WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.919 Okay, we're going to turn back a little while, for a little while this morning, to Luke, 00:00:05.919 --> 00:00:09.279 Mark's Gospel, sorry, chapter 9. 00:00:09.279 --> 00:00:17.480 And it's a continuation of our study over ages now. 00:00:17.480 --> 00:00:21.519 We've been doing it in small chunks for ages. 00:00:21.519 --> 00:00:28.960 And what I want to highlight at the beginning is really that nobody has ever spoken like 00:00:28.960 --> 00:00:30.240 Jesus spoke. 00:00:30.240 --> 00:00:31.240 Nobody. 00:00:31.240 --> 00:00:34.880 Nobody's ever spoken like Jesus, ever. 00:00:34.880 --> 00:00:40.120 We saw a couple of weeks ago that, and everything is recorded in Mark's Gospel in its particular 00:00:40.120 --> 00:00:41.120 way for a reason. 00:00:41.120 --> 00:00:46.880 There was the amazing story of the Transfiguration of Jesus where he was transformed, he was 00:00:46.880 --> 00:00:52.280 morphed as it were in front of, there was Moses and Elijah were there, and his glory 00:00:52.280 --> 00:00:53.280 became evident. 00:00:53.280 --> 00:00:59.840 There was the seal for Jesus and also for us to understand that he's no ordinary person, 00:00:59.840 --> 00:01:04.280 he's God the Son, he's divine, that is what his own claim was. 00:01:04.280 --> 00:01:09.840 And that was for his encouragement shortly before he heads towards the crucifixion and 00:01:09.840 --> 00:01:12.040 the cross. 00:01:12.040 --> 00:01:18.040 And what Jesus said and some of these things that he did or that were revealed, baffled 00:01:18.040 --> 00:01:19.040 his disciples. 00:01:19.040 --> 00:01:22.359 He didn't really understand what he was doing. 00:01:22.359 --> 00:01:26.760 Eventually they did and eventually their hearts were turned and their whole lives and their 00:01:26.760 --> 00:01:32.719 whole thinking was turned upside down and inside out by this man Jesus. 00:01:32.719 --> 00:01:35.640 And that's the same for us if we are believers today, that's what's happened to us. 00:01:35.640 --> 00:01:40.719 It might not have been quite so radically dramatic for us, but nonetheless that's what's 00:01:40.719 --> 00:01:42.400 happened in our lives. 00:01:42.400 --> 00:01:44.840 So the title of the sermon was Jesus Rocks the Boat. 00:01:44.840 --> 00:01:49.599 And I would say it's not so much that Jesus rocks the boat, he actually blows it right 00:01:49.599 --> 00:01:57.359 out of the water in many ways when we recognize who he is and are confronted with his truth, 00:01:57.359 --> 00:02:02.199 which we'll see today is sometimes pretty challenging, and his love, which I hope is 00:02:02.199 --> 00:02:04.879 embracing and encouraging for us. 00:02:04.879 --> 00:02:10.959 That's the testimony of those who are being baptized today and also the parents of the 00:02:10.959 --> 00:02:14.560 children who are being baptized today and indeed all of us. 00:02:14.560 --> 00:02:19.520 And I hope for us there's a bit of an ongoing transformation that our lives were getting 00:02:19.520 --> 00:02:24.840 blown out of the water every so often by the living God as we're challenged by him because 00:02:24.840 --> 00:02:30.560 his truth is radically different very often from what we want to hold on to. 00:02:30.560 --> 00:02:33.480 And it can really unsettle us. 00:02:33.480 --> 00:02:37.879 It's miles, in many ways, what Jesus is saying in this passage that we'll look at, is miles 00:02:37.879 --> 00:02:44.240 away from the thinking and the philosophies of the modern Western secular mind. 00:02:44.240 --> 00:02:49.120 But in reality, it was miles away from the ancient Near East and minds as well because 00:02:49.120 --> 00:02:53.760 the disciples and those around them couldn't understand who Jesus was and what on earth 00:02:53.760 --> 00:02:59.400 he was coming to do and what he claimed to be. 00:02:59.400 --> 00:03:05.560 But truth is truth, you know, and his love and commitment to rescue us both from ourselves 00:03:05.560 --> 00:03:11.680 and to provide an understanding to the evil we recognize around us, the darkness and the 00:03:11.680 --> 00:03:20.719 disorder and the chaos in many ways and sometimes in us transforms and trumps the challenges 00:03:20.719 --> 00:03:23.719 that we face with the truth. 