Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - The Path to Glory | Advent | Luke 1:39-56

Episode Date: December 15, 2022

How do you achieve the good life? What makes God's kingdom different than kingdoms of the world? Is the American dream biblical? In today's episode, Patrick shares from Luke 1:39-56 to contrast the American way with God's way. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter@TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Luke 1:39-56 Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now.

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Patrick Miller. Sam Bankman-Fried's life has turned from riches to rags. Kind of the opposite of the normal story, right? As the CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange, FTX, he reached a peak value of $26 billion. But after FTC's cryptocurrency crashed, Sam resigned, and FTCS declared bankruptcy, and now he's left with only a measly $991 million. Okay, maybe this actually isn't riches to rags, it's just riches to less riches. Anyways, let's keep going. But the entire disaster, it happened because Sam Bakeman Fried was transferring funds out of FTX into Alameda Research, and that was a cryptocurrency trading firm that specialized in arbitrage.

but in the end, it just lost enormous amounts of cash. And it turns out that Sam was transferring not only his own capital, but the capital of people trusting FTX to hold their cryptocurrency for them. He was transferring it all over to Alameda Research. And the net result was that both companies folded and people lost billions of dollars. So some would say that Sam defrauded these people. Others would just say that Sam was terribly negligent, but not criminally negligence. Others would say that the only reason Sam Bankman-Fried hasn't been prosecuted is because he gave a ton of money to political figures.

Well, I guess I don't know what's really true. I'm not an expert in any of these things. But what I do know is that when you have billions of dollars and you're in bed with politicians and you're making shady deals, you must never forget one fundamental fact. God is watching. Bankman-Fried's riches to rags story, his influence to understand. influential story, his mighty to tiny story, it immediately made me think of Mary's only recorded song in the New Testament. She sang it when she was pregnant with Jesus and she was visiting her cousin Elizabeth. Now, at the time, Elizabeth was also pregnant with John the Baptist. And when Mary arise,

the baby in Elizabeth's womb leaps for joy. And then Mary is led by the spirit in a song that summarizes how the kingdom of God turns the world upside down. Luke 1, verses 46 to 55. My soul glorifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on, all generations will call me blessed, for the mighty one has done great things for me. Holy is his name. His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with his arm. He has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.

He has brought down rulers from their thrones, but has lifted. up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things, but he has sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors. The kingdom of God is not like the kingdoms of this world. Being wealthy isn't what gives you power in the kingdom of God. Donating to the right politicians, that doesn't secure you favor in the kingdom of God. No, God's kingdom is just. The proud, the rulers, the powerful, according to Mary, are all cast down. They're all held accountable for their misdeeds.

They're not given the place of honor or special influence the way that they often are in the world. Instead, instead, it's people like Mary who are great in the kingdom, the humble, the servants, the hungry. And when I read those words, I can't help but think of Jesus' own teachings. blessed are the gentle, blessed are those who hunger, do not lord it over one another. The last shall be first. The first shall be last. You see, the American dream is to be Sam Bankman Fried, at least at his pinnacle, $26 billion, influential friends on the shortlist for every gala and major events. But Mary warns that this, more often than not, is the path to destruction, not glory. The path to glory is the opposite of the American way.

It's the opposite of consumerism. It's the opposite of more, more, more, more, more, more. It's the opposite of what so many of us want on Christmas to have more stuff, to be more influential, bigger house, better gifts, all of the things. The way up and the kingdom is less, less, less. The way up is down. The path to glory is humility. No one embodies this more than Jesus himself. Paul says that even though Jesus was God, he didn't see.

see his divinity as a thing to be used for his own advantage. Instead, he became a human. And not just any human, Paul says he became a slave. In the ancient world, no one believed in human equality. They followed the thinking of Aristotle and Plato, who taught that inequality was woven into the universe. They taught that some were born by nature to rule, and others were born by nature to be slaves. And those slavish people were little better than the animals. Of course, few people believe this in America today, that people are born into inequality, that some people are born to be slaves. But that's because we live downstream from Jesus who taught the equal dignity of humans. But in truth, in truth, in practice, we do think that some people are a bit more equal than

others. We do tend to give deference to the Sam Baitman frieds of the world. We do tend to be a little bit in awe of them. We do kind of tend to think that they're smarter, that they're special. But With Christians, this must not be so. Because Jesus, when he came, he chose not to be born as a Sam Binkman fried with affluent, wealthy, hyper-intelligent parents who had all of the opportunities in the world. No, when Jesus came, he was born at the bottom of his world's hierarchy. And he did that to proclaim the truth of the kingdom, that the least is the greatest. Paul said he was born as a slave, not just born as a slave, he died as slave's death on the cross. He died despised, beaten, and defeated, and that cross was a throne.

Don't seek after wealth. Don't seek after more stuff. Don't waste your time, being over-interested in celebrities, being overly impressed by the wealthy. Instead, ask God for forgiveness, for the ways that you've sought for all the wrong things to have more, more, more, more, more, and ask him to empower you to do otherwise, to seek after his kingdom, to be able to be. a servant to all that you meet, to be humble, to be generous, to be hungry for righteousness, to be last. It'll look upside down to the world. No one will get it. But the truth is at its right side up because this is the path your creator took when he entered the world. And he knows the path to life. Before you forget, sign up for the 10-minute Bible Talks newsletter. Hit the link in the

show notes and you'll get an email every Wednesday that's going to help you beat that midweek slump and go deeper in your walk with Jesus. Thanks for listening.