WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.320 We're working our way through the Gospel of Mark, and last week we saw a passage that 00:00:06.320 --> 00:00:08.160 was transitional. 00:00:08.160 --> 00:00:13.640 So Jesus had been very successful in every measure until you get to Mark 6, and then 00:00:13.640 --> 00:00:18.559 in Mark 6, last week we saw that he was rejected at every level, that his hometown rejected 00:00:18.559 --> 00:00:23.800 him, his home church, his synagogue rejected him, his family rejected him. 00:00:23.800 --> 00:00:27.519 The Greek text says they were scandalized by him. 00:00:27.519 --> 00:00:29.879 And we're told that he was too ordinary. 00:00:29.879 --> 00:00:34.359 He was from Nazareth, which was not a cool place in the ancient world, and he was a handyman 00:00:34.359 --> 00:00:38.759 by trade, and he was the boy that had grown up there that they all knew they couldn't 00:00:38.759 --> 00:00:44.439 see through the veil of ordinariness in order to see who he really was, and so they rejected 00:00:44.439 --> 00:00:45.439 him. 00:00:45.439 --> 00:00:50.560 Now, Lizzie read for us two stories, and these are also about the same thing. 00:00:50.560 --> 00:00:54.879 So we see the same idea happening in the two stories that we read. 00:00:54.880 --> 00:01:00.160 The Apostles' Commission, and then John the Baptist being beheaded by Herod. 00:01:00.160 --> 00:01:02.440 And both those stories say the same thing. 00:01:02.440 --> 00:01:07.000 Jesus Christ was rejected, and when his apostles, his disciples, go out into the world, his 00:01:07.000 --> 00:01:11.960 messengers, they're going to be rejected too, that they become like him. 00:01:11.960 --> 00:01:14.800 He was rejected, so we're rejected. 00:01:14.800 --> 00:01:19.640 And when he was sent by the Father, and he was rejected, and when we're sent by the Father, 00:01:19.640 --> 00:01:21.439 we're rejected too. 00:01:21.439 --> 00:01:25.480 So when you follow the way of Jesus, there's a cost, and the title of this sermon today 00:01:25.480 --> 00:01:29.480 is Cost of Discipleship, and that's exactly what we read about here in the passage. 00:01:29.480 --> 00:01:33.840 So we're going to see, first, the call to self-denial. 00:01:33.840 --> 00:01:35.679 That's the first form of the call. 00:01:35.679 --> 00:01:41.680 Secondly, the call to be rejected, and then finally, the power we need for both. 00:01:41.680 --> 00:01:42.879 So let's think about that. 00:01:42.879 --> 00:01:45.400 First, the call to self-denial. 00:01:45.400 --> 00:01:51.520 If you look down at the first story in verse 7, Jesus sends the twelve, his apostles, and 00:01:51.520 --> 00:01:55.600 they begin to go and preach in other villages without Jesus. 00:01:55.600 --> 00:02:00.719 This is the first time they're going to separate from Jesus, and this is not the same thing 00:02:00.719 --> 00:02:04.240 as the Great Commission exactly that we read about in Matthew 28. 00:02:04.240 --> 00:02:05.240 This is a little different. 00:02:05.240 --> 00:02:10.759 This is Jesus sending the apostles before his death, and he sends them to Jewish village 00:02:10.759 --> 00:02:15.719 after Jewish village, not like we see in the book of Acts, city to city across the whole 00:02:15.719 --> 00:02:16.719 world. 00:02:16.719 --> 00:02:20.679 He sends them to Jerusalem and Judea, not to Samaria, to the ends of the earth here, not 00:02:20.679 --> 00:02:23.000 to everywhere that they could possibly go. 00:02:23.000 --> 00:02:27.159 They've got authority here to cast out demons at their own command. 00:02:27.159 --> 00:02:28.159 We don't have that power. 00:02:28.159 --> 00:02:33.680 This is different than what we read about in the Great Commission, but the lesson, the 00:02:33.680 --> 00:02:36.439 principle that's here is the exact same. 00:02:36.439 --> 00:02:41.520 For anybody that follows Jesus and anybody that is sent out by Jesus, and that's this, 00:02:41.520 --> 00:02:46.000 that when Jesus sends you out, when you come to him and become his disciple, there is a 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:48.599 call to self-denial. 00:02:48.599 --> 00:02:49.599 You see that really clearly here. 00:02:49.599 --> 00:02:55.400 He says, verse 7 and 8, when you go out, only bring a staff so you can beat wild animals 00:02:55.400 --> 00:02:56.400 if you have to. 00:02:56.400 --> 00:02:57.680 That's what that was for. 00:02:57.680 --> 00:03:01.360 Only wear sandals because the roads are not paved. 00:03:01.360 --> 00:03:03.079 They're very stony. 00:03:03.079 --> 00:03:06.120 Only have one pair of clothing because it's cold. 00:03:06.120 --> 00:03:09.759 You need at least one tunic, but do not take two. 00:03:09.759 --> 00:03:13.240 You see in that that he's calling them to a certain type of self-denial. 00:03:13.240 --> 00:03:17.800 He says, no bread, no money, not even a bag to put your stuff in. 00:03:17.800 --> 00:03:19.280 None of that. 00:03:19.280 --> 00:03:20.280 Why? 00:03:20.280 --> 00:03:28.080 It's so that when they, every single day prayed, Lord, give me this day my daily bread, 00:03:28.080 --> 00:03:30.040 they really had to mean it. 00:03:30.040 --> 00:03:31.120 They really had to mean it. 00:03:31.120 --> 00:03:36.480 In other words, they're saying that when you are sent, the principle is that a disciple 00:03:36.480 --> 00:03:41.759 of Jesus Christ must depend on Jesus absolutely. 00:03:41.759 --> 00:03:45.400 That even means denying oneself. 00:03:45.400 --> 00:03:49.640 The idea here is not that for every single disciple, every single person who follows 00:03:49.640 --> 00:03:51.360 Jesus, this is not the great commission. 00:03:51.360 --> 00:03:52.360 This is different. 00:03:52.360 --> 00:03:57.520 That you're called to not own a bag or to have more than one coat in your closet. 00:03:57.520 --> 00:03:58.520 You live here. 00:03:58.520 --> 00:03:59.520 You have to. 00:03:59.520 --> 00:04:00.520 It was much warmer there. 00:04:00.520 --> 00:04:02.880 No, that's not what's going on at all. 00:04:02.880 --> 00:04:07.719 Instead, there is a call here and the cause to self-denial, and we could put it like this. 00:04:07.719 --> 00:04:12.800 We could say as the Christian church has talked about for 2,000 years, this here is the call 00:04:12.800 --> 00:04:16.800 to a life of simplicity. 