Parables of Jesus - 07 Watching and Praying — Zac Poonen

Compassion as the Motive for Ministry

What is the right motive? What is the right motive? Here we read, Compassion for somebody who has come across my path, who is in need. You got it? Compassion for somebody around me who is in need. Then, from that compassion, I go to the Father and say, God, my Dad, Father, give me what can help this man in his need.

You know, like the disciples when they had to feed the 5 ,000. What did they do? It was not their job to multiply the 5 loaves and feed 5. That was not their job. Their job was to go to Jesus with an empty basket.

Lord, give us some more. There are more hungry fellows over there. And the Lord multiplies the loaves and they go back and distribute it. And when the basket is empty, what do they have to do? Come back to the Lord.

Who did the production? Jesus. Who did the distribution? The disciples. It's much more difficult to produce. It's easier to distribute. Supposing the Lord told His disciples, Okay, here are 5 loaves. Go and multiply it and give it to the 5 ,000.

How could they have done that? But when He did the multiplication of the loaves and gave it to the disciples, He told them to distribute. Wasn't that easy? Now some of us have a problem serving the Lord because we are trying to produce.

We are not supposed to produce. We are supposed to distribute. I thank God for the day I discovered that in my life that I am not in the production business. I am in the distribution business. When I don't have something, I just have to go like this man went to his neighbor and say, Father, here are some people in need.

Give me something to give them. Now for many, many years I have been preaching God's Word. And sometimes five times a day or different number of times a day, even more than that sometimes. And I would have been a nervous wreck by now if I had to produce.

I don't have to produce. I've only got to distribute. But I have to have compassion. I want to share this with you for all of you who are called to preach God's Word. Start with compassion for the people who sit in front of you.

That's what I seek to do. Compassion, love. These are people who should be kings but they are slaves to sin. These are people who should be overcomers and conquering but they are defeated. These are people who should be full of the joy of the Lord but they are discouraged.

Lord, how can I feed them? How can I feed them? Give me some loaves to give them. And they have to bang and bang and bang and bang and bang and say, Lord, I'm not going to leave you until you give me the supernatural gift of prophecy so that I can exhort like it says in 1 Corinthians 14, verse 2 and 3, I can exhort and edify and comfort.

Those are the three loaves. We read about three loaves here. I've often gone to the Lord like that. Give me. Not for myself. I'm already encouraged. For these people. And God always gives if you start with compassion.

Don't ever try to seek God for any gift of the Holy Spirit if you don't start with compassion for a needy world, for people who are in need around you. That's what we learn from this parable. And the result was, it says here, a wonderful verse.

He will get up in verse 8 and give him as much as he needs. I want to say one more thing here. It's not enough just to have compassion. I must also recognize that I don't have what it takes to help this person.

If I think, oh, I've got enough to help this person, I'm not going to be able to help him. I'll tell you what I mean. For example, if we are to think of this matter of sharing the word, when I talk about sharing the word, I'm not talking about just standing in the pulpit.

I don't share the word only in the pulpit. I sit down, talk to people so many places when I'm sitting in their house or they're sitting in my house. And that, you sisters also experience, don't you sit together sometimes and you can share God's word, maybe five minutes, three minutes when you sit talking to people.

So this parable applies to all situations where we have to give God's word to a needy person. Maybe one sentence, maybe two, three minutes. And if I think, oh yeah, I've got plenty of knowledge. I can teach this person.

Then I have a sense of self-sufficiency and I won't be able to bless them. I have to have a sense of my own need. Lord, I don't have. That's what this man had. A sense of his own need. My house is empty.

My fridge is empty. There's no food in the house. I have to go and get it from my neighbor. If you feel that, you know, particularly if you studied the Bible a little bit and you got Bible knowledge, you can feel a sense of, yeah, I've got what it takes.

You know, it's very easy for me because I preach so many years. I can say, oh yeah, I've got so much experience preaching. God have mercy on me and I pray that day will never come in my life where I begin to think like that.

I say, Lord, even if I preach for a hundred years, I don't have what it takes to help these needy people. I have knowledge. Oh yes, but knowledge is not what people need. They need a word from heaven.