00:03:23.719 --> 00:03:27.840 So can I just say these sets the scene in the first place, in the couple of verses we 00:03:27.840 --> 00:03:38.640 didn't read which were verses 31 and 32 where he says, for he was teaching the disciples 00:03:38.639 --> 00:03:41.839 and sent him, the Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, they will 00:03:41.839 --> 00:03:45.239 kill him and when he is killed after three days he will rise. 00:03:45.239 --> 00:03:49.479 But they did not understand what he was saying and they were afraid to ask him. 00:03:49.479 --> 00:03:52.559 So that's the kind of introduction to the section that we read. 00:03:52.559 --> 00:03:57.359 And that's kind of really important because Mark is putting it all in its rightful place 00:03:57.359 --> 00:04:04.099 and he's saying, look, what I'm teaching you is in light of what's about to happen soon. 00:04:04.099 --> 00:04:09.319 This is the second time in Mark's gospel we've seen one of them when Jesus predicts 00:04:09.319 --> 00:04:14.799 His death and resurrection and each time the disciples say, what are they talking about? 00:04:14.799 --> 00:04:15.799 What's happening? 00:04:15.799 --> 00:04:17.959 What's going on? 00:04:17.959 --> 00:04:23.159 And he is, in a sense he's preparing them and he's setting the scene. 00:04:23.159 --> 00:04:24.839 He's the promised Savior. 00:04:24.839 --> 00:04:31.519 So you've got this real juxtaposition between a transfigured Jesus, this glorious Son of 00:04:31.519 --> 00:04:38.319 God, this amazing divine being on the mountaintop and then he comes and says, I'm going to suffer 00:04:38.319 --> 00:04:43.399 and die and I'm going to be raised again on the third day. 00:04:43.399 --> 00:04:47.319 Big man, he's the big man. 00:04:47.319 --> 00:04:49.479 He's the living God. 00:04:49.479 --> 00:04:53.639 And this is what he's saying and he says, he's going to die? 00:04:53.639 --> 00:04:56.120 He predicts it? 00:04:56.120 --> 00:04:57.879 But he said, well, we could all predict that. 00:04:57.879 --> 00:04:59.439 There's no big deal on that. 00:04:59.439 --> 00:05:02.199 But then he says, on the third day I'm going to rise again. 00:05:02.199 --> 00:05:08.160 And he's claiming something hugely significant that there was an incredible power and an 00:05:08.160 --> 00:05:14.720 incredible work that he was going to do that was for humanity, not for him but for humanity 00:05:14.720 --> 00:05:16.399 proven in his resurrection. 00:05:16.399 --> 00:05:18.800 Now that is tough for us to understand. 00:05:18.800 --> 00:05:22.399 It's tough for the disciples to understand. 00:05:22.399 --> 00:05:26.519 But we all die and we're all powerless over that. 00:05:26.519 --> 00:05:33.439 So I think it's therefore important for us to listen to one who claims that he has not 00:05:33.439 --> 00:05:38.079 only predicted his own death but he predicted his resurrection and the purpose behind it. 00:05:38.079 --> 00:05:43.799 And we know that the whole of the Bible is pointing forward to that and death and resurrection 00:05:43.799 --> 00:05:47.919 and the rest of it points back to that because it's so significant. 00:05:47.919 --> 00:05:52.799 And I wonder if sometimes we're a bit like, I think we are sometimes a bit like the disciples. 00:05:52.800 --> 00:05:57.120 We are a little bit afraid to ask about it. 00:05:57.120 --> 00:06:00.560 They were didn't understand us saying that they were afraid to ask Him. 00:06:00.560 --> 00:06:04.639 I think sometimes, maybe you're not a Christian today, but you're here is fantastic. 00:06:04.639 --> 00:06:06.840 I'm so delighted you're here. 00:06:06.840 --> 00:06:10.400 But maybe we've seen it with our friends. 00:06:10.400 --> 00:06:12.920 You think they're kind of afraid to breach that subject. 00:06:12.920 --> 00:06:17.840 They're afraid to talk about the claims of Jesus, afraid to ask Him. 00:06:17.840 --> 00:06:19.040 I really hope not. 00:06:19.040 --> 00:06:21.080 I hope if you are afraid today. 00:06:21.079 --> 00:06:26.359 I hope that you'll overcome that fear and speak to someone who you maybe know as a 00:06:26.359 --> 00:06:33.000 Christian or to myself or to any of the people here who go to church, at least just to ask 00:06:33.000 --> 00:06:36.519 and find out a bit more about the Christian faith. 00:06:36.519 --> 00:06:40.879 Because the great thing about the disciples here is they stuck with Him. 00:06:40.879 --> 00:06:42.599 They didn't know everything. 00:06:42.599 --> 00:06:43.839 They didn't understand everything. 00:06:43.839 --> 00:06:45.639 They were scared sometimes to ask. 00:06:45.639 --> 00:06:49.639 They struggled, they failed, they ran away, they betrayed them at different points. 00:06:49.639 --> 00:06:57.879 But they did generally, and they went on to stick with Him because He was compelling, 00:06:57.879 --> 00:07:02.439 because He was authoritative, because He was good. 00:07:02.439 --> 00:07:06.919 And He had such a deep and strong love for them. 00:07:06.919 --> 00:07:10.879 Sometimes we don't see that on the flat pages of written Scripture. 00:07:10.879 --> 00:07:25.040 It's clearly and obviously that amazing, powerful relational love that kept them following Jesus. 00:07:25.040 --> 00:07:30.120 And I do believe that's our confession as Christians as well. 00:07:30.120 --> 00:07:31.439 It's good to be reminded of that. 00:07:31.439 --> 00:07:33.120 Don't need to understand everything. 