“As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” He said to another man, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.” Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” (Lk 9:57-62)
We've been talking about the importance of giving up our rights as people of the kingdom of God. Last Sunday, we talked about giving up the right to choose where to live.
 
Where we want to live depends on our interests and priorities. Where we choose to live is a reflection of our values. But in order to live as people of the kingdom of God, we need to learn to put aside our personal desires and seek the values of the kingdom of God first.
 
One day, a man came to Jesus and said, “I will follow you wherever you go.” (Lk 9:57)
 
This sounds like a remarkable commitment, but the man didn't really know what it meant to follow Jesus or what it would cost him. That’s why Jesus told him,
 
“Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head” (Lk 9:58)
 
By saying this, Jesus let him know that following Him could mean not having a safe or comfortable place to sleep at night. That’s the price all Christians need to think about before making the decision to follow Him. We cannot truly follow Jesus without being willing to give up our homes. We can't follow Him without choosing to be where He wants us to be. And we can't follow Him unless we put the values of the kingdom and His will first, ahead of our own interests, values, and comfort.
 
This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t have a home if you want to follow Jesus. Again, God knows our needs. He knows that we need shelter. But still, it shouldn’t be our priority when it comes to following Christ. None of our rights should ever take precedence over following Jesus.
 
A good soldier doesn’t get entangled in civilian affairs. A good soldier is one who puts their commander's orders above everything else. A good soldier is one who is willing to limit their options in order to obey the orders of their commanders. A good soldier is one who gives up their personal desires in order to devote themselves wholeheartedly to the task at hand. That’s how Christians should live.
 
We're called to be good soldiers of Christ, to dedicate our whole lives to His calling and to prioritize obeying His will and pleasing Him above everything else.
 
It is not easy for us to be true disciples of Jesus Christ and His soldiers in this world; it inevitably requires commitment, renunciation, and sacrifice. We may live like foreigners, strangers, and travelers on earth.
 
That’s the reason we should lift up our eyes and fix them on Jesus Christ, the pioneer of our faith. We should always remember the heavenly reward and blessing that will be given to us as we follow Christ. The earthly things we may have to give up for Him can't even compare to the eternal blessings He will give us at the end.
 
If we're not ashamed of Jesus and His gospel, He will not be ashamed of us when He comes back. If we try to build His kingdom on earth by giving up our rights, He will prepare our rooms in the kingdom of God and take us into the kingdom with Him. That's what we must continue to seek and keep our eyes on in order to truly live as people of the kingdom of God.
 
Right to Love Family
All right. We've talked about some of the rights we have to give up to follow Christ, such as the right to money, the right to time, and the right to choose where we live. Now I want us to think about the fourth right - the right to love our families.
 
The idea of giving up loving our families may sound strange at first. One of the most precious gifts God gives us is the right to be part of a family.
 
It is within God’s will that a man and a woman come together and reflect His love and unity in marriage. This is a gift from God, first given in the garden of Eden. A child is a gift from God to their parents. God gives parents the right and privilege of raising their children. Marriage and family are the cornerstones God laid for a secure society.
 
To love and honor our parents is the first commandment listed among those concerning neighbors. So, it’s definitely God’s will for us to love our parents. There's no doubt about that. Even Jesus loved and honored His earthly mother to the end by asking one of His disciples to be her son after His death.
 
But still, despite its significance, Christians shouldn’t put their family before God and His work. We shouldn’t love our family more than we love God.
 
Jesus once said, “I have come to turn “‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law - a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household. Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” (Mt 10:35-37)
 
He even said, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters - yes, even their own life - such a person cannot be my disciple” (Lk 14:26)
 
These words are not easy to understand, especially when we consider how much the Bible values family. But Jesus didn’t necessarily mean that we should be against our families or even hate them to follow Him. We should never abandon our responsibility to our families.
 
But while God never asks us to be irresponsible with our families, He does ask us to put our love for our family and our desire to be with them on the altar when it comes to loving Him and following Him.
 
For Christians, love for God and obedience to His call should come first before parents, marriage, and children. For us to be followers of Jesus Christ means that we are ready and willing to submit these gifts to His greater purpose.
 
