This is a section of a sermon preached Sunday, January 18th, 2026

Now we return to Luke 17, where Jesus is teaching about the kingdom. He compares the coming of the kingdom to the days of Noah and the days of Lot. Most people assume he means it will be like those days because of obvious wickedness, because of public corruption.

But Jesus emphasizes something else.

He says people were eating, drinking, marrying, buying, selling, planting, building—life as usual. Ordinary routines. Normal schedules. Busy calendars. Full plates.

And then judgment came.

His point is not simply that people were doing terrible things. His point is that people were ignoring God.

They lived as if God did not exist.

They went about their lives “business as usual (Luke 17:30).”

This is why Jesus says, “Remember Lot’s wife.” She represents a heart that treated rescue like an interruption, not a salvation. She represents the impulse to cling to the old world while being dragged toward safety.

And then Jesus adds a line that is just as piercing as his sentence about Lot’s wife:

“Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it.”

In other words: stop living for yourself.

Stop building your life plan as if you are the owner.

Stop clinging to what you cannot keep.

Give yourself to the King. King Jesus

This doesn’t mean abandoning your job, your family, your responsibilities. It means bringing every part of your life under the reign of Jesus. It means becoming the person God created you to be rather than the person you engineered out of fear, pride, or ambition. It means recognizing your gifts aren’t self-made trophies. They are entrusted tools—meant to be used for God’s purposes, not merely your comfort.

And when people begin to live that way, something changes. The atmosphere changes. The conversations change. The language of a church changes. The focus changes.

When discipleship becomes the first priority—when surrender becomes the heart—fellowship follows naturally. But if fellowship is first, discipleship becomes accidental, occasional, or shallow. The order matters.

Jesus is not inviting us into a religious hobby. He is inviting us into a kingdom.

And kingdom life is not “business as usual.”