WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.080 We hope that you enjoy this teaching from Christ Church. 00:00:05.540 --> 00:00:09.519 This material is copyrighted and no unauthorized duplication, 00:00:09.880 --> 00:00:15.280 redistribution, or any other use of any part is permitted without prior consent from Christ Church. 00:00:15.280 --> 00:00:22.640 Please consider donating to this work in the San Francisco Bay Area online at ChristChurchEastBay.org. 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:42.620 Good morning. Today's scripture reading is from the Gospel according to Mark 9, verses 30 to 50, as printed in your liturgy. 00:00:45.299 --> 00:00:48.280 They left that place and passed through Galilee. 00:00:48.740 --> 00:00:54.260 Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were, because he was teaching his disciples. 00:00:54.600 --> 00:00:55.359 He said to them, 00:00:55.359 --> 00:00:58.879 The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. 00:00:58.880 --> 00:01:02.120 They will kill him, and after three days he will rise. 00:01:02.420 --> 00:01:06.879 But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it. 00:01:07.260 --> 00:01:08.760 They came to Capernaum. 00:01:09.120 --> 00:01:11.379 When he was in the house, he asked them, 00:01:11.719 --> 00:01:14.320 What were you arguing about on the road? 00:01:14.579 --> 00:01:19.280 But they kept quiet, because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest. 00:01:19.820 --> 00:01:23.140 Sitting down, Jesus called the twelve disciples and said, 00:01:23.140 --> 00:01:28.780 Anyone who wants to be first must be very last. 00:01:28.879 --> 00:01:30.619 And the servant of all. 00:01:30.619 --> 00:01:33.579 He took a little child, whom he placed among them. 00:01:33.719 --> 00:01:36.239 Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, 00:01:36.699 --> 00:01:41.140 Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me, 00:01:41.340 --> 00:01:45.739 and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me, but the one who sent me. 00:01:46.099 --> 00:01:50.959 Teacher, said John, we saw someone driving out demons in your name, 00:01:51.120 --> 00:01:54.579 and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us. 00:01:54.579 --> 00:01:57.260 Do not stop him, Jesus said. 00:01:57.319 --> 00:02:03.640 For no one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me. 00:02:04.039 --> 00:02:07.000 For whoever is not against us is for us. 00:02:07.519 --> 00:02:11.340 Truly I tell you, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name, 00:02:11.439 --> 00:02:15.259 because you belong to the Messiah, will certainly not lose their reward. 00:02:15.259 --> 00:02:21.219 If anyone causes one of these little ones, those who believe in me, to stumble, 00:02:21.479 --> 00:02:25.979 it would be better for them if a large millstone were hung around their neck, 00:02:26.139 --> 00:02:27.979 and they were thrown into the sea. 00:02:28.299 --> 00:02:31.379 If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. 00:02:31.639 --> 00:02:37.060 It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, 00:02:37.259 --> 00:02:38.939 where the fire never goes out. 00:02:38.939 --> 00:02:42.099 And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. 00:02:42.439 --> 00:02:48.240 It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. 00:02:48.560 --> 00:02:51.939 And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. 00:02:52.340 --> 00:02:57.099 It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes 00:02:57.099 --> 00:03:04.000 and be thrown into hell, where the worms that eat them do not die and the fire is not quenched. 00:03:04.460 --> 00:03:07.060 Everyone will be salted with fire. 00:03:07.060 --> 00:03:13.840 Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? 00:03:14.259 --> 00:03:17.979 Have salt among yourselves and be at peace with each other. 00:03:18.439 --> 00:03:20.219 This is the gospel of the Lord. 00:03:21.020 --> 00:03:22.680 Praise to you, Lord Christ. 00:03:23.560 --> 00:03:25.840 One, two, good. Thank you. 00:03:26.180 --> 00:03:27.620 Thanks, Johnson Hess, for that reading. 00:03:28.180 --> 00:03:29.000 And good morning, everyone. 00:03:30.020 --> 00:03:33.780 You know, this passage is pretty difficult for me this week, this passage in particular. 00:03:33.780 --> 00:03:40.879 And usually what I do when I encounter a difficult passage like this is I just look up what Tim Keller had to say about it. 00:03:41.659 --> 00:03:50.659 But I realized when I went on the Redeemer Presbyterian Church website is that Tim Keller actually never preached this text, ever. 00:03:51.360 --> 00:03:53.199 He had his associate pastor preach it. 00:03:53.699 --> 00:03:53.920 All right? 00:03:54.199 --> 00:03:58.680 So, Jonathan, you're in good company, and I'm going to do my best to get us through this. 00:03:58.680 --> 00:03:59.759 It's a pretty difficult text. 00:03:59.759 --> 00:04:02.319 Let's pray as we go to God's Word. 00:04:06.039 --> 00:04:08.959 Father, as we sing, speak, O Lord. 00:04:10.599 --> 00:04:17.539 Speak, O Lord, until your church is built and the earth is filled with your glory, the glory of Jesus Christ. 00:04:17.639 --> 00:04:20.560 Would we behold him this morning in Jesus' name? 00:04:20.899 --> 00:04:21.180 Amen. 00:04:21.180 --> 00:04:21.300 Amen. 00:04:22.959 --> 00:04:25.259 So, if you can, I want you to try to think back. 00:04:25.319 --> 00:04:32.480 If you can remember the first time in your life that you thought to yourself, I want to be great at, like, fill in the blank. 00:04:32.959 --> 00:04:34.560 I want to be great at fill in the blank. 00:04:34.800 --> 00:04:38.660 For me, I can remember pretty far back, probably the first time I had this thought. 00:04:39.019 --> 00:04:42.819 You know, I was a typical kid born in the 80s, so karate was a big deal. 00:04:42.879 --> 00:04:45.819 I remember thinking to myself, I want to be a great martial artist. 00:04:45.819 --> 00:04:50.779 I want to be the next Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, just like a great fighting machine, all right? 00:04:51.120 --> 00:04:52.399 And that was realized, right? 00:04:56.040 --> 00:05:01.199 Then in third grade, you know, I started getting hoop dreams, and I wanted to be a great basketball player. 00:05:01.279 --> 00:05:03.680 I wanted to be the first Chinese American in the NBA. 00:05:03.819 --> 00:05:10.740 I would ask my parents, you know, hey, my Asian parents, by the way, hey, if, you know, I got drafted into the NBA out of high school, would you let me skip college? 00:05:10.740 --> 00:05:19.300 And my pursuit of greatness continued through college and even in seminary, but, you know, hopefully a little bit more sanctified. 00:05:19.460 --> 00:05:20.980 I wanted to be a great preacher. 00:05:21.120 --> 00:05:23.439 I wanted to be a great pastor, a theologian. 00:05:23.560 --> 00:05:26.879 I'd say things like, I want to be the Asian American Tim Keller. 00:05:27.759 --> 00:05:30.980 And, yeah, just a great leader in the church. 00:05:31.460 --> 00:05:35.000 I pretty much for my whole life have wanted to be great at something. 