1 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:03,303 Mark 10:42-45 2 00:00:04,020 --> 00:00:07,007 And Jesus called them to him and said to them, 3 00:00:07,223 --> 00:00:10,577 you know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles 4 00:00:10,877 --> 00:00:15,181 lorded over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 5 00:00:15,632 --> 00:00:18,168 But it shall not be so among you. 6 00:00:18,168 --> 00:00:21,321 But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 7 00:00:21,721 --> 00:00:24,924 and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. 8 00:00:25,442 --> 00:00:29,029 For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, 9 00:00:29,362 --> 00:00:32,365 and to give his life as a ransom for many. 10 00:00:34,884 --> 00:00:37,887 Well, good morning again, and welcome to Christ Community Chapel. 11 00:00:37,971 --> 00:00:40,457 My name is Mike, one of our pastors here. 12 00:00:40,457 --> 00:00:43,460 And really great to be with you. 13 00:00:43,676 --> 00:00:46,679 I was convinced I would never sleep through the night again. 14 00:00:47,130 --> 00:00:48,648 This wasn't going to happen. 15 00:00:48,648 --> 00:00:51,317 Our oldest son, Brayden, he was five months old 16 00:00:51,317 --> 00:00:55,138 at the time and two hours, three hours, maybe four hours 17 00:00:55,138 --> 00:00:58,141 stretches at best. This is it. 18 00:00:58,458 --> 00:01:01,461 This is just how it's going to be. 19 00:01:01,978 --> 00:01:03,897 Maybe you've had one of those moments. 20 00:01:03,897 --> 00:01:07,500 Maybe you're in one of those moments right now. Can happen at work, 21 00:01:07,500 --> 00:01:10,053 you just feel stuck. Happen in relationships, 22 00:01:10,053 --> 00:01:12,889 they're just not going anywhere. 23 00:01:12,889 --> 00:01:13,823 This is it. 24 00:01:13,823 --> 00:01:17,277 This is just how it's going to be. 25 00:01:18,027 --> 00:01:21,831 And I wonder how many of us have that thought about ourselves. 26 00:01:22,532 --> 00:01:25,368 We think this is just who I am. 27 00:01:25,368 --> 00:01:28,371 This is just who I'm always going to be. 28 00:01:29,239 --> 00:01:32,208 There is a building at the corner of State Road in Portage Trail 29 00:01:32,208 --> 00:01:34,944 and Cuyahoga Falls. Cathedral Tower. 30 00:01:34,944 --> 00:01:36,379 You're probably familiar with it. 31 00:01:36,379 --> 00:01:41,668 It's been half built for 54 years, and I wonder if that's our fear. 32 00:01:42,051 --> 00:01:46,189 We are half built, half made, half finished, 33 00:01:46,189 --> 00:01:48,358 but really never going to change. 34 00:01:48,358 --> 00:01:50,960 Never going to grow any more. 35 00:01:50,960 --> 00:01:51,478 Scattered 36 00:01:51,478 --> 00:01:54,531 throughout this year, we're doing a six part series 37 00:01:54,781 --> 00:01:57,767 called Six Steps to Growing More. 38 00:01:58,134 --> 00:02:01,738 Over the course of this year is six different ways that you can grow. 39 00:02:01,888 --> 00:02:03,540 Part one was in January. 40 00:02:03,540 --> 00:02:05,792 Pastor Ken did a great job on prayer. 41 00:02:05,792 --> 00:02:08,778 Part two is this morning on serving, 42 00:02:09,179 --> 00:02:12,048 and we're doing this series for two reasons. 43 00:02:12,048 --> 00:02:14,968 First is to remind us, to assure us 44 00:02:14,968 --> 00:02:17,971 that God never says this is it. 45 00:02:18,138 --> 00:02:22,458 God never looks at you and says, this is just who you're always going to be. 46 00:02:22,826 --> 00:02:25,195 God has more for you. 47 00:02:25,195 --> 00:02:27,864 God has more for me. 48 00:02:27,864 --> 00:02:31,451 And the second is to participate with him, to take steps. 49 00:02:31,467 --> 00:02:34,621 There are things that we can do to actually grow. 50 00:02:34,671 --> 00:02:35,822 Starts with prayer. 51 00:02:35,822 --> 00:02:38,491 And now the second one is on serving. 52 00:02:38,491 --> 00:02:39,542 So turn with me, Mark. 53 00:02:39,542 --> 00:02:40,460 Chapter ten. 54 00:02:40,460 --> 00:02:41,611 That's our passage today. 55 00:02:41,611 --> 00:02:43,997 Mark 1042 to 45. 56 00:02:43,997 --> 00:02:45,782 There's Bibles in front of you. 57 00:02:45,782 --> 00:02:47,183 Page 806. 58 00:02:47,183 --> 00:02:49,619 Or you can find it on your phone. 