00:04:16.800 --> 00:04:22.879 For some of us, maybe that does mean getting rid of some things, but the bigger principle, 00:04:22.879 --> 00:04:28.040 the more foundational principle here in the call to simplicity is that you have a focused 00:04:28.040 --> 00:04:33.879 life, a simple life, a focused life, and that life is focused on and around Jesus Christ 00:04:33.879 --> 00:04:35.040 exclusively. 00:04:35.040 --> 00:04:40.640 That's the real call to simplicity, that your whole life is built actually around Jesus, 00:04:40.640 --> 00:04:44.000 that when you're called to be a disciple, everything becomes about him and everything 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:45.120 becomes for him. 00:04:45.120 --> 00:04:46.920 It's a simple life. 00:04:46.920 --> 00:04:51.200 You're actually not so concerned with that many things because your life is actually 00:04:51.200 --> 00:04:56.520 about one thing, and that's conforming everything to Jesus Christ. 00:04:56.519 --> 00:05:02.199 Sometimes people will say something like, are you making time in your life every day 00:05:02.199 --> 00:05:03.199 for prayer? 00:05:03.199 --> 00:05:06.879 Is there a space in your schedule in your life every day where you're making time for 00:05:06.879 --> 00:05:09.240 prayer? 00:05:09.240 --> 00:05:13.120 That's a good question, but I think that here, the call to self-denial is a little bit different 00:05:13.120 --> 00:05:15.000 than that. 00:05:15.000 --> 00:05:16.159 It's a little bit more precise. 00:05:16.159 --> 00:05:20.120 We could actually flip the question around and it would become something more like this. 00:05:20.120 --> 00:05:24.039 Does dependence on Christ actually determine the course of your life? 00:05:24.040 --> 00:05:29.600 In other words, it's not, are you making a space in your day to pray, but are you building 00:05:29.600 --> 00:05:32.879 your entire life around him? 00:05:32.879 --> 00:05:37.320 It's not how do you fit him into your schedule, but how is your schedule a product of actually 00:05:37.320 --> 00:05:39.800 following Jesus in the first place? 00:05:39.800 --> 00:05:40.800 That's the call. 00:05:40.800 --> 00:05:41.800 It's the call to self-denial. 00:05:41.800 --> 00:05:46.720 It's the call to a certain type of simplicity and focus, and that focus is on following Jesus 00:05:46.720 --> 00:05:47.720 Christ. 00:05:47.720 --> 00:05:53.480 That means that practically there's going to be thousands of ways you have to say no 00:05:53.480 --> 00:05:57.640 in your life to your own personal desires when you come and follow Jesus. 00:05:57.640 --> 00:06:05.400 You've got to say no today in 2023 to the call that you can become whoever you want 00:06:05.400 --> 00:06:06.560 to be. 00:06:06.560 --> 00:06:09.800 There's a call, there's a self-denial on that. 00:06:09.800 --> 00:06:14.319 You have to actually reject your desires and say that my identity cannot be exclusively 00:06:14.319 --> 00:06:15.720 developed from what I want it to be. 00:06:15.720 --> 00:06:19.960 It has to be something given me from the outside, named by Jesus. 00:06:19.960 --> 00:06:22.800 You have to say no to accumulating stuff. 00:06:22.800 --> 00:06:24.439 You have to say no to individualism. 00:06:24.439 --> 00:06:29.120 You have to say no even to certain TV shows that you really want to watch. 00:06:29.120 --> 00:06:30.120 It goes everywhere. 00:06:30.120 --> 00:06:31.439 It gets into everything. 00:06:31.439 --> 00:06:35.800 There's a call to deny yourself that it has to cost something. 00:06:35.800 --> 00:06:40.720 When you look at last week's passage and then this week's passage, Jesus was rejected. 00:06:40.720 --> 00:06:42.680 We have to be too. 00:06:42.680 --> 00:06:48.120 But the first order of business in that rejection is that you have to first reject your own 00:06:48.120 --> 00:06:49.840 self. 00:06:49.839 --> 00:06:55.039 The first call to be rejected like Jesus is actually to reject what's going on in your 00:06:55.039 --> 00:07:00.000 heart, your desires, the things you want, and to give that away to Jesus Christ. 00:07:00.000 --> 00:07:02.919 That's the real call of discipleship. 00:07:02.919 --> 00:07:04.359 Historical note here. 00:07:04.359 --> 00:07:06.000 What we're seeing here is unprecedented. 00:07:06.000 --> 00:07:12.519 I looked at a guy who had worked on this theme of rabbis and disciples in the first century 00:07:12.519 --> 00:07:14.359 and written a PhD thesis on it. 00:07:14.359 --> 00:07:18.719 He talks about the fact that we don't see anything like what's happening here in this 00:07:18.720 --> 00:07:22.840 commission ever in the first century or before that or after it. 00:07:22.840 --> 00:07:23.840 Here's why. 00:07:23.840 --> 00:07:29.960 If you were a first century Jewish man and you attached yourself to a rabbi, a master, 00:07:29.960 --> 00:07:35.880 a teacher, when it came time for your commissioning, every disciple went through this, a commissioning. 00:07:35.880 --> 00:07:36.880 But what was that about? 00:07:36.880 --> 00:07:38.160 The commissioning was different than this. 00:07:38.160 --> 00:07:43.280 The commissioning in a normal rabbi was he was saying, now you are a rabbi. 00:07:43.280 --> 00:07:46.240 You say, you've discipled enough. 00:07:46.240 --> 00:07:47.560 You've been an apprentice long enough. 00:07:47.560 --> 00:07:49.240 You've mastered everything enough. 00:07:49.240 --> 00:07:53.519 Now you get to go become a rabbi, and you get to go gather followers around you. 00:07:53.519 --> 00:07:57.600 When Jesus comes into the scene, he says, you're never a rabbi. 00:07:57.600 --> 00:07:59.840 You're never a master. 00:07:59.840 --> 00:08:04.959 He sends out his disciples, his apprentices, and says, I will forever be your master. 00:08:04.959 --> 00:08:09.319 You'll go in my name, and you'll proclaim my name. 00:08:09.319 --> 00:08:12.600 He's doing something that had never been seen before. 00:08:12.600 --> 00:08:17.040 That has the simple principle in it that when you go out as Jesus' apprentice, Jesus' 00:08:17.040 --> 00:08:21.040 master, your time is the master's time. 00:08:21.040 --> 00:08:23.000 Your name is the master's name. 00:08:23.000 --> 00:08:25.720 Your purpose is him exclusively. 00:08:25.720 --> 00:08:28.200 And so all of life gets scheduled around him. 00:08:28.200 --> 00:08:34.360 He doesn't get put in to places, to the bits and the parts. 00:08:34.360 --> 00:08:38.759 Now the second story here, we see the same thing happening. 