Jesus doesn’t really want us to hate our families. The point He is making in these passages is not about hating anyone, but about loving Him. Christians are those who love Him first and foremost. We're to love Him so much that our love for our family seems like hatred in comparison. Only those who are willing to love Him in this way can truly follow Him.
 
In today’s passage, Jesus called two people. When He told the first man “follow me,” he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” (Lk 9:59)
 
This was a very legitimate request. For Jews, it was a very important duty to bury their deceased parents. It was therefore unthinkable for a Jewish man not to fulfil his obligation to perform his father's burial. So the man's request to bury His father first was proper and unobjectionable.
 
But Jesus told the man, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God” (Lk 9:60)
 
This verse has been controversial because of its radical content. One possible interpretation is that his father is not yet dead. The man's father must have been very old. He might have been ill, and therefore didn't have much time to live. So the man's request to bury his father first was a request to put his following of Jesus on hold until his father died.
 
Here's the temptation. We have relationships, and we have obligations and responsibilities that come from those relationships. We have obligations as people of the kingdom of God and we have obligations as children of our parents. So when these duties come into conflict, which ones should we prioritize and which ones should we consider secondary?
 
When these duties conflict with each other, we may be tempted to give up or put on hold the duties we have as Christians. But such a person cannot be a true disciple of Jesus. Christians are those who put their duties as God's people above all other duties, even if those duties are to their families.
 
Jesus did not object to the man caring for his old father; He did not object to the man burying his father after his death. What Jesus objected to was that such things would lead to a failure to follow Him.
 
Again, it is very important to love and honor our parents and to take good care of them. But there is something more important for Christians. That is to follow Jesus.
 
Jesus doesn’t want his followers to be inhumane. The Bible places great value on family relationships and caring for our families as the most important of all relationships.
 
But still, we must not use these things as an excuse for not fulfilling our duties to Christ. The greatest and most important commandment given to us is to love God. Loving our neighbor is subordinate to this first commandment, even if it is our family.
 
What would you do if your closest and dearest family member was preventing you from following Jesus Christ? We need to be determined to make following Jesus our first priority in the midst of it all. Only those who can make this choice can truly be disciples of Jesus and preach the gospel of the kingdom of God.
 
Moses gave a final blessing to the 12 tribes of Israel before he died. Among them, Moses said this about the tribe of Levi.
 
“He said of his father and mother, ‘I have no regard for them.’ He did not recognize his brothers or acknowledge his own children, but he watched over your word and guarded your covenant.” (Dt 33:9)
 
The characteristic of the Levites that Moses spoke of was that they were committed to following God's word and keeping His covenant, even to the point of denying their own families. 
 
Jesus said something similar. One day, when He was talking to the crowds, His mother and brothers came to meet Him. Someone told Jesus that His mother and brothers were standing outside. But Jesus didn’t go out to meet them. Rather, He said to the people there,
 
“Who is my mother, and who are my brothers? Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother” (Mt 12:48-50)
 
Jesus didn’t allow His family's visit to interfere with the ministry God had given him. Rather, He used it as an opportunity to teach the people there the concept of a new spiritual family connected and formed by the Father in heaven.
 
Then, this is the mindset we should also have as people of the kingdom of God, to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ and to commit ourselves wholeheartedly to the mission He has given us. We must be able to give up our right to love our families in order to fulfill the mission God has given us.
 
In today’s passage, we read of another person who said to Jesus, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family” (Lk 9:61)
 
This also sounds like a reasonable request. Saying goodbye to his family was necessary and wouldn’t take too long.  The man wanted to follow Jesus. But he had another desire, and that was to say goodbye to his family.  The problem was that the man made spending time with his family a condition of following Jesus.
 
Jesus didn’t allow it, even though it was right to do so, which shows the urgency and importance of His call to follow Him. The Lord's request to follow Him is the supreme call that must take precedence over everything else.
 
The man wanted to follow Jesus, but he was still very attached to his family, which meant that he was not yet fully committed to following Jesus. That’s the reason Jesus told him, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God” (Lk 9:62)
 
What concerned Jesus was that the man going home and spending one last time with his family and saying goodbye to them might cause him to change his mind about following Jesus.
 
If we are to be a people worthy of God's kingdom, we must be determined never to look back. That means letting nothing stand in the way of following Jesus, even our family.
 