59 00:02:49,619 --> 00:02:53,456 But three points as you're making your way to mark chapter ten, 60 00:02:54,591 --> 00:02:57,560 the life that we are vulnerable to, 61 00:02:57,560 --> 00:03:01,614 the life that we are invited to, and the life we say yes to, 62 00:03:02,148 --> 00:03:06,769 the life that we are vulnerable to, invited to, and say yes to. 63 00:03:07,220 --> 00:03:10,590 Let's start with the life that we are vulnerable to. 64 00:03:10,607 --> 00:03:14,110 When I say vulnerable, I mean a life that is comes easy for us. 65 00:03:14,127 --> 00:03:17,247 It's not hard to find ourselves living this way. 66 00:03:18,298 --> 00:03:21,201 In the early 1960s, there was a psychologist 67 00:03:21,201 --> 00:03:25,822 named Solomon Asch, and he ran a study that he would stage in an elevator. 68 00:03:26,422 --> 00:03:30,476 So he would have five, six, maybe seven people who would go in the elevator 69 00:03:30,476 --> 00:03:33,329 and they would all turn around and face backwards. 70 00:03:33,329 --> 00:03:33,563 Right. 71 00:03:33,563 --> 00:03:36,716 Normally you walk in and you're facing the front and five, 72 00:03:36,716 --> 00:03:40,103 6 or 7 people, they would turn around, they would face backwards. 73 00:03:40,286 --> 00:03:43,473 And then one poor participant in the study would walk into the elevator 74 00:03:43,856 --> 00:03:45,842 and he would see what would happen. 75 00:03:45,842 --> 00:03:48,778 Would that person turn around and join others 76 00:03:48,778 --> 00:03:51,781 or stand in the elevator the normal way? 77 00:03:51,948 --> 00:03:54,951 And almost every single time, what do you think happened? 78 00:03:55,068 --> 00:03:57,921 They would turn around and they would be backwards. 79 00:03:57,921 --> 00:04:01,107 And the I mean, if you walk into this service and everyone 80 00:04:01,107 --> 00:04:04,110 had their back to the stage, what would you do? 81 00:04:04,827 --> 00:04:05,578 Right. Don't lie. 82 00:04:05,578 --> 00:04:08,448 You would also turn around to have your back to the stage. 83 00:04:08,448 --> 00:04:13,803 We are a vulnerable people, to conforming to those around 84 00:04:13,803 --> 00:04:18,958 us, to thinking and acting and living just like anybody and everybody else. 85 00:04:18,992 --> 00:04:20,426 That's what this passage is about. 86 00:04:20,426 --> 00:04:22,161 Let me show you what I mean. 87 00:04:22,161 --> 00:04:24,047 Mark ten, verse 42, 88 00:04:25,732 --> 00:04:28,735 And Jesus called them to him and said to them, 89 00:04:29,118 --> 00:04:32,789 you know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles 90 00:04:33,022 --> 00:04:36,209 Lord it over them, and their great ones 91 00:04:36,209 --> 00:04:39,295 exercise authority over them. 92 00:04:40,113 --> 00:04:43,583 Jesus is talking to his disciples there, to them in this passage. 93 00:04:43,950 --> 00:04:48,121 He's talking to his disciples about the Gentile rulers and leaders. 94 00:04:48,121 --> 00:04:51,107 Gentile, just a term for non-Christian. 95 00:04:51,207 --> 00:04:54,677 And so he's talking to them about the culture of that time, 96 00:04:54,978 --> 00:04:59,999 the leaders, what they value, how they think, how they live, how they operate. 97 00:05:00,450 --> 00:05:02,568 And notice the emphasis. 98 00:05:02,568 --> 00:05:07,223 Notice the way the leaders are living the rulers of the Gentiles 99 00:05:07,457 --> 00:05:10,526 lord it over them, and their great ones 100 00:05:10,526 --> 00:05:13,529 exercise authority over them, 101 00:05:13,863 --> 00:05:17,000 over them, over them, over them. 102 00:05:17,216 --> 00:05:20,219 There are three kinds of relationships that we can find ourselves in. 103 00:05:20,670 --> 00:05:23,673 You can be in a relationship that's side by side. 104 00:05:23,723 --> 00:05:26,509 You can have a relationship where you are under someone, 105 00:05:26,509 --> 00:05:29,512 or a relationship where you are over someone. 106 00:05:29,779 --> 00:05:31,280 Side by side. 107 00:05:31,280 --> 00:05:33,933 Under or over. 108 00:05:33,933 --> 00:05:35,702 And Jesus is looking at the culture. 109 00:05:35,702 --> 00:05:38,421 He's looking at those around the disciples. 110 00:05:38,421 --> 00:05:40,973 He's looking at the world and the culture. 111 00:05:40,973 --> 00:05:45,261 And the world celebrates, loves, encourages, desires. 112 00:05:45,261 --> 00:05:48,264 One kind of relationship to be above. 