00:08:38.759 --> 00:08:40.960 And that's, well, the connection. 00:08:40.960 --> 00:08:42.279 Lizzie read it for us. 00:08:42.279 --> 00:08:44.039 You'll see it in verse 14 and 30. 00:08:44.039 --> 00:08:49.199 Why would we preach a sermon about the Apostles' commission and then John the Baptist beheading? 00:08:49.199 --> 00:08:52.759 Well, why did Mark put these two passages side by side? 00:08:52.759 --> 00:08:57.559 And if you look at verse 14, you can see that King Herod heard of it. 00:08:57.559 --> 00:08:58.559 What is the it? 00:08:58.559 --> 00:09:02.360 He's talking about the fact that these 12 apostles are going village to village and 00:09:02.360 --> 00:09:07.039 proclaiming Jesus and performing miraculous deeds, and Jesus is becoming famous even to 00:09:07.039 --> 00:09:08.759 the kings ears. 00:09:08.759 --> 00:09:10.240 And so Herod heard of it. 00:09:10.240 --> 00:09:11.240 So there's a connection there. 00:09:11.240 --> 00:09:16.720 So let's flip over to verse 30 and you can see the apostles returned to Jesus and told 00:09:16.720 --> 00:09:18.080 him all they had done and taught. 00:09:18.080 --> 00:09:19.519 So here's what you have. 00:09:19.519 --> 00:09:24.039 You have the Apostles' commissioning, the John the Baptist story, and how does the John 00:09:24.039 --> 00:09:25.039 the Baptist story end? 00:09:25.039 --> 00:09:28.879 It ends at verse 30 where the Apostles return. 00:09:28.879 --> 00:09:30.240 And you see there's a sandwich. 00:09:30.240 --> 00:09:33.240 It's saying the Apostles' story is like a sandwich. 00:09:33.240 --> 00:09:35.879 It's the bread, verse 30, and the verses before that. 00:09:35.879 --> 00:09:38.320 And John the Baptist story sits in the middle. 00:09:38.320 --> 00:09:39.360 So it's putting these together. 00:09:39.360 --> 00:09:42.200 And here's how one scholar puts it. 00:09:42.200 --> 00:09:51.200 He says it like this, James Edwards, the sandwich structure draws mission and martyrdom, discipleship 00:09:51.200 --> 00:09:55.360 and death into an inseparable relationship. 00:09:55.360 --> 00:09:59.399 This is precisely what Jesus is going to teach us in chapter 8, verse 34. 00:09:59.399 --> 00:10:04.920 If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. 00:10:04.919 --> 00:10:09.919 Whoever would follow Jesus must first reckon with the fate of John the Baptist. 00:10:09.919 --> 00:10:11.439 And you see what he's saying? 00:10:11.439 --> 00:10:17.799 He's saying that if you're sent and you're called to self-denial, you also have to reckon 00:10:17.799 --> 00:10:20.079 with the fate of John the Baptist. 00:10:20.079 --> 00:10:25.479 That sometimes that rejection goes all the way to the point of death, physical death, 00:10:25.479 --> 00:10:26.479 of martyrdom. 00:10:26.479 --> 00:10:28.959 And that's why these stories are put together right here. 00:10:28.959 --> 00:10:30.039 This is not an invitation. 00:10:30.039 --> 00:10:33.679 This passage, in other words, is not an invitation to cultural Christianity. 00:10:33.679 --> 00:10:36.919 It's more like what Dietrich Bonhoeffer said to us. 00:10:36.919 --> 00:10:42.479 It's printed in the bulletin as today's thought for the day, that when Christ calls a man, 00:10:42.479 --> 00:10:47.000 when Christ calls a person, he calls him to come and to die. 00:10:47.000 --> 00:10:49.120 And that's why John the Baptist's story is right here. 00:10:49.120 --> 00:10:54.039 You see, the first story tells us you've got to die to yourself, but the second story says 00:10:54.039 --> 00:10:56.159 it might go past that. 00:10:56.159 --> 00:10:57.879 It might go much further than that. 00:10:57.879 --> 00:10:59.919 Discipleship might even lead to death. 00:10:59.919 --> 00:11:04.199 And the New Testament is saying over and over again, if you really want to live, you've 00:11:04.199 --> 00:11:07.399 got to know that you must die. 00:11:07.399 --> 00:11:10.360 And that begins in the heart, but it also extends beyond the heart. 00:11:10.360 --> 00:11:11.599 It also goes outward. 00:11:11.599 --> 00:11:15.839 Now, John the Baptist's story, we'll look at it in a little more detail in the second 00:11:15.839 --> 00:11:24.399 point, but it tells us that self-denial means that a true messenger of Jesus Christ sometimes 00:11:24.399 --> 00:11:32.159 has to stand up in a world of greed and decadence and power hunger and proclaim the truth of 00:11:32.159 --> 00:11:34.039 God's word and God's way. 00:11:34.039 --> 00:11:38.799 And that sometimes God's servant gets killed for that. 00:11:38.799 --> 00:11:44.120 And that's why we read the rest of the Bible and learn and beyond it that Stephen was 00:11:44.120 --> 00:11:50.199 stoned to death and James was beheaded in Jerusalem and Matthew was killed by the sword 00:11:50.200 --> 00:11:55.960 in Ethiopia and Mark was dragged to death by horses in the streets of Alexandria and 00:11:55.960 --> 00:11:58.879 Luke was hung to death in Greece. 00:11:58.879 --> 00:12:02.040 Peter was crucified upside down. 00:12:02.040 --> 00:12:06.879 Dietrich Bonhoeffer was murdered by the SS in 1945 in the Flossenberg concentration 00:12:06.879 --> 00:12:12.879 camp all because he proclaimed to a power hungry state the way of Jesus. 00:12:12.879 --> 00:12:15.280 And that's exactly what we read about here in the story of John the Baptist, that the 00:12:15.280 --> 00:12:19.800 blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church and sometimes discipleship leads all the way 00:12:19.799 --> 00:12:22.399 to the point of death in this life. 00:12:22.399 --> 00:12:27.559 And that's why John Calvin when he was asked a short simple question that we see in one 00:12:27.559 --> 00:12:29.959 of his sermons, he said, what is the Christian life? 00:12:29.959 --> 00:12:34.479 And he says one thing, self-denial. 00:12:34.479 --> 00:12:36.399 And Martin Luther talked about this a lot as well. 00:12:36.399 --> 00:12:37.879 He said, what is the Christian life? 00:12:37.879 --> 00:12:40.079 And he said, it's cruciform. 00:12:40.079 --> 00:12:43.279 It takes the form of the cross itself. 00:12:43.279 --> 00:12:45.319 It's a death. 00:12:45.319 --> 00:12:49.279 And if you read more about what Luther said about that, he gave us some very uncomfortable 00:12:49.279 --> 00:12:50.600 quotes. 00:12:50.600 --> 00:12:57.000 One of them says this, you must personally experience suffering with Christ. 