Those who put a hand to their plow shouldn’t look back. It might cause them to give up their work. Those who begin the work of God must be determined to continue it and see it through without looking back.
 
The apostle Paul said, “… I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” (Php 3:12-14)
 
By the time Paul wrote these words, he had already accomplished many things. But he chose not to be satisfied with what he had done; his eyes were still fixed on the mission the Lord had given him. He did not look back, but kept running toward the goal the Lord had given him. That is why he did not lose his faith to the end, and was able to fulfill the mission the Lord had given him.
 
To look back is to miss what is behind. To look back is to retreat. Those who constantly look back will never be able to move forward. They will end up failing. Jesus says that such people aren’t fit for the work of the kingdom of God.
 
Therefore, in order to live as true people of God, we must keep our eyes fixed on Jesus Christ and the mission He entrusted to us to proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God. We must not allow anything to distract us from this task.
 
Today, we talked about the kind of mindset we should have to be true disciples of Jesus Christ and people of the kingdom of God.
 
Everyone here should have a willingness to follow Jesus. But, the question is, how strong is that will? There are so many things in the world that keep us from following Jesus. They weaken our resolve to follow His way.
 
That's why we need to humbly take off our shoes and lay down our rights before Him if we really want to live as people of God's kingdom.
 
So, let us surrender our lives to Him again. Let’s confess that everything we have is from God and proclaim that He is the Lord of our lives so that we may be more faithful to Jesus’ call to follow Him and to the mission He has entrusted to us: to spread the good news of the kingdom of God.
 
May God's will be done and His kingdom be established through our lives. Let’s pray.
 
[Prayer]
Heavenly Father, thank You for revealing to us the mission of Your kingdom and the mindset we should have for that mission.
 
Lord, we want to love You first and foremost. We want to love You more than all the people we love in this world, even more than our own families.
 
Lord, we want to make Your will our top priority.  Let us put following You above our own will, above the many other important things and obligations we have, so that following Your will can be our highest priority.
 
Help us to keep our eyes fixed on You, so that we may live as true people of Your kingdom. Let us look forward to Your kingdom, not backward toward this world. Let us not seek the things of this world, but only Your face, Your kingdom, and Your righteousness.
 
We thank You for creating us, saving us, and entrusting us with the mission of Your kingdom. Please continue to work in our lives. May only Your name be lifted up and glorified through us.
 
We pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
 
[Reflection Questions]
1) What are the priorities in your life right now?
 
2) Do you think you are fit for the work of the kingdom of God? What keeps you from committing to living according to God's will?
 

“Then he and his disciples went to another village. As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” He said to another man, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.” Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” (Lk 9:56-62)
We've been talking about the importance of giving up our rights as people of the kingdom of God. Last Sunday, we talked about giving up the right to time.
 
The most important principle we need to keep in mind as Christians is that everything we have comes from God and thus He is the true Lord of it all. This includes not only our material possessions but also our time. Since it is God who gives us 24 hours each day, we should use our time according to His will.
 
What Satan tells us is that we are the owners of our time and that we can use our time as we please. Satan doesn’t tire of putting the assumption into our minds that our time is our own, because that's the best way to keep us away from God and to enslave us.
 
We get angry when we feel our rights have been violated. If we think we have the right to use the 24 hours we have each day as we please, then we’ll be upset when we are told to use them to do things we don't want to do.
 
We usually choose to spend our time doing things that benefit us or entertain us. It is difficult for someone who does not find reading the Bible useful or enjoyable to spend time reading it. When such a person is told to spend time every day reading and meditating on the Bible, they tend to resist. That’s the feeling Satan uses to keep us away from the Bible. Satan keeps telling us that we have the right to do what we want with our time, so that we may not spend it doing things that we don’t feel like doing.
 
But this assumption is completely wrong from the start because no one can create time. Time is a gift created by God and given to us, which means that we are obligated to use it for God’s glory. Time is what God has entrusted to us to use for His kingdom and His glory. So, we should always consider how our use of time contributes to the kingdom of God each day. We should keep in mind that we are stewards rather than owners of time.
 
The apostle Paul urges us to make the best use of our time. It means that we should use every moment given to us according to God's will.
 