00:07:33.120 --> 00:07:36.360 Don't even need to agree with everything. 00:07:36.360 --> 00:07:42.080 We simply trust that He's good and that He is loving and He's already shown His incredible 00:07:42.080 --> 00:07:45.319 commitment to us in salvation. 00:07:45.319 --> 00:07:46.720 So that's setting the scene. 00:07:46.720 --> 00:07:52.680 And what He's doing in this passage here, what Mark is doing for us is He's taking that 00:07:52.680 --> 00:07:56.040 claim of death and resurrection, what it means to follow Jesus. 00:07:56.040 --> 00:08:00.600 And He then goes on to teach the disciples, is what He does all the time. 00:08:00.600 --> 00:08:01.600 He's teaching the disciples. 00:08:01.600 --> 00:08:07.280 Therefore, He's teaching us as well what it means to follow Him, a crucified and a risen 00:08:07.280 --> 00:08:08.280 Savior. 00:08:08.280 --> 00:08:11.040 What does it look like following Jesus? 00:08:11.040 --> 00:08:14.560 What does it look like to be a follower, a disciple of Jesus? 00:08:14.560 --> 00:08:18.920 And I think for us it's an important reminder and a challenge. 00:08:18.920 --> 00:08:25.360 And if you see the passage, it's divided into three little chunks, handily. 00:08:25.360 --> 00:08:30.000 We'll look at them and we'll try and do that quickly this morning before the baptism. 00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:35.440 And He's speaking to the disciples and the first thing He's telling them, and it's really 00:08:35.440 --> 00:08:41.440 important, it says, in Christ's name, don't be proud. 00:08:41.440 --> 00:08:42.440 Don't be proud. 00:08:42.440 --> 00:08:46.720 That's that first section entitled, Who is the Greatest? 00:08:46.720 --> 00:08:50.279 Because the disciples are going along the road and they're arguing with themselves and 00:08:50.279 --> 00:08:52.360 they arrive at the house. 00:08:52.360 --> 00:08:56.440 And Jesus, it's almost quite a comical picture. 00:08:56.440 --> 00:09:00.040 Jesus says, what are we talking about in the road? 00:09:00.040 --> 00:09:05.120 And you can kind of imagine the embarrassment looking down and well, what can I talk about? 00:09:05.120 --> 00:09:06.120 Who's the greatest? 00:09:06.120 --> 00:09:09.040 And it's sort of an embarrassing moment. 00:09:09.040 --> 00:09:14.760 It's almost like a father speaking to his children, catching them out, doing something 00:09:14.760 --> 00:09:17.520 a bit embarrassing and wrong. 00:09:17.520 --> 00:09:19.320 They were like spoiled kids along the road. 00:09:19.320 --> 00:09:21.280 They were asking, who's the greatest? 00:09:21.279 --> 00:09:28.879 And He is radically wanting to transform their thinking about that. 00:09:28.879 --> 00:09:32.199 And it's something we often are charged, you know, who wants to be first? 00:09:32.199 --> 00:09:33.199 Who wants to be most? 00:09:33.199 --> 00:09:37.839 What do we regard as greatness and what is important to us? 00:09:37.839 --> 00:09:41.000 And so what He does is He says, like, who's the greatest? 00:09:41.000 --> 00:09:45.720 Well, if anyone would be first, He said, he must be last on the servant of all. 00:09:45.720 --> 00:09:49.319 And He took a child, which is really great and relevant today because we're going to 00:09:49.320 --> 00:09:52.760 be taking children up in our arms today. 00:09:52.760 --> 00:09:54.720 And He put them in front of them and taking them in His arms. 00:09:54.720 --> 00:09:57.760 He said, whoever receives one such child in my name receives me. 00:09:57.760 --> 00:10:01.040 Whoever receives me receives not me, but have sent me. 00:10:01.040 --> 00:10:02.040 And He's talk. 00:10:02.040 --> 00:10:08.400 Now, can I just put maybe a slightly different slant on this? 00:10:08.400 --> 00:10:13.680 Because this is not primarily about one being childish. 00:10:13.680 --> 00:10:19.200 He says, you know, we're not to be like children being childish or immature or naive. 00:10:19.200 --> 00:10:20.200 It's not that. 00:10:20.200 --> 00:10:24.640 Not as He's saying, Christians, you should be cute and cuddly. 00:10:24.640 --> 00:10:25.640 You might be. 00:10:25.640 --> 00:10:27.560 All the better. 00:10:27.560 --> 00:10:31.920 But it's not really about that because in the ancient Near East, when Jesus was writing, 00:10:31.920 --> 00:10:37.440 it would have been pretty radical to take children and take them on His knee as a teacher 00:10:37.440 --> 00:10:44.160 and as a master, as it were, and someone that was followed by others and say, you have got 00:10:44.159 --> 00:10:49.319 to regard yourself like these little children because children in the ancient Near East 00:10:49.319 --> 00:10:50.319 had no rights whatsoever. 00:10:50.319 --> 00:10:52.319 They had no status. 