00:05:35.920 --> 00:05:38.040 And I bet it's the same for each of us, right? 00:05:38.040 --> 00:05:42.240 For each of you, I imagine we all want to be great in this room at something. 00:05:42.340 --> 00:05:49.000 Great sons, daughters, spouses, partners, students, attorneys, engineers, developers, investors, teachers, you name it. 00:05:49.480 --> 00:05:51.140 We all want to be great. 00:05:51.740 --> 00:05:52.400 And this is good. 00:05:52.800 --> 00:05:53.920 And this is natural. 00:05:54.520 --> 00:05:57.020 I wouldn't tell any of you to stop pursuing greatness. 00:05:57.180 --> 00:06:01.620 In fact, people, creatures who are made in the image of God should pursue greatness. 00:06:02.640 --> 00:06:06.879 Well, the question isn't so much whether or not we should pursue greatness. 00:06:06.879 --> 00:06:11.920 A question Jesus confronts us with today is what kind of greatness? 00:06:12.600 --> 00:06:16.579 What kind of greatness are we pursuing and how are we pursuing it? 00:06:17.060 --> 00:06:22.360 We have to consider these questions because, you know, if we don't pause to think deeply about our world and our lives 00:06:22.360 --> 00:06:29.219 and just what this is all for, what ends up happening is we'll take for granted what greatness even is. 00:06:29.220 --> 00:06:35.320 We'll just kind of let some default picture of greatness that this broken world gives to us, 00:06:35.340 --> 00:06:40.080 we'll let it just lodge itself into our heads and our hearts, and we'll just kind of run with this picture 00:06:40.080 --> 00:06:43.860 and let it shape us even more than we realize. 00:06:44.580 --> 00:06:50.660 Maybe it's a picture of financial security and abundance, physical strength and health and energy. 00:06:50.660 --> 00:06:57.560 Maybe your idea of greatness is embodied in some hotshot CEO or the smartest, most talented person that you could possibly imagine. 00:06:58.100 --> 00:07:01.560 Maybe if you're a student, maybe a little bit more short term, 00:07:01.980 --> 00:07:06.440 maybe your image of what it means to be great is to be that Regent Scholar EECS major, right, 00:07:06.500 --> 00:07:10.120 who's already getting offers from tech companies even now before the semester's over. 00:07:10.980 --> 00:07:15.000 Or for me, the picture of greatness that I often find myself pursuing is like a mixture, 00:07:15.000 --> 00:07:20.920 somewhere between Tim Keller and Steph Curry, like if I could get those things, that's greatness, right? 00:07:21.839 --> 00:07:27.819 But whatever picture of greatness we have in our heads, what I'm saying is it's so easy for us 00:07:27.819 --> 00:07:31.120 to just kind of uncritically pursue that image. 00:07:31.259 --> 00:07:38.740 It's so easy to become disciples of whomever we consider to be the goat, right, the greatest of all time. 00:07:39.699 --> 00:07:43.800 So another question that this boils down to is not just how do we become great, 00:07:43.800 --> 00:07:45.060 but who is the goat? 00:07:45.900 --> 00:07:47.240 Who is the greatest of all time? 00:07:47.379 --> 00:07:49.240 That's really the ultimate question. 00:07:49.460 --> 00:07:51.759 And, you know, I know I'm in a church, right? 00:07:51.780 --> 00:07:53.000 This is a room full of Christians. 00:07:53.220 --> 00:07:55.199 You all know the Sunday school answer, the right answer. 00:07:55.540 --> 00:07:56.900 Jesus is the goat, right? 00:07:57.680 --> 00:08:05.560 But honestly, do our lives reflect our confession that Jesus is the greatest of all time? 00:08:05.560 --> 00:08:12.660 In the many moments when we find ourselves hurried and anxious and bitter, prideful and self-righteous, 00:08:13.180 --> 00:08:18.819 lazy and apathetic, enslaved to our addictions, unwilling to forgive and bitter, 00:08:18.939 --> 00:08:22.680 do our lives match our lips when we say that Jesus is the goat? 00:08:23.740 --> 00:08:27.639 So you see, how we live and how we interact with this world and the people in it, 00:08:27.720 --> 00:08:32.419 that is the truest reflection of whom we believe to be the greatest. 00:08:32.419 --> 00:08:37.099 And I think if we're honest with ourselves, even and especially us Christians in the room, 00:08:37.159 --> 00:08:39.819 we don't always believe that Jesus is the goat. 00:08:40.839 --> 00:08:45.219 And we choose to live differently than him because we'd rather pursue other kinds, 00:08:45.379 --> 00:08:50.299 other images of greatness that we find honestly more compelling sometimes than Jesus. 00:08:51.599 --> 00:08:55.899 And this has been the story, right, of sinful humanity ever since Adam and Eve presumed that 00:08:55.899 --> 00:08:57.799 they could be the goats themselves, right? 00:08:57.799 --> 00:09:04.559 A whole history of confusion has entered into our world concerning who truly is the greatest of all time 00:09:04.559 --> 00:09:06.240 and what does that look like? 00:09:07.000 --> 00:09:09.799 Adam and Eve's firstborn son, Cain, right, he pursued greatness how? 00:09:10.079 --> 00:09:15.199 By murdering his brother, Abel, out of jealousy and out of a sense of inferiority. 00:09:15.339 --> 00:09:18.639 And then his descendants pursued greatness by, you know, through brute power, 00:09:18.959 --> 00:09:20.819 through self-interest and self-protection. 00:09:20.939 --> 00:09:25.879 They built these cities and they built it on the violent principle of might makes right. 00:09:25.879 --> 00:09:32.179 And even today, all of us, just like the builders of Babel, right, we followed in a similar pattern ourselves. 00:09:32.299 --> 00:09:33.939 All of us, we're all building our own towers. 00:09:34.200 --> 00:09:36.200 We're all trying to make names for ourselves. 00:09:36.379 --> 00:09:38.240 All of us trying to achieve greatness. 00:09:38.439 --> 00:09:45.220 We try to build temples and towers and staircases into whatever we believe heaven to be, right, 00:09:45.639 --> 00:09:50.960 so that we might achieve our highest ambitions and walk amongst whoever we believe the gods to be. 00:09:51.460 --> 00:09:52.740 Who are the gods in your life? 00:09:52.740 --> 00:09:56.779 Are they the executives in your corporate boardrooms? 00:09:56.940 --> 00:10:02.580 Are they the politicians and the policymakers and the market movers in Washington and on Wall Street? 00:10:03.320 --> 00:10:06.259 Or even for the students here, the middle schoolers, the high schoolers, 00:10:06.460 --> 00:10:12.220 are the gods and goddesses who rule your life, are they the most popular kids in your classes? 00:10:13.200 --> 00:10:14.159 We're all building towers. 00:10:14.820 --> 00:10:18.600 We're all trying to make a name for ourselves to get on a certain level, right, 00:10:18.600 --> 00:10:21.600 that level of greatness, maybe even godlike status. 00:10:22.379 --> 00:10:26.460 And we're all trying to make a name for ourselves to win approval, right, 00:10:26.500 --> 00:10:29.120 from our peers, from our parents, from the public in general. 00:10:29.779 --> 00:10:32.580 Because then and only then, right, can our greatness be confirmed. 00:10:33.440 --> 00:10:38.899 Then and only then can we say that we matter and that our existence has been worth something to this world. 