The Lord Has Need Of It

Introduction

It was a week ago Saturday that Sherry and I flew out to Phoenix, and that seems like it was a month ago. It was a very long week, but a good week. And we met some dear people in the kingdom. A lot of older, retired saints, predominantly, worshiping out in Prescott, Arizona. And we got to know them rather quickly, and they were such wonderful, gracious people. And we missed them today. But we are so glad to be back with you. We love you all very much. And I thought about that as I was singing that last song about how wonderful this group is and how wonderful it is to sing God’s praises with you. And so we’re glad to be home. I got a text from Phil Robertson.

No, not the Duck Dynasty guy. The preacher in Gainesville, Florida, who was supposed to hold our meeting in November, but either as a result of his fault or mine, he did not have us on the schedule. So I’ve scheduled him for a future time. Phil’s a wonderful guy. But he texted me at one point. Are you in a meeting or on vacation or both? And that’s sort of what it was. I mean, at night we ate meals and we preached. And during the day, John and Gina Lassiter, John is the preacher out there, that is Julia West’s mom and dad. They took us, I think, all over the state of Arizona in one week. We saw some beautiful sights. And I started putting two and two together, and I said, Hey, John, what’s your meeting schedule look like in November?

And pending the approval of Robert and Ken, the other two are already on board, we might just have John Lassiter holding our meeting the first week in November. So you’ll get to know Julia’s parents, and we’ve gotten to know them and appreciate them so very much. It’s good to be home. Dean’s led us in some wonderful songs. Jubilee is a great biblical word. And has a lot to do with another biblical word, which I want to begin with this morning, and it is the word blessed. This word means more and more to me all the time as I read the scripture. You know, everybody wants to be happy. Even better than happy is blessed. But if people could just grasp blessed, and yet everybody is looking, so many people anyway, except for the Lord’s people, are looking in the wrong place to find blessed.

And it’s interesting to me that as Paul is saying his concluding and farewell words to the elders at Ephesus who have come to meet him, one of the things that he does in that conversation as he admonishes them to shepherd the church of God in Acts 20 and verse 28. He reminds them of the words of Jesus. He quotes Jesus, words that are not actually found in any of the gospel accounts, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, but he says in Acts 20 and verse 35, it is more blessed to give than to receive. A lot of folks never find or discover practically that truth. It is more blessed to give than to receive. We live in a culture, we live in a time of receivers. People want to receive.

And they never discover the liberating and wonderful truth of giving. And of course, that giving and understanding the blessed state of giving first involves giving oneself to God. And that’s why those of Macedonia are praised in 2 Corinthians 8 and verse 5, that they first gave themselves to us and to the Lord by the will of God. The giving they did monetarily to support the needy saints in Jerusalem was an outgrowth of what they had first done, is that they had given themselves to the Lord. That’s where conversion takes place. That’s the path to blessedness. That’s what it means to be baptized into Christ as Reagan was this week. I am giving myself to God for his purposes, for his use, to be set apart by him and for him in a glorious way.

Better than any kind of pursuit that is out there available to us in this world.

That leads me to a story in Luke chapter 19 on the occasion that we call the triumphal entry, this is just a little over a week, before Jesus will die at Calvary for the sins of mankind. And the lesson this morning comes from this scripture reading in Luke 19, where the disciples are instructed to tell the owners of the animal.

Let’s read Luke 19 and this momentous occasion and the things that precipitated. In verse 28, and after he had said these things, he was going on ahead, ascending to Jerusalem. Jerusalem was a city set on a hill, and you would ascend to Jerusalem, and everything in Luke’s narrative takes you to Jerusalem where Jesus is going to be crucified. And it came about that when he approached Beth Page and Bethany near the mountain that is called Olivet, he sent two of his disciples. I wonder which two went in Luke 19, saying, Go into the village opposite you, in which as you enter, you will find a colt tied.