00:10:52.319 --> 00:10:57.240 You know, in the old days, I used to hear people saying that children should be seen 00:10:57.240 --> 00:10:58.240 and not heard. 00:10:58.240 --> 00:11:03.879 But in the ancient Near East, probably children weren't even to be seen or heard. 00:11:03.879 --> 00:11:07.399 They were really expendable. 00:11:07.399 --> 00:11:09.360 There was a lot of infanticide. 00:11:09.360 --> 00:11:10.360 Children were disregarded. 00:11:10.360 --> 00:11:13.959 They were unimportant, generally speaking. 00:11:13.960 --> 00:11:16.680 And that is what Jesus is speaking into. 00:11:16.680 --> 00:11:23.360 And He's saying, in our relationship with God, actually, we have no rights. 00:11:23.360 --> 00:11:26.200 We should be humble because we have spiritual needs. 00:11:26.200 --> 00:11:28.080 We have no claim on Him. 00:11:28.080 --> 00:11:32.480 We can't go into His presence and knock on the door and say, hey, accept me, take me. 00:11:32.480 --> 00:11:33.680 And we're equal. 00:11:33.680 --> 00:11:36.680 In fact, I'm better. 00:11:36.680 --> 00:11:39.040 I look down and judge you. 00:11:39.040 --> 00:11:40.040 It's not like that. 00:11:40.039 --> 00:11:44.519 And in many ways, we come into God's presence and we should be like little children with 00:11:44.519 --> 00:11:50.000 no rights to claim ourselves yet. 00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:56.399 We see that Christ embraces them and takes them and loves them and redeems them. 00:11:56.399 --> 00:12:00.240 And that's what He's reminding us in terms of humility. 00:12:00.240 --> 00:12:02.959 That as Christians, we are humble. 00:12:02.959 --> 00:12:08.480 We ought to be humble at all times because we realize we have no rights to claim before 00:12:08.480 --> 00:12:09.759 God. 00:12:09.759 --> 00:12:11.759 Saying that we could earn in His presence. 00:12:11.759 --> 00:12:16.720 But because of what He's done in salvation, we can come into His presence and be loved 00:12:16.720 --> 00:12:18.319 and be forgiven. 00:12:18.319 --> 00:12:25.840 And our identities can be found in Him. 00:12:25.840 --> 00:12:32.559 And Jesus is taking that and saying, because of that, you should treat other people with 00:12:32.559 --> 00:12:37.519 great respect and with great love and with serving heart. 00:12:37.519 --> 00:12:43.879 So the greatest in the kingdom is the one who has a serving heart. 00:12:43.879 --> 00:12:47.079 So there shouldn't be in the church any peck in order. 00:12:47.079 --> 00:12:51.120 We shouldn't have any self-righteousness and there should be no damning judgment on one 00:12:51.120 --> 00:12:58.759 another because we recognize how much God is love does and we recognize how unworthy 00:12:58.759 --> 00:13:02.759 we are, not worthless, but how unworthy we are of His love. 00:13:02.759 --> 00:13:06.879 And therefore, we treat one another with great love and equality and respect. 00:13:06.879 --> 00:13:08.759 Remember, He's speaking here to disciples. 00:13:08.759 --> 00:13:14.279 They've been quarreling about who's the greatest and He says, get a grip. 00:13:14.279 --> 00:13:15.799 Understand what it means to be a Christian. 00:13:15.799 --> 00:13:17.720 It's not about greatness. 00:13:17.720 --> 00:13:18.720 That's the first thing. 00:13:18.720 --> 00:13:23.679 The second thing is, He says, in Christ's name, and He's speaking primarily again here 00:13:23.679 --> 00:13:27.039 to disciples, He says, we're not to be tribal. 00:13:27.039 --> 00:13:34.000 So easy to be tribal as Christians because we learn that John said to Him, teacher, someone 00:13:34.000 --> 00:13:36.360 is coming and casting out demons in your name. 00:13:36.360 --> 00:13:38.759 We try to stop Him because He was not following us. 00:13:38.759 --> 00:13:39.759 He wasn't one of us. 00:13:39.759 --> 00:13:41.840 Jesus said, don't stop Him. 00:13:41.840 --> 00:13:44.879 No one who does a mighty work in my name will speak evil of me. 00:13:44.879 --> 00:13:48.360 The one who is not against us as for us and so on. 00:13:48.360 --> 00:13:51.159 So again, He's speaking to the disciples. 00:13:51.159 --> 00:13:55.519 He's teaching them in the light of His own death and resurrection which He's predicted. 00:13:55.519 --> 00:14:03.460 And He's saying, you've got to recognize that there's a catholicity about the Christian 00:14:03.460 --> 00:14:10.160 faith, we're to be kingdom-centered and we're not to be tribal. 00:14:10.160 --> 00:14:15.560 We're to have a warm and loving generosity towards everyone who claims to follow Jesus 00:14:15.560 --> 00:14:20.440 Christ and recognizes His salvation and who serves Him. 00:14:20.440 --> 00:14:25.759 So for us in the free church today, particularly, I speak to our congregation to St. Columba's 00:14:25.759 --> 00:14:28.600 here primarily at this point. 