113 00:05:48,748 --> 00:05:50,283 That's the great life. 114 00:05:50,283 --> 00:05:51,801 That's the significant life. 115 00:05:51,801 --> 00:05:53,369 That's the important life. 116 00:05:53,369 --> 00:05:55,254 That's when you've made it. 117 00:05:55,254 --> 00:06:00,510 When you are here and everybody else is here, and they love 118 00:06:00,510 --> 00:06:04,230 that kind of life for the same reason that we love that kind of life. 119 00:06:04,464 --> 00:06:07,350 Because when you are here and other people are here, 120 00:06:07,350 --> 00:06:10,353 then life gets to be about you. 121 00:06:10,770 --> 00:06:13,523 Your preferences, my desires, 122 00:06:13,523 --> 00:06:18,828 your wishes are ways when you're here and everybody else is here, 123 00:06:19,879 --> 00:06:22,131 life is about you. 124 00:06:22,131 --> 00:06:24,267 And Jesus was talking to his disciples 125 00:06:24,267 --> 00:06:27,303 about this, not just because it's a other people issue. 126 00:06:27,303 --> 00:06:30,173 It's because it was a disciples issue. 127 00:06:30,173 --> 00:06:31,624 It wasn't just the world around them. 128 00:06:31,624 --> 00:06:34,043 It was the people that were following Jesus. 129 00:06:34,043 --> 00:06:37,947 You see, the passage today is it's part of a larger conversation. 130 00:06:38,431 --> 00:06:38,631 Right? 131 00:06:38,631 --> 00:06:43,069 So we were in verses 42 to 45, the conversation, it extends itself back. 132 00:06:43,669 --> 00:06:48,057 And right before this passage, two disciples, James and John, 133 00:06:48,257 --> 00:06:51,911 they come to Jesus and notice the way they come to Jesus. 134 00:06:51,928 --> 00:06:55,648 Look with me a few verses up Mark 1035 135 00:06:55,648 --> 00:06:58,651 to 36. 136 00:06:58,801 --> 00:07:04,757 Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you. 137 00:07:05,691 --> 00:07:09,629 And he said to them, what do you want me to do for you? 138 00:07:10,263 --> 00:07:13,533 And they said to him, Grant us to sit one at your right hand, 139 00:07:13,766 --> 00:07:16,853 at one at your left, in your glory. 140 00:07:17,487 --> 00:07:20,490 What kind of relationship do you see? 141 00:07:20,873 --> 00:07:23,910 Teacher, we want you to do for us 142 00:07:24,076 --> 00:07:26,996 whatever we ask of you. 143 00:07:26,996 --> 00:07:28,231 Disciples are here. 144 00:07:28,231 --> 00:07:30,266 Jesus is here. 145 00:07:30,266 --> 00:07:36,022 Grant us to sit one at your right hand and one at your left in your glory. 146 00:07:36,739 --> 00:07:38,057 Hey, we want to be here. 147 00:07:38,057 --> 00:07:40,943 We want the rest of the ten disciples to be here. 148 00:07:40,943 --> 00:07:44,096 It's a me first, other second kind of life. 149 00:07:44,096 --> 00:07:45,982 It's we want to be above. 150 00:07:45,982 --> 00:07:49,018 And other people should be below, right? 151 00:07:49,018 --> 00:07:50,786 That is the tendency of the culture. 152 00:07:50,786 --> 00:07:52,405 That's the tendency of the world. 153 00:07:52,405 --> 00:07:53,906 That's our tendency, right? 154 00:07:53,906 --> 00:07:56,042 That's my tendency. 155 00:07:56,042 --> 00:07:59,912 A little embarrassed to admit this, but when Brayden, my son, was struggling 156 00:07:59,912 --> 00:08:03,950 to sleep, there would be nights that I would pretend to be asleep. 157 00:08:05,868 --> 00:08:07,470 He would wake up, 158 00:08:07,470 --> 00:08:11,657 I would hear him wake up and I would pretend to be asleep. 159 00:08:12,258 --> 00:08:13,793 What was I doing? 160 00:08:13,793 --> 00:08:17,580 I was telling my wife, I'm here and you're here. 161 00:08:18,381 --> 00:08:19,615 My sleep. 162 00:08:19,615 --> 00:08:22,618 My next day is more important than your sleep 163 00:08:22,735 --> 00:08:25,404 and your next day. 164 00:08:25,404 --> 00:08:28,407 When you think about your relationships, 165 00:08:28,407 --> 00:08:30,359 where would you put yourself? 166 00:08:30,359 --> 00:08:31,711 Do you operate really well? 167 00:08:31,711 --> 00:08:35,248 Below on the side or above? 168 00:08:35,698 --> 00:08:37,200 Where would other people say? 169 00:08:37,200 --> 00:08:40,436 What would they say is your sweet spot? 170 00:08:40,469 --> 00:08:43,773 Where do you most naturally find yourself? 171 00:08:45,024 --> 00:08:46,709 And here's my guess. 172 00:08:46,709 --> 00:08:50,029 There is pain and conflict in our relationships 173 00:08:50,546 --> 00:08:54,233 because we have told someone you are not as important as me, 174 00:08:55,167 --> 00:08:59,422 or they have told you you are not as important as me. 175 00:08:59,422 --> 00:09:02,942 It's like, it's like driving a car with no brake pedal. 