Only the Lord can know such things. Untie it and bring it here. And if anyone ask you, why are you untying it, thus shall you speak. The Lord has need of it. And those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them. And as they were untying the coat, its owners said to them, Why are you untying the colt? And they said, as the Lord instructed them to say, the Lord has need of it. And they brought it to Jesus. This colt upon which no one had ever sat. And they threw their garments on the coal and put Jesus on it. And as he was going, they were spreading their garments in the road. And as he was now approaching near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully.

Here comes the king. They began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles which they had seen. Wow. I wonder how many they had seen. Blessed is the king, they were saying, who comes in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven and glory to the highest. And some of the Pharisees and the multitude said to him, Teacher, rebuke your disciples. And he answered and said, I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out. What a significant occasion. This was.

The Lord’s prophetic utterance here is amazing enough. That they’re going to go while there’s not a lot of time that lapses between the instruction and the securing of the animal, still, the fact that there’s going to be this animal upon which no one has ever sat, and they’re going to ask for it, and they’re going to receive permission to take it for the Lord to use, and that this was a fulfillment of an amazing prophecy back in the book of Zechariah. And this is a good one to remember, right? In your context at Luke 19. It is actually quoted in Mark’s account of this incident in Mark chapter 11. The Matthew account in chapter 21 also records this event, but it’s a brief narrative of it.

Mark and Luke give it more attention. And Mark even quotes the Old Testament passage from Zachariah chapter 9 and verse 9. And of course, the Jewish audience would be familiar with this. Behold, your king is coming to you. He is just and endowed with salvation, humble, and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the fall of a donkey. That’s Zechariah 9 and verse 9. This would signify to the people that the king is coming. And remember, they rejoiced because of all the miracles that they had seen. Here comes the king. And remember, Pilate’s interview was about, are you a king? That’s why Jesus rides in on the colt. There was a 550-year old prophecy. Amazing, isn’t it? A 550-year old prophecy to fulfill. Not to mention the actual securing of the animal as the two disciples go in and ask for permission to use the cult, and it’s actually granted.

Only Luke’s account of the three mentions the query of the owners or the owners of the colt. Why are you untying the colt? They ask. And while it’s implied in Luke’s account, in Mark’s account, it actually says that they granted permission for them to use the colt. The fact is, the Lord’s need was sufficient for them to grant the request. Is the Lord’s need sufficient for us to grant his request. And so for a few moments, I want to talk to you about the implications of such a story and some things we learn about our response and about our giving to God. The Lord has need of it.

1. Moving His Story Further Down the Road

Moves his story a little bit further down the road.

It was just a colt. A cult upon which no one had ever sat. But the Lord had need of it. Some of the greater spiritual problems plaguing God’s people today are materialism, selfishness, worldliness, indifference. But I think another is the acute myopia that we experience regarding our own discipleship and our short-sightedness about what we give to the Lord and how he can use it. I think we suffer from a number of syndromes. You didn’t know you had a psychological condition, did you? Well, some of you have maybe more than one. I’ve come to know you pretty well in five years. Tony, there’s three fingers pointing back at you. But one of the syndromes from which we suffer sometimes. Well, I’m just a nobody. What can little old me render to God’s cause?

These owners had a cult. The Lord needed it. It fulfilled prophecy. Jesus came riding into Jerusalem as the coming king. That was important. It wasn’t a big thing in terms of what they supplied. Well, there were other donkeys and colts. But the Lord had need of this. And it was an important part of God’s plan. It was a fulfillment of prophecy, not just by Zachariah, but Jesus himself. Let me tell you about your significance. If anyone loves the Lord, he is known by him. 1 Corinthians chapter 8 and verse 3. And let those who name the name of Christ abstain from wickedness. The Lord knows those that are his. 2 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 19. The other syndrome is, well, I just can’t. It’s this big obstacle of I can’t do this and I can’t do that.

And you know what? There’s some things I can’t do. There are some things at times that I would like to do that I can’t do. I don’t have enough opportunity or strength or stamina to do those things. Sometimes I struggle with that too. I can’t. But there are things that we can do, and the Lord can empower us to do to further his cause. The I can’t do anything syndrome has never done anything. I want to tell you what we learned from Acts 3. The story of the lame man who was begging alms. And what did Peter and John say to him? Silver and gold, I do not have. They had limitations. They could not provide for him the physical sustenance that he might have been looking for or wanted.