There's a lot of difference between a word from heaven and knowledge. There's a lot of preaching of dry knowledge in churches today. And you know, knowledge is like pictures of food. Supposing you got a hundred hungry people in front of you and you say, okay, I'm going to feed you now and you show them a picture of chicken biryani or another picture of some ice cream and you enjoy that.

You know, they're going to get more hungry at the end of that. If you give knowledge to people, it's like that. You give knowledge. It doesn't feed them. It's like pictures, beautiful pictures, colored pictures of food.

That's what knowledge is. Don't give people knowledge. Give people life. And life can only come from heaven. And life can only come through the Holy Spirit's gifts. Knowledge can come from your head. You can study and study and study and study and prepare a wonderful sermon and give it out to people.

That's not the way we're supposed to help people. We've got to seek God for a touch from heaven, an anointing of the Holy Spirit, the gift of prophecy. And then we give it forth. It blesses people. That's how we're supposed to do it.

The Father Gives the Holy Spirit to Those Who Ask

Okay. Now we go to a third parable. Parable number 32, Luke chapter 11 verse 11 to 13. Where Jesus said, suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish. He won't give him a snake, will he? He asked for an egg, will he?

He won't give him a scorpion. If you being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? And in Matthew chapter 7 a similar parable he says, instead of Holy Spirit he says, how much more shall your heavenly Father give good things?

Matthew 7, 11 to those who ask him. So here Jesus is picturing, the first he pictured a judge and the second he pictured a neighbor and the third now he pictures a father. We are fathers. And he said, you are evil.

That's the interesting thing I want you to notice here. If you verse 13, Luke 11, 13 being evil. That teaches us one thing that the best earthly father, the best earthly father is evil compared to God.

I'm not saying we are evil, but compared to God we are. I'm a father of four sons, but I think to the best of my knowledge I have tried my best to be a very good father and none of my sons will say I was an evil father to them.

I have sacrificed to help them, but compared to God, even I am an evil father. That's how good God is. Jesus is trying to say, how much better God is than that unrighteous judge? How much better God is than that reluctant neighbor?

And how much better God is than the best earthly father? That's like saying the star has got a light, but when the sun arises, that light becomes darkness. The light of the star. In the same way, my goodness as a father is like the light of the star, but the goodness of God is like the light of the sun.

My goodness disappears. So if you can see God like this, you know, a lot of people have got a wrong concept of God. All false religions picture God like a policeman who's just waiting to catch you for doing something wrong.

You know, like a strict judge who's out to punish you and the devil portrays that picture and I'm sorry to say that even some Christians think of God like this. They are scared. God is going to punish me.

God's going to hurt me. No. Jesus tried so much to convince his disciples God is a loving father. He's not here to hurt you. He's here to help you. He's here to bless you. And I believe it's our calling, those of us who share the word with other people, to present God to other people as a loving father, because that's what he is.

He's better than the best earthly father. And Jesus said if a son comes to his father and says, Dad, I'm hungry. Can you please give me some bread? The father will never give him a stone. If he asks, Dad, can you give me some fish?

He'll never give him a snake. Teaching us that God will never, never, never, never you can keep on repeating that, never give you something evil. We've got to be absolutely convinced about that. Never.

Even if I ask him for something evil, he won't give it to me. Sometimes we ask God for something and he doesn't give it to us. Because we may wonder why, but he knows it's not good for us right now. Maybe he'll give it to us later.

It's something like if a one-year-old child asks for a sharp blade, which father will give it to the child? And the child can scream, Oh, Daddy, you don't love me. You're not giving me that blade. But the father says, no.

I won't give it to you. You'll harm yourself. And sometimes there are gifts we ask God for. We will harm ourselves with that. Supposing you pray, Lord, please help me to win that lottery ticket. I don't think God will answer that prayer.

In fact, I'm pretty sure he won't because you'll cut yourself and destroy yourself with all that money. Even if you get it. There are things which God can do, but he won't do. Just like a father will take that blade away no matter how much that child cries, no matter how much you pray, God says no.

Because he loves us too much. In the same way, a father will not give a 500-rupee note into the hand of a three-year-old child. Not because 500 rupees is not good, but that three-year-old doesn't know how to handle it.

So sometimes we ask God for something and he doesn't give it to us and say, no, hang on. You've got to be a little more mature to handle that. You go and ask God to give you, say, a gift of healing tomorrow.