176 00:09:03,543 --> 00:09:07,196 If you drive a car with no brake pedal, you are just hitting the gas again 177 00:09:07,196 --> 00:09:09,982 and again and again. That's this kind of life. 178 00:09:09,982 --> 00:09:14,670 You hit the gas pedal on what you want and what you prefer and what you desire. 179 00:09:15,021 --> 00:09:18,024 And if you're all gas and no brake, then 180 00:09:18,391 --> 00:09:21,627 you're going to have collision after collision after collision. 181 00:09:21,627 --> 00:09:24,981 This is the life that we are vulnerable to. 182 00:09:25,581 --> 00:09:29,752 Thankfully, Jesus invites us to a different way of life. 183 00:09:29,752 --> 00:09:30,987 That's my second point. 184 00:09:30,987 --> 00:09:35,741 The life that we are invited to see Jesus is inviting. 185 00:09:35,791 --> 00:09:37,727 And let me show you what I mean. 186 00:09:37,727 --> 00:09:41,247 Mark 1043 and 44 187 00:09:42,865 --> 00:09:45,868 but it shall not be so among you. 188 00:09:46,319 --> 00:09:49,522 But whoever would be great among you must be your servant. 189 00:09:49,789 --> 00:09:53,809 Whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. 190 00:09:53,809 --> 00:09:58,014 There's a there's a strength to this tone, but it shall not be 191 00:09:58,014 --> 00:10:01,951 so among you, among me, among us. 192 00:10:01,951 --> 00:10:05,304 The kind of life where we are here and others are here. 193 00:10:05,304 --> 00:10:08,541 It just shall not be so among us. 194 00:10:09,058 --> 00:10:12,561 And then Jesus, he flips it, and he flips it completely. 195 00:10:12,595 --> 00:10:14,964 Right. You notice the language. 196 00:10:14,964 --> 00:10:17,850 If you want to be great, you must be your servant. 197 00:10:17,850 --> 00:10:21,437 Whoever would be first among you must be slave. 198 00:10:22,071 --> 00:10:25,791 What Jesus is saying here is Christians, your natural habitat, 199 00:10:25,858 --> 00:10:29,729 the place that you were born to be and the place that I saved you to 200 00:10:29,729 --> 00:10:31,163 be and is not above people. 201 00:10:32,214 --> 00:10:34,517 And it's not even side by side people. 202 00:10:34,517 --> 00:10:37,520 The natural habitat for Christians is to be here. 203 00:10:37,787 --> 00:10:39,055 It's to be under. 204 00:10:39,055 --> 00:10:42,058 It's to be a servant. 205 00:10:42,108 --> 00:10:43,976 And that language really struck me. 206 00:10:43,976 --> 00:10:48,047 He's not saying Christians go and serve as an action. 207 00:10:48,497 --> 00:10:52,368 He's saying, go and be a servant as an identity. 208 00:10:52,818 --> 00:10:53,069 Right. 209 00:10:53,069 --> 00:10:56,188 There's a difference of how we view ourselves, things that we do, 210 00:10:56,722 --> 00:10:58,708 and then things that are central to who we are. 211 00:10:58,708 --> 00:11:01,794 Actions versus identities. Right. 212 00:11:01,827 --> 00:11:04,697 Somewhere to ask you, hey, are you a golfer? 213 00:11:04,697 --> 00:11:07,700 If it's central to who you are, you'd say yes. 214 00:11:07,817 --> 00:11:09,168 But if it's just something you do, it's 215 00:11:09,168 --> 00:11:11,937 just an action that's just kind of a part of my life. It's. 216 00:11:11,937 --> 00:11:12,872 It's different. Right? 217 00:11:12,872 --> 00:11:15,691 If somebody asks you, hey, are you a musician? 218 00:11:15,691 --> 00:11:15,991 Right? 219 00:11:15,991 --> 00:11:19,462 If it's central to who you are, you say that's that's part of who I am. 220 00:11:19,462 --> 00:11:21,113 I'm a musician. 221 00:11:21,113 --> 00:11:22,281 But if you just play an instrument 222 00:11:22,281 --> 00:11:24,650 from time to time, that's just something that you do. 223 00:11:24,650 --> 00:11:28,704 There's a big difference between an action that you do and identity that you have. 224 00:11:29,789 --> 00:11:30,389 So Jesus would 225 00:11:30,389 --> 00:11:33,392 ask us, hey, are you a servant? 226 00:11:33,559 --> 00:11:34,493 He's not asking. 227 00:11:34,493 --> 00:11:37,496 Hey, do you serve a little bit here and there? 228 00:11:37,496 --> 00:11:41,267 But is it part of who you are, how you see yourself that fundamentally, 229 00:11:41,267 --> 00:11:44,453 as a Christian, you are a servant, 230 00:11:45,137 --> 00:11:49,642 and that is such a different kind of life that is so different. 231 00:11:49,675 --> 00:11:51,744 That's not turning around in the elevator. 