God gives us 24 hours each day. That’s Chronos time. It is fixed. No one can have more than 24 hours a day.
 
But not all 24 hours are equal. Some people might waste their day doing meaningless things, while others might spend their time diligently and make their day meaningful. That’s what Kairos means. God calls each Christian to use the chronos time given to them each day in a kairos way - the way of knowing Him, making Him known, and glorifying Him.
 
God gives us time to know Him, to love Him, to have fellowship with Him, to make Him known, to glorify Him, and to establish His kingdom on earth. If we use the time we're given each day to do these things, it means we're making the best use of our time in a kairos way. That’s how God wants us to spend our time. The kingdom of God is built and expanded through those who are committed to this.
 
3. The Right to Choose Where to Live
Now, let’s continue to talk about the rights we must give up to live as people of the kingdom of God.
 
The third right I want us to think about today is the right to decide where to live.
 
Where we live has a lot to do with our lives. The world is big, and there are so many places to live. If someone asked you to choose just one place to live for the rest of your life, where would you choose?
 
The answer to that question will reflect where you place your values: someone who values their children's education will think of a place with a good school district. Someone who values the weather will think of a place with good weather. Someone who values frugality will think of a place with no taxes and a low cost of living; someone who values family will choose a place close to family; someone who values cultural life will think of a city where they can easily enjoy different cultures; someone who values safety will choose a place with good public safety; and the list goes on and on.
 
The point is, where we choose to live is a reflection of our values. Then, what choice will the person who values the kingdom of God make?
 
That's the point of today's sermon. If we really want to live as true people of the kingdom of God, we must be able to let go of the right to choose where we live.
 
For example, when I'm choosing where to live, the most important thing to me is my family. I want to live close to my family so that I may be able to visit them often. But right now I'm in the States, and I don't know if I'll ever live in Korea again. It would be great if the place God called me to live was close to my family, but most of the time it is not.
 
Likewise, we are often asked to put aside our personal desires and values when making decisions for the kingdom of God. The question is whether we are willing to set aside our own standards and values for the sake of the kingdom of God.
 
In today's passage, we read about three people who want to follow Christ, or who are called by Jesus to follow Him.
 
First, a man came to Jesus and said, “I will follow you wherever you go.” (Lk 9:57)
 
This is a remarkable commitment. He was ready to follow Jesus wherever He went. But the Lord saw the motives behind his declaration.
 
Perhaps this man was fascinated by the power of Jesus and envied the disciples for following such a powerful man. Indeed, Jesus had a great reputation in His day, and many people wanted to follow Him. But what they really wanted was the reputation that they would gain by following Him, not Jesus Himself. He was one of those people.
 
He thought only of the blessings that following Jesus would bring him, not the difficulties or sacrifices that it would require. He didn’t consider the cost he would have to pay to follow Him. He didn't know that following Jesus meant denying himself and becoming poor and homeless like Him.
 
So, in order to show him what it really costs to follow Him, Jesus said,
 
“Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head” (Lk 9:58)
 
What Jesus is saying here is that following Him has nothing to do with the power, wealth, or honor that the man expected. Following Jesus means that we are not even guaranteed the minimum living space that animals like foxes and birds are given.
 
That's the price of following Jesus we need to think about. We can only truly become disciples of Jesus and follow Him by giving up our rights to eat what we want to eat, wear what we want to wear, and live where we want to live.
 
We may be ostracized for following Jesus. It requires giving up the security of this world. Following Him requires a commitment to giving up our rights in order to be where His heart is and His eyes are.
 
That's what we should think about if we really want to be His disciples and follow Him.
 
We must remember that we will enter the kingdom of heaven through many sufferings, and that we must deny ourselves and take up our crosses to follow Christ.
 
Jesus told the man that if he followed Him, he would be cold, uncomfortable, humiliated, and insulted. If he could not handle that, Jesus said, he should reconsider following Him.
 
Good Soldier of Christ
The apostle Paul said in 2 Timothy 2:3-4, “Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer.” (2Tm 2:3-4)
 
Here, Paul describes the Christian life by comparing it to that of a good soldier.
 
Paul said that soldiers don’t get entangled in civilian affairs. The Greek word that’s translated as “civilian affairs” is βίος (bios). It refers to life in general and to something that sustains life, such as work, occupation, and business.
 