00:12:57.000 --> 00:13:01.679 He suffered for your sake and should you not suffer for his. 00:13:01.679 --> 00:13:04.799 And that's exactly a question that comes right out of the apostle Paul. 00:13:04.799 --> 00:13:11.000 And we'll move on, but Luke 18, Jesus, remember in Luke 18, it also appears in Mark, Jesus 00:13:11.000 --> 00:13:14.079 was talking to the rich man. 00:13:14.079 --> 00:13:16.519 And he said, the rich man said, you know, I followed all the laws. 00:13:16.519 --> 00:13:17.639 I've done everything. 00:13:17.639 --> 00:13:21.519 What must I do to be one of your servants to get to heaven? 00:13:21.519 --> 00:13:28.759 And Jesus said, okay, give all of your possessions to the poor and then follow me. 00:13:28.759 --> 00:13:33.720 Now Jesus was not saying there that every single call upon every single disciple is that 00:13:33.720 --> 00:13:36.360 if you want to be one of his disciples, you have to give away all your possessions, not 00:13:36.360 --> 00:13:37.360 at all. 00:13:37.360 --> 00:13:40.720 Same thing, the apostles commission is not exactly our commission. 00:13:40.720 --> 00:13:47.120 But what he was saying is, are you willing to give away all your possessions? 00:13:47.120 --> 00:13:50.200 If that's what you have to do to follow Jesus Christ? 00:13:50.200 --> 00:13:55.799 So he says, are you willing to deny yourself to that point? 00:13:55.799 --> 00:13:56.799 That's the question Jesus asked. 00:13:56.799 --> 00:14:00.240 In other words, is Jesus truly your master? 00:14:00.240 --> 00:14:06.080 Is he truly your Lord and your teacher at the very same time? 00:14:06.080 --> 00:14:12.240 Now secondly, it's not only the call to self-denial, it's also the call to be rejected. 00:14:12.240 --> 00:14:18.960 So we've learned so far Christ was rejected, Mark 6, his people are going to be rejected. 00:14:18.960 --> 00:14:22.200 First, the rejection of self, it's required. 00:14:22.200 --> 00:14:26.399 But then secondly, also here, we see that we're going to be rejected by other people, 00:14:26.399 --> 00:14:28.320 people outside of our own hearts. 00:14:28.320 --> 00:14:30.759 And that's what's happening in the John the Baptist story. 00:14:30.759 --> 00:14:35.039 And this is a story between John the Baptist and Herod and Herodias. 00:14:35.039 --> 00:14:38.600 And it's a story of public rejection. 00:14:38.600 --> 00:14:44.360 And we learn here that when human beings reject the master, reject Jesus Christ, reject God, 00:14:44.360 --> 00:14:46.600 it's really complicated. 00:14:46.600 --> 00:14:47.600 That's what we learn. 00:14:47.600 --> 00:14:49.960 There's a lot of complication in what's going on here. 00:14:49.960 --> 00:14:56.000 There's a lot going on in a human heart whenever the human heart rejects God and rejects Jesus. 00:14:56.000 --> 00:15:01.560 And we see it here in two different ways through the way Herodias reacts to John and the way 00:15:01.560 --> 00:15:03.240 Herod reacts to John. 00:15:03.240 --> 00:15:04.320 So here's what's going on. 00:15:04.320 --> 00:15:07.320 This is classic daytime TV. 00:15:07.320 --> 00:15:11.520 This is 2 p.m. in the afternoon soap opera level entertainment. 00:15:11.520 --> 00:15:13.800 And also an incredibly sad story. 00:15:13.800 --> 00:15:16.400 So here's what happened. 00:15:16.400 --> 00:15:17.600 Herod is a king. 00:15:17.600 --> 00:15:20.760 And he's a king, not like his father. 00:15:20.760 --> 00:15:22.720 So there are four Herods in the New Testament. 00:15:22.720 --> 00:15:23.960 It gets very confusing. 00:15:23.960 --> 00:15:26.240 This is Herod Antipas. 00:15:26.240 --> 00:15:30.120 And he is the son of Herod the Great, who was the one that we saw at the beginning of 00:15:30.120 --> 00:15:32.800 Jesus's life, Jesus's birth. 00:15:32.799 --> 00:15:38.000 He's called here the tetrarch, and that's because he only rules one fourth of Herod, 00:15:38.000 --> 00:15:39.000 his dad's kingdom. 00:15:39.000 --> 00:15:40.599 Tetra in Greek means four. 00:15:40.599 --> 00:15:43.000 So he has one fourth of the kingdom. 00:15:43.000 --> 00:15:44.879 And that gets to him. 00:15:44.879 --> 00:15:52.240 And we learn from Eusebius and other extra biblical historians that Herod was a very luxurious 00:15:52.240 --> 00:15:53.240 fellow. 00:15:53.240 --> 00:15:54.879 He was into nice things. 00:15:54.879 --> 00:15:58.240 He loved architecture and decadence and beauty. 00:15:58.240 --> 00:15:59.919 And he built all these nice palaces. 00:15:59.919 --> 00:16:05.559 And he actually created two new cities in the Judean area just for himself and for the 00:16:05.559 --> 00:16:08.079 people that he wanted to have around him. 00:16:08.079 --> 00:16:13.000 And what happened was that he stole his brother's wife, Herodias. 00:16:13.000 --> 00:16:18.639 He dismissed the wife of his youth, sent her home, took his brother's wife, and then later 00:16:18.639 --> 00:16:22.679 he would murder his brother to clean up the mess that was made. 00:16:22.679 --> 00:16:24.039 And it was very sinister. 00:16:24.039 --> 00:16:25.419 And there's a lot more detail. 00:16:25.419 --> 00:16:28.240 We have some of it in a historian called Eusebius. 00:16:28.240 --> 00:16:32.560 And it was a nasty situation, and Herodias was in on it. 00:16:32.560 --> 00:16:36.039 The woman that he married that he took his brother's wife. 00:16:36.039 --> 00:16:41.120 And she here very clearly in verse 19 hates John the Baptist in particular. 00:16:41.120 --> 00:16:46.879 And the reason is because, one, I think, Herod and Herodias looked out at the followers 00:16:46.879 --> 00:16:52.080 of Jesus, John the Baptist, in the middle of their luxurious palace in their decadent 00:16:52.080 --> 00:16:56.720 parties when we read about here a constant life of luxury. 00:16:56.720 --> 00:16:59.960 And John the Baptist was walking around eating locusts. 00:16:59.960 --> 00:17:04.759 John the Baptist was walking around wearing leather that he had made himself from the 00:17:04.759 --> 00:17:07.319 wilderness, living in the wilderness, eating locusts. 00:17:07.319 --> 00:17:13.160 And boy, did that stand in utter contrast, excuse me, to the decadence that they were 00:17:13.160 --> 00:17:14.160 living in. 00:17:14.160 --> 00:17:17.000 And I think they felt the weight of shame. 