232 00:11:51,744 --> 00:11:54,747 That's being the one person who stands the other way. 233 00:11:54,780 --> 00:11:57,266 It's being so different. It's thinking different. 234 00:11:57,266 --> 00:12:01,137 It's wanting different things, desiring things in a different way. 235 00:12:01,137 --> 00:12:04,790 The mindset of a servant is just so different. 236 00:12:05,424 --> 00:12:08,694 And the mindset of a sermon I've summarized is just simply this 237 00:12:08,961 --> 00:12:10,529 a servant thinks like this. 238 00:12:10,529 --> 00:12:13,048 It is most important 239 00:12:13,048 --> 00:12:15,768 not to be most important. 240 00:12:15,768 --> 00:12:18,287 That's the narrative that a servant has. 241 00:12:18,287 --> 00:12:20,022 That's the mindset of a servant. 242 00:12:20,022 --> 00:12:21,557 It is most important 243 00:12:23,058 --> 00:12:24,810 that my ways are not most important. 244 00:12:24,810 --> 00:12:28,998 It's most important that my wishes in my sleep and my desires 245 00:12:28,998 --> 00:12:32,001 in my plans and my agenda 246 00:12:32,118 --> 00:12:35,037 are not most important. 247 00:12:35,037 --> 00:12:36,739 That's the invitation. 248 00:12:36,739 --> 00:12:41,761 Jesus is calling us to be different people, to be servants, 249 00:12:41,761 --> 00:12:46,098 to say it's most important that we are not most important. 250 00:12:46,882 --> 00:12:51,020 And what he's actually doing in this passage, he's inviting us to his life. 251 00:12:51,437 --> 00:12:53,539 He's inviting us to how he thinks. 252 00:12:53,539 --> 00:12:57,259 He's inviting us into his narrative for Jesus more than anyone. 253 00:12:57,259 --> 00:13:03,048 Live this life of saying it's most important not to be most important. 254 00:13:03,048 --> 00:13:05,468 That's exactly what he says in this passage. 255 00:13:05,468 --> 00:13:08,187 Let me show you what I mean. 256 00:13:08,187 --> 00:13:11,657 Mark ten, verse 45, the last verse in our passage. 257 00:13:12,475 --> 00:13:15,377 Notice how Jesus describes his own life. 258 00:13:17,163 --> 00:13:18,113 For even the Son 259 00:13:18,113 --> 00:13:22,101 of Man came not to be served, but to serve, 260 00:13:22,284 --> 00:13:26,939 and to give his life as a ransom for many. 261 00:13:27,389 --> 00:13:30,993 The key phrase there is the Son of Man. 262 00:13:31,277 --> 00:13:32,728 It's a title for Jesus. 263 00:13:32,728 --> 00:13:35,781 It's a title that comes from the Old Testament Daniel 264 00:13:35,781 --> 00:13:38,784 chapter seven speaks of this Son of man. 265 00:13:38,784 --> 00:13:42,621 It's, verses 11 through 14 if you want to look it up later. 266 00:13:43,038 --> 00:13:46,225 But this title is a title of someone who's a king. 267 00:13:46,592 --> 00:13:49,712 It's a passage that just it's bursting with importance, 268 00:13:49,712 --> 00:13:51,747 like a red carpet passage. 269 00:13:51,747 --> 00:13:52,665 And it just highlights. 270 00:13:52,665 --> 00:13:55,668 This is a king who was greater than any other king. 271 00:13:55,918 --> 00:13:59,121 He has a kingdom that is greater than any other kingdom. 272 00:13:59,121 --> 00:14:04,143 He has power and authority greater than any other power, any other authority. 273 00:14:04,376 --> 00:14:09,481 It's a passage that describes Jesus as the most important person. 274 00:14:10,349 --> 00:14:12,501 And notice the argument 275 00:14:12,501 --> 00:14:15,838 for even the Son of Man, the most important person, 276 00:14:17,039 --> 00:14:20,209 considered himself not to be most important. 277 00:14:20,392 --> 00:14:24,313 He gave his life as a ransom for many. 278 00:14:24,330 --> 00:14:26,899 The argument is from greater to lesser. 279 00:14:26,899 --> 00:14:28,817 And this is what I mean. 280 00:14:28,817 --> 00:14:31,971 I did a wedding a few years ago that was going really well 281 00:14:31,971 --> 00:14:33,422 until the end, right? 282 00:14:33,422 --> 00:14:35,341 So the ceremony I think, went well. 283 00:14:35,341 --> 00:14:37,443 Most of the reception went really well. 284 00:14:37,443 --> 00:14:40,462 And then at the end of the reception, things fell apart. 285 00:14:40,496 --> 00:14:45,351 The caterer bailed completely, bailed 200 people. 286 00:14:45,467 --> 00:14:49,705 All the food, all leftover food, all the dishes, all the things at a reception. 287 00:14:49,855 --> 00:14:52,458 And the caterer completely bailed. 288 00:14:52,458 --> 00:14:54,243 Not going to clean up. 289 00:14:54,243 --> 00:14:55,344 And so here we are. 290 00:14:55,344 --> 00:14:57,863 Family and friends started to pick up dishes in place. 