30th Mar 26 | 13:54
Studies by Book
Luke 16 14-17 The cross and the kingdom of God 02 People of the cross
📖 Luke 16:14-17
05Apr2020 - *People of the cross* - _Luke 16:14-17_ - Bible reading: _I Corinthians 1:18-31_
_Luke 16:14 Now - the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things, and they derided Him._
We will give a new title to the study of this passage. We will title it as *The cross and the kingdom of God*.
In the Jewish dispensation, the law of God and the administration of the state was the same. These were not to be separated. Being sacred was to cascade into all areas of life. Whereas right from the Old Testament, we see how the Jewish leaders were so adept at practising a high level of religiosity, on one side, and at the same time making sure that their religious leanings had no interference with the way they handled money or did their business. The Lord was repeatedly warning them and correcting them. It was the same, dual compartmentalised life that was now being practised by the Pharisees.
_Amos 8:4-6 Hear this, you who swallow up the needy, And make the poor of the land fail, (5) Saying: "When will the New Moon be past, That we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, That we may trade wheat? Making the ephah small and the shekel large, Falsifying the scales by deceit, (6) That we may buy the poor for silver, And the needy for a pair of sandals— Even sell the bad wheat?"_
Look at all the issues that God was concerned about. These matters are what we would conveniently term as secular. God was longing for righteousness, justice, truth and honesty to saturate every sphere of daily life. People then and now prefer to live in two compartments. We pay a passing comment that these deficiencies ought not to be, but our religiosity and spirituality is all related to our worship, our Bible studies and our prayer meetings. As long as we keep our spiritual tempo high, we expect God to overlook all of these compromises, in our everyday life, as we need to survive in a fallen world.
_Jeremiah 6:13 “Because from the least of them even to the greatest of them, Everyone is given to covetousness; And from the prophet even to the priest, Everyone deals falsely._ The Lord saw that there was covetousness in the heart of the prophet and the priest. Just because they were prophets and priests, was it acceptable to God that they could carry covetousness in their heart?
How was Jesus going to the change the social systems and structures of our world?
It would be by the cross. The cross is where we are reconciled back to God _Colossians 1:21-22_ We are now a new creation in Christ Jesus. The old has gone the new has come. All by the cross. _II Corinthians 5:17_
We who are reconciled with God have now been entrusted to reconcile others, who are alienated from God, back with Him, by the cross _II Corinthians 5:18-20_
We, who are reconciled back to God by the cross are now to live holy, blameless and a life above reproach, in this world. _Colossians 1:22_
Through us, God is reconciling the whole world and all of creation, including social systems and structures, back to the full relationship of His kingdom, by the cross _Colossians 1:20_
*Thought to ponder*
```Do we as the church, recognise our role to bring in the kingdom of God, here on earth, by the cross?```