00:10:38.899 --> 00:10:46.379 But in all our various pursuits of greatness, in all our tower building, in all our name-making activity, 00:10:47.079 --> 00:10:48.959 how many of us have arrived? 00:10:50.299 --> 00:10:54.860 And if not, are we even so sure that we've been pursuing true greatness at all? 00:10:55.679 --> 00:10:59.840 Like what fruit have we yielded from all of our tower building and name-making? 00:10:59.840 --> 00:11:04.920 You know, in Genesis chapter 11, that's the account of the Tower of Babel, 00:11:05.000 --> 00:11:09.780 there's this one verse that details how they used bricks to build that tower. 00:11:10.440 --> 00:11:14.680 And if you were a Jewish reader of that story, based on your own people's personal history, 00:11:14.780 --> 00:11:19.820 you would most definitely know what kind of oppression and slavery and forced human labor 00:11:19.820 --> 00:11:22.780 went into ancient Near Eastern brick-making. 00:11:23.940 --> 00:11:28.860 And you know, that tower that the builders of Babel built, it probably was a great tower. 00:11:28.860 --> 00:11:34.200 Probably the greatest that the world had ever seen, and maybe some of us feel like we are pretty close as well 00:11:34.200 --> 00:11:39.019 to achieving our greatness with our towers, with making a name for ourselves. 00:11:39.159 --> 00:11:40.620 But my question is, at what cost? 00:11:40.919 --> 00:11:42.560 And at whose expense? 00:11:43.700 --> 00:11:47.700 See, the bricks we build our greatness upon, they don't just come from nowhere. 00:11:49.060 --> 00:11:52.759 Might there be more blood and violence on our hands than we realize 00:11:52.759 --> 00:11:59.319 when we uncritically pursue the kinds of greatness that the world most often commends to us? 00:12:00.179 --> 00:12:07.259 Like, might it be that our drive to fulfill our ambitions has mostly just led to a culture of violent competition? 00:12:08.500 --> 00:12:14.080 And might it be that our desire for approval has mostly just led to a culture of vain celebrity? 00:12:14.080 --> 00:12:18.220 What I'm trying to suggest this morning is that the world's gone wrong. 00:12:18.340 --> 00:12:19.300 It's gone violent. 00:12:19.520 --> 00:12:20.300 It's gone vain. 00:12:20.700 --> 00:12:26.220 And largely because we've misdefined true greatness and misidentified the goat. 00:12:27.020 --> 00:12:31.800 We've misdefined true greatness because we've misidentified the goat. 00:12:32.500 --> 00:12:36.980 And what we're going to see in our passage this morning is that even Jesus' closest 12 companions, 00:12:36.980 --> 00:12:41.120 the disciples themselves, the apostles on whom he built his church, 00:12:42.060 --> 00:12:49.480 even they fell prey to this common yet critical error of misdefining true greatness and misidentifying the goat. 00:12:50.120 --> 00:12:52.180 Now let's pick up in the beginning at verse 30. 00:12:52.860 --> 00:12:53.100 It says, 00:12:53.200 --> 00:12:55.139 They left that place and passed through Galilee. 00:12:55.279 --> 00:12:58.420 Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were because he was teaching his disciples. 00:12:59.120 --> 00:12:59.680 He said to them, 00:13:00.480 --> 00:13:03.539 The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. 00:13:04.019 --> 00:13:06.800 They will kill him, and after three days he will rise. 00:13:07.539 --> 00:13:11.860 But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it. 00:13:12.539 --> 00:13:13.519 They came to Capernaum. 00:13:13.779 --> 00:13:15.340 When he was in the house, he asked them, 00:13:15.580 --> 00:13:17.060 What were you arguing about on the road? 00:13:17.779 --> 00:13:23.560 But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest. 00:13:24.340 --> 00:13:26.960 Just to give you a little bit of background on what happened right before this text, 00:13:27.000 --> 00:13:31.039 remember again, three of Jesus' disciples had just come down from seeing his glory 00:13:31.039 --> 00:13:34.139 and hearing the voice of God on the Mount of Transfiguration. 00:13:34.139 --> 00:13:37.080 And then they and Jesus, after coming down from the mountain, 00:13:37.419 --> 00:13:42.019 they find that the other nine disciples are not able to cast out a particular demon out of a little boy. 00:13:42.100 --> 00:13:45.419 So Jesus casts it out, and now they're on their way again. 00:13:45.720 --> 00:13:45.860 Right? 00:13:45.919 --> 00:13:46.699 They're on their way again. 00:13:46.700 --> 00:13:50.860 Again, Jesus is trying to keep a low profile because he wants to focus on his disciples 00:13:50.860 --> 00:13:53.360 who clearly have a lot to learn and understand. 00:13:53.980 --> 00:13:56.800 And what he teaches them is something he's taught them before, many times before, 00:13:56.920 --> 00:13:59.080 something they really, really, really need to understand, 00:13:59.080 --> 00:14:06.000 is that he, the Son of Man, is going to be delivered, killed, but then also rise again. 00:14:07.060 --> 00:14:09.160 And at this point, it still hasn't hit the disciples, 00:14:09.420 --> 00:14:12.160 and verse 32 says that they still do not understand. 00:14:12.379 --> 00:14:14.660 They're even afraid to ask him about it. 00:14:15.980 --> 00:14:20.320 Now, to be fair to the disciples, you know, the prophet Daniel, in Daniel chapter 7, 00:14:20.420 --> 00:14:24.900 had foretold that the Son of Man would be a figure of, like, incredible greatness. 00:14:24.899 --> 00:14:30.740 He would be endowed with authority and glory and sovereign power and everlasting dominion. 00:14:31.899 --> 00:14:35.259 But, you know, the problem was that the disciples, they had a limited vision 00:14:35.259 --> 00:14:39.879 of how such a great, glorious, sovereign Son of Man 00:14:39.879 --> 00:14:44.279 might choose to exercise his authority and power. 00:14:45.639 --> 00:14:46.679 They couldn't see it. 00:14:47.259 --> 00:14:51.259 They couldn't see a Son of Man other than the one that they had in their minds, 00:14:51.340 --> 00:14:53.559 which wasn't the Son of Man that Jesus came to be. 00:14:53.559 --> 00:14:58.099 Now, we're not told exactly what their definition of greatness was, 00:14:58.219 --> 00:15:05.399 but I want to point out some clues here indicating to us just the image of greatness upon their minds. 00:15:06.119 --> 00:15:09.719 So, first of all, they had no idea how the greatness of the Son of Man 00:15:09.719 --> 00:15:13.179 might actually hinge on his death and resurrection. 00:15:13.359 --> 00:15:14.919 For them, greatness precluded death. 00:15:15.019 --> 00:15:15.919 It precluded suffering. 00:15:16.119 --> 00:15:18.759 And like, you know, being delivered over into the hands of someone else, 00:15:18.939 --> 00:15:22.079 that was incompatible with being great. 00:15:22.080 --> 00:15:27.680 For them, greatness meant being invulnerable, meant being invincible, victorious. 00:15:28.840 --> 00:15:32.660 And then also notice that their idea of greatness is actually pretty relative. 00:15:32.980 --> 00:15:34.440 Like, it's far from unanimous. 00:15:34.540 --> 00:15:35.879 It's actually super contested. 