291 00:14:57,863 --> 00:15:00,232 He started to do things, and I was looking around 292 00:15:00,232 --> 00:15:03,302 and I kind of just wanted to go home, you know, it was like 1030. 293 00:15:03,319 --> 00:15:04,887 It was like an hour drive home. 294 00:15:04,887 --> 00:15:06,589 I thought, we can just go home. 295 00:15:06,589 --> 00:15:08,757 Family and friends, they got it. 296 00:15:08,757 --> 00:15:11,760 But then I noticed it wasn't just family and friends who were picking up 297 00:15:12,144 --> 00:15:15,114 the bride and the groom were cleaning up plates 298 00:15:15,114 --> 00:15:18,117 and dishes from table to table. 299 00:15:18,167 --> 00:15:21,353 They were doing the people who were most important that day, 300 00:15:21,921 --> 00:15:25,858 the people that were supposed to be serve that day, they were serving. 301 00:15:26,308 --> 00:15:29,311 And so who was I not to serve? 302 00:15:29,328 --> 00:15:30,896 That's that's the argument. 303 00:15:30,896 --> 00:15:33,482 That's the flow of this passage, right? 304 00:15:33,482 --> 00:15:37,286 Jesus Christ, the Son of God, he's here above us. 305 00:15:37,886 --> 00:15:41,006 And he came to earth not just to be side by side with us. 306 00:15:41,457 --> 00:15:43,826 He came to earth to be under. 307 00:15:43,826 --> 00:15:49,281 He came to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. 308 00:15:49,915 --> 00:15:51,567 And that's what he did. 309 00:15:51,567 --> 00:15:55,638 Ransom is a term that he purchased our freedom. 310 00:15:55,638 --> 00:15:58,807 He served us in the most wonderful and powerful way. 311 00:15:58,824 --> 00:15:59,808 He gave us life. 312 00:15:59,808 --> 00:16:04,163 He purchased our freedom, our freedom from sin, 313 00:16:04,413 --> 00:16:10,135 our freedom from guilt, our freedom from death, our freedom from judgment. 314 00:16:11,370 --> 00:16:12,721 Jesus Christ 315 00:16:12,721 --> 00:16:16,041 the King came to serve sinners. 316 00:16:16,742 --> 00:16:21,530 So who are we as sinners not to serve like Jesus the King? 317 00:16:22,314 --> 00:16:23,816 That's the argument. 318 00:16:23,816 --> 00:16:26,819 That's the actually, the invitation of this passage 319 00:16:26,819 --> 00:16:31,974 is to be like Jesus, to serve and be a servant like him. 320 00:16:31,974 --> 00:16:34,710 The question is, well, will we say yes? 321 00:16:34,710 --> 00:16:37,680 I mean, what would it take? 322 00:16:37,680 --> 00:16:37,913 Right? 323 00:16:37,913 --> 00:16:38,847 What would it take 324 00:16:38,847 --> 00:16:42,868 for me to be a husband and a father who doesn't pretend to be asleep? 325 00:16:43,919 --> 00:16:47,272 What would it take for you and us as a church to be people 326 00:16:47,456 --> 00:16:51,410 that don't just serve a little bit, but we become different people. 327 00:16:51,410 --> 00:16:54,213 We become servants. 328 00:16:54,213 --> 00:16:57,533 There are probably a number of reasons we could talk about two 329 00:16:57,533 --> 00:16:59,485 I want to draw attention to. 330 00:16:59,485 --> 00:17:02,988 We will become servants when we have hearts that are changed 331 00:17:03,772 --> 00:17:05,724 and minds that are convinced. 332 00:17:05,724 --> 00:17:08,777 Hearts that are changed, and minds that are convinced. 333 00:17:08,777 --> 00:17:10,229 Those are two reasons. 334 00:17:10,229 --> 00:17:13,165 Let me start with hearts that are changed. 335 00:17:13,165 --> 00:17:13,382 Right. 336 00:17:13,382 --> 00:17:15,801 So let's just see where we are, right? 337 00:17:15,801 --> 00:17:17,453 Our our world tells us right. 338 00:17:17,453 --> 00:17:20,456 The narrative, the story of our world is if you want to be great, 339 00:17:21,023 --> 00:17:22,608 if you want to be important, 340 00:17:22,608 --> 00:17:25,611 if you want to be significant, you have to be one spot. 341 00:17:25,878 --> 00:17:27,529 You have to be here, right? 342 00:17:27,529 --> 00:17:28,947 This is where significance is. 343 00:17:28,947 --> 00:17:30,199 This is where importance is. 344 00:17:30,199 --> 00:17:33,152 This is where you know you really matter. 345 00:17:33,152 --> 00:17:34,369 And so we want those things. 346 00:17:34,369 --> 00:17:35,521 And so what do we do. 347 00:17:35,521 --> 00:17:39,591 We work hard to get those things to achieve and accomplish 348 00:17:39,591 --> 00:17:44,163 and perform and be successful so that we can be here. 349 00:17:45,030 --> 00:17:49,017 But it's really, really hard to be going here above people. 