00:14:28.600 --> 00:14:33.320 It's not a club that we'll belong to. 00:14:33.320 --> 00:14:37.920 It's not, we're not to think it's just my own folk, the people that are like me, because 00:14:37.920 --> 00:14:46.240 the gospel and Jesus Christ breaks every social, every ecclesiastical norm, as well as breaking 00:14:46.240 --> 00:14:50.960 and should break cultural, ethnic and racial barriers as well. 00:14:50.960 --> 00:14:54.760 And we should recognize that because that was what the New Testament church was like. 00:14:54.760 --> 00:14:59.760 It brought people from all different backgrounds and all different social status and all different 00:14:59.759 --> 00:15:05.120 parts of the community, together as brothers and sisters. 00:15:05.120 --> 00:15:12.439 So you had slave and free, you had businessman and you had employee, you had young and old 00:15:12.439 --> 00:15:16.720 and you had different nationalities during Samaritan, during Gentile, coming together 00:15:16.720 --> 00:15:18.200 under Jesus Christ. 00:15:18.200 --> 00:15:22.439 And so it's important for us to remember as Christians that we may be diverse, we don't 00:15:22.439 --> 00:15:23.879 all think the same. 00:15:23.879 --> 00:15:32.039 We don't all have the same focus at every level, but we're not to be exclusivist or 00:15:32.039 --> 00:15:35.399 separatist as Christians. 00:15:35.399 --> 00:15:42.279 We can be very ignorant easily and think that our tiny expression of the Christian faith 00:15:42.279 --> 00:15:47.120 has all the answers, was like us. 00:15:47.120 --> 00:15:55.399 I have no doubt that heaven will surprise us by who is there and who isn't. 00:15:55.399 --> 00:16:01.560 A generosity of spirit, Jesus says, is absolutely vital and that we set, again we serve with 00:16:01.560 --> 00:16:08.440 a cup of cold water, whoever is in the name of Christ and beyond that, obviously, as well. 00:16:08.440 --> 00:16:15.039 So, then the third thing, this is where it gets really tough, in Christ, he says the 00:16:15.039 --> 00:16:18.480 third thing, Christ's name we are not to be tribal, Christ's name we are not to be 00:16:18.480 --> 00:16:23.879 proud, and also in Christ's name we are to deal with sin and live at peace together. 00:16:23.879 --> 00:16:32.159 So the section starts with division and arguments and separation and it ends with peace because 00:16:32.159 --> 00:16:36.159 Jesus is showing us the way to be peaceful with one another as disciples, followers 00:16:36.159 --> 00:16:40.159 of Jesus, and He's also showing us how to be at peace with Him. 00:16:40.159 --> 00:16:46.000 He's rebuking the disciples in His teaching for being proud and not dealing with their 00:16:46.000 --> 00:16:49.159 own sinful attitudes to themselves and to others. 00:16:49.159 --> 00:16:52.679 I'm better than them, I'm the greatest, I want to be first. 00:16:52.679 --> 00:16:54.839 And He's dealing with that in these sections. 00:16:54.839 --> 00:17:04.639 And what He's encouraging them and us to do today, all of us, look into our own hearts. 00:17:04.640 --> 00:17:14.280 Don't look around you to see how much better you are than others in deserving of glory 00:17:14.280 --> 00:17:18.880 or fame or popularity or salvation or whatever. 00:17:18.880 --> 00:17:27.920 He's saying to them, and He's saying to us, deal with your heart attitude and deal, remember 00:17:27.920 --> 00:17:32.560 that as a believer you are an example to other people. 00:17:32.559 --> 00:17:38.039 And that's what He talks about in this difficult section which talks about temptation as sin 00:17:38.039 --> 00:17:43.440 and He talks about cutting off your hand and gouging out your eye and hell and all these 00:17:43.440 --> 00:17:44.440 things. 00:17:44.440 --> 00:17:51.319 And what we need to understand within this as well that He is using really strong but 00:17:51.319 --> 00:17:55.319 exaggerated language and visual imagery. 00:17:55.319 --> 00:18:00.279 It's not literal, it's not telling anyone to do anything like that physically. 00:18:00.279 --> 00:18:02.399 I hope you all get that. 00:18:02.400 --> 00:18:08.880 It's exaggerated what we would call hyperbole, but He's using it to get across solemn truth. 00:18:08.880 --> 00:18:13.519 It would be like me in a much more trivial way at the festival in Edinburgh saying, 00:18:13.519 --> 00:18:17.120 I walked up the Royal Mile and I must have passed at least a million people. 00:18:17.120 --> 00:18:20.400 Now that's exaggerated language, it wasn't it? 00:18:20.400 --> 00:18:22.560 Maybe there was. 00:18:22.560 --> 00:18:24.400 It did seem like it. 00:18:24.400 --> 00:18:26.160 But no, there wasn't a million people. 00:18:26.160 --> 00:18:28.160 But that's hyperbole. 00:18:28.160 --> 00:18:33.440 Or sometimes we hear more sadly and more solemnly, we hear about a tragedy and say, well, it 00:18:33.440 --> 00:18:36.200 sounds like hell on earth. 