Daily Devotional – April 23, 2020

The Value of Real Community in a Digital Age

Analog church, why we need real people, places, and things in the digital age. And I wanted to read just a quote from this book and I thought you might find it interesting. He says, at their best social media and other digital spaces can be wonderful initiating spaces that lead to true human connection, but they can never become home for those connections.

They'll always fall short and leave us wanting. He says, when I FaceTime with my wife and kids, our digital gathering space when I'm away, it's a wonderful benefit of technology, but ultimately it only makes me eager to get home and give them real hugs.

That's digital at its increasing our appetite for the real analog thing. So I found that interesting because here we are, haven't been able to meet at church for what, four weeks, I guess now, and no gatherings together and so forth.

And so trying to accommodate as best we can through these digital means. And so on the one hand, I hope you're getting some benefit from the digital attempts to minister the word. But on the other hand, I hope it's really just increasing your appetite for the real analog thing.

And I trust it is and I look forward to our getting back together to that real analog thing. Well, I also hope you're staying healthy and you're taking appropriate steps to do so. Realizing the potential that working from home can have for maybe adding a few pounds.

A friend of mine decided he was going to follow a diet. You get on a diet plan, get regimented and make sure he's stuck to that diet plan so he could still fit into his clothes when he had to wear something other than his pajamas or whatever.

So he mentioned this morning that he started the day with coffee and a couple of eggs. Now, he did admit to me that they were Cadbury eggs that he swiped from his kid's Easter basket. And when I kind of called him on it and questioned whether that was really on the diet, he told me not to get too picky because the diet plan just said two eggs.

I have a feeling that he's going to be in trouble before all this is over. Well, yesterday I shared a few thoughts from Luke 12 32 where Jesus said to his disciples, fear not little flock, it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

What a statement, fear not little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Now, remember that when Jesus said this, it was right on the heels of that really encouraging passage where he talked about not needing to be anxious for the things of this world, what you're going to wear, what you have to eat and so forth, having a roof over your heads and so on and so forth.

So don't be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you'll put on, for the life is more than food and the body more than clothing. So it's a very encouraging passage, but then right after that he offers this word of encouragement not to fear.

Look how timely this passage is. First Jesus says don't be anxious and then he says fear not little flock. Now, as I pointed out yesterday, this statement, fear not little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom, is really rich in meaning.

I shared a few ideas yesterday and I want to add another one to that today. So yesterday we pointed out that by Jesus calling his flock, his privileged dependence upon him as our shepherd, a privileged dependence, and then calling us his little flock expresses our status.

It's good to understand our status in this world. We're a little flock. The church is never expected to be the vast majority of humanity. It's a sad thing, it's an unfortunate thing, but it is the reality.

It is the way things are. And then thirdly, by calling us his flock and one of his sheep, Jesus tells us that we don't need to fear. We don't need to fear. He says fear not little flock and this gives us a sense of our confidence that we can have in this world.

So far we've said that in this statement Jesus expresses our privileged dependence upon him. He expresses our status in this world and he expresses the confidence that we can have as we walk through this world.

But there's another thing I want to share with you today and that is in this passage, in this verse, in this simple statement, Jesus gives us insight into God's disposition toward that flock. What is God's disposition toward the flock?

The flock being those who are followers of the Good Shepherd Jesus. Listen again to what he says, it is your father's good pleasure or his delight to give you the kingdom. Many years ago, probably 29 years ago now, around Christmas time, I can't remember for sure if Chris and I were out Christmas shopping together or if I was by myself.

I just remember making the purchase. I was looking around in Toys R Us for a gift for our son and he was five or six years old. I think he was probably about five years old at the time. So I was looking for a gift for him and I'm looking at all these things and then finally something caught my eye.

It was this really cool Air Force base. It needed batteries and all that kind of stuff but it had a couple of planes, a couple of jets, fighter jet things. You could put some missiles on those jets and it had a little handle so you turn it on and made the sound of the jet and you could push a button and it would fire the missiles and it would make the sound of the firing of the missiles.

Then it had a landing strip, a big landing strip. It was probably like three feet by four feet. It had lights on the runway and you turn the lights on and they'd go. I thought it was just really, really cool.

So I saw that. I said, I got to get that for my son for Christmas. So I did. I got it and it was, now follow, it was my delight to put the money down for that thing, to wrap it up and it was my delight on Christmas morning to give that to him and see him open it up and then to put it together with him and to play with it and with him and all that kind of stuff.

It was my delight to do so. Jesus says it is your father's good pleasure. It is his delight to give you the kingdom. Now notice, this is not something that is, he doesn't begrudge doing it as if it's something he has to do that he doesn't really want to do.

If that were the case, his disposition toward you would be like you're a master making demands of him that he has to meet and he would therefore be your heavenly slave or your heavenly genie. He doesn't begrudge giving you the kingdom and he doesn't do it out of duty, like he's providing an obligatory payment of some kind because you've met the requirements.

If that were the case, his disposition toward you would be sort of like an employer that has to pay his employees. It's a duty that he has to meet. It's an obligation that he has to meet because the employees have met the requirements for that pay.

If that were the way God looked at giving the kingdom to you, then he would be kind of like your heavenly boss or your heavenly employer or the heavenly company that you worked for. It's not his disposition to give out of a sense of duty or out of begrudging.

And God doesn't give out of a sense of as if he's getting some kind of benefit for himself. You know what I mean by that? Like someone who gives to charity so that he can get personal benefit, the giver can get personal benefit for what he's doing, like a nice tax deduction or maybe a feather in his cap or a few extra ticks up in his reputation score, something of that nature.

If that were the case, if God were giving, his disposition toward you in that case would be like you're a tool using you to get something that he wants for himself. And he would therefore be kind of like your heavenly philanthropist.

But listen, this is not what the passage says. Jesus says it is your father's delight, his good pleasure to give you the kingdom. He delights in this. Just as I delighted in giving my son that toy air force base, your father delights in giving you the kingdom.

It is his great joy. It is his pleasure. He gets satisfaction from this. So here's his disposition. The disposition of God toward the flock is that you are a beloved child and he is your heavenly father.

God's Delight to Give the Kingdom

All right, so listen, if you're a follower of Jesus Christ, what does Jesus tell you in this passage? If you're a follower of Jesus Christ, take comfort in your privileged dependence upon him. Take comfort in your true status in this world.

Take comfort in the confidence that you can have in Christ, even in the middle of a global pandemic, and take comfort in your heavenly father's disposition toward you. He delights to give. I hope you see your father as he wants you to see him, as he's revealed himself to you, as he's revealed his disposition toward you.

Let's pray. Father in heaven, thank you that you delight to give to your children. May we understand that and appreciate that. Find encouragement and comfort in that today. This we pray in Jesus' name.

Amen. All right, well, have a great Thursday.