00:17:17.000 --> 00:17:20.839 But more specifically, exactly what we're told here is that John the Baptist came to 00:17:20.839 --> 00:17:22.839 the king. 00:17:22.839 --> 00:17:29.359 The church came and confronted the state and said to the state, what you have done, this 00:17:29.359 --> 00:17:32.879 mess that you've made is not, quote, lawful. 00:17:32.879 --> 00:17:38.159 That's the word that John the Baptist uses in verse 18, that this is not God's way. 00:17:38.159 --> 00:17:43.119 That you've, you know, he entered into the political domain and said, sometimes the church, 00:17:43.119 --> 00:17:45.720 the Christian has to say, this is not okay. 00:17:45.720 --> 00:17:46.839 This is not lawful. 00:17:46.839 --> 00:17:47.839 This is not holy. 00:17:47.839 --> 00:17:49.079 God doesn't want this. 00:17:49.079 --> 00:17:51.879 And a good ruler cannot act like this. 00:17:51.880 --> 00:17:54.600 And in verse 19, it says Herodias hated him for it. 00:17:54.600 --> 00:18:00.960 And in verse 20, it says that Herod was afraid of him for it, feared him, was puzzled by 00:18:00.960 --> 00:18:01.960 him. 00:18:01.960 --> 00:18:06.320 Now, what we're reading about in that scenario, why, why do they hate him so much? 00:18:06.320 --> 00:18:07.520 Why do they reject him? 00:18:07.520 --> 00:18:10.200 Why do they want him to die? 00:18:10.200 --> 00:18:15.560 And it's because when John the Baptist came to them and told them about the law, told 00:18:15.560 --> 00:18:21.400 them what they had done was not lawful, they felt deep in their hearts the weight of shame. 00:18:21.400 --> 00:18:27.759 And you see, this is about the weight of guilt. 00:18:27.759 --> 00:18:34.480 And every single human being that's ever been born sometimes feels the weight of guilt and 00:18:34.480 --> 00:18:40.720 the shame that arises from that guilt come up from the deep, deep recesses of their heart. 00:18:40.720 --> 00:18:41.960 You know, they're struck. 00:18:41.960 --> 00:18:48.560 We are struck as human beings by the law, by the lawfulness of creation order, by the 00:18:48.559 --> 00:18:52.519 fact that we exist in a world that has laws and those laws are greater and bigger than 00:18:52.519 --> 00:18:53.519 us. 00:18:53.519 --> 00:18:57.639 And sometimes that hits us so hard that we react in a couple different ways. 00:18:57.639 --> 00:19:01.200 For some of us, we awaken and we seek deliverance. 00:19:01.200 --> 00:19:06.000 But for others, we want to hide the guilt and the shame and push it away and suppress 00:19:06.000 --> 00:19:09.759 it and try to do anything we can to run away from it. 00:19:09.759 --> 00:19:15.000 And sometimes that means cutting people's heads off to get away from the weight of guilt 00:19:15.000 --> 00:19:18.079 and shame that stands in our life and in our hearts. 00:19:18.079 --> 00:19:24.399 You see, this story is one that's so complex because it's about the psychology of sin and 00:19:24.399 --> 00:19:26.240 what goes on deep down in our hearts. 00:19:26.240 --> 00:19:28.480 One 20th century theologian named J.H. 00:19:28.480 --> 00:19:31.199 Boving talks about this a lot. 00:19:31.199 --> 00:19:34.759 He identifies this thing called the magnetic points of the human heart. 00:19:34.759 --> 00:19:39.960 And he says in every single culture, every single century, there's these magnetic points, 00:19:39.960 --> 00:19:43.439 these true Norse that the heart keeps coming back to. 00:19:43.439 --> 00:19:46.480 So things like this, everybody, no matter where they're born, what religion they're 00:19:46.480 --> 00:19:51.200 born a part of, whether they're atheist or theist, no matter what culture, what century, 00:19:51.200 --> 00:19:55.000 always comes to a point in their lives where they're going to ask a question like this. 00:19:55.000 --> 00:19:59.360 Do I matter or am I just a speck of dust in the midst of the cosmos? 00:19:59.360 --> 00:20:00.519 That's a magnetic point. 00:20:00.519 --> 00:20:02.839 Is there actual meaning to my life? 00:20:02.839 --> 00:20:04.319 Meaning is one of those magnetic points. 00:20:04.319 --> 00:20:10.279 Another one of those magnetic points is norms, moral laws. 00:20:10.279 --> 00:20:13.400 And that's exactly the one that John the Baptist brings up here. 00:20:13.400 --> 00:20:15.759 He says to them, you violated a moral law. 00:20:15.759 --> 00:20:18.799 You've committed a sin against lawfulness. 00:20:18.799 --> 00:20:19.799 You're not lawful. 00:20:19.799 --> 00:20:21.559 There's something hanging over you. 00:20:21.559 --> 00:20:26.960 And when they reject him, they're acknowledging a magnetic North, that there is a law that 00:20:26.960 --> 00:20:29.559 hangs over them, that they hate. 00:20:29.559 --> 00:20:32.359 They know it's real, but at the same time, they hate it. 00:20:32.359 --> 00:20:37.720 In the 20th century, we became no different than Herod and Herodias. 00:20:37.720 --> 00:20:43.480 Because in the 20th century, people started figuring out very clever ways to reject the 00:20:43.480 --> 00:20:47.640 idea that there is a moral law, that there's a transcendent norm that stands over us. 00:20:47.640 --> 00:20:52.680 And so in the early 20th century, there was this thing called the Bu Harathesis. 00:20:52.680 --> 00:20:57.039 It sounds funny, but this was very prominent in the academy in the 1920s. 00:20:57.039 --> 00:21:02.319 And the Bu Harathesis said this, that all the moral law is, anytime you feel the weight 00:21:02.319 --> 00:21:06.319 of guilt in your life, you feel like you're ashamed about something, all that's happening 00:21:06.319 --> 00:21:09.880 is an expression of your emotional feelings. 00:21:09.880 --> 00:21:14.160 And that means that morals and the laws we build around them are nothing but booze and 00:21:14.160 --> 00:21:15.160 hara's. 00:21:15.160 --> 00:21:18.360 You know, whenever there's something that you don't like, you say boo, whenever there's 00:21:18.360 --> 00:21:20.200 something you like, you say hara. 00:21:20.200 --> 00:21:26.160 And then we create a society of contagion that builds moral constructs around our feelings. 00:21:26.160 --> 00:21:31.080 And then we came to something like 1945 and 6, the Nuremberg Trials. 00:21:31.080 --> 00:21:35.640 And the Nuremberg Trials are very important and a very famous moment in our history, in 00:21:35.640 --> 00:21:37.160 the history of Europe and the whole world. 