Episode 1257: Tourists in the Temple

[00:00:00] Scott Maderer: Thanks for joining me on episode 1,257 of the Inspired Stewardship Podcast. I'm

[00:00:07] Bob Lotich: Bob Lotich from Seed Time, and I challenge you to invest in yourself, invest in others, develop your influence and impact the world by using your time, your talent, and your treasures to live out your calling. Having the ability to grow your money like a seed is key to learning God's way of handling money in one way.

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[00:00:30] Scott Maderer: There's also Stan firm and you will win life. But now all of a sudden it mentions life. And then another version says, By holding fast, you will gain your lives. Basically. This isn't just about how to take care of yourself, it's also about how to witness. To the world. Welcome and thank you for joining us on the Inspired Stewardship Podcast.

[00:00:59] If you [00:01:00] truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent, and your treasures for your true calling In the Inspired Stewardship Podcast, who will learn to invest in yourself, invest in others, and develop your influence so that you can impact the world.

[00:01:20] In today's spiritual foundation episode about investing in yourself, I talk with you about Luke Chapter 21, verses five through 19. I share how we are all tourists in life at times, and I also share how, despite it all, we stand in faith with love. Luke chapter 21, verses five through 19 says, When some were speaking about the temple, how.

[00:01:45] Adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God. He said, As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another and all will be thrown down. They asked him, [00:02:00] teacher, when will this be and what will be the sign that this is about to take place? And he said, Beware that you are not let astray.

[00:02:07] For many will come in my name and say, I am he, and the time is near. Do not go after. When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified for These things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately. Then he said to them, Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom.

[00:02:27] There will be great earthquakes and in various places, famines and plagues, and there will be dreadful importance and great signs from heaven. But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute. They will hand you over to synagogues and in prisons and you will be brought before Kings and governors because of my name.

[00:02:47] This will give you an opportunity to testify, so make up your minds not to prepare your defenses in advance for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. [00:03:00] You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death.

[00:03:06] You will be hated by all because of my. But not a hair of your head will perish by your endurance. You will gain your souls. Now this is one of those passages that I hear quoted sometimes A as showing that the time or the end time is near that we'll be seeing all of these things that are happening around us at any particular point in time.

[00:03:32] And the interesting thing is this passage has been used over and over again to predict the end of the. , but I also like the beginning of it. It starts with the people gawking at the temple. And think about it you've seen people, if you've gone to any sort of touristy place, you've seen people who are walking around just gawking at the beauty of the buildings or the environment around them [00:04:00] interfering with the stream of traffic of the people there that are living there and doing business.

[00:04:06] They're trying to take it all in at once and see all of these sites that are around them and they're impressed and in awe of them. And if you've ever lived in a city that has tourism as a major form of business, I live in San Antonio where the River Walk and the Alamo and all of these missions and various things attract tourists to our cities and residents of the.

[00:04:32] Kind of learn to just ignore them and move around them and operate their life despite these folks being there. But Jesus sees them and Jesus sees this wonder in their eyes as if they're starstruck by this beautiful temple. And the temple at that time would've been a wonder to behold there. There was a ton of work and artistry and craft work that had been put [00:05:00] into.

[00:05:01] It was designed to bring about this feeling of awe. If you've ever been to a great cathedral, you've had that feeling of walking in and just being overwhelmed by the architecture. That's by design and they did it. It for sure. We, at least we believe, and we hoped for the glory of God. They basically made it worth admiring to give over to God.

[00:05:31] This is what God has done for us, yet Jesus almost speaks harshly to these tourists. He almost doesn't seem to have time for them. He speaks very clearly and says, This is what's happening. We're in the final countdown that, that this temple is going to. Remember at this point we are in the final countdown for Jesus's journey into Jerusalem.

[00:05:59] [00:06:00] We're at the point where everything is about to happen. In fact this teaching in the temple becomes the straw that breaks the temple leader's backs and is called to his death because, And Jesus knows that this is coming. He knows that the end is near, and he's trying to speak very directly to his disciples and others and let them know they need to stay on track.

[00:06:30] They need to keep their mind and their body, and their eyes and their soul on the most important things. There's a huge debate is this passage about future events? Is it about the immediate future? Is it about the distant future? What is it that Jesus is saying here? But regardless of what that part means, Jesus is seems to be very clear in saying, stand [00:07:00] firm.

[00:07:01] In your belief in me, Even when the world is falling apart, depending on which version you read, the final verse can say things like, By your endurance you will gain souls. By your endurance you will gain souls. Keep a cool head when everyone else is panicking and people will come to the faith.

[00:07:24] There's also Stan firm and you will win. But now all of a sudden it mentions life. And then another version says, By holding fast, you will gain your lives. Basically. This isn't just about how to take care of yourself, it's also about how to witness to the world it's about saying on the brink. My suffering and death as Jesus.

[00:07:52] Jesus is telling his followers both how to preserve their own life, but also he's [00:08:00] saying you are called to a sacrificial witness of faith even in the face of devastation and destruction if you are able to hold on to faith, not for self-preservation, not for the promise of eternal life, not for anything in particular.

[00:08:19] For you, not because you hope that this will bring you a life free from suffering, but in the hope that life is always bigger than what people can see. That love is always worth living for and dying for. That is the real awe inspiring thing in this story. That is what Jesus is calling for us to stand before an open mouth wonder.

[00:08:47] Not this building created by hands, but the willingness to live a life of love, to live a life of transformation, and to do that even in the face of. [00:09:00] And conflict to recognize that buildings will rise and fall. Structures, systems, empires, Kingdoms will rise and fall. But at the end of the day, despite those troubles, if we keep our eyes upon him, then we will stand because he will stand.

[00:09:23] Thanks for listen.

[00:09:25] Thanks so much for listening to the Inspired Stewardship Podcast. As a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you enjoyed this episode, do me a favor. Go over to facebook.com/inspired. And like our Facebook page and market that you'd like to get notifications from us so that we can connect with you on [00:10:00] Facebook and make sure that we're serving you to the best of our abilities with time and tips there.

[00:10:08] Until next time, invest your. Your talent and your treasures. Develop your influence and impact the world.