00:15:35.920 --> 00:15:36.620 Look at verse 34. 00:15:36.759 --> 00:15:38.660 It says that they were arguing, right? 00:15:38.960 --> 00:15:41.200 They were arguing about who was the greatest. 00:15:41.280 --> 00:15:42.280 Now, think about that for a second. 00:15:42.279 --> 00:15:48.379 If you have to argue about something, if someone truly was the greatest, wouldn't it be self-evident? 00:15:49.819 --> 00:15:53.319 Wouldn't it be just absolutely closed for debate? 00:15:53.439 --> 00:15:55.459 Just like, you know, Steph Curry, the greatest shooter of all time. 00:15:55.620 --> 00:15:56.639 Case closed, right? 00:15:56.980 --> 00:15:57.819 End of discussion. 00:15:59.139 --> 00:16:01.959 And yet, they were debating who was the greatest. 00:16:01.960 --> 00:16:06.940 But really, if you have to debate, again, who the greatest is, whatever answer you're going to come up with, 00:16:07.000 --> 00:16:08.740 it's probably going to be wrong. 00:16:09.639 --> 00:16:12.920 If someone is truly the goat, they won't need to make a case for themselves. 00:16:13.139 --> 00:16:17.680 They won't need to say a thing to promote themselves because everyone will already know. 00:16:18.240 --> 00:16:21.379 But that is definitely not the case here for these disciples. 00:16:21.620 --> 00:16:21.879 Why? 00:16:22.600 --> 00:16:24.700 Because their notions of greatness are scattered. 00:16:24.900 --> 00:16:27.900 They're divided, and thus they are relativized. 00:16:27.899 --> 00:16:31.720 And then also notice what their idea of greatness leads to. 00:16:32.699 --> 00:16:38.659 It entails that each of them needs to elevate themselves up against each other, 00:16:38.779 --> 00:16:40.980 and even put each other down. 00:16:41.399 --> 00:16:46.100 Like their notion of greatness, it inherently puts them in competition with each other. 00:16:46.840 --> 00:16:49.959 It's a greatness that creates selfish rivalry. 00:16:50.659 --> 00:16:54.439 A greatness that plants within their hearts a desire for supremacy. 00:16:54.440 --> 00:16:58.100 A desire that their peers be inferior to them. 00:16:59.500 --> 00:17:04.299 So to summarize, in the disciples' minds, greatness was one, incompatible with suffering and vulnerability. 00:17:05.039 --> 00:17:08.720 Two, relativized, contested, and far from unanimous. 00:17:09.160 --> 00:17:14.620 And three, it also led to competition rather than camaraderie and compassion. 00:17:14.619 --> 00:17:20.459 And my question for us, before any of us pick up our first stone to cast at these disciples, 00:17:20.659 --> 00:17:25.799 is are we not pursuing similar kinds of greatnesses? 00:17:26.299 --> 00:17:30.039 With the towers we're trying to build, with the names we're trying to make for ourselves. 00:17:30.139 --> 00:17:37.259 Don't we all also tend to separate a life of greatness from a life of grief? 00:17:37.379 --> 00:17:41.939 Don't we all tend to equate greatness with being invulnerable, invincible, immovable? 00:17:41.940 --> 00:17:48.539 Who of us naturally points to the poor and to the sick and to the weak and the oppressed 00:17:48.539 --> 00:17:54.180 and says to ourselves, these are the great ones and I want to follow them so I can be just like them? 00:17:54.440 --> 00:17:55.559 None of us says that. 00:17:56.380 --> 00:17:57.140 None of us. 00:17:57.279 --> 00:17:57.980 Let's be honest. 00:17:59.200 --> 00:18:01.480 We all know Jeff Bezos' name. 00:18:02.100 --> 00:18:03.820 We all know Joe Biden's name. 00:18:04.039 --> 00:18:08.380 And we'd rather have their lives and sit in their seats than that of the people we saw 00:18:08.380 --> 00:18:11.039 pushing carts down the street on our way to church. 00:18:11.039 --> 00:18:14.180 Or the people standing in line at the food bank, right? 00:18:14.799 --> 00:18:20.139 Or the almost two million Palestinians who find themselves on the opposite side of violent power. 00:18:20.200 --> 00:18:22.339 We don't want to be on that side. 00:18:23.220 --> 00:18:24.299 We don't want that. 00:18:24.299 --> 00:18:28.759 We're all complicit with the disciples' destructive understanding of greatness. 00:18:30.319 --> 00:18:36.379 And I mean, aren't the kinds of greatness we're pursuing actually, though, way more flimsy 00:18:36.380 --> 00:18:40.340 and relative and unsubstantiated than we care to admit, though? 00:18:40.880 --> 00:18:41.880 That's the thing about this. 00:18:41.940 --> 00:18:45.160 We're all arguing for days and days about who is the greatest and what the standards are. 00:18:45.500 --> 00:18:47.340 And none of us can convince the other. 00:18:48.080 --> 00:18:51.640 All of our pursuits of greatness never get to that level. 00:18:51.640 --> 00:18:52.520 We never make it. 00:18:52.600 --> 00:18:53.280 Where are we? 00:18:53.780 --> 00:18:54.400 Excuse me. 00:18:54.720 --> 00:18:55.180 Where we are? 00:18:55.700 --> 00:18:59.060 We never get to that status where we are crowned as the goat. 00:19:00.060 --> 00:19:03.380 No, we just grind and grind and grind, hustle and hustle all the way to the end. 00:19:03.540 --> 00:19:07.180 And at best, we only ever achieve a relative greatness. 00:19:08.000 --> 00:19:11.940 Our kids might say we're the best parents in the world, but not all kids, right? 00:19:12.380 --> 00:19:17.560 Our companies might say we're the employee of the month or of the year, but not every time. 00:19:17.559 --> 00:19:20.919 None of us ever arrives at ultimate greatness. 00:19:21.879 --> 00:19:25.500 And this only makes us more competitive and less compassionate. 00:19:25.700 --> 00:19:28.220 I see this on the basketball court all the time. 00:19:28.299 --> 00:19:34.519 Pick up basketball, guys out there trying to prove their worth and their existence to each other and to themselves. 00:19:35.599 --> 00:19:41.940 And then what happens is that, of course, our pursuit of this kind of greatness leads to ruthless competition 00:19:41.940 --> 00:19:44.579 rather than, you know, righteousness and compassion. 00:19:44.579 --> 00:19:47.579 And then middle-aged men go way too hard at each other. 00:19:48.399 --> 00:19:52.859 And grown men make fools of themselves, lose their cool, and often get hurt. 00:19:53.879 --> 00:19:58.799 And all of a sudden, something that was meant to be fun and for exercise becomes a battleground 00:19:58.799 --> 00:20:06.099 where you leave the court either puffed up or damaged in your ego, right? 00:20:06.099 --> 00:20:11.439 And you all know that this isn't just something that happens on the basketball court, right? 00:20:11.980 --> 00:20:18.039 It happens everywhere where people with sinful natures have to interact with each other. 00:20:19.359 --> 00:20:28.099 And so, ironically, this world is actually made worse when people pursue the kind of greatness that these disciples were after. 00:20:29.339 --> 00:20:30.199 And we all know it. 00:20:30.259 --> 00:20:31.480 The disciples themselves knew it. 00:20:31.480 --> 00:20:35.420 That's why they kept silent in verse 34 when Jesus asked them what they were talking about. 00:20:35.799 --> 00:20:43.980 Even as they were arguing with each other about who was the greatest, deep down they knew that their pursuits of greatness were wrong and bad for the world, 00:20:44.500 --> 00:20:47.759 even as they continued to pursue that kind of greatness. 