00:21:37.160 --> 00:21:43.400 Because what the Nuremberg Trials did, they held an international court, a world court, 00:21:43.400 --> 00:21:50.120 a court of justice to try, particularly heinous Nazi criminals after World War II. 00:21:50.120 --> 00:21:54.519 But Nuremberg, and the philosophers talk about this, has brought up this real tension, because 00:21:54.519 --> 00:21:58.880 on the one hand, academics and the culture became convinced, the moral law is nothing 00:21:58.880 --> 00:22:00.400 but a construct. 00:22:00.400 --> 00:22:01.920 You know, what is the moral law? 00:22:01.920 --> 00:22:05.800 It's nothing but little cultures, little subcultures and regions. 00:22:05.799 --> 00:22:09.720 Scotland, England, America, but even tighter than that. 00:22:09.720 --> 00:22:15.079 Even tighter subcultures, taking things they like and then creating moral laws around it. 00:22:15.079 --> 00:22:16.599 But then the Nuremberg Trials, what did it say? 00:22:16.599 --> 00:22:24.000 It said, boy, we feel like there must be some international transcendent law by which we 00:22:24.000 --> 00:22:27.440 could judge a person for such a beastly crime. 00:22:27.440 --> 00:22:31.720 You see, if you have an international court, you're admitting to something? 00:22:31.720 --> 00:22:36.120 That law stands beyond an individual culture, that law stands beyond just a little community, 00:22:36.120 --> 00:22:38.759 that the moral law is much bigger. 00:22:38.759 --> 00:22:40.759 It has to be worldwide. 00:22:40.759 --> 00:22:43.440 And so there's a real tension, and something like the Nuremberg Trials, we don't know what 00:22:43.440 --> 00:22:46.240 to do with it as modern people. 00:22:46.240 --> 00:22:47.720 You see the truth? 00:22:47.720 --> 00:22:55.240 John came and said to the state, you've committed something sinister as the king, and they were 00:22:55.240 --> 00:22:57.799 struck. 00:22:57.799 --> 00:23:02.399 And that means rejecting God is incredibly complicated. 00:23:02.399 --> 00:23:07.200 And it happens when God comes to us with the weight of the moral order and says, you're 00:23:07.200 --> 00:23:13.519 guilty before me, and that does require some shame to rise up in your heart. 00:23:13.519 --> 00:23:15.240 And yet immediately we do what? 00:23:15.240 --> 00:23:17.599 We suppress the truth and unrighteousness. 00:23:17.599 --> 00:23:21.279 So Paul put this whole psychology really clearly in Romans chapter one. 00:23:21.279 --> 00:23:26.519 He said, God has spoken through the law, and yet we do everything we can to push it down. 00:23:26.519 --> 00:23:29.359 And so here in pushing it down, they say, look, the only way we're going to get rid 00:23:29.359 --> 00:23:31.879 of this is to kill this man. 00:23:31.879 --> 00:23:36.400 We've got to kill God and kill his law by beheading this messenger. 00:23:36.400 --> 00:23:39.400 You see, you reject his messenger is because you're rejecting God himself. 00:23:39.400 --> 00:23:43.519 You're rejecting the law that God's given and spoken here through the messenger. 00:23:43.519 --> 00:23:51.319 And so the man who Jesus said was the greatest prophet to ever live, John the Baptist, he 00:23:51.319 --> 00:23:57.200 got his head cut off because of a ridiculous cocktail wager. 00:23:57.200 --> 00:24:00.839 And it's really because we suppress the truth and unrighteousness. 00:24:00.839 --> 00:24:02.759 We reject God. 00:24:02.759 --> 00:24:04.599 And that's who we are by nature. 00:24:04.599 --> 00:24:06.919 Rejecting God is so complicated. 00:24:06.919 --> 00:24:13.599 That means, let's move on, that the cost of discipleship is really serious. 00:24:13.599 --> 00:24:14.599 It's self-denial. 00:24:14.599 --> 00:24:17.720 It's the willingness to be rejected. 00:24:17.720 --> 00:24:21.319 And do you see what the John the Baptist story is doing here? 00:24:21.319 --> 00:24:25.200 It's saying, think about the cost of nondiscipleship. 00:24:25.200 --> 00:24:27.759 You know, in the first story, the cost of discipleship is so high, but in the second 00:24:27.759 --> 00:24:33.480 story, what is the cost of not becoming a disciple? 00:24:33.480 --> 00:24:39.759 And the cost of not becoming a disciple is to reject the truth and ultimately to be miserable. 00:24:39.759 --> 00:24:43.839 You see, Herodias hated him. 00:24:43.839 --> 00:24:46.240 And she would die in hatred of him. 00:24:46.240 --> 00:24:51.680 You see, his head rolling down the road would not satisfy her need. 00:24:51.680 --> 00:24:53.240 And Herod leaves this place and what is he? 00:24:53.240 --> 00:24:54.400 He's puzzled. 00:24:54.400 --> 00:24:55.680 He doesn't know what to do. 00:24:55.680 --> 00:24:57.279 He's afraid. 00:24:57.279 --> 00:24:59.240 He hates what's had to happen. 00:24:59.240 --> 00:25:04.759 He knows that God is probably spoken, but in the end, he's not willing to count the 00:25:04.759 --> 00:25:06.839 cost and deny himself. 00:25:06.839 --> 00:25:11.480 And ultimately, he succumbs to his power hunger and his greed and his need to keep having 00:25:11.480 --> 00:25:13.640 a party. 00:25:13.640 --> 00:25:19.880 In both instances, you see, the cost of nondiscipleship is misery in this story. 00:25:19.880 --> 00:25:27.160 The cost of discipleship is costly, but the cost of nondiscipleship is so much more. 00:25:27.160 --> 00:25:30.840 On the one hand, you get joy, you get life, you get meaning, you get God himself. 00:25:30.840 --> 00:25:32.800 On the other hand, you're wandering without purpose. 00:25:32.800 --> 00:25:33.800 You're far from God. 00:25:33.800 --> 00:25:38.280 You see, the cost of discipleship is ultimately to get exactly what John the Baptist says 00:25:38.280 --> 00:25:39.280 here. 00:25:39.280 --> 00:25:41.680 He says, you've committed a great injustice and you're guilty. 00:25:41.680 --> 00:25:45.680 And that's the cost to stay guilty before God. 00:25:45.680 --> 00:25:48.440 And that's what failing, that's what rejecting Christ cost us. 00:25:48.440 --> 00:25:53.600 We'll move on, but let me say this in the Apostles' Commission story. 00:25:53.600 --> 00:25:58.320 Jesus tells them, when you go to a town, if they reject Jesus, shake the dust off your 00:25:58.320 --> 00:25:59.320 feet. 00:25:59.320 --> 00:26:01.039 Very strange. 