Boy, and somebody you pray for gets healed, your head will become so big with pride that you'll destroy yourself and go to hell. God doesn't want you to go to hell. So he doesn't give you something before you are mature enough to handle it.

God is a loving father. Jesus taught that very clearly. And that's... he said it in order to encourage us to have faith. You know, when I realized that I have a father in heaven, it's easy to have faith.

That's why Jesus said, whenever you pray, say, our father in heaven. Why did he say that? Because he wanted us, before we prayed for anything, to start with faith. If you don't have faith, you can't get anything from God.

Have you seen that promise in the Bible for those who don't have faith? You know where it is? It's a wonderful promise in the Bible for those who don't have any faith. I'll show it to you. James chapter 1 and verse 6 to 8.

It says here, when you ask God for wisdom, let him ask in faith. Verse 6, but if you don't have faith, verse 7, don't expect to receive anything from the Lord. What a promise. You won't get anything from the Lord.

That's a promise for all those who don't have faith. Anybody sitting here without faith, here's a promise for you. You won't get anything from the Lord. I don't want to be like that. But how to have faith?

By recognizing that I have a father. Not a policeman. Not a judge. A father. Jesus said, our father who art in heaven. That means one who controls the whole universe. Who runs this whole universe. This earth is a small little speck.

I've got a dad up in heaven who runs this universe and on this speck of earth there's a small person called me. And all my problems are so small for God. Have you seen these ants taking a small bit of food along the floor?

It's so tiny. It's a big burden for that ant. I think when God looks at us from heaven, it's like that. We're carrying such a big burden. I say, oh God, can you please help me with this? It's like that ant looking at us human beings.

Can you please help me with this tiny bit of food? I say, sure little ant. And I take it over there and put it in their hands. Boy, what a miracle. That's how God is. I hope you have faith. Our father who art in heaven.

Praise God. We go to now parable number 33. Matthew 24 verse 45 to 51. Here Jesus was speaking about servants who should be watching. You know, watch and pray. He said, who is that faithful and sensible master?

Slave rather. Faithful and sensible slave whom his master can appoint in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time. But if that slave instead of giving them the food beats his fellow servants, verse 49.

The master will suddenly come, verse 50, and punish him. Now here, Jesus is speaking about those who are appointed by God to feed others. And instead of feeding them, they beat them. When we stand up to preach in the pulpit, we must never beat people.

Don't say, you fellows are like this and you fellows are like that. That's beating them. Feed them. A lot of people don't feed. They beat. Even parents beat their children, not with a stick, but with words.

Oh, you're good for nothing. How many times I've told you don't do that. We are not to be like that to our children. Our calling is to feed, not beat. To feed them with what they need. And it says here, a servant must be faithful and wise.

You know, there are two requirements for a true servant of God. He must be faithful and he must be wise to give exactly what this person needs. What does this person need? Like a good doctor. You know, a patient comes to him, he examines him, looks at the x-ray, looks at the scan report, and says, I know what you need.

This medicine will take care of you. And then another patient comes and he looks at his blood report and other things and says, I know what you need. It's this medicine. That's a wise doctor. He knows exactly what to give to each person.

And that's our calling. To be wise servants. We see people in need all around us, that we can have the right word when in personal conversation, when we speak to a young person, or a sick person, or speak to a church, or to speak in the streets to unbelievers.

The right word. Like a good doctor. Wise. We really need to seek God for that. And it says here that blessed is that servant who does that when the master comes. That means this is what he's spending his time doing.

I have to feed other people. The Bible says we are priests according to the order of Melchizedek. Jesus Christ is a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek. Hebrews chapter 7 says that we are priests according to the order of Melchizedek.

What did Melchizedek do in Genesis 14? He gave food to Abraham when he was tired and exhausted. He gave him some food. That's what we're supposed to do. He gave him some words of encouragement. And we're supposed to be priests after the order of Melchizedek.

Melchizedek didn't come with a stick to beat Abraham. He came with food. And if you're a priest according to the order of Melchizedek you'll have spiritual food for the people around you. You listen to God and God will give you that to feed other people.

And it says here about these servants who are always watching. My master may come anytime. I must be ready. I must prepare these people to be ready for the coming of the Lord. I want to show you one more verse in Mark chapter 13 and verse 34.

