lord, are you telling this parable to us or to everyone?

Maybe he was feeling a little convicted. In verse 42, the Lord answered, who
then is the faithful and wise manager whom the master puts in charge of his
servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time? It will be good
for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns.

Jesus says, I put a lot of things in your hands and I want you to be a wise
manager of them. How do you do that? You do it all for him.

Feeding your family, you do it for him. Buying a house, you ask him about it.
You do it for him.

And as you buy it, you say, Lord, how can I use it for you? Renting a new
apartment, you do it for him. What's the right place for me to be, Lord?

Give me direction. Give me guidance. Help me to invest whatever money you put
into my hands in the wisest way.

Let me be a manager of what you're given. Now as long as you feel like you own
it all and God owes you something, obviously you can't be a wise manager. Step
one is realizing God owns it all and he's entrusted it into your hands.

For this brief time while we're on this earth. Why? So you can manage it for his
sake.

So whatever you're doing with it, you talk to him about it, you follow his
leadership in it, you have a giving attitude towards others, you ask him to
defeat worry in your life as you do those things, you look forward to investing
in eternity, as you have that attitude towards money, towards things, greed goes
right out the back door of your life and it's replaced. It's replaced by an
attitude of thankfulness, however little, however much you have. I've seen
people in the world who have very, very little who have great joy in what they
have because they're following this part of God's financial plan.

They have a heart, they have the heart of God towards the things in their life.
So we think about these barriers that could happen in our lives. Let's take a
moment to pray and ask for something different.

Jesus, so much of your teaching is here. And as I hear you teaching, as we hear
you teaching different places, different times, we get some taste of what it
must have been like to be a disciple, listening to you teach to different crowds
of different people in different places as you headed towards Jerusalem. Often
teaching the truth in answer to a question.

Lord, we don't want to just read this as history. Let these truths sink into our
hearts. And whatever barriers might be in the way, if it's greed, let us know.

If it's comparison with others and letting the opinions of others control us too
much, let us know. And instead of greed, help us to invest in eternity. Instead
of letting others' opinions control us, help us to remember how valuable we are
to you.

Thank you, Jesus, for teaching us so we can live the life that you've given us.
In your name, amen. Tomorrow, more barriers to the life that God has for us.

We're going to look at how to defeat the barriers of comparison and popularity.