00:26:01.039 --> 00:26:04.200 When you leave that town, you shake your feet off and let the dust fly. 00:26:04.200 --> 00:26:07.279 And that's a statement, a testimony against them. 00:26:07.279 --> 00:26:13.440 Now, this is because there was a Jewish saying that I developed the century prior, shake 00:26:13.440 --> 00:26:15.399 the dust off your feet. 00:26:15.399 --> 00:26:21.079 And the way it would be used is that if you were committed to the God of the Bible, the 00:26:21.079 --> 00:26:25.240 Old Testament, and you passed through Samaria, you came through Samaria, you came out on 00:26:25.240 --> 00:26:29.839 the other side, back to Jerusalem, they would say, you better shake the dust off your feet 00:26:29.839 --> 00:26:32.799 before you step from Samaria to Jerusalem. 00:26:32.799 --> 00:26:33.799 Why? 00:26:33.799 --> 00:26:38.720 They'd say, we don't want pagan dirt in our great city. 00:26:38.720 --> 00:26:41.440 Our dirt is so much better than their dirt. 00:26:41.440 --> 00:26:45.799 And so don't bring that dirt into our, and mix it with our dirt. 00:26:45.799 --> 00:26:46.799 That was the idea. 00:26:46.799 --> 00:26:48.359 Now, Jesus is reversing it. 00:26:48.359 --> 00:26:57.440 He's saying, if you go to a Jewish village with God followers and they reject Jesus Christ, 00:26:57.440 --> 00:27:04.400 you say, they're saying, you shake the dust off your feet, why? 00:27:04.400 --> 00:27:10.400 Because he's saying, rejecting Christ, that's becoming a pagan. 00:27:10.400 --> 00:27:13.360 You shake your dust off your feet when you enter Jerusalem to say, I don't want pagan 00:27:13.360 --> 00:27:17.600 dust in my land, but you shake your dust when you leave a city that's rejected you to say, 00:27:17.600 --> 00:27:21.960 if you don't count the cost and follow Jesus, you've become a pagan. 00:27:21.960 --> 00:27:24.799 And a pagan is nothing but this, a person who doesn't follow the true God. 00:27:24.799 --> 00:27:26.440 It's non-discipleship. 00:27:26.440 --> 00:27:28.039 That's the cost. 00:27:28.039 --> 00:27:29.039 And the moral law says it. 00:27:29.039 --> 00:27:30.360 It says we stay in our guilt. 00:27:30.360 --> 00:27:31.559 We stay lost. 00:27:31.559 --> 00:27:35.080 We don't have anywhere to put our guilt and our shame. 00:27:35.080 --> 00:27:37.759 And that's the cost of non-discipleship. 00:27:37.759 --> 00:27:38.880 We're called to self-denial. 00:27:38.880 --> 00:27:40.120 We're called to be rejected. 00:27:40.120 --> 00:27:43.320 And it's because humans always reject God. 00:27:43.320 --> 00:27:47.500 But then lastly, that means we need power for self-denial. 00:27:47.500 --> 00:27:49.600 We need power to face this rejection. 00:27:49.600 --> 00:27:56.120 For some of us today, we simply need the power to become a disciple, to follow him. 00:27:56.119 --> 00:27:58.079 And let's close with this. 00:27:58.079 --> 00:28:03.199 The power you need is found in this passage when you look at what happens to John the 00:28:03.199 --> 00:28:06.479 Baptist at the very end. 00:28:06.479 --> 00:28:11.879 Remember John at the beginning of his ministry, he said, he said, there comes a prophet after 00:28:11.879 --> 00:28:15.799 me, a teacher, a rabbi who's greater than I. 00:28:15.799 --> 00:28:20.759 And he's so great that I am not worthy to untie a sandal straps. 00:28:20.759 --> 00:28:28.000 John the Baptist knew that he always existed to point away from himself, to Jesus Christ. 00:28:28.000 --> 00:28:31.319 And you read this story about John's execution. 00:28:31.319 --> 00:28:33.720 Just think about it. 00:28:33.720 --> 00:28:41.400 John was executed by a political tyrant who was at the same time attracted to John's message. 00:28:41.400 --> 00:28:48.759 And Jesus Christ was about to be executed by a political tyrant pilot who was curiously 00:28:48.759 --> 00:28:51.879 attracted to Jesus's message. 00:28:51.879 --> 00:28:53.599 Herod was puzzled by John. 00:28:53.599 --> 00:28:57.119 Pilate said, what is truth to Jesus? 00:28:57.119 --> 00:29:02.039 John was executed because a Roman leader acquiesced to the mob. 00:29:02.039 --> 00:29:05.839 And Pilate took Jesus out to the courtyard in the face of the mob and said, do you want 00:29:05.839 --> 00:29:08.240 him or you want Barabbas? 00:29:08.240 --> 00:29:09.440 He acquiesced to the mob. 00:29:09.440 --> 00:29:11.960 John dies in silence, we're told. 00:29:11.960 --> 00:29:14.279 Not a word, not a word, not a word. 00:29:14.279 --> 00:29:20.079 And Jesus Christ died, he stood in silence before his accusers. 00:29:20.079 --> 00:29:24.039 He was like the silent sheep taken to slaughter. 00:29:24.039 --> 00:29:27.960 John the Baptist is righteous and innocent before an unholy state. 00:29:27.960 --> 00:29:33.440 And Jesus Christ, oh boy, he was righteous and innocent before an unholy state. 00:29:33.440 --> 00:29:38.839 John's followers at the end take his body and bury him. 00:29:38.839 --> 00:29:42.440 And Jesus' disciples take down his body and bury him. 00:29:42.440 --> 00:29:46.480 Herod at the beginning of this hears of what's going on and says, John the Baptist must have 00:29:46.480 --> 00:29:49.080 been raised from the dead. 00:29:49.080 --> 00:29:50.400 And he was close. 00:29:50.400 --> 00:29:53.400 He was looking for the right thing, you see. 00:29:53.400 --> 00:29:57.519 You see, the power we need is right here in this passage and it's that John the Baptist 00:29:57.519 --> 00:29:59.600 has always pointed to Jesus Christ. 00:29:59.600 --> 00:30:04.320 And today, John stayed dead but Jesus didn't. 00:30:04.320 --> 00:30:10.840 And the power that you need to become a disciple, to deny yourself, and to have the ability to 00:30:10.839 --> 00:30:17.839 go into the world and be rejected and stay committed is only by first seeing him, seeing 00:30:17.839 --> 00:30:19.679 Jesus Christ. 00:30:19.679 --> 00:30:25.759 God become man for you, the one who came to be rejected so that you could be accepted. 00:30:25.759 --> 00:30:27.240 See today, you've got to see him. 00:30:27.240 --> 00:30:31.679 You've got to see that the cost of discipleship is so little when you look at the one that 00:30:31.679 --> 00:30:36.119 you get, the one who came for you, the God who made you and wanted you, the God who came 00:30:36.119 --> 00:30:37.279 for you and Jesus. 00:30:37.279 --> 00:30:38.839 Jesus is the anti-Herod. 00:30:38.839 --> 00:30:45.359 You know, Herod is the king who lived for himself, who was decadent and confused, who 00:30:45.359 --> 00:30:51.799 was puzzled by truth, who ultimately in the end chose power and prestige over the truth. 00:30:51.799 --> 00:30:53.639 Jesus Christ is the anti-Herod. 00:30:53.639 --> 00:30:56.839 He is the king who came and laid down every power. 