00:18:36.200 --> 00:18:43.160 Now that is also hyperbole at one level, but it's getting across the seriousness and the 00:18:43.160 --> 00:18:45.600 devastation of an event. 00:18:45.600 --> 00:18:50.360 And when Christ uses language like that and hyperbole and exaggeration, it's because He's 00:18:50.360 --> 00:18:54.279 wanting to get across really a significant truth. 00:18:54.279 --> 00:19:00.079 And the truth He wants to get across here is that I'm sure there's much more than I'll 00:19:00.079 --> 00:19:01.079 say. 00:19:01.079 --> 00:19:07.599 But there's at least, He's reminding us that our hearts as Christians and indeed everyone 00:19:07.599 --> 00:19:14.559 need radical surgery. 00:19:14.559 --> 00:19:18.839 It's the background of the death and resurrection of Jesus, as Clayton remember that he mentions 00:19:18.839 --> 00:19:20.240 that we mentioned at the beginning. 00:19:20.240 --> 00:19:28.400 He's saying, in fact, we can't change to be right with God unless we come to Christ and 00:19:28.400 --> 00:19:30.720 His death and resurrection. 00:19:30.720 --> 00:19:36.880 Because in that we find the power to be forgiven and to root out the selfish and hurtful death 00:19:36.880 --> 00:19:39.319 desires that are in our hearts. 00:19:39.319 --> 00:19:41.680 We can't do it ourselves. 00:19:41.680 --> 00:19:42.839 He's saying that. 00:19:42.839 --> 00:19:45.480 He is saying that. 00:19:45.480 --> 00:19:51.920 He's saying that before God's holiness and justice, we can't live right. 00:19:51.920 --> 00:19:59.759 And we have to engage in a radical heart surgery in order to... 00:19:59.759 --> 00:20:03.039 Heart surgery that He will perform, that He gifts to us. 00:20:03.039 --> 00:20:05.799 It's not a work that we do in our own strength. 00:20:05.799 --> 00:20:08.039 He says our hearts need rather... 00:20:08.039 --> 00:20:09.039 He's talking about the seriousness. 00:20:09.039 --> 00:20:11.519 Remember, it's in the context of discipleship. 00:20:11.519 --> 00:20:15.200 And He's saying to the Christians, He's saying to us here, there's Christians, there's believers 00:20:15.200 --> 00:20:16.200 here. 00:20:16.200 --> 00:20:19.440 He's saying, get a grip. 00:20:19.440 --> 00:20:23.880 Get a grip on your heart and recognize the way you treat God sometimes. 00:20:23.880 --> 00:20:28.319 But more especially the way you treat others. 00:20:28.319 --> 00:20:30.960 You're not taking your heart seriously. 00:20:30.960 --> 00:20:34.240 You're stamping with big heavy boots on other people. 00:20:34.240 --> 00:20:39.200 And you think that grace is cheap and that it's easy just to believe in, yeah, Jesus 00:20:39.200 --> 00:20:41.200 died of my sins. 00:20:41.200 --> 00:20:42.200 Woohoo. 00:20:42.200 --> 00:20:49.120 But He's saying grasp the cost and grasp the reality is what Jesus is saying. 00:20:49.120 --> 00:20:57.319 And what He's also saying is God, He's saying that there is an unseen spiritual reality. 00:20:57.319 --> 00:20:58.319 Hell is real. 00:20:58.319 --> 00:21:00.120 There, I've said it. 00:21:00.120 --> 00:21:04.440 It's not something we want to talk about, something that makes us uncomfortable and squirming 00:21:04.440 --> 00:21:05.440 our seats. 00:21:05.440 --> 00:21:11.799 I'm not happy talking about it because it's such a challenging and awful reality. 00:21:11.799 --> 00:21:12.799 Unimaginable. 00:21:12.799 --> 00:21:22.440 But Christ, gentle Jesus, meek and mild, who is God eternally, who takes on human nature 00:21:22.440 --> 00:21:26.599 and a human body, knows the unseen world. 00:21:26.599 --> 00:21:32.480 And He speaks with a perfect and settled knowledge about the afterlife and about the reality 00:21:32.480 --> 00:21:35.079 of heaven and hell. 00:21:35.079 --> 00:21:41.119 Places that fulfill either every perfected longing that we can enjoy in Christ or a place 00:21:41.119 --> 00:21:43.159 where our deepest dreads are realized. 00:21:43.159 --> 00:21:47.399 Now, it is uncomfortable truth. 00:21:47.399 --> 00:21:52.459 But He's reminding us, and He's reminding the disciples in their salvation, and He's 00:21:52.459 --> 00:21:59.639 reminding all who will hear Him that our sin puts the Bible, our wrongdoings, the Bible 00:21:59.639 --> 00:22:05.599 calls sin, which ultimately is just not loving Him first and not loving one another before 00:22:05.599 --> 00:22:06.599 Him. 00:22:06.599 --> 00:22:09.919 Our sin is consequences. 00:22:09.920 --> 00:22:14.680 So every believer and every baptized believer has come to Jesus saying, I know that. 00:22:14.680 --> 00:22:16.640 I recognize my need for cleansing. 00:22:16.640 --> 00:22:23.279 I recognize His astonishing love, and I recognize that He is... 00:22:23.279 --> 00:22:31.800 What gives us any kind of frightening confidence about His truth is the crucifixion that He 00:22:31.800 --> 00:22:38.279 predicts and speaks about, where He has taken our hell and taken our guilt and our punishment 00:22:38.279 --> 00:22:41.720 on Himself on the cross. 