350 00:17:49,251 --> 00:17:51,587 I'll also going underneath people. 351 00:17:51,587 --> 00:17:53,939 You can't be in two places at once. 352 00:17:53,939 --> 00:17:56,759 In other words, you can't be someone's servant 353 00:17:56,759 --> 00:17:59,244 if you really want to be somebody's king, right? 354 00:17:59,244 --> 00:18:01,046 That's the problem. 355 00:18:01,046 --> 00:18:02,397 And so we need a heart change. 356 00:18:02,397 --> 00:18:04,083 We need something to change within us. 357 00:18:04,083 --> 00:18:07,820 We need something of our significance to actually change. 358 00:18:07,820 --> 00:18:10,322 And I love how the Bible is put together. 359 00:18:10,322 --> 00:18:13,192 You see, right after this passage on serving, 360 00:18:13,192 --> 00:18:16,078 there is a story about significance. 361 00:18:16,078 --> 00:18:20,182 I think this is the key to our heart change in the key to serving. 362 00:18:20,699 --> 00:18:25,020 You see, right after this passage, there's a story of a blind beggar 363 00:18:25,220 --> 00:18:26,188 named Bartimaeus. 364 00:18:26,188 --> 00:18:28,040 You can read about him later. 365 00:18:28,040 --> 00:18:29,491 It's a wonderful story. 366 00:18:29,491 --> 00:18:31,710 It's blind beggar named Bartimaeus. 367 00:18:31,710 --> 00:18:35,180 So in first century culture, he is as low as you can be, 368 00:18:36,031 --> 00:18:38,517 as absolute low as you can be. 369 00:18:38,517 --> 00:18:42,538 And Jesus is coming to town and he is calling out to Jesus. 370 00:18:42,538 --> 00:18:45,541 He is crying out to Jesus to get his attention 371 00:18:45,774 --> 00:18:50,312 just for Jesus to notice him, to pay attention to Him and his friends. 372 00:18:50,312 --> 00:18:52,581 The friends of Bartimaeus tell him, be quiet, 373 00:18:54,383 --> 00:18:56,118 be quiet. 374 00:18:56,118 --> 00:18:58,487 You're not important enough. 375 00:18:58,487 --> 00:19:00,839 You're not significant enough. 376 00:19:00,839 --> 00:19:05,160 Why in the world with Jesus, the Son of Man, stop for you. 377 00:19:06,078 --> 00:19:06,979 Look at who you are. 378 00:19:06,979 --> 00:19:09,198 You have nothing to contribute. 379 00:19:09,198 --> 00:19:11,250 Your life is going nowhere. 380 00:19:11,250 --> 00:19:13,702 You couldn't be any lower. 381 00:19:13,702 --> 00:19:16,705 Why in the world would Jesus the King 382 00:19:17,523 --> 00:19:19,975 stop for you? 383 00:19:19,975 --> 00:19:21,894 And they couldn't have been more wrong. 384 00:19:21,894 --> 00:19:25,280 When you read the story, Jesus stopped, Jesus served, 385 00:19:25,547 --> 00:19:28,550 and Jesus healed the blind man. 386 00:19:29,034 --> 00:19:31,136 I wonder how many of us have that voice in our head. 387 00:19:31,136 --> 00:19:34,139 It just says, be quiet. 388 00:19:34,289 --> 00:19:35,507 Someone has told us. 389 00:19:35,507 --> 00:19:40,112 Or maybe we tell ourselves, you don't matter enough to Jesus. 390 00:19:40,829 --> 00:19:44,032 You're not significant enough for him to stop. 391 00:19:44,032 --> 00:19:45,868 Not for you, 392 00:19:45,868 --> 00:19:50,756 not for your past, not for your issues, not for your brokenness. 393 00:19:50,756 --> 00:19:52,441 Look at who you are. 394 00:19:52,441 --> 00:19:54,326 Look at what you've done. 395 00:19:54,326 --> 00:19:56,962 Why in the world would Jesus Christ, 396 00:19:56,962 --> 00:19:59,965 the Son of God, care about you? 397 00:20:00,332 --> 00:20:01,316 You don't matter enough. 398 00:20:02,851 --> 00:20:04,820 And if you are here and that's 399 00:20:04,820 --> 00:20:08,123 what you think you are, that's what's deep within you. I'm. 400 00:20:08,357 --> 00:20:12,377 I'm really glad that you're here, because I get to tell you that you were wrong. 401 00:20:13,879 --> 00:20:15,681 You're wrong 402 00:20:15,681 --> 00:20:18,567 because Jesus Christ, he stopped. 403 00:20:18,567 --> 00:20:22,254 He served, and he sacrificed his life for you. 404 00:20:22,287 --> 00:20:25,824 He gave his life as a ransom for many. 405 00:20:25,824 --> 00:20:28,827 He gave his life for you. 406 00:20:28,911 --> 00:20:32,397 And you are not significant because you climbed the ladder. 407 00:20:33,332 --> 00:20:36,318 And you are not insignificant because you didn't. 408 00:20:36,418 --> 00:20:40,489 You are significant because Jesus Christ, you climbed the cross 409 00:20:41,790 --> 00:20:43,525 and there's a heart change. 