A soldier’s top priority is to do what their commander tells them to do; everything else is secondary. When a soldier answers the call of duty, their choices are limited. A soldier is not free to choose where they want to live. They cannot move to another place at will. A soldier must obey the orders of their commanders, regardless of their will. A good soldier is one who gives up their personal desires in order to devote themselves wholeheartedly to the task at hand.
 
Paul tells us that this is how Christians should live. Christians don't decide for themselves where they live; they move and stop at the command of Jesus, their true commander. They lay down the affairs of the world to obey Jesus' commands. And they do so only to please Jesus, the commander.
 
If we try to please ourselves by seeking pleasure in the world, we will fail to please Jesus. If we get caught up in our personal affairs, we will not be fully faithful to the work of the kingdom of God. If we really want to be good soldiers of Christ and follow Him, we will have to give up many things.
 
We might ask, then, who can follow the Lord? If we only consider what we have to give up, we will find it too difficult to follow Him. But Jesus doesn't just ask us to make unconditional sacrifices.
 
We must keep in mind that when the Lord asks us to give up something, it is always to give us blessings far greater than what we lay down for Him.
 
We must remember that the blessings that will be given to us in the kingdom of God are incomparably greater than the sacrifices we make here on earth to build that kingdom. Only those who remember this will be able to follow the Lord willingly and joyfully.
 
This was the life that our predecessors of faith lived. Hebrews 11:13-16 says,
 
“All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country - a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.” (Heb 11:13-16)
 
They did not live a life of abundance here on this earth. God promised them blessings, but they didn't get to enjoy them while living in the world. Rather, they only welcomed them from a distance because the blessings belong to the kingdom of God, not this world.
 
So they lived like foreigners and strangers. They didn’t settle down in the world. They did not find their identity in the world. They did not put their hope in the world. They didn't try to have much in the world, because they remembered that they had a home to return to.
 
They were not ashamed of the way they lived, nor of the God in whom they believed; and God was not ashamed of them either. And He prepared a city for them, His kingdom.
 
The kingdom is not only for them, but for all believers who trust in God and follow Jesus Christ. When Jesus spoke to His disciples for the last time before His crucifixion, He said,
 
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” (Jn 14:1-3)
 
This is the kingdom of God that we should be looking forward to and preparing for. The Lord remembers our sacrifices to build His kingdom on earth. As we labor to build His kingdom here, our Lord is handcrafting our home in His kingdom, and it will be far better than the most expensive and luxurious houses we see in this world.
 
That’s where our true citizenship belongs. As the apostle Paul said, “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.” (Php 3:20-21)
 
On the day of our Lord's return, He will transform us into His glorious image. On that day, He will give us eternal life, and He will bring us into the house that He has built with His own hands in the kingdom of God.
 
That is our home to which we will return; that is where our citizenship belongs. Christians are those who look forward to that day, and who are building the kingdom of God by preaching the gospel of the kingdom, whatever the cost here on earth.
 
During this time, I want us to fix our eyes on the kingdom of God. I want us to put our hope in the kingdom that will last forever, not in things that will be here for a little while and then fade away, so that we may continue to live as people of the kingdom of God, following Jesus Christ wherever He goes.
 
Let’s pray.
 
[Prayer]
Dear Lord, we lay down our rights before You. We want to be where You want us to be, not where we're satisfied.
 
We want to follow You as Your sincere disciples. We want to live as good soldiers of Your kingdom. Open and renew our minds and help us to set them on things above, so that we may see eternal values in Your kingdom and be more dedicated to building it here on earth.
 
Help us to seek and find satisfaction in You, rather than in this world. Be with us always, strengthening and accompanying us so that we may seek Your kingdom, Your righteousness, and Your will above everything else.
 
May Your will be done and Your kingdom come through us.
 
We thank You, Lord, and we love You.
We pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
 
[Reflection Questions]
1) If you could choose where you would live next, where would you want to live? What would contribute to this decision?
 
2) What qualities do you think Christians should have as disciples of Jesus and as soldiers of the kingdom of God?
 
3) What is something you can commit to doing for the kingdom of God this week?