00:20:47.759 --> 00:20:50.259 But you know what? 00:20:50.279 --> 00:20:55.839 The beauty of the gospel is that while sinful humanity has pretty much spent all of history, 00:20:55.980 --> 00:20:59.599 all of us trying to be some kind of goat on our own terms, 00:20:59.680 --> 00:21:04.599 and while this has only left us weary and anxious and disappointed and divided, 00:21:04.920 --> 00:21:12.920 the true goat the Scriptures teach us, the true goat has come to show us a better and more ultimate greatness. 00:21:13.599 --> 00:21:17.220 Here in the rest of the passage, Jesus radically redefines greatness. 00:21:17.759 --> 00:21:20.839 And for the sake of time, because I've used like two-thirds of my time already, 00:21:20.980 --> 00:21:27.640 I just want to briefly point out to you from this text three ways which Jesus redefines greatness. 00:21:27.900 --> 00:21:31.799 First, true greatness chooses service over supremacy. 00:21:32.839 --> 00:21:37.859 Second, greatness chooses reception, being receptive over rivalry. 00:21:38.460 --> 00:21:42.900 And third, greatness chooses sacrifices over stumbling blocks. 00:21:42.900 --> 00:21:45.779 All right, so first, true greatness chooses service over supremacy. 00:21:45.920 --> 00:21:47.359 Look what Jesus says in verse 35. 00:21:47.759 --> 00:21:51.140 Sitting down, Jesus called the twelve and said, 00:21:51.480 --> 00:21:56.599 anyone who wants to be first must be the very last and the servant of all. 00:21:57.440 --> 00:22:01.619 So, whereas the world says that the first shall be first and the last shall be last, 00:22:01.759 --> 00:22:04.559 Jesus turns this logic completely upside down. 00:22:04.680 --> 00:22:08.379 Jesus says that the greatest, the one who is truly first, 00:22:08.440 --> 00:22:10.259 is not the one who owns the servants, 00:22:10.259 --> 00:22:16.000 but the one who is a servant, and specifically a servant of all, he says. 00:22:16.700 --> 00:22:17.500 And why? 00:22:18.220 --> 00:22:23.039 Well, he says because to serve, to serve even and especially the lowliest of people, 00:22:23.140 --> 00:22:25.720 even that insignificant child that was in his lap, 00:22:26.220 --> 00:22:29.000 who took up way more resources than he produced, 00:22:29.140 --> 00:22:31.180 and was uneducated and a liability, 00:22:31.640 --> 00:22:34.240 sometimes annoying and disobedient and troublesome, 00:22:34.240 --> 00:22:37.559 to serve and to welcome the lowest and most insignificant, 00:22:37.559 --> 00:22:41.859 Jesus says, is to welcome him and the one who sent him. 00:22:42.779 --> 00:22:48.620 To be a servant to even the lowliest is to welcome God himself, according to Jesus. 00:22:48.619 --> 00:22:52.079 And that is where greatness comes from, 00:22:52.139 --> 00:22:56.059 not from accomplishing our ambitions or satisfying our appetites 00:22:56.059 --> 00:23:00.679 or winning people's approval through our tireless tower building and name making, 00:23:00.839 --> 00:23:03.759 but from the presence of God in our lives. 00:23:04.879 --> 00:23:11.299 When we serve, and particularly when we serve the ones the world discards as worthless, 00:23:11.459 --> 00:23:16.559 that is precisely where we are serving and welcoming God into our lives 00:23:16.559 --> 00:23:18.579 and experiencing his presence. 00:23:19.319 --> 00:23:23.239 This is why we have our loaves and fishes ministry to our houseless neighbors. 00:23:23.439 --> 00:23:27.159 This is why we help to establish that development center in Guatemala 00:23:27.159 --> 00:23:30.579 and why we support, you know, 70 of us support children there. 00:23:30.699 --> 00:23:32.599 This is why our elders, Bill and Jesus, 00:23:32.919 --> 00:23:35.959 go to visit men and spend time with them in San Quentin, 00:23:36.500 --> 00:23:40.259 not simply or even primarily to relieve hunger 00:23:40.259 --> 00:23:42.699 or educate Guatemalans 00:23:42.699 --> 00:23:45.939 or provide some company to lonely men in prison. 00:23:45.940 --> 00:23:53.059 Bill and Jesus go to San Quentin to experience the presence of God. 00:23:53.759 --> 00:23:56.799 Our other elder, Karen, she's experienced God on her own trips, 00:23:57.279 --> 00:23:59.259 on her Compassion International trips. 00:23:59.340 --> 00:24:00.960 They don't go out of duty or pity. 00:24:01.059 --> 00:24:03.440 They go to encounter God. 00:24:03.440 --> 00:24:05.519 That's why we serve. 00:24:06.400 --> 00:24:08.880 And see, this is true greatness, Jesus says, 00:24:09.019 --> 00:24:11.320 choosing service over supremacy. 00:24:11.319 --> 00:24:15.079 Because when we become the last of all and serve, 00:24:15.279 --> 00:24:18.179 we welcome and experience God himself. 00:24:18.319 --> 00:24:20.200 We dive deeper into the heart of God, 00:24:20.259 --> 00:24:20.819 the one who said, 00:24:20.980 --> 00:24:22.099 the first shall be last, 00:24:22.619 --> 00:24:24.319 and the last shall be first. 00:24:24.319 --> 00:24:27.279 Now, the second way Jesus redefines greatness 00:24:27.279 --> 00:24:31.359 is by saying that true greatness chooses reception over rivalry. 00:24:32.139 --> 00:24:33.939 And we see that here starting in verse 38. 00:24:34.039 --> 00:24:35.859 So right after Jesus commends them to be servants 00:24:35.859 --> 00:24:37.599 who welcome the least of the least, 00:24:38.059 --> 00:24:40.819 John, his beloved disciple, for some reason, 00:24:41.240 --> 00:24:43.099 thinks it's a good idea to tell Jesus 00:24:43.099 --> 00:24:46.179 how they didn't welcome someone recently. 00:24:47.100 --> 00:24:50.240 He tells Jesus about this guy who was casting out demons. 00:24:51.039 --> 00:24:52.519 And this is meant to be ironic 00:24:52.519 --> 00:24:53.759 because remember last week, 00:24:54.080 --> 00:24:55.519 what was it the disciples failed to do? 00:24:55.600 --> 00:24:57.519 They failed to cast out demons 00:24:57.519 --> 00:24:59.620 because of their prayerlessness and their faithlessness. 00:25:00.420 --> 00:25:02.039 And yet here they are boasting to Jesus 00:25:02.039 --> 00:25:03.840 about how they told some other guy 00:25:03.840 --> 00:25:06.640 who was able to cast out demons to stop. 00:25:07.779 --> 00:25:09.279 And for what reason? 00:25:09.380 --> 00:25:10.160 Verse 38 says, 00:25:10.820 --> 00:25:13.440 because he was not one of us. 00:25:13.440 --> 00:25:16.720 So first they are arguing about who is the greatest, 00:25:16.920 --> 00:25:18.799 and now these disciples who themselves 00:25:18.799 --> 00:25:20.019 had trouble casting out demons, 00:25:20.140 --> 00:25:22.299 they have the audacity to boast 00:25:22.299 --> 00:25:24.320 about telling someone else 00:25:24.320 --> 00:25:26.920 to stop doing the good thing that they failed to do 00:25:26.920 --> 00:25:30.240 just because this guy wasn't part of their crew. 00:25:31.779 --> 00:25:33.279 Perhaps the disciples were jealous, 00:25:33.460 --> 00:25:34.980 or perhaps the disciples thought 00:25:34.980 --> 00:25:37.460 that only they were worthy of doing good 00:25:37.460 --> 00:25:39.100 as representatives of Jesus. 