00:30:56.839 --> 00:30:58.119 He laid down his wealth. 00:30:58.119 --> 00:31:01.439 He laid down his right to power. 00:31:01.439 --> 00:31:03.799 He rejected greed in this life. 00:31:03.799 --> 00:31:05.319 And that's the disciples' call. 00:31:05.319 --> 00:31:09.079 You can only give away your power in this life. 00:31:09.079 --> 00:31:12.079 You can only give yourself away to Jesus. 00:31:12.079 --> 00:31:16.319 You can only give yourself away in self-denial when you first see the king who gave away 00:31:16.319 --> 00:31:17.919 everything for you. 00:31:17.919 --> 00:31:19.480 You've got to see him today. 00:31:19.480 --> 00:31:21.319 Nope, let's close. 00:31:21.319 --> 00:31:22.319 We're out of time. 00:31:22.319 --> 00:31:30.759 Christian friends, there's a call here today to self-denial, simplicity, willingness to 00:31:30.759 --> 00:31:35.839 be rejected, willingness to stand up in the midst of decadence, greed, and power, and speak 00:31:35.839 --> 00:31:40.200 the way, the truth, and the life. 00:31:40.200 --> 00:31:43.000 Willingness even to die. 00:31:43.000 --> 00:31:45.119 How are you doing with that? 00:31:45.119 --> 00:31:48.680 How are you doing with that so far in your Christian life? 00:31:48.680 --> 00:31:55.319 Look, if you're like me, the last thing you need to hear is this today. 00:31:55.319 --> 00:32:01.319 In chapter one, the apostles impeded Jesus' mission. 00:32:01.319 --> 00:32:04.359 And in chapter four, they exasperated him. 00:32:04.359 --> 00:32:07.599 And in chapter three, they opposed him to his face. 00:32:07.599 --> 00:32:11.960 And in chapter eight, verse 14, they told him he wasn't going to die and they wouldn't 00:32:11.960 --> 00:32:14.159 let it happen. 00:32:14.159 --> 00:32:17.079 And ultimately, they rejected him. 00:32:17.079 --> 00:32:19.359 They committed treason against him. 00:32:19.359 --> 00:32:24.639 And this was all after he had sent them out as disciples to be rejected. 00:32:24.640 --> 00:32:31.320 And that means that the power to be a good disciple depends not on your gifting and your 00:32:31.320 --> 00:32:38.000 perfections, not at all, but on the power and the perfections of the one that sent you. 00:32:38.000 --> 00:32:43.759 This was a ragtag group, and they were not good at it. 00:32:43.759 --> 00:32:46.280 And we're not either. 00:32:46.280 --> 00:32:47.880 And that's why you need to see Jesus Christ today. 00:32:47.880 --> 00:32:48.880 You need his power. 00:32:48.880 --> 00:32:51.360 You need the Spirit to come and give you a gift. 00:32:51.359 --> 00:32:54.759 You see, power is first a gift, and then you have to do something. 00:32:54.759 --> 00:32:58.959 And this is truly the last word, the something you can do and have to do today. 00:32:58.959 --> 00:33:04.000 And it's this Luke nine, you know, Mark eight, Jesus is going to say to them to summarize 00:33:04.000 --> 00:33:09.559 this whole thing, take up your cross, follow me, deny yourself, die with me and for me 00:33:09.559 --> 00:33:11.759 and follow me. 00:33:11.759 --> 00:33:15.159 Luke chapter nine says the same thing, but it adds one little word. 00:33:15.159 --> 00:33:17.679 And here it is, the last word of the day. 00:33:17.680 --> 00:33:23.880 Luke chapter nine, Jesus says, take up your cross and follow me daily. 00:33:23.880 --> 00:33:26.200 It adds that one qualifier. 00:33:26.200 --> 00:33:32.039 And that means that what we're talking about here is a way of life, a way of life. 00:33:32.039 --> 00:33:35.880 In other words, to become like Jesus, you have to follow him. 00:33:35.880 --> 00:33:39.759 And to follow him, you have to self deny every single day. 00:33:39.759 --> 00:33:41.400 That's the invitation today. 00:33:41.400 --> 00:33:46.799 Tomorrow, today, Tuesday, every day is a day where you say, I have to deny myself, take 00:33:46.799 --> 00:33:49.279 up my cross and follow him today. 00:33:49.279 --> 00:33:53.440 And if you say, look, I'm struggling in my discipleship and following him and I don't 00:33:53.440 --> 00:33:54.440 feel like this. 00:33:54.440 --> 00:33:56.680 I don't want this in my life. 00:33:56.680 --> 00:34:04.440 Let me ask you, if you're not waking up every day and having time to deny yourself, commit 00:34:04.440 --> 00:34:09.400 your life to him, take up your cross, then it's going to be really hard for the next 00:34:09.400 --> 00:34:13.199 23 hours to actually live like that. 00:34:13.199 --> 00:34:17.960 And that's why Luke adds the word daily, a daily reckoning with who we are and with 00:34:17.960 --> 00:34:20.679 the call to self denial. 00:34:20.679 --> 00:34:27.079 Edward Schweitzer, he says this, everything, even the poverty and simplicity of the messenger, 00:34:27.079 --> 00:34:34.599 indeed even the courage to be rejected, must conform to the word God has spoken in Jesus. 00:34:34.599 --> 00:34:40.319 That God is infinitely more important than everything else. 00:34:40.320 --> 00:34:45.960 And that's the invitation that every day we wake up and say, today, God is infinitely 00:34:45.960 --> 00:34:49.680 more important to me than everything else. 00:34:49.680 --> 00:34:51.840 That's the cost of discipleship. 00:34:51.840 --> 00:34:52.840 Let's pray. 00:34:52.840 --> 00:34:58.519 Father, we ask that you would help us to become great disciples and we know that we only do 00:34:58.519 --> 00:35:03.880 that by first looking at Christ and seeing the power that he displayed and gave to us. 00:35:03.880 --> 00:35:07.519 And then we ask, Lord, that you would lift up our hearts this morning, that we would 00:35:07.519 --> 00:35:13.440 go from this place with a daily call, reckoning to deny ourselves and to even see that our 00:35:13.440 --> 00:35:17.880 call is so far that sometimes for some people in this world, it even comes to the point 00:35:17.880 --> 00:35:18.880 of death. 00:35:18.880 --> 00:35:21.599 We give you thanks that the blood of the martyrs is the seat of the church. 00:35:21.599 --> 00:35:27.360 We ask in amazement of that, that you would gift us that same type of faith and strength, 00:35:27.360 --> 00:35:31.639 even in our workplaces, in our neighborhoods, in our ministries. 00:35:31.639 --> 00:35:36.199 And so we ask for a gift that we cannot give to ourselves today. 00:35:36.199 --> 00:35:41.199 And we pray for the presence of the Spirit in our lives for this in Christ's name. 00:35:41.199 --> 00:36:07.199 Amen.