“The commander of the Lord’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.” (Jos 5:15)
 
We've talked about the importance of giving up our rights as people of the kingdom of God. Last Sunday, we talked about giving up the right to money.
 
The Bible talks a lot about money because it is so intimately connected to our faith and our lives. The Bible doesn't say we don't need to have money at all, and it doesn't describe money itself as evil. It's not a sin for us to have money and own things, and it's not evil for us to use what we have for our needs.
 
What the Bible teaches us to be wary of is not money itself but the love of money. Paul says it’s the root of all kinds of evil because it causes Christians to stray from their faith. Because we can do a lot of things with money, it can easily replace God when we love it. The more we love and rely on money, the weaker our faith and trust in God become.
 
That’s the reason Jesus said, “Either you will hate [God] and love [money] or you will be devoted to [God] and despise [money]. You cannot serve both God and money” (Mt 6:24)
 
So we talked about how we should think about and use money as Christians.
 
The most important thing to remember when talking about the right to money is that we are not the masters of our finances. We may think we are the owners of our money because we have used our time, energy, and ability to make it. But if we truly confess that everything we have—our time, health, and abilities—comes from God, then we can’t help but also confess that God is the true Owner of our finances.
 
Deuteronomy 8:17-18 says, “You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth...” (Dt 8:17-18)
 
Then, if we believe that He is the true Master, we should also be able to use our money for His glory and His will.
 
Paul said in 2 Corinthians 9, “God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work…  You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God… others will praise God…  for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else.” (2 Cor. 9:8, 11, 13)
 
We need to remember that the reason God has blessed us abundantly with earthly possessions is so that we may abound in every good work and be generous on every occasion.
 
God has not given us money so that we can use it to live comfortable and enjoyable lives for ourselves, but because He wants us to share with those who are in need so that they may give thanks to God and praise Him through our generosity. That’s how we build and expand the kingdom of God by using our money according to His will.
 
If we really acknowledge that God is the true Owner of our money, then we must choose either to be a good steward of what He has allowed us to have, or to be a thief and steal from Him. The real battle we have to fight as Christians is not how much to give to the Lord. It's how much we don’t steal from Him.
 
So we must always keep a good balance between what we use for ourselves and what we use for the kingdom of God. And, in order for us to give up our right to our money and use it according to God’s will, we should have an eternal, kingdom perspective.
 
Whatever we use for God's will in this world is not lost; it is actually laid up as treasure in heaven. If we can use our earthly, perishable possessions to gain treasure in the eternal kingdom of God, it is actually highly profitable.
 
We love money because it gives us security, pleasure, comfort, and satisfaction, but God is the one who can give us eternal security, pleasure, and contentment that money cannot provide.
 
So the real battle is not where we spend our money but where we try to get our satisfaction. If we love the joy that God puts in our hearts when we use our money for a person who is starving more than the satisfaction that comes from eating delicious food ourselves, then we will be willing to use what we have for God's will and not our own.
 
2. The Right to Time
All right. Let's continue to talk about the rights we have to give up in order to live as people of the kingdom of God. The second right I want us to think about is time.
 
Unlike money, the same amount of time is given to everyone every day. We have 24 hours every day and 365 days in a year.
 
How we use this time as Christians is very important because everything we do is done with our time. We can use the time given to us every day to get to know God better, and we can use it to do the work He's given us. But we can also use that same time to entertain ourselves without any purpose.
 
Then, how should we use our time as Christians? What does the Bible say about it? The principles for how we should spend our time are similar to those for money.
 
The reason we should give up our rights to money as people of God's kingdom and use the money we have for God's will is because it is God who gave it to us and thus He is the true Owner. The same applies to our time. The reason we should give up our rights to the time we have and use it for God's will is because it is God who gives it to us and therefore He is the true owner of our time.
 
One of the many lies that Satan tells us is that we are the owners of our time and that we can use our time as we please.
 
Last year I read a book called The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis. The book consists of 31 letters from a high-ranking demon named Screwtape to his nephew Wormwood, who is a junior tempter. In the 31 letters, Screwtape gives Wormwood detailed advice on various methods of corrupting the soul of his patient, an unnamed Christian man.
 