00:25:39.200 --> 00:25:40.779 But see, their misunderstanding of greatness, 00:25:41.420 --> 00:25:42.820 what happened because of it? 00:25:43.440 --> 00:25:44.900 Because they misunderstood greatness, 00:25:45.420 --> 00:25:47.980 they had this rivalry and this competition 00:25:47.980 --> 00:25:50.080 in their heart toward this guy. 00:25:50.340 --> 00:25:52.160 It kept them from receiving and welcoming 00:25:52.160 --> 00:25:53.580 this unnamed man 00:25:53.580 --> 00:25:55.940 who was clearly on a spiritual journey of his own, 00:25:56.779 --> 00:25:57.980 but that they could not see. 00:25:58.740 --> 00:26:00.340 This was someone who amazingly, 00:26:00.620 --> 00:26:03.240 even not having had as much exposure to Jesus as the 12, 00:26:03.320 --> 00:26:04.740 still believed in Jesus 00:26:04.740 --> 00:26:07.299 and was experiencing his power and his authority. 00:26:07.720 --> 00:26:08.860 And this power and authority 00:26:08.860 --> 00:26:09.860 were working in his life 00:26:09.860 --> 00:26:11.700 in powerful ways over evil. 00:26:11.700 --> 00:26:13.240 This was a man who was being drawn 00:26:13.240 --> 00:26:15.059 into deeper relationship with Christ 00:26:15.059 --> 00:26:16.059 in spite of the 12, 00:26:17.000 --> 00:26:18.240 and yet all the 12 could see 00:26:18.240 --> 00:26:21.080 was that he was not one of them. 00:26:22.019 --> 00:26:23.460 And they missed out on the great thing 00:26:23.460 --> 00:26:25.319 that was happening right before their eyes 00:26:25.319 --> 00:26:26.620 in this man's life. 00:26:27.180 --> 00:26:29.160 Because their notion of greatness 00:26:29.160 --> 00:26:32.420 depended on an us versus them dynamic, 00:26:32.680 --> 00:26:35.840 and they chose rivalry over receptiveness. 00:26:35.839 --> 00:26:38.240 And to that, Jesus says, 00:26:38.379 --> 00:26:40.639 no, you shouldn't have stopped him. 00:26:41.639 --> 00:26:42.799 Jesus would remind us 00:26:42.799 --> 00:26:44.199 that it's not team disciples 00:26:44.199 --> 00:26:46.699 versus team other kinds of disciples. 00:26:46.839 --> 00:26:48.059 It's not team Presbyterians 00:26:48.059 --> 00:26:49.439 versus team Pentecostals. 00:26:49.819 --> 00:26:51.579 It's not even team Christians 00:26:51.579 --> 00:26:53.959 versus team not Christians, 00:26:54.059 --> 00:26:54.639 the disciples. 00:26:55.799 --> 00:26:57.939 Their reference point was themselves, 00:26:58.059 --> 00:26:58.939 and that was the problem. 00:26:59.599 --> 00:27:01.799 When the reference point should have been Jesus. 00:27:01.799 --> 00:27:04.379 And that's always going to be a recipe 00:27:04.379 --> 00:27:06.159 for violence and evil and disaster. 00:27:06.279 --> 00:27:07.619 They drew lines by asking, 00:27:07.899 --> 00:27:08.720 who is one of us? 00:27:09.440 --> 00:27:11.279 Rather than drawing just that one line, 00:27:11.839 --> 00:27:13.399 who is for Jesus? 00:27:15.259 --> 00:27:16.259 Because see, it's really quite simple. 00:27:16.339 --> 00:27:17.259 It's just team Jesus 00:27:17.259 --> 00:27:19.940 versus team Satan, team evil, right? 00:27:20.200 --> 00:27:21.279 Jesus says in verse 39, 00:27:21.279 --> 00:27:24.319 for no one who does a miracle in my name 00:27:24.319 --> 00:27:25.599 can in the next moment 00:27:25.599 --> 00:27:27.399 say anything bad about me. 00:27:27.839 --> 00:27:29.480 For whoever's not against us 00:27:29.480 --> 00:27:30.579 is for us. 00:27:31.379 --> 00:27:34.039 If anyone is combating Satan in Jesus' name, 00:27:34.639 --> 00:27:36.599 if anyone is dependent upon his power 00:27:36.599 --> 00:27:38.440 and representing his authority, 00:27:39.019 --> 00:27:40.279 that person's on team Jesus. 00:27:41.019 --> 00:27:42.259 The right team, the winning team, 00:27:42.440 --> 00:27:43.420 even if all they're doing 00:27:43.420 --> 00:27:44.819 is the menial servant task 00:27:44.819 --> 00:27:46.579 of serving someone a cup of water, 00:27:46.759 --> 00:27:48.220 if they're doing it in the name of Jesus, 00:27:48.519 --> 00:27:50.420 they are on team Jesus. 00:27:51.279 --> 00:27:52.460 So it's more simple 00:27:52.460 --> 00:27:53.440 than you make it out to be, 00:27:53.539 --> 00:27:54.940 Jesus was saying to his disciples 00:27:54.940 --> 00:27:56.359 and to us. 00:27:57.180 --> 00:27:57.519 But he says, 00:27:57.619 --> 00:27:58.359 but you can't see it 00:27:58.359 --> 00:27:59.559 because you've chosen to pursue 00:27:59.559 --> 00:28:02.799 a greatness that draws lines upon lines 00:28:02.799 --> 00:28:05.059 and lines revolving around you 00:28:05.059 --> 00:28:08.000 rather than pursuing a greatness 00:28:08.000 --> 00:28:09.639 that draws one single line 00:28:09.639 --> 00:28:12.440 between me and everything else. 00:28:13.180 --> 00:28:14.440 The kind of greatness 00:28:14.440 --> 00:28:16.200 that this world pursues 00:28:16.200 --> 00:28:17.799 to its own harm, right? 00:28:18.680 --> 00:28:19.680 Your pursuit of greatness, 00:28:19.680 --> 00:28:20.240 Jesus says, 00:28:20.240 --> 00:28:22.500 only multiplies your rivalries 00:28:22.500 --> 00:28:24.440 when really true greatness 00:28:24.440 --> 00:28:26.180 actually receives 00:28:26.180 --> 00:28:29.059 the many unlikely people around us 00:28:29.059 --> 00:28:31.220 who we once thought were threats. 00:28:31.339 --> 00:28:33.120 It receives a diversity of peoples 00:28:33.120 --> 00:28:34.980 from every tribe, tongue, nation, culture, 00:28:35.599 --> 00:28:36.920 socioeconomic status, 00:28:37.039 --> 00:28:39.819 all united by nothing but King Jesus. 00:28:41.599 --> 00:28:42.539 Now the third way 00:28:42.539 --> 00:28:43.960 that Jesus' idea of greatness 00:28:43.960 --> 00:28:45.380 is redefined is 00:28:45.380 --> 00:28:47.920 it chooses not just servanthood 00:28:47.920 --> 00:28:48.700 over supremacy 00:28:48.700 --> 00:28:50.940 or receptiveness over rivalry, 00:28:51.320 --> 00:28:53.200 it also chooses sacrifice 00:28:53.200 --> 00:28:55.300 over stumbling blocks. 00:28:55.960 --> 00:28:56.960 And what I mean by this 00:28:56.960 --> 00:28:58.920 is he impresses upon his disciples here 00:28:58.920 --> 00:29:00.360 that just as there are only 00:29:00.360 --> 00:29:01.380 two ultimate teams, 00:29:01.640 --> 00:29:02.760 team Jesus and team evil, 00:29:03.300 --> 00:29:06.260 there are also only two ultimate directions. 00:29:07.260 --> 00:29:08.660 There are only two directions. 00:29:08.660 --> 00:29:10.600 You are either going toward him 00:29:10.600 --> 00:29:13.100 or you're stumbling away from him. 00:29:13.800 --> 00:29:14.980 And the stakes are high. 00:29:15.279 --> 00:29:16.560 It's life with Jesus 00:29:16.560 --> 00:29:18.360 versus death apart from him. 00:29:19.340 --> 00:29:19.880 And so he says, 00:29:19.980 --> 00:29:21.740 we must do everything in our power 00:29:21.740 --> 00:29:23.320 to not stumble 00:29:23.320 --> 00:29:24.900 or be stumbled. 00:29:25.920 --> 00:29:27.019 Everything we can 00:29:27.019 --> 00:29:27.940 to not cause others 00:29:27.940 --> 00:29:29.100 to go into the wrong direction 00:29:29.100 --> 00:29:30.540 and to not go into the wrong direction 00:29:31.240 --> 00:29:31.540 ourselves. 