They said, silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have, I give to you. And boy, that was something powerful. In the name of Jesus the Nazarene, arise and walk. But it’s that mentality that we need to develop. What I do have, I give to you. Whatever we can do to move Jesus, a little bit further down the road. Whether it’s a little encouragement, whether it’s a little financial contribution, as we have contributed to the Lord’s work to support the preaching and teaching of the gospel and the edification of Christians. That word of encouragement, that active service, our involvement in the local church, just supplying your part in the very assembling that we’re doing today. What are we doing here today? Oh, yes, we’re praising God and giving him what he has instructed us to do, but furthermore, we continue to lay a foundation for future saints to build upon.

And I think about that a lot. As we do this week after week after week, and some of you are getting more great hairs, not me, of course, but some of us are getting more great hairs, and ultimately we pass on. What are we leaving for the generation behind us? This is a process that’s going on as we meet from week to week to week. Whatever it is that you are able to contribute for the Lord’s cause, we are moving this greatest story ever told down the road a little bit further.

2. Little Things Used Powerfully by a Big God

Is that little things can be used powerfully by a big God. Remember I mentioned that word of encouragement? Remember how little forest is set afire by one’s tongue? A little flame and flicker, and how it grows into something great just by our words? The positive of that is the same. The things we say with our tongue can be a tremendous assistance to someone who needs support along life’s road. Just something as little as a word of cheer and a word of encouragement, a kind word, can go a long way. It’s a little thing. This is a little instrument in our body. But God can use it powerfully, can He not, in the proclamation of His truth. Little things. Like Rahab’s rope.

As he provided shelter and rescue for the spies. Samson’s jawbone. A jawbone is not that significant, but it was a weapon that he employed to defeat God’s enemies. David’s sling. Again, just a little thing, but look how powerfully it was used. And Mary’s ointment that anointed Jesus for burial. How can those things be so powerfully used? Remember who our leader is. As we are admonished to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. The next verse says, For it is God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. This story, beyond the miraculous parts of it, says something very powerful about God’s involvement in our lives and how things work out providentially. You know, these owners of this cult. Did they have any idea how it would be gloriously used in God’s cause?

I have no way of knowing, nor do you, what glorious intentions God has for the role that you play and the things that you supply in his cause. You have no idea of knowing the impact that it is going to have on the life of someone or the lives of someone or the future generations. You may be supplying a much larger part than you have any idea that you are contributing. And yet so often people say, well, if I give up, that won’t, that’s just me. It’s only affecting me. How do you know that? You don’t know that. You have no idea of knowing what your contribution affects in God’s plan. Don’t underestimate what you supply. I’ll tell you one thing I’ve come to appreciate about this group is that there’s a lot of different people, a lot of very different people with differing talents and abilities, but each of you supply something important to this work.

3. The Honor of Being Used by the Lord

Every one of you has value because you belong to the Lord. Don’t emphasize what you cannot do. Emphasize on what you can give and let the Lord worry about. Not that he worries. Let God take care about the result. And I would say this, point number three. The honor of being used by the Lord. Well, you know, the Lord should really be grateful for my contributions to his cause. Really? No, the right attitude is, you mean the Lord can use my cult. The Lord has a use for my cult. And that’s really the attitude Paul displays that the Lord has considered me faithful. He has displayed his mercy and patience in me. I thank Christ that I’m being able to be used in this way. We never reach a point due to our faithful and loyal and diligent service, but the Lord somehow becomes indebted to us.

Listen, in the prodigal son’s story, we’re all the prodigal, every last one of us. We’ve gone our own way and done our own thing, and we come back to the Father, and the Father has killed the fatted calf. We are completely indebted to the Father for His graciousness and kindness toward us and the fact that he can make some use of the likes of us. It doesn’t matter that I can contribute more than someone else. And I don’t even know how you measure that, really. But that’s the way we perceive things. Oh, that brother or that sister can contribute more to the. I don’t know really how you quantify all of that. And whatever it is that we’re able to contribute, it’s only what we ought to have contributed.