And, in the 21st letter, Screwtape said this.
“Now you will have noticed that nothing throws him into a passion so easily as to find a tract of time which he reckoned on having at his own disposal unexpectedly taken from him… They anger him because he regards his time as his own and feels that it is being stolen… You must therefore zealously guard in his mind the curious assumption “My time is my own”. Let him have the feeling that he starts each day as the lawful possessor of twenty-four hours.”
 
Screwtape's premise here is this: humans are angry when they think their rights have been taken away from them. So if someone thinks they have a right to use the 24 hours they have each day as they please, they will be angry when they think that right is being taken away from them. So Screwtape advises Wormwood to make sure that his patient always has the idea in mind that his time is his own.
 
But Screwtape calls the idea a “curious assumption” because it doesn't actually make sense at all. For the assumption that “my time is my own” to be true, time must be something I create or earn through some effort. But no one can create time, and no one can make more or less of it.
 
So Screwtape tells Wormwood not to let his patient think too deeply about the assumption that his time is his own, because the more he thinks about it, the more he will realize it's wrong. Screwtape continued,
 
“You have here a delicate task. The assumption which you want him to go on making is so absurd that, if once it is questioned, even we cannot find a shred of argument in its defence… The man can neither make, nor retain, one moment of time; it all comes to him by pure gift… Don't let his thoughts come anywhere near it. Wrap a darkness about it, and in the centre of that darkness let his sense of ownership-in-Time lie silent, uninspected, and operative.”
 
The reason Screwtape tells Wormwood to make sure his patient maintains “the curious assumption” is that when the patient realizes that the assumption is wrong, he will begin to use his time for God, whom Screwtape calls the enemy.
 
Screwtape says, “He is also, in theory, committed a total service of the Enemy; and if the Enemy appeared to him in bodily form and demanded that total service for even one day, he would not refuse… Now if he thinks about his assumption for a moment, even he is bound to realise that he is actually in this situation every day.”
 
So, what Lewis emphasizes here through this letter is that we tend to regard time as our own to use as we choose, when in fact every moment is entrusted to us as a gift by God.
 
To regard time as our possession has two virtues from Screwtape’s perspective. First, we become angry when we find demands being made on our time, demands which are quite appropriate if we are serious about discipleship. Second, it obscures the fact that because we have been entrusted with time by God, we are obligated to use it for God’s glory. We are stewards rather than owners of time.
 
Then, this is the mindset we should have as Christians. Satan deceives us into thinking that we’re the owners of our time. But from a biblical perspective, time is what God has entrusted to us to use for His kingdom and His glory. So, we should always consider how our use of time contributes to the kingdom of God each day.
 
Psalm 31:14-15 says, “But I trust in you, Lord; I say, “You are my God.” My times are in your hands…” (Ps 31:14-15)
 
This is the confession we should make every morning. “Thank You for giving me a new day. My time belongs to You. You are the Owner of it. Be with me every single moment of today and give me the wisdom and strength to spend it according to Your will.”
 
If we come to the Lord daily with this confession, we will not waste the time we’re given each day. We will be more committed to using our time to love God, to know God, to make God known, and to love and serve those God has put around us. That’s how we should spend our time as the people of the kingdom of God.
 
The apostle Paul said, “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” (Eph 5:15-17)
 
In this passage, Paul is talking about how we should use our time as Christians. If we want to live wisely, we must be very careful about how we use our time. To live wisely is to make the best use of our time. And in order for us to make the best use of our time, we must understand what the Lord’s will is so that we can use our time to carry it out in our daily lives.
 
Χρόνος and Καιρός
For us to understand the meaning of this passage, we need to understand two different concepts of time in the Bible. There are two ancient Greek words that are translated as the  English word “time” in the Bible. The first one is Chronos (Χρόνος) and the second is Kairos (Καιρός).
 
Chronos refers to quantitative, sequential, and measurable time. It refers to “clock” time that we can measure in seconds, minutes, and hours. Chronos is linear and always flows from the past to the future. It is the general meaning of time that we often use. That’s where the word “chronology” comes from.
 
Kairos, on the other hand, refers to qualitative time or an opportune or right moment. What this word emphasizes is not the duration of time, but its significance and value. While Chronos is objective time that flows equally to everyone, Kairos is a subjectively meaningful time, especially in a relationship with God.
 