00:29:32.759 --> 00:29:33.360 For he says, 00:29:33.420 --> 00:29:34.300 it would be better 00:29:34.300 --> 00:29:34.920 if a millstone 00:29:34.920 --> 00:29:36.040 were tied around our neck 00:29:36.039 --> 00:29:37.279 and we were thrown into the sea 00:29:37.279 --> 00:29:38.139 and drowned 00:29:38.139 --> 00:29:39.899 than if we led someone else 00:29:39.899 --> 00:29:41.139 in the wrong direction 00:29:41.139 --> 00:29:42.420 away from Jesus. 00:29:43.359 --> 00:29:44.159 And it would be better 00:29:44.159 --> 00:29:45.279 to lose a hand 00:29:45.279 --> 00:29:46.039 or a foot 00:29:46.039 --> 00:29:46.920 or an eye 00:29:46.920 --> 00:29:48.099 than for us ourselves 00:29:48.099 --> 00:29:49.619 to stumble away 00:29:49.619 --> 00:29:50.399 from Jesus. 00:29:50.519 --> 00:29:50.899 In essence, 00:29:51.019 --> 00:29:52.000 Jesus is calling us 00:29:52.000 --> 00:29:53.799 to be sacrifices. 00:29:54.000 --> 00:29:54.440 He's saying 00:29:54.440 --> 00:29:55.259 that it's better 00:29:55.259 --> 00:29:56.720 to sacrifice ourselves 00:29:56.720 --> 00:29:58.119 so that others 00:29:58.119 --> 00:29:58.920 do not stumble 00:29:58.920 --> 00:29:59.680 away from Jesus. 00:29:59.819 --> 00:30:00.519 And it's even better 00:30:00.519 --> 00:30:01.259 to sacrifice 00:30:01.259 --> 00:30:02.619 our own body parts 00:30:02.619 --> 00:30:04.659 that we ourselves 00:30:04.659 --> 00:30:05.480 might not stumble 00:30:05.480 --> 00:30:07.160 away from Jesus. 00:30:07.960 --> 00:30:08.819 Even if the sacrifice 00:30:08.819 --> 00:30:09.519 is great, 00:30:09.819 --> 00:30:10.180 a hand, 00:30:10.259 --> 00:30:10.500 a foot, 00:30:10.599 --> 00:30:10.940 an eye, 00:30:11.200 --> 00:30:12.299 our own souls, 00:30:12.940 --> 00:30:14.039 or the sacrifice 00:30:14.039 --> 00:30:14.980 of our whole lives 00:30:14.980 --> 00:30:15.660 for the sake 00:30:15.660 --> 00:30:16.660 of others. 00:30:17.860 --> 00:30:18.440 To sacrifice 00:30:18.440 --> 00:30:19.039 is better 00:30:19.039 --> 00:30:20.000 than to stumble 00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:21.240 is what Jesus says. 00:30:22.460 --> 00:30:23.140 And maybe by now 00:30:23.140 --> 00:30:23.579 you've discerned 00:30:23.579 --> 00:30:24.200 a pattern, right, 00:30:24.259 --> 00:30:25.200 with these three 00:30:25.200 --> 00:30:26.440 redefinitions of greatness. 00:30:27.160 --> 00:30:27.860 You've discerned 00:30:27.860 --> 00:30:28.299 this pattern, 00:30:28.599 --> 00:30:29.860 greatness radically different, 00:30:29.920 --> 00:30:30.160 right, 00:30:30.220 --> 00:30:30.779 than the kinds 00:30:30.779 --> 00:30:31.779 of greatness 00:30:31.779 --> 00:30:32.779 most of us 00:30:32.779 --> 00:30:33.740 are used to pursuing 00:30:33.740 --> 00:30:35.079 in this broken world. 00:30:35.079 --> 00:30:35.799 And you'd be right, 00:30:35.859 --> 00:30:36.359 there is a pattern. 00:30:36.460 --> 00:30:38.240 It is radically different. 00:30:39.220 --> 00:30:40.000 And that's what I think 00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:40.960 Jesus was getting at 00:30:40.960 --> 00:30:42.519 here in verses 49 and 50 00:30:42.519 --> 00:30:43.720 with these ideas 00:30:43.720 --> 00:30:45.039 of salt and fire, 00:30:45.119 --> 00:30:45.639 which is probably 00:30:45.639 --> 00:30:46.159 the hardest part 00:30:46.159 --> 00:30:47.059 of this passage for me. 00:30:47.399 --> 00:30:48.079 I'm honestly 00:30:48.079 --> 00:30:49.279 not exactly sure 00:30:49.279 --> 00:30:51.259 what verse 49 means 00:30:51.259 --> 00:30:52.119 in particular, 00:30:52.240 --> 00:30:52.699 and neither do 00:30:52.699 --> 00:30:53.519 the commentators. 00:30:54.480 --> 00:30:54.960 But, 00:30:55.419 --> 00:30:56.819 if we look 00:30:56.819 --> 00:30:57.519 in other places 00:30:57.519 --> 00:30:58.599 in the Gospels 00:30:58.599 --> 00:30:59.419 where Jesus talks 00:30:59.419 --> 00:30:59.960 about being 00:30:59.960 --> 00:31:01.000 the salt of the earth, 00:31:01.759 --> 00:31:02.480 that is being 00:31:02.480 --> 00:31:03.700 this ordinary 00:31:03.700 --> 00:31:05.259 yet distinct blessing 00:31:05.259 --> 00:31:05.980 to the world, 00:31:06.360 --> 00:31:07.059 just as salt 00:31:07.059 --> 00:31:08.460 is an ordinary compound, 00:31:08.539 --> 00:31:08.700 right, 00:31:08.740 --> 00:31:09.440 that preserves 00:31:09.440 --> 00:31:10.099 and draws out 00:31:10.099 --> 00:31:11.319 the flavor of things 00:31:11.319 --> 00:31:12.480 wherever it is spread, 00:31:12.759 --> 00:31:13.599 I think when Jesus 00:31:13.599 --> 00:31:14.680 is talking about salt 00:31:14.680 --> 00:31:15.579 and fire here 00:31:15.579 --> 00:31:17.200 and exhorting us 00:31:17.200 --> 00:31:17.819 to maintain 00:31:17.819 --> 00:31:18.360 our, like, 00:31:18.599 --> 00:31:19.140 saltiness, 00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:20.799 he's calling us 00:31:20.799 --> 00:31:21.420 to maintain 00:31:21.420 --> 00:31:23.180 our distinctness, 00:31:23.319 --> 00:31:24.019 our distinctness 00:31:24.019 --> 00:31:24.420 as salt, 00:31:24.480 --> 00:31:24.920 or in other words, 00:31:24.960 --> 00:31:25.440 to pursue 00:31:25.440 --> 00:31:27.099 his unique way 00:31:27.099 --> 00:31:27.940 of greatness, 00:31:28.200 --> 00:31:28.920 his unique way 00:31:28.920 --> 00:31:30.180 of servant-heartedness 00:31:30.180 --> 00:31:31.140 and receptiveness 00:31:31.140 --> 00:31:32.720 and being sacrificial. 00:31:34.080 --> 00:31:34.360 You see, 00:31:34.480 --> 00:31:35.840 in Jesus' world, 00:31:36.600 --> 00:31:37.900 the salt that they used 00:31:37.900 --> 00:31:38.440 was derived 00:31:38.440 --> 00:31:39.160 from these 00:31:39.160 --> 00:31:40.920 Dead Sea deposits, 00:31:41.279 --> 00:31:41.500 right, 00:31:41.900 --> 00:31:43.160 and while sodium chloride 00:31:43.160 --> 00:31:44.019 would commonly be 00:31:44.019 --> 00:31:45.279 a part of these deposits, 00:31:45.460 --> 00:31:46.279 it was also possible 00:31:46.279 --> 00:31:47.200 that the sodium chloride 00:31:47.200 --> 00:31:48.500 could be washed out, 00:31:48.600 --> 00:31:49.340 leaving the salt 00:31:49.340 --> 00:31:51.080 without any saltiness. 