00:22:41.720 --> 00:22:43.720 That transforms it, doesn't it? 00:22:43.720 --> 00:22:46.720 He doesn't just expose something and say, that's dreadful. 00:22:46.720 --> 00:22:47.720 You're damned. 00:22:47.720 --> 00:22:51.639 He says, I'll take it because I love you. 00:22:51.639 --> 00:22:53.920 I know there's no other way. 00:22:53.920 --> 00:22:54.920 That's God. 00:22:54.920 --> 00:23:00.279 You know, I said at the beginning that it turns our world upside down. 00:23:00.279 --> 00:23:02.879 There's no one as ever spoken like that. 00:23:02.879 --> 00:23:03.879 No one can ever make that. 00:23:03.880 --> 00:23:10.520 He's either a nutcase, it completely deluded or it's true because it's such a remarkable 00:23:10.520 --> 00:23:12.160 and outstanding claim. 00:23:12.160 --> 00:23:15.280 That's why He speaks so bluntly. 00:23:15.280 --> 00:23:19.120 And He gives that relatable... 00:23:19.120 --> 00:23:27.200 He speaks about hell and He gives images and pictures, some here and some in other places. 00:23:27.200 --> 00:23:31.760 And I just very briefly want to say why, you know, I think we misunderstand a lot about 00:23:31.760 --> 00:23:32.920 it sometimes. 00:23:32.920 --> 00:23:39.080 But really, ultimately what He's saying is, if we don't deal with our sin, ultimately 00:23:39.080 --> 00:23:44.960 we're going to be on the outside of something really very, very good. 00:23:44.960 --> 00:23:49.640 Heaven is... and the recreated heavens and earth is going to be a recreation of all that 00:23:49.640 --> 00:23:52.759 is good and perfect from the inside out. 00:23:52.759 --> 00:23:56.160 No shadow, no death, nothing to destroy or harm. 00:23:56.160 --> 00:24:00.560 That's what He speaks about when He speaks about what He's going to achieve from His 00:24:00.560 --> 00:24:01.560 death and resurrection. 00:24:01.559 --> 00:24:07.519 There's a sentient to heaven that He's returning to usher all of that in nothing to harm or 00:24:07.519 --> 00:24:14.799 destroy, a perfect feast of friendship, of relationships, of love with God and His love 00:24:14.799 --> 00:24:19.359 and His warmth and His purity and His generosity and His abundance at the very core of that. 00:24:19.359 --> 00:24:26.480 It's kind of a picture of the greatest family gathering that you could ever imagine. 00:24:26.480 --> 00:24:30.639 And He says it's to be outside of that. 00:24:30.640 --> 00:24:33.520 I think that's a relatable picture. 00:24:33.520 --> 00:24:37.520 If you've got a really loving family, it's a relatable picture being on the outside of 00:24:37.520 --> 00:24:39.560 that. 00:24:39.560 --> 00:24:43.480 If you've never had a loving family, you can relate to it because it's something you would 00:24:43.480 --> 00:24:47.600 long for, to be in that place. 00:24:47.600 --> 00:24:50.120 And that's one of the descriptions He gives. 00:24:50.120 --> 00:24:56.759 The other is, it would be like choosing to live in a rubbish dump. 00:24:56.759 --> 00:25:01.119 The word He uses here for hell is Gehenna, which is just the valley of Hinnom, which 00:25:01.119 --> 00:25:02.119 was outside of Jerusalem. 00:25:02.119 --> 00:25:10.359 And it was originally a place for brutal child sacrifice at one point, but it became just 00:25:10.359 --> 00:25:12.839 a burning rubbish dump. 00:25:12.839 --> 00:25:16.119 You wouldn't go there, stank. 00:25:16.119 --> 00:25:18.920 It was horrible. 00:25:18.920 --> 00:25:25.720 And it would be, you know, it's like you would never choose to go to Craig Miller Recycling 00:25:25.720 --> 00:25:30.319 Center by a bit of land there and set up home. 00:25:30.319 --> 00:25:36.519 All the kind of stuff that's going on, the dump and the rubbish and the smell and everything 00:25:36.519 --> 00:25:40.600 that goes with it, times a million. 00:25:40.600 --> 00:25:42.400 That's the pictures that He gives it. 00:25:42.400 --> 00:25:47.480 But He does so in the light of the good news of the gospel, is that He has been on the 00:25:47.480 --> 00:25:48.480 outside. 00:25:48.480 --> 00:25:51.360 He's been on the rubbish dump on the cross. 00:25:51.360 --> 00:25:53.640 He's been outside of the city. 00:25:53.640 --> 00:26:01.200 He is knowing the darkness and the forsakenness in order that we don't need to. 00:26:01.200 --> 00:26:03.680 You know, we're all very ordinary people. 00:26:03.680 --> 00:26:06.360 Can you imagine someone famous? 00:26:06.360 --> 00:26:12.200 If you were, I don't know, if you were guilty of some heinous crime or no, maybe a massive 00:26:12.200 --> 00:26:15.200 debt that you owed and you were going to be bankrupted. 00:26:15.200 --> 00:26:17.360 But can you, no, that doesn't work either. 00:26:17.360 --> 00:26:18.360 Sorry. 