According to Luke chapter 17, there is no reason to boast about anything that we do. No matter how effectively it’s done. No matter how it might wow somebody. It’s not about us. If any man boasts, let him boast in the Lord. It is by his doing that we are in Christ. We’ll talk about that Wednesday night in 1 Corinthians 1 30 and 31. I don’t care who you are or how well you’ve done it or what other people think of you and put you on a pedestal. We have no reason to boast about anything. As the disciples demonstrated when they suffered when they were flawed because of their commitment to the Lord and they rejoiced because they were counted worthy to suffer for Christ. Amazing. If we had a pair of scales, and we were going to measure my contributions, my many contributions.

4. Acknowledging Who the Owner Is

The sermons that I’ve preached, or in the case of all of us, the assemblies we’ve attended, the number of long hours of Bible study listening to Tony over and over again, week after week. Surely you get some special stars for that. Surely you get some special stars for that. All of that contribution. Look, let’s get the scales right here, okay? L is for Lord, M is for me, and you’re the me also. Whatever contribution we’ve been able to give to God, how does that compare to what the Lord has done for us? I’ll never level the scale. And let me tell you what else happens when we give ourselves to God and contribute to his cause. Really, what we’re doing is we’re just acknowledging who the owner is in the first place.

Everything belongs to him anyway. So whatever time that I have to give, or whatever talent I contribute, or the things that I can give in the Lord’s cause, they’re not really mine in the first place anyway. He’s the one that’s giving me life and breath, and I’m merely the steward of the things with which I’ve been endowed. As the psalmist would say, the cattle upon a thousand hills is mine, says the Lord. The earth is the Lord and all it contains. Psalm 24 and verse 1. Now you’re part of what the earth contains. And so am I. I owe my very life and breath to him. He gives life and breath to all things. Acts 17, verses 24 and following. I’m breathing his air. And I like to use as an illustration.

We take it for granted. You woke up this morning expecting some oxygen. Who supplies that? Who gives us that? We’re completely dependent upon God, and ultimately he’s going to take away life from this planet. You see, when we give to God, it’s not that, oh, here, you know, I know God, you’re so fortunate to get this from me. It’s his anyway. We’re just acknowledging when we give appropriately to his cause, we’re simply acknowledges what already belongs to him and exists because of him. And yet so many folks want to be stingy with God. Okay, I’ll give you a little bit. Here it is. You get my Sunday morning attendant. You get my little check in the collection plate. Emphasis on the word little. You get my little check in the collection plate.

Sacrifice? Don’t be asking too much now. What is our attitude? How let me, how little can I give to God so that he doesn’t punish me. How little must I give to go to heaven? Let me just tell you, I don’t like your prospects of getting there. That’s not the right attitude.

Conclusion

I’d like to conclude by saying the major it that the Lord has need of in his cause that he can use powerfully is you. But really, more than that, you need the Lord. One of the things this story does for me is it shows me just how great the Lord’s cause is. And what little things we can contribute can be so powerfully used by our powerful God for his great purposes. And so I want to bid you to keep plugging away, stretching yourself, giving what you can so that his cause might flourish in this place to his glory because he deserves it. And we’ll be blessed by doing it. It is more blessed to give than to receive.

Have you acknowledged that your very life and breath is owed to God because he gave it to you? And have you acknowledge that by submitting yourself to his will and employing yourself in his service? Would you acknowledge his ownership today? Would you say, I need to enlist and be a good soldier of Jesus Christ? Is there someone in the audience who is not enlisted in the service of the King? We sing a song at the end of each sermon, giving you the opportunity to give to God your life and your heart. And the amazing thing about it, as you give yourself to him, you are rewarded immeasurably in the process. Both now and in the life to come. Do you need to submit yourself to the will of the King and be involved in His great and noble purposes in the world, the salvation of men, and one day having the promise of immortality?

Would you embrace it? Let’s say in a sing together.