00:31:52.600 --> 00:31:53.460 So I think Jesus 00:31:53.460 --> 00:31:54.080 was challenging 00:31:54.080 --> 00:31:54.740 his disciples 00:31:54.740 --> 00:31:55.680 and us here 00:31:55.680 --> 00:31:56.700 to not be like 00:31:56.700 --> 00:31:57.539 the rest of the world, 00:31:57.539 --> 00:31:58.539 to not lose 00:31:58.539 --> 00:31:59.319 our distinctiveness, 00:31:59.440 --> 00:32:00.440 but to hold on to it, 00:32:01.079 --> 00:32:01.859 a distinctiveness 00:32:01.859 --> 00:32:03.420 that we get from him, 00:32:03.639 --> 00:32:04.859 that we get from the goat, 00:32:05.559 --> 00:32:06.799 the one who showed us 00:32:06.799 --> 00:32:08.019 that service, 00:32:08.420 --> 00:32:09.059 receptiveness, 00:32:09.200 --> 00:32:09.920 and sacrifice 00:32:09.920 --> 00:32:11.720 are the very way 00:32:11.720 --> 00:32:12.559 to greatness, 00:32:12.700 --> 00:32:13.599 even and in spite 00:32:13.599 --> 00:32:14.759 of death 00:32:14.759 --> 00:32:16.200 that may come. 00:32:17.420 --> 00:32:18.240 This is what 00:32:18.240 --> 00:32:19.079 he was trying to teach 00:32:19.079 --> 00:32:19.519 his disciples 00:32:19.519 --> 00:32:20.259 again and again 00:32:20.259 --> 00:32:20.579 and again, 00:32:20.659 --> 00:32:21.259 reminding them 00:32:21.259 --> 00:32:22.139 that the Son of Man 00:32:22.139 --> 00:32:23.599 must be delivered over 00:32:23.599 --> 00:32:24.279 into the hands 00:32:24.279 --> 00:32:24.799 of his enemies 00:32:24.799 --> 00:32:25.440 and killed, 00:32:26.000 --> 00:32:26.680 but also 00:32:26.680 --> 00:32:27.980 would rise again 00:32:27.980 --> 00:32:28.799 on the third day. 00:32:29.580 --> 00:32:30.060 And this is what 00:32:30.060 --> 00:32:31.680 he's trying to teach us. 00:32:32.660 --> 00:32:33.560 Before the cross, 00:32:33.700 --> 00:32:34.360 before the resurrection, 00:32:34.539 --> 00:32:34.940 the disciples, 00:32:35.140 --> 00:32:35.799 they didn't have eyes 00:32:35.799 --> 00:32:36.240 to see it, 00:32:36.299 --> 00:32:37.620 but they surely do now 00:32:37.620 --> 00:32:38.560 and the question is, 00:32:39.039 --> 00:32:39.860 do we see it? 00:32:40.940 --> 00:32:41.860 Do we see 00:32:41.860 --> 00:32:42.940 the greatness 00:32:42.940 --> 00:32:44.180 of Jesus? 00:32:45.220 --> 00:32:45.980 The greatness 00:32:45.980 --> 00:32:47.019 of the whole 00:32:47.019 --> 00:32:48.100 of his life, 00:32:48.200 --> 00:32:49.620 not just his ascension, 00:32:49.740 --> 00:32:50.720 not just his resurrection, 00:32:50.720 --> 00:32:51.380 the greatness 00:32:51.380 --> 00:32:52.560 of his whole life. 00:32:53.320 --> 00:32:54.220 Do we see it? 00:32:54.220 --> 00:32:56.200 I mean, 00:32:56.240 --> 00:32:56.819 is it not 00:32:56.819 --> 00:32:57.660 the way 00:32:57.660 --> 00:32:58.640 he served us 00:32:58.640 --> 00:33:00.160 as our suffering servant, 00:33:00.299 --> 00:33:01.180 bearing our curse, 00:33:01.680 --> 00:33:02.360 washing our feet? 00:33:02.400 --> 00:33:03.140 Is it not the way 00:33:03.140 --> 00:33:04.420 he receives us 00:33:04.420 --> 00:33:05.240 from every tribe 00:33:05.240 --> 00:33:06.019 and nation 00:33:06.019 --> 00:33:07.500 as little unproductive 00:33:07.500 --> 00:33:08.279 children covered 00:33:08.279 --> 00:33:08.960 in leprosy 00:33:08.960 --> 00:33:09.839 and pig feces? 00:33:09.960 --> 00:33:10.700 Is it not the way 00:33:10.700 --> 00:33:11.620 he sacrificed 00:33:11.620 --> 00:33:12.480 his life, 00:33:12.779 --> 00:33:13.360 attaching himself 00:33:13.360 --> 00:33:14.160 not to a millstone 00:33:14.160 --> 00:33:14.980 but to a cross 00:33:14.980 --> 00:33:15.620 to save us 00:33:15.620 --> 00:33:16.100 from stumbling? 00:33:16.099 --> 00:33:17.279 Isn't it in all 00:33:17.279 --> 00:33:18.079 these ways 00:33:18.079 --> 00:33:19.759 that true greatness 00:33:19.759 --> 00:33:21.419 has been revealed 00:33:21.419 --> 00:33:22.699 to the world? 00:33:24.000 --> 00:33:25.079 The one-of-a-kind 00:33:25.079 --> 00:33:26.779 greatness of God 00:33:26.779 --> 00:33:27.799 in Jesus Christ. 00:33:28.559 --> 00:33:30.199 Is there anything 00:33:30.199 --> 00:33:32.399 greater than Jesus? 00:33:33.799 --> 00:33:34.679 Is this 00:33:34.679 --> 00:33:35.919 or is this not greatness? 00:33:36.779 --> 00:33:38.079 Is he or is he not 00:33:38.079 --> 00:33:38.919 the goat? 00:33:40.279 --> 00:33:41.379 And if he is, 00:33:42.379 --> 00:33:43.339 then how shall we 00:33:43.339 --> 00:33:44.279 then live? 00:33:44.279 --> 00:33:46.079 How shall we 00:33:46.079 --> 00:33:46.899 then follow him? 00:33:47.180 --> 00:33:48.059 Who shall we serve 00:33:48.059 --> 00:33:48.920 this week? 00:33:49.819 --> 00:33:50.899 Who shall we receive 00:33:50.899 --> 00:33:51.899 into our lives 00:33:51.899 --> 00:33:52.799 that we never 00:33:52.799 --> 00:33:53.740 would have thought to? 00:33:54.579 --> 00:33:55.720 And what sacrifices 00:33:55.720 --> 00:33:57.019 shall we make 00:33:57.019 --> 00:33:58.079 in faith 00:33:58.079 --> 00:33:59.480 that Jesus 00:33:59.480 --> 00:34:00.779 is the goat 00:34:00.779 --> 00:34:02.559 and that his way, 00:34:03.420 --> 00:34:04.799 his way to greatness 00:34:04.799 --> 00:34:06.359 must be our way 00:34:06.359 --> 00:34:07.299 as well? 00:34:08.199 --> 00:34:09.320 Will you pray with me? 00:34:13.239 --> 00:34:13.759 Father, 00:34:13.760 --> 00:34:14.880 especially in this 00:34:14.880 --> 00:34:16.860 season of Lent, 00:34:17.600 --> 00:34:18.520 I just ask that you 00:34:18.520 --> 00:34:20.720 would not let us 00:34:20.720 --> 00:34:22.240 mutter under our breaths 00:34:22.240 --> 00:34:24.000 or let there be 00:34:24.000 --> 00:34:25.880 any part in our hearts 00:34:25.880 --> 00:34:27.920 or in our subconsciousnesses 00:34:27.920 --> 00:34:29.160 that say, 00:34:30.260 --> 00:34:31.600 this is as much like Jesus 00:34:31.600 --> 00:34:33.340 as I'm planning to be. 00:34:35.540 --> 00:34:36.780 Would we not stumble 00:34:36.780 --> 00:34:37.660 away from him 00:34:37.660 --> 00:34:39.760 but run toward him 00:34:39.760 --> 00:34:41.520 just as he came 00:34:41.520 --> 00:34:43.300 running toward us? 00:34:44.500 --> 00:34:45.520 Would you make us 00:34:45.520 --> 00:34:47.380 a servant-hearted people? 00:34:48.640 --> 00:34:49.880 A church that is 00:34:49.880 --> 00:34:51.140 inclusive and receptive 00:34:51.140 --> 00:34:53.060 of all kinds of people 00:34:53.060 --> 00:34:54.420 from all kinds of places 00:34:54.420 --> 00:34:55.880 wanting to draw them 00:34:55.880 --> 00:34:56.680 nearer to Jesus 00:34:56.680 --> 00:34:57.800 and would you make us 00:34:57.800 --> 00:34:59.560 a sacrificial people? 00:34:59.559 --> 00:35:03.079 for your son 00:35:03.079 --> 00:35:04.659 has sacrificed 00:35:04.659 --> 00:35:05.900 everything for us 00:35:05.900 --> 00:35:07.400 and we are not 00:35:07.400 --> 00:35:07.880 our own 00:35:07.880 --> 00:35:09.500 but belong to him 00:35:09.500 --> 00:35:10.279 body and soul 00:35:10.279 --> 00:35:11.539 forever 00:35:11.539 --> 00:35:13.299 because of your love, 00:35:13.480 --> 00:35:14.340 because of your grace, 00:35:14.920 --> 00:35:15.860 because of your mercy. 00:35:16.940 --> 00:35:18.219 Will you transform us, 00:35:18.639 --> 00:35:19.079 oh God, 00:35:19.619 --> 00:35:20.400 by this savior. 00:35:20.539 --> 00:35:21.340 In his name we pray. 00:35:21.940 --> 00:35:22.199 Amen. 00:35:22.199 --> 00:35:22.299 Amen. 00:35:22.299 --> 00:35:22.360 Amen. 00:35:22.360 --> 00:35:22.380 Amen. 00:35:22.380 --> 00:35:22.420 Amen. 00:35:22.420 --> 00:35:22.440 Amen. 00:35:22.440 --> 00:35:22.460 Amen. 00:35:22.460 --> 00:35:22.480 Amen. 00:35:22.480 --> 00:35:22.500 Amen. 00:35:22.500 --> 00:35:22.519 Amen. 00:35:22.519 --> 00:35:22.559 Amen. 00:35:22.559 --> 00:35:22.579 Amen. 00:35:22.579 --> 00:35:22.619 Amen. 00:35:22.619 --> 00:35:23.019 Amen. 00:35:23.019 --> 00:35:23.059 Amen. 00:35:23.059 --> 00:35:24.320 Amen. 00:35:24.320 --> 00:35:24.340 Amen. 00:35:24.340 --> 00:35:24.420 Amen. 00:35:24.420 --> 00:35:24.559 Amen. 00:35:24.559 --> 00:35:24.579 Amen. 00:35:24.579 --> 00:35:24.599 Amen. 00:35:24.599 --> 00:35:26.500 Amen. 00:35:26.500 --> 00:35:26.519 Amen. 00:35:26.519 --> 00:35:26.539 Amen. 00:35:26.539 --> 00:35:29.539 Amen.