00:26:18.360 --> 00:26:19.960 I'm just talking as I'm going along here. 00:26:19.960 --> 00:26:26.920 Like all of them cities, can you imagine someone important and famous willing to die in your 00:26:26.920 --> 00:26:29.360 place so that you could live? 00:26:29.360 --> 00:26:31.319 That would be an amazing thing, wouldn't it? 00:26:31.319 --> 00:26:33.799 It would be amazing if someone paid off a great debt as well. 00:26:33.799 --> 00:26:38.600 But if someone was willing actually to give up his life, someone famous and important 00:26:38.600 --> 00:26:41.840 and significant so that you could be free and you could live. 00:26:41.840 --> 00:26:48.640 I know it's a bit of an unbelievable thought, but that is actually what has happened in the 00:26:48.640 --> 00:26:54.280 cross times a million is that God, the Son, said, I love you so much. 00:26:54.280 --> 00:26:58.440 I know you can't make yourself right with me and you can't deal with death and overcome 00:26:58.440 --> 00:26:59.840 it and resurrect yourself. 00:26:59.840 --> 00:27:03.400 He said, but I will do that for you. 00:27:03.400 --> 00:27:10.920 I will satisfy divine justice and divine love as they kiss mutually at the cross in order 00:27:10.920 --> 00:27:11.920 that you may live. 00:27:11.920 --> 00:27:17.640 And as justice either he pays for our guilt and our breaking of his laws of love or we 00:27:17.640 --> 00:27:21.320 face the consequences of that on our own. 00:27:21.320 --> 00:27:24.920 And he's saying that primarily to disciples. 00:27:24.920 --> 00:27:28.800 He's saying, don't treat your heart lightly. 00:27:28.800 --> 00:27:32.880 Don't think that your heart doesn't need to be on in an ongoing way changed. 00:27:32.880 --> 00:27:38.560 We've got girls coming forward for baptism today, Lois and Hannah Ryan and they made 00:27:38.560 --> 00:27:44.640 a profession and a faith and Viola last night was baptised. 00:27:44.640 --> 00:27:47.080 Now that's just the start of the journey. 00:27:47.079 --> 00:27:49.759 It doesn't stop there. 00:27:49.759 --> 00:27:55.399 And it's an ongoing recognition of transformation, of being distinctive. 00:27:55.399 --> 00:28:01.480 Jesus was always teaching the disciples about him and we will always be learning about what 00:28:01.480 --> 00:28:04.519 it means to follow him because he's got it. 00:28:04.519 --> 00:28:09.359 And it blows our understanding of life right out of the water. 00:28:09.359 --> 00:28:17.279 And in conclusion, he says, therefore, that is how we live as salt and it's to be flavourful, 00:28:17.279 --> 00:28:22.279 salt is good and that is how to live at peace with one another. 00:28:22.279 --> 00:28:25.199 And that's what we're called to do. 00:28:25.199 --> 00:28:31.479 As Christians here today, we're called to be distinctive by being transformed by God's 00:28:31.479 --> 00:28:35.079 love, loving him and loving others. 00:28:35.079 --> 00:28:37.079 There's a great... 00:28:37.079 --> 00:28:42.759 I don't know if it was a song, it might have been a song, but it was a kind of act in many 00:28:42.759 --> 00:28:43.759 ways. 00:28:43.759 --> 00:28:45.399 It was joy, it was very old. 00:28:45.399 --> 00:28:49.159 Jesus first, others next to yourself last. 00:28:49.159 --> 00:28:55.279 And it was good in the sense that it reminds us of the priorities of love, of divine love 00:28:55.279 --> 00:28:56.279 for us. 00:28:56.279 --> 00:29:01.519 We love him, love one another and then we love ourselves. 00:29:01.519 --> 00:29:08.160 Not arguing, not fighting about who's the greatest, not pushing for importance and significance, 00:29:08.160 --> 00:29:09.160 but serving God. 00:29:09.160 --> 00:29:11.240 That's discipleship. 00:29:11.240 --> 00:29:18.200 And that's how we live at peace and not arguing with one another and being divided. 00:29:18.200 --> 00:29:21.559 And that is the great call of the gospel to us as Christians. 00:29:21.559 --> 00:29:26.240 But it's also a hope, you recognize a great invitation to you if you're not Christian, 00:29:26.240 --> 00:29:34.519 to consider these truths that Jesus makes on our lives as the answer to our own needs, 00:29:34.519 --> 00:29:40.599 answer to our own death, the answer to the world in which we live, which is messed up. 00:29:40.599 --> 00:29:46.319 And that's the testimony of our dear friends today, of Lois, of Hannah Ryan and of their 00:29:46.319 --> 00:29:52.839 parents who Ryan and Kelly, who will also be joining in membership today along with 00:29:52.839 --> 00:29:53.839 Hannah Ryan. 00:29:53.839 --> 00:29:59.480 And it's the testimony of Colin and Georgie and Eric and Kelly as the parents who by faith 00:29:59.480 --> 00:30:03.159 bring their children for baptism today. 00:30:03.159 --> 00:30:09.359 So let's rejoice in that visible symbol in baptism today. 00:30:09.359 --> 00:30:25.439 Amen.