It says here that this is a similar parable. A man was appointed went on a journey and he left his house in charge of his servants and to everyone he gave a particular job. That's the thing I want you to notice in verse 34.

Every Believer Has a God-Given Task and the Church Needs Watchful Doorkeepers

If you're a child of God there is a particular task that God has given you and you have to do it. And he says he's appointed a doorkeeper. I believe that every church needs a doorkeeper. A doorkeeper is a prophet who watches who are these fellows coming in.

A godly elder brother who makes sure that the wolves don't come in. Who makes sure that the goats get converted into sheep before they come in. Do you know why so many churches around us are destroyed?

Because they don't have doorkeepers. But here it says that God has appointed a doorkeeper to stay on the alert. To watch and be alert. A lot of doorkeepers today in Christendom are sleeping. That's why we have such a mess in so many churches.

May God raise up many servants who are faithful and wise and good doorkeepers. The last parable verse 34 34 parable 34. Luke chapter 21 verse 29 to 32 also refers to something concerning the last days.

The Fig Tree, Israel, and the Nearness of Christ’s Return

Behold the fig tree and all the trees. Now in the Old Testament the figs were a picture of Israel. Also Jeremiah in his visions he sees good figs and bad figs. And the Lord spoke about that as being the good people and the bad people in Israel.

So the fig tree is a picture of Israel. The vine is a picture of the church. But the fig tree is a picture of Israel. And you read in the Old Testament about people about the fig tree and the vine frequently.

And Jesus said I am the true vine. But he never said I am the true fig tree. The fig tree refers to Israel and the vine to the church. And when it speaks about the fig tree here in Luke chapter 21 and verse 29 he is speaking about Israel.

And he says watch the fig tree. One day it will put forth leaves, not fruit. He is not saying that Israel will become a spiritual nation. But he is saying that Israel will come back to the land. And there will be a religious people there.

And he said that in verse 24 of Luke 21. Two thousand years ago when the Romans were ruling Jerusalem, Jesus said Jerusalem will be ruled by many non-Jewish people. That's the meaning of the word Gentiles.

Jerusalem will be ruled by many non-Jewish people until the time for the non-Jewish people to rule Jerusalem will be over. I'm paraphrasing verse 24. And do you know when that happened? Jesus said it 2 ,000 years ago but it happened only in June 1967.

I remember those days. There was what is known as the six day war and Israel occupied Jerusalem for the first time in 2 ,000 years. And Jesus said when you see the fig tree putting forth its leaves. No!

Verse 31 the kingdom of God is near. There are many signs about the second coming of Christ. Wars, rumors of wars, earthquakes, famines. But those things have taken place throughout these 2 ,000 years even though there are many more now.

But here is something that never happened in 2 ,000 years. For 2 ,000 years Israel never captured, never had possession of Jerusalem. In fact not only 2 ,000 years from more than nearly 600 years before Christ from the time the Babylonians came and captured Jerusalem that you read in the book of Jeremiah and 2 Chronicles.

When the Babylonians captured Jerusalem 586 years before Christ from that time till 1967 Israel never had control over Jerusalem. Jesus said watch. We're talking about watching and praying. These things are happening in our lifetime.

The kingdom of God is much nearer than you think. One of these days Christ will come. Time will be over. And the question in that day will be what did you live for? Is your conscience clear? Have you settled everything with God and with men?

Are you right with God? Are you living for eternity? Watch and pray and don't ever get discouraged. Let's pray. Again I want to invite you to respond to the word of God that you have heard this evening.

Persevering in Prayer and Serving Others Through the Spirit

Don't get discouraged. If you're seeking the glory of God persist in prayer. God is a good God. He's a loving father. Ask him for the power of the Holy Spirit to serve people around you who are in need.

You can't do that without the Holy Spirit's gifts. God will give you more surely than an earthly father will give bread to his son. He's so eager to give you the gifts of the Holy Spirit to serve others.

If you have compassion Heavenly Father help us each one to live our lives with a sense of how near we are to the coming of Jesus Christ. How we see prophecy being fulfilled right before our eyes. Things that you said 2000 years ago.

Help us to respond to your word and spend the rest of our days for the glory of God alone. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. God bless you.