410 00:20:43,525 --> 00:20:45,861 The heart change comes when you believe 411 00:20:45,861 --> 00:20:50,098 you are so significant to God that he gave his own son. 412 00:20:50,699 --> 00:20:53,252 And when you are so significant to God, 413 00:20:53,252 --> 00:20:55,971 you don't need to go chasing significance anywhere else. 414 00:20:57,205 --> 00:20:58,290 A heart that's changed. 415 00:20:58,290 --> 00:21:02,577 The second is a mind that's convinced, a mind that's convinced. 416 00:21:02,577 --> 00:21:05,147 This is what I mean. 417 00:21:05,147 --> 00:21:06,898 When people talk about change 418 00:21:06,898 --> 00:21:09,901 or influence in this world, they usually say, hey, 419 00:21:09,901 --> 00:21:12,170 if you want to change, you want to be an influence. 420 00:21:12,170 --> 00:21:15,440 Or in this world, and you need to be here, of course, right. 421 00:21:15,440 --> 00:21:16,341 That makes sense. 422 00:21:16,341 --> 00:21:18,593 You need to be in the right meetings with the right decisions 423 00:21:18,593 --> 00:21:21,713 and the right power and the right authority, all those things 424 00:21:21,713 --> 00:21:25,050 right you need to be above if you're going to change anything. 425 00:21:26,368 --> 00:21:29,371 And I think Jesus would just say, hang on a minute, 426 00:21:29,988 --> 00:21:31,790 hang on a minute. 427 00:21:31,790 --> 00:21:34,609 That's not how I change the world. 428 00:21:34,609 --> 00:21:36,895 That's not how I changed you. 429 00:21:36,895 --> 00:21:41,717 I did not change the world through a display of power, but of powerlessness. 430 00:21:41,967 --> 00:21:43,168 I did not change the world 431 00:21:43,168 --> 00:21:47,089 through a display of my authority, but laying my authority down. 432 00:21:47,456 --> 00:21:50,792 I changed the world as a servant. 433 00:21:51,893 --> 00:21:53,762 As a servant. 434 00:21:53,762 --> 00:21:58,016 So I just wonder what I would look like if our minds are convinced the best way 435 00:21:58,016 --> 00:22:03,839 for you to shape your marriage, your kids, your friends, your classmates. 436 00:22:04,072 --> 00:22:08,810 The best way for us as a church to continue to have an amazing impact 437 00:22:08,810 --> 00:22:11,813 on our community and region and the world around us. 438 00:22:11,880 --> 00:22:14,750 It's not going to be as kings. 439 00:22:14,750 --> 00:22:18,437 It's going to be as servants, as when our minds are convinced 440 00:22:18,437 --> 00:22:21,440 and our hearts are changed at the best place for us to be 441 00:22:22,524 --> 00:22:24,059 down here 442 00:22:24,059 --> 00:22:26,812 and to say it's most important, you know what? 443 00:22:26,812 --> 00:22:29,781 It's most important that we or not 444 00:22:29,781 --> 00:22:32,067 most important, 445 00:22:32,067 --> 00:22:34,886 we are a vulnerable people. 446 00:22:34,886 --> 00:22:38,357 We are living in a world that tells us the only way to matter. 447 00:22:38,357 --> 00:22:40,909 The only way to have influence is to be above. 448 00:22:40,909 --> 00:22:44,930 And Jesus says, it must not be so among you, 449 00:22:44,930 --> 00:22:47,933 or among me or among us. 450 00:22:47,999 --> 00:22:51,002 He is telling us that he is showing us a different life, 451 00:22:51,086 --> 00:22:53,221 a life that's not above a life. 452 00:22:53,221 --> 00:22:54,990 It's not even side by side. 453 00:22:54,990 --> 00:22:57,709 A life that is beneath. 454 00:22:57,709 --> 00:23:00,962 We serve because he first served us. 455 00:23:01,279 --> 00:23:01,763 Let's pray. 456 00:23:04,549 --> 00:23:07,519 Father in heaven, you know my heart. 457 00:23:07,519 --> 00:23:10,405 In my tendency. 458 00:23:10,405 --> 00:23:13,341 God, it is easy for us to get caught up in the world's ways 459 00:23:13,341 --> 00:23:17,312 and to be people who chase after all kinds of things. 460 00:23:17,696 --> 00:23:20,182 I thank you that you are so different from us 461 00:23:20,182 --> 00:23:23,418 that you came not to be served, but to serve. 462 00:23:24,236 --> 00:23:26,788 And I pray as we experience your love, 463 00:23:26,788 --> 00:23:30,992 we realize how important that we are to you, that we will be freed 464 00:23:30,992 --> 00:23:34,413 from chasing it anywhere else, and that we will join you 465 00:23:34,830 --> 00:23:38,784 in realizing it's most important not to be most important. 466 00:23:39,301 --> 00:23:41,420 In Jesus name I pray. Amen.