When Paul encouraged Christians to “[make] the best use of the time,” he used the word kairos. It is a call to use the chronos time we have been given in a kairos way. It means that we use the time we are given each day meaningfully in our relationship with God.
 
Every day, everyone gets 24 hours. But the results of these 24 hours are very different depending on the person. Some people use them meaninglessly without producing anything, while others use them to create meaningful moments and results.
 
Life is more about how you live than how long you live. No matter how short our lives are, if we have used them according to God's will and contributed to the establishment of His kingdom on earth, we can say that our lives have been meaningful. But no matter how long we live, if we use all the time we have been given just for ourselves, it is not so meaningful from the perspective of the kingdom of God.
 
Jesus lived on earth for 33 years and only ministered for three of those years. But those three years changed the course of human history. Because Jesus dedicated all the time he had been given to building the kingdom of God, He was able to say “It is finished” in His final moment on the cross.
 
That should be the way we use our time, following the example Jesus set. Just as Jesus spent time each day with God alone in a secluded place, we should spend time each day with God through His word and prayer. Just as the Lord used His time to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom of God and to be with the sick, the sinners, and the marginalized, so should we. That’s how we live wisely, making best use of the time we’re given, according to God’s will for us.
 
And we shouldn’t put off using our time wisely and according to God's will until some time later in the future because we do not know when our lives will end.
 
James 4:13-15 says, “Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”” (Jms 4:13-15)
 
As Christians, the most important thing we should consider when deciding where and how to spend our time is whether it is in the Lord's will.
 
We don't know what will happen in the future, and we can't control it. The only time we can control is the present. So our attitude as Christians should be to humbly lift up our future to God and use the time He has given us today to do His will, rather than getting too preoccupied with the unknown future.
 
So, how do you use the 24 hours of your day? How much do you spend your time according to God’s will?
 
What I feel these days is that there is so much we as Christians need to know in order to make God known to non-Christians. We need to know the Bible in depth, and then we need to be able to explain the truths we find in the Bible to non-Christians in a way that they can understand. There are countless books on the subject.
 
1 Peter 3:15 says, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” (1Pt 3:15).
 
How prepared are you to share God with non-Christians according to this verse? If a non-Christian came up to you and asked you who God is, what the Bible is, what salvation is, and what Jesus is like, what would you say? Are you prepared with the answers to the questions?
 
I think the reason the gospel is not being preached to non-Christians today is because the Christians who claim to know it don’t really know what it is all about and are not living it out.
 
We are called to prepare answers. In order for us to prepare answers, we must diligently study the Bible, read it, and live out the truths we find in it. We must use the time we have been given to do this. That’s how we use our chronos time in a kairos way.
 
I want us to look back at how we’ve spent our time this week. Where did you spend most of your time last week, outside of eating, sleeping, and working? How did it relate to God's will?
 
There's nothing wrong with spending our time doing things that entertain us, but if that's all we do, it means that something's wrong. That shouldn’t be the way we live as Christians.
 
 If we really believe and confess that our time is a gift from God, and that He is therefore the Owner of our time, then we should also be able to live out that confession by actually using our time according to God's will.
 
That's how we should treat time as people of God's kingdom. When we give up our right to use our time as we please and begin to use it for God's will, God will use it to build His kingdom.
 
Let’s pray.
 
[Prayer]
Dear Lord, we thank You for everything You’ve allowed us to have on earth. We profess that all we have is Yours because You are the One who gave it to us.
 
Now Lord, we want to take off our shoes before You and give up our right to our time. We profess that You are the true Lord of our time since You are the One who gives us time each day.
 
Oh Lord, we don't want to live our lives aimlessly. We want to spend more of our time building Your kingdom on earth. We give You our time. Let us know what Your will is for us and how to use our time according to Your will so that we can be used as vessels for Your kingdom.
 
Give us heavenly wisdom so that we may live wisely, making the best use of the time You give us according to Your will.
 
We pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
 
[Reflection Questions]
1) How do you spend most of your time each day apart from working, sleeping, and eating?
 
2) What do you think is the best way for you to use your time according to God’s will?
 
3) How much time do you spend each day getting to know God and being equipped to make Him known? What is the ratio of the time you spend getting to know God versus the time you spend entertaining yourself? How do you balance the two?