Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - The Sacred/Secular Divide | New Testament | Luke 3

Episode Date: March 22, 2023

Church on Sunday: check. But what about the rest of the week? God is deeply interested in every area of your life. Each moment matters to him. In today's episode on Luke 3, Jensen encourages you to live like you believe that's true.  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. Join the TMBT community in reading the entire New Testament in one year. Get your FREE reading plan here. 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 3

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life and the time it takes to get to work. I'm Jensen Holt McNair. When William Wilberforce was waging his political war to end slavery in Great Britain, one of his political counterparts, Lord Melbourne, countered his efforts, saying, things have come to a pretty pass when religion is allowed to invade public life. His point was clear. Wilberforce's religion had no place in the politics of the day. His feelings are are not unique. In our modern world, we've clearly seen the separation of church and state taking place. As the Western world becomes less dominated by Christianity, our culture is operating off of this very belief more and more. A person's faith is a personal matter, and it has no

bearing in a secular world. This divide is often referred to as the sacred secular split. and it comes both from a world that wants to keep religion out of its business, but also from those within the church who have come to truly believe that God cares about my spiritual health and what I do on Sundays, but not much else. The heart and lives of many Christians are divided between the things that they believe God has a part in and then the rest of their lives. We spend time with God when we go to church, pray, or read our Bibles, and spend the rest of our time doing what we need to do to get by. The problem is that the sacred secular split does not find its roots in Scripture. In fact, throughout Scripture, from the very first chapters in Genesis to the final verses in Revelation, we see

a God who is deeply interested in every area of his people's lives, and he calls them to live their entire lives for his glory. John the Baptist knew this. He knew that he was preparing the way for a God who cared about every area of his followers' lives. And because of that, we see him challenging the people of his day in Luke chapter 3. As people are responding to his message, repenting and coming to be baptized, we see this exchange beginning in verse 7. He said, therefore, to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him. You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits in keeping with repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, we have Abraham as our father,

for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree, therefore, that does not bear good fruit, is cut down and thrown into the fire. John challenges the intentions of those who have come to be baptized by him. He challenges them, telling them, to bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, we have Abraham as our father. You see, most of the people coming to him would have been Jewish. And it seems based on his rebuke that these men and women, while coming to John, responding to his message about the coming Messiah, continued to rely on their Jewish faith to save them. They believed

having Abraham as their father was enough. They were a part of God's family. So what did it matter how they lived their lives? But John counters this telling them that in order to have true belief, true belonging, a true place in the family of God, they have to bear fruit in keeping with their repentance. He's clearly telling these people, look, just being Jewish isn't enough. Your lives have to reflect the repentance you say you have. All of you has to reflect God. All of you has to reflect God. God, not just your ethnicity, not just this one part of you. Now, you and I may not be ethnic Jews living in the time of Jesus, relying on our ethnicity to places in God's family. But don't we do the same thing when we fall into the sacred secular split? We rely on being Christians, going to church,

praying before we eat, reading our Bibles a few times a week. We rely on our participation in the sacred to secure our place in God's family and allow the secular parts of our lives to remain untouched. But John does not sugarcoat his words. The sacred secular split has no place in the kingdom of God. And maybe, just like you are wondering now, the people he rebukes respond, wondering exactly what he's asking of them. Verse 10. And the crowds asked him, what then shall we do? And he answered them, whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise. Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, teacher, what shall we do? And he said to them, collect no more than you are authorized to do. Soldiers also asked him, and we, what shall we do?

And he said to them, do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages. John specifically lays out what it looks like to be a follower of the Messiah. You see, those with genuine faith do not live by a sacred secular split. They live their entire lives as though they matter to God, because they do. Faithful followers of Jesus will be generous in every area of their lives, sharing with those in need whenever they have excess. He then speaks specifically to two different professions. Those who are tax collectors should do so with honesty. those who are soldiers should not overstep their authority, but do their duties faithfully.

Now, you probably aren't a tax collector or a soldier, but the point isn't just that these two groups of people need to be faithful in their professions, but that all people, in every area of work, need to work in such a way that aligns with the repentance and faith they profess to have in Yahweh. Now, some may have expected John to tell these two, categories of people, tax collectors and soldiers, both working for the Roman government, to quit their jobs and get away from the evil of the Romans. But instead, instead, he tells them to lean in, but to do their jobs with dignity, honesty, respect. To live every area of their lives, including jobs in a very, very secular sphere, according to the faith they profess in God.

no divide, no separation. God calls each and every one of us to bear fruit in keeping with our repentance, and that includes living faithfully in the work we do every day, whatever that may be. Paul echoes John's sentiments in 1 Corinthians 1031 when he says, so whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Do it all for the glory of God. eating, drinking, whatever you do, working, making friends, driving, caring for your pets, raising your children, playing board games, do it all for the glory of God. Let no part of your life be

exempt from the reaches of the gospel. Every area of your life is holy. Every area of your life matters to God. Every moment of your life is an opportunity to serve Jesus. Do you believe that? Does your life reflect that? If I'm honest, I'd say yes to the first and then hesitate on the second. Of course I believe that. But my life doesn't always show it. How often do I bring my decisions before the Lord? How often do I ask the Lord to guide me as I try to raise my toddler? If I step back and really examine my life, I can see the portions of my life that I've carved out for God and the empty caverns of time that I just go about doing my own thing, living for my own comfort, seeking out my own desires, completely out of step with the faith I profess to live

my life by. It's sobering for me. And oftentimes when I come to this realization, I try to add to my schedule, fill my time with Bible studies or teaching more or praying more often. And these are all good things. but I have to remember, the answer isn't always to hunker down and try to make my entire life full of just the sacred things. No, I have to raise my son. I have to go to the grocery store. I have to clean my house and make dinner. I even have to take time to rest, to hang out with friends

and read a fiction book every now and a then. The ordinary can't be wedged out of my life, but the sacred can flood into each and every one of those places. What if I started seeing time spent with my son as an act of sacrificial service to the Lord? Giving of my time so that Jude can grow to know that he is loved both by me and by a God who wants to be a part of every area of his life? What if I saw grocery shopping and cooking meals as a gift I can give my family to provide, for them in the way that God has provided for me in so many ways, to partner with God and his provision of the necessary parts of life. What if I saw spending time with friends as a way to show God's love and to share in his delight over the amazing women he has created and given to me in my

life? What if I use that time to encourage them, to serve them rather than just to fill my own need for human interaction. You see, every area of my life matters to God. And every area of my life should reflect the repentance and faith I say I have on Sunday mornings. We can serve God and bring glory to God in the ordinary, secular spaces of our lives just as easily as we can in our churches on Sunday morning. I don't know exactly what your life looks like. but I know for certain that there is not a single speck of your life that God does not want a part in.

Maybe today you just spend time reflecting, answering the questions. Do I believe that every moment of my life is an opportunity to serve Jesus? And then does my life reflect that belief? Bring your answers to God. Pray about it. Confess the ways you fall in short and ask for the grace, the wisdom, the strength, and the